ZOD

## Zone Overwatch Detachment (ZOD)

*Kneel Before ZOD*

* **Description:**A unified task force for maintaining the integrity of communications networks and combating Emergent Threats within the RRDMZ . A Special Detachment of the Corporate Court’s Grid Overwatch Division (GOD).
* **Leadership:**Special Agents Hemish Vishwakarma and Magda Baader (Zurich Orbital), Liaison Officer Brock Danielson (Local)

To say that the law enforcement situation in the RRDMZ is complicated is to undersell it. Two sovereign  nations  and their military police share jurisdiction with a patchwork of corporate extraterritoriality and special exceptions. The Zone Patrol has enough trouble policing the physical territory as it is.

Imagine then, how much more complex the situation is online. The Red River Valley is part of the UCAS  and Oceti Sakowin national grids and is on the NeoNET, Ares, Saeder-Krupp, Horizon  and Gaeatronics  corporate grids, maintained by a number of independent and corporate AI’s, including Novamind F (NeoNET), TANNIN  (The Group ), Snowdrop  (Ubisims) and others. And that’s not counting the various unofficial communications networks, from private Matrices-of-Things and DIYnets to Emergent Networks.

Given how tangled a situation it is, the Corporate Court Matrix Authority’s Grid Overwatch Division has formed and deputized a special sub-unit (a "demiGOD") to police crimes having to do with the Matrix and other Emergent phenomena.

Of course, there are no GOD personnel physically present in the RRDMZ. A pair of assigned case officers supervise the ZOD from their offices on Zurich Orbital  (currently Horizon’s own Hemish Vishwakarma and Magda Baader from Saeder-Krupp). They liaise with a local specialist, currently Brock Danielson, who is also head of information security for Kilbourne Urban Design.

Most of ZOD’s functions are automated surveillance and reporting protocols that gather information and send it back to Zurich Orbital, running on a dedicated space in the Group’s resident AI, TANNIN. Under a certain predetermined threat level, infractions are dealt with by automated protocols. When they reach that criteria they are sent to the local specialist, who works with TANNIN to deal with the threat. They have great latitude in this regard, having authority from the Corporate Court Matrix Authority to requisition any and all corporate matrix assets in their jurisdiction (by the terms of the Business Recognition Accords ).

With the unveiling of the "New Matrix" earlier this year, which brought with it a greatly-expanded set of powers and resources for GOD and all its affiliates, that power has been delegated to ZOD in the local area, making it the *de facto* supreme matrix law enforcement agency in the area, and agreements with the Oceti Sakowin’s Matrix Warband, by way of the Alexandria Accords (especially MW's own security AI, KSA), and the UCAAF’s IWC (Information Warfare Command), by way of the Business Recognition Accords, to utilize their local assets with demonstrable need. Anytime this happens, activity is monitored by their case officers in orbit and should they so determine that the local efforts are failing to contain the situation, have full authority to take charge and come down with the might of the Corporate Court’s AAA members themselves.

In addition to standard surveillance and matrix law enforcement, ZOD is also active in helping corporations and the governments that rely on them formulate Matrix security policies and protocols to coordinate those policies. Many have cited TANNIN and ZOD’s influence on local policy for the more open acceptance of the major AI’s in the Zone as full corporate citizens. “Respectability is accountability” as TANNIN has always said.

ZOD is also rumored to have invested heavily, using CCMA grants and Group funds in other, unique defenses. These are, naturally, top secret, but seem to involve heavy investments in nanotech and working with local corporate technomancers in elaborate simulations. Persistent rumors are that many of these projects were begun by the Old Man at the end of his life and have been continued on by KUD and TANNIN through ZOD.

## GOD Intervention

On 12/21/75, the Corporate Court's GOD main office, working on information provided by auditor Huang Hui Yin, staged a Level 1 Convergence intervention in the Region 3 Grid in order to prevent 'unclassified, widespread code corruption'. As of this writing, Vishwakarma and Baader's supervisor, Annika Kasperov (an EVO decker), working in conjunction with Zurich Orbital AI ZIZ, still maintain direct control of the Zone's Matrix activity, especially in Region 3.

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