As far as I know, you wouldn't be violating the in-game canon. I don't think it has ever been stated that Kheldians are unable to bond with machines. It just hasn't been confirmed.
As for the actual reason behind it, there are several ways about it. The first (but probably not best) is to have the robot have some organic parts, perhaps ala The Ticktock Prince (it's the first story), although a less gruesome manner would be more appropriate.
Another option would be to say that the robot possesses advanced energy manipulation technology. Because Kheldians are purely energy, a robot with a series of "batteries" to store the Kheldian's energies may work.
Thirdly, you could simply assume that the Kheldian bonds to a robot as easily as a human. It's never been explained exactly how the bonding process works, and you could assume that a Kheldian can bind its energy into any molecular structure. While that could mean that Kheldians could "possess" any object, it may be that (in this given hypothetical) that Kheldians cannot act as an animating force, and thus require something that already animates under its own power to be bonded, instead of just fused.
This is all just my own thoughts of course, so take it with a grain of salt.
Very cool. Thanks, Heronator, that's a good start to my process. I guess it was kind of worried that this issue had come up before and been shot down for some reason that I am not aware of, y'know? And that was a really good story. It makes my characters backstories look kind of crappy by comparison. -.-
As far as the Kheldian that bonds to the bot, I think I've got some ideas on how to make the backstory work. I was trying to debate between accidentally or purposefully fusing with it, and I think either would work, but it might be better to make it on purpose. It could be something along the lines of being afraid of illness, pain, disease, etc, that comes along with having a flesh & blood host. It could also think that fusing with an AI means that it would retain most of its "self" (as opposed to a fusion of two minds), not realizing the kind of intellect that the bot itself would have. The problem is, I'm not quite sure how to RP a character like this. I don't want to change my concept, but I'm not sure how the character would act. I keep coming back to Data from Star Trek: TNG, but that's very different.
Any other thoughts on this and/or other possibilities to add to the backstory would be greatly appreciated!
What our science is only just beginning to understand, but the Kheldians know and practice every time they change forms, is that energy and matter are the same thing. What difference does it make if the material shell is "alive" in a biological sense, so long as it can contain and conduct the energy?
My characters at Virtueverse
Faces of the City
I suggest you just go for RP in the sense of "aliens are people too". If the robot's AI is more of a 'machine', meaning it doesn't really have much personality on its own, the resulting merged being would probably be very much like the original Kheldian, just with a computer in his mind.
I've got three characters who are like that, actually. They're essentially cyborgs, and just use the cybernetic parts of their brains to agument the abilities of the organic protions. They do have AIs in there to help them control those and others (after all, you need some kind of translator between the organic nervous system and the cybernetic info lines), but essentially they're still the people they've always been, so that's how they behave.
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
You'll just gave me a reallygood character concept that I now want to do... The problem, I never thought of it first. >_<
- Lilly
Megajoule : I agree with you, and I'm glad that you think it'll work.
DeviousMe: That definitely makes sense. Keep in mind, though, that the bot in question is basically the pet project of my main character, and I don't want to completely negate the programming that he worked on. I need to find a good balance of the two, otherwise its just a squid in a shell, albeit a shell that is the property of Samuel Dayne Industries.
Fire_Lilly: PBs/WSs have a lot of great possibilities. I ran into a WS who was the fusion of a dying Void and a dying Nictus which was really cool. The costume was almost exactly like a regular Void that I'm sure we've all seen.
Thanks for the replies, folks! I appreciate your input.
Before you ask me "why didn't you post this in the Kheldian powers/archetypes thread?", this thread is more about character concept and how to RP him. Er, it.
I've got some backstory ideas: My main, Terry, is a robotics/tech guru, and the company he works for recently developed a multi-purpose android. Terry has been tinkering with the base shape to improve it and make it "less stupid", especially as he's been taking some workshop classes at Paragon U about AI programming & development. This is what I'm planning to merge with a Kheld to become a PB. I don't know the circumstances of the fusion yet, or the backstory of the Kheld itself.
I don't know more than the basics of the Kheld backstory, and I'd really like to make a PB that is the result of fusion with an artificially intelligent android like I mentioned.
Would I be going completely against the in-game story if I do this? Or does this seem plausible?
Any ideas on how to actually RP the character?
Any other thoughts/reactions?
Thanks for your input, folks!