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[Rolan7]

This stream-of-consciousness dream account would really benefit from even a little editing, but I just wanted to get it out of my head first.
Might still be interesting, sorry it's a mess.  Technically a narrative but also full of random thoughts about a video game series and transhumanism.
I dreamed up a "new" Halo 4, which in retrospect had all the themes I groaned at in Halo 4- it just catered to me more.  Caused some introspection.

The dream had a framing device where I had woken up and attempted to explain it to my brother over a Chinese buffet.  He was very interested, though he was also demonstrating his ability to encase himself in a ball of packed snow about the size and shape of Samus's morph ball.  I eventually became concerned that he couldn't breathe, but I dug him out and he was fine.

there was... a lot of transhumanism like that.  That's basically how this Halo 4 catered to me.

I've long been obsessed with Marathon/Halo, particularly the central theme of a "hero" or heroes who transcend humanity.  Physiologically, emotionally, eventually chronally and metaphysically.  The line between hero and AI blurs, then continues into an odd reversal where the AIs have all the emotion and humanity.  They become the guiding will for a cyborg "human" with no identity, no memories, no soul... only function.  One whose ultimate purpose is to purge all remnants of individuality and embody the general metaphysical concept of a warrior (in Marathon).

It's rather chilling.  I understand why it spoke to me, and I'm glad it now worries me.

Of course in my dream it wasn't anything like that.
The game was 4-player coop.  No distinction between the players and the characters, because dream, but that meant that both the players *and* the "spartans" in-universe were a collection of unique wise-cracking individuals.  If I had to guess, it was something like:

Butch transfemme NB (me)
transmasc furry "Kell Hound" (lol Mechwarrior)
A cis guy who reads and understands theory
A high, trans high-femme

Instead of being abducted as children into an ubermensch super-soldier program, we were a found-family cluster of transhumanism enthusiasts who volunteered to have Forerunner artifacts implanted to "see what would happen".  There were no AIs, but... yeah, there were cybernetic intelligences which HAD been human, mostly handling spacecraft.  This was all very Star Trek:  military, but in a post-scarcity society where service was a means to explore one's personal goals.

I think we had won the war with the Covenant already, presumably by doing Halo-style AI antics to steal and incorporate their technology- like hacking ones self to fit in an Elite battlesuit, infiltrating a Covenant battlecruiser, and uploading into/becoming said battlecruiser.  Probably liberated their vassal species, breaking their sociological and literal bonds and offering them civil liberties.  I presume most of the aliens were fucking terrified of our wanton experimentation with our mortal bodies and were content to live in peace far, far away from us.

This was after any of that.  We were fucking around on some Forerunner artifact world, basically pressing buttons at random to try to start a fight.  A strange goal in retrospect, and that's where this got a bit creepy.  (yeah, not the body horror transhumanism, that part was rad).  We were still a band of four wise-cracking queer people, but we were also resuming an ancient and pointless conflict... for funsies, and/or because we'd incorporated artifacts that were compelling us to do so.

It was exhilarating.  Arcane components of our cobbled-together Mjolnir suits reactivated in the presence of ancient energies, making us more like Warframes than Spartans.  We danced with energy-blades and gun-kata.  Our foes were hulking constructs and swarms of mechanical scarabs.  It wasn't about winning, it was about fighting, pure and uncomplicated.

But it wasn't actually like that at all.  We soon emerged to the surface, victorious, to find a much less entertaining war in space and across the planet.  It's darkly reassuring that we still felt guilt and responsibility, and did our best to help mitigate the conflict we'd unleashed on humanity.  As heroes, but... guilty superheroes, not ubermensch.

[McTraveller]

Curse you for making me think of Marathon.

I'm still sad that Bungie sold out to Microsoft.

"Frog blast the vent core!"

[None]

dammit i gotta play marathon 2 again for the durandal quote about "cuz I've got a shotgun and you ain't got one"

[EuchreJack]

I've long been obsessed with Marathon/Halo, particularly the central theme of a "hero" or heroes who transcend humanity.  Physiologically, emotionally, eventually chronally and metaphysically.  The line between hero and AI blurs, then continues into an odd reversal where the AIs have all the emotion and humanity.  They become the guiding will for a cyborg "human" with no identity, no memories, no soul... only function.  One whose ultimate purpose is to purge all remnants of individuality and embody the general metaphysical concept of a warrior (in Marathon).

Many video game hero tends to go down that path, when you think about it.  They're a blank canvas for the player's actions.
Is the protagonist in the Grand Theft Auto games a "hero"? Arguably when you're barreling down the storylines, but certainly not when you're mowing down people with your car for fun & profit!

Many video games specifically design player characters that have no individuality, so that the player can better fit into the game world.
Take Revya from Soul Nomad and and the World Eaters

[None]

I think you're generalizing heroes and missing the 'transcends humanity' part. If you'd prefer a blank canvas/self-insert, Gordon Freeman works a lot better than Revya does since she, as wiki suggests, has dialogue options. Niko in Grand Theft Auto doesn't stop being Niko and become the philosophical ideal of gang violence or something.

The post is more about someone who becomes something altogether different from the human shell, the transformative process.