kovach | ximilia app.

OOC
Name: Arisa
Contact:

hepburns
Other characters: n/a

IC
Name: Takeshi Kovacs
Canon: Altered Carbon
Canon point: Season 1, Episode 6 (end of episode)
Age: ~284 (spent 250 of those years unconscious with his stack placed in storage, so his conscious mind is at least 34 years or older, and his current sleeve is physically in its late 30s)

History: link — The link provided gives all the specific details of Kovacs' history, but since the setting takes place in a unique futuristic world, here are some prominent keywords that are commonly featured in both the link and throughout the app:

STACKS — With the advancement of technology in the future, mankind was eventually able to implant hard drives into the brainstem of every human being. In the form of a disk inserted at the base of the skull, these "cortical stacks" could store the host's memories, experiences, and personality. The technology for these stacks comes from recovered alien tech with makes it possible to digitize the human consciousness. Every human is implanted with a cortical stack at the age of one.

SLEEVES — Because a person's entire soul could now be contained in a stack, the definition of death has greatly changed. Physical bodies are now referred as "sleeves", in which one person's stack could be removed from one body to another, keeping their identity intact no matter how they appear on the outside. A sleeve can be destroyed and be rendered useless with damage to the vital organs, but if a person's stack remains unharmed, they could continue to live in a new sleeve, thus making the concept of immortality theoretically possible. If a stack is completely damaged or destroyed, the data often can't be recovered and, thus, results in "real death".

NEEDLECAST — Needlecasting is the process of transferring data from one stack to another, possible to be done at long distances including between planets. This allows stacks to be transferred into different sleeves; however, switching sleeves often results in "sleeve sickness", due to the psychological and physical trauma that comes with changing bodies.

ENVOYS — Trained soldiers who received psychospiritual conditioning to be able to be needlecast into any sleeve located off-planet and off-world without experiencing sleeve sickness, thus allowing them to be battle ready in mere minutes. They were led by Quellcrist Falconer as freedom fighters to rebel against stack technology, believing that the idea of immortality is a mistake, especially as it would give more dominance to the rich and powerful. As of the present day of his canon point, Kovacs is considered to be the only surviving Envoy.

PROTECTORATE — A shortened name for the United Nations Interstellar Protectorate, which is essentially the government that commands throughout all human-inhabited planets. Because of their power, they maintain full control over stack technology, which had them frequently facing the rebellion of the Envoys.

CTAC — Known as Colonial Tactical Assault Corps, they are soldiers used as a special forces unit to suppress criminal activities in the Protectorate, enforcing law across all of their colonies. Kovacs was originally trained as a CTAC soldier before he joined Quellcrist's fight as an Envoy.

Personality:

LOYAL — Kovacs has shown that loyalty is something he holds onto very strongly, most evident in his relationship with his sister, Rei, killing their father to protect her, joining CTAC under the condition she be sent to a family that would take care of her, and then later turning against CTAC when learning that she had instead been sold to the Yakuza, choosing instead to go on the run with her. After joining the Envoys, he undergoes torture by the Protectorate in which he's unlikely to survive unless he expose information on the group, but instead devotes himself to protecting them and their cause. He further proves the extent of how strongly he believes in loyalty to his friends with those he comes to know in the present day in Bay City, ignoring Quell's initial advice of bonding with locals to be used as mere cannon fodder to be used with whatever best aids the mission, instead devoting himself to helping them even when he may be at a loss or risk.

INTUITIVE — Though a lot of his psychological advancements came from the mental conditioning experienced with the Envoys, Kovacs has shown that a lot of his wise intuition has actually been a held skill since he was a kid. At twelve years old, he learned on his own how to use a gun to kill his father, and then upon getting caught, showed extreme composure when dealing with a CTAC leader despite his age, understanding how to bargain for his and his sister's benefit, showing his capabilities of switching into an adult sleeve to already become a soldier. Through the years, he shows his mental capabilities of understanding others and reasoning their intentions, which he makes frequent use of when investigating Bancroft's murder, going on instinct on each suspect's motives.

CONSIDERATE — Despite appearances in which most people perceive Kovacs to be an asshole due to his more stoic and grumbling demeanor, he actually tries to frequently take people's care and interest to heart, particularly if they're in a state of less fortune. When visiting a brothel to investigate a murder, Kovacs shows sensitivity and understanding to one of the prostitutes upon learning she'd been allowing one of the clients to physically abuse her for his pleasure, assuring her that she's worth more than allowing herself to be hurt for money. He also works to be considerate of Ortega when learning he's using her boyfriend's sleeve, understanding the complexity of her feeling when looking at a familiar body, and despite his insistence of only using Vernon for his own benefit, he makes a devoted effort to reunite him with his family.

VENGEFUL — Though loyalty is a strong quality in Kovacs, it's for this very reason that when experiencing betrayal, he takes it upon himself to be extremely vengeful in kind. Despite having spent ten years training and undergoing missions with CTAC, he immediately turns his back on them once he learns they'd lied to him about his sister being taken to a good family, killing his old allies without hesitation immediately upon learning the truth. After getting tortured in Wei Clinic, a facility specializing in VR torture, Kovacs breaks free and guns down every employee working there, shooting them in the stack for taking part in such an inhumane practice.

DEPENDENT — Because Kovacs had grown up carrying for his sister, he's actually developed a habit of dependency in having others around. Though he left CTAC after being betrayed by their leader, he'd had reliable bonds with the others soldiers, and in joining the Envoys, he began to see the other rebels as his family, particularly after overcoming their difficulty to trust in him due to being ex-CTAC. In losing them all to the Battle of Stronghold, including Quell whom he'd fallen in love with, Kovacs woke up 250 years later with everyone he cared for gone, leaving him in a dark place of anger and hopelessness, to the point where he frequently contemplated suicide, due to his difficulty to not have others to rely on.

CYNICAL — Due to the great impact of his losses and the frequent betrayal he's had to experience, Kovacs can often come off quite cynical. While his innate ability is to care for others, he shows a lot of resistance to the fact, wanting to instead shift his priorities to only carrying for himself and his own plans. When speaking to others, he responds with consistent sarcasm and deadpan humor to showcase his disinterest, wanting to form an tougher image of himself to portray to others. Still, his experiences truly have been a great weight on him, particular as an Envoy, consistently placing a negative judgment on the rich and powerful for leaving so many people to suffer.

Powers/Abilities:

ENVOY CONDITIONING — As an envoy, Kovacs received psychospiritual conditioning in which his senses would be better attuned to his surroundings and would better withstand sleeve sickness. This includes: spatial awareness (being able to detect nearby physical presences while being attuned to one's hearing), construct manipulation (while being trapped in a virtual reality, being able to take control of the construct and even escape), heightened intuition (having a more particular attention to detail, forming more exact conclusions with the stitching of context), and foresight/anticipation (a quick analysis of the environment and a person's actions to form an expectation of how things may move or change).

NEURACHEMICAL UPGRADES — While Kovacs' instincts as an Envoy transfer with him through his stack, neurachem is a physical conditioning which applies improvements to reflexes and is dependent on the sleeve being used. Because he is currently in the sleeve of Elias Ryker, a police officer, Kovacs notes that the sleeve has received basic military-grade neurachem conditioning in its nervous system. Though not as advanced and high-level as his previous sleeves, Kovacs is still able to combine it with his own personal training to be well capable in a fight.

Regret: Kovacs' regret is not being able to protect the Envoys, especially Quell, from dying during the Battle of Stronghold.

Inventory:

NEMEX-X — Second series Nemex-X gun, which fires a jacketed slug with a customized propellant. Magazine takes eighteen shells in a staggered clip.

TEBBET KNIFE — Tantalum steel alloy blade with bioweapon coding. The runnel is coated with "Reaper" which produces cyanide compounds on contact.

UNICORN BACKPACK — Purchased with a variety of hallucinogenic drugs inside (referred to as Stallion, Somno, Tetrameth, Veuron, Merge5, Stiff, and Reaper), though also used now to store his weapons along with cartons of cigarettes.

Sample: TDM Starter + Threads, Thread #1, Thread #2