Random musings...

[IamLEAM1983]

I watched The Clone Wars with a buddy, last night, and kind of latched onto General Grievous' fairly dogged insistence in thinking that he augmented himself out of his own volition, even if that wasn't entirely the case. He's more droid than cyborg, honestly, with whatever's organic being limited to what's behind his faceplate.

It got me thinking that I had this idea of giving Archie a Moriarty-esque figure, a while back; an old antagonist he'd probably have encountered during his covert ops across the Secession War's theatre. Archie's well-adjusted in the sense that he's narrowed down what defines him as a human despite his nature; he's centered himself on the things that keep him anchored to the mundane realities he's familiar with.

What happens when you transition into a Clank shell and you aren't willing to preserve your humanity? Your nemesis managed to best you one time too many, you're pissed off beyond all measure, and you've vowed to yourself that the next time you run into that insufferable dandy of a spy, he's going to pay. Nothing's too good in your pursuit of ensuring that he bites it, so you take the technological parallel to an Infernalist and sacrifice everything that makes you what you are on the altar of Performance. Extra limbs or less limbs, no emulated circulatory, pulmonary or digestive systems - just five senses, a whole damn lot of motivation, more freedom of movement than your average body allows, and a selection of weapons.

If you're willing to sacrifice that, it's probable that you'll turn into a more results-oriented ideological kinsmen to Rendell. Total domination isn't your focus so much as making this one guy suffer to his last breath. You wouldn't know what to do with that stupid lizard's tales of supremacy; that's not what interests you! You have your target in your sights and you want to take things slow, because that's the only way you know to break a man's willpower. You've had a hell of a long time to cultivate a grudge, so you're not about to go for anything like a quick and easy attempt on the Clank's life.

You've got time, resources and a more practical-minded approach to having a full prosthetic body, ethics and your own sense of Self be damned.

I'd say that sounds like a fairly interesting framework for a villain, especially if I can back that up with more than raw jealousy.

[TennyoCeres84]

That could make for an interesting villain with a little more fleshing out.

[IamLEAM1983]

I've done some research on Confederate spies to try and lay down some historical groundwork and I've been toying with a few concepts. Either the guy's a historical figment and more or less a ghost on the legal spectrum, or he's constituted a web of resources for himself to tap into over time. I figure he only honestly cares about getting even with Archie, and anything else is basically a way to generate cash or get closer to his nemesis. I'm not sure if he should've stuck to doing things on his lonesome or if he would've turned into a bit of a spymaster. If that's the case, I know Evil Clank Dude is a lot more practical than Rendell. Global conquest isn't as valuable or useful to him as being able to pull switches in the back, astroturf news reports or make stock exchanges shift this way or that. That's if he does have some sort of external support structure. If that's the case, Clank Dude could even be a distributed consciousness that switches bodies wirelessly. I can't think of anything less human than constantly switching back and forth between armatures. That'd be a nice counterpoint to Archie's conservative approach.

If not, I need to figure out how much of his humanity is left. Does the guy still allow himself a few basic pleasures, or did he evacuate absolutely everything and focus on essentially existing as a naked machine.

From a historical point of view, I do know Evil Clank Dude would've only half-heartedly gotten involved with the Confederate side, his focus being on his Karthian and Fae handlers' interests. The American Civil War isn't something he got involved in as much as Archie did - especially starting with his transition. Once that happened, I figure the guy focused on the Shadow Wars - which were more or less indistinguishable from the historical mainline.

For instance, I figure some of the superhuman or nonhuman combatants in Gettysburg were trying to push the interests of covert Karthian commanders or Winter Fae.

[TennyoCeres84]

It'd make sense for him to be able to jump bodies, if he's that resourceful and focused on tossing his human side away. He would probably have connections. Though, what specifically about Archie does he despise so much? With him losing his humanity for the most part, his reasoning would probably just be a general hatred as opposed to something really specific anymore.

[IamLEAM1983]

He'd have degenerated to all-encompassing hatred, yeah; but I figure it stems from the fact that the guy started as an exceptionally promising Confederate spy who took his being noticed by Mab and the Karthian "royalists" as a sign that he really was hot stuff. Incredible opportunities were made available to him and he pretty much skyrocketed in terms of social standing - but Archie took all that away from him and forced him to retreat to the status of Civil War rumors about oddly advanced Secessionist automatons.

He had fame, recognition, a guaranteed influx of money - and it took all he had to make sure he had an escape plan if he was ever taken down. He'd planned on not needing that last trump card (turning into a Clank), but a confrontation between the two forced his hand.

Seeing as he hates Archie with a burning passion, he's turned everything that characterizes Holden into a source of contempt. I just don't know if it means he'll follow the Ultron school of disregard for humanity and stick to being a buck-naked humanoid Clank, or if he'll cling to enough human pride to at least want some clothes or maintain general likes and dislikes. Even the nuttiest of Gorobei Iwata's old kitaiteki buddies used to wear clothes, and I'm not sold on the idea of an intellect seriously tossing everything about itself to the winds.