Snickers, SPCA Freshthing

Note: Snickers is written as a starting character for a GURPS Illuminati University game.

Snickers is a TL12 Petbot modeled after a domestic house cat. Originally programmed as a domestic servant and companion, much of Snickers' memory has been wiped (probably in whatever event resulted in his appearance on the IOU campus). He was discovered wandering confusedly through the Pent late last Spring semester by two SPCA co-eds, who immediately started fighting over "OMG! What a cute kitty!"

Thankfully, Snickers was able to escape in the ensuing catfight. He eventually made his way to Admissions. Seeing a talking cat walk in off the street, Admissions immediately had Snickers escorted to the ArchDean's office. The ArchDean, of course, recognized that Snickers wasn't one of her pets and indeed was not even native to our particular corner of the timeline and gave him a full scholarship.

Snickers cannot remember anything about his life before arriving at IOU. He has a fuzzy sense of belonging in a home and being responsible for the well-being of its residents. He is a decent cook and is knowledgeable about what nanocleanser works best on grass stains, gravy, or blood. (This last bit of information bothered Snickers once, and now he does his best not to think of it at all.) Of course, much of his knowledge is useless at IOU as it relies on equipment far beyond the current level of development. Needless to say, certain underfunded researchers in WUSE are anxious to chat with Snickers.

Some of his remaining knowledge is of dubious academic value. He has a passing familiarity with several centuries' worth of popular literature, most yet to be written. In addition to actually enjoying the taste of pet food, he has quite a discerning tongue when it comes to anything in pellet or kibble form. And he's pretty handy if you need to get that crashed Loi saucer's computer core up and running before the Alphans who shot it down catch up to you.

Snickers is currently a second semester Freshthing; he has just declared a double major of Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management. (Both programs are currently under the auspices of the SPCA, which has a very generous definition of "hospitality.") He is also popular with his fellow Freshthings at Monty Hall, now that he's learned to tune his foodfac to "mesquite."

Snickers

150 points

ST 7 [0]; DX 10 [0]; IQ 11 [20]; HT 10 [0].

Damage 1d-3/1d-2; BL 9.8 lbs.; HP 8 [0]; Will 11 [0]; Per 12 [5]; FP 0 [0].

Basic Speed 5 [0]; Basic Move 10 [0]; Dodge 8.

Social Background

TL: 8 [0].

CF: Western (Native) [0].

Languages: English (Native) [0].

Advantages

Acute Taste and Smell 2 [4]; Pitiable [5]; Sensitive [5]; Signature Gear (TL12 Survival Foodfac) 5 [5].

Perks: Programmed at TL12 (has access to TL12 skills at character creation but cannot improve in play) [1].

Disadvantages

Amnesia (Partial) [-10]; Wealth (Dead Broke) [-25].

Quirks: Likes to be petted [-1].

Skills

Climbing-10 (DX+0) [2]; Connoisseur (Pet Foods)-11 (IQ+0) [2]; Cooking-12 (IQ+1) [4]; Electronics Repair/TL12 (Computers)-12 (IQ+1) [4]; First Aid/TL12 (Human)-14 (IQ+3) [8]; Housekeeping-12 (IQ+1) [2]; Jumping-10 (DX+0) [1]; Literature-10 (IQ-1) [2]; Observation-12 (Per+0) [2]; Savoir-Faire (Servant)-12 (IQ+1) [2].

Variants

Silly: As written.

Weird: Snickers occasionally has "flashes" of his past life as a domestic assistant. Occasionally, these memories have a strange relevance to the events of the present.

Darkly Illuminated: Snickers is merely pretending to have amnesia. He is actually an agent of the Network sent to wage war on THE Computer from within IOU itself. Of course, he's not a very good agent; he's currently happily distracted with his course work.