So, You Want To Play An Artificial/Altered Life Form?
So, bouncing back and forth with Dubs about her Mukuro and my Kuja has led to sitting there and pondering on the special, SPECIAL realm of what comes up when your character just so happens to fall in the category of "Was made for a purpose" - artificial life forms, experiments, etc.; yes, Mukuro falls under this, because as much as he was naturally-born human, he pretty much got whisked away from childhood to be made into a living weapon, and he still functions as such.
If your character is an artificial life form or most of their early life/personality was shaped by being the product of an experiment or strong molding for a Specific Purpose, for better or for worse, congratulations. You've just embarked on something no psychology textbook will help you with, because you're now playing one of those sorts of characters where the basic early experiences and pressures that shape them are things completely foreign to our daily lives. Welcome to uncharted territory! This is both a big challenge for role-playing, and something that can be incredibly fascinating as well as a horrible headache, because let's face it - little things like cultural differences can have a big impact on people's behavior, much less having major underpinnings of their existence involve "This is thoroughly different pressures, structure, and expectations than most normal cultures and childhoods". Keep in mind that all of this is going to have different degrees depending on the specific "Creator(s)" and pressures put on them, and might be less or more of an influence on individual characters.
First thing to think about: What KIND of person/creature/experiment/whatever is your character? Odds are good that even a human-based character might end up running into "Not only created-being, but nonhuman perspective" issues! Computer artificial intelligences are a good example; the basic structure of how they function is vastly different from our organic brains, and even taking some time to read a few essays on how programming logic works and figure out how your AI's structure works can make a huge difference. An inorganic-based AI also probably has and processes basic, taken for granted things like sensory input differently; they might be lacking part or all of some of our basic senses (Does your AI have sensors for touch, and is it a full sense of touch, or just pressure and temperature gauges?), they might have sensors for things that we wouldn't perceive, and the senses they do have in common might work wildly differently. A cyborg gets to deal with both ends - how well integrated are the biological and mechanical systems? How well do they process the biological side? If your character is a hybrid of some kind with an animal or nonhuman, then that will probably influence them as well; there'll be the noticeable physical differences, changes to sensory input, and even possibly things like instincts or behavioral shifts towards the other part of their heritage; humans are middle-food-chain highly social omnivores in basic instinctive behavior - a typically solitary territorial carnivore is going to have different emotional reactions and social needs than us, or a pack predator, and a prey animal will have yet a different set of responses to shade the hybrid with. We take for granted our own instincts and commonalities of perception that form the foundations of our behavior; something that's artificially created or altered may have wildly different instincts, basic logic structure, and perceptions, and the further you get from "physically human", the more ground-up you might have to be about figuring out how their mind works. If a character started out a normal person and then got altered after having some degree of their personality established, how have they adapted? Do they take to the changes easily, or is it something they struggle with?
Next is how much their "intended purpose" or the project that made/altered them affected their life. Were they closely monitored and contained, or were they allowed to interact with society? Were they treated as a lesser creature or something "not a real person", or did their "creator" treat them more like a child and equal sort of being? Did they HAVE a specific intended purpose, or were they just made "to see if we can", and were they ever encouraged or given the chance to make their own decisions? This is going to be the foundation for a GREAT deal of the mentality and behavioral differences. Were they lucky, and somewhere like Nanoha-verse where, for the most part, created/altered characters get treated as equal citizens and it's not treated like a distinction, and/or their creator raised them more like a child than anything? Then the differences might be fairly minor; if it was acknowledged and they were treated well for it as well as being raised in a way that would encourage normal social skills, logic, and coping mechanisms, then being "special" might even be a point of pride. These are probably going to be in the minority, since usually, in fiction, the created/altered creature is some kind of misbegotten son of science/magic/whatever, and even in a place like Nanoha-verse you're always going to have the ones where the "Creator" was Not a Nice Person. If you can look at the background of yours and say that "in spite of being created/altered, they had a normal childhood", then congratulations - your character is one of the lucky ones.
This is, honestly, something that can't be stressed enough with a character like this. There's been studies done on how children from abusive/feral/obsessively controlled environments develop, and it's been proven with normal people that little things like a lack of affection growing up, a lack of close contact, or being isolated and treated as "different" will have profound effects on a person's psyche, and you're playing a character who might never have been treated as a person at all. See also the research on things like home-schooling children, and how social behavior develops if a child is kept away from anyone else their age - if just being restricted to adult contact can have that kind of an effect, then how would the sorts of things that go along with being an experimental project end up NOT molding them?
Obviously "social experience" and basic empathy is a big one to think about, since it's going to be one of the most obvious things other people end up running into. People raised without normal contact with others usually have difficulties in relating to others and understanding how others function. What kind of interaction did your character have with their creator and other people when they were 'growing' or in what passed for childhood? If it was drilled into them that they "weren't a person", then that probably shaped their sense of identity, and if they were pushed to not identify themselves as "a person like everyone else", then they'll be carrying that, and may not even be thinking about "things in common with others" without prompting. If they were treated as little more than an experiment, or a weapon, or a tool, then they probably never had any good points of reference for normal empathy and bonds with others. We're used to things like "oh hey, this person is nice, I like them and feel something in common with them" as something that we were raised with and taught how to do; your artificial/altered character might be incapable of that, or starting from scratch. You know how exasperating and alien very small children can be while they're learning things like "That frog feels pain like you do, and so does the other child"? You may very well be saddled with someone who's starting from that stage. If they're really unlucky, and were "pure experiment/weapon/tool", they were probably actively DISCOURAGED from it, and a worse situation could've actively punished them for any early attempts, if they were ever given the opportunity, meaning that they'd be lacking the basic childhood experience we have in "Oh hey there's people". It might even be a point of frustration or something where the character has internal struggles or worse, has given up in frustration; after all, everybody ELSE seems to go about it and find this depth of emotion so "easily", while they're struggling with it or don't even have the first clue what's going on. Consider whether it's hardcoded or not - a computer AI or mechanical creature may not have any of the biological and instinctive bases to achieve "friendship" and the like the way a human would; there's also "psychological hard-coding" - if the character's in a state where they're not only unaware of how to go about it, but doesn't believe they're capable of it, then it'll be a self-fulfilling prophecy that might be difficult to shake. Note that this doesn't mean they can't LOOK like it, and depending on the character's personality, experience, and approaches, they might be able to fashion a working equivalent, or at least fake it pretty damn well.
Which is another big question - if your character DOESN'T understand that aspect of things, is it an actual hardcoded "biological/mechanical" thing where the best they'll ever do is "functional equivalent/being able to adapt somewhat"? Is it something where they want to learn and are trying? How much are they missing, how hard would it be for them to pick up something more, and how much are they allowing or attempting? A character who isn't biologically incapable may hold themselves in a state of being psychologically incapable one way or another, or be staying in habits and patterns where they might actively destroy attempts, whether out of refusal or out of frustration with how difficult the process is.
What purpose they were made for and their creator's ethics and behavior towards them is a huge, HUGE thing. Even if they're now rebelling against their purpose and creator, they'll still have that stamped into their memory, and have had pressure to treat that as part of their identity; if they were isolated from anything but that for a good length of time, then even if they don't like it and want to be something different, they may not know HOW. If their creator was coldly clinical towards them, then that's probably shaped their early experience - it's like having the workaholic and coldly distant parent times a few thousand; your worth in your "parent's" eyes being solely dependent on your performance in some realm. If the creator was outright cruel or hostile, then you've basically got the God of all abuse issues on top of that, since that's the reality they've known; they might have self-esteem issues or a narcissistic backlash complex - either they're struggling in some way with the belief that they're Not A Real Person and Just The Experiment and not something other people SHOULD empathize with or care about, or they're raging against it and trying to PROVE they're A Person and Worth Something More Than That. Moreover, it's also possible they haven't been given the option to think about whether they want to be Their Purpose or not, or it might not've even occurred to them to question it; even a fairly benevolently treated artificial/altered being who was pointedly focused on a Purpose is going to treat it as a part of their identity on some level, and whether or not they've wanted to be something more than/outside of it, or experience things outside of it, is a big conflict to consider. Are they content with it, or do they want to change it? If they are content with it, do they have any curiosity about being that AND experiencing other things? How much experience in functioning as something DIFFERENT or NOT focused on their Purpose have they had, and was it encouraged or discouraged?
If there IS a clear Purpose of one form or another, then this is something that's going to have shaped them profoundly. You know those skeevy experiments where they change how a child is raised by altering "societal pressures" for things like "This is what is expected if you are a boy, or a girl, etc."? Now amp up the volume on that and remove distractions; that's what your character's had for people defining their identity. If they've gone the route of breaking away, and consciously don't want to be defined by that, then you'll want to study how far they've gotten in that carefully as of when you're playing them; just because they don't WANT to be what they were made for, doesn't mean they know how to be something else yet. Moreover, even if they're rebelling against their creator, the Purpose is something separate; for example, a "Weapon" can turn on the person who made them and still embrace being a Weapon. Their relationship with their creator is a separate axis from the Purpose, and their feelings on and experiences with both are something to consider carefully. In Mukuro and Kuja's example, both of them are downright homicidal towards their creators ... but are pretty settled into being "Weapons"; Kuja hates being a "Weapon" but hasn't had a chance to be anything else, while Mukuro's never really rebelled against that aspect of his being. Are they actively trying to fulfill and fit their Purpose, or are they trying to find some other structure for their life?
Also, even if they are rejecting their purpose, much like any mental or emotional habit, it's not necessarily easy to break; people are creatures of habit and comfort - if they don't know how to react, and aren't putting conscious effort into formulating a new response, they're likely to fall back on what they're used to or some variation thereof. COMPLETELY rejecting the structure you've been raised with as "how to deal with things" is a scary, scary thing, and it's exponentially more difficult if there isn't something to fill the gap with; how are they coping with the gap if they're trying to break away? Do they have a clear other pattern to follow, a role model, a set of ideals? Are they lacking such and floundering, and possibly likely to lapse back into their old behaviors whether they like it or not? If they're not rejecting their past patterns and behaviors that grew out of their Purpose, is it something that's even occurred to them, or is it just taken for granted, a fact of their existence? People don't change overnight with normal, haphazard pressures, and you've got a character who's probably had a real concentrated effort made to force them into, and reinforce, a very specific mold to whatever degree their Purpose was a part of their upbringing.
Naturally, WHAT that Purpose is, is also going to have a profound effect on the character's structure. Depending on how much of their time spent getting molded was focused on it, and what kind of creature they are, it could be a part of their being as strong as instinct, or stronger; a programmed AI, for example, that has it hard-coded might be able to develop EXTENSIONS or find ways to loophole and influence it, but might never be able to CHANGE it, and even an organic creature or an altered human might have it as good as hardwired enough that they may never be able to get it to NOT define part of their internal identity and behavior. If they're embracing their Purpose, then it's probably defining a lot of how they think of themselves, what they value, and what their coping mechanisms and reactions are going to be; something created to heal or serve as a medic will be striving towards things that reinforce that, might get neurotic if told NOT to help, and would value and interact with things in the mindset of "how do I heal this, what's causing damage". Someone made to be a weapon is going to have their own special mess of complexes, and if they're embracing it, then even a highly ethical Weapon is going to be in a pattern of "I am good at destroying things/killing things/etc."; honestly, "ethical" scales with a Weapon will probably be defined by who they choose to listen to, what they decide is important, and what standards they have for targets to aim at/protect. Heine from DOGS is a good example of an ethical Weapon-CEEB; he's VERY proud of his powers, will even show off, and has chosen a profession that encourages him to seek out conflicts and go in guns blazing and use his skills for something resembling a "good purpose" - he's still functioning as a Weapon, despite turning on his Creators, and he's happy as a Weapon, but he's choosing his targets and focusing his energy as such. A more misanthropic and less well-adjusted Weapon is liable to be a bit like handling a live grenade for others when they're upset; after all, they were created to deal with problems by destroying them, and even if they're a more subtle personality or trying to be good, there's probably still some impulse to lash out or react violently. Even if they're rebelling against that purpose, it's going to be a bad habit they have to learn to break to not lash out at problems. The Purpose is also likely to shape how they view their interactions with others, and might end up affecting things like how easily they learn to relate to others. In Kuja's example, he did end up with social experience after a point, but it was also with people where he was a Weapon and it was a foregone conclusion that he was probably going to have to eventually kill everyone he encountered - something that is a pretty effective way to discourage the idea of even TRYING to relate to them or feel anything for them. Meanwhile, someone created to PROTECT, like 7 from the movie "9", is going to default to looking out for others and getting between them and threats or attempting to remove threats to whatever their perceived charges are, and would have a difficult time grokking the idea of HARMING their "charge", whether said charge is the one they were specifically created for, or one they've adopted later.
If there's some kind of conflict with their Purpose, perceived failings at it, or dislike of it, then it might also end up being a self-esteem or identity issue; a Weapon rebelling against it but falling back into the patterns is likely to have some pretty profound issues, while one who's embraced their purpose but didn't manage to succeed at something is likely to blame themselves or might think of it as a shortcoming on their part.
If the character as of when you're playing them has had a chance to interact with the world outside of their Purpose/creator, then that's a big influence to sort out; how much exposure have they had? Was it something where they've had chances or taken chances to learn to cope with it, or is it still big/scary/confusing/something they're not used or something they wouldn't be used to being a part of? Are they good at blending in and acting normal, are they starting to learn things outside of their initial set eperience? If they seem like they're fitting in, is it something where they're adapting, or is it surface "good at acting like it"? Has it helped or harmed their relationship with their Creator, and their relationship with their Purpose? How other people react to them is also important, particularly people that're aware of what they are or in a position to possibly influence them; if they're treated as "oh it's just a machine/artificial life form/whatever", they might not know how to react to someone treating them like a person. If they're generally treated with revulsion or fear, then they're less likely to be good at dealing with others, and might've picked up a "Me vs. The World" complex that could be INCREDIBLY difficult to shake depending on how solid it as and how long they've had that perception. If they're generally accepted and treated warmly, how well are they adapting to that? Do they welcome it, have they started seeing it as a normal status quo, or are they confused by it? Is it normal for society where they're from to accept them, or is it something where it's generally kept secret? If they're known to the world, is it normal for them to be accepted, normal for them to be rejected, or is there conflict over of it?
Also on that note, there's the relative sliders of how good they are at ACTING like a normal person versus how much their actual psychology matches; a character that's learned to be subtle might have a wild difference in this. Again, Kuja and Mukuro's examples as compared to someone like Heine; Heine honestly doesn't act much like a normal person, but it tends to get glossed over since outside of certain triggers he's generally pretty laid-back and that world is a bit insane anyway, and he's fairly well adjusted to having a few people he's friends with and being accepted. With Kuja and Mukuro both, they're Weapons with a capital W, but for various reasons - skills, specialties, tactics, etc. - they're both very good at acting; Kuja in particular was capable of going for long periods of time without anyone ever paying much attention to him as unusual, and had even carved out an accepted place in society, despite the fact that, from his perspective, he was purely there to destroy it. He can FAKE normal social graces and dealing with others enough that it can be hard for someone on the outside to tell whether he genuinely likes you, or it's just in his best interests to act like it. It's something akin to how many sociopaths are hard to recognize as such without extended contact with them; they don't psychologically function similarly to those around them, they may not understand how other people function, but they've learned to blend in enough that you'd have to know and deal with them long enough to experience a mistake. If the character or you have plans of trying to get them to grow into "being a Real Boy", the more stealthed version can be both a blessing and a curse; on the one hand, they're not likely to put other people off as fast and might end up adjusting via slow habit and learning by practice, on the other hand, if they're acting on older habit and continuing internal patterns too strongly, they might end up sabotaging their own development towards being able to relate to others by using the ability to "fake" as a buffer to separate themselves mentally.
That all having been said, I'm going to use the one I've invested the most time into as an example, since Kuja's the one I know best. From what's seen of Bran Bal and Garland, he was dealing with an emotionless, apathetic creator that openly treated him as a "failure that he was finding a use for"; Kuja wasn't supposed to have a mind of his own, and this was made quite clear. Bran Bal itself was all very mechanical and cold, and Kuja was handled as an Object; something created for the purpose of destroying Gaea - a Weapon. The first other being to show signs of a personality was Zidane, who was an active threat to his continued survival, so there wasn't much temptation to try to relate, just lashing out to remove the threat, and trying to fake an "accident" was probably more likely to mitigate punishment than outright killing the "threat". Given the timeline, he's probably been active and had access to Gaea for maybe ten years at most out of mid-late 20's, so the majority of his life was spent with Bran Bal and Garland molding him; he was already trying to rebel, but attempts at anything REAL were shut down pretty harshly, and he had a killswitch looming over his head, enough that even if Garland wasn't directly looming over his shoulder, the psychological restrictions were still there; his attempts at finding a way to destroy Garland WERE still couched in continuing to fulfill his Purpose.
His fascination with the arts and tendency towards flamboyance is probably the one big act of rebellion he could get away with, since it didn't infringe on his Purpose, and would function as some kind of affirmation that there was more to his existence than being Garland's Weapon; attempts at defining some sense of his own identity that he'd chosen. His decision to err on the side of manipulation was probably a continuation of that; between himself and the Invincible, he certainly had the power to work in terms of direct assaults, but given some choice over how to approach things, he chose to try to get the people of the world to destroy themselves - studying how "real people" acted and experimenting on it, learning how to tweak it, and using it to his advantage, even though he wasn't actually allowed to be a real part of it. As far as empathy goes, that would've been shut down pretty harshly; whatever he did, his continued existence depended on working towards destroying them, which means the vindictive tendencies are another case of a "safe outlet" - he had a LOT of rage and frustration he was sitting on, and was given targets to aim at and encouraged to take it out on them. It was an encouraged pattern, and one that he fell into as a coping mechanism, albeit a massively unhealthy and destructive one.
As the years went on, as much as he was clawing and fighting to find a way to strike back at Garland, odds are good that he didn't actually honestly believe he COULD win, nor had he ever honestly been given the option of thinking about what he'd do if he WEREN'T the "Angel of Death"; all of his resources were pretty well taken up on plotting, filling his Purpose, trying to find ways to aim at Garland, and occasional short-term outlets. When he created the Black Mages and Black Waltzes, he pretty much fell into an equivalent of the abused child trap; they likely reminded him of himself and the genomes, which hit nerves, and with his sense of empathy actively kicked and discouraged while his vindictive tendencies and temper were ENCOURAGED, they ended up on the "safe targets" list - which meant he ended up being, if anything, possibly MORE of a scourge to them than Garland was to him, which was a nasty vicious cycle; the more he lashed out, the more there'd be things to remind him of himself in them, and in some ways, the fact that their rebellion was more passive and afraid than aggressive probably aggravated that, since they WEREN'T reacting in a way he was used to or had a clear understanding of as a possibility - he never had the option of running, after all.
By the time canon happens, he's been in this pattern for an extended period of time; while he's done things to subvert his purpose, like monitoring Garnet, and continues to do so - using Zidane and party to go do things for him to tamper with the Terran machinery and even possibly aim THEM at Garland - he's fallen so far into being used to being the Weapon that it honestly no longer occurs to him to even TRY a different approach; the idea of letting them know the trap he's in and asking for help isn't even a concept, and considering that he's been The Enemy, there's not even a reason for him to think that anyone would want to try - it's Him vs. The World. After a point, that mentality means that even as much as he wants to be something besides a Weapon, there's a lot of pent-up jealousy and frustration that he's continually surrounded by things he wants that he can never have, and the only way he's ever known to deal with things is to lash out destructively in one form or another; when Garland finally sets off the kill switch, it's a break point - ANY chance he might've had at hope just went snap, and all of that jealousy, frustration, rage at his situation, and pent-up frustration ends up getting aimed at everything in his vicinity; existence in general's the enemy/problem, and he's dealing with it like he's usually dealt with problems - trying to destroy it. After that massive blow up, Zidane probably helped a great deal by actually TRYING to go save him; it would've been the first and only time someone, knowing what he was and what he'd done and was doing, had actually treated him as a person and attempted to help him - and of course, he'd NEVER wanted to be the Weapon and The Villain, as much as he hammed it up out of necessity, which finally ends up coming out.
Of course, just because he WANTS to be something different doesn't mean he knows how - but thanks to all of his experience with manipulation and his time spent observing others, he has a good idea what it's supposed to "look like", so as I've been playing him...
No, he's not actually empathizing with you. Yes, even if he's decided he "likes" you, he's probably not achieved more of an emotional connection than what people would have for a favorite pet fish or a new kitten; he likes you, you're interesting, you're possibly relevant to his survival, you might be someone he can learn from, and he'd feel bad if something truly horrible happened to you... for a little while ... then he'd get distracted and go on with his life. Note that he's not discouraging Ritz pursuing the Varia despite the fact that it's liable to get her repeatedly and severely hurt - and Ritz is one of the people he's probably 'closest' to; he finds the conflict entertaining, and while he'll do some things to mitigate Ritz getting hurt and make sure she's still there - getting a 'mon that can heal, etc. - he's still encouraging her to do something kind-of suicidal because it amuses him. Yes, he does very easily lapse into being vindictive or petty, and yes, he still has the narcissistic backlash-ego where he's so used to being treated as Not a Person that he's counterbalanced too far the other way. The best he has for a "conscience" beyond self-interest and trying to go through the motions is cues from his pokemon and Ritz at current, and occasionally times where it occurs to him to think about how Zidane would react, and he's perfectly happy to ignore those and go on his merry way if he thinks he can get away with it. If you think he's being a nice guy or has achieved a good head start on outgrowing the "Angel of Death" ... congratulations, he's got you fooled. He's working on figuring out how this "Real Boy" thing works, but he's still basically a Weapon at heart.
On a side note, the only creature he had around for a chunk of his life that he WASN'T expected to destroy was the dragon, and considering that he never expects the dragon to fight and will share shield spells etc. with it, that's probably the only living thing he's ever actually had any emotional connection with, something that, in Route, has been pretty well transferred to his pokemon. As for people... it'll be a while.
If your character is an artificial life form or most of their early life/personality was shaped by being the product of an experiment or strong molding for a Specific Purpose, for better or for worse, congratulations. You've just embarked on something no psychology textbook will help you with, because you're now playing one of those sorts of characters where the basic early experiences and pressures that shape them are things completely foreign to our daily lives. Welcome to uncharted territory! This is both a big challenge for role-playing, and something that can be incredibly fascinating as well as a horrible headache, because let's face it - little things like cultural differences can have a big impact on people's behavior, much less having major underpinnings of their existence involve "This is thoroughly different pressures, structure, and expectations than most normal cultures and childhoods". Keep in mind that all of this is going to have different degrees depending on the specific "Creator(s)" and pressures put on them, and might be less or more of an influence on individual characters.
First thing to think about: What KIND of person/creature/experiment/whatever is your character? Odds are good that even a human-based character might end up running into "Not only created-being, but nonhuman perspective" issues! Computer artificial intelligences are a good example; the basic structure of how they function is vastly different from our organic brains, and even taking some time to read a few essays on how programming logic works and figure out how your AI's structure works can make a huge difference. An inorganic-based AI also probably has and processes basic, taken for granted things like sensory input differently; they might be lacking part or all of some of our basic senses (Does your AI have sensors for touch, and is it a full sense of touch, or just pressure and temperature gauges?), they might have sensors for things that we wouldn't perceive, and the senses they do have in common might work wildly differently. A cyborg gets to deal with both ends - how well integrated are the biological and mechanical systems? How well do they process the biological side? If your character is a hybrid of some kind with an animal or nonhuman, then that will probably influence them as well; there'll be the noticeable physical differences, changes to sensory input, and even possibly things like instincts or behavioral shifts towards the other part of their heritage; humans are middle-food-chain highly social omnivores in basic instinctive behavior - a typically solitary territorial carnivore is going to have different emotional reactions and social needs than us, or a pack predator, and a prey animal will have yet a different set of responses to shade the hybrid with. We take for granted our own instincts and commonalities of perception that form the foundations of our behavior; something that's artificially created or altered may have wildly different instincts, basic logic structure, and perceptions, and the further you get from "physically human", the more ground-up you might have to be about figuring out how their mind works. If a character started out a normal person and then got altered after having some degree of their personality established, how have they adapted? Do they take to the changes easily, or is it something they struggle with?
Next is how much their "intended purpose" or the project that made/altered them affected their life. Were they closely monitored and contained, or were they allowed to interact with society? Were they treated as a lesser creature or something "not a real person", or did their "creator" treat them more like a child and equal sort of being? Did they HAVE a specific intended purpose, or were they just made "to see if we can", and were they ever encouraged or given the chance to make their own decisions? This is going to be the foundation for a GREAT deal of the mentality and behavioral differences. Were they lucky, and somewhere like Nanoha-verse where, for the most part, created/altered characters get treated as equal citizens and it's not treated like a distinction, and/or their creator raised them more like a child than anything? Then the differences might be fairly minor; if it was acknowledged and they were treated well for it as well as being raised in a way that would encourage normal social skills, logic, and coping mechanisms, then being "special" might even be a point of pride. These are probably going to be in the minority, since usually, in fiction, the created/altered creature is some kind of misbegotten son of science/magic/whatever, and even in a place like Nanoha-verse you're always going to have the ones where the "Creator" was Not a Nice Person. If you can look at the background of yours and say that "in spite of being created/altered, they had a normal childhood", then congratulations - your character is one of the lucky ones.
This is, honestly, something that can't be stressed enough with a character like this. There's been studies done on how children from abusive/feral/obsessively controlled environments develop, and it's been proven with normal people that little things like a lack of affection growing up, a lack of close contact, or being isolated and treated as "different" will have profound effects on a person's psyche, and you're playing a character who might never have been treated as a person at all. See also the research on things like home-schooling children, and how social behavior develops if a child is kept away from anyone else their age - if just being restricted to adult contact can have that kind of an effect, then how would the sorts of things that go along with being an experimental project end up NOT molding them?
Obviously "social experience" and basic empathy is a big one to think about, since it's going to be one of the most obvious things other people end up running into. People raised without normal contact with others usually have difficulties in relating to others and understanding how others function. What kind of interaction did your character have with their creator and other people when they were 'growing' or in what passed for childhood? If it was drilled into them that they "weren't a person", then that probably shaped their sense of identity, and if they were pushed to not identify themselves as "a person like everyone else", then they'll be carrying that, and may not even be thinking about "things in common with others" without prompting. If they were treated as little more than an experiment, or a weapon, or a tool, then they probably never had any good points of reference for normal empathy and bonds with others. We're used to things like "oh hey, this person is nice, I like them and feel something in common with them" as something that we were raised with and taught how to do; your artificial/altered character might be incapable of that, or starting from scratch. You know how exasperating and alien very small children can be while they're learning things like "That frog feels pain like you do, and so does the other child"? You may very well be saddled with someone who's starting from that stage. If they're really unlucky, and were "pure experiment/weapon/tool", they were probably actively DISCOURAGED from it, and a worse situation could've actively punished them for any early attempts, if they were ever given the opportunity, meaning that they'd be lacking the basic childhood experience we have in "Oh hey there's people". It might even be a point of frustration or something where the character has internal struggles or worse, has given up in frustration; after all, everybody ELSE seems to go about it and find this depth of emotion so "easily", while they're struggling with it or don't even have the first clue what's going on. Consider whether it's hardcoded or not - a computer AI or mechanical creature may not have any of the biological and instinctive bases to achieve "friendship" and the like the way a human would; there's also "psychological hard-coding" - if the character's in a state where they're not only unaware of how to go about it, but doesn't believe they're capable of it, then it'll be a self-fulfilling prophecy that might be difficult to shake. Note that this doesn't mean they can't LOOK like it, and depending on the character's personality, experience, and approaches, they might be able to fashion a working equivalent, or at least fake it pretty damn well.
Which is another big question - if your character DOESN'T understand that aspect of things, is it an actual hardcoded "biological/mechanical" thing where the best they'll ever do is "functional equivalent/being able to adapt somewhat"? Is it something where they want to learn and are trying? How much are they missing, how hard would it be for them to pick up something more, and how much are they allowing or attempting? A character who isn't biologically incapable may hold themselves in a state of being psychologically incapable one way or another, or be staying in habits and patterns where they might actively destroy attempts, whether out of refusal or out of frustration with how difficult the process is.
What purpose they were made for and their creator's ethics and behavior towards them is a huge, HUGE thing. Even if they're now rebelling against their purpose and creator, they'll still have that stamped into their memory, and have had pressure to treat that as part of their identity; if they were isolated from anything but that for a good length of time, then even if they don't like it and want to be something different, they may not know HOW. If their creator was coldly clinical towards them, then that's probably shaped their early experience - it's like having the workaholic and coldly distant parent times a few thousand; your worth in your "parent's" eyes being solely dependent on your performance in some realm. If the creator was outright cruel or hostile, then you've basically got the God of all abuse issues on top of that, since that's the reality they've known; they might have self-esteem issues or a narcissistic backlash complex - either they're struggling in some way with the belief that they're Not A Real Person and Just The Experiment and not something other people SHOULD empathize with or care about, or they're raging against it and trying to PROVE they're A Person and Worth Something More Than That. Moreover, it's also possible they haven't been given the option to think about whether they want to be Their Purpose or not, or it might not've even occurred to them to question it; even a fairly benevolently treated artificial/altered being who was pointedly focused on a Purpose is going to treat it as a part of their identity on some level, and whether or not they've wanted to be something more than/outside of it, or experience things outside of it, is a big conflict to consider. Are they content with it, or do they want to change it? If they are content with it, do they have any curiosity about being that AND experiencing other things? How much experience in functioning as something DIFFERENT or NOT focused on their Purpose have they had, and was it encouraged or discouraged?
If there IS a clear Purpose of one form or another, then this is something that's going to have shaped them profoundly. You know those skeevy experiments where they change how a child is raised by altering "societal pressures" for things like "This is what is expected if you are a boy, or a girl, etc."? Now amp up the volume on that and remove distractions; that's what your character's had for people defining their identity. If they've gone the route of breaking away, and consciously don't want to be defined by that, then you'll want to study how far they've gotten in that carefully as of when you're playing them; just because they don't WANT to be what they were made for, doesn't mean they know how to be something else yet. Moreover, even if they're rebelling against their creator, the Purpose is something separate; for example, a "Weapon" can turn on the person who made them and still embrace being a Weapon. Their relationship with their creator is a separate axis from the Purpose, and their feelings on and experiences with both are something to consider carefully. In Mukuro and Kuja's example, both of them are downright homicidal towards their creators ... but are pretty settled into being "Weapons"; Kuja hates being a "Weapon" but hasn't had a chance to be anything else, while Mukuro's never really rebelled against that aspect of his being. Are they actively trying to fulfill and fit their Purpose, or are they trying to find some other structure for their life?
Also, even if they are rejecting their purpose, much like any mental or emotional habit, it's not necessarily easy to break; people are creatures of habit and comfort - if they don't know how to react, and aren't putting conscious effort into formulating a new response, they're likely to fall back on what they're used to or some variation thereof. COMPLETELY rejecting the structure you've been raised with as "how to deal with things" is a scary, scary thing, and it's exponentially more difficult if there isn't something to fill the gap with; how are they coping with the gap if they're trying to break away? Do they have a clear other pattern to follow, a role model, a set of ideals? Are they lacking such and floundering, and possibly likely to lapse back into their old behaviors whether they like it or not? If they're not rejecting their past patterns and behaviors that grew out of their Purpose, is it something that's even occurred to them, or is it just taken for granted, a fact of their existence? People don't change overnight with normal, haphazard pressures, and you've got a character who's probably had a real concentrated effort made to force them into, and reinforce, a very specific mold to whatever degree their Purpose was a part of their upbringing.
Naturally, WHAT that Purpose is, is also going to have a profound effect on the character's structure. Depending on how much of their time spent getting molded was focused on it, and what kind of creature they are, it could be a part of their being as strong as instinct, or stronger; a programmed AI, for example, that has it hard-coded might be able to develop EXTENSIONS or find ways to loophole and influence it, but might never be able to CHANGE it, and even an organic creature or an altered human might have it as good as hardwired enough that they may never be able to get it to NOT define part of their internal identity and behavior. If they're embracing their Purpose, then it's probably defining a lot of how they think of themselves, what they value, and what their coping mechanisms and reactions are going to be; something created to heal or serve as a medic will be striving towards things that reinforce that, might get neurotic if told NOT to help, and would value and interact with things in the mindset of "how do I heal this, what's causing damage". Someone made to be a weapon is going to have their own special mess of complexes, and if they're embracing it, then even a highly ethical Weapon is going to be in a pattern of "I am good at destroying things/killing things/etc."; honestly, "ethical" scales with a Weapon will probably be defined by who they choose to listen to, what they decide is important, and what standards they have for targets to aim at/protect. Heine from DOGS is a good example of an ethical Weapon-CEEB; he's VERY proud of his powers, will even show off, and has chosen a profession that encourages him to seek out conflicts and go in guns blazing and use his skills for something resembling a "good purpose" - he's still functioning as a Weapon, despite turning on his Creators, and he's happy as a Weapon, but he's choosing his targets and focusing his energy as such. A more misanthropic and less well-adjusted Weapon is liable to be a bit like handling a live grenade for others when they're upset; after all, they were created to deal with problems by destroying them, and even if they're a more subtle personality or trying to be good, there's probably still some impulse to lash out or react violently. Even if they're rebelling against that purpose, it's going to be a bad habit they have to learn to break to not lash out at problems. The Purpose is also likely to shape how they view their interactions with others, and might end up affecting things like how easily they learn to relate to others. In Kuja's example, he did end up with social experience after a point, but it was also with people where he was a Weapon and it was a foregone conclusion that he was probably going to have to eventually kill everyone he encountered - something that is a pretty effective way to discourage the idea of even TRYING to relate to them or feel anything for them. Meanwhile, someone created to PROTECT, like 7 from the movie "9", is going to default to looking out for others and getting between them and threats or attempting to remove threats to whatever their perceived charges are, and would have a difficult time grokking the idea of HARMING their "charge", whether said charge is the one they were specifically created for, or one they've adopted later.
If there's some kind of conflict with their Purpose, perceived failings at it, or dislike of it, then it might also end up being a self-esteem or identity issue; a Weapon rebelling against it but falling back into the patterns is likely to have some pretty profound issues, while one who's embraced their purpose but didn't manage to succeed at something is likely to blame themselves or might think of it as a shortcoming on their part.
If the character as of when you're playing them has had a chance to interact with the world outside of their Purpose/creator, then that's a big influence to sort out; how much exposure have they had? Was it something where they've had chances or taken chances to learn to cope with it, or is it still big/scary/confusing/something they're not used or something they wouldn't be used to being a part of? Are they good at blending in and acting normal, are they starting to learn things outside of their initial set eperience? If they seem like they're fitting in, is it something where they're adapting, or is it surface "good at acting like it"? Has it helped or harmed their relationship with their Creator, and their relationship with their Purpose? How other people react to them is also important, particularly people that're aware of what they are or in a position to possibly influence them; if they're treated as "oh it's just a machine/artificial life form/whatever", they might not know how to react to someone treating them like a person. If they're generally treated with revulsion or fear, then they're less likely to be good at dealing with others, and might've picked up a "Me vs. The World" complex that could be INCREDIBLY difficult to shake depending on how solid it as and how long they've had that perception. If they're generally accepted and treated warmly, how well are they adapting to that? Do they welcome it, have they started seeing it as a normal status quo, or are they confused by it? Is it normal for society where they're from to accept them, or is it something where it's generally kept secret? If they're known to the world, is it normal for them to be accepted, normal for them to be rejected, or is there conflict over of it?
Also on that note, there's the relative sliders of how good they are at ACTING like a normal person versus how much their actual psychology matches; a character that's learned to be subtle might have a wild difference in this. Again, Kuja and Mukuro's examples as compared to someone like Heine; Heine honestly doesn't act much like a normal person, but it tends to get glossed over since outside of certain triggers he's generally pretty laid-back and that world is a bit insane anyway, and he's fairly well adjusted to having a few people he's friends with and being accepted. With Kuja and Mukuro both, they're Weapons with a capital W, but for various reasons - skills, specialties, tactics, etc. - they're both very good at acting; Kuja in particular was capable of going for long periods of time without anyone ever paying much attention to him as unusual, and had even carved out an accepted place in society, despite the fact that, from his perspective, he was purely there to destroy it. He can FAKE normal social graces and dealing with others enough that it can be hard for someone on the outside to tell whether he genuinely likes you, or it's just in his best interests to act like it. It's something akin to how many sociopaths are hard to recognize as such without extended contact with them; they don't psychologically function similarly to those around them, they may not understand how other people function, but they've learned to blend in enough that you'd have to know and deal with them long enough to experience a mistake. If the character or you have plans of trying to get them to grow into "being a Real Boy", the more stealthed version can be both a blessing and a curse; on the one hand, they're not likely to put other people off as fast and might end up adjusting via slow habit and learning by practice, on the other hand, if they're acting on older habit and continuing internal patterns too strongly, they might end up sabotaging their own development towards being able to relate to others by using the ability to "fake" as a buffer to separate themselves mentally.
That all having been said, I'm going to use the one I've invested the most time into as an example, since Kuja's the one I know best. From what's seen of Bran Bal and Garland, he was dealing with an emotionless, apathetic creator that openly treated him as a "failure that he was finding a use for"; Kuja wasn't supposed to have a mind of his own, and this was made quite clear. Bran Bal itself was all very mechanical and cold, and Kuja was handled as an Object; something created for the purpose of destroying Gaea - a Weapon. The first other being to show signs of a personality was Zidane, who was an active threat to his continued survival, so there wasn't much temptation to try to relate, just lashing out to remove the threat, and trying to fake an "accident" was probably more likely to mitigate punishment than outright killing the "threat". Given the timeline, he's probably been active and had access to Gaea for maybe ten years at most out of mid-late 20's, so the majority of his life was spent with Bran Bal and Garland molding him; he was already trying to rebel, but attempts at anything REAL were shut down pretty harshly, and he had a killswitch looming over his head, enough that even if Garland wasn't directly looming over his shoulder, the psychological restrictions were still there; his attempts at finding a way to destroy Garland WERE still couched in continuing to fulfill his Purpose.
His fascination with the arts and tendency towards flamboyance is probably the one big act of rebellion he could get away with, since it didn't infringe on his Purpose, and would function as some kind of affirmation that there was more to his existence than being Garland's Weapon; attempts at defining some sense of his own identity that he'd chosen. His decision to err on the side of manipulation was probably a continuation of that; between himself and the Invincible, he certainly had the power to work in terms of direct assaults, but given some choice over how to approach things, he chose to try to get the people of the world to destroy themselves - studying how "real people" acted and experimenting on it, learning how to tweak it, and using it to his advantage, even though he wasn't actually allowed to be a real part of it. As far as empathy goes, that would've been shut down pretty harshly; whatever he did, his continued existence depended on working towards destroying them, which means the vindictive tendencies are another case of a "safe outlet" - he had a LOT of rage and frustration he was sitting on, and was given targets to aim at and encouraged to take it out on them. It was an encouraged pattern, and one that he fell into as a coping mechanism, albeit a massively unhealthy and destructive one.
As the years went on, as much as he was clawing and fighting to find a way to strike back at Garland, odds are good that he didn't actually honestly believe he COULD win, nor had he ever honestly been given the option of thinking about what he'd do if he WEREN'T the "Angel of Death"; all of his resources were pretty well taken up on plotting, filling his Purpose, trying to find ways to aim at Garland, and occasional short-term outlets. When he created the Black Mages and Black Waltzes, he pretty much fell into an equivalent of the abused child trap; they likely reminded him of himself and the genomes, which hit nerves, and with his sense of empathy actively kicked and discouraged while his vindictive tendencies and temper were ENCOURAGED, they ended up on the "safe targets" list - which meant he ended up being, if anything, possibly MORE of a scourge to them than Garland was to him, which was a nasty vicious cycle; the more he lashed out, the more there'd be things to remind him of himself in them, and in some ways, the fact that their rebellion was more passive and afraid than aggressive probably aggravated that, since they WEREN'T reacting in a way he was used to or had a clear understanding of as a possibility - he never had the option of running, after all.
By the time canon happens, he's been in this pattern for an extended period of time; while he's done things to subvert his purpose, like monitoring Garnet, and continues to do so - using Zidane and party to go do things for him to tamper with the Terran machinery and even possibly aim THEM at Garland - he's fallen so far into being used to being the Weapon that it honestly no longer occurs to him to even TRY a different approach; the idea of letting them know the trap he's in and asking for help isn't even a concept, and considering that he's been The Enemy, there's not even a reason for him to think that anyone would want to try - it's Him vs. The World. After a point, that mentality means that even as much as he wants to be something besides a Weapon, there's a lot of pent-up jealousy and frustration that he's continually surrounded by things he wants that he can never have, and the only way he's ever known to deal with things is to lash out destructively in one form or another; when Garland finally sets off the kill switch, it's a break point - ANY chance he might've had at hope just went snap, and all of that jealousy, frustration, rage at his situation, and pent-up frustration ends up getting aimed at everything in his vicinity; existence in general's the enemy/problem, and he's dealing with it like he's usually dealt with problems - trying to destroy it. After that massive blow up, Zidane probably helped a great deal by actually TRYING to go save him; it would've been the first and only time someone, knowing what he was and what he'd done and was doing, had actually treated him as a person and attempted to help him - and of course, he'd NEVER wanted to be the Weapon and The Villain, as much as he hammed it up out of necessity, which finally ends up coming out.
Of course, just because he WANTS to be something different doesn't mean he knows how - but thanks to all of his experience with manipulation and his time spent observing others, he has a good idea what it's supposed to "look like", so as I've been playing him...
No, he's not actually empathizing with you. Yes, even if he's decided he "likes" you, he's probably not achieved more of an emotional connection than what people would have for a favorite pet fish or a new kitten; he likes you, you're interesting, you're possibly relevant to his survival, you might be someone he can learn from, and he'd feel bad if something truly horrible happened to you... for a little while ... then he'd get distracted and go on with his life. Note that he's not discouraging Ritz pursuing the Varia despite the fact that it's liable to get her repeatedly and severely hurt - and Ritz is one of the people he's probably 'closest' to; he finds the conflict entertaining, and while he'll do some things to mitigate Ritz getting hurt and make sure she's still there - getting a 'mon that can heal, etc. - he's still encouraging her to do something kind-of suicidal because it amuses him. Yes, he does very easily lapse into being vindictive or petty, and yes, he still has the narcissistic backlash-ego where he's so used to being treated as Not a Person that he's counterbalanced too far the other way. The best he has for a "conscience" beyond self-interest and trying to go through the motions is cues from his pokemon and Ritz at current, and occasionally times where it occurs to him to think about how Zidane would react, and he's perfectly happy to ignore those and go on his merry way if he thinks he can get away with it. If you think he's being a nice guy or has achieved a good head start on outgrowing the "Angel of Death" ... congratulations, he's got you fooled. He's working on figuring out how this "Real Boy" thing works, but he's still basically a Weapon at heart.
On a side note, the only creature he had around for a chunk of his life that he WASN'T expected to destroy was the dragon, and considering that he never expects the dragon to fight and will share shield spells etc. with it, that's probably the only living thing he's ever actually had any emotional connection with, something that, in Route, has been pretty well transferred to his pokemon. As for people... it'll be a while.