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{{OSinfobox
{{OSinfobox
|tanname= SAGE
|tanname= SAGE
|image= YoungSAGE.png‎
|image= Sage_avi.png‎


|cname= SAGE
|cname= SAGE
Line 9: Line 9:
|hname= Gina Forrester
|hname= Gina Forrester
|debut= Jan 2008
|debut= Jan 2008
|height= 162 cm (5'4")
|height= 167 cm (5'6")<ref>[https://www.deviantart.com/cptlfrghtr/art/OS-Interviews-Pt-1-152851849 OS-tan interviews]</ref>
|haircolor= Medium brown
|haircolor= Medium brown
|eyecolor= Blue with yellow or gold patches
|eyecolor= Blue and yellow (sectoral heterochromia)
|weapon= Missile launcher, makeshift weapons
|weapon= Missile launcher, makeshift weapons
|apfaction= [[Wanderer Class]], formerly associated with the MIT Society
|apfaction= [[Wanderer Class]]
|lineage= MIT, via Whirlwind
|lineage= MIT
|rival= [[UNIX]], enemy bombers, most microcomputer-tans, birds
|rival= [[UNIX]], most microcomputer-tans


|osper= Semi Automatic Ground Environment (system) and AN/FSQ-7 (hardware)
|osper= Semi Automatic Ground Environment (system) and AN/FSQ-7 (hardware)
Line 24: Line 24:


==Technical Details==  
==Technical Details==  
Built for the US Air Force by MIT, IBM and SDC, the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment was a heavily integrated air battle management network active from the late fifties to early eighties. While ineffective against ballistic missiles, it was the best answer to the threat of bomber based attack. An early user of what would become modems and the internet, interactive systems, and other advanced computing methods, SAGE pioneered many technologies that we take for granted in the modern age.
Built for the US Air Force by MIT, IBM and SDC, the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semi-Automatic_Ground_Environment Semi-Automatic Ground Environment] was an air defense network active throughout the Cold War. Radar data was collected and processed by AN/FSQ-7 computers at 26 sites across the United States. If detected, the location of enemy aircraft would have been transmitted to interceptors. While it faced a number of serious technical issues and was ineffective against ICBMs, it was the best answer to the threat of bombers, and made advancements in a number of modern technologies, including networking and interactive computing.


==Character Details==  
==Character Details==  
====General====
====General====
[[File:SAGEavi.png|left|thumb|100px|SAGE-tan as an adult]]
[[File:SAGEavi.png|left|thumb|100px|SAGE-tan as an adult]]
SAGE-tan is depicted as a woman of average build and height, with long brown hair typically tied up in dual buns. She is described as being rather pale-skinned, having heterochromatic blue and yellow eyes, wearing glasses to correct her severe farsightedness and routinely donning red and white checkered ribbons, having inherited her love of ribbons from her mother. During her time in the Air Force, she wore a contemporary womens' USAF uniform, though some drawn depictions put her in an elaborate, antiquated-looking military-style coat, with a ruffled shirt and ascot, puffy pants and boots. She sold off most of her fine wardrobe after her retirement; today, she dresses mainly in plain clothes, although her old uniform overcoat is still a favorite piece.  
SAGE-tan is depicted as a light-skinned woman in her mid-thirties, of average height, and sturdy build with a full chest. She has long brown hair tied into dual buns,<ref>[https://www.ostan-collections.net/forum/index.php/topic,599.msg42842.html#msg42842 Inspired by the Hopi squash blossom hairstyle]</ref> and blue and yellow eyes. She decorates her hair with red and white checkered ribbons and wears rectangular glasses.<ref>Her buns and ribbons evoke the shape and coloration of radar antennae, while her eye color represents the SAGE console and plotting board projections.</ref>
 
In her youth, she wore a beret, blue and yellow two piece, and her hair long. <ref>[https://safegallery.ostan-collections.net/posts/668 Chocofreak13's concept sketch]</ref><ref>[https://www.deviantart.com/kattlanna/art/SAGE-and-GENIAC-circa-1955-169477579 SAGE and GENIAC - circa 1955]</ref> During her time in service, she wore contemporary women's USAF uniforms<ref>[https://www.ostan-collections.net/forum/index.php/topic,876.msg72897.html#msg72897 stewartsage's description in "old-tan?"]</ref> or antiquated military-style garb consisting of a long coat, ruffled shirt and ascot, puffy pants, boots, and a red sash across worn across her forehead or over her eyes.<ref>[https://www.ostan-collections.net/forum/index.php/topic,599.msg42842.html#msg42842 Original description in "Siya's Concept Hut"]</ref><ref>[https://www.ostan-collections.net/gallery/picture.php?/35834/category/884 Original SAGE-tan sketch]</ref>. Today she dresses in plain clothes mixed with pieces of her old uniform, particularly her overcoat.
 
SAGE-tan has been blind since being cut off from her radar stations.<ref>[https://www.deviantart.com/cptlfrghtr/art/SAGE-Diary-11-11-09-Pt-1-143317560 "Being cut off from her sensory organs, i.e. the radar net that fed SAGE information, SAGE-sama is now almost totally blind despite her efforts to correct it with glasses."]</ref> She speaks with a Bostonian accent and favors antiquated slang.<ref>"Out of touch with the world, speaks in 60s slang if she uses any"</ref>


====Powers====
====Powers====
SAGE-tan's powers remain somewhat mysterious. It is confirmed that she could see light frequencies outside of the human visual spectrum, in particular, certain radio frequencies associated with radar. Her eyes could not actually process radio frequencies themselves; she accomplished this using a second power, the ability to mentally-connect with other OS- and hardware-tans and "tap into" their sensory systems. So as long as SAGE-tan was "connected" to her radar stations, she could see in radio. Similarly, she seems to have used her assistant, [[IBM 728]]-kun, as a memory storage device, since separation from him has diminished her once-sharp memory.  
SAGE-tan's perception and mental faculties are tied to the hardware in her network,<ref>(In the present day) "All of her Senses are very poor, when they aren't useless; wears glasses but they don't help her eyesight (due to be disconnected from her actual 'eyes' the radar stations"</ref> which gave her excellent senses and a sharp mind during her active years. She could see radio frequencies with her radar stations, and demonstrated slight precognition because of their reach.<ref>Referencing over-the-horizon radar systems.</ref>


It has also been suggested that SAGE possessed superhuman strength, and may have had slight precognitive abilities.  
[[IBM 728 | IBM 728-kun]] acted as her memory, while her stations had a generally stabilizing effect.


====Personality====
====Personality====
Due to the series of mental and emotional breaks that she has undergone, it is difficult to pin down SAGE-tan's personality, or tell which emotional features are her true personality and which are just the effects of her dementia.
During her prime, SAGE-tan was self-assured, professional, and proud of her work. Despite her cockiness, she was responsible with her duties, friendly toward her comrades, and treated others with courtesy. <ref>From stewartsage's post in "old-tan": "self assured and cocky", "Quite chatty with her younger brethren at the detection sites"</ref>


Judging by what has been written, SAGE-tan was a kind, inquisitive, if not somewhat peevish child, and throughout her early life she acted with courtesy, professionalism and commitment to her job - protecting the United States from the then-looming threat of nuclear war. Her personality seems to have been, at once, prickly and endearing; many of her chronicles document her as having normal, if not somewhat awkward, interactions with her friends and coworkers, and there was little evidence of the mental disorder that would later manifest itself. 
Though she was initially confident of her capabilities, the introduction of airborne enemies who could evade - or baffle - her senses instilled a paranoid tendency that she maintains to this day.<ref>"Certain of her capabilities pre Birds and the ballistic missile threat"</ref>


A number of factors have been cited as causing her state of psychosis, among them: inherent flaws in her design, separation from her family in her youth, her usefulness being called into question almost as soon as she was debuted, her easily-baffled sensory systems and near-uselessness against the threat of ICBMs; the trauma of having many of her radar stations killed off in the 1960s, witnessing her mother die after a living for more than a decade in a state of grave illness, having an unauthorized clone made ([[SABRE]]-tan), and the passing of her beloved daughter, [[BUIC]], as well as general neglect, abandonment, and being thrust ever farther into a world alien from the idyllic one in which she grew up.
With the progressive loss of her stations, SAGE-tan's well-being worsened, her paranoia sharpening into psychotic episodes and an eventual mental break. She also developed amnesia following the death of IBM 728-kun, resulting in poor recall of her past and disjoint thought in the present. Though contact with other OS-tans improves her state, she's unable to regain her former condition.<ref>"All her sense can be improved by being in contact with other -tans"</ref>


By all accounts, 1983 is the year that SAGE finally "snapped". When her final radar stations were shut down, she was all but blinded, and the death of IBM 728 destroyed her powers of memory. Devoid of her vision, memories and in a state of severe psychological illness that included bouts of extreme violence, paranoia and delusions, she ran off into the wild, where she began living a meager, drifter-like existence, inhabiting her abandoned radar sites and only occasionally venturing into society or interacting with old friends of family. Her life is one of near-total solitude and loneliness, although writing seems to give her some measure of comfort.  
Despite her loneliness, psychological instabilities and cynicism, her old self shines through interacting with friends. Although she's hostile toward younger generations of OS-tans, she has a good rapport with the survivors of her era, and is generally protective toward hardware.


It should be noted that all of this must be called into question - most of the information regarding SAGE-tan's personality has been gleaned from a collection of journal-style stories, which are written in an intentionally-unreliable first-person narrative. Because of this, we may never be able to know exactly what SAGE's personality is, or what her motives are.  
She enjoys writing, and watching planes.


===Family and relationships===
===Family and relationships===
SAGE-tan is [[Whirlwind]]-tan's first-born child and the elder sister of [[TX-0]], [[PDP-1]] and [[CTSS]]-tan. Although separated by distance, her relationship with her mother was close and affectionate. Her relationships with her sisters varied - she seemed to treat PDP-1-tan as a pesky little sister, respect CTSS-tan, bute view her as ultimately weak; and all but ignore TX-0. She has two daughters; the eldest, BUIC-tan, is her backup system, and despite having a mutually-loving relationship, SAGE rarely was able to visit with her due to reasons of national security. Her relationship with her second daughter, SABRE-tan, is strained and fraught with hatred and feelings of betrayal, since SABRE is an "clone" of SAGE-tan created by IBM without her permission.
[[File:YoungSAGE.png|right|thumb|100px|SAGE-tan as a child]]
SAGE-tan is the first-born daughter of [[Whirlwind | Whirlwind-tan]]. Despite being kept apart by separate duties, the two were close with each other. [[PDP-1 | PDP-1-tan]] is her younger sister, while [[CTSS | CTSS-tan]] is her youngest sibling, adopted by Whirlwind-tan in the early sixties.


Growing up, SAGE-tan had a number of friends - mostly human, some computer - at Lincoln Laboratory, her closest being GENIAC-chan, the small and simple computer-tan who she semi-adopted. Later on, she made friends with numerous Air Force computer and hardware systems, notably Univac 1050-II, [[FASTRAND]], LIFT-tan, and the various radar station -tans and -kuns who made up her system. Her nearest friend was arguably IBM 728-kun, whom she viewed less as acquaintance and more as a brother.  
SAGE-tan has a number of children. Besides her stations, <ref>[https://www.deviantart.com/cptlfrghtr/art/SAGE-DC-CC-tan-List-154185526 SAGE DC-CC-tan List]</ref> her most notable is [[BUIC | BUIC-tan]], who acted as a backup to her mother. Despite having a mutually-loving relationship, the two rarely spent time together for security reasons. Her relationship with [[SABRE | SABRE-tan]], is fraught with feelings of betrayal, since SABRE-tan is a "clone" created without her permission.


While SAGE started off hating [[Multics]]-tan, her impression of Multics softened after they worked together at Rome AFB in the 1970s, and they begun a somewhat tumultuous friendship that lasts to this day. Similarly, SAGE befriended [[DTSS]], one of her sister CTSS' close acquaintances, as well as [[Apple III]]-tan.
As a child, SAGE-tan had a number of friends, her closest being [[GENIAC | GENIAC-chan]], a small, simple computer-tan whom she cared for before deployment. Later on, she made friends with numerous Air Force computer and hardware systems, notably Univac 1050-II, [[FASTRAND | FASTRAND-kun]], LIFT-tan, and the various radar stations who made up her system.<ref>[https://www.deviantart.com/cptlfrghtr/art/Water-Cooler-Pt-1-154184595 |Water Cooler Pt. 1]</ref> She was especially close with her assistant and bodyguard IBM 728-kun, whom she regarded as a brother-in-arms. <ref>[https://www.deviantart.com/cptlfrghtr/art/Love-and-the-Modern-Computer-164441750 Love and the Modern Computer]</ref>


While a startlingly large number of "ships" involving SAGE have been proposed, few canon romantic relationships exist. SAGE/FASTRAND has been hinted at before in-story and outright stated in one alternate-universe tale, but it remains unclear whether or not it is canonical. Similarly, one alternate-universe story paired SAGE and Apple III-tan together, and it has since been accepted as canon to SAGE-tan's original creator. Some interpretations show SAGE and Multics in a relationship, with Multics being dominant over SAGE.  
While SAGE-tan was initially dismissive of [[Multics]]-tan, her impression softened after they worked together, beginning a tumultuous friendship that lasts to this day. SAGE befriended [[Apple III | Apple III-tan]] after retirement, <ref>"Knew of Multics and Bell Labs UNIX but dismissed them as toys, later her view softened towards Multics after they worked together in the 70's. Apple III-tan became one of her few remaining friends several years ago when she helped out with some of her research."</ref> and likewise reacquainted with [[DTSS | DTSS-tan]], an old colleague of her sister's, in the present day.<ref>[https://www.deviantart.com/cptlfrghtr/art/Reunion-Pt-3-166384407 Reunion, Pt. 3]</ref>


SAGE-tan has many enemies, both real and perceived. She hates Unix, ITS and WAITS, and her vitriol toward Unix is at least partially-returned. During her days in service,  enemy bombers were a very real threat for her to fight against, but was helpless against ICBMs. Birds are perceived to be enemies just the same, referring to SAGE's radars detecting birds as well as bombers. She also looks down on the microcomputer-tans as being worthless or beneath her, making an exemption for GENIAC-tan. However, her condescending attitude towards microcomputers didn't stop her from visiting the [[Binteeji Renmei]] to reunite with GENIAC-tan, and has accidentally made friends with some of the other microcomputer-tans there.
Of all her enemies she hates [[UNIX | Unix-tan]] in particular, sentiment at least partially reciprocated. She looks down on microcomputers with the exception of GENIAC-tan and Apple III-tan. However, her superiority complex doesn't stop her from visiting the [[Binteeji Renmei]] to reunite with her old companion, accidentally befriending others others in the process. She fosters a hatred of birds, as they easily confused her sensory systems.<ref>"Doesn't like birds but they seem to like her"</ref> In the present day this manifests in conspiracy theories that birds are out to get her.  


==History and background==
==History and background==
==Theories and Alternate Interpretations==
===Early life===
====Life after shutdown?====
Typically, when an OS-tan looses all of her installations and user-base, she dies. Yet somehow SAGE-tan has remained alive, nearly 30 years after her last sites were shut down. A number of theories have been devised to explain this anomaly, but none have been confirmed. These theories run the gamut from outlandish to mundane: that SAGE was born as, or became, a physical god; that she was so powerful in her life that she can exist without any installations; and the out-of-universe explanation that it was simply more interesting to make SAGE-tan a living character than a deceased one.


====SAGE isn't completely blind====
When SAGE got disconnected from her radars and decommissioned, the most common interpretation is that she became nearly, or completely blind. Another interpretation is that when she was in service, she had superhuman levels of vision, and was able to see in the radio spectrum, but lost those abilities after being decommissioned. She might still see normally as a human can, but her vision became severely compromised compared to what it was before.


====She brought Multics from the dead====
As for how Multics was brought back from the dead, it's known that the necromancer [[Plan 9|Plan 9-tan]] didn't do it because the resurrected Multics has her free will intact and doesn't show signs of dying off again. SAGE may have found a way to bring others from the dead using advanced technology, and having cheated death herself. In a state of loneliness and mental decay, and even possible feelings for her, she may have brought Multics from the dead. She may have done this not just to see her again, but to also have her kill off UNIX at last, because SAGE hates UNIX and knew that Multics nearly killed her.


While Multics never got her powers back, and can't fight, SAGE cared enough to send Multics to the Binteeji Renmei instead of leaving her to die.  
===Prime===
 
===Retirement===
 
==Notes==
SAGE-tan attained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and was a trained pilot.<ref>[https://www.deviantart.com/cptlfrghtr/art/Commendations-and-Insignia-169027595 Commendations and Insignia] "Originally the F-94 Starfire, then the Delta Dart, the Voodoo, and the Phantoms II before she was grounded in 1975. She was also qualified to fly the EC-121 Warning Star."</ref>


==Fanworks==
==Fanworks==
Because of the high volume of SAGE-tan writings and artworks, please refer to this [[List of works depicting SAGE]].
Refer to this [[List of works depicting SAGE]].
 
==References==


[[Category:Historical]][[Category:Mainframe]][[Category:IBM]][[Category:MIT]]
[[Category:Historical]][[Category:Mainframe]][[Category:IBM]][[Category:MIT]]

Latest revision as of 22:41, 27 July 2025

Tick tock, editors….
This article is a work in progress.
…well, all the articles here are, in a way. But this one moreso, and the article may contain incomplete information and editors’ notes.


SAGE
Sage avi.png
Character Information
Common Names SAGE
Other Names Semi Automatic Ground Environment, "Whirlwind II"
Human Name(s) Gina Forrester
Faction Wanderer Class
Lineage MIT
Rival(s) UNIX, most microcomputer-tans
Appearance
Height 167 cm (5'6")[1]
Hair Color Medium brown
Eye Color Blue and yellow (sectoral heterochromia)
Weapon(s) Missile launcher, makeshift weapons
Design
First Appearance Jan 2008
Technical Information
System Personified Semi Automatic Ground Environment (system) and AN/FSQ-7 (hardware)
Developer(s) MIT Lincoln Laboratory
Debut Jan 1959
Latest release Circa 1983


Technical Details

Built for the US Air Force by MIT, IBM and SDC, the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment was an air defense network active throughout the Cold War. Radar data was collected and processed by AN/FSQ-7 computers at 26 sites across the United States. If detected, the location of enemy aircraft would have been transmitted to interceptors. While it faced a number of serious technical issues and was ineffective against ICBMs, it was the best answer to the threat of bombers, and made advancements in a number of modern technologies, including networking and interactive computing.

Character Details

General

SAGE-tan as an adult

SAGE-tan is depicted as a light-skinned woman in her mid-thirties, of average height, and sturdy build with a full chest. She has long brown hair tied into dual buns,[2] and blue and yellow eyes. She decorates her hair with red and white checkered ribbons and wears rectangular glasses.[3]

In her youth, she wore a beret, blue and yellow two piece, and her hair long. [4][5] During her time in service, she wore contemporary women's USAF uniforms[6] or antiquated military-style garb consisting of a long coat, ruffled shirt and ascot, puffy pants, boots, and a red sash across worn across her forehead or over her eyes.[7][8]. Today she dresses in plain clothes mixed with pieces of her old uniform, particularly her overcoat.

SAGE-tan has been blind since being cut off from her radar stations.[9] She speaks with a Bostonian accent and favors antiquated slang.[10]

Powers

SAGE-tan's perception and mental faculties are tied to the hardware in her network,[11] which gave her excellent senses and a sharp mind during her active years. She could see radio frequencies with her radar stations, and demonstrated slight precognition because of their reach.[12]

IBM 728-kun acted as her memory, while her stations had a generally stabilizing effect.

Personality

During her prime, SAGE-tan was self-assured, professional, and proud of her work. Despite her cockiness, she was responsible with her duties, friendly toward her comrades, and treated others with courtesy. [13]

Though she was initially confident of her capabilities, the introduction of airborne enemies who could evade - or baffle - her senses instilled a paranoid tendency that she maintains to this day.[14]

With the progressive loss of her stations, SAGE-tan's well-being worsened, her paranoia sharpening into psychotic episodes and an eventual mental break. She also developed amnesia following the death of IBM 728-kun, resulting in poor recall of her past and disjoint thought in the present. Though contact with other OS-tans improves her state, she's unable to regain her former condition.[15]

Despite her loneliness, psychological instabilities and cynicism, her old self shines through interacting with friends. Although she's hostile toward younger generations of OS-tans, she has a good rapport with the survivors of her era, and is generally protective toward hardware.

She enjoys writing, and watching planes.

Family and relationships

SAGE-tan as a child

SAGE-tan is the first-born daughter of Whirlwind-tan. Despite being kept apart by separate duties, the two were close with each other. PDP-1-tan is her younger sister, while CTSS-tan is her youngest sibling, adopted by Whirlwind-tan in the early sixties.

SAGE-tan has a number of children. Besides her stations, [16] her most notable is BUIC-tan, who acted as a backup to her mother. Despite having a mutually-loving relationship, the two rarely spent time together for security reasons. Her relationship with SABRE-tan, is fraught with feelings of betrayal, since SABRE-tan is a "clone" created without her permission.

As a child, SAGE-tan had a number of friends, her closest being GENIAC-chan, a small, simple computer-tan whom she cared for before deployment. Later on, she made friends with numerous Air Force computer and hardware systems, notably Univac 1050-II, FASTRAND-kun, LIFT-tan, and the various radar stations who made up her system.[17] She was especially close with her assistant and bodyguard IBM 728-kun, whom she regarded as a brother-in-arms. [18]

While SAGE-tan was initially dismissive of Multics-tan, her impression softened after they worked together, beginning a tumultuous friendship that lasts to this day. SAGE befriended Apple III-tan after retirement, [19] and likewise reacquainted with DTSS-tan, an old colleague of her sister's, in the present day.[20]

Of all her enemies she hates Unix-tan in particular, sentiment at least partially reciprocated. She looks down on microcomputers with the exception of GENIAC-tan and Apple III-tan. However, her superiority complex doesn't stop her from visiting the Binteeji Renmei to reunite with her old companion, accidentally befriending others others in the process. She fosters a hatred of birds, as they easily confused her sensory systems.[21] In the present day this manifests in conspiracy theories that birds are out to get her.

History and background

Early life

Prime

Retirement

Notes

SAGE-tan attained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and was a trained pilot.[22]

Fanworks

Refer to this List of works depicting SAGE.

References

  1. ↑ OS-tan interviews
  2. ↑ Inspired by the Hopi squash blossom hairstyle
  3. ↑ Her buns and ribbons evoke the shape and coloration of radar antennae, while her eye color represents the SAGE console and plotting board projections.
  4. ↑ Chocofreak13's concept sketch
  5. ↑ SAGE and GENIAC - circa 1955
  6. ↑ stewartsage's description in "old-tan?"
  7. ↑ Original description in "Siya's Concept Hut"
  8. ↑ Original SAGE-tan sketch
  9. ↑ "Being cut off from her sensory organs, i.e. the radar net that fed SAGE information, SAGE-sama is now almost totally blind despite her efforts to correct it with glasses."
  10. ↑ "Out of touch with the world, speaks in 60s slang if she uses any"
  11. ↑ (In the present day) "All of her Senses are very poor, when they aren't useless; wears glasses but they don't help her eyesight (due to be disconnected from her actual 'eyes' the radar stations"
  12. ↑ Referencing over-the-horizon radar systems.
  13. ↑ From stewartsage's post in "old-tan": "self assured and cocky", "Quite chatty with her younger brethren at the detection sites"
  14. ↑ "Certain of her capabilities pre Birds and the ballistic missile threat"
  15. ↑ "All her sense can be improved by being in contact with other -tans"
  16. ↑ SAGE DC-CC-tan List
  17. ↑ |Water Cooler Pt. 1
  18. ↑ Love and the Modern Computer
  19. ↑ "Knew of Multics and Bell Labs UNIX but dismissed them as toys, later her view softened towards Multics after they worked together in the 70's. Apple III-tan became one of her few remaining friends several years ago when she helped out with some of her research."
  20. ↑ Reunion, Pt. 3
  21. ↑ "Doesn't like birds but they seem to like her"
  22. ↑ Commendations and Insignia "Originally the F-94 Starfire, then the Delta Dart, the Voodoo, and the Phantoms II before she was grounded in 1975. She was also qualified to fly the EC-121 Warning Star."
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