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Once, there was a war, and, as people in nations at war tend to do, the people of the invading nation had dehumanized the people of the "enemy" nation. Indeed, the citizens of the invading nation had come to associate "the enemy" with devils, and propaganda posters depicting the enemy devils were all the rage. In the midst of this war, a native of the "enemy" nation committed an unreciprocated act of kindness when she assisted a young POW who had escaped. This was captured on film, and the unedited footage was broadcast to the citizens of the invading nation. This challenged the citizens' conception of "the enemy" -- how could a devil do that? One might imagine that once their government presented its spin, the citizens would go back to seeing "the enemy" as devils. But for a moment there was confusion. |
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Once, there was a war, and, as people in nations at war tend to do, the people of the invading nation had dehumanized the people of the "enemy" nation. Indeed, the citizens of the invading nation had come to associate "the enemy" with devils, and propaganda posters depicting the enemy devils were all the rage. In the midst of this war, a native of the "enemy" nation committed an unreciprocated act of kindness when she assisted a young POW who had escaped. This remarkable event was captured on film, and the footage was broadcast live to the citizens of the invading nation. This challenged the citizens' conception of "the enemy" -- how could a devil do that? One might imagine that once their government presented its spin, the citizens would go back to seeing "the enemy" as devils. But for a moment there was confusion. |
Character |
Dichotomies and/or the Resolution Thereof |
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Like an angel Samaela has the motivation and the ability to help others during times of crisis. Before being enslaved by the sadistic mages she spent much of her time protecting and healing sentients who had been injured during battle. |
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Samaela is angelic and diabolical. |
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Like a devil Samaela has no sense of allegiance, except perhaps to her own self. This is not to say that she is an egoist. On the contrary, she tends to be indiscriminately altruistic. She won't hesitate to assist an "enemy" who has fallen in battle. Indeed, she doesn't have any loyalties based on nationality, species, ideology, or fashion trend. She seems to have never even formed the concept of such loyalties. Obviously, she would not join a faction under ordinary circumstances. |
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She is kind to "our friends" and kind to "our enemies". She has the motivation and the ability to help others during times of crisis. Before being enslaved by the sadistic mages she spent much of her time protecting and healing sentients who had been injured during battle. However, she has no sense of allegiance, except perhaps to her own self. This is not to say that she is an egoist. On the contrary, she tends to be indiscriminately altruistic. She won't hesitate to assist an "enemy" who has fallen in battle. Indeed, she doesn't have any loyalties based on nationality, species, ideology, or fashion trend. She seems to have never even formed the concept of such loyalties. She is faithful and indiscriminate. Samaela can be endlessly fascinated by a person. However, she isn't motivated to limit her affections to a small set of sentients. Even when certain sects in her homeworld began to worhsip her, she did not feel any special sense of loyalty towards them. Further CharacteristicsSamaela is more "right-brained" than "left-brained". Not only does Samaela have trouble separating sentients into the binary categories of "friend" and "foe", she seems to have difficulty with mathematics and deductive logic in general. |
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* Samaela always seems to have a good time with Pauly and Polly. * Though intimidated by System's knowledge of math and technology, Samaela is fascinated with many aspects of her, including her ability to create and "succeed" in a post-scarcity city. |
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* It seems that Samaela always has good time with Pauly and Polly. * More than anyone else, System has helped Samaela become familiar with the Mess. Though intimidated by her knowledge of math and technology, Samaela is fascinated with many aspects of her, including her ability to create and "succeed" in a post-scarcity city. * Samaela hasn't spent much time with Clockwork, but she really digs the golden daisy that he gave to her. FactionsGiven Samaela's unusual sense of loyalty (or lack thereof), one might surmise that Samaela would have no involvement in factions. However, she has recently joined the Data Exchange. Perhaps there is some distinction, real or perceived, between a faction whose loyalties are based on what sentients do as opposed to what they are. Or maybe she has an overriding desire to do penance for all the horrible deeds she unwittingly committed for the ROM Collector. |
As Samaela will tell you, she comes from a land where war and death still exist -- a land outside the Mess, obviously. But how did Samaela come to be in the first place?
Once, there was a war, and, as people in nations at war tend to do, the people of the invading nation had dehumanized the people of the "enemy" nation. Indeed, the citizens of the invading nation had come to associate "the enemy" with devils, and propaganda posters depicting the enemy devils were all the rage. In the midst of this war, a native of the "enemy" nation committed an unreciprocated act of kindness when she assisted a young POW who had escaped. This remarkable event was captured on film, and the footage was broadcast live to the citizens of the invading nation. This challenged the citizens' conception of "the enemy" -- how could a devil do that? One might imagine that once their government presented its spin, the citizens would go back to seeing "the enemy" as devils. But for a moment there was confusion.
It was at this moment of confusion that something unusual occured. Something -- perhaps Puzzlebox itself -- caused a being to come into existence. This being looked a bit like one of the devils on the propaganda posters. However, she also looked a bit like a depiction of an angel that could be found in religious art. And so the being was, knowing that her name was Samaela but not knowing how she came to be or understanding why she was simultaneously feared and revered by the masses.
After spending a lot of time doing her "angelic" duties of miraculously healing people who were injured at war, she more or less became the slave of some mages whose incantations allowed them to use Samaela's powers for hurtful purposes. After some time -- it could have been centuries, for all she knew -- one of the mages uttered a garbled incantation, allowing Samaela to escapte.
Samaela ended up in The Frying Pan -- the name given to a house of sorts by its owner, who referred to himself only as the ROM Collector. The ROM Collector convinced Samaela that she would be doing the world some good by delivering packages to various people. Eventually she learned that what she was delivering was ROMs with recordings of people taken at their most private moments without their knowledge. She then considered the ROM Collector's uncanny ability to always know where she was to be a threat, so she ran away to the nearest place she could find. That place happened to be the Mess.
Samaela is angelic and diabolical.
She is kind to "our friends" and kind to "our enemies". She has the motivation and the ability to help others during times of crisis. Before being enslaved by the sadistic mages she spent much of her time protecting and healing sentients who had been injured during battle. However, she has no sense of allegiance, except perhaps to her own self. This is not to say that she is an egoist. On the contrary, she tends to be indiscriminately altruistic. She won't hesitate to assist an "enemy" who has fallen in battle. Indeed, she doesn't have any loyalties based on nationality, species, ideology, or fashion trend. She seems to have never even formed the concept of such loyalties.
She is faithful and indiscriminate. Samaela can be endlessly fascinated by a person. However, she isn't motivated to limit her affections to a small set of sentients. Even when certain sects in her homeworld began to worhsip her, she did not feel any special sense of loyalty towards them.
Samaela is more "right-brained" than "left-brained". Not only does Samaela have trouble separating sentients into the binary categories of "friend" and "foe", she seems to have difficulty with mathematics and deductive logic in general.
Samaela has had prolonged contact with the following sentients (listed roughly in the order in which she met them):
Given Samaela's unusual sense of loyalty (or lack thereof), one might surmise that Samaela would have no involvement in factions. However, she has recently joined the Data Exchange. Perhaps there is some distinction, real or perceived, between a faction whose loyalties are based on what sentients do as opposed to what they are. Or maybe she has an overriding desire to do penance for all the horrible deeds she unwittingly committed for the ROM Collector.
Part of the inspiration for Samaela came from reading works about and by the Situationist International. Other inspiration came from reading about the religion/mythology of ancient Egyptians, ancient Canaanites, Christians, and Muslims.
There's more to come on this page.
Feel free to add your own comments here. (Inspired by Characters/Kehari?, who in turn was apparently inspired by Ataxia.)