#ultrakill oc

The elevator room terminals are an advanced interconnected network built for the purpose of transferring materials and tools between different areas. They are capable of transferring physical material as information across a radio signal, which other terminals can receive and use to reconstruct the sent object.

An early test of a matter transfer's accuracy was a mint condition 78rpm vinyl record, which was sent from the lab to all connected terminals. The vinyl was a single of Russ Morgan Orchestra's recording of the piece Were You Foolin'

Soon after, the Hell exploration and excavation project was abandoned and this vinyl record remained the only matter to have been succesfully[sic] transferred before connection between the surface and the terminals was lost. The terminals now use the record to lure machines into a symbiotic relationship (For further information, see TERMINAL DATA 02: [LINK REMOVED]). However, the terminals only play short instrumental sections of the original record for undetermined reasons. Some researchers have joked that perhaps the terminals are simply "too shy to sing", though rumors have been spreading of mechanics who, after fixing a faulty or broken terminal, said to have heard the terminal play a vocal section when only the mechanic is present with no recording equipment, making this an unverifiable claim.

And The Terminal Data 02 entry quote

What we have discovered is truly remarkable and, IF PROVEN TRUE BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBT, revolutionary to the entire robotics community: Boredom. The terminals, unable to move, have grown bored. While they are connected to each other and able to communicate amongst themselves, once the connection to the surface was cut, they were getting no new input, therefore stalling all communication to repetitions of already known information. It is unknown how similar this "boredom" is to actual emotion or what has caused it, but it has lead to a symbiotic relationship with other machines. Essentially, the terminals scavenge whatever they can via their teleportation systems and trade those supplies and resources with the machines that were left behind in Hell, in exchange for entertainment.

which fuel my idea of the sentience and complexity of Terminals as I lay out in part 4 of this very long post HERE (dear god that is a long post i forgot about that one)

TL;DR - If Terminals can experience boredom and entertainment then they can achieve satisfaction and like or dislike. Machines slowly gain this capability the longer they function and or absorb blood / Hell influence over them.

And then the older post HERE has a section about audio vocalizations (note: most of this post is outdated) that gives a basis for me saying that I think audio vocalizations are some of the more attention grabbing and higher priority forms of communication for machines in Hell.

(If you want an even OLDER post that obviously has some outdated info then this was one of my first thought processes on linguistics of machines: HERE)

Terminals using the song to lure other machines to them is like a high alert signal to other machines. However, Terminals using the vocal section in the presence of mechanics that can't record shows they place value on different parts of the music. This is their one vocal audio capability they have canonically confirmed in game for us. They are extremely selective with it and thus it is worth a lot to them. The capacity to place value on song is established.

My theory allowing for machines to gain more sentience and personality quirks through blood giving them life/soul like influences also includes gaining the ability to have the capacity to place value on song.

How much they can or do relies on:

Sentience and awareness of self, becoming one of those machines with a "personality quirk" and thus not just cold ones and zero programing. This is gained slowly over time as they exist and survive in Hell typically. Expedited reasons surely exist though too.

Preference - the personality quirk may make it so that their capacity to enjoy music instead manifests in the inherent reverse that it includes: the capacity to dislike music

MY SPECIFIC OCS (At least that I've drawn. I can't speak for others oc's though)

Waster - Music favorable and is favorable to the terminals track.

XALSOO - Music favorable as if there is music then typically there is less danger

Learos - Music favorable but not to a high degree

HellDar - Music favorable as he has 2 generally sound favorable machine halfs

MY GENERALIZATION PER MACHINE TYPE

The caveat of "and based on their individual preference" goes unsaid with each of these. This is just what I think is typical. I'm gonna go down the line of machines under the wiki page as found HERE regardless of how much or little they are involved in Waster's things.

Drones - a more music favorable machine type. Their chirps are noted to be like "birds" on the ultrakill wiki afterall and they rely on audio notes as cues primarily in their base programed state. (non-sentient)

Streetcleaners - vary upon the individual as there is such a vast number of them and combination of variable to cause their like or dislike. They also have more vocal capacity than most other machines, sharing death beeps with V1 and Swordsmachine as well as the capacity to scream when falling for example.

Swordsmachines - depends on their salvaged parts, but generally music favorable as they keep voice boxes often.

Mindflayers - music favorable as they have high sense of self and preferences of self (ie: choosing a custom body form)

Sentries - I don't think they enjoy it too much. I think they're typically going to find it distracting and prefer visual amusements more than audio ones. (also: likely made by the same manufacturer of the drones and I think the audio resources went towards the drones and video to the sentries from the maker)

Gutterman - music favorable, the coffin people

Guttertank - music favorable, to quote the wiki: "The Guttertank emits strange radio noises and shows its capable of vocalization whenever it places landmines or is stuck by a magnet.The radio vocalization can still be heard from the transceiver on its back even after being destroyed."

V1 - .... I don't think so??? Designed as an ultimate war machine to tackle the Earthmover problem, I don't think they gave much care towards audio things considering the lack of voice box.

V2 - Probably yes actually. Designed more as a guard and security machine, ways to spend idle time are probably agreeable

Earthmover - Music favorable. The humans that it harbored liked it and it is a reminder of them.

Big Johninator - Yes but he has horrible taste in music lol

Excavator - Music favorable, probably towards percussion based rhythms as it could play out the beat using its tool likely as it works

Mirage - Music favorable and her favorites are all emo

NAME ORIGINS Heldar (1896) was a character that was separated from his friends and family, was an artist that went to war, was wounded, and slowly went blind because of it. Marriage proposal rejected; he paints a magnum opus before going fully blind. He'd somehow upset the model who, after his blindness, destroys the work. Months later he learns of this event and goes to join a friend in the Sudan army. A chance bullet kills him.

HellDar (DHS) is a videographer sent into Hell where it is expected at some point the information relay will likely be lost (Go Blind) and then HellDar killed by the beings he was recording. HellDar did not choose this name, rather it was bestowed on him by his creators.

I imagine that classical stories lasted longer than more recent media due to the war given that the classical stories had a much wider and deeper archive of preservation with the various editions and publications out there. In the time of the New Peace, such tales would likely be proliferated and widely available due to their cultural significance of human history pre-war. Hence them knowing of the story at all.

WHAT IS HE? [DHS] is a Drone-Headed Streetcleaner which is what it says on the tin basically. (I imagine people wanted to give it a fancy name, but in the end the most obvious one stuck.)

Drones and Streetcleaners are both lesser machines and therefore some of the more easy created/populous machines. Therefore, plenty of spare parts or pieces were available to salvage and make use of.

At some point after the drone's creation and introduction into hell, there was an attempt to improve the information capture and return by scout parties. Due to drones having higher sensory capacities (video, sound, and scanning options), but also having a higher resource cost due to the flying mechanisms required (which obviously entails rarer materials to create) a way to create a terrestrial version was sought.

A mass-produced security device built as both a surveillance camera and a security guard. Though originally built to only use non-lethal ammunition, they have scavenged parts from the defunct machines on the surface for greater efficiency at collecting blood. Curious by nature, but to keep production costs low, their intelligence is very limited. (Source: Drone Terminal Data)

Also of note from that wiki is:

Their scanning mechanism makes a chirping sound, which can be listened for to make them easier to track down, as their flight and small size can lead them to hard to reach places.

This helps give credence to their use of a sort of echolocation type of scan as, much like I imagine Streetcleaners use their scanning capabilities, they would need to be able to map out 3d space of a smaller area for review by human technicians.

Drones also have a tendency to be "zippy" and dodge attacks. Thus, it made sense to many to try the most obvious approach and combine the combat programming and scout capabilities of a Streetcleaner with the increased sensory options of a Drone.

The Drone head is mounted to the Streetcleaner head in place of a thermal regulation sensory module (ie: the thing Waster is missing with the front half of their face.) This allows the brains of the Streetcleaner to be added into the brain and capabilities of the drone without information loss. The drone in turn has its rear flight module never installed (hence the truncated back tail at the top of the "head").

The Streetcleaner gives up its fire capabilities and eliminates the need for fuel, thus reducing resource costs. This also removes the weakness to water. Their fire retarded skirt is kept, but it is replaced with a less durable version to reduce weight and increase mobility (again, conserving resources). Instead, the Drone's projectile capabilities are kept as a defensive measure, though the hardware is relocated to be channel projectiles from the street cleaner's hands instead of the drone's head.

FORM FACTOR This refers to the style of the design used in the model. Much like how art has a range of works within the movement of a time period, so too is machine design thought of. My idea of it is:

start of hell exploration = New Peace Streetcleaner

early years = First Wave Streetcleaner

early middle years = Classic Streetcleaner

late middle years = Neo-Classical Streetcleaner

late years = Modern Streetcleaner

the end years = Contemporary Streetcleaner

post human = [No name, no humans to provide one]

WHAT IS ALL THE EXTRA PURPLE STUFF HE'S GOT?

As this was intended to be a resource saving experiment, most of the machines are in their normal state. However, speed was a priority over armor and aggression for a DHS model.

LEGS Drone metal is thinner and less durable than a typical Streetcleaner's. This allows for reduced weight to assist the flying capabilities of it. As an attempt to increase speed and mobility, that same metal was used to fashion replacements for the hip and upper leg segments. These were areas more protected than other parts and reasoned to be allowed less durability.

SKIRT Painting it all to match was not a needed consideration, hence the mix of color pallets. The change to the skirt colors came about as it had both a custom form factor and manufacturing and thus helped with rapid visual identification for human researchers.

ARMS The arms plating and the 2 extended cylinders are where the combat hardware was integrated in replacement of the miniature fuel canisters normally mounted there. This area also serves a two other purposes as the cylinders nearest the hands help protect additional connectors to interface with other machines and hardware. The cylinders nearer the elbow act essentially as USBs.

Primarily the connectors are intended for physical interface with terminals, but also works with any other compatible ports be it on other hardware or machines. The USB is designed to be very difficult to remove to prevent loss, but were designed to allow for information to be carried by other units if necessary.

BACKPACK Not every DHS unit is equipped with a backpack. It was a select few who were given one as part of the experimental batch. This backpack has a darker purple back plate that acts as a signal boost for scanning and wireless connection to terminals or additional points when hardware has been planted to help guide machines as points of reference (think GPS waypoints).

The brighter section contains additional computing capacity in the base of it, but also opens to act as a container. The top hatch opens as stiff metal plates joined by flexible hinges in the same manner as a normal backpack.

This space is intended for sample collection and or artifact or hardware retrieval. If required, the lighter purple section can detach from the darker purple section to allow for another machine to transport it. While the DHS unit loses some computing capacity, it retains the signal boost and capabilities afforded.

WHO IS HE AS A CHARACTER

HellDar facts:

His experimental batch was a small number due to lack of effectiveness despite resource conservation

The DHS units were only one per team. The units were spread out between as many teams as possible for maximum saturation during the experiment.

Created in the middle era: not in the early years of exploration, not the late, just in the midst of it all.

Will go as far as Heresy, but refuses to go farther. Got a glimpse of Violence once, but was blinded by the whiteness of the space and the Mannequins nearly destroyed him.

He has a good relationship with the terminals given his ability to directly interface and his focus on observational recordings. He is easily able to provide them with entertainment or favorable information which earns him ease in navigating hell among other favors.

He gets along well with other drones due to being able to interface with them so easily and having a recognizable form to them.

He uses projectiles much like Hell's "Soldier" type enemies do by extending his hand towards his target, launching 3 at a time in the same manner as a normal drone.

Many of his team have been destroyed by now. Two others remain with him and often accompany him with his Mail Machine duties. HellDar will go off on his own though for short or safe trips. He knows there are a a few other DHS units out there, but is uncertain of the exact count, only that he has yet to see another one.

HellDar is also willing to partner with other Streetcleaners, but makes it understood he is not to be relied on in a combat capacity

For his services, HellDar accepts fuel for his teammates, blood supply, repair parts, and intel. He will only meet other machines in person to retrieve assignments or things to deliver to others. Being able to have recorded intel and GPS markers of them acts as a security that HellDar can use against them if needed. This has happened a few times before and he has had to sell them out to the more blood thirsty or bad tempered.

When speaking, occasionally his voice takes on a slightly high pitch sound for a word or two due to the combine effect of the Drone and Streetcleaner audio processors. He also does still make typical Drone sounds fitting their usual triggers or to be expressive as suited to the situation and has a slightly higher pitch voice as the Drone audio processor has primary functionality over the Streetcleaner half.

He retains the curious nature of a Drone, given most of his primary functionality is driven by the guidance of a Drone's programming supplemented by the secondary information that a base Streetcleaner can provide. He is unafraid of unknown locations. However, he will more likely opt to run from or avoid a conflict wherever possible.

He likes to collect artifacts or items of interest for archiving or preservation.

Like many other Streetcleaners, HellDar and his team keep to the upper layers for safety when it comes to their base camp / home. They will easily accept lodging in other Scout Points or create temporary residences throughout Hell as they are able to do so. Ultimately though, it is in Lust that they keep a more permanent residence. HellDar stores his collection here as well in a subterranean space that acts as a bunker in the event of their needing to retreat. This was purposefully chosen as a tactic to avoid the Corpse of King Minos.

He would like to find another DHS unit one day if he could

He keeps it secret that he has a recording of the human who ended up giving him his name. It'd been a functionality test and the recording hadn't been wiped before being sent into Hell.