Hemerides

«**Hemerides**» (ヘメリデス, *Hemeridesu*?) is a mysterious company affiliated with the Japanese government and the Japan Self Defense Force (JSDF).

## Background

The company was formed sometime before October 2032 as its existence was mentioned by name by Professor Nanairo Arshavin in the phone call she made to Akihiko Kayaba on October 25th, 2032. The main goal of the company is to develop Japan's own weapons technology to become independent from other countries in the field and to improve Japan's outdated defense technology. Hemerides has two known bases: an artificial island built somewhere in the Tokyo Bay, La Grande Bibliothèque, and a research facility in the mountains of Aichi Prefecture. They also have a branch office in Shinjuku with four STL's being kept there.

To achieve its goal, the company hired Kazuto Kirigaya and Asuna Yūki to test a fourth-generation «FullDive» machine, called the «Soul Translator» (STL). Using the same function as previous «FullDive» machines, the STL connects to a user's «Fluctlight» (a quantum field that can be regarded as a human's soul) but the machine is able to fully interact with the «Fluctlight»; previous machines were only capable of partial interaction. Although it can be used for entering a special VR world, Hemerides built the machine to help in the creation the first «bottom-up» Artificial Intelligence where they could be used anywhere in everyday life to military use.

## Development

*Main article: Project Rhealization*
The company's main project, codenamed «Project Rhealization», was dedicated to creating the world's first bottom-up, highly adaptive artificial intelligence (AI), which the JSDF could use to pilot unmanned weapons (although their main goal was simply the creation of the new AI in the hopes that it could be used in everyday life). In order to develop such advanced artificial intelligence, Hemerides created a fourth-generation «FullDive» machine, called the «Soul Translator». By using this device, Hemerides succeeded in copying a human «Fluctlight», thus creating artificial intelligence based on the structure of a human mind.

At first, attempts to clone the «Fluctlights» of grown people ended in failure because the «Fluctlight» clone, after realizing that it is a clone, would only last three minutes before mentally breaking down. Suppressing the memories of a cloned «Fluctlight» to reduce the chance of the clone breaking down also turned out to be a failure, as memories are linked to a person's abilities and removing certain memories led to the loss of the respective ability. In order to resolve this issue, it was decided to attempt cloning the «Fluctlights» of newborn babies, which had not yet developed any memories. This plan proved itself successful, as it was discovered that «Fluctlights» only depended on the environment in which they were raised rather than a person's genes. This meant that the «Fluctlights» of newborn babies were barely different from each other and could be used to form a «Soul Archetype», which could be used to create new artificial «Fluctlights» indefinitely.

## Known Employees

* Nanairo Arshavin (Not affiliated with Rath; Project Rhealization Collaborator)
* Takeru Higa
* Akihiko Kayaba (Not affiliated with Rath; Project Rhealization Collaborator)
* Seijirō Kikuoka
* Kazuto Kirigaya (Part-time)
* Ayanami Shiratsuyu (Part-time)
* Kotarō Shiratsuyu
* Asuna Yūki (Part-time)

## Trivia

* The company's name is a reference to Greek mythology, specifically, the primordial goddess of the day, Hemera.

## References

1. ↑ Volume 1, Memories of Evil, Part 9
2. ↑ Volume 22, Interlude
3. ↑ Volume 1, The Torch's Inheritance, Part 8
4. ↑ Volume 27, Interlude
5. ↑ Material Edition 22