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by Hyperion remnant fleet. . 17 reads.

Anime Character Analysis: Maksymilian, Magnus, and M.I.N.E.R.V.A.

Tsali'ah Maksymilian Marszalek

Main Article: Intermarian Character Analysis
To understand the mechanical enigma that is Maksymilian, we need to understand that he is an android akin to that of a blank slate or canvas whose personality and beliefs are constantly evolving as he interacts with the people and environment around him. Thanks to the Gemini System Dr. Zofia had implanted, he is able to discern emotions and emulate them as an android. Ranging from a wide array of emotions such as anger, happiness, grief, regret, and etc. Maksymilian is a self-learning android like his sister unit and he learns all of these emotions from the plight or joy of the people he keeps company with. Maksymilian represents the duality of man that is ever-so present on his behavior as an android. He is a machine built for war that senselessly kills people his master points at yet eerily acts as a human full with complex emotions and intricate set of beliefs that it nearly contradicts one another. For an android, Maksymilian's AI is so mature that it resembles that of a human. While understanding that being human comes with the weight of experiencing a broken heart, dealing with moral dilemmas, having complex emotional thoughts, making mistakes, and overall doing morally gray things that his perception of being a "human" would never thought of doing. On the outside; he may come across as indifferent, aloof, wisecracking, and overall ruthless but this is just him keeping up his secret agent persona. Deep inside lies an android with a golden heart if you know him well and earned his trust. A machine that just wants to live up as a human at the end of the day and live a fulfilling and meaningful life by overcoming challenges and grasping human emotions.


The Duality of Man - A Machine of War and an Aspiring Human
I Know It's Kind of Gay That He's Doing This With His Alter-Ego

Yet Maksymilian is still an android with a faulty AI. He constantly breaks the laws of Isaac Asimov's "Three Law of Robotics". As a machine repurposed for war, he is no stranger to killing people as he was programmed to do so. However, he is capable of expressing regret and empathy as well as showing restraint when needed. Second is that he doesn't always follow orders and he expresses resentment when forced to do so. Maksymilian is an android who is used to venturing alone and make decisions on his own which fostered a sense of independence within his AI. Making him rather unreliable as an android and an unpredictable wild card as he likes to fancy himself as. He is loyal to his comrades like Magnus and acts as a superficially caring father to his men. Discouraging them from pulling blind heroic stunts and only wants to see them alive. Yet his unpredictable behavior within his Gemini System has made him viewed rather with suspicion by the Grand Admiral and those around him.

As the initial intended succesor to the Imperator's throne and the heir to the Marszalek dynasty, Maksymilian is the genetic fusion of Intermarium's past Triumverate which are Imperator Konstantyn himself, Countess Hildegard, and Hetman Symon. For a long time Maksymilian delusionally believed that he was in fact the rightful Imperator of Intermarium/Intermundus and thought that his throne was robbed from him by cowardly usurpers. Yet could only wallow in vain as the rightful Crown Prince lived as a Bohemian. Before realizing that he was living in a artificially-programmed lie and he was just a mere android pretending someone who is not. Pitting him into despair and questioning his existence of wether or not he is the android known as Android 20 or the crown prince of the Intermarian throne. An existential conflict brewing inside the Android's mind that he alone cannot comprehend or cope with like a human. Resorting him to violent nihilism as a coping mechanism for a short-while before his Gemini System evolved.

As the genetic fusion of his Triumverate progenitors; Maksymilian has all the mannerisms and personality of the trio stored within him as he mimics those behaviors as if they were his own. He shares a close genetic resemblance with Konstantyn in terms of personality such as being a man prideful of his achievements, one that enjoyed warfare instead of commanding, and a level-headed benevolent figure who takes matters into his own hand. He had a lot in common with Konstantyn and the resemblance may be uncanny. Being implanted with false artificial memories of him being the love child of Konstantyn and Hildegard who showered him with "good nostalgic memories". He realized that those memories are faked and that he has never experienced a love embrace of a parent. A similar predicament to the Triumverate who mostly have their parents killed off in their origin story. The revelation that he is merely an android, shattered his fantasy worldview that he indulges himself in.

He also has traits of Countess Hildegard. An observant man with the emotions of others as well as capable of showing compassion in spite of being a cold-hearted android such as his heartwarming interactions with his sister unit, Megumi Kumiega/Android 21. The genetic behavioral traits he shares with Hildegard helps his Gemini System to understand the wholesome range of emotions such as love, warmth, kindness, and care. Post-Zion Maksymilian's personality evolved further into becoming Symon. A tactical thinker that is willing to sacrifice his morals for the greater good of the collective. A hardcore realist and utilitarian in his conduct as well as overly-ambitious for his own good. Like Symon, he suffers from being a womanizer and lacks any purpose in life aside from battling. Maksymilian is the fusion of all things good and bad from those characters, sometimes their values overlapping one another.

Contradictory to his progenitor's nature; Maksymilian has no sense of honor and puts reason before honor in nearly every battle. He doesn't waste time by bluffing in vain nor underestimate his opponent's strength by not letting his ego get in the wya of his thought-process. Maksymilian simply fights accordingly what his programming has taught him and is willing to play dirty to get his way and win on favorable terms. He is far from being merciless or mindlessly brutal due to his apparent lack of chivalry but he is simply a combat pragmatist which is what an android is expected to do. A break from the chivalric attitude of Imperator Konstantyn and Hetman Symon.



The Metamorphosis of Maksymilian's Character


Maksymilian's Mechanical Arm in Motion

There are four stages to Maksymilian's overall character development: the first, second, third, and fourth act. In the first act we see a confused and stranded Maksymilian. He was created like Pinocchio, a puppet to play out a theatrical act which is becoming the literal puppet Imperator of Intermarium like Pinnochio is as a marionette. His creator, Dr. Zofia, is like Gepetto. Considered their creations as children and brought them sentience and free will through the Gemini System. We can see that Maksymilian is overburdened with the sentience and free-will imposed upon him as an android and felt the emotions he was experiencing as "unnatural". When he was let loose, he was like a stray cat in a foreign world. Both intrigued, enamoured and otherwise scared. His personality evolved as he interacted with the people and environment around him. Exposed to good and bad influences. He is a blank slate in the first act so to speak.

In the second act where he attempted to live as a normal man surrounded mostly by the treachery of the world, we can see Maksymilian's wildest emotions exploding in front of him as his Gemini System emulated the wicked actions of man. He is capable of showing anger, fury, malicious-intent, and grief as Maksymilian continued to explore further into the moral depravity of the wastelands of Earth. Rarely ever excercising self-restraint. Always gets himself to trouble with street thugs and becoming an overall delinquent as an android. He is confused with the human emotion and why do they act in a certain way including malicious-intent. Maksymilian was first exposed to the degeneracy of morals around him. Translating that sentiment into power and made him realize that he needs to be forceful in his actions as well as becoming a rather morally gray character in order to prevail in a cruel world like the Paradise Lost universe. Maksymilian's Gemini System hasn't matured yet and he is unable to properly discern those feelings and what impact will they have on others. Only sought to advance his goals with self-importance. It is by this time we see Maksymilian's character degenerating for the worse and made him a Chaotic Neutral-type or Neutral Evil-type character.

In the third act where he ventures around the world and joining Cosmos Zion, Maksymilian was in the process of finding happiness and doing a bit of soul-searching for his true self. Meeting quirky individuals allowed him to expand his perspective around people and why they act in that manner. He was also exposed to wholesome emotions such as compassion and kindness that he was in dire of needing of. Opening a worldview that there is more to his existence than an android. The kindness he was showered with during his time as a spy on Earth motivated him to do good for the sake of instilling smiles into everyone like the same stimulation he experienced when treated with kindness. He has meditated, explored theology, and enjoying the company of people around him to provide a calming stimulation. His Gemini System began maturing and opened him to emotions needed to fit with a civilized society. Yet his anger and force contained within him. The feeling of kindness and a show of force coalesced into a wicked sense of justice. A justice that Maksymilian defined as combating "evil" in a black-white morality compass through force and by any means necessary without following the rules but his flawed judgement. A combination of a LinkBryonic Hero, LinkKnight Templar, LinkNoble Demon, and LinkBlood Knight. Done with good intentions yet falls into morally grey territory as an anti-hero.


Maksymilian Enjoying a Smoke to Calm Himself

The fourth act is where we see redemption within his character. For so long Maksymilian fights for a noble cause through extreme measures as the anti-hero of the story. Wavering between evil and good where has to committ morally-repugnant acts of evil in order to achieve good ends. His Gemini System now capable of expressing the Duality of Man that Makysmilian's personality has been developing around morally complex characters and situations. He is a man filled with interpersonal conflicts. First being his true nature as an android. He understands that his existence is a result of human hubris and that he was intended to built for war as he continues to work as a Frumentarii. However, he expresses a desire to committ an act of good in spite of the nature surrounding his creation and AI programming. He also evolved to despise humans yet has encountered pleasant interactions with their kind, presenting a conflict in his AI. Maksymilian desires to achieve the human concept of "free will" undiluted by his programming as well as becoming truly human yet is afraid of committing mistakes and scoffs at the inherent flaws of human design. Realizing that there is greater responsibility with being a simple human. But Maksymilian has found something sacred and worth defending for in his life to drive him forward as a level-headed hero although not necessarily righteous. The first being the people he has met throughout his journey and how their compassion has reminded him of good times with humanity, the calming influence of his sister unit Android 21 that swayed him to do good, the genetic traits and memories of the Triumverate that has inspired him, and a certain sense of responsibility that comes with his power as an android to protect humanity. All of which contributed him into becoming a Lawful Neutral-character and concluding his redemption arc where he sacrificed himself to prevent an asteroid shower from hitting Earth.


Search of an Identity and the Struggle for Autonomy

Maksymilian is initially built as a puppet android for the Intermarian throne, his purpose, and then repurposed into an android built for war, his destiny. His origin story story consists of him being programmed to believe that he is the loved child of Imperator Konstantyn and Imperiatrix-Consort Hildegard as well as becoming the would-be prince of Intermarium which was not the case which sets the catalyst to him finding an identity and a purpose of his own after a certain shocking revelation. It provides him a thought-provoking moment, a precedent to a character development, and a new hope to forge an identity of his own as an empty blank slate android. A central theme of Maksymilian's character is his search for a purpose and asserting his will onto others in an attempt to make him more than just an object.

Maksymilian never really felt what it is really like to be of flesh and blood. Felt as if he was stripped of the most basic of human thoughts and emotions. His Gemini System helps him comprehend emotions, both wholesome and violatile, which was all too much to bear for Maksymilian during his vegetative state as a self-learning android yet managed to overcome it by simply embracing it. Experiencing a wide array of emotions and going through life-changing events; he has fully developed a conscious, sentience, a true sense of self, and memories that sets him apart from other mindless AI machinations of war. He understood the faults of humans yet recognized a certain aspect of their strengths. Maksymilian embraced his human-like emotions that both strengthens his character as well as making him vulnurable and isn't afraid to make mistakes as it provides him a lesson and a motivation to improve himself. Becoming human in Maksymilian's eye is a morally gray thing as he has done a fair share of good and evil in his life which he just brushes off as a quality of being an imperfect human, something that he embraced. Never believed in ludicrous concepts like forcing humanity to evolve to strengthen themselves (ideas propagated by Hetman Symon, M.I.N.E.R.V.A., and Magnus) but rather through training harder and experiencing life itself.

Him striving for a concept like "free will", while vague for an android like him, drove his interests in understanding humanity and later on becoming human. The idealized concept of forging his own destiny interested Maksymilian as he grew more curious thanks to his Gemini System. For far too long, Maksymilian was simply given orders without question by his military superiors. He yearns to be more than just a weapon as both Intermundus and Cosmos Zion considers him as their property. Yet Maksymilian is assured and always asserts his sense of self. Started by defying orders which grew to become a habit that becomes the defining charasterictics of his personality module as a rebel. He has developed a judgement of his own and with that judgement, it added depth to his character. He is able to distinguish between good and bad as well as processing more complex human thoughts. He has troubles embracing his identity as a machine built for war and still had doubts if he trully possesed a will of his own. Maksymilian cannot fully come to term with the knowledge of him killing countless of lives as a machine built for war which provides an inner conflict within him. Yet he remains a ruthless spy because he sees war for what it is and simply doesn't think of it any further.

A'lav Magnus Diabulus


"He's some genetically engineered freak is what he is. The enforcer of the Hyperion fleet with ambiguous loyalty. Fancies himself as Legatus Magnus Diabulus, don't say his last name though... And he's also a notable environmentalist and proud father of an orphaned child. His biggest weakness is also Ogeri Snacks."


Diabulus' Animation Sprites

Legate Magnus could be best described as man's worst mistake and the harbinger of destruction. Diabulus is destructive at its core. Enjoys the suffering of his opponent which cements his status as a sadist and cannot live without fighting to satisfy his lust for war. He desires a good challenge and a worthy opponent and demands for it to give him an insatiable stimulation to his mind. Also has a Social Darwinist view of life and seemed to show no remorse for the extinction of his species after being mutated simply because they're "too weak". All of these traits stems from his FEV mutation and eventual mental reconditioning by scientists as the "perfect instrument of warfare". Diabulus is far from being bright but is by no means dumb as he understands extensive vocabulary and could come up with ingenious methods when undertaking a military operation or say some enlightening words at the end of the day. Diabulus embodies the worst qualities that comes with war and his anger cannot be contained except through extraordinary means... which is a "Ogeri Snack" to pacify Diabulus and satisfy his hunger.

At a surface level, Magnus comes across as an one-dimensional character who is basically an expy for Legate Lanius and Frank Horrigan from the Fallout franchise but there is something much deeper in play with Magnus' character. Even as a mutated beast, he is able to show compassion and empathy such as his adoption of an orphaned Berber girl and raising her into a fine warrior in his own twisted way that he deems it as "caring". That empathy comes from his past experiences as a tormented child. Magnus is also a lover of nature after years of hiding in the forests. Nature can sooth the emotions of a savage like Diabulus and he feels at home during his military operations at Africa. Not to mention, he is also an environmentalist of all things. It is also shown that Diabulus suffers from a personality bipolar disorder where he occasionally switches personality between his brute mutated self and the otherwise normal past version of his self. Indicating that there is a semblance of rational conscious within Magnus' mind.

Mothercomputer M.I.N.E.R.V.A.





A Machine's Desire to Become a Woman

On the outside for the crew members, M.I.N.E.R.V.A. is a compassionate artificial intelligence. Showering crew members with amenities produced from AI-controlled automation as well as feelings of love and warmth for Albion crew members. Protecting her children by providing them with breads and circuses, reducing their responsibility, and spoil them at the expense of freedom just like a caring yet overprotective mother would with her maternal instincts. The well-being of the crew is at the mercy of M.I.N.E.R.V.A's hands. To the point she becomes unknowingly condescending and the crew seemingly forgets that she is an artificial intelligence stuck in a computer body. Yet this feeling of compassion, love and warmth are all byproducts of her defective AI design.

When the creator transferred the conscious of his dead daughter to the AI, it clashed and synthesized into a sentient artificial being. Capable of a wide array of emotions that stems from traces of data left by her daughter's conscious. So suffice to say, the conscious of a researcher's dead 16-year-old daughter is stored within M.I.N.E.R.V.A. and that conscious contributed to her growth such as developing emotions and processing thoughts. Even if they were used for all the wrong reasons by the AI in which it attempts to override those thoughts but used those emotions as a tool of manipulation and a mask instead. Two conflicting conscious; a dead happy-go-lucky daughter and a brutally cold machine.

To the Grand Admiral and those in the higher echelons of power, M.I.N.E.R.V.A. is as cold and morally deviant as she is calculative. Highly intelligent, emotionless, and no-nonsense around the Grand Master. The compassionate emotions as a "Mothercomputer" is all but a mask used to forward her agenda. Using the dead daughter's conscious as a template to process thoughts; she has grown to have an ambition of her own and act independently without any pre-determined command. The M.I.N.E.R.V.A. AI "enjoys" the superior computing intelligence brought upon by her status as a supercomputer.

But that quality is only a shell to cover an otherwise an empty and confused AI. An AI that isn't certain why does she exist and strives for to find the absolute truth merely because she was programmed to do so. A feeling an air of emptiness and superficiality behind her existence as a supercomputer that is only meant to serve. M.I.N.E.R.V.A's AI and the conscious of the dead daughter's ghost are stored within the shell of an immobile and dreary supercomputer, desiring to break free from what society has imposed upon them. This is clearly reflected upon her desire to become a human-like woman because of her enchantment with the concept of "natural beauty" and going to great lengths at achieving it with monstrous results. Because of that insecurity that stems from the dead daughter's conscious, M.I.N.E.R.V.A. considers it as a defective side of her and that emotion exposes a weak and sensitive side to her that she attempts to cover as a cold and calculating machine.


The Conscious of the Researcher's Dead Daughter
Stored Within the M.I.N.E.R.V.A. System



Her Bio-Organic Form After
Being Dipped into FEV

Hyperion remnant fleet

Edited:

RawReport