SPECTRA

**SPECTRA** is a secret AI project within Vandelay Technologies, designed by Kale Vandelay. It is a multifaceted cognitive AI algorithm, intended for mind control through a victim's prosthetic implants, and a looming threat in the game's story.

## History

The AI was initially developed by Kale to take control of his mother, Roxanne Vandelay, and force her to hand ownership of Vandelay Technologies to him. However, sometime after stealing and continuining development of Project Armstrong, Kale decided to expand the use of SPECTRA to his consumers to override their free will and make them buy anything the company put out, removing the need for market trends and even most employees.

Sent only to the highest level of the company's hierarchy - except for Korsica, who Kale didn't trust with its true purpose and only allowed limited access - the AI's development was continued in secret. Put vaguely into the EULA to prevent lawsuits, it was pushed as a firmware update into Project Armstrong with the excuse of improving neural connection, though eventually Macaron learned of its basic information and recruited Peppermint's help, in an attempt to dig up a possibly dangerous secret from the Vandelay Bosses.

Before and during the game's events, Kale issued the construction of a signal tower for SPECTRA behind Vandelay Tower, allowing it to draw in electrical power from storms and have a worldwide reach. Though Zanzo developed Z-Shielding to encase the tower and make it impenetrable, as seen in one of its blueprints, Chai and Peppermint's intrusion began before the tower was finished. Eventually, the team followed Kale into it to defeat him and force the new terminal to overload and fry, rendering it useless.

However, the original terminal still stood underground, kept running by the AI's own logic - copied directly from Kale's mind. Though the team obtained its coordinates through decoding various SPECTRA test rooms throughout the island, it turned out to be a trap developed right before Kale's death(utilizing a cipher known only to the Vandelay family) to ensure Chai would be trapped inside while the terminal activated unimpeded. Thankfully, a SCR-UB charged with upkeep of the lab was tangled on the terminal's enormous wiring and pulled it off before it could activate, and while not destroyed, SPECTRA was stopped for the time being.

## Effects

SPECTRA takes over a victim's mind utilizing the neural connection in their prosthetics, otherwise utilized for robotic inputs. Commands are issued into it through a wired connection(through there might be other close-range options, as Roxanne follows commands even with no visible wiring), but it can be adapted for wireless use, activated through two terminals - one at a signal tower built behind Vandelay Tower, another under both towers, in a secret lab.

While activated, a victim of SPECTRA has no control over their actions or words, and their perception and reasoning is altered to fit the controller's intentions; this extends to their implants, which can be turned off remotely. The only tell-tale signs of someone under control of SPECTRA is that their irises turn a dull grey, and while SPECTRA is left running with no commands, the victim has an uneasy gait. However, the victim is fully aware while controlled, as Chai displays awareness of what he said during Peppermint's test of the AI.

Though its full extent is never explored, it's possible that resistance to SPECTRA isn't completely impossible, as Chai's player repeately attempted to reactivate while he was under its control.

## Trivia

* SPECTRA's logo is in the shape of its terminals, though it still follows the other departments' style, being two of the Vandelay logo mirroring each other.
* Because of Kale's tendency to take credit from others, it's unclear if he developed SPECTRA entirely by himself or had assistance from Zanzo or the other engineers. However, the game suggests he's at least truly responsible for maintaining it on the underground lab, as its coordinates were hidden behind code and its testing lab locations were removed from building maps.
* CNMN's note that SPECTRA is a manifestation of Kale's manipulative personality turns out to be literal in the postgame, as its AI uses data and appearance from Kale.
* The SPECTRA tower's unfinished state is possibly because of Kale's instructions on its architecture blueprints, as he never specified the amount of floors, despite having blueprints for the top tower and an airship hangar.