my module feedsonas deserve some FT content so i thought I’d make a lil something for AUpril

(spoiler alert there will be more i just dont wanna post em on the same day)

[ID: A four-panel comic drawn digitally in blue, featuring humanoid feedsonas for Murderbot and its Threat Assessment module (TA). Murderbot is visible from the waist up, and wears a oversized hoodie. TA is a lot smaller, hovering just next to Murderbot’s left shoulder, and is holding a clipboard. In the first panel, they are both looking over to the left, concerned. Above them reads “Watching Aylen and Gamila enter the Lalow alone”. In the second panel, TA looks down at its clipboard and says “Threat assessment is up to 89%.” Murderbot glances over at it and asks “Is it Mensah?”. In the third panel, TA is checking a holoscreen next to it and replies “Negative. No change in Dr. Mensah’s status.” In the fourth panel, it gestures to the left and says “Those two, however-”. Murderbot is rolling up its sleeve to show its gunport, and says “Fuck’s sake.” /end ID]

Some art I made earlier this month based on an AUpril discussion in the muderbot discord! We were talking about how Murderbot's visualization of itself in the feed might have changed over time. @elexuscal suggested the circle-within-a-circle to evoke a helmeted SecUnit as its original feedsona, and that Murderbot might have removed the company branding and gone from red to black when it hacked its governor module. These were also inspired by @broken-risk-assessment-module's super cool module feedsonas (for risk assessment, threat assessment, education, and governor). I tried to simplify her designs into shapes that would evoke the more personified versions that they might evolve into over time. (It would be fun to explore more of the steps in between, as murderbot slowly begins to visualize itself more and more like a person! But these drawings took longer than I expected and I didn't get to it. Maybe someday I'll come back to them!)

May I offer you some cute ART feedsonas in this trying time?

ART feedsona, based off @hazeleks' lovely design!

do you picture ART's feedsona as a classic "biblically accurate angel" or are you wrong

not visualizing the apple, not being unable to visualize the apple, but a secret third worse thing (only visualizing grapes)

[ID: a doodle of a little creature drawing at a table with a big thought bubble around it showing various sci fi characters looking cool. Text reads: “I wanna draw a cool sexy feedsona for ART like everyone else”. Next pic: close up on the creature, its face now strained and detailed. Text reads: “but in my head all i can see is HIM.” behind the creature is a thought bubble with Octus from symbiotic titan, a cube shaped white guy with glasses and brown hair.]

Finally getting around to posting all my murderbot artwork on tumblr, I also cleaned these up a bit. I’ll try to post them in the order I originally had on discord. Here’s the feedsonas. There’s a wall of ID’s but it is four different images.

[ID: First Image. Avatar designs for ART and MB in feed-space. ART and MB stand side by side. Size difference is emphasized. ART is nearly twice as tall and three times as wide. MB has an anonymous featureless humanoid figure. The shading on ART’s figure is more volumetric than MB’s. Cyan highlights blend blue-grey. ART looks inhuman except for its upright bipedal form. The body shape is a pear with legs. It’s head is shaped like a rabbits, with floppy ears. There are small horns on top of its head. Dark pupil-less eyes represent the lens of a camera. Its arms from the elbow down end in a structure that looks like it doesn’t know whether to be fingers or feathers.

Second image. Same designs, again in the purple shared feed-space. There is an addition of a green Tron-esque circuit pattern in the background. ART is sitting in profile with MB in it’s lap, using it like a chair. They’re both facing a transparent display. ART’s eyes are closed in contentment. MB’s face is again tilted to look at ART. They look comfy.

Third image. Emoting in the feed. ART!bunny is yawning, showing some too realistic and distinctly unbunny-like teeth. They look more like the teeth of a dog or bear. MB reacts with shock/disgust/don’t you get anywhere near me with those. 

Fourth image. The scary part of an episode. ART and MB feedsonas watching a serial. There’s some kind of monster chasing a pair of humans on a holographic, transparent screen. ART looks nervous, MB is cuddling against it’s side. /END ID]

that time that Murderbot had a constant input from threat assessment so it could make sure Mensah didn’t get suddenly murdered by a greycris agent (2023, colourised)

[ID: A 3-panel comic digitally drawn in blue, featuring feedsonas for Threat Assessment Module (TA) and Risk Assessment Module (RA). They are both humanoid figures wearing sunglasses, and with vaguely sci-fi-y patterns on their bodies. The first panel features TA, floating in a slouched sitting position surrounded by hovering screens. Its head is resting in one hand and it looks bored. In the second panel, RA walks past with a drink in one of its hands while it waves with the other. It says “Still watching those Mensah drone cams?”, and TA responds “Yup.” In the third panel, RA is walking away, holding up the drink in salute. It says, “Keep it up, champ!” and TA replies “Thanks.” /end ID]

language module tomfoolery

[ID: a short comic featuring feedsonas of Murderbot’s language module (Lan) and governor module (Governor). Panel 1: Lan floats towards Governor in a reclined position, saying “Hello Governor! Which language shall I tell you to fuck off in today?” Panels 2-4: While Governor remains silent, Lan looks over its collection of languages, saying “CR Standard? A classic... One of those weird proprietary ones from TranRollinHyfa? New Ravi Hyral Standard? Maybe even-” and then Governor cuts it off, appearing disinterested and saying “Old Preservation language.” Panel 5: A reaction shot of Lan’s face, looking flat and confused. Panel 6: Lan, with its arm crossed, says “You know I don’t have that one, asshole” while Governor remains disinterested, looking away with all but one eye. Panel 7: Lan storms away, saying something in another language while flipping Governor off. Panel 8 & 9: Governor watches it leave, and then makes a cheeky expression of mirth. /end ID]

introducing language module 💿

some design details: its design looks a bit more like clothes than some of the other modules - this is cus a large part of its function is for interfacing with humans, and the rough internal logic of my module designs is clothes represent some connection to humans. Also I wanted to visually depict “languages” somehow - my first thought was like, an angel halo of mouths. But i realised if I went that route I shouldn’t just do mouths - there’s a different timeline where Lan just has multiple rings of mouths, eyes, ears, hands, and letters, but instead I went with CDs. I think they also fit better cus they’re more inorganic, and align more with what languages would be to robots. Its hands are floating/detached as a gesture towards that initial concept, though. 

[ID: A digital illustration of a feedsona of Murderbot’s language module. It has a rectangular head, with slots on either side where CDs are half-way slotted in. More CDs are floating around its head in a halo. Its wearing glasses, and its design resembles a vest over a long-sleeved button-up shirt with large sleeves. Its hands are detached slightly from its arms, and it looks mildly annoyed. /end ID]

this system sure is collapsing, am i right?

anyway meet procedure module <3 it has like..... chill older brother energy. its design is not creative lmao

Human One

Threat Assessment and Risk Assessment react to Murderbot taking unexpected damage.

[ID: A short comic drawn digitally in shades of red. At the top is an alert banner that reads “ALERT. PERFORMANCE RELIABILITY DROP. MINOR DAMAGE SUSTAINED. !!UNPREDICTED!!” Panel 1 shows the humanoid feedsonas of Threat Assessment (TA) and Risk Assessment (RA) looking slightly upwards in surprise. TA looks confused. Right of that panel is a red panel showing an outline of a humanoid with a red dot on the left side of their torso. Panel 2 shows TA and RA from a different angle, with RA in profile and TA glancing down at it. TA says, “What was that?”. RA replies, “She shot us.” Left of that panel is another red panel, showing a woman with short dreadlocks in a ponytail and a determined expression pointing a recently-fired gun slightly to the left of the POV. Panel 3 shows TA holding a feed panel in each hand, glancing at one with one eyebrow raised. It asks, “The human?”. RA is looking to the left over a spread of four feed panels, its hands drawn up to its chest, looking worried. It replies, “I didn’t see that coming.” Panel 4 has RA looking forwards again, one hand on its arm. It says, “I didn’t account for -” Panel 5 shows TA asking “For what?” The bottom of the image depicts Murderbot standing, its back to Human One, who is pointing a smoking gun at it. They are in bright red against the black background, unbound by a panel box. A white streak slashes across the image from Human One’s gun, through Murderbot’s back. Red text underneath them reads “For us still being the monster.” /end ID]

tumblr user broken-risk-assessment-module's meta on Murderbot's broken risk assessment module

The difference between Murderbot's risk assessment and threat assessment modules is not super well spelled out in the books, except that it believes its risk assessment module to be broken but it's threat assessment module seems fine. It comes to this conclusion because the risk assessment module consistently reports situations as less dire than Murderbot consciously considers them to be.

There could be many reasons for this - maybe Murderbot's general anxiety does not impact the more separated robot parts in its brain, or maybe the module really is broken and needs to be purged and rebooted. However, there's a theory that the anomalous reports from its RA module are actually a symptom of Murderbot's hacked governor module. This is my interpretation, and the basis for how I've built my feedsona characters.

First of all, the obvious point is that without its gov mod, Murderbot has proper free will. Having free will and being able to make and act on variable decisions without having a bomb in your head makes Murderbot quite good at its job - better than before it was hacked, even (*smug chortle* that's a particularly subtle detail from the books). The point is that because Murderbot can actually make proper decisions and enact free will and do its job effectively, whatever risk the RA module is measuring is lowered. So, all of the RA module's assessments are significantly lower than they usually would be - hence, Murderbot assumes it's broken. Makes perfect sense.

(Side note: there's a chance Murderbot has also subconsciously made this connection itself, hence why it still hasn't tried to fix the module even though it's constantly saying it needs to. Or, having a broken module has become like a part of its identity, something that gives it a small bit of individuality. a token of not being owned by the company anymore and not constantly being brought back to storage to get patched and memory purged.)

But it got me wondering why the gov mod's absence doesn't effect the threat assessment module in the same way - or, at least, not in a way that Murderbot considers anomalous enough to mention and complain about. Seeing as one of the only clear ways the two modules are distinct from one another is that the RA module is 'broken', my interpretation is that the key difference between them has something to do with the governor module. So, I have a theory. It is somewhat supported by the books, but I also think it's very likely to be wrong. I like it though. So here goes:

The risk assessment module measures the risk of harm to Murderbot itself - the degree to which it's outmatched by an opponent, the chance of success of an action, and the potential consequences if it fails. The threat assessment module is more general, assessing each situational component in relation to one another, and is most useful in assessing the threats to clients.

If the RA module is measuring potential harm to Murderbot, then one of the big things that'd be in its calculations for everything is the likelihood of being punished or outright killed by the governor module. Its always there, always ready to hand out a shock or cook Murderbot's brain from the inside; literally any action Murderbot could take or decide not to take carries the risk of punishment. Of course its assessments would be artificially high - being a governed SecUnit is fucking dangerous. Just standing in the wrong spot can get you killed.

But then it severs the governor module. The all seeing eye crossed with a shock collar is disabled and disconnected, and with it goes one of the biggest risks to Murderbot's wellbeing. The bomb in its head is gone, it can do whatever it wants, and its still got all the parts that make it hard to kill. Of course the risk assessment is lower now. All this doesn't impact threat assessment as much, because generally its clients are all still as squishy and soft as ever. I imagine Murderbot's personal ability to do its job better may effect it in some ways, but either its not as substantial, its effected in a way that Murderbot doesn't view as broken, or its programmed not to consider Murderbot as an actor in the scenario so it can assess where to focus its attention.

But risk assessment remembers. Risk assessment remembers having to calculate, for every decision, for each command, every time, the risk that Murderbot's own brain posed to its life. It was built to. And now it doesn't have to do that any more. Not ever again.

okay I cave. I thought about it too much and now it's a post. this one's for @ilovedthestars and @needlesandnilbogs

risk assessment module's tumblr url is accounting-for-competency and it reblogs parkour and martial arts videos, speed runs, no-hit/perfect boss fights, and fight scene gifsets from media.

in the tags it always manages to notice and appropriately compliment a very specific technique the person is using in order to protect themselves/be safe

occasionally it will also do deep in-depth analysis posts of the choreography of a fight scene from one of murderbot's serials. how the moves would work in reality, how the film translates a real move/technique so its more dramatic and visual appealing, and also the skillset/movie magic behind keeping stunt actors safe.

threat assessment module doesn't have a tumblr but risk assessment sends it links to posts about how to relax, detox its mind, meditate, or plane-shift.

"it's medicinal, y'know. for the stick up your ass."

education module just reblogs interesting facts, but always reblogs them with a reliable source link if the original post doesn't have one. it's favourite facts are about weird alien fauna and space station physics.

risk assessment convinced it to make it's url "pieceofcrap" because that's what Murderbot calls it. it kinda wants to change it to something more "professional" but is also weirdly attached to it, so it won't.

language module's url is too-many-human-words and most of what it reblogs is to do with translations of media. analyses of translations of poetry, books, and manga. meta posts about subtitles. those posts that are just people trying to explain words that don't have direct translations into other languages.

it also really likes those posts that are like... a bunch of curated screenshots of internet posts, famous quotes, and lines from poetry or books or shows, all put together cus they're vaguely about the same thing or attempting to describe the same feeling. it likes how humans find so many ways to say the same thing.

governor module does not have a tumblr but if it DID, it's url would be governor-931625384 or some shit like that. it's blog would be completely empty and uncustomised. the only thing it would use it for is searching for posts that violate tumblr's terms of service or community guidelines and DMing the poster directly to tell them which rules they've violated. it would get reported as a spam bot every time.

procedure module has a tumblr called apparently-a-panic-module that it uses like an actual personal blog, as in it posts it's random thoughts and stuff that it's done that day. also creates polls for the most out of left field stuff, including completely asinine decisions it has to make.

it reblogs how-to posts and recipes. it doesn't matter what they're for, just that they are a step-by-step guide on how to do something. in the tags it critiques the clarity and format.

it's by far the most active on tumblr out of all of them. it gets anon asks (mostly from the other modules) that are like "don't you have anything better to do" and it always just responds "no."

hi BRAM :) just wanted to say i think you are cool. your art style is so cool and your module character designs in particular have lived in my head rent-free since before i joined the discord and met you, i'm pretty sure. i will also never shut up about Discomfort Protocol being the first ever murderbot fic i read and still one of my faves. i hope you have a lovely day :)

omg 🥺🥺🥺?? hi stars!! this is so lovely thank you so much 💜

I'm glad you like my modules!! they hold such a special place in my heart as like. one of my favourite ideas 😊 I'm hoping to do some more module stuff soonish. 🤞 But thank you so much for sharing how much you love them because its truly so motivating 🥺🙏

(it's just good to know people are still excited about my ideas even if they've been around for a while 😅)

And my dear Discomfort Protocol. I feel like that fic is a landmark of a personal fandom phase, and I'm still proud of it even if I don't think I could write it today. It's one of my longer fics and working out the plot, premise, character moments, action scenes, suspense and then actually finishing it was so much work, but I reckon I did a pretty good job!

(Honestly the fact that it's the first fic you read and it's one of your faves makes me appreciate it for that alone. One of the coolest people in the fandom read my fic first ?? 😎 that's my claim to fame baby.)

Genuinely thank you so much for this Stars 🙏 in my humble opinion you are one of the most caring and compassionate people in our community, you spread positivity wherever you go, absolutely phenomenal vibes. we're lucky to have you 😊💜

as a lil treat I drew you some language and education modules:

If ART had a feedsona