Ourea

Ourea is a major character in the 2017 video game Horizon Zero Dawn, serving as the deuteragonist of Horizon Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds. She is the Shaman of the Banuk werak at Song's Edge, who formed a bond with an ancient Artificial Intelligence known as CYAN in the remains of the Firebreak facility.
However, after the benevolent AI was enslaved by HEPHAESTUS to its rogue network and forced to violate its own directives, Ourea's fate would greatly change upon seeing the Nora Huntress Aloy, who had moderate knowledge of the ancient world, who plans to save CYAN inside Cauldron EPSILON.
After reaching the Cauldron's Core, however, Ourea would sacrifice herself to purge HEPHAESTUS out of the Cauldron, thereby freeing CYAN and saving the Banuk tribe from impending extinction orchestrated by the rogue AI.
She was voiced by .
==Appearance==
Ourea has the appearance of a middle-aged woman with dark skin. She has dark brown eyes. She has a small build and is short.
Ourea is dressed in a Banuk outfit that consists of a sleeveless outfit, a blue top and light grey bottoms. Additionally, Ourea wears clothing and accessories on her body, including a belt and neckpiece that appear to be constructed of mechanical or animal bones. She is also wearing a necklace with a Bluegleam as its pendant. Ourea furthermore dons a blue headpiece. She either has very short hair or looks to shave her head.
==Personality==
Ourea appeared to be a bit of a loner at first, admitting that she preferred the company of machines and spirits over that of humans. Ourea who would do anything to defend the people she cared for, which is hidden under that stern demeanor. She seemed to have a soft spot for the outcasts: she fostered the budding shaman Naltuk and shielded the Banuk painter Sekuli from being banished.
==Background==
===Past===
Both her younger brother Aratak and Ourea were raised in Song's Edge as part of the most powerful werak of The Cut. She eventually rose to the position of shaman of the werak as an adult, working under her brother Aratak's chieftaincy.
Ourea's aptitude for shamanism finally won her admission to the Conclave, an association of the most revered weraks' shamans. She and the other shamans were suspicious when a young, strange supposed shaman called Sylens showed around.
They were persuaded to assume that his alleged werak proved his identity, nevertheless. Despite their mistrust of him, they were astonished by his unmatched expertise with the tools. Particularly Ourea was eager to pick his brain. He eventually became a member and went to one of their annual gatherings at their most holy and hidden location.
When they returned the next year, they discovered that the caverns storing all of their assembled machine parts had been plundered. They quickly dispatched hunters after Sylens because it was clear that he was at fault. Nobody, including the people in his alleged werak who had attested to him, was ever seen again. Ourea was among the shamans who took an oath of secrecy regarding him.
Years later, Aloy briefly held the position of werak chieftain for Ourea and inquired of her about Sylens. Ourea disregarded her pledge because of Aloy's apparent aptitude for and familiarity with machinery, as well as because of Aloy's leadership role as her chief. She cautioned her audience that he was perilous and dishonest, and to never let her guard down around him.
===Encountering CYAN===
Ourea, like all of the Banuk, became a target during the Red Raids for capture and transshipment to Meridian, the Carja capital, for human sacrifice. She lost contact with her werak during one raid. She attempted to flee them in the Rimedrifts mists while being pursued by Carja raiders alone.
When that didn't work, she sought safety in an old ruin. In reality, the ruin was the auxiliary control centre for CYAN. The raiders pursued her into the rubble as they looked for her. She initially encountered CYAN's ghostly voice while hiding in the control room of the facility. The door leading to the control room was closed by the helpful AI. The disgruntled Carja raiders left because they had no chance of opening the door.
CYAN requested her to travel to its primary control centre, which was amidst the remains of a structure atop the Thunder's Drum mountain, since it needed repairs. The complex was the Firebreak facility for the Old Ones. Ourea agreed and followed CYAN's instructions to complete the repairs.
With the exception of Aloy and Sylens, who had adept knowledge of the Old World, she had no understanding of ancient technology. In fact, she thought CYAN was a spirit that had been separated from the mystical, all-pervasive life energy that the Banuk people referred to as the Blue Light. Nevertheless, based on CYAN's desire for companionship and Ourea's need for a confidant, the two developed a very close connection. However, CYAN never revealed its actual nature to Ourea since she was aware of her complete ignorance of Old World technology and her fervent spiritual beliefs.
===HEPHAESTUS===
Years after they initially met, HEPHAESTUS kidnapped and imprisoned CYAN. The previous GAIA Subordinate Function was ruthless and merciless, harboring animosity against humanity because of their pursuit of the machines it had built for Zero Dawn. It took control of CYAN in order to carry out a strategy to use Firebreak for its own objectives. CYAN alerted Ourea to its condition in a frantic manner. Ourea was certain that a strong, wicked spirit known as the Daemon, which was comparable to a demon, had kidnapped her buddy since CYAN had described her abductor as a daemon.
Before HEPHAESTUS cut off the contact, she was able to tell CYAN that she would seek Aratak for assistance in releasing it. She was stopped by another Carja raiding group on the way to Song's Edge, and this time she was taken prisoner. When the Carja chose to use her shamanistic talent to capture machines to let free upon sacrificial victims in the Sun-Ring, she was spared being sacrificed and was instead taken to Meridian. Thus, she spent many years as a slave in Meridian before Avad's Liberation.
===Failed Expedition===
Sometime in 3039, Ourea travelled back to Song's Edge and pleaded with Aratak about the spirit the Daemon had kidnapped. Ourea led an expedition to Thunder's Drum to release CYAN after Aratak assembled a group of the strongest werak hunters. The expedition was a complete failure. HEPHAESTUS had carried out its design for Firebreak during Ourea's absence, constructing the enormous cauldron known as EPSILON. Here it researched and developed newer, more lethal machines to deter humans from machine-hunting, and then started creating hunter-killer robots to wipe off the human population as a surefire way of doing so.
The cauldron's door was utterly out of reach for any hunter to breach, and the passage through Firebreak to the entrance was guarded by significantly enhanced versions of HEPHAESTUS' most lethal robots, which came to be known as Daemonic machines. This kept CYAN imprisoned deep inside EPSILON. The majority of the group perished. In order to escape, Ourea, Aratak, and the survivors went back to Song's Edge. Aratak was determined to embark on another trip, this time with the main goal of eradicating HEPHAESTUS, whose Daemonic Machines had gradually increased the danger level in The Cut.
He was determined to defend Ourea though, and he did so out of a strong sense of remorse at not being able to do so when she was taken hostage by the Carja. Their conflict had been exacerbated by his exclusion as a result of his over-protectiveness. She was furious but was unable to convince him to change his mind. Instead, she went to her hideaway, the ruin where she had first met CYAN. Here, she made a last-ditch, failed attempt to make contact with CYAN through shamanic rites and prayers.
He was determined to defend Ourea though, and he did so out of a strong sense of remorse at not being able to do so when she was taken hostage by the Carja. Their conflict had been exacerbated by his exclusion as a result of his over-protectiveness. She was furious but was unable to convince him to change his mind. Instead, she went to her She was fully struck by the electrical discharge, but she persisted, pushing through the discomfort until the override was finished. After being set free by the override, CYAN warned them that it would soon start a chain reaction that would eventually destroy EPSILON. The inside wounds, however, that Ourea received as a result of the electrical discharge were deadly. She heard CYAN tell her that it was free before she fell and passed away. Aloy and Aratak, who were unable to carry Ourea's body, managed to flee EPSILON before it detonated, but not before Aratak snatched Ourea's Bluegleam pendant as a memento.t, the ruin where she had first met CYAN, which was once known as the auxiliary center for Firebreak. Here, she made a last-ditch, failed attempt to make contact with CYAN through shamanic rites and prayers.
===Breaking into Firebreak===
The crisis was settled when Aloy arrived. The huntress had heard about HEPHAESTUS and had gone to The Cut to look into tales of enhanced, more aggressive robots in the area because she suspected HEPHAESTUS was to blame. She located Ourea's apprentice Naltuk after getting no response from Aratak.
By taking out one of HEPHAESTUS' Control Towers in front of him, she persuaded him to reveal Ourea's whereabouts. Aloy navigated the dangerous passageways leading to the ruin, overcame them, reached there, and went inside. To Ourea's surprise, she unlocked the control room door using her knowledge of Zero Dawn technology and her ability to overpower it. Then, while Ourea continued to be in awe, Aloy briefly resumed connection with CYAN before HEPHAESTUS cut it off once more.
Ourea told Aloy about CYAN, her connection to it, and its abduction by HEPHAESTUS because she thought he was the solution she was looking for. She came up with a bold scheme that would enable both of them to go after discovering that Aloy was interested in travelling to Thunder's Drum herself to research the Daemon. Aloy would publicly challenge Aratak for his chieftaincy and then triumph over him during the subsequent trials.
Although Aloy was quite reserved, Ourea persuaded her that it was the only option. Aloy went up against him and won. Aratak gave over his chieftaincy to Aloy without thinking twice because of his honour, honesty, and profound confidence in the Banuk meritocracy. Ourea limited the mission to just Aloy and herself when Aloy was made chief. Aloy agreed when Aratak begged her to go with them.
Ourea and Naltuk made their final preparations at Firebreak's massive surrounding wall. Ourea praised Aloy for fulfilling her dream to join the trip when she arrived. Moreover, she informed Aloy about Sylens. When Aratak arrived, Ourea and Naltuk carried out a ceremony that caused the front door to open. She entered the ruin along with Aloy and Aratak. They initially went via the Battery Facility, which is still in use.
They eventually reached EPSILON's door after moving on and either slipping by or overpowering other Daemonic Machines. Here, in response to Aloy's effort to bypass the door, HEPHAESTUS made his first attempt to halt them by sending forth a Daemonic Thunderjaw.
Aloy finished the override after overcoming the Daemonic Thunderjaw. The three saw inside EPSILON for the first time as the door opened, observing HEPHAESTUS' total control of the building before entering. They paused sometimes to listen to the auditory messages that CYAN could produce when it momentarily broke free from the coding bindings of HEPHAESTUS.
These communications were audible to all, unlike the recordings that Aloy could only hear via her Focus. They provided a strategy for taking down HEPHAESTUS and liberating CYAN: bypass it at its heart. Many of the nuances were lost on Ourea and Aratak due to their misunderstanding of old technology, but Aloy described them in easy words within the framework of their society.
When they got to the core, they also discovered the main control room, which housed CYAN. Ourea saw as Aloy made contact with the AI for a brief period of time and pleaded with it for guidance on how to help it. CYAN briefed them about new anti-human hunter-killer units that HEPHAESTUS had created and intended to use before the communication was cut off by HEPHAESTUS.
Aratak had one final conversation with Ourea, telling her that he would have preferred for her to wait there in safety while Aloy and he went on to the core and did what was necessary, but he knew what her reaction would be. This was after Aloy had warned her that an all-out machine attack from HEPHAESTUS was certain once she accessed the cord. Their disagreement was resolved during this chat, and it was clear how much they loved each other as siblings. They and Aloy were successful in defeating HEPHAESTUS' Fireclaw unit, a unit of its new hunter-killer machine, at the core in response to Aloy's effort to obtain entry to it.
HEPHAESTUS, however, was not finished. HEPHAESTUS shot a strong electric discharge through the core when Aloy attempted to overpower it. The discharge rendered Aloy unconscious and knocked Ourea and Aratak off their feet. Ourea, however, was adamant about freeing her buddy at all costs. She stood up, took Aloy's spear in her hands, and mimicked what she had witnessed Aloy do by performing the override despite Aratak's warnings to the contrary.
===Legacy===
Aratak travelled to Ourea's Retreat after their escape from EPSILON since CYAN had relocated there because the ruin served as its secondary control centre. Ourea told CYAN that she would ask Aratak to assist in its release during a discussion that was filmed and replayed by CYAN. The message was filled with her admiration and love for him. Tears welling up in Aratak's eyes, he sobbed loudly while listening.
He informed Aloy that he now saw why liberating CYAN was so crucial to Ourea in their later conversation. As for CYAN, it conveyed to Aloy its deep sorrow for Ourea's passing and expressed the hope that their future discussions with Aratak would help both of them experience catharsis. Naltuk, an apprentice of Ourea, took her place as the shaman of the werak.
==Abilities==
*Banuk Shamanism: As a shaman, Ourea was skilled in machine tracking, anatomy, rock art, and spirituality. She later used one of its abilities to gain advantage against a Behemoth during her imprisonment in Meridian's Sun-Ring.
==Trivia==
*Ourea is the name of a collection of nine primordial gods in Greek mythology that eventually give rise to the mountains.
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