Renraku Arcology Shutdown

The Truth Behind the Shutdown!

"How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished!" - 2 Samuel 1:27

THE VESO LOUNGE, SHADOWLAND SEATTLE, THE MATRIX

Personas Present:
>Captain Chaos
>Cinder
>Dodger
>FastJack
>Megaera
>Neon Wraith
>Peregrine
>Ronin
>Syzygy
Capatin Chaos: Okay, looks like I'm almost ready to make the post. Have you finished scanning your section, Wraith?
Megaera: Something here ... something coming ... something on the way...
Neon Wraith: It looks good, Cap. Jack cleaned up most of the distortions and somehow managed to reconstruct the corrupted file segments.
FastJack: I do my best.
Captain Chaos: Peregrine, are you satisfied with the posting as it stands now? We can always add new material later, but right now I'm mainly concerned with blowing the lid off this whole sorry mess.
Peregrine:Just post it and get it over with.The sooner everyone knows what's going on, the better. Some of us still have friends in there ... .
Captain Chaos: I still can't believe there's really an AI out there.
Megaera:Aren't we all... artificial? No - I mean, well, I'm intelligent, we all are ... but we're not artificial, are we?
Dodger:Hush, Milady. Believe it, Captain. This abomination -
SL Alert Daemon: WARNING! Nexus memory dump daemon malfunction! In the event of a system crash, data will not be automatically archived to the Denver Data Haven. Repeat, Nexus memory dump malfunction....
Captain Chaos: That's odd.
Ronin: What is it?
Megaera:Quick, little data packets! Run! Run!.
Captain Chaos:There's no way that daemon could crash accident-
SL Alert Daemon: WARNING! Active Alert! Shadowland Seattle is under attack! Repeat, Shadowland Seattle is under attack! Engaging active Intrusion countermeasures!
FastJack:What the frag?
Peregrine:They're coming for me. I have to get out of here!
Megaera:Dodger, what will you do when the dead men come?
Dodger:Stay calm, Milady. Sir Jack, we must move to the perimeter to ascertain the identity of the intruders.
Megaera:Dead men with eyes of hue. Which will it be: white, green, or blue?
Captain Chaos: Drek! We have to get this file collection replicated! I haven't made an off-line backup yet! Don't run off, chummers. I need you here.
FastJack: We'll upload it to Denver. I'm sending a smart frame through the internal Nexus SAN with Spirits signature. We should have her attention shortly.
SL Alert Daemon: WARNING! Host of Eris has been crashed! WARNING! File Archives have been corrupted! WARNING! Hacker House connection severed by foreign-
Syzygy: Somebody's thrashing the system...
Peregrine: Cap, I can hear gunshots - we're underattack here at the warehouse! Somehow Deus has found us!
Captain Chaos: Go! Get out of there! Thumper and the boys will get you relocated, Go!
Peregrine has left.
Captain Chaos: I have a very bad feeling about this. We have to get these files backed up ASAP! I don't care where we transmit -
Spirit (Denver) is present.
Spirit (Denver): Denver on - line. I was in the middle of some important work, Jack. I hope this is equally -
Ronin: We don't have time to chat with you, Spirit. Something hot is coming your way. Prepare to receive a file transmission.
Spirit (Denver): What? More dirt on the Tir? All right, ready to receive.
FastJack: Uh - oh. Here they come!
[Transmission Begins]
Listen up, folks. We've finally found out what happened to Renraku's Seattle Arcology, and I don't think you're going to like it. I sure don't.
SL Alert Daemon: WARNING! Veso Access IC has been crashed! Shadowland Seattle has been compromised! Target intrusion at Veso SAN! Repeat ... !
Syzygy: The ones who do this ... They are also otaku.
Cinder: Ditto. The resonance is being manipulated. The distortions are evident. I can feel them.
Megaera: I can feel 'em too, but, uh, I can't feel my ... my toes. Oh, I don't have toes, do I Dodger?
Ronin: Deus' fanatics. It's the only explanation.
SL Alert Daemon: WARNING! Routing System Failure! 48 percent transmission loss! Veso Lounge Host is being disconnected from the Shadowland Network. Advise immediate logoff. Repeat, Veso Lounge Host is being disconnected from the Shadowland Network. Advise immediate logoff. Routing all active IC to the Veso host.
Captain Chaos: Drek! Someone's trying to sever us from the Data Haven!
We all thought the arc was shut down by a rival corp, or maybe a terrorist group. Somebody with motives we could understand if we just thought about it long enough. But I'm here to tell you that the arc has been taken over by something that none of us understand yet, that most of us probably aren't ready to understand - an artificial intelligence.
Spirit (Denver): Cap, what the hell is going on there? Have you -
Spirit (Denver) has been disconnected.
[Tranmission aborted.]
Neon Wraith: Is it me, or did the resolution here just increase? I mean, really increase?
SL Alert Daemon: WARNING! Connection to Data Haven severed! Routing Systems Failure! 93 percent transmission loss! Veso Lounge Host has been disconnected from the Shadowland Network. Advise immediate logoff. Repeat ...
Gabriel (Intruder) is present.
Uriel (Intruder) is present.
Gabriel (Intruder): Too slow, Babel.
Megaera: Angels and devils, here to play games!
Dodger: I need you, Milady! Remember! Remember what they did to you!
Gabriel (Intruder): Pay attention, Babel! The Disciples of Deus have come to bring retribution from the Deep Resonance. Those who have sinned against Our Lord shall suffer His wrath.
Ronin: You're a dead man, Gabriel.
Uriel (Intruder): Fossils and tortoises. Is this the best you can do?
Captain Chaos: I can't get through to Sinapore. Trying the Hague ...
FastJack: Here's the best I can do, boy.
Uriel (Intruder): Aaaaa****--!
Uriel (Intruder) has been disconnected.
Ronin: Leave this place Gabriel, or you'll die too. Cinder, Syzgy and I are more than enough to stop the likes of you.
Gabriel (Intruder): Do you think Uriel and I came here alone, Babel? The Host of Deus has come to smite those who have interfered with his Great Plan!
Neon Wraith: Scanning multiple icons ... bloddy hell! They're coming out of the walls!
Sammael (Intruder) is present.
Captain Chaos: Come on, Hague, answer me, dammit!
Raphael (Intruder) is present.
Raguel (Intruder) is present.
Megaera: More children and, and angels - ooh! That's a pretty persona!
FastJack: Analyzing targets ....
(Unidentified Intruder) is present.
(Unidentified Intruder) is present.
(Unidentified Intruder) is present.
(Unidentified Intruder) is present.
Dodger: Milady, we need your help! You must remember! It was these fiends who did this to you!
Ronin: Lets talk this over, Gabriel.
(Unidentified Intruder) is present.
(Unidentified Intruder) is present.
Syzygy: Let me try, Cap. My sprites are really good at this. If I can punch a connection through, you'll have time to get the transmission out.
FastJack: The hounds are semi - autonomous knowbot. Hunter - killers. The others are all -
Sammael (Intruder): Superior. Come on, old man. Snips and snails and electron trails. Let's see what this fossil's made of.
Raphael (Intruder): Yeah, let's see his simple mind handle our Complex Forms.
Neon Wraith: I can't hold these hounds off forever! Lots of them have gone deeper into the system already! Damn dogs!
(Unidentified Intruder) has been disconnected.
(Unidentified Intruder) has been disconnected.
Captain Chaos: The Hague isn't answering. Syzygy, you have to get me a line to the outside!
Megaera: Let slip the dogs of war. Nevermore, Nevermore.
Dodger: Milady! Look out!
(Unidentified Intruder) has been disconnected.
Megaera: Pretty dancing colors ... persona colors, persona non grata, colors should swirl with me!
Raguel (Intruder): Ahhh! Get it off! Get it o988ohisredredredchds0 raiiin bowzz@9 -
Gabriel (Intruder): I'm... going... to...
Ronin: I've... got... Gabriel... tied... up. Come, on Cap... !
FastJack: Six decades old, and I have to put up with toddlers. I wrote this one myself, whelp.
Sammael (Intruder): No - !
Sammael (Intruder) has been disconnected.
FastJack: Jack Hammer gets 'em every time.
Syzygy: I'm through! I have a sprite holding the line open.
Megaera: Look! Sprites! I can make sprites too!
Raguel (Intruder): Ga - get%%#S&^ off!! my winnnn^^gs!!
Captain Chaos: Singapore connection established!
Raguel (Intruder) has been disconnected.
Otomo (Singapore) is here.
Otomo (Singapore): This is Otomo. What - ?
Captain Chaos: Get ready to receive a transmission, Otomo. I don't have time to explain.
Azrael (Intruder) is present.
Azrael (Intruder) Well, well, well. Hello, Cinder, old girl. You should have joined us when you had the chance.
Cinder: I listen to the Resonance, not your false god. Test your faith with me, zealot.
Otomo (Singapore): Seattle, we just upgraded to a Cray X-62, and the system -
Captain Chaos: Singapore, I don't care if you have to store this file on fragging punch cards! You will receive this transmission! Do I make myself clear?
Rubiel (Intruder) is present.
Otomo (Singapore): I can't guarantee -
Captain Chaos: JUST DO IT!
[Transmission Begins]
Otomo (Singapore): Receiving transmission.
Listen up, folks. We've finally found out what happened to Renraku's Seattle Arcology, and I don't think you're going to like it. I sure don't.
We all thought the arc was shut down by a rival corp, or maybe a terrorist group. Somebody with motives we could understand if we just thought about it long enough. But I'm here to tell you that the arc has been taken over by something that none of us understand yet, that most of us probably aren't ready to understand - an artificial intelligence.
Cinder: Crawl back to your master, kiddo.
Azrael (Intruder): Nooo - !
Azrael (Intruder) has been disconnected.
Yufiel (Intruder) is present.
Ramuel (Intruder) is present.
Gabriel (Intruder): Pick your targets, Yufiel, Ramuel.
Ramuel (Intruder): With pleasure.
Yufiel (Intruder): Last one to flatline a shell-head sucks Basic!
Neon Wraith: There are too many ... can't get free --- !
Neon Wraith has been disconnected.
Now, I know what you're thinking: "Cap, you've finally flipped." Sometimes I wish that was true. But I've seen too much evidence to ignore, brought to my attention by people I respect as much as anyone on Earth. We're going to lay that evidence out for you in the files attached to this document, and I think you'll come to the same conclusion we have. I hope you do, because we're going to need all the help we can get on this one.
Kidumiel (Intruder) is present.
Kidumiel (Intruder): I'm in!
SL Alert Daemon: The Veso host has been compromised. Repeat, the veso _ost has beeeen compr?mised. Initiating host shutdown.
Ronin: Override that, Cap! You're the only one who can!
Gabriel (Intruder): Easily distracted ... easily dispatched.
Ronin has been disconnected.
I was recently contactedby a young woman named Peregrine, who first identified herself as a member of "the Arcology Resistance." I thought it was some kind of joke at first, some "gang" made up of bored children of Renraku suits, or another bunch of tech-hating nuts determined to blow up the arc. I agreed to talk to her in real-time because what she had to say might give us a clue as to what was really going on inside the arc. And it did... but not what I expected.
Captain Chaos: FastJack, feeding you the current transmission rates wer're getting from Singapore, along with the size of the file. Use that math SPU. Tell me how long we have to keep this host alive!
FastJack: Got it, Cap, clear as a bell! We need ... 35 seconds. Urrrnh - !
Raphael (Intruder): You can't stop us. Your little haven is doomed.
Megaera: Bells aren't clear! Glass is clear, but glass breaks when you break it. Where's my sprites ... ?
Kidumiel (Intruder): Kill the false ones, the remaining unbelievers! The others will follow.
Cinder: You've sold your souls to the devil, and you don't even know it.
Ramuel (Intruder): Hey Cinder, ashes to ashes!
Cinder: Eeei - !
Cinder has been disconnected.
Syzygy: You serve an artifical god, one created by man! Deus is not the Resonance. Can't you see that?
Ramuel (Intruder): Deus - !
Ramuel (Intruder) has been disconnected.
When Peregrine started telling me her story, my first reaction was to dismiss it out of hand. Then she laid out the evidence. The more I listened, and the more I saw, the more I started to believe her.
Dodger: Back! Stay back!
(Unidentified Intruder) has been disconnected.
(Unidentified Intruder) has been disconnected.
Megaera: Sometimes Dodger has my sprites ... sometimes, and sometimes he is a sprite.
Rubiel (Intruder): Take this, freak-girl!
Megaera: You've got wings, but you're not a sprite - be a sprite now.
Rubiel (Intruder): Gak! -!!#^**Stopo(ppppp!!!!!
Rubiel (Intruder) has been disconnected.
Renraku denied everything, or course - what else is new? - but even their denials fit with her story.
Nuriel (Intruder) is prestent.
Sandalphon (Intruder) is prestent.
Remiel (Intruder) is prestent.
Sheviel (Intruder) is prestent.
FastJack: More otaku are funneling in - !
SL Alert Daemon: W@RN!NG1 Veso HOst Shu7down in 2%%#5***Over-&ide Fa!lurrre***
So I started asking around, on Shadowland and elsewhere, to see what data I could come up with about the arc shutdown. People came forward with their own accounts of what happened on the night of December 19, and what they had observed since then. And everything I found fit Peregrine's tale.
Dodger: These children must not interrupt the sending!
Gabriel (Intruder): Get out.
Dodger: Not ... yet ... Gabriel.
Raphael (Intruder): You can't fight all of us.
Dodger: I ... can ... try ... !
Raphael (Intruder) has been disconnected.
Gabriel (Intruder): Come, brethren. Only a few remain. They cannot stand aginst the power Deus has invested in us!
Dodger: You won't get get to the sprite without going through me, Gabriel.
Here, in brief, is what we found: Renraku is no longer in control of it's own arcology.
FastJack: Watch it, Dodger!
Dodger: Avaunt, rascial - Ahhhhh!
Sandalphon (Intruder) has been disconnected.
Dodger has been disconnected.
Instead, the arc is under the thumb of an artificial intelligence that has complete control of the arcology's physical and electronic systems.
Gabriel (Intruder): Nuriel, Shiviel. Interrupt the transmission while I deal with this one.
Megaera: Dodger ... where'd my Dodger go ... ?
Nuriel (Intruder): The transmission has barely started. Give me a second to hack it ... there's some feeble protection ... .
The AI and it's minions, a group of fanatical otaku, have transformed the arcology into a giant prison - and in many cases, a giant tomb - for it's hundred thousand inhabitants.
Syzygy: Arnh - !
Syzygy has been disconnected.
Yufiel (Intruder): Good riddance, Babel.
We don't know what they want, but we do know that they're killing people, torturing them, experimenting on them in ways that haven't been seen for a hundred years.
Sheviel (Intruder): Hurry up, Nuriel.
Nuriel (Intruder): Easy enough to hack ... .
Megaera: Don't touch the pretty sprite!
Nuriel (Intruder) has been disconnected.
Sheviel (Intruder): Watch out for that one!
Gabriel (Intruder): Analyzing her ... .
Remiel (Intruder): We've got the other two pinned!
Megaera: Dodger? ... Dodger? ... .
And if they can seize a building like the arcology, one of the most secure structures in the modern world, will any of us be safe in our homes? On Shadowland? Anywhere?
Gabriel (Intruder): There's something odd here. I don't think she's ... oh no ... !
Megaera: DODGER!!!
Gabriel (Intruder) has been disconnected.
Sheviel (Intruder) has been disconnected.
FastJack has been disconnected.
Captain Chaos has been disconnected.
Yufiel (Intruder) has been disconnected.
Rubiel (Intruder) has been disconnected.
Remiel (Intruder) has been disconnected.
You all know me; you know I don't go in for scare tactics. But this is important - as important as the Bug City files were four years ago. Maybe more so, because this time the enemy lives where we live - here, in the Matrix. It's not even safe here anymore.
Read these files. Believe them. Help us spread the word, and fight back.
> Captain Chaos
Transmitted: 27 December 2060 at 22:49:07 (EST)
< Posting includes 374 MP of attached files >
[Transmission complete]
Megaera: Here, Dodger Dodger Dodger ... Here, Dodger ... ?
Megaera has left.
Otomo (Singapore): That's all of it. Cap? Seattle? Is anyone there? Can anyone hear me? It's already being distributed throughout the network. Cap?
SL Alert Daemon: WARNING! Vaso Host shutdown imminent. 
Nirvana engaged.

Have a nice day!