Malware
Malware (Styx)
They were born Sam, which they hated; by age 8 they were Styx, a gadget obsessive and young loner; by 11 they combined a natural empathic talent with a slightly perverse instinct for chaos and manipulation, turning to biohacking to bend the people around them to their will. Now, at 17, they are Malware: a reluctant vigilante and biohacker, begrudgingly indebted to their allies and just-slightly invested in eradicating the rule of the Covenant from their home. They're rude, they're manipulative, they're intimidatingly chic, and they feel truly irritated by the moral compass that appears in them at the most inconvenient times.
Physical Description
General Physical Condition
Tall, lanky, olive skin and symmetric facial features. At seventeen their dark hair is kept to a smooth knot near the top of their head, usually covered by a chic hood or their alter-ego Malware's signature facial-recognition obscuring helmet.
Body Features
Covered in skillful stick-and-poke tattoos, Malware is lanky and usually draped elegantly over a chaise lounge or bistro corner-table. They would never admit it, but each tattoo is meaningful to them. Publicly though, they help contribute to the air of mystery, ease, and unique control that Styx carefully curates. Styx walks with a slight limp, due to a paragliding accident when they were 13, but hides it with intriguingly poor posture. Usually clad in structured jackets and inappropriately S&M-inspired leather, Styx's stacked ear piercings and many rings and cuffs appear to be simply jewelry but are actually all biometric feeds and nanobot control consoles. They would never wear anything that did not have a secondary or even tertiary function, and are proud to feel above the pedestrian need for basic cell phones or even smart glasses. Their tech is functional, beautiful, minimal, and wholly unique. If you know about it that's only because they want you to.
Facial Features
Styx has narrow hazel eyes, strong eyebrows, and an arched, prominent nose. They would be attractive if they weren't so intimidating. They have contemplated facial tattoos or piercings but decided they were too identifying, and why should they make things harder for themselves than they need to be?
Identifying Characteristics
Styx walks with a slight left limp after a paragliding accident at 13, leaving slightly uneven footprints. They are never unadorned by some type of tech, down to the cartilage piercings stacked up and down their ears. They have a network of 11 dots connected by dotted lines on their left inner wrist, but will not say what they mean. Their hair is as controlled as the rest of their image: pulled tightly back into a topknot, bound by a leather tie. If they were stripped down to essentials, they would be slightly more fit than expected, but still lacking in physical strength compared to their teammates. Tattoos peek out above the top of their socks and the bottom of their ribcage, but ultimately they will determine what visually identifies them, with a strict and articulated wardrobe and layers of nanotech armor, ready to be deployed at a moments notice.
Physical quirks
For all their emotional manipulation, they are quite bad at holding a poker face when emotionally compromised themselves. It's tough to really get to them, but once you do, you'll know. When angry or embarrassed they become deeply flushed, and they rarely place themselves in physically dangerous situations, mostly because when they are in them, they will shake. When they feel vulnerable, their right pinky begins to twitch. To compensate for all of this, Styx's alter-ego, Malware, wears an oversized jacket covered in tessalated nanobots that fly out and return according to their command. The jacket serves dual purpose of hiding any of Styx's trembling, and their helmet-like facial covering conveniently disguises any flushed features as well.
Special abilities
Styx knows what the people around them feel, what they desire, and how they need to feel in order to do what Styx wants them to do. Styx (or their alter-ego, Malware) uses nanobots and biohacking to accomplish this - when they can. They aim to exert control over everyone they confront; not just their enemies, but their allies too. Whether they succeed is another question all together.
Apparel & Accessories
Styx is so decked out with subtle, cutting edge, beautiful self-developed tech that they rarely carry any visible gear of their own. Their style is 1980s London grunge meets 2006 S/S Louis Vuitton runway collection meets S&M Cyberpunk Dom. They will never wear something they don't feel powerful in. Leather dresses, puffed nylon sleeves studded in metal nanoreceptors, radio-beacon earrings and vinyl pants come together incongruously but somehow create the consistent aesthetic of a cyberpunk vagabond scavenging from the wealthy to fund a lifestyle of debauched hacking.
Specialized Equipment
Early in their gadgets and hacking, Styx realized they had an innate ability to understand and sense emotion - like an empath, but without the personal emotional commitment as well. They aren't a sociopath by any means, but they posses both emotional perception and personal detachment in spades. By 11, they were combining this perception and their gadgetry into biohacking - using biometrics and gadgets to perceive, manipulate, and control other people's emotions. They initially did this for pure enjoyment; now, it's both a defense mechanism and a means of exerting control in an increasingly chaotic world.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Born to wealthy parents on Aegis, Styx changed their name to Styx before they were even 8 years old and started picking apart and improving whatever gadgets they could get their hands on. An early tutor, a very cool and detached woman with an air of mystery, recognized innate talent in Styx and introduced them to their first programming language, before disappearing and being replaced by a much more age-appropriate tutor whom Styx hated on sight. Thus began the revolving door of tutors bankrolled by detached, well-meaning parents who rarely saw Styx for more than a few minutes at a time, save for on annual family vacations to fabulously exotic locales full of delicious food and adrenaline-soaked adventure. Styx was fond of these trips, and fond of their parents; it isn't their parents' fault that the pair has all the personality and interest of wet cardboard. Styx used this distance to their advantage, and eventually kicked the tutors out all together and dedicated themselves to gadget development and hacking full time, eventually leaning into biohacking as a natural extension of their emotional manipulation. By the time we meet Styx and their alter-ego, Malware, they have mastered remote manipulation by means of nanobots and biometric readers, even infiltrating a target's body and altering hormonal levels to achieve Styx's desired result. Styx has enormous fun doing all of this, and has been so preoccupied with their image, their control, and their tech that they never stopped to consider what they want long-term, or even how much or how little they care about their own destiny. Their new teammates change all of that.
Gender Identity
Styx is nonbinary. They have always been nonbinary. While Styx is not their birth name, their birthname is not a "dead" name, just an annoying vestige of their parents' pedestrian preferences.
Sexuality
Styx has never cared enough for a peer to explore any sense of sexuality. Their grudging respect for their teammates is the closest they've ever gotten to attraction. But then again, they're only 17 - now that they've realized there are individuals in their world who are worthy of their respect, who knows where attraction could begin.
Education
Styx was taught by a series of private tutors hired by wealthy, distant parents. As they got older they successfully drove the adept, naive tutors away in rapid succession, until their parents simply forgot to hire a replacement for the last one. By this point, around age 10, Styx had already spent about two years obsessively dissecting every gadget they could get their hands on and hacking into any database they could find. Left to their own devices, Styx quickly excelled in hacking and gadgetry until at 13 they successfully faked a passing standardized test score in the city's education database, successfully freeing themselves from any systematic educational requirements.
Employment
Styx is 17 and already a funnel of limitless family funds. (Although, if that ever dried up, they could certainly wire several million dollars from any number of international banking houses to a personal account in a few hours. Not that they've ever tried - but they know they could.)
Accomplishments & Achievements
Since 13, they've spent considerable energy and money slowly decking out their underground lair with high quality tech, security, and several years worth of canned goods and power cells. During this time, they've developed some particularly interesting tech: a flexible cloth-like array of tessalated nanobots that assemble from a hazy swarm into a cape or covering at a moments notice; metallic cuffs that act as consoles from which Styx controls their nanobots and other biogear; taptic earrings and rings on which Styx receives updates from their tech; and even hair-thin biometric readers that they strategically drop onto friends, enemies, and teammates alike in order to monitor their emotional and physical states at all times. Until meeting Siren, Paladin, and Aliena, these were Styx's proudest achievements. Now, however, they find themselves faced with a nagging sense of responsibility over the fate of their teammates, their city, and even themselves - a concern that had never particularly weighed on them before.
Failures & Embarrassments
One of the few activities that ties Styx to their family is the occasional extravagant vacation and adrenaline-based sports, particularly paragliding. On one such trip, at age 13, Styx leapt from a cliff in an non-secured glider and shattered their left leg in 4 places. Since then they walk with a slight limp, which they cover with artfully draped clothing and poor posture. While they have no interest in being a physical force of any kind, their bodily weakness and inability to throw down in a fight has become a new source of embarrassment when compared to their new teammates' relative strength.
Mental Trauma
Maybe you could call the emotional distance of Styx's childhood "trauma", but they wouldn't. Styx doesn't have a special reason for loving the rush of control and power that emotional manipulation brings them. A jackal enjoys the hunt for the same reason Malware enjoys to manipulate: it's in their nature.
Intellectual Characteristics
Styx operates at such a high level of detachment that, were you to ask them about their own mind and personal value, they would be at a loss for how to respond. They have an innate drive to feel the rush of power and control that emotional/mental manipulation brings them (and in a similar vein, they would be prone to addictive substance use if given the chance.) Their carefully curated physical presence is an extension of this control, by managing from the outset exactly how others perceive Styx, or Malware.
Morality & Philosophy
Until their newfound connection with their teammates, Styx has really just been floating through life day to day, finding things and people that hold their interest until something better comes along. Now, they're faced for the first time with concern for their own mortality, the societal impact of their life, and the shocking realization that they actually care what that impact is. At this point in their life, they haven't gotten much farther than that, besides a vague annoyance at the oppressive rule of the Covenant for daring to be a more controlling influence on the city's people than Styx is.
Taboos
Styx is a person of deep self control. Mind over matter is a way of life for them. To lose their mental capacities, to feel panic, or to be isolated from their tech and any gadgets would be devastating to them. (This would be difficult - no one can confirm yet, but rumor has it that Styx embedded a nanobot array in their left thigh when undergoing leg reconstruction after their accident, to ensure they would never be alone and unarmed again.)
Personality Characteristics
Motivation
The thrill of emotional control, protection of their playthings (i.e. their people) from forces larger and more controlling than themselves. They're also exploring the new realm of mutual respect for their teammates and the emotions and commitments that arise from that. Ultimately they want to feel thrilled, intrigued, and entertained, and biohacking does all three for them.
Savvies & Ineptitudes
Quite physically inept in a fight or even in general climbing/adventuring. Extremely tech savvy and emotionally savvy.
Likes & Dislikes
Likes: intentionally ripped and marred clothing; leather; combat boots; stick-and-poke tattoos; classic cryptography; sushi; citrus; pop-punk and alt rock of the 90s (1990s fingerless gloves; lomo saltado; geodes.
Dislikes: spicy food (which they try to hide bright or pastel colors; invasive surveillance into themselves or their people; bad interior design; snowy and icy weather; walking in snowy and icy weather; camping in snowy and icy weather; hiking in snowy and icy weather; hibernating bears. (Don't ask about their family trip from January 2037.)
Virtues & Personality perks
Styx has never really examined it, but in all their manipulation they've never sought to create permanent damage to a person's relationships, reputation, or wellbeing. They have an affection for their protoge, Farras, and pass on much of their gadgetry knowledge to him (while manipulating him to limit his biohacking abilities, partly out of fear.) Styx is quite pragmatic, and while their physical weakness scares them, they accept it as it is and don't hold any illusions about their abilities, positive or negative. As someone for whom money has never been an object, they're nearly generous with their resources, opening up their lair to their teammates almost immediately. Sure, that was partly so Styx could observe and manipulate them at closer quarters, but it was also a simple act of sharing that Styx never even questioned.
Vices & Personality flaws
Styx believes they are much more interesting than they actually are. By 17, their emotional manipulation is almost compulsive, and they have only one relationship that is not tinged by their biohacking.They are not unkind for the sake of being unkind, but they will choose a witty comment or provoking action over peacekeeping any day. At an older age, they would be heavily prone to addiction or to any activity that could give them a high similar to the power they feel when controlling others.
Personality Quirks
Styx has several odd physical ticks, and a close observer would quickly learn to read their facial expressions, blushes, full-body fear shakes, etc. To counter this, Styx maintains an almost Zen-like personal composure whenever possible and combines it with an aggressively editorial wardrobe to distract from any identifying quirks.
Hygiene
Quite hygienic - for all their grunge, Styx wouldn't willingly be caught dead in a food-stained pair of pants or overly sweaty shirt. They'd never do it in front of their teammates, but they sweep and wipe down their lair on a bi-weekly basis.
An arrogant manipulator and Wilde-like dilettante, Styx is a skilled biohacker, combining a deep knowledge of gadgetry with an intuitive understanding of others feelings. Full of self-assurance and a certain je ne sais quois.
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Alignment
Chaotic Neutral
Species
Year of Birth
24 AE
17 Years old
Children
Current Residence
Gender
Nonbinary
Eyes
Hazel
Hair
Black
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
Olive, pale
Height
5'9, slouches in order to seem taller
Weight
150
Quotes & Catchphrases
Mind over matter.
Aligned Organization
Other Affiliations
Ruled Locations