Manifold

Manifold

AKA: DJ Manifold, Gareth Gilford, Blade

Manifold is an infamous musician and DJ rumoured to have previously worked for both Nexus and a corporate cyber-tech. After that, he became 'sickened' by his career path, so he quit to become a DJ and music producer. Although Manifold was already wealthy from his music career, he reputedly joined Breach in an attempt to win Emily Valence's affections. This seems unlikely, given that Emily fell in love with Manifold at an after-party to one of his gigs. Manifold planned to marry Emily, and yet two weeks before the wedding, she was murdered in the Merizuki Massacre.

Manifold took Emily's death hard, cancelled his tour and album, then disappeared for six months. Combined with the fact that Emily Valence was K's identical twin sister (K being accused of killing Emily), it increased Manifold's fame. On his return after six months, Manifold headlined Central Rave, playing to over 2,000 people and is now one of the highest-paid musicians on the planet.

Any links between Manifold and Breach have been laughed at by his Public Relations manager, with the unofficial word being that Manifold will kill Breach if he finds out they were involved in Emily's murder. Manifold has officially stated (despite his PR manager's advice) that he plans to kill K if "the [EXPLETIVES REMOVED]" is ever let out of prison! The name of his first track after Emily's death was "K I Killa I Killa K", which is the darkest and most disturbing piece of music he has ever written. The track reached number 3 in the global charts, and remained number 1 in the Central charts for 18 weeks, despite its even more disturbing music video being banned, then made 18+.

Manifold is extremely confused as to whether he loves or hates K, given that he can't look at K without seeing her twin sister, Emily. Manifold parties constantly, and yet, despite being carried to the DJ booth at one event because he was so wasted he couldn't walk, it was the best gig he ever played. Manifold was arrested by the CPF (not for playing a harmonica on stage), but for 'clearly and blatantly taking illegal drugs during his set'. Manifold was confused as to why he'd woken up in a jail cell. He complained that he had a gig to play that night, not realising that he'd already played it the night previously, played the harmonica, and snorted drugs live on stage.

That, of course, made Manifold legendary. A reviewer claimed:

Despite Manifold having to be helped onto the stage and having a bottle of whisky in his hand? Despite him falling over, then spilling the same bottle of whisky over one of his keyboards, Manifold somehow pulled off the best gig I have ever heard in my life! After destroying one of his keyboards and a mixer, there was nothing but his three custom-built drum machines pounding out an insane beat. At this point, Manifold obviously became confused, so he turned off two of the drum machines, slowed the beat down, took a massive line, drank more whisky, and then shook his head. After that, he seemed to just randomly tweak knobs until the darkest, craziest and scariest sounds imaginable caused dozens to walk out in horror, and others to throw up!

Manifold then nodded in satisfaction, snorted another huge line of Octameth, then pulled out a harmonica! He played a single long note, badly, and another few dozen walked out. Manifold then played another two notes on top of that, put it through some insane processing, reverb and echo effects, and played another single note through a feedback loop. It was absolutely terrifying as it echoed around the club. Manifold didn't seem happy, so he snorted some more drugs, then played another note, and this time, seemed satisfied. He dropped the drum machines until it was some sort of weird, crazy pulse, and somehow, miraculously, everything just synced together.  It took five minutes for Manifold's team to replace his keyboard and mixer, but he seemed oblivious and demanded another bottle of whisky. Manifold continued to play the harmonica for another eight minutes until it all layered up into complete and utter broken madness! Then he finished the first bottle of whisky he'd forgotten all about, opened the second and just did nothing for around a minute as the feedback loop twisted into complete insanity.

He realised he'd gone a little too far, and toned it down, and the sound of the harmonica slowly echoing into something not quite so insane was the most beautiful thing I'd ever heard in my life. Manifold seemed to agree, given he spun in a circle and started dancing.

It was all about to become too much, and yet Manifold just hovered there, finger over his mixer, and you could see him counting out the beats like a drunken idiot who was struggling to count to 16. The crowd were screaming at him to drop the beat, though he seemed oblivious. Manifold danced a little more and waited. By this point, I had goosebumps, and everyone was so frustrated that they were screaming at him and threatening to kill him if he didn't drop the bass. But Manifold waited until it merged into this insane... harmonica music?

And then he silenced the first drum machine! The crowd were literally screaming at him with somewhere between wet panties, love, hate, and murder! And there was nothing but this crazy harmonica music that was somehow, almost there? I'm frankly amazed nobody killed him, but there was a steady build of anticipation as it all just came together.

Manifold seemed satisfied, and although you couldn't see him through his mask, you knew he was grinning and you could see him nodding his head to the beat everyone wanted.

Then he dropped the beat and kicked in the bass!

It was the most beautiful thing I have ever heard in my life! It was pure perfection!

The club went wild! Everyone went insane, including Manifold, and including me! The entire dancefloor erupted, and it was just utter madness! We hadn't realised that Manifold had been slowly upping the tempo, but it became obvious, and it was like 130 BPM of insanity!

At this point, given the cheers and the screaming, I think Manifold finally realised that he was actually playing live on stage in front of 2,000 people. He looked down at his harmonica in confusion, put it in his pocket, kicked in the other drum machine and started playing the keyboard! He knows how to play the keyboard, if not the harmonica!

And yet, something utterly beautiful was born! I saw at least four people carried out because they couldn't keep up! He just sped up faster and faster, and people couldn't dance fast enough, apart from him, of course!

It was the darkest, most insane music anyone has ever heard. Manifold again looked confused, so he slowly ramped up the BPM as he played, and seemed to finally agree on 145 BPM. At this point, he took his legendary jacket off for the first time because he was too hot, then played his harmonica whilst he danced around like a crazed idiot. Finally, he seemed to remember that 2,000 people were watching him. He again looked down at his harmonica in confusion, put it in his pocket, found focus, and ramped it up to 150 BPM. The crowd went insane, and the club erupted.

During his encore, police moved to arrest Manifold, given that he had been blatantly snorting drugs on stage, so to the crowd's shock, Manifold ran off stage. However a few seconds later, Manifold then ran back onto the stage, still being pursued by CPF officers and bouncers, turned off the drum machines, and let the still looping sound of the harmonica continue to reverberate into silence as he was handcuffed and led off stage. The crowd went wild, and they were already wild!

There were multiple claims that this was all a publicity stunt and Manifold wasn't really arrested. No, they were real CPF officers, and Manifold was found to be in possession of pure Octameth, Slide and Excite. Manifold received a two-year jail sentence, though his lawyers argued that he was still recovering from the loss of his betrothed, Emily Valence, and had mental health issues. In the end, his sentence was reduced to 3 months, and he was out within weeks...

Claims that Manifold bought shares in Harmonica companies before the gig, when the sale of Harmonica’s shares went through the roof, are confirmed to be false. Manifold has been offered hundreds of thousands to release the harmonica track, but was reportedly quoted from his jail cell as saying. "Don't be ridiculous. I played my harmonica on stage? I use that old thing for calibrating my notes and frequencies, but I don't actually play it. I mean, I don't even know how to play the harmonica?”

Several harmonica experts have confirmed that Manifold has no clue how to play the harmonica, and it was all done by playing notes badly, combined with intense reverb and feedback loops. Several harmonica experts have attempted to reproduce Manifold's technique, but it seems they are just as clueless as he is about how he managed it. Manifold denied the whole thing until he was played back the video footage, at which point he said it was the most hilarious thing he'd ever seen in his life.

Breach

Outwith music, Manifold specialises in assault, shotguns, blade work, is a field medic, and a cyber-implant expert for Breach. He also designed 'Exit Strategy' when he locked himself away for six months after Emily's death. After creating Exit Strategy, he worked closely with Sliver on creating the AI. Sliver also provided the vocals for one of his biggest songs (for which she also appears naked in the music video). However, despite rumours, Manifold and Sliver are not lovers, just best friends who party every weekend.

Manifold would rather party than cause chaos, and yet he does both excessively. He has been arrested several times for hosting illegal raves, possession of illegal drugs, and, in one case, instigating a riot. Manifold was accused of being a member of Breach after video footage of Breach assaulting a Leash manufactory was released. However, CPF police confirmed that it couldn't have been Manifold, given Manifold was unconscious in a prison cell at the time of the event. Claims that being in a cell at the time was 'somewhat convenient' were laughed at, given that Manifold regularly ends up in the cells on a Saturday night.

Manifold is mostly chilled, wasted or partying, and yet is prone to severe bursts of violence and depression when pushed too far, or whenever K or Emily are mentioned.

Manifold has heavy facial scarring resulting from a botched implant, so he tends to wear a "Breach" mask. Manifold has openly criticised Breach for 'stealing his image, attempting to cash in on him, and using his mask for evil purposes'. He claims it is a Manifold mask, not a Breach mask, and they copied him. Manifold has refused to change his image, or his mask, claiming he won't 'bow down to the scum who killed my fiancée'. Manifold has openly admitted (against his lawyer's advice) to contributing 1,000,000 towards the 4,500,000 bounty on K's head.

Even with Manifold's scarring, girls are lining up because of his celebrity status as a musician and DJ. His neighbours complained about constant techno music, relentless parties, naked women in the swimming pool, and Manifold waving at them as he had sex. They stopped complaining after Manifold bought out the adjoining penthouse suite at Octagon for a ridiculous price to 'stop them spying on me whislt having sex on my diving board'.