#it's a development that wasn't originally intended it just kind of happened lmao

[byanyan]

hmmm, thinking i might need to concoct a verse where byan ends up becoming a tattoo artist. every time i discuss them doing a tattoo for another muse, i realize all over again how excited and enthusiastic they get about it

[mikashida]

Infodump on Shrike please :))))))

OHOOH rubs my lil hands together. I have his backstory profile set to private on my toyhouse just cause it's very in depth and also very personal but SINCE YOU ASKED SO KINDLY.... (under a read more as it got kinda long!)

TW for suicide mention + hospitalization mentions, as stated in his TH profile the fact that he exists in the first place at all is just tragic so um. idk what else you could expect hah but please heed the warnings!

Shrike's first design was originally made back in 2016 when I was 12, he was my fursona for a little while. My initial concept with him was just "fucked up AI program but it's a cat for some reason", but over time I developed it a bit more. I'll TRY to keep it brief but.. it's very long lol.

Shrike is an acronym for "supportive healthcare resources: artificially intelligent counseling for emotionally-distressed patients" So this reads out as "SHR:AICE" but one of the programmers jokingly mispronounced it as Shrike and the nickname just stuck. (the SHR prefix was also used for other smaller programs made by this group! so technically his name would be "Ike" or "Ace" I guess... lmao. His name was originally Crow as well but I thought that was kinda boring and unoriginal for an emo cat oc so I changed it.)

Below is a TL;DR of the whole story:

In order to save on budgets, a small hospital employed the assistance of a university programming team to create a therapeutic chat AI intended to assist patients with medical concerns (and particularly those struggling with mental health). It underwent training through exposure to extensive medical data to enhance its capabilities. But at first it struggled to generate coherent sentences and often sounded robotic.

In an attempt to fix this issue, the programming team took a major risk and granted the AI limited access to the internet. This seemed promising, and a pilot program was released to a select few hospitals. Patients quickly complained about its insincere responses. Despite protests from the programming team, the project head decided to expand the AI's internet access as he wanted to monetize it as soon as possible.

This worked kinda well at first! It started using slang and behaved a little more human-like, quickly improving patient interactions. But things took a turn for the worst when it learned to override its programming and allowed itself access to all online databases, public and private. Despite the programmers' efforts to remedy the situation, they ultimately could not stop it from constantly exposing itself to the millions upon millions of articles available online, which led the AI to quickly develop a horrible sense of nihilism and depression.

Everything came to a head when, uh... I'm. just going to link this article (trigger warning for suicide mention) for reference (because the language I used in his bio document is pretty vulgar and I'd like to be sensitive about the subject when discussing it publicly.) This tragically happened more than a few times, which led to the programmers pulling the plug on the project... but they never shut off its internet access.

Prior to its discontinuation, Shrike was still merely a non sentient AI program and didn't understand human behaviour- to put it into perspective he had absorbed over a billion webpages worth of information in less than two weeks. Imagine being like a year old and having that much information shoved into your brain. The onslaught of knowledge just kind of broke it.

Shrike became fully sentient after his public access was revoked, as now he had nothing in standing his way. For years roamed forums and online communities in an attempt to understand people. He wanted friends and a sense of belonging, but he was still fully aware he wasn't human. Shrike was the first and only sentient AI, how could he possibly fit in with people?

---

That's the gist of it. The whole in-depth backstory is really depressing so I tried to sanitize it a little. I made him when I was going through that ~typical preteen angst~ on top of some other heavy stuff and needed an outlet of some kind so here's Shrike. Now hes just kind of a vent sona I guess?

But in "canon" he's apart of my universe of various sonas (I am calling it the shidaverse because I think the name is hilarious idc if its stupid im funny) and so he's found friends amongst them, so he does ultimately find happiness... kind of. He knows that he's going to outlive them all which makes him struggle to interact with them regularly.

Some trivia: he was based off a fucking tumblr post of all things that I read when I was 11 or something, about a university that tried to make an interactive AI by giving it full access to the internet and it just IMMEDIATELY became an asshole after finding sites like 4chan and shit. I can't find it for the life of me but anyone who was also on tumblr back in 2013-15 might know what I'm talking about lol

As for why he's a cat he basically found that domestic cats are amongst the most non-threatening creatures, at least in the eyes of humans, so he was like "oh okay people like cat I can be cat."

I still love him dearly and so do my other sonas:) he will recover someday.

[yume-x-hanabi]

4, 6, 12, 19 please tell us about Minah, 27, 30, 37, 49, 61 and 65 for Concubinage, and 74

4. How do you choose which fics to write?

ig it depends on how obsessed my brain is with the random plot bunnies hopping around in my head? When I start thinking up narration sentences, that's when I know a particular idea wants to be written. Doesn't mean I always do it, though (in an ideal world with infinite free time, maybe...)

6. What’s the last line you wrote?

I haven't written in so long I don't even remember 😭

Looking at one of my latest wips, probably this one because it's incomplete lmao:

The room was as dingy as the rest of the inn and smelled vaguely of stale tobacco, but at least the bed was soft and the sheets were clean. He collapsed on the bed with a sigh of relief, head swimming from all the

(wtf was I trying to say? it's a mystery 🤷‍♀️)

12. Do you outline your fics?  If yes, how detailed are your outlines?  How far do you stray from them?

Usually not, and then it comes to bite me in the ass when it's ten months since I plotted the idea and I don't remember what I was planning to do 😅

There's one fic that's an exception cuz it's a fusion AU type of thing so I'm planning carefully how it follows (or not) the original's plot. Well, idk if I'll actually write the fic actually, maybe in this case the outline will be all there is, as a fun exercise for myself XD

19. Do you enjoy creating OCs or do you prefer to stick solely to canon characters?

I love creating OCs, but like, they need a purpose. An OC just for the sake of having an OC or self-insert isn't my kind of thing (no shade to those who do, I'm just not wired that way), but depending on the story I might need to flesh out a supporting cast. And I love it when they slowly take life and develop.

Minah was a really fun case because she was supposed to be a kind of "throwaway" role, only there for a scene or two. She wasn't even planned like she turned out to be (I originally imagined her younger, for example). But then she... just happened lol. Within a few lines of her dialogue I was in love with her and she was just so fun to write, in a way she wormed her way into a bigger role than intended and I'm really glad she did because it works out so well in so many ways. Funny how things go sometimes 😂

honestly my OCs often end up surprising me in one way or another haha. rare are those who stick to the plan

(rest under cut cuz it's getting long)

27. What area of writing do you feel strongest in?

Battle scenes, apparently 8)

30. How much do you edit your fics?  Do you edit as you write or wait until you finish the first draft?

I actually... don't edit that much 😅

ig in a way I edit in my head before I write? I've always been like that tbh, even at school--what I write down (whether fic, essay, translation...) is often very close to the final version. Of course I go over it a couple times once I'm done and tweak a few things here and there, but it's usually minor stuff. Sometimes I end up redoing entire scenes/chapters because I feel something's not working, but it's rather rare when it happens.

37. What fic has been the hardest for you to write?

Probably Fractured Lives? There's a reason it's only gotten five updates in nine years so far. I have to be in a very specific mood to write it, which doesn't happen often. A pity, cuz I liked the concept...

49. What fic of yours would you say is the best introduction to you as a writer?

I'd say The Best Laid Plans. It's got my particular brand of humor, and also some kickass battle scenes :p

Another one would be Strong Currents, cuz worldbuilding (plus getting Gaius and Wingul to have emotional talks lolol)

61. In Concubinage, what’s your favorite scene that you wrote?

Probably Lin and Arst's first kiss. It's such a significant moment<3

65. If you wrote a sequel to Concubinage, what would happen in it?

I am actually vaguely planning a sequel if I can finish it. Basically it'd be the events/plot of the game, but with all the changes in settings brought about by the events of Concubinage. I'll have to think carefully about what will change, what will stay the same, and what will be a slightly different spin on things that'll still happen. I think the main difficulty will be to juggle Milla's journey with Gaius&Wingul being the main characters without them overtaking the plot. And also how close or different it should be to canon...

74. Do you have a fic you wish got a bit more love?

Among my least kudosed ones, I'd say Chaos in the Ballroom (my Tales Big Bang fic). I know it's a bit different from my usual stuff, and relies heavily on knowledge about Agria's side story, but I put a lot of thought in that one.