Chioma Esi

Chioma Esi
Biographical information
Species:	Human
Gender:	Female
Political and military information
Affiliation:	Ishtar Collective (formerly); North American Empire (formerly); Exodus Indigo (formerly); Neomuna (formerly)

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Doctor Chioma Esi was a scientist and researcher who worked with her wife Dr. Maya Sundaresh at the Ishtar Collective on Venus during the Golden Age. During the Collapse Chioma and Maya were aboard Exodus Indigo and found safety on Neptune, discovering The Veil hidden there and founding the city of Neomuna.

Biography[edit]

Early life[edit]

Chioma met Maya Sundaresh when they were both undergraduates. While Chioma was deadlifting in their school's gym, Maya complained about how loud she was, leading to an argument about whether deadlifting was even practical.^[1] Despite this contentious first meeting, the two eventually fell in love and got married, and were rarely apart for very long periods of time.^[2]

Working at the Ishtar Collective[edit]

Several decades later, Chioma and Maya joined the Ishtar Collective on Venus to study the Vex ruins and constructs that had appeared on the planet after it was transformed by the Traveler. While working on a Vex code, it made the leap from simulation to reality, taking control of a utility Frame. Chioma activated an alarm while Maya attempted to use a gravity grapple to pin the frame, but could not lift it. Chioma took the grapple and was able to use it to pin the frame to the wall, saving their lives while also settling their debate about whether deadlifting was practical.^[1]

Chioma and her team eventually began working on an active Vex platform called Specimen Twelve. She was able to create an interface that allowed her to see what the Vex was thinking and was alarmed one day to discover that it was perfectly simulating two hundred twenty-seven copies of her team. Chioma informed Maya, who shared her alarm and noted that for all philosophical intents and purposes, those copies were them. Chioma agreed, and when Maya suggested calling a team meeting to inform the others, Chioma let her know that Maya's copies had done the same thing.^[3]

They met with their fellow team members, Dr. Shim and Duane-McNiadh, and explained the situation to them. Duane-McNiadh was confused by what the issue was, and Chioma explained that the Vex could torture their simulated counterparts and that logically, they had to treat their pain as their own, with Maya noting it could torment them for eternity. Duane-Mcniadh objected that they had no obligation to their simulated copies and that they were not truly linked, angering Chioma, but Shim interrupted and pointed out that, given that there was only one true reality, they were likely just another simulation themselves. Chioma, Maya, and Duane-McNiadh were stunned by this and realized they were in more trouble than they originally believed.^[4]

Maya stated that she had a plan to free themselves from the Vex, but Chioma worriedly pointed out that if she had one, then the Vex knew about it as well. Maya proposed that they had to act as if they were real and not simulated, and Chioma noted that the simulated Mayas were saying the same thing. Her wife asked her to stop that, as it was not helping the situation, and suggested that they needed to make contact with something outside of the Vex's ability to simulate, like a Warmind. Duane-Mcniadh feared the Vex would torture or erase them if they tried, but Chioma agreed with Maya, given their lack of alternatives. After Shim pointed out that the Vex would react once they did so and that these could be their last moments of peace, Chioma and Maya began kissing in case it was their last moments together.^[5]

With the Warmind's aid, Chioma and her team were able to rescue all two hundred twenty-seven of their simulated copies. The copies were saved into an interface, where they all agreed to be released into the Vex information network to explore it and attempt to aid the research team in understanding the Vex. With the Warmind's assistance, Chioma and the others linked their minds to biomechanical proxies protected by firewalls so that they could safely take their simulated selves to the Vex Citadel and release them without endangering themselves. As their proxies walked through the Vex ruins, Duane-McNiadh wondered where the Vex and their ruins had come from, and Chioma suggested that they may have always been there, waiting for a period of geological quiescence that would allow them to grow. Shim disagreed, believing they came from another timeline, as the ruins were far too old to have just emerged. Maya wondered what they could do with the power of the Vex Citadel once they understood it, and Chioma noted that they may soon find out. The two then pondered if all their simulated copies would remain together as they explored the Vex network, or if some would drift apart and end their relationship, or perhaps die and leave the other alone. The group then reached the aperture they would use to send their copies into the network and began setting up their equipment, and as they did, Duane-McNiadh wondered if they could use the power of the Vex to change the past. Chioma doubted it, suggesting that any effort to change the past would just create a loop that would cause those events to happen exactly as before. They then released their copies into the network and bid them farewell on their journey.^[6]

Despite their close call with the Vex mind, Chioma and her team continued to study the Vex. One day, she discovered that Maya had integrated radiolarian fluid into a ship she was working on as a coolant. Chioma was concerned, but Maya noted that it would go to waste otherwise and that they needed to understand everything about the Vex if they hoped to survive the creatures if they ever physically manifested. Despite her concerns, Chioma gave her approval, noting that Maya's ideas were the ones that had saved them from the Vex simulation, and the two then celebrated Maya's work.^[7]

Working on Hyperion[edit]

Forty years after their work at the Ishtar Collective, Chioma took a job on Hyperion, one of the moons of Saturn, while Maya worked in an isolated lab in the city of Lhasa on Earth. Despite her schedule keeping her busy and Hyperion's distance from Earth, Chioma wrote to Maya every week, although her wife could not respond due to the Lhasa lab's strict security measures.^[2]

At some point shortly before the Collapse, Chioma and Maya had a daughter, Nisa. She stayed with Chioma while Maya was away. During the Collapse, Chioma and Maya had to abandon her.^[8]

The Collapse and the Veil[edit]

"When we landed on Neptune, there was... something waiting for us. An alien structure. It's an electromagnetic anomaly. No mass, but a tangible surface area. It's like a thesis statement to the Von Neumann-Wigner hypothesis. It's definitely paracausal, like the Traveler. Maya calls it the Veil. She says she heard the name in a whisper when... when she looked at it. When I asked her who whispered, she said it was... her own voice. I still haven't had time to process that."

— Chioma Esi and Maya Sundaresh discovering the Veil

During the Collapse, Chioma and the other researchers from Hyperion were evacuated and brought aboard the Exodus Indigo as the colony ship made its way out-system, in the process becoming reunited with Maya, who was already aboard. Shortly after, the ship was attacked by an unknown entity, which left a spear-like weapon embedded in the hull before being blasted away by the ship's point defense cannons. On Maya's recommendation, the ship then landed on Neptune's surface in pursuit of a Vex distress signal, in the hope that whatever was threatening the Vex would similarly deter the mysterious attackers that were pursuing the Indigo.^[9]

After arriving on Neptune, Chioma and the other Ishtar Collective researchers discovered the Veil, a paracausal entity, on the planet's surface. Their first contact with it resulted in the brain deaths of some of the investigation team, including all of the Exo members.^[10] Hoping to study the entity and find a way to make use of it, Chioma and Maya worked on creating a prototype system to interface with the Veil, designed like an orchestra with a "conductor" directing a "symphony" of minds. Chioma had her concerns, given the potential for further deaths, but Maya insisted on going through with the experiment for the sake of their collective survival.^[11]

Chioma's fears proved correct, as all volunteers were rendered brain-dead during the experiment. Maya had Chioma inspect Doctor Ardehi and the dead Exos for any physical damage, and found none. After Chioma admitted to Maya that they needed to stop the experiments with the Veil. Chioma was taken aback but Maya's disregard for the loss of human life, but was afraid to push her too far at the risk of losing her.^[12]

While Chioma despaired at the losses, Maya only saw potential data points, causing a rift to form between the two. At some point, she discovered that Maya had reversed the design of the interface and hooked up the dead Exos to create a partial or full copy of her own consciousness, downloading it into one Exo in particular: Lakshmi-2.^[13]^[14]

Eventually, Maya would succeed in safely connecting the Veil to the Ishtar Collective researchers. Despite the success, Chioma could only feel disgusted at the lack of ethics and morality in the process of studying the entity, proclaiming that her wife was long dead when they landed on Neptune. Beyond this, she felt worried for the generations of children who might learn about the truth happening there. At some point, she and the other researchers found Maya dead in the "conductor's" chair, having attempted to connect to the Veil for unknown reasons. Chioma then had Lakshmi-2, who was developmentally incomplete at the time, quarantined until they could figure out what to do with her.^[15]

Neomuna's founding and letting go[edit]

"Maya has to be out there. The Maya I remember. And all I want is one more moment with her. To hold her in my arms. Tell her that I love her. So she can tell me to "hush" one more time. If... if we learned anything from the Veil, it's that eventually... we all have to learn to let go. So... I made contact with the Vex. I'm ready. And it's time to say goodbye."

— Chioma Esi's last research log

Many decades later, after Neomuna's founding and around the time of the Cloud Striders' foundation, Chioma found out that Rasputin was reactivated and that he had discovered the existence of the colony, classifying it as "Nefele Stronghold". Not wanting the Veil and Neomuna to be investigated by the Warmind and believing that the Veil was too powerful for anyone, she sent Stargazer to wipe out any information related to Neomuna on Rasputin's network. Stargazer took Lakshmi-2 on their expedition, which satisfied Chioma as she wanted "it" out of her sight.^[16]

Fearing the potential catastrophe if the Veil was wielded by humanity, she had the facility built around the Veil closed. She also encrypted her logs as a desire for Neomuna's future generations to start with a clean slate, unhindered by the sins of the past.^[17]

During her final moments, Chioma reminisced about the time when she and Maya were trapped in a simulation by the Vex on Venus, remarking how even hell can feel like heaven. Wanting to reunite with the woman she loved, she made contact with the Vex and became assimilated into them, saying her goodbyes.^[18]

Reuniting with Maya[edit]

Centuries later, Maya Sundaresh, reborn as the Conductor, searched for the original Chioma Esi. Seeking to stop her from spreading radiolaria across Sol, the Vanguard sent the Guardian to find the original Chioma before Maya.^[19] However, Maya found her first, and uploaded her into an Exo, interrogating her to see if she was the "true" Chioma. To test her, Maya asked when Chioma first told her she loved her. Chioma told her that she wished she could remember a time that she loved her, and the woman she loved had become a monster. Ultimately failing Maya's test, Maya mistakenly killed her, believing she wasn't the original Chioma Esi.^[20]

Legacy[edit]

Chioma Esi would be commemorated among the Neomuni populace as one of the city's founders, even having a district named after her surname, Esi Terminal. In addition, she and Maya are celebrated on Colony Day, a day of remembrance for the founders of Neomuna.^[21]

The encrypted logs that Chioma Esi left in the Veil Containment facility would later be discovered by Osiris and Nimbus. These logs revealed the darker roots behind Neomuna's founding, the unethical experiments that were done to study the Veil, and the tragedy that befell Chioma and Maya in their experiences with the entity.^[22]

A device designed by Chioma, the Veil Spectrometer, used to study Strand, was later repurposed by Nimbus and a Guardian into Final Warning.^[23]

Within the Vex Net[edit]

Exploring the Network[edit]

The copies of the Ishtar Collective team, cautiously began exploring the Vex Network.

One team came across an alien world, with what appeared to be the Traveler in the distance. Their Duane-McNiadh walked to quickly, and fell through the ground out of reality. The team set up a marker, and moved on.^[24]

Another team built a radio while camped under a glass cliff, hoping to contact the other teams. However, soon after they were attacked by something, which presumably killed the entire team.^[24]

Another Chioma visited a simulated jewelry store, and picked out a necklace for her Maya for their anniversary. An unknown time later, her Maya died, and Chioma went on with Duane-McNiadh and Shim.^[24]

Working with Praedyth[edit]

Numerous copies of the Ishtar Collective team eventually made contact with one another and Praedyth. Working with Praedyth, they developed a device to leave the Vex Network.^[25] As more copies of the Ishtar team gathered, Praedyth managed to send a signal outside of the Vex Network.^[26] Most copies of the Ishtar team gathered with Praedyth, and as the Black Garden awoke, they began to step through the gate.^[27]

The Glass House[edit]

Over a year after initially entering the Vex Network, a Chioma convinced a Maya to settle down and stop their aimless wandering. Together, they built a haven for travelers, safe from the Vex. They learned that if they only performed minor changes to the code, the Vex left them in peace. By utilizing radiolaria, began to broadcast their home as a beacon for travelers, and began working to create a bridge to the material world.^[28]

Disappearing Chiomas[edit]

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Along with the other copies in the Vex Network, the Chiomas sensed an Echo breach the system and felt compelled to reach for it. Together with the other scientists, they piled furniture and lifted one another up in an attempt to reach it.^[29]

Soon after, Chiomas began disappearing, being uploaded by the Conductor into Exos, and interrogated to see if they were the original Chioma. The Conductor would ask personal questions, such as questions about Nisa, and evaluate the Chioma's response. When they inevitably failed, they were degaused.^[30]

Personality and traits[edit]