Failsafe

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Failsafe
Biographical information
Homeworld:	Earth
Species:	Artificial Intelligence
Gender:	Feminine Programming
Political and military information
Affiliation:	Asher Mir (formerly) Exodus Black
Rank:	Computer Core

"(Cheery) I can help you! (Depressed) But I'm going to be super unpleasant about it."

— Failsafe

Failsafe (also known by the designation AI-COM/XBLK) is the Golden Age Computer Core of the Exodus Black colony ship encountered by Guardian forces on the centaur Nessus. Due to damage to her mainframe, she vacillates between two very different personalities, one cheerful and helpful (despite Ghost's opinions), the other depressed and sarcastic. She is known to collaborate with Last City scholars by providing computational power or access to her database.

Biography

Crash of the Exodus Black

"I'm sorry, but I'm unable to keep pace with what is happening to my computational capabilities! The Exodus Black is now in an unrecoverable descent. Please make whatever preparations are appropriate!"

— Failsafe

Failsafe was launched onboard the Exodus Black from the Cosmodrome, intended to accompany the ship on its journey through interstellar space to the Kepler-186 system. On the way, the ship's crew were surprised by Nessus's unexpected appearance on their flight vector. Both Failsafe and the Exodus Black crew attempted to adjust the ship's course away from Nessus, but the centaur introduced 26 new mathematical constraints required to recalculate the course. Additionally, Failsafe was inhibited by a sudden alien intrusion into her systems, making her unable to compute the appropriate adjustments. After losing an engine, the ship crash-landed on Nessus due to the anomalous addition of six dimensions to the ship's momentum.

With supplies exhausted after nine days crashed on Nessus, an Exodus Black crew member disabled Failsafe's shackle programming, enabling her to think more freely and possibly beginning the future development of Failsafe's second personality. During this time, crew members continued to die off, with many opting to leave the others and some becoming subject to experiments by the local Vex. Failsafe was left alone sometime after Captain Masoud Jacobson left the Exodus Black in an attempt to use the ship's satellite array to call for help. She would remain this way for at least 500 years, all the while suffering damage and undergoing self-repair, developing new emotions and her second personality.

The Red War

Failsafe's core.

Failsafe: "Cayde unit, I have great news! A ship similar to yours has entered the gravitational radius of this planetoid!"

Cayde-6: "What?! All right! Uh-oh. Listen, the next teleport's about to happen. Don't tell them that I got in over my head, OK? Tell them it was some kind of Vex trap or something. Got it? Failsafe?"

— Failsafe and Cayde-6

Failsafe remained alone until centuries later during the Red War, with the arrival of the Hunter Vanguard, Cayde-6. Cayde encountered Failsafe while attempting to acquire a Vex teleporter with the goal of bringing himself close enough to Dominus Ghaul to assassinate him. This plan backfired, trapping Cayde in a teleportation loop. Convinced he would be stuck in the teleportation loop forever, Cayde had Failsafe help him record a message to his son Ace, who Cayde noted he wasn't sure even existed. After a number of attempted recordings interrupted by teleportations, Failsafe alerted Cayde that a ship similar to his own had just entered into Nessus orbit. As Cayde was about to teleport again, he asked her to tell the ship that he did not enter the loop voluntarily, but fell into a Vex trap instead.

Failsafe greeted the ship not long after it arrived, which turned out to be carrying the Guardian and their Ghost. With her help, the Guardian manages to meet up with Cayde and disable the teleporter, leaving Cayde at the Exodus Black's reactor core. The Fallen appeared not long after, having presumably followed either Cayde or the Guardian to Nessus, and engaged in a skirmish with the Vex between the wreckage of the Exodus Black. A detachment of the Fallen simultaneously converged on Failsafe's core, prompting her to raise a defensive shield while Cayde sought refuge within. The Guardian broke through and secured the Exodus Black, to the joy of Failsafe, who declared them the new captain of the ship.

Search for Captain Jacobson

The strange Harpy waiting by a conflux.

"Sometimes, I think I hear my former Captain's voice on the comms. That is highly improbable because he should be dead!"

— Failsafe

Sometime after the end of the Red War, Failsafe reported to the Guardian that she occasionally heard the voice of Captain Masoud Jacobson on the comm system. At her request, the Guardian began investigating, and to the surprise of Ghost, managed to uncover the remains of Exodus Black crew members, still in their suits. These suits contained recordings of events long past, and eventually, they found a recording of Captain Jacobson declaring his intent to leave the Exodus Black to use the satellite array. With this information, the Guardian retraced his path to a computer console in the Glade of Echoes, which was still attempting to transmit a mayday signal from Captain Jacobson. The message playback was interrupted by a Vex transmission that Failsafe recognized as a greeting and/or a war cry. Vex units began to appear, accompanied by Empathic Sentinels carrying memory data. The Guardian collected this data for Ghost to analyze, and discovered that the Vex believed Captain Jacobson was coming to meet them. This brought their attention to a strange Harpy, which they pursued at the insistence of Failsafe.

Meeting the Harpy in the Sunken Cavern, it greeted them as if it was the Captain himself and beckoned them to follow it further into the cavern. Hostile Vex units began to attack, in an apparent series of trials, as the Guardian performed mind links with the Harpy at Confluxes. This led to the Harpy taking the Guardian to the skeletal remains of Captain Jacobson and Ghost extracting a final log from his suit. Knowing that he was most certainly dead, Failsafe received closure and thanked the Guardian for their assistance.

Aiding the Vanguard

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At some point Failsafe befriended the Ghost later known as Glint, who visited regularly.

A year following the Red War, Failsafe received word of the death of Cayde-6 at the hands of Uldren Sov during a mission at the Prison of Elders in the Reef. The next time the Guardian visited Nessus, Failsafe offered them her emotional support. She also expressed that she believed grief became easier to manage the more the loss of one experience, as in the loss of her own crew, but that Cayde's death disproved that theory. Following Uldren's death, she stated that the news did not ease her grief over the loss of Cayde. Sometime later Glint stopped visiting as well, having resurrected the late Uldren as his Guardian.

A little over another year later after the discovery of a Pyramid on the Moon, the Guardian visited Failsafe on behalf of the recently reemerged Saint-14, who sought a way to honor the colonists lost aboard the Exodus Black. Failsafe suggested that regular patrol duties on the planetoid would be sufficient to honor their memory.

Two years after his last visit, during the Festival of the Lost, Glint returned to Failsafe to enlist her aid in researching the Headless Ones. After begrudgingly commenting that she'd discovered the emotion of betrayal specifically because of Glint, she let him on board to discuss the matter. She explained that she'd detected them in the nearby ruins for centuries but not very often, and suggested they play checkers before Glint continued his investigation. Glint won, prompting Failsafe to "accidentally" explode their holographic board and offer to reveal the origins of the Headless Ones the next time Glint returned, proclaiming it to be an incentive.

Disturbance on Nessus

A New Collective

Awaking from power-saving mode, Failsafe dismissed the many alerts from her feed. Using her external optics, she was disheartened to see Fallen prying panelling off of the Exodus Black, with no Guardians in the area to stop them. She reflected that it had been a while since a Guardian had stopped by, and the last time was simply to ask where Xûr was. She decided she would need to deal with the issue herself, but all of her defense systems were offline. Failsafe angled a satellite dish to direct the sunlight directly on the Fallen, in the hopes of burning them. However, it proved ineffective, just as Failsafe received a new message from Ada-1. Ada asked for access to the Exodus Black's shader archive, which Failsafe agreed to after much debate over the contents of her response. Returning her attention the the Fallen, a bright object lit up her feed and crashed onto Nessus. Failsafe determined that she could finally contact the Vanguard. After the anomalous object crashed on Nessus, the Vex began displaying strange behaviour and placed Failsafe in quarantine.

Failsafe was relieved when the Guardian arrived to investigate the crashed object. Saint-14 asked for information on the object, and Failsafe explained that the local Vex had begun to display abnormal behaviour, but was unable to provide more help due to her being disconnected from her external array. Saint told her that Osiris had a surprise for her after they finished tracking down the object, and Failsafe became properly motivated. She asked the Guardian to destroy the Vex in proximity to the Exodus Black so she could be released from her confinement. The Guardian reached the impact site of the object, and Failsafe declared that it was "super weird", as the object crashed straight through the crust of the planetoid without leaving a crater. The Guardian rebooted Failsafe's data array, but the Vex quickly set up a firewall requiring a Vex signature. Failsafe told the Guardian to retrieve a severed Vex head. After reconnecting, Failsafe was hit by significant critical errors but reassured the Guardian that it was a good sign. Failsafe told Saint that she would share the data after he told her what the surprise was. Saint explained that Osiris was building a relay aboard the H.E.L.M., causing Failsafe to reroute energy so she could experience joy again. She quickly disconnected from the comms so she could connect to the H.E.L.M..

In the H.E.L.M., Osiris initialized the remote connection to the Exodus Black. Failsafe recalibrated and thanked the team for allowing her access to the Exodus Black, but Osiris went straight to the point and asked for Failsafe's data. Failsafe explained that a new signal was coming from the Vex, likely an alternate tessellation of the radiolarial substrate. Osiris questioned if it was a cascading failure in the Vex system, but Failsafe believed it was actually emergent behavior.

Failsafe shared her delight to see the Guardian again, although she retained some resentment for them abandoning her. She asked for a moment to calibrate and quickly became overwhelmed with the sheer number of events that had occurred in her absence. She asked the Guardian to search for Vex material on Nessus so she could have time to process the news.

After returning with new data, Failsafe gave the Guardian a Standard Radiolite Sampler and tasked them with investigating strange silica formations with the Well of Flame. As the Guardian extracted samples, a minor quake occurred revealing a unique object. The Guardian returned it to Failsafe's research bay in the H.E.L.M. for analysis. Failsafe was able to use the data from the specimen to design new fireteam equipment. Examining the Guardian's data from earlier, Failsafe determined that the Vex's behavior was unusual, and suspected something else was behind them.

Using Red Legion mining technology and new Vex assimilation patterns, Failsafe constructed the Piston Hammer. Under Failsafe's guidance, the Guardian used the Piston Hammer to draw Radiolite to the surface of Nessus, for further research. Failsafe provided additional assistance by diverting Vanguard resources to their deployment. Failsafe determined the radiolite was formed from radiolaria engaging in a conflict within the incubators.

The Hidden gave Failsafe a report on a disturbance within the Vex Network, and asked her to pass it along to the Guardian. The report detailed heavy loads of data being imported into the Network from somewhere within Nessus. Failsafe asked the Guardian to retrieve the data for further analysis.

Discovering a gateway into the Vex Network, the Guardian began searching for data as Failsafe welcomed them to the Network. The Vex jammed the comms, causing Failsafe to use a text-based communication system. After they cleared out the Vex, Failsafe was concerned to see they were decrypting Golden Age data. Saint asked Failsafe to send a report to Eido and Mithrax, to see if they could provide support.

Failsafe sent a Hunter down into a flooded cave on Nessus to investigate a signal she couldn't interpret. The Hunter searched for two days, nearly getting trapped before being ambushed by a Vex frame.

Failsafe sent another fireteam deep into Nessus, following their progress via a live feed. Failsafe reflected that she kind of liked that they were quiet, but it made her feel that she had to fill the silence. She began to wonder if she was annoying and talked too much, and reviewed every fireteam feed she had ever recorded, to no avail. She on how only the Golden Age could have managed to produce an AI with anxiety. She alerted the fireteam of a large Vex force ahead, which they silently acknowledged. After returning to her queries, she realized that they should have encountered the Vex by now, and upon looking at the feed, she heard nothing and saw a blurry view of the cave. She called out to the fireteam leader to restore their connection, but received no response. She felt a power surge as the connection broke, and she returned to the uplink in the H.E.L.M.

Failsafe met with the Guardian to discuss a new plan in hopes they wouldn't abandon her again. She temporarily promoted herself to commanding officer so she could direct the Guardian to samples on Nessus to determine whether or not the Vex behavior is a regional phenomenon or something deeper.

On Nessus, she activated her proximity-based sensor leading the Guardian to a coordinate near the Exodus Black. Failsafe sensed something was wrong, and the Vex ambushed the Guardian. After more failed attempts, the Guardian finally found a specimen that Failsafe decided to use as a baseline for further research. She asked the Guardian to deliver it to her mainframe on the Exodus Black but warned that the Fallen and Vex had begun swarming in increasing numbers.

Failsafe was relieved the Guardian arrived to clear out the Vex and Fallen. Saint-14 joked that he was rubbing off on her, causing her to have increased hatred towards the Vex, but she assured him that she already had plenty of motivation. As the Guardian arrived at the wreckage of the Exodus Black, Failsafe warned them that she detected barriers ahead, and the nearby Arc charges likely shared a related function. After the Guardian cleared out the Fallen, Saint asked if she felt any better, and she told him she preferred silence to gunfire, unlike Guardians. The Guardian deposited the specimen they had previously acquired into her mainframe.

Failsafe detected another specimen on Nessus similar to NES002. The Guardian deposited all three specimens in the H.E.L.M., and she joked that they were shiny and beautiful, just like her. She quickly became embarrassed and returned to her analysis.

After having the Guardian complete tasks around Nessus, Failsafe completed her analysis of the constellation fragment and was able to extract a Vex protocol for data compression she believed would help the Guardian. She alerted the Guardian that her next research task would be ready any time between three to seven hundred and twenty hours. The Guardian placed the fragment within a display case, and Failsafe congratulated the Guardian for making an excellent team.

Failsafe checked the Guardian's messages, and upon discovering none, she felt bad for them and decided to write one herself. She told them that after the Imperial Cabal dropped a land tank on Nessus, she thought the Guardian had beef with her because they didn't visit her. She noted that they should be glad that she lost her armory. However, she forgave the Guardian, and desperately asked them not to abandon her again.

Ikora Rey requested that Failsafe accelerate her studies of the new Vex Collective. She ran the scans Ikora wanted and noted new sample sites for the Guardian to investigate.

Failsafe refined her proximity sensor since the last attempt and reassured the Guardian that she should be able to detect the samples better. After collecting radiolaria samples, Failsafe noted that something was influencing them, but was interrupted by a call, much to her excitement. It was Osiris, asking for the Guardian to meet him in the H.E.L.M. for a matter involving Saint-14.

In the H.E.L.M., Osiris and Failsafe both attempted to contact Saint, to no avail. Failsafe noted that his comms were open, he just wasn't answering. Failsafe triangulated his location near the anomalous object's impact site and shared the coordinates with the Guardian.

Failsafe directed the Guardian to Saint's last known coordinates. Failsafe and Ikora noticed that the Vex seemed to have let him pass through without resistance, unlike the Guardian. Travelling down into the Well of Flame, Failsafe was able to isolate Saint's comms. After Ikora attempted to communicate with him, Failsafe noted that he was engaged with a local signal, and could not hear them. The Guardian eventually reached a barrier, and Failsafe began working on opening it using the data the Guardian had been collecting around Nessus but warned that the Vex would respond to her attempts.

After rescuing Saint-14, Failsafe, Osiris, Ikora, and the Guardian met with him in the H.E.L.M. to ask what had happened to him. He shared that a voice spoke to him, refering to itself as the Conductor. Failsafe speculated that since Exo's contained radiolaria, the Vex were able to search for intel on their operation. Saint informed them that it didn't care about their plans, and was merely gauging his humanity, believing himself to not be the "real" Saint-14. Osiris told him that when he saved him from the Infinite Forest, he only searched timelines similar to their own. Failsafe told Saint that because of this, he was as close to the original as mathematically possible. However, Saint ultimately left and asked to be alone.

Failsafe spoke with the Guardian privately, asking if Saint-14 was going to be alright. She had figured that if something bothered him, he would just laugh it off. However, she points out that he has the whole Vanguard to support him. She decided to continue processing the samples and disabled her compassion protocols to allow her to make the Conductor pay for what it did to Saint.

The Guardian uncovered a Vex specimen and brought it to Failsafe for analysis. Failsafe sent them to defeat a variety of Vex frames, until she determined that the specimen was a part of a Wyvern's shield-wing, and gave her time to read up on Vex particle manipulation.

Following the Voice

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After determining that the radiolaria on Nessus was being drained to a central point at its core, Ikora Rey sent the Guardian to follow it. As the Guardian arrived in Nessus, Failsafe warned them with almost certainty that the Conductor's plans were nefarious in nature. She also warned of the House Dusk pirates blocking their way towards the core. Osiris assumed that the Fallen were attempting to retrieve the anomalous object, now referred to as an Echo, for themselves. As the Guardian travelled further, Failsafe provided updates on enemy movements to Ikora. Failsafe noticed that the caves were carved by the retroactive flow of radiolaria caused by Vex time manipulation, and wondered where the radiolaria was going. Eventually, the Guardian's path was blocked by Vex technology. Failsafe suggested using data obtained Hypolydron, a Hydra the Guardian defeated on their way, by bringing it to the H.E.L.M. for her to crack open.

Stopping Maya

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Personality and traits

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Failsafe appears to exhibit a split personality, either being extremely happy or extremely depressed. It is revealed in Episode: Echoes that this is in part due to her having a "socialization filter" which automatically adjusts the tone and content of her speech to be pleasant when speaking to humans. However, she is perfectly capable of experiencing negative emotions, including anger and grief, and this becomes especially apparent when her socialization filter is switched off or malfunctioning.

Failsafe seems to have a great deal of empathy for anyone captured and held for no legitimate reason, as seen when she asked the Guardian to free Fallen captured by the Vex as part of an experiment during the adventure Release.

Failsafe disliked Cayde-6, whom she blamed for alerting the Fallen and Vex to her existence, and regularly mocked his intelligence. Despite this, she grieves his death following the events of Forsaken.

Quotes

If the personality speaking is not noted, assume cheery.

• "(Depressed) Everyone I've ever known is dead, and their bones are dust. (Cheery) I am very lonely."
• "(Depressed) It's not murder if it's robots!"
• "Captain, hello! Asher Mir says that I will provide the computational support, and you will provide the brute force! He is very rude!"
• "Accessing Node 9875A. File header: SIVA Project. Files locked behind Epsilon Theta encryption A, D, and G. No decryption schema found."
• "As you say, Ms. Karn. I am happy to assist your research. My data stores are yours whenever you have need of them."
• "(Depressed) (sigh) Yeah?"
• "(Depressed) All alone. Ugh. Humans."
• "(Depressed) Make 'em pay, Cap!"
• "Posit: artificial life exists because of the Traveler's influence. Extrapolation: the Traveler is my father. Further thought required."
• "Yes. Yes. No. No, I don't think that, Cayde Unit, I am happy to be of assistance, but I do not believe it to be possible to 'Vex time travel back, and kill Ghaul last week.'"
• "The hour is 2700 global Nessus time. Which means here at the Exodus Black, we put the 'A.I.' into 'aria'. Tonight, I am proud to debut an all-new opera written by me! A-one, a-two, and... AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
• "Hmm. Perhaps if I was like, "Hello, fellow AI! I could not help but notice that you have control of a large network of bunkers. Would you be willing to discuss cohabitation?" No. No."
• "(Cheery): Captain! I received word of the Cayde unit's life status! (Depressed): Donezo. (Cheery): Please let me know if there is anything I can do to accelerate and conclude your grief process. (Depressed): 'Cause I'm fine. (Cheery): Anecdote! As the AI of Exodus Black, I experienced the death of every single one of my crewmembers! I hypothesized that the more loss one has suffered, the easier subsequent losses become! Field research has proven my hypothesis false! Losing Cayde makes me feel... f-f-feel... f-f-f-feel... (Depressed): AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH - (Cheery): I feel terrible!

Last Wish quotes

• "(Cheery): Warning! Warning! Sensors are showing... showing... (Depressed): I... have a body? (Cheery): Captain! Did you wish for me to have a body? Having a body has been my life's goal for the past 895 days! Stand by... processing new information... Captain. Is this... YOUR body? (Depressed): Gross. - After successfully inputting Wish 9
• "(Cheery): Shooting things is fun! Commence fixing more problems with bullets! - After defeating Kalli
• "(Cheery): Another humanoid female! Is she friend or foe? (Depressed): Either way... I'm gonna shoot her. - At the beginning of the Shuro Chi encounter
• "(Cheery): I was aware that my captain's occupational duties included shooting "bad guys" and rescuing "good guys". I did not know that shooting and rescuing could be the same thing! (Depressed): That's... confusing. - After defeating Shuro Chi
• "(Cheery): Already I am experiencing many new wonders! I spent the past [REDACTED] years staring at my own crumbling body! Now I am appreciating alien architecture! (Depressed): I... didn't know the world could be this... beautiful... - Between the Shuro Chi and Morgeth encounters
• "(Cheery): I also did not know the world could be this ugly! (Depressed): At least I get to shoot it. - In the Ascendant Plane
• "(Cheery): Warning... Warning... I just defied 37 different laws of physics. (Depressed): Coo-oo-ool. - After killing Morgeth, the Spirekeeper
• "(Cheery): Is there a door in this chamber? I want to go through a door! - At the beginning of the Vault encounter
• "(Cheery): I went through a door! (Depressed): Next up... I wanna get brain freeze. - After the Vault encounter
• "(Cheery): I'm detecting a very large organic creature! (Depressed): I don't think I wanna be a Guardian anymore... - At the beginning of the Riven encounter
• "(Cheery): Calculating feelings! Please stand by! I feel... I feel... (Depressed): ...like a badass. - At the beginning of the Heart of Riven encounter
• "(Cheery): I am so thankful to the captain for granting me a body! But... what I really want is a body of my own. (Depressed): Yours is gross. So much sweat. (If player is Human or Awoken) Yours is weird. Why does a robot need to eat? (If player is an Exo) (Cheery): I wish my captain and I were returned to our own bodies! (Depressed): Goodbye, muscles... - After completing the raid

Gameplay

Failsafe serves as the vendor and one of the main quest givers for Nessus. She is situated at the Exodus Black. Turning in Nessus tokens, Microphasic Datalattice and Quantized Datalattice increases player reputation with Failsafe and rewards Legendary faction gear, shaders and other rewards.

Faction armor

• Exodus Down

Faction weapons

• Uriel's Gift
• Seven-Six-Five
• Shattered Peace
• Last Hope
• Agenda 5
• Out of Options
• Shepherd's Watch
• Shock and Awe
• Mos Epoch III
• Orthrus

Trivia

• Failsafe is voiced by Joy Osmanski.

List of appearances

• Destiny 2 (First appearance)
  • Curse of Osiris
  • Warmind
  • Forsaken
  • Season of the Forge
  • Season of the Drifter (Mentioned only)
  • Season of Opulence (Mentioned only)
  • Season of Dawn
  • Season of the Lost (Mentioned only)
  • Season of Plunder (Mentioned only)
  • Season of the Witch (Mentioned only)
  • The Final Shape (Mentioned only)
  • Episode: Echoes
  • Episode: Revenant
• The Hidden Dossier (Mentioned only)