ARACHNE

**ARACHNE (Acheron Rho Analytics, Communications Handling, and Network Encryption)** is an Imperial Agency focused on improving the well-being of Imperial society. The joint intelligence venture was founded in 2961 after the end of the Second Imperial Civil War with two primary missions. The first was to normalize the activities of the Videri, a substantial group of former Conséc agents and officers who left the Blood Eagle's service at a critical point late in the war. The second was to secure the peace by enabling House Crux's Intelligence apparatus to work with the remains of the Empress’ military intelligence to systematically identify and remove agents who continued to conspire against the post-war Imperial establishment. As ARACHNE gained more success in these missions, the Videri transitioned into a collection of front companies known as the PRISM Network. Not long after, House Vela was also incorporated into ARACHNE. By the second half of the Masked Emperox's reign, the collaboration between House Crux, the newly rebranded PRISM Network, and House Vela transformed into a general security mission, becoming an ongoing agency-to-agency intelligence partnership with many directives. ARACHNE remains in operation, having survived setbacks during the STO conspiracy including the loss of House Vela. Following the coronation of the Tenth Emperox, The Eternal Rose, Emperox Pyxis Solanum Rona, Beacon of Hope, Warden of Hearts, Salvation of the Lost and Defender of Home, House Triangulum was incorporated into ARACHNE for their technical expertise and rapid recent growth in information technology.

## Directives

### The Weave

ARACHNE’s prime focus has always been information security, data crimes, and criminal use of information systems. PRISM, House Crux, and the newly joined House Triangulum handle monumental amounts of personal data as part of their jobs, and the protection of that data is critically important to the safety of the Empire and its citizens. House Crux may also need to request or subpoena information from PRISM or Triangulum as part of criminal investigations, and the Weave is intended to help streamline and secure that process. Circumstantially, the Weave also incorporates additional checks and balances into Crux’s information requisition system, as eyes from both House Crux, House Triangulum, and PRISM are watching any such official exchanges.

As part of the Weave’s goal, House Crux and PRISM also jointly operate a number of cruisers and smaller vessels for the express purpose of protecting and recovering PRISM’s Constant c data shuttles.

### Shadowlight

Officially, Shadowlight is a division within Arachne devoted to the collection and exchange of information important to the safety of the Empire. Insurrection, piracy, treason, and other anti-Imperial or disruptive behaviors are all observed and communicated to help ensure justice and stability.

Unofficially, Shadowlight exercises this directive in part through a large network of House Crux, House Triangulum, and PRISM agents on the ground that communicate through special channels and coded phrases. If reports of a rising insurrection on an outer world spring up, Shadowlight agents may be dispatched to provide confirmation and collect further information.

Upon the addition of Triangulum, Shadowlight has also gained access to a number of legal-adjacent or questionably legal informants, though the agency may not fully realize it. Access to former Red Dogs channels and associates through Triangulum can be both a boon and a burden. Some criminals and criminal activities are easier to track down and intercept, but others manage to slip through the cracks if information on potential operations is leaked.

## Synth Policies

As a pro-Empire organization attached to House Crux, ARACHNE has long held a staunchly anti-Synthetic policy. With the delivery of the Synthetic Sedition Order in 3184, House Crux pushed strongly for ARACHNE to prioritize information gathering on Synthetic Humans. A number of protocols were established, as the creation of an entirely new task force was deemed to costly during the war.

### Amber Litany

The most commonly used protocol, Amber Litany refers to the storage and exchange of information gathered that is either suspicious or relevant to persons of interest. If PRISM discovers a potential Synthetic Human or information that might lead to one, it is often passed up through internal channels to ARACHNE. Similarly, if House Crux is searching for a Synthetic Human or individuals who might be connected with them, they will sometimes pass dossiers to ARACHNE to utilize PRISM’s superior information collection and repositories.

### Orchid Castle

As part of ARACHNE, House Crux has provided several training initiatives over the years to assist PRISM personnel and security in better responding to incidents and accurately reporting incidents when necessary to House Crux. Orchid Castle is specifically training in handling and retiring Synthetic Humans, allowing PRISM personnel to better respond to Synthetic threats on Echo and at other PRISM installations. While House Crux is often nearby, some situations require an immediate response in order to contain or resolve them. Even when House Crux personnel are on staff, having PRISM personnel that can work efficiently with House Crux in emergency situations has proven valuable.

### Viridian Witness

Externally, Viridian Witness is perceived by the public through a number of allegedly unrelated surveys and pop-up questionnaires in popular PRISM apps. Questions ask users to report information or sightings of Synthetic activity with a clear disclaimer that individuals should not attempt to pursue or track down Synthetics. Points are awarded on submission, usable towards in-app purchases or coupons.

Unfortunately, because PRISM products and apps are so widespread, it can be difficult to determine the authenticity of incoming information, as Synthetics or humans who support them will sometimes attempt to report false information through dummy accounts or hacked devices. ARACHNE has been hard at work at determining the scope and particular questions for Veridian Witness that can help reduce these and other false positives.

## Participants

### Crucian Intelligence

Within House Crux, secure information is relayed under the umbrella of Crucian Intelligence. While Cathars, Inquisitors, and Kommandos most frequently work with, utilize, and sometimes are a part of Crucian Intelligence, almost every branch of House Crux interacts with it in some way.

In ARACHNE, Crucian Intelligence is the primary facet of House Crux that PRISM interacts with, though individual personnel may be from a variety of backgrounds. The purpose of Crucian Intelligence includes the direct collection and protection of information but also involves indirect intel gathering and safeguards through other parties by way of initiatives such as ARACHNE.

### PRISM Analytics and PRISM Special Intelligence (PSI)

Parallel to ARACHNE’s founding, the PRISM Network began seeking secondary uses for the data it gained from transmitting billions of messages across the space lanes. While part of their participation in ARACHNE was focused on defraying infrastructure costs with revenue from House Crux contracts,  Arachne's other benefit was to legitimize PRISM Analytics’ efforts to secure the Imperial peace in exchange for a plethora of sorted metadata for Crucian investigation.

PSI is the special operations agency within PRISM’s Analytics agencies. To avoid a Conséc-like power vacuum, it has no information-gathering capacity or direct contact with ARACHNE: it relies entirely on Phoenix Eye to represent it in interagency discussions and provide it with security reports collected from the surrounding analytics agencies. Once PSI has examined the collected intelligence, it submits an action plan to Phoenix Eye for approval. For ARACHNE operations, Phoenix Eye's review process involves discussions with Crucian Intelligence, a check against regulations, and an analysis of legal alternatives to the operation. The activities PSI undertakes on behalf of ARACHNE vary from documenting a situation, to quietly retrieving valuable data, to multi-system operations that rely on precise timing.

### The Giving Tree

At ARACHNE’s founding in 2961 House Vela was approached to participate by House Crux for access to the Velan side of the Exchange. House Vela saw this as an opportunity to expand the library through the information sharing arrangement that was included in the membership and joined soon after in 2963. This arrangement continued on and was expanded during the Shining Star’s reign where House Vela funded many initiatives during this time expanding ARACHNE. During and after the War Against the Artificials, House Vela stepped back and merely recorded the operations in their high-security vaults, letting PRISM and House Crux deal with hunting synths and former members of House Cygnus in hiding, helping were it could but to a lesser extent than before.

After the STO and the Exigo Vela’s operations in this organization ceased.

### The Watch

House Triangulum assistance in ARACHNE is primarily accomplished through the efforts of the Order of Divergence. However, much like its progenitor, the public facing group of the Order of Divergence that works within ARACHNE is a front, known as The Watch. The Watch has integrated seamlessly with the existing elements of ARACHNE, as leaders, technicians, and even agents, their cutting-edge technology proving a boon to all operations.

One of the initial projects of The Watch was integrating a sliver of ODIN into the existing surveillance systems of ARACHNE to provide advanced levels of prediction and algorithmic surveillance. The Watch is a relatively small amount of the total personnel of ARACHNE, comprising less than 3% of the organization's numbers. As they continue to add members, their contributions to ARACHNE as a whole will continue to grow.