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steambot-shenanigans · 3 months ago

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I’m making a post about some fanbots I haven’t discussed much on here!

I made them originally so I could have more characters for the spg rp server I was on, but I would like to revisit them sometime.

Basically, they are 3 yellow matter bots created by the direct descendants of Rex Marksley. For the purposes of this, yellow matter represents time. Here’s a lore dump about the three of them!

The first bot to be built, representing the past, is Milo Samuel Marksley (Milo coming for the greek word for speak, and Samuel coming from Samuel Morse). He was invented in 1850 by Roy Marksley, the son of the legendary gunslinger himself, who was inspired by the telegraph. It is a very old bot and is very worn down. They keep getting more rusted and straight up loosing parts.

It was built before voicebox technology, so it can only communicate outwardly through the beeps of morse code. Its younger siblings worry that one day it will get so worm down they will stop working alltogether. Its appearance is very rough, having no mouth, or exterior plating, so their simplistic mechanical insides are on display, aside from a few places. Their clothes are very much outdated, it breaks down frequently, and is generally fairly slow. Despite that, they still manage to keep the peace between its bickering siblings.

Its antenna is centered, coming out of the back of it’s head and going through its top-hat. It is curled at the end and has a small ball at its point. It plays percussion (mostly drums and piano).

In December 1906, a second bot was invented by Roy’s youngest daughter, Ray Marksley, inspired by the existence of the radio. Named Echo Reginald Marksley, this bot has stayed in much the same condition as when he was first built. (Echo comes from the greek word for sound, and Reginald comes from the first name of the violinist who played the first song to be broadcast on the radio- O Holy Night).

He doesn’t upgrade well, as his chassis will accept nothing but identical parts and his systems reject any software updates, much to his dismay. He hasn’t gotten any new malfunctions and is a pretty durable and consistent bot. He is most at home making radio broadcasts, as he knows his best feature is his voice. It’s low, velvety and melodious, despite the slight staticky quality that worsens when he is feeling strong emotions. He tends to act confident, composed, and a bit flirtatious, which is how he naturally is on the radio, but is less natural and more facade when talking to people face to face. The biggest hit to his confidence is his physical appearance, as his inventor, Ray, cared more for function than form. So while he was painstakingly programmed with intellect, creativity, great memory storage, and an extensive vocabulary, and the best voice possible for his purpose as a radio bot, his exterior was not afforded the same care. His body is fine when covered in clothing (which it almost always is), but his face is harder to hide. It’s asymmetrical, and the features are not quite right, looking almost more like a radio than a human face in such a way that puts him squarely in the uncanny valley. He once had a listener who fell in love with him because of his voice, and then quickly fell out of love and ran away when he saw the bot’s face.

Because he is quicker and more charismatic than his older sibling, and more experienced than his younger sister, He generally considers himself the leader of the siblings, both in taking care of them, and in matters of the band they are in. His younger sister takes issue with this. If you think he’s abnormally flirtatious normally, you should see how mushy he gets when he genuinely falls in love with someone! Echo has one antenna above his left audio receptor (which really looks nothing like an ear). It can fold down across his head, or retract and extend as needed to broadcast radio signals remarkably far considering he’s not as tall as a broadcast tower. He does occasionally climb things to get better signal if he’s trying to communicate with someone far away.

In 1941, Ray’s eldest and only daughter Rue Marksley goes on to complete the trio with Cathode Ray Marksley. (Cathode comes from the cathode ray tubes original tvs were built with and Ray was her grandmother’s name).

Cathode, or Cathy as everyone calls her is inspired by a tv, and as such has one for a head, her screen almost always showing her pretty face. Rue had wanted to make Cathy since 1930 when she was a little girl and found out about TVs, but due to not being old enough, and the Great Depression, it had to wait. When first built, people didn’t understand why Rue would build a feminine robot, and so Cathy presented as male for a while, about until the early 2000s. Cathy is stylish and modern, always getting their current caretaker to upgrade her with the latest things, whether its color television, more modern displays, more pixels, or a flatter screen. Beyond her chassis, she also cares about the clothes she wears. Though her siblings usually always wear the same thing every day, Cathy is constantly changing her style based on what’s trendy, and she is not stopped by what gender clothes are associated with.

Being the youngest and being spoiled with upgrades and shopping trips has caused her to be a bit bratty and prideful, but she still cares for her siblings even though she can’t go a day without getting into squabbles with Echo. She’s quite flirtatious and even if she complains a lot, she will still get the job done if it’s something that needs doing or is for a friend. She plays electric guitar, rhythm guitar, saxophone, and trumpet. Her antennae are two classic bunny-ear tv antennae that she kept around despite her upgrades so she could still transmit and receive radio signals from her siblings.

The Marksley bots have a radio/video show together of playing music, a combination of old and new, covers and original songs. They mostly live off their family’s fortune, as they aren’t incredibly well known, and they’re not affiliated with the Marksley Weapons Company (though they could be if they wanted to).

Also in case you were wondering, Cathy is a lesbian, Echo is bi, polyamorous and asexual, and Milo is aroace and agender

#steam powered giraffe #spg fanbot #rex marksley

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