Offensive Bias: Difference between revisions

{{Era|Forerunner}}

|name= Offensive Bias

|image=[[File:Offensive Bias.png|250px]]

|description=Represented by a large and highly complex holographic projection<ref name="s271">'''Halo: Silentium''', ''page 271''</ref>

|color=A [[metarch]]-level ancilla created to counter the defection of Mendicant Bias

'''Offensive Bias''' is a [[metarch]]-level [[Forerunner]] [[artificial intelligence]]. One of the few [[Contender-class artificial intelligence|Contender-class]] ancillas,<ref>'''[[Halo Encyclopedia]]''', ''page 189''</ref> it was created to counter the rampant AI [[Mendicant Bias]]. It commanded the last of the Forerunners' defenses at the [[greater Ark]] and at the [[Battle of the Maginot Sphere|final battle of the Forerunners]]. While seemingly less creative and independent than Mendicant Bias, Offensive Bias was still capable of coordinating inconceivable numbers of ships, [[sentinel]]s, personnel, as well as an [[Omega Halo|original Halo]] and the systems of the [[greater Ark]] simultaneously. More importantly, Offensive Bias was designed to be far more methodically lethal than Mendicant Bias.<ref name="terminal">'''Halo 3''', ''Terminal 6''</ref>

===Fall of the Forerunners and firing of Halo===

In the twilight hours of the [[Forerunner-Flood war]], Offensive Bias was given charge of the last of the uninfected Forerunner ships and fleets.<ref name="silentium25">'''Halo: Silentium''', ''String 25, Fragment 4''</ref> Shortly thereafter, Offensive Bias apparently took command of the defense of the [[greater Ark]], the last large refuge of the Forerunners and many of their client species.<ref name="silentium27">'''Halo: Silentium''', ''String 27''</ref> It appears that the Forerunners accepted that only Offensive Bias was capable of matching Mendicant Bias's moves, as it were. As such, it was Offensive Bias who fired Omega Halo, by command of the [[Faber|Master Builder]] and then attempted to defend it against Mendicant Bias's Flood-crewed fleet, supported by [[star road]]s and other Precursor artifacts. It failed terribly, which may have fed into Mendicant Bias's disdain towards it, having previously referred to Offensive as an "inferior metarch".<ref name="silentium24">'''Halo: Silentium''', ''String 24''</ref> Such an attitude however, would only play into Offensive Bias's strategy.<ref name="terminal"/>

Despite the devastating losses at the greater Ark, Offensive Bias was able to extricate a small number of warships from the destruction and make it to the [[Installation 00|lesser Ark]]. Before initializing the Halo's firing sequence with the [[IsoDidact]], Offensive Bias announced that Flood forces were approaching the [[Slipspace portal|portal]] that led to the lesser Ark; simultaneously, Mendicant Bias sent a coded message to Offensive stating that it would give no quarter and would destroy the Ark. Mendicant offered Offensive a chance to join it and survive; Offensive rejected the offer and informed the IsoDidact of it, to reassure him that it was still free from the [[logic plague]].<ref>'''Halo: Silentium''', ''String 36''</ref> Sharing all of its processes with the Ark's [[Installation 00 Citadel|command Citadel]], Offensive Bias then assisted the IsoDidact in preparing the Ark and Halo Array. Once the IsoDidact gave the order and the Array started to prime, Offensive Bias's attention shifted as it took the final Forerunner fleets to the [[Maginot Line]] to confront Mendicant Bias and prevent it from gaining access to the lesser Ark, its sole objective to buy time.<ref>'''Halo: Silentium''', ''String 38''</ref>

Even though Mendicant Bias's [[fleet]] outnumbered Offensive Bias's by 436.6:1, Offensive Bias was designed specifically to effectively counter and exploit Mendicant's [[Rampancy|rampant]] actions. During the battle, Offensive Bias played for time, allowing Mendicant Bias's rage to cause him to act irrationally and take its time in destroying Offensive Bias's fleet. After about eight hours of combat, the Array was fired which, aside from killing all sentient life in the galaxy, disabled the majority of Mendicant's fleet which was crewed by the Flood and out of its direct control. After the Halos fired, the advantage turned towards Offensive Bias: it had planned for the Halo effect, while Mendicant Bias had not, and nearly all its vessels could be commanded by it directly, including ones previously captured by the Flood. Within two minutes, Mendicant Bias was outsmarted and defeated by Offensive Bias, who utilized the now-crewless ships with a ruthless, unconventional efficiency, revealing its capability for methodical lethality. Mendicant Bias's fleet was annihilated and the rogue ancilla itself captured, its primary core delivered to the lesser Ark by Offensive Bias.<ref name="terminal"/>

What follows is a logged transcript of events that occurred during and amidst the battle, as logged by Offensive Bias itself.<ref name="terminal"/>

In ''[[Halo 4]]'', Offensive Bias' sigil appears on the [[Z-130 Suppressor]] Refractive skin, alongside the sigils of the  Didact and [[Librarian]].

*''[[Halo 3]]''

**''[[Terminal/Halo 3|Terminals]]'' {{1st}}

<references/>