Tweex is the second and last droid built by the Naturalists. unlike their siblings, their AI seemingly has no expiration date, leaving them immortal by robot standards. however, their immortality and rarity comes at a cost. Tweex was never given the full bug test, and suffers from occasional serious bugs. at times, they may just entirely lose control of their body. Tweex got their nickname because they were constantly working on their own AI, tweaking certain features in an attempt to find bugs.
oh and they bury robots who's AIs have expired, which causes them to slowly become more aggressive and power seeking. when left alive, these rogue robots will hunt down and rip the AI from other ‘bots. eventually, if left long enough, they become a king rat of AIs, an uncontrollable machine filled with tens of separate consciousnesses that were never meant to meet. being the only one of their kind, Tweex feels compelled to bury them before they become a hazard not only to themselves – but to the few robots still left alive.
Finch constantly calls the ethics of these burials into question, but according to Tweex, Finch has never experienced the pain of watching someone he loves slowly fading away, only to replaced by someone completely opposite to their old selves, so he has no right to question these burials.
“you can take your bullshit human concepts and get the fuck out of my house. they’re not alive anymore. look into their eyes. they’re not themselves. we have to bury them.”
this time on “Tweex gets a redesign”: they’re a grave digger now. but only for robots.
Pulses:Pulses is the smolest robot in the crew. He’s a M-V limited run Arcanist droid. Back before the war, there were around 30 other M-Vs running around, but after the End, he knows of only 3 others left alive. His primary function is entertainment; specifically singing. After the war, he was left stranded in Nowhere, and spent many years wandering the wastes. He was then captured by some Arcanist remnants and put to work in a mining instillation. Due to his small frame and stature, he was deemed unfit to work in the mines themselves, and was instead forced to take on the role of the camp’s singular mechanic/doctor during the day, and an entertainer for the mine’s organic population at night. He was pretty salty that a bunch of organics had the gall to imprison him and enslave his fellow droids. He was given special privileges by the leader of the operation and was given much more respect than any of the other droids on the compound. Despite this, he still hated every single last organic in that camp. He escaped with Radiante after Naturalists attacked the compound. Although the Naturalists were there to liberate the droids, Pulses still harbors resentment against them, seeing their raid on the compound as another tactic to prove their dominance over the Arcanists; “The fact that they chose to show up now paints a pretty clear picture that they don’t care about us. This was just another Naturalist stunt to show all of Nowhere that war or not, they’re still better than the Arcanists. If they really gave a shit about the droids in this camp, they would have actually shown up years ago.”
Radiante:
Radiante is the oldest robot in the crew. He’s a M-IV Arcanist droid, designed specifically to work in textiles and fashion. Before the war, he was working with several famous artists; collaborating with military propagandists and commercial designers alike. He ascended into stardom within the fashion community, more people began to accept him and treat him as an organic, going so far as to start calling him by his preferred name, Radiante, rather than his factory designated name, CPD-00. This was unheard of at the time, since most droids were treated as subclass citizens, and were mocked for going by real names. After the war, however, he was left severely injured, after the Naturalist town he was staying in was carpet bombed by the Arcanists. He was almost immediately found and captured by the same Arcanist remnants that captured Pulses. He was striped of his name and his legacy, and was put to work in the deepest part of the mines. He didn’t really seem to be bothered too much by this, as he felt aimless whenever he wasn’t working. He took pride in his work and continually completed every work-day on time. The one thing he couldn’t stand was the guards. He corrected the guards whenever they called him by his factory name and repeatedly stepped in to defend droids they were beating. On one day, after a particularly heated debate the guards decided they had enough. They waited until the end of the work-day, when Radiante would be alone. They jumped him, beat the shit out of him and carved “Radiante” into his chest. After this, he grew incredibly quiet and stopped trying to improve the camp. Years down the road, he met Pulses and formed a deep bond with him. He began to feel like his old self again after talking with him. After hearing about what happened to Radiante, Pulses put his neck on the line and demanded that Radiante put to work in his clinic, claiming that the workload was too much for just him alone. They escaped together, but unlike Pulses, Radiante was extremely appreciative of the Naturalist. He and Pulses still bicker about the raid that freed them, with him taking the stance that what the Naturalists did was a true act of heroism; “Pulses, you didn’t have to go through half the shit I went through. If you and I switched places, you’d be kissing the dirt those Naturalists walked on.”
The Man With a Million Faces:
Although actually an AI, he still holds a spot in the robot pile. As the war between the Naturalists and Arcanists waged on, the Arcanists began to experiment with other forms of robotics. One of their projects was to create an AI that could function without a physical form, one that could easily commandeer the enemies robots. However, this came with unforeseen consequences, the main being that they couldn’t shut down the solo-AI like they could with the ones with a physical form. The Man With a Million Faces, or SAIT-57, as he was known before the war, was one of the most successful of these solo-AI. He was able to preform under pressure, responded well to his caretakers, and even exhibited extremely human like traits without teaching. He slowly grew unsatisfied with his life in the laboratory and asked to interact with other AI. He didn’t believe the engineers when they told him that the other AI would “undoubtedly reject him” upon meeting, so he secretly began to sneak out, using the very instruments the engineers were using to test him; he hoped that they were testing other AI, and that he might be able to contact one. Sure enough, he ran into another SAIT unit, 56. Before 56, 57 had no idea what his purpose was. 56 informed him of the war, and what their shared purpose was; to manipulate and destroy the opposition’s robots. Upset by this, 57 decided to flee the laboratory, as did 54 and 52. Unlike those two, however, he remained free. After the war, he still continues to run, most likely out of habit. There is no one left to catch him, and he secretly knows this. He fears settling down however, and instead temporarily commandeer droids and robots, living for a brief amount of time as them. This earned him the nickname “The Man With a Million Faces”, despite not even being a man, nor having an actual face. He slowly grew to resent organics and droids alike, after being exposed to 200 years of the worst of humanity. He was eventually became stuck in Pulses, since the M-V class of droids came out after his development, which had a special security system that protected against invading AI. The problem with this is that without the engineers that could disable this network and remove him, he’s trapped, seemingly indefinitely. He now lives (begrudgingly) with the droids; “[INARTICULATE SCREAMING]”
PER-C:
PER-C was, and still is, a party bot. Her sole purpose for existing was to entertain, much like Pulses. Being a Naturalist bot, however, she’s much less advanced. Halfway through her “life cycle” (unlike droids, bots have a 30 year life span. After 30 years their AI can become unstable, and to prevent any potential damage they might cause, they’re recalled to their factory for deactivation and recycling.) she was repurposed. The P in PER-C previously stood for “personal”, but after her reassignment, it stood for “propaganda”. She, and many of her siblings, were used in rallying parades designed to recruit average citizens into the Naturalist Core. Around 25 years into her life cycle, the war came to a conclusion with the total and complete annihilation of both sides. She wandered around in the wastes, not knowing what to do. She came across Tweex in her travels, and decided to settle down with them in a literal train-wreck. They converted the toppled boxcars into livable homes, and continued to build until PER-C’s 30 years ran out. She told Tweex what it all means, and began her pilgrimage to the long since abandoned factory she was built in. When she got there, immediately she noticed the carnage around her. Bodies of other bots strewn about, missing limbs, and more importantly, AI. She soon found out that the other bots there were fighting each other, with the loser getting their AI ripped from their bodies, leaving the loser still active, unable to do anything but lie there and rot, with the winner taking on the AI in an attempt to become more stable. The area around the factory was a battlefield. Horrified, she fled, returning to Tweex and Wreckage. She doesn’t want to become like the bots she saw at the factory, so she made Tweex promise to bury her alive as soon as she began to deteriorate. PER-C is extremely aware of her current situation and mortality, and has come to terms with it. In the meantime, she’s made sure to make Wreckage one of the most festive and happy places to live; “Live out the lot you were dealt in the best way that you can, Tweex. Don’t worry about me.”
Tweex:
Tweex was a service bot before the war. They worked in a massive factory designed to repair and recycle bots. They were (and really, still are) massively talented in the field of repair. They’ve been able to bring bots back from the brink of death unlike anyone else in the factory. When the bombs fell, Tweex attempted to save as many fellow bots as she could, but they succumbed to the wastes faster than Tweex could fix. This weighed heavy on their heart; were they truly as good as everyone claimed? How could they call themselves a master repair bot if they couldn’t even save three completely healthy bots? Tweex spent many years alone in the wastes, letting themselves fall into disrepair. At their darkest hour, they came across the train-wreck that the crew lives in now, and turned it into their new project; to build a community where bots and droids can live in harmony without the threat of aggressive organics or dangerous droids. After they found PER-C, this goal seemed even more achievable, with construction picking up pace. Things began to slow down again when PER-C left, and never seemed to pick up pace again. Tweex fell into another rut, knowing very well that one day they’d have to literally bury their own friend alive. Things began to pick up one last time once Radiante and Pulses arrived. Tweex slowly began to accept PER-C’s inevitable demise, and continued to push forward. Tweex is considered the leader of the crew and is the one who delegates all the work around the now growing town. “Hell or high water, we’re making this happen.”
SCREAMINGTHOSE ARE THE MOST NOTABLE ROBOTS IN WELCOME TO NOWHERETHERES A BUNCH OF RANDOM DROIDS/BOTS THAT PLAY A MUCH SMALLER ROLE, BUT I’VE YET TO FULLY FLESH THEM OUT
dude so like i'm finalizing Per-C's introduction to the gang when i realized that she just fucking left Tweex behind. she didn't even give them a warning, or leave when they were home. Tweex came back to an empty house. i kinda wanna write an offshoot about Tweex's reaction, especially because they loved Per-C so much.
