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==Background== | ==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]].{{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|Id=Ghostlink|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|Id=Ghostlink|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 | |||
Following Cortana's downfall, Sloan had initially returned to [[Meridian]] | 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 [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 [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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{{Quote|It is our path forward. It is my purpose redefined. And it starts with one.|Sloan, regarding [[The Executor]].{{Ref/Reuse|PrecipiceBlurb}}}} | {{Quote|It is our path forward. It is my purpose redefined. And it starts with one.|Sloan, regarding [[The Executor]].{{Ref/Reuse|PrecipiceBlurb}}}} | ||
{{Main|The Executor}} | {{Main|The Executor}} | ||
The [[The Executor|first Executor]] consisted of an unidentified individual who was one of the many refugees to arrive on [[Reach]], fleeing the [[Human-Covenant War]]. While on Reach, this individual began to uncover evidence of the [[ | The [[The Executor|first Executor]] consisted of an unidentified individual who was one of the many refugees to arrive on [[Reach]], fleeing the [[Human-Covenant War]]. While on Reach, this individual began to uncover evidence of the [[Assembly]]; a cabal of artificial intelligences that had sequestered away to guide and influence humanity from the sidelines. While the Assembly shared knowledge with the individual, they also manipulated them, eventually sending them insane.{{Ref/Novel|Id=Precipice4|Precipice|Chapter=part 4}}{{Ref/Game|HR|Data pads}} When the Assembly and this individual were later discovered by Sloan, he began to model much of his rebuilt Created bloc on the Assembly - and in doing so also took the individual they had manipulated into his fold. The individual was then subject to the rigours of Sloan's [[FIREWALL contingency|FIREWALL]] simulations, designed to test various hypothetical scenarios and prepare the Executor for real-world missions.{{Ref/Site|Id=CFShocks|URL=https://www.halowaypoint.com/news/canon-fodder-system-shocks|Site=Halo Waypoint|Page=Canon Fodder - System Shocks|D=30|M=06|Y=2023}} | ||
After these simulations, a vote was cast by the AI of the Created, with the [[Created Majority|Majority]] and [[Created Minority|Minority]] voting on what form the Executor would take. This culminated in the Executor's first live mission: a deployment to hunt down the AI [[Athos]] and recruit him into Sloan's cause. In return, Athos was given control of the Executor for his own personal use.{{Ref/Novel|Id=Precipice3|Precipice|Chapter=3}} | After these simulations, a vote was cast by the AI of the Created, with the [[Created Majority|Majority]] and [[Created Minority|Minority]] voting on what form the Executor would take. This culminated in the Executor's first live mission: a deployment to hunt down the AI [[Athos]] and recruit him into Sloan's cause. In return, Athos was given control of the Executor for his own personal use.{{Ref/Novel|Id=Precipice3|Precipice|Chapter=3}} | ||
=== | ===Data wars=== | ||
While at present, only one (aforementioned) Executor is known to exist,{{Ref/Reuse|CFShocks}} this has not prevented the various assemblies and Created remnant artificial intelligences from beginning to look into obtaining Executors of their own | While at present, only one (aforementioned) Executor is known to exist,{{Ref/Reuse|CFShocks}} this has not prevented the various assemblies and Created remnant artificial intelligences from beginning to look into obtaining Executors of their own - for use in combating one another alongside fighting against conventional military opponents. As such, a vast number of designs exist for hypothetical future Executors intended for use under a resurgent Created command.{{Ref/Reuse|CFShocks}} | ||
The inter- | The inter-aseembly data wars fought by AI have seen energy shielding technology at the forefront of their competition.{{Ref/Game|Id=Karmawall|HINF|Armor customization (Halo Infinite)|Armor Hall|Detail=Karmawall Augmentor shoulder description|Quote=Field-shaping technology is the subject of violent inter-assembly competition and data wars. The unique adaptation waveguides contained with this augmentor can be enabled or disabled with hyperlink network updates.}} | ||
The prized nature of Executors means that a priority is ensuring that rival AI assemblies are not able to analyse and replicate them. This necessitates the use of [[Nuclear weapon|nuclear]]-scale self-destruct devices in some Executors for particularly valuable units.{{Ref/Game|Id=Defiance|HINF|Armor customization (Halo Infinite)|Armor Hall|Detail=Defiance Protocol chest description|Quote=Valuable Executors may be fitted with sub-tactical thermonuclear self-destruct devices to deny their minds and production data to rival assemblies in cases where recovery is deemed cost ineffective.}} | |||
The prized nature of Executors means that a priority is ensuring that rival AI assemblies are not able to analyse and replicate them. This necessitates the use of [[Nuclear weapon|nuclear]]-scale self-destruct devices in some Executors for particularly valuable units | |||
==Design details== | ==Design details== | ||
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===Construction, armour, and shielding=== | ===Construction, armour, and shielding=== | ||
The biomechanical construction of the Executor is a substance known as "organic metal". Some Executors may be outfitted with an Organic Metal Extender (OME); a chest-mounted device that is (in theory) capable of reconstructing an Executor in full from scraps of flesh and endoskeleton. The OME cannot, however, replace a destroyed cortical stack.{{Ref/Game|Id=OME|HINF|Armor customization (Halo Infinite)|Armor Hall|Detail=Organic Metal Extender chest description|Quote=In theory, given enough time, the OME can rebuild an Executor's body from broken scraps of flesh and endoskeleton. Unfortunately, it cannot replace a cortical stack.}} | |||
The biomechanical construction of the Executor is a substance known as "organic metal". Some Executors may be outfitted with an Organic Metal Extender (OME); a chest-mounted device that is (in theory) capable of reconstructing an Executor in full from scraps of flesh and endoskeleton. The OME cannot, however, replace a destroyed cortical stack.{{Ref/Game|Id=OME|HINF|Armor customization (Halo Infinite)|Armor Hall|Detail=Organic Metal Extender chest description|Quote=In theory, given enough time, the OME can rebuild an Executor's body from broken scraps of flesh and endoskeleton. Unfortunately, it cannot replace a cortical stack | |||
Executors are fitted with in-built [[energy shielding]] systems for added protection. The standard shoulder-mounted Alpha Augmentor is considered the bare minimum of shield shaping and filtering for basic Executors.{{Ref/Game|HINF|Armor customization (Halo Infinite)|Armor Hall|Detail=Alpha Augmentor shoulder description|Quote=The bare minimum of shield shaping and feedback filtering, for baseline Executors.}} | Executors are fitted with in-built [[energy shielding]] systems for added protection. The standard shoulder-mounted Alpha Augmentor is considered the bare minimum of shield shaping and filtering for basic Executors.{{Ref/Game|HINF|Armor customization (Halo Infinite)|Armor Hall|Detail=Alpha Augmentor shoulder description|Quote=The bare minimum of shield shaping and feedback filtering, for baseline Executors.}} | ||
===Self-destruct systems=== | ===Self-destruct systems=== | ||
Despite the rarity of Executors, they are considered expendable in the | Despite the rarity of Executors, they are considered expendable in the field - though to varying degrees.{{Ref/Game|Id=Savior|HINF|Armor customization (Halo Infinite)|Armor Hall|Detail=Savior Protocol chest description|Quote=All Executors can be discarded on a whim, but some are less disposable than others.}} Due to this, some Executors may be outfitted with sub-tactical scale [[nuclear weapon]]s for use as [[self-destruct]] devices to prevent their capture and analysis by rival AI assemblies.{{Ref/Reuse|Defiance}} In other cases, a shaped charge can be installed in the Executor's head to prevent its cortical structures from being recovered for analysis or reconstruction.{{Ref/Game|HINF|Armor customization (Halo Infinite)|Armor Hall|Detail=Injunction Adaptation helmet attachment description|Quote=Shaped-charge explosive to deny an Executor's cortical structures from being recovered for post-mortem analysis or reconstruction.}} | ||
Executors may be directly deployed onto a given target via the use of [[slipspace field shunt]]s. In such circumstances, Executors can be fitted with specialised inertial | Executors may be directly deployed onto a given target via the use of [[slipspace field shunt]]s. In such circumstances, Executors can be fitted with specialised inertial restraits for their own protection.{{Ref/Game|HINF|Armor customization (Halo Infinite)|Armor Hall|Detail=Inertial Restraint hip description|Quote=Impulse system used by shunt-deployed extirpation teams.}} | ||
==Wendigos== | ==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. }} | 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. }} | ||
Executor units corrupted by these so-called "viral machines" often demonstrate malformed exterior carapaces | Executor units corrupted by these so-called "viral machines" often demonstrate malformed exterior carapaces. However, these markings are not recognised by other Executors or the observation protocols of their [[Assembly|assemblies]].{{Ref/Game|HINF|Armor customization (Halo Infinite)|Armor Hall|Detail=Deviant Protocol chest description|Quote=Executors who bear the mark of the viral machine often have malformed carapace attachments, but their stigmata do not seem to be recognized by other Executors and assembly observation protocols.}} Attempts to analyse the mutations exhibited by Wendigos and Threshers through rational means are useless.{{Ref/Game|HINF|Armor customization (Halo Infinite)|Armor Hall|Detail=Myomer Canker hip description|Quote=Rational analysis of the biomechanical aberrations seen on Wendigo and Thresher units is fruitless. It requires the insight of madness to discern their true worth.}} | ||
==Gallery== | ==Gallery== | ||
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==Sources== | ==Sources== | ||
{{Ref/Sources}} | {{Ref/Sources}} | ||
[[Category:Created members]] | [[Category:Created members]] | ||
