OC Verse : Mechanique

[lightcycle]

MECHANIQUE
For fans of: Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Total Recall (2012), Iron Man

THE WORLD
Mechanique takes place in a cyberpunk future of our Earth, where high fashion, mechanics and engineering live and breathe as one. Form is function, function is form. Specifically, it's the year 2176. Prosthetics, while available, are still not easy to come by; having a prosthetic is akin to an art form. Designers create custom pieces for their clients, representing a power and luxury not many can afford. The gap between the rich and the poor has become much wider over the years with the evolution of technology, and some wonder how in only one city there is a luxury high rise on one street and a complete overturned disaster on the next street.

In this world there are mechanical animals that are bought for protection and showmanship. The animals are, many times, built and designed around a family. For example, the Royal Family in England would own mechanical lions to symbolize their power, while by the same token the President of the United States would own a mechanical eagle. Many owners of major corporations and businesses also have their own mechanical animals, but those who are not officially involved in politics are careful to choose an animal that doesn't match or contest the symbolism of whoever is in power. This could very well spell disaster as it could be seen as openly ignoring or challenging authority.

Some few mechanical animals, though, are part of underground fights. These mechanical beasts are highly customized in the same fashion cars are repaired, restored and fitted for racing. They are retrofitted with new software so a human can remotely control the animal solely for battle. Using highly sophisticated battle suits equipped with motion-sensing armor and visors that provide remote viewing, people go head-to-head in brutal matches for major bets. It's not uncommon for a mechanical operator (someone who operates the animal) to sustain athletic-degree injuries or suffer from muscle disorders due to the sort of activity involved in operating the animal.

HUDs (Head Unit Displays) are common here with varying degrees of software programming and hardware power that determines the MSRP of a final product. These HUDs are available in a wide variety of products, from sunglasses to bracelets (while technically not a HUD, the function is still the same and everyone puts them into the same category) and beyond Some are even built into contact lenses for superior stealth. Students have access to HUDs in certain schools, but these are far cheaper than, say, the HUDs available to the CEO of a major company or a Prime Minister. With this comes a very technologically-centered black market around the world that solely focuses on rebuilding products to fit HUD software and hardware and selling original, highly-customized pieces that don't need to be officially registered online to receive updates. Many times these pieces are connected to a shadowy corner of the Internet and those who choose to buy into black market HUDs must know the dangers that come with these purchases: it can always come back to haunt them.

Holograms are a part of daily life as well, not only for entertainment purposes, but for security purposes. Homes are built with alarm systems that can only be deactivated with a hologram key that has very specific and potentially ever-changing coding. But with this comes a new breed of criminal hacker, the kind that can not only code, but can recreate this intrinsically sophisticated software, hologram security keys and cards, and implant viruses into wearable pieces, including prosthetics that can be engineered to have wireless signals and other forms of technology, such as mechanical animals. Many times hackers are not prosthetically enhanced, making them even more difficult to follow and track. The hackers of this world are often times other sorts of criminals, such as drug lords, thieves, data miners, and so on.

Because of how this story is set up, each set of characters will be involved with a different aspect of the world. The Voigt Sisters are involved in the political aspects of Britain. Mia Torres and her bodyguard David de la Paz are set within the business world and fighting underworld of Spain. Isha Devan and her crew Mythos are a part of INTERPOL and among the world's top hackers and thieves.

THE CAST
NATALIE VOIGT » EMPIRE : BRITAIN
PB: LIZZIE CAPLAN
Cold and calculating if only by necessity, Natalie is a brilliant strategist and is considered the de facto war advisor to Britain's prime minister. The only thing she's missing is the official title and with good reason: her family is technically not a part of the politics. The Voigts play themselves off as unnecessary yet welcome boons to the British rule, yet they control power that many others don't see until they begin to inspect the situation properly. As the oldest of the two sisters, she has a prosthetic left arm with the family sigil engraved on the top of her hand. She and her sister own a pair of golden android cheetahs, chosen at her discretion so as to not to appear to compete with what she deems the Lions of England. Natalie is not without a sense of humor, as she greatly enjoys making jokes at other peoples' expenses, especially those who find themselves overly arrogant and in need of what she calls a sense crusher.

Of the two sisters, she was trained to be a more expert politician. Not to say that she can't do the dirty work herself and know how to defend herself: Natalie is a kickboxer and has been to known to quite literally crush her enemies using her prosthetic arm (her particular favorite is threatening to gouge eyes out using only two fingers).

LORELEI VOIGT » EMPIRE : BRITAIN
PB: ROONEY MARA
Lorelei is a brilliant strategist in her own right as well, though she is more deft in dealing with people than with weapons (though at times she considers them the same, only with more emotion). She is still new at having to deal with politics in the way her older sister does, which is why she often tags along and sits in with Natalie in nearly all of her meetings. Lorelei has the tendency to openly question things, which Natalie doesn't entirely approve. "Question in private, answer in public," are the words Natalie has given her that Lorelei tries to follow as much as she can. She has no prosthetics herself but stands to gain a mechanical arm should anything happen to her older sister.

Lorelei, having no prosthetics, favors using weapons, particularly her custom hunting shotgun. Since she was a child, Lorelei constantly went on "hunting" trips with her father. Inner city hunting, that is.

MIA TORRES » MATADOR : SPAIN
PB: MARIA VALVERDE
Young, reckless and a thrill seeker, Mia Torres is nearly her bodyguard's worst nightmare. She is the daughter of a billionaire business executive and owns a mechanical pharaoh hound that she uses for underground fights. Mia knows what it takes to win. She possesses a stubborn will and a bossiness that could make anything happen, but she lacks the technical skill to truly win. She considers herself more the manager, with David as her (forcible) mechanical operator, a not uncommon team format in the fights. A bratty child, Mia is not particularly well-versed in the art of losing. Though Mia may have to work at times to get what she wants, she is still a rich girl and doesn't have much experience in the street level world.

DAVID DE LA PAZ » MATADOR : SPAIN
PB: RICHARD ARMITAGE
David was once a stronger contender in the UFC with a shot at an international title and a prize winning that would have changed his life. That is, until a major car crash left him with useless arms. By regulations, the UFC states that no fighters may be prosthetically enhanced; David was forced to drop out of the tournament and the entire league after receiving prosthetic arms. He fell into a deep depression and alcoholism, but his younger brother Ivan pulled him out of his stasis and helped to get him back on his feet. David is no-nonsense, having lost some of his lighthearted attitude after the operation. Mia and Ivan give him a hard time to get him to crack a smile, though they greatly enjoy his eternal scowls. He now serves as Mia's bodyguard and mechanical operator. Compared to Mia, David has a greater life experience and world view and tries to help her understand a lot of things she's missed out on seeing.

IVAN DE LA PAZ » MATADOR : SPAIN
PB: NICOLAS HOULT
David's younger brother, Ivan is a junior in university studying to be a PR consultant. Often he jokes that he's the better looking, more authentic of the two brothers. The age difference between the brothers is sometimes a cause of friction between the two, but they generally get along. Ivan is charming and a prankster, echoes of his older brother's former self. At times, he tags along David's bodyguard jobs. He does a fairly decent job himself, as David had trained him in some forms of fighting, but Ivan knows it's nothing he wants to do. Put him with Mia and the pair can wreak serious havoc on David, especially when it comes to his mechanic, Raffaella.

RAFFAELLA CAPOZZA » MATADOR : SPAIN
PB: ELSA PATAKY
An engineer with medical knowledge, Raffaella is one of the many prosthetic mechanics that are available for tune-ups, calibrations and minor fixes that don't require a person to visit a hospital. Born in Italy to an Italian father and a Spanish mother, Rafaella moved to Spain as part of a mechanic's program and has stayed in the country since then. She met David through Ivan (who generally ends up knowing everyone) and agreed to be his mechanic. Unfortunately for her, she's been roped into working on Mia's hound. Rafaella has a soft spot for the brothers, constantly asking David to not be so hard on Ivan and to remember that it was his brother that got him through his rough patch. She and David have had a platonic relationship for a while but denies that any real feelings or relationship is present.

ISHA DEVAN » TALISMAN : INTERPOL
PB: SONAM KAPOOR
Isha Devan is a hacker and a thief, two things which, in this world, aren't entirely mutually exclusive. She is a genius hacker with a penchant for stealing jewels and things that are far too expensive for their own good. She doesn't shy away from flaunting what she buys with her stolen items, either: she is a slave to fashion and the high life. Where she was once Mythos in the online world, it is now a blanket name for her team as she works for INTERPOL in tracking other hackers and stealing items to cut funds from criminals. Isha isn't the oldest of the team, but she has more experience than the rest, which makes her usually wonder why her supervisor hired barely children. She gives everyone on her team a hard time, yet she generally hates that she can't charm and bullshit her way out of a situation with them like she usually can.

KADIN BAGSHAW » TALISMAN : INTERPOL
PB: DANIEL HENNEY
The man responsible for finding Isha and building Team Mythos. Kadin Bagshaw is a hacker and programmer himself, as much as Isha both admires and hates. Kadin more specifically specializes in developing viruses. Before joining INTERPOL, he was part of a private company that would create Pandora's Boxes: custom viruses, hydras and complete infrastructure attacks that could decimate powerful databases in a matter of hours. He is a natural leader, a fast thinker who is also someone easy to get along with. Kadin is shrewd both in the field and with his fellow teammates. He isn't a man to simply sit back on the sidelines and watch others do the work. His relationship with Isha is definitely platonic as they constantly poke at each other. Where she jokes about his suit and tie and professional look, he jokes about her jewels and her newest steals.

LUCAS SIX » TALISMAN : INTERPOL
PB: BRENTON THWAITES
Easily the youngest of Team Mythos, Lucas is the kind of young man that would rather break something apart to figure out how it works instead of reading about it. Count on Six, as everyone calls him, to tear apart a database to find just one error. Isha likes to look over his shoulder and correct his hacking and coding, which he absolutely hates. Lucas initially gained infamy online through his destructive coding, which made him easy to trace... at least for Isha and Kadin. While he does do more damage than necessary because of how insanely quick he is, he actually does make sure to cover his tracks and include a number of ways to ensure his own clean escape from an attack. Lucas was, you see, an online freedom fighter before he got in too deep and realized that he was doing some very dangerous things. INTERPOL gave Lucas a way out to clear his name, yet at the core he still does believe in the idea of freedom of speech. To his credit, Lucas is very creative with what he's given both in the real world and online. Lucas is naturally charming and a quick thinker with words and codes.

ZOYA LUBARKSY » TALISMAN : INTERPOL
PB: OLGA KURYLENKO
Unlike her fellow teammates, Zoya began her hacking life through her job as a security programmer. She would build custom firewalls for paying clients, each tailored for a specific task and if to be an offensive or defensive mechanism. She came across a crucial yet incriminating piece of code that would later be linked to a huge business fraud on her company's part. Zoya was fired before she could warn anyone, but INTERPOL had already been working on tracking her down to add her to the team. She and Isha are the older sisters of the group, except Zoya gets a lot more easily frustrated than Isha. She is used to working with more people her age and being strictly professional. Zoya tends to follow the book more than the others, but she makes for a valuable asset in providing covers upon covers for her teammates while securing their networks.

LANDON ST JOHN » TALISMAN : INTERPOL
PB: ANDREW GARFIELD
Landon gets into trouble. A lot. He is nosy, somewhat arrogant, and definitely cocky. Landon likes to make things function better, which is exactly what he was doing when he was caught hacking into a major online distributing company. He thinks his knowledge of anything and everything allows him to improve what exists, even when no one asks for his opinion. It wasn't his first hacking job to prove a company or house's lack of true security, but this company blew the whistle on him instead of issuing a one-time warning. He speaks erratically and at times thinks out loud, especially when under pressure. Landon always looks forward to the challenges his teammates present as he and Lucas are the final tests in executing viruses. Kadin tends to scowl when Landon and Lucas wreck his code.