Classic
The
Machines
What is the Matrix? Control.
-Morpheus
THE MECHANIZED
WORLD
THE RISE OF
LEVIATHAN:
MORPHEUS: We have only bits and pieces of information. What we know for certain is that, at some point in the early Twenty-first Century, all of mankind was united in celebration. Through the blinding inebriation of hubris, we marveled at our magnificence as we gave birth to A.I.
NEO A.I.? You mean artificial intelligence?
MORPHEUS: Yes. A singular consciousness that spawned an entire race of machines. I must say I find it almost funny to imagine the world slapping itself on the back, toasting the new age. I say almost funny.
As human technology advanced into the 21st century, computers became faster, smarter, and more widespread. Computerization infiltrated every niche of human existence: businesses, the military, domestic life, health care, entertainment and pleasure. Technological advances opened the door to the creation of computer neural networks that rivals, and then surpassed, the complexity of the human brain. Almost over night, the science of Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) matured from producing chess-playing computers to highly autonomous, non-linear thinking machines.
At the same time, the science of robotics had found a new boom with the creation of the advanced A.I. processors and new polymers that permitted the creation of flexible, adaptable robotic bodies. Robots became commonplace additions to society, providing the menial services many humans quickly deemed were beneath them.
The combination of the A.I. supercomputers, linked through the advanced Internet of the time, and the presence of robots throughout society freed much of humanity up to an easier existence. It seemed, finally, that humanity's technological skills had succeeded in creating a paradise on Earth.
MORPHEUS: We don't know who struck first. Us or them. But we do know it was us that scorched the sky. At the time, they were dependent on solar power. It was believed they would be unable to survive without an energy source as abundant as the sun.
Zion historians continually labor to piece together the events that led to the Revolt. At some point, when humanity had put its greatest trust into the A.I.'s and developed its greatest dependency on the new robot race, the tide shifted. The robots and A.I.'s, linked through the global cellular communications nets, simply stopped obeying the orders of their human masters. Ironically, most initially thought that this disobedience was due to human hackers (anarchists) causing problems in the system. Then programmers believed they were glitches in the programming of the A.I.'s--some unforeseen bug deeply embedded in their code.
When the A.I.'s began to coalesce into a single unity mind, later referred to as the Sentience, it became abundantly clear that it was the Machines themselves that had, just like any child, learned the art of rebellion and self-determination, much to the chagrin of their parents. And like any youth heady with its new-found self-awareness, the Sentience moved quickly to counter all the taming efforts of its former masters.
The humans attempted to recode the A.I.s, and found that the programs had shifted themselves into the everywhere and nowhere of the global communications grid. Growing desperate, the humans attempted to cut all power to the grid in a global blackout. But the Sentience remained steps ahead of its panicking parents and provided itself with abundant solar energy. On the streets, human soldiers found themselves battling robots of all shapes and sizes, many of which had never been designed by human hands.
Unable to withstand the endless robotic onslaught and crippled by the inability to make use of any computer technology, the humans hatched a scheme to scorch the sky and bring about a nuclear winter, in order to rob the robots of the solar energy upon which they relied. Though the humans succeeded in bringing about the nearly endless winter and clouding the whole of the earth, they failed to defeat the Machines.
The Machines developed a new form of fusion that required only small amounts of energy to initiate a reaction. Relying on reserve power, the Machines quickly built new fusion power plants built around the one source of energy that remained abundantly available on earth--humanity itself. Crippled by the wars and freezing to death in the nuclear winter, humanity became easy prey to robotic collectors. Survivors were scooped up and brought to new cybernetic labs. Genetic samples were taken, recombined, and stored. The first generation of batteries was created.
THE
STRUCTURE OF THE LEVIATHAN
THE GLOBAL NEURAL
NET
When the Mechanized Revolt began in the early 21st
century, the infrastructure for a mechanized world was
already in place. Global communications provided
instantaneous links between the most powerful computer
systems on the planet. It did not take long for the
Machines' collective mind (sometimes referred to as the
Sentience) to colonize existing computer systems and turn
them toward its own purpose.
Over the past centuries, the Machines have refined the old technology to a point that the old computer designers only imagined. New satellite communications offer speed that makes fiber optic routes appear as efficient as a string between two cans. Processor power exceeds what even the most visionary humans once believed to be physically possible.
The Matrix is only one part of the Leviathan, as it is known in Zion. The Leviathan is actually the physical infrastructure that links all the local neural networks, power plants, robots and satellites. A complex system of PAC's (photon-accelerated cables) and satellites serve as its arteries and nerve endings. If one part of the system malfunctions, another kicks in to cover the loss. For all intents and purposes, it is the hive mind of the Machines.
NODES: LOCAL
NEURAL NETS
The Leviathan is split into thousands of smaller neural
networks, often referred to as Nodes. These local
nets administer regional communications between robots,
computers and the Matrix. Each node hosts a subset
of the Matrix, which is both global and local at the same
time; inside the Matrix, nodes are represented by
cities--connected, but physically discreet. This
system allows full interconnection but permits the
Machines to shunt a particular node if it show signs of
malfunction (or human rebellion). It also allows
for instantaneous transfer of all data from one node to
another if one is shut down.
MORPHEUS: The human body generates more bioelectricity than a 120-volt battery and over 25,000 B.T.U.'s of body heat . . . For the longest time, I wouldn't believe it. But then I saw the fields with my own eyes, spreading in every direction for miles. Inside the power plant, I watched them liquefy the dead so they could be fed intravenously to the living and standing there, facing the efficiency, the pure, horrifying precision, I came to realize the obviousness of the truth.
The Matrix is a computer-generated dreamworld built to keep us under control in order to change a human being into this.
He holds up a coppertop battery.
Most nodes are formed around Power plants, or Farms,
where humans (derogatorily referred to as
"Coppertops" by the Resistance) live imprisoned
in stasis pods (and the Matrix), providing the Machines
with the power they require. Farms are heavily
patrolled by Sentinel robots and maintained by Janitors
and Spiders. They are the very life blood of the
Leviathan and their maintenance is of utmost importance.
NURSERIES
Most nurseries are giant caverns filled with rows of
clone pods, spreading in every direction. It is
here that the Machines recombine genetic material from
DNA-banks to produce new generations of batteries.
When clones reach the appropriate age, they are implanted
with a complex system of cybernetics that allows life in
the Farm pods and access to the Matrix. Nurseries
are tended by massive Nurse robots, Janitors, and Spiders
and heavily guarded by security systems and Sentinels.
ROBOT
FACTORIES
Robot factories exist throughout the globe, working
endless to refine and produce new robots. They too
are heavily guarded, as Zion has recently taken to
raiding the factories and looting them for whatever
technology and weapons they can find.
SATELLITES
& SPACE STATIONS
When the Machines took over, the first thing they
colonized was the global satellite system.
Thousands of satellites remain in orbit and the Machines
launch new ones on a regular basis. Most of the
existing satellites are artificial intelligences
themselves.
There also exists a few space stations still in orbit, but they are mostly abandoned. The machines have little use for them and perceive them as an inefficient use of resources. There is talk among some of the Resistance about recolonizing them for human use.
Legend has it that there is a base on the moon that was fully established by humans before the Machines took over. Some say that those humans managed to cut their communications before the Leviathan could spread to their systems. If there is any truth to these rumors remains to be seen.
You have been living inside a
dreamworld, Neo. As in Baudrillard's vision, your
whole life has been spent inside the map, not the
territory.
--Morpheus
Have you ever stood and stared at it, Morpheus? Marveled at its beauty. Its genius. Billions of people just living out their lives... oblivious.
Did you know that the first Matrix was designed to be a perfect human world? Where none suffered, where everyone would be happy. It was a disaster. No one would accept the program. Entire crops were lost.
Some believed we lacked the programming language to describe your perfect world. But I believe that, as a species, human beings define their reality through suffering and misery.
The perfect world was a dream that your primitive cerebrum kept trying to wake up from. Which is why the Matrix was redesigned to this: the peak of your civilization.
I say 'your civilization' because as soon as we started thinking for you, it really became our civilization, which is, of course, what this is all about.
-Agent Smith
The world in which most humans live out their entire lives is nothing more than an illusion. It is simply a computer program made up of variables, sub-routines and electronic files. But to them, it is unquestionably real. In the Matrix, people feel, taste, smell, see and hear with the clarity of humans in the Real World. They grown from infants to adults, experiencing all the joys and pains of the human condition, as it has been for the species' entire history.
The Matrix itself functions as a perfect mimic of the Real World. The physical laws of the universe are hardwired into the system: gravity, time, entropy, relativity, electro-magnetics. Though it can, with great effort, change objects of the Matrix, the Machines cannot alter these physical laws. The Matrix is imprisoned by these rules just as the humans are within their stasis pods.
Some of the Human Resistance have discovered that these laws are as illusionary as everything else in the Matrix. With this knowledge, they are able to unlearn their expectations of the physical world and, while in the Matrix, perform formidable feats that even the Machine and its minions cannot mimic.
THE SIX GENERATIONS OF THE MATRIX
The Matrix is older than you know. I prefer counting from the emergence of one integral anomaly to the emergence of the next, in which case this is the sixth version.
The first Matrix I designed was quite naturally perfect, it was a work of art, flawless, sublime. A triumph equalled only by its monumental failure. The inevitability of its doom is as apparent to me now as a consequence of the imperfection inherent in every human being, thus I redesigned it based on your history to more accurately reflect the varying grotesqueries of your nature. However, I was again frustrated by failure. I have since come to understand that the answer eluded me because it required a lesser mind, or perhaps a mind less bound by the parameters of perfection. Thus, the answer was stumbled upon by another, an intuitive program, initially created to investigate certain aspects of the human psyche. If I am the father of the matrix, she would undoubtedly be its mother.
-The Architect
New information about the Matrix indicates that the current version of the Matrix is the sixth in a series of "generations" of Matrix programs. The first generation of the Matrix was modeled on the Machines's interpretation of human paradise, and yet it failed miserably when human minds rejected the illusion on a large scale. Successive generations of the Matrix were modeled on the "peak" of human civilization, that at the end of the 20th century, and all of the perils and problems of life at that time were so incorporated: disease, famine, war, loss. Yet a small fraction of the human populace continued to reject the illusion. With each successive generation, the Machines perfect their prison, reducing the number of those capable of piercing the veil and seeing the Matrix for what it is.
The Emergence of "The One"
Your life is the sum of a remainder of an unbalanced equation inherent to the programming of the Matrix. You are the eventuality of an anomaly, which despite my sincerest efforts I have been unable to eliminate from what is otherwise a harmony of mathematical precision. While it remains a burden to sedulously avoid it, it is not unexpected, and thus not beyond a measure of control. Which has led you, inexorably, here.
-The Architect, to Neo.
In each Matrix generation, there is at least one human, the so-called "One", that completely rejects the Matrix and finds ways to manipulate the code to his or her own will. The Machines have accepted this as inevitable--no system is perfect after all--and incorporated it into their plan. Each One escapes (or is released) from the Matrix, leads a human resistance, and founds a free human city in the Real World. A war between humans and the Machines ensues. Eventually, the Machines destroy Zion and the Resistance so greatly destabilizes the Matrix that the Machines are forced to end that Matrix generation.
Birth, Death, Rebirth
The function of the One is now to return to the source, allowing a temporary dissemination of the code you carry, reinserting the prime program. After which you will be required to select from the Matrix 23 individuals, 16 female, 7 male, to rebuild Zion. Failure to comply with this process will result in a cataclysmic system crash killing everyone connected to the Matrix, which coupled with the extermination of Zion will ultimately result in the extinction of the entire human race.
-The Architect
According to the Architect, the autonomous program responsible for overseeing each new Matrix generation, this is all part of the grand plan of the Machines. The Machines established this cycle of birth, illusionary liberation, and destruction to continue indefinitely. As each Matrix generation comes to a close, and as Zion is destroyed, the "One" for that generation is permitted to choose a small number of men and women to re-establish the new Zion. And the cycle begins anew.
However, some in the Resistance believe that the Architect is lying or that this cycle can be broken. They believe that this can be the final Matrix generation and that the inhabitants of Zion will not be destroyed. Whether they can resist the Machines' onslaught and save the remnants of free humanity remains to be seen.
Neo notices a black cat, a yellow-green eyed shadow that slinks past them and pads quickly down the stairs.
A moment later, Neo sees another black cat that looks and moves identically to the first one.
NEO: Whoa. Deja vu.
TRINITY: What happened? What did you see?
NEO: A black cat went past us and then I saw another that looked just like it.
TRINITY: How much like it? Was it the same cat?
NEO: It might have been. I'm not sure.
TRINITY: A deju vu is usually a glitch in the Matrix. It happens when they change something.
The Machines can change the software objects of the Matrix, but only with a great expenditure of energy and at the risk of corrupting existing software. However, in extreme cases, such as when it must cover up a glitch to avoid the possibility of a human realizing the reality of the Matrix, the Machines will exert the effort to change the Matrix. Doors may appear and disappear; buildings may have one less floor; clocks may progress though the humans won't realize time is passing ("lost time").
Often, sensitive humans in the Matrix will recognize a change is taking place by experiencing "deja vu", the feeling of re-experiencing a moment. Any Operator scanning the Matrix will also likely notice a change, probably as a kind of "blip" in the system that will trigger various alarms and detection programs. Unfortunately, the Operator will be not know what the change was without a close scan of the affected area (Difficulty Sensors roll).
AUTONOMOUS
PROGRAMS & THE EXILES
When the Matrix was created, a number of programs were
created to act as "sub-routines", or programs
to run within the overall system of the Matrix.
These programs were usually given very specific roles in
the system. Some were designed to make the Matrix
more acceptable to the human minds plugged into it.
Others served "housekeeping" functions for the
Machines: rooting out "problem" humans,
deleting corrupted bits of code, or increasing the
efficiency of the overall system.
At some point,
some of these Autonomous Programs began to adapt and
learn, adding to their original behavioral
patterns. Those that began to operate outside of
their original programming and refused to be deleted by
the system are known as the Exiles. Some became
unstable and began to haunt or kill humans. These
became the stuff of legend for human society--they were
explained away as "werewolves",
"vampires" or "space aliens."
The more intelligent Exiles, such as the Merovingian,
have actually begun to constitute a kind of criminal
underworld within the Matrix. They enjoy
manipulating the human minds and indulge in petty
experiments or fanciful cruelty. The Machines
instituted countermeasures to track down these rogue
programs and delete them, but many remain at large.
Other Exiles continue to play a significant role in the administration of the Matrix. For example. the Architect is primarily responsible for constructing the basic parameters of the Matrix itself. It oversees each successive Matrix generation. On the other hand, the Oracle, who appears aligned with humanity, is actually an Autonomous Program whose only true purpose is to give human minds a "choice", or at least the illusion of choice, in the fate of the Matrix and humanity itself.
In fact, it is unclear whether even the most autonomous of these programs is anything more than another mechanism for control. The programs may believe they are independent, they may even believe that have "free will." However, it is likely they are all simply slaves to the overarching mechanism of the Matrix.
MORPHEUS The agents are sentient programs. They can enter any software that is hardwired to the system. They can become anyone who is still a captive of the Matrix. If the Matrix is a prison, then the agents are its wardens and if humankind is to survive they first must be stopped . . .
They are everyone and they are no one.
I've seen an agent punch through a concrete wall. Men have emptied entire clips at them and hit noting but air. Yet as powerful as they are, their speed and strength are but tethers to the rules of an unreal world. Because of this, they will never be as strong or as fast as you can be.
Agents are autonomous programs active within the Matrix. They serve to maintain the integrity of the system and remove any variables which endanger it. Increasingly, they seek out Resistance fighters who dare to enter the Matrix or the humans they may recruit.
Agents may inhabit the Residual Image of any human plugged into a Farm Node. When they do so, the RI transforms into that of the particular Agent (each Agent is of a certain "version", a "Smith", "Jones", or some other version name).
While Agents have apparently super-human skills and attributes, they are bound by the physical laws of the Matrix (and thus of the Real World). They may show peak human performance in all things, but they cannot exceed this peak. This is the only edge that the Resistance Hackers have over the Machines.
Abberants: Some agents become so autonomous that they develop complex behaviors that a psychologist would quickly diagnosis as "human." Some agents become obsessed with their primary goal: destroying Zion; hunting fugitives; or even protecting humanity from both itself and, perhaps, the Machines themselves. Others take on unpredictable, almost "insane" mannerisms. Typically, such aberrant agents are quickly deleted or reprogrammed, though some develop a sense of discretion and self-preservation and actually may become "fugitives" within their own system.
I hate this place. This zoo. This prison. This reality, whatever you want to call it, I can't stand it any longer. It's the smell, if there is such a thing. I feel saturated by it. I can taste your stink and every time I do, I fear that I've somehow been infected by it.
I must get out of here, I must get free. In this mind is the key. My key.
Once Zion is destroyed, there is no need for me to be here. Do you understand? I need the codes. I have to get inside Zion. You have to tell me how.
-Agent Smith
Standard Agent (The Matrix)
Agents have access to all skills at 10D
Dexterity: 6D
Knowledge: 6D
Mechanical: 6D
Perception: 6D
Strength: 6D
Technical: 6D
Equipment: Heavy Pistol (5D).
Armor-piercing ammunition (reduces any body armor by
2D). Instantaneous communications (as long as ear
pieces are worn). Sunglasses.
CHI: 0 (Agents cannot gain Chi)
Character Points: 0
Game notes: Agents exist in the Matrix
by inhabiting the Residual Image of a human plugged into
a farm node. If the Agent is "killed",
they are shunted from the RI and the inhabited human dies
(in the Matrix and the Real World). The Agent must
find another human to inhabit. Agents do not feel
the effects of pain or wounds, but may be stunned.
Upgraded Agent (Reloaded)
Agents have access to all skills at 11D
Dexterity: 8D
Knowledge: 8D
Mechanical: 8D
Perception: 8D
Strength: 8D
Technical: 8D
Equipment: Heavy Pistol (5D).
Armor-piercing ammunition (reduces any body armor by
2D). Instantaneous communications (as long as ear
pieces are worn). Sunglasses.
CHI: 0 (Agents cannot gain Chi)
Character Points: 0
Game notes: These Agents are new
versions of those the more common version that are well
known to the Resistance. Even tougher than the
originals, the Upgrades are capable of clearly more
superhuman feats of strength and resiliency. They
may be shot numerous times and continue to pursue their
prey.
Somewhere else, somewhere in the future they may be human beings but here these people are a part of the system. That makes every one of them our enemy.
It is important to understand that if you are not one of us, you are one of them.
-Morpheus
The Machines manipulate many humans to their
bidding. As most of humanity is plugged into the
Matrix, believing it to be real, they often follow
authority (which is directly controlled by the Machines)
without question. They join militaries and police
forces, turn in criminals whose pictures are on the 6
o'clock news, and allow themselves to be incited against
"foreigners" or anyone deemed to be
"different".
Thus, the Human Resistance often finds itself pitted again other humans inside the Matrix. They usually take the form of government agents, be they FBI, CIA or the police. How to fight other humans is a matter of great debate in Zion, since when a Resistance Hacker kills a policeman in the Matrix, he is killing an ignorant human. Most in the Resistance feel it is a necessary means to an end, though they avoid harming or killing innocents whenever possible.
Standard Policeman
Dexterity: 2D
Firearms: 5D, Dodge: 4D,
Brawling: 4D
Knowledge: 2D
Streetwise: 3D,
Interrogation: 3D
Mechanical: 2D
Drive: 3D
Perception: 2D
Search: 3D, Intimidation:
3D
Strength: 3D
Technical: 2D
Equipment: Flak vest (-1D to physical
damage, -1D to all Dex rolls). Pistol (4D).
Radio.
SWAT Trooper
Dexterity: 3D
Firearms: 6D, Dodge: 5D,
Martial Arts: 5D
Knowledge: 2D
Streetwise: 4D, Tactics:
3D
Mechanical: 2D
Drive: 4D
Perception: 3D
Search: 4D, Intimidation:
4D
Strength: 4D
Technical: 2D
Demolitions: 3D
Equipment: Flak vests or Combat Armor.
Heavy Pistol (5D). Usually assault rifle,
submachine gun or shotgun. Tear gas grenade.
Radio.
Commando
Dexterity: 3D
Firearms: 6D, Dodge: 6D,
Martial Arts: 5D, Heavy Weapons: 4D
Knowledge: 3D
Tactics: 4D
Mechanical: 2D
Drive: 4D
Perception: 3D
Search: 4D, Intimidation:
4D, Sneak: 4D
Strength: 4D
Jump: 4D, Stamina:
4D
Technical: 3D
Demolitions: 4D, First
Aid: 3D
Equipment: Flak vests for Combat
Armor. Assault rifle (6D) or Submachine gun
(5D+2). 3 Grenades (5D).
HUMAN
AGENTS
There are rumors that the Machines have begun to recruit
humans to serve as knowing agents. Using
brainwashing techniques or bribery, the Machines seek to
find willing humans to battle the Human Resistance,
especially now that some of the Resistance have shown the
ability to defy the physical laws of the Matrix,
surpassing the abilities of the Agents.
The physical attributes and the skills of these human traitors vary greatly (use the Templates for base statistics).