I don't think we've heard anything from Deus ever since he instigated the Second Crash. And as far as anyone can tell, the structure of the post-Crash 2.0 Matrix doesn't allow for the existence of AIs like Deus, Morgan, etc. anymore.

But come on! This is Deus we're talking about, the baddest motherfucker to ever walk the Matrix. He's got to be around somewhere.

So where is he?

My personal theory is that Deus is currently running Horizon, from beyond the scenes. Think about it - Horizon rose to AAA status as a direct result of the Crash 2.0. It would be just like Deus to instigate the opening of a seat on the Corporate Court, just to get himself a foothold.

More than any other megacorp, Horizon is researching virtuakinetics (the otaku of yesteryear, they were more connected to the rise of Deus than any other humans) and AIs. There are rumors that they're building biodrones out in the desert - sounds a lot like the results of Deus' years of study in the SCIRE being put to work.

And here's the kicker - within the SCIRE, Deus was all about omniscient control. He saw everything, knew everything that happened within its walls. But he was only able to get that kind of control within the SCIRE because he had eyes and ears everywhere. There's no way he could get that kind of total information awareness out in the world. That would require every single person to be broadcasting everything they see and hear, all the time...

Gee, sounds a lot like Persona 2.0, doesn't it?

Does anyone have canonical information that supports or disproves this theory? Anyone care to elucidate or elaborate?

Mostly seems like Deus was a victim of editorial opinion. AIs, like Deus, seem not to fit well into the revised setting of SR4, so he was quietly written out. That's my take anyway.

Indeed. All big AI were flat out declared gone in System Failure GM Info, no further details given.

What if... Deus is running The Exchange?
(evil cackle)

He's sitting in the old AI home talking about the good old days when deckers had to jack in and everything was hardwired. I think it was retarded of him to plot to and eventually blow up the matrix. What did he expect was going to happen? Oh yeah, he was planning on downloading himself into people or some other such nonsense.

Good riddance I say. No more shoving pointy things up peoples noses for him.

EDIT- I'm also surprised at how people are all okay with AIs now. You had Dues who took over the Arcology, you had that one that took over the weapons satellite, and you have wild ones that try to eat you, but it okay they're cool, just moody sometimes. Technomancers? They must be burned at the stake! Kill em all!

Dreadlord- I fully expect he might be running the Exchange, and don't realy have any problem with that. Deus never had the GOAL of hurting people, that was just a means to ensure his continued existence. His GOAL (IE, the purpose of his creation) is to optimize the economic and social interactions of large groups of people.

Hell, maybe he founded the Exchange, and funded it by selling metahuman terminal limits data to various corps and governments, so they could use it the same way the US used captured Nazi death camp data. Who looks evil now? Not that "evil" is really relevant when discussing something so alien as the mind of an AI.

See, that's the second flat out declaration:

All the AI part was super-sekrit and nobody except ninjas know about it. And Horizon worked really hard, so everyone likes AIs now.

He retired into a microwave oven in Genvea, Switzerland and spends his days burning popcorn.

What's could people find objectionable about performing experimental brain surgery on their children?

The whole archology incident? Yes, few people know what truly happened. The AI who took over a satellite full of WMD? No, everyone knows what happened, but at the same time, people know that another AI convinced the first one to drop the issue. Forget its name right now, it is the golden "boy" of Horizon right now.

The "Blow up the Matrix" was not his plan. You had three factions in the events that lead to the crash : terrorists wanting to blow up the matrix, Dissonant otakus wanting to turn it into a Dissonance realm, and Deus wanting to write itself into the Matrix, free from the restrictions of the arcology and it's native host...

How evil!

Okay that's just creepy.*

"I'M ALIVE!"




-k

*-(for those who haven't seen it before, the garbled bit in the quote is when NetCat had morning sickness while connected to the Matrix)

Precisely this. The Matrix blew up by accident, more or less - its destruction really benefitted nobody.

Except, of course, that it indirectly resulted in a vacancy on the Corporate Court. A vacancy filled by Horizon. And who runs Horizon?

Nobody knows.

I've read this ten times, and it continues to send chills down my spine.

Is there any context?

EDIT: Nevermind, KarmaInferno clarified.

'E's dead, Jim.

The eight connected adventure campaign that I wrote for 4E is actually about Mirage. Deus is mentioned, but only as a red herring. He never actually resurfaces.

While I really like all of the AIs, I THINK that I am in favor of Deus staying dead. I think that as little of the new plot as possible should come from recycling old plot, lest SR become Marvel Comics.

I also went back and highlighted the important bits.



-k

Well, the devs officialy said that old-time AIs (Mirage, Deus and Morgana/Megara) will not show again. It was said in one of official CGL chats, if my memory is good.

Still, there were "Idols" mentioned in System Failure. They COULD be a next stage of those old AIs.

Expanding on what Ascalaphus said, kitty previously was on the hunt for Puck, who disappeared after this
I don’t know about dead people, but I know about someone who should be dead. I ran across some … interesting activity in the Matrix that caught my attention not too long ago, and eventually it put me on the trail of a group of alleged AIs called the Code Clan. This was interesting enough in itself, so I kept digging to find out more about what they were about. I still hadn’t ascertained their agenda when
I came across a technomancer gang calling itself the Discordians, who were somehow involved with this Code Clan, but who were taking orders from some seriously cold-hearted slitch. This new outfit seemed even shadier, so I switched focus, and ID’d a few of their members. What I found didn’t bode well—both had previously been members of Ex Pacis. You do the math.
I’ll be looking into this more.


But if an AI is behind Horizon, my money would be on MIrage/Psychotrope. Just like Deus, she's an expert for human psychology and worked in networking (willing) human brains, but her philantropic angle just fits Horizon better IMO.

Or all the old school AIs merged and the gestalt entity takes advantage of her skill set.

Other creepy possibility:

Technomancers ARE Deus. Even if they don't realize it.





-k

I always liked Psychotrope the best out of all the "old school" AIs.

Kinda related but whatever happened to Alice Haffeaner(sp?) aka Alice in Wonderland the original AFAIK ghost in the machine. I liked her too.

She had a run-in with the crash worm in System Failure...just like Deus, or the Captain

Wait so, Netcat's unborn child is Deus? It's a possibility. Just throwing that out there. Clockwork might have been right ALL ALONG

Which is part of what I was talking about earlier. Why was Dues mixed up with something like the crash worm. Sure he might not have known but Pax sure as hell had something to do with it so I find it hard to believe. I also don't think Winternight had the juice to pull it off.

Yeah, but Clockwork's an ass so no one will believe him.

So is Captain Chaos now an e-ghost? Did Jack-In-A-Box (whatever that code was that Dunkie gave him) digitize him a la Tron?

Don't hate him just 'cause he's a hobgoblin


Jack B Nimble. I think that was the general idea. Though saying you met the Cap'n gets you booted off of Shadowlands sooo nothing solid yet.

I speak the truth though. He went too far by trying to capture Netcat before being able to offer proof that technos were bad so he's lost credibility on that front. People will think he's crying wolf and not believe even if he's right.

Sounds more like she's scared that Deus might harm her baby. Also, a single human brain sounds a bit cramped for the guy who above all wanted to be free..

I don't think one brain is big enough for him, either. Didn't he have to download himself onto some inordinately huge number of hobos at some point?

In my humble opinion, Deus is probably just one of several potential threats (even if he's probably gone) Netcat would be worried about at this point.

Jack B Nimble
Jack B Quick
Jack upload you
To a data stick.

*Made up on the spot*

Or maybe Netcat's baby is also a technomancer whose using mommy's bionode to connect to the matrix

And then puking!

Yep, into what was/ is called The Network iirc. More info on this is in Threats 2.

Personally I really don't want to see the Netcat/Slammo baby get brought up even more in the plot. In fact it's mention needs to drop by at least half. Don't get me wrong I like the idea of runners having families and doing multidimensional things. It's exactly that reason why I don't want to see a Dues plot or something equally ridiculous. At the same time I don't want to see Jackpoint become a soap opera.

Like Heroes tv show had become by the third season?

I never watched Heroes so i can't comment either way.

Mrs Petrelli: "Scylar, I am your mother."
Scylar: "No, you are not".
Mrs Petrelli: "Yes I am."
Scylar: "ok."
Mrs Petrelli: "be a good boy now"
Scylar: "ok"

later on

Mr Petrelli: "I am you father, now do as i command."
Scylar: "but mom said..."
Mr Petrelli: "forget what your mom said, I am your father, do as I command"

even later

Scylar: "so, you are not my father and mother."
Mr and Mrs Petrelli: "no we are not, but it was fun while you believed"
Scylar: "I hate you, I'm gonna kill everyone again."
Mr and Mrs Petrelli: "ok..."

that's pretty much the third season until the point i gave up watching...

it was my understanding that when the EMP Pax set off that dropped the Node the Trading floor was on Dues was eradicated

There's a possibility that as he was very busy recompiling itslef some random bits of code were still ingering here and there and might have helped with the emergence of 2070 brand of AIs

maybe the answer is that all the 2070 brand AI's are part of DEUS. And they just don't realize it.

Oh no...

I can't wait til they assemble like Voltron and fly off into space, hopefully the sun.

I tend to ignore the A.I.'s by in large, except for one in the background that has become aware of the IE's and Dragons, and has become annoyed at their hiding of information. Being a former search engine, and it's task is to make all information available...it's been quietly financing runs in the background to let lose secrets from various corps and governments...usually the most damaging to embarress the various parties into becoming more open with their information (a flawed perception of psychological information of organics).

Search Engine?





-k

Given how much time Deus spent warping the matrix in the Renraku Archology, and that it's unlikely that all of it has been cleared out, I would have a hard time believing that there wasn't something left of Deus left there. Even if it was just data on experiments or something.

There can be only One. We need more AI PC's with Codivore.

burning popcorn in the office, and evil smell

I'm pretty sure you can get Codivore with Intuitive Hacking, actually.