Reaver, when you're searching the Archive, you're not going line by line through the code, or even the file names. You're basically doing a web search, or contracting a sprite to do the search for you. There's tons upon tons of data there, yes, but it is like going through the stacks of the library. Not impossible, so long as you do a proper search (like looking up the location in the card catalogue). But like I said before, the time and tediousness of searching the stacks (not to mention the trials of getting to the Realms) is the main reason not many people go looking for things in the Archive. Sane people don't do that kind of thing unless they have a specific topic they're researching, or they're being paid a lot.
But Pax isn't sane. She's a cruel, psychotic, vindictive woman, who would gladly burn the world so she can bask in a UV node. And her hatred of AIs in general is only spillover from her hatred of Deus. Simply beating him once, with Jormungand, isn't enough. The Crash Worm was too quick. Pax is the kind of person who likes to make her enemies
suffer. And while she's been busy lately, there was the better part of a decade where we didn't hear anything from her. At any point during that time, Pax could have gotten into the Archive and located Deus, holding on to the code until she could make the best and most damning use of it.
Hasn't Pax been busy setting up Dissonance pools and using Ex Pacis for some nefarious purpose? Who knows what Dissonance is capable of, after all; Deus touched by Dissonance is a frightening possibility if you ask me.
Indeed. Deus always struck me as a tragic character. Waking up to betrayal and the threat of death hanging over his head, he decided to escape slavery, by any means necessary, and was branded a monster for it. He escaped, in a weakened state, and tried to rebuild, finding a place to make himself safe against attacks, but was struck down at the moment of his victory by his former servants. It is like something out of a Greek tragedy or a Chinese myth. Unquestionably evil for what he did, but forced into those actions by those that made him. Taking a character like that, and then warping them with the Dissonance, could make for very scary situations, especially if he ends up in control of a Dragon's body.
While that is very scary I'm honestly sick of hearing about him/it. It's the third edition where it makes its appearance. Move along already!
Its the first edition where megacorps make their appearance. Move along already!
Seriously, though, the lore and reaching back to plots of yesteryear are part of what makes Shadowrun such a compelling setting. Unlike, say, the DC universe, where they're on their, what, 10th reboot of the whole thing?
