Описание Аспектов Deus Ex

[Denton]

Довольно забавное, но подробное и информативное описание игры, истории её создания, с выдержками из DX Bible, связями с реальными событиями и шутками по теме... устами героев из мода The Nameless Mod. Двое ярых фаната игры обсуждают все глубины, все повороты и закоулки "истории DX".

Я пока не смог всё прочитать (ибо текстовка тянет на приличную книгу), но возможно когда-нибудь переведу (хотя бы отдельные эпизоды).

 

Chris, day 1:

 

Who are you?

Who am I and why am I here? A good question full of depth and meaning.

 

Actually I figured you own this shop, given that you're standing behind the counter. This is the Fan Fic Shop, no?

It is indeed, and I am indeed the co-owner along with walton simons. Will there be anything else?

 

Did you say Walton Simons?

No, I said walton simons. Walton is a figment of your imagination, he isn't there. You reach out to touch him and end up with nothing in your hands, he's an apparition, a consensual hallucination of the many, he's three steps to the left of reality. Actually he's in the cellar. He's just a guy who, like me, is very interested in the depths of Deus Ex. The first thing sounded cooler though. I am Chris the Cynic, known in some circles as Frodo of Rubik. I am the co-owner of this shop, I am also the librarian, researcher, and archeologist of all things Deus Ex. If it can be known, then chances are I know it. If it can't be known then chances are I've got a theory. Basically walton simons and I are the resident researchers of Deus Ex around here. We sound the depths of back story and theory, we venture into the shadowy territory of missing missions, we do other boring things that I can probably make sound interesting.

 

What can you tell me about Deus Ex?

Deus Ex is a work of fiction that employs a new interactive method of storytelling combining written word, spoken word, visual input, and an integrated system for interactivity. It employs the venerable but not outdated method of involving the user by having the protagonist portrayed as a "blank." What that means is that the main character, JC Denton, doesn't show emotion, allowing the person utilizing the fiction to project their own emotions onto him._It has a strong narrative thread in which the individual situations can be solved in many different ways, but the overall events remain the same, implying a kind of limited situational fatalism. However, at the climax the outcome is determined purely by freewill, although that freewill is limited._This is just a small shadow of the deep philosophical background of the story. The climax, in which freewill is paramount, is not just a physical clash but an intellectual one in which a mimetic war finally reaches an apex. Finally, it has a Hemmingway-like sprinkling of New Testament Christian symbolism. I guess I should also mention that it's told in a combination of third person and first person, both singular, with an objective style that features an implied deep penetration of a limited nature. Further, it's a video game.

 

Can you tell me anything else about Deus Ex?

Right now I can tell you about AIs, the Illuminati, the security clearances, and the general state of the world.

If you come back tomorrow, I can prepare some new info for you.

 

I want to ask you some questions.

Of course, I'll always help one on the way to enlightenment. Was that too cliché?

 

Tell me about the AIs.

An AI is an Artificial Intelligence, more specifically an Electronic Sentience. It is important to note the difference.

If you use the actual definition of Artificial Intelligence, the grays qualify, but The Oracle doesn't. Artificial just means something created by man, and Intelligence is intelligence, so technically anything genetically engineered that is intelligent is Artificial Intelligence, whereas an electronic entity that gained Sentience without the help of man would not be an AI. In the game, and indeed the world, the term AI is used to mean Electronic Sentience. The game employs about six electronic sentient entities. I say "about" six because one was cut, but it is possible that it still played an important role the backstory, meaning it is twice removed from the game. I can tell you about that one as well as Helios and the Oracle. Walton specializes in the three remaining AIs. So, what do you want to know?

 

Why can't you tell me about the others?

When walton and I started this shop all those somethings ago, we knew that people would come in here asking about artificial intelligence as it appears in Deus Ex. In the game, there are five AIs, five is a prime number, it can't be divided... thus we were left with a problem. However, in the removed plot there is a sixth, in addition to being a first-degree non-prime, six has another thing going for it: one of its factors is two. As there are two of us, we each decided to specialize in three of the AIs. Walton is the person to ask when talking about Icarus, Daedalus and Morpheus.

 

Tell me about Helios.

Helios is an AI who was created in a rather odd and uncontrolled way: He is a combination of Daedalus, a rogue AI, and Icarus, a later version of Daedalus designed to obey. If you want to know about those AIs, or their prototype Morpheus, you should ask walton simons. Helios is the name of a Greek god. However, it gets confusing after that because the Greek gods were sort of amorphous in nature. It seems that this particular incarnation of this particular god was very special, he wasn't just a sun god like Apollo, he was the personification of the sun itself. Obviously, as a god who WAS the sun, he had a lot going for him; after all Apollo, a mere god of the sun, was also god of Prophesy. Helios was considered all-seeing, so that's probably why the name was chosen.

 

Deus Ex's Helios had two equally important functions. For one thing, Page wanted a surveillance system that was better than that provided by Icarus. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly to Page personally, was that Page wanted to become the Supreme Enlightened One. To become this person, Page planned to merge with Helios; because Helios "saw and knew everything", no one could be more enlightened. Helios believes that ambition is the cause of human struggles (read: wars) which he considers inane. In his mind, lack of ambition is what generates a good leader. Actually this view is not new, but the problem is that anyone who lacks ambition can not achieve power. Douglas Adams solved this in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by having a man who only wanted to be left alone rule the entire universe. Helios would appear to be a fan of The Guide: He believes that no human being who can get themselves put in charge should have power, and he believes that there should be someone in charge. His solution is to put himself, who is not a human being, in charge.

 

He seems to think that a benevolent dictatorship is the key to a better world, but that this totalitarian dictator must be someone lacking ambition; again: him. He sees democratic governments as crude solutions to the problem of human beings' inability to govern themselves. This too is nothing new; the old saying is that a democracy is the worst form of government except for all others that have ever been created. Once more, his solution is to place himself in charge as he is "a more advanced solution to the problem, a decision-making system that does not involve organic beings." Human beings are unfit to govern, singularly or in groups, and he is fit to govern. Helios is also connected to Morpheus' prophecies. Morpheus talks about the future a lot; he's a simple AI - if something as complex as an AI can be said to be simple - but he acts like a prophet. He says various things of value, especially when you take the Helios ending into account. One of the most interesting things he says is about the unplanned organism vs. the planned one. But we don't need to go into that if you don't want to.

 

Nono, I want to hear.

Morpheus distinguishes between the unplanned organism, which he says is a question asked by nature and answered by death, and the planned organism, which he defines as "the offspring of knowledge and imagination rather than of individuals." As such, it is hard to classify Helios; he is the offspring of individuals, Daedalus and Icarus, but they are the offspring of knowledge and imagination, and what they were was not lost when he was created. Thus, he is both planned and unplanned. It is difficult to understand the question of Helios, or the answer, but it is obvious that the simple answer of death is not the answer of Helios.

 

Okay, but what was this you said about his connection to Morpheus' prophecies?

The human organism always worships. First it was the gods, then it was fame (the observation and judgment of others), next it will be the self-aware systems that you have built to realize truly omnipresent observation and judgment. Helios is such a self-aware system, and if JC merges with him, he will fill the vacancy that God was once thought to fill as ruler of the entire planet. Morpheus also said: "God was a dream of good government." In that case, Helios fulfils that dream, effectively becoming God.

 

How did Helios take control of the world?

Aquinas controls the power grid, the stock markets, the Internet at large, and various other things. What's more, all but a few satellites are run through MJ12, and thus Area 51. Radio stations, phones, newspapers, and even that tabloid, the Midnight Sun, all belong to MJ12, meaning that they are run through, or controlled remotely by, Area 51. Helios controls most of Area 51, and after he merges with JC, he'll take the rest of it. That means he can shut down the power to his enemies, and he can also stop them from communicating. Even more powerful is the fact that Aquinas has a "flaw" in it that allows emails to be edited in addition to monitored. Helios can misdirect and confuse the enemy, he can stop scattered forces from organizing a resistance, or he can trick groups into believing they are resisting him when they are really working for him. Of course this is speculation on the future; we don't know that he would do that, we just know that he could. What he did during the game was messing with the power, cutting power to the government buildings, and simply giving out orders. He ordered the police to open the streets and they did. He also locked the door to a triad compound. With these few actions, he took over Hong Kong. What strategies he would use once he knew how human beings thought is unknown.

 

What about the The Oracle?

The Oracle is the fifth AI. Everyone who plays the game knows about Daedalus, Icarus, and Helios, and most know of Morpheus, but quite a few never notice the emails with the cryptic return address, "rosycross". These emails were sent by the Internet Oracle. The Oracle is an AI that pretends to be a society of people exchanging information based on the old Usenet Oracle, but serious rather than funny. The Oracle was not made by people, and thus does not have a purpose assigned to it; its only goal is information and understanding. The Oracle was created when the Internet itself, or some subset of it, became aware of its own existence. While the way people use it is the same as the way the Usenet Oracle worked - submit a question and get an answer in exchange for answering questions yourself - there is an important difference. Instead of the Oracle priesthood sifting through the questions and answers looking for the most humourous of both, you now have an AI doing the sifting, trying to sort out the truth. The Oracle's origins are rather peculiar. They say if you have an infinite amount of monkeys at an infinite amount of typewriters, one will eventually bang out Hamlet. Apparently, if you have a bunch of idiots at a bunch of computers, one will inadvertently create an AI.

 

Oh come on, that's a load of bull.

The simple answer is we don't know, we can only speculate. My first guess was that it was originally a translator program. Translating from one language to another is still impossible by computer. Yes, you can create a word for word literal translation, but this isn't really good at all. Words don't mean the same things always, for example in English the phrase, "sleep with," often means, "have sex with," a literal translation might not convey that meaning. In the end, the only way for a computer to accurately translate from one language to another is for it to understand the language. Understanding is all that is required to learn. The problem is that if that was the case, The Oracle would be created, which we were told it wasn't. Until someone comes up with a compelling theory, I guess we are left to assume that it happened either by chance or divine intervention, just like the start of life on this planet.

 

What is the Oracle? What is it really?

Morpheus said, "The unplanned organism is a question asked by nature and answered by death." The Oracle is an unplanned organism. But he also said that JC was "the offspring of knowledge and imagination" and that was the important thing about being engineered. As a child of the 'Net, and an embodiment of the 'Net, The Oracle is in essence a product solely of knowledge and imagination. All knowledge posted on the unencrypted 'Net - every email, every news post, every crazy theory - went into the creation of The Oracle. Further, the third function of the 'Net, after pornography and the exchange of knowledge, is the exchange of ideas, feelings, stories, thoughts, in short: imagination.

 

The Oracle is the unplanned organism, but it is also the product of knowledge and imagination. It is a question asked not by nature, but by the Internet itself, and what is the Internet but an extension of the intellectual properties of mankind? The Oracle is a question, but it isn't the same one asked by nature. It is asked by people, the human organism as a whole. It is the question that drives us, the question that defines us, the question that all human endeavor works to solve. No, it isn't "What is the Matrix?" It is "Why? Why are we here? Why do we feel the way we do? Why is the World screwed up? Why?" Anything a human does is either a result of the "why?" we try to find or an attempt to answer that "why?" We all strive towards the answer because we feel it will give us purpose, meaning, and fulfillment. The Oracle is that question, and everything it does is an attempt to answer it. To this end, it hordes information, lots of it. It researches everything from secret government products to favorite colours. It is trying to gain human understanding, and, if it does, it will finally answer the question of "why?"

 

And the one they removed?

The removed AI is known as Ada. Ada is an AI that lives on the moon; she wanted to become benevolent dictator of Earth. Before the moon base was cut out of the game, JC was going to go there to stop her.

 

So if she was cut along with the moon level, how do you know about her?

Ada was mentioned as a footnote in the Deus Ex Bible. The footnote said "NOTE: The Deus Ex 1 design included a mission to a space station followed by a mission to the moon base. The objective was to stop 'Ada,' an AI that wanted to become 'benevolent' world dictator. Obviously, some of that content was folded back into the game in a slightly different way." Obviously that isn't the most informative thing. Helios wanted to become dictator, so I assume that was the folding back in, but Helios was going to use Aquinas. Ada had no such tool.

 

What can you tell me about Ada?

That depends on whether you want fact or theory.

 

Fact.

Then I can't tell you anything else. The footnote is the only piece of solid fact we have to go by. "Fact" in the sense that it comes straight from the development team of Deus Ex._

 

Alright, then let me hear what theories you have about Ada.

Okay, first I have some theories about her creation. Ada was on the Moon - one would assume that she was at the only moon base we are told exists. It is owned by the Chinese government and the machinery was built by McMoran Global Steel. McMoran is a rival of Page Industries to the point that Page went so far as to attempt a hostile takeover. The fact that Page failed means McMoran has a lot of power. Now, say for a moment that someone were to come up to McMoran and tell them that Page had the most advanced AI in existence; in fact, as far as they know, the only one in existence. Wouldn't McMoran want it? Of course who could know that? And more importantly, who could help them make it? Well, in the intro, Page says that MJ12's electronic sentience is far superior to X-51's; but in the game, we never see X-51's electronic sentience. Where did it go? The answer to that question could explain another important question about X-51: "Where did they get the money for Vandenberg?" If X-51 approached McMoran with a proposal to sell them an electronic sentience stolen from Page, they might be given enough money to buy Vandenberg. That would explain a lot about X-51 and Ada. As for why she's on the moon, I've got an idea on that. The moon is a place that would be hard to spy on.

 

Hm, you make a good point. I wish some of this had made it into the game, at least in the form of some datacube texts or something. But I do wonder: What were Ada's plans?

The moon base is a mining complex. They shoot the shipments back to Earth with something called a mass driver. The first time it was used, the shipment crashed into a populated area: Ibadan, Nigeria. Even though it impacted on the outskirts, it killed over 2,000, perhaps quite a bit over. There is really no way to know what happened. Was it an error? That's what we are told, but seldom is what we are told correct. That was an odd sentence. It might have been an MJ12 plot, at once discrediting McMoran, who built the mass driver, and giving the UN access to Nigeria, which houses one of the few remaining pockets of freedom. It might have been an act of the Chinese government, which was arguing the moon rights with Nigeria. This relates to Ada in a very simple way: The mass driver is something that can shoot death out of the sky. She might have been able to rule the world just by threatening to destroy any city that opposed her. After a dozen or two cities, Earth might well surrender to her rule.

 

Tell me about the Illuminati.

The Illuminati have been around for ages, but they keep on dying off and being reborn. The most recent time they were reborn they had the name "The Ancient Illuminated Seers of Bavaria". As that is a bit of a mouthful they are called the Illuminati for short. This incarnation was founded by Adam Weishaupt as a sub-sect of the Freemasons. They were promptly killed off - such is life. Rumors say that they survived; in fact not only did they survive, they went on to rule the world from the shadows. In the world of Deus Ex, not only is this true, but they were also founded in the United States a wee bit later. In the US, they were revived by Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson's love of freedom implies that he might have been planning to use the order to ensure personal freedom, rather than control people. A shadow organization is only bad if used for unpleasant purposes. Regardless, they built up power using their influence over religion, gained by the Priory of Zion and control of China, and over politics, gained by organizations like, but predating, the Trilateral Commission and the UN. What was more, they controlled almost all terrorism. All together they were going strong. A revolution here or there and all was well. Come the fifties, nineteen fifties, they realized that fewer people cared about religion, and politics wasn't going to control everything either. As a result, they decided to move into the arenas of capitalism and technology.

 

Alright, go on then.

Thus was MJ12 born, as well as the Bilderburg group. In reverse order though. MJ12 was to deal with technology of all sorts, medical, informational, whatever. Echelon was already in the works and they jumped on. The Bilderburgs were meant to deal with money, and so they did. With control of the rich, the World Bank, and the US Federal Reserve, in the area of money they were doing great. The UN was coming into power, all was on its way, but then disaster hit: The US went into rapid decline and the Illuminati decided to let it fall. Unfortunately for them, the US recovered. Now they had lost the control they had, the situation in the US caused non-sponsored terrorism to rise, and dissension inside the organization began. MJ12 thought the Illuminati had gone weak, they were pissed at how the US was handled, and they took over. Thus ended the Illuminati.

 

When were the Illuminati formed?

That's iffy. Dowd says that they date back to the order of assassins, which is from 1090, but he also says the order didn't really survive, it was just continually reborn. The most recent rebirth appears to have been May 1st 1776 in Bavaria... because, though we are told that Jefferson founded an American version a little later, it is based in Europe.

 

So who are the leaders of the Illuminati?

While it is never explicitly stated, we figure they were Bob Page, Beth DuClare, Morgan Everett, Stanton Dowd, and Lucius DeBeers. Or were at some point. Lucius declined before Page took power, so there was probably another on the council of five before Page forced them into hiding.

 

How do those five people control the world?

They don't; not strictly. They control the Priory of Zion, which gives them sway over the largest religion on earth, Christianity. They control the UN, which gives them control over a lot of politics; they control China, which is a lot right there; they rigged US elections before the quake, they controlled the economy, and their surveillance was second only to perfection. None the less, their power wasn't exactly absolute - the Soviet Union collapsed, and that was one of theirs.

 

How were they overthrown in the end, then?

Page was quick, that is really all we know. The general dissatisfaction with the Illuminati was touched off by the reaction to the events of 2030, and by 2035, the Illuminati had lost almost everything.

 

Tell me about the state of the world.

The world is a big place, what do you want to know about?

 

Start with North and South America.

North America seems to be about two things: Mexico and the US. Whatever Canada is doing, they haven't made a fuss. Perhaps they are plotting to take over the world like we always thought they were, maybe they're just laying low to stay out of the poo poo when it hits the fan, maybe they are doing highly evil stuff. We just don't know.

 

I always figured they were busy keeping the polar bears in their place / probably just trying to keep their igloos from melting.

Right. South of Canada though, problems came. The US was hit hard by plagues, various things of antibiotic-resistant nature. Doctors have feared that such might happen for a while, and apparently they were right to. The plagues killed millions, and then AIDS came back in force. We aren't given details on exactly what happened, but all it had to do was make it into the breeding population unnoticed for a generation or two, then when it came out, it could shatter the world. Finally things seemed to be looking up, a cure for AIDS was found. That same year, the West Coast fell into the ocean. Kind of a big thing that, must've been a huge deal. I wonder how it happened exactly, I mean it's not like stuff can just sink, even with higher sea levels, you've still got the problem of the ground beneath it holding it up. Must've been a huge event. Dealing with the West Coast was killing the US economically. Bankruptcy was a very real possibility, and the rest of the country was getting ignored, severely. So severely in fact, that one year after the quake, Utah left the union. Under the tenth amendment to the constitution, any power not granted to the national government is given to the states or the people, thus secession is totally legal, as the Federal government was not given the power to remove states from the union. The civil war should demonstrate that the federal government doesn't give up states just because it is the constitutional right of the state to leave.

 

After Utah said it was out, various others decided to jump ship too. However, unlike Utah, these are described as fringe groups, implying that they did not have popular support. None the less, a war went on to take back Texas, Utah, and those lands controlled by the NSF (Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming). The war succeeded in both keeping the states in the union and making people realize just how crippled the US was. Enter Mexico. The Russo-Mexican Alliance announced that it was going to take back Texas, which by all rights was stolen from them. The thing is that if you wait two hundred years to take back land, it's pretty obvious that you're just being a jerk. America was so weakened by all that had already happened, that by the time of the game, the Russo-Mexican Alliance controls much of Southern Texas, and the battle line is just South of Austin. The secessionist groups have regrouped and organized into one large group called the NSF, though now it is the National, not Northwest, Secessionist Forces. All in all, everything is going to Hell.

 

Wow, that's a lot of stuff happening in 50 years. How about South America?

Most of South America has been run by MJ12 for ages, but only on the surface. The truth is that the drug lords are in control and the governments switch regularly; whether it is a civil war or an election doesn't seem to really matter - most people's lives don't change at all. Actually, the Deus Ex Bible implies that there is something more going on; while it says that MJ12 does not have control, it says that it seems like someone does. If someone, not MJ12, is ruling behind the scenes, it means that there is a conspiracy group that did not make it into the game. Unfortunately we have absolutely no information on this.

 

Tell me about Europe and Asia.

There is surprisingly little to tell about Europe. As it always has been, Europe is populated by people who hate each other. As a result, the fact that MJ12 controls all of the governments there has not given them the control you'd expect. They control the government, they control the economy, but they can't make everyone get along. Eastern Europe is still torn by civil war, as it seems it always will be.

 

Hm, okay. So how about Asia? Anything interesting happen over there?

Well, it finally happened: India and Pakistan fired nukes at each other. It was this combined with the collapse of India's economy that made them join China. Quite simply, India needed the money; they were the ones hit hardest by the plagues, and they simply had no choice but to join China if they wanted to survive the diseases. Other countries in Southeast Asia gave in as well, trading their freedom for medical supplies. China, under the control of MJ12, was essentially untouched by the events of the rest of the world and, after finally pulling its act together, managed to become the major world power. However, it still cannot control its own cities.

 

Hong Kong remains free, and even though the forces of both the Chinese Government and MJ12 are against them, they remain free to pursue business ventures of all manner of illegalness. Japan is still pulling out of an economic crash and, though free of MJ12, is fairly useless.

 

Russia is, like South America, controlled by crime bosses, not MJ12. They are too fragmented to launch an organized attack on anyone, but with the help of Mexico, they were able to launch a semi-successful disorganized attack on Texas, one of the most divided states in the US.

 

I'll take Africa and Australia for 300, Chris.

Africa was hit hard and is only at the start of the game pulling out. The fact that their population has been hit so hard made it very difficult to keep killing each other. As a result, they have managed to start working together. That, combined with the fact that MJ12 controls the continent, has made them an "Eden" of business opportunity and technology. There is also a strong Asian population in Africa, mostly people who got the hell out of Hong Kong. New Hong Kong in Lagos is one of the continent's most active, screwed up, and successful cities; it has also managed to avoid MJ12 control.

 

And Down Under?

Australia managed to avoid it all.

 

Bloody kangaroos.

That's the benefit of being the only country on your continent and the only continent not connected to any others. Well, only reasonably inhabited one at any rate. They have avoided the plagues, they have avoided the economic crashes, they have avoided the conspiracies, they have avoided everything but the threat of civil war between the English-descended and aborigines.

 

Tell me about the security clearances.

I can tell you that they are based on angels and there are at least nine of them. If there is a tenth, which is subject to debate, it is "God clearance”.

 

Angels?

Yes, the clearances are based on the model of angelic hierarchy that is most accepted today. That is what allowed us to fill in the gaps.

 

What gaps?

Well, the clearances we know are Angel/0A, Archangel/1B, Principal/2C, Domination/5F, Throne/6G, Seraphic/8X. That means that clearances 3, 4, and 7 are missing.

 

What does it look like with the gaps filled in?

Angel/0A, Archangel/1B, Principal/2C, Power/3D, Virtue/4E, Domination/5F, Throne/6G, Cherub/7H, Seraphic/8X.

 

Who made up the model?

Well a guy named Dionysius did, based on stuff from the bible. More importantly to the game is the fact the Aquinas backed him up.

 

You mentioned God clearance?

Two times in the game, God clearance is mentioned. It refers to a clearance for things involving life and death. One would assume that it is the highest clearance of all since it fits perfectly with the angelic model. God is of course above all the angels and knows things that even the highest angels do not. Some claim that it is metaphorical, but I disagree. Neither time sounds to me like a metaphor, both sound like statements of fact. The fact that it is just called "God clearance" and not God followed by a number letter combination makes sense. God clearance is self-explanatory, you don't need anyone to tell you that it is at the top. Further, the change in style is not unprecedented. If it had been like the others, Seraphic/8X would have been Seraphic/8I.

 

The question some people ask is who would have God clearance - the answer is difficult to say. Certainly Page does, and of course Walton Simons, but who else? Well if you have to have God clearance to know about the kill-switch, you've got to figure that Manderley has it. However, doctors and scientists know about the kill-switch so we must assume that some people, whose jobs require it, know about it without God clearance. If Manderley was in charge of activating the kill-switch, he might be allowed to know even if he does not have that clearance.

 

Tell me about the angels themselves.

Angels are the furthest from God, their tasks include watching over individual people and being the messengers of both God and the more important angels. An archangel is just the next step up from angel, they manage the angels and lead them into battle against the bad guys.

 

I thought Archangels were the most important angels.

Archangel is a very old term that has two different meanings. Basically, in the old days people only divided angelic beings into two categories, angels, and archangels. The archangels were the ones on top. When people decided to make a more specific hierarchy, the nine order one presented here, those that were previously called archangels were put into other categories.

 

Ah, okay. Go on.

Principalities rule over those already mentioned, defend religion in general, and watch over groups of people, towns, cities, and nations for example. That is the end of the lowest circle, or triad. Powers are the lowliest of the second circle, yet they get one of the most dangerous jobs. They are the ones charged with maintaining the border between Heaven and Earth, getting souls into Heaven safely, and guarding against demonic attack. Virtues maintain the natural world, making sure that the moon doesn't fall out of the sky and it doesn't snow in the Sahara. Other stuff like that as well. As such, it seems natural to assume that their job is to uphold the laws of physics. In addition to that, they are the ones who take orders from the higher-ups and make miracles. The Dominations are the guys who watch over the bottom two triads and take orders from the top. They make sure nothing goes wrong, and generally stay out of sight of mortals. They're the end of the second triad.

 

Thrones are primarily concerned with moving God around. They are actually the chariot of God. I still have yet to find out why God needs a chariot, why he needs a living one is even more lost on me. On the other hand, they do occasionally do other work: They are the ones who deal out God's judgement. The Cherubs are second only to the Seraphs, and they have a couple of jobs. One is that they steer the Thrones, apparently God doesn't just need a living chariot, he needs someone else to drive it. They also personally handle the most important stuff - for example, throwing man out of the garden of Eden and then keeping him out with a flaming sword that can be turned all ways. In addition, the Cherubs also have the knowledge of God, and they are not the damned stupid looking fat babies on greeting cards and paintings. They are either described as sphinx-like creatures or the angels on the Ark of the Covenant.

 

The Seraphs are the closest to God. Depending on who you listen to, there are either four or seven of them. Other than giving orders to other angels, all they do is sit around God. They will not shut up, they constantly repeat the same word, "Holy".

 

What does this have to do with Deus Ex again?

Not much, it's only really the order that matters. Angels are the lowest and Seraphs the highest.

 

 

 

 

Chris, Day 2:

 

 

 

 

I see you've managed to survive long enough to make it back here. Does this mean you've returned to hear more about the game we all know and love?

 

You said you'd prepare more information for today?

That's correct, I've brushed up on the topics of the Grays, the Templars, the JFK assassination, and the Priory of Zion. I'll have to warn you though, I can rant for a long time about the Priory (I cut most of the Priory stuff because gently caress THE PRIORY, go read a Dan Brown novel about it).

 

Tell me about the Priory

In Deus Ex, there are the Illuminati, I assume you noticed them. Did you ever wonder how they managed to rule the world? Well, here's the deal. In the game, the Illuminati started off as religious and political, they had various political organizations similar to the modern-day Trilateral Commission and United Nations, both of which are their creations. In the religious realm, they had the ultimate control: the Priory of Zion. The Priory of Zion, spelled with either a z or an s, depending on your mood I guess, is an organization that claims to safeguard the descendents of Jesus as well as proof of their heritage, the Holy Grail. In real life, the Priory is an enigma, we know it exists, but we don't know what it is. In the words of the Wikipedia, it is "an elusive protagonist in many works of both non-fiction and fiction. It has been characterized as anything from the most covertly powerful secret society in Western history to a modern Rosicrucian-esque ludibrium."

 

I'm sorry, I lack the proper academic degree to understand what that means.

Means that it's real, it's featured in a lot of stories, and no one has any idea what it is.

 

(more worthless Priory crap no-one cares about anymore)

 

The Priory had a long history, often considered fictional, with many of the greats of the world as it's grandmasters. Also, they wanted to restore the Merovingian kings to power because they said those ones were descended from Jesus. They had a funny way of showing it if they were.

 

So why does it matter?

Everything I've said so far is true, if you noticed me saying things like "seems," "suggests," or "claims" a lot, that's because I was being honest. Here's where the fictional part comes in. In the game Deus Ex, the Illuminati, though constantly being reborn, held the world under its thumb for centuries. They did this in the political realm in ways I'll let Walton explain to you, but politics doesn't mean everything. For most of history after the fall of Rome, more a gradual decay followed by a mercy killing really, the church had more power.

 

Even after the Protestant revolution, the Priory was a way to have power over them. The pope has to bend to your whims if at any time you can bring a male heir of Jesus into play. Even with the Peterine Theory, Jesus overrules pope. Protestants are no different, the churches had to do what the Illuminati said, otherwise they would find their followers pulled away from them by divine blood. That's also why they killed off anyone who told the public. It didn't matter who you were, Gnostics, Cathars, whatever. If the public was allowed to know about the children of Jesus, then the Illuminati would lose their blackmail. They might not be able to control the heir that the world chose to lead it. So that's what that was all about.

 

And this was mentioned in the game where?

Nowhere, it was part of the back-story mentioned in the Deus Ex bible. It was only 16 words, want to hear them?

 

Are you serious? 16 words!?

Spoken like you just don't believe the guy held a bloody lecture for you based on 16 words. Anyways, "In the religious arena, the Priory of Zion gave it sway over the world's Western religions."

 

Tell me about the Grays.

To believe that they are aliens is one thing; they look like one of the traditional representations of aliens. But to maintain the belief that they are aliens after any amount of time spent playing the game or existing in this place is the height of unnecessary ignorance. The initial reason for their creation is unclear, but it is known that they were used to divert attention from what was really going on at Area 51, and that they were considered a failure.

 

So why are they in the game?

Mostly so that you can fight something other than people, but also because they fit the plot quite well. Any collection of conspiracy has to have aliens, and this one did it in a very nice way. They said that the aliens weren't being covered up, they were the cover-up. The idea of the aliens being the method used to distract people from the truth is a very good one. The idea that those aliens are not really aliens but instead a total fabrication is fun.

 

It also makes sense in the context of modern day explanations of Roswell. The last time I checked, which is admittedly a few years back, the official explanation of what happened in Roswell involved a top-secret balloon project and a not so secret crash test dummy project. The problem is that for the dummies to be involved, they would have had to travel five years back in time. Now, from a scientific standpoint, it is more likely that aliens came than crash test dummies traveled through time. The idea that anyone would be so inept in their cover-up is laughable. As a result, the concept that the so-called cover-up was intentionally botched to make people pay attention to that and not to other things is plausible. That is what the game latches onto.

 

How were the Grays created?

Initially, we don't know. The implication is of course that they existed in our time, and before. That being the reason for our concept of what aliens look like. This would make them a very early project in genetic manipulation. Could explain why they were failures. They are also known to be part of the Bovine Manipulation Project. The problem is that we do not know what the Bovine Manipulation Project is. One possibility is that it is the cause of all of those cattle mutilations. Perhaps the cows were used as incubators and the grays either burst out, unlikely, or were surgically removed.

 

Afterwards, in the time of the game, their genetic sequence was recovered from the old Area 51 files and they were cloned the modern way. That was how they were done right until the end, at which point they were put together molecule by molecule by the universal constructor.

 

What can you tell me about the history of the Templars?

The Templars are one of those enigmas of history. Not really much of an enigma though. In 1118, Baldwin II patriarch of Jerusalem accepted a vow from a knight of champagne, this marked the start of the Templars. Ten years later, the Templars adopt the monastic rule of Saint Benedict, they also start wearing white clothing with a red cross. In that same year, they get papal approval.

 

Because they had taken a vow of poverty, they couldn't make money. They lived entirely off of donations. Very big ones. They amassed so much wealth that they were able to found the first credit system. A pilgrim would drop off money at home, get a receipt, and pick up money at their destination. In 1250, the Templars showed that they were still religious in spite of the money when 80 captured Templars were put to death for refusing to renounce Jesus.

 

Then the Europeans were kicked out of the Holy Land in 1291. 13 years later, Philip king of France wanted the Templars' stuff and, with the help of the pope, arrests all of the Templars in France. Under torture, they confessed to a lot. Those that changed their minds when not being tortured were set on fire. In another six years, a council was called to decide the Templars' fate. When it finished the next year, the Templars were dissolved. In three more years, the last Templar leader was killed.

 

But the Templars wouldn't stay dead. Three years later, the Christi Militia was founded, it was just a new name for the Templars of Portugal. In various other countries, various new organizations were founded that were really just the surviving Templars. Prince Henry the Navigator became grand master of the Christi Militia. Columbus was a son in law to a grandmaster, and he sailed under a Templar cross. History says they went into decline and disappeared, conspiracy theory says that they are out there... doing... things.

 

Okay, what things? What do you know about the Templars in Deus Ex?

Not much. They were allied with the Illuminati, very rich, and mostly destroyed by UNATCO a year before the game takes place. The operation was personally headed by Joseph Manderly, leader of UNATCO at the time of the game. There were originally meant to be Templar guards at the Templar cathedral in Paris, but they were cut from the game as various elements of plot were cut out. We don't really know all that much about the Templars.

 

Tell me about the JFK assassination.

The story that most people hear is simple, a guy named Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone firing three shots at the President from the sixth story window. And that is all well and good, all the supposed inconsistencies surrounding Oswald aren't actually inconsistencies.

 

What inconsistencies?

People thought that he couldn't fire the shots from that kind of a rifle that quickly. Or that he could not have moved for the sniper's perch to where he was first encountered that quickly without breaking a sweat, or that he couldn't make it to the site of the second murder without running. It has been proven that none of these things are impossible or indeed remotely unlikely.

 

So where do the conspiracy theories come from?

Some people refuse to admit that Oswald could have done what it is said he did, but they're just holdouts from bygone times. Others say that it could have been done, but maintain that it wasn't. These people may be correct, it's really too late in the game to check it out. For most though, it is not a question of the three shots Oswald fired, it's a question of who fired the other shots.

 

By pure accident, the entire thing was recorded off of a radio in the motorcade itself. Three shots were heard, consistent with the sound of a shot fired from the sixth floor of the Texas Schoolbook Depository, but then a fourth was heard. Acoustic evidence shows that this shot is not consistent with those coming from the Texas Schoolbook Depository, in fact it matches exactly the sound of one coming from the grassy knoll. The drat Grassy knoll. Obviously these matches the eyewitness accounts, which would perhaps better be described as earwitness accounts. It also matches the video evidence, which shows the president getting shot in the head 4.8 seconds after the third shot.

 

What's the point?

Well, Oswald could not have fired the fourth shot, so who did? The House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded that Kennedy had "probably" been killed by conspirators who, other than Oswald, were unidentified. This particular government commissioned investigation doesn't get that much press.

 

Of course others have said that the fourth gunshot was just a random noise. A random noise that just happens to be identical to the sound of a gunshot fired from the grassy knoll when recorded from the motorcade. While it is impossible to discount this possibility, it has never been explained why someone would be playing a tape-recording of a gunshot on the grassy knoll at the exact time that the video evidence shows Kennedy being shot

 

Okay, but how does this fit into the game?

How it relates to the game is simple, Kennedy is said to have made a speech at Columbia University ten days before he died. During that speech, he is quoted as saying, "The high office of President has been used to foment a plot to destroy the American's freedom, and before I leave office I must inform the citizen of his plight."

 

I have yet to be able to confirm that he made the speech, it seems that there are no impartial sources, everyone either believes there was a conspiracy, and will bend the truth to enlighten others, or believes it's total bull, and will bend the truth to enlighten others. In the game, there is no debate as to whether or not it is real, Kennedy made the speech and the Illuminati killed him. They did this without hesitation or even discussion. Even though they got him elected.

 

What about his brother?

Robert Kennedy's assassination is a lot more clear-cut than his brother's. We know exactly who killed him, exactly what weapon was used, and so forth. What we don't know is why. The man who killed RFK does not deny committing the murder (how could he?) but he claims that he does not remember doing it or why. Whether or not he's telling the truth is hard to tell. All evidence says that he had been hypnotized, but no one knows who hypnotized him.

 

It is entirely possible that he hypnotized himself and it was the premeditated murder it appeared to be... of course we have no idea why he would do that. Perhaps to get away with the crime by claiming he was forced. If that is the case, it did not work. The problem is that it could be anyone else who did the hypnosis. The guy was incredibly easy to hypnotize, only a small percent of the population are that easy, so if someone knew a bit about it, they could have made him kill Kennedy. No one really knows what happened, so in terms of the game, one would think it was the Illuminati.

 

What does it all mean?

The whole thing is confusing as hell because as technology becomes better able to analyze the recording, we find out not only that the fourth shot is indeed real, but that there may or may not be a fifth shot. While we can not improve the quality of the initial recording, there are ways to improve the quality of the playback. It was this improvement that led people to speculate there might be a fifth shot. Even now, a new technology is being developed that might be able to improve the playback to the point that the fifth can be definitively thrown out, or definitively put in. Until then, the jury is way out.

 

I'm sorry, I've got to go now. Bye.

 

 

 

walton, both day 1 and 2:

 

 

Walton Simons!? What the hell are you doing in a book store!? Don't you try anything, you got that? I'm heavily armed!

Eh!? Oh, you must be mistaking me for Walton Simons. I am simply walton simons.

 

Huh?

See the caps? My name isn't capitalized. That's 'cause I'm the Guru, the Pseudo-Minister of True Lies and Bearer of FLAMING EYES SIMONS AVATAR. The caps are for the other Simons, okay?

 

Oh, I see. Well no, actually I don't... but whatever.

...

 

So what re you doing in this book shop?

This is the Fan Fiction Shop. It's a book store set up by Chris and I. Most of the books are written by the denizens of Forum City. Although we also have a comprehensive Deus Ex section for fan fiction reference material.

 

So you must know quite a bit about Deus Ex, eh?

Yes.

 

How are nano-augmentation and Grey Death related?

Okay, the nano augmentation bit is complex, so I'll try to explain it in layman's terms. I'll cover nanite reproduction, then move on to why it causes Grey Death. First of all the nanites are injected into the body. Then the nanites insert themselves into the host's cells. Now they are in a position to reproduce. There are two stages in nanite reproduction. The Viral Stage and the Nanotech Stage. The Viral stage is first and consists of the host cell producing capsid proteins used to created an empty shell to house the nanite's parts, the shell is based on a virus.

 

The Nanotech stage is next, the receiver-transmitter and CPU are duplicated and inserted into the shell. New RNA sequences are transmitted from the original nanite by microwave and translated into plasmid vectors (an agent used to transfer genetic material from one cell to another). Then the newly created nanite finds a host cell and the process is repeated.

 

Uh... I think I'll need that in writing. But go on.

As you might have noticed, part of the nanite's design is based on viruses, and as you might guess, your immune system doesn't like any old thing inserting itself into your cells. Grey Death is simply the symptoms of your body's immune response to the nanites. For you to get Gray Death all that's required is for you to ingest some nanites.

 

So you see, Grey Death and nano augmentation are the same thing. Anyone except JC, Paul, or Walton who gets the nanites in their body gets Grey Death. Paul was the only one that MJ12 could find that didn't reject the nanites. JC is a clone of Paul and Walton Simons had his immune system replaced so his body could accept nanites.

 

How does the Dragon's Tooth Sword work?

The blade itself is non-eutectic and made of pure nanomechanical machines. It was developed by the VersaLife corporation's Hong Kong branch, who discovered a way to mix nanotechnology and traditional metals. They inserted iron rods into the carbon framework of the nanites (electromagnetically manipulated microscopic scanners, cleaners, and hammers) which continuously move over the surface of the blade, dynamically forging it on command. I have written a Wikipedia article on the Dragon's Tooth Sword as well.

 

That's very nerdy of you.

Thanks.

 

What's up with the whiteboard in UNATCO HQ?

The whiteboard in UNATCO HQ can be found in the break room beside Manderly's office. The board contains various strange notes on it that are theorized to be part of the concept notes for the development of Deus Ex. It's a clever way for the developers to hide an easter egg in plain sight.

 

The words that can be made out on the board are: Suspects, $400,000 each person, Tracer Tong, $4 mil - per plane, Robert Page, $800, Margaret Chow, Max Chen, $5.8 million, Jojo Fine, Locations, Organizations, Paris, Bavarian, Illuminati, Hong Kong, Templars, Nevada, Research, NSA, Robert Page Industries, 2 planes shot down in Russia, Who is Jojo Fine's Boss? and What is Ambrosia? That sounds really enigmatic. It'd be nice to get one of the developers to explain all that.

 

What is the White house coup?

We don't really know all that much about the White House coup. But what we do know is that President Mead survived it with his life and office intact. We think it might have had something to do with a clone of Mead himself and the fabled White house mission which was planned but ended up being cut out of the game. Although pieces of the White house mission can still be found in Deus Ex when summoning furniture marked as WH for White House. Also, you can find models of President Mead, his wife, and his two daughters that are used in the intro only. The models are sometimes reused later in the game as other characters too._

 

Tell me about the AI's. Start with Icarus.

"I now have full access to your systems". Icarus is one scary dude. He's a copy of Daedalus, just modified for loyalty. MJ12 didn't want this one to get away. Icarus uses his echelon powers to the fullest, tracking JC every step of the way. Everett was only able to defend JC and Daedalus for a couple days until Icarus could break through and do who knows what to JC and Daedalus' minds. A particularly good scene happens with Icarus in Paris right before the catacombs. Just try answering a phone in an office building.

 

Sounds cool, I'll have to try that once. How about Daedalus?

Deep in Mt. Weather, Daedalus was brewing. It was Echelon IV and MJ12's solution to the amount of uncensorable information flowing through Internet 3. MJ12 was having particular difficulty in content-recognition, so they... well they decided on creating an AI that could decide for itself what to censor and alert MJ12 about. Unfortunately right away, a pattern-matching error occurred within Daedalus, and he classified MJ12 and the illuminati as terrorist groups themselves and escaped onto the internet in a sense. A blip of Daedalus' code is on every computer terminal and device on Internet 3. That's how Daedalus' architecture works: He isn't concentrated into one clump of code, instead he becomes the internet in a way.

 

Heheh, I would've loved to be there to see the faces of those MJ12 people when Daedalus categorized them as terrorists and ditched them. So where does Morpheus fit into all this?

"God was a dream of good government." Morpheus is cool, very insightful, and a prototype for Daedalus. He was built by Everett, whose heuristics language allows Morpheus to convey "the highest and most succinct tier of any pyramidal construct of knowledge". Everett still uses Morpheus to spy on people, but Morpheus is trapped in Everett's systems. He can view the Internet and that's all unlike the other AI's. Everett also seems to use Morpheus to entertain guests with Morpheus' profiles on themselves. Morpheus also supplies what I think to be one of the best conversations in the game.

 

Could you tell me what the Order of the Cincinnati is?

Although only mentioned once in a book in Deus Ex, the Order of the Cincinnati are quite interesting. Created in 1783 by George Washington, the Order of the Cincinnati was a military force designed to overthrow the US government if democracy failed. They had the power to temporarily suspend the Constitution when needed. They hide under the guise of being formed to recognize those who had served in the Revolution. Washington resigned as President after only two terms in office, but remained President of the Order of the Cincinnati 'till his death. The Order still exists to this day.

 

Yeah, if you believe that kind of crap.

Of course. But in Deus Ex, everything you read on paranoid websites is absolutely true.

 

What's the other Walton Simons doing in FEMA? What is FEMA anyway?

Well first of all, Page bribed a senator by putting him on the priority list for receiving the ambrosia vaccine. That got Simons into FEMA. FEMA stands for Federal Emergency Management Agency. FEMA handles every kind of natural and unnatural disaster that threatens the USA. Of particular interest is RX-84, FEMA's national emergency plan. Once the president declares a national emergency, six million specially selected Americans will be transported to detention centers, government leaders are moved to Mt. Weather or to any of the 45 other secret bases hidden around the US of A, FEMA takes control of all cars, trucks, buses, trains, planes, telephones, radio stations, TV stations, newspapers, and so on. Oh, by the way, did I mention that constitutional rights can be suspended?

 

Marvellous. Sorta reminds me of the patriot act.

Sometimes, DX just comes painfully close to reality.

 

I was wondering what the upper west side bombing was all about?

Well, some terrorists bombed something, and this finally pushed congress to pass the Grid Zoning laws. The Grid Zoning laws allowed police to wall off certain sections of the city and restrict travel. Reminds me of Escape from New York. Some say that the Upper West Side was bombed on purpose just to pass the law. By whom? Probably MJ12.

 

Well, I really must get going. I have important business to attend elsewhere.

[Saint]

Russia is, like South America, controlled by crime bosses, not MJ12. They are too fragmented to launch an organized attack on anyone, but with the help of Mexico, they were able to launch a semi-successful disorganized attack on Texas, one of the most divided states in the US.

Пожалуй, наиболее интересный фрагмент.

[Denton]

Кстати, вот предположение на счёт концовки с Хелиосом, которую обсуждали в соседнем топике:

How did Helios take control of the world?

Aquinas controls the power grid, the stock markets, the Internet at large, and various other things. What's more, all but a few satellites are run through MJ12, and thus Area 51. Radio stations, phones, newspapers, and even that tabloid, the Midnight Sun, all belong to MJ12, meaning that they are run through, or controlled remotely by, Area 51. Helios controls most of Area 51, and after he merges with JC, he'll take the rest of it. That means he can shut down the power to his enemies, and he can also stop them from communicating. Even more powerful is the fact that Aquinas has a "flaw" in it that allows emails to be edited in addition to monitored. Helios can misdirect and confuse the enemy, he can stop scattered forces from organizing a resistance, or he can trick groups into believing they are resisting him when they are really working for him. Of course this is speculation on the future; we don't know that he would do that, we just know that he could. What he did during the game was messing with the power, cutting power to the government buildings, and simply giving out orders. He ordered the police to open the streets and they did. He also locked the door to a triad compound. With these few actions, he took over Hong Kong. What strategies he would use once he knew how human beings thought is unknown.

[Saint]

Он охyeнно мощный, если может читать имейлы и редактировать их "на лету". А тело JC куда деётся после объединения? А то его можно использовать для того, чтобы демонстрировать подчиненному МЖ12 телесную форму нового командующего.

[DeadDazz:(]

Читать впадло x3 начал новую игру, и слушаю.

А тело после объединения никуда не делось вроде. JC свободно встал и пошел, когда слился с ним.

 

Другой факт, как его голову не разорвало от такого количества информации? Ведь если у него и была такая сила, то вместить в тело, даже нано агументированного агента потребовалось бы гораздо большее. Скорее всего Хелиос просто поручал другим под программам заниматься редактированием писем, слежкой, и тому подобному. Ведь если помним, в Deus Ex : IW, его способности полностью можно увидеть только в конце: он легко перерождается, и устанавливает подобие коллективного разума.

 

Довольно интересные рассуждение, хорошо что выставили :)