Gertie

A.I. of the Sylph

Background:

As we've reached the future, many of the things we expected to happen have, in fact, happened. Humans have gone out into the stars, finding ways to move (relatively speaking) faster than light, and they've populated alien worlds. A seeming peace has spread through the galaxy, much as was promised in many utopian sci-fi shows. And yet, somethings, technologically, still haven't come to pass. Things like artificial intelligence.

That's what makes Gertie special. Although not the first autonomous A.I., Gertie is the most complete, the most stable, and the most "life-like" A.I. to come to pass. She seems to exhibit emotions, has her own personality, her own opinions. For all intents and purposes she is a real person... albeit one who's several stories tall (since she's the A.I. for a starship.

Gertie was developed by Captain Sprockets, an extension of a voice-activated custom operating system the good captain was developing. Over time the O.S. got more sophisticated, was upgraded with new routines and extensions, until one day it started updating itself. The addition of nanobots into it's control matrix gave it new levels of control over it's own being, and eventually it grew into the personality it has now.

Sprockets named "her" Gertie, and she's accepted the name (and gender) ever since.

Personality Details:

As far as anyone that interacts with her knows, Gertie is a real person (for a given definition of "person"). Most people don't know about her, though. Sprockets and Gertie long ago agreed that if too many people knew about the A.I. there would be a very real chance they'd try to take the ship away from the captain. So Gertie's existence, while not a secret, it not exactly well known.

Still, the A.I. has proven most useful. She handles ship functions, repairs, and even has started to learn magic. In many ways she's the most useful member of the team.

First Appearance: #2617: A New Ship Approaches
Last Appearance: #12: CVRPG Six, Part 2