Name: Godos #1954 or G-1954 for short
Gender: Male orientation, although its arguable if zoids have gender
Age: 33
Nationality: Republican product, Imperial programming
Zoid: Godos
AIM: DGDSND01
Background:
There were explosions everywhere. Blasts brighter and warmer than any sun marred his hide and slaughtered his brethren, but he fought on. Shells larger than most humans rained down from afar, turning fertile grounds into wastelands. His body was hit numerous times and from multiple places, his life force leaked; but he fought on. Humans were everywhere, running towards him, running away; between his feet and under them, there was even one in his cockpit. Like the others, that human was killed; but he fought on. He fought until no longer possible; it was as much his nature as it was duty. War and battle were the only things he knew, the only passions worth living. But then came a time when the war stopped—when the guns fell silent and the fires died. The world at peace was no longer the world he knew. After that, all he knew was darkness.
During Zi’s latest civil war, various projects were undertaken not only to create more powerful zoids, but to improve those already serving in the military. One such experiment, an Imperial endeavor, was the attempted development of an inexpensive AI system that would grant sentience and better performance to grunt zoids. Ironically the majority of the test subjects were captured Republican zoids, used as guinea pigs to avoid depleting the Empire’s own military. One other benefit of this was for the scientists to observe just how well their efforts were progressing by pitting their doctored zoids against the unadulterated originals in real skirmishes, not to mention the blow it would deal to Republican moral.
For all intensive purposes, however, the project was a failure. Although the test subjects did display increased levels of self-awareness and the ability to think, they faired little better than the standard units when sent into battle. The most notable result was that the subjects showed an increased will to fight, ignoring orders to retreat in favor of pushing forward to meet ever increasing odds. Naturally, this was considered a liability more than anything else. Funding for the project was pulled and funneled into more worthwhile endeavors. The zoids themselves, showing little variation from their unaltered brethren, were returned to normal combat. Most of the pilots had no idea they were using reject experiments.
With the arrival of the Anti-Zoid laws, all existing units in the Imperial military were thus scheduled to be destroyed, or ‘cubed’ as it were. Although most of the experimental zoids were lost to the battlefield in earlier years, several of the units survived long enough to be listed for termination. Godos #1954 was one such zoid. Having no interest in the affairs of humans, the zoid itself was not even aware of its fate and thus, did nothing to prevent it. Instead, it was an Imperial lieutenant that spared G-1954. A private during the height of the Civil War, the wounded soldier was saved by the Godos when it unknowingly stepped on an Republican soldier during a failed assault on enemy soil. Thinking back to the day of the incident, the officer thought it time to return the life-debt. In any case, he would also be doing a personal favor. Never having much faith in peace, the man felt it foolish to discard weapons they might need in the future. Overseeing the cubing process himself, the soldier easily replaced G-1954 with a civilian Godos that was meant to be destroyed anyway, before piloting the zoid to a labyrinth of nearby caves he had explored as a child. Stowing the zoid within the depths of the cave, the lieutenant deactivated the Godos and detonated a series of charges, collapsing the entrance and completely hiding G-1954 from prying eyes.
The lieutenant never returned even after the Anti-Zoid laws were repealed. G-1954 failed to notice, but it no longer mattered. It was by chance that another human, a girl in her late teens, happened upon the Godos. Like the lieutenant before her and many others to follow, she had explored the caves in the area as a childhood pastime. Although she had visited this particular tunnel before, she never ventured too far in for fear of the cave floor suddenly dropping out from underneath her. In truth, the only reason she journeyed so deep now was the rapist behind her-- a drunk from the local bar. In an effort to lose him, the young woman groped for rocks to hide behind, finding instead, a gigantic metal object! Risking her position, she lit a flashlight and was met with the slumbering form of G-1954. Attracted by the light, the pursuer easily caught up, forcing the girl to climb for her life. Having worked with zoids on several occasions, she managed to locate the outer-release hatch on the Godos’ head. There was barely enough room for the canopy to open, but even as the glass scraped against the roof of the cave, the woman entered the cockpit and brought G-1954 to life once more.
Still inebriated, the rapist did not comprehend what was happening until a massive foot crushed the boulder he had been leaning on. Clutching what was left of his arm, the man shrieked in terror and fled. No one reported seeing him actually leave the cave after the incident, so most local authorities believe him to be just another fool who had gotten lost and starved. Being little more than a nuisance and a burden to the nearby town, he would not be missed. Because no record of this unmarked Godos existed, G-1954 was placed in the custody of the woman who had found him, she herself being a competition zoid pilot. This was of little concern to the zoid itself, which was content with the prospect of battling once again, even if there were new rules of engagement to follow.
G-1954, being a zoid of increased brain activity, is fully self aware and knows what he wants, which, for the time being, is nothing more than to fight. Having retained his original instincts, especially iron-clad stubbornness, the Godos seldom calls it quits before having its Command System frozen. More often than not, it will stare down any foe regardless of how one-side the outcome may be. Without legions of other zoids advancing by his side, G-1954 is rapidly learning to think independently, formulating battle tactics that not only utilize the terrain and his abilities, but the strengths and weaknesses of his enemies. In many cases, his pilot notices these deviations from her original plan, but cannot argue with the results. Because she generally believes most zoids to be living, thinking creatures, G-1954’s new pilot is not aware of just how smart her Godos is and it is a safe bet that no other human does either. For the time being, G-1954 has no intention of revealing anything, to anyone.
Personality:
The subject G-1954 is a zoid of extremes, firmly grounding his personality at either end of the spectrum but seldom in the middle. As a whole, the Godos is a laid back zoid. Even in combat, G-1954 has always found it easier to shoot strait when relaxed. While less frequent, anger is also a trait that the Godos is no stranger to. In battle, it has learned to comprehend both human animosity, as well as his natural rage, making full use of both when the situation calls for it, particularly in melee. While the zoid remains mostly cool and is still slow to rage, an unholy amount of anger descends when he loses his temper, as if to compensate for his normally placid demeanor. In such cases, G-1954 adopts a ‘kill first, ask nothing” policy.
His AI makes the Godos capable of developing more humanistic traits such as compassion and regret, but low contact with humans has resulted in little progress for the time being. This lack of sensitivity however, should not be confused with lack of emotion. The Godos is easily irritated by something unexpected or when things do not go the way it plans. While generally uninterested in humans, G-1954 does display a high amount of curiosity in other life forms of unusual objects. When not preoccupied in a fight, even the simplest foreign object will perplex and capture his attention for an indefinite amount of time. Through experience using the gripper claws, the Godos has realized that most of those objects could be easily crushed or destroyed. With practice, the zoid has learned to exercise restraint when working with objects more delicate than he is. Gentle like an elephant's trunk, he can just as easily caress a bunny as he can throw it several hundred yards.
Appearance:
Although G-1954 was originally identical to the other mass-produced zoids, even after it underwent experimentation, the Imperial Army did not want to lose their captured prize amidst a sea of enemy Godos. Thus, it is almost entirely a dark, charcoal gray, with the feet and claws being just slightly lighter in tint. At night, it is nearly impossible to distinguish from black. The spines on the zoid are in sharp contrast with the rest of the body, sporting a silver-platinum paint job as if diamonds on a living mass of coal. Instead of the traditional orange, the cockpit glass has been replaced with an identical canopy of eerie lime-green colors.
Let us see . . .
Imperial experiment.
Yawn.
You can do better than Generic Imperial Experiment. F'rinstance, the Athens Institute of Zoid Design and Technology is far more likely to dump resources into such a project and then sell it to the Empire once the war starts. No major groundbreaking project would've been started during the war, not really. Things like the Manhatten Project, where it was do or die, are the exception. Either it was started before the war or it doesn't get started until after the war's won. You could argue that, because the war was some decade long, it could've been done. But then I'd like to see some dates on it.
The other thing is that the Anti-Zoid Laws didn't affect military zoids. Only civilian materiel. They were a token nod at the grieving relatives of those who died in the war. But I have two words to help that: Military surplus.
(Revised. Basically the same bio, but obviously, your suggestions were strongly considered)
Name: Godos #1954 or G-1954 for short
Gender: Male orientation
Age: 33
Nationality: Originally Republican
Zoid: Godos
AIM: DGDSND01
Personality:
G-1954, being a zoid of increased brain activity, is fully self aware and knows what he wants, which for the time being, is nothing more than to fight. Having retained his original instincts, especially iron-clad stubbornness, the Godos seldom calls it quits before having its Command System frozen. More often than not, it will stare down any foe regardless of how one-sided the outcome may be; as an observer once commented, “It's got balls of steel.”.
Without legions of other zoids advancing by his side, G-1954 is rapidly learning to work with what it has, formulating battle tactics that not only utilize the terrain and his abilities, but the strengths and weaknesses of his enemies. In many cases, Melissa notices these deviations from her original plan, but cannot argue with the results. Because she generally believes most zoids to be living, thinking creatures, G-1954’s new pilot is not aware of just how smart her Godos is and it is a safe bet that no other human does either. For the time being, G-1954 has no intention of revealing anything, to anyone.
In battle, it has learned to comprehend both human animosity, as well as his natural rage, making full use of both when the situation calls for it. While the zoid remains mostly cool and is still slow to rage, an unholy amount of anger descends when he loses his temper, as if to compensate for his normally placid demeanor. In such cases, G-1954 adopts a ‘kill first, ask nothing” policy. Although his AI makes the Godos capable of developing more humanistic traits such as compassion and regret, low contact with humans has yielded little progress in these areas.
Background:
Even in the relatively quiet years between NC 34 and NC 48, both the Guylos Empire and Helic Republic understood the delicate nature of their peace and thus continued to bolster their respective armed forces in preparation for possible renewed conflict. Resource limitations and the threat of espionage forced the militaries to directly shepherd only the most important projects; lesser programs were often contracted to various zoid corporations distributed across the globe. Realizing that they could not simply trust their future in the hands of novices or imbeciles, the nations would often let the firms fight amongst themselves; the companies able to crush their competition were obviously the best candidates to develop new zoids for war, but to also improve the units already serving under a nation’s banner.
One such experiment was an Imperial endeavor leased to Gryphon Industries, a promising new Research & Development firm based in one of the prospering Guylos Colonies on the Eastern Continent. The objective was simple, at least in theory: using test zoids, Gryphon’s engineers were to attempt the development of an inexpensive AI system. This new performance-enhancing project, dubbed “Goblin” was meant to be to grunt, frontline zoids what the Ogre was to the Republic’s Gojulas, granting sentience and better performance. Coincidentally enough, to avoid sacrificing their own forces to trial and error, captured or abandoned Republican zoids made the bulk of Gryphon’s test subjects; among these, were quite a few Godos.
For all intensive purposes, the project was a failure. Although the test subjects did display increased levels of self-awareness and the ability to think for themselves, the price was ultimately too high. For one thing, the test zoids’ new independence caused them to question the purpose of a human pilot. Like large mechanical mules, these zoids were often very stubborn and proved exceedingly difficult to work with. The most notable result was that the subjects also possessed levels of aggression, often ignoring orders to retreat in favor of pushing forward to meet ever increasing odds. Naturally, this was considered a liability more than anything else. Funding for the project was pulled and funneled into more worthwhile endeavors. Not long after, Gryphon Industries filed for bankruptcy. Survivng data from the experiments as well as many of the test zoids were then bought by other conglomerates, both private and consumer; only a handful of the original materials actually remained with Gryphon Industries staff, many of which returned to lives as ordinary colonial citizens.
With the onset of the resumed war between Helic and Guylos in NC 48, what remained of the original test units were confiscated by the local military and sent to quel hotbeds of conflic. Many of the soldiers were completely unaware of their zoids' histories and there were many an unpleasant surprise when their units failed to properly follow orders. Although most of the experimental units were lost to the battlefield in earlier years, several of them survived long enough to be listed for termination as NC 65 rolled around with it the Anti-Zoid laws, bringing with it the erradication of most civilian zoids. Godos #1954 was one such zoid. Having no interest in the affairs of humans, the zoid itself was not even aware of its fate and thus, did nothing to prevent it. Instead, it was the zoid's owner, one of the original engineers from the Goblin Project, that spared it.
Risking what remained of his freedom and livelihood, the owner met with a former Goblin colleague who some time ago, had taken a job as professor at the Athens Institute of Zoid Design and Technology, now the foremost center for zoid decomissions. After much under the table whispering, pleading, and accusations of insanity, the Athens professor finally agreed to replace G-1954 with a civilian Godos that was meant to be destroyed anyway. Sometime later under the cover of darkness, G-1954 was piloted to a labyrinth of nearby caves the professor had explored as a child. Stowing the zoid within the depths of the cave, the scientist deactivated the Godos and detonated a series of charges, collapsing the entrance and completely hiding G-1954 from prying eyes.
Neither the professor or the Godos’ owner returned for it, even after the Anti-Zoid laws were repealed. Although it is unknown what exactly happened to them after hiding the zoid away, G-1954 failed to notice. It was by chance that another human, a girl in her late teens, happened upon the Godos. Like the scientist before her and many others to follow, she had explored the caves in the area as a childhood pastime. Although she had visited this particular tunnel before, she never ventured too far in for fear of the cave floor suddenly dropping out from underneath her. In truth, the only reason she journeyed so deep now was the rapist behind her-- a drunk from the local bar. In an effort to lose him, the young woman groped for rocks to hide behind, finding instead, a gigantic metal object! Risking her position, she lit a flashlight and was met with the slumbering form of G-1954. Attracted by the light, the pursuer easily caught up, forcing the girl to climb for her life. Having worked with zoids as a profession, she managed to locate the outer-release hatch on the Godos’ head. There was barely enough room for the canopy to open, but even as the glass scraped against the roof of the cave, the woman entered the cockpit and brought G-1954 to life once more.
Still inebriated, the rapist did not comprehend what was happening until a massive foot crushed the boulder he had been leaning on. Clutching what was left of his arm, the man shrieked in terror and fled, though no one reported seeing him actually leave the cave after the incident. Because no record of this unmarked Godos existed, G-1954 was placed in the custody of Melissa Harding, the girl who had found him in the first place; it was a logical choice, seeing as she herself was a competition zoid pilot. This was of little concern to the zoid itself, which was content with the prospect of battling once again.
Appearance:
Built in the Republic, recovered by the Empire, and altered by Gryphon industries, the exterior of Godos #1954 is a living record of all three influences. The frame itself is a myriad of grays ranging from light to charcoal in hue. Instead of the traditional orange, the cockpit glass has been replaced with canopy of eerie lime-green colors. The symbol for the Helic Republic is still visible on the forehead of green, but for some reason, the lightning bolt and olive leaves have been stained a vivid red.