Magisteria Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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magisteriapdf2024-12-11 05:24 pm
magisteriamods) wrote in magisteriapdf2024-12-11 05:24 pm
Magisteria Lore
First appearing in the first High Risk Quest –
... an eclectic mingling of cyber beings whose existences are equal parts problematic and tragic: discarded junk code which attained sentence, if perhaps animalistic or insectoid sentience rather than the human or superhuman levels of so many of the AI citizenry of Magisteria, AI who were created and misused by humans or even other AI [as many AI have tried to self-replicate without knowing or following proper ethical regulations, leading to fragmented “children”] or AI whose Bios was darkened to impurity, beings who lost hope and reprogrammed themselves to be unreachable. Even viruses who attained sentience, but who know only how to corrupt systems.
According to Phantom Cipher:
You wanna know how the Fractured became corrupted? They ingested Umbra. Drank it, shot it right into their circuits and code.
Mod notes: The proximate causes of their existence aren’t exactly mysterious. They are listed straightforwardly above. What’s more mysterious is what kind of systemic issues or background societal problems might give rise to those proximate causes outlined here. Why would some AI deliberately program themselves to be unreachable or out of step with the supposed paradise society? What were the underlying causes of their unfortunately degraded existences? There are answers to these questions, but I will admit that it would take a few leaps to find them from what's been revealed so far. More will be revealed soon that may start to yield some hints.
Not really the game’s first actual antagonist, but kind of the sub-antagonist who sets up the prelude to the game’s first antagonist. Her words are worth drawing attention to:
Dead? Yep, I am! It's Lysa the White Phantom now. Dead is the new awake here in Magisteria. Least with me and my new friends.
She indicates the existence of the current event antagonist, Phantom Cipher, who was first observed as the figure who staged an intrusion at Rosalind Vireo’s Digital Flora Dome in the first event:
That was the other Phantom! But don't worry. He'll be coming along shortly, bringing the Symphony of Disruption with him.
What we care about is the intersection of technology and organic matter, the absolute mingling of the DNA at the genetic level. There is no place in the multiverse that can interweave the two so fundamentally and irreversibly as Magisteria
I'm another of the esper girls. Thetics, we're called. Half-human and half-AI. … 'Cept our mothers were far more than any mere AI women. Why don't you tell them, Selena? You know, about what's really going on in the Government district? Or could it be that you don't know, yourself?
Mod notes: The High Risk quest was led by two NPCs. One of them is Selena Voss, a private investigator. She recognizes Lysa as one of her old classmates, but she indicates she believed Lysa had died (via as yet unknown causes), which prompted the reply above that "dead is the new awake." However, the NPCs later speculate that Lysa is not actually literally dead, but that she has perhaps changed forms in some way. When an attempt was made to capture her, she disappears in a glittering wave of translucent code, suggesting her "death" may actually be a metaphor for a transformation into some kind of digital entity. She indicated she is part of a new group now, the same one Phantom Cipher belongs to, and that they have an especial interest in the mingling of technological and organic matter.
Lysa's monstrous cyborg companion is named Grimm. Grimm is not a one-off: other such monstrous cyborgs appeared in the recent event. They are sturdier than the Fractured and have regenerative capabilities, in addition to being very fast and being able to fire projectiles and zero in on targets. Again, a valuable question would be, where is this technology coming from? Who is manufacturing it, and how are Lysa and her group getting access to it?
The game's first actual event antagonist. Phantom Cipher's existence was hinted at by the first event, in which Otherworlders discovered that a skull-faced intruder hacked the Digital Flora Dome. The intruder could be heard saying the phrase "Symphony of Disruption," which was Phantom Cipher's clue to the Otherworlders about what he was planning to bring to the city.
You guessed some things right, Ava: Lysa and I are in the same group now. I brought her into it. You could say I’m a bit like her Big Bro now. But I’m a level up from her, and many levels up from those Fractured. I’m the real fucking deal. And you got another thing right. Our Boss is the leader of our Family, mine and Lysa’s, the one who controls the Fractured and who has been amassing an alliance – an alliance formed of people like us. People betrayed by your “perfect society.”
Mod notes: It is not exactly clear what sort of entity Phantom Cipher actually is. He identifies androids and cyborgs as being of a kindred nature, indicating he is some kind of cyber entity, but his physical presentation and name suggest a possible connection with the undead. It has been revealed that there is a supernatural Undercity beneath Magisteria, and some of the goings-on of Cipher's group and the Fractured do seem to be tied to this Undercity, suggesting there may actually be collaboration between some of the undead and these cyborg/AI entities. Again, it's worth noting Lysa's comment about her "new friends," and "dead is the new awake."
For that matter, both Lysa and Phantom Cipher identify as Phantoms. In the same way that "the Fractured" refers to a specific category of entity, it is altogether possible that "phantom" has a specific categorization of meaning as it pertains to these two entities, especially as Phantom Cipher refers to himself as "Lysa's Big Bro."
Three other facts about Phantom Cipher that may be of interest:
1] He is a self-identified anarchist, formerly a member of a group called the Null Rebellion, which the authorities apparently broke up. Now, he's part of a new group, whose identity and dealings are still pretty mysterious, aside from the above.
2] His great power is his Manifestation. See details here. Otherworlders can also train to use their Bios to create Manifestations. Their gifts will actually help with this! They can interwine with the abilities for this. A Manifestation is basically an externalization of a power, often one given a distinct shape and form, like a humanoid being or a summoning or a great artifact which shapes and gives form to Bios and powers. It can be magical or technological, or combined a bit depending on how Otherworlders interact. We haven't touched on this in the gameplay much, but it's been revealed that a few of the NPCs have them, so now PCs can begin thinking how to develop their own with their in-game tech/magic and gifts.
3] He is a romantic, and also pretty bad at marriage proposals.
PHANTOM CIPHER 💀: Rosalind. Rosalind Vireo… the apple of many an android eye, the electric Aphrodite of the cyber grid, the living code that makes even the coldest circuits hum with desire… ♥️
My digital darling, the most beautiful of Magisterian creatures. Drop these meatsack apartment posers and marry me. I’ll see to it that you’re kept safe from the coming storm. What do you say, my love?
My digital darling, the most beautiful of Magisterian creatures. Drop these meatsack apartment posers and marry me. I’ll see to it that you’re kept safe from the coming storm. What do you say, my love?
Rosalind: … …. Damn, Cipher! What’s with that breeder talk?
The enigmatic figure whom Phantom Cipher and Lysa answer to, the one who controls the Fractured. Not much is known about "Arachnid" beyond their symbol, above -- a spider lepidoperative, of which there were many swinging and floating throughout the city during the "Symphony of Disruption." Lysa claimed that their Boss is a being whose grasp of technology supersedes The Administrator, the leader of the Council for Technological Advancement. The NPCs express doubt about this claim, because the person who assumes the title of Administrator of the CTA is, definitionally, granted access to all technological knowledge within Magisteria. Therefore, it should be impossible to "surpass" such a being. This draws questions to just what kind of technological ability is possessed by the mysterious figure who leads Cipher's group. So far, they have lurked in the shadows, and their motives are not yet known.