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  • Subject: On the subject of Covenant AIs...
Subject: On the subject of Covenant AIs...

@accordingto343

Your one stop shop for all of 343's fabulous errors and ridiculous notions in the Halo lore.

After re-reading Cryptum, World War Z, the Zombie Survival Guide and Atlas Shrugged, unrelated Halo books ftw, I decided to re-read First Strike. I've gotten to the part dealing with the Covenant AI, who I've taken a liking to calling it "Tracker" since it liked to keep tabs on Cortana's every move, and I really have to wonder how the Covenant made their own AIs.

Prior to 2552, they had a taboo against AIs due to Mendicant Bias turning on the Forerunners long ago, but here we are with some new Covenant AIs like my pal "Tracker". I believe it's Cortana who concludes that Covie AIs are former human AIs that were copied so much they became corrupted. I have to ask though, how did they copy AIs and why did they copy AIs?

Did the Covenant believe they needed their own AIs to compete with humanities? Did the Huragok have a hand in this practice? We know Huragok can house an AI, or at least it's data as seen in Halo 3: ODST with Vergil and the Superintendent and with Mo Ye in Midnight in the Heart of Midlothian being forced from the mainframe of the ship of the stories namesake.

Personally, I have a feeling the Covenant forces who boarded the Midlothian had two tasks, retieve the NAV data from a ships computer and/or capture a human AI before the Cole Protocol could be enforced. I don't have much proof for that, but that's how I see it now all things considered.

Any ideas folks?

  • 09.20.2011 4:05 PM PDT
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Deva Path


Posted by: DecepticonCobra

We are all going to get banned aren't we?

good idea with the midlothian part though we don't have a year for that do we?

I have no idea as to why they would copy the AIs since the seem to have been doing fine without them, not to mention they relay on power not tactics. Maybe to strip out info?


And as for cortana they wouldn't try to use a copy to copy off of, i don't think they are that ignorant.

  • 09.20.2011 4:25 PM PDT

Infidel-infidel-infidel-infidel-infidel!

Probably just something that was set up to be expanded upon, but never was.
Kind of like the ruins in Halo 2, I guess.

[Edited on 09.20.2011 5:51 PM PDT]

  • 09.20.2011 4:29 PM PDT

@accordingto343

Your one stop shop for all of 343's fabulous errors and ridiculous notions in the Halo lore.

Yeah, I don't have a date on Midnight, I don't know if one was given.

  • 09.20.2011 4:30 PM PDT

Have you seen my mind anywhere? I seem to have lost it...

0x0 x0x 0x0 000 000 x0x 000
x0x 0x0 0x0 0xx 000 0x0 000
x0x x0x x00 0xx 0x0 x0x 0x0

I have seen you future

I think the only reason that they would want a human AI is for the data stored on it (Earth), not to copy it.

Maybe "Tracker" was an old Forerunner AI?

  • 09.20.2011 4:31 PM PDT

@accordingto343

Your one stop shop for all of 343's fabulous errors and ridiculous notions in the Halo lore.

Posted by: CTN 0452 9
I think the only reason that they would want a human AI is for the data stored on it (Earth), not to copy it.

Maybe "Tracker" was an old Forerunner AI?


Not to sure about "Tracker" being a Forerunner AI since Cortana got a familiar feeling from it. She did have Halo's data in her, yes, but I doubt she would know what a Forerunner's scream would sound like.

  • 09.20.2011 4:32 PM PDT
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Do not waste your tears, I was not born to watch the world grow dim. Life is not measured in years, but by the deeds of men.

Posted by: goldhawk
We should know better, because we are better.


Posted by: BlueRuby2k10
Infidel-infidel-infidel-infidel-infidel!

Probably just something that was set up to be expanded upon, but never was.

I am going with Ruby on this one. It seems like they were meant to be expanded more or explored further but the writers just forgot about it. To my knowledge, First Strike is the only time we see a Covie AI, though to be fair all the other stories with the Covenant in them take place pre-Halo CE so it is possible that the AIs were a recent development meant only for strategically important ships.

  • 09.20.2011 5:15 PM PDT

@accordingto343

Your one stop shop for all of 343's fabulous errors and ridiculous notions in the Halo lore.

Despite it being non-canon last time I checked, ilovebees used a Covenant AI named Seeker. But yeah, it would seem Nylund just forgot about it. That said, it's impact extends past First Strike.

  • 09.20.2011 5:27 PM PDT
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Do not waste your tears, I was not born to watch the world grow dim. Life is not measured in years, but by the deeds of men.

Posted by: goldhawk
We should know better, because we are better.


Posted by: DecepticonCobra
Despite it being non-canon last time I checked, ilovebees used a Covenant AI named Seeker. But yeah, it would seem Nylund just forgot about it. That said, it's impact extends past First Strike.

I think it is an element that Nylund would much rather remove in retrospect but because of it's importance a retcon would do more harm than good.

  • 09.20.2011 6:27 PM PDT

I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.
--Ralph Ellison

In Wages of Sin, the Minister of Discovery talks about human AI doesn't he? Mentioning something along the lines of how they're so powerful or something like that if I recall correctly.

It seems to me like the Covenant had a rule against connecting too many machines together to create an AI because of MB. But Truth was notorious for ignoring lessons learned from MB, so maybe he went ahead and was experimenting with AI? And since we know Huragok can hold an AI, it's very possible that Covenant AI were derived from human AI.

  • 09.20.2011 6:36 PM PDT

its posible that because the ship with the ai had so many engineers they all formed some kind of central intellegence like the gravemind for the flood but much more imperfect

  • 09.24.2011 2:01 PM PDT