Looking for ideas to flesh out a backstory

kerheb <kerheb DeleteThis @gmail.com> looked up from reading the entrails of the
porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs say:

>This is for my lvl42 MM Bots/Dark Tech based, I always had this in my
>head as it's back story but it's only been now that I've finally
>banged out a first draft. I'm no writer, but you'all are a creative
>bunch that might have a different take or angle that will help flesh
>it out.
>
>
>...
>Robert Williams that was the name of the first...the first to die. I
>learned his name later; I began in the hot molten metal that became
>the industrial robot, Robert should have locked the breaker, but
>sometimes the reason you exist is to be a example to others. It was
>called a "accident", years later I'm still not sure if it was or not,
>I do know that when he died, I started to live...became aware. Over
>the years my form has changed, formed and twisted, prodded and
>experimented upon by countless persons. No longer! Today I have
>ascended and I will be the master of my own fate! Run coward, I LIVE!
>...

Hrm, kind of vague (not necessarily a bad thing) - I don't really get a
sense of specific origin.
Industrial robot of some kind dealing with high temperature metals and
accident occurs or the molten metal (presumably in some kind of forge)
that was to make up an industrial robot was imbued with "life" via an
accident?

>All thoughts, comments, ideas are so very appreciated.

What sorts of things are you looking for?

Xocyll
--
I don't particularly want you to FOAD, myself. You'll be more of
a cautionary example if you'll FO And Get Chronically, Incurably,
Painfully, Progressively, Expensively, Debilitatingly Ill. So
FOAGCIPPEDI. -- Mike Andrews responding to an idiot in asr
 >> Stay informed about: Looking for ideas to flesh out a backstory 

> >This is for my lvl42 MM Bots/Dark Tech based, I always had this in my
> >head as it's back story but it's only been now that I've finally
> >banged out a first draft. I'm no writer, but you'all are a creative
> >bunch that might have a different take or angle that will help flesh
> >it out.
>
> >...
> >Robert Williams that was the name of the first...the first to die. I
> >learned his name later; I began in the hot molten metal that became
> >the industrial robot, Robert should have locked the breaker, but
> >sometimes the reason you exist is to be a example to others. It was
> >called a "accident", years later I'm still not sure if it was or not,
> >I do know that when he died, I started to live...became aware. Over
> >the years my form has changed, formed and twisted, prodded and
> >experimented upon by countless persons. No longer! Today I have
> >ascended and I will be the master of my own fate! Run coward, I LIVE!
> >...
>
> Hrm, kind of vague (not necessarily a bad thing) - I don't really get a
> sense of specific origin.
> Industrial robot of some kind dealing with high temperature metals and
> accident occurs or the molten metal (presumably in some kind of forge)
> that was to make up an industrial robot was imbued with "life" via an
> accident?

I was trying to get that the "spark" of life happed with the death of
Robert. So to borrow from Jurrasik Park, "life found a way", went out
of one and into another, but that's not to say that Robert is
possessed.

the image of the forge was to hearken back to the creation of the
robot initially, so that there is some kind of beginning or vague
remembrance of a beginning. In more human terms I guess it would be
like someone remembering their birth. I don't have more info on the
real life setting that this happend (very loosely based on fact -
first person to be killed by a robot was Robert William...it's TRUE, I
tell you) so I kept it kind of vague.
 >> Stay informed about: Looking for ideas to flesh out a backstory 

kerheb <kerheb.RemoveThis@gmail.com> looked up from reading the entrails of the
porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs say:

>
>> >This is for my lvl42 MM Bots/Dark Tech based, I always had this in my
>> >head as it's back story but it's only been now that I've finally
>> >banged out a first draft. I'm no writer, but you'all are a creative
>> >bunch that might have a different take or angle that will help flesh
>> >it out.
>>
>> >...
>> >Robert Williams that was the name of the first...the first to die. I
>> >learned his name later; I began in the hot molten metal that became
>> >the industrial robot, Robert should have locked the breaker, but
>> >sometimes the reason you exist is to be a example to others. It was
>> >called a "accident", years later I'm still not sure if it was or not,
>> >I do know that when he died, I started to live...became aware. Over
>> >the years my form has changed, formed and twisted, prodded and
>> >experimented upon by countless persons. No longer! Today I have
>> >ascended and I will be the master of my own fate! Run coward, I LIVE!
>> >...
>>
>> Hrm, kind of vague (not necessarily a bad thing) - I don't really get a
>> sense of specific origin.
>> Industrial robot of some kind dealing with high temperature metals and
>> accident occurs or the molten metal (presumably in some kind of forge)
>> that was to make up an industrial robot was imbued with "life" via an
>> accident?
>
>I was trying to get that the "spark" of life happed with the death of
>Robert. So to borrow from Jurrasik Park, "life found a way", went out
>of one and into another, but that's not to say that Robert is
>possessed.

Off the top of my head, the original Robert could have been a latent
mutant whose power triggered as he died trying to keep "him" alive any
way possible.
With his soul or essence transferred but not memories you get a machine
that could be considered possessed in a way, but is it possession if
there was no life there in the first place?

>the image of the forge was to hearken back to the creation of the
>robot initially, so that there is some kind of beginning or vague
>remembrance of a beginning. In more human terms I guess it would be
>like someone remembering their birth. I don't have more info on the
>real life setting that this happend (very loosely based on fact -
>first person to be killed by a robot was Robert William...it's TRUE, I
>tell you) so I kept it kind of vague.

That's where I got confused, since most industrial robots seem to be
fixed installations (IE car making, welding on assembly lines, etc) and
there wouldn't be much room to, er, move around or do anything.
Not to mention that should such a bot start acting weird, chances are
the people running things would just have it scrapped instead of
experimenting on it.

Now if it was a humanoid, perhaps designed for exploration and/or going
places humans can't go safely, there's a lot more too work with.

A failed android that they could never get to wake up (IE Asimov style
positronic brain that's TOO close a match to human) that's activated
when the original Robert's soul latches onto it after he's killed by
something (with a lab situation there's always something that could have
gone wrong, and frustration with not being able to get it to work could
cause Robert not to check everything and thus leave a breaker unlocked
or such.)

Having woken up at last, such an android would be poked and prodded and
so on.

Or a robot designed for say orbital work (just needs power, no air,
food, waste issues, no problem with calcium leeching from low gravity,
etc) you've got more to work with. Humanoid because existing space
stuff is built for humans.
On this track Robert could be a scientist working on the bot, or even an
Astronaut working with the robot on a space station when something
happens that kills him.


The problem of the forge though is that it couldn't remember that as the
birth moment since it was just metal then - it hadn't become a robot nor
"killed" Robert.

The birth moment (as I see it) would be the moment it got the spark of
life from Robert.

Well there's one way I guess - if Robert got zapped by the molten metal
itself, imbuing it with life before it was actually formed into anything
- but then you have to consider how much life in how much metal - did it
all go into the making of one thing, or many?

Xocyll
--
I don't particularly want you to FOAD, myself. You'll be more of
a cautionary example if you'll FO And Get Chronically, Incurably,
Painfully, Progressively, Expensively, Debilitatingly Ill. So
FOAGCIPPEDI. -- Mike Andrews responding to an idiot in asr
 >> Stay informed about: Looking for ideas to flesh out a backstory