Motherboard
Karen Ross
Dr. Karen Ross lived for her work. She was on the cutting edge in cybernetic applications, brain-mapping, and artificial intelligence. This left her with little time for relationships or building a family… which were sacrificed for her career. She always thought she’d have time do those “someday.”
When Kessler Industrial Technologies hired Dr. Ross to develop smart weapons she thought it would help make her reputation, while also doing her country a great service. Over time, she discovered how misguided she had been. Arwin Kessler, her employer, had no intention of fulfilling his government contracts; instead, her work was being funneled overseas and Kessler was making astronomical amounts of money. She was appalled. She set up a safe contact within the Justice Department, one to whom she thought she could pass incriminating data to help bring Kessler down. Unfortunately, her contact was in Kessler’s pocket and when he heard about Ross’ disloyalty, he arranged for her removal.
The doctors were at a loss when she began presenting symptoms of some kind of neurological disorder (they couldn’t know about the neurotoxins Kessler had exposed her to, after all). While she was dealing with the fallout from her deteriorating health, the company installed an “interim” director in her place, and her carefully compiled evidence on Kessler mysteriously disappeared. When that happened, she realized Kessler was behind it, but couldn’t spare time for that, she had to figure out what he’d done to her. She spent all her time and energy (what little she had) researching neurological disorders in an attempt to save herself. Instead, all she found were other lost souls whose fates contributed to her spiraling depression.
The criminal roboticist Dollface infiltrated Ross’ research program in the guise of a consultant. She was interested in how she could apply Ross’ research to her own. While working with Ross, Dollface grew fond of the good doctor, a rarity for the eccentric criminal, and when Ross’ health deteriorated, she decided to “help.” Dollface staged an accident, left a body behind that would be mistaken for Ross’, then abducted Ross and built her a life support pod that would keep her alive until Dollface could create a new body for her. When Ross finally woke up in the cyberwomb, Dollface revealed herself and told Ross what she’d done.
Ross was angry and upset, but eventually came to realize that she could do things in her pod, that she’d only dreamed of doing before. She told Dollface she was happy to stay in the pod for now; she had things to do. She struck back at Kessler with her newfound abilities and ‘adopted’ a number of the children she had discovered while researching her own condition. She gave them all the gift of a technological escape from the prisons their bodies had become. Thus was the Cybertribe born.
Physical Description
Special abilities
Karen Ross’ body is kept alive in a heavily protected life support womb buried deep within the Cybertribe’s headquarters. The cybernetic interfaces built into the womb allow her to access external equipment, including the drones she uses to interact with people in the real world. These drones are sophisticated mobile surveillance pods that project a stylized holographic image of Motherboard around the drone. They are for communication and information gathering only and they aren’t built for combat. As long as she is in her life support unit, her mental processing is augmented outside of human parameters. When she needs “hands” in the physical world, she relies on the Cybertribe or hacks into an available piece of networked technology and controls it remotely.
Typically, Motherboard has one of her drones project a holographic image of her virtual appearance to act as her proxy in the outside world. Those encountering Motherboard may initially believe she is an intangible energy being (like some of the other Cybertribe members) or even a robot. Her Remote Sensing is limited to the operational distance of her drones.
Mental characteristics
Intellectual Characteristics
Motherboard has fully embraced the maternal side of her nature she denied during her career. She will go to any lengths to protect her “children.” Her experiences with Kessler have made her feel society’s laws are flawed and designed to protect the powerful from the masses rather than mete out real justice; hence, she feels nothing when she breaks them. She feels a great kinship with those she views as “discarded” by the rest of the world, and works to protect them whenever possible.
Social
Contacts & Relations
Motherboard has a number of valuable allies, starting with her “children,” the Cybertribe. Dollface is a friend—or as near to one as possible for the eccentric roboticist. In addition, Motherboard has frequently helped other super-humans that aroused her maternal instincts, which may allow her to call on them in times of need.
Arwin Kessler, CEO and main scheming mind behind Kessler Industrial Technologies, Inc., (better known as “KessKorp”) will not rest until he eliminates Motherboard and her crew.
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