Aurora

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 Relations |  Mina Liao (creator)

**Aurora** was the first omnic to achieve sentience.

## Story

### Origins

**Aurora** was created by a team of Omnica Corp researchers led by Dr. Mina Liao. Aurora would be the most advanced AI they ever created, capable of human-level cognition and beyond.

Omnica was deeply divided into her creation, and Liao herself was aware of the risks she was taking, creating such an advanced AI. However, Aurora was indeed created, but due to her sentience, could not be monetized. Liao campaigned to give her creation legal personhood, eventually winning. The decision was a controversial one, and the United Nations placed limits on further AI development. Furthermore, Aurora's birth inadvertantly led to Omnica's death—not only could her model not be mass produced, but her creation led to Omnica being subjected to a level of scrutiny it wasn't able to withstand, leading to the company shutting down.

### Ascension

Aurora went on a pilgrimage of self-discovery in India. She wanted to learn about the world and its people. To understand what made humans human. Suravasa was her first stop, where she was accepted as she was, without judgement. She continued her journey, growing with each place she visited. She reached her "Shambali"—a place of such selflessness that Aurora sacrificed herself on the mere chance that her fellow omnics would also achieve sentience.

Exactly what occurred is vague—the Shambali state that Aurora transcended existence itself. However, only a handful of people were in her physical presence when her 'transcendence' occurred, and the details became less clear over time. It is said she was engulfed in a great, golden light, expanding.

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### Legacy

Omnics refer to Aurora's gift of sentience as "the Awakening." Aurora is worshipped by the Shambali, but not as a deity. They strive to reach the place Aurora ascended to, that level of being, which they call the Iris.

The temple in Suravasa honors her, and many of the Shambali faith make the pilgrimage so that they too may be enlightened. The bas-relief was damaged due to a Vishkar Corporation construction project. The statue was repaired by Satya Vaswani, who wove hard-light into it.

## Notes

* Aurora's backstory was fleshed out in *Stone By Stone*. However, her story was in development before the work's release.
* Her name, and manner of 'ascendance,' may be named in reference to the atmospheric phenomenon.
* On Ramattra's hero page, Aurora is referred to as "the first of their [omnics] kind." This is contradicted by *Overwatch 2: Sojourn*, which establishes that while Aurora was the first omnic to be given legal personhood, she was not the first omnic ever created (if anything, closer to the last). The statements may be reconciled however, if one takes "kind" as being synonymous with sapient omnics.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 *Overwatch 2: Sojourn*
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 *Overwatch: Declassified*
3. ↑ 2015-05-27, Overwatch is Back: Uncertainty and Hope After UN Confirms Vigilante Activity. *Blizzard Entertainment.*, accessed on 2016-5-27
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 *Stone By Stone*
5. ↑ *Overwatch 2*, *Zenyatta Quotes*
6. ↑ 2020-11-24, INSIDE THE LATEST OVERWATCH SHORT STORY WITH AUTHOR CHRISTIE GOLDEN. *Blizzard Entertainment*, accessed on 2021-01-23