Editing Chakas

{{Era|Forerunner}}

{{Character infobox|hideb=true

|image=[[File:Chakas.JPG|270px]]

|height=Approx. {{Convert|1.67|m|ftin}}<ref name="height">[http://www.gregbear.com/blog/display.cfm?id=7464 '''Greg Bear - Discussion Board''': ''Topic: Cryptum and forerunners'']</ref>

'''Chakas''' (pronounced ''"Chay-kas"'')<ref>'''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGR1V7IRLXs Rebirth]'''</ref> was an [[Erde-Tyrene civilization|ancient]] [[human]] born on [[Earth]] during the [[Forerunner-Flood war]]. Having lived his youth on Earth, [[Erde-Tyrene civilization|then known as Erde-Tyrene]], he inadvertently became involved in the [[Forerunner]]s' schemes due to a [[geas]] the Forerunner [[Lifeshaper]], the [[Librarian]], had imprinted on him at birth. Although his physical body was eventually killed, his mind survived in the form of the [[Forerunner]] [[monitor]] later known as [[343 Guilty Spark]].<ref name="prim356">'''Halo: Primordium''' ''pages 356-357''</ref>

Chakas' family had a farm outside the city of [[Marontik]], but after his father was killed in a knife fight with a water baron's thugs and the family's crops failed, they moved to the city. There, he took up several menial tasks to make a living while his sisters went to serve as Prayer Maidens in a temple dedicated to the Lifeshaper.<ref name="primc2">'''Halo: Primordium''', ''Chapter 2''</ref> In Marontik, Chakas led a rough life of a small-time criminal and con man,<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 200''</ref> garnering some notoriety in robbing merchants outside the town and getting involved in fights, often for his own amusement.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 157''</ref> He attempted to justify some of his criminal acts as a pursuit to gather enough money for his family to bring his sisters back home from the temple.<ref name="p31">'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 31''</ref>

Soon after moving to the city, he began having dreams of meeting a [[Forerunner]] and then attacking and robbing him, in hopes of selling his "treasure" and using it to bring his sisters back from the temple to live with his family. Chakas, at the time barely twenty years old, was then visited by [[Riser]], a [[Florian]], who offered him work and guidance if he stopped getting into trouble, saying that he had seen someone like him in a dream. Chakas accepted, and Riser showed him various places where he could find useful work. Chakas also provided protection to Riser's clan, which in exchange fed Chakas' family.{{Ref/Reuse|primc2}} Riser would become Chakas' counterpart and most trusted friend. The Florian showed Chakas the sacred caves outside of Marontik,<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 220''</ref> where he would undergo a scarification ceremony marking his passage into manhood.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 53''</ref>

When the Forerunner [[Manipular]] known as [[Bornstellar Makes Eternal Lasting]] arrived in Marontik (unknowingly as a result of the Librarian's manipulation), Chakas and Riser were working for a collective of guides.<ref name="c23">'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 23''</ref> At the time, Chakas was not yet twenty years old.<ref name="Renegades268">'''[[Halo: Renegades]]''', ''page 268''</ref> After the Manipular enlisted their aid in his quest for [[Precursor]] artifacts, the two humans joined the young Forerunner on an expedition to the [[Djamonkin Crater]], where Bornstellar found the [[Ur-Didact|Didact]]'s [[Cryptum]]. Here, thanks to a geas implemented by the Librarian, he along with Riser sang a sound code, programmed into their geas, that authorized the opening of the Cryptum and the awakening of the Didact.<ref>'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 60''</ref> The Didact reacted to Chakas with anger, the human being much like the ones who had fought the Forerunners in the [[human-Forerunner wars]].<ref>'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 82''</ref>

The Didact took Chakas, Riser and Bornstellar along on his [[Didact's ship|his ship]] as he left Earth, first heading to [[Charum Hakkor]] and later to [[Janjur Qom]], the [[San'Shyuum]] homeworld, in the hope this would spark a memory imprinted by the Librarian that could help the Didact. On the way, they also began discovering memories of their ancestors who fought in the human-Forerunner wars, imprinted as part of their geas.<ref name="c130">'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 130''</ref> On Janjur Qom, Chakas was imprisoned by the [[Master Builder]] [[Faber]] along with Riser and the Didact. The Master Builder ordered Chakas and Riser to be delivered to [[Installation 07]], which he was using to conduct experiments in secret.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''pages 206-208''</ref>

{{Quote|The horizon curved upward to both sides. Not good, not right. Horizons do not curve up.|Chakas' first assessments regarding the unfamiliar environment of the Halo.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 27''</ref>}}

Later, the ship carrying Chakas was caught in the [[Fate of Maethrillian|massive battle]] around the Forerunner [[Capital]] and destroyed. Chakas, accompanied by several Forerunner guards, fled in an escape pod which made a rough landing on the surface of [[Installation 07]], one of the [[Halo Array|Halos]] under control of the rampant AI [[Mendicant Bias]]. Injured, Chakas was discovered and tended to by a human girl known as [[Vinnevra]], from whom Chakas learned that the Halo was home to various species and subspecies of humans, who collectively referred to themselves as [[Tudejsa|"the People"]]. While initially unable to understand or speak their ancient language, Chakas managed to obtain the knowledge he needed from the old memories his ''[[geas]]'' gave him.<ref name="primc1">'''Halo: Primordium''', ''Chapter 1''</ref> Many of these humans had been transplanted on the ring long ago by the Librarian, while others had been brought in more recently by the Master Builder, who used humans in his cruel experiments on the Flood.

It was here that the consciousness of [[Forthencho|Forthencho, Lord of Admirals]], who had commanded the [[Prehistoric human civilization|human]] military forces against the Didact's fleets in the [[Battle of Charum Hakkor|final battle]] of [[Charum Hakkor]], surfaced alongside Chakas' own mind instead of Chakas getting memories from multiple deceased prehistoric humans. The other personalities subsequently appeared  to go dormant as Chakas later stated that he could no longer feel them.<ref name="p185">'''[[Halo: Primordium]]''', ''Page 185''</ref> After Chakas had recovered, Vinnevra took him to see her grandfather, [[Gamelpar]], who explained that he was also born on Earth and, like Chakas, held an "old spirit", or ancestral personality imprint, within him. Vinnevra then began to experience an urgent need to travel to where she assumed it would be safe; this was actually due to a geas imposed on the humans born on the Halo. Chakas, hoping to find Riser, joined Vinnevra and Gamelpar as they decided to leave the village and follow Vinnevra's geas. As they approached their destination, however, they discovered that Vinnevra's geas was leading them to what the humans called a [[Palace of Pain]]; a [[Flood research facility|Flood research station]] where the Forerunners conducted experiments on humans. Observing the facility from a distance, Chakas, Vinnevra and Gamelpar witnessed numerous humans being herded into the structure by the [[Primordial]], supposedly the last [[Precursor]]. Horrified, the three then decided to move in the opposite direction. After traveling for some time, they arrived at the shores of a large lake where they came across an abandoned human city. Exploring the city, Chakas and Gamelpar discovered a [[Proto-Gravemind]] imprisoned in a Forerunner energy cage, and promptly left.

The entire area then experienced a power outage, powering down the monitors and the holograms of the archived humans. As Chakas, Vinnevra and Mara moved on, Riser joined them, having observed them from a distance for some time. Chakas was joyous at being reunited with his friend, who then proceeded to explain how he had stumbled upon them. The two also allowed their "old spirits" to converse with one another; it turned out that Riser carried the consciousness of [[Yprin Yprikushma]], who was once a political opponent of Forthencho. After the two ancient humans had finished their exchange, Chakas and the rest of the group continued their journey, directed once again by Vinnevra's geas. Starving and exhausted after traveling for several days, they eventually came across a rail transport and boarded it. The transport took them to a Lifeworker research station, where they were instructed to enter a [[anti-gravity gondola|boat-like vehicle]] with an uncertain destination.

The transport took them deep within the interior of the Halo, all the way down to the lair of the rampant AI Mendicant Bias itself, where many more humans had been rounded up. There, Chakas had his mind thoroughly scoured by the AI, in an agonizing process which made him lose all perception of time and place and forcing him to experience simulations of memories—real or fabricated—including numerous repeating journeys across the Halo. Eventually, Chakas' and the other humans' ancient personality imprints were brutally removed using the [[Composer]], causing them severe physical and mental trauma. The humans were then rounded up by Mendicant Bias, who offered them the choice to help it fight its former masters with their "old spirits", who had been placed into monitors. Their first task was to save the Halo from an impending collision with [[Installation 07's failsafe planet|a planet]]; the Halo had been programmed to enter a destructive course as a security measure should it fall in the wrong hands. Though Chakas was hesitant, Forthencho lied to Mendicant Bias that he had accepted, and the two were taken to the Halo's [[Cartographer]] facility to interface with the Halo's controls and help coordinate its movements.

{{main|343 Guilty Spark}}

[[File:H2A - Guilty Spark close-up.jpg|thumb|left|200px|343 Guilty Spark in [[2552]].]]

Some time later, Chakas awakened to find himself in a life-support system which sustained his mortally wounded body, accompanied by the IsoDidact. The Didact explained that Chakas' body would not recover from the trauma inflicted by Mendicant Bias' extraction of his imprint, but that his mind would be [[Mind transfer|salvaged and converted]] into a monitor. Forthencho and numerous other ancient human essences, as well as records of the Librarian's various experiments, would also be stored within this construct. While the conversion process was still underway, the Didact took Chakas with him to the bowels of Installation 07. The Didact explained that he had Chakas accompany him in his interrogation of the Primordial in order to erase an imprint the Primordial had placed within his mind. After the Didact interrogated and eventually executed the Primordial, Chakas' physical body was disposed of and he began to serve the Forerunners in the form of a monitor.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 350-357''</ref>

At the end of the Forerunners' war with the Flood, he was assigned as the caretaker of [[Installation 04]] and given the name 343 Guilty Spark by the IsoDidact. A large portion of his memories and knowledge were suppressed due to compartmentalization protocols put in place as a security measure against the [[Flood]]'s [[logic plague]].<ref name="s330">'''Halo: Silentium''', ''page 330''</ref> He would again encounter humans during the [[Battle of Installation 04]] late to the [[Human-Covenant War]] in [[2552]]. He continued to interact with the [[Reclaimer]]s until he was severely damaged by [[John-117]] in the endgame of the [[Raid on Installation 08]],<ref>'''[[Halo 3]]''', campaign level ''[[Halo (Halo 3 level)|Halo]]''</ref> but never revealed his nature as a former human being.

During the {{UNSCShip|Rubicon}}'s mission to [[Installation 00]], the severely damaged remains of Guilty Spark were recovered from the Ark by a [[United Nations Space Command|UNSC]] science team and taken aboard the ship.<ref name="EH">'''[[Eleventh Hour reports]]''', ''part 4''</ref> The science team proceeded to query the ancient human on the [[Didact]] and the historical nature of Forerunner-human relations. The damaged monitor then told the humans the story of his life and how he was transformed into a monitor.{{Ref/Reuse|primc1}} While telling his story, the monitor constantly made breaches through the ship's firewalls, in order to access the humans' historical and palaeontological records, which greatly frustrated and distressed the UNSC personnel. After the monitor had finished, it shut down completely and was ejected into space by order of the [[ONI]] team commander. However, Chakas had inconspicuously transferred his data stream into the ship's system, and soon took over the entire ship, planning to use it and its crew in his quest to find the Librarian, who he claimed to know was still alive after examining and studying her fate for the last 100,000 years.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 378-379''</ref>

After the ''Rubicon'' crashed on [[Geranos-a]], Spark repaired, combined or jettisoned all of his personality streams until only Chakas and 343 Guilty Spark remained.<ref name="Renegades140">'''[[Halo: Renegades]]''', ''page 140''</ref> By the time he was found by the ''[[Ace of Spades]]'', Spark's personality was a mixture of the two but with more of Chakas in control than Guilty Spark. Going by Spark, he found himself horrified at what he had become over his 100,000 years as a monitor and made it his mission to find the [[Librarian]] to bring Chakas' old friends back. After revealing his history to the crew, Spark rejected Chakas as his avatar, instead choosing a holographic representation of his [[armiger]]. When Spark finally [[Mission to Mount Kilimanjaro|met with]] a personality imprint of the Librarian below [[Mount Kilimanjaro]], he used the image of Chakas and was referred to as such by the Librarian. The Librarian helped Spark to remember his struggles containing the essence of [[Forthencho]], Lord of Admirals and made him let his old friends go as they were at peace. Instead, Spark saw that the crew of the ''Ace of Spades'' were the friends he was looking for all along and he moved forward with his life as part of the crew. The Librarian also stated that Spark was a singular marvel: a being that had evolved on his own, perhaps out of necessity, but one that could still have a great impact on things to come. While communicating with [[Rion Forge]], the Librarian told her to take care of Spark who she called more fragile and important than Rion could ever know.<ref>'''[[Halo: Renegades]]'''</ref>

After Spark leaves the ''Ace of Spades'' to act as the caretaker of [[Bastion]], Spark uses the form of Chakas in his final transmission to Rion, "the man he was, perhaps a little older and wiser now." When Rion gets emotional, Spark throws her a lopsided grin and calls it a parting gift. Rion considered it the best parting gift that Spark could've given her.<ref>'''[[Halo: Point of Light]]''', ''page 308''</ref>

{{Quote|You are still afraid to be alone, without family or friends... And yet that is your natural condition, no? A thief. A con artist. What if being alone is the only way you can survive?|[[Forthencho]] to Chakas.<ref name="Halo page 202">'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 202''</ref>}}

For a significant portion of his youth, Chakas was a largely amoral opportunist, frequently engaging in irregular acts of fraud, robbery and physical violence for personal gain or simply for the thrill of it. He later reflected on himself as having been ignorant, foolish and immature, and lacking any particular goal until he met Riser, who provided him a focus in work and purpose.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 29-31''</ref> Chakas changed a great deal since leaving [[Earth|Erde-Tyrene]], especially after examining the memory imprints of his ancestors.{{Ref/Reuse|c130}} He despised the realization of his own inferiority in comparison to the knowledge and understanding possessed by his ancient memories.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 45''</ref> Virtually all of his beliefs, such as the afterlife of the humans' animistic religion, were taken apart during his travels; after experiencing so many things beyond his comprehension, he could only see his past worldview as antiquated.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 275''</ref>

Having lived much of his life fending off for himself with his personal interests in mind, Chakas was not a particularly social person. He regarded Riser as his closest friend and the more social counterpart.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 76''</ref> The two often used the Florian language to communicate with one another, something the cha''manush'' rarely did outside of their own kind.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 213-214''</ref> After being separated from Riser on Installation 07, he came to realize just how much he had come to depend on him. He was apprehensive of forming new attachments and despised responsibilities placed upon himself, such as Gamelpar having him promise to take care of his granddaughter.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''pages 245-248''</ref> However, over time, he also found himself caring for her, although he attempted to deny this even to himself; Forthencho's imprint dryly commented on the immaturity of this.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 128''</ref>

Chakas' relationship with the Forerunners was complex and conflicted. For much of his early life, like most humans of the time, he viewed the Forerunners as gods who controlled human lives from far away.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 274''</ref> During the journey on Installation 07, he came to resent the Forerunners' meddling and their often incomprehensible acts of cruelty. He even became somewhat disillusioned with the Librarian after realizing she was not the all-powerful deity he had come to view her as.<ref name="Halo page 202">'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 202''</ref><ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 305''</ref> Despite this, he eventually decided against cooperating with his ancestors' essences in Mendicant Bias's ploy and chose to help the Forerunners instead.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 317''</ref>

When first meeting Bornstellar, Chakas planned to trick the Manipular and rob him when the opportunity presented itself, as he had seen in his dreams for some time. However, he soon found that he and Bornstellar were much alike, both possessing a rebellious mentality and a passion for adventure. Despite his initial plans, Chakas could not bring himself to hurt the Manipular.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''pages 34-35''</ref> Chakas did not seem intimidated by Bornstellar at first, although he was somewhat resentful for dragging him into the adventure later on. In the long run, he did not appear to be upset with Bornstellar; years later, after his conversion into a monitor, Chakas still remembered him as an old friend.<ref>'''Halo: Silentium''', ''page 313-314''</ref>

While his biological body was killed and disposed of, the complete pattern of his body was transferred to the monitor construct and the Didact stated that he would be able to simulate physical sensations - much like the machine-archived humans he had previously encountered in Genemender's village.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 357''</ref> Chakas compared his new existence—a construct housing numerous human essences—to the "Finger of the First Man", an ancient human myth about the first human who held the souls of all human beings in his finger.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 371''</ref>

Chakas was a Homo sapiens, known in his time as a ha''manune'', and thus closest to modern humans of the many human species of his time.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 169''</ref> Slightly below 170 centimeters in height,{{Ref/Reuse|height}} he was mostly hairless, had bronze-colored skin and greasy black hair.<ref>'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 12''</ref>

Chakas is one of the main characters in the ''[[The Forerunner Saga|Forerunner Saga]]'' novel ''[[Halo: Cryptum]]'' and the main protagonist and narrator of ''[[Halo: Primordium]]''.<ref>[http://www.amazon.com/Halo-Primordium-Greg-Bear/dp/0765323974/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1311822205&sr=1-3 '''Amazon.com''': ''Halo: Primordium'' product description]</ref> His character originated during the initial discussions on the creation of ''The Forerunner Saga'' between [[Greg Bear]] and [[343 Industries]]. Greg Bear's son and fellow writer Erik Bear suggested that the Forerunner protagonist needed a human sidekick. When presenting this idea to the fiction team of 343 Industries, [[Frank O'Connor]] was initially skeptical until coming up with the idea that this human character would eventually become 343 Guilty Spark. Greg Bear described Guilty Spark's character as "perverse", and many aspects of Chakas' character were indeed influenced by Guilty Spark's peculiar and often contradictory behavior.<ref name="sparkast 17">[http://waypointassets.blob.core.windows.net/mobilecontent/legacysupport/content/assets/en-us/podcast/343Sparkast_017.mp3 '''Halo Waypoint''': ''343 Sparkast 017'']</ref>

[[Category:Prehistoric humans]]