application;

[choseluck]

PLAYER
» Journal: kyriesanctus
» Birthdate/Age: 23 (January 26, 1987)
» Characters Played: Suzaku Kururugi, Zoey, Himawari Kunogi, Yosuke Hanamura, Oerba Dia Vanille

CHARACTER
» Name: Intelligence program CTN 0452-9 'Cortana'
» Fandom: Halo Series
» Reference: http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Cortana
» Canon Point: About 5 years post Halo 3.
» Gender: Her programming, AI holographic form and voice are all female.
» Age: At her canon point, around 5-7 years old. She's an AI, though, so her mental age is actually much higher, with her personality described to be anywhere from the late teens to her 30's.

» Orientation: Unknown, but with extreme possibility for heterosexuality.

This is a very tricky subject when it comes to an AI- because they don't usually even have that sort of thing programmed into them, they would normally be asexual. However, Cortana is a bit different- being a flash-clone of Dr. Catherine Halsey, she carries many of the woman's traits and quirks- one of which being a fondness for a certain SPARTAN, John-117.

For Halsey, of all of the children abducted into the SPARTAN program, John-117 was her favorite. When it came time for Cortana to choose which Spartan she would be accompanying, her first (and only) choice was him. Halsey believed it was possibly because of her own feelings and attraction towards him, Cortana having stated that she finds him "attractive in a primitive sort of way." However, Cortana also stated that he was her best match- and she had definitely done her research.

It turns out she was right- the Chief and Cortana work together beautifully, and, by Halo: Combat Evolved (and/or Halo: The Flood), they are like old friends. As they spend even more time working together, they form a mutual bond of trust, and eventually Cortana ends up making jokes about being in some sort of 'relationship' with the Chief. She shows a deep, personal loyalty to him beyond what is required of her for their mission. When leaving her behind with Gravemind on High Charity, he promises to save her. This is extremely important to her, and is another example of her attachment to him.

Cortana lives, literally, in Master Chief's head, and his presence was seemingly enough to pull her out of rampancy and into a state of possible metastability. Afterward, from this state, she helped him and the Arbiter escape Halo, which was quickly falling apart. She and Chief narrowly escape, but end up drifting dead in space. As the Master Chief goes into a cryogenic sleep, she tells him that she will miss him. As time continues to pass, she continues to show signs of rampancy, such as trying to communicate with him, despite the fact that he is in cyro-sleep- which she should (and would normally) know would get no response. She also tries to make physical contact with him, something that she should be fully aware is impossible.

Needless to say, SPARTAN-117 is a very important person to Cortana, and it wouldn't be a stretch to say she leans to the side of heterosexuality, at least when it pertains to him. She is very obviously, at the least, extremely fond of and attached to him, and owes him her (fleeting) 'sanity' and quite possibly her existence.

» Personality:

"They let me pick. Did I ever tell you that? Choose which ever Spartan I wanted. You know me. I did my research, watched as you became the soldier we needed you to be. Like the others, you were strong and swift and brave. A natural leader. But you had something they didn't, something no one saw... But me. Can you guess? Luck." - Cortana, Halo 3

Because she is an artificial intelligence, most of what comprises Cortana's personality is defined by whom she was made, and what she knows. In order to completely understand Cortana, there is something you must first understand- the nature of UNSC AIs, the process to create them, and the effects of the woman whose mind she was created from, Dr. Catherine Halsey.

There are two classifications of AIs; "dumb" AIs, and "smart" AIs. By no means are these "dumb" AIs actually dumb- in fact, they are brilliant, capable of thinking and processing far quicker than the human brain. However, what they lack is an ability to learn- to evolve and gain new knowledge. They are usually only able to learn one subject, limited by their dynamic memory processing matrix. Thinking outside the box is not something they are necessarily capable of; but for a "smart" AI, like Cortana, this is not only something she does constantly, it's standard procedure.

The process to make a "smart" AI is different from the process that is used to make "dumb" AIs- "smart" AIs are created from actual human brains, usually meaning that the host would need to be dead in order for the creation to take place, as the process, known as Cognitive Impression Modeling (sending bursts of electricity through the brain's neural pathways and which are then replicated in a superconducting nano-assemblage) destroys the brain tissue. However, it is possible to make an AI using the brain of a living person. In some instance, a flashing cloning (a process that uses a sample of someone's DNA to grow cloned replacement organs in case of there being a need for a transplant) is used to make a copy of the brain, and that copy is used to make the AI in a way so that the host could stay alive.

Out of the twenty cloned brains, only two of them were actually able to spawn an AI- one of them was Cortana.

Cortana is described as having a striking resemblance, both in personality and appearance, to Halsey. Unchecked by military protocols (and in Cortana's instance, social protocol) both of them, Cortana especially, tend to speak freely and out of turn frequently. Their thoughts and feelings seem to mimic one another, occasionally, and Halsey herself compared Cortana to a teen-aged version of herself, smarter than her elders and eager to prove this fact to them. In most instances, Halsey's traits are Cortana's as well.

Like most smart AIs, Cortana has 'quirks' that make her personality unique. She is quite witty and can be very sarcastic, often making light of dire situations by making a playful remark. Especially with the Chief- the two of them have a very comfortable relationship, often joking with one another, though they never let it get in the way of their mission. Her humor is sometimes dry and tests those around her, especially Dr. Halsey, and there is sometimes a sense of crypticism about what she has to say, as well. She isn't incapable of being serious, though, and is very aware of how she needs to behave when the time calls for her it. Most of her joking is reserved for people she's more comfortable with, such as John, Halsey, and Sergeant Avery Johnson. Outside of them she presents herself in a much more formal manner. This behavior is also the one she adapts when the situation is dire- she tends to cut down on the chatter and the jokes when she needs to concentrate. She can be a little bit of a smartass, is very playful, and sometimes, even coy.

Similarly, as an AI, personality is something that she can turn on or off, depending on her situation- if she is in need of more processing power, shutting off her personality quirks can help, although it hinders her intuition. When she is bloated with the information copied from the first Halo, Installation 04, she considers freeing up processing power by hindering her personality, eventually deciding against it when she decides that she needs to be able to think on her feet and outside of the box in order to help Master Chief and the other Spartans to the best of her abilities. When she's that bogged down with information, Cortana was very short with the Spartans, sometimes seeming as if she was distracted, and taking longer to answer where usually her calculations and responses would be immediate. She works more sluggishly this way, and shows signs of self-doubt and aggravation- all of which were signs of rampancy. However, the information she was carrying was extremely important, and she couldn't clear any of it away. (In clearer terms, she risked her sanity to deliver this information to Earth.) Not only does she show signs of self-doubt, but her efficiency goes down greatly, and she makes more mistakes.

This is slightly remedied by another of her abilities: making copies of herself, something she learned from taking apart a Covenant AI on the Ascendant Justice. At first, she used this ability to free up space so that she could think and work more efficiently. This is an ability she continues to use later on, including making a copy of her infiltration software to give to the Spartans infiltrating the Unyielding Hierophant. The more copies she makes of herself, and the more copies that those copies make, the more incoherent and unable to operate they become.

Cortana is very honest about her abilities, not at all modest about what she is capable of, but not particularly arrogant about it, either (although it could come off that way, especially when she's noting that human capabilities are below her own- sorry, Polaski). She's merely objective about the fact that, as an AI, she can do more than a human can- and better. When she's told that her abilities will be needed elsewhere, she won't fight the order... Much. She does tend to express her opinion and prefers to do things herself than rely on the human touch. When she gets on a topic she is particularly knowledgeable or interested in, she likes to prove herself, and if not stopped, she could actually go on all day.

She is also very easily bored. For an AI, particularly a "Smart" AI, even seven seconds of inactivity is torturous. When she's bored, Cortana can get into a little bit of mischief. One instance in particular was when she was left with idle time while filling in as the on-board AI for the Pillar of Autumn. Easily capable of running all of the ship's systems without using much thinking power, she used her leftover time to take revenge on Colonel Ackerson, the man who had sabotaged a test run between her and the Master Chief on Reach by hacking into his system and using the information found there to put him in a position that would hopefully remove him from a seat of power. Before she had been assigned to any station, she constantly caused problems with ONI's security. It doesn't help that she's also a very curious person, who checks into things that interest her- including top secret files she doesn't have clearance to read- regularly. For Cortana, nearly everything she can do is so instantaneous that time feels like forever.

Cortana has unwavering loyalty to the UNSC and, particularly, John-117. While all AIs have some sort of built-in devotion to humanity, Cortana's is genuine and goes beyond what she's programmed to feel. She felt, even before they met, that the two of them were very closely matched, and the best pair for one another- as a matter of fact, she made sure of this by making a custom interface buffer to make their compatibility nearly perfect. She chose him, above and beyond all of the other Spartans in the SPARTAN II program. Dr. Halsey believes it may be because of her own fondness for him, but Cortana had done her research. Especially after finding out everything that had happened to him in the past regarding the SPARTAN II program, she vowed to protect him without compromising her mission. Her loyalty to him is the one thing to keep her from going over the edge of insanity while being tortured by Gravemind. She cares for him deeply and is horrified to find that Gravemind allows her to send him a message to warn him of the Flood which is used as a trap. She believes that no other AI could look after him like she does- it's safe to say he's the most important person to her.

As previously mentioned, there are many times where Cortana begins to show signs of rampancy. For UNSC "Smart" AIs, rampancy is a unavoidable flaw in the way they are created. Once they reach the beginning of the end of their seven year lifespan, they may sink into rampancy, starting with becoming detached and begin to show signs of clinical depression. This moves into a stages of anger where they may act out irrationally and put those around them in danger, and a stage of jealousy where they seek to grow and expand themselves.

These are all signs Cortana has shown, especially since being separated from Master Chief on Installation 04. She displayed signs of anger and self-doubt on the Ascendant Justice-Gettysburg, and the more copies she made of herself, the more she seemed to begin to lose her 'mind.' So overloaded with data and showing signs of becoming rampant, Dr. Halsey clears out some of her data to give her more room to think. This further proves that, for Cortana, memory and processor power are important to her function. This helps a little, however, after being captured by Gravemind on High Charity, the Covenant Holy City, Cortana furthers the damage to herself and pushes herself further into rampancy by creating more copies of herself to sacrifice to him as he attempts to torture her to gain information from her and ultimately, destroy her. During this time Cortana shows some of her most rampant moments, usually in the form of a 'Cortana Moment' in the game- the player is slowed to a stop, and Cortana's visage flickers upon the screen. This is how she conveys the message that Gravemind is on its way to Earth with the Flood, to warn Chief and the UNSC of the upcoming danger. She continues to appear to Chief in these same visions, in varying states of coherency, sometimes making little sense, other times quoting things Dr. Halsey had said in the past.

The final stage of rampancy is metastability, a state where an AI can be said to truly be a person, and where they are no longer a danger to those around them. Only two known AIs have reached a state of metastability- Cortana and Mendicant Bias, a Forerunner AI. In this stage an AI can operate normally. This is the state Cortana seemingly finds herself in at the end of Halo 3, pulling herself together after having being rescued by Master Chief from Gravemind, and the brink of rampancy. After causing a partially built Installation 04 to fire prematurely, she and Chief narrowly escape death... But end up stranded in space when the Slipspace portal they were escaping into collapses. After putting out a distress signal, the Master Chief goes into cryogenic sleep.

This is where Cortana's slow descent into rampancy truly begins, as shown in Halo Legends: Origins, where she shows signs of the early stages of rampancy. She seems confused, and attempts to do things that she would otherwise know are impossible- like trying to make physical contact with the Chief, or talking to him while he's in cryogenic sleep, knowing she'd get no response. She also begins to compile a report on the history of the Forerunners and humanity, and begins to make so many mistakes that the things she's relaying aren't even true anymore.

In summation, Cortana is a witty, sarcastic AI who has a deep devotion to John-117. Her abilities in hacking, processing thoughts and planning are top-notch, and her value to the UNSC as a Smart AI is unmatched. She's one of two known AIs to have possibly reached a state of metastability, but she may still be slipping into rampancy as time goes on.

» Appearance:

In the games, Cortana is easily described as 'the small blue woman.' That pretty much covers it.




I'm kidding, I'll give you more than that. Cortana is an AI, therefore, her appearance was selected for her. Her holographic image is a slender one, and entirely blue, with the exception of her hair (it's a dark blue or violet), eyes, and the markings on her body, which basically serve as clothing, emulating the look of a skintight jumpsuit (if you look closely, though, she's most definitely not wearing anything). Her face was modeled to resemble Nefertiri, although it is stated that she resembles in looks and personality the woman whose mind she was born from, Dr. Halsey. In her holoform, there are usually symbols and binary scrolling down her body- she literally wears her thoughts on her sleeves. Her color sometimes changes depending on her mood.

As a human, she will look much the same, though her skin will be less blue- she will be so pale that she will seem to be a bit on the blue side. The markings, in dark blue, will still cover her skin, and her hair will retain the cut and color that it does in her usual holographic image.

» Suitability: Cortana, while only being about 5-7 years old chronologically, is an artificial intelligence construct made by the United Nations Space Command, and has intelligence and knowledge far beyond that of most regular humans even three times that age. Her avatar is also of a woman anywhere from her late teens to her thirties. While she may not be very old in years, her personality, physical appearance and demeanor are that of a mature woman.


SAMPLES
» "amatomnes" Entry:

[ The extremely pale woman that appears onscreen, from the waist up, is completely nude, save for markings that seem to cover her entire body- bands of dark blue, violet spanning her arms, neck, chest, midsection... Almost as if they are to serve as clothing. She's frowning down at the device as she touches it, the cropped hair that frames her face moving with her head as she inspects it. ]

No AI interface... I'm not even sure I can anymore. There isn't any way to break out of its intranet, either. Strange... Maybe a audible distress signal would work..? This isn't a secure channel, but it's worth a shot...

[ She favors it for another moment, then speaks louder, obviously not just thinking aloud, tone of voice shifting to a more serious and official-sounding tone: ]

This is an emergency distress signal from UNSC MIL AI SERIAL NUMBER: CTN 0452-9 of Forward Unto Dawn, requesting immediate response and pick-up from nearby UNSC vessels. Unable to deliver stellar coordinates- we've exited Slipspace and arrived on an unknown colony. Awaiting any response, ping back for coordinates. Message ends.

[ She waits a few moments, her frown deepens. ]

It's vague, and little bit of a lie, but, it should work... And now, I suppose we wait.

[ She gives an exasperated sigh, lowering her head. She stays there for a moment then gives the device a woeful look. ]

Even for as old as you seem to be, you at least look like you'd be able to play telephone and provide me with an uplink to a UNSC frigate. There aren't even any outgoing signals I can piggy-back the distress call on, either. Did the distress beacon reach someone? I can't seem to figure out what colony this is... Because you- [ She pokes the device for emphasis. ] -won't even provide me with stellar coordinates...

But can you help me find him?

[ She waits a few moments, then regards the device with yet another harsh look. ] ... I can't believe I'm talking to you when you don't even have an AI interface.

What's going on here..? [ She raises a hand to her forehead, holding it there as the feed clicks off. ]

» "amatomneslogs" Entry:

Dreaming. She had been dreaming.

Which was strange, because she didn't normally do that. Not that it wouldn't have been nice... But it wasn't something she was capable of. This dream, if that was what it was, was, if she had to guess, an odd one. Something about it was familiar, and yet altogether surreal. The surreal part, being of course, that she was able to touch- feel. She could feel... She could feel him. Not in the way that she usually did, no. This was different. It was like no other experience she'd had during her operational lifespan. It was...

Real.

Or was it?

She could feel herself moving, touching, being touched in kind- she could only imagine that this was what it felt like, to be touched. It was marvelous. She reached upwards, hands bumping against skin, glancing into a set of eyes above hers-

Attractive... In a primitive sort of way.

It was too much.








Awakening.

It was not a sensation Cortana could say she was used to. She had never needed to rest, had never taken a moment to stop or to go on standby- not, at least, in the past 5 years. And this awakening was not like anything she'd experienced before- consciousness. The fogginess that came with it... So foreign. Yet, that wasn't the end of the abnormalities- because as she felt herself waking up further, she could feel- feel. All at once she felt what she could only describe as sensory overload- she could feel, she could smell- all things she'd been incapable of before. It took a moment before she was able to fully realize what was going on.

Not to mention how impossible it was.

The five senses- vision, audition, gestation, olfaction, tactition... All there. All of the inputs that provide for perception... For a human. For an AI like her- like she should be- it was all sensors, optical and auditory. Nothing organic like this. There was no way to smell, or feel, or taste... And yet, here she was, doing just that.

Confusion made way for curiosity- what had happened to cause this? Was there a way to fix it? (Did she want to fix it?) Could she move?

At least the last question was more easily answered.

Never before had she had to put so much effort into motion. Considering how easy it seemed for people to get around, she found it hard to believe that she actually had to focus so much on what she was doing. She felt as if it took an eternity to lift her arm from the mattress- an eternity, in fact, that actually only lasted a good 7 seconds. Satisfied, she tried the other one, then shifted her legs under the blanket- causing her entire body to stiffen.

There was something unpleasant about all of this- besides the fact that she'd been dreaming, the fact that she'd woken up with a living, breathing, organic body...

And that she was alone, which she'd only just now noticed.

"Chief?"

No answer, naturally. She was, after all, speaking into an empty room.

It had taken her too long to realize that- she was thinking much slower, could only focus on one thing at a time, and wasn't aware of as much as she normally would be. Time was wasted, and she needed to find him. The questions began to flood her mind, all questions she was incapable of answering for herself. Had they been picked up? Had something happened in Slipspace to cause this anomaly? (Had she lost it?) Was he...

Alive?

The questions kept piling up- the answers were apparently on break.

She'd have to make her own answers.

Slowly, she pushed herself into a seated position, making sure to be as slow and careful as possible. She didn't want to risk moving too quickly, as the possibility that something might go horribly wrong if she did crossed her mind. She didn't yet know how to operate this body, so she would have to be cautious until then. There had to be some explanation for this, and she didn't want to risk making herself inoperable before she found it. Once sitting, she decided it was time to try standing. Tremulously, she placed her hands on the edge of the bed and pushed herself to an upright position on her feet, wobbling forward slightly. Without thinking, her hands flew to her front to grab on to a nearby piece of furniture and keep her from tipping over.

"That's handy," she quipped, staring down at her hand gripping the edge of the table. She righted herself, arranging her feet properly, and then slowly let go. She didn't fall over, which was a good sign- she was adapting to this easier than she thought she would be able to.

The next step, literally, would be walking.

Placing her hand on the table again, she slid a foot forward, then picked up the other one and placed it beside it. With some difficulty, she managed to take a few steps, lifting her hand up. She bit her lip and took one step without the support. A little wobbly, but not bad at all. She pivoted, and that was when she caught sight of herself in the mirror.

At first, she stood transfixed, staring at her selected avatar reflected back at her. She was definitely more solid than what she was used to, and larger, as well. At least four feet larger, in fact. Still gazing at herself, she lifted a hand and placed it against the glass. She still looked the same- pale, not quite as blue as she had been, but definitely not the flesh tone of normal humans. All of the dark blue markings that covered her body were there, exactly the same as they always had been. Her hair, still cropped short in the back, was a sleek, shiny, almost black color, framing her face as it always did. "This is... Incredible," was all she finally managed to let out, slipping her hand down the image in front of her. There only seemed to be one thing out of place-

Around her neck, a thin silver band. She leaned forward, closer to the mirror, inspecting it. It looked almost like...

"Halo."

Or at least, that's what she thought it looked like, seemingly etched with the Forerunner symbology similar to that which they'd found on all of the constructs. Could this have been what had made her this way? That was almost certain. But did the Forerunners really have technology that could do this? Turn an AI program into an actual person? Another question to file away for later. Offhand, she wondered how much she could actually memorize before she'd need to purge information. Or would she simply forget? That seemed highly likely. She'd have to figure out some way to keep that from happening, especially if she thought of something important.

Right now, though, she needed to find some way to get in contact with the Chief, or, failing that, see if she could hail a UNSC ship from here. Wherever they were, it was almost certainly not in Slipspace, and didn't seem to be a ship, either, if the view out the window was any indication- she could see what didn't seem to be an artificial sky out the window. She couldn't calculate the probability in exact percentages fast enough with the way she was running right this second, so she settled for a 80/20 chance that this was an unknown planet with possible Forerunner connections and not a Slipspace anomaly.

... Or a dream, for that matter.

With all of that settled, she needed a way to get out a distress signal. Even if she were to find the Master Chief, she wouldn't exactly be doing her job if she didn't at least try to find some way to get them picked up. For that, though, she'd need some kind of uplink to a com buoy or satellite. Even if she was in her usual state, it would be impossible for her to send out a distress message without one. She needed some kind of terminal, maybe something she could use to tap into a central communications line. That was when she spotted it, sitting alone on the table beside the (rather luxurious, unlike anything she'd seen on any UNSC ships- or anywhere else, for that matter) bed she'd woken up in.

Slowly and carefully, she walked over to it and picked it up, turning it over to inspect it.

"A little archaic, but it should do," she concluded, and opened it up. How peculiar that their communications systems would be so ancient when they could do things like turn AIs into real people? Another unsolved mystery for her growing list, something else that could be answered after she got them- if there still was a 'them' (John, please be safe, I'm coming as fast as I can)- a ride out of here.

"Let's see..."