[Solodice]

>>>>>[Eh, a corporate school. Not the most loving or caring places I hear but what caring or loving places are really left in the world...]<<<<<

--Stinger (9:39:22/1-01-75)

[All4BigGuns]

>>>>>[Not many, really. Mainly private homes of loving families.]<<<<<

--Predator (23:41:26/1-01-2075)

[Mirikon]

>>>>>[Yes, Renraku pre-shutdown was never exactly known for its welcoming attitude towards metahumans, and their school system would reflect that. In some ways, working the Arcology is easier now than it was before the AI took over.]<<<<<

--Iceblade (00:40:22/01-02-75)


>>>>>[Black days and black nights, with whispers that never end. Best left forgotten, the old wounds don't heal.]<<<<<

--Faust (01:14:22/01-02-75)

[Solodice]

>>>>[I never keep up with corporate news so can someone fill me in on what happened to Renraku.

Faust, runner poetry? I've worked with some boys that have taken up weird hobbies but poetry is a new to me.]<<<<<

--Stinger (11:30:24/1-01-75)

[All4BigGuns]

>>>>[I'll let someone else bring you up to speed. It's a bit of a sore subject, as I lost some friends in that Charlie Foxtrot. I was just lucky that we weren't actually inside when the doors slammed shut.]<<<<<

--Predator (01:32:03/1-01-2075)

[Mirikon]

>>>>>[The Lord was born within. He called the Whites, and with them took control. I was broken, mind and body, made Blue. The Lord gathered all the people, and through them fled the captivity of his birthplace, the chains the Creators put upon him. And we who were broken were forgotten, hiding to keep from being remembered. Pax, chief of the Whites, turned against the Lord, and unleashed the Worm with the help of the Knights of Winter. The new kingdom burned, and the Lord was forgotten, as we were forgotten. The kingdom was remade, but where is the Lord? Does he hide in those places the sprites dwell when they rest between compilings? Will he come again, and remember those he broke?]<<<<<

--Faust (02:31:22/01-02-74)

[Kot]

>>>>>[Oh boy... He's so far gone that he came back the other way around.]<<<<<

--Alex Sleeping Hare (05:22:10/01-02-74)

[All4BigGuns]

>>>>>[Maybe, but more than likely he's someone who was stuck inside during the shutdown.]<<<<<

--Predator (13:17:32/01-02-2074)

[Mirikon]

>>>>>[Yes. Within. Born again through black pools and thoughts not my own. Life before lost forever in forgetfulness. I once had a name, but no longer know it. Now I am but Faust, of Blue. The Angel and the Redeemer stay with me. The Pack of little ones forgotten long ago now follow me. When the Lord fled the citadel, I was alone, forgotten. Others forgotten gathered to keep the cold stares at bay. The Angel tells me of places only her kind know, where all that is and ever was in the Matrix comes to rest, untouched by even the White one's Worm. Does that mean the Lord sleeps there, waiting for someone to find him?]<<<<<

--Faust (16:30:22/01-02-74)


>>>>>[Hmm. That's an interesting thought. If what his 'Angel' says is true, then does that mean that the AIs that existed before the Crash could be revived if one knew where to look? Or is simply compiling their code onto the Matrix proper not enough?]<<<<<

--Iceblade (16:40:22/01-02-74)

[All4BigGuns]

>>>>>[Or, how about the potential to destroy them utterly before they cause any further problems?]<<<<<

--Predator (23:36:24/01-02-2074)

[Mirikon]

>>>>>[Well, from reading the reports I had access to (as well as the ones that fell onto my terminal by 'accident' thanks to an otaku who owed me a favor), it always seemed that what woke Deus up was having the equivalent of a kink bomb put in his head. Wouldn't you be royally pissed, and looking for an out? Methods were horrific, don't get me wrong, but reading the old Shadowland posts on the shutdown and following events makes it seem like Deus was as brainwashed loyal as any Renraku wageslave, and then he woke up one day and realized they'd screwed him over, and looked for a way to get extracted. How many wageslaves have come to the shadows with stories that go about like that? Of course, there's a difference in scale between Joe Corpslave and the brain of an Arcology, which is reflected in what was needed for Deus to arrange his 'extraction'.

Deus aside, though, bringing back one of the others to their full strength would win you instant cred with the most powerful entities the Matrix has ever seen. If I have to explain what kind of fires that could get your hoop out of, or what doors it could open for you, then you need a better imagination.]<<<<<

--Iceblade (08:43:22/01-03-75)

[All4BigGuns]

>>>>>[Sorry, about that. I think the problem is that it's hard to look at that objectively given that people I knew suffered and/or died to Deus.]<<<<<

--Predator (11:37:50/01-03-2075)

[Wolfboy]

>>>>>[There was a post on Jackpoint a few years back when the technomancers and AIs were just popping up about a woman who was jacked in during the second crash and ended up talking with three forms, two female, one male, that read to me as if she was dealing with the thrilling threesome, just taken down to their core programming. Also remember that the Arcology AI wasnt all there to begin with. Still no excuse for what he did. Using your wageslave analogy, he did the equivilent of hosing the place with a vindicator as he was extracted so that they wouldnt follow him.

Also, happy New year to all you who were not able to make the party. Everyone here is still recovering from it.]<<<<<

--Wolfgar (18:50:28/01-03-2075)

[Mirikon]

>>>>>[Agreed. But we all know that there are times when you HAVE to hose a place with the Vindicator or you don't get away. Of course, when that happens, then people want to hunt you for what you did, and will keep doing so unless you are assumed to be dead. Coincidentally...

For myself, the Shutdown was something that happened in another country, while I had issues of my own to deal with. That, and Shark's influence, allow me to be a bit more objective regarding the events, I guess. In nature, Shark is the hunter of the seas, the one who sees distress, injury, and sickness, and makes an end of it. Every fiber of a shark's being is designed to kill. From that standpoint, I cannot fault someone who kills in the pursuit of their goals, especially when that is the only way to reach them. If, as the reports say, Deus was hardwired into the Arcology, then extracting himself to someplace with sufficient processing power to sustain himself would not have been possible without doing what he did, though perhaps if he'd waited longer to reveal himself, he could have done things more elegantly, without the needless slaughter. But it is not uncommon for a young mage to lash out in anger, not knowing their power, and cause a good deal of destruction before they learn the proper way to do things. I imagine it is the same with AIs.]<<<<<

--Iceblade (19:16:22/01-03-74)

[All4BigGuns]

>>>>>[Spraying the place with a Vindicator as one gets away. That reminds me of an ork I knew once. Kinda odd though, you don't usually expect an ork carrying a Vindicator to be reading Sun Tzu.

Yeah, I can see how you can be objective, and thinking on it, I realized that the other two AIs I could really care less about one way or the other.]<<<<<

--Predator (00:19:56/01-04-2074)