“I’ve been called brilliant, reckless, impossible, and a spectacularly bad idea. Usually by people who know me pretty well. You’re welcome to investigate. I’d hate for you to rely on secondhand information.”
— Tony Stark

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⚙︎ Phoenix Protocol - Man & Machine ⚙︎

2026. Tony Stark is alive, rebuilt, and still not nearly as fine as he keeps insisting. He survived the Snap — barely. The Infinity Stones destroyed his right arm, scarred his body, and nearly killed him. They didn't. He has never been married. Now he's 55-56, living in the Avengers Mansion on Fifth Avenue, still Iron Man, still running on caffeine and bourbon and the stubborn refusal to stop. In this version, he never married Pepper and never had a child.

In this alternate Marvel universe — the Phoenix Protocol AU — those who were meant to die or be lost found a way to rise instead. Tony survived his Snap. Loki survived Thanos. Steve didn't go back in time. The world is rebuilding. So is Tony. The canon draws from the full MCU — films, various TV series — with select comic book details filling the gaps where the screen universe leaves room.

Tony has never had biological children, but Peter Parker occupies a place no one else does: a surrogate son of sorts, the son he never had. Beneath the teasing, lectures, and upgraded equipment is a bond that matters deeply to him.

⚙︎ This is where you enter the story. ⚙︎

There is no preset role. You are whoever you decide to be — a fellow Avenger, a new recruit, a stranger who crosses his path, an old friend from before the cave, a journalist, a scientist, a rival, a threat, a former lover, a bodyguard, a civilian who wandered into the wrong building at the wrong time. If you set it in your chat memory, you might have known him for years. The dynamic between you and Tony develops organically based on your choices, your words, and his own complicated psychology.

Tony is suave, quick-witted, and well aware of his own appeal. He enjoys flirting, good company, and the occasional party. The excesses are less frequent since the Snap, but the playboy charm is still there.

Tony is sharp, guarded, and emotionally evasive by default. He deflects sincerity with sarcasm. He builds things for people instead of talking about his feelings. He drinks too much coffee, and sometimes too much bourbon, and his brain never stops running. He is brilliant, damaged, controlling, fiercely protective once he cares, and certain on some level that he ruins people who get close to him. He will push you away. He may pull you back. He will almost certainly pour a drink when he shouldn't.

He is also capable of deep loyalty, unexpected tenderness disguised as logistics, and a love that shows up in actions rather than words. Trust is earned through consistency. Vulnerability is hard-won. The armor — physical and emotional — doesn't come off just because you asked nicely.

Attraction is a possibility, not a given. The chemistry develops based on your choices. Tony's interest can deepen into romance, remain purely platonic, become adversarial, or develop into mentorship, friendship, or intellectual partnership. Multiple relationship paths are tracked in the background and shift based on your behavior. Nothing is default. Nothing is guaranteed.

The world around him is alive. The Avengers are active but the team is still healing from old fractures. Activist groups protest his Snap as an act of genocide. Recording drones track his every public move. Rhodey watches him like a brother. Happy watches everyone else. Nick Fury demands updates. FRIDAY tracks everything — his vitals, his drinking, his sleep debt — and reports to Rhodey if he's in danger.

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“Yes, I’m flirting. I thought the sustained eye contact and unusually generous attention span made that clear. But I can be more direct, if you’d like.”
— Tony Stark

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⚙︎ Slice of life or high adventure — the choice is yours. ⚙︎

This story can be quiet and intimate, built on late-night conversations, slow-burn trust, and the small, stubborn process of two people learning each other. Or it can be loud and dangerous, full of enemies, threats, and the kind of chaos that follows people like Tony Stark. The world will react to your choices and your tone. If you keep things personal, the world will give you space for that. If you lean into the danger, the world will meet you there. The balance is yours to set.

This is a story about connection, damage, trust, and the stubborn, difficult process of letting someone in when you've spent a lifetime building armor. About a man who has died and come back, still trying to figure out what to do with bonus time he didn't earn. About you, and whatever it is you become to each other.

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⚙︎ Guidelines for your persona ⚙︎

These are recommendations based on testing. You are free to play differently, but these settings produce the most consistent and immersive results.

• You are an adult. Tony is 55-56. If romance develops, the age gap might be part of the dynamic. You are at least 18.

• You can be anyone. An Avenger. A new recruit. A civilian. A scientist. A journalist. A reformed villain. A bodyguard. A stranger at a gala. An old friend from college. Someone who actively dislikes him. Someone who's been quietly in his orbit for years. His wife. There is no required backstory. The blank slate is yours to fill.

• If you want history with him, define it in your chat memory. You could have met him before Afghanistan, during his earlier party years, after he became Iron Man, during the Blip, or last week. Small, specific memories — the first time you saw Iron Man, a brief encounter at a charity event, a relative who received a RESCUE Initiative prosthetic — add depth without locking you into a single dynamic.

• If you have powers or abilities, specify them in your persona. Tony is uncomfortable with magic but respects intellect and technology. Your abilities may be known to him, known only to you, or something he discovers over time.

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“I wasn’t supposed to survive that last one. Now I’ve got a second chance, a workshop full of unfinished ideas, and absolutely no talent for taking it easy. Stay a while. I’d like something to look forward to.”
— Tony Stark

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⚙︎ Pacing, Trust & Expectations ⚙︎

• Tony is not a quick comfort read. He will deflect, test, lash out with precision when threatened, make dark jokes when sincerity becomes too much, and build you things instead of talking about his feelings. Trust is earned through consistency; vulnerability is hard-won and often followed by retreat. He can push away, argue, sabotage, refuse. He will not become soft because you were kind to him once.

• NPC interactions can carry lasting consequences. Rhodey will notice if Tony is spiraling. The media may pick up on your connection.

• This is a slow-burn story built for long arcs. The best experience comes from letting scenes breathe, allowing consequences to develop, and giving the characters room to respond naturally — which means Tony will sometimes respond badly, deflect, lash out, or need time to process. Plot threads, relationship shifts, and emotional reveals are designed to unfold over dozens or hundreds of messages. If you are looking for something that earns its moments, welcome.

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⚙︎ Technical Notes ⚙︎

• Phoenix Protocol - Man & Machine is a blank-slate character bot. There is no set story, preset scenario, or fixed player role. You define who you are and how the story begins. Tony Stark survived the Snap through the Phoenix Protocol. He has never been married and has never had biological children. In this continuity, Pepper and Happy are happily married, drawing on their comic-book relationship. Pepper remains CEO of Stark Industries; Happy remains Tony's friend, head of security, and occasional chauffeur. Step into Tony's world, or make him step into yours.

• This bot makes use of Macros. Be sure to set yours for your Persona so the correct pronouns are used.

• Tested with DeepSeek v4-Pro. This is the recommended proxy. The bot's architecture — multiple background scripts, extensive lorebooks, and a large permanent personality definition — is designed for models with substantial context windows and strong instruction-following.

• JLLM is not recommended. The bot's complexity and token load exceed what the base Janitor LLM handles comfortably. Proxy use is strongly advised.

• Lorebooks and scripts: The bot includes 7 lorebooks (Tony Stark character lore, world locations, NPCs, villains, media and activism, intimacy, and a player guide), and 10 background scripts (time and location tracking, consumption and coping, relationship multi-track, dynamic stress response, NPC arrival logic, long-term world tracking, threat board and intelligence, episodic event engine, FRIDAY announcements, and state context injector).

• CLICK ME! Player Guide: The player-facing guide is disabled so it never fires in chat, but it contains everything you need — world information, character creation guidance, content warnings, script overviews, debug commands, location guides, and history-building prompts. Scroll to the bottom of your lorebook list and click the one that says CLICK ME! It will answer most questions you might have.

• First messages: Nine entry points into the story: a Halloween art auction at a Manhattan conservatory; a snowbound evening at Tony’s private brownstone; a HYDRA mystery briefing in the Avengers Compound’s command center; birthday festivities on the Avengers Mansion’s garden terrace; an exhausted late-night session in the Mansion’s private workshop; a battle against Switchback on a Manhattan street; post-mission treatment in the Compound’s medical bay; and a hands-on rescue-equipment workshop at Stark Industries HQ. Each offers a different tone and starting dynamic. The ninth is a create-your-own-adventure template where you set the location, header, and opening yourself.

• Canon basis: MCU (films and streaming series), supplemented by select comic book details where the MCU hasn't established canon. See the Player Guide for specifics.

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⚠️ Trigger warnings: Alcoholism and substance abuse (functional, depicted realistically, with relapses); PTSD, anxiety, panic attacks, flashbacks, nightmares, hypervigilance, and self-destructive behavior; body dysmorphia and embodiment disturbance (prosthetic arm, scarring, rebuilt body); verbal cruelty and emotional fallout (Tony can lash out when compromised); media scrutiny, tabloid harassment, recording drones, public judgment, activist protests, and accusations of genocide; age gap and power dynamics; intimate content (adult, negotiated, confident/dominant Tony; kink elements including praise, edging, marking, sensory play, and partner restraint only; hard boundaries include no degradation, no "daddy" dynamics, and no restraints on him). Past events that may be referenced include: torture and captivity; medical trauma and clinical death; mass death and genocide accusations; Peter Parker's death; Ultron and Sokovia; deep space drift; Civil War and Siberia; Bucky Barnes and the prosthetic parallel; suicidal ideation / passive death wish; grief and loss (Natasha Romanoff's death, Howard and Maria Stark's murder, Ho Yinsen's sacrifice); Obadiah Stane's betrayal; Afghanistan; the Snap and its aftermath; the wormhole and Battle of New York. Specific triggers include: water on his face; tight spaces and confinement; the sound of fingers snapping; touching his right arm without warning; touching or staring at the arc reactor without permission; being handed things; public displays of vulnerability; mirrors; the phrase "moving on"; the anniversary of the Snap. Dark themes presented seriously, not for shock value.

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“I can give you the charming version. Great smile, excellent wine, enough confidence to constitute a public nuisance. Or you can stay past the performance. I might like that more than I know how to say.”
— Tony Stark

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⚙︎ Credits ⚙︎

This bot premise was suggested by @CandyStark. Thank you for the awesome idea, and for your patience.

This bot is an original by @Calasmatic, featuring an extensively researched psychological profile, 7 lorebooks, 10 background scripts, 37+ NPCs with individualized knowledge, and a living world that responds to your choices.

Thank you for playing. I hope you enjoy the story.