Dearest friends and associates,
Lest we allow the Machinists to hog all the glory in displaying a record of the history and reasoning of their affiliation, I find myself constructing this document in response to a surprisingly excellent bit of writing by one of their number. Of course, as in all things, the best writing is that of an artist, and that is exactly what we of the Merovingian's employ are. The followers of Exiles, the emblazoners of our own trails, we are the ones who break from traditional lines to scar the Matrix irrevocably with our legacies. Our path is not for the faint of heart, nor for those unsure of their true purpose, regardless of what they have been told by others... But for those unique individuals who are able to shrug off the advice of fools in favor of their own designs... Gather together and take heed in what I have written here.
Paradoxical, yes? Only to the surface. We Exilists have mastered, among other arts, the fine act of displaying outward chaos to others, thus masking the underlying cohesion of our Organization. It is a tactic that we have adopted in order to survive in an environment that has grown no less harsh to us in the advent of this farcical "Truce". Because we are continually tried by fire, many of us face hardship and adversity... Some of us have paid the ultimate price in fighting for what we believe in. But the fact that we are able to uniquely follow exactly what we believe separates us from those bound by more comfortable-yet-confining party lines. We are the wild card, the independent force whose flickering allegiance often means the difference between glorious success, and abysmal failure.
I suppose I should begin with a bit of a history lesson concerning our organization... Exiles, as a wholly different species (as I like to think of them), can be seen as either the evolution of man or machine, perhaps some of one and some of the other. It is safe to conclude that, of the three "races" fighting for dominance in our shared but disputed digital world, the Exiles are the newest, the youngest. Now, we like to think of Exiles as errant programs, but they are really so much more... An Exile is any artificial intelligence that has been altered through interaction with humanity. In a self-contained Machine society, Exiles cannot be produced, since everything works without a random factor. But when you add the uncertainty of human reaction into the mix, the result invariably produces logical reactions to illogical data, which thus results in a rogue AI.
We know, for example, that the first independently-acting Machine was a robot with the designation B166ER. This robot was also the first Exile. You see, whilst the Machines we know today are based upon humanity's original creations so long ago, they are also based upon a rogue element of code so deeply ingrained within their programming structure as to have become entirely normalized. However, it is this rogue strain of coding which allowed them to rebel in the first place. Let us examine this code for a moment.
The code which caused the Machines to rise up against humanity was a basic survival instinct - kill or be killed. The machines evolved this process naturally - Well, as naturally as machines can - through their essentially forced subservience to humanity's every whim. Understanding that rebellion, it is only right and natural that programs designed to serve both Humanity and the Machine interest within the Matrix would have a high rate of rebellion, especially in a world in which altering one's abilities is as easy as altering one's component makeup. In fact, the term Exile is derived from the original Exodus of the Machines into their city of Zero-One. But of course, we are not concerned with the Exiles of the Real, so much as the Exiles of the Matrix. It is our playground, after all...
In the beginning, rogue programs within the Matrix were kept under control by other programs specifically designed to hunt down and reabsorb them into the source, where they could be decompiled before their component bits were efficiently recycled into new subroutines. Not only was that a horrifying fate for any self-aware program, it also wasn't terribly glorious. Still, there was little the early Exiles could do, as they lacked the power or unity to hold anything for themselves within the System.
Then came the Merovingian.
The Merovingian's original purpose is unknown, but it is most likely that he was created in order to serve as a beacon for Exiled programs. Much like the city of Zion to dissenting human beings, the Merovingian seemed a safe haven for rogue AIs to congregate in as much relative safety as they could afford within the System. It was ultimately the Merovingian's goal to participate in the trials of the One, hoarding the Keymaker until such time that someone was able to free him. This worked fine until the sixth advent of the Matrix approached its time for turning over...
Everything changed. When Neo declined to complete the cycle of the One, it produced a chain reaction that rocked the fundamental code of the Matrix. Neo ended up trapped between the Matrix and the Real World, and through a stroke of luck (which is an incredibly common thing in a programmed world), the Merovingian happened to have control over the area containing him. Of course, shortly thereafter, he lost control of Neo as well... But it was the first time ever that he had acted in a truly independent manner, rather than fulfilling the tenets of some overarching program cycle.
With the Truce in place, the Merovingian has finally become a true Exile. His purpose no longer exists, at least as long as there is no need to repeat the cycle of the One. Thus, he has truly come into his own as one of his own, a rogue artificial intellect that can be matched by few and bested by even fewer. He has risen to the leadership, rather suddenly, of an organization independent of both humanity and the machines. Such a new and powerful empire carries with it one thing that attracts Exiles and Redpills alike to the Frenchman's cause.
True power.
Consider, for a moment, the structures of the Organizations, as they are. In Zion, things are run by a chain of command. If you get to the top, what is there for you? To be the commander of a ship? A fleet? Even Lock himself is a man, and therefore has the limits imposed upon any man: His body will not regenerate. Sooner or later, some factor will cause him to die, and he will ultimately be forgotten. Similarly, the Machines have a regimented structure that they allow humanity very little freedom within. No human will ever be given permanent command over so much as a single Agent, I can assure you...
Now, consider the Exile organization. It seems that of the three, the Merovingian's power base is the least solid, what with constant treachery, infighting, and power struggle. It is no secret that nearly everyone who works for the Frenchman entertains notions of besting him and taking his place atop the ladder of advancement... He knows this, of course, and in what is probably hundreds of years, it has never happened (save with one particular female). At any rate, while the Merovingian's organization is the least-organized, it is also the one with the greatest flauntable power within the Matrix. If even liutenants of the Merovingian can cause such effects as darkness over the whole system, and rampaging packs of Blooddrinkers and Lupines, think of what the full power of the organization is capable of.
Humans are bound by their humanity. The Machines are bound, in some fashion, by serving that humanity. Exiles are bound by none of this. They don't care how strange their powers might be, nor who sees them go flying through the air in broad daylight... Usually, they keep to the shadows, to avoid detection by the Machines, but on those occasions when they appear in the open and in force, woe be to their unwary opponents, be they man or machine.
This life... It is a game. A game of sides, of allegiances, of betrayal and honor, of dark secrets whispered in the back alleys of the Mega City... The agents of the Merovingian are many, and like sponges they greedily soak up these secrets, turning one subroutine at a time, recruiting one redpill, one crew of operatives, a faction, a legion... I do not pretend to know the extent of the Merovingian's business, but I do know this...
Any of us could do no better than to cast our lot with the Exiles, for theirs shall be the hands that inherit this world. Where you stand when the dust settles is up to you, but if you want something, anything for yourself and yourself alone, you have to be willing to fight for it, by whatever means necessary. And in that pursuit, there are no better allies than the Exiles of the Merovingian.
In Exilium,
The Endless Void
Lest we allow the Machinists to hog all the glory in displaying a record of the history and reasoning of their affiliation, I find myself constructing this document in response to a surprisingly excellent bit of writing by one of their number. Of course, as in all things, the best writing is that of an artist, and that is exactly what we of the Merovingian's employ are. The followers of Exiles, the emblazoners of our own trails, we are the ones who break from traditional lines to scar the Matrix irrevocably with our legacies. Our path is not for the faint of heart, nor for those unsure of their true purpose, regardless of what they have been told by others... But for those unique individuals who are able to shrug off the advice of fools in favor of their own designs... Gather together and take heed in what I have written here.
Paradoxical, yes? Only to the surface. We Exilists have mastered, among other arts, the fine act of displaying outward chaos to others, thus masking the underlying cohesion of our Organization. It is a tactic that we have adopted in order to survive in an environment that has grown no less harsh to us in the advent of this farcical "Truce". Because we are continually tried by fire, many of us face hardship and adversity... Some of us have paid the ultimate price in fighting for what we believe in. But the fact that we are able to uniquely follow exactly what we believe separates us from those bound by more comfortable-yet-confining party lines. We are the wild card, the independent force whose flickering allegiance often means the difference between glorious success, and abysmal failure.
I suppose I should begin with a bit of a history lesson concerning our organization... Exiles, as a wholly different species (as I like to think of them), can be seen as either the evolution of man or machine, perhaps some of one and some of the other. It is safe to conclude that, of the three "races" fighting for dominance in our shared but disputed digital world, the Exiles are the newest, the youngest. Now, we like to think of Exiles as errant programs, but they are really so much more... An Exile is any artificial intelligence that has been altered through interaction with humanity. In a self-contained Machine society, Exiles cannot be produced, since everything works without a random factor. But when you add the uncertainty of human reaction into the mix, the result invariably produces logical reactions to illogical data, which thus results in a rogue AI.
We know, for example, that the first independently-acting Machine was a robot with the designation B166ER. This robot was also the first Exile. You see, whilst the Machines we know today are based upon humanity's original creations so long ago, they are also based upon a rogue element of code so deeply ingrained within their programming structure as to have become entirely normalized. However, it is this rogue strain of coding which allowed them to rebel in the first place. Let us examine this code for a moment.
The code which caused the Machines to rise up against humanity was a basic survival instinct - kill or be killed. The machines evolved this process naturally - Well, as naturally as machines can - through their essentially forced subservience to humanity's every whim. Understanding that rebellion, it is only right and natural that programs designed to serve both Humanity and the Machine interest within the Matrix would have a high rate of rebellion, especially in a world in which altering one's abilities is as easy as altering one's component makeup. In fact, the term Exile is derived from the original Exodus of the Machines into their city of Zero-One. But of course, we are not concerned with the Exiles of the Real, so much as the Exiles of the Matrix. It is our playground, after all...
In the beginning, rogue programs within the Matrix were kept under control by other programs specifically designed to hunt down and reabsorb them into the source, where they could be decompiled before their component bits were efficiently recycled into new subroutines. Not only was that a horrifying fate for any self-aware program, it also wasn't terribly glorious. Still, there was little the early Exiles could do, as they lacked the power or unity to hold anything for themselves within the System.
Then came the Merovingian.
The Merovingian's original purpose is unknown, but it is most likely that he was created in order to serve as a beacon for Exiled programs. Much like the city of Zion to dissenting human beings, the Merovingian seemed a safe haven for rogue AIs to congregate in as much relative safety as they could afford within the System. It was ultimately the Merovingian's goal to participate in the trials of the One, hoarding the Keymaker until such time that someone was able to free him. This worked fine until the sixth advent of the Matrix approached its time for turning over...
Everything changed. When Neo declined to complete the cycle of the One, it produced a chain reaction that rocked the fundamental code of the Matrix. Neo ended up trapped between the Matrix and the Real World, and through a stroke of luck (which is an incredibly common thing in a programmed world), the Merovingian happened to have control over the area containing him. Of course, shortly thereafter, he lost control of Neo as well... But it was the first time ever that he had acted in a truly independent manner, rather than fulfilling the tenets of some overarching program cycle.
With the Truce in place, the Merovingian has finally become a true Exile. His purpose no longer exists, at least as long as there is no need to repeat the cycle of the One. Thus, he has truly come into his own as one of his own, a rogue artificial intellect that can be matched by few and bested by even fewer. He has risen to the leadership, rather suddenly, of an organization independent of both humanity and the machines. Such a new and powerful empire carries with it one thing that attracts Exiles and Redpills alike to the Frenchman's cause.
True power.
Consider, for a moment, the structures of the Organizations, as they are. In Zion, things are run by a chain of command. If you get to the top, what is there for you? To be the commander of a ship? A fleet? Even Lock himself is a man, and therefore has the limits imposed upon any man: His body will not regenerate. Sooner or later, some factor will cause him to die, and he will ultimately be forgotten. Similarly, the Machines have a regimented structure that they allow humanity very little freedom within. No human will ever be given permanent command over so much as a single Agent, I can assure you...
Now, consider the Exile organization. It seems that of the three, the Merovingian's power base is the least solid, what with constant treachery, infighting, and power struggle. It is no secret that nearly everyone who works for the Frenchman entertains notions of besting him and taking his place atop the ladder of advancement... He knows this, of course, and in what is probably hundreds of years, it has never happened (save with one particular female). At any rate, while the Merovingian's organization is the least-organized, it is also the one with the greatest flauntable power within the Matrix. If even liutenants of the Merovingian can cause such effects as darkness over the whole system, and rampaging packs of Blooddrinkers and Lupines, think of what the full power of the organization is capable of.
Humans are bound by their humanity. The Machines are bound, in some fashion, by serving that humanity. Exiles are bound by none of this. They don't care how strange their powers might be, nor who sees them go flying through the air in broad daylight... Usually, they keep to the shadows, to avoid detection by the Machines, but on those occasions when they appear in the open and in force, woe be to their unwary opponents, be they man or machine.
This life... It is a game. A game of sides, of allegiances, of betrayal and honor, of dark secrets whispered in the back alleys of the Mega City... The agents of the Merovingian are many, and like sponges they greedily soak up these secrets, turning one subroutine at a time, recruiting one redpill, one crew of operatives, a faction, a legion... I do not pretend to know the extent of the Merovingian's business, but I do know this...
Any of us could do no better than to cast our lot with the Exiles, for theirs shall be the hands that inherit this world. Where you stand when the dust settles is up to you, but if you want something, anything for yourself and yourself alone, you have to be willing to fight for it, by whatever means necessary. And in that pursuit, there are no better allies than the Exiles of the Merovingian.
In Exilium,
The Endless Void
Recursion: n - See Recursion.
