Composer: Difference between revisions

[[File:Composer Face Melt.jpeg|left|thumb|150px|The effects of a composition upon Sandra Tillson at [[Ivanoff Station]].]]

Although the Forerunners possessed other technology capable of extracting an individual's memories and partial personality impressions,<ref>'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''pages 47-48, 138''</ref> the Composer was designed as a means to achieve true immortality in digital form, allowing the Forerunners to transcend their biological forms altogether. As the [[Flood]] only assimilated biological matter, digitally stored intelligences would have remained immune to the parasite. Physically an enormous monolith engraved with patterns of lines characteristic of Forerunner architecture, the Composer was a highly complex machine with a great deal of capabilities. It appears that the Composer's effects varied based on the skill of the individual utilizing it, namely their understanding of its workings.<ref name="p355">'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 355''</ref><ref name="p232"/>

According to the [[Librarian]], the Forerunners never perfectly mastered the use of the Composer and the resulting digital personalities became corrupted or fragmented and could no longer be restored to biological form. She stated that the Forerunner originally abandoned the device for this reason.<ref name="reclaimer">'''Halo 4''', campaign level ''[[Reclaimer (level)|Reclaimer]]''</ref> However, there are several instances of Composer-processed minds retaining their individual personalities and memories with only mild degrees of instability or decay. The Librarian herself implanted stored personalities originally extracted by the Composer into the genetic code of other living beings, with said personalities achieving self-awareness and retaining their original identity within their new [[human]] hosts, such as [[Chakas]] and [[Riser]].<ref group="note">It is likely that the Librarian was exaggerating as to the negative aspects of the Composer in order to convince John-117 of the threat it posed at the hands of the Didact. In any case, she greatly simplifies the events that actually occurred, only stating that the Didact used the Composer on humans to create his Promethean constructs as punishment for humanity's defiance of the Forerunners; she omits the fact that she used the Composer herself on ancient humans and regularly implanted the resulting personalities in many future generations of humans. Likewise, she does not mention that the original Knights were actually created from voluntary Promethean warriors. This is well in line with her characterization as a benevolent, yet devious figure.</ref> The Composer could also be used to remove these stored personalities, although this did grave physical and mental damage to the individual carrying the imprint.<ref name="p355"/>

Even the physical effects of the Composer on its targets were varied; when the [[Didact]] fired the Composer directly on humans, the device projected a beam of orange light which completely reduced the targets to ash in a rather gruesome manner while their minds were digitized. Aside from this direct form of scanning, the Composer was also capable of a less violent method of extraction. When the Librarian and her [[Lifeworker]]s used the Composer indirectly via intermediary devices, the bodies of the targeted individuals were not destroyed and instead the scan caused them to peacefully expire as their consciousnesses were removed from their bodies.<ref name="p235">'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 235''</ref>

Minds scanned by the Composer could be processed in a variety of ways. Although the ancient human personalities extracted and stored by the Librarian retained in their original personalities, in some cases the digitized neural map could be used as the basis for [[artificial intelligence]] constructs in a manner similar to the creation of human [[smart AI]]s. These intelligences would contain many of their original memories and sometimes even portions of their personality, but would otherwise behave within the limits of the duties assigned to them. For example, the [[Promethean Knight]]s behave in a largely uniform manner despite containing many of the memories of the individuals they were created from.<ref name="memento">'''[[Spartan Ops]]''', ''[[S1/Memento Mori|S1E5 ''Memento Mori'']]</ref> These intelligences appear to be susceptible to a condition comparable to the [[rampancy]] exhibited by human smart AIs. However, these symptoms appear over a much longer period of time, as evidenced by [[343 Guilty Spark]], a monitor created from a [[Chakas|human mind]] processed by the Composer. Guilty Spark showed occasional signs of instability and his personality suffered fragmentation, but he remained operational and capable of performing his assigned tasks for over 100,000 years.<ref>'''[[Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary]]''', [[Terminal/Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary|Terminals]]''</ref>

The Composer did not work on all organic beings; certain individuals could, through genetic manipulation, become immune to its effects. After undergoing [[Forerunner mutation|mutation]] in an attempt to gain immunity to the Flood, the [[Didact]]'s physiology was no longer compatible with the Composer.<ref name="h4terminals">'''Halo 4''', ''[[Terminal/Halo 4|Terminals]]''</ref> Similarly, the [[geas]] the [[Librarian]] placed on humanity allowed the [[SPARTAN-II Program|Spartan]] [[John-117]] to develop a resistance to the Composer; this ability had to be activated, and thus it did not automatically protect all humans from the device.<ref name="reclaimer"/>

The Composer was also capable of slowing down Flood infection and the subsequent loss of individuality; however, this process was only temporary and still left the afflicted individuals in their deformed state. This was accomplished through wrapping the infected bodies in a form of supportive harness flowing with energy, evidently somehow connected to the Composer.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 322-323''</ref>

The first known use of the Composer was when the [[Librarian]] employed its primary capability by extracting the memories of the surviving [[prehistoric human civilization|human]] warriors after the [[Charum Hakkor campaign]] in order to preserve these personalities in future generations of humans and to study the stored memories in hopes of discovering how humanity managed to [[Human-Flood war|defeat the Flood]]. The [[Forthencho|Lord of Admirals]], supreme commander of all human forces and one of the humans to have their minds harvested, described the effects of the Composer as "strange, ever-changing" and "multiformed", as it operated via intermediary [[Lifeworker]] machinery.<ref name="p235"/>

As a result of the risks and irregularities involved with its usage, the Forerunners eventually abandoned the Composer and its existence was made a closely guarded secret known only to few.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 271-272''</ref> Even its actual nature remained obscure; whether it was a machine or being remained uncertain to most. Some even believed the Composer to be a "product of its own services"; a Forerunner, perhaps a Lifeworker, suspended in the final stages of Flood infection.<ref name="p268">'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 268''</ref><ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 278''</ref>

Around [[100,000 BCE]], the Composer was used by the [[Faber|Master Builder]] to stave off Flood infection in certain Forerunners on [[Installation 07]] to keep them in a docile state. While in control of Installation 07, [[Mendicant Bias]] and the [[Primordial]] also used the Composer to extract the ancestral memory imprints from [[Chakas]] and the other humans from [[Earth]].<ref name="p355"/> Later during the [[Forerunner-Flood war]], the [[Didact]] used the Composer to convert his [[Promethean]] warriors into [[Promethean Knight|robotic form]] in order to allow them to combat the Flood more efficiently and without risk of infection. To bolster his numbers, the Didact used the Composer on a number of humans transplanted to a Halo installation, turning them into additional forces in his mechanized army.<ref name="h4terminals"/>

The Composer was later placed on [[Installation 03]]. In late [[2554]],<ref>'''Halo 4''', campaign level ''[[Composer (level)|Composer]]'', [[Halo 4 audio logs|Audio log]]''</ref> the [[United Nations Space Command|UNSC]] [[Office of Naval Intelligence]] discovered the machine on the Halo ring and transported it to [[Ivanoff Station]], a research facility in the asteroid field in Installation 03's orbit. Some of the scientists were digitized by the Composer while studying it and the sensor data from the incident contained coordinates that led the {{UNSCShip|Infinity}} to [[Requiem]].<ref>'''Halo 4''', campaign level ''[[Infinity (level)|Infinity]]''</ref> Upon awakening on Requiem in [[2557#July|July 2557]], the Didact immediately headed for the Composer and successfully acquired the device after [[Raid on Ivanoff Station|launching an attack]] on Ivanoff Station. Planning to use the Composer to neutralize all of mankind by forever imprisoning them into digital form, he first used it on the human personnel of Ivanoff; [[John-117]] was the only survivor as a result of genetic modifications imbued by the Librarian. The Didact then set course for Earth in order to realize the final stage of his plan. The Didact successfully fired the Composer on an [[United Republic of North America|URNA]] metropolis, [[New Phoenix]], but the effect was halted when John-117 destroyed the Didact's ship, and the Composer along with it, with a [[HAVOK tactical nuclear weapon]].<ref name="h4"/> Some of the resulting digital intelligences survived, having ended up in Requiem via a slipspace transit portal connected to the Composer.<ref name="memento"/>