Application for ataraxion
PLAYER INFORMATION
Your Name: Kal
OOC Journal: xeidra
Under 18? If yes, what is your age?: Nope, over 18.
Email + IM: otherpromise@gmail.com // walkthedawn on AIM
Characters Played at Ataraxion: N/A
CHARACTER INFORMATION
Name: Re-l Mayer
Canon: Ergo Proxy
Original or Alternate Universe: Original
Canon Point: Post-canon
Number: 029
Setting: Here
History:
Re-l's beginnings are up for speculation. While she possesses the body and mind of a nineteen-year-old woman, it's clear by the end of the series that she is a human clone of Monad, the Proxy of Mosque. When attempting to make a clone of a Proxy, they only came up with a human girl with little resemblance to her "mother", and so they hurried to cover up their tracks. Believing she would be of use, they put her in the hands of a young physician named Daedalus Yumeno. She was told that she was the Regent's granddaughter to cover up all traces of her true identity and past, and she lived a cultured, healthy, and happy young childhood. She believed Daedalus to be her best friend, that her grandfather truly cared for her, and that she was allowed anything she wanted.
She grew to be nineteen quickly; her life changed so fast that she went from being the happy and carefree young girl to being a mature, spoiled, and proactive young woman. The Regent and his Entourages gave her Iggy, another Entourage specifically designed to supervise her and keep her company, so that she would be monitored by them at all times. Of course, this only made her more rebellious. Her grandfather had begun to tighten his leash on what she could and could not do - meetings with him always ended in her being criticized by his Entourages - and she reacted as any teenager would. She detested any control he attempted to have over her and instead insisted that she be treated like a true citizen and someone in control of her own destiny.
In response, they allowed her to have a job in the Investigation Bureau and she was sent to look into any small troubles around the city. Her main job was to investigate the new immigrants from other cities who came to Romdeau searching for a job and a new life. She would fully investigate their histories, their motives, and would try to integrate them best into society. It was here that she met Vincent Law, a man she described as a man who could be a true citizen. He had an honest face and was too wrapped up in being a fellow citizen that he didn't know what he wanted. He got a job as an AutoReiv Disposal Unit, taking care of infected AutoReivs. Re-l was looking into the same thing, investigating the Cogito Virus and why the Chief of Security kept being replaced with new people all the time.
One day, investigating an infected AutoReiv, Re-l came across the Monad Proxy that had escaped from its prison. Attacked, but unharmed, she began looking into the creature. The Regent had Iggy's records stripped of the event and that night, she was cornered by another Proxy... Proxy One, Ergo Proxy. He cornered her in her bathroom, and was then attacked by Monad Proxy. Left alone and shaken, Re-l was taken to get a physical and psychiatric evaluation. The Regent and his Entourages encouraged her to take time off, telling her that she saw no monsters and denying any claim otherwise. Angered, she was taken to see Daedalus for her evaluation, and she uncovered the word "Proxy". As she further tried to look into Vincent Law and the circumstances involving another Proxy attack, she tried to corner him for questioning. Instead, he left Romdeau with another infected AutoReiv, Pino, and left her to suffer the consequences of her emotional outbursts involving Vincent. In Romdeau, showing emotion is considered detrimental, and Re-l only succeeded in angering them further.
Re-l took her leave of Romdeau, with Daedalus' help, to look for Vincent. She found him, as well as several others, outside and thriving despite the utter chaos of the wasteland. Re-l's breathing suit, which kept her from being infected by the poisonous atmosphere, was broken when several armed patrols attacked the people. She began to suffer the effects of the atmosphere, succumbing to it. Hoodie, a man who lived in the small town and the one who helped Vincent, took her back to the city for Daedalus to help. He injected her with an infusion of human and Amrita Cells, giving her a new advantage to the outside and to any other injuries she'd encounter. But as she began to recover, there was an attempt on her life from several Cogito-infected AutoReivs, and while she was nearly mortally wounded, she was revived both by Daedalus and her own new Amrita Cells. He gave her the FP bullets and sent her out with Iggy to retrieve the Proxy. It didn't take them long to find them, and Vincent openly admitted that he was a Proxy. Disbelieving, Re-l wanted to follow him, and they only succeeded in encountering another Proxy and an infected AutoReiv. She used one of her bullets to kill the Proxy, and she sent Iggy back to Romdeau with the body. She would follow Vincent instead.
But Iggy didn't go. Instead, he stayed and told her he'd never leave her behind; Re-l realized he was infected with the Cogito Virus. He kidnapped her and imprisoned her on the ship they used, but the infected AutoReiv attempted to kill her. Iggy sacrificed himself in her stead, despite all of his cruel words to her. She destroyed the rest of him so he wouldn't have to suffer from his feelings any longer. She joined Vincent and Pino on The Rabbit, the airship, and they took off elsewhere. They found another city, and yet another Proxy, and quickly escaped with some supplies and food. They encountered another Proxy, MCQ, who caught them in a game show, challenging Vincent on his knowledge of the world and other Proxies. Successful, Vincent walked away unscathed while the other Proxy was killed... Unfortunately, all of Romdeau was capable of seeing that show. Raul realized Pino was there and alive, and Daedalus saw that Re-l was okay.
They moved on in their search for Mosque, but were delayed by several days because The Rabbit ran on wind power and there was no breeze that whole time. But when the wind caught up, they found a set of caves that was inhabited by survivors of the original corrosive attack on the environment. Unfortunately, they're bent-over creatures who could only live in toxic caves. Exposure to the outside, fresh air, was harmful to them. Disenchanted, they left, only to watch as a missile came down and destroyed something in the distance: the Mosque Dome. Exploring what was left of the dome, Re-l found the room which the Monad Proxy had once inhabited, and Ergo Proxy took steps to keep Vincent unaware of his true form and past. They made quick time back to Romdeau, but Vincent decided to leave them just before they entered the city, forcing Re-l to follow right after him.
Romdeau, while they were gone, had practically collapsed. AutoReivs were all infected by the Cogito Virus and had been going crazy. The society had completely fallen through; without AutoReivs, no one knew how to act or how to go on with their lives. Raul had tried to recreate people without the need for Proxies, and in doing so had completely destroyed their carefully placed society. Re-l searched everywhere for Vincent, seeing only his shadow on the walls as though he was watching for her as well. Daedalus found her, but he too had begun to crack. Without her, he had created another Re-l called "Re-l 2" or "Real". She was a true clone of Monad who had been able to take the soul of the Proxy inside of her. Daedalus latched onto her as though he would to Re-l and treated her like his new Re-l, regarding the real one as a "traitor". He revealed that it was the Regent who tried to have her killed, not Raul, and she went to confront her grandfather on the matter.
Instead of gaining an answer, Vincent had arrived before her in his Ergo Proxy form, killing her grandfather in front of her despite her pleas. Raul stepped in and shot Vincent with an FP bullet, but he survived by ripping off his arm where the bullet had gone in. Raul and Vincent both left Re-l there, where Kristeva, Raul's AutoReiv, came to help her. She left soon after; Real showed up, along with Daedalus, and it was then she realized that her true purpose was to be the bait for Ergo Proxy to return. She was his Monad. Surely he would come back if she was there. And so he did, as Vincent Law. But, as the Regent's Entourages revealed, Re-l still had to find another great truth...and so she did.
When Vincent returned, still as Ergo Proxy, she revealed that there was another, the real Ergo Proxy, who was orchestrating the entire downfall of the domes and humans. When he had realized his true purpose was to wipe out the rest of the Proxies and then himself in order for the Creators to return and re-inhabit the earth, he struck out and attempted to defy his fate, wiping out all of the humans instead. Vincent fought him and attempted to stop him, to defy his own fate; Re-l went to stop the manual destruction of the dome that Daedalus was causing on his own. She confronted him and he admitted that it was all because he knew they were doomed to fail and die, and that Re-l and the Regent were too focused on Ergo Proxy to care for anyone else. All he wanted was for her to care for him. Real, Monad's clone, flew by overhead and Daedalus made to chase after her; he was crushed by falling debris in the process. Re-l comforted him and apologized for her cruelty, leaving him when he instructed her to. She made her way outside and was saved by Pino, Kristeva, and The Rabbit.
Vincent had changed his own pulse, his own fate, and was now Ergo Proxy...the agent of death to the Creators. And they were ready to face the world together.
Personality:
One might think that Re-l Mayer should be more than just an ordinary girl, but the truth is that she isn't; being a clone of a Proxy does not make her any less of a human. While her youth was extremely short, there is no evidence to say that she did not go through the standard emotional and physical stages of life, allowing her to be shaped into a perfectly functional person with no outstanding flaws to speak of. As a child, she is happy and privileged, curious of the world around her, kind, and caring. Because life changes so quickly for her even before the series begins, it's easy to see how she becomes someone selfish and arrogant, even almost cruel, at the beginning of the series.
On the surface, Re-l is a cool and collected young woman, selfish but no less curious than she was as a child. Her outward kindness from her youth has practically disappeared as per Romdeau's ordinance that emotions are signs of weakness. Spurned from her grandfather's love and denied of a true family, she has tried to grow up to fit the standards of Romdeau and to become a perfect citizen. While she is not necessarily a black sheep by those standards (more of an oddball, at best), she is still regarded as someone inherently different from the rest of the citizens. This, too, reflects upon her personality; she is shown to be both dismissive of others and skeptical of their ability to help at all.
Because of this, she has internalized the idea that no one is like her and that no one else will understand or be as perfect as her. This is an idea fueled by Daedalus and Iggy (the former who calls her perfect, the latter who calls her a "Princess") and ultimately leads to her calloused behavior and cruelty to those around her. She rejects their notion of normalcy and embraces her own. While she can easily mask her emotions around others, she also does not take great pains to hide her displeasure or her disgust, acting out like a spoiled child. The citizens of Romdeau treat her with respect when she is in control and in charge but most of them are more than happy to speak to her as though she's no more than a little girl when she's ultimately down and out. The exceptions to this are the immigrants who call her "Your Excellency" and treat her like royalty. She is a figure for the Regent and is no less in their eyes despite how cruelly she treats them. Her reputation always precedes her.
When she leaves the dome, she becomes disillusioned to its effectiveness as a controlled society and sees it only as a people who are hiding from the light and from the truth. Iggy's revelation that he finds her selfish and useless without him becomes the catalyst for her change, alerting her as to how people feel about her. He may have been infected with the Cogito Virus, but it was a part of how he truly felt. She takes his words to heart and begins to try and reshape herself, casting off the mask of a selfish and "perfect" individual.
As the series progresses, Re-l's outward iciness melts enough to show that she has meaningful feelings that she simply hides away because it's expected of her. While this does not make her a particularly kind and gentle person to strangers, it does allow her to show some modicum of care and concern, even benevolence, to the people she has grown to be fond of. She struggles to see emotion as a strength and not a weakness; she tries to accept that life is more about the journey and less about how comfortable you are through that journey; she wants to understand everything. She demonstrates a great resourcefulness and rationality that counteracts Vincent's idealistic and pessimistic dual natures. Re-l approaches situations with logic and sees things as opportunity; Vincent encounters trouble and tries not to let it drag him down. His idealism and optimistic behavior under fortunate circumstances has helped to ground her and has allowed her to have better faith in herself and the people around her.
Because the truth is her raison d'être, it rules her life first and foremost. Spiritual and emotional awakening can kill lesser individuals, and that's exactly what happens in Romdeau. Only a select few, Re-l included, are capable of embracing the change without losing themselves. She understands that everyone's truth is different and that it must be discovered, not told. She becomes more aware of her world's truth, the secret behind Vincent, and her own origin with a great deal of suffering, but time and again she has proven that she can handle it and can grow from what she seen.
Her connection to the Monad Proxy is not entirely without consequence upon who she is. Monad has been called in some translations the "Harbinger of Rebirth" to counteract against Ergo Proxy's "Agent of Death". Her kindness, acceptance, and wish to alleviate the pain and suffering of others is something not entirely seen in Re-l Mayer, but the human woman does show other similarities. Re-l accepts the pain and burden of others onto herself and when Romdeau is destroyed, she is the only one who can carry on as their voice and as their vessel. She stands beside Vincent as a comrade, a friend, and as something that even she cannot describe in words. She has unconsciously taken Monad's place as his alleviator and his confidant. She may not be as wholly generous as Monad is but she is still someone who wants to see Vincent rise to the occasion, who wants to see him be his own person. She wants to see the real person that he is, not the shadow of what he's supposed to be. To that end, she will do whatever possible to set him free from the shackles that bind him to fate and to obligation.
Re-l Mayer still has inherent flaws in her personality, of course. She has grown too used to Romdeau's extravagances to fully accept the conditions around her. She grows used to the change, of course, but it is with a begrudging attitude. She also does not readily accept people despite all that's happened. Iggy, Daedalus, her grandfather, and Vincent have all betrayed her; how can she extend herself again to a stranger's kindness if she cannot trust the people once closest to her? It is this sort of attitude that she still clings to, something she puts forth with her controlled mask when she speaks to people she's never met before.
Abilities, Weaknesses and Power Limitations:
No powers are known that have been confirmed, but there are heavy hints that she has minor versions of the powers Proxies possess. In the beginning of the series, she is seen getting a cut on her face by glass, but she says this is "just a scratch" and, later that day, removes the bandage to find there's no scarring or evidence of a cut. Later, she suffers from exposure to the poisonous atmosphere and nearly dies. Once she's given an infusion of Amrita Cells (the same cells the Proxies possess), she quickly heals over the course of three days without any side-effects. (Daedalus even goes so far as to say "Your ability to heal never ceases to amaze me, Re-l.") Later in that episode, she survives a stab through the chest that goes all the way through and manages to be able to leave the facility in under an hour without much trouble. With this in mind, it's very likely she can survive most near-death experiences by slowly healing, and that most illnesses will just be destroyed as she encounters them in her body. She may get sick, but her Amrita cells will slowly break the sickness down.
There is a brief part in one of the episodes where Re-l has a "dream" involving her younger self (possibly 'Monad', as Re-l is made to be like her and this small girl exhibits similar characteristics to the Monad we see later in the series). It acts like an illusion similar to what several of the other Proxies can do. Monad, at this point, is dead and Vincent is gone. There's speculation that this is a power of Re-l's own doing (since the 'Swan Proxy' later in the series is never really shown and might simply be a product of Re-l's psyche). However, since there is no canon foundation or revelation that this does belong to Re-l, this isn't a power I'm comfortable with claiming to be hers and she will not have these.
The other powers Proxies possess - like the heightened strength and agility, the glowing eyes, the unique powers each one of them possesses, the illusions, the teleportation - all are considered godlike abilities and Re-l is not shown to have them, so she will not have them at all.
Re-l has the same sort of physical strength as a young woman her age might who constantly works out and keeps herself at peak physical conditions. Her right arm is also strong enough to hold a shotgun one-handed and not have any issue with the kickback from shooting. She is an extremely accurate shot because of her training (and possibly her need to always be perfect in everything she does) and because of her calm disposition in most situations. She's highly intelligent, shown to be able to navigate maps with the help of an AutoReiv, be able to take stock and divvy out proportions logically, and take measurements and draw her own conclusions. She is not seen with any sort of expansive knowledge in any subject (like Mathematics, Criminology, Philosophy, etc.) but she knows a healthy amount of logical information that suggests she's had very extensive tutoring as a child. She can easily keep up with her friend Daedalus at times and he's considered a prodigy in the series. Her inherent curiosity fuels her to actively learn more at every opportunity, though her attention may wan if the subject isn't to her liking or isn't relevent to what she's looking for.
That same curiosity is also a weakness as she doesn't know how to stop herself from asking questions or finding the truth. This leads her to getting in a lot of trouble throughout the series. Her involvement, forced or voluntary, leads her to encounter about 10 near-death experiences in under three months and across 23 episodes. While she survives all of these, she does understand that she is letting herself suffer because of her inherent need for the truth. She puts herself in harm's way more often than not because that's the only way to get to the heart of the matter. She often does this by speaking out against authority (whether it is corrupt or not), getting physically involved in some altercations, and simply being caustic and cruel when she is angry. She acts out when she believes that she is being restriced by rules or by expectations.
It can be said that she has a weakness for the godlike, especially Proxies, as she is modeled after the lover of the most powerful Proxy that exists in her universe. However, several other characters suffer when they encounter these gods as well. Once you've encountered the divine, you are changed forever. Re-l, however, does not allow this to blind her to the truth and to her duties, which cannot be said for her grandfather or Daedalus, who withdraw and become obsessed with the gods.
Romdeau citizens never have had any need to clean or cook or do any such mundane tasks around the house because they have Entourage or Companion model AutoReivs to take care of these menial tasks themselves. Because of this, she doesn't have much of a grasp of day-to-day activities that do not in some way border on "survival". She had to learn how to cook but only had experience with this using canned goods, pasta, and other non-perishable items. Needless to say, she has no idea how to cook meat or other foods such as that.
Inventory: Her data pad (which is basically like a tablet, nothing special) and her shotgun.
Appearance: Re-l Mayer
Age: 19 (note: it isn't clear when Ergo Proxy ends, and so she might have turned 20 by the end of the series)
AU Clarification: N/A
SAMPLES
Log Sample:
The world had changed.
That much was obvious the moment Re-l Mayer had taken one step into Romdeau after weeks, months, of being away. The dome's flood vents were open - broken, actually - and free to the open air. People were being poisoned even then, but no one had done a thing about it. Why? Why hadn't anyone even tried to help? What was going on?
And Vincent... That bastard left her. Became Ergo Proxy and darted away like hell was on his heels. What had gotten into him?
She had to hurry. She moved over the large pieces of broken metal and pulled her jacket around her, moving down the hall into Romdeau's alley corridors. The air was thick with smoke and fire as she made her way out of the vent up the stairs, out into the city. Night had fallen upon the dome, a synthetic night, but all she could see was orange. Orange and red fire cast into the street, burning up the remains of a broken AutoReiv. Re-l sidestepped the scene, only to nearly trip on another. And another. The girl looked up, casting her gaze over the rest of the alley, its ground littered with the remains of robotic arms, legs, and heads from AutoReivs.
Lifting her head slowly, she drew out the shotgun from her person and looked around at the carnage around her. It was depressing, degrading... How far had the city fallen as to litter their very streets with the bodies of those that had once protected and served them?
For a moment, she imagined Iggy lying on the ground before her, calling to her. Don't hate me, Re-l. Please.
Gritting her teeth and tightening her hold on the shotgun, she stepped around the pieces of AutoReivs reverently and made her way up the next set of stairs. There was going to be hell to pay for this. She wanted answers, and she wanted them immediately.
"Raul Creed, what have you done?" she muttered, ascending the stairs and entering the heart of the city and into the turmoil that awaited her.
Comms Sample:
So it is just like a phone. Huh. If there's someone out there who can hear this, I need some things. The first are coordinates to where I am and an explanation as to where my clothes are. The second...
[Here she pauses in thought. Does she ask after Vincent and Pino, or...]
I also need to know what year this is. I've been looking around and I haven't seen anything definite beyond- [Well, beyond this phone, which might tell her if she could just learn how it fully works.] In either case, both of those pieces of information would be largely helpful. [Her shoulder tugs a little and she winces softly.] Thank you.
[Click.]
Your Name: Kal
OOC Journal: xeidra
Under 18? If yes, what is your age?: Nope, over 18.
Email + IM: otherpromise@gmail.com // walkthedawn on AIM
Characters Played at Ataraxion: N/A
CHARACTER INFORMATION
Name: Re-l Mayer
Canon: Ergo Proxy
Original or Alternate Universe: Original
Canon Point: Post-canon
Number: 029
Setting: Here
History:
Re-l's beginnings are up for speculation. While she possesses the body and mind of a nineteen-year-old woman, it's clear by the end of the series that she is a human clone of Monad, the Proxy of Mosque. When attempting to make a clone of a Proxy, they only came up with a human girl with little resemblance to her "mother", and so they hurried to cover up their tracks. Believing she would be of use, they put her in the hands of a young physician named Daedalus Yumeno. She was told that she was the Regent's granddaughter to cover up all traces of her true identity and past, and she lived a cultured, healthy, and happy young childhood. She believed Daedalus to be her best friend, that her grandfather truly cared for her, and that she was allowed anything she wanted.
She grew to be nineteen quickly; her life changed so fast that she went from being the happy and carefree young girl to being a mature, spoiled, and proactive young woman. The Regent and his Entourages gave her Iggy, another Entourage specifically designed to supervise her and keep her company, so that she would be monitored by them at all times. Of course, this only made her more rebellious. Her grandfather had begun to tighten his leash on what she could and could not do - meetings with him always ended in her being criticized by his Entourages - and she reacted as any teenager would. She detested any control he attempted to have over her and instead insisted that she be treated like a true citizen and someone in control of her own destiny.
In response, they allowed her to have a job in the Investigation Bureau and she was sent to look into any small troubles around the city. Her main job was to investigate the new immigrants from other cities who came to Romdeau searching for a job and a new life. She would fully investigate their histories, their motives, and would try to integrate them best into society. It was here that she met Vincent Law, a man she described as a man who could be a true citizen. He had an honest face and was too wrapped up in being a fellow citizen that he didn't know what he wanted. He got a job as an AutoReiv Disposal Unit, taking care of infected AutoReivs. Re-l was looking into the same thing, investigating the Cogito Virus and why the Chief of Security kept being replaced with new people all the time.
One day, investigating an infected AutoReiv, Re-l came across the Monad Proxy that had escaped from its prison. Attacked, but unharmed, she began looking into the creature. The Regent had Iggy's records stripped of the event and that night, she was cornered by another Proxy... Proxy One, Ergo Proxy. He cornered her in her bathroom, and was then attacked by Monad Proxy. Left alone and shaken, Re-l was taken to get a physical and psychiatric evaluation. The Regent and his Entourages encouraged her to take time off, telling her that she saw no monsters and denying any claim otherwise. Angered, she was taken to see Daedalus for her evaluation, and she uncovered the word "Proxy". As she further tried to look into Vincent Law and the circumstances involving another Proxy attack, she tried to corner him for questioning. Instead, he left Romdeau with another infected AutoReiv, Pino, and left her to suffer the consequences of her emotional outbursts involving Vincent. In Romdeau, showing emotion is considered detrimental, and Re-l only succeeded in angering them further.
Re-l took her leave of Romdeau, with Daedalus' help, to look for Vincent. She found him, as well as several others, outside and thriving despite the utter chaos of the wasteland. Re-l's breathing suit, which kept her from being infected by the poisonous atmosphere, was broken when several armed patrols attacked the people. She began to suffer the effects of the atmosphere, succumbing to it. Hoodie, a man who lived in the small town and the one who helped Vincent, took her back to the city for Daedalus to help. He injected her with an infusion of human and Amrita Cells, giving her a new advantage to the outside and to any other injuries she'd encounter. But as she began to recover, there was an attempt on her life from several Cogito-infected AutoReivs, and while she was nearly mortally wounded, she was revived both by Daedalus and her own new Amrita Cells. He gave her the FP bullets and sent her out with Iggy to retrieve the Proxy. It didn't take them long to find them, and Vincent openly admitted that he was a Proxy. Disbelieving, Re-l wanted to follow him, and they only succeeded in encountering another Proxy and an infected AutoReiv. She used one of her bullets to kill the Proxy, and she sent Iggy back to Romdeau with the body. She would follow Vincent instead.
But Iggy didn't go. Instead, he stayed and told her he'd never leave her behind; Re-l realized he was infected with the Cogito Virus. He kidnapped her and imprisoned her on the ship they used, but the infected AutoReiv attempted to kill her. Iggy sacrificed himself in her stead, despite all of his cruel words to her. She destroyed the rest of him so he wouldn't have to suffer from his feelings any longer. She joined Vincent and Pino on The Rabbit, the airship, and they took off elsewhere. They found another city, and yet another Proxy, and quickly escaped with some supplies and food. They encountered another Proxy, MCQ, who caught them in a game show, challenging Vincent on his knowledge of the world and other Proxies. Successful, Vincent walked away unscathed while the other Proxy was killed... Unfortunately, all of Romdeau was capable of seeing that show. Raul realized Pino was there and alive, and Daedalus saw that Re-l was okay.
They moved on in their search for Mosque, but were delayed by several days because The Rabbit ran on wind power and there was no breeze that whole time. But when the wind caught up, they found a set of caves that was inhabited by survivors of the original corrosive attack on the environment. Unfortunately, they're bent-over creatures who could only live in toxic caves. Exposure to the outside, fresh air, was harmful to them. Disenchanted, they left, only to watch as a missile came down and destroyed something in the distance: the Mosque Dome. Exploring what was left of the dome, Re-l found the room which the Monad Proxy had once inhabited, and Ergo Proxy took steps to keep Vincent unaware of his true form and past. They made quick time back to Romdeau, but Vincent decided to leave them just before they entered the city, forcing Re-l to follow right after him.
Romdeau, while they were gone, had practically collapsed. AutoReivs were all infected by the Cogito Virus and had been going crazy. The society had completely fallen through; without AutoReivs, no one knew how to act or how to go on with their lives. Raul had tried to recreate people without the need for Proxies, and in doing so had completely destroyed their carefully placed society. Re-l searched everywhere for Vincent, seeing only his shadow on the walls as though he was watching for her as well. Daedalus found her, but he too had begun to crack. Without her, he had created another Re-l called "Re-l 2" or "Real". She was a true clone of Monad who had been able to take the soul of the Proxy inside of her. Daedalus latched onto her as though he would to Re-l and treated her like his new Re-l, regarding the real one as a "traitor". He revealed that it was the Regent who tried to have her killed, not Raul, and she went to confront her grandfather on the matter.
Instead of gaining an answer, Vincent had arrived before her in his Ergo Proxy form, killing her grandfather in front of her despite her pleas. Raul stepped in and shot Vincent with an FP bullet, but he survived by ripping off his arm where the bullet had gone in. Raul and Vincent both left Re-l there, where Kristeva, Raul's AutoReiv, came to help her. She left soon after; Real showed up, along with Daedalus, and it was then she realized that her true purpose was to be the bait for Ergo Proxy to return. She was his Monad. Surely he would come back if she was there. And so he did, as Vincent Law. But, as the Regent's Entourages revealed, Re-l still had to find another great truth...and so she did.
When Vincent returned, still as Ergo Proxy, she revealed that there was another, the real Ergo Proxy, who was orchestrating the entire downfall of the domes and humans. When he had realized his true purpose was to wipe out the rest of the Proxies and then himself in order for the Creators to return and re-inhabit the earth, he struck out and attempted to defy his fate, wiping out all of the humans instead. Vincent fought him and attempted to stop him, to defy his own fate; Re-l went to stop the manual destruction of the dome that Daedalus was causing on his own. She confronted him and he admitted that it was all because he knew they were doomed to fail and die, and that Re-l and the Regent were too focused on Ergo Proxy to care for anyone else. All he wanted was for her to care for him. Real, Monad's clone, flew by overhead and Daedalus made to chase after her; he was crushed by falling debris in the process. Re-l comforted him and apologized for her cruelty, leaving him when he instructed her to. She made her way outside and was saved by Pino, Kristeva, and The Rabbit.
Vincent had changed his own pulse, his own fate, and was now Ergo Proxy...the agent of death to the Creators. And they were ready to face the world together.
Personality:
One might think that Re-l Mayer should be more than just an ordinary girl, but the truth is that she isn't; being a clone of a Proxy does not make her any less of a human. While her youth was extremely short, there is no evidence to say that she did not go through the standard emotional and physical stages of life, allowing her to be shaped into a perfectly functional person with no outstanding flaws to speak of. As a child, she is happy and privileged, curious of the world around her, kind, and caring. Because life changes so quickly for her even before the series begins, it's easy to see how she becomes someone selfish and arrogant, even almost cruel, at the beginning of the series.
On the surface, Re-l is a cool and collected young woman, selfish but no less curious than she was as a child. Her outward kindness from her youth has practically disappeared as per Romdeau's ordinance that emotions are signs of weakness. Spurned from her grandfather's love and denied of a true family, she has tried to grow up to fit the standards of Romdeau and to become a perfect citizen. While she is not necessarily a black sheep by those standards (more of an oddball, at best), she is still regarded as someone inherently different from the rest of the citizens. This, too, reflects upon her personality; she is shown to be both dismissive of others and skeptical of their ability to help at all.
Because of this, she has internalized the idea that no one is like her and that no one else will understand or be as perfect as her. This is an idea fueled by Daedalus and Iggy (the former who calls her perfect, the latter who calls her a "Princess") and ultimately leads to her calloused behavior and cruelty to those around her. She rejects their notion of normalcy and embraces her own. While she can easily mask her emotions around others, she also does not take great pains to hide her displeasure or her disgust, acting out like a spoiled child. The citizens of Romdeau treat her with respect when she is in control and in charge but most of them are more than happy to speak to her as though she's no more than a little girl when she's ultimately down and out. The exceptions to this are the immigrants who call her "Your Excellency" and treat her like royalty. She is a figure for the Regent and is no less in their eyes despite how cruelly she treats them. Her reputation always precedes her.
When she leaves the dome, she becomes disillusioned to its effectiveness as a controlled society and sees it only as a people who are hiding from the light and from the truth. Iggy's revelation that he finds her selfish and useless without him becomes the catalyst for her change, alerting her as to how people feel about her. He may have been infected with the Cogito Virus, but it was a part of how he truly felt. She takes his words to heart and begins to try and reshape herself, casting off the mask of a selfish and "perfect" individual.
As the series progresses, Re-l's outward iciness melts enough to show that she has meaningful feelings that she simply hides away because it's expected of her. While this does not make her a particularly kind and gentle person to strangers, it does allow her to show some modicum of care and concern, even benevolence, to the people she has grown to be fond of. She struggles to see emotion as a strength and not a weakness; she tries to accept that life is more about the journey and less about how comfortable you are through that journey; she wants to understand everything. She demonstrates a great resourcefulness and rationality that counteracts Vincent's idealistic and pessimistic dual natures. Re-l approaches situations with logic and sees things as opportunity; Vincent encounters trouble and tries not to let it drag him down. His idealism and optimistic behavior under fortunate circumstances has helped to ground her and has allowed her to have better faith in herself and the people around her.
Because the truth is her raison d'être, it rules her life first and foremost. Spiritual and emotional awakening can kill lesser individuals, and that's exactly what happens in Romdeau. Only a select few, Re-l included, are capable of embracing the change without losing themselves. She understands that everyone's truth is different and that it must be discovered, not told. She becomes more aware of her world's truth, the secret behind Vincent, and her own origin with a great deal of suffering, but time and again she has proven that she can handle it and can grow from what she seen.
Her connection to the Monad Proxy is not entirely without consequence upon who she is. Monad has been called in some translations the "Harbinger of Rebirth" to counteract against Ergo Proxy's "Agent of Death". Her kindness, acceptance, and wish to alleviate the pain and suffering of others is something not entirely seen in Re-l Mayer, but the human woman does show other similarities. Re-l accepts the pain and burden of others onto herself and when Romdeau is destroyed, she is the only one who can carry on as their voice and as their vessel. She stands beside Vincent as a comrade, a friend, and as something that even she cannot describe in words. She has unconsciously taken Monad's place as his alleviator and his confidant. She may not be as wholly generous as Monad is but she is still someone who wants to see Vincent rise to the occasion, who wants to see him be his own person. She wants to see the real person that he is, not the shadow of what he's supposed to be. To that end, she will do whatever possible to set him free from the shackles that bind him to fate and to obligation.
Re-l Mayer still has inherent flaws in her personality, of course. She has grown too used to Romdeau's extravagances to fully accept the conditions around her. She grows used to the change, of course, but it is with a begrudging attitude. She also does not readily accept people despite all that's happened. Iggy, Daedalus, her grandfather, and Vincent have all betrayed her; how can she extend herself again to a stranger's kindness if she cannot trust the people once closest to her? It is this sort of attitude that she still clings to, something she puts forth with her controlled mask when she speaks to people she's never met before.
Abilities, Weaknesses and Power Limitations:
No powers are known that have been confirmed, but there are heavy hints that she has minor versions of the powers Proxies possess. In the beginning of the series, she is seen getting a cut on her face by glass, but she says this is "just a scratch" and, later that day, removes the bandage to find there's no scarring or evidence of a cut. Later, she suffers from exposure to the poisonous atmosphere and nearly dies. Once she's given an infusion of Amrita Cells (the same cells the Proxies possess), she quickly heals over the course of three days without any side-effects. (Daedalus even goes so far as to say "Your ability to heal never ceases to amaze me, Re-l.") Later in that episode, she survives a stab through the chest that goes all the way through and manages to be able to leave the facility in under an hour without much trouble. With this in mind, it's very likely she can survive most near-death experiences by slowly healing, and that most illnesses will just be destroyed as she encounters them in her body. She may get sick, but her Amrita cells will slowly break the sickness down.
There is a brief part in one of the episodes where Re-l has a "dream" involving her younger self (possibly 'Monad', as Re-l is made to be like her and this small girl exhibits similar characteristics to the Monad we see later in the series). It acts like an illusion similar to what several of the other Proxies can do. Monad, at this point, is dead and Vincent is gone. There's speculation that this is a power of Re-l's own doing (since the 'Swan Proxy' later in the series is never really shown and might simply be a product of Re-l's psyche). However, since there is no canon foundation or revelation that this does belong to Re-l, this isn't a power I'm comfortable with claiming to be hers and she will not have these.
The other powers Proxies possess - like the heightened strength and agility, the glowing eyes, the unique powers each one of them possesses, the illusions, the teleportation - all are considered godlike abilities and Re-l is not shown to have them, so she will not have them at all.
Re-l has the same sort of physical strength as a young woman her age might who constantly works out and keeps herself at peak physical conditions. Her right arm is also strong enough to hold a shotgun one-handed and not have any issue with the kickback from shooting. She is an extremely accurate shot because of her training (and possibly her need to always be perfect in everything she does) and because of her calm disposition in most situations. She's highly intelligent, shown to be able to navigate maps with the help of an AutoReiv, be able to take stock and divvy out proportions logically, and take measurements and draw her own conclusions. She is not seen with any sort of expansive knowledge in any subject (like Mathematics, Criminology, Philosophy, etc.) but she knows a healthy amount of logical information that suggests she's had very extensive tutoring as a child. She can easily keep up with her friend Daedalus at times and he's considered a prodigy in the series. Her inherent curiosity fuels her to actively learn more at every opportunity, though her attention may wan if the subject isn't to her liking or isn't relevent to what she's looking for.
That same curiosity is also a weakness as she doesn't know how to stop herself from asking questions or finding the truth. This leads her to getting in a lot of trouble throughout the series. Her involvement, forced or voluntary, leads her to encounter about 10 near-death experiences in under three months and across 23 episodes. While she survives all of these, she does understand that she is letting herself suffer because of her inherent need for the truth. She puts herself in harm's way more often than not because that's the only way to get to the heart of the matter. She often does this by speaking out against authority (whether it is corrupt or not), getting physically involved in some altercations, and simply being caustic and cruel when she is angry. She acts out when she believes that she is being restriced by rules or by expectations.
It can be said that she has a weakness for the godlike, especially Proxies, as she is modeled after the lover of the most powerful Proxy that exists in her universe. However, several other characters suffer when they encounter these gods as well. Once you've encountered the divine, you are changed forever. Re-l, however, does not allow this to blind her to the truth and to her duties, which cannot be said for her grandfather or Daedalus, who withdraw and become obsessed with the gods.
Romdeau citizens never have had any need to clean or cook or do any such mundane tasks around the house because they have Entourage or Companion model AutoReivs to take care of these menial tasks themselves. Because of this, she doesn't have much of a grasp of day-to-day activities that do not in some way border on "survival". She had to learn how to cook but only had experience with this using canned goods, pasta, and other non-perishable items. Needless to say, she has no idea how to cook meat or other foods such as that.
Inventory: Her data pad (which is basically like a tablet, nothing special) and her shotgun.
Appearance: Re-l Mayer
Age: 19 (note: it isn't clear when Ergo Proxy ends, and so she might have turned 20 by the end of the series)
AU Clarification: N/A
SAMPLES
Log Sample:
The world had changed.
That much was obvious the moment Re-l Mayer had taken one step into Romdeau after weeks, months, of being away. The dome's flood vents were open - broken, actually - and free to the open air. People were being poisoned even then, but no one had done a thing about it. Why? Why hadn't anyone even tried to help? What was going on?
And Vincent... That bastard left her. Became Ergo Proxy and darted away like hell was on his heels. What had gotten into him?
She had to hurry. She moved over the large pieces of broken metal and pulled her jacket around her, moving down the hall into Romdeau's alley corridors. The air was thick with smoke and fire as she made her way out of the vent up the stairs, out into the city. Night had fallen upon the dome, a synthetic night, but all she could see was orange. Orange and red fire cast into the street, burning up the remains of a broken AutoReiv. Re-l sidestepped the scene, only to nearly trip on another. And another. The girl looked up, casting her gaze over the rest of the alley, its ground littered with the remains of robotic arms, legs, and heads from AutoReivs.
Lifting her head slowly, she drew out the shotgun from her person and looked around at the carnage around her. It was depressing, degrading... How far had the city fallen as to litter their very streets with the bodies of those that had once protected and served them?
For a moment, she imagined Iggy lying on the ground before her, calling to her. Don't hate me, Re-l. Please.
Gritting her teeth and tightening her hold on the shotgun, she stepped around the pieces of AutoReivs reverently and made her way up the next set of stairs. There was going to be hell to pay for this. She wanted answers, and she wanted them immediately.
"Raul Creed, what have you done?" she muttered, ascending the stairs and entering the heart of the city and into the turmoil that awaited her.
Comms Sample:
So it is just like a phone. Huh. If there's someone out there who can hear this, I need some things. The first are coordinates to where I am and an explanation as to where my clothes are. The second...
[Here she pauses in thought. Does she ask after Vincent and Pino, or...]
I also need to know what year this is. I've been looking around and I haven't seen anything definite beyond- [Well, beyond this phone, which might tell her if she could just learn how it fully works.] In either case, both of those pieces of information would be largely helpful. [Her shoulder tugs a little and she winces softly.] Thank you.
[Click.]