[OOC] Some general gudelines to my Cypher-playing.
Some of these are things that could technically affect the whole canon, some of them are not. But here are a few basic guidelines I go by when playing Cypher:
- He has been canon-punctured, so he knows he was in a movie called The Matrix, but has not yet seen the film. (As of 12.01.05.)
- He arrived into Milliways from the Matrix itself, a month or so before the start of the first film. Thus his wardrobe is generally consistant with that of the Matrix (lots of leather, black and green, sunglasses, etc.) and he has no "holes." After much debate about how the Wachowskis write things (i.e., very confusingly), I place his time period, at least in Matrix years, as being about January 1998. The opening scene of the film happens in February 1998. (Believe me, I did a lot of work to make sure the date wasn't just some arbitrary thing and is something important to the canon. Harder than you might think!)
- In Milliways, he lives in Room 303. The canon significance is obviously not lost on me. As of right now, Room 303 resembles something closer to the Lafayette Hotel (where Neo takes the red pill) than it does to the Heart o' the City Hotel (where the movie begins and effectively ends) - dusty beds, peeling wallpaper, rotary phone with no dial tone, a general 1930s/1940s decaying grandeur. The room may change as important events (particularly canon-related) happen to Cypher, as well as interactions he may have with other Matrix characters while in Milliways.
- While he can't walk up walls or play with gravity in Milliways, I maintain that humans who get information downloaded into their brains have at least some body memory (particularly true of someone who has come to the bar from the Matrix and not the real world), so he is quite good at Drunken Monkey Kung Fu. The body cannot live without the mind, and the body is also enriched by the mind even if the body is "asleep" (i.e., lying plugged into an ecto chair).
- Similarly, I think different languages are downloaded into the minds of the rebels. Because he's not actually in the Matrix, Cypher can't speak them all perfectly, but he can struggle through a few of them via the same logic that allows him to do kung fu in Milliways. Some languages have "stuck" more easily than others (it's probably safe to assume, given the Wachowskis' Asian influence and its importance in the Matrix, that variations on Chinese and Japanese are particularly important).
- His memory of history, pop culture, and other things of 20th century Earth are sketchy. Because he was in the Matrix longer than most rebels (he was jacked out at age 39), he probably has more reference material, but he's unclear about certain details. For example, he'd know something famous and well-established like Gone with the Wind, but he probably wouldn't be familiar with, say, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. ;} This is something I think varies from person to person, as Mouse probably knows and remembers more of that stuff due to his age and relative youth in the real world.
- He has certain aspects of PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder). Not something I "planned," merely something I've noticed while playing him. It makes sense given that he's been stuck in a war for nearly a decade and is not exactly cut out to be a soldier (at least not by Zion's definition). In addition, there's an important aspect of his backstory that makes the likelihood of PTSD pretty strong. In Milliways, his PTSD often manifests as him sometimes being unable to distinguish what is simulation and what is not (and given that he's technically in a simulation, is that so bad? :).
...That's all for now, more as I feel like adding it.
ETA: Here's a bit more. Why not.
- Phones don't get a dial tone in Milliways. In addition to the one in his room, he came in with a cell that went dead as soon as he got there. If he was ever able to make contact with anyone from the Neb within Milliways, I assure you his paranoia would become a crashingly scary thing. ;} I probably wouldn't let this happen without talking to my other canonmates. He's been able to get computers from the Bar, also, but he can't connect to any 'net in any way, shape or form.
- I think this is obvious, but given his time period he hasn't betrayed anyone yet. And because he doesn't know that Mouse is dead and he hasn't seen the movie yet, he has no idea why certain people hate him. This is not to say that he hasn't been thinking about betrayal for a long time (as I said, he comes in from only a month before the movie begins), so any conversations touching on that subject might prove interesting. Especially if the Agents are brought up, as he has a portion of his backstory that has to do with them.
- Yeah, he really does have a problem with booze. And it ain't just at Milliways. Cypher is a highly functional alcoholic. On the Neb, he'd survive on engine degreaser over goop any day.
- He has been canon-punctured, so he knows he was in a movie called The Matrix, but has not yet seen the film. (As of 12.01.05.)
- He arrived into Milliways from the Matrix itself, a month or so before the start of the first film. Thus his wardrobe is generally consistant with that of the Matrix (lots of leather, black and green, sunglasses, etc.) and he has no "holes." After much debate about how the Wachowskis write things (i.e., very confusingly), I place his time period, at least in Matrix years, as being about January 1998. The opening scene of the film happens in February 1998. (Believe me, I did a lot of work to make sure the date wasn't just some arbitrary thing and is something important to the canon. Harder than you might think!)
- In Milliways, he lives in Room 303. The canon significance is obviously not lost on me. As of right now, Room 303 resembles something closer to the Lafayette Hotel (where Neo takes the red pill) than it does to the Heart o' the City Hotel (where the movie begins and effectively ends) - dusty beds, peeling wallpaper, rotary phone with no dial tone, a general 1930s/1940s decaying grandeur. The room may change as important events (particularly canon-related) happen to Cypher, as well as interactions he may have with other Matrix characters while in Milliways.
- While he can't walk up walls or play with gravity in Milliways, I maintain that humans who get information downloaded into their brains have at least some body memory (particularly true of someone who has come to the bar from the Matrix and not the real world), so he is quite good at Drunken Monkey Kung Fu. The body cannot live without the mind, and the body is also enriched by the mind even if the body is "asleep" (i.e., lying plugged into an ecto chair).
- Similarly, I think different languages are downloaded into the minds of the rebels. Because he's not actually in the Matrix, Cypher can't speak them all perfectly, but he can struggle through a few of them via the same logic that allows him to do kung fu in Milliways. Some languages have "stuck" more easily than others (it's probably safe to assume, given the Wachowskis' Asian influence and its importance in the Matrix, that variations on Chinese and Japanese are particularly important).
- His memory of history, pop culture, and other things of 20th century Earth are sketchy. Because he was in the Matrix longer than most rebels (he was jacked out at age 39), he probably has more reference material, but he's unclear about certain details. For example, he'd know something famous and well-established like Gone with the Wind, but he probably wouldn't be familiar with, say, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. ;} This is something I think varies from person to person, as Mouse probably knows and remembers more of that stuff due to his age and relative youth in the real world.
- He has certain aspects of PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder). Not something I "planned," merely something I've noticed while playing him. It makes sense given that he's been stuck in a war for nearly a decade and is not exactly cut out to be a soldier (at least not by Zion's definition). In addition, there's an important aspect of his backstory that makes the likelihood of PTSD pretty strong. In Milliways, his PTSD often manifests as him sometimes being unable to distinguish what is simulation and what is not (and given that he's technically in a simulation, is that so bad? :).
...That's all for now, more as I feel like adding it.
ETA: Here's a bit more. Why not.
- Phones don't get a dial tone in Milliways. In addition to the one in his room, he came in with a cell that went dead as soon as he got there. If he was ever able to make contact with anyone from the Neb within Milliways, I assure you his paranoia would become a crashingly scary thing. ;} I probably wouldn't let this happen without talking to my other canonmates. He's been able to get computers from the Bar, also, but he can't connect to any 'net in any way, shape or form.
- I think this is obvious, but given his time period he hasn't betrayed anyone yet. And because he doesn't know that Mouse is dead and he hasn't seen the movie yet, he has no idea why certain people hate him. This is not to say that he hasn't been thinking about betrayal for a long time (as I said, he comes in from only a month before the movie begins), so any conversations touching on that subject might prove interesting. Especially if the Agents are brought up, as he has a portion of his backstory that has to do with them.
- Yeah, he really does have a problem with booze. And it ain't just at Milliways. Cypher is a highly functional alcoholic. On the Neb, he'd survive on engine degreaser over goop any day.