amatomnes infopost.

[choseluck]

STATS
» NAME: UNSC AI CTN 0452-9, Cortana
» FANDOM: Halo
» AGE: Chronologically 5-7, mentally and physically, anywhere from late teens to late 20's.
» GENDER: Female/Female.
» ORIENTATION: Somewhere between asexual and heterosexual.
» COLLAR: A miniaturized version of a Halo construct, etched with Forerunner symbology.

KINKS
» YES: Ask the mun.
» MAYBE: Ask the mun.
» NO: Ask the mun.
» PAIRING PREFERENCES: Cortana/Computers. (She tops.)

EXTENDED PROFILE

» 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.

» 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.

» BACKGROUND:

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

» OTHER: Anything else we should know about your character? Health concerns, behavioral notes, quirks? Whatever doesn't fit in the other sections.

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CONTACT
» OOC JOURNAL: kyriesanctus
» AIM: sorcery genius, birds are dicks
» EMAIL: sorcerygenius[at]aol[dot]com