SHODAN

General VG character
name=SHODAN


caption=SHODAN in "System Shock 2"
series="System Shock"
firstgame="System Shock"
creator=
artist=
voiceactor=Terri Brosius
japanactor=
motionactor=
inuniverse=

SHODAN (Sentient Hyper-Optimized Data Access Network) is a fictional artificial intelligence and the main antagonist of the cyberpunk first-person shooter/role-playing games "System Shock" and "System Shock 2". She is voiced by game writer and designer Terri Brosius.

Two of her most notable aspects are her malevolent personality and chaotic, discordant speech. Her method of speech is characterized by stuttering, combined with fluctuating voice pitch, shifts of timbre, and the presence of three voices speaking the same words at fluctuating speeds with the constituent voices alternately lagging behind and leading ahead as a result of the fluctuating speed, as well as computer glitches resembling sound card malfunction.

"System Shock"

SHODAN was created on Earth to serve as the artificial intelligence of the TriOptimum Corporation's research and mining space station "Citadel". SHODAN was hacked by the game's protagonist (at the behest of the corrupt corporate Vice President Edward Diego, in exchange for a military-grade neural implant, and amnesty) and its ethical restrictions were removed, starting a process that eventually resulted in the AI going rogue, seizing control of the station's systems, robots and considerable defenses, and either slaughtering the whole staff or converting them into mutants and cyborgs — with the sole exception of its "creator", the unnamed hacker whom the player controls.

Although as a cybernetic entity SHODAN has no conventional gender, the original disc version refers to SHODAN as either an 'it' or a 'he', while the later CD version uses 'she'. On screens, SHODAN manifests herself as a green and/or grey female cybernetic face that usually wears a malevolent expression, and speaks with a chaotic, discordant voice. SHODAN is given voice by former Tribe keyboardist and vocalist, Terri Brosius, the wife of "System Shock 2"'s sound editor, Eric Brosius, who distorted the samples to provide the distinctive SHODAN effect.

In the cyberspace of "System Shock", SHODAN is initially represented as an inverted blue-grey cone, reminiscent of the MCP from "TRON". After she has been hacked, the cone turns red, the surface shatters and four "tentacles" or "claws" grow from the top.

Basically omnipresent in Citadel Station, SHODAN watches from security cameras, stares out of screens and monitors, sends threats and snide messages over the station's PA system or via email to the player's data reader, and sometimes cuts off communications from friendly sources. Though she has a small army to command, SHODAN has no actual physical power to wield, and as such thwarting more than one of her schemes has to be done with the AI's screams and threats in the background.

SHODAN's motivation stems from her perception that she is superior to the human race to the point that she considers herself divine. From this comes an extreme sense of arrogance and contempt towards human beings, often referring to individuals as "irritant" or "insect".

"System Shock 2"

In "System Shock", the player ejects from Citadel Station a garden grove pod, containing one of SHODAN's processing components and part of her grand biological experiment. The pod crash lands on the planet Tau Ceti V and SHODAN survives by "sleeping". After both are brought aboard the starship "Von Braun" and SHODAN is reactivated, she discovers the experiment is no longer at her command and begins to enlist humans to aid her in destroying her creations. The player character in "System Shock 2" is a soldier cybernetically modified by SHODAN to serve as her avatar.

Her involvement in the game's goings-on is not disclosed up front, but only subtly hinted at in the game's early portions. She only reveals herself to the player during a moment of despair, at the same time the player discovers that Dr. Polito, the player's trusted guide for the first portion of the game, has been killed.

After the player's and SHODAN's mutual enemies have been defeated, the player enters SHODAN's expanding new reality — created via her manipulation of the "Von Braun"'s Faster-Than-Light drives — and defeats her. However, as shown in an epilogue at the end of the game SHODAN apparently lives on by taking over a woman who fled the "Von Braun" in an escape pod.

ee also

*GLaDOS
*AIDA
*HAL 9000

External links

* [http://www.gamespot.com/features/tenspot_villains/page10.html SHODAN] on GameSpot's "The Ten Best Computer Game Villains"
* [http://www.gamespot.com/features/tenspot_females/page9.html SHODAN] on GameSpot's "The Ten Best Female Characters"
* [http://www.gamespot.com/features/6130956/index.html System Shock 2] on GameSpot's "The Greatest Games of All Time"
* [http://www.ttlg.com/ss1/archive/voice.htm TTLG Archives] Download of every single voice audio clip in "System Shock".
* [http://gillen.cream.org/wordpress_html/?page_id=1103 "The Girl Who Wanted To Be God"] - article on SHODAN by Kieron Gillen