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Portal Stories: Mel is a free single-player mod for Portal 2 which tells a story of a female Olympian named Mel who volunteered in 1952 to be a test subject in Aperture Science. The main story takes place between the events of Portal and Portal 2, when Mel tries to escape the Aperture Science laboratories together with a personality core Virgil.
The mod is available on Steam as a stand-alone game, although you still need to own Portal 2 to play it. It features original voicelines and assets, new gameplay mechanics (fire and water, Human Emancipation Grid), and 22 new levels.
Characters[]
Virgil[]
Virgil.
Virgil (or ID as VC321xb47, 01 in AEGIS) is a personality construct who worked as a maintenance Core who fell off his management rail and into the depths of Old Aperture, where he laid for a long time until Mel was reawakened. At first, he pretended to be Cave Johnson, attempting to convince Mel nothing had changed, until he admitted Mel wasn't stupid enough to fall for that and then revealed who he really was and what was really going on. Mel made her way up to the section where Virgil was and eventually found him, bringing him along.
Between the events of Portal and Portal 2, Virgil awakens Mel in a prototype relaxation chamber where she slept for an unknown amount of years. Virgil pretended to be Cave Johnson and convinced her nothing have changed since her sleep. Virgil told Mel earthquakes have been happening and destroyed the facility, even items from the future came. Virgil made Mel solve some of the tests in the Enrichment Spheres, he then admitted Mel wasn't stupid enough to fall for that and then revealed who he really was and what was really going on. Mel made her way up to the section where Virgil was and eventually found him, bringing him along.
AEGIS[]
Aperture Employee Guardian and Intrusion System or simply AEGIS.
The Aperture Employee Guardian and Intrusion System or AEGIS is the central security system of the Aperture Science Enrichment Center and the main antagonist of Portal Stories: Mel. AEGIS's responsibility in the Enrichment Center is, as its name implies, to ensure the safety of all Aperture employees.
Although AEGIS is an artificial intelligence, it does not display any sort of personality or will. Its design and construction, consisting of 1950s era mainframe parts and sporting a 1960s Aperture Science logo, suggest AEGIS was built even before the GLaDOS project began development of Aperture's AI constructs.
Despite this, AEGIS is somehow in the upper facility of the modern Aperture Science Enrichment Center, possibly being moved there between the company's migration from the aging Aperture Science Innovators testing shafts.
Mel[]
Mel as in Portal Stories: Mel.
Mel is the main character of Portal Stories: Mel. An Olympic runner, she arrives to Aperture: Science Innovators to participate in experiments as a test subject. After oversleeping in a faulty relaxation chamber, Mel travels with Virgil around the now lifeless building to defeat AEGIS and ultimately escape to the surface.
Mel was the name of the original protagonist of Portal 2, itself also intended as a prequel, and at one point was redesigned to be in the game's co-op campaign alongside Chell, before ultimately being cut from the game altogether. Portal Stories: Mel reuses the character name and the basic prequel concept.
