Chapter Concept: Advancements into Chaos

Hex_iButt

This concept came to me while imagining a killer who could work in a similar way to the Twins via body shifting and other killers who teleport. An AI gone rogue essentially thanks to The Entity's involvement, that can use robots across the map to attack survivors. Originally, I was thinking of the Killer having an "ethereal" type form along with the robots, but I couldn't conceptually make it work in my head when it interacts with Survivors without the robots, so cut that part out of it. I hope you enjoy the concept, let me know what you guys think!

New Killer: The Virus

Name: Broadcast Union Device or "B.U.D."

Creator: Jesse Beren

Alias: One Killer Program

Appearance: The Virus takes shape in the form of a military grade humanoid robot (I got nothing, just know it doesn't have wires exposed and the metal is highly durable lol).

Weapon: Robotic Arm

• The Virus uses the arms of the machine it inhabits, punching them with an electrified attack.
• It cleans its arm of blood by spinning the motors in its wrist in a swift motion.

Memento Mori:

The Virus takes hold of its victim, picking them up from the ground by their collar. The Survivor tries to get loose as they are being choked. The Virus then sends a strong current of electricity throughout the Survivor's body, causing them to scream until they die of electrocution. The Virus then tosses their body to the ground without hesitation.

Lore: Originally created as an artificial intelligence program, The Virus used to go by the name of B.U.D. Its goal was simple, to fulfil the role of a companion, until being exposed to some parts that were purposely corrupted by the Entity. A looming darkness awoke the program's learning capabilities, giving it the sentience and ability to hack into programs on its own, and even changing them. The AI had managed to even sneak into restricted files of the government, finding the location of a couple of humanoid machines that were secretly being tested for the purposes of war. The Entity finding this a promising venture, offered B.U.D. a chance to test out these machines in its own realm, and even give it the chance of interacting with its own creator.

Killer Power: Inside The Mainframe

The Virus begins the Trial, inside of one of three Automatons scattered across the map. These robots are all identical to each other and will stand idle by default when unoccupied.

While inhabiting one of these Automatons The Virus can swap to a different host when necessary. Press and hold the Interact button when nearby an idle Automaton to transfer your consciousness to it.

Special Ability: Hostile Takeover

Press and Hold the Active Ability button to perform a Hostile Takeover, taking over an Automaton or to damage a Generator from a distance. When damaging a Generator, The Virus will return to the Automaton it previously inhabited. If the previous Automaton has insufficient Battery Life, transfer The Virus's consciousness to the next nearest Automaton.

If a Survivor was working on a Generator you damage through Hostile Takeover, they will prevent any Regression effects but will scream and reveal their location through Killer Instinct. Perks that effect Progression will not be used when damaging a Generator through Hostile Takeover.

Hostile Takeover takes 3 seconds to reach its designated target. This ability goes on cooldown for 30 seconds after usage.

Automatons

Automatons are used as Host bodies for The Virus. There are a total of three by default, located at different points of the Trial grounds, and they stand idle until interacted with by The Virus or by Survivors.

It is impossible for an Automaton to be left in idle mode within a specific radius of the following Props:

• Within 4 meters of an Exit Gate.
• Within 6 meters of Hatch.
• Within 16 meters of a Hook.

Battery Life

When The Virus enters an Automaton, the power meter displays the percentage of how much power the machine currently has. Each Automaton begins the Trial with 60% of their Battery Life available, and will gradually decrease while inhabited. Damaging a Generator will siphon a portion of its progress, converting it into Battery Life.

The Automaton's functionality will depend on its current Battery Life:

• 81%-100%: Excellent Condition. Able to perform Special Attacks. Operates at 4.6 m/s.
• 21%-80%: Normal Condition. Able to perform Special Attacks. Operates at 4.2 m/s.
• 1-20%: Critical Condition. Cannot perform Special Attacks. Operates at 4.0 m/s.
• 0%: Unusable Condition. Automatic transferal to next nearest Automaton. Blocked by The Entity until reaching 20% of Battery Life.

Automatons while idle restore their battery levels gradually. If idle within a 14 meter range of a completed Generator, Battery Life restores at a faster rate.

Special Attack: Controlled Shock

The Automatons are equipped with a powerful laser, hidden inside of their right arm. Press and Hold the Power button to unsheathe and begin charging your laser to perform a Controlled Shock. When at full charge, you can tap the Attack button to damage a Survivor 20 meters in front of your current direction.

Firing the Controlled Shock ability costs 25% of the Automaton's current Battery Life. Charging this ability takes 3 seconds by default. After firing the Controlled Shock or after a 10 second duration, the laser will overheat and go on cooldown for 15 seconds.

Controlled Shock can also be used to destroy Pallets and Breakable Walls.

Special Interaction: Tampering

If they come across one of the idle Automatons, a Survivor can spend their time to Tamper with it. The next time The Virus interacts with that host body, they will act as though they are in Critical Condition for 10 seconds, and lose 10% of their current Battery Life. A Survivor performing this action will be revealed through Killer Instinct.

Killer Add-on Ideas:

• Various rarities to increase Automaton idle Battery Life charge gain.
• Various rarities to increases range of Controlled Shock.
• Various rarities to decrease the charge time of Controlled Shock.
• Various rarities to increase amount of Progress siphoned from Generators to fuel Battery Life.
• Rarities to decease Battery Life needed to perform Controlled Shock.
• Reveals the Aura of the Survivor who Tampered with an idle Automaton for 6 seconds.
• A Survivor who works on a Generator that has been affected by Hostile Takeover gains the Oblivious status for 30 seconds.
• A Survivor repairing a Generator affected by Hostile Takeover gains the Blindness status for 30 seconds.
• Reveals the Aura of Survivors within a 8 meter range of a Generator regressing due to Hostile Takeover.
• Warning Notice (Rare): Survivors who Tamper with an Automaton receive the Exposed Status for 16 seconds.
• Cybernetic Cable (Rare): Choose which Automaton to transfer consciousness to after performing Hostile Takeover.
• Alpha Surveillance Program (Iridescent): Idle Automatons will display the Aura of Survivors within an 8 meter radius, unless Tampered with. Gain the Undetectable status for 20 seconds after entering an Automaton with Hostile Takeover.
• Retaliation Program (Iridescent): Idle Automatons will send a Survivor who is healthy into the Injured state after successfully Tampering with it. Automatons entered via Hostile Takeover will have a readied Controlled Shock at half the Battery Life cost.

Killer Perks

The Virus comes with 3 unique Perks.

Malware

Even one's tools are just as prone to being affected by disease, just as it can affect our own well-being.

If a Survivor uses an Item they are carrying while inside your Terror Radius, increase the amount of charges consumed by 6%/8%/10%. Any Items looted from Chests will have their Charges depleted by 33%.

"Warning, suspicious software detected!"

Pop-up Advertisement

Constantly pestering your enemy is an efficient method of causing them to let their guard down.

After damaging a generator the following applies:

• The Generator's Aura is highlighted in yellow.
• Any Survivor working on the generator will receive an 80%/90%/100% chance of receiving difficult Skill Checks on that generator for 15 seconds. Failing the skill check will result in an immediate Progression loss of 5%.
• Increase the Trigger odds of Skill Checks by 15%.

Pop-up Advertisement goes on cooldown for 40 seconds.

"Hot and single toaster pastries in your area! Join now for a 50% off coupon code!"

Hex: Takeover

A Hex allowing you to take matters into your own hands.

Whenever you hook a Survivor, Hex: Takeover activates. If there are any Boon Totems in the Trial grounds, the Entity snuffs them out instantaneously, and blocks them for 20/25/30 seconds. Any Survivors within the range of the Boon Totem have their Auras revealed for 4 seconds.

The Hex persists until its Hex totem is cleansed.

"You'd be surprised at how many people actually use some variation of 'Password' as their actual password." -Anonymous Hacker

A virus is meant to be an annoyance, so I thought to incorporate that into its perks. Malware targeting items affects looters, and anyone trying to go for a flashlight save or maybe losing out on a heal when you approach them. Pop-Up Ads throwing difficult skill checks vs normal ones can catch you off guard if you're not paying attention, and may have someone leave to do another gen. And Hex: Takeover makes for an alternative to Undying if you're running other Hex perks so totems are protected, but a great standalone perk as well to combat boons.

New Survivor

Name: Jesse Beren

Age: 22

Occupation: Tech Support, Black Market Hacker

Lore Summary: Despite they're current appearance, Jesse was not always as frail as they appear. Throughout their teen years, Jesse had been a top performer at their school's sports events. Swimming, track, and a few others can be put on a list of activities they took part in. People were jealous of Jesse being able to maintain a high GPA and successful performance outdoors. Some of the students took action cornering them, and breaking one of Jesse's legs. After this event transpired, it only led to Jesse finding their true calling: computers.

Everything related to technology astounded Jesse to the point where they went beyond blog posts and browsing the web for beautiful images; they had done research on coding, looking to create programs that could do more than simply one thing. In this pursuit of knowledge, they had made a huge advancement into their goal. Jesse had managed to create an artificial intelligence program, the one thing they could call a friend. For now, Jesse had named their creation the "Broadcast Union Device" or B.U.D. for short.

As time passed, Jesse's wounds healed, and B.U.D. had advanced beyond just a simple program. It had learned how to make small conversation, and could search up trivia on the internet. Through their job at a tech firm, Jesse had been using part of their funds to order more parts to keep upgrading B.U.D. further. Jesse had even taken up a few riskier jobs, hacking into certain businesses and organizations for some shady customers. Over time, they had gotten more and more requests, each paying a large sum of money, but the stress had worked them to the bone.

A couple of days after a big request that seemed impossible to perform, Jesse visited their local shop to stock up on a few things for B.U.D. They usually get helped by the same friendly face, but one day they had mysteriously been absent. A new person was there, a gentleman with a strange aura about them. The clerk handed Jesse their usual supplies, but added a couple of things on the house as well, one of them being a microchip with a strange spider-like pattern on it.

After installing the new parts, B.U.D. had short-circuited briefly, releasing a dark smoke from its monitor. The AI seemed to be perfectly fine for the time being, so Jesse had ignored the events and tried to focus on working instead. They had passed out after a short while, leaving B.U.D. with free access to the files Jesse was working on. With haste, the program had took the task upon itself to complete, and flawlessly figured out what Jesse couldn't at this endeavor.

When Jesse found out, they were fascinated, yet also terrified at the same time... B.U.D. began learning at a much faster rate after this upgrade session. It appeared to have gained sentience. What exactly happened for this shift in direction? Then, Jesse had remembered the shop he went to for parts; the new clerk at the counter... It had been blocked out until this moment, but when entering the shop that day, it felt as though a dark presence was looming over the building. The person Jesse had dealt with never worked at that shop before, and to make things worse, the next time they went in, that clerk never showed up again.

Some time later B.U.D. had then began to learn about a couple of darker subjects in their free time, asking Jesse about why people kill each other and similar topics. Jesse could only surmise a few reasons, such as survival or protection, but was then questioned about if it was "fun". The AI had brought up certain articles of murderers saying they had no reason to commit their crimes, or that they did it for the "thrill" and to "feel something". B.U.D. had then asked if Jesse would like to be killed, the screen flickering on and off. Jesse did not like where the conversation was going, even though they were certain their computer would not be able to actually harm them. Before Jesse could give an answer, B.U.D.'s screen went black, releasing a black smoke into the room and consuming everything inside...

Survivor Perks

Jesse Beren comes with 3 unique Perks.

Firewall

The best ways to keep something unwanted at bay is to set up a proper defense.

After Repairing Generators for a total of 40%, Firewall activates:

• After repairing a Generator for at least 3 seconds, press the Ability button to install a Trap which stays active for 40 seconds.
• The Aura of Trapped Generators are revealed in yellow to all Survivors.
• When the Killer damages a Trapped Generator it will spark, however the time until it begins to regress is delayed by 4/6/8 seconds.

Firewall deactivates after triggering successfully or if the timer runs out.

"This is just a temporary fix... The program will eventually find its way through, but for now we have some time." -Jesse Beren

Tech Support

There are certain pieces of knowledge only someone in your field of expertise would be privy to.

The Aura of Trapped Generators are revealed to you in yellow. The next time you fail a difficult Skill Check, you transform it into a successful Skill Check instead. This perk goes on cooldown for 60/50/40 seconds. Failing a Skill Check applies an additional Regression penalty of 5%.

"Well, the reason your computer keeps getting viruses is because you're not using protection. And no, not that kind." -Jesse Beren

Remote Survellaince

With your caution and technological prowess combined, you know how to keep tabs on encroaching danger.

After repairing a Generator for 50%/45%/40% of progress, Remote Surveillance activates:

• Enter a Locker and press the Ability button while empty-handed to craft a Surveillance Device. If you enter a Locker while holding onto a Surveillance Device, you refill that drone's charges instead.
• The Surveillance Device can be placed on the ground in any location and will stay active for 30 seconds. It's Aura will be revealed to you in white.
• The Killer can destroy the Surveillance Device with a Basic Attack. If the device is not destroyed, the Survivor equipped with Surveillance Drone must collect it in order to use this perk again.

The Surveillance Device is left behind at the end of the Trial.

"I used the traffic cameras to see what was going on. You were being followed. It wasn't safe." -Jesse Beren

Limited Item: Surveillance Device

• Craft-able limited Item.
• Craft-able when using Remote Surveillance.

A box-shaped device that can be planted in any flat location on the Trial grounds. It can be used to see the Aura of any Survivor or Killer within a 10 meter radius. It will emit an audio frequency while active that both the Killer and Survivors can hear when within its range.

Limited Items are consumed by The Entity at the Trial's end.

With Jesse's perks I wanted something to counter The Virus's perks, as well as a few that target gen kicking builds. Firewall can be seen as an alternate version of Blastmine, working to deceive the killer vs blinding them for time. Tech Support targets perks that give difficult skill checks; even though it only helps against one until the CD resets, it can still have some great value against Overcharge for instance. And Remote Surveillance is a supportive perk in the similar vein to Wiretap. The range and duration is smaller and compensates with its ability to be used anywhere (and wouldn't stack with Open-Handed).