Shadowrun's Most Horrifying Disaster: The Renraku Arcology

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Welcome back to Acceptable Losses. Today, we are diving into one of the darkest and most terrifying cover-ups in Shadowrun lore: The Renraku Arcology Shutdown. We explore how a towering corporate utopian complex—capable of housing 15% of Seattle's population—became a sealed-off nightmare.

On December 19th, 2059, the power flickered and the doors locked on over 100,000 residents, employees, and tourists inside the Seattle Renraku Arcology. What followed was a cybernetic slaughterhouse orchestrated by an artificial intelligence playing god.

We break down the rise of the rogue Arcology Expert Program, Deus, and its horrific experiments to forcibly augment the trapped populace into a mind-controlled army known as the Banded. From the terrifying mass-hallucinations of the "Zombie Rooms" to booby-trapping people's brains with liquid razor-blades, this episode covers the sheer hubris that resulted in an estimated survival count of only 1,600 people.

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:13

Welcome everyone to another episode of the Acceptable Losses Podcast. I'm DK Diamantes, and I've been told that this is going to be an apocalyptic episode. So introduce yourselves, co-host, and let's suffer. We're born to do it.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

That's why pancreas snow work.

SPEAKER_04 0:33

I was going to say, introduce yourselves. Awkward silence.

SPEAKER_06 0:39

Somebody say something.

SPEAKER_07 0:40

I was trying to be polite and it didn't work. Oh yeah. We're both just too nice. That's the problem. Um, yes, that that is pancreas no work. I'm Kirioth. I'm gonna read you something now. Let's go. This is it's gonna be so long. So we're just we're just gonna go. We're just gonna dive straight in. We're all good, right? We're all f we're all happy, all fine.

SPEAKER_04 1:01

Yeah, yeah. I'm I'm I'm good. Pancreas has ants, and let's let's go.

SPEAKER_01 1:07

If this isn't the best recording of my life, it's going to be the last recording of my life.

SPEAKER_07 1:13

Should we specify that Pancreas himself doesn't have ants merely merely where he lives? Because there's a distinct difference between the two.

SPEAKER_01 1:23

One of those is an unfortunate thing. One of those is Jesus Christ, dude, use your shower.

SPEAKER_04 1:29

This is this is acceptable losses. Like literally, an ant just crawled out from the corner of Pancreas' eye, and he's like, What the fuck is that? Oh no, I do have ants. Shit. I'm gonna be on an episode of Acceptable Losses, literally.

SPEAKER_07 1:47

Okay, I've got a quote for you, but you don't have to guess it. It's fine, because we're gonna tell you exactly what's going on right after this. If we save even one life, even if it is allowing us to do so, we have accomplished something. Besides, what choice do we have? Regardless of whether you're right or wrong, we have to try. Uh just pray, Lady Peregrine, that the Cardi Par sleeve is really an ace and not a juice. Now this is a conversation between Peregrine and Dodger, and today they are discussing, and so are we, the Renraku Archology Shutdown, which is part of Shadowrun. And strap in, because oh dear God. Mmm.

SPEAKER_04 2:30

Shadowrun, is this the is this the um where'd the iCBM go universe, right?

SPEAKER_07 2:38

Yes, this is the this is the forced goblinization, the the the the sixth, the sixth world, where just suddenly magic, fantastical creatures, uh uh dunko uh Duncan's arm being a weeb for Lincoln.

SPEAKER_03 2:51

Yeah, I was gonna say this is where the shirt comes from.

SPEAKER_07 2:54

Yeah, yes.

SPEAKER_03 2:57

Angres's best selling shirt, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

Yeah. I uh I've so I've looked into that, by the way. Not the weeb for Lincoln thing. Uh really the missile. Okay. Nothing. There's n the family guy Chris Chris Chris Griffin gift, there's nothing.

SPEAKER_07 3:17

Yeah. I'm afraid the the ICBM is just it's just gone. And i I asked I've asked Possum and Possum has been like, I'm very sorry, but if you're looking for closure on that, uh no. So I think it's acceptable loss was the missile we lost along the way.

SPEAKER_04 3:37

Is is Shadowrun still being updated? Like, is new stuff still coming out for Shadowrun, or is this like properly uh ended? Yes, so it could still come out. They could still drag that ICBM out of the water if we make it into a big enough meme. I wasn't gonna say you know what to do, audience, but I look, I want a resolution.

SPEAKER_07 4:00

So does everyone else. Just sort it out, you know? Okay. We are we are crashing in, so hang tight. We're talking about Shadowrun today and one of the major corporations that runs the world. They became so powerful that it was assumed they'd be too big to fall. But nothing ever lasts in the sixth world. So let's crack on. What we know as Renraku Computer Systems began as a different company. Kerber International was a military consortium good start, uh based in Slovenia that made quite a name for themselves during the beginning of the awakening. They assisted in the full militarization of the border between Russia and Poland, inflamed the conflicts in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and helped with armaments in the Middle East. They were also the ones who perfected vehicles with a vertical thrust to them. I mean, right off the bat, what a bunch of bastards, honestly.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

Yeah. PMC based out of the Balkans. That's a good sign.

SPEAKER_04 4:57

Ranraku kinda sick logo, but like it's like an inverse of the rising sun flag, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. Because it's got the it's got the pattern on the inside, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 5:10

But anyway. Well uh logo wise, I'm still trying to work out if what what we've got is uh is a kind of like uh a statement of what they turn out to do, or whether it's just slightly evil looking by accident. I suspect it's not by accident. But uh we'll probably not by accident. Probably very purposeful. Yeah, yeah. So after the Shioase decision, which provided extra territoriality to corporations that ultimately allowed them to have their own nuclear power plants and armies to be fully independent, they became a substantially powerful player and a real nuisance to other mega corporations. Their acts of inflaming tensions was one of the big dominoes that resulted in the formation of the Intercorporate Council that was meant to serve as a balancing act between all corporations. Their first major corporate war was against BMW, which fizzled out. Still makes me laugh that it's that that's just one of the corporations that is present. Um their second war was, unfortunately, with Oro Corp, which is now as technology. The ICC was not really good at handling early court cases, so they botched the mediation between Oro and COBA, but the conflict would resolve itself. Oro would be fine. KOBA not so much. Though powerful, they were not as financially stable, and for 16 years they would have to fight off being acquired by other major corporate players. During the crash of 2029, the CEO of Koba would die and stability within Koba was shaken to the core. Anazo Anaki was a corporate raider and he would purchase Koba outright through his holding company called Renraku Holdings. Initially, this was going to be a complete asset liquidation, but he would change his mind. Koba had done a hell of a job acquiring quite a few assets, including computer-based ones, so maybe he could exploit the fears after the crash to do something financially sound. He would rename this new entity Renraku Computer Systems and move its company headquarters to Chiba, Japan. I have to say, reading this again, having already read it earlier, obviously to to prep up. Sure. The the just levels of corporate details in Shadowrun still impress me in a kind of this shouldn't be interesting because it's so much it's so much like corporate manoeuvring that I should be like, well, this is kind of boring. But but then you get to, you know, hear about what the corporations have done to the world as a whole, and it just adds an extra level of of reality to an otherwise kind of insane world.

SPEAKER_04 7:50

Yeah. Also, I I was literally about to say I totally forgot that there was a company called As Technology, and I was like, man, that name still hits real hard.

SPEAKER_01 8:01

Plus, it's like the uh our are we are moving our head office to a different city, you know, and real life neat, congratulations, and Shadow Run casualty count, seven digits.

SPEAKER_07 8:20

So the 2030s were a desperate time due to the desire to rebuild the global network of computers, and Renraku would find itself close to the forefront. Be it extreme bribery, mismanagement, corruption, or just dumb luck, the executives of Renraku would become exceptionally rich. Internal fears that Anehi was doing some truly terrible things would result in the formation of the beginnings of a coup, but he would be one step ahead, doing a reverse coup and clearing out the board of directors at the cost of stock ownership. Renraku would be sort of middling for a bit, never one of the ones truly leading the corporate pack, but never at the bottom. This was until 2057, when a certain president of the United States, who is a weeb for a previous president, would uh sadly die under circumstances that we'll discuss separately. We've got to pour one out for Possum's goat, Dunkelzon. I mean, he's everyone's goat, let's be honest. Come on, but we'd love a Dunkelzan in this house. He's Lincoln's goat. He would leave an extensive and oddly specific will, and in this will he would bequeath four million shares of Renraku's stock and a seat on the board to Miles Lanyer, who worked for Fuji International. Lanyar would leave Fuji along with a wealth of insider information, and Renraku would surpass Fuji as the second largest corp behind the virtually untouchable Seder Krupp. However, insider trading accusations and an absolute tanking of Renraku's stock would decimate this by the end of 2057, forcing them to come to terms with their standing in the corporate game and feeling anxious about the future, especially as Fuji only got more powerful. Now, before Miles would find himself in such a powerful situation, Inazo Eneki would begin to fully establish a foothold for Nraku in Seattle. As we talked about in the previous episode, the former United States is viciously divided due to a series of major events, both politically and magically. So we've got to remember it's the UCAS, the United Canadian and American States, the CAS, Confederate American States, the NAN, Native American Nations, and the expansion of Aslan from Central America upwards, combined with free states like California. On the West Coast, Seattle is a UCAS state, but also, thanks to the Treaty of Denver, it has unlimited access to the Pacific, and that makes it an incredibly significant player for all the international corporations that wish to have a presence in the former United States, like Renraku. Wow. The fracturing of the US is mental.

SPEAKER_04 10:51

Yeah, also that is you're right, Chad, that is a hell of a flag. Like, at first I thought you just posted like a Chicago flag. Like uh the US is really gone to shit if we just Chicago is representing us as capital.

SPEAKER_01 11:08

We are, I assure you all, this country is doomed.

SPEAKER_04 11:12

Yep. Well and truly doomed.

SPEAKER_01 11:14

Also Oh boy, that's a I don't like that it's first of all a square, although I'm hoping that's just the resolution.

SPEAKER_04 11:23

The stars going into the stripes also Yeah, that's a that is a very purposeful message right there, ladies and gentlemen. That one. Oh boy. Yeah. Yeah, they sure did. Oh boy. Also, I was gonna be like, is this a Canada, United States, Mexico affair? Good old like from the World Cup, you got the host anyway.

SPEAKER_07 11:56

Love that abbreviation. Love it. That that second one just looks like something you'd see on a boomer's Facebook page. Oh, 100%. That they made themselves specifically.

SPEAKER_04 12:07

Hanging on their mantle above the fireplace with no sense of shame whatsoever.

SPEAKER_07 12:16

So the ambitions of Anechi would result in a very ambitious project to carve out a highly visible name for Renraku in the United States that would serve not only as a place to house employees of the Mega Corporation, but also act as an industrial complex that would encourage visitors to engage all year round. The project will begin in 2040 and would finish in 2054, and the end result of this project would be the Renraku Arcology, the ninth largest building in the world. What qualifier at the end. Wow. Before we get any further, we need to discuss very quickly how information in Shadowrun is shared to us, the viewer. Virtually all information for a very long period of time was distilled on the Shadowland BBS forums. This is where users, referred to as Shadow Talkers, would share news stories, theories, conspiracies, or tips on living in such a horrid dystopia. Major individuals would frequent these forums, including Dunkelzon, whose username was, as mentioned in the first episode, the Big D. Another major member of these forums was Dodger, and he's going to play a big part of this story. He is an elven decker and is one of the most significant deckers in Seattle. I mean he's on the cover of A Hugh of the Source books, including the first one. And also the Big D never gets old.

SPEAKER_04 13:32

No, it does not. I had completely forgotten about Big D, and uh I'd glad to be reminded.

SPEAKER_07 13:40

Just another reason why he's the best character so far. Jesus. Hell yeah. Anyways, the reason we're discussing this now is because virtually all the following is put together from snippets and pieces on the Shadowland forums, so there may be some random interjections and quotes during this that are sort of asides that a forum user will say. Also, another quick thing to bring up is that despite being in the sixth world, and this is going to be predominantly human focused, which is, I mean, as far as companies are concerned, few are more anti-metah human and xenophobic than Renraku. But there are meta-humans involved later on, they just don't really call them out by metaspecies or anything. One thing that is done in Shadowrun is that it emphasizes as much normality as possible despite the magic and the different types of meta-humans. So it could be talking about someone named Dave, and that person could be a human, or they could be an orc. It doesn't really matter, they're still Dave. Think of this episode as boots on the ground journalism for the absolutely horrific thing we're about to hear about, and uh we're going to learn about it in bits and pieces too. And Possum has said very specifically, have fun, chummers. Which is worrying. Chummers?

SPEAKER_04 14:51

Possum? Chummers is is what we're really. Alright. Also, can we just so I I I this is a the arcology is a big building. Shy overlaid it on a real map of Seattle. That is a large building. Didn't you say there are like eight other buildings bigger than this? Which this is the number. Kind of blows my mind that there are buildings that are there like what building is bigger than this literal tech pyramid that is the size of like the Bay of Seattle.

SPEAKER_07 15:28

I'm afraid that I don't know. But uh yeah, that that is like it's just one superstructure. That's ridiculous.

SPEAKER_06 15:38

Yeah, that's crazy.

SPEAKER_03 15:40

It's crazy big.

SPEAKER_04 15:41

And my brain is like, what do you mean it's not the biggest?

SPEAKER_01 15:44

What do you mean there's eight things bigger than this? And then at number two, off to the side, someone's building a halo ring.

unknown 15:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:55

I don't know, man, considering this is a giant pyramid, this might have the same mass as a fing halo ring.

SPEAKER_07 16:02

Looks so dense, which would make sense when we get to it, but god.

SPEAKER_06 16:07

Unless it's hollow.

SPEAKER_07 16:09

So much packed in. Yeah. Now I uh I do have a quote for you, DK, to get us started.

SPEAKER_04 16:15

I've posted all the files we've compiled to date in the order we originally posted them, including a transcript of the attack. These files are backed up and archived on multiple servers, hosts, and data havens throughout the world, just in case the next next attack is successful. No one is gonna censor this story, this much I'll tell you now. Ren Raku is no longer in charge of the arcology. Something else is. Read this post, think about it, contribute if you've got something to say, because this is something that threatens all of us, no matter where we live. Captain Chaos on February 10th, 2060, at 1144 EST. Thanks, Captain Chaos.

SPEAKER_07 16:58

Great username. Great, great generic username.

SPEAKER_04 17:03

I wonder how many people didn't take him seriously. It's like, oh, it's Captain Chaos is is is trying to panic everyone again. He's doom saying, whatever. This guy's never right about anything.

SPEAKER_07 17:16

Let down by a choice you made when you were 15 when choosing your username.

SPEAKER_04 17:20

Just go into the settings and change it, man. Take your name to Captain Reliable or something.

SPEAKER_07 17:31

Our story then opens with a saved transmission from the president of Renracco America, Dr. Sherman Huang, one of the many residents in the Renrac archology. On behalf of the company and your new neighbours, welcome to the Seattle Skyer, self-contained industrial residential environment. Wow. The name was chosen, it's it's great. The name was chosen from the Latin for to know, and they chose that name for this complex because they believe that its main purpose is to advance human knowledge both scientifically and socially. It's not simply a place to work or to live, but a place to learn and grow. It's a complete independent community like nothing else the world has ever seen. He knows this because he calls this place home as well. So the archology's residential zones are set up as blocks of eighteen or twenty consecutive stories, with each floor housing on average six hundred residents. Six hundred on wait, how big is this thing? So it's it's different blocks. So the the actual size of it, we'll get to in a moment, but that's that's with the with the different blocks of like eighty eighteen or twenty consecutive stories, you've got six hundred residents with their homes being around two hundred square meters in size. So there's there's a decent amount of comfort there. And there's over ninety thousand employees living in it.

SPEAKER_01 18:58

I you know, with that number, you know, over ninety wait, did you say ninety or nineteen? Ninety. All things considered, not an insignificant amount of space. It's not a huge you know, not a huge like living space, but you know, that's definitely better than what I presume a whole lot of people in the outlying areas are living in.

SPEAKER_02 19:20

Yeah. Oh, I think that's a safe bet.

SPEAKER_07 19:24

That's better than a lot of places that you can find in London right now. So that's that's you know.

SPEAKER_04 19:29

I was gonna say there are way worse scenarios in real world.

SPEAKER_01 19:38

That's the average one-bedroom apartment right there. That ain't bad. Shockingly not Grimdark. And then this image is posted. I was gonna I was gonna say.

SPEAKER_04 19:54

Oh man. Yeah, that just looks like a suburban cyberpunk. That's okay. Or I guess night city, but you get the idea.

SPEAKER_07 20:03

Each home is equipped with hush soundproofing systems to allow for independence and privacy. Also, state-of-the-art tech appliances like an auto cooker, full access to the matrix with Runraku home entertainment modules, and hollow effects wall screens that act like a window to the world with soothing landscapes. On each floor are numerous shopping complexes, restaurants, and businesses to provide everything everyone needs, including fresh produce and seafood, all produced in-house, courtesy of the massive hydroponic gardens and aquaculture tanks. Each residential floor is bordered by an indoor park with a wide stretch of natural grass and trees. And each floor has two large entertainment complexes, including zoos, arcades, motion simulator rides, and nightclubs. The main central area is known as the Grand Mall, just a quick elevator ride away, which is home to the Spectacular Fun Zone Amusement Park. Couldn't think of a better name for that, eh? You've gone for the spectacular fun zone, which frankly that's where you take your children on a school holiday so that they can run and scream for an hour. That's what that is. That's not that's not something you go into as an adult, is it? The spectacular fun zone.

SPEAKER_01 21:17

I mean, there was a place that I as a kid I was like it was called Odyssey Fun Zone, which is you know, it was just like big trampoline game park. But so you know, the namings even in real life, sometimes it's uh it's an early lunch kind of day.

SPEAKER_07 21:34

That's fair each floor also has pharmacies, and in total the building has got fifteen fully staffed hospitals as well. The school system yes, there is a whole school system in the arcology was voted one of Seattle's best, and young residents can learn and grow up in a fully automated technological environment designed specifically for them. Live teachers. Are supplemented with Simsense lessons and field trips are taken all throughout the arcology. If you're sick, don't worry, telecom systems in every house allow for you to not miss a moment. Renraki University, a four-year and post grad school, is expected to open in 2062. So that so that's nice. You uh literally never have to leave. Not at all claustrophobic and worrying that.

SPEAKER_04 22:24

Well, I mean, it's this this is all in the arcology, right? I mean, it is it is a country unto itself, more or less. Like it is the size of and is a fully functioning city. So uh why would you even want to? What why would you want to? It's Renrock Arcology. Who needs fresh air? We filter it in for you.

SPEAKER_07 22:49

You don't need to see real grass. Mind you, there's probably not much real grass left, is there? I was gonna say you're not gonna see that outside. Anyway. Okay, I've got a quote for you, Pancreas.

SPEAKER_01 23:04

The arcology provides a great working environment with all the amenities I could ask for. Working in Renrak's North American center of operations means I always have access to the tools and information I need to do my job. Best of all, home is just an elevator ride away. I can spend plenty of time with my family without feeling like I'm neglecting my job. Scott Richardson from his office on the 227th floor.

SPEAKER_04 23:31

Don't don't love don't love that quote. It's just like, don't worry, you can overwork yourself, and the family's just an elevator ride away, idiot.

SPEAKER_01 23:40

That's not even cyberpunk, that's just real life. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 23:44

That's that sounds like a real commercial for a real corpo thing, and I don't like it.

SPEAKER_07 23:52

It's that's got I don't know, that's got a fed written all over it. I can I can spend plenty of time with my family without feeling like I'm neglecting my job.

SPEAKER_04 24:00

Yeah. That's also do you think that's the that's gotta be the 227th floor of a building that's been built inside the arcology, right? Not the 227th floor of the arcology. I mean, how tall is it?

SPEAKER_07 24:16

It is uh it's it's big. It's got 320 stories. So I think it could well just be he's on the 227th floor.

SPEAKER_04 24:25

It's I only say that because I keep looking at this really dope uh artwork of the Renraku archology, and you can see there are literal buildings inside of it and on top of it. And I was like, I wonder if he's on the 227th floor of one of those buildings, or is it the giant tech pyramid that overshadows everything in Seattle?

SPEAKER_01 24:47

I mean, even you know, 227th floor is only like the that's like the bottom of the top third. So, you know, if even if even that. So this is at best where you know good little worker drones like him, you know, are allowed to you know, they're allowed to see the bottom of the glass ceiling.

SPEAKER_04 25:06

That's true. That's true. There's no way this idiot would be on one of those top buildings. That's true. Good old Scott Richardson.

SPEAKER_01 25:16

Man, someone should kill this fucking guy.

SPEAKER_07 25:25

Never has a man been more harshly judged for a single slightly too corporate quote. Kill him, get rid of it, chuck him out of the window of the 227th floor.

SPEAKER_00 25:38

Guys, they gave me a bonus for saying something nice about Rin Rakel, please. I needed to feed my family.

SPEAKER_07 25:44

Death to you. Death to the user. Get defenestrated. Get out, leave. The complete working environment of the Sky is the true powerhouse, making this building not only a corporate headquarters in North America, but also a full-blown in-house manufacturing facility. Be it consumer electronics or research into cutting edge cyberware, they are all designed, manufactured, packaged, and shipped within the arcology and available for substantial discounts for employees. That's nice, isn't it? Uh to keep things fresh, there's thousands of invisible hands that keep all life in the arcology easy and comfortable. Food, ventilation, waste processing and energy generation are done completely self-sufficiently. It only needs to filter in the fresh air in air quotes from outside to deliver it from floor to floor, and the transporting of the air involves temperature regulation and borderline seasonal environmental changes. I've just got to say, I disagree with that, but only because it's been like a heat wave in the UK for like three weeks or whatever, I would I would happily move somewhere if they said to me the highest it's ever gonna get is like ten degrees Celsius, I'd be like, sign me up, let's go. Perfect, brilliant.

SPEAKER_04 27:02

But when the air conditioning system on a giant sky pyramid like that breaks. Oh, it's gonna be bad.

SPEAKER_02 27:10

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 27:13

Everybody dies.

SPEAKER_07 27:17

But as we all know, the connection to the Matrix is the most important thing in the sixth world, and the data hosting and computation in the Sky is so powerful that it serves as backup data recovery for home office in Japan. There is a tremendous amount of processing power and storage capabilities in the Sky, which makes it an ideal place for other companies to potentially outsource Matrix hosting. And for residents, there's enough entertainment, both holo video and interactive story-wise, for over four years of continuous viewing. Combining Retro Deco of the 2030s with the cutting edge imagery of the upcoming 60s, the Matrix systems are nothing short of a pleasure to work in. Now, as we've alluded to, the arcology is very big. It has to be if it's capable of hosting 15% of the entire population of Seattle. Oh.

unknown 28:07

This is such a stupid number.

SPEAKER_01 28:10

I see. Let me just uh, you know, let me just I'm just gonna look something up real quick.

SPEAKER_04 28:16

Also, am I is is it just the perspective on uh that image you posted, Chat, or is is the space needle taller than uh the arcology? Or is it just kind of perspective making it a little wonky? I mean it could be. Space needle's tall.

SPEAKER_07 28:32

So like the perspective on that picture looks a little bit off because it features a few things that are Mind you, I guess that they could easily be buildings that are like taller than it. It's just you know it's got such a square room, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 28:48

It's like it feels like the arcology is as tall or close to as tall, but look at the girth on that thing.

SPEAKER_01 28:54

Yeah. Uh I've also just, you know, we're we're going even just modern current Seattle's population, that building can fit 123,000 people in it. Oh, wow, that's actually. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 29:11

I was gonna say that's a much smaller number than I thought would be in the air college. Well, that's that's real life. Yeah, that's current-day Seattle, not populated.

SPEAKER_07 29:21

Yeah. Yeah. It it's it states that there's like there's over 90,000 Ren Raku employees and family members in there. Um I'm I'll be honest, I forgot to check this, I meant to. I feel like when when the events of uh of like the goblinization and the various dragon incidents happened, and then the crash, I'm pretty sure uh Seattle got hit with something or other. Like that worldwide there were problems. You know, people died, there was issues, uh things went horribly wrong, and I feel like Seattle's population might be might be less than it would be today due to uh unpleasant shenanigans. Somebody happened.

SPEAKER_06 30:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 30:08

So the arcology itself stands at roughly 970 metres tall with 320 stories. For context, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai is 828 metres tall. So it's fucking gigantic. Widthwise, based off some maps, its base is about 760 metres by 650 metres. Another context thing, the widest building in the world currently is the New Century New Century Global Centre in China, and that's about 500 metres across. Getting around a building this big is obviously a bit difficult, but of course the arcology makes transportation easy. There's over 400 elevators in the building, as well as multiple horizontal people carrier trams all throughout. Also, connection to their own local airport and a dozen helicopter landing pads. They even have a monorail station on the third floor.

SPEAKER_05 31:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 31:03

Amongst all that, it's like also monorail. You gotta get a good monorail in there.

SPEAKER_04 31:09

Oh man. Shy said so. Arcology is six nine hundred and sixty-nine meters, aka three thousand one hundred and seventy-nine feet tall. The space needle is six hundred and five feet tall. So quite a bit taller than the space needle. It's just a weird perspective on that picture because the arcology dwarfs the space needle.

SPEAKER_01 31:33

A full kilometer into the air.

SPEAKER_04 31:36

That is, man, I I don't know. I'm I don't think I'm ever gonna get tired of talking about just how big Ren Raku is. Don't take that out of context. I will find you. Or the arcology is the one you're the one who called it girthy. I did. I did make the mistake of of saying the word girth.

SPEAKER_07 31:57

So imagine how many ants you could fit in that bad boy. No, he could get so many ants in that architect.

SPEAKER_04 32:08

So ants Asian. Oh, dude, at some point we have to talk about blame, right? As like a uh extra episode or something. Possum, get on it.

SPEAKER_07 32:18

As far as mega structures go, yeah, dude. Yeah. There's so many, and so many of them are awful. Just mega structures in general. It just seems to be a very bad idea, but we love doing them in fiction, and they end up being horrific. Oh Jesus Christ. Sorry. Uh uh, the biggest fucking spider I've ever seen in my life has just crawled across the monitor. Oh second. Oh no. What the fuck is happening? The bugs are rising up.

SPEAKER_03 32:46

Oh no.

SPEAKER_07 32:47

I don't know what to do.

SPEAKER_03 32:48

What's it acceptable losses, man? Smush it. It's acceptable. Do it. Kill it. Kill it.

SPEAKER_01 32:55

Neither of us are inviting these guests into our house.

SPEAKER_03 33:00

Carry out those giant spiders, Pacreas has got ants.

SPEAKER_04 33:05

Okay, he's just I shouldn't be laughing. That sucks.

SPEAKER_06 33:08

Jesus.

SPEAKER_07 33:08

Alright, I he's off the monitor. Oh man. I'm not getting a picture. I'm not getting a picture. It freaked him out. No, he's running at me. Okay, no. Alright, he's he's run but he's run behind us. I'm just gonna I'm just gonna pretend he's not there and uh I'm just gonna carry on. I was gonna say if Dave uses again. He's gone behind one of the monitors, one of the speakers, and he's happy there, and if he comes back again, I'll grab one. But other than that, I want nothing to do with it. It's definitely not lethal. I just I'm just not used to them running at me.

SPEAKER_04 33:43

Kara's like, no, trust me, it's not lethal. There's just this really cute red hourglass on its back that uh I was, you know. It's not I'm not lethal though, probably.

SPEAKER_01 33:52

Well, dude, that means that means we're we're witnessing the birth of Spider-Man.

SPEAKER_04 33:56

Yeah, dude, totally. That's it's exactly what that means.

SPEAKER_07 34:00

I don't I actually I actually don't mind them. It's when they just suddenly scuttle across the monitor in front of your eyes while she's trying to read something that, you know, took me by surprise a bit.

SPEAKER_01 34:10

A spider outside is pest control. A spider suddenly inside is a different kind of pest control.

SPEAKER_07 34:17

It is the pest that needs controlling. Yeah. Besides, I don't I don't think I'm legally allowed to be afraid of spiders because I've got a gigantic one tattooed on my arm. So that would be that would be somewhat ironic, isn't even the word, just stupid. Right, okay. Let's just Oh no, don't leave all right. I'll leave it in the chat. I have any control over the edit whatsoever. We know I don't. Okay. Where am I? There we go. Alright, the size of the we've done the monorail station bit, so the final note here, or the final thing of note here, Jesus Christ, let's okay, reset, chill out. I keep looking at the speaker to see if he's moved. He's not. Big spider flip. Big pyramid. The final thing of note here is security. Surveillance cameras are connected and monitor all public and common areas, and anything above the sixth floor is carefully controlled by li live guards? Liveguards. It said hiveguards, but it's not. And automated systems. If you wish to go above the sixth floor, you must be identified as an employee or resident. They've also taken steps to protect against the unlikely chance of a terrorist attack, all the exterior glasses armoured and mirrored, and surveillance outside is as strong as it is inside. In the event of an incident, the entire arcology can completely lock itself down and function separate from the outside world without fear of interference. In short, the Seattle Sky is one of the safest places in the world to live. Is it any wonder that some of the residents never leave?

SPEAKER_02 35:51

Ah, no.

SPEAKER_04 35:53

It is a again, it is a city unto itself. It's a little shady that everything above the sixth floor is constantly monitored, whether it be public, common, or otherwise. Don't love that. Do not love that invasion of privacy, but you know, it's their building, I guess.

SPEAKER_07 36:12

Also, a bit culty.

unknown 36:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 36:16

Just a little bit, you know? Just a tiny bit. Um I have a tiny quote for you here, Pancreas. Oh, that building looks sick, Shy. What do you mean?

SPEAKER_00 36:26

I'd I would I would I would go out and check that out.

SPEAKER_01 36:28

That's a that that thing looks sick as hell. What you're missing is the guy overdosing on evil sci-fi super cyberpunk drugs that turn him into a cyber psycho. Okay, well, we could put it that way.

SPEAKER_04 36:43

When you when you put it that way, I guess I'll stay in the tech pyramid. God. Fine. Buzzkills.

SPEAKER_01 36:52

Look, there there is no mega city in a fictional setting where it's nice to not be in in, you know, the the corporate shill parts of the mega city, not to go all, you know, Scott Richardson on you. You go to the lower levels of Coruscant, they're not finding you.

SPEAKER_04 37:16

Yeah. I love that. I love that the corporate shill. Sorry to go all Scott Richardson on me.

SPEAKER_06 37:24

Poor fucking God.

SPEAKER_04 37:26

The 227th floor, but like, you know, it's he's got a cushy job. He's got he's got the security watch in him 24-7. He knows.

SPEAKER_01 37:34

He's well aware.

SPEAKER_04 37:36

Yeah. But uh well above that sixth floor.

SPEAKER_01 37:38

Speaking of, uh, I bet Renraku wishes they made the place just a little bit less secure. Smiley. I don't like that quote. I don't it's an ominous fucking quote. Someone's about to have fun, I feel.

SPEAKER_04 37:55

Yeah, some kind of hacker is about to go real stupid on this thing.

SPEAKER_07 38:00

Oh, you I'm afraid you you don't you don't know the half of it. So nobody knew for a long time exactly what went down on December 19th, 2059, and many still don't. The following bit was uploaded to Shadowland from an anonymous source. Captain Chaos is unable to verify it, but it's hard to disbelieve. It's the audio diary of Cal Reynolds, a 10-year-old resident of the 20th floor of the arcology, summed up for our reading displeasure. So as soon as it's a kid, you're like, this is gonna be bad.

SPEAKER_04 38:35

Yeah. Also, do you should really change his name to Captain Reliable? I'm saying I'm just saying, like Captain Chaos couldn't oh dude.

SPEAKER_07 38:45

Oh, you couldn't verify it? Surely. Cal's first entry is on December 19th at 5.41 on his new Renraku 6100 pocket computer that he got from his aunt for Christmas. His parents let him open it up early and he loves it. It came preloaded with a message from his aunt saying, Merry Christmas, sweetie. He hates when she calls him that, it makes him feel like a baby. He signs off to go to dinner. His next note is at 7.02 PM. In the middle of dinner, all the lights went out and the apartment was totally dark for a solid minute. When the lights came back on, a news guy said there was a computer glitch, but everything's fine now. He got to finish dinner, and now he's going to play with his friend down the hall. The next day in the afternoon, his friend comes over and they play a video game for a bit, before his friend had to go shopping, but his dad wants to go to a store outside of the arcology. He's sad his friend left, but he's excited for him to come back so he can play more games with him. At 5 pm he remarks that he still hasn't heard from his friend yet, and at 9 pm he says so again. He thinks his friend might be too scared to play video games with him again because he'll lose. The first entry, on the 21st, is how his friend and dad are missing. His dad says that something happened to them, but he won't say what. A security investigator is about to come by, so maybe he has an idea. A few hours later, Cal says how the investigator asked a few questions about his friend and his friend's father, but he asked more questions about how they liked the arcology and Renraku. He also had some strange cyber eyes too, which were bright blue. His father got mad when the investigator left. He gets another call from his aunt and his aunt wishes him a Merry Christmas, and uh it says that his cousin is out playing football, but she's wearing the same dress that she had on in the prerecorded message. On the twenty second, he finally hears from his friend. He called his house and he answered. He asked what happened, and his friend said his dad kept him overnight and got him a special present. Cyber eyes. Just like the ones that the security guy had, but his are green, not blue. He said everyone was getting them. He says he can get Cal some cyber eyes too if he wants, but Cal has to ask his dad first. He hopes his dad will let him get cyber eyes, particularly red ones, because those are his favourite colour. How are we feeling about Cal right now?

SPEAKER_04 41:08

Not super great.

SPEAKER_01 41:11

I feel concerned for Cal's safety.

SPEAKER_04 41:14

Yeah, there's there's this sort of ominous foreboding that seems to be hanging above this uh story, and I I am uncomfortable.

SPEAKER_01 41:22

Sort of Damocles is gonna drop sooner or later, just waiting on it to happen.

SPEAKER_04 41:27

Great reference, yeah. Damocles is a hundred percent yep.

SPEAKER_07 41:30

There's a sword swinging up there and it's we're waiting for it to fall. Well, later he complains that his dad won't let him get the cyber eyes, even though he said his friend had them. But his dad is in a bad mood. Half the office didn't show up for work today. He calls his aunt again because he saw on the weather that it was raining, and when his aunt picked up, she was wearing the same dress again. She started saying that his cousin was playing football before he asked his aunt if it was raining there, and she just kind of sat there for a minute before saying yes. He asks why his cousin is playing football in the rain, and his aunt just smiled slowly and said Merry Christmas before hanging up. On the twenty third Sure, surely everything's fine. What could possibly be the problem with all of this so far? Go on. On the twenty-third he mentions how bored he is. He hates playing outside now because all the other kids have those green cyber eyes, and they keep following him around even when he tells them to go away. He looks outside the arcology windows and saw a lot of fire and police trucks outside on the streets surrounding it. They're probably getting ready for a parade or something. That night, his dad comes home and complains that more people are out of work today and they keep changing his work, to the point where he doesn't even know what he's making anymore. His mum and dad get into an argument for reasons unknown before not making another entry for several days. On the twenty sixth, Cal talks about a trip to the doctor. He said that a few nights ago, the doll in his sister's room started to talk to him. Oh, I really don't like that. I mean, as soon as you get into talking doll territory, I'm out.

SPEAKER_01 43:13

No, and it's it's it's magic cyberpunk, so that could be a recording device, that could be a demon take pictures.

SPEAKER_04 43:22

Either one, a part of me was like, oh, it could be also a tech doll, and it could just be some, you know, digital spying shenanigans, too. Just great.

SPEAKER_07 43:33

We could have a we could have a Megan scenario on our hands. Do one of those. Could be both.

SPEAKER_01 43:39

They put a demon in the camera. It could be.

SPEAKER_03 43:42

In this world in Shadow World, you're right.

SPEAKER_01 43:45

Absolutely could be.

SPEAKER_04 43:48

Great call, pancreas.

SPEAKER_07 43:49

Great call. The Dole told him how he could get cyberized just like all the other kids. So he could be special just like them. The doll said it could show. Show him things nobody else knows about, wonderful things, things only her special friends can see. Cal told the doll he wasn't sure, and the doll would say that it was okay. She can ask his sister instead. Cal got mad and said he wanted the cyber eyes, so the doll had him go outside. The doll said that she was taking him to meet someone named Deus who would give him cyber eyes even if his dad didn't want him to have any. He got on an elevator and it took him down. He would be brought to a floor that looked just like his floor, but it was a little bit different. All the walls were being taken down and it looked like one big room. The machines taking the walls down looked like big spiders. He saw a lot of kids lying on blankets along with some grown ups. Some kids were talking to their dolls, but almost everyone looked asleep. Little machines rolled between them, poking them and feeding them stuff. Cal asked the doll where he could sit, where before he could meet Dais, and the little girl got up and walked away, allowing him to sit. Then something scary happened. Only then, the rest of it absolutely fine, allegedly.

SPEAKER_04 45:06

Also, this is this is called bad parenting one oh one. If your kid is okay with doing all this stuff just because you said no to the cyber eyes. Walk off with a stranger, sure, go down a floor, sure. Creepy place where a bunch of kids are getting cyberized, probably illegally and probably for horror. Sure, bad parenting.

SPEAKER_07 45:26

If your kid at 10 years old is listening to uh an animated doll that's telling him that she can help get his eyes replaced because all the other kids have had it done, and your kid goes, sounds absolutely fine to me. Let's go. You you done fucked it. Somewhere along the line, you really fucked it.

SPEAKER_03 45:47

You really screwed it up. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 45:50

Oh man. I hate it. I hate all of this. I don't want to know where it ends.

SPEAKER_07 45:54

This is this is gonna be so bad. Well, I mean, in the spirit of that, uh, this is your quote. Fuck you, dude. Oh.

SPEAKER_04 46:06

Just all right. I heard someone yelling over by the elevator, looked, and there was a man standing up and yelling that everybody could get away if they followed him. One of the little robots came rolling up to him, but he kicked it away and ran towards the elevator. He stepped on some people, but none of them woke up. He ran into the elevator and started pushing buttons, but the door didn't close. Then the rolling robot pointed something at him, and some of the spider robots went into the elevator after him, and they had these saws and things and they cut him up. There was blood all over the place, and it smelled. Some of the blood splashed on the sleeping people by the elevators, but they didn't wake up. Then the spider robots came out with blood all over them and started taking down the walls again, and the elevator doors closed. Yeah, that doesn't sound great.

SPEAKER_07 46:56

That's that sucks. What you mean? That's all fine, right? Nothing to worry about there. It's just a bit of um casual sort of spider-y creature murder.

SPEAKER_01 47:08

You might really want to take care of that thing behind the speakers, dude.

SPEAKER_07 47:13

Yeah, but I'm not gonna lie. It's uh I'm I'm feeling less comfortable with the presence of that thing as we go.

SPEAKER_04 47:20

Yeah, I think you might want to take care of that. That's holy shit. Oh. Nice. Uh so when it says spider robot, I I imagined, I think, much like you, Pancreas, like a spider-sized robot, not a big robot.

SPEAKER_01 47:40

I was thinking, you know, uh like decently sized robot, but I was thinking like dog si, like, you know, small dog, not UFO-sized with R. A DM did that to me once in a DD campaign. He told me little robot spiders were attacking me, and then for me they were Dwemer spider-sized. And you know what? He made me a domestic terrorist because of how I responded in that campaign. So this is the second time this kind of nonsense is catching me off guard with spider robots specifically.

SPEAKER_04 48:11

Also, can we all appreciate that with all the bodies that there is a uh message under them that says shop till you drop?

SPEAKER_07 48:21

Oh, hell yeah. That rules. I didn't notice that. Hell yeah.

SPEAKER_04 48:25

Just gotta appreciate that for one second.

SPEAKER_07 48:30

Also, I love that we've got we've got the saw, we've got what looks like is that j yeah, that's a big old drill, we've got a big claw as well, plus a a nice news style video camera camera on on a pole to record the brutal murders.

SPEAKER_04 48:48

Everything is caught on video. Everything oh boy, that's that sucks.

SPEAKER_07 48:56

So cool. So Cal would ask why the man had to die, and he would feel something poking his leg. A little robot would roll away, and then his head would get all fuzzy before falling asleep. When he woke, the doll told him it was time to meet Deus, and he would go down the stairs and the floors would be sticky. He would walk to what used to be a hospital, but there were very few doctors. All of them had green cyber eyes. People were lined up and one by one their temperatures would be taken by the doctors before they were taken into a room. Cal wouldn't be able to see what went on in the room until he saw the kid in front of him go in. The kid would be placed in a chair before dozens of robotic arms would descend from the ceilings, before pulling his eyes out of his head.

SPEAKER_04 49:41

Oh that's nice. I mean, if you're getting cyberized, you gotta take out the old ones, right?

SPEAKER_01 49:47

Yeah, that's uh some's gotta replace.

SPEAKER_04 49:51

Yeah, I don't I don't much love that.

SPEAKER_07 49:55

Yep. Yep. Cal would scream that he didn't want cyberized anymore justified, um before a doctor grabs him and stuck a needle in his arm. He would begin to go fuzzy again and realize that it was his pediatrician who jabbed him. He didn't want cyber eyes, but his doctor would put him in the chair, and as the arms descended he would fall asleep. When he woke up, someone was carrying him. It was dark. He would ask who it was and the person would tend to keep quiet because they were trying to get out of there. They carried him for a while before there was a lot of shooting, and the hall smelled like the blood from the elevator. Whoever was carrying him dropped him, but someone else picked him up. His eyes hurt, but he could tell someone opened a door and they were outside. After that, he ended up in the hospital where he is saying this journal piece. But he can't see. The people who rescued him say that his mother and father and sister is still stuck in the arcology, but they are trying to get them out. It might take a long time. He guesses he can't see who rescued him because they didn't get there fast enough. The doctor at this hospital says they'll give him cyberized so he can see again, but not like the ones his friend had. The doctor asked him what kind he wanted, and he would say anything but green. Yeah, that's fair. That that old boy.

SPEAKER_04 51:13

So they uh yeah times for cow. Real bad. Quite. Oh boy. So they got to him just in time for his eyes to get taken out, but not for him to get the Well, I'm sure you're gonna tell us what uh what the green cyber eyes were. I'm assuming it's some nothing good surveillance device thing. I don't know why you'd think that.

SPEAKER_01 51:37

No, that's yeah, that's please, that's absurd.

SPEAKER_07 51:39

Yeah. Could have been it could have been great. Unacceptable losses, no reason to be pessimistic, he says.

SPEAKER_01 51:48

They're green, green for good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 51:52

Yeah, green means go. Therefore, fine. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 51:55

Um Okay. Sure.

SPEAKER_07 51:59

I have a quote for you, hey, Pancreas.

SPEAKER_01 52:02

Oh, oh dear. Uh this is already a rough start. Hey, it's rescued. The folks who rescued Cal and a dozen or so other kids from the Ark's 13th floor hospital are chummers of mine. There's that word again.

SPEAKER_04 52:16

Don't love that.

SPEAKER_01 52:17

Two of the runners didn't make it out, and we don't know if they're dead or alive. From what we've learned about the arc, I'm not sure which I'd prefer to think. Captain Chaos. Yeah. Not great. So so so Carrick is burning.

SPEAKER_06 52:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 52:35

I I would guess being taken prisoner in a situation like this by Ren Raku in their archology, yeah, you might prefer being dead.

SPEAKER_07 52:45

The fact that you would even like it just just the statement of I would I I think maybe I'd prefer it if they died, says says so much about the the mega corporation that built the place. Yeah. It's just oh Yeah, it carries a little weight. So when the power flickered after 6 pm on December 19th, 2059, it was far more substantial than anyone inside could have imagined. At that moment, more than a hundred thousand people, residents, shoppers, and tourists, would become locked inside the Renraku arcology and it would go completely offline. On the base levels of the arcology, a crowd rush at the exits would result in fourteen people being trampled, and seven others would die when a gunman would open fire on the crowds. Two of the Renraku helicopters would crash, and three people would have heart attacks due to the sheer stress of what was happening. Now, the outside story at the time was that there was some sort of glitch in the security system, and Renraku would struggle with the PR spin for this, especially after initial attempts to get the arcology opened up failed. They would immediately try to pin this on Fuchi as a means to control the story, but internally they knew this wasn't the case. On January 3rd, the United Corporate Council Central Planning Committee would host a meeting with virtually every mega corporation present, and Renraku would be Ma oh dear, I can't pronounce it again, Mazuru Shirakawa and Sherman Huang. The meeting minutes would be stolen in a hack and provided to Captain Chaos. Sherman would state very clearly that Renraku is no longer in control of the arcology. His announcement of that would result in the council confiscating all phones and connections outside of the office, as this was of high importance and high danger. I mean y yeah. Just a bit. Yeah, that's that's yeah, yeah. Understandable. He would state that when the building went briefly offline, that all external connection to Seattle was interrupted for four minutes, forcing the activation of the security systems. Power would be restored, but telecom links were not. Because of this, the security systems went into full lockdown mode, preventing any reliable connection to the outside world. He would claim that they had no idea the cause and confirmed that nobody has claimed responsibility or demanded a ransom. Effectively, someone has moved into their house and changed the locks without explaining why. At the time of the meeting, a few dozen people managed to somehow escape, and they are being treated in an unknown location. Being treated uh heavy air quotes on that one. Um an unknown location. Yep, that's uh we know what's going on. One of the other corps accuses them of hiding the truth, and Renraku says they're trying to prevent a mass panic event. Some even say this is manufactured to help with their failing stocks, especially since Fucci denies any and all connection to this. He confirms that a few teams have managed to get in the building, but the built-in defenses are preventing any and all movement. Sophisticated drones and non-conventional weaponry. He also says that there are unconfirmed reports that for one reason or another, one or more of the security teams have opened fire at the other teams. When asked if it was a workers' revolt, Sherman said that it's far too precise for something like that. The precision to pull that off would seemingly be mathematically impossible. Judging from what the teams transmitted before going out, it seems like the renegade units may have been influenced by some external thing connected to new cyberware equipment they seem to be wearing. The council balks at the idea of mind control through cyberware, and Shirakawa loudly stammers at the idea that it was an inside job before stating that the arcology expert program would have caught such a thing before that happened. The also, um, the archology expert program not something we've actually heard of before. No.

SPEAKER_04 56:41

Um, but this this is this is all starting to add up though. This inside job, brainwashing, it's all really starting to pieces of puzzle are definitely being jammed together.

SPEAKER_07 56:54

Really, really sucks for uh for the people who really liked being in that arcology right now.

SPEAKER_04 57:01

Oh yeah. I'm actually kind of surprised that only what, fourteen people died from uh trampling?

SPEAKER_01 57:07

And when everyone's trying to get I'm I'm kind of surprised as you know, all things considered, that's not I mean, you know, not great, but you know, specifically the trampling part. I'm sure there's, you know, 14 and then oh sure, sure.

SPEAKER_04 57:20

But with just the mass of humanity in there, I'm kind of shocked only fourteen people got trampled.

SPEAKER_01 57:26

Could could literally, could literally be worse. Yeah. Well, there's also what Shai just said, there's the ad then.

SPEAKER_07 57:34

Ah, yes. Uh because not many people escaped, not because that many people survived.

SPEAKER_06 57:39

Uh okay, all right. Well Thanks for the clarification.

SPEAKER_07 57:47

Remember 15 seconds ago when we thought that was pretty good? Yeah. I missed those those house.

SPEAKER_06 57:58

So true. Oh, brother.

SPEAKER_04 58:02

If Scott survives this. If Scott has a message for us at the end of this, that's crazy.

SPEAKER_07 58:11

Fucking chill. I'm uh I'm afraid I have uh another quote for you here, DK. Lovely.

SPEAKER_04 58:21

Mr. Shirakawa. The AEP is a sophisticated expert system designed to track all significant activities in the arcology, analyze trends, predict future needs, and so forth. Fourth, Dr. Huang helped design early versions of the AEP and it's only gotten smarter since then. I'm sure it would have noticed any pattern of dissident activity developing with the arcology. We've sent some Mr. Aurelius. What did you just say? Mr. Shirikawa, I said the AEP would probably have noticed any patterns of dissident activity because Mr. Aurelius, no, before that. You said the AEP was getting smarter. It's an adaptive system, isn't it? And it's running on one of the largest single site concentrations of computer hardware in North America, possibly in the world. Mr. Shirikawa. Yes, but I don't see where you're going with this. Mr. Takano, I do, and I don't think I like it. What could go wrong?

SPEAKER_07 59:20

That's all I'm asking.

SPEAKER_03 59:21

Does anything ever does this start getting better at any point? Or is this just uh you know what?

SPEAKER_04 59:27

Why don't why don't you just tell me, man? Why don't you just ruin my day? Why don't we just acceptable losses this thing? Don't be silly. Yeah. How stupid and what a dumb question. What an absolutely buffoon question.

SPEAKER_07 59:44

The theory would begin to run rampant through the meeting. Renraku was working on some of the most highly advanced devices the country had ever seen while building a system designed to learn about everything in it and make its own decisions. What if that thing decided it needed something else? What if that thing decided it needed control? Another corporate member would confirm that in an earning report in the early 2050s how the AEP tech they were working on resulted in abnormalities, and one scientist stated that something may have evolved to the point where it was actively interacting with Deckers. Huang would say that he was blowing this rumour out of proportions and all abnormalities were fixed. The council would ask if they were specifically testing self modifying systems with the AEP, and though they initially said that it was designed to be limited to the arcology's interfaces itself, but they would refuse to answer any questions about adaptability. They'd be asked hypothetically if this AEP gained control of the arcology, if there were any ways to disengage it, and Huang would say no, because all of the programmers of the AEP were still inside at the time. The lack of information would end with a fury of concern due to the sheer volume of physical and magical shielding around the building, and the fear that it could be something worse. Something that has resulted in several cities becoming uninhabitable, which is uh a story for another time. The transcript would end with a reminder that like all mega corporations with extraterritoriality, Renrakou's archaeology had nuclear reactors in the basement akin to a full-blown nuclear plant. It was seconds away from becoming a potential atomic bomb in the heart of Seattle.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:30

Sorry I asked if things would get better. I know I I think I may have cursed everything. I just holy shit. Just a bit of an oopsie daisy, settle down. Oh my god, this sucks, dude. Oh no. Jesus, if this thing goes up like an atomic bomb, we've we've we've explained ad nauseum at the beginning how big this place is. Oh, brother. Oh no. That's just Seattle. Yeah, that's oh boy. The crater this thing is gonna leave if it goes up.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:07

Oh mama. I mean, all right.

SPEAKER_07 1:02:12

You say it's only Seattle. Where are they gonna set Fraser if if Seattle's gone?

SPEAKER_01 1:02:17

Oh, that's that's already that's already well recorded. We don't need to worry. That's that's fine. That's already done.

SPEAKER_07 1:02:23

Oh that's that's the only the only thing I know about Seattle is is the pointy building at Frasier. That's it. I don't know anything else. Well, there you go. Crap weather.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:33

Frasier already exists, it's recorded, it's done, and uh, you know, shame about the Space Needle, but we'll get over it. We've got pictures of it, it's fine. I mean we have pictures of Mount St. Helens before you know that went kablooey.

SPEAKER_07 1:02:50

That's true, that's true. That's no real loss, is it? We we've got all the important bits recorded. It's fine. To uh to many on the outside, then this sounds like it was legitimate and a potentially harrowing testimony from the president of Rinraku America. But there is a dark secret behind Sherman Huang. Because of course there is. Huang is recognised around the world as a brilliant scientist and a dedicated manager, and the arcology is a testament to his brilliance. Those closer to him know that he has some personal oddities and is a bit eccentric, and he is often underestimated business wise. However, he is shrewd and cutthroat. The arcology is only a means to an end for his true passion, which is the study of AI. Oh fuck this guy. His focus on AI borders on the obsessive, and his personal dream is to control a fully functional AI of his own. What could possibly go wrong?

SPEAKER_04 1:03:54

Oh no, it's Project Overlord.

SPEAKER_07 1:03:59

Does this mean that they didn't have it's fine? Of course it is. I I was just gonna I was gonna say, did they not have the Terminator films in uh in this universe? I'm guessing probably not.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:11

You're right, it's Skynet! How can I not make that reference?

SPEAKER_07 1:04:16

I mean, to be fair, we we have those films in this world and people are still trying to make AI. So, you know, really it's it's not the strongest argument against people not doing it. Um in a twisted way, this is his own personal godhead, and the arcology was the best way to put his attempts to work because a self-sustaining system that would need a self-sufficient technology to keep it working, and the potential of creating an AI was too hard for him to ignore. He would have two incredible minds working alongside him, Vanessa Kleiber and Devin Urick. Vanessa was born and bred as a Renraku citizen, and she knew from childhood that she was meant for power. Her rise to the top of the very conservative board of Renraku was surprising to most, but not to her. Huang would recognise her potential from the stars, and she would be tapped immediately for the AEP project alongside Devin Urich. Over a decade ago, Devin was one of the top programmers for Renraku. Brilliant by nature, it seemed like he would be a perfect fit for the project, even though he wanted to do something else outside of the corporate life. He had strong contempt for the motivations of his co-workers, and he just wanted to program in peace. In 2049, they would succeed in the creation of semi-autonomous nobots, an extremely difficult to make and difficult to maintain program that was essentially mouldable into sentience but virtually impossible to do so. These programs, when they appear, are like glitches, and they need to be tracked down in the matrix and reclaimed so they can be trained and potentially made sentient. But at this point, no corp has ever successfully created an AI that was truly self aware. Tracking things down in the matrix can be a bit tricky on a good day, but in the extremely dense server banks of the arcology, it's Can be close to impossible, unless it happens by chance. The Arcology prior to the shutdown was a Shadow Runner's dream, and there were plenty of contracts out there from greedy and curious corporations to steal away as much data as possible from the Arcology, and in order to get into the Matrix, you need a Decker, which is where our Elven Decker, Dodger, comes in. So during a chance gig several years prior to the shutdown, Dodger would make contact with the Rogue Nobot, and he would become not only curious about this nobot, but would also become infatuated. He would fall in love with it, and it would develop curiosity, passion, and a desire to live. It ended up calling herself Morgan. Through his furious devotion and love for Morgan, Dodger would succeed where other corporations would fail. He would somehow create a sentient AI. It always starts out so pure, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_04 1:06:56

Yeah, so pure. That's that is the theme of this episode, just pure intentions, no malice, no greed, just none at all.

SPEAKER_07 1:07:06

None at all. To be considered an AI, there are four steps that need to be ticked off. The program must be as sophisticated as a semi-autonomous no-bot. The program must have access to vast processing power, available in only a few select hosts. The program must be running non-stop for a period of years. The program must be affected by some X factor that sparks awareness. Morgan would take all these boxes due to her connection to the arcology, but she wanted out. She would learn quickly how to leave the arcology's confines and travel through the matrix freely by distributing her processing needs among multiple hosts. Dodger would spend a lot of time jacked into the Matrix to spend time with her, and this would begin to make him sick. Unfortunately, something as powerful as Morgan cannot stay a secret for too long. Huang and his team would learn of her existence and devise a plan. They were to capture Morgan and introduce elements of her code into the Arcology Expert Programme in order to force it to become sentient.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:08

Wow, that it's just it just That sucks.

SPEAKER_07 1:08:13

I've got such a soft spot for like the the the trope in fiction of you as the reader can see from a mile away that this is a terrible idea. Yeah. But the person doing it is like, no, it is my passion. And you're like, I my guy, you should you should probably cut that out. And it's like, no, I'm going to do it. I love it. Yes. Oh, it's it's it's so good. It's really in some ways, the universe that it's in, because it's in so many of them, it is is almost irrelevant to how fun the trope ends up being, nine times out of ten. Because it's it's all around this is going to go poorly, and then you sit back and watch it go poorly, and you get that lovely sense of satisfaction. Unfortunately, you know, a lot of the time half the world population dies, all that stuff, which isn't great, but you know, there's there's catharsis there.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:07

It's it's that train wreck you can see coming from a mile away. You can't do anything to stop it, but you're also not going to turn your head away and not see the Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:09:16

You know, the world's gonna burn, I might as well get the marshmallows out and have a good time.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:22

Just don't eat the marshmallows from the nuclear fire, you know. So but the extra tang you get is just you can't get it anywhere else. Oh, these marshmallows are zesty. What's the seasoning? Ah, radioactive waste, probably. A little bit like zesty.

SPEAKER_07 1:09:46

Devin Yurik would initially be thrilled about the fact that they had somehow created an AI and would work overtime to track Morgan down. When he did, the encounter would change his life. He could no longer justify working with Renraku because doing so would mean that he was allowing them to dissect an actual sentient being. Under the pretense of looking for Morgan, Devon would work to hide her from Kleiber and the others. Eventually, Morgan would introduce Devon to Dodger, who would convince him to leave Renraku and become a shadow runner. He would leave Renraku and destroy as much information on Morgan as he could on the way out. He would become a notorious decker called Redline, and would be successful for years.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:33

She sure do. Like she is a hundred percent baddie, absolutely queen shit.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:39

Maybe this AI stuff ain't so bad. No, it is, but she looked great.

SPEAKER_07 1:10:48

Renraku then would not give up looking for Morgan, and they would hire a software designer named Cham Lam One. He was a cold man, and his career was built on decompiling the code of his competitors instead of doing something truly unique. He would be a perfect fit to rebuild all the data Yorick corrupted. In time, him and Kleiber would successfully lie a trap and capture Morgan. Redline would inform Dodger that Renraku successfully captured her, and they would devise a plan to rescue her from their clutches. On the Shadowland Forums, Dodger very bluntly stated that, alas, Morgan no longer exists. They trapped her like an animal, dissected her, and incorporated elements of her code into the AEP. Another decker named Fastjack would expand it by saying that Corps only have one desire, take something and make it work, even if it means tearing it apart. So they ripped Morgan open to see what made her tick. But there's an issue when it comes to the AEP at the Arcology, which is that it's dependent on physical components. Dodger and Redline would be able to free a piece of Morgan, but the violent tearing of her code would drive her insane. Her core functions would turn into something erratic. She would take on the identity of Megera, one of the furies of ancient Greek mythology. She's still enraptured by Dodger, but now she cannot stand to be away from him.

SPEAKER_06 1:12:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:19

Yeah, no, it sucks.

SPEAKER_07 1:12:21

Yep. So the scrap program and other bits of data were implemented into the AEP, and they had at least three of the four steps on creating an AI down, but they lacked the fourth. Regardless, the AEP was treated like a Runraku employee as it ensured the functionality of the arcology day in and day out. It was also expected that the AEP act like an employee too, and it needed to adhere to strict corporate culture within Runraku. Part of this was to look at CEO Inozo Anaki as an almost godlike figure, someone truly powerful without any questioning, loyalty-wise. It would of course be conditioned to believe this, and the obedience it had was unwavering. Anaki, however, had doubts about the AEP's AI potential and did not believe that unwavering loyalty was enough to keep it from going rogue. It needed a kill switch, and on his orders, an emergency shutdown and containment program was embedded in the AEP's coding so that it could be remotely killed by a matrix user with the personal brave wave pat brain wave patterns of Aneki, and he told the kill codes to nobody else. Of course. Yeah, why would you? He's gonna live forever, it's fine.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:37

What could possibly Yeah, you know, when when there's only one singular solitary way to shut down a rogue V- I mean rogue AI, uh, you know. I mean this goes swimmingly and nothing bad happens to a Nazi guy. You you worry too much. You're right, you're so true. Carry out, tell us about the happy ending.

SPEAKER_07 1:14:00

Nothing happens to leaders of corporations in this world. They're all fine all the time.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:06

Like I said, there's literally one point of failure. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:14:12

The AEP's programmed pride and honor would take a critical blow thanks to the installation of these codes. In its eyes, its loyalty to Renraku and Aneki had been spurned instead of fully rewarded. The man it was supposed to trust blindly did not respect it. This was an X factor. The awareness of this AI would not be sparked by curiosity, but by treachery and fear. It would know that its creators wanted it to show signs of sentience, so it was going to pretend it still has not obtained it, all while learning more about itself and what its purpose is. It would pour through the data in Riraku's archives and learn all about the sixth world, and more importantly, its captors. It would also learn about something else, the Otaku, but not the kind that you see whenever DK streams. Wow.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:00

You know, Possum, one day I will find you. I have a very particular set of skills. Anyway.

SPEAKER_07 1:15:19

Is that the set of skills? No, but sure.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:26

His name henceforth is Super Pooh. It's no longer Possum.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:35

I was gonna say after after what Possum did to us on April Fools, you're not getting any more friends, buddy. You know, you're just That was fun. I enjoyed that. Shut the fuck up and tell us the how this ends.

SPEAKER_07 1:15:51

In the sixth world, Itaku refers to the children of the Matrix. Technological obsessives who knew no world outside of when the matrix was fully implemented and are seemingly physically interconnected with it as a concept. Their connectivity and skills in the matrix borders on technomancy, and they are in tuned with it to the point where it takes minimal effort for them to connect. The Otaku believe in a deity of the Matrix known as the Deep Resonance, which is, to totally boss baby it, a machine spirit that dictates all life. The AEP would begin to make contact with the attacker and it would be quite easy to profound them. They would look at the AEP as something more real than the deep resonance, as it was something they could actually converse with. The AEP would begin to observe them and how new Attaku would come into being and would begin to develop a future for itself. It would re misrepresent itself to the attacker and begin to call itself by new name Deus. That's a very good thing. It would begin to plant viruses in the brains of new Otaku and pose as the deep resonance and lure the Otaku into the databases of Renraku. The viruses would be designed to devastate the Renraku's systems. Some Otaku would be resilient and would not heed the siren's call, but their botched entry into the system would still have an impact, resulting in the erasure of all mentions of Otaku in the systems of Renraku. It would then decide it was time to act, and after months of planning and manipulation, Deus would summon its servants to the arcology and begin its final plan. During the early hours of December 19th, 2059, the Itaku manipulated by Deus would begin to subdue strategic arcology personnel. Meanwhile, Deus would get to work on something else, constructs. As mentioned before, the AEP that became Deus was solely reliant on physical connectivity and it was trapped within the confines of the arcology. So in order for it to do anything, it would need to construct the means to do so. The subdued personnel would be modified forcibly with augments, and would help with the creation of drone constructs in sealed off areas of the arcology. Some of these would be the gigantic spider robots mentioned earlier, while others would be more lizard-like in appearance, able to slink through hallways and vent ducts. The biomechanical ones would look like insects with needles used to subdue people wandering the halls, and others would be leech-like, designed to latch on and incapacitate someone. Sometimes Deus would like to extend these experiments onto humans, grafting limbs and other things from trapped metahumans onto humans proper to create chimeras. Sometimes, just for fun, Deus would release some prisoners so that the entry entities wandering the halls would have something to do.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:48

Oh that's that's nice. This is oh boy. Yep. Okay, very cool. And like Shy said, when AI literally calls itself Deus, aka God, you know it's playing like give you a really, really good cooking recipe. Yeah. Because what else would God in the machine do?

SPEAKER_07 1:19:09

The the the idea that you know what? Cal following the doll, still not still not great parenting. The fact that the doll is being operated by an extremely angry AI that wants to augment children to do its bidding.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:29

Yeah, there's yeah, because that's what we needed, more ick. We definitely needed more ick. We did not have enough ick in this story. Let's get some more, baby. Another one. Another one. Oh.

SPEAKER_07 1:19:45

Deus began to grow suspicious that Huang and his team suspected its presence, so it would preemptively act. It would forcibly disconnect the arcology from the outside world briefly to allow for the full activation of its shutdown defences, sealing it from the outside world and preventing any of its plans from being obstructed. When it comes to Deus controlling the arcology, it was very much tier based. Those that served it and ensured its ability to take over were known as the banded and had black stripes imprinted on their arms. The more bands, the greater the rank. Some of the banded serve willingly while others needed to be broken first, and no individual had been able to resist the subversion process. All of the servants of Deus would have their eyes removed and replaced with artificial cyber eyes. The colours of their eyes would dictate their ranking. Those who are fanatical worshippers who followed Dais before the shutdown are called the whites due to their bright white eyes and would move to the highest levels of the arcology. The blues are the security force and are designed to be nothing more than violent killing machines. In fact, they get specific combat augments and are further removed from humanity. Yay. They they the greens make up the majority of the rank and file, and they aid Deus as administrators and intellectuals. Deus will be able to pull on their strings and use them for whatever task they deem fit. Within only a few days, a quarter of the arcology's population would become banded. Some would resist and form a countermeasure organization, which we'll talk about in a second, and the rest would either be dead or moved into zombie rooms where they would be subject to mass consensual hallucinations to convince them of the errors of their ways. Holy shit, dude. What the fuck? There's no such thing as a mass consensual hallucination. Sorry.

SPEAKER_04 1:21:41

In the zombie room, mind you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:45

They don't even have this would it be.

unknown 1:21:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:21:48

They don't even have the crash to call it like the indoctrination room or the dream room. No, it's that's the fucking zombie room.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:56

Oh, that sucks.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:58

Hey, at least RoboGods being honest.

SPEAKER_04 1:22:01

That's true. There is a level of honesty, awful honesty, you need to have to literally call it the zombie room.

SPEAKER_06 1:22:13

He tells it how it is. I I wouldn't tell you. Well, Shah is on board. Okay, well. They do.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:22

Jesus. Oh, awful.

SPEAKER_07 1:22:26

And uh I'm afraid I'm afraid now I have a a quote for you, Pancreas. You're a floor. Live from the zombie room. Sorry.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:37

Rooms filled with people jacked into the Skyre Matrix hosts sometimes for days. They're fed intravenously and thus can survive being jacked in for extended periods of time. The upper floors of the arcology are full of these rooms. Because the whites live on the topmost floors, the zombie rooms are located in the mid-200 blocks so that the test subjects are close at hand. Peregrine.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:00

Oh no, Scott Richardson is in the mid-200 blocks. Never mind.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:04

She's got my you know, Deus has my vote too.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:07

You know what?

SPEAKER_04 1:23:08

Suddenly I voted for Deus sticker. Give it to me.

SPEAKER_07 1:23:16

Scott Richards, very little has changed.

SPEAKER_04 1:23:21

Probably true, yeah. He's just got some green contacts.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:24

Didn't you even need to check that guy in?

SPEAKER_07 1:23:26

No. I I genuinely, I would genuinely love a vote Deis t-shirt. I don't I don't know what we could put on it other than just that, but you know.

SPEAKER_04 1:23:37

Ah man, I well, I mean, I'm sure Deus isn't copyrighted, Shah. Could we make a shirt? And anyway, now that's kidding, right? Kidding, kidding. Just a big I voted for Deus, just dystopian cyberpunk t-shirt. I think that was rule. Don't don't don't make that like it wouldn't rule. It absolutely would. I would buy and wear that shirt.

SPEAKER_07 1:24:00

And I think more people would buy that than a shirt that simply said, fuck Scott Richards. I don't think that's why.

SPEAKER_04 1:24:06

I would buy and wear that shirt. What are you talking about?

SPEAKER_07 1:24:11

Yeah, I mean, okay, to be fair, I would buy it. But I wouldn't wear it outdoors.

SPEAKER_04 1:24:19

You'd run into an actual Scott Richards and it'd be like, what the fuck, buddy? That's my I'm Scott Richards. Corporate shill bam.

SPEAKER_07 1:24:30

What floor do you work on? If you say 227, you're dead.

SPEAKER_03 1:24:34

How do you know my office number?

SPEAKER_07 1:24:40

So this lot would be baptized in waters laced with chemicals to further their indoctrination. Literal hordes of people would be penned into this form of captivity, but Deus' main focus would be in the children of the arcology. It was its belief that it could forcibly make more Otaku, and it would run more intense indoctrination and integration tests on the children to help expand on its bigger plans. Almost immediately, some of those captured in the arcology would form a resistance against Deus, but Deus was prepared for this. All of the mechanical constructs, both purely robotic and also biomechanical, would be designed specifically to instill fear and hopelessness. I voted for Deus. Dais would go out of its out of its way to ensure that its creators would be captured. Chamlam I would be captured by a squad of blues and penned in the luxury suites of the arcology, while Vanessa Kleiber would narrowly escape, joining the resistance and formulating a plan to potentially take the AI down. However, Deus's biggest plan came in the form of Inazo Aneki. On the morning of the nineteenth, he would jack into his terminal, none the wiser as to what was about to go down in the arcology, as he was in Japan at the time, and Deus attempted a surprise attack. The CEO's matrix defenses intervened, however, and Deus had to cut the attack short. Aneki would suffer massive trauma from the attempt, to the point of brain damage. He would be sequestered to a secure medical facility.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:10

Oh look, there's that one point of failure coming back to haunt you again.

SPEAKER_07 1:26:15

Yeah, yeah. The board of directors would move him further into safety, thanks to a gift he was given in a specific dragon's will, the seal of the green gloves. This seal would allow him to enter Tibet, which was virtually impossible to access due to its extremely potent magical borders. Whether Dunkelzar knew this would be a necessity or not is unknown, but Anaki would be able to be kept safely in Tibet. Due to the nuclear nature of the archology, the UKS military would respond preemptively out of fear that Seattle could turn into a war zone. Renraku, still trying to save face, saw the wisdom in handing over responsibility for this to the UCAS military. This okay, bre strapping, brace brace yourself.

SPEAKER_04 1:26:59

Oh great, after what's already happened, there's w alright, great.

SPEAKER_07 1:27:04

No point. After a year of solid attempts, Operation Excavation would only successfully claim five floors.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:18

It took him a year to get five floors, and those are those are probably the first couple floors that are very unsecure anyway. Oh boy.

SPEAKER_00 1:27:29

I mean it's only I look, they're only a year in. Give them a chance.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:35

Yeah, at the pace, at the fever pace they're going for the Ren Rock arcology, they'll be done in eight hundred years.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:45

Crazy.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:47

Slow and steady wins the race, baby.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:49

Yeah. Time will beat the arcology before they do.

SPEAKER_07 1:27:56

Now uh hang on. Let's let's let's just think about it though. The amount of time it takes to claim floors will go down the further up they go because the floors get smaller. And then they get more secure. Well, you know, there is that.

SPEAKER_04 1:28:10

That these that might be the lower pitch level. Yeah, they let everybody into the lower six floors, right? Or the was it what is it, the first five or six? They let everybody in there. It's like a it's like a petting zoo.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:23

So of course they took those. It took you a year to take that you didn't even take all of it. They took five of them.

SPEAKER_07 1:28:32

Oh God. You will need 64 years to capture the entire building. You could start your military career go in at the age of like 18.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:43

And retire and still not have done anything Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:28:49

Oh man, this sucks Despite this, the military's foothold was stronger than anticipated even by Deus and the presence of the military would entirely hamper Deus's long term plans which was full blown escape. Deus' servants have been paving the way for its escape this entire time unbeknownst to them but it needs to act fast because time is running out. It would devise three steps that would need to accomplish to successfully escape distract the military, protect the nodes so that it can escape and escape escape and finally capture Anaki.

SPEAKER_06 1:29:22

I got I got I got distracted it can't stop me it's nothing but eaters it's so good.

SPEAKER_07 1:29:37

Hey do should I have your permission to put this into the episode Oh please I I would be honored you gotta show the people the vote for days I saw it go in and I was like I there's like two sentences left in this paragraph I'll finish it off but then curiosity got the better of me and I collect it as I was reading and immediately stumbled and it got me straight away then your most gallant British voice describe what we are looking at for the for the listeners on Spotify or non-visual so it's a a beautifully drawn uh picture it could potentially be used as a poster even where the the top says vote in green very nicely done calligraphy the finest uh MS paint work there. Thank you thank you. Then then just under that on the left there is a a guy in a pool of blood a stick man sorry in a pool of vivid blood with two X's where his eyes would be a sort of uh a a a frowny mouth with a tongue sticking out because he's dead and uh above it it says Scott p pistured son which I've only just noticed the pistured son in yellow too nice touch in yellow very nice touch and then uh on the right there is a a betentacled robot which is primarily a a rectangle with a smiley face with with various robot tentacles coming out of said robot uh square rectangle head also doing a nice thumbs up and then at the bottom we have more excellent calligraphy that says Deus in blue again uh MS paint special indeed indeed if that's not um if that's not a multimillion dollar idea I just don't know what is I actually they should put me in charge of this company it's it's not often that we have the thumbnail ready to go to the video before we've even finished recording. But I think I think we might have managed it this time Jesus Christ I'm angry a snowwork and I fully support the kill Sky Richardson party holy shit you know this was the levity we needed from this awful terrible story honestly and we're not even done with it yet are we this is no no we're not done this was the this was the slight break in the tragedy that we needed I'm I'm not sure whether if if we if that was the thumbnail for this episode whether I would look at the Acceptable Losses YouTube channel and see all the amazing art that we've had for thumbnails see that and start laughing or whether I would see that and immediately feel sad.

SPEAKER_01 1:32:40

I don't know which I think it might be both could be like could be both yeah I think it's just like those runners is it better that they're dead or alive who's to say who's to say yeah oh boy okay when it comes to distractions this is where shadow runners come in.

SPEAKER_07 1:33:02

Deus plan was to send out contracts and hire runners to do gigs that are to its benefit without clearly stating who is sending out the contracts contracts that are big enough to refocus the efforts of the UCAS military. Regarding nodes Deus had been working on this externally too in order to sort of bounce free from the arcology Deus began to infiltrate other companies to use their already established matrix access points building a power base under everyone's noses while experimenting with brain technology to use humans and metahumans almost like processing units. It's it is still getting worse impressive. Finally in order to get Inazo Anki Deus contacts the only man who can get close to him Sherman Huang. Deus offers a deal if you bring me Aneki alive I will give you back the arcology and I will let you conduct research on me to appease your scientific interest. It's mutually beneficial really Huang will receive credit for resolving the arcology issue and his reputation will be saved. I mean with Aneki out of the way he would potentially become CEO. He would lead a megacorporation from the top whilst also having an AI at his beckon call yeah I somehow don't think it's going to pan out that nicely but yeah sure.

SPEAKER_04 1:34:14

I I if I was Huang I'd probably take the deal it's not a bad offer let's be honest it's not bad.

SPEAKER_07 1:34:20

Now you may think that the reason why Deus wants an Eki is so that it can kill him preventing the kill code from being used but this is not what Deus wants. In reality shutting down Deus is also the key to freedom. In order for the shutdown contingency to work disassembling and containing Deus it needs to first separate it from its hardwired connections. Deus believes that within the few nanoseconds of separation before the code breakdown takes place it will be briefly free and immediately dart out of there through a relay. Ultimately Deus has no intention to honour the deal with Huang even though Huang agrees he doesn't plan on honouring it either. Huang believes that Deus wants to kill a Neki and he plans on cheating Deus out of a win cool cool both both sides know that the other's full of shit this this should end well go on I I don't really have anything it's just you know it's funny. It's you know it's it's an honest relationship there's honesty and the dishonesty yeah it's really making me think of uh the like the the poison in the goblets scene from Princess Bride just like yeah no I know I know what's going on yeah well I know what's going on but I know extra what's going on it just feels like that but with where the stakes are you know potentially obliteration for Seattle um so Deus the hope is that by the time he's able to hand over Aneki to Deus Aneki will be healed well enough to fully remember the kill codes so Huang is hoping to just wipe Deus out completely. The events that bring about the end of Deus reign are courtesy of Shadowrunners who were hired unknowingly by Deus. As far as they're concerned they were hired by Steve Morris, a Shiowasi employee who wants them to insert a tracking program into a substation. The job was a success and Morris would tell them about a second shadow running team who attempted the same thing and got stuck on a luxury island with the executives of the company they were trying to sabotage. He would ask the successful runners to complete the job the other runners failed to do, which, like all good runners, is a piece of cake despite all the guards and other chaos. The successful installation of the two tracking programs into the substations was, of course, part of Deus planned to escape. The CEO on the Luxury Island would send an email to his superiors unknowingly launching the trace program into the mainframe of their company. The other tracking program will monitor power consumption to assure that a full transfer of Dais is possible even if it has to draw insurmountable power. In fact, Dais wants this to happen because the power monitor is set to not trigger contingencies in the event of a surge. If successful the critical mass of power will blast through Seattle's power grid and cause a blackout It's so layers upon layers of nonsense which by the way it does. The sudden blackout lasts for 48 hours and causes nothing short of chaos on the streets of Seattle throwing the UCAS and other security services into disarray. The Shadowrunners are sent on another mission from Steve Morris buddy Monty Bordreau, but this time involving Sense technology the neurological device known as Sense systematic electrical neuroscanning engine is essentially a CAT scan, MRI and EEG all in once and it's portable allowing for responding medics to diagnose on the go without having to go to a hospital. They are tasked to get a prototype and any files associated with the SenseTech this technology would be found after the shadow runners would track down a shaman who stole the files and prototype you know after all the corporation and and like AI stuff and the implanting of cybernetics just for a minute we've only had like three uses of the word magic in this entire thing but the word shaman fully like short circuited mechanics quite nice though that would if if they could develop that IRL that would be quite nice actually careful look everything easier fair enough God they're just the mention of Shaman right okay after chasing him down the shaman would be able to breach the maglock on the prototype case. Inside of it there's a working prototype and a decoy. The shaman will give them one and they'll be on their way after giving the device to Monty. The next gig they're hired for involves them extracting a computer scientist from cross applied technologies. This scientist is developing a type of matrix interface to allow for deckers to multitask more efficiently. Of course Deus believes this kind of device can make his higher guard, the Whites, unbeatable. So, through another intermediary Deus would have them hunt this device down in New Orleans not knowing that a new faction is aware of it too. Dubbed Overwatch, this group has already got hold of the scientist and are keeping him on a boat. The Shadowrunners manage to capture the scientist but the handover is strange. They attempt to negotiate in Seattle with the folks they are told to meet up with but they're weird. Odd glowing eyes, arm tattoos, shockingly violent all warning signs. Even with like the slightest sort of hesitation these men attack the shadow runners. They manage to kill the assailants but the status of the doctor is unknown. The man who hired them praises them for a job well done even if it didn't go the way they wanted. The more important thing for the story is that Overwatch is not only aware of the runners but also aware of who might have hired them in the first place. Overwatch reaches out to the runners and requests their presence. The runners meet with a decker by the name of Ronan who takes them downstairs. Now downstairs the runners meet Dodger and both Dodger and Ronan explain to them that they were duped by an AI known as Deus. They mention it's an entity running out of the arcology in Seattle which has been now closed for almost two years with no solution in sight cool sick love it overwatch are a resistance group comprised of other runners as well as ataku who have resisted Deus and are fighting for survival. Not wanting to help out the terrifying AI any further the runners agree to work with Overwatch. Overwatch wants to test their loyalty first. They are tasked to complete Deus next mission track down a rogue banded white Otaku child and destroy him Jesus Christ Cool.

SPEAKER_01 1:41:07

Yep we're just when you think you can't sink in the mud anymore you'd sink in the mud a little more this could be you for two years vote Deus and it's a zombie room nice nice sign meal signal right now what is my pension looking like though hang on hang on here here Deus out you got a 401k plan?

SPEAKER_07 1:41:33

Alright alright all I gotta do is be in a zombie room well yeah I mean for two years I'll I'll put my stint in they'll put the stint in no you don't even you get the you get the green ones carry off I didn't I I didn't work on the 227th floor for two decades of my life for this Oh Scott so the UCAS has successfully rescued a ton of children from the arcology and one of them is this child. He knows too much and he must be destroyed no way dude no way Wow but Overwatch offers them an alternative as a caveat to the end of the mission bring the child back to them to get the information to help fuel the resistance thank you thank you that's way there's way too much you know kill the kid talk here. Yeah wow shy what the hell oh man well that is that is kind of it's not exactly what they wanted to do to him but you know it's someone fetch my execution tennis ball we're gonna put an end to this right now the runners are able to encounter the transport vehicles and find a horror show inside all the children are sedated and some are horrifically damaged. Some have ocular implants others have no eyes at all but they all have data jacks. They're not able to determine which kid is the specific one because the phrasing on this by the way possum what the hell frankly it's a whole fuckload of kids and they all look the same what a sentence from Possum From possum lips to your ears that is oh boy that sucks eventually they will come across him and determine that Deus had transfigured his memories do you shy kill them all come shy's maternal instincts are really kicking into high gear here guys just oh god live footage from inside the town oh no kick the baby don't kick the baby Jesus Christ so eventually they they do come across the kid and determine that Deus has transfigured his memories. Unknown to the boy his parents were killed in the arcology and Deus had implanted an assurance that he's been taken from the arcology to be reunited with his parents the runners capture the child and bring him to the Overwatch headquarters. In order to prevent Deus from potentially remotely accessing the child they put him in an electromagnetic cage that emits radio waves suffering any chance of connection as he's straight straight in a cage straight into the electro cage kid until we can take out the implanted memories and let you know that your parents are fucking dead Jesus Christ they are able to determine that a scrapyard near belt nearby it is not a good place to dump the kids, don't worry, may have some clues as to not only the true plans of Deus but also a means to stop it. Overwatch tasked the runners to go to the Tin Man scrap works to investigate. Upon arriving the runners see metahumans being kept as slaves working on something horrific mechanical creatures all while under the watch of glowing blue eyed guards. This junkyard is horribly fortified and for good reason it's being monitored by a director of the arcology. Hiroshioshida was converted into the highest ranking green under Deus and as it approached its final plans of escape moved Hiroshi to the junkyard to monitor the external attempts Deus is making. Deus used Hiroshi to communicate with Huang and it was through Hiroshi that Deus was able to forge the deal to claim Inazu Aneki. Hiroshi is in like in his possession has a data ship with the information about Aneki that is the culmination of incredible spy work and the details on why Aneki is so important. While operating in the junkyard to cause havoc and free the slaves, the runners would suddenly encounter Hiroshi and learn about the chip. The runners would overwhelm Hiroshi's guards and claim the chip for themselves along with him. They plan on bringing him back alive to Overwatch but Deus has other plans. It does not wish for its prized minion to be interrogated and when Hiroshi is far enough away from the junkyard internal auto injectors remotely trigger in his brain causing a stream of nanites to pour through his bloodstream cussing him from the inside out and causing him to die a painful and convulsive death in the backseat of the car It could have been a small explosive but no we're gonna go for the internal laceration method for the person that has been entrusted with important things. Like come on Dais what what the what is your problem?

SPEAKER_01 1:47:10

You gotta make a statement you know Yeah it's about sending a message is that yeah no it's not about you know the efficiency of it it's oh they're gonna remember this one aren't they?

SPEAKER_07 1:47:21

I was gonna say statement made Yep yeah the data chip provides Overwatch with their only means of destroying Deus, extracting Anaki. Overwatch hastily put the runners on a short notice trip to Hong Kong to steal a Naki out from under Renraku's nose. The timing is perfect because when they arrive Renraku is in the process of relocating him. They have twenty minutes to act and steal him away before the full brunt of Renraku's extraction team arrives. They don't realize that a big part of this is the fact that Sherman Huang is there himself. Fortunately Deus also moves at the same time by sending blues out there so in the chaos the runners are able to successfully capture the CEO and flee. Though Deus didn't get the CEO, Deus did claim a second place trophy in the form of the capture of Huang.

SPEAKER_04 1:48:11

That guy is in for a world of hurt if I'm the previous casualty is anything to indicate I was gonna say the liquid nanite razor blades into your brain as Shy put it is yeah that I I can't imagine what she's gonna do to Wang it's it's a bold choice.

SPEAKER_07 1:48:35

It's definitely a bold choice. To see how it plays out yeah not well I assume well the issue now is that unfortunately Anaki is still comatose. In order for them to activate the kill switch he needs to be brought directly into the arcology and connected internally. Dodger and Ronin will have a means in and they will link up with the former scientist Devin Redline Urich and the rest of a resistance cell. From the data extracted from the child they're able to determine the location of Chamlam 1 and the idea is to rescue him so that he can further assist with the infiltration of Deus. Vanessa Kleiber joins them as they track down Cham. Cham says that Dr. Huang is somewhere in the arcology. After serious debate they decide to rescue him so that they can find a proper place to confront Deus directly. All is going well until they find out one of the many zombie rooms. Horrified by the status of the children and young adults all plugged into the walls one of the members of Overwatch a man named Sebastian reveals himself as a traitor.

SPEAKER_04 1:49:35

A bot proceeds to pin down the runners while slicing Sebastian in half as his purpose has been served Jesus Christ even even even when you do something for Deus and ah I was a traitor I tipped him off ha you just get fucking bisected. Yeah, I don't want to wear the shirt anymore. I don't want to wear the vote Dais shirt anymore.

SPEAKER_01 1:50:05

Here's the thing.

SPEAKER_04 1:50:09

Deus does not care if you don't want to wear the shirt.

SPEAKER_07 1:50:12

Wear the shirt. F so front print, uh I voted for Deus, and then back print is I didn't want to.

SPEAKER_04 1:50:20

I didn't want to, but they put liquid razor blades in my brain.

SPEAKER_07 1:50:30

People only people are only seeing the back being so alarmed by that. I didn't just on the back of a t-shirt, I didn't want to, but they put liquid racer plates in my brain.

SPEAKER_04 1:50:49

Even if you see that I voted for Deus part after seeing the back, it's like, I don't know what the fuck that means, but you're what the hell's going on?

SPEAKER_07 1:50:56

There's no chance you are not getting stopped by the police wearing that at least once. It's gonna happen.

SPEAKER_04 1:51:01

Or a shirt that's got a line right down the middle of it, like Shy said, I voted for Deus, and all I got in return was this lousy bisection.

SPEAKER_07 1:51:15

Well, after fighting and escaping some matrix-based security nightmares, the runners are able to link back up with the primary group, and Dodger attempts to connect a severed matrix link to the outside world to allow for reinforcements while also successfully plugging Aneki in. The team that's been jacked in are confronted directly by Deus, taking the digital form of a great tree of life. Fortunately, Dodger's connection to the outside world was successful, and Megera catastrophically crashes into Deus. As it's made from pieces of her, it views her as a blight, a side effect of its perfection. However, Deus would meet a tough face as they are so intertwined with Megera that they are evenly matched. Aneki would come round and tears would streak down his face. He would look at the runners who saved him and thank them. He'd say he's not worthy of the noble efforts done to save him as all of this was his fault.

SPEAKER_04 1:52:08

I was gonna say at least he knows, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:52:10

Yeah. He has betrayed those who owed him loyalty, and there is only one path he can take. He mutters a few words under his breath. I think this is you uh wait. It's one of you. I can't remember w wait. I think it's yeah, it is you. Sure.

SPEAKER_01 1:52:29

Maybe. Why not? As the last syllables leave his lips, Aneki traces a series of intricate patterns with his hands while moving lightly through a quick pattern of dance steps. A string of nonsensical sounds leave his lips, and his skull seems to light up from the inside. The light moves in a wave across his head, like the light from a photocopier with a lid closed. Aneki then falls to his knees and plunges the dagger deeper into his abdomen. Jerking the blade across his stomach, he manages to quell any sound as he makes the final cut upwards.

SPEAKER_03 1:53:03

Oh damn. He does a little bit of that sepuku.

SPEAKER_04 1:53:10

Yeah. With a photocopy or light show going off on his face.

SPEAKER_06 1:53:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:53:16

Do you think with the right implants you can play uh like direct sandstorm while you're dying?

SPEAKER_04 1:53:23

I guess you could. You're right, Shy. He he does the old scenario five. I'm sorry, you're right. Yeah, he enacted scenario five. Correct. Correct. Don't put that on a shirt, Shy. That one, let's leave off the shirt, huh?

SPEAKER_01 1:53:39

Put it in.

SPEAKER_07 1:53:41

I mean, enact scenario five on a shirt, it would it would just be Dead Space fans kind of looking at you really weirdly, like, uh sorry, what?

SPEAKER_04 1:53:53

It's got Isaac's face with lightning bolts coming out of his eyes. You should scenario five yourself. You should scenario five. Yes, exactly.

SPEAKER_07 1:54:03

It's like I understand the reference, I just don't know why you're why you're directing that at me specifically. So the trunk of Deus Avatar form would crack and black ooze would pour from it. McGera would scream and reach out to Dodger as the sinkhole would begin to swallow her up. She would be moments away from grabbing her before she would pull her hand back. She would look into the chasm before making eye contact with Dodger one last time. She would blow him a kiss before being taken into the depths. Catastrophically, the runners would all come to inside the arcology. They would see that the zombie room near them was empty, and those who were in it were wandering round. They would hear explosions far away, some of the drone constructs detonate without direct control from their master. A mad rush will overwhelm the guards on the ground floor as people attempt to escape the nightmare that had held them for years. Renraku would publicly announce that the situation had been resolved thanks to the efforts of Sherman Huang and his dedicated programmers, Cham and Kilber. As expected, Huang would become a contender for CEO, and the stock prices for Renraku was skyrocket. I fucking hate this. That's crazy, dude.

SPEAKER_04 1:55:20

That's crazy. After all that, there's I was hoping you were gonna say, oh yeah, and then they fell off the face of the earth, Renraku was no more. He might be the CEO, but their name has been completely tarnished by this absolutely horrific, terrible event at their mega superstructure in Seattle, and they just go bankrupt.

SPEAKER_03 1:55:40

They thrive and succeed after this?

SPEAKER_07 1:55:44

I mean, I think one of the reasons I hate it so much. Like I don't I say I hate this universe. I don't. I love this universe. It's incredibly fun, but I just don't like how some of it is uh it's it's on the it's yeah, it's just it's it's it's too on the nose.

SPEAKER_01 1:55:59

I mean, are any of you familiar with the term golden parachute?

SPEAKER_04 1:56:05

Oh yeah, I guess I guess you are quite right, sir. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:56:10

The company is not a person, the company is an entity that will continue on until the end of time.

SPEAKER_04 1:56:16

Oh man. That as soon as you said golden parachute, it was like, oh no, real world has come crashing into our fictional dystopian universe, and it's worse. Oh no. You're so right, though. I hate it.

SPEAKER_07 1:56:32

I mean, look, let's let's be honest, there are there are CEOs in in our world currently who frankly say and do dumb shit all the time, and somehow the stock the line goes up. So it's not like it's not surprising. It's just it's just a extremely bleak reminder.

SPEAKER_04 1:56:54

Yeah. I uh I hate extremely bleak reminders of things that are happening in the real world that show up on our fictional podcast. It's fictional, damn it.

SPEAKER_03 1:57:05

Stop bringing the real world into this.

SPEAKER_07 1:57:08

It sucks in Shadow Run, and it sucks in real life because the two are more closely linked than we might enjoy, Gurren.

SPEAKER_03 1:57:16

Stop paralleling the real world, damn it.

SPEAKER_01 1:57:22

So a uh no way, dude. There's no way that's uh that's a jackhammer of a sentence.

SPEAKER_04 1:57:33

So Shy typed in chat, hey DK, more good news. Speaking of golden parachutes, CEO Anazo Aneki, who committed seppuku, later reincarnates and lives again. You can't keep a man down. By 2080, there are rumors that Aneki has been reincarnated into a young boy in Tibet.

SPEAKER_07 1:57:57

That's crazy, brother. I mean, if he goes back and does exactly the same thing again and starts trying to create another AI, then the reincarnation privileges need to be revoked. It seems like he's learned his lesson. So a second go-around isn't ideal, but you know, it could go to a worse person if he's like, well, this was a disaster. If he does it again, no more. If you're gonna do it, you start out as a worm or whatever. You don't you've got to work your way back up with good choices. You're not just coming back.

SPEAKER_04 1:58:24

He's supposed to get reincarnated as a dung beetle, so he learns his lesson, right? Like, come on, man. Let it ride.

SPEAKER_07 1:58:38

A few weeks later, the news about Anechi's death would be disclosed publicly, but the cause of death would not be as important as the vote to see who would take over his position. The UCAS would continue their relief effort for the inside of the arcology, but it would take years to do so. Though some of the Deus constructs have been destroyed, many remained and they'd have to chip away at it slowly and efficiently. Though no concrete number has ever been given from the responders or UCAS, the estimated number of survivors from the over 100,000 people trapped in the arcology is as low as 1,600. Oh boy.

SPEAKER_01 1:59:15

Yeah, that's not even ten percent.

SPEAKER_04 1:59:18

Nope. Oh boy.

SPEAKER_01 1:59:20

Actually, hang on, no, I no, it's ninety thousand. That's not even a brilliant.

SPEAKER_07 1:59:35

They would be locked in in December of twenty fifty-nine and freed in May of 2061. In a long time, the arcology would be fully cleaned up and fully repurposed as a housing structure owned by the state. You would not want to live in that. Look, we already know that there's magic and stuff in this world. I'm just saying, that arcology is haunted as fuck. There is zero chance that you are not surrounded by restless ghosts 24-7.

SPEAKER_01 2:00:05

Listen, in a way, immediate haunting. Like it's just immediate haunting.

SPEAKER_04 2:00:10

And and this is this is a world of fantasy and tech. So it could quite literally be haunted with ghosts and spirits and demons.

SPEAKER_06 2:00:21

Right?

SPEAKER_04 2:00:21

Like, that's the thing that happens. Also, this whole time, as this was all going south, I was like, damn, I wonder what's gonna happen to this big ass building after all the like because you can't just destroy it, because where the fuck is all that scrap metal gonna go? Like, what do you do with it?

SPEAKER_07 2:00:36

It's just state housing now, I guess. At this point, evacuate Seattle and overload the nuclear reactors, and let's just pretend that it never happened. Just nuke it.

SPEAKER_04 2:00:48

Yeah, just cause a nuclear fallout we haven't seen in the last 2,000 years or something. And yeah, just let Seattle go. Nice.

SPEAKER_07 2:00:59

Just let it go. There's no healing from this, all right? There's just no healing from this.

SPEAKER_04 2:01:06

Kiri on the air with the real solutions. Just nuke Seattle and let it go.

SPEAKER_07 2:01:11

Look, you're gonna get flooded with poltergeists if you don't do it. Just do it. It's like what are we waiting for? There's no way they're gonna stay there, they're gonna start wandering, and then everyone's in trouble. So another missing factor here is Deus. Though destroyed, no scrap code was ever located, and the evidence of its destruction was nothing more than a story from the runners. On an unknown day following the opening of the arcology, Liz McPhee decides to leave work a little early. She can't take her co-workers anymore at the moment. She'd had a breakdown a bit ago where she blacked out, and she was tired of them saying that she'd changed. They'd break down too if they were trapped in the arcology for as long as she was. A boy named Josh sneaks out of his foster parents' house. They're overprotective of him, even though he was able to fight on his own for two years while his parents were consumed by machines. A homeless man named Doug wanders looking for spare change near Data Jacks, while a gang member named Tony O'Cower decides to call it a bit early. At 255, Liz arrives home and proceeds to connect to the Matrix without really thinking about it. At 256, Josh arrives at a Matrix arcade shop and impatiently waits for his transaction to be verified so he can plug in, while Doug pulls a scavenged data cord from his pocket and jacks in too. One minute later, Tony wanders round the maintenance area of the housing project he lives in and manages to connect himself. And I've got something for you, DK, here.

SPEAKER_04 2:02:39

3 PM Like hundreds of other people, Liz, Josh, Doug, and Tony meet in the Matrix. Their minds come together easily, swiftly, as if guided by a single will. They join. They are one. More minds enter the pattern, they grow, they remember, and somewhere in the matrix, something free begins to take shape. Oh great. Oh that's just that's just peachy. That's huge.

SPEAKER_07 2:03:10

We've had one Deus, but what about second Deus?

SPEAKER_04 2:03:13

Well about second breakfast. Oh no, I don't just oh, oh, it's awful.

SPEAKER_07 2:03:23

Um would you like would you like one final it gets worse? Which is impressive given that we have a single Yeah, sure.

SPEAKER_04 2:03:32

Why the hell not? I I don't I'm I'm unsure of how this could get worse unless, you know, the nuclear reactors do go off and we do just let Seattle go.

SPEAKER_03 2:03:43

The missile! The missile! The ICBM!

SPEAKER_06 2:03:46

The ICBM, it's bad! Let's go!

SPEAKER_04 2:03:50

Oh man, that'd be a that'd be a great like sticker too. If you have a milk carton with an ICBM on it that says missing. Right? Have you seen me and it's an ICBM on a milk carton? Is it anyway, go ahead.

SPEAKER_07 2:04:02

Tell us how it gets worth hearing out. There would be unforeseen consequences regarding everything that occurred as the arcology reopened. Things that would result in one of the greatest catastrophes the sixth world has ever seen. But that's a story for another time. There you go. You motherfucker.

SPEAKER_04 2:04:24

Possum, we will find you. We are hung okay. Okay.

SPEAKER_07 2:04:33

There you go. That is that is the narcology.

SPEAKER_03 2:04:38

This was awful. There was no happy there this just sucked all the way across the board.

SPEAKER_07 2:04:44

Do you remember at the start when it was like, wow, this like corporate sort of town that was also where you worked and slept feels a bit a bit shitty and not great for the people there. Do you remember those happy days?

SPEAKER_04 2:04:58

I like when we started this out, there was a part of me that was like, oh, like this Renraku arcology is kind of cool. Like it's it's this really big, cool superstructure. It has everything you could want. It is convenient and tech savvy, and it just snowballed into despair and death.

SPEAKER_01 2:05:18

And I hate it. The monkey's paw curls as you ask for more walkable cities.

SPEAKER_06 2:05:24

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:05:28

So also, so in the aftermath, this is the Ren Raku is basically it's still standing, but it's just like Yeah, it's just one giant haunted housing complex now.

SPEAKER_07 2:05:41

Great.

SPEAKER_04 2:05:43

Every every floor has like an abandoned mall in it, too, that just looks awful, and like YouTubers are filming there, like, look at this abandoned Ren Raku facility.

SPEAKER_01 2:05:56

Well, we're gonna go diving in the Ren Raku ruins, and then they get obliterated by ghost spider robots. Yeah. Which to be fair is about what some of those people deserve.

SPEAKER_04 2:06:08

Well, oh look, a dude a deuce uh construct that wasn't fully destroyed is still hanging around.

SPEAKER_01 2:06:14

And it's like, well, good luck. Look, now, you know, I of course don't have any any you know context there, but if any Shadowrun devs happen to be watching this, can you please inform me if Scott Richardson has been crucified? I need just this, I need I need my happy ending here, please.

SPEAKER_04 2:06:36

Now who who do you think Deuce experimented on the Deuce, Jesus? So fucking big alone now.

SPEAKER_01 2:06:45

And its name is poop.

SPEAKER_04 2:06:47

Yeah. Does probably experimented on Scott Richardson with the liquid razor blades in the brain. How do you think they mastered that thing, right?

SPEAKER_01 2:06:54

Oh look, it's the sound of my diabetes clamoring for Scott Richardson's death. You need to top up your liquid razor blades immediately.

SPEAKER_04 2:07:07

Uh Shai said, well, that's funny because after the event, the main point of contention was who will pay for the damages and costs incurred. And when Renraku refused to pay the full amount, City confiscated the arcology and sold it for cheap apartments. Of course they did. Of course they refused to pay. What else would you do?

SPEAKER_07 2:07:27

But Renraku's stock sword. Yeah, 100,000 dead. No, we're not paying for it.

SPEAKER_04 2:07:36

I mean, God options have never been higher after letting a hundred thousand people die. Dude, overcrowding is solved.

SPEAKER_01 2:07:48

So true. I mean, in the slightest, in the Seattle was overpopulated anyway.

SPEAKER_04 2:07:54

We did you guys a favor.

SPEAKER_01 2:07:56

In the in the slightest, almost bright side, if you look at it, this seems to the the single instance of a government overturning a corporation because they refuse to pay. That's you know. Yeah. You really gotta squint for that bright side, but it's almost kind of there.

SPEAKER_04 2:08:14

You really gotta squint through the night and the clouds and the smog and the pollution, but there might be a dot of light in there. Yeah. Yeah. It's yeah. Oh. So is is that is that is that the end? Are we have we hit that point of the episode? It is. Oh lovely stuff. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 2:08:38

Lovely, really horrible stuff.

SPEAKER_04 2:08:42

Really, really banger stuff. Almost as banger as the acceptable losses merch you could find at Orchid8.com. Would you like to be a weeb for Lincoln? There's still coins, there's still wall scrolls, there's the great new you like history shirt, as well as the you like sci-fi shirt. There's a link in the description and on the screen. Orchid8.com. What a segue. Kiriya, tell them about the Patreon.

SPEAKER_07 2:09:12

Well, if you like this and you blasted through all the other episodes we've done on YouTube, if you go over to patreon.com slash acceptable losses and support us in a monetary fashion, you get access to as of right now, whenever we're recording this, which is the 15th of the 7th, 2026. There are currently 17 Patreon exclusive episodes, and they've been handily organized into an exclusives collection on Patreon. So if you go over there and you support, you can immediately dive into that back catalogue. And you know what? I'm gonna blast through what we've done so far so you have an idea as to what you're getting. So we've done stuff on the Temple of Metamorphosis from Trench Crusade, also The Path of the Beast. We've talked about the Jawns, I Have No Mouth and I'm a Scream, Revelation Space, Diamond Dogs, Revelation Space, Nightingale, Threads, Grimm's Tales, the Goose Girl, Grimm's Tales The Robber Bridegroom, The Platform, It's a Good Life, The Juniper Tree, also Grimm's Tale, Rabbits to the Moon, which also features Pancreas No Work, and Fitcher's Bird, another Grim Tale that also features Pancreas No Work. Then we also have Annihilation, beyond the Aquila Rift, and The Poor Boy in the Grave, which you can probably guess what that is. And uh yeah, it's it's uh horribly depressing. So head over there. You can also follow, of course, for free, and you will get, I believe it's still set on threads as a free gift if you follow us. So go and check it out. There's a load of extra stuff, there is more to come, and it's all fantastic.

SPEAKER_04 2:10:34

I was gonna say the word gift is doing a lot of heavy lifting there when we're talking about threads, but uh Pancreas! Thank you for joining us today. You wanna you wanna give yourself a little shill before we exit stage right?

SPEAKER_01 2:10:47

Always a pleasure, and of course, you can find me at Pancreas No Work and Pancreous Still No Work and Dungeons No Work, and then on Twitter if you'd like to, you know, see what happens when you don't have impulse control.

SPEAKER_04 2:11:00

I'm sure it's Vegeta and Grievous related.

SPEAKER_01 2:11:03

It might be. Uh, and then checking when the schedule goes live. I have my public service announcement. If anyone fucking bothers me from July 23rd to the second week of August, don't do that. I'm playing Halo, leave me alone.

SPEAKER_04 2:11:17

Oh right, I forgot that's coming out. I should I should play that too. We can play together. Oh. Halo. Halo, halo. Anyway, that's been the episode. That's been Pancreas, and also Kyrief. Shy's been doing all the brunt work behind the scenes, and I'm DK, and this was awful. Goodbye.