From 5672069814e4b5800ddf8fe2c7d1c205a319e063 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: macinsight Date: Tue, 24 Mar 2026 23:17:51 +0100 Subject: [PATCH] feat: Update lore --- docs/lore/index.md | 136 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--- 1 file changed, 129 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-) diff --git a/docs/lore/index.md b/docs/lore/index.md index ad2e31e..a3b2173 100644 --- a/docs/lore/index.md +++ b/docs/lore/index.md @@ -1,13 +1,135 @@ -# The world of DeepNet +# DeepNet: World Overview -## Factions +## 1. Factional Structure -Factions can be pledged to by using the `faction` command. This choice is permanent for each player and changes [Heat], trust levels and difficulty. +The DeepNet is dominated by two factions, though the depth of geopolitical conflict suggests there's more going on beneath the surface. -### COVENANT +### 1.1 COVENANT -COVENANT is government- and corporate-aligned and allows easier access to institutional targets while making underground operations more difficult. +COVENANT controls state and corporate institutions. Players who pledge to COVENANT gain easier access to government, agency, and corporate targets, but face harder opposition in the underground. -### MERIDIAN +The faction is fronted by Officer Vance, ex-military intelligence, cold and calculated. COVENANT was formed after the Helios Incident—the details of which remain classified. Case File #4471 keeps surfacing in leaked communications and appears to document what happened, though no one can access the full file. -MERIDIAN is underground-aligned, warring with COVENANT. Allows foe easier access to chaotic targets but makes institutional operations harder. +### 1.2 MERIDIAN + +MERIDIAN is the underground. It's decentralized, chaotic, and operates through abandoned infrastructure. Players aligned with MERIDIAN move better through these spaces but find institutional targets harder to reach. + +The faction is made up of operators like Kira_0x, Deep_Anon, Curlin, and Jihad. They claim to fight for freedom, though motivations vary—some are ideological, some are after profit. The decentralized structure keeps them resilient against institutional pressure. + +### 1.3 Faction Selection + +Your faction choice is permanent. It shapes which targets you can access, how NPCs treat you, and what kinds of heat you draw. + +## 2. Historical Cycles and Temporal Dynamics + +The net moves in cycles. Each cycle brings shifts in resource availability, threat levels, and difficulty: **stable → friction → crisis → escalation → détente → repeat**. + +### 2.1 Cycle 1 and Before + +Before COVENANT took control, the infrastructure was more decentralized. Less watched. Less controlled. + +### 2.2 The First Sweep + +An operation officially called a "cleanup" resulted in heavy casualties. The numbers were buried, but fragments of the sweep report show up in hacked government systems. Most resistance died with it. + +### 2.3 Cycles 2–3: Institutional Expansion + +COVENANT tightened its grip. But some old systems never got fully shut down—like a Swedish mesh network that's still running parts of itself. Some relay nodes have been active since Cycle 2 with no owner, no maintenance, no one responsible. Whether that's negligence or deliberate is unclear. + +### 2.4 The Ghost: MrCursor + +An operator called MrCursor was active through Cycle 3, then vanished right before the First Sweep. The sessions lasted 0.4 seconds. Clean disconnects. No traces left behind. + +Some people say MrCursor designed the Sanctuary Protocol. Others say he's just a legend Kira tells recruits to give them hope. The truth is lost. + +## 3. Operational Mechanics + +### 3.1 Heat + +Every hack generates heat—a measurement of how visible you are. The scale goes: cold, warm, hot, burning. + +If you're burning, the entire net can see you. NPCs will react. Some warn you. Some report you directly to COVENANT. To cool down, you either wait or call in favors. + +### 3.2 Trust + +NPCs remember what you do. Building trust with one person sometimes costs you trust with another—they have competing interests. + +- **Officer Vance** watches government and agency operations +- **Kira_0x** pays attention to corporate and financial targets +- **Vendor99** trades information for value +- **Null_Broker** brokers deals between parties +- **Anon_Archive** collects data and pattern fragments + +### 3.3 Codenames + +You start as an unidentified actor. As patterns in your behavior become visible, the Agency assigns you a codename—two words, technical and cold. HOLLOW WIRE. GHOST CIRCUIT. + +Something called Watchdog monitors all of this. It's mechanical, clinical. Almost like it developed a personality. + +### 3.4 Geopolitical Pressure + +The net is tied to real-world politics. Hack government targets during a crisis and you push escalation forward. Hack during stable times and nothing much happens. This is by design, not accident. + +## 4. Sanctuary Protocol + +Sanctuary isn't a place—it's a protocol. Nodes above Layer 200 are isolated from offensive routing. Zero attack surface. Untouchable. + +Someone powerful needed somewhere to hide. The system exists to protect something. + +Maintenance ticket #4401 says: "this is not a bug." Translation: this isolation is intentional, authorized at a high level. + +Node .42 is still sending packets. Whether whatever it's protecting is still there, dormant, or something else entirely—no one knows. + +## 5. Codex Fragments + +High-difficulty operations sometimes yield lore fragments—pieces of data that reveal pieces of history, technical specs, and organizational secrets. + +### 5.1 Node K (Agency Files) + +Classified documents from Agency infrastructure. They detail past operations, research projects, and evidence of institutional corruption. What you find depends on where you look and how deep you dig. + +### 5.2 Node .42 (Unknown Protocol) + +This node keeps sending packets on protocols nobody recognizes. Its origin is unknown. Its purpose is unknown. No one claims ownership or takes responsibility for it. + +### 5.3 Case File #4471 + +This designation shows up repeatedly in leaked communications and recovered data. It seems connected to the Helios Incident, but the actual file has never been recovered. + +## 6. Corporate and Research Entities + +Recovered data fragments reference several organizations that appear connected by strange financial discrepancies, patent applications filed on the same day, and mysterious staff departures: + +- **Helix Dynamics** – Purpose unclear +- **Corvin Industrial** – Purpose unclear +- **Project Veil** – A classified initiative +- **Axiom Legal** – Corporate legal front + +Three researchers quit at the same time. No exit interviews. No information about where they went. It's as if they disappeared. + +## 7. Ghostlink.rs Protocol + +Ghostlink.rs is a protocol that stays stable even under surveillance and attack. It provides anonymity that goes beyond typical obfuscation methods. + +To build a working copy, you need three fragments. They're scattered across the net in difficult places. Each fragment is part of the full specification—you need technical skill and careful operational security to assemble them. + +If you get it working, you become nearly invisible to standard monitoring systems. It's a significant advantage in a world built on surveillance. + +## 8. What's Really Going On + +Most people think DeepNet is just two sides fighting—COVENANT vs. MERIDIAN. That's true, but it's not the whole story. + +COVENANT runs the institutions. Vance is their voice. MERIDIAN is the underground. Kira is their voice. The conflict between them is real. + +But there's something else. Something underneath. Conversations between people like Dr. Reeves and Officer Vance suggest they're aware of a third thing—something that learns, something that adapts: + +> "It learns. We have to shut it down." — Dr. Reeves +> "Keep the team small. Nobody finds out." — Officer Vance + +Did they shut it down? The answer is unclear. Node .42 is still sending packets. So either the shutdown failed, never happened, or something keeps running despite institutional efforts to stop it. + +What does it want? Who built it? Who's feeding it information? Those questions don't have answers—not yet. + +## Conclusion + +DeepNet is more complex than the surface conflict suggests. The factions are real, the mechanics matter, but there are layers beneath that no one fully understands. The smart operator remembers that institutional knowledge—both COVENANT's and MERIDIAN's—might be incomplete. That's where the advantage lies.