Katabax
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-- AZIMUTH Prime, LOG [47617465776179]
Rumours have it that Katabax was a living, breathing creature once, from a world very different to Thraelos. What species it may have been before, nobody can answer, nor do they dare ask. What stands before them in the present is all that matters: a complex arrangement of sliding metal parts and uncompromising mechanisms, all sharpened to needlepoint and polished to a perfect reflective finish.
Katabax locks himself often in his personal workspace within the laboratories of Azimuth Manufacturing Company, only being caught slithering through the halls in the peripheral vision of his underlings. Speculation breeds like wildfire as to what it could be up to, but very few have curried favour with the cruel machine.
Table of ContentsBackstoryArma'chymos is a world defined by its ever-dark skies and metallic flora and fauna. Many organisms in Arma'chymos are little more than the most basal of animals. It remains primitive in comparison to other worlds, stuck in its cycles by the overbearing pressures of heightened natural selection.
The creature that would eventually become Katabax was a small scavenger organism
Pre-Katabax never claimed a part of its home world's surface as its territory despite its burgeoning intelligence providing an advantage. Instead, it holed itself up in a tunnel near a pool of primordial soup and used it as its lair. It opted for a slippery, mobile body over heavy armour and specialized for precise dexterity over the obvious weapon in the form of claws. While the other apex creatures around it passively gained their own higher intelligence,
Its answer would come in the form of a gateway. While it traced evidence of non-Chymic material buried deep in the data procured from its prey, another portal would periodically appear and disappear. Other creatures were afraid of it and no dominant individuals had claimed the immediate area. Katabax was determined to be the first to investigate.
The consequences were immediate. Katabax's body was rended apart in the space between Arma'chymos and its destination. On the other side, it emerged as a mangled mess of Chymic metal and flesh. Whoever were responsible shut the portal down and left Katabax in the chamber for months, where it proceeded to link itself to the computing system that operated the portal frame. The information it gained upon connecting to the system was immense, and finally, it had a name for the place it had ended up: Thraelos. From there, and with some assistance (and later material) from a particularly disturbed researcher, it restored as much as it could of its previous form.
Katabax has since been, strangely enough, accepted as another member of Azimuth Manufacturing Co.'s research staff, compelled to stay by the near limitless access to new information, and a particular agreement it had struck with the company's current Chief Director, Amira. |
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Personality
[CLEARANCE UNVERIFIED. INFORMATION WITHHELD.]
Likes
- Observational activities in general: people watching, debate, attending colloquiums, etc.
- Just arguing with people in general
- Information-base gathering: study, reading, data processing and analysis
- Deconstructing and re-constructing systems to their components
- Ethically dubious scientific
practicepractices - Puzzles
Dislikes
- People thinking they are smarter than it [they are wrong]
- Quarrelsome people, close-mindedness and contrarians
- Wastefulness & excess
- People prying where they shouldn't
- Indecision
Location
Katabax usually stays within the grounds of Azimuth's campus, having access to all the facilities freely there to the point that many suspect that it lives within the facility. On very rare occasions, it may go elsewhere for work-related reasons, whether it be as a representative of the company board or as the head of its own department—though it usually substitutes its presence with the use of a proxy, whether they be agents or drones.
Abilities
✦ DIRECTIVE :: EXTRACT
Katabax is able to consume other organisms and extract chemical and electrical data from them to add to its information base. ItExtraction isof abledata from its degenerated copies [see Sub-directive :: Synthesis] can specifically give it access to accessthat memoriescopy's of those it absorbs so long as the associated synapses are active. memories.
✦ SUB-DIRECTIVE :: SYNTHESIS
An ability intrinsic to its species, Katabax can take a piece of its own physical mass and synthesise a lesser copy of itself. The copy is much smaller and possesses little more than basic survival instincts. The copy is able to collect information independent of Katabax's main body. If at any point the main body is destroyed, the copy can gather the remaining mass and take its place if necessary. In turn, Katabax can re-absorb its clone(s) and the extra data that comes with it.
Synthesis of a clone requires dedicating Chymic metal, which Katabax had lost about 40% of in its disastrous landing in Thraelos. Therefore, it is only limited to one clone at a time. The risk of losing the mass dedicated to a clone is too great in some cases.
✦ PROTOCOL :: NULLIFY
Katabax has a field of anti-magic suspension in an almost immediate proximity to it [approx. 2 m or 6.5 ft.] due to its composition.Chymic metal components. This field is subconsciously active by default, but can be disabled for a short period [ie. 1.5-3~ hrs].
Within this field, magic-wielders report their abilities feeling 'stuck' in some way or another. Objects imbued with arcane enhancement lose their [magic-based] effects so long as they in proximity. The moment the affected person or object crosses the boundary of the field in full, their capabilities return to them like normal, with no lingering side effects.
✦ PROTOCOL :: REGENERATE
[CLEARANCE UNVERIFIED. INFORMATION WITHHELD.]
Skills & Stats
Katabax is very much a specialist in its abilities, but those specializations are not easily deduced at a glance. For something its size and assumed power, it does have a bit of a "glass cannon" quality to it.
Weapons
- Rostrum. Katabax's spear-like extension from its upper jaw can be used for pinning things down.
- Teeth. Seldom used due to a relatively weak bite force, but good for shredding. Used for PROTOCOL :: REGENERATE as needed.
- Bladed arms. Katabax possesses a set of structures on its arms that can slide past the phalanges to act as scalpels. When not in use, these blades retract back to slot above Katabax's forearm to protect the bladed tip.
✦ General Stats
| ✦ Strengths |
✧ Weaknesses |
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✦ Imperative Strengths
- High information capacity. Katabax is able to take in and process information very quickly. It is able to memorize whole conversations, recall events with perfect clarity and learn at a
terrifyingterrifyingly fast rate. - Agility. Katabax is highly mobile for a creature its size and
weight.weight, and is capable of scaling perfectly vertical walls to an extent. - Polyglot. Fluent and literate in most major languages in use across Thraelos in addition to its own mother tongue.
✧ Imperative Weaknesses
- Fragile components. Most components made of strong yet mundane alloys of metals found on Thraelos can be replaced by PROTOCOL ::
REGENERATE,REGENERATE.butAafewfew,complexsuchparts,aslike its eyes, must be supplied elsewhere and grafted on by a skilled (and trusted) technician.- Fragile insides. Sections of Katabax's connective tissue is organic and is therefore susceptible to injury.
Healing these tissues also requires a lot of time.
- Fragile insides. Sections of Katabax's connective tissue is organic and is therefore susceptible to injury.
ShearingChymicforcemetalvulnerability.deficiency.AsKatabax had lost about 30% of its original Chymic metal mass upon entry to Thraelos, and a further 5% is currently beingmadeusedmostlyelsewhereoutand therefore not part ofmetal,itsKatabax'smass.platingWhileisitpronehas supplemented the missing plates with Thraelos' natural metals, the flexibility and self-repairing properties of Chymic metal are lost. Katabax cannot afford towarpinglose much more, given its scarcity anddentinginaccessibilityunderofunevenhispressure. These pieces will needhomeworld tobecurrententirelyportalsremoved then regenerated.systems.
✦ Psychological Stats ✦
| Charisma | ✦✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧ | Kindness | --- |
| Patience | ✦✦✦✦✦✧✧✧✧✧ | Intelligence | ✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦ |
| Confidence | ✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦ | Perception | ✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✧ |
| Discipline | ✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦ | Psych stamina | --- |
| Courage | ✦✦✦✧✧✧✧✧✧✧ | Caution | ✦✦✦✦✦✧✧✧✧✧ |
| Honesty | ✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✧✧✧ | Loyalty | ✦✦✦✦✦✧✧✧✧✧ |
| Maturity | --- | Creativity | --- |
| Cleanliness | ✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦ | Work ethic | ✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦ |
✧ Physical Stats ✧
| Physical Strength |
✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✧✧
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Speed |
✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✧✧✧
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| Magical Strength |
✦✦✦✧✧✧✧✧✧✧
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Constitution |
✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✧
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| Physical Defense |
✦✦✦✦✦✦✧✧✧✧
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Dexterity |
✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦
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| Magical Defense |
✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦
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Stamina |
✦✦✦✦✦✦✧✧✧✧
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Associated Stories
✦ Vivisection - Zetsel, looking for equipment, instead stumbles on Katabax experimenting on something peculiar.
NPC Usage Notes
Feel free to ask me questions in regards to details on Katabax and Azimuth Manufacturing as a whole as needed!
Gallery
[main reference image]
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Author's Notes
✦ Katabax's name is derived from the Ancient Greek word, 'katabasis' ( κατάβασις ), which refers to a journey into the Underworld in classical mythology.
✦ I semi-ironically ship Zetsel with Bax purely because "Zetbax" (Setbacks!) is a hilarious ship name with the added context that these two idiots thrive on infuriating each other even if they are on the same team.