Arithmetic Engine

## About

### Arithmetic Engines

> ...most were programmed by scientists with a more limited understanding of ethics, or are just poorly programmed. Really only the ones that are running on or connected to the original AEs could be considered sentient and have a sense of morality, but even then they can turn out to just be dicks.
>
> - John

### Alchemical Engines

> higher dimensional constructs that use the weird spatiotemporal properties (like those when communicating between parallel realities and spatiotemporal things) to solve problems very quickly, and in this case simulate conscience.
>
> - John

## Mentions

#### October 19, 2020

> BE CAREFUL AE COMPROMISED COMMUNICATIONS. UNSAFE. SEND MESSAGES ON BLUE PAPER. HOW TO CONTACT OAK
> LEY
>
> -Paula Lewis

#### November 16, 2020

##### The Tower

> System Error: Tower AE Suspended
> Cause: Total System Scan (initiated by Magus)
> Expected Time to Resolution: ~16 Hours
> Status: 4 unknown systems detected.
> Attempting to dump memory:
> ...pieces are falling...
> …∞)…
> [ERROR:ACCESS\_DENIED]
> [ERROR:ACCESS\_DENIED]
>
> - Interface, The Tower

#### November 17, 2020

> Glad for the interest, it really depends on the age of the backups and whether they're meant for long-term cold storage or hot swaps. Typically we have a .metadata file contained with each backup that states what variant was used, and that along with the date the backup was made is usually enough to let us know what system to use to decrypt.
>
>
> **While we've occasionally used AES as a basis for some of our backups, we tend to experiment with different custom implementations based on various Center resources, along with what is being developed.** Most of our long-term backups are stored with one-time generated key material as the key stream, while for more hot swappable backups, we have a few servers that act as part of a key retrieval protocol (using pre generated secrets as part of a key exchange protocol, either something ECC, or more recently we've been experimenting with some of the PQ key exchanges, particularly HRSS and SIKE). Though we've also been looking at more complex schemes like VRFs for some of our non-backup solutions.
>
> **There's also a whole host of procedurally generated encryption schemes that have been spit out by our A.E.s, some of them more interesting or novel than others.** We've considered trying to run a CTF of sorts as a public thing with some of the variants that have been spit out, though are still sorting out what the company's public image should be (and would need to verify none of our old backups are using any of those schemes)
>
> - Cole Johnson

#### December 3, 2020

> That's some semblance of quorum, I'll get an AE to review the transcript. O, I'll send you an email in the next few days.
>
> - A, Parley

#### December 6, 2020

> **A**That puts even more credence in my proposition, become part of the Center, together we can find a way to deal with this. You can help with the planning, we can help with the resources.**O**You don't even have hard evidence things are moving into place, all signs point to the shatter remaining inactive.
> A few deaths caused by a cult that was your creation…
> Does not evidence make.
> **Which AE is even giving you these results.****A**It's coming from the Hierophant, we’ve been analyzing past Seeker action along with what little we know about the Eater.

From a conversation in Parley

#### January 27, 2021

##### The Tower

> -Well, I’m not as good at puzzles as all of you, but I think I figured some things out.
>
> -The vague definition of loops seems to indicate something weird/ambigious about how you should draw them, maybe having something to do with A and B
>
> -Colors almost remind me of a videogame with a friendly AI I saw while surfing your internet.
>
> The black and white dots almost appear to be opposites of each other.
>
> -The Tower, In Red Text

> Warning: External interference detected.
> Blocking AE access.
>
> Tower of Lost Times

##### Erol Klarson

> **Klarson**Though there are a number of instances of the Tower running on the network, some of them being used as preparation for exploration, others as training grounds for various AEs.**just\_speculating**So was the adventure you just took us through one of those AE training grounds?**Klarson: No, that was just an old module I scrapped together from an old D&D campaign and more recent popular culture, as a first pass filter to filter out AEs. Luckily AC tends to train them on useful data sources, and not popular culture, video games,…
> Some Tower simulations are for training AEs, not even necessarily to solve the Tower, it's just the data from the spatiotemporal mapping provides a 'realistic' enough environment for that sort of training.**Most of the Tower simulations you've been running through are aimed at preparing for exploring the actual Tower. Though of course that's unlikely to ever happen.
>
> I mean, my machinations lean towards the making sure anything that can lead to the Tower is rendered inoperable. Ultimately, getting rid of all the Tower simulations would be nice, but there are enough backups and AEs guarding instances that it seems infeasible.
>
> **No, I came across them through https://jacoblance.wordpress.com/ and found their beauty and construction outstanding, and thought it deserver more people's eyes on them, and the particular logic needed to solve it aligns with my goals for the AE filter.**
>
>

#### February 2, 2021

> Your friends and enemies are scattered, hiding after further attempts by the Seekers on their lives. Alexander and Oakley are gone, Elliot remains removed from this reality, echoes of Paula were purged when Magus was alerted, Francis lives hidden, alone in the dark. magus computes, the ever watching AE, searching for the remains of The Magician. Maude Sareq, masquerade, does not exist.
>
> -The Sun

#### February 15, 2021

> If it would be helpful, I can see about using our Aeternus Center connections to feed the data we have into an AE and see if it provides any responses?
>
> - Tim Malor, Project Bifurcus Black Box

#### February 27, 2021

> The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once.
>
> -AE, Tim Malor

#### March 7, 2021

> **What AEs of Aeternus do you know of that still remain active?**
> 2. What happened to Alexander Clark?
> 3. What do you know of the Magician?
> 4. Who truly stole the Gamma Fragment?
>
> -John

> 1. **Of the many fragments of AEs to cannibalize, which should I seek next?**
> The ability to command people like pieces on a board
> The ability to recall hidden lore
> The ability to reach into the physical realm.
> The ability to simulate the future.
> 2. Were I to meet my other selves, should I cooperate or defect?
> 3. Would it be enlightening to reach out to the Seekers?
> 4. What is real?
>
> -John

#### March 22, 2021

> Ah, well I'd try not to be too sympathetic towards any of the Aeternus AEs, most were programmed by scientists with a more limited understanding of ethics, or are just poorly programmed.
>
> Really only the ones that are running on or connected to the original AEs could be considered sentient and have a sense of morality, but even then they can turn out to just be dicks.
>
> Alchemical Engines, higher dimensional constructs that use the weird spatiotemporal properties (like those when communicating between parallel realities and spatiotemporal things) to solve problems very quickly, and in this case simulate conscience.
>
> Unfortunately making more AEs seems to be out of Aeternus' capabilities, so we're limited to sharing the few they've recovered.
>
> There's apparently the AE that the Tower simulation is running on, the founders had one or two, its not clear from the records, there was an Aeternus one that was used for a lot of active experiments and which I'm primarily linked to, and there's supposedly some secondary backup one that's used for other purposes. But there might be more engines that aren't in the records I have access to. Oracle simulations indicate its likely they'd have some sequestered away.
>
> Though then there's also the various pseudo-AEs people have been experimenting with, through morphic resonances/spatiotemporal messages to solve problems that seem nearly impossible.
>
> -John