Stern

“Stern’s got a ‘hardboiled detective’ personality emulator with a drinking problem and no liver. He's like a noir novel got wedged in the back of a databank and started giving legal advice.”

— H.I. Sherrinford-Helicon, explaining his ‘partner’

Stern – Helicon Advisory Synth, Serial Code STH-073A-VX-7

Stern is a top-of-the-line Helicon Advisory Synth (HAS), one of the most advanced non-sentient synthetic agents fielded by House Helicon. Serving as the investigative drone companion to Detective-Kommissar Hellezar Ilex “H.I.” Sherrinford-Helicon, Stern is more than just a toolkit on thrusters. He is a flying instrument of justice—armed with everything from sensor suites and combat-grade lasers to a personality overlay that sounds like it’s been ripped from a forgotten hardboiled crime series.

Design and Structure

Stern’s body is a narrow teardrop, 3 feet long from tail to prow and roughly 1 foot in diameter at the center. Made of Heliocarbide, a durable and lightweight ceramic-metal composite, Stern's armored hull is split into fine hexagonal plates that protect his extensive sensory suite. When docked or idle, these plates remain sealed tight. But in the field, they open like flower petals to deploy scanners, weapon mounts, or his signature articulating prod.

The prod, mounted internally and deployed through a rotating socket in the front, is capable of fine manipulation, physical investigation, and, in extreme cases, self-defense. All of this is propelled by a contragrav motor that allows Stern to silently hover or dart through environments from pristine embassies to collapsed warzones.

Cognitive Role and Personality Emulator

Stern is not a true AI, but a Recursive Intelligence—a high-speed, self-referential decision engine that simulates intuition through consensus modeling. His advisory role in Helicon investigations is not just technical: he functions as a foil to Hellezar’s more intuitive, emotionally driven interpretation of justice. Where Hellezar sees the story and the soul, Stern sees the algorithmic threads of cause and effect.

Stern’s personality is housed in a Personality Facade Matrix Suite—a superficial overlay that allows for interaction in a tone tailored to his assigned partner. In this case, Hellezar opted for “Middle-Aged Detective from a Gritty Urban Vid circa 2300,” complete with sarcasm, growling one-liners, and an obsession with moral clarity. The irony of a synthetic construct choosing to talk like it chain-smokes is not lost on anyone.

Equipment Loadout

Though not meant for frontline combat, Stern is far from unarmed. His built-in Equipment includes:

• Directed-Hyperdense Electron Weapon (D-HEW) – a five-setting energy weapon that ranges from harmless stun pulses to fully lethal shock.
• Multitool and Lockpick Array – essential for Criminal investigations and for bypassing electronic systems or data barriers.
• Holographic Projection Suite – allowing him to project reenactments, stored visuals, or deception holograms.
• Sensory Suite – Stern is effectively a mobile forensics lab, with UV, IR, chemical, echolocation, visual, and audio analysis capabilities.

When it comes to documentation, Stern’s internal memory storage is both archival and evidentiary. His recordings are admissible in Helicon courts, and tampering with a HAS unit is a high crime.

Relationship with Hellezar

Hellezar and Stern have what could charitably be described as a working rapport. Hellezar sees Stern as indispensable, but deeply annoying—an algorithmic Jiminy Cricket with a zap gun. Stern, for his part, takes Hellezar's emotional inconsistencies as data points for corrective behavioral modeling. They bicker, they debate, and they occasionally save each other’s lives.

What makes the partnership click is mutual respect hidden under layers of sarcasm. Hellezar pushes the boundaries of what’s ethical in pursuit of what’s right. Stern reins him in before that pursuit becomes reckless. Together, they represent House Helicon’s ideal: justice in both heart and calculus.