Syntax Error

“Waking up in a stranger’s bed is never a beginning that bodes well for your story.”

— Syntax Error

“Who am I?” — Spoilers for Hourglass follow.

Syntax Error (Originally Hazel Alice Everglade, FRS, FAAS, FSAS) is a bio-technician and theoretical physicist who pioneered Time Travel. She was responsible for the creation of the Hourglass, the first ever working time travel device that supported human life, and was also responsible for the creation of the Pseudo-Regenerative Recombinant Nanoweapon Model 1 (PR-RN1), also known as the Haze by the inhabitants of Vista.

Personality

When first introduced, Syntax is carefree, cheerful, and extremely high-energy, much to the annoyance of Calligraph. The rest of the Company seem not to mind Syntax's energetic nature, and Standing Eight in particular finds it a refreshing change of tune from the disillusioned, stone-cold serious partners he used to work with.

Despite her sunny exterior, Syntax internalises feelings of confusion as a result of losing her past, and feels like she doesn't quite belong in the world. This is exacerbated by the jumpsuit she wears (which she could not take off) starkly contrasting with the anti-technology nature of Vista, as well as a deep-seated Impostor Syndrome as a result of possessing a savant's intelligence, while at the same time being in a position of having no idea how to utilise it. Syntax's normally cheerful disposition is also occasionally broken by very serious events, such as the death of Lunellum, and the subsequent leave of absence from Calligraph. After the events of the Second Human-Haze conflict, Syntax became quieter and more reserved, in grief and shock over accepting she was at fault for the creation of the Haze, and thus responsible for the trillions of deaths it had caused by proxy.

In the past, Hazel was quiet person, and preferred to focus on the task at hand than to let herself be distracted by other problems. She maintained a persona of immovable apathy, but still tended to respond angrily whenever things went wrong, or under emotional stress.

Syntax's personality throughout Hourglass ultimately depends on player choices. If she embraces her new sense of identity, she remains upbeat and optimistic - if she relapses into her old personality, she becomes cold and unsympathetic, with the polar extreme of this personality resulting in a completely different ending to the game.

History

Pre-Crisis

Syntax was born 26th August 2232 A.D. to parents Emily and Robert Everglade in the Lake Sector of the CAS, given the name Hazel. At the time, there were strict reproductive laws to control overpopulation. Her parents, lacking the proper license to parent a child, she was forced to spend her childhood years in the countryside in a small enclosed community. From the age of 4 she displayed an interest in technology, and would start using computer technology as soon as she could read. She credited this to the freedom afforded to her by living off the grid, allowed to progress on her own outside of Earth’s heavily regimented schools by toying with scrap technology. This, along with efforts by her parents to help her develop her skills, lead Her gifts did not endear her to her much more impoverished peers, causing her to develop an antisocial personality. As her parents were low caste citizens, this also meant they had limited contact to her, causing her to grow up a lonely child.

Despite this, she had a close relationship to her parents, who had always fostered opportunities for her to commit to her developing interest in the sciences. For her eighth birthday, her parents took her to see the World’s Fair, which was luckily within her home Sector. Expo 2240 in particular had many parades of cutting-edge spaceships, and prototypical matter-transformative technology. Hazel had always read about and admired historical scientists and breakthroughs, but she had now been convinced of the potential of science as a way for her to shape the world and that mankind’s future was in space. Knowing this, her parents had made a considerable effort to get Hazel to work on another world away from the

impoverished warring states of Earth. At age fourteen she was approved to both study and work at Apollo University in the Luna’s capital of Armstrong City, paid by a Lunar initiative to help impoverished students from Earth. While her parent’s economic class didn’t allow for consistent contact, they continued to communicate regularly up until Hazel turned 26.

Having already gained a PhD equivalent in Software Engineering, she started studying three more degrees; two in Engineering, and one in Theoretical Physics. She had also worked as a lecturer and laboratory assistant, though she had issues in both. Understandably, she was not owed much respect by her peers due to her inexperience, age, and upbringing. This had hardened her personality significantly, and she became ruthless as an instructor as she grew older. Despite her difficulties, she proved to take to these lines of work well, and had met a good friend in Shimon Ishikawa. He was similarly intelligent, but was three years her senior, and was still working towards his first degree in mechanical engineering. Nonetheless, he managed to relate with Hazel, sharing ideas and theories that were shunned as naive by other students. The two reached a profound understanding of each other, going on to collaborate on many projects.

In the three years that had passed, Hazel had already submitted hundreds of patents on computer, energy, and industrial technology, many of which saw widespread use. Her work also saw many peer-reviewed studies come to light, and added significant understanding to the nature of physics, seeing her theories being discussed in some schools. In particular, she and Shimon had begun to set groundwork for a comprehensive scientific understanding on time and space, at one point being lauded for proving that their theoretical time travel was possible.

At some point, Shimon revealed to her that he had been a member of a secret organization going by the name of MICHAEL, devoted to controlling anomalous phenomena in space. While this would swear her to secrecy and frequent isolation from the greater activity of the Sol System, she saw this as an opportunity to change humanity’s fate from behind the scenes. Without regret for leaving behind the academics she had increasingly began seeing as her lesser, she dedicated her life to studying these anomalies. Hazel would eventually become one of the assistant directors of MICHAEL.

After witnessing Keine's induction into MICHAEL as a result of her meta-human status, and herself being banned and restricted from similar avenues of study, Hazel takes this as an act of hypocrisy by the Initiative, and resigns as the assistant director, finding employment with its less-scrupulous adversary, Silhouette Technologies.

During the Hourglass Incident

With funding given from Silhouette Technologies, which had taken renewed interest in her work and research, Hazel began to work on additional large-scale projects, notably the PR-RN1. In particular, Sil-Tec hired her to lead genetic engineering on Project Echo, which she took on with indifference. Her real goal was to use the incredible amount of funding the project provided to develop her own project, the Hourglass.

With the Haze having spread to the orbital station that Hazel was stationed on, her only means of escape after the facility was rapidly overtaken was the unfinished Hourglass. While inserting herself into the machine, a Hulk breaks into the chamber atrium skylight, forcing Hazel to accelerate the process with a damaged visor. This leads to the Hourglass Incident, throwing Hazel forwards by billions, even theoretically an infinite amount of time into the future. Keine detects this massive rift in spacetime, and with slight hesitation, manually redirects Hazel so that she will instead land on the Echo station, only a few thousand years in the future.

In Hourglass

Hazel awakens inside her PDPM inside the Eversail Library, suffering from the effects of retrograde amnesia. She concludes her name must be "Syntax Error" after perusing through multiple documents on a nearby desk referring to an unknown blue-clad woman who fell from the sky under the same name.

After leaving the library and exploring the streets of Eversail, she is confronted, and then chased, by members of the Royal Guard after her absence from the Library is discovered. The chase results in substantial damage to a small number of buildings, and to the Library itself, and continues onto the rooftop of the Eversail Library where Syntax is trapped between the edge of the roof and a wall of soldiers. She can either choose to give herself up, or jump backwards off the roof, using one of the guards as a cushion. Either action results in her being captured, where she is introduced to Calligraph, the man who discovered her inside the ruined Hourglass.

Calligraph informs Syntax that she is being treated as a "foreign object" as a result of her strange apparel, supernatural strength and speed, and the alien object she arrived on the planet inside, as well as the combined efforts of the Libraries across the country finding no reference to her existence. She was scheduled for vivisection, something that Calligraph strongly opposed, judging Syntax's obvious human nature. Here, she is offered an ultimatum by Calligraph: shelter (as Calligraph puts it, "it's not like you have anywhere to stay") and protection from less scrupulous members of the Librarians who want her dissected, in exchange for running tasks as compensation to the damage she has caused to the Library and surrounding buildings as a direct result of her chase throughout Eversail. With little room to bargain, and finding a grain of truth in finding that she really doesn't have anywhere else to go, Syntax agrees to Calligraph's deal.

Rest of story follows here...

Relationships

V3 cropped — Hazel in a mechanised suit.

Family

Hazel had a good relationship with her parents Emily and Robert, though during the later portion of her life she slowly dropped out of contact with them.

Friends

Shimon Ishikawa: Hazel had the best relationship with her friend Shimon, who acted as a foil to her personality. She would lash out at Shimon whenever she became annoyed or irritated, but would always apologise afterwards, which Shimon did not seem to mind much.

Calligraph: After becoming Syntax, she was taken in by Calligraph, who became one of her closest friends. Syntax frequently irritates Calligraph on purpose to elicit a response from him, and is the first to suggest simply taking over and re-purposing the rooms in Calligraph's house for the Company to use, seemingly just to prompt an outraged response. Despite her taunting interactions with him, Syntax is genuinely devastated when the Company is forced to slay Calligraph's mother, which causes Calligraph to leave the group. After the events of Hourglass, Syntax moves in with Calligraph, and Calligraph states that "for the first time, I don't seem to mind that much."
Standing Eight: While initially not finding much in terms of similarities to bond over, Eight and Syntax find a shared interest in craftsmanship, and they tend to bounce ideas off of each other. Syntax is also responsible for upgrading Eight's smith, and also gets him to test experimental technology, of which Eight is happy to do. Eight sees Syntax as an interesting, but welcome change to the brigands and criminals he is usually doing business with. They form a strong friendship in the hardships leading up to, and during, the Second Human-Haze Conflict.
Lullaby: Lullaby swears loyalty towards Syntax and her companions after assisting her in deposing Theophilus. While Lullaby admittedly does not understand Syntax and her carefree nature, she does admit that she finds it amusing, and will occasionally join in on Syntax's antics while maintaining a serious demeanour, as if to imply she had nothing to do with it. Like Eight, they form a strong friendship in the hardships leading up to, and during, the Second Human-Haze Conflict.
Ver Million: Syntax and Ver immediately bond through their enthusiasm towards chemistry and science, practises that are both generally shunned throughout Vista. Ver is eager to join the party after they assist her, and is able to find an intellectual haven amongst her new companions. Like Eight and Lullaby, they form a strong friendship in the hardships leading up to, and during, the Second Human-Haze Conflict.
Wolfram: Syntax's personal computer, Wolfram, is "inseparable" from her. Despite Wolfram not being very responsive in terms of conversation, Syntax will often converse with her digital partner in one-sided discussions. Wolfram will also often berate Syntax for being reckless.
Keine: Syntax is initially cautious, then curious, around Keine, referring to her as a "strange woman", and frequently questioning her motives and often incredibly inappropriate places that she tends to appear. Keine immediately recognises her as Hazel, and yet also recognises that as an amnesiac, she could possibly break off her previous path and become something new, and thus readily accommodates her journey throughout Vista.
Kumori: Placeholder.

Enemies

Archie: Archie immediately antagonises Syntax, referring to her as a "foreign object", and heavily opposing her actions and objectives throughout the game. He frequently takes measures to directly counteract Syntax and the Company's progress, and ultimately confronts the group personally, resulting in his defeat.
Greenwich: Syntax calls Greenwich "creepy", and aids Calligraph in his defeat. She frequently makes passes at him in reference to his sinister way of speech, his dress, and his tendency to appear out of nowhere to antagonise the Company.
The Haze: The Haze is Syntax's invention, and one that causes her immense guilt after the canonical events of Hourglass. She is eager to destroy it, and personally takes responsibility for the trillions of deaths it has caused. Alternatively, in the ending where Syntax relapses into her old personality, Syntax absorbs the Haze with the help of her Ego Advent, becoming the second meta-human.
Keine: In her past as Hazel, Keine was the reason she left MICHAEL, and viewed her as something of a nemesis. In the non-canonical end of Hourglass, Keine confronts Hazel's destructive and selfish behaviour, intending to stop Hazel before she can fully absorb the Haze and become a meta-human. She is defeated and "locked out" of the universe.
Theophilus: Theo attempts to sway all of the members of the Company, to no avail, due to the individual members of the group having no particular interest in what Theo preaches, as well as additionally having their loyalties invested in each other. Syntax in particular takes personal offense towards Theo's attempts to call her behaviour and inventions "heretical", and gloats over their defeat of him.
Asubu: Placeholder.
Kaisha: Placeholder.

Skills and Abilities

Arsenal

Despite Syntax dropping to the surface of Vista with nothing but the PDPM Jumpsuit, she manages to engineer an impressive arsenal of technology and weaponry to aid her in her journey. Some notable items Syntax invents or uses are:

Personal Damage Preventative Measure-1: an advanced protective suit capable of acting as power armour, as well as having the ability to store energy inside itself. It is made of an almost indestructible material dubbed "Syndex", and the suit itself is so secure that not even Syntax herself is able to take it off for the better duration of the story.
Ion Gun: The ion gun was intended for use in spot-welding and cutting, but is used by Syntax as a weapon during her activities on Vista. It is upgraded multiple times, adding to its effective range, energy consumption, power output, and hardware, resulting in it becoming a miniaturised ion torpedo cannon by the time it is fully upgraded.
Hyperdash Module: a module for Syntax's suit that allows her to dash, moving her quickly across terrain and climb obstacles. Subsequent upgrades to it allow Syntax to dash even further, and multiple times consecutively, allowing her to move with supernatural speed.
WOLFRAM: a small portable Operator that Syntax carries with her, originally part of the Hourglass. Wolfram independently feeds information to Syntax through a neural network, and is also able to bypass electronics, as well as keep a physical backup of all information Syntax picks up.

Bio-Augmentation

Syntax, then Hazel, was substantially less augmented than most Serulans. She still possessed a 'headjack', a neural interface that allowed her to telepathically and wirelessly communicate with other interfaces (including linked Operators.) She lacked a 'spinejack', a Augmentation interface that enhanced physical capabilities. This owes to the fact that most low-caste Terrans were born without any interfaces, while those who attained one would only attain a crude one. As such, Hazel's headjack was not modular and required much reworking to be on par with her contemporary scientists, a major point of contention for her.

Ego

Syntax develops her ego, Advent, aboard Hazel's space station after utilising the Hourglass for the second time. Advent is range independent, and when used, disrupts the normal course of spacetime in order to effectively "force" an action that Syntax attempts to always succeed, no matter what - ignoring universal rules such as thermodynamics, or even Shimon's Net.

Trivia

Syntax went through multiple name changes: originally being called Coffee Pot, then being called Solstice, before finally settling on Syntax Error.
Syntax's PDPM jumpsuit is based on the character Nitori Kawashiro from the Touhou Project; both its appearance and its colouration reflect this.
Hazel represents two of the 13 aspects of the Architect. While Hazel represents Seresia, the Vistan patron of knowledge, potential, and power, Syntax represents Vodein; the patron of decisions, events, and change.