Played by Jollyrancher. View character sheet.
Table of Contents
The Program:
The rules of the game are written, debugged and maintained by the Sleepers via some as yet not understood semi-autonomous process. The Technocracy is making low-level Program changes so their hacks don't cause system crashes.
Magic
Hacking -- if everything is coded somewhere, then temporary changes can be hacked into the Program (i.e. the Paradigm). Permanent changes to the Program must be Reprogrammed.
Spheres:
All aspects of the Program are handled by imbedded Modules.
- Correspondence: Positioning -- all Objects have a Position within the graphic user interface (the GUI) of the Program. Thus, it possible to hack the program to do a "grid search" or to change your position.
- Mind: Software -- when dealing with the processing of Information. Hardware -- when enhancing the performance of the VA's mind (upgrading) or altering the performance of others'. I/O -- when affecting or enhancing the senses.
- Prime: Programming/Reprogramming -- temporary changes are easy to hack, but machine-level programming makes the changes permanent.
- Time: Cycle Speed/Clock -- the Program's Cycle Speed can be altered if you know the right hacks to affect that module. The area of effect may be limited to individual Icons as well.
- Entropy: Chaos -- everything is organized according to orders of Chaos. Even elegantly clean programs and hacks have an element of Chaos; where there is absolute order, the Program seems to introduce Chaos on its own. It is believed this is part of the Program's self-diagnosis algorithm (see Paradox).
- Spirit: Intelligence -- this is the Module covering artificial intelligence, self-perpetuating viruses, search daemons and anything else that has a self-animating force.
- Pattern Magic: Icons -- Objects, Wetware and Electricity are all objects, and each are handled by a different Module.
- Forces: Electricity -- this is ultimately at the core of all forces as perceived by VAs. Lasers are powered by electricity. Machines use electricity. Een Wetware seems to use electricity. Any force that can't be perceived as electrical cannot be perceived by a VA.
- Matter: Objects -- everything solid is an Object in the Program. Objects are programmed to interact with other Icons in a consistent manner.
- Life: Wetware, Biotech -- messy stuff, but it provides the icons through which Intelligence works with the Software.
Arete
Eliteness -- how well the Program is understood, and how well the VA can alter the Program. How you separate the posers from the real netheads.
Quintessence
Output -- the final result of a hack or a reprogramming. Output is a somewhat mystical concept, and many VAs believe they can improve their output through smart drugs, intense study or experiences.
Paradox
Errors -- VAs accumulate "errors" in their icons if they make deep changes in the Program, or if they screw up a quick hack. Too many errors cause areas of the Program to crash. However, the Program has many levels of self-diagnosis, and will attempt to put the interface back online without disrupting other users. VAs that cause too many system crashes are eventually Debugged (e.g. paradox backlash).
Mage - Specific Backgrounds
Arcane -- Transparency. Some Icons are more transparent to other users than others.
Avatar -- Productivity. Each VA is destined to a certain amount of output in their lives. Some will output a lot more than others.
Destiny -- Focus. VA's with intense focus can work miracles and never stray from their path. Those with too much focus are usually a drag to be around because they're so intense.
Dream -- Data Retrieval. If all human knowledge is available somewhere in the Web, then it can be retrieved. Some talented VAs have actually learned how to unconsciously tap into the Web's resources and extract this data. This process is not well understood, and cannot be artifically created without serious Intelligence programming.
Node -- Inspiration. With inspiration, output can be increased and larger hacks to the Program can be achieved. This inspiration is drawn from a location within which the VA experiences enhanced levels of output.
BOOTING IN
: [YORI] Where have you been?
: [CLU] Its good to see you too Yori. Have you completed the data query I asked you to?
: [YORI] I did. It seems you were correct. Agent Simmons birthday is coming up soon.
: [CLU] I thought so... I think we should send her something special for her birthday.
: [YORI] How bout some anthrax, or a nice data bomb to crash her systems?
: [CLU] Well... someone is jealous.
: [YORI] Do not confuse my dislike of your friend as jealousy. I do not trust her.
: [CLU] She kept us out of prison, and helped make sure we continue our work.
: [YORI] She is using you... logical progression expresses when you have completed your usefulness she will abandon you.
: [CLU] You really think she would do that to me? Would you?
: [YORI] You are being Illogical again. She does not feel for you as I do. She does not need you.
: [CLU] Well we're using her too aren't we? Let's send her some flowers, no need to be cruel right now.
: [YORI] Fine. May I continue my work now, or do you need more from me?
: [CLU] That will be all Yori. You may...
:
: [SYS.ADMIN YORI HAS LOGGED OFF]...
: [SYS.ADMIN CLU HAS LOGGED OFF]...
What can I say about the only women I can ever love, but never touch or hold. She is the balance of my wonderment and the bringer of every frustration I can muster. Indeed she is my alpha and omega, my beta and my prime. We met a long time ago when I was just a child, well I didn't know it back then, but she was always looking out for me. In fact it was her that found me.
I always felt her presence, even if I couldn't always see or hear her. My parents called it having an active imagination, I called it having a best friend. She taught me everything I know about motherboards, BUS transfer speeds and data logic progression. Everyone always thought I was a child genius, I tried to make them understand I was just a good student. Her student.
I almost lost her. It was my fault too. She told me not to trust him, my old mentor Dr. Maron. I thought she was just jealous, because I was replacing her as my mentor. I thought she abandoned me, but no... she was just waiting, hiding. From what you ask? Well from him... Maron. He was a crazy freak. IS a crazy freak.
I know the Paradigm, I know the truth of the binary existence... the trinary evolution. I believe indecisively in the search for enlightenment, hell in making the perfect code to stream line this program and optimize every living creature, on all planes of existence. I know the teaching... I trust the Paradigm, but this guy was beyond the teaching. I mean he was out there, like he said to me once... "The program cannot deviate from its original progression."
They tried to erase her from my mind, separate her from my soul. They called her a virus spreading in my logic matrix corrupting my ability to expand my mind. They didn't understand, she wasn't a virus, she was part of me. She was the light I was to follow to lead me to the path of awakening. She had the one song that would help build the construct of progression piecing together the puzzle of the program.
She was my primary function, and I was her vessel. Object oriented programming at its purest and finest.
We escaped, barely. She almost wasted all of her energy taking us out of there, out of the Academy. I owe everything to her. I think she knows that though.
Together we stand, united we explore the data web finding new adventures and keeping the ignorant base liners safe from would be assailants. A heroes work is never done.
I really hope Yori doesn't send her anthrax, it would be really hard to explain.
It all started with a dot, a simple dot on a monitor screen that seemed to hold an infinite possibility of answers to the many questions he had.
Why are we here?
Where do we come from?
What is my purpose?
Such complex and implausible thoughts seemed to unravel at the realization of the logical structure found in the foundation of a binary bit blinking on screen. Like a melodious hymn it resonated inside my soul and began to form a euphoric and even tantalizing schema of truth and immeasurable power. Enlightenment was well within my grasp and reach.
Such my flesh became transformed from the physical plane of existence and exploded like a storm into the metaphysical breaking abstract and structured boundaries taking the stars and universe into itself. Projected into all stems of reality, both believable and unimaginable.
I AM PRIME ! !
Simple words that represented the core of the universe, prime, solitary and lone number indivisible and undivided by anything other than itself. Existing within the realms of real, whole and abstract numbers and equations remaining constant and unmoving.
I AM PRIME ! !
Power is but the perception of man personified by an appropriate agent relative to the boundaries of reality, my hand cradles that boundary and when needed tears it down. You have governed the world and the physical stability of the world and corrupted the core of that which all people need, want, desire. You destroy our planet and make victims of those you swore to protect and defend, and call me... my kind criminals... unpatriotic.
Your time has come to an end, our patience has worn thin. We are the neutron, the electron. We are the bit and the byte of data. We command the horizontal, and the vertical. No my friend we are not the outer limits, we are here... we are angry... WE ARE PRIME ! !
