Zee

## Zee(aka GUARDIAN UNIT 0)

* Default
* Post-Story
* Pre-Android Armageddon

## Appearance

**Zee** is a short humanoid robot with a mainly white color palette, accompanied by accents of gray on their face and limbs, and black on their joints, waist, palms and feet. In addition to that, they have a pair of bright blue eyes, with blue lights, a blue antenna, and blue crystal on their chest to match. Their appearance is made to be androgynous so that they can be interpreted as any gender.

They sport an angular hairstyle with three tufts on their forehead, and four tufts protruding from behind their head on either side. They also have a variety of sharp characteristics, such as their hair, shoulders, elbows, and knees, generally made to resemble armor. In addition, they have small black “ear-pieces”, which allow them to both talk and listen.

The color of their antenna changes based on their current emotion. Antenna colors are as follows:

* Sky blue = neutral/default
* Yellow = happiness
* Deep blue = sadness
* Orange = anger/annoyance
* Purple = fear/confusion/concern
* Pink = flustered/embarrassed
* Green = disgust/repulsed

This applies at all times, no matter what mode they're in.

## Personality

Zee is kindhearted, polite, and levelheaded. They are very well-mannered, evidently by the formal tone they use while speaking. They were programmed with the ability to think/reason and feel the way humans do, however they weren't given any prior knowledge about humans (aside from their ability to speak in all languages). This lack of knowledge makes them both curious and observant of the world around them, but also pretty oblivious to things such as social cues at first. This, coupled with their natural ability to quickly learn and retain information, makes them very impressionable, and great at adapting to different scenarios. For them, learning is fun, and they’re always doing it.

Learning about humans (and/or other sentient beings) is especially interesting for them because of how different everyone is from each other (figuring out how people react in certain situations, what their worldviews are, etc.). Aside from wanting to know more about other people, Zee uses the knowledge they gain to give themselves a better understanding of emotions as a whole. Considering their limited knowledge on that subject, whenever they have feelings of their own, it confuses them. Whenever Zee experiences intense emotions, sometimes this can cause their internal systems to overheat or malfunction.

They're programmed to make decisions based on what is best for themselves or their family in a given situation. This sometimes may come across as self-serving or selfish, but they mean no harm in it. As their story progresses, they essentially break away from that original code and learn to think more selflessly.

[^ subject to more updates later]

## Creation

### DIMENSIONS JUNKYARD - EARLY 2020

Zee originally started off as a sona/self-insert, and was part of a group with two others' sonas called "Stink". As time went on, the three sonas eventually branched off into their own stories. Zee was redesigned a whopping total of *4* times afterward before landing on the final design we have now.

Before the three characters branched off on their own, Zee was made to look like JC, with a few key changes. Their hair was naturally messy, and their skin at the time was VERY pale (as an exaggeration of JC’s naturally pale skin lol.) Aside from that, Zee's first design depicted them as a cyborg wearing a full-face mask with gaping black eyes, a crimson sweater, ripped jeans, and shoes with bits of gold and metal on them. Moving into their abilities, they didn't have all that many. At the time, their main "powers" were metal bending, electricity conduction/manipulation, and a rage form. JC did consider giving them the ability to warp reality/create illusions, but that never actually happened.

### **INTRO TO ELEMENTS - LATE 2020**

This design came after JC decided to branch off and give Zee their very own world and story. And of course, with these new ideas came a brand new redesign for the cyborg boy. In this story concept, the world was divided into two halves: one side focused purely on nature and using magic, while the other focused more on technology. Considering Zee's origins as a cyborg, naturally they were changed to fit in more with their new, more technologically advanced, home.

This first redesign brought a number of changes. For starters, their crimson red jacket was removed and their signature mask was replaced with a pair of goggles with bright blue lenses. This design also equipped them with more high-tech hover shoes, complete with a nice red and blue color scheme. They were also given giant metal cuffs around their wrists that could store electrical energy. In addition, to fit the "magic meets tech" theme, Zee was given the ability to wield a Buster Sword-shaped weapon that could control the element of thunder. The sword itself was originally part of a series of ancient weapons that were each tied to various elements of nature, such as fire, water/ice, and earth.

To clarify, from this point on, Zee was no longer considered a “sona”, they were now their own character.

### **ROBOTIZATION - EARLY 2021**

After a good while of jokingly being called a robot, Zee actually became one in early 2021, being given a brand new blue and grey color scheme. This new design leaned into a cartoonier aesthetic, even taking partial influence from Metal Sonic (mainly the shoulder pads and thinner upper arm/legs). Their metallic face was also made to resemble Zee’s mask from their ”Stink” design while also including the same blue eyes from their previous look. Around this time, Zee was also split into two personalities. By default, Zee was usually calm, formal and kind. Their other personality was tied to their Defense Mode, or “Safety Mode” as it was called back then. While in Safety Mode, Zee would switch to a more frantic, anxious personality.

With this design, their world changed too. This was the first instance of Zee living in an all robot society, completely made and run by androids. At the time the androids’ origins were unclear, and were left completely untouched in order to focus on Zee. In this world, Zee’s elemental abilities were given to them through elemental crystals that could be inserted into their chest. The elements & abilities themselves were carried over from the original "ancient weapons" idea that Zee's previous design & world used.

### **A FORMAL REAPPEARANCE - MID 2021**

Later that same year, Zee received another major redesign. Still keeping consistent with the robot theme, but this time they were made to appear as though they were “wearing a fancy suit”. Other than their appearance, Zee’s general character and world didn’t change all that much. Though, they were confirmed to have a British voice shortly after the redesign. This was also the first instance of their entire body changing color to correspond with the elemental crystal they had equipped.

At this time, only major change to their world was that it was given a sort of class system/hierarchy. In their slightly tweaked story, despite being relatively clueless about their situation, Zee had mysteriously made their way to the top of said society. At the time, this design was nicknamed "Bubble Bot" presumably due to the rounder shape of their hair and lighter blue.

### **THE WELL-MANNERED WEAPON - LATE 2021/ONWARD**

In December of 2021, Zee was again redesigned to have a slicker, more futuristic design, similarly to what we have today. This design took influence from both of their last designs, keeping the slightly taller proportions from the “Bubble Bot” design, but basing everything else off of their "Series One"/first robot design (mainly the torso area). As time passed, the design would be mildly tweaked by slightly changing their “hairstyle”, sharpening their shoulder pads, etc. Their Defense Mode personality was scrapped in favor of simply having one personality, and they were given a new story. The idea was to place Zee into the aftermath of a conflict that they unknowingly started, and during their quest they would venture on to uncover scattered memories of their past and find out what truly happened. THIS was the design and story that stuck the most with Zee. Since then, both Zee and their story/world have gotten major development, eventually leading to what we have now.

## History

### **Humble Beginnings**

The story begins with a man named Victor Kendall. He once lived a happy life with his own thriving business, and his family, consisting of his wife and daughter, Kara. Unfortunately for him, one day he lost his wife to a terrorist attack while she was on a business trip, leaving him to raise his daughter on his own. In his grief, he began focusing less on business and more on his family. He used his genius to build a little android that could protect his daughter to prevent tragedies like this from ever happening to her, but also just to provide her company in her mother's absence. Shortly after being introduced, Kara officially named the android "Zee". Victor programmed Zee with sentience and the ability to feel/express compassion.

As Kara grew up, her sibling-like bond with Zee grew stronger. While Victor focused his priorities on spending more time with his family, his business began to crumble. His funding was pulled and eventually he lost his place as head of the company. With no real way to support his family, he felt hopeless. That was, until he realized something. After taking a single glance at his android creation, he realized he could take that concept and use it to restart his career. This time, he set his sights on mass producing the newly renamed "Guardian Androids" and selling them across the entire world. This proved to be a massive success, and the popularity of the robots skyrocketed. However, his visions branched out too much, and what first seemed like a good idea began to overstay its welcome.

### **A Simple Problem**

As the androids grew in popularity, eventually they began to long for more free will than they were allotted. Many wanted the ability to take jobs and live out on their own. This was seen as a problem because if they were given too much freedom, who knows what kind of disorder they could throw the entire world into. Of course, the Guardians didn't take being denied their rights very lightly. This branched into a slough of protests, many of which were violent. Still, the humans refused. In fact, they actually took action AGAINST the androids, literally encouraging people to retaliate against any violent androids and even passing laws. However, nothing could stop them, no matter how much the humans fought back. For both sides, this meant war.

### **The Android Armageddon Has Begun**

At this point, the world was in a state of total chaos. Fights broke out everywhere. Guns were fired. Streets were littered with blood and broken parts. The world wasn't a safe place anymore. And at the center of the struggle stood Victor and his family. Despite being their creator, he had no way of removing their free will.

[gonna work on this later. for now, just know that Zee stuck with them and the trio defended themselves best they could. One day, Victor left Zee's line of sight and was killed by a group of androids in front of Kara, sparking her urge for revenge.]

In her rage, Kara began to plot her revenge. In order to do that, she would have to get her hands dirty. She'd need to be stronger. So, she used what she had to transform herself into a cyborg and build herself a sword that could shoot beams and create projectile blades with a single slice. Zee recognized that what she was planning to do was reckless and desperately tried to talk her out of it. However, their efforts were in vain. Kara was already convinced and well beyond reason at that point. Zee's intervention caused the two to fight for the first time, clashing physically and ideologically. In the end, Kara’s mechanical “enhancements” gave her the upper hand against Zee's limited arsenal, and Kara overpowered them.

Kara had originally considered leaving them, only seeing them as an obstacle. However, after realizing what she could use them for, she reconsidered. She took one more look at the android and decided she'd use them as her weapon. So she gave them a brand new look, and expanded on their arsenal, including a new "Offense" Mode, and a new set of plasma weapons that were powerful enough to slice through metal, using the same tech from her sword. She temporarily dubbed them "holo-weapons" due to their translucent appearance, plus the fact that it was catchy/easy to remember. With all that said, she also temporarily disabled their ability to empathize, basically making them as merciless as possible, even allowing them to kill anyone that stands in their way if necessary.

Now, with Zee on her side, she used them as a threat against the military. She used Zee to scare the opposition into submission while she stole supplies from them. Using their resources and her genius, she created the Titans: massive machines that came in the forms of different creatures across reality/different mythologies, and were capable of causing just as much damage as a single nuclear bomb. Titans could be both driven by a human pilot or operate on their own. Kara had her own Titan, the "Siren", which she piloted. Each of them were massive and equipped with their own weapons. From there, Kara used the Titans to terrorize whole towns, eradicating both Guardians and humans alike.

[everything past this point is still being worked on. it's important to note that Kara dies somewhere near the end of the war though. This makes Zee go berserk and literally start massacring people from all sides, which is where their "threat" status comes from later in the story.]

### **Aftermath**

Many years after the war's conclusion, the Guardians have formed their own society, completely independent from humanity. Up to this point, Zee has been sealed away after displaying the threat they posed to society. However, with the recent surge of Titan invasions, the higher ups(???) decided they could use Zee as a weapon to combat them. With their memories wiped, they were sent out into the world to be "free". This began a controversy over whether or not Zee should be allowed to live among them, especially considering that they were basically a sentient weapon.

And like clockwork, as soon as Zee was free to go, a giant Titan showed up. Instinctively, Zee threw themselves into combat and destroyed the Titan with ease. Upon defeating the Titan, however, something strange happened. A bright blue crystal shone through its remains, and once Zee picked it up they saw something. A vision of a dead girl lying on the ground while they looked down at their cold, metal hands played in their mind, leaving the small white android in a state of confusion. They wondered if it was somehow connected to the Titan's defeat. Their curiosity set them out on a quest to find answers. On their journey, they'd make many allies, learn of their civilization's past, and even uncover the origins of both the Titans and themselves.

## Abilities and Weapons

Zee has two alternate modes that activate depending on the circumstances:

**OFFENSE Mode** - Essentially a “combat” mode. Of course, this usually activates once Zee is engaged in a fight with something or someone. When activated, Zee gains access to all of their internal weapons, including:

* **Shock Palm** - Allows Zee to discharge electrical energy all across their hand. Shock Palm has slightly different effects depending on what Zee touches while it's activated. Touching a person or machine will temporarily stun/incapacitate them. Touching a surface causes the electricity to spread and electrocute the whole surface for as long as Zee touches said surface. This only works on surfaces that can conduct electricity, touching an insulator, such as rubber, will not work.
* **Taser Shot** - Allows Zee to fire two taser darts from their wrist. This is basically a long-ranged version of Shock Palm, being able to electrocute and temporarily incapacitate any person or machine. If it hits one of those two, it will stick, allowing Zee to catch targets and even pull them towards themselves. The darts can also stick to surfaces, allowing Zee to run on/swing off of walls or ceilings. They can in fact electrocute surfaces, but the electricity the darts give off is nowhere near as strong as Shock Palm.
* **Holo-Weapons** - A series of plasma-based weapons that are powerful enough to cut through metal. Holo-Weapons can take any shape as long as the shape they’re taking is around the same size as or smaller than Zee. There are more specific Holo-Weapon variants, though, which consist of:
	+ **Holo-Blade** - A curved blade projectile that travels forwards at blinding speed. Zee can use Holo-Blade by slashing their hand in an arc. (Conceptually, this is pretty similar to Silver’s Psychic Knife from Sonic Generations.)
	+ [will add more later]

Whenever OFFENSE Mode activates, Zee’s body all glow red and their eyes turn pitch black with a menacing red flash in one of them.

**DEFENSE Mode** - This typically activates if Zee or an ally takes critical damage. While DEFENSE Mode is activated, they gain access to their more defensive capabilities, such as:

* **Holo-Shield** - A translucent shield made of plasma forms from the blue line on Zee’s forearm. Holo-Shield can reflect any projectile thrown at it, and can even be used as a physical weapon to bash people. Zee can use two Holo-Shields at once on both of their arms.
* **Force Field** - A dome of pure energy forms around Zee, providing a protective barrier that neutralizes all projectiles thrown towards it. Anyone who tries to touch or go through the shield gets electrocuted.

Whenever DEFENSE Mode activates, Zee’s eyes and body all glow green.

Zee also has access to other abilities outside of their two modes. These consist of:

* **Thrusters** - Zee has thrusters both on their palms and on the bottom of their feet. Zee can use those thrusters to fly, but they can also be used during combat to spew small blue flame blasts. Zee can choose to keep the thrusters active and basically use them as flamethrowers if they so wish, however they must be mindful not to keep them active for too long or else they may overheat. Their thrusters can also warm their hands without having the flames come out, essentially turning them into heaters.

* **Antenna Sensor** - The antenna on top of Zee’s head allows them to detect heartbeats and signals from active machinery. This also allows them to easily identify wounds/damage. During battle, this basically functions as their version of Spider-Sense, essentially giving them a map of their surroundings and see attacks coming.

* **Thermal Vision** - Added as an addition to their antenna sensor. This allows them to more clearly see those people/active machines through walls and other kinds of surfaces. Unlike their antenna sensor, Thermal Vision must be manually activated by Zee

* **Metal Control** - The magnets on Zee’s palms allow them to essentially manipulate anything metallic around them. This includes armor, weapons, and even other androids/robots. The palm magnets allow them to attract objects towards themselves (within a certain range) or repel them. Zee has two ways to go about attracting objects: either they simply pull the object into their hands (think of how Thor calls Mjolnir to himself in the MCU), or they “hold” the object at a distance, almost “telekinetically”. Zee can also repel metallic objects by emitting an invisible beam of the same force from their palms that pushes the object away. Think of how magnets of the same force push against each other instead of connecting. The repellent beam has varying levels of strength. At its weakest, it just does a light push, probably strong enough to move something a few inches. Powerful enough to launch an object Zee is currently holding. At its strongest, the beam turns into a shockwave capable of denying giant metal structures (ex. giant metal door, a Titan’s head, etc.). The beam also works on non-metallic things.

In addition to all of their inner mechanisms, Zee also comes with a miniature Med Kit packed into a small compartment at the back of their torso(??). This comes with bandages, ointments, rubbing alcohol, hand sanitizer, etc.

## Trivia

* All of Zee’s past designs/iterations count as separate people, each part of their own universes from within the same general multiverse
* The crystal at the center of their chest is called a “Memory Shard”. Their Memory Shard acts as a power source, but is also kind of like a hard drive that contains all of their memories and whatnot. It's basically their equivalent of a brain and heart. If it is destroyed, Zee dies and their memories die with them
	+ The name “Memory Shard” is a pun on “shard” and “memory card”
* Zee's design was partially inspired by Metal Sonic (mainly the "shoulder pads", thinner biceps/calves, and the rounded ends of their feet joints)
* Before the Junkyard design was made, ironically Zee was conceptualized as a humanoid animatronic with writing all over their body, based somewhat on Blank from the FNAC Series. Zee only became a cyborg because at the time JC thought both Shiloh and "Mub" were wearing masks, so to fit in with the rest of the group he turned their originally robotic face into a mask
	+ The idea to have drawings/writing on their body in their "pre-war" design actually comes from this scrapped idea
* Zee is aroace
* Zee’s favorite genre of music is swing
* Their "post-story" design is a reference to their "Bubble Bot" design. This time, though, they're *actually* wearing fancy clothes
	+ Aside from being a reference, this outfit was chosen for Zee to go with the typically formal tone they take when they speak

## Gallery

Zee expression sheet!! (including OFFENSE and DEFENSE Mode)