and abandoned networks may still have offline “hosts.

” So
while GOD says a host isn’t a host unless it is connected
to the Foundation of the Matrix, offline and non-compliant
hosts still exist.
> Bull
Besides devices, there are other icons that can
be interacted with on the Matrix, known as files.
Files can be as simple as raw data like electronic
mail or accounting details, but they may also be as
sophisticated as programs that perform incredibly
complex functions.
The previously mentioned Grid Overwatch Division,
or GOD, rules the Matrix ocean from far above
it. GOD has physical servers located on a satellite
orbiting the Earth, and in the Matrix, they are unseen,
and keep watch far above even the hosts,
only making their presence known when necessary
to wield their power against a rule-breaker.
Yes, great one—they are very much like dragons
flying high over their domains.
If GOD watches far above the Matrix sea, the
Foundation is what exists below it. Most users do
not know this Foundation exists, let alone know
what it is. Access to the Foundation is no small
feat. Pushing our ocean metaphor, the Foundation
is the ground on which the ocean of the Matrix
lies and the stuff of which hosts are made. Hosts
are connected to the Foundation via a “foundation”
particular to that host. In this way, hosts are
a bit like continents. Accessing a host’s foundation
is perilous to say the least, even for members of
GOD, who are given hazard pay even to perform
the most routine maintenance there. This information
is not common knowledge, however. Most
corporations desire the populace to believe GOD
is in complete control over the Matrix and is able
to control it. This belief is dubious.
> She’s right. What we’ve learned about the Foundation
these last few years certainly dispels any notion that
GOD controls it. They may have got the ball rolling, but
it is definitely beyond their control. In fact, I don’t think
anyone has control of it anymore. I’ve come to believe
that even if all the devices in the world were shut down
simultaneously, the Matrix would continue to exist.
> /dev/grrl
> Bulldrek. That doesn’t make any sense. Something
can’t be one hundred percent virtual without a physical
component. That isn’t how physics work. Go drunk, /dev/,
you’re home.
> Clockwork
> I’ve come to believe the same, actually. It is a bit unsettling,
but it appears the Foundation of the Matrix is far more
than we thought it was. When the new Matrix first hit, no
one knew about the Foundation. I believe GOD didn’t even
really know about it. What I mean is, of course they knew
how to use it to build hosts, but they didn’t know how it
worked or how “foundational” to the new Matrix it really
was. All they knew is that Danielle de la Mar and her team
created something special, it worked, and it was very
good at protecting corporate assets. They were willing to
look past anything else. It wasn’t until their technicians
started dying during routine jobs that they began to ask
questions, and by the time they did, it was too late to do a
damn thing about it.
> Netcat
> The truth is much darker and much more dangerous as
well. Danielle de la Mar’s hatred of technomancers is
well known. What isn’t public knowledge is that back
in the early 2070s, de la Mar rubbed shoulders with
anyone she could find who was doing experiments
on us. When she was given the contract to oversee
the creation of the new Matrix, she had her fingers in
more than just the protocol pie. The corporations used
double talk and technobabble to explain how the new
Matrix was going to be hardware-free and completely
virtual, but the physics just don’t work out. But de la
Mar made it happen. She took what she learned from
the experiments and used that to torture and forcibly
network a gestalt of over one hundred technomancers,
which she used as the “foundation” for her virtual
Matrix. The building blocks she used to create hosts
and data trails were the souls being sucked out of
those hundred. When she presented a proof of concept
to GOD and the rest of the Corporate Court, they were
impressed and all pretended like they understood it,
so as not to admit a virtual nobody like de la Mar was
sharing knowledge that was beyond them.
> Puck
> Drek. Those are potentially damning charges. You’re
saying that every time we use the Matrix, we are mindfragging
a hundred technos somewhere? That doesn’t sit
well with me.
> Bull
> I bet it sits just fine with Clockwork. That drek-hole is
probably getting off now at the thought that using the
Matrix hurts technomancers.
> Slamm-0!
> Wrong. The idea of the Matrix being built on actual
technomancer mind patterns means I don’t want to be
swimming in the Matrix if the whole thing is a demi-
>> KILL CODE <<
16 SO