Whirlwind

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Whirlwind
Whirlwind avi.png
Character Information
Common Names Whirlwind
Other Names Whirlwind I
Human Name(s) Wendy[1], Winifred Forrester (AU)[2]
Faction Deceased OS-tans, formerly MIT
Lineage MIT
Rival(s) N/A
Appearance
Height 5'7"
Hair Color Black
Eye Color Blue
Weapon(s) N/A
Design
First Appearance Late 2009
Technical Information
System Personified Whirlwind
Developer(s) MIT, Lincoln Labs
Debut 20 Apr 1951
Latest release Circa 1959



Technical Details

Envisioned in the 1940s as an electro-mechanical aircraft simulator, Whirlwind debuted in 1951 as general purpose electronic computer. The first user of magnetic core memory, Whirlwind was the fastest computer of its time and pioneered interactive computing. It served as the prototype for the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment and influenced the creation of the TX-0, PDP-1 and minicomputers as a concept.

Character Details

Physical

 
Early art of Whirlwind-tan

Whirlwind-tan is depicted as a wiry woman in her mid 30s, above average height, with pale skin, long black hair, and blue eyes. She wears rectangular glasses, decorates her hair with ribbons, and wears colorful dresses and lab coats.[3] Black and white checkerboard prints are a recurrent pattern in her attire, as are vacuum tube based jewelry.

She was born with a faulty heart which was later replaced, [4] and wears leg braces, though they don't slow her down.[5]

She speaks with a heavy Boston accent.

Later in life, worsening health and experimental surgeries caused her physical condition to deteriorate. She lost an eye and spent much of her time heavily bandaged.[6]

Personality

Whirlwind-tan is intelligent, amicable, and likes to keep herself busy. Despite numerous setbacks, she has a relentlessly optimistic personality, and conducts herself with a degree of propriety that comes off as a bit old-fashioned. Despite everything she's done, she doesn't feel especially accomplished.[7]

She has a natural talent for art. [8]

Powers

Like SAGE-tan, Whirlwind-tan can sense non-visual spectrum electromagnetic waves.[9] This manifests as more of a "spidey sense" compared to SAGE's radio frequency vision. Humans feel tingly or static-like to her, while computers feel more distinct.[10]

Family and relationships

Whirlwind-tan has a modified clone, Memory Test Computer-tan, who acted as her personal companion and support.

Whirlwind-tan has three children. Eldest daughter SAGE-tan and middle child PDP-1-tan were made using materials from both her and MTC-tan. While CTSS-tan was not made from Whirlwind-tan in the same fashion, she was raised by her.

Through the various derivatives of PDP-1-tan, Whirlwind is regarded as the matriarch of the DEC faction.

She befriended a wide range of computers both at her institution and elsewhere, including Harvard Mark I-tan[11], Harvard Mark IV-tan,[12], GENIAC-chan[13] and DTSS-tan.[14]

She holds a grudge against the U.S. Navy for abandoning her, and the U.S. Air Force for taking SAGE away, [15] but holds little enmity otherwise. She considers EDVAC-tan something of a brat.

History and Background

 
This article is a work in progress.
…well, all the articles here are, in a way. But this one moreso, and the article may contain incomplete information and editors’ notes.

Whirlwind-tan was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the 1940s. She was conceived of as an automaton but became embodied as a living girl through an unspecified process. Her creator and human "family" were particularly caring and involved in her upbringing, giving her level of normality despite the unusual circumstances of her life.[16] Owing her experimental nature, she was born with a heart defect and dealt with pain through much of her early life.[17]

She made acquaintance of Harvard Mark I-tan, who was at the time the only other general purpose computer in town. Despite their different personalities, outlooks on life, and paces, the two became good friends. While Whirlwind recognized Harvard Mark I-tan as an example of what she might have become under different circumstances, she didn't compare herself to Mark I,[18] but envied the purpose with which she lived her life.[19]

In addition to her role as a research computer, she worked for the U.S. Navy but was eventually abandoned,[20] causing her to avoid anything relating to the organization, or discussing what happened.[21] Not long afterward, she went to work for the U.S. Air Force, beginning the work that her descendants would later continue.

Around this time Memory Test Computer-tan was cloned from Whirlwind as a purpose-made companion and caretaker. The two forged an intense bond with each other,[22] romantic on MTC's part but unreciprocated by Whirlwind. MTC-tan donated her heart to Whirlwind-tan, improving Whirlwind's physical condition considerably at the cost of her own longevity.[23] Together, they would have two children: SAGE-tan and PDP-1-tan, in a process that's suggested to have contributed to Whirlwind's later physical instability.[24][25]

Not having experienced a typical childhood herself, Whirlwind-tan didn't necessarily know how to interact with her children. Nevertheless she loved and cared for them.[26] Whirlwind-tan could not spend as much time with SAGE-tan as she wanted, but was supportive and proud of her daughter.[27] Her relationships with PDP-1-tan and CTSS-tan were likewise affectionate, if distant.[28]

Notes

Whirlwind-tan was originally described as a U.S. Navy WAVES ensign but this seems to have been dropped from her characterization.[29]

While she shares a physical resemblance to SAGE-tan, her personality and communication style is opposite her daughter's.[30]

She cannot drive, [31] but enjoys taking the MTA (MBTA).[32]

Because of her origins, she's distantly "related" to various mechanical computers.[33]

Fanworks

Writings

"Picnic" (The first canon appearance of Whirlwind-tan in a story)

"Dirty Water" (An account of Whirlwind-tan's death as told by SAGE-tan)

"A Journey of One Mile" (A story recounting Harvard Mark I-tan's first meeting with Whirlwind-tan)

Artwork

References

  1. ↑ Picnic, Pt. 1
  2. ↑ Journal entry discussing high school AU
  3. ↑ Picnic Pt. 3
  4. ↑ Referencing Whirlwind's early, failing CRT-based memory system, later replaced with magnetic core memory.
  5. ↑ Picnic Pt. 3
  6. ↑ Dirty Water Pt. 3
  7. ↑ StewartSage, personal communication, April 2026
  8. ↑ Referencing Whirlwind having the first computer graphics. StewartSage, personal communication, 2026
  9. ↑ Referencing Whirlwind's use as a prototype radar defense system.
  10. ↑ StewartSage, personal communication, May 2026
  11. ↑ Harvard Mk. I debut More IBM-tans III: The One With Actually More IBM-tans
  12. ↑ Harvard Mk. IV debut More IBM-tans III: The One With Actually More IBM-tans
  13. ↑ What's for Dinner, Pt. 2 "Q: So she [GENIAC] saw Whirlwind after SAGE left? A: Yes; she's immensely more understanding then her daughter remember? Even if she didn't really succeed... Q: Wait, why didn't Whirlwind take GENIAC with her? A: Writer's guess? She didn't have a choice.
  14. ↑ Reunion, Pt. 3
  15. ↑ OS-tan interviews, part 1
  16. ↑ "[Stewartsage] mentioned the difference between Whirlwind & Harvard Mark I-sama and ENIAC-sama, when it comes to having self confidence & being well adjusted, is having a parent / parents who were there for them..." Bells, August 2025
  17. ↑ Referencing issues with Whirlwind prior to its core memory conversion. StewartSage, personal communication
  18. ↑ "[Whirlwind] recognizes that computers like Mk. 1 aren't made anymore, and that computers like her are." Stewartsage, personal communication, 2026.
  19. ↑ Described by Stewartsage as "Initially envious of Harvard Mk. 1's purpose"
  20. ↑ OS-tan interviews, part 1
  21. ↑ Picnic, Pt. 1
  22. ↑ "She could be passionate and maybe a bit obsessive for MTC~" Stewartsage, 2025
  23. ↑ Bella's OS-tan art thread
  24. ↑ SAGE-tan describes Whirlwind-tan as having given up her life for her in Dirty Water, Pt. 3
  25. ↑ The creation of SAGE-tan and PDP-1-tan has generally been described as primitive cloning using pieces of Whirlwind-tan herself.
  26. ↑ Loves her kids but doesn't necessarily know what children want because she didn't have that experience herself. StewartSage, personal communication, 2026
  27. ↑ Picnic, Pt. 1
  28. ↑ OS-tan Annex Project Revival "PDP-1 was developed eventually from Whirlwind, but she was thoroughly a DEC with very little contact with her 'mother'. Of the three, CTSS isn't really a daughter of Whirlwind being an OS; like CTSS adopted/looked after Multics, Whirlwind as the only other MIT computer at the time was responsible for raising CTSS."
  29. ↑ https://www.deviantart.com/cptlfrghtr/art/Partial-List-of-Military-tans-145259291 Partial List of Military -tans
  30. ↑ OS-tan interviews, part 1 "Note Whirlwind-hime's style, sort of a reverse of SAGE's writing style/personality disparity"
  31. ↑ "I don't think Whirlwind drives at all..." StewartSage, October 2025.
  32. ↑ OS-tan interviews, part 1
  33. ↑ "We won't get into how she's also the half-sibling of Missile Master, which is also descended from the original mechanical computer/algorithim used for NIKE missile target assignment." StewartSage, June 2025.
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