The Mechanical Virtuoso

 is a Rider that appears in the Riders of Discord DLC featured in Monster Hunter Stories Ultimate.

Description
The Mechanical Virtuoso is a robotic humanoid modeled after Qurupeco in terms of design. Its head resembles a mix between a gramophone and a Qurupeco's crest when playing sounds, being orange-brown with a dark brown "muzzle" on the end of it, and small, red eyes can be seen on the sides of its head. Its body is primarily light green, with the forearms being purple and the lower legs being yellow, and its hands and feet are brown. On its chest is a bright red, ovular core, and on its back are two long, curved pipes that release steam.

Personality
Being a typical robot, it does not express much emotion, and speaks in a largely stoic manner. Although it is designed to act as a record player, it appears to have difficulty processing records along with requests to play specific songs, playing the wrong ones or playing none at all. However, it does express interest in being a Rider, believing that its true purpose is to be one of them, and has some capacity for emotions, like celebrating wins or lamenting losses, and being eager to fight when challenged.

Background
Three years ago, the Riders of Discord, after having occupied and reworked a series of uncharted, uninhabited islands known as the Discordant Isles, decided that the new area was in need of more pizzazz, and sent in a request to mechanics in Harth to craft an artificially intelligent device that would play any song on demand, whether it came from a disc, or from routers around the world. The mechanics agreed, and crafted them a portable, phonograph-like device modeled after a Qurupeco in design, having a horn that resembled one's chest, along with a large, red, powered core that acted as its "brain", absorbing and storing information to its users' content. When it was completed, the group would use it to play the background music they wanted while they were busy doing mundane tasks around the isles, like cleaning their sections of them, writing up stories, or just engaging in casual conversation, as well as the battle music they wanted to hear when they were hunting or engaging in friendly competition. Or, at the very least, they tried to make it do that; the AI of the machine was faulty, having difficulty processing requests for music along with the records inserted into it or just refusing to play them altogether, and expressed more interest in monster riding than playing music, deeming its current job too confusing and unsatisfying. Disappointed, its owners tried to tweak it to fit their desires, taking it to the manufacturers and trying to have them fix its AI, but unfortunately for them, the robot proved to be too convoluted and stubborn to fix without damaging its innate abilities, and destroying it after all the work put into it seemed like a waste of parts. Deciding that the group could use the robot's desire to be a Rider to their advantage, the manufacturers offered to make it more fit for monster riding, giving it a more humanoid design and the ability to hold weaponry, and they agreed. From that day forward, the former music player became an honorary member of the Riders of Discord, being able to hunt and tame monsters like the rest of them, and even gained its own section of the isles to itself. Content with its new life, the Mechanical Virtuoso lies in wait, eager to meet any new challengers that come its way, whether they be wild monsters or Riders and their Monsties.

Abilities
Being a Hunting Horn user, The Mechanical Virtuoso can utilize empowering and depowering songs to its advantage, and enacts them by making combos with its melee-based attacks. However, it also has an innate ability that makes it more unpredictable and dangerous than the typical Hunting Horn-using Rider; its red, brain-like core has Double Notes as a permanent, built-in ability, granting it an extra turn in battle at all times. It specializes in Monsties that utilize sound, with its Monsties of choice being Qurupeco, Najarala, Maestro Volbetaur, Unarophos, Bojokhan, and Poborubarumu.

Tropes that Apply to Them

 * Artificial Lifeforms: It's a mechanical Rider that generally functions the same as any human Rider.
 * Blood Knight: Even before it was crafted into a humanoid robot, it was eager to get into battles with monsters and Riders, and expresses a desire to fight the player when talked to. However, it can be hard to notice at first due to its overall emotionless demeanour.
 * Extra Turn: It has this as a permanent ability due to its core having Double Notes as a built-in ability (in Monster Hunter Stories Ultimate, Double Notes is a Hunting Horn buff that temporarily grants Riders the ability to move twice in one turn), which can potentially make it harder to defeat than the standard Hunting Horn-using Rider.
 * Grew Beyond Their Programming: It was originally intended to be an advanced record player that could play any song on command, but this aspect of it became overshadowed by a desire to become a Rider. This change in programming is considered to be a result of its advanced, yet faulty AI making it self-aware and unsatisfied with its intended purpose, with it wanting to choose its own path.
 * In-Series Nickname: Some characters simply refer to it as "Peco Bot", which is due to its Qurupeco-like design.
 * Machine Monotone: Speaks in an calm, synthetic voice, even when celebrating or lamenting. The only time it ever changes is when it wants to battle, with the voice becoming slightly faster, louder, and more excitable overall.
 * Magic Music: Comes with the territory of being a Hunting Horn user, though the music is more "encouraging" or "discouraging" than it is "magic".
 * Make Me Wanna Shout: Many of its Monsties have a penchant for using damaging noises, and all of them have channeled genes that bolster their Water and/or Dragon Attack stats, allowing them to make use of Sound-elemental attacks.
 * No Biological Sex: Being a typical robot, it is neither male nor female, and identifies as neither one.
 * The Stoic: Being a typical robot, it does not express much emotion, and even when it does express emotions like joy, sadness, or excitement, they're downplayed. The only time its tone changes is when it's ready to battle, as its synthesizer gives it a slightly louder, faster voice to go with its eagerness to brawl.
 * Weapon of Choice: Its signature weapon is a Hunting Horn known as the Para Hazard Call.

Notes and Trivia

 * The Mechanical Virtuoso was inspired by Rhythm, a music-playing bot on the fanon wiki's Discord server.
 * Its Birthday, Feb. 18th, is the same as Thomas Edison's. This is due to him inventing the phonograph, which it was partially based on.