Cami

Cami (Camille) is the enigmatic leader of The Collective.

Because of her reclusive nature she was known by different names like "Kami," even her gender was unknown for a time. What information that is known has come second or third hand originally. All the tribes in the region report to The Collective, and so in turn, to Cami.

Description

When Cami first met the Mall Rats, she wore glasses. She dons a sleeveless, white canvas linen dress extending just above her knees. She does not wear shoes, but a band of different leaves from light to dark green was around one of her ankles. Her hair was dyed with the entire colour spectrum, like a rainbow, with loose curls hanging down over her shoulders and the side of her face. Small green leaves were woven into a headpiece around her head, with some feathers fastened at the back of her hair, along with a single pink and white rose. She wears no makeup nor jewellery, but had a necklace made of simple wire through which some smaller, old computer parts had been threaded, a CPU dangling from her necklace, alongside pieces of memory chips. She has a small tattoo of a black full moon silhouette on her left shoulder, and a contrasting sun tattoo on her right shoulder. Cami has heterochromia, one brown eye and the other emerald green. ^[1]

History

Pre-Tribe

According to The Selector, he reveals that after the adults perished in his town, Cami made all the difference by rallying the tribes together instead of fighting. Her mother was apart of the scientific team for Project Eden, a top-secret project the United Nations had been planning even before the virus. As a result, Cami had access to next generation technology that enabled all the tribes in her city to stop warring.

Cami's mother had possibly been shortlisted as one of the adults to be preserved in Hibernation Chambers. Despite finding that The Vault has chambers, none of them contain Cami's mother, meaning she might be housed in other facilities like Eagle Mountain, which was their goal to locate the sleeping adults. Cami's vision is to unite all the tribes for a better world, similar to the United Nations before the virus. Because she is extremely reclusive, Cami became known by others names like Kami, many believing she is male instead of female. Her real name is Camille.

Before Ram conducted the invasion of the Mall Rats's City, he met an online person called "KaMi-1314" who he originally believed to be a female but mistakenly believed she was male. Ram was offered to join The Collective and together they would invade cities, starting with the Mall Rats's City.

But Ram was suspicious of Kami and decided to invade the Mall Rats's City on his own. He also reveals he had went to Eagle Mountain to steal Headsets that were ultimately used for the Virtual Reality program at the height of his reign. Ram never told anyone in the Technos about The Collective as he feared they would betray him to Kami. Ram also sent messages to Kami that the virus had remerged and kept The Collective from coming to the city.

The Tribe: A New World

Ram believes that Kami, upon realising Ram lied about the virus returning, had sabotaged the Techno computers which caused the AI Zoot to release the Virus Mark II. Ram believes Mega was merely tricked into thinking he was responsible for the Virus outbreak. He even speculates that there might not have been any virus released at all but simply smoke, to scare the city's population into fleeing into the lands controlled by The Collective. The Mall Rats become utterly confused but fearful upon learning this new revelation.

The Tribe: A New Dawn

More and more mysteries continue to surround Kami, as the journey to Eagle Mountain uncovers a mainframe computer system which is keeping the hibernating adults alive and it is called K.A.M.I. What connection this system has to the real Kami originally remains unclear. Whether Kami took his name after hacking Government files which revealed the term, or whether the human Kami is a decoy for someone else. The truth remains to be uncovered for a time.

All that the Mall Rats know is that Kami will stop at nothing to uncover the secrets to Eagle Mountain, so they must be prepared for The Collective’s next assault. With the data hard-drive in their possession, which contains the accumulated knowledge of the adults, the Mall Rats must keep this treasure safe, whatever the cost.

The Tribe: (R)Evolution

Months later, The Collective forces were able to storm the Mall and free Eloise, The Guardian and the Zootists. Most of the Mall Rats are captured and shipped off to Eden, the base of The Collective. The Zootists go to the Northern Provinces and are not seen for the reminder of the book.

The Mall Rats are later brought to a complex called The Vault in the mountains, which is directly above Eden. The Vault houses seeds and endangered animals to preserve them in case the ecosystem is ever threatened. Venturing further into the facility, they finally meet The Creator, who is Cami. The enigmatic leader of The Collective is revealed to be female and not male. Bray presses her about The Collective honouring Zoot, to which she says the mythology can be used as a unifying force for good instead of evil, as everyone needs something to believe in. She claims the invasion of their City was simply an expansion to build a better world and would reprimand Commander Snake for his harsh tactics in capturing the Mall Rats. Cami invites the Mall Rats to be apart of The Collective and assist in her vision, to which they feel it would be best to have more meetings with her before deciding. Cami promises they would be free to leave if they are not in sync.

The Selector brings news that Cami has fallen gravely ill and she requests Amber and Tai San's presence. While attempting to help Cami, The Vault goes into lockdown while Eden and Lakeside Resort's power goes out. Unbeknownst to everyone, Ram accidentally set the K.A.M.I computers in Eden and Eagle Mountain into attacking each other. It's revealed the K.A.M.I prototype in Eden was mostly developed by Cami's mother and named after her. The AI has also grown to be self-aware and is protective of the human Cami. Cami, although still weak, is starting to be cured due to drinking one of Tai San's herbal remedies. She manages to stop the K.A.M.I systems from further disarray and restores the power.

In the aftermath, it is discovered that The Selector was responsible for causing Cami's illness and is arrested for not only his attempted murder but all his crimes that made many suffer, which Cami was previously unaware of. He and his loyal followers are locked in The Cube, which is ironically his creation, and are awaiting trial. The Selector had wanted to take over as the new leader of The Collective, but ironically his coup was stopped by another coup, which was the resistance led by Commander Snake and Storm, who had been waiting for the right time to take The Selector down. It's also revealed The Selector had personally picked Eloise from The Privileged tribe to be a regulating influence on The Guardian. Eloise's child is not Kami's as the enigmatic leader is revealed to be a female. Meaning Eloise had slept with someone pretending to be Kami, as she had never met the leader until that point, or so she thought. The true father's identity is still unknown.

The Mall Rats work with The Collective to bring about new laws and changes. The Zootist faith is no longer the central faith, with Bray determined that the truth be known about his brother. The Void was abolished and its inhabitants rehabilitated, Cami being stunned it even existed. The inhabitants would elect their own leaders like a democracy, no longer would so much power be held by one or two persons, like The Selector had. The Broker was arrested for his crimes and trading. The slaves are set free. The age of the New Collective has begun.

Cami reveals some of her scouts had found the new threats of the Western Alliance and the Eastern Kingdom rising in distant lands, and must be prepared for possible invasions in the future. There is also concern of Eloise, The Guardian and the Zootists living in the Northern Provinces. Cami also reveals the sleeping adults from Eagle Mountain had truly died and are buried in Eden, she is resolved not to give up searching for her mother who might be in a Hibernation Chamber somewhere. Cami and Ryan start to develop a relationship amidst the reforms of The Collective, they danced together at the celebrations. As the Mall Rats return to their home city, Ryan makes the decision to stay in Eden to help in a new agricultural unit, along with wanting to stay with Cami.

Trivia

• Cami is currently the only non-TV series character to be depicted on a novel cover. Although the identity of the person's image is unknown, but it might just be stock image of a random girl or even a realistic 3D model.
• It was originally believed that Kami was male and was the person who held Tai San captive in A New Dawn's prologue. However, (R)Evolution revealed Cami was female and the person who has Tai San was a man called The Broker, who worked closely with The Collective.

References