00. [OOC - application]
User Name/Nick: Call me Cee.
User LJ: corpseknight
AIM/IM: AIM: coronaviridae
E-mail: coronaviridae[at]gmail[dot]com
Other Characters: None here.
Character Name: Rinzler
Series: TRON
Age: Adult. (Physically resembles a man in his mid-twenties; has roughly the same level of social awareness and emotional intelligence as a human that age.)
From When?: The end of TRON: Legacy, right after his suicide attack on CLU and fall into the Sea of Simulation*.
Inmate/Warden: Inmate. Rinzler is not who he was created to be: He has been repurposed from a guardian of the system and advocate of the Users into a voiceless, faceless killing machine. Somewhere, on some level, he knows this isn't right; something in him resists--has always resisted--his role as CLU's hound. All of that meant nothing until Sam Flynn's appearance on the Grid catalyzed widespread upheaval and led to the fruition of CLU's plans--and a slim shot at escape for Rinzler.
Abilities/Powers: Most of the unnatural abilities available to programs on the Grid are a consequence of the unique "technology" there, such as the lightbikes and lightjets. Gravity can be rewritten at a program's convenience (if they have the right overrides) and coding artificial substances with the resilience of steel and transparency of glass is not challenging. Rinzler's exceptional abilities as a security program do not derive from his access to any sort of unusual technology (aside from being able to split his Identity Disc, increasing its capacity as a weapon) but from the fact he's a martial artist and athlete in peak physical condition. He's a champion sprinter, has a gymnast's sense of poise and balance, recovers effortlessly from falls, and tricks rings around unprepared opponents in combat.
His reflexes and powers of observation aren't superhuman--just the best that a human can be, provided they devote their time and energy to training. (Granted, it isn't a matter of "training" in his case--he was programmed that way.) He has an additional advantage in being adapted to the unusual conditions of the Grid: Gravity lapses, lightless conditions, the ceiling (or the walls) suddenly becoming the floor and other unusual quirks of physics are all the norm in gladiatorial combat.
Even confined to a body of flesh and bone in the "real" world, Rinzler would continue to be a formidable opponent. His prowess at hand-to-hand combat, armed or unarmed, is a defining part of what he is; security programs are the warriors of the Grid. There's just the matter of finding new weapons (laser-edged Identity Discs don't translate over quite right) and the fact that his lack of a normal pain response, to wounds self-inflicted or otherwise, may rapidly become fatal in a place where it's not possible to debug and recompile damaged anatomy.
One final benefit of being a program rather than a human is an enhanced understanding of programming languages. While he doesn't speak--maybe four words in a decade is normal--Rinzler understands English like a native speaker of the language, but treats certain variations of machine and assembly code the same way. The same is the case for commands for UNIX-like operating systems; even absent of context, they register to Rinzler as part of a natural language.
Personality: Silent, ubiquitous, ever-vigilant--Rinzler has been CLU's strong right hand since his defeat and reprogramming at the other program's hand. The characteristics that made Tron a hero to his fellow programs--his skills in combat, his quick thinking, his magnanimity, and above all, his loyalty--all remain within Rinzler, though they have been distorted to new ends. Where Tron served, protected, and instructed whoever needed him, Rinzler answers to one master with total devotion. He is not a free being and hasn't been for more than twenty years, his will subsumed into CLU's own.
This doesn't mean he's incapable of forming his own agenda or acting of his own volition. Though disinclined to express himself--his body language gives little away outside of combat, and even with his mask off he rarely displays much on his face--Rinzler demonstrates a strong drive to explore and observe. A part of it derives from his role as a guardian and soldier: The better he observes his environment, the sooner he becomes alert to potential threats. A part of it is simply curiosity, leading him to see all that there is to see about a new place. Tron was an explorer, after all.
The fascination with novelty also extends to games. Rinzler fights hard and plays harder; while the two are practically indistinguishable on the Grid, his fame as a gladiator came about because of his tendency to play with opponents who would otherwise have no chance against him. Even in games where the forfeit isn't the loser's life, he plays, and plays for keeps. Like any program, he picks up the rules for new games the first time they're explained--though mastery typically takes longer.
However, though he resembles a human, and has some traits in common with them--like his curiosity and fascination with games--it would be a mistake to assume that Rinzler's thinking is fundamentally similar to a human's. His Weltanschauung--his set of assumptions about how the world works--is completely different, involving as it does a world that is provably created and populated with (mostly) created beings. The laws of physics can be accessed, altered for better results, and updated as needed. (His previous incarnation was also best friends with God.)
A world where this isn't the case will seem unimaginably terrible--though it isn't something he'll spend long contemplating. Rinzler is a man of action, and will stick to a course once he's decided upon it; too, he substitutes actions for emotional responses and even words, both of which are denied to him by his position as CLU's creature. This absolute commitment to CLU at the cost of the abnegation of his self has other far-reaching consequences, though, like a failure to check himself before committing to self-destructive courses of action. Loyalty is a central tenet of both Rinzler and Tron's existence; without it, they'd be nothing.
Expanded Personality: Rinzler's total silence and custom of going masked can be deceptive. It's easy to mistake a lack of verbal response for lack of engagement, passivity, ignorance, or disinterest; the program is very rarely disinterested in or ignorant of what is going on around him, nor is he often a passive observer. His responses are simply characterized by an economy of action and high degree of patience; he is a very good listener, and people who pride themselves on not giving much away might find themselves inclined to run their mouths in his presence simply because he supplies no cues in conversation.
Silence is something Rinzler values in others. People who know when to shut up without having to be forced are rare creatures, attractive not only because they provide a peaceful environment but also because they've learned the value of withholding information. It keeps them interesting (and worthy of curiosity) longer. He also values boldness; while he is accustomed to simply taking what he likes without resistance, those who stand up to him--who fight, either for what they believe in or simply because it's better than taking things lying down--engender a certain amount of respect.
Opponents who can best him--temporarily, since Rinzler has no concept of being beaten, and will persist until he achieves a goal or overcomes an obstacle--are worth watching, studying. The wise have their place as well, for while Rinzler negotiates his place in the world primarily through force, he is still an adroit tactician. His attraction to novelty plays into this, and someone who can supply him with constant new information might easily gain protected status in CLU's absence; while the familiar is reassuring, he's driven to seek out what is new, to integrate and understand it so he continues to be at the top of his game.
Those who can't or won't stand up to Rinzler run the risk of simply being flattened. It helps, maybe, to think of many of his interactions with others as being like dealing with some great predatory animal--reasoning with it won't work, resisting it gets you killed, and running away just means it plays with you before it eats you. He doesn't behave this way out of malice (most of the time; his willingness to play with unworthy opponents and drag out their deaths is nothing but pure cruelty) so much as the constant drive to know and to make safe.
The meek and the timid, while never below his notice--as said, he doesn't ignore anything, no matter how helpless or insignificant it might seem--are removed from his path, forcibly if they must be, and returned to their "proper place" in the world. Some vague remnant of Tron remains in this: There are those in the world who need to be protected, whether they consent to that protection or not. Rinzler will not attack or kill a totally helpless opponent except on direct orders; perhaps there's no sport in it, perhaps it's beneath him, or perhaps some part of him realizes that he was not created for that purpose originally, no matter what he's been twisted into.
A hint of his own awareness of that fact lingers in his self-regard: He knows his name and new designation and responds to them, but they are not who he is. There is no "I", in fact, in Rinzler's considerations; or whatever "I" there is in his thoughts, it's not this new being he's become. It's a strange method of psychological distancing, one that's evolved out of CLU's countermeasures against his henchman ever realizing what he once was--and fracturing apart.
Path to Redemption: Rinzler's particular strength as well as his vulnerabilities lie in his loyalty: His current unswerving obedience of CLU, and his previous dedication (as Tron) to the Users. The conflict between those two loyalties was brought to a head just before his death, when he chose to sacrifice himself in an attempt to destroy CLU before the other program could kill or capture Quorra and the fleeing Users.
A more technologically savvy Warden might be able to play off Rinzler's nature as a program and attempt actual code-level interventions, though how those would end up manifesting in the setting of the Barge remains to be seen. ("Sudo make me a sandwich" is cheating and wrong, but might work.) Wardens from lower tech levels (or those who don't want to force the issue) can appeal to the crack that opened in Rinzler's emotional armor moments before his death; while he doesn't consciously remember his decision to fight for the Users now, he could be led back to that decision and the emotions and memories it evoked. His being the only program in a world full of Users would seem to make this more easily exploited, but it is the case that Rinzler currently recognizes only a small subset of people as "his" Users. A potential Warden would need to work their way onto that list.
There's also the possibility of direct regression to his identity as Tron, but given the fact he's spent significantly more of his life as Rinzler than as Tron, and Rinzler is completely antithetical to everything Tron is and stands for--and has done things that would be unthinkable to Tron's morality--that option is particularly dangerous. Rinzler chose suicide over any other form of redemption in his last glimpse of clarity; forcing him back into Tron's mindset unprepared might make him repeat that choice.
History: In the beginning, there was ENCOM, a monolithic software giant that employed among its many bright young programmers Alan Bradley and Kevin Flynn. The latter was to fall from the company's good graces--and payroll--when he discovered its CEO stealing his code, something he was to redress with Bradley's help when he snuck back into ENCOM to hack its systems for evidence of wrongdoing. Sometime during the hacking, Flynn found himself digitized by a quantum laser and loose inside the computer system itself, where he enlisted the help of various programs to battle and finally defeat ENCOM's villainous MCP.
Among those programs was Alan Bradley's Tron, a security program originally created to monitor exchanges between ENCOM's CEO and the MCP. Flynn found himself impressed by the program's loyalty and dedication, so much so that several years later, he brought Tron over to a new project to act as its protector.
That project was the Grid. Launched shortly after ENCOM's CEO was fired for misconduct and Flynn stepped up to take over as the head of the company, the Grid provided a testbed for new game ideas and technology, a private playground and laboratory for Flynn. Tron and numerous other imported programs populated the cities of the Grid, participating in non-lethal games and maintaining it in Flynn's absence--but without constant oversight, the Grid threatened to fall apart.
So Flynn duplicated himself in code form to create CLU, who would act in his absence to create the "perfect system". At first, CLU proved the ideal minder of the Grid's resources, bringing stability and order to the system during Flynn's long absences to tend to his family and company.
Then the ISOs began to emerge from the Sea of Simulation.
Self-created programs, the isomorphic algorithms were--to CLU's perception--a dangerous hint of chaos in his perfectly minded system. To Flynn, they were a gorgeous new breed of life, the first *real* citizens of the Grid. Tron accepted them with the same welcome and warmth he extended to all the other programs in the Grid, defending them from any possible dangers that might arise.
Over time, as Flynn was around less and less, and the ISO population grew, this led Tron to notice that the ISOs were attracting more than their fair share of danger in the Grid. He brought his concerns to CLU--but it was, perhaps, already too late by then: CLU dismissed his concerns out of hand, saying that it was the nature of the ISOs themselves that destabilized the Grid and made it more dangerous.
Then simple ambient danger--Gridbug waves, building glitches--became terrorist attacks. Flynn's infrequent visits to the Grid necessitated a honor guard from CLU. Tron uncovered plans that showed CLU's handiwork behind all of it--releasing a virus among the ISOs, poisoning the Sea of Simulation to prevent more being born, bombing their part of the city--but could not act fast enough to prevent the other program's depredations.
And by the time he tried to take his evidence to Flynn, it was too late. CLU and his Black Guard surrounded Kevin Flynn and Tron in an isolated part of the city; Tron made the only viable choice and sacrificed himself to give the Creator time to escape. CLU struck Tron down that day, mortally wounding the security program and sealing the coup to overthrow Flynn's control of the Grid.
CLU had larger plans than simply destroying Tron, though; the other program was too useful. That moment on the streets was the genesis of Rinzler, as CLU took the dying Tron and rewrote him completely, repurposing his strength and loyalty into something that better fit CLU's visions of the future.
Rinzler was to spend the next twenty years as CLU's hound, his secret police, his personal gladiator. He was a favorite in the Disc Wars even as programs lived in mortal terror of his masked silhouette outside the arena. And Flynn, mured away in his cave in the Outlands, knew nothing of what had happened to his old friend. He would assume Tron had died in his defense for all that time, too--until his son, Sam, entered the Grid and drew him back out of hiding.
Even then, there was no reunion between Rinzler/Tron and Kevin Flynn, just an eleventh hour meeting of the eyes while Flynn was trying to escape the program with Quorra and Sam. Something was communicated that was enough to wake Tron from his years of slumber and make him sacrifice his life a second time to protect the Users, so powerful was his devotion.
Sample Journal Entry: [This post is taken up by a meticulously organized table of images of the doors on the level Rinzler has been assigned to. One image is stamped with "/dir/home/" in dull red lettering. The others are unadorned, though enough room is left around them for someone to edit text in later. The following is written below the set of images:]
$who
[An edit, substantially later, adds another line of text:]
Where is CLU?
Sample Journal Entry #2:
[ private to the "System" (Admiral) and Rinzler's Warden ]
$rectify object:Identity.Discs(Rinzler)
[Several pages of dense Grid code follow, specifying exactly how Identity Discs should behave based on Grid physics--straight flight when thrown, elastic collision with most surfaces, leashing back to the owner's hand after a set distance. It also contains instructions on reproduction of their weapon functions, because it's obviously just a glitch those didn't transfer over correctly, right?]
[ public ]
property list (1/-VAL)
[A single small image of each named object has been inserted next to its place in this annotated collection.]
ceramic disc- high density. does not rebound. derezzes on impact. /* shrapnel useful? */
paper "Chinet" disc- dropped from consideration.
"coins"- too small. dropped from consideration.
[A picture of a tea pot, unlabeled.]- did not attempt. normal function indiscernible.
Sample RP: Weapons were a particular concern.
The rules governing the Barge system were radically different from the Grid's. Rinzler had submitted requests--each escalating in priority over the last--to the local network for cross-compiler specifications and any documentation on the physical constraints the Barge operated under. That he'd had to do so from the hand-held device assigned him when he'd come on-board, like a search program or common minder, was concerning. The lack of response was more so.
He suspected the documentation didn't even exist.
The Users' world was treacherous, chaotic, and badly designed. CLU had warned them to expect as much; that warning drove him to hunt for weapons. His Identity Discs were badly defined under the local physics; they'd lost their heft and razor edge, and they didn't leash when thrown. The entire subroutine for leashing was gone.
A stack of appropriated objects lay at Rinzler's feet as he considered the far end of the hallway. None of them seemed particularly useful, but in the absence of a proper description of the code underlying this new system, he would need to experiment. He picked a disc out of the pile; white, too heavy, with a glossy finish and some variety of cosmetic decoration. It rang when tapped.
He threw it full force at the far wall and watched it derezz on impact. A disappointing trait, though the resulting shrapnel would be useful.
He picked up the next item and began compiling a list of his findings.
Special Notes: *On the timing: While I'd prefer to apply for him right at the end of TRON: Legacy as stated, if that's just not going to work because of the dying-as-himself/redemptive aspect of the final events, I can come up with an earlier time-point to pull him from (since my intent is to play the character as Rinzler, not kind-of-mostly-back-to-being-Tron-zler). My take on his fall into the Sea of Simulation is that while he made the first step back on the path to redemption, actually shaking off all of what's been done to him and getting rid of CLU's programming will take much longer. If I'm allowed to have a little artistic faffery with the exact timing, what I am thinking of is that he's snatched at the moment he hits the water before the ~*magic color-change action*~ and gets to sort his shit out on the Barge, then back he goes to die as himself. Granted, canonically, he's already made his BIG DECISION by then, but let's say hitting the water knocks him the hell out (which it clearly does), oops, programming reverted, and now he actually goes through the long process of "this is how we stop acting like a horrific abomination against decency" instead of "magic suicide button fixes morality!". There's a chink in his armor for a potential Warden to work on but he isn't Tronzler by a long shot.
User LJ: corpseknight
AIM/IM: AIM: coronaviridae
E-mail: coronaviridae[at]gmail[dot]com
Other Characters: None here.
Character Name: Rinzler
Series: TRON
Age: Adult. (Physically resembles a man in his mid-twenties; has roughly the same level of social awareness and emotional intelligence as a human that age.)
From When?: The end of TRON: Legacy, right after his suicide attack on CLU and fall into the Sea of Simulation*.
Inmate/Warden: Inmate. Rinzler is not who he was created to be: He has been repurposed from a guardian of the system and advocate of the Users into a voiceless, faceless killing machine. Somewhere, on some level, he knows this isn't right; something in him resists--has always resisted--his role as CLU's hound. All of that meant nothing until Sam Flynn's appearance on the Grid catalyzed widespread upheaval and led to the fruition of CLU's plans--and a slim shot at escape for Rinzler.
Abilities/Powers: Most of the unnatural abilities available to programs on the Grid are a consequence of the unique "technology" there, such as the lightbikes and lightjets. Gravity can be rewritten at a program's convenience (if they have the right overrides) and coding artificial substances with the resilience of steel and transparency of glass is not challenging. Rinzler's exceptional abilities as a security program do not derive from his access to any sort of unusual technology (aside from being able to split his Identity Disc, increasing its capacity as a weapon) but from the fact he's a martial artist and athlete in peak physical condition. He's a champion sprinter, has a gymnast's sense of poise and balance, recovers effortlessly from falls, and tricks rings around unprepared opponents in combat.
His reflexes and powers of observation aren't superhuman--just the best that a human can be, provided they devote their time and energy to training. (Granted, it isn't a matter of "training" in his case--he was programmed that way.) He has an additional advantage in being adapted to the unusual conditions of the Grid: Gravity lapses, lightless conditions, the ceiling (or the walls) suddenly becoming the floor and other unusual quirks of physics are all the norm in gladiatorial combat.
Even confined to a body of flesh and bone in the "real" world, Rinzler would continue to be a formidable opponent. His prowess at hand-to-hand combat, armed or unarmed, is a defining part of what he is; security programs are the warriors of the Grid. There's just the matter of finding new weapons (laser-edged Identity Discs don't translate over quite right) and the fact that his lack of a normal pain response, to wounds self-inflicted or otherwise, may rapidly become fatal in a place where it's not possible to debug and recompile damaged anatomy.
One final benefit of being a program rather than a human is an enhanced understanding of programming languages. While he doesn't speak--maybe four words in a decade is normal--Rinzler understands English like a native speaker of the language, but treats certain variations of machine and assembly code the same way. The same is the case for commands for UNIX-like operating systems; even absent of context, they register to Rinzler as part of a natural language.
Personality: Silent, ubiquitous, ever-vigilant--Rinzler has been CLU's strong right hand since his defeat and reprogramming at the other program's hand. The characteristics that made Tron a hero to his fellow programs--his skills in combat, his quick thinking, his magnanimity, and above all, his loyalty--all remain within Rinzler, though they have been distorted to new ends. Where Tron served, protected, and instructed whoever needed him, Rinzler answers to one master with total devotion. He is not a free being and hasn't been for more than twenty years, his will subsumed into CLU's own.
This doesn't mean he's incapable of forming his own agenda or acting of his own volition. Though disinclined to express himself--his body language gives little away outside of combat, and even with his mask off he rarely displays much on his face--Rinzler demonstrates a strong drive to explore and observe. A part of it derives from his role as a guardian and soldier: The better he observes his environment, the sooner he becomes alert to potential threats. A part of it is simply curiosity, leading him to see all that there is to see about a new place. Tron was an explorer, after all.
The fascination with novelty also extends to games. Rinzler fights hard and plays harder; while the two are practically indistinguishable on the Grid, his fame as a gladiator came about because of his tendency to play with opponents who would otherwise have no chance against him. Even in games where the forfeit isn't the loser's life, he plays, and plays for keeps. Like any program, he picks up the rules for new games the first time they're explained--though mastery typically takes longer.
However, though he resembles a human, and has some traits in common with them--like his curiosity and fascination with games--it would be a mistake to assume that Rinzler's thinking is fundamentally similar to a human's. His Weltanschauung--his set of assumptions about how the world works--is completely different, involving as it does a world that is provably created and populated with (mostly) created beings. The laws of physics can be accessed, altered for better results, and updated as needed. (His previous incarnation was also best friends with God.)
A world where this isn't the case will seem unimaginably terrible--though it isn't something he'll spend long contemplating. Rinzler is a man of action, and will stick to a course once he's decided upon it; too, he substitutes actions for emotional responses and even words, both of which are denied to him by his position as CLU's creature. This absolute commitment to CLU at the cost of the abnegation of his self has other far-reaching consequences, though, like a failure to check himself before committing to self-destructive courses of action. Loyalty is a central tenet of both Rinzler and Tron's existence; without it, they'd be nothing.
Expanded Personality: Rinzler's total silence and custom of going masked can be deceptive. It's easy to mistake a lack of verbal response for lack of engagement, passivity, ignorance, or disinterest; the program is very rarely disinterested in or ignorant of what is going on around him, nor is he often a passive observer. His responses are simply characterized by an economy of action and high degree of patience; he is a very good listener, and people who pride themselves on not giving much away might find themselves inclined to run their mouths in his presence simply because he supplies no cues in conversation.
Silence is something Rinzler values in others. People who know when to shut up without having to be forced are rare creatures, attractive not only because they provide a peaceful environment but also because they've learned the value of withholding information. It keeps them interesting (and worthy of curiosity) longer. He also values boldness; while he is accustomed to simply taking what he likes without resistance, those who stand up to him--who fight, either for what they believe in or simply because it's better than taking things lying down--engender a certain amount of respect.
Opponents who can best him--temporarily, since Rinzler has no concept of being beaten, and will persist until he achieves a goal or overcomes an obstacle--are worth watching, studying. The wise have their place as well, for while Rinzler negotiates his place in the world primarily through force, he is still an adroit tactician. His attraction to novelty plays into this, and someone who can supply him with constant new information might easily gain protected status in CLU's absence; while the familiar is reassuring, he's driven to seek out what is new, to integrate and understand it so he continues to be at the top of his game.
Those who can't or won't stand up to Rinzler run the risk of simply being flattened. It helps, maybe, to think of many of his interactions with others as being like dealing with some great predatory animal--reasoning with it won't work, resisting it gets you killed, and running away just means it plays with you before it eats you. He doesn't behave this way out of malice (most of the time; his willingness to play with unworthy opponents and drag out their deaths is nothing but pure cruelty) so much as the constant drive to know and to make safe.
The meek and the timid, while never below his notice--as said, he doesn't ignore anything, no matter how helpless or insignificant it might seem--are removed from his path, forcibly if they must be, and returned to their "proper place" in the world. Some vague remnant of Tron remains in this: There are those in the world who need to be protected, whether they consent to that protection or not. Rinzler will not attack or kill a totally helpless opponent except on direct orders; perhaps there's no sport in it, perhaps it's beneath him, or perhaps some part of him realizes that he was not created for that purpose originally, no matter what he's been twisted into.
A hint of his own awareness of that fact lingers in his self-regard: He knows his name and new designation and responds to them, but they are not who he is. There is no "I", in fact, in Rinzler's considerations; or whatever "I" there is in his thoughts, it's not this new being he's become. It's a strange method of psychological distancing, one that's evolved out of CLU's countermeasures against his henchman ever realizing what he once was--and fracturing apart.
Path to Redemption: Rinzler's particular strength as well as his vulnerabilities lie in his loyalty: His current unswerving obedience of CLU, and his previous dedication (as Tron) to the Users. The conflict between those two loyalties was brought to a head just before his death, when he chose to sacrifice himself in an attempt to destroy CLU before the other program could kill or capture Quorra and the fleeing Users.
A more technologically savvy Warden might be able to play off Rinzler's nature as a program and attempt actual code-level interventions, though how those would end up manifesting in the setting of the Barge remains to be seen. ("Sudo make me a sandwich" is cheating and wrong, but might work.) Wardens from lower tech levels (or those who don't want to force the issue) can appeal to the crack that opened in Rinzler's emotional armor moments before his death; while he doesn't consciously remember his decision to fight for the Users now, he could be led back to that decision and the emotions and memories it evoked. His being the only program in a world full of Users would seem to make this more easily exploited, but it is the case that Rinzler currently recognizes only a small subset of people as "his" Users. A potential Warden would need to work their way onto that list.
There's also the possibility of direct regression to his identity as Tron, but given the fact he's spent significantly more of his life as Rinzler than as Tron, and Rinzler is completely antithetical to everything Tron is and stands for--and has done things that would be unthinkable to Tron's morality--that option is particularly dangerous. Rinzler chose suicide over any other form of redemption in his last glimpse of clarity; forcing him back into Tron's mindset unprepared might make him repeat that choice.
History: In the beginning, there was ENCOM, a monolithic software giant that employed among its many bright young programmers Alan Bradley and Kevin Flynn. The latter was to fall from the company's good graces--and payroll--when he discovered its CEO stealing his code, something he was to redress with Bradley's help when he snuck back into ENCOM to hack its systems for evidence of wrongdoing. Sometime during the hacking, Flynn found himself digitized by a quantum laser and loose inside the computer system itself, where he enlisted the help of various programs to battle and finally defeat ENCOM's villainous MCP.
Among those programs was Alan Bradley's Tron, a security program originally created to monitor exchanges between ENCOM's CEO and the MCP. Flynn found himself impressed by the program's loyalty and dedication, so much so that several years later, he brought Tron over to a new project to act as its protector.
That project was the Grid. Launched shortly after ENCOM's CEO was fired for misconduct and Flynn stepped up to take over as the head of the company, the Grid provided a testbed for new game ideas and technology, a private playground and laboratory for Flynn. Tron and numerous other imported programs populated the cities of the Grid, participating in non-lethal games and maintaining it in Flynn's absence--but without constant oversight, the Grid threatened to fall apart.
So Flynn duplicated himself in code form to create CLU, who would act in his absence to create the "perfect system". At first, CLU proved the ideal minder of the Grid's resources, bringing stability and order to the system during Flynn's long absences to tend to his family and company.
Then the ISOs began to emerge from the Sea of Simulation.
Self-created programs, the isomorphic algorithms were--to CLU's perception--a dangerous hint of chaos in his perfectly minded system. To Flynn, they were a gorgeous new breed of life, the first *real* citizens of the Grid. Tron accepted them with the same welcome and warmth he extended to all the other programs in the Grid, defending them from any possible dangers that might arise.
Over time, as Flynn was around less and less, and the ISO population grew, this led Tron to notice that the ISOs were attracting more than their fair share of danger in the Grid. He brought his concerns to CLU--but it was, perhaps, already too late by then: CLU dismissed his concerns out of hand, saying that it was the nature of the ISOs themselves that destabilized the Grid and made it more dangerous.
Then simple ambient danger--Gridbug waves, building glitches--became terrorist attacks. Flynn's infrequent visits to the Grid necessitated a honor guard from CLU. Tron uncovered plans that showed CLU's handiwork behind all of it--releasing a virus among the ISOs, poisoning the Sea of Simulation to prevent more being born, bombing their part of the city--but could not act fast enough to prevent the other program's depredations.
And by the time he tried to take his evidence to Flynn, it was too late. CLU and his Black Guard surrounded Kevin Flynn and Tron in an isolated part of the city; Tron made the only viable choice and sacrificed himself to give the Creator time to escape. CLU struck Tron down that day, mortally wounding the security program and sealing the coup to overthrow Flynn's control of the Grid.
CLU had larger plans than simply destroying Tron, though; the other program was too useful. That moment on the streets was the genesis of Rinzler, as CLU took the dying Tron and rewrote him completely, repurposing his strength and loyalty into something that better fit CLU's visions of the future.
Rinzler was to spend the next twenty years as CLU's hound, his secret police, his personal gladiator. He was a favorite in the Disc Wars even as programs lived in mortal terror of his masked silhouette outside the arena. And Flynn, mured away in his cave in the Outlands, knew nothing of what had happened to his old friend. He would assume Tron had died in his defense for all that time, too--until his son, Sam, entered the Grid and drew him back out of hiding.
Even then, there was no reunion between Rinzler/Tron and Kevin Flynn, just an eleventh hour meeting of the eyes while Flynn was trying to escape the program with Quorra and Sam. Something was communicated that was enough to wake Tron from his years of slumber and make him sacrifice his life a second time to protect the Users, so powerful was his devotion.
Sample Journal Entry: [This post is taken up by a meticulously organized table of images of the doors on the level Rinzler has been assigned to. One image is stamped with "/dir/home/" in dull red lettering. The others are unadorned, though enough room is left around them for someone to edit text in later. The following is written below the set of images:]
$who
[An edit, substantially later, adds another line of text:]
Where is CLU?
Sample Journal Entry #2:
[ private to the "System" (Admiral) and Rinzler's Warden ]
$rectify object:Identity.Discs(Rinzler)
[Several pages of dense Grid code follow, specifying exactly how Identity Discs should behave based on Grid physics--straight flight when thrown, elastic collision with most surfaces, leashing back to the owner's hand after a set distance. It also contains instructions on reproduction of their weapon functions, because it's obviously just a glitch those didn't transfer over correctly, right?]
[ public ]
property list (1/-VAL)
[A single small image of each named object has been inserted next to its place in this annotated collection.]
ceramic disc- high density. does not rebound. derezzes on impact. /* shrapnel useful? */
paper "Chinet" disc- dropped from consideration.
"coins"- too small. dropped from consideration.
[A picture of a tea pot, unlabeled.]- did not attempt. normal function indiscernible.
Sample RP: Weapons were a particular concern.
The rules governing the Barge system were radically different from the Grid's. Rinzler had submitted requests--each escalating in priority over the last--to the local network for cross-compiler specifications and any documentation on the physical constraints the Barge operated under. That he'd had to do so from the hand-held device assigned him when he'd come on-board, like a search program or common minder, was concerning. The lack of response was more so.
He suspected the documentation didn't even exist.
The Users' world was treacherous, chaotic, and badly designed. CLU had warned them to expect as much; that warning drove him to hunt for weapons. His Identity Discs were badly defined under the local physics; they'd lost their heft and razor edge, and they didn't leash when thrown. The entire subroutine for leashing was gone.
A stack of appropriated objects lay at Rinzler's feet as he considered the far end of the hallway. None of them seemed particularly useful, but in the absence of a proper description of the code underlying this new system, he would need to experiment. He picked a disc out of the pile; white, too heavy, with a glossy finish and some variety of cosmetic decoration. It rang when tapped.
He threw it full force at the far wall and watched it derezz on impact. A disappointing trait, though the resulting shrapnel would be useful.
He picked up the next item and began compiling a list of his findings.
Special Notes: *On the timing: While I'd prefer to apply for him right at the end of TRON: Legacy as stated, if that's just not going to work because of the dying-as-himself/redemptive aspect of the final events, I can come up with an earlier time-point to pull him from (since my intent is to play the character as Rinzler, not kind-of-mostly-back-to-being-Tron-zler). My take on his fall into the Sea of Simulation is that while he made the first step back on the path to redemption, actually shaking off all of what's been done to him and getting rid of CLU's programming will take much longer. If I'm allowed to have a little artistic faffery with the exact timing, what I am thinking of is that he's snatched at the moment he hits the water before the ~*magic color-change action*~ and gets to sort his shit out on the Barge, then back he goes to die as himself. Granted, canonically, he's already made his BIG DECISION by then, but let's say hitting the water knocks him the hell out (which it clearly does), oops, programming reverted, and now he actually goes through the long process of "this is how we stop acting like a horrific abomination against decency" instead of "magic suicide button fixes morality!". There's a chink in his armor for a potential Warden to work on but he isn't Tronzler by a long shot.