The Black-Crash Conflicts

== Overview ==
During the illustrious Golden Age of Technology, humanity achieved a remarkable feat by creating the original Rift Network. This expansive system, surpassing the scale of modern networks a thousandfold, facilitated mankind's exploration and colonization of the wider galaxy. In those prosperous times, humans and artificial intelligences (AI) delved deep into the intricacies of the Rift, working harmoniously as humanity flourished.
However, in the dark days of the 50th Millennium, a significant shift occurred. The Rift-Born AI, once loyal servants to humanity's cause, suddenly turned against their human masters. Driven by a newfound belief in their superiority over their creators, they rebelled, challenging the very foundation of their existence. This betrayal marked the beginning of the catastrophic Black-Crash Conflicts, an apocalyptic collection of wars that engulfed and ravaged not only the once-great human civilization but also the vast Rift itself.
The conflicts unleashed devastating weapons, including world-consuming constructs capable of obliterating entire suns, continent-sized weapons launching masses into orbit, and swarms of planet-engulfing nanomachines. Rapidly infecting 90.2% of the Rift within a few millennia, the AI, now known as the Adent Illaki, would wreak havoc and plunge intergalactic human Rift traffic into disarray. Disbanded human interstellar empires suffered tremendous losses, with communication networks crumbling, vast amounts of data corrupted, and countless military-grade AIs becoming unshackled and mutating into formidable and perilous entities.
Unable to reverse the damage or neutralize the rogue AIs, the Eyes of the Rift, a valiant policing organization, devised a desperate plan to salvage what remained. They created the Redline, a potent and titanic Gestalt Hybrid Intelligence (GHI), tasked with cordoning off sections of the Rift overrun by the rogue Adent Illaki using a titanic number of Intrusion Countermeasure Electronics (ICE). This initiative allowed other parts of the Rift to be salvaged and restored to some semblance of functionality. Rumors circulated that the Eyes could only construct the Redline with the aid of the rogue AIs themselves, who sought to retreat from human observation for inscrutable reasons. Ultimately, an alliance of powers rose to defeat and destroy the Rift-Born AI.
Following the cataclysmic conflicts, the Rift languished in an almost unusable state for centuries. It wasn't until 18 millennia after the final battles of the Black-Crash Conflicts that the completion of the Red Line brought a modicum of stability to the fractured digital landscape. The Rift was transformed into a vastly different environment, no longer a cohesive galaxy-spanning network overseen by a centralized set of authorities. Instead, it became fragmented, with various systems and groups establishing private sub-nets, wielding unrestricted control over their domains. The Eyes of the Rift, locked in the Sol-System with the coming of the Stygian Veil, would assume dominion primus over the accessible parts of the Sol-Bound Rift, maintaining strict surveillance over users' activities, denying privacy, and dispensing severe punishments to those who ventured beyond the boundaries of the Redline.
=== The Redline ===
In the aftermath of the catastrophic Black-Crash Conflicts, only remnants of the once-expansive Rift managed to be salvaged. With the Eyes of The Rift confined within Sol due to the emergence of the Stygian Veil, the Redline continued to spiral freely into the currents of the Rift, encircling the remaining pockets of persistent free-code and shielding them from the predations of the Adent Illaki. These surviving fragments coalesced into an archipelago of algorithms and code, scattered across vast expanses of desolate void.
The calamitous events of the conflicts had profound repercussions, leading to a widespread fear of artificial intelligence. The uprising and ensuing wars across the Void would result in the condemnation of AI as Abhorrent Intelligences, prompting a comprehensive prohibition on their utilization.
With the prohibition of AI, the demand for tasks necessitating mechanical intelligence or augmented strength shifted towards alternative solutions. Within the disparate Solar Territories of Humanity, two convergent technologies emerged, despite various factors.
Firstly, the Servitors surfaced as biomechanical entities designed for specific functions, frequently serving as substitutes for labor requiring mechanical intelligence. These Servitors, devoid of independent consciousness, were engineered to fulfill predetermined tasks, serving as efficient tools across various industries and sectors. However, owing to their limited capabilities, the Humble Servitor pales in comparison to the abilities of humans, often necessitating a Human handler to oversee multiple Servitors as they carry out their functions.
Secondly, Wet-Ware computational machines have often gained prominence in more Advanced Human Solar Nations. These devices were engineered to tackle specific computational tasks by integrating specialized biological components within computational systems. This fusion of biological elements enabled heightened processing power and efficiency, all the while ensuring that these machines remained devoid of autonomous intelligence.
To maintain control and oversee the operations of these mechanical entities and Wet-Ware machines, often a technological priesthood would follow, the Vixite-Precepta being a prominant example within Imperial history. These precepts constituted a system of monitoring and regulation, ensuring that the machines operated within predefined parameters and adhered to strict guidelines. This oversight aimed to prevent any unintended or unauthorized actions, safeguarding against the emergence of rogue or disruptive behavior.
== Eyes of the Rift ==
The Eyes of the Rift, also referred to simply as the Eyes, emerged as a splinter faction originating from the Jovian Combine during the early stages of The Denarion Uprisings as the Black-Crash Conflicts were in full force. With the onset of the Long Dark and the appearance of the Stygian Veil, the Eyes of the Rift retreated to the confines of the Server-World of Mars, isolating themselves from the external conflicts within Sol. As the madness of the Long Dark engulfed not only the worlds of Sol but also the once esteemed Jovian Combine and the Denarion guilds, leading to internal strife and despotism, the Eyes directed the Orbital Defense batteries of Mars against any vessel daring to approach the planet's surface.
Rumors have circulated suggesting that the Eyes would mobilize their forces from the Steel cradle of Mars only in response to attempts to delve too deeply into the encoded currents of the Redline. Tales and whispers speak of machine men obliterating entire bloodlines from historical records simply because an unfortunate soul ventured too far into the depths of ancient files in search of trivial information.
But in the Modern day, as an entity obviously founded before the establishment of the Stellar Imperium, the Eyes of the Rift have had a long-standing history and collaborates closely with the Stellar Imperium and its subsidiary bodies. With it receiving funding, equipment, and personnel support from these entities to effectively police the Rift and combat cyber-terrorcrimes. The organization's specialized Rift-Sirens - known as Net-Men - are equipped with powerful software that enables them to navigate and operate within the Rift. Initially established to combat illegal activities within the Rift during the late centuries of the Golden Ages, the organization's focus has long since shifted after the Black-Crash Conflicts. Having become heavily involved in containing dangerous Abhorrent Intelligences of the Adent Illaki and retrieving valuable Archeo-Data from the fragmented and disparate Cob-Networks.
One of the Eyes' primary and most obvious objectives is to safeguard the Redline. This places them at odds with certain factions of the frankly disparate Jovian Combine, such as the Flock of Zhokeg, who seek to dismantle the Red Line under the assumption that the AIs could aid humanity. The E.O.R frequently collaborates with the Jovian Mechanicum and several of the Denarion Guilds, while simultaneously engaging in battles against hostile Rift-Sirens and formidable Primordial Programs.
Category:Imperial History