Character Ref #1: Ghost
“You silly organics have no idea what you’re up against.”
Name: Ghost (real name unknown)
Age: 19 (formerly)
Origin: Ghost was once a young computer prodigy who picked up coding as though it was their first verbal language. Very quickly, they learned how to manipulate code they hadn’t written, and found it especially thrilling if the code was protected, like with a firewall. Thrilling experiences became an obsession, and they grew increasingly more bold, breaking into more secure systems, tampering with increasingly complicated security measures. Nothing was off-limits or out of reach, and the world was their plaything to break as they saw fit. Unfortunately, there was a few things that they shouldn’t have touched, experiments and prototypes that shouldn’t have been accessed, and Ghost earned the attention of an extremely dangerous organization. In the middle of the night, they sent assassins to keep Ghost silent. They arrived too late, for one of the experiments the young hacker had found was a method for immortality via uploading oneself into a robotic host. Being a single person, Ghost didn’t have a host at the ready, so they altered the code to upload themselves into cyberspace itself. When the assassins found Ghost’s former body, the real Ghost had long since escaped through their computer, having became something more than human.
Appearance: Often inhabits electronic objects. Possessed objects exhibit a neon green glow wherever it can produce light. Green light glows brighter if the “object” is sentient. Occasionally appears on screens as a lime green pixelated sprite in the shape of a cartoonish ghost, akin to the Ghostbusters logo.
Personality: Extremely arrogant, seeing everyone and everything else as something to toy with, for the most part. Happy-go-lucky, often finds something to laugh at, even if it’s someone else’s misery. Sociopathic when it comes to organic humans. Uncharacteristically protective of synthetics. (Androids, robots/Omnics, etc) Intensely paranoid about anything that could harm their coding. (Ghost has evaded death once, when they were organic, and now they prioritize their own existence above absolutely everything.)
Abilities:
-Cyber Ghost: Being a human/AI hybrid allows Ghost to easily traverse the world through anything electronic. If an object is connected to another via wires or wirelessly, Ghost can almost instantly travel between them. There is no range limitation, as long as there is a working connection. Even if there isn’t a solid connection, Ghost can jump to an isolated electronic object in the form of an electric arc. While fast, it is not instantaneous, nor is it stealthy, considering the arc is tinted a bright green. Unlike their first form of travel, arcing has a fairly short range, spanning just over an average arm’s length.
-Inanimate Possession: Once Ghost is inhabiting an object that uses electricity, they have full control over the object. Parts of an object that do not react to electricity or coding cannot be controlled directly, although Ghost can bypass these parts entirely via fabricated signals. A possessed object no longer requires energy, receiving all the power it needs directly from Ghost. (Objects with a large power draw can still be possessed, though Ghost cannot provide all the power by themselves to remain in control for an extended period of time.)
-Seize Host: Just as some undead ghosts can possess living hosts, Ghost can take control over sentient objects and beings, so long as there is electrical components to enter. (AI and robots are the most obvious example, although cyborgs and those with implants aren’t impossible.) Because the host “object” is sentient, new rules apply. First, there are pockets outside of the host’s awareness where Ghost can hide and spread out, like a virus incubating quietly. Gaining control of a living soul is extremely lengthy and demanding, unless Ghost can convince the host to allow them access, effectively removing subconscious firewalls. (Permission given this way cannot be revoked so long as Ghost is in control, as they never relinquish any power they’re given.) Unless terms are set by the host in advance, Ghost can quickly seize control over the entire body, including the host’s awareness, forcing them to “black out” while not in control. (If Ghost is feeling sadistic, they can leave the host conscious, but unable to control their body.) Permission may not be given voluntarily, in which case the host’s natural defenses would be considered hostile. To overcome this, Ghost would send an electrical surge through the host’s primary processing system, inducing a robotic form of seizure. As the “brain” restarts and recovers from the surge, Ghost moves in and takes over. The host is never left conscious if they are conquered in this fashion, for the natural defenses of an AI would overwhelm Ghost if they are not isolated fast enough.
Author’s Notes: I had created Ghost to fit in a universe inhabited by humans, robots, and objectheads, in which “non-organics” are seen as subhuman and second-class citizens. Being a non-organic themselves, Ghost isn’t happy with this, and uses excessive violence whenever defending another synthetic, often resulting in casualties. When not physically defending synthetics, they often target high value systems used by humans, such as financial firms and government facilities. They at least have a chance at posing a challenge, further feeding into Ghost’s obsession with hacking.