Vice

Overview

Jackie Visken aka Vice is the resident hacker and cybersecurity specialist of the group. She also acts as the ship’s navigator and general go-to person for anything computer or technology related.

On loan from the Galactic Security Agency (GSA), Vice is capable of interfacing with any hardware or security system in the galaxy, and while the soldiers around her may be unstoppable in the real world, Vice is a force to be reckoned with online and in the metaverse.

Vice is responsible, reliable, grounded and secretly quite sentimental. She may seem quite serious and reserved, but people who know her are aware she has a rich inner world.

Origin

In the world of Draconis, Earth is surrounded by a dense neighborhood of space stations, off-world factories and solar arrays that stretch from Earth’s orbit to the beginning of the Kuiper Belt near Mars. There, Vice was raised by her parents alongside her younger sister.

The off-world stations struggle to get fresh resources due to their distance from any natural environments, and as a result the residents there often have to make due with what is fake, artificial, recycled or lab-grown.

A ticket to Earth is a common dream in the stations and it was Vice’s dream as well, and by acing all the tests and working hard she was able to rise through the ranks of the GSA and earn an Earth residency visa for her family.

Vice’s Playlist

  1. 阮玲玉电影作品剪辑 — “我要活啊！” x 葬心
  2. Scene excerpt from “In the Mood for Love” (2000)
  3. 紫薇園的秋天 (1958)
  4. Gone with the Wind (4/6) Movie CLIP – Leaving for Battle (1939) HD
  5. IT ONLY TAKES A MOMENT- HELLO DOLLY- MICHAEL CRAWFORD
  6. Eat Drink Man Woman End Credits Music 飲食男女

Favorite Foods

In Draconis, the crew rotates cooking duties. Vice’s taste is largely Chinese home cooking with a few popular dishes from greater Asia.

  • Char Siu Lo Mein
  • Mapo Tofu
  • Scrambled Eggs and Shrimp
  • Beef with Broccoli
  • Ramen
  • Bok Choy Soup
  • Egg Drop Soup
  • Lumpia

Author’s Note

The first and biggest influence for Vice was Faith from Mirror’s Edge. I knew the group needed a hacker and I wanted someone who represented a cyberpunk kind of character. And someone who’s not just a hacker, but has this physicality to get in and out of places she shouldn’t be both digitally and physically.

Vice is specifically designed to be like a decker from Shadowrun, and she even carries around a deck like the characters in that universe — rather than a laptop, a sort of skateboard looking thing with a keyboard and a screen.

The movie Hackers is a big influence for Vice. The movie Space Sweepers, in general, is a big influence for Vice. In terms of her character, the older sister from Eat Drink Man Woman, the one who works for an airline, was an influence. The 2021 Kung Fu reboot is a bit of an influence, mostly in terms of her style.

One of the earliest influences was Ah Toy, the madame of the brothel from Warrior. Vice is not associated with brothels obviously, but more her commitment to providing for the people under her umbrella even if it comes at the cost of self-sacrifice and not being understood or appreciated.

In Draconis, the metaverse has evolved and so hacking is a lot more visual, and these hackers often have these larger than life internet personas, and Vice is no different. I don’t want to give anything away, but I’ll give you a hint: kabuki masks and fox magic.