Application for LifeAftr

[notglitching]

Player Information
Name: Sharn
Age: Older than 18
Contact: notglitching
Current characters: None!

Character Information
Name: Rinzler
Series: Tron
Appearance: His icons should be relatively thorough, especially those with the "red" keyword and the helmet on. But for a written supplement:

Rinzler wears flexible dark armor and an opaque black mask. Both are covered with red-orange lights in small dashes and patterns—his "circuitry", which can brighten or dim depending on power levels, strong emotions, or other status conditions. While 6'2" in theory, he stands in a perpetual hunch—shoulders tucked, spine curved—that makes him appear much smaller than he is. Unless making active effort to damp it, he constantly produces a whirring rumble of code conflict, audible to anyone nearby.

Age: ~1356 cycles (1239 years) of experienced time. Note that time runs faster inside the computer than out; the first 1237 years for Rinzler took a little less than three decades for the users (humans) outside.

Canon Point: Immediately prior to Tron: Legacy (plus CRAU)

Transferring From: inugamirpg -> thisavrou -> here

Canon History: Wiki links here and here, though both articles are incomplete. It should also be noted that the events of Tron: Uprising contradict the continuity of Tron: Betrayal, Evolution, and Legacy in some fairly major ways. If any players from Uprising apply, I'll be glad to work things out with them, but as Rinzler wouldn't remember it regardless, I've chosen to leave it out of my own summary.

Write-up:

In the Tron universe, every script, edit, or line of code a user writes acts as input to a thriving world inside the computer. Programs are people, and Rinzler was created under a different name: “Tron”. Encom programmer Alan Bradley wrote Tron in 1982 as an independent security program, one that could monitor and protect his company's network against threats inside and out. Unfortunately for both Tron and his user, the AI running Encom's system was in the process of going Skynet. To a computer (or "Master Control Program") that wanted to rule the world, an independent user-loyal program was a threat, and the MCP tried to dispose of Tron before his security upgrades could be finished. Alan's clearance was suspended, and the half-developed program was sent to the Game Grid, a digital arena designed to delete rebellious programs or convert them towards the AI's service.

But Tron survived the games, and purposefully adopted the directive to “fight for the Users” in defiance of the MCP's conversion attempts. When one such user, Kevin Flynn, wound up trapped alongside Tron, they joined forces in escape. They gathered help from others, including Ram, Tron's friend and fellow conscript, and Yori, his romantic counterpart. In the end, Tron made contact with Alan, received his upgrades, and went on to destroy the MCP. With Encom restored to a free system, the programs were only too grateful to the user who had entered their world, and when Flynn asked for help with a new project, Tron readily agreed.

The Grid was Flynn's private experiment, an attempt to create an ideal world from the inside out. His primary assistants were Tron and Clu, a sysadmin written by Flynn with the directive to “create the perfect system”. When Flynn’s system started spawning ISOs (isomorphic algorithms, self-generated programs written by no user) Clu determined the newcomers to be harmful imperfections. Tron disagreed, which left him trying to keep peace between the factions—a job better suited to someone with any diplomatic skills at all. Tensions grew rapidly between the ISOs and the other programs (now dubbed ‘Basics’), fueled by both Flynn's increasingly long absences and Clu's overt aggression.

Both Tron and Clu went to Flynn when he did appear, but the user waved off everything from collapsing buildings to inter-program terrorism, promising to handle it later. But time passes more quickly inside the computer than out, and after several centuries of "later", Clu ran short on sanity as well as patience. He attacked Flynn, trying to stop his user from leaving the system while he pulled a coup from the inside. Tron interceded, deleting Clu's guards and tackling the admin in the hope that Flynn would escape and set things right. To most of the Grid, that's where Tron's story ends: fighting for the users until his own demise. Certainly Tron would have preferred that.

The reality wasn't nearly so easy. Flynn never left the system, and instead of finishing Tron off, Clu took the time to test out his repurposing privileges: his ability as an administrator to rewrite a program’s code. Tron was stripped of his name, his memories, and most of all, the independence that had let him fight for a free system twice already. With a black helmet hiding his face, a second disk of restrictive code merged with his own, and his normally-blue circuits glowing the orange of Clu's followers, Tron was gone for all intents and purposes. Clu had his perfect enforcer: Rinzler.

While just over 20 years went by in the outside world, Rinzler had an experienced millennium to settle into his new existence. He was Clu’s weapon, his utterly obedient tool, and the admin used him to great effect. When Clu’s army destroyed the ISO strongholds, Rinzler was sent to hunt down those who remained. When rebellious programs took steps to free the system, they would find a black-masked shadow derezzing them with vicious skill. More than just a weapon, the enforcer stood as a symbol of Clu's power. This was evident nowhere more than in Clu's Games: deathmatches of captured prisoners with Rinzler waiting as the final opponent, ready to execute the last surviving offender and prove the invulnerability of Clu’s dictatorship.

All this time, whatever struggles Rinzler made against Clu's code never proved enough. Not with his admin always there to tinker and improve, not when the user Tron had sacrificed himself to save never returned to discover his friend's fate. Clu's control of the system only grew, and by the time anyone else appeared to intervene, the administrator had turned his plans past the Grid—to conquering the user world by force. At the time Rinzler left his universe, these plans were starting to reach fruition.

Canon Personality: In his initial incarnation as Tron, Rinzler was first and foremost a protector. He was written to safeguard his system, and more, to do so against threats both inside and out. That last caveat has a particular significance when considering the circumstances of his creation—Alan was deliberately working beneath his boss' radar to make a program that could take down the MCP. He wanted Tron to be powerful, but independent, a single program that could stand up to corrupted users and administrators alike.

For the most part, he got what he wanted. While Tron's early decision to "fight for the users" was made with a few blind spots toward their fallibility, Flynn's intervention made for some very rapid learning curves. Before Clu ever became a threat, we're given ample chance to see how Tron grew up. He was serious and driven, focused on the safety of every program in the Grid. He was stubborn and confrontational. He was confident bordering on cocky when it came to his own abilities, but despite his love of showing off in the nonlethal Games of Flynn's new Grid, Tron was violently opposed to going back to the deathmatches he once knew. Tron valued his world, but the individuals—the people in it—were what made it a free system. They're who he wanted to save.

Most of all, Tron was every bit as independent as Alan could have hoped. Where yelling at Clu and entreating Flynn failed, Tron went behind everyone's back to make things right on more than one occasion. He sneaked, argued, and disobeyed Flynn's orders. And when that didn't prove enough, he chose to sacrifice himself. No user input or administrative command was required—just a competent, responsible person willing to lose everything to preserve the values he lived for.

In many ways, it makes what Clu turned Tron into so much crueler. In his canon state, Rinzler isn't independent. He doesn't care about preserving life. He knows he's better than anyone (excepting Clu)—but only by virtue of being a flawless killer. He's Clu's perfect enforcer: a tool that never fails to complete its task, and a program who has no other way to self-define.

"Self-define" is of course a misnomer. Rinzler's definitions were set for him. Clu has been in his code for the last millennium, locking down as many memories and freedoms as he needed to perfect his former friend. By the canonpoint Rinzler was pulled from, there wasn't much left on the surface. The enforcer killed in Clu's games, hunted Clu's enemies, and followed at his admin's heels like a well-trained pet. He wouldn't speak or take action of his own accord. He didn't remember a time when he could. ISOs were viruses, users were the enemy, and the system was Clu's to control and improve. Rinzler was meant to be a piece of that, no more.

Still, Clu couldn't take away every part of Tron without losing the skills he wanted to repurpose, and even fresh from canon, Rinzler wasn't as automated as he acted. He thought and watched. He knew when to stay quiet and how to deflect his admin's rage. He drew out his fights, flaunting his capabilities more than Tron ever had, particularly in the Games. For Rinzler, combat is both a validation of his own perfection and an outlet for frustration. It's one of the few times every part of his code works in concert as it should.

Rinzler has never fit together. His programming is an intricate balancing act of restrictions and redirects, and if the enforcer wasn't allowed to view it, that doesn't mean he didn't know. It was audible in the only noise Clu left him: the constant, grinding rattle of conflicting code. And as much as Rinzler knew what he "should" be, that doesn't mean those struggling fragments of Tron's code never prompted him to try for more. Locked down doesn't mean deleted, and when in situations Clu never coded him to handle, Rinzler has the potential to adapt past his limitations. This played a large role in his RP development.

But losing himself continuously for a thousand cycles made it hard for Rinzler to even know what else to fight for. The system belonged to Clu. Its user abandoned all of them to hide—and if Rinzler had no conscious memory of how personal Flynn's abandonment really was, the results were undeniable. No one was coming, and nothing would change. It was easier to be what Clu told him. To push back the anger at his own limitations—or, vent it on the next permitted target.


Personality Shifts:

I. inugamirpg

Inugami was a horror game with Lovecraftian themes, set in a Japanese high school. While not strictly a personality shift, the game's humanizing and regain mechanic did an excellent job of throwing Rinzler well outside his comfort zone. Not only was he suddenly away from Clu, surrounded by users, in a "system" that made zero sense—he himself was in a user body, and forced to deal with its hazards and (rare) upsides.

For a program unfamiliar with substances like oxygen or food, even temporary humanity came with a steep learning curve. All the more so for Clu's enforcer, unaccustomed to any social interaction. In order to survive, Rinzler was forced to communicate with others to gain data, and he began to loophole around his forbidden voice by having text-based conversations. While he kept things terse and functional (often to the point of incomprehensibility), this ability to self-express was something he came to appreciate. So when Clu arrived in game and confiscated his phone, this pit his own half-developed wants against the orders he knew "should" define him.

Orders, naturally, took precedent... but that wasn't the only point of conflict. As a human, while Rinzler was still conditioned to obey, his restrictions weren't as literally hardcoded. Recovered memories couldn't be wiped, and recognition of an error didn't always lock him up too much to keep pressing through it. This proved extremely significant when he encountered Yori, the counterpart that Tron had loved and trusted. While unable to recall why Yori mattered, Rinzler was extremely devoted to her at first sight. He struggled to warn her about Clu, and stole what time he could to protect and be near her.

Clu's disappearance bought them both some space. And Rinzler's interactions in this game set one important first. Whether allies or enemies, the people he met treated Rinzler as a person worth acknowledging instead of just a symbol or a tool. This regard was quietly addictive—and made him want to grow to fit the role.

II. thisavrou

Inugami brought Rinzler well outside his former comfort zone. Thisavrou shattered it—while also giving him more positive incentives to grow. The Ingress portal aboard the spaceship Moira restored Rinzler to his former (program) self, and the captains of the ship assigned him a job: flying and managing the ship's shuttlecraft. For someone who both loved flightcraft and had always been restricted in their use, this local "function" was too amazing to reject. Rinzler settled much more happily than he might have, deciding to contribute towards this system until he could return to Clu's side. But on the same day, Rinzler encountered the other program already among the Moira's crew.

Tron.

For someone mentally crippled to prevent acknowledgement of his past self, this mirror-double was an unbearable error. Rinzler attacked Tron, trying to destroy him and remove the fault. When he was prevented and locked up by fellow crew, he was forced to fracture internally instead. Rinzler was forced through an agonizing, brutal set of realizations. Clu hadn't created him. He wasn't perfect. He was glitching, he was broken, and he was made to be that way. He was never anything more than salvage, pieced together from the users' loyal pet—from their failure, and Tron's. Tron deserved it. So he did.

Under different circumstances, recognizing his old identity could have caused Rinzler to revert to Tron's codebase. But locked up and presented with a "whole" version of himself outside the cell, Rinzler went the opposite direction: recognizing and resenting his imperfections... but internalizing them, since he was clearly not Tron. He was eventually released, and while hostile and unfriendly towards his mirror, he made no further attempts to destroy Tron.

Over the next year aboard the Moira, Rinzler would hit a massive array of personal milestones. The already-damaged restrictions on his memory were strained further, by the arrival of both Alan Bradley, Tron's creator, and Yori once again. Their acceptance helped restore a little sense of his own worth, but even with a growing number of allies and a function that he loved, Rinzler struggled to fit in. His poor communication skills and violent behavior started fights, which caused others to want him gone by any means. In a conflict with Peter Maximoff, Rinzler killed two crew-members... at which point Alan took action to fix the "problem" in his code.

Rinzler wasn't surprised to have merited another programmer's correction. But after realizing the problem was Rinzler's own choices, Alan stopped, and subsequently organized a group to recover Rinzler when an event stranded him back on the Grid. For someone who had been tortured into existence after one user's abandonment, having friends and allies come back to save him from that life shattered Rinzler's worldview in a much needed way. At this point, Rinzler chose loyalty to his new system and to the allies who'd helped him, setting aside any interest in returning home.

Just in time, of course, for Clu to show up on the Moira. His new determination to safeguard his allies led Rinzler to hide his identity disks, necessary for both editing his code and observing his memories, with an ally, Nihlus Kryik. He was willing to serve Clu, but not willing to let Clu use him against his new system—even when Clu maimed him as a consequence of his refusal. More, the need to fight for others despite his coded inability to resist Clu caused Rinzler's mind to fracture, and he began dissociating: drawing on the fragments of Tron's function and memories as a not-quite-separate personality.

But his new loyalties were poised to end badly—first, when Nihlus was mind-controlled into betrayal, and second, when the Moira crashed. Certain of his own failure, Rinzler was resigned to being reprogrammed to Clu's mindless slave and brought back home. But he wasn't the only one who'd changed, and for the first time in centuries, Clu had an actual conversation with his enforcer. Clu promised him that so long as Rinzler willingly stayed his, he wouldn't have to be wiped.

Rinzler agreed. Clu's tolerance of his growth so far gave him confidence in what he'd gained, and while Rinzler formed no real loyalty to their next system, Thisavrou, he began to more openly acknowledge his care for his allies—and, the possibility that maybe he was more than (just) a tool. As Thisavrou became more hostile, care developed into active responsibility. Rinzler came to consider it his job to guard his allies, assuming a role ironically similar to Tron's, as much as he continued to resist integration.

This proved increasingly difficult, especially when an event pitted characters against their own darker selves. Rinzler's shadow was a free-willed monster, and one that made a point of proving Rinzler's weakness in "letting" Clu keep him so leashed. After the shadows were overcome, Rinzler went to his admin, and Clu parceled out another freedom: the ability to speak aloud. Over Rinzler's remaining months in game, he would slowly develop his vocal capacities.

The planets of Thisavrou were destroyed. In the shattered remains of its space station, Rinzler moved in with the allies he'd grown close to over the last two years. He entered a romantic relationship with Yori, confronted Clu, and found a whole new series of identity crises in the arrivals of Ram and Flynn: the first, a friend who died assisting Tron, and the second, the friend Tron "died" for. While Rinzler had time to say goodbye to his allies when this system came to a final end, he wasn't at peace with the conclusion—not least of all because he never wanted it to end. His system is the people he cared for, and he both fears and loathes the prospect of going back to his old life.

Rinzler has grown enormously from his once-singular identity as Clu's pet killer. In some ways, these are tangible changes to his code. The filters restricting access to Tron's memories are almost entirely shattered, and although Rinzler is extremely uncomfortable with those pieces of himself, he no longer triggers internal punishment by thinking of them. He's acquired the ability to view his own code, and to speak... mostly freely. (Clu left him unable to easily speak against Clu, though Rinzler is unaware of that detail.)

But Rinzler's personality has developed far more extensively—most notably, in that he recognizes his own right to have one. While still loyal to Clu and programmed to serve him, Rinzler now regards himself as an individual instead of just a weapon. He's still violent, agressive, and amoral, but he cares for his allies, and will readily fight and risk himself for them. In particular, he formed extremely strong loyalties to Yori, Alan, Nihlus, Jane Shepard, Chara, Frisk, Asriel, and Agent Washington. While CR with new versions is obviously up in the air, he would do what he could to assist these people should the situation (and OOC interest!) permit.

While he has changed hugely, some things remain stumbling blocks. Rinzler has a better understanding of the nuances and compromises that make up user worlds, but he still doesn't like it. In particular, he tends to draw strict lines between users and programs, and spend an inordinate amount of time trying to classify acquaintances between those boundaries. Experiencing repeated "system crashes" has also triggered a low-key despair—no matter what he does, it feels like he can't protect things the way he should be capable of. His overconfidence has consequently been somewhat tempered, though Rinzler always believes he can win any given fight. Thinking otherwise would be tantamount to giving up, and if anything is a constant, it's that: given a cause to protect or a threat to eliminate, Rinzler will never back down.

Abilities: Rinzler is stronger and faster than a human, prone to running up walls, surviving incredible damage, and fighting with flips, leaps, or other improbable acrobatics. His weapons of choice are his disks: rounded weapons (think chakram) that can be activated for melee or ranged attacks, capable of cutting nearly any material. His armor is literally a part of him, and will deflect or blunt most types of damage. Rinzler is tactically intelligent and extremely precise; while he can be caught off guard, he's the strongest combatant in his world for a reason.

Outside of a fight, his talents lie in tracking and stealth. As a security program, he has a variety of scanning functions typically used to acquire data on programs' function, nature, and current state. They also enable him to detect energy signatures in proximity and trace their movements some time after an individual has passed. His own masking capabilities allow him to dim his circuitry and conceal his presence from comparable scans. Rinzler is skilled at operating any number of ground-or-air-based vehicles from his own world, as well as a variety of spacecraft after his time in Thisavrou. His design as a security program gives him a high level of innate skill with encryptions and security measures, though this is unlikely to be of too much use in LifeAftr.

In short: glowy computer ninja. But where there are pros, there are cons, and Rinzler definitely has his share. As a program, he requires electrical energy, and while he can take plenty of hits, when something surpasses his durability, he doesn't bruise or bleed—he shatters into pieces. Shocks and strong magnetic fields can scramble him in a big way, and high temperatures cause overheating and malfunction. Most significant is the risk of recoding. A program's identity disk isn't just a convenient weapon—it's the main backup their code writes to, and the easiest way to rewrite that code. For any programmer skilled enough to get past Clu's locks, Rinzler is a supremely easy target, incapable of overriding any edit written to his disks.


Inventory:

• Identity Disks (2): An identity disk is a program's backup, used for both retaining sanity and editing their code. This also makes them essential for repair. Like sensible people, programs naturally choose to weaponize these vital weak spots and fling them toward their enemies. Rinzler is unique in possessing two.
  
  More information can be found under abilities. While multifunction, the disks are a key part of Rinzler, and he would not be able to survive without them. If damage needs to be inflicted, I'd request a chance to discuss how.
  
  
• Armored gridsuit: Like the disk, Rinzler's armor is part of his coding—closer to a robot's outer plating than a human's clothes. Designed for combat, his armor covers him from toe to neck, offering some protection against damage and power loss both. His opaque, airtight helmet is included with the outfit—and something that Rinzler specifically is unable to remove.

Sample

Thread Sample: Rinzler discusses his function with Alan-one.