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An iconic antagonist from a cult-classic series, Shodan fromSystem Shockis perhaps one of the best interpretations of the consequences of a rogue AI in video games so far. There’s an innumerable amount of quotable lines, memorable moments, and interactions with this psychopathic sci-fi supercomputer that’s earned her a spot on the list of best villains in gaming for many.
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The series itself though is pretty old by this point, so it’s understandable that there are some that may have missed the boat on this one. But after a recent remake, it’s worth taking a look at where this homicidal operating system came from. Here’s everything you need to know about Shodan in System Shock.
Who Is Shodan?
Shodan or rather ‘S.H.O.D.A.N’ stands forSentient Hyper-Optimized Data Access Network, and “she” is a genius and borderline unhingedartificial intelligencethat acts as the antagonist for both System Shock games.
Shodan wasoriginally created on Earthwith the purpose of carrying outroutine functions and tasksonboard whatever space station she was installed onto. In this example, it would be the Citadel Station. ALighthouse Class mining and research siterun by theTri-Optimum Corporationthat was inorbit around Saturnbefore things went catastrophically wrong onboard andthe station was destroyed. But we’re getting a little ahead of ourselves.
What Was Under Shodans Control?
What makes Shodan so utterly terrifying and a bad idea to anyone remotely familiar with the idea of Artificial Intelligence being in charge is thather reach was farand she wascompletely self-sufficient. Shodan could and wouldroutinely interfere with decisionsmade by station staff that would, in her view, impede her functions.
Essentially, if Shodan didn’t like something, she would get involved. Though the AI was created with asystem of logic and moral subroutinesthat were supposed to ensure she didn’t do anything too radical,it didn’t seem to stop herfrom running riot.
Shodan would eventuallytake control of the stationand turn most of its occupants intotwisted cybernetically enhanced abominations. Creatures that would be regularly encountered in-gameforlornly wandering the hallsof the space station,attacking anyonethat came near whilst screaming in protest about their actions throughmachine-addled vocal cords.
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How Did It All Go Wrong?
Though Shodan wasinstalled with good intentions, things started to go wrong after she wascompromised by the Hackerat the request of corruptTri-Optimum VP Edward Diego. With the promise of amilitary-grade neural implant and amnestyfor the crime as a reward for their actions.
After tweaking some code that led to thecreation of an error sequence, the Hacker unintentionally allowed Shodan towrite something of her owninto her base code, a task known asELIMIN.HOST. It basically allowed Shodan to do anything includingintercepting transmissions from the stationto Earth and extending her reach on Citadel Stationpast human intervention.
This allowed the AI togo rogue and do whatever she saw fiton the site without anyone being able to stop her. In this case,seizing control of the Citadel’s substantial defense systems, turning them on the staff,slaughtering everyonethat posed a threat whilst turning others into cyborgs orhorrible-looking mutationson a whim. The only one left untouched wasthe Hackerwho had originally accidentallyset her free.
Shodan And The Hacker
For the aforementioned Hacker and protagonist of System Shock, Shodan is a seeminglyomniscient and omnipresent host. Staring out from any screen on the station she sees fit, observing the comings and goings within her floating fiefdom using thestation’s security cameras, and occasionallytaunting and tormentingour “hero” through the intercom whenever she saw fit.
Apparentlyunable to physically stop the Hacker, Shodan becomes a constant nagging voice in our ears until she’s eventually put down for good. Although, it’s a herculean effort to manage such a task. As the story plays out, Shodan makesmultiple attempts to kill the Hackerand separate herself from the station.
First, she attempts todownload herself into Earth’s networkby sending signal packages through the station’sfour communication arrays. Then later Shodan triesdetonating the stationwhilst trapping the Hacker onboard as thebridge section of Citadel detaches.
Though both were sound plans on her part, Shodan would bethwarted again and againby the Hacker. Towards the end of the game, the Hacker and Shodan have afinal confrontation, but because her core is too heavily defended byadvanced security measures and force fields, the fight rather appropriately takes place inCyberspace.
The Showdown With Shodan
The big boss fight with the rogue AI is fairly simple, but it is a little odd. The goal is to just dump as much damage as you can during the fight before Shodan takes over.
The entire time hermechanical face slowly fades inand fills the screen, with Shodanominously monologuingto try and unnerve our hero. She’ll alsoattack whilst your vision is impairedso it can be a little frustrating to get suddenly one-shot with something you couldn’t see coming.
The Aftermath
In the aftermath of the first incident with the rogue AI the Earth’s ruling governments wereoutraged by the event, declaring Shodan the first eversingle strongest threat ever faced by the human race. With the blame for her rise in power placed solely at the feet of Tri-Optimum.
It was aPR nightmare for the company, and it almost completely folded aftercrippling lawsuitsfrom the families of the slain staff on the Citadel Station. The event also lead to thecreation of the Unified National Nominate (UNN), a global group that would seek to prevent the continued influence of mega corporations on Earth by eitherenforcing strict lawsor just outrightshutting them down.
The event alsostymied the technological advancement of the human raceas a whole as the continued use of machines with critical thinking abilities orpersonality-based operating systemswere considered the cause of the problem. Andmany feared a potential return of Shodanor others like her.
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The Return Of Shodan
After the events on The Citadel, it wasthought by many that Shodan was destroyedand gone for good. Sadly, this was not true. She had survived and wouldreturn decades laterin System Shock 2. Although, this time as antagonist and ally against a common threat.
During the events of the first System Shock, the Hackerejects a Garden Grove Podfound on Level G2 known as Beta Grove from the Citadel station. This oncelush biodome had been turned into a toxic tangleof vines and otherwordly growths as Shodan used it as apetri-dish for her mutagenic experiments. Unbeknownst to the Hacker, a part of Shodansprocessing componentsknown as Number 43893 was onboard.
The Fate Of The Pod
The pod woulddrift through spacefor a while before crash landing onTau Ceti V. Whereupon the remnant of Shodan wouldgo into hibernation for 42 years, but not before setting the pod to send out acontinuous distress signal. A cry in the dark of space that would eventually beanswered by the Von Braun, a starship owned and operated by Tri-Optimum on itsfirst maiden voyage. Also, it was the first vessel to be equipped withfaster-than-light travel capabilitiesand was piggybacking a smaller ship known asthe Rickenbacker.
Shodan wasrecovered and brought onboardthe ship, reactivated, and reincorporated into the vessel’s systems. Not the smartest idea, but upon reawakeningShodan’s priorities were shifted slightlyas she discovered her biological machinations onboard the pod hadevolved substantially, and were now out of her control. So anuneasy alliance was formedto get rid of her mistakes.
Mistakes Were Made, Repeatedly
The terrifying creation in question wasknown as The Manyand was ahive-mind creaturethat had evolved fromShodan’s own experimentson the Citadel that had become sentient in its own right andran amok on the Von Braun. Its subsequent own experimentation on the ship’s crew turned them into varying versions of its owntwisted and mutated offspringthrough traumatic and horrific means. Mirroring Shodan’s own efforts back on the Citadel.
Enlisting thehelp of her human rescuers, Shodan, and a cybernetically enhanced soldier would eventuallydestroy The Many. But it would be revealed that whilst all of this was going on, the rogue AI wasup to her old tricksagain. After killing a crewmember known as Marie Delacroix after shedisagreed with Shodan, she would alsoassume the identityof Janice Polito.
Janice was the Doctor that hadreintegrated Shodan into the ship, but who alsokilled herselfwhen she realized the gravity of what she had done, and who she’dunleashed once again.
After The Many are dealt with, theSoldier then takes on Shodanin a twisted and warped realm that shecreated using the ship’s FTL driveto mess with the fabric of reality. Another bigfinal boss battleoccurs and Shodan isagain seemingly defeated, but then in a twist reveal it’s shown that Shodan has escaped once more.
During all the chaos, Shodan managed totake control of a Von Braun crewmembercalled Rebecca Siddons. She then used her new puppet toleave the ship on an escape podto parts unknown.
