Return Journey Application

[positronivity]

OOC Info
Player: Beth
Contact: terriblepurpose
Age Confirmation: 25+
Other Characters: None

IC Info
Character: Data
Canon: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Canon Point: Episode 11, Season 4
Age: 31
History: Here.
CRAU: N/A

About: Data is an emotionless robot, an artificial composite of space age materials and a computerized brain. Data is also principled, altruistic, dedicated to the service of a greater cause, a devoted friend, and a philosophical explorer of what it means to be human. Thesis and antithesis lead to the synthesis that is Data, an android who wants to be human not because of what humanity is, but because of what humanity aspires to be.

One of Data's first conscious choices after his mind finished fully developing was joining Starfleet, an organization dedicated to peace and knowledge. Despite having to prove his sentience, his status as an individual with personal rights and not as a piece of Starfleet equipment, and his right to custody of his offspring, Data still maintains his belief that the Federation's mission is worth dedicating himself to. This is motivated partially by his own ethical conclusions, and partially by his connections to the crew of the Enterprise, who are his friends and guides on his quest to become more human.

What being 'human' means to Data is not mimicking human behavior, physically becoming human, or even developing emotions (although his deficit there is one of his greatest self-perceived obstacles). Instead, it is a process of working towards an integrated self capable of fully experiencing life in both an objective and subjective sense, a self dedicated to improving the universe for all of its inhabitants. It's not completely inaccurate to describe this as a spiritual quest more than a technical one.

This leads to another reason Data serves in Starfleet: Data is an innately curious person, taking after his creator/father. He believes that a wide range of experiences are key to developing his humanity, and so he is keenly interested in the people and situations around him. His inquisitiveness is on the border between childlike and Socratic, his questions sometimes absurd and sometimes profound. This often supersedes his social graces, since Data struggles to master the complexities of social interactions without the helpful intuitive nudging of emotion.

On the subject of emotion: although Data lacks a subjective internal experience of emotion and often fails to correctly perceive emotions in others at first, he is not robotic. He has preferences, values, hobbies, a busy social life full of friends, a pet cat, and an almost imperceptible subtle sense of humor. He is capable of displaying kindness, bravery, loyalty, and compassion.

He is also capable of calculating coldness, even ruthlessness, when he finds the situation requires it. This is something that often disturbs the people around Data, especially when he demonstrates that while he prefers not to take harmful or drastic action, he can do so when a greater good demand it. Data has logically decided to murder a man with a viciously painful weapon after determining no other alternative would ethically suffice, and deliberately misled about his attempt to do so to a commanding officer - and his nearly identical brother Lore, programmed with the same original ethical subroutines as Data, is a violent, malevolent intergalactic criminal.

Data is not compelled to seek to become more human, or to choose a life of service to others over using his innate superiority to dominate the people around him. Data does these things because Data truly wants to be a good person and has structured his existence around this pursuit.

And this section wouldn't be complete without talking about Lal. Lal was Data's daughter, an android who exceeded Data's own limitations in many ways. Although incapable of affection by his own description, Data demonstrated attentiveness and care for Lal at every turn, seeking to be the best parent he was capable of being. And then, thanks to an error in her positronic brain (designed and built, of course, by Data), she experienced emotions at the same time as a positronic cascade failure Data tried, and failed, to repair. She died after expressing a love that Data was unable to return, and Data uploaded her memories and personality into his own mind to preserve her self. I am applying for Data from the canon point I am because I believe that the nurturing relationship Data showed towards his daughter and the trauma of her death both show he is suited for a game of this type: he has the capacity to be a positive influence for someone, and he has a reason to be committed to the process no matter who he is dealing with.

Skills and Abilities: Data is as strong enough to stop an accelerating car with one hand, incredibly durable, and capable of repairing or replacing most of his body without issue. He is a mobile supercomputer platform capable of directly interfacing with most technology with a port, even alien technology, and he has a vast database of knowledge in his memory storage. His android body simulates the appearance of a human being accurately down to the ability to sweat, cry, and bleed, but he has no need for oxygen, water, food, or sleep. He's a standard issue science fiction android, basically.

Why is your character a warden? Data has spent a great deal of time around two types of people: genuinely good ones, and those whose negative actions towards him were driven by misunderstanding and prejudice, but still restrained by the basic moral underpinning of the federation. Data hasn't spent a lot of time around people who have deliberately harmed other people, and I am interested in exploring how this will affect his worldview and his perspective on ethics.

Canonically, Data is well-liked (if not always understood) and well-integrated by the Enterprise crew, so I would have Data seek out relationships with other wardens. I can also see Data taking on a role of responsibility somewhere in the ship, if wardening doesn't take up too much of his time.

With inmates, Data can offer a stable, patient presence with a wide ranging knowledge base of different cultural paths to redemption he can suggest and assist them in working through. I imagine his lack of social awareness and emotion will be his biggest obstacle to connecting with a specific inmate meaningfully, and so the challenge of overcoming that to form a real bond is the thing I'm most interested in about the game.

Data will take his responsibility as a warden extremely seriously, having recently been confined to captivity against his will himself (that was when he almost killed a man, funnily enough). His inmate, whoever they happen to be and for whatever duration, will be his top priority. This will likely get on the inmate's nerves unless they are extremely needy. Data's experiences with caring for other lifeforms as his responsibility include his cat and his daughter, so there is going to be a transition period where he prepares nutritional supplements and meaningful learning experiences for his inmates. And who knows? There may be an inmate who would actually thrive on the kind of focused attentiveness Data will bring to the table.

Pick and Choose:
– What kind of inmate would your character warden best? Who would they not be able to warden?

Data would warden best for someone who has questions about what it means to be a person, the value of humanity, and/or is attempting to formulate a personal sense of self. This includes both young people and artificial ones - I believe Data would warden a young inmate or another robot/android well. He has nearly infinite patience and will be able to act as a stabilizing presence for inmates in distress, and there are very few people more exactingly fair than Data is. Consistency and accountability are important for young people/artificial beings! He's also a great listener, reference guide, and knows a lot of theory about how to self-regulate emotions and a lot of practical things about how to be a good person.

On the other side, Data would do his best to warden any inmate he was assigned, but I think he would struggle to be an effective warden for two types of inmates: those who need emotional responsiveness in their warden, and those whose crimes involve the dehumanization and harm of others for no purpose except personal gain, callousness, or cruelty. In the former case, Data just isn't capable of providing what they need. In the latter, I think Data would struggle because he is not actually perfectly objective, and these are things which touch a personal wire for him.

Windfall: The information, resources, and laboratory space required to create a perfected positronic brain for the purposes of resurrecting his daughter, Lal, by transferring her stored consciousness into it. Data will volunteer all relevant schematics and theory, in addition to full access to his own physical person, for the purpose of ensuring success.

Sample: Data on TDM 001