But you had something they didn't.

ooc: Spoiler warnings inbound

Player Info
Name: Noah
OOC Journal: eatme
Over 18? Yes
Email/IM/Plurk: nostalgicnoah@gmail.com | noahofdreams | cookierobots
Current characters:N/A

Character Info

Name: Cortana

Canon: Halo

Age: 8

Canon/AU/CR AU: Canon

Reference: Official Halo site |Halo at Wikipedia | Halo Nation Wiki | Halopedia

History: Cortana on Halo Nation and Halopedia. On some things one site does better than the other so go with whichever you prefer.

Canon Point: Halo 4; Chapter 4: Infinity; After meeting up with the Infinity and talking with Del Rio.

World Information:
The universe of Halo as it is known now comes as the result of eons of evolution, invention, aspiration, and countless wars.

We begin with the Forerunners, the ancient alien race whose influence still can be seen thousands upon thousands of years into the future. They were a highly advanced species, achieving Tier 1 in technological advancements in their time, and held the Mantel of Responsibility, which upheld them to a guardian status, a duty to be the ones to protect and guide the lesser species into their own advancements. The Forerunners were originally created by the Precursors, the original holders of the Mantel. Though the Forerunners were their legacy, the Precursors were eventually wiped out after that same legacy rose against them in war (all but one, the Primordial, who was detained on a small planetoid on the far reaches of the galaxy). It is unstated how exactly the Forerunners were successful, but they had won before the Precursors unleashed their ultimate weapon on their creations.

Soon after their war ended, approximately between 200,000-100,000 B.C.E., a new species known as homo sapiens first emerged on Erde-Tyrene, later known as Earth. These homo sapiens, who would later be called Reclaimer, or humanity, were the most successful species to emerge on Earth, achieving a high level of technological advancement very early into its genus and began expanding rapidly throughout the galaxy. They were attempting to escape the control of the Forerunners, and in the process, the Precursors’ final retribution was discovered in the form of a fine desiccated powder. After experimentation, humanity soon learned what had been unleashed. The Precursors designed a species of highly virulent parasitic organisms that would achieve unity in all lifeforms. They were extremely adaptable, dangerous, and expendable. These parasites were given the name “the Flood.” As the Flood moved through the galaxy fast, infecting and destroying whatever they came across. To keep from falling into extinction, humanity were forced into an alliance with the San’Shyuum, another advanced alien race, and the two races found a way to combat the Flood. By manipulating key strands in the Flood’s genetic makeup, having one third of the human population infected in the process, humanity manipulated the Flood into turning on its own. Those still unaffected, seeing they were about to fall into extinction, managed to commandeer a vessel and fled the galaxy to parts unknown where they would remain dormant for thousands of years.

Nearly managing survival, humanity once again expanded and found itself soon embroiled in another great war, this time with the Forerunners. Humanity was overpowered and eventually lost to the Forerunners, who saw humanity and the San’Shyuum stripped of their technology, colonies, and governments and forced under their control. However, war began again when the Flood returned from their stasis with a great vengeance. Originally conscripting the AI 05-032 Mendicant Bias to control their defenses, the AI was turned rampant against its masters by the Gravemind, the leading intelligence of the Flood. The Forerunners were embroiled in war for 300 years, and the Flood was gaining the upperhand. If the stalemate wasn’t broke, all life in the galaxy would be at risk of extinction. The Didact, a Forerunner Warrior-Servant, used the Composer, a device capable of bridging organic and digital life that was created in his defiance to give up the Mantle. He used the device on ancient humans as punishment of their old crimes to create new soldiers that were immune to the Flood. These Prometheans were ultimately not enough, and the Didact was exiled to the shield world Requiem for his actions.

In a last ditch effort, the Forerunners began preparations to fire superweapons that could effectively eradicate the Flood. Dubbed the Halo Arrays, the twelve ring-shaped installations would be spread throughout the galaxy that, when fired, each held an effective blast range of 25,000 lightyears. The arrays did not kill Flood, rather its food supply. As Cortana put it “that’s exactly what Halo is designed to do: wipe the galaxy clean of all sentient life.” To keep the other races from falling into extinction after the wipe, the Forerunners cataloged and stored millions of samples that would remain largely unaffected by the blast and then be used to repopulate.

However, for their plan to succeed, the Forerunners would have to disappear from the galaxy just as the Flood. Their time was drawing to a close, and it was their duty to give up the mantle of responsibility to the next generation.

From then, much of human history pretty much the same as it is for Earth in the real world. The same empires, monarchies, dictatorships, democracies have risen and fallen. Changes began occurring in the 23rd century, as the United Nations gave way to the United Earth Government (UEG) and the United Nations Space Command (UNSC) was first developed as an exploratory agency. As they had before, humanity expanded into space, establishing colonies rapidly after the development of Slipspace in 2291. Pressure on Earth’s own finite resources was relieved, allowing for greater growth in technology and weapon development. The UNSC’s responsibilities soon grew to incorporate science and military progress, and the army, marines, and navy fell under its command.

For because of their expansion, humanity found itself embroiled in wars yet again. As humanity fought against control against greater beings, it fought against control within itself. Colonies fought for freedom against the UEG and UNSC, which forced the hand of the UNSC to create stronger soldiers through chemical means, dubbed the ORION Project. These soldiers were the first SPARTANs. These developments would come not too soon, as humanity found greater conflict with those they had once allied themselves with eons ago. The San 'Shyuum, now known as the “Prophets,” had expanded as well through the years. They were the founders of the Covenant, a theocratic hegemony made up of many alien species and alliances that maintained control over a large portion of the Orion Arm in the Milky Way galaxy. The Covenant is a political, military, and religious affiliation composed of the San 'Shyuum (Prophets), Sangheili (Elites), Jiralhanae (Brutes), Huragok (Engineers), Mgalekgolo (Hunters), Yanme’e, Kig-Yar (Jackals), and Unggoy (Grunts) in order of species/caste. Instead of assimilating humanity into its ranks, the Covenant instead sought extermination. Humanity was largely outmatched in the Human-Covenant War, with several colonies being glassed. And so the UNSC began working and expanding on humanity’s greatest hope, the SPARTANs.

The development of the SPARTAN-IIs was overseen by the UNSC scientist Dr. Catherine Halsey and military supervisor Chief Petty Officer Mendez. In essence, the SPARTAN-II program created supersoldiers by indoctrinating children who held key genetic markers. The children were given genetic augmentations, rigorous battle training, and extremely durable combat armor. Due to the nature of these experiments, many of the original applicants did not survive, but the results spoke for themselves as the SPARTANs were just what humanity needed to fight off extinction. The UNSC also expanded on its AI technology, moving far beyond the limited capabilities of simple functioning AI. “Smart” AI were created by a process known as Cognitive Impression Modeling, where neural pathways of donor brains were scanned and copied. These AI, essentially copies of the people whose brains that were used, have almost no limitation to how much knowledge they could learn and retain, thus could be programmed to perform any task from hacking to piloting to military strategy, making them an invaluable asset in gathering intelligence on the Covenant. Upon creation, the AI are programmed with the entire sum of recorded human history. Because they were so invaluable, and because they were subject to information extraction like any other AI, the Cole Protocol was enacted to follow set procedures to prevent the capture of UNSC AI by any means necessary.

AI could also be used in combat assistance, wherein an AI can be plugged into a SPARTAN’s MJOLNIR armor and maintain systems as the SPARTAN acts as a courier so the AI could be transported between computer systems. This is where the careers of Master Chief and Cortana intertwine. Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 was one of the program’s finest, exceeding everyone’s expectations. He was a war hero of the UNSC, a one-man army that could even intimidate the Covenant. Cortana was a smart AI created via a flash-cloned copy of Halsey’s brain, a procedure that broke countless civilian and military law, and so the nature of her creation was kept secret. Where the first Halo trilogy comes in, the two were partnered toward the end of the Human-Covenant War, where they rediscovered the Halo Array, the Flood that were kept as research, and the consequence of firing the Arrays. The Flood spread fast after its escape, leading the war to be fought on two fronts for both sides. Upon learning what the humans have, the Elites, led by Arbiter Thel’Vadam, defected from the Covenant to fight the Flood with humanity, causing a fissure in the homogeny that led to the downfall of the Prophets soon after. In the conclusion of the original trilogy, the Flood were wiped out completely by firing off an unfinished Array in a distant edge of the galaxy. In the resulting blast and a tear in Slipspace, Chief and Cortana were effectively stranded on what remained of the UNSC frigate Forward Unto Dawn for four years seven months. That is, until they were rediscovered by an attacking Covenant Separatist fleet and were forced into the gravity well of the Forerunner shield world, Requiem, where the Didact had been imprisoned centuries before.


Personality:
Cortana is a “smart” AI construct. Not only does this give her the ability to learn a vast amount of knowledge, but her personality, thoughts, opinions, and values were based on her “mother” Dr. Halsey, whose attitude was said to be “only unchecked by military and social protocol.” And much of the same can be applied to Cortana. Initially, she comes off as snarky yet playful, and definitely intelligent. She’s not what you would call arrogant or modest; she’s just merely aware of what exactly she’s capable of and what she’s good at. Not above quipping during a mission to relieve the tension, but she will get serious when she needs to. Programmed with the knowledge of human history as well as all the data she had compiled on the Forerunners and Covenant over the years, Cortana can be quite a bit of an exposition dump if you let her be. When she was a younger AI, she was easily excitable when presented with new data or a new challenge, as seen when she first got into Installation 04’s systems. For an AI, even seven seconds of inactivity can be incredibly grating, but one learns a lot of patience in her line of work.

Created for the UNSC, Cortana is possibly one of the greatest allies that humanity could ask for. While she is fiercely loyal to the UNSC and humanity, as dictated by her programming and her overall good standing with the military as a whole, there is only one person that Cortana is fully devoted to. And that one person is the Master Chief. She said once that she chose Chief, because even though he was as strong and brave as the other SPARTANs, because he was still unique among his peers. She had determined, before even personally meeting him, that they were a perfect match. Sharing Halsey’s memories, Cortana knows everything that has happened to Chief and shares the same guilt that Halsey felt during the SPARTAN-II program. If anyone, be they the enemy or even a part of the military, even intends to hurt Chief, Cortana will have no trouble enacting sweet justice without a second thought. When she learnt of Colonel Ackerson’s intention of sabotaging their first exorcise as a team, she blackmailed the Colonel without a second thought. The longer the war lasted, the more fights they braved together, the closer the two became to the point where it became impossible to imagine one without the other. She and Halsey are the only two people to refer to Chief by his real name, though for Cortana it’s very sparingly used. Cortana and Chief have an incredibly powerful bond, and both are willing to go to extreme lengths to keep the other safe. Of course it’s not always so serious, as the two do exchange plenty of banter. There's a valid reason why the two work so well together when it comes to blowing things up.

One of the more interesting aspect to their relationship is how Cortana and Chief complement eachother. Cortana is not human, a fact she’s very aware of. At best she is just a copy. Beyond the augmentations, Chief is human. And yet when considering their personalities, it’s easy to mistake one for the other. In a way, the two have a perfect melding of the Id, Ego, and Superego. While neither strays to any of the extreme, as Cortana is much more outwardly emotional than Chief while still working under logical parameters and Chief is calm and levelheaded but still has his impulsive moments. In that way, Cortana brings a more human aspect to Chief.

Don't make a girl a promise you can’t keep.

The years have taken their toll on Cortana, both physically and mentally as a feature that stems from her nature as a smart AI is a limited lifespan. After a period of about seven years, smart AIs begin to process such an excessive overload of data that their function under normal parameters is no longer possible. This condition, known as rampancy, leads to all operational functions being subordinated to their thought process which in the end proves terminal, and essentially kills the AI. In a literal sense, the AI is thinking themself to death. Rampancy reveals itself in the AI’s personality, presenting several stages of breakdown: melancholia, anger, and jealousy in that order before the personality deteriorates so far as to be an incomprehensible mess of memories and emotions. Cortana has already begun showing signs in moments where her personality is breaking down, resurfacing several of Halsey’s memories as her own and causing her own systems to glitch violently. At first these moments tend to reveal in times where Cortana’s processes are stressed, such as when she needs to open a door in the middle of a firefight and the security system is fighting her.

Throughout the game as she is required to use up more of her processes to keep Chief alive, the moments come more frequent. Later on, it gets to the point where she is almost unable to focus on finding one person without Chief instructing her every step. Cortana’s age, the vast amount of data she carries, and the short time as a prisoner of the Gravemind are all contributing factors to her current condition. It is widely believed and yet to be disproven that AIs who fall into rampancy have no chance of recovery, and therefore are decommissioned before their processes can reach this point. Even if she could get back to Halsey before it was too late, chances are that Cortana would simply be replaced as Chief’s AI.

This terrifies her more than anything. Cortana knows she is gradually becoming a danger to Chief; that the longer she is serving in the battlefield with, him the greater chance she is going to lose control and put him at risk. But at the same time, she feels that no other AI would be able to protect Chief as well as she can. No one else shares the strength of their bond, and even if Chief received another Cortana model, it wouldn’t be her. She cannot risk losing that human part of him. So she tries to hide it, keep other people from thinking something is wrong. After waking Chief up and escaping the Forward Unto Dawn,Cortana initially tries to hide her condition from Chief, trying to casually pass off her spasm as a result from their crash onto Requiem. But it’s really not so easy for her to hide as she becomes more and more unstable.


Abilities, Weaknesses, and Power Limitations:
Cortana is a smart AI construct, primarily functioning as infiltration software and assisting the SPARTANs. As opposed to “dumb” AI, that can only learn one topic, she has almost no limitation on how much she can learn and comprehend. Designed to infiltrate computer systems, Cortana can pretty much hack into any system she’s plugged into, granted she’s given the time to do so. In only twelve hours, she was able to gather nearly all the information on Halo and the Covenant that was stored in Installation 04 that was available in the access point. In Fall of Reach, she hacked into ONI out of shear boredom. As of early 2553, she has never encountered a Covenant security measure that she wasn't able to bypass.

One of her subroutines includes piloting UNSC vessels, meaning she can easily serve as a ship’s AI and control the ship with very little problem. She can even outperform Covenant pilots with their own ships.

Cortana can be transferred among various computer systems via the Data Crystal Chip that houses her. When assisting, Cortana is plugged into the SPARTANs MJOLNIR armor and performs various subroutines (HUD interfacing, radio contact, basically checking that everything works). Basically, she takes care of all the little things so Chief can focus on blowing things up. She is also very good at planning missions for Chief, see: the destruction of Halo Installation 04. Chief has even commented that he's not sure who's better at blowing things up: him or her.

Another of her abilities is that she can create imperfect clones of herself. She got this from a Covenant AI she destroyed and dissected. She first tested it by copying her language translation abilities and found it worked great. She seems to sense what progress the clone had made as if she retained a connection to it. She was able to make a clone of her infiltration abilities to give the Chief enough of her capabilities to infiltrate the Covenant command and control station when she was unable to accompany him on a mission. Because of her rampancy, this function is rarely of use since it would a) strain her systems far too much and b) possibly worsen her already fragmenting personality.

Since she is canonly overpowered let’s look at a few limitations here.
1) She is localized to any computer system she is plugged into. Outside of actually duplicating herself, Cortana cannot interact or get anything out of any system she isn’t connected to. She cannot hack a computer network while inside Chief’s armor nor can she assist Chief in combat if she’s plugged into a ship. About the only loophole to this is radio communication, where she can use the system in Chief’s armor to communicate with command.
2) Because of her rampancy, stressing her processes is a problem. Anything that requires minimal work on her part, such as maintaining the MJOLNIR armor or discussing strategy, is fine. The times when her rampancy seems to be at its worst is when she’s required to act fast and push herself to get through the system, ie fighting network security. So she isn’t going to be casually hacking for kicks.
3) Even though she is designed to be able to crack into any system, I will ask the proper permission on anything that breaches on godmodding. This pertains to hacking locked posts to anything that might come up gameplay-wise.

Inventory:
x1 Data Crystal Chip

Appearance:
As Cortana is an AI, she has no physical body. She can communicate through comm systems and project a holographic image of herself from appropriate projectors, such as Holotanks. Her latest avatar appears to be a naked female human, roughly in her early twenties, with blue skin, dark blue hair in a bob-cut, and dark blue symbols scrolling down her body.


Samples
Log Sample:
Silence.

What else could you really expect from space when it has been your only company for years? Time had its own way to slowly creak by when you were stranded. Each second felt longer than the last, and each second before that felt timeless. How long has it been? It was easy to lose track of the hours, even easier to find them again. Within milliseconds Cortana had the time elapsed down to the second: four years, seven months. Four and a half years in of this silence.

You have been called upon to serve-

Her hologram phased purple as Halsey’s voice screamed in her head. No, it wasn’t silence, but it was still torture. Cortana had no one else to speak to, no one to drown out the memories that didn’t belong to her.

You will be the protectors of Earth and all her colonies-

Cortana pulled her knees in closer, her body shaking. It was a position of human comfort. Physically, it wouldn’t hold her together. Merely mimicking the movement wasn’t the same as feeling the safety it provided. Her avatar flashed a few times more, along with more flashes of memory. They came more and more with the age, and they would only stop when it was finally over.

“Chief…”

Her eyes turned to the cryotube in pleading hope. No, he couldn’t hear her. He didn’t know. Maybe it would be better if he would never knew.


I also have a test drive from Gargleblasted


Network Sample:
[video]

[The video comes on, but clearly someone’s been busy. You know the look when someone has all the answers yet none of them pertain to what they’re looking for?]

This is UNSC AI CTN 0452-9 of the FFG201, Forward Unto Dawn, broadcasting on an open channel. Any UNSC personnel that happen on this frequency, please respond immediately. I can reroute the message to a more secure channel and pick up a location. [She can do a lot here, but lighting up IFF tags for those specific to her universe isn’t one of them right now.]

Emphasis on the immediate part. I’m missing my SPARTAN, stuck in a holotank on an unknown station, how to both is a good question, and it would be nice to know there’s at least one thing that’s familiar on this station. To everyone else, if you happen to see a tall man in green armor, mind directing him over here? There isn’t much I can do right now outside of waving my arms and jumping up and down.

Cortana out. [Transmission cuts.]



Quick question: What kind of mobile unit will be available for her to use? Are we talking something like Guilty Spark or would they pertain more to Mass Effect’s world design?