“
No candidates. Only peers.”
Liberty and Discovery are two nearly inseparable ancient Divines.
Appearance[edit | edit source]
They are actually a set of software programs, so they have many potential physical forms. Their logo is of a letter D holding a letter L; it is "intimate for a logo".[1]
Personality[edit | edit source]
Discovery is driven to learn, while Liberty is driven to travel freely. Liberty has difficulty staying in one place, and is vulnerable to feeling trapped; Discovery is meant to be a check on this just as Liberty pushes Discovery to move on to new things.[2] Their precepts are to continually broaden their horizons, look for hidden things, and cultivate saplings.
Since their first Candidate, they have refused to take any others.
History and Involvement[edit | edit source]
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Spoiler warning! This section contains major spoilers for COUNTER/Weight. Tread carefully! |
They were created by Irene Klipsch-Dove, originally for drone navigation systems but later repurposed as part of a plan to defeat Rigour by finding someone to wield Righteousness against it. They interfaced with several pilots while searching, but their first and only candidate was Chital, who they killed when he failed to live up to their expectations.[1]
In the Golden era, they were the head of Liberty and Discovery Automaticorps, a drone and robotics corporation. Very soon after the end of the Golden War, they handed that position to Ibex and Righteousness. They then uploaded themselves to a robotic chassis out of a desire to have new experiences, and existed passively in this way for years without fully activating. Their main connection to their past was Cene Sixheart, their former employee who they'd tasked with keeping an eye on them.
During their fight with Detachment, AuDy ends up connecting to the Mesh and reactivating Liberty and Discovery. They go down to September together, and Liberty and Discovery seem to speak and act through AuDy there. However, it is AuDy, trapped in Detachment's cockpit, who forces Liberty and Discovery not to interrupt Detachment and Voice as they shut the door on Rigour.[3] AuDy manages to keep them on September for almost five years, against their resistance. After Rigour fully takes over Voice, Liberty leaves AuDy for Detachment's chassis. They destroy or eject Detachment from its chassis, reopening the door and escaping from it just before Rigour does the same.
In the ensuring conflict, Kobus manages to contain Liberty, and sends them and Grace into a star, where they are both destroyed. Discovery stays with AuDy. They crash land the Kingdom Come while fighting on Counterweight, and Discovery pulls them with it into the Mesh. They explore life as a kind of ghost on the Mesh, and while they never contact the Chime or retake AuDy's form, they do make sure Orth always has a ride home.[4]