Superintendent (Viral Campaign)

Were you looking for the Superintendent, New Mombasa's Urban A.I.?

The Superintendent is the name of a viral campaign centered around the AI of the same name.

Description
The Superintendent is New Mombasa's urban infrastructure AI who currently "owns" multiple Bungie-created profiles on Bungie.net. The profiles' names resemble seven vertical bars - - but by viewing the names a serif font, it becomes apparent that the names are written from capital Is and lowercase Ls. The Superintendent appears in a green box and has green text, the only such profile on Bungie.net known to date.

Origin of The Superintendent
The Superintendent made its first appearance on Bungie.net on the 29th of May 2008 at 5:44 PM PDT. Since then, the Superintendent has been making regular posts. The Superintendent's messages are normally brief, always in caps lock, and usually inform forum goers to "KEEP IT CLEAN!". The Superintendent's signature also says "Keep it clean!", but in lower case.

Multiple Superintendents
There are so far 6 Superintendents, and a seventh that may or may not be involved - it lacks Superintendent status and the special avatar, but was made at the same time as all the others. Each of the six have a different variation of the original Superintendent avatar, and each of their names are made up of multiple upper case I's and lower case L's.

Appearances
The Superintendent has made several appearances.


 * On several Bungie employees, most notably Luke Smith and Frank O'Connor.
 * On an unknown man during the E3 demonstration of Halo Wars.
 * On the Recon Road Trip.
 * As a sticker on Joseph Staten's cell phone.
 * The Bungie logo at the top of the Bungie.net homepage occasionally flickers the Superintendent for a fraction of a second.
 * In the "G-Phoria GOTY Acceptance Speech" video and the "Thank You, Edge" video.

Contact
On the 18th of June, 2008 at 9:52 Am PDT, the Superintendent, posted in the Superintendent Discussion thread by station "PLEASE REMAIN CALM!". Duardo, attempting to contact the SI, replied with "Why? Is there something wrong?" at 10:58 AM PDT. Duardo then sent the same thing via PM to the SI. At 11:10 AM PDT, IIIIIII replied to Duardo via PM with "IN CASE OF FIRE, USE STAIRS".

Cancellation and Reappearance
At 7:00 PM, Pacific Time, Bungie fans were disappointed to hear the bad news delivered by Harold Ryan that Bungie's publisher, Microsoft, delayed what would have been an announcement during the week of E3. The message, which replaced the SI homepage until late in the morning of July 16th, can be found here.

In September 2008, the Superintendent would return, posting two News Stories to Bungie.net. Both stories showed transcripts of conversations between characters, including Captain Dare from Halo 3: ODST's plot, and the Superintendent itself. Both stories were posted at 7|7:07PM PDT. The conversations both appear to have taken place during the Battle of New Mombasa.

KEEP IT CLEAN
On the 19th of September, 2008 at 7:07PM PDT, a News Story entitled "KEEP IT CLEAN" was posted on Bungie.net. It was posted by "IIIIlll" -- otherwise known as the Superintendent. The contents of the news story, which have been reproduced below, appear to be a conversation between the Superintendent and an unnamed duty officer, presumably from the Office of Naval Intelligence.

The contents of the news story have been reproduced below.

<\\> UNSC OFFICE OF NAVAL INTELLIGENCE

<\\> CLASSIFIED SIGNALS ARCHIVE ONI.SEC.PRTCL-1A]

<\ OPENED PER OFFICIAL REQUEST DARE.V.500341(S1)]

\ SOURCE: URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE A.I. [SUPERINTENDENT]

\ RECIPIENT: PROWLER “TOKYO RULES” [COMM.DUTY.OFFICER] >> NOTATION KEYWORD SEARCH: “EMERGENCY” “DATA” “CORRUPTION” >> (...) ~ QUERY RUNNING >> (..) >> (.)  \ VTT TRANSCRIPT AS FOLLOWS...

[SUPERINTENDENT]: “METROPOLITAN EMERGENCY!” [SUPERINTENDENT]: “METROPOLITAN EMERGENCY!” [SUPERINTENDENT]: “METROPOLITAN EMER--!” [COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “We know. Personnel are en route. Can you--” [SUPERINTENDENT]: “DETOUR! PROCEED WITH CAUTION!” [COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “--put Kinsler on the line?” [SUPERINTENDENT]: [UNITELLIGIBLE > DOG GROWLING(?)] [COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “Sorry, what?” [SUPERINTENDENT]: “BE A HERO! REPORT VIOLATORS!” [COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “Oh, come on... ”            [SUPERINTENDENT]: “METROPOLITAN EMER--!” [COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “Listen. We have a report of core data corruption.” [COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “I need you to upload your--” [SUPERINTENDENT]: “PARDON OUR DUST!” [SUPERINTENDENT]: “YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK!” [COMM.DUTY.OFFICER] “--logs for the last twenty-four hours!” [SUPERINTENDENT]: “KEEP IT CLEAN!” [SUPERINTENDENT]: “KEEP IT CLEAN!” [SUPERINTENDENT]: “KEEP IT CLEAN!” [COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: [UNINTELLIGIBLE > PROFANITY (?)] [COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “We're sending a team, alright?” [COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “Until they arrive, all additional comm needs to route through me.” [COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “Repeat and acknowledge.” [SUPERINTENDENT]: “OBEY POSTED LIMITS!” [SUPERINTENDENT]: “YIELD TO UPHILL TRAFFIC!” [COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “I'll take that as a ‘yes’...” [SUPERINTENDENT]: “PLEASE REMAIN CALM!”

\ ~ QUERY COMPLETE

\ ARCHIVE CLOSED \>

PARDON OUR DUST
On the 22nd of September, 2008 at 7:07 PDT, the Superintendent posted another News Story entitled "PARDON OUR DUST". The following was posted in the story and is a communications exchange between an unnamed UNSC Admiral and Captain Dare. The News Story's title, taken from one of the Superintendent's "catchphrases", would later be referenced in the Halo 3: ODST trailer.

<\\> UNSC OFFICE OF NAVAL INTELLIGENCE <\\> TAC-OPS LOGISTICS DATABASE [ONI.SEC.PRTCL-1A]

<\ * PRIORITY! * RESOURCE RE-ALLOCATION REQUEST

>> SENT: [DARE.V.500341(S1)] >> RECEIVED: HEAVY CRUISER “SAY MY NAME” [SMN.ACTUAL]

\ PARTIAL VTT TRANSCRIPT AS FOLLOWS...

[SMN.ACTUAL]: “The situation on the ground isn’t my concern.” [DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “I understand, Admiral. But I need --” [EXPLOSION (4.0098s)] [SMN.UNKNOWN]:[UNINTELLIGIBLE > PANIC(?)] [SMN.ACTUAL]: “Empty archer pods six through twelve!” [SMN.ACTUAL]: “Ready the MAC, and come about!” [SMN.UNKNOWN]:[UNINTELLIGIBLE > INSUBORDINATION(?)] [SMN.ACTUAL]: “It may have passed us, Lieutenant, but it’s still in range.” [SMN.ACTUAL]: “Come about. And shoot it in the ass.” [EXPLOSION (2.3482s)] [STATIC (3.8761s)] [SMN.UNKNOWN]:[UNINTELLIGIBLE > COMPLIANCE(?)] [DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “Admiral, about my squad?” [DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “I’ve forwarded their NCO’s name to your --” [SMN.ACTUAL]: “Enough, Captain!” [SMN.ACTUAL]: “If I survive this attack..." [SMN.ACTUAL]: “I will deploy per my orders from Fleet HQ!” [DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “Sir. I don’t report to Fleet.” [DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “And the men I want? Now they don’t either.” [DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “Please. Read my request.” [STATIC (2.8179s)] [EXPLOSION (3.0194s)] [STATIC (7.4501s)] [SMN.ACTUAL]: “Didn’t think you S1 types ever left your cave.” [DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “Desperate times...” [SMN.ACTUAL]: “Alright, Captain. You’ve got your squad.” [SMN.ACTUAL]: “If I survive the attack." [EXPLOSION (2.9016s)] [SMN.ACTUAL]: “And right now? That’ll take a genuine act of God.” [DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “I’ll see what I can do.”

\ ~ REQUEST COMPLETE \ DATABASE CLOSED \>

On the 24th of September, 2008 at 07:07 PDT, Bungie.net was updated with a new introduction, similar to the one from the first appearance, which counts down to 12 hours. When the countdown reached zero the Keep It Clean teaser trailer was released, a trailer whose events were shown from the Superintendent's point of view.

Theories and Speculations
Since the debut of the Superintendent, there has been some speculation as to the true identity of the Superintendent and his role on Bungie.net. In a thread started by Bad Time 2 Die, various points have been made for the purpose of the Superintendent.

Possible Identity
It has been speculated that the person posting on Bungie.net as the Superintendent is Frankie. There is little evidence supporting this theory, and like many other Bungie mysteries, Bungie has not revealed any details. The only evidence supporting Frankie as the Superintendent has been the photo of him wearing a shirt with the Superintendent logo. Also, two Bungie.net News Posts were posted by the Superintendent, and both "Related Stories" were old posts by Frankie.

On June 15th, 2008, Luke Smith was also photographed wearing the Superintendent shirt at the MLG tournament in San Diego.

On July 3rd, 2008, Bungie issued a contest called Recon Road Trip where an unnamed Bungie employee wearing a Superintendent T-shirt in public may be found. The person who finds this employee will be issued Recon Armor if they have their copy of Halo 3. This article was posted by Luke Smith.

Trivia

 * During April Fools 2009, a large image of the Superintendent appeared on a map showing all online players; it was placed over the continents of Africa and Europe.

Internal

 * Halo 3: ODST
 * Superintendent (Construct)