Neoteny was a Zionite who was the captain of the Saltpillar. He was the leader of the Nightmare Corps affiliation and was a captain in both the Trust and the Kings of Never. Neoteny was a player-created character from the Recursion server.
History[]
Neoteny was awakened in the first year of the Truce. Recruited by Zion, Neoteny initially involved himself with groups such as The Holy Warriors of Zion and The Seventh Coming before gaining a presence as a member of the Dark Order following Anome's betrayal. With the rise of E Pluribus Neo, Neoteny affiliated himself with the council and penned "A Plea for Sanity Within Zion", a protest and disavowal of the new organization. This writing earned him notability as well as notoriety, but also the attention of Zion captain Symmetric, which would lead to a longstanding friendship and an affiliation with the Kings of Never.
Shortly after joining the Kings, Neoteny was promoted to the rank of Captain and was given charge of the Saltpillar. During his time with the Kings of Never, Neoteny championed cooperation with the Machines and Machinists and sought the destruction of the Cypherites. Neoteny dedicated a considerable amount of time to tracking down and putting an end to a high level Cypherite spy in Zion's ranks while also working to eliminate notable Cypherites such as Kerevola, Festaneve, Khursun, and Viraconrida. In the end, some of these operatives remained active, while Neoteny was able to convince Festaneve to seek reinsertion.
During this period, Neoteny also began a campaign to seek out and kill Cypherites in the Real, primarily due to the ineffective nature of fighting in the Matrix caused by Danielle Wright's EJP. Neoteny dubbed this the "Nightmare Corps" initiative, though it was never officially sanctioned by Zion.
Following a long period of inactivity in the Matrix, Neoteny joined forces with the Trust. Not long afterward, the Machines declared war on Zion for their construction of New Zion. Neoteny spent a considerable period of time trying to negotiate with Machines and Machinists to end the war before coming to the conclusion that it was a lost cause. Neoteny then started working on creating weapons to circumvent the EJP and trying to create weapons to more easily damage Machines in the Real.
Not long after, Neoteny embarked on a campaign of planting code bombs in the Matrix. Aided by individuals such as QuiDormit and various members of E Pluribus Neo, Neoteny forced many bluepills into states of premature awakening. His actions were condemned by the Trust and he was subsequently stripped of his rank. Having angered all three primary interests in the Matrix, killcodes were crafted by all sides, with Zion completing the first. QuiDormit was given the opportunity to assassinate Neoteny as proof of his repentance and fired off the round that terminated Neoteny's signal within the Matrix for the final time.
It was rumored that QuiDormit did not, in fact, use a killcode in his battle with Neoteny. The rumor further states that Neoteny retreated from the Matrix to further study Oligarch abilities and their power to overwhelm the Machines both in and out of the Matrix. Conflicting reports also arise from Cypherite operative MetaLogic claiming to have killed Neoteny with his own killcode.
Neoteny was a member of the secret "United Tomorrow" organization and engaged in operations on their behalf under the moniker "Slayboughn."
Hovercraft Battles[]
The Saltpillar. Art by Fabio Comin.
Neoteny was captain of the Saltpillar and Recursion's Zion hovercraft battle squadron consisting primarily of members of the Trust and Omega. Though occassionally disabled, the Saltpillar, as well as all Zion ships on the Recursion instance, maintains an undefeated record in combat.
The Saltpillar was involved in the battle to retrieve Commander Jason Lock on the combined side of Zion and E Pluribus Neo. Through their victory in hovercraft combat, the combined forces managed to save Lock from Cypherites and Machinists and return him safely to New Zion.
Skills[]
Neoteny was skilled in Kung Fu and often showed a preference for martial arts to firearms. Neoteny also proved his prowess at cracking riddles and codes, primarily those needed to track down the Cypherite spy supplying Festaneve with information and in discovering and acting as a member of United Tomorrow. Neoteny prided himself on his skills in combat as a hovercraft pilot and in executing raids on Cypherite ships in the Real.
Etymology[]
Contextually, a "neoteny" is a word meaning "puppet master" or "mind bender." This meaning was adapted from the term's use in the PSP video game Metal Gear AC!D.