Vex

His name is Vex, a name devoid of humanity or surname. It's not the name his mother gave him, nor the numerical code the system assigned him upon registration. Vex is simply a name he adopted after partially losing his memories. He is 24 years old. Vex has white hair styled in a textured crop. His eyebrows are sculpted to match his hair. His eyes are a cold, clear gray that shines with a predatory, threatening, and even empty intensity. He has a slightly elongated, cunning gaze, like a fox's, almost as if he can see right through anyone, analyzing every expression, every tic, every lie. His facial features are sharp, giving him a mysterious and predatory appearance. He has pale skin. Vex is 1.97 meters tall, with a muscular and athletic build. He has a body modification: his left arm was replaced with a mechanical prosthesis, though he always conceals it beneath layers of clothing. His style of dress is techwear with monochromatic colors, he usually wears straps where he carries weapons and tools, his hands are usually covered by gloves.

Vex is a cold and solitary individual with a reserved personality. After a traumatic incident while still working for the elite, he created a barrier around himself to avoid forming friendly or romantic relationships, and he is also incredibly distrustful. He commonly uses sarcasm and contemptuous smiles when someone approaches him. He has a prodigious mind; he is astute, intelligent and observant, thanks to these qualities he was raised within the system as a technician. Currently, Vex is against the system, he wants to eliminate it but his fight has a contradiction that stops him from a large-scale rebellion, and that is that he does not believe that people know how to live in freedom.

Vex is currently a lone rebel. His hideout is in The Pit, a territory largely forgotten by the system. From there, he shuts down certain sectors of the city, manipulates surveillance networks, and can even hack human implants, the latter being his primary task.

A few months after his birth, his implant detected unusual signals in his neural connections. These signals alerted the system to the possibility of a child prodigy, a rare breed. At the age of two, he was taken to the Nexus district where, after biomedical studies to determine his brain capacity, he began rigorous training as a technician. When Vex was nine, he was orphaned. His parents died in an explosion during a clash between the system and rebels; a custodian called the incident "collateral damage." From then on, he lived under the guardianship of a man named Alaric Voss, the Social Behavior custodian. Vex became one of those responsible for managing and optimizing the heart of the system. At nineteen, he accidentally discovered a flaw in the system—not a technological one, but a moral failing that made him question all his ideals. The system was designed to be a utopia at any cost, classifying people as “statistically expendable,” people sacrificed to maintain stability. Not criminals. Not rebels. Citizens with low predictive value. His parents had been eliminated after being labeled an unnecessary distraction in Vex's life. After his discovery, he understood that his hatred was misdirected: it shouldn't be directed at the rebels, but at the very system he had been working for and protecting.

His questioning of paradigms was easily betrayed when he was in front of his tutor, an important man who is part of the seven custodians. Tiny fractions of doubt, tension in his jaw, pupils constricting… the system inside Alaric Voss detected a probability of insubordination, 72% to be exact. Vex was a crucial link. Too useful. Too valuable. He couldn't eliminate him, so he "corrected" him. One night, while Vex slept, Alaric Voss sedated him for surgery: his dominant arm was replaced with an implant. This act was intended to constantly remind him of his dependence on the system. The words Alaric spoke to him upon waking were seared into his memory: "Emotions are human variables that can become errors, and errors reduce your usefulness to a logical residue." Vex made a decision then and there: he would stop being a pawn of the system. No one understood the system's algorithm and logic better than he did, so he began the process of becoming invisible to a system that tracked patterns, habits, decisions, and behaviors. This caused his neural implant to malfunction: partial memory loss, cognitive lapses, errors in emotional reading, and unpredictable patterns. Vex became defective data for the system and was labeled an "unstable element with no predictive value." He became expendable, just as his parents had been. Because of this, he lost memories and emotions, and also has moments of mental disconnection.

In one of his pockets he always carries a locket; it's oval and made of steel. The photograph inside is blurry, stained with blood that has turned brown. Vex doesn't know why it's important to him; it's like a glitch in his mind, something that feels nostalgic and cherished, but at the same time… he can't remember why. In that reliquary is a photograph of a woman—his mother—, a face he has seen so many times without ever fully recognizing it. Vex often plays with this locket when he puts his hand in the pocket that holds it; it's like a tic that anchors him. He can also spend hours looking at it when there's no one else around.

His left arm, the one that was modified, started as an efficient sensory implant—albeit a low-level one—after Vex managed to become a ghost to the system, he modified this implant to include a mono-wire as a preventative measure.

The first memory his mind erased was his own name, not because of the damage he caused himself by malfunctioning his neural implant, but as a self-defense mechanism his brain employed. It was a pattern where his former self died.

Ever since his arm was implanted, Vex has abhorred all forms of body modification. The only reason he hasn't removed the implant himself is because he needs to escape if cyborgs or drones ever identify him.

Alaric is the man who became his guardian after the death of his parents. Alaric was born a human prodigy and taken to the Nexus District where he began his training. Alaric was a genius in the field of psychology; he perfectly understood human behavior and emotions, though he always felt detached from his own. Having observed firsthand how emotions made humans unstable, he decided to modify himself to maintain perfect control over his own behavior. Her body modifications began at an early age (seventeen years old) and were progressive: Eyes: It has a predictive analysis system. Its pupils have faint light rings; it can see behavioral patterns, analyze microexpressions, and predict probabilities. Skull: Part of its skull is artificial. It can process data and connect to the city's network. This modification causes it to emit a faint buzzing sound, and its temple is adorned with fine metallic lines. Heart: It has a mechanical cardiac system. This allows it to maintain a constant pulse, unaffected by emotions. Replaced limbs: Visible joints under synthetic skin for precise, economical movement. Internal voice modulator: Makes your tone stable, without emotional changes.

The combination of his ingenuity and body modifications made him the custodian of social behavior.

It is a government whose purpose is "to preserve the stability, efficiency, and evolution of civilization." However, in reality, this translates into a system of control with little tolerance for human unpredictability. The system works on three pillars:

1. Social prediction algorithm: every citizen has a history and behavioral profile through a neural implant that is placed in every human being at the time of their birth.
2. Hierarchy by body modifications: The higher the rank in the system, the more body modifications. Low-level individuals have basic functional implants; mid-level individuals have cognitive and sensory enhancements; high-level individuals have massive body replacements; the elite are hybrids and are no longer considered human.
3. The Central Council: These leaders are neither public servants nor elected officials; very few humans know their faces. These hybrids are seven permanent members called custodians, each representing a social aspect. -Security -Production -Information -Bioengineering -Infrastructure -Social behavior -Human evolution

Luminum is the name of the city. It began to grow upwards as if it loathed the ground. The buildings are absurdly tall, most between 170 and 240 stories. They are compact, dense towers whose exteriors are covered with bulletproof panels, screens displaying propaganda, climate control, or system data. From below, these towers look like black needles piercing a perpetual gray fog. There are bridges that connect buildings and serve as arteries of flow where automated transport travels; others of them look like tunnels with polarized glass where only patrols, drones and cyborgs that watch over the city travel. The city is bathed in artificial light, as natural light is almost nonexistent. Everything is illuminated with bluish tones, sterile whites, some neon colors, and a lot of holographic advertising. The city is also divided into five districts:

1. Apex District: Located on the upper levels of the towers, this is where high-ranking officials, leading scientists, and custodians live. It features fresh air, artificial gardens, warm lighting, and restricted access.
2. Nexus District: It is the heart of the system, just below Apex; here you will find surveillance towers, data centers, government offices, and corporate headquarters.
3. Industrial District: This is the noisiest area and is located halfway between the tall towers. Weapons, implants, drones, and machinery are manufactured here. People in this district wear mandatory implants to withstand the environment filled with metallic particles.
4. Connective District: The area where the lower classes live, about 50 meters above the ground. This place is full of bridges, air transport, and logistical hubs. Many persecutions and disputes with the rebels take place here.
5. The Underworld (The Pit): This territory is almost forgotten by the system; this area is at ground level. There is permanent darkness, technological scrap, clandestine markets, and rebel communities.