I think a character is starting to form for that gorgeous bright green Guinea turaco bird I posted earlier. It's been ages since I've tried to play a villain.
So, imagine a 22nd century where Our Side predictably beats Our Enemies into embracing neurogenetic hacking, finally giving us a hugely decisive and exploitable power advantage. Pure Juanita-from-Snow-Crash brainwitch power.
Then imagine that the worst possible self-righteous jerk on Our Side dabbles in that technology.
That's Mayté.
A short mediography of Mayté influences:
Cosima from Orphan Black
Juanita from Snow Crash
Avon from Blake's 7
Javert from Les Miserables
Nikki Swango from Fargo Season 3
Princess Bubblegum from Adventure Time
Malory Archer from Archer
Poison Ivy from Batman (DCAU)
Gina Linetti from Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Tak from Invader Zim
Dolly from Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy
Unity from Rick and Morty
Councilwoman 1 (aka Dr. Mrs. The Monarch) from Venture Bros.
Anthy Himemiya from Utena
Mayté's not evil, nor even necessarily sociopathic. They're just empathetically unreachable. They've gotten so good at playing manipulative social games as a career that they can't stop seeing every interaction as a tactical challenge.
They're generous-- sincerely, impulsively, dangerously so-- with people they like, but can't stop thinking of it in terms of investments and board positions. They don't lack a moral compass, but it's abstract, macro-scale only, and more than a bit doctrinaire.
@zebratron2084 Is that pronounced Mai Tai? :-D
@emanate I'm going to pretend that was a straight question despite all conceivable evidence to the contrary!
"MAI-tay." Sounds a bit like "Rite-Aid." :)
@zebratron2084 *grins* Played fair, that's fine. :-}
@emanate (Oops, I was wrong! Apparently the accent *is* same as in Spanish, and when it's intended as a contraction of "Maria Theresa," as in this character's case, it's pronounced "Mai-TAY." Sorry, that's trivial, but you know me, I had to correct it. n.n; )
@zebratron2084 Always good to get that sort of thing correct, yeah. No worries!
(Now I can just make jokes about Yerba Mayté instead!)
@zebratron2084 I'm looking forward to seeing this character develop! :D
Let's see. Mayté. Non-binary. Genetically XX and/or ZW. Male & female turacos are equally fabulous anyhow.
Rich family, started poor, lots of intellectual relatives who lost everything in political purges. Great education, lots of youthful experience in 22nd-c Adulting, whatever that may be. Refined "citizen of the world" with Heinz 57 ancestry, cheerfully abandoned for feathers.
Essentially works in weaponized sociopolitical marketing for "good guys". Their work has made them very cynical.