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14M-RFT44 (Echion)
26, Yugoslavia, Test Subject
Gender: Male
Age: 26
Height & Weight: 183cm, 75kg
Nationality: Yugoslavia
Occupation: Test Subject
Family: N/A
Note: His pre-Lumia life is completely irrelevant due to his amnesia. Occasionally has berserk episodes of indiscriminate violence.
Character Story
One of the earlier Test Subjects, 14M-RFT44 (Echion) is the only surviving success of an experiment called the 'Spartoi Project', which initial purpose was to rehabilitate Test Subjects that lost their limbs or bodily functions back to a condition where they could re-enter the trials. After multiple expensive and failed attempts, the project's resources were channeled into splicing the best features of multiple Test Subjects into those with highest chances of survival.
During one of the surgeries, Echion's body started to fail unexpectedly, which then caused more complications with previous surgeries. In such a fragile state, resurrecting wasn't an option, and Echion had to be put into a medical coma. It was several years before his condition was acceptably stabilized.
He came out of the medical coma having forgotten everything about himself-his real name, his nationality, and the rest of his identity. He does not know how he lost his arm, and when he gained the prosthetic arm. The only things he knows were taught to him on Lumia Island. Due to this, violence and victory at all costs feature heavily in his values, hobbies, knowledge, morals, etc. His top priority is to fight whatever it is in front of him, as requested by the person who named him.
Character Profile
Due to his memory loss, he lacks communication skills and manners, and bewilders anyone meeting him for the first time.
14M-RFT44 (Echion) lost his right arm in a prosthetic arm that was developed in the research lab. His prosthetic arm is a built-in blade that also records his combat data. The more he fights, the better he can utilize it, and even pursue specialized combat styles with it. There are occasions where 14M-RFT44 (Echion)'s chronic phantom limb pain flares up especially badly, which makes him become berserk and lose his reasoning. In this state, he'll attack anything in front of him if he's not otherwise immobilized from agony. He will regain his consciousness after some time.
- Senior Researcher, Dr.G
Behavior Pattern
He works with 14M-RFT10 (Nadine) the most, due to each other's straight-forwardness. There are no social graces or subtext that either of them has to keep up or puzzle through. Both of them are very blunt and operate as a highly efficient unit, then turn against each other with cold pragmatism when they become the last two survivors.
It's easy for 16M-RFT23 (Shoichi) to manipulate 14M-RFT44 (Echion) into trusting him, as long as Echion wasn't backstabbed by him yet. Giving him his favorite meat dish, taking the worst night watches to let him sleep, offering him some armor when he needs it, all under the pretense of optimizing their chances of survival. The method isn't too different to taming a wild animal. No wonder he gets along well with Nadine.
When 14M-RFT14 (Cathy) is acting like a doctor instead of a madwoman, Echion is almost friendly to her, probably because she resembles Dr.A the most out of all the Test Subjects.
- Assistant Researcher in Charge, Dr.F
14M-RFT44 (Echion) is mostly uninterested in creating alliances. However, we've observed times where he made alliances with other Test Subjects, who had similar personalities as him or were nice to him. 14M-RFT44 (Echion) also has a simple method of distinguishing between his allies and foes. Less hostility towards those that give him what he needs, more hostility towards those that trouble him. He usually acts however he wants to outside of fighting. He eats when he's hungry, starts fires when he's cold, and sleeps when he's tired.
In terms of him as a person, he's just a fighter as capable as he was designed to be--nothing less, and certainly nothing more. He's quite the dunce when the situation allows him to be, and he prefers to win fights by brute force if he can. This point is best illustrated by the time that he and a ridiculously-outmatched Eleven were the last ones left, so he took some time to relax and tried to catch fish with just his bare hands for a full day. The next day, he decapitated Eleven in one blow.
- Assistant Researcher in Charge, Dr.Y
Likes and Dislikes
14M-RFT44 (Echion) loves unhealthy foods. Give him anything excessively greasy, fried, salty, or spicy, and he'll eat it with gusto. He'll sometimes double-fry a food if he thinks he can spare the extra oil.
He likes fighting and winning, and has no particular hobbies, unless you count picking fights as a hobby. It's no surprise, considering that at this point, he's pretty much Lumia Island's son.
- Assistant Researcher, Dr.E
14M-RFT44 (Echion) was once Dr.A's bodyguard. He was still hostile to other researchers, but when he was in Dr.A's proximity, his attitude changed. It seems that there was a strong attachment or connection because it was his first relationship with a human after he had lost his memories. His psychologists and rehab assistants don't count, apparently. One of the reasons he's so focused on fighting is because Dr.A requested it of him.
I know she's a very busy woman, but would it be possible for Dr.A to visit him once in a while? He regards her so highly.
- Assistant Researcher, Dr.K
Weakness and Trauma
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs states that the person's sense of self and purpose makes up the majority of the top three levels. When Echion hasn't been reset for a while, he realizes that he doesn't even have a baseline reference for who he is as a person. He has no knowledge nor value set that Lumia Island hasn't defined for him, and becomes keenly aware of it. He then tries to numb it out by picking fights with other Test Subjects and generally creating new conflicts to be able to ignore this one. When he is unable to ignore it, he tries to self-actualize himself through violence and victory.
I know that what we're doing here on Lumia Island is quite fantastical already, but with Echion, it's thrilling to realize just how close science has gotten us to playing God. If Lumia Island ever stops needing him, he would be an unprecedented case study.
- Psychology Specialist, Dr. N
Echion is a chimera of multiple Test Subjects, fused in the blankest state available. This gives him significantly above-average strength, agility, reflexes, stamina, and combat skills. The Spartoi experiment encoded these things into him as best as it could, but Echion still needs a lot of practice before he can tap into those planted memories. That's why he always has to acclimate himself to his own body in every trial, and has significant breakthroughs in performance at predicted intervals.
Essentially, his body is yet another opponent, as he has to fight against it in order to progress. It's not just phantom limb pain either-infrequently, the cells that were heavily altered by different Subjects think that the other cells are an infection, and his body proceeds to tear itself apart. These are the times that he's most susceptible to his berserk episodes, and when we should be especially cautious around him.
- Senior Researcher, Dr.N
