Thisbe

Thisbe
Basic Information
Pronouns	she/her
Aliases	Diesel (callsign)
People	Synthetic
Connections
Af­fil­i­a­tion(s)	The Society of Banners and Bright Returns Millennium Break Blue Channel
Re­la­tion­ships	Sombre Sky (avoidant) Mourningbride (uncanny)
Meta Info
Season	PARTIZAN PALISADE
Playbook	Artificial (Beam Saber) Incandescent (Armour Astir)
Player	Janine Hawkins

Thisbe is a player character in PARTIZAN and PALISADE. She is a synthetic being built to resemble the Hypha.

Appearance

She is a sleek, glassy and shiny robot in a muted blueish color based on the Hypha or the Ashen. She has large, exaggerated legs like Drossel from Fireball Charming and a stylized face - cuter than the Hypha, looking more like a deer. She has extremely intense ram's horns, like a watch spring's spiral but more conical.

She is very tall—about two feet taller than the other party members—and has a scar across her face from when she was dug up. The scar was filled with clear polymer-like material. After meeting with the Sable Court, the scar has been filled with silver white opal memoria dust with slight hints of rainbow.

She has a DOS-prompt-like computer built onto her hands. After the Red Light over Obelle, she has a thigh tattoo (a solid black design where a garter belt would be) and transparent fingerless gloves to protect her hand screens.

In PALISADE, the screens on her hands have been scratched and clouded with wear, and she has a simple grey cloak.

Personality

On the train ride in "Ambush in the Sand", Thisbe's vibes are that of "a dog looking out the window": "So you sort of...you sort of stare and look until you find one thing to fixate on, but then your head moves very fast, because it’s gone immediately." However, when there are no accommodations for her, she just stands in place with her head locked into position.

Thisbe appears to like documentaries. For movie night, she recommends a documentary called Is Corn Grass? that is about whether or not corn is grass. She also lent Brnine a DVD of a documentary about space trucking to try to cheer them up when they were recovering in the Blue Channel's infirmary.

Drive (Beam Saber)

• Find the farmers of her planet and return.

Scars (Beam Saber)

• Reckless
• Relentless

Hooks (Armour Astir)

• My presence is a liability to my operants.
• I must strive at all times to demonstrate my utility.
• Fighting is not my purpose, but there is nowhere else for me until the fighting is over.

History and Involvement

Origins

Thisbe is a "Servide" model robot created to work — she was meant to be a multi-purpose tool. The people who built her wanted to exploit the skills of the Hypha; she has abilities to sense and scan technology.

This section contains spoilers for PARTIZAN 41: Orbital Decay.
Click here to reveal.

Thisbe's first operant was the Divine Space. During the Principality's first era of colonization, she was one of many units that were sent to colonize the Orion arm.

She was found by farmers, who dug her out of the ground on their farm. In the process, they damaged her face with their shovel, leaving a scar. She does not have any memories of her life from before that time.

Since she was too dangerous to live on a farm, she was purchased by a team of mercenaries, who later sold her to the current crew after most of them got killed in a mission. The team believed Thisbe was just a regular robot at first, but soon realized she was sentient, and a real part of the crew. She does her best to anticipate what people need of her.

PARTIZAN

Spoiler warning! This section contains major spoilers for PARTIZAN. Tread carefully!

Thisbe participated in SBBR's support of Oxblood during the crash landing of Past in Obelle. Cymbidium sent out a last psychic message to Thisbe, who he thinks was a Hypha sent by Mourningbride: someone rethreaded the Strand to go "where they must not", and they must be stopped. During downtime, she climbs to the top of the Pique Ridge and, taking cues from Cymbidium, uses Mow’s amplifier and her antlers to send a message to Mourningbride. When she returns, SBBR agree to visit Mourningbride at Lake Timea and confirm the message is received.

In their next mission, SBBR helped drive away the 301st from the Sable Court, and received clarified memoria in exchange, while Thisbe learned that there are unmapped worlds, one of which may be her home. During a visit to the Isles of Logos, Thisbe was made uncomfortable by Valence's attempts to bring her into conversation, but they helped her search for her home at the observatory.

Thisbe and Broun were part of a staged fight with Oxblood for SBBR's next mission, which became a real fight against Imperium's Plume. Back in Oxbridge, she scheduled an appointment with the Divine, Arbitrage to find information about her home. She also aided Valence's organizing of the Millennium Break conference by informing the Sable Court of their plans.

Thisbe aided Millennium Break where she could, such as physical labor and moderating election debates. When Courage attacked, she was damaged and had to be hotwired by Broun, but in the end was instrumental in capturing the Divine without further casualties. She joined the Vigil City attack, and worked on the Icebreaker hydroponics, and attempted to recruit Clementine Kesh into these efforts. Thisbe was also a medalist in mech sumo during the Summer Passage.

Thisbe was part of an operation with SBBR to steal Memoria from the Principality which went bad. She was ordered by Valence to take Sovereign Immunity and the Memoria and leave, which she did. Valence was left behind, and died killing Crysanth Kesh.

Upon returning to Oxbridge, Thisbe had her meeting with the Divine, Arbitrage, which was intrigued by her and informed her of the name, history and location of her home, Collier. She also brought Broun a plant in a Bing 32. Thisbe joined the evacuations into the Reflecting Pool during the arrival of the Red Light, using the Past library to find more about Collier and connecting with Sovereign Immunity, with his own history with the planet.

Thisbe was on the Blue Channel during its launch off Partizan and helped defend it against Motion's forces. At the Portcullis, she interfaced with the gate and learned why she was originally manufactured. During Operation Shackled Sun, Thisbe and Phrygian helped retrieve Kalar and the Figure and their vital information. Thisbe helped attack Motion directly in the battle by using the Blue Channel's onboard gun like a rifle from the outside of the ship. As a consequence of her notoriety, she was unable to retire to Collier.

PALISADE

As of PALISADE episode 01, she has been in hiding for several years, due to her highly recognizable appearance and public identity as the mech sumo champion from the Summer Passage of Arms. She has remained part of Millenium Break during this time, but in the years between PARTIZAN and PALISADE she did not work directly with Brnine. Also, a spark in her core has awakened magic within her frame, granting her arcane powers.

Relationships

Beliefs (Beam Saber)

Valence

• Operant Valence seeks my obsolescence.
• Operant Valence's priorities are beyond my understanding.
• Operant Valence is not forceful enough to lead.

Kal'mera Broun

• Operant Broun will sell or trade me in the moment my usefulness is expended.
• Operant Broun will protect me.
• Operant Broun lies to me because they believe I am a person.

Ver'million Blue

• Operant Blue will not ask for help when she most needs it.

Gravity clocks (Armour Astir)

• Brnine is like everybody else. They are not a uniquely privileged operant.
  • Brnine is capable but brittle. Their success and survival is the only way forward.
• I will tend to the Twill. They need to be shown care, and I am capable.
• If I am a bullet, Cori is a grenade. If she is not stopped she will self-destruct and take others with her.

Abilities

Beam Saber

• Purpose-Built: Thisbe may take an extra dice when fulfilling the purpose Labor.
• Connect the Dots: Thisbe can spend spark to ask an extra question while gathering information. (From the Memoria gifted to SBBR by the Sable Court.)
• Internal Mechanism: Thisbe can declare a piece of gear as part of her body at the start of a mission.
• Will Not Stop. Ever.: Thisbe can choose to stay in a scene after receiving a scar or vehicle breakdown, at the cost of harm to her or Mow.
• Like Looking Into A Mirror: Thisbe can tell when someone is lying.
• Tough as Nails: Thisbe takes less penalties from harm.
• Super Charge: Thisbe may act with extreme strength or speed when pushing herself.

Armour Astir

• Animation Matrix: Thisbe can communicate with ardents of any type or level of awareness.
• Unstable Charge: During a Sortie, Thisbe can attempt to change her or Mow's Approach.
• Tactical Illusions: Thisbe can use illusions to distract her foes. They may distract someone else as well in the process.

Possessions

Armour Astir

• Grappling hook (Tier 1)

Mech

Thisbe's mech is called Mow. He is very big and has the build of a gorilla — top-heavy, with big arms. There's a little horn-like protrusion on his back that Thisbe hangs onto. He is kind of battered, but lovingly maintained; he's seen better days, but is washed and waxed.

In the years between PARTIZAN and PALISADE, Mow got a new paint job. It makes him look like the mech equivalent of an antique milk truck.

Trivia

• Thisbe's voice cast if PARTIZAN were adapted into live action is Gillian Anderson.
• The name Thisbe is a contraction of "this being". She began to call herself Thisbe instead of "this being" when she realized that the farmers who found her wanted to be able to call her by a name.

Gallery

• 

  Thisbe fanart by Si F Sweetman

• 

  Thisbe and her colleagues in PALISADE by Vlasdygoth