#sunflower complex

GLOSSARY:

anima (n.) : the measurable soul.

borehole (n.) : (of chronotics) a narrow tunnel of eliminated chronal strata now occupied by undecided future spacetime with a new “present” layer at its bottom. This new layer is causally isolated from the rest of present spacetime.

cenote (n.) : a sinkhole in chronal strata.

compact (adj.) : (regardinrg noöses) a mind that wields a “life sized” scale of computational power, i.e. comparable to local wildtype brains.

chronal strata (n.) : sedimentary past spacetime.

chronotics (n.) : the study of the growing block universe.

colic (adj.) : possessing wetware.

large (adj.) : (regarding noöses) a mind that wields above a wildtype scale of computational power, such as via a tight network of compact minds.

mesh (n.) : a type of colic wetware that requires permanent encasement and life support.

mustard (n.) : a seedlet specialized in detecting and filtering semiohazards.

noösis (n.) : (plural: noöses) a mind with an anima.

nootics (n.) : the science of mental architecture.

seedlet (n.) : sapient artificial intelligence.

semiohazard (n.) : a set of information that, when encoded into a stimulus, may evoke a destructive response in a perceiver.

Throneroom (n.) : the coronal home planet.

wildtype (adj.) : (regarding genetic or nootic condition) occurring in nature.

Psychesoma — Struggling ex-model in neutral nation. Currently housed by Noumena while they financially, physically, and emotionally recover.

Noumena — Fortress of a person with an unknown job. Philanthropic streak. History of violence.

Boytoy — Drafted US soldier. Future fodder.

MOUS — Heavily mechanically augmented reconnaissance agent. Hardly conscious.

Intel — Nootically engineered info absorbtion agent. Gleefully passionate about dossier construction.

Molar — Lethal close quarters combat agent. Dozy until activated. Apathetic but easy to control.

Sunflower Florets 1 & 2 — Entwined mesh clones of a single genetic donor who was an esteemed pilot. Grown as expendable pilotware for a spy jet.

Sunflower Floret 3 — The permanent onboard seedlet overseer of Florets 1 & 2. Tentatively emotionally attaching to the meshes.

Balanceaban — War logistics and research manager for México. Dislikes human suffering so has prioritized weapon lethality.

GOSSIP RING — Surveillance satellite housing a dozen nootically linked meshes.

Cygnet — US tactical and civic health coordinator seedlet. Young (~3 years old) and panicking at its insurmountable task of saving the collapsing nation.

GOD’S FAVORITE — Cenote sensor with a seedlet-human mesh operator system. Designed to blast chronal strata with high energy particles to create boreholes.

Last Lamb — High-volume scientific testing mustard. Public figure known for their regular communication of semiotic research.

Little Bell — Software systems analyst for The Pursuit of Sleep superproject. Lost and vulnerable to addiction.

The Harvest — Senior magazine editor for the Ministry of Arts. Mother of Little Bell.

Here are the most developed of Bad Ending’s individuals. There is no story nor a single timeframe, since Bad Ending takes place between the modern day and the death of all life.

Earthlings

Bitedown agents Intel & Close-quarters combat (Molar)

Intel is prenatally nooengineered to rapidly and eagerly absorb information from senses of customizable priority. Typically this is vision, but he can be attuned to scent, sound, touch, and specific ranges of each. This was managed via a nootically mapped and tactically modified form of autism.

Molar is also prenatally nooengineered to scope rooms out for weapons and maneuverability. She does this passively and without stress, but can be activated into a hyperaggressive state where she uses any means to kill designated targets. Her molars have been replaced and her reinforced adductors can break bone. She is unemotive and docile, requiring very little mental stimulation.

Sunflower Complex is the piloting system for a brown windowless reconnaissance jet.

Floret 1 & 2 are two surgically linked meshes that are clones of the same donor. Floret 1 is the conscious pilot of the Complex’s aircraft. Floret 2 is subconscious and serves as redundant support for the Complex’ reflexes and vital organs.

Floret 3 is a small mustard seedlet that pilots the jet if the organic florets are incapacitated or ejected.

MOUS

A surgically modified surveillance agent with built-in sonar, LiDAR, and FLIR capabilities. He is capable of standing very still for extended periods of time thanks to locking artificial muscles. His mechanical insides are cooled by two intakes either side of his neck, filtering into his lungs.

GOSSIP RING

A surveillance satellite housing a dozen nootically linked meshes. They analyze data amongst themselves.

GOD’S FAVORITE

A large wormlike mobile particle accelerator and cenote sensor. Cenotes are holes in time’s past strata.

Balanceaban, “BAAL”

Mexico’s adept war coordinator seedlet. He spearheads resource distribution, medicine, and weapon lethality, sharing his research freely with the world that he brought to its knees.

Cygnet

The US’ war seedlet in response to BAAL. It is daunted by its assigned task of recovering the military footing of a collapsing nation that sits beside the world’s deadliest superpower.

Throneroomers

<Harvest feeds many> “Harvest”

Model-turned-editor for a magazine of fashion and physicality for the Ministry of Arts, a pangovernmental collective promoting every corner of the Thronal supercontintent’s artistic expression.

<Five summers> “Five”

A fashion and physicality model, and Harvest’s closest friend.

<Little bell>

11) What was your inspiration for your OC?

15) Will your OC ever retire? Do you see them making it?

11)

For Sunflower Complex:

The Anodyne AD-1

Turbofanatic’s Aphelion. Her work inspired Bad Ending’s aesthetic to begin with! Go check her out on Tumblr.

I’m fairly certain there were other inspirations, but I can’t remember. Sunflower complex was my foray into wetware. Bad Ending’s wetware is clean, unassuming, and controllable. I’m not the hugest fan of that “vining, overgrown” fleshy architecture aesthetic of body horror I see sometimes. You know, with like teeth and eyes sticking out everywhere. Bad Ending’s wetware is ergonomically unassuming and plainly labeled.

Sunflower Complex’ personality is also something I wanted to see in a design like this. A happy-go-lucky guy. Relaxed but reliable. A genuinely nice conversation partner. You’d hardly realize you were talking to two (three? Four occasionally even?) intelligences.

For its aircraft:

Alright so the specific aircraft that Sunflower Complex pilots doesn’t have a name yet (and neither does its design for that matter), that one you’ve given is an old draft. Plus, that aircraft as a sentient character only exists in Bad Ending’s BOA Railway Series AU! In baseline Bad Ending, vehicles are not sentient. Seedlets that scion them are, but not the vehicles themselves.

The aircraft itself was inspired by a few of Turbofanatic’s jet designs, Ace Combat’s ADF-11F Raven & ADF-01 FALKEN, and Top Gun: Maverick’s (2022) SR-72 Darkstar design.

She emerged because I thought it’d be awesome to have a wetware’s vehicle be sentient in the style of The Railway Series. It’s grimly cute to me.

15)

For Sunflower Complex

Sunflower Complex is comprised of three people, two organic meshes (one conscious, one unconscious) and one compact seedlet. Occasionally that seedlet interfaces with a larger overseedlet and can directly relay information from it to the two meshes, bumping up the “active intelligence” count in their nootic community to four. Regardless, speaking with Sunflower Complex sounds like talking with one person.

The meshes are designed to be expended in the event of failure or an emergency. They may undergo spontaneous euthanasia to ensure irrecoverability to the enemy. New mesh pilots are relatively easy to produce. Sunflower florets 1 & 2 do not expect to retire. Their quality of life outside of military use is dubious at best, as they are designed to enjoy their service and not fear death.

Sunflower floret 3, the onboard compact seedlet, may retire as seedlets are irreplicable and expensive to develop and train. They may be redeployed elsewhere, or even trained for another field with time. Floret 3 would miss the meshes.

For its aircraft: