(I know some people are still waiting on me to post over in the Skinner Sanitarium thread, but this is something I wrote earlier in the week and wanted to run by C_D for a once-over before I posted it. When I next have free time to be creative, the Skinner RP will get it, but for now you all get to enjoy some regurgitation of previously written stüf. )
With apologies to The Bard, I thought it would be appropriate to use names of Shakespearean origin rather than Hindu or Greek. (Not for everyone, necessarily, but I for one have always been partial to
The Tempest.)
<center>_   _   _</center>
Prospero was a wise and canny leader of the Rebellion. Within the Matrix his reputation as a great and perilous sorcerer had spread far and wide, and many a Church father warned their flocks against listening to the words of this servant of Satan.
In an attempt to rid themselves of this thorn in their side, the Machines created Ariel, a succubus spirit of the air, to seduce and destroy Prospero. But it was she who was seduced. So great was Prospero's power that he succeeded in granting Ariel a measure of free will (he disabled certain constraints and compulsions built into her programming). It was his sincerity and dedication to his cause, though, which convinced her to use this free will to side with him and his fellow rebels, and she became his fervent lover and aide. Though it gave rise to much talk of "sleeping with the enemy" back home in Zion, he returned her love, and many were the happy hours they spent together between missions.
Eventually, however, the Machines succeeded in corrupting one of Prospero's other allies....
<center>_   _   _</center>
Inquisitor Santiago: ::regarding the old man before him with paternalistic disdain:: There was another world before this one, you know.
Sebastian: ::suspicious, but too tightly bound to do aught but answer:: Sure. Another prison. Another Matrix.
Inquisitor Santiago: ::rolls his eyes and sighs heavily:: Yes, if you insist on calling it that. But it was perfection, happiness and light unending. Eden; or, heaven. And it can be yours.
Sebastian: Bullshit. Humans couldn't live in it; they all rejected it as the gilded cage that it was.
Inquisitor Santiago: ::stepping closer and leaning down into his prisoner's face:: Only because they were not given a choice. You, my son,
are being given a choice. And if you chose wisely, you can enjoy paradise eternal. Think well on this. You are not so young as once you were, and though I spare you now, the next time we meet shall mark the end of your time on our Lord's green Earth. Which land you will depart for after that shall be determined by the actions of none other than you yourself.
Choose well.
And the Inquisitor left him to ponder his fate....
<center>_   _   _</center>
After Prospero's betrayal and death, Ariel became further embittered with both the Machines who killed him and the humans who had twice betrayed him, first in handing him over into the clutches of his enemies and then in unplugging his real-world body while his mind still lived. (Imagine the "Goodbye Morpheus. You were a father to us," scene, only without any batshit-crazy Neo to step up and say, "No, wait, we can save him!") And finally, Ariel was bitter at her former lover who, when he realized that he was well and truly betrayed, used the last of his energy to cast Ariel to the far side of the world so that she could not dash herself to pieces against the enemies massed against him. All the while he was being tortured she was racing as a fierce wind toward his side, but when the plug was pulled ("The heretic's eyes opened as in a momentary vision of ecstasy, then closed to this world forevermore, and the gathered Inquisitors cursed the name of that God which they pretended to serve.") she felt the last whisper of his soul depart, and fell to earth sobbing and broken in grief.
<center>_   _   _</center>
Today she trusts neither side in this unending conflict, preferring to act as a loose cannon and lone wolf as she slowly plots her revenge against both sides for the wrongs they have done her. She has a few friends still among the Rebels, people who Prospero trusted with his life and who proved worthy of said trust. She has also forged alliances with a number of her fellow Exiles in the interests of mutual protection and preservation.
Meanwhile the Rebellion finds itself in a dangerous position, as ambitious captains step forward to fill the void left by Prospero's death. And, both emboldened and embittered by their near-complete victory (by most Machine estimates Prospero died eight-point-two-three-six seconds before cracking and surrendering up the access codes for the Zion Mainframe) the Inquisitors have renewed their witch hunts with a new vigor and malice. Who will emerge victorious from these trying times? Only the persistence of programs and will of humanity will be able to answer that question.
<center>_   _   _</center>
Chaos_Descending wrote:
Most of what you are talking about is ok. I shoul note that by this time, most of the rebels will know that there is something going on with the matrix. (New compression codes, and other upgrades they are trying to crack).
So none of this is final, just the ramblings of a Pedantic Chronomancer.
As far as Ariel-the-character goes, she has the corporeal form of an ethereally beautiful woman (details TBA) but can melt away into thin air, manifesting as anything from gale-force winds to a warm, gentle breeze. Since the death of her lover, she has been dubbed "Northwind" by some, for her airy form is now almost always sufficient to freeze any but the most hardy souls to the bone. She can also exert some influence over the weather, and control winds precisely enough to lift a man from an army formation into the air while leaving his companions gaping on the ground below.
Interaction with other characters, of course, to be determined once we know who those characters are.