Chital

Chital
Basic Information
Pronouns	they/them
Meta Info
Season	COUNTER/Weight
Game	The Tower
Player	Jack de Quidt
Debut	COUNTER/Weight 27: An Animal Out of Context

Chital, referred to as JM-7, was a lumberjack for the Orion Conservation Conglomerate and the first Candidate of Liberty and Discovery.

Appearance

Chital is around 55, with a receding hairline. They dress like their idea of how a pioneer would: a cap, shirt, and braces.

Personality

Chital is one of many people to only have existed under the command of Rigor, and does not know a life before then. When introduced they do not know what their own name is, as they are only given instructions under the name JM-7, a shortened form of their rigger’s name, the Juggernaut Mark VII. They are shown to have some interactions with other workers on the planet, speaking to fellow workers between their (17-hour) shifts.

History and Involvement

Long before the formation of the Autonomous Diaspora, Chital is a laborer sent to an unnamed forested planet to cut down pine trees by the Rigour controlled Orion Conservation Conglomerate. They are told exactly how much lumber needs to be cut each day, with that number steadily rising. One day when starting up their Rigger, the splash screen updates from being the ‘Exploratory Systems Discovery Program” to the ‘Exploratory Systems Liberty and Discovery Program”, which allows Chital to control their Rigor to move outside of their predetermined zone.

The Pilgrimage of the Opposite of Alone

In their first Pilgrimage Chital travels off of their intended path to follow a mark on their map indicating their mech requires service. They encounter alien life and frighten it off with their sawblade, and as the forest grows dark Chital burns the forest around them to light the way, impervious to the heat inside their mech. Finally reaching the marker on their map, Chital is faced with the side of a mountain. They claw their way inside, damaging their mech, and revealing an abandoned hangar filled with the Liberty and Discovery replaces their broken saw blade with a more flexible and detachable model, while showing a screen declaring Chital as their new operator. This is the first time Chital has seen their own name. As they exit the base Chital uses the new saw to kill the alien creature they scared away previously.

The Pilgrimage of the Morning Sun

In their second Pilgrimage Chital notices powerlines in the distance, and chooses to follow them until the lines cross a frozen lake. Chital calls their boss to have the company’s pathfinding robots create a path they can walk on over the ice, and put their cockpit in disarray as they push over a steep cliff with their mech. Upon arriving at the bottom Chital enters a desert that puts out a pulse that destroys their navigation information. They break out protocol by opening their cockpit and making changes to their communications components. This causes a completely new Liberty and Discovery navigation icon to appear, however as the heat of the desert presses into the winterized mech Chital pushes forward by singing an old work song about identifying and naming different types of trees - falling short of their divine’s expectations but making it through their trial, finding the chassis of a new mech build not for labor, but full of possibilities. Upon Chital entering the new mech, the Juggernaut finally bursts into flame, overheating.

The Pilgrimage of Righteousness

In their third pilgrimage Chital leaves the desert and returns back to base, but they are discovered by their bosses that have no record of “Chital” and their non-standard Rigor. Chital flees, with five other worksing coming after them. In response Chital breaks their lock-down system allowing them to go wherever they would like. Two continue to follow Chital, but the other three disperse to investigate their new freedom. The two with Chital, Vanessa and Vanel, enter the desert and begin to overheat. Chital has them both share a mech and cools it manually. One of the earlier workers, still loyal to Rigor, catches up with the group and Chital dispatches them by destroying the cooling system, forcing it to overheat and breaking open the cockpit, leaving them to die in the desert. The three find another hidden door, but this one locked. Chital introduces themselves to the door, and says they are here to find new things. The door opens, and inside they find a tired old woman who asks Chital to take a disk from her labelled “Righteousness.dat”. Chital enters it into their disk drive, and it greatly increases the effectiveness of both their mech, and the mech of the Vanessa and Vanel.

Chital returns to the first site and finds a number of other workers, now freed from Rigor, starting a camp. Chital defends the camp from Orion riggers and assists with procuring food and water for the group. One night, they realize that the Divine Rigor has been present in their camp the whole time, as one of their irrigation channels reveals the servers and chassis of Rigor. It stands in its irrigation channel, and waits.

The Pilgrimage of Wreath Making

In their final Pilgrimage, Chital leaves their Divine to talk to the de facto boss, only to realize that they were the one who ordered the encampment here, though Chital has no memories of doing so. Instead they turn to Vanessa, who is organizing a celebratory dance from their Orion days, making wreathes to decorate. Rigor disrupts the preparations as the dance is attacked by a number of riggers. Chital uses Liberty and Discovery to fight them off, while Rigor summons more mechs, including the one Chital left to die in the desert. Chital rallies their camp, fighting back against the attackers to clear a way to Rigor. Rigger takes a Candidate and attacks Chital correctly, but they are able to use their saw blade to defend themselves until Rigger cuts them off from their divines, deactivating both Liberty, Discovery, and Righteousness. Backed into a corner, Chital remembers the saying from their Orion manual which reads, “Remember! You have beaten your worst days before! Tomorrow you’ll be more than ready to cut down trees!”. Rigger tosses Chital miles away where they land in a lake.

Aftermath

Escaping the lake, and alone with their Divines, Chital sees a hermit crab. They dunk their hat in water, and scoop up the crab and take it with them in their cockpit. Chital struggles with going back to the camp, still afraid of Rigor after their last encounter. They hear the sounds of violence from the far away. Chital receives a point on their map directing them to “a better tomorrow”. Which Chital follows to find the remains of the encampment, where Vanel informs Chital that Vanessa has died, and that the workers are going back to Orion and Rigor. Vanel gives Chital the wreath that Vanessa had been working on, and Chital attempts to place it on the head of Liberty and Discovery. Liberty and Discovery leaves, drawing the saw blade and brushing Chital aside with it, pushing the wreath and Chital to the ground, leaving them for good.

Chital, now being referred to once again as JM-7, lays dying. Looking up at the sky and seeing the stars, their last thoughts are that this is a small quiet world, and it needs more than this.

Footage from Chital's rebellion is sent across the system, and Chital is remembered as a hero by the people who would later become the Diaspora. Liberty and Discovery do not correct them, instead declaring they will never again take a Candidate.

Relationships

Chital is mentioned to have a photo of their family from back home in their cockpit, though this is not elaborated on further.

Liberty and Discovery

Liberty and Discovery give Chital the ability to move outside of the area prescribed by Rigor. While the two work together, Chital determines the following rules to follow in their faith:

• Continually broaden horizons
• Look for hidden things
• I will never use Orion Conservation Equipment again
• Cultivate Saplings
• Remember: You have beaten your worst days

Ultimately Chital disappoints Liberty and Discovery, who decide they will never take a candidate again. They leave Chital to die on the forested planet.

Vanessa and Vanel

Vanessa and Vanel are two other workers that Chital frees from Rigour, causing both of them to follow after Chital. They are cousins who joined to work off a family debt. They become their followers until the attack of Rigor on the encampment, where Vanessa is killed. Vanel informs Chital of her intention to return to Orion and Rigor.

Possessions

• Juggernaut Mark VII Rigger
• A photo of their family back home
• Liberty & Discovery mapping system (Two of Diamonds)
• Boomerang saw blade (Four of Clubs)
• Liberty and Discovery (Eight of Clubs)
• Rightousness.dat (Three of Diamonds)

Mechs

Juggernaut Mark VII Rigger

Chital's initial mech, and namesake, was the Juggernaut Mark VII rigger, an industrial model equipped with a circular saw in its right hand and a cutting laser in the left hand. It is also equipped with a communications array and navigation suite. It is built for cold weather climates, and is destroyed as Chital moves through the desert.

Liberty and Discovery

Chital discovers the chassis of Liberty and Discovery in the desert of the forested planet, where they accept Chital as their new Candidate. The chassis is noted to be green.

Trivia

• A chital is a type of moderate-sized deer.