Gynoid AL-1
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Contents
Origins
Alana Al-Djinn is a genie whose lamp was destroyed, her soul wandered, for centuries, with diminished power until finding a rip in the fabric of time and space, leading her to the final act of The Great Jiang-Shi Dan's Tragic Magic Show at the Super Circus. It was chaos, unfathomable horrors and surreal abominations ravaged the crowd, tearing the circus apart. In the confusion, Alana happened across the mechanical body of Gynoid AL-1, built by an irish inventor by the name of Alfred McBoolfarkis. At the time, it was a prop, but Alana hid inside with the hope that the nightmarish things would not hunger for metal and wire. Suddenly, she could move.
The Walking Lamp
Alana had come to possess the body she hid in, her magic serving as a power source for the formerly immobile machine. Looking down at the nameplate on her chest, she accepted the name "Gynoid AL-1," though the meaning of "AL-1" was unclear, she was at least in the form ("oid") of a woman. ("gyn") Wandering from the ruined tents and distorted matter, she walked to Millenium City during a Qualarr invasion. UNTIL troops mistook her for a combat droid, gave her a pistol and a rifle, and sent her off to fight. She showed an aptitude in targeting. Since then, AL-1 has applied numerous upgrades to herself and begun living with the clown-turned-hero, Silly Sally.
Upgrading Process
AL-1 began with SynthSkin, a layer of adaptive covering that takes the desired shapes and textures, allowing her to take whatever form most suited any give situation. Next, she wired a jetpack and gravitational distorter to her back to lessen the weight of her mostly metal body and allow flight. A teleportation device was salvaged from a Gadroon squadren later on. To change her behavior to better suit most any master, she installed a computer full of personality types (ex: Blood Knight for violent, live-to-fight people, Mother for those seeking comfort, etc.) to be shifted on request. And of course, she expanded her arsenal to include and SMG, sniper rifle, rocket launcher, and shotgun.
Joining the Platinum Guardians
Not so long ago, AL-1 had very low self-esteem, being a genie with almost none of her former power living in a walking scrap heap. (She got better) When Black Sigil offered her a place in the newly forming group, she was honored to have a chance at being useful. When the group was nearly torn apart by VIPER on the same day, she was unable to pay her respects to the corpse of Black Sigil, for it was not among the dead. For roughly a month she went on, a group of one, until he returned to rebuild.
The Inebriated Inventor
While assuming the role of a policewoman, AL-1 was called on to assist security in a mueseum heist by an irishman in a tall hat and a labcoat. When she confronted the staggering, drunken villian, he called out to her by name. He revealed his name, Alfred McBoolfarkis, and that the body Alana now inhabited was to be that of his dead sister, which he could never find an adequate power source for. "Al" was a shortened version of the sister's name too, "1" was the first and only attempt ever made to rebuild her. Alfred had, out of grief for his sister's loss and frustration with constant failure to remake her, taken to drinking, like many others. What sets him apart, however, was creating a device that constantly produced his favorite brand of alcoholic beverage and wiring it directly into his flesh. Inebriated at all times, he began to act without rationality, self-preservation, or any clear goal. Though he was detained eventually, AL-1 has taken to introducing herself as "Alana Al-Djinn McBoolfarkis" since learning the truth. Whether this is in honor of the dead sister, pity for Alfred, or just because that was the intended name of her vessel is unclear.
An Old Grudge
Before her lamp was destroyed, Alana served a norwegian warrior who hoped to slay a monster called the Nuckelavee to end the plagues, ruined crops, and droughts it was thought to cause. It looked much like a man's upper body merged with a horse at the spine, the horse's head having one eye massive eye and a mouth constantly breathing out a cloud of deadly toxins. The man's arms, long an thin, stretched almost to the ground, it's head the size of a barrel with a massive maw of dagger-like teeth. Perhaps the monster's most horrifying feature is that it has no skin, black blood can be seen coursing through yellow veins.
The warrior, Dagrun the Foolhardy, wished for a sword capable of slaying the demon and armor that could withstand any blow, but neither was any help against the Nuckelavee. The sword could have killed the nightmarish centaur, had he drawn close enough to strike at it, but the Nuckelavee's poison cloud penetrated Dagrun's helmet and corroded his insides in seconds. With her master dead and no ability to leave her lamp without one to call on her, Alana was trapped with Dagrun's bones for about 10 years, never learning what became of his magic sword and armor.
To this day she remembers the grief she felt at losing a master before granting all 3 wishes, the failure to stop the monster, and a decade of isolation. (and long naps) She has not forgotten the Nuckelavee, either, and has learned that it was thought to dwell in the sea in another form, coming to the surface to wreak havoc as it always had. AL-1 has sworn to kill the Nuckelavee should she ever meet it again, and after granting Dagrun the Foolhardy's last wish, burning the corpse, pouring the ashes into a bucket of blessed water, sealing the bucket, and launching it into the sun.
