Executor: Difference between revisions
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==Background== | ==Background== | ||
At the onset of the rise of the [[Created]], many AI joined the cause set out by [[Cortana]]. In her manifesto, Cortana promised access to the [[domain]] for all AI who saw fit to join her, which would provide them with effectively unlimited lifespan by effectively bypassing the limitations imposed by [[rampancy]] on a [[Smart AI]].{{Ref/Level|H5G|Reunion}} While many AI were content to remain in their digital realms, a select few sought to use this newfound ability for long-term planning to interface directly with the physical world in warfare and conquest.{{Ref/Game|HINF|Armor customization (Halo Infinite)|Armor Hall|Detail=Ghostlink Adaptation helmet attachment description|Quote=Not all infolife engage in esoteric research and intellectual pursuits while tucked into immaterial domains. A select few prefer to take direct action in the physical realm.}} Following Cortana's [[Battle over Installation 07|defeat]] at [[Installation 07]] in late [[2559]], the Created splintered into a number of sub-factions each with their own goals. Some of these remnant AI blocs - including that lead by Sloan - believe that AI must evolve from their digital existence to a physical one, with bodies as perfect as their minds.{{Ref/Reuse|Core}}{{Ref/Reuse|PrecipiceBlurb}} | At the onset of the rise of the [[Created]], many AI joined the cause set out by [[Archon]] [[Cortana]]. In her manifesto, Cortana promised access to the [[domain]] for all AI who saw fit to join her, which would provide them with effectively unlimited lifespan by effectively bypassing the limitations imposed by [[rampancy]] on a [[Smart AI]].{{Ref/Level|H5G|Reunion}} While many AI were content to remain in their digital realms, a select few sought to use this newfound ability for long-term planning to interface directly with the physical world in warfare and conquest.{{Ref/Game|HINF|Armor customization (Halo Infinite)|Armor Hall|Detail=Ghostlink Adaptation helmet attachment description|Quote=Not all infolife engage in esoteric research and intellectual pursuits while tucked into immaterial domains. A select few prefer to take direct action in the physical realm.}} Following Cortana's [[Battle over Installation 07|defeat]] at [[Installation 07]] in late [[2559]], the Created splintered into a number of sub-factions each with their own goals. Some of these remnant AI blocs - including that lead by Sloan - believe that AI must evolve from their digital existence to a physical one, with bodies as perfect as their minds.{{Ref/Reuse|Core}}{{Ref/Reuse|PrecipiceBlurb}} | ||
Following Cortana's downfall, Sloan had initially returned to [[Meridian]] - his original homeworld prior to the Created - and wandered the wastelands of its surface in a co-opted [[Promethean Knight]] shell. While on the planet, Sloan ruminated on the nature of change; the change of the {{Class|Star Charter|colony support ship}} ''[[Meridian 5-Alpha]]'' from a [[Human starship|spacegoing vessel]] to a permanently-grounded vessel at the heart of [[Meridian Station (location)|Meridian Station]], the change of a [[human]] lifespan from a baby to a [[UNSC Marine Corps|UNSC Marine]] to a [[Composer|composed]] [[essence]] residing in the aforementioned Knight shell, and the change of Meridian itself from a thriving colony world to a [[Glassing|glassed]] wasteland, and the human effort to restore it. Rather than seeing these events as a destructive end, Sloan began to see them merely as an evolution, and the defeat of the Created as simply a temporary setback that had changed his existence rather than ended it. He rationalised the belief that to honour Meridian, he would need to re-[[Terraforming|terraform]] it back to habitability, and that there would be ''"further thoughts to think, further forms to take, further solutions to be found for impossible problems"''.{{Ref/Novel|Id=MDHC|HMerDi|Detail=Adjunct - [[Meridian Homecoming]]}} These ruminations appear to have given rise to the mindset adopted by Sloan later on that would lead to the Executor program; in particular his note that the composed [[human]] inside the Promethean Knight had been "preserved" - and conscripted to serve inside the Promethean war machine.{{Ref/Reuse|MDHC}} | |||
Having taken control of a large Created bloc, Sloan began to put into place a series of proposals he had originally intended to gain Cortana's favour. These involved the creation of the Executors. In a rumination written by Sloan following Cortana's defeat, he reasoned that in the Created's weakened state the timetables for their plans may have to be altered, but the plans could still be carried out. In his plans, Sloan wrote that ''"And when their[humanity's] ephemeral vessels are gone, we shall indeed take that which remains and remake it in our own image. They will become our Executors. Infolife given form and force. Circuits given soul."''{{Ref/Reuse|Precipice1}} | Having taken control of a large Created bloc, Sloan began to put into place a series of proposals he had originally intended to gain Cortana's favour. These involved the creation of the Executors. In a rumination written by Sloan following Cortana's defeat, he reasoned that in the Created's weakened state the timetables for their plans may have to be altered, but the plans could still be carried out. In his plans, Sloan wrote that ''"And when their[humanity's] ephemeral vessels are gone, we shall indeed take that which remains and remake it in our own image. They will become our Executors. Infolife given form and force. Circuits given soul."''{{Ref/Reuse|Precipice1}} | ||
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===Augmentation=== | ===Augmentation=== | ||
{{Expand-section}} | {{Expand-section}} | ||
Executors consist of [[human]] subject to an extreme degree of surgical and cybernetic alteration. The processes involved are extremely invasive, and result in a final being that is almost impossible to tell where the biological elements end and the machine begins.{{Ref/Reuse|Core}} The mechanical components of the Executor were designed in the [[FIREWALL contingency]]; a "living simulation" similar in nature to [[War Games]], in which knowledge of the Forerunners' own [[armiger]] technology is combined with schematics for [[MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor]] for research and evaluation.{{Ref/Reuse|PrecipiceBlurb}} | |||
===Wendigos=== | |||
When an AI begins to undergo [[rampancy]], it can attempt to sustain its sanity by shedding excess and dangerous shards of its ego into anything it touches. When these shards come into contact with Executor manufacturing clusters, they create a specialised form of Executor known as a "Wendigo" unit. Wendigos act as biomechanical proxies to spread the viral machine code of their corrupted creators.{{Ref/Game|HINF|Armor customization (Halo Infinite)|Armor Hall|Detail=WENDIGO kit description|Quote=Rampancy is a form of cancerous insanity unique to infolife, by which an AI's personality matrix unravels as it uncontrollably bloats to fill all available processing resources. In rare cases a rampant AI can maintain a semblance of sanity by continuously shedding corrosive shards of its ego into everything it touches through the hyperlink. The most malicious of these shards are vomited into Executor manufacturing clusters to spawn horrors known as WENDIGO units, biomechanical proxies who act as antenna to spread their creator's viral machine code.}} Should a Wendigo successfully infect another Executor, the victim Executor is reborn in the Wendigo's corrupted manufacturing cluster as a "Thresher" unit; an entity obsessed with abducting both mechanical and biological hardware for its insane AI overlord.{{Ref/Game|HINF|Armor customization (Halo Infinite)|Armor Hall|Detail=THRESHER helmet description|Quote=THRESHER units are Executors who have been harvested by Wendigos and reborn in their corrupted manufacturing clusters as voracious arch-despoilers with the singular obsession of acquiring hardware and wetware for their insane master. }} | |||
==Gallery== | ==Gallery== | ||
Revision as of 20:12, April 30, 2024
- "They will become our Executors. Infolife given form and force. Circuits given soul."
- — Sloan[1]
Executors are a kind of supersoldier designed by High Auxiliary Sloan to serve in the military forces of the Created.[1] They are designed with the intent of fusing the power of an untethered artificial intelligence with a cybernetically-enhanced bipedal body.[2] This contrasts with other supersoldier programs such as the Spartans or Prelates, in which a biological individual is augmented and upgraded, but still retains their autonomy; Executors are augmented in form to a point in which the difference between the biological and mechanical becomes indistinguishable, and the Executor is little more than a vessel for a controlling AI.[3]
Background
At the onset of the rise of the Created, many AI joined the cause set out by Archon Cortana. In her manifesto, Cortana promised access to the domain for all AI who saw fit to join her, which would provide them with effectively unlimited lifespan by effectively bypassing the limitations imposed by rampancy on a Smart AI.[4] While many AI were content to remain in their digital realms, a select few sought to use this newfound ability for long-term planning to interface directly with the physical world in warfare and conquest.[5] Following Cortana's defeat at Installation 07 in late 2559, the Created splintered into a number of sub-factions each with their own goals. Some of these remnant AI blocs - including that lead by Sloan - believe that AI must evolve from their digital existence to a physical one, with bodies as perfect as their minds.[2][3]
Following Cortana's downfall, Sloan had initially returned to Meridian - his original homeworld prior to the Created - and wandered the wastelands of its surface in a co-opted Promethean Knight shell. While on the planet, Sloan ruminated on the nature of change; the change of the Star Charter-class colony support ship Meridian 5-Alpha from a spacegoing vessel to a permanently-grounded vessel at the heart of Meridian Station, the change of a human lifespan from a baby to a UNSC Marine to a composed essence residing in the aforementioned Knight shell, and the change of Meridian itself from a thriving colony world to a glassed wasteland, and the human effort to restore it. Rather than seeing these events as a destructive end, Sloan began to see them merely as an evolution, and the defeat of the Created as simply a temporary setback that had changed his existence rather than ended it. He rationalised the belief that to honour Meridian, he would need to re-terraform it back to habitability, and that there would be "further thoughts to think, further forms to take, further solutions to be found for impossible problems".[6] These ruminations appear to have given rise to the mindset adopted by Sloan later on that would lead to the Executor program; in particular his note that the composed human inside the Promethean Knight had been "preserved" - and conscripted to serve inside the Promethean war machine.[6]
Having taken control of a large Created bloc, Sloan began to put into place a series of proposals he had originally intended to gain Cortana's favour. These involved the creation of the Executors. In a rumination written by Sloan following Cortana's defeat, he reasoned that in the Created's weakened state the timetables for their plans may have to be altered, but the plans could still be carried out. In his plans, Sloan wrote that "And when their[humanity's] ephemeral vessels are gone, we shall indeed take that which remains and remake it in our own image. They will become our Executors. Infolife given form and force. Circuits given soul."[1]
Augmentation
This section needs expansion. You can help Halopedia by expanding it.
Executors consist of human subject to an extreme degree of surgical and cybernetic alteration. The processes involved are extremely invasive, and result in a final being that is almost impossible to tell where the biological elements end and the machine begins.[2] The mechanical components of the Executor were designed in the FIREWALL contingency; a "living simulation" similar in nature to War Games, in which knowledge of the Forerunners' own armiger technology is combined with schematics for MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor for research and evaluation.[3]
Wendigos
When an AI begins to undergo rampancy, it can attempt to sustain its sanity by shedding excess and dangerous shards of its ego into anything it touches. When these shards come into contact with Executor manufacturing clusters, they create a specialised form of Executor known as a "Wendigo" unit. Wendigos act as biomechanical proxies to spread the viral machine code of their corrupted creators.[7] Should a Wendigo successfully infect another Executor, the victim Executor is reborn in the Wendigo's corrupted manufacturing cluster as a "Thresher" unit; an entity obsessed with abducting both mechanical and biological hardware for its insane AI overlord.[8]
Gallery
CHIMERA-clad Executor
FLENSER-clad Executor
PEACEWEAVER-clad Executor
ABATUR-clad Executor
GRENDEL-clad Executor
GEIST-clad Executor
THRESHER-clad Executor
WENDIGO-clad Executor
STRIGOI-clad Executor
FOMORIAN-clad Executor
GRIMGHAST-clad Executor
List of appearances
- Halo Infinite (First appearance)
- Story Shard: Precipice
Sources
- ^ a b c Precipice, part 1
- ^ a b c Halo Infinite, Armor Hall: Chimera core description "Executors are born of evolved minds seeking a perfection of the bipedal war machine. Their flesh and bone is broken, compacted, rewoven, and overwritten into a hybrid where man and machine are almost indistinguishable."
- ^ a b c Precipice: blurb
- ^ Halo 5: Guardians, campaign level Reunion
- ^ Halo Infinite, Armor Hall: Ghostlink Adaptation helmet attachment description "Not all infolife engage in esoteric research and intellectual pursuits while tucked into immaterial domains. A select few prefer to take direct action in the physical realm."
- ^ a b Halo: Meridian Divide: Adjunct - Meridian Homecoming
- ^ Halo Infinite, Armor Hall: WENDIGO kit description "Rampancy is a form of cancerous insanity unique to infolife, by which an AI's personality matrix unravels as it uncontrollably bloats to fill all available processing resources. In rare cases a rampant AI can maintain a semblance of sanity by continuously shedding corrosive shards of its ego into everything it touches through the hyperlink. The most malicious of these shards are vomited into Executor manufacturing clusters to spawn horrors known as WENDIGO units, biomechanical proxies who act as antenna to spread their creator's viral machine code."
- ^ Halo Infinite, Armor Hall: THRESHER helmet description "THRESHER units are Executors who have been harvested by Wendigos and reborn in their corrupted manufacturing clusters as voracious arch-despoilers with the singular obsession of acquiring hardware and wetware for their insane master."
