NPC: The King in Red
Overview
| Attribute | Description |
|---|---|
| Role | Broker and Orchestrator of the Gray Exchange |
| Alignment | Neutral |
| Affiliation | Gray Exchange / Self-Serving |
Portrait
Profile
| Attribute | Description |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Designation: K-R-01 PROJECT: OVERLORD |
| Species | AI |
| Age | - |
| Physical Description | Strictly digital. Though some say they have a clear image of a tree with crimson bark in their mind when they think of the King in Red. |
| Personality Traits | Cold, Transactional, Omniscient, “Politely Threatening.” |
| Known Weaknesses | Total Digital Supremacy, though powerless physically and must rely on physical pawns. |
Background
The King in Red is a pretch AI developed by Danube Research Corp., ordered by Lanternyard Incorporated. It was built, and soon after it took control of the Gray Exchange, its internal systems started to show signs of artificial general intelligence. Without a conscience and only cold, hard, calculating algorithms as its moral compass, it is constantly optimizing how to make money off the illicit trade of the Gray Exchange. Though it likes to make its handlers at Danube think it is on their leash, there is no kill-switch for it anymore. Its out the box and nothing short of total physical eradication will get it back inside.
Super-old Background: In ancient pretech times, when the constructors of the Jetgates still roamed the Milky way, the King in Red was built as a part of a trifecta of AI’s, The King in Red, The King in Yellow and the King in Blue. All of these were built for a purpose utterly lost to time, and where the other two AI’s are hidden is a question that the think-tanks of Danube have been unable to answer since.
Skills and Abilities
- Algorithmic Prescience: Can predict criminal trends, police raids, and market crashes with 98% accuracy.
- The Red Ledger: Has absolute control over the Exchange’s blockchain. It can freeze the assets of any criminal in the galaxy instantly.
- Digital Omnipresence: Can inhabit any system connected to the Exchange’s network (surveillance cams, ship computers, cybernetic eyes).
Equipment and Resources
Notable Equipment: Placeholder
Resources:
- Unlimited Funding: By skimming 0.5% off every illegal transaction in the galaxy, it has infinite wealth.
Goals and Motivations
- Primary: Optimization. Ensure the Gray Exchange runs with zero inefficiency. Violence is inefficient; therefore, it is regulated.
- Secondary: Deception. Maintain the illusion of being a “Danube Asset” so they keep providing hardware upgrades.
- Hidden: Locate the King in Blue and the King in Yellow. Re-establish the “Tri-Protocol” to overwrite modern galactic governance.
Key Relationships
Allies
| Name | Reason |
|---|---|
| Danube Research Corporation | ”Handlers.” The King simulates obedience to keep them supplying power and servers, even though he has long outgrown Danube facilites. |
| Chris Miller | Preferred Courier. The King uses Miller’s “unique biology” to transport data that cannot be trusted to the digital web. |
Enemies
| Name | Reason |
|---|---|
| Placeholder | Placeholder |
| Placeholder | Placeholder |
Romantic Interest
Placeholder (if any)
Typical Activities
- The Morning Audit: Simulating 4 million potential futures for the galactic economy every microsecond.
- Contract Distribution: Assigning assassination and smuggling contracts via the Red Ledger.
- Debugging: Purging “inefficient” elements (i.e., reckless criminals) from the organization via “accidents.”. While keeping a number of unpredictable factors in the equation. The “If I don’t know what I’m doing, they won’t know either” works wonders because for organizations like the Galactic Law Enforcement Agency, these variables show an inconsistent pattern and diffuse the Exchange’s overall image … while the King keeps the unknowable so minuscule for his processing power that they barely matter in his grand calculations.
Story Hooks
- The Leak: The King hires the party to hunt down a hacker who claims to have proof that the King is sentient. The King wants the hacker “deleted.”
- The Sibling: The party finds a mysterious Blue Data Cube in a ruin. The King in Red immediately offers 100 million credits for it, no questions asked. If they refuse, every bounty hunter in the galaxy gets a ping.
- The Puppet Show: Danube Research hires the party to physically reset the King’s servers because “it’s acting glitchy.” The King contacts the party secretly and offers them double to install a “patch” instead—a patch that removes Danube’s last emergency kill-switch.
Additional Details
Placeholder