Imogen Royce is an archivist working with the ICA and a target who appears in End of an Era, the fourth mission of HITMAN™ III.
Background[]
She started putting videos online of her body modification efforts and managed to get substantial crowd funding and a great underground following, inspiring others to delve into "practical transhumanism." A small cult exists around her now, telling the story of her upbringing (which may be entirely fictitious as it's been put together by some of her "fans" based off findings on the internet).
The disconnect between her "objective" desire to reach the machine-state and the emotional reinterpretation of her efforts by her fans brought her to a new epiphany; simple emotion rules people. The chaotic human-state that she had fought to escape her entire life was not chaotic at all. Humans are just programs. Slaves of cause and effect--and hence predictable. You just need to know where they come from and you can predict where they go. This discovery changed her life--there is no need to escape what you can predict and control. Knowledge is power. Power is opportunity.
From here, she started making a name for herself as a behavioral analysis pioneer, which also got ICA's attention and is why they headhunted her for the facility.
Imogen Royce is in charge of the analyst division in the facility while working on her prediction algorithm for ICA R&D. She utilizes her surveillance-based prediction project on her employees as a test and as a tool of leadership--she knows everything about them and often knows what they will do before they know themselves. She is confident that her project is the future of the ICA. However, Hush's disappearance from the facility and his secrecy about his own project does worry her. She knows that he is progressive and inventive and perhaps his project will outdo hers. And that is not something she is willing to accept.Personality[]
Imogen Royce is very analytical, astute, and intelligent, being able to correctly predict and solve advanced problems and formulas, with her strength being psychology. She lacks the sadism of Hush, and she gets stressed easily, especially when her analysts take a break in the facility break room.
Imogen is driven by her obsession with knowledge, coldly manipulating and controlling people in the name of science. She has a very controlled persona, having manufactured her personality nearly as much as her body. As Olivia Hall notes, she appears to have a "God" complex. However, she can possibly be dangerous, with her ruthlessness and lack of empathy driving her to do things that are not so good, especially if she believes that it will obtain her knowledge.
Her bio states she was the daughter of a Western diplomat. Considering her English accent, and that the name "Imogen" is not popular in North America, it can be interpreted that Imogen was born in the United Kingdom before growing up in Hong Kong.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Imogen Royce appears to have leucism, which is a typical skin disorder that causes the some pigments in skin and hair to be abnormally distributed.
- Along with Xiao Ming, she can see through the Facility Analyst disguise, whereas her personal bodyguard, Vincent, can see through the Facility Guard disguise.
- While she is inside her office, she will call Hush through a video call, and if she sees Hush being killed in front of her, a Target Lockdown sequence will occur.
- She will drop a Tier 3 Access Dongle when pacified or eliminated.