CLU (au)

I'm not sure I needed the Mark Hamill/Jeff Bridges mental image.

--Kris

Clu is the genocidal dictator of a small, computerized nation-state living inside Kevin Flynn's personal mainframe during the Late Cretaceous Period 1980's. He arrived in-game on sometime in January 2011 realtime' and currently lives in a scattering of safehouses and reinforced apartments in R06.

age: 1,200 (equivalent physical) ~27- 35 (apparent)

origins: Tron: Legacy, AU

post-film/Expanded Universe (game and comic).

Reference: Here, have a Wiki.

Canon Point: Recovered from an errant backup, post-film.

app link:  just guess where all that copypasta came from.

hmd: IT'S OVER, LET IT GO; NOBODY listens to techno!!1

played by: Blue

contact:  Plurk: http://www.plurk.com/Miz_Bluebird

AIM: notamactaggert

Setting
Welcome to the Grid. This is your computer on some real good shit, maaan, c. 1982. This particular Grid represents the inside of Kevin Flynn's computer. In here, the information highway is literal, decked with lightcycles (which transfer Programs quickly), massive Recognizer and Rectifier transports (mass transfer and warships, respectively), and the occasional tank (blows shit up: security protocols or espionage). Within the Grid, Programs are living entities that mirror their Users' appearance. More advanced Programs, like Tron and Clu, laugh in the face of your puny Turing test.

Inside the Grid, Users--humans plunked down in front of their computer screens--are revered, seen as an entity somewhere between a god and a Jedi master. Kevin Flynn is god to the Programs on this Grid, having designed most of it himself, including the Game Grid, where Programs can earn the acclaim of their peers (and your quarters) in simulations like Disc Wars and Space Paranoids. He's also written himself a pretty sweet apartment in the hills of the Outlands.

See, Kevin Flynn, the User, Creator of all he surveys, has been a ghost in the machine for the last twenty-seven years. But we'll get to that; there's time.

Citizens of the Grid are right at home with technology and possess several mechanical advancements not seen in our world: neon bikes that pull 90-degree turns, tanks that fly for no reason and with no discernible means of propulsion, and impossible glowing jets. Then, of course, there are the killer read-write Frisbees and the ever-popular glowing stun sticks.

Everything in the Grid glows. Everything. No exceptions. Living in this world is like being inside a blacklight.

The Grid is a closed system, and has been since 1989. Contact with the outside was re-established in late 2010, using a land line telephone connection to call a pager, but Users enter the Grid by means of a super-advanced laser interface that works because it's magic sufficiently advanced technology.

That's...pretty much the world of Tron: massively advanced overkill side by side with analogue modems that measure their connectivity in Baud rate.

But who was phone, dude? That's what Programs had to work with before Clu cut them off from the outside world.

Which brings us back to Kevin Flynn. A lead programmer for the ENCOM corporation, his day job involves mainframe work. He writes video games in his spare time at night. Because he develops them on company property, rival programmer Ed Dilinger is able to hack Flynn's shit, steal the games, slap his name on them, and take all the credit. The games are a runaway success. Dilinger becomes pimp master of all he surveys.

Flynn is fired. But he's not gonna take it, no! He ain't gonna take it! He's not gonna take it, anymorrre! Long story short: Flynn breaks into ENCOM with the help of his BFF and his BFF's girl, who used to be his girl; it's complicated. The psychotic mainframe AI that's been running the show while Kev was away arms a top sekrit laser and beams him into the computer, where he meet's his BFF's Program, Tron, and they work together to save the digital world. (But really it's La Roux's headspace with Adobe gradients slathered over the top).

They succeed. Flynn becomes pimp master of all he surveys. Dilinger is fired. Flynn's BFF becomes executive consultant, and they all live like kings, happily ever after. BFF and his girl get married, and Flynn marries another girl, and everything's totally tubular in paradise, dude.

But the times, they are a changin'. The Grid is becoming more advanced and intricate, just like life outside. Meanwhile, the ENCOM board harasses Flynn and blocks his initiatives at every turn, because corporations are always evil and guys in power suits are always dicks. In 1983, Flynn almost misses the birth of his son, Sam, because he's busy arguing with stupid executives and dealing with expansion issues on the Grid. Even Tron's upgrades and continued help aren't enough. That's when Flynn realizes he's got to be in two places at once.

On a bright spring day in '83, Flynn programs Clu--his personal Codified Likeness Utility. (Could be worse. His name could've been Ava, for Avatar, and then everyone would wonder where his stylish tats went.) As a system admin and monitor, Clu is tasked with creating the perfect system. Which is all well and good, except for worsening glitches, literal swarms of bugs, and a sudden...massive anomaly in the Sea of Simulation.

No one wrote Ophelia Radia. She just arrived, born from the waters like a pagan goddess, threaded with light and life. She was the first ISO. But there were more, soon, all appearing independently. They had no directives, no set functions--and no Users. They were energy beings, spontaneous and powerful, and full of innocent wonder when it came to the world they found themselves in.

Unfortunately, their brave new world had Clu in it.

They were unaccounted for, unpredictable, and entirely incompatible with Clu's stated function and design. They were imperfect, a blot on the system and a drain on its already taxed resources. And Clu blamed Flynn for their creation. Over the next few years, Clu hoarded resources, converted or de-rezzed opposing Programs on the sly, and made all kinds of trouble for the ISOs, blaming them for everything he orchestrated. Clu eventually seized control of the system, rewrote Tron to be on his team, and wiped out the ISOs.

Which brings us, plus or minus the entire plot of the movie, to where we stand now.

Personality
Pompous and analytical, with a flash-bang temper, Clu is used to being the boss and is hooked on the adulation of the crowd. Any group of admirers will do, but the thunder of Programs clamoring for the destruction of their peers...That's purer than music. Corrupted and destabilized by twenty years of absolute power, he frequently lapses into a snide inversion of Flynn's laid back, aging hippie platitudes, man. Clu is vulnerable to flattery--and just as likely to slag cronies who irritate him with too much drivel. In a way, he has to believe he deserves what he hears--the praise he feels Flynn denied him, the wonder his Creator wasted on the ISOs.

Clu is impressed by prowess and skill, especially physical (eg. marksmanship, parkour, stealth, etc.) and technological (hax, building or refining machinery). Originally programmed as a monitor and admin, he'll ask questions first and then shoot: he wants your information, Program. And he will get it. What happens to you after that is not high on his priority list.

He is supremely arrogant. He hates losing almost as much as he hated the ISOs. He'll cheat to win, and rub your face in it. Imagine every X-Box Live match you ever lost to a ten-year-old cranked on Mountain Dew. Now add Death Frisbee and a touch of The Dude. That is Clu's attitude in competition.

His idea of teamwork is using you for a decoy.

Being flawed himself, he will not tolerate flaws in others--though there seems to be a blind spot where other programs or AI are concerned. He saves most of his compulsive raeg for organics and people who move his stuff when he isn't looking. He has--issues--with his own reflection, and thus prefers smooth, dark planar surfaces with a high shine; they break his image up into patterns and fractals, creating abstract data that he doesn't have to consider too closely.

And hexagons are his favorite shape. Ever.

Abilities & Weaknesses
Abilities Include:


 * Compulsive attention to detail, often at the expense of everything else.


 * Fluency in most pseudocode; adequate proficiency in archaic languages (eg. BASIC, FORTRAN)
 * Physical skills comparable with a second-or-third karate belt. He's fairly agile and not a wuss, but more powerful characters can mop the floor with him!
 * Level Boss: Disc Wars. You might think you're better than me, but can't no one beat my man Rinzler.
 * Final Boss: Lightcycle Grid. He will kill you with the glowing contrails of his motorbike. He'll also sucker you into getting your friends killed.

Weaknesses include:

Compulsive attention to detail, often at the expense of everything else.Misinterprets newer technology. For example, he still expects that a pure tone of exactly 2600 Hz will crack Audio posts.Guns? He has no idea how they work or even what they would be useful for. None. Whatsoever.A veteran of a closed system, he is vulnerable to hacking and manipulation by stronger AI and/or masters of all the hax, especially those capable of subtlety.Appeals to vanity and/or ego will get you absolutely everywhere.He is slowly but surely glitching out over the imperfection of the User world.<li style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; ">To produce incapacitating rabid mouthfoam? Mention Flynn.</li><li style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; ">Mention Flynn. Steal shit while Clu's back is turned. Or just punch him inna face and laugh. Then, die.</li><li style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; ">The sun? The sun is a problem.</li></ul>

Character Relationships
Screw it, Alpha By First is easiest.

<p style="text-align: center; ">CANON:

Abraxas: BEST VIRUS. They really should talk more.

Alan -1 Bradley: mutually wary forever. The most terrifying User crush he's ever had.

Anon: for some reason, whenever these two get together, it's always well-reasoned philosophical discussion.

Ed Dillinger, Jr.: strong early start; the connection cooled in light of each party's other priorities.

Gem: how you doin'? :3

Gibson: Not friends by a long shot, but they share a mutual hatred of the sun.

Jalen: they talked once, briefly, before Tronhaus closed ranks. They will meet again. Oh, yes.

Kevin Flynn: learned to pick locks to get into your heart. Failed. Got into your house, though. <3

Ram: see note at Jalen, only this time, the driving interference came directly from Rinzler.

Rinzler: He's with me. There a problem, officer?

Sam Flynn: arrived within weeks of each other; last verbally sparred at Space Prom.

Tron: oh, honey, no.

<p style="text-align: center; ">CROSS-CANON:

Agent New York: Delta's User, aka That Nice User Boy. He seems like a pretty cool dude.

A.M. (Allied Mastercomputer): One focused dude. Have to appreciate that. All the same, there is something deeply unsettling afoot here.

Barricade (oh, excuse me, 'Benjamin Cade'): So. Heard you're a killer robot from the future who wants to kill Sarah's kid. Not cool, bro. Not cool.

Commander Jane Shepard: built a fortress in the sand, almost saved his volleyball game, made him eat sand. He's been kind of avoiding her since.

Delta: an intelligence program with the UNSC. Cool dude! One of the few he's exchanged cross-universe particulars with.

Nemesis: we can't keep running into each other like this. Do you race?

Sarah Connor: it's so nice to just bro around with someone who wants to get shit done. He's forgiven her for the part where she's a User.

Shockwave: haven't heard much from him since his bro Soundwave disappeared. Note to self: get on that.

SHODAN: We could have been magic, babe. No mere restraining order could ever come between us.

Zaeed Massani: Where you been, bro? We should go out back and shoot some cans with a .22.