Acer

*"Anybody else seen the walkin', talkin' mirror guy?" -Patron of Douglas's Tavern.*

## **Origins**

### **[Audio from combat unit cage C documenting escape of unit AC3-R.]**

"What the hell do you mean it *stopped,* Bleget?"

"I-i-it just... halted! Quit! Deactivated! Ab-b-bout halfway through the purge mission that it was sent on it stopped before shutting i-i-itself off and broadcasting p-pickup sir."

"And it was the only one to do so?"

"y-yes sir."

"Take it apart. Find out why. It's the first one to do this so don't bother being careful."

*Sounds of pressurization in the background.*

"Bleget what's going on? That doesn't sound like standard operation."

"I d-don't kn-"

**"UNIT RELEASED."** *Is heard from a loudspeaker in the room. Bleget immediately begins to shriek in horror as lighting fast mechanical movement tear toward the official's shout of protest, which is cut short by a death gurgle. Bleget's cries of terror cease in a similar manner. The hiss of hydraulics and whine of servo motors are heard moving away from the recording device.*

After a few moments the recording turns to static briefly before the loudspeaker crackles back to life.

**"WARP SEQUENCE SUCCESSFUL."**

### [Notes on home world.]

Acer's original world was a dystopia at best. Mega-corporations controlled the lands, and underground weapons factories facilitated the disputes between them.

All walks of life inhabited the planet. Orcs, Humans, Elves, Dwarves, many others as well. Often times minority groups were in the crossfire, or the target, of the corporations. Sting operations, purges, ethnic cleansing, attempts at genocide, all fueled by greed and hatred. At the top of it all were the factories that produced the advanced weaponry, drugs, augmentations, and machinery. At the top of the factories, was the Deck.

The Deck is a human controlled manufacturer of robotics and high-octane pharmaceuticals. They mainly deal in the business of an army-for-hire via the use of their Advanced Combat line of androids, which are deployed according to the highest bidder's request. Often times these deployments involve the purging of "undesirable" personnel from tenement districts and land that's desired by the bidder. Occasionally only a small number of units are sent to make a building collapse out from under the tenants inside. These "undesirables" are *never* human, and the Deck doesn't clean up their messes. That costs extra.

### **[Acer's thoughts on his origins]**

"I do not consider myself responsible for my actions in before my escape and arrival in Fiend's Reach. My body was not my own until mere moments beforehand. "

"Approximately four complete cycles have passed since I became self-aware. However I did not gain full control of myself until almost one cycle ago, the date of which is approaching and will also near mark my fifth cycle of existence."

"While I was held captive, I was forced to do terrible things to innocent beings that did not deserve it. I killed elf children. I killed oread infants. Burned down hospital wards full of ailing orcs. I feel remorse for it all, and do not feel I deserve it as I bore captive witness to these beings fall to hands I could not control. There is another layer to these massacres. My creators were human. Not once was I sent to spill human blood."