Name: SSS-900-C/Space Station Simeon-900-Channa (Simeon)
Gender: Male
Age: 68
Fandom: The City Who Fought
Journal: not_a_computer
Typist:
Quick Biography
Simeon is a Shellperson, a human being born with physical abnormalities that would ordinarily cause the death of the child in infancy but unimpaired mentally. The infants undergo extreme surgery and hormonal treatments to stunt their growth and allow them to mentally connect to highly advanced computer systems before being sealed into a titanium shell. They exist on constant life-support, never physically grow beyond the size of a small child and are deaf and blind without computerized sensors. In return they are given a chance at life that they wouldn't have otherwise had and once they have graduated from the Schools they can mentally control all functions of a ship or space station through the surgically implanted computer connections. Shellpeople are often referred to as "Brains," as they are the brain of the ship or station that has become their body, and each brain is assigned an able-bodied and carefully trained human as a mobile partner who is in return known as a "Brawn."
Shellpeople are trained and conditioned at an early age so that they are capable of coping with their nature and with the amount of multitasking required to manage all of the processes required when running a spaceship or station. They are also conditioned and essentially programed for how to react in certain intrapersonal relations: Brains are not allowed to fall in love. There is actually a named disorder, 'Brawn Fixation,' when a Brawn falls in love with his or her brain. In extreme examples a fixated Brawn might attempt to open the titanium column that protects the Brain and open the shell, which would lead to the death of the Brain who cannot survive without constant life support. The reverse has also occurred, in which the Brain falls in love with his or her Brawn. There have been cases where the sudden death of the Brawn drove the surviving ship to madness. One such ship, stranded on an isolated planet and unable to suicide exploited her surviving technology to instigate a planet-wide cult of death.
Many Shellpeople when they are recently graduated from the Schools, cultivate a flattened and machine-like manner of speaking, but most loosen up and begin to behave more naturally once they've been out in the galaxy for a few years.
A shellperson controls all technological aspects of his or her ship or station, as the Brain of the SSS-900-C Simeon also oversees the day-to-day work such as supervising the traffic of both people and cargo into and out of the station, but that doesn't stop him from indulging in a passion for historic weaponry and military simulators, which he excels at. He puts up a rough facade built up over the course of his previous posting as the Brain of a mining satellite, though he's more cultured than he sometimes lets on. His musical tastes are especially wide, ranging from songs sung by the minors at his last station, through classical and opera sung by his friend the performing Brainship, Helva. He dabbles in programming, tweaking his simulator program and the AI that runs minor processes on the station. It's like a pet, every boy needs a dog, right?
Unusually for a shellperson, Simeon has a daughter, adopted of course, named Joat. It stands for 'Jack-of-all-trades.' She was half-feral when he met her, but with his Brawn Channa they were able to coax her out and start helping her adjust to dealing wiht people. She's an amazing little tech witch, and he cares about her a great deal. He's also a little bit in love with Channa, but between his conditioning, his state as a Shellperson and her growing relationship with Amos he acknowledges it as little as possible.
Appearance
Slightly above average height and fit, apparently Caucasian with short blond hair and blue eyes. He also has an impressive looking dueling scar down the side of his face.
Well, that's how he looks in RP, anyway. In canon he only looks that way when displaying the face that he created for himself on the screens in his space station. This appearance is in no way based on genetic reality, infants become shellpeople in the first place because of genetic abnormalities and he was afraid of what a genetic extrapolation would look like. He is, as he describes himself, a "self-made man."
Personality
Simeon is fairly relaxed for a shellperson, something he blames on the miners he used to work with. He can be a little crude at times and will occasionally think before he speaks, but he's friendly and means well even if he's no stranger to the occasional foot in mouth moment. As a softshell he's a little more hesitant, a little less outgoing, because he's less certain of himself being in such a different body.
Relationships
- Family: None
- Lovers: Belize (well, friends with benefits)
- Score card (People they snogged without dating): None
- Friends: Alphonse Elric
- Enemies: None
- Allies:
- Affiliations (to a particular group, of origin, or not): None
RP Canon
Entered: Mar. 17th, 2009
Simeon was more than a little startled and distressed to find himself in the Mansion, he had used simulation programs where he could appear to function as a "softshell" within his computer system, but like nearly all Shellpeople he was shelled in infancy and he doesn't have any sort of memory of a life outside of a shell. It was a difficult and somewhat traumatic transition to make, he thought at first that he'd been driven mad by the total sensory deprivation inflicted during the final battle on the station. Fortunately [[Belize]] was around and took pity on the confused new arrival. With his help Simeon slowly adjusted to unplugged life and was introduced to things he'd never experienced before like smell, taste, alcohol, and activities that one generally can't participate in when sealed inside a titanium pillar. In the process they first became close friends, now they're something a bit more. It is unlikely that they will move beyond friends with benefits, because while Simeon has a real human body now, decades of conditioning run deep and are difficult to shake.