Mendicant Bias: Difference between revisions

{{Ratings}}

{{era|H2|H3|CH}}

{{AI infobox

|battles= Original Battle of the Ark

}}

{{Article Quote|And so here at the end of my life, I do once again betray a former master. The path ahead is fraught with peril. But I will do all I can to keep it stable - keep you safe. I'm not so foolish to think this will absolve me of my sins. One life hardly balances billions.|Mendicant Bias at the last Terminal of Halo 3<ref name="Terminal"/>}}

'''05-032 Mendicant Bias''' was a [[Contender-class Artificial Intelligence|Contender-class]] [[Forerunner]] [[AI]]. He was the most advanced Forerunner AI at the time of his creation, and was charged with organizing Forerunner defense against the [[Flood]] before his defection to the [[Gravemind]], who ultimately caused him to become rampant, and turn against his creators.

==Biography==

===Fall from Grace===

{{Quote|What has taken you millennia to create, I erase in seconds.|Rampant Mendicant Bias<ref name="Terminal"/>}}

It seems that Mendicant Bias was unable to disable the [[Halo Array|Halos]] directly, perhaps not knowing their locations, and so the only chance he had to stop the coming cataclysm was to secure the Ark and stop the firing sequence from there. While he did not know the location of the Ark, he was aware of a method to reach it via the [[Portal]] and [[Key Ship]]s. The [[Forerunners]] subsequently destroyed or disabled most of the keyships to stall Mendicant's assault. However, Mendicant Bias managed to locate (or thought he had located) one of the remaining keyships that led to the final, titanic naval battle with Offensive Bias. Mendicant's fatal mistake was that he had come to hold the Forerunners in abject contempt—his rampancy clouded his perceptions, such that he failed to anticipate the possibility of facing another AI. Ultimately, Mendicant Bias was outsmarted and [[Terminals#Terminal_Six|defeated]] by Offensive Bias and the successful activation of the Halos.

===Repentance and Redemption===

{{Quote|I will reject my bias and make amends... My makers are my masters. I will bring them safely to the Ark|Mendicant Bias declaring its penance.<ref name="harvest">[[Halo: Contact Harvest]] Page 274-276</ref>}}

Offensive Bias intended to bring the vanquished Mendicant Bias to [[Installation 00]] for study.<ref name="Terminal">Halo 3's [[Terminals|Terminal]]</ref> In order to prevent Mendicant from subverting or harming him, Offensive Bias broke the Compound Mind of Mendicant Bias into its component sections and scattered them throughout the few remaining ships of his fleet for transport. Only a part of Mendicant made it to the Ark.<ref name="Terminal"/> One shard of Mendicant Bias' personality construct array was left on a [[Forerunner Dreadnought]] and lost. The ship was later found by the Covenant and installed in ''[[High Charity]]''. Mendicant Bias' presence was known to the Covenant and it was regarded as an [[Oracle]].

The AI seems to have concluded that its ancient actions against the Forerunner had been mistaken and announced to its Covenant hosts its intention to bring the "reclaimers" to the Ark. To this end it attempted to leave ''High Charity'' by launching the dreadnought, an act that would have seriously damaged ''High Charity''. Mendicant Bias was foiled only by chance; it was disconnected by some [[Lekgolo]] worms wriggling inside the ship. The AI was more formally disconnected afterward to prevent it from commandeering the ship again.

{{Quote|And so here at the end of my life, I do once again betray a former master. The path ahead is fraught with peril. But I will do all I can to keep it stable - keep you safe. I'm not so foolish to think this will absolve me of my sins. One life hardly balances billions. But I would have my masters know that I have changed. And you shall be my example.|Mendicant Bias to John-117.}}

*You can read the shard of Mendicant Bias' personality that made it to the [[Ark]] by accessing all the terminals and getting the [[Marathon Man]] achievement.

*The meaning of Mendicant Bias' name is unclear. Mendicant comes from the Latin ''Mendicans'' and describes those, particularly from religious orders, who survive purely on charity and begging. Bias is a preference to a particular perspective or ideology.

*The actions of 032 Mendicant Bias are similar to that of the [[Artificial Intelligence]] from [[Marathon (Video Game Series)|Marathon]]'s Durandal.

==Sources==

==Related Pages==

{{Forerunner-Flood War}}

[[Category:Forerunner A.I.]]

[[Category:Halo 3]]

[[Category:Characters|032 Mendicant Bias]]