Adaya Omri

From AdamWiki

Stamina 2 (corporate fitness plan)

Will 3 (networked)

Interface 5 (physically wired, machine code savant)

Humanity 3

Passion 3 (Psychologist/Mediator)

Price: unfocused (-1 to perception rolls)

It’s often difficult for her to distinguish input that requires attention from the general background noise she’s now more sensitive to. If she’s too near to another person, she can sometimes have trouble distinguishing what they’re experiencing from what’s happening to her.

Background

Adaya is head of MINER's IT division of corporate security. She reports to Lily Pitakpaivan, head of security, with whom she has what can, at best, be described as a cordial relationship (no major tensions or disagreements – they’re just not each other’s favorite people). Adaya is the one who designs the monitoring systems to make sure the employees (and the clients, but don’t tell anyone) stay in line: not just their system usage at work, but at home as well, and for those in sensitive positions, even their off-line behavior (to the extent that anything is actually off-line.) But over the years, especially after the disintegration of her relationship with Hosea and Margot, she grew increasingly frustrated: she could find out what anyone was doing, at any given moment, it seemed she knew as much about other people as they knew about themselves, but it all seemed to make people more alienated, rather than less. It’s no longer enough for her to know the outsides of people; she wants to know the insides as well, what they’re thinking and feeling. Hence the upgrade, which she designed in partnership with a former colleague, Dr. Saul Osmene. She’s trying to find a way to interface her upgrade with her other links, so it can work through the net instead of just in person. Maybe if everyone could connect on that deeper level, they’d all be happier. Even if they don’t realize it yet.

The upgrade began as a work assignment: she and Saul (then on the MINER staff) were working on a security system to prevent corporate espionage and misuse of company resources. By recording brain activity, they could access a certain amount of short-term memory and immediate intent, as well as sensory experience. But the program was indefinitely shelved, on Lily's orders, ostensibly because it was too labor-intensive to monitor and maintain (the first mock-up would have required real-time individual monitoring of every employee.) But Adaya had great hopes for the project, and was happy to customize a prototype for herself. She's pretty sure Lily wouldn't be happy with that, though, if it ever came to light.

General life stuff

She makes a very good living, and it shows: luxury apartment, all the latest and best in tech and entertainment. After a few years of essentially being a hermit, she’s been going out again (in part to try out and get used to her new abilities.) Her outings are usually with Saul and Ellen, but she’s increasingly been going out alone and picking people up at bars and clubs (this is also to try out her new abilities. Saul did not entirely approve).

She’s in her mid-30s. She gets along with her parents (Elad and Soledad) and younger brother (Josue), but is not particularly close to any of them. She’s still friends with Hosea and Margot, and hopes to one day be able to rebuild a romantic relationship with them.

Demon

Sensory upgrade

The implants enhance perception (sharper sight, hearing, etc) and expand it (so she can see more of the spectrum, hear higher and lower frequencies, etc.) She also has the equivalent of a functional MRI built in, although the range on this is pretty short, and it works best with physical contact. It allows her to share, to a limited extent, in other people’s immediate perceptions and thought patterns. She upgraded out of a desire for greater intimacy and connection with the world around her, but it never seems to be enough, and her need to share in others’ experiences sometimes crosses the line from “share” to “take”.

Desire: intimate knowledge of others' experiences, perceptions, and memories

Need: expanded knowledge base, cultivating new people to pull knowledge from

Kicker

Saul has died – and not only is the cause of death unknown, but Adaya can’t find any record of what might have happened to him. Which makes her suspect someone erased all traces of the event, someone more skilled at covering their tracks than she is at following them. She's starting to suspect that Lily, her boss, might be involved somehow; she doesn't know anyone else with that level of expertise. If she makes too much of a fuss, she could lose her job, her means of support, and her access to all the resources that allow her to work on perfecting her upgrade. But is she safe, spending time around Lily? Especially when she worries that Saul's death might have had something to do with the work they were doing, which makes her vulnerable as well...