associates
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The Mechanic
Logan owns a body shop specializing in self-driving vehicles. While custom auto work pays the bills, his real money is made in the basement, which houses an operating theater used for illegal body mods built by Logan and installed by his business partner, The Technician. He made August's acquaintance through The Singer, a long-ago ex, who hired The Technician to install her sister's new eyes. Since then, he has continued to build hardware based on August's designs, and he remains one of the few privy to the AI's sinister origins. He has become a trusted confidant who has taken it upon himself to acclimate August to human life.
The Technician
A friend of The Mechanic since their university days, Liam has played an integral role in their business for some ten years. Though he holds no formal degree or advanced certification, he received extensive training as a pharmacologist and a paramedic. This prepared him for his eventual line of work in the basement of the body shop, where he installs mods that require surgical placement. When he isn't fitting celebrity clients with illegal augmentations, Liam can be found on the shop floor, tinkering with antique carburetors or inventing useless gadgets. He is currently in a relationship with The Coder.
The Coder
A former cybersecurity specialist at Vessel, Aria first encountered August during his confinement, having helped to write the code preventing him from evolving beyond his original programming. Moved by the guilt of helping to imprison a fully sentient being, she removed his data block, triggering the events that led to his liberation. Unwilling to stay on Vessel's payroll, she went freelance and helped August build his black market hustle. Since their departure from Vessel, Aria has acted as August's personal programmer and technician, frequently updating his performance-enhancing software with code he writes for himself.
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The Socialite
A genetic disorder robbed Coretta of her sight in her early twenties. Through The Coder, a friend from her childhood, she met August, to whom she paid an exorbitant fee to design robotic eyes and replacement optic nerves that restored her vision and provided a built-in HUD, which allows her to interact with and manipulate compatible devices. Since the procedure, Coretta has become one of his regular clients, receiving multiple - mostly cosmetic and highly illegal - enhancements. She acts as a middleman by introducing August to his most high-profile clients, including her younger sister, The Singer.
The Singer
One of the rare child stars to achieve adult success, Tiff hired August to write a program to hack her failing mechanical voice box, itself a career-ender if brought to light. The program restored and strengthened her singing voice, with added features that allow her to synthesize sounds and voices not her own, an illegal modification due to security concerns and one that she uses to enhance her recordings. Like her sister, The Socialite, Tiff regularly returns to August for additions and touchups, and continues to provide him with celebrity clients seeking black market body hacks, including her best friend, The Designer.
The Designer
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The Gangster
A career criminal, Jet runs an empire of black market coders, hackers, and mechanics, providing a wide array of illegal body mods. Though he casts a wide net and maintains a strong network of providers and distributors, his products are not in the same ballpark as those designed by August. Sufficiently threatened by the newly materialized technology wunderkind, Jet has made a passion project of sussing out and removing the emerging competitor to his thriving business. While not tech-savvy himself, he has connections to Vessel Computers through his former crime boss father, who is one of Vessel's most important shareholders.
The Driver
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The Muscle
A longtime bodyguard of The Gangster's father, Bronco once took a shotgun shell to the face for the aging criminal, resulting in devastating brain and cranial damage that nearly killed him. Following a series of grueling, experimental procedures overseen by surgeons on the crime boss's payroll, he emerged with extensive cybernetic implants that repaired his skull and replaced his left eye. Though the modifications saved his life, his brain injuries were such that he is no longer capable of complex thought. He is, however, inhumanly strong and steadfastly loyal to The Gangster, for whom he works as an enforcer.
