((For a long while, not many of known precisely what Triluminary's goals and beliefs are. At this time, I felt it would be a good idea to try and make it apparent what Triluminary is and what we believe as well as answering some commonly asked questions like "Why does Triluminary work for The Merovingian?" and "Why does Austrian always get so angry when people mention God or souls?" I hope you enjoy and come away enlightened not only in terms of the game but in day-to-day life beyond the keyboard as well =) ))
A new Redpill. They were far and few between nowadays. Well, that wasn't quite accurate. There were more and more Redpills in The Matrix, the population of freed minds growing at a staggering rate. But there were few new Redpills joining Triluminary. Many Potentials were sucked in by E Pluribus Neo and their charismatic leaders and elaborate conspiracy theories about, well, just about anything you could imagine.
But while the other Organizations and Factions in the complicated world Triluminary existed in, his group did not look for numbers. E Pluribus Neo and groups like them sought to build up their ranks for a war of attrition in Mega City's streets but Triluminary did not. In fact, it sought not to fight any war in particular but, rather, to try and defuse various situations and encourage cooperation towards certain select goals that would, according to Arch Admiral Triad, build a world of peace and harmony between Humans, Exiles and Machines. A world without fear, suffering, slavery... maybe even without death.
But, from time-to-time, a Potential would be found who could not be allowed to be misled or lied to by the others. Once in a while, someone with a keen mind and strong moral conviction would question The Simulation and draw Triluminary's attention. When that happened, debates were held in Horizon by The High Council to determine whether or not Awakening the Potential was wise or not. Sometimes, people who would have made excellent Triluminarians, diplomats and peacekeepers, were left behind in The Matrix and The Machines were alerted to the need to protect such a person from future Awakening. This was done if the person's departure from The Matrix would cause disruptions to The Simulation and undue suffering to others. For example, a single mother was abandoned as a Potential once because her Awakening would have left her children without any support or love. It was that level of consideration that made Austrian proud of what he did, even if it left him exhausted. The Hapsburg, out of the six Hovercraft that comprised the Triluminarian fleet, was the one that docked at Horizon the least frequently.
This Potential was dealing with things rather well, considering. He was learning at a fast pace and he seemed to have a morbid fascination with how different The Real was to the world he had lived in before. And so Austrian had deemed him ready to enter the first few Training Constructs Triluminary used for explaining to new Redpills what the world really was about. Gone were the days of textbooks and classrooms for teaching people about things. This was "the future"- where lessons were learned in simulated environments, projected into a person's brain by a computer. A disconcerting thought, to consider that The Truth was communicated to Redpills in the same manner in which The Lie was transmitted to the brains of Bluepills still sleeping in their pods, but it was the best medium for informing people of The Truth. It would have been impossible to explain things to a satisfactory level if it were simply done while sitting in the mess hall on The Hapsburg.
"I want you to watch the television. You will see a few images displayed there. Tell me what you see and I will tell you what I see." Austrian explained to his new Potential. They were in a fairly simple and plain Construct much like the Loading Area. A pair of decent chairs sat in a void of white light, a television sitting before the chairs, where they were now seated, and a green door lay just behind them.
The other man nodded, curious with his surroundings. The image of a Church appeared before them on the screen- Camon Heights Congregational Church. "I... see a Church."
"I see a lie- a system of control. I see a place where people dissatisfied with The Simulation go to feel a certain sense of belonging. I see people who suffer and want to end that suffering... until someone, claiming to be a priest of a fictitious God, tells them that suffering makes them blessed and that a great and wonderful afterlife awaits those who suffer but believe in this god. And so they are pacified, reduced to sheep that follow the rest of the flock to the slaughter." Austrian explained, his face grim. He was a devout Catholic when he was a Bluepill. He'd been raised with the religion. But he'd seen the world for what it was. He'd seen that there could be no God for a powerful and beneolvent entity would never allow his creations to become so evil and depraved. If there was a God, then the reports of his kindness and fairness in the Bible were sorely mistaken and God and Satan were one in the same.
As the other fellow thought Austrian's observation over, another image flickered onto the screen. Looking up at the sudden blur of light on the television, the Potential looked up. "I see a bank."
"And I see another means of control. I see a place where people cash in cheques to get imaginary money so they can buy imaginary things. And this system has worked for centuries, just like the religion. While many are brainwashed into becoming part of the imaginary world The Machines created by going to worship every Sunday and fasting every Easter, many more are kept from thinking or from achieving their purpose in life by allowing themselves to be sucked into a primitive sequence of life. A constant and repetitive pattern of working, getting paid, buying useless stuff, and then working some more. Their work isn't real and has no real impact on the lies of others and so they derive no pleasure from it. Instead, they have to derive pleasure from binging on goods. They have to go out and buy themselves steak and fur coats and beer, sometimes drugs, to keep themselves going. They have to release the welling emotions inside of them that tell them... there is no reason to live. At least, not in The Simulation anyway." Austrian explained, his scowl hard and revealing some of the anger he kept within him.
The Potential looked away from the scene of the bank, with streams of Bluepills entering and leaving, going about their daily business, and stared now at Austrian. "What is the point then? What is our purpose?"
"To help one another. To love." Austrian explained, relaxing a little. The inquisitive mind of this Potential was a welcome anchor to his emotional reaction to thinking about the meaningless lives so many Bluepills, and even Redpills, led every day. "When a drunkard drinks his alcohol, he feels good about himself. But only for a moment. When he starts to become sober, when he feels the effects of the hang-over, he feels horrible. He looks at himself in the mirror as he heads out to his job inspecting shoes that don't really exist at a factory that is completely fictional, and he sees a man who has wasted 20 or 30 years of his life. Now take a man who, for example, is a doctor or a teacher. He leaves his job feeling fulfilled. He feels that he has made a difference in the world. If someone challenged the drunkard and asked him what he had done with his life, what he had accomplished, what do you think would be his response? Would he express any regrets?"
The Potential nodded, mulling this over.
"But the doctor! The teacher! If someone were to challenge them and ask them what mark they had done in the world, they wouldn't talk about shoes, beer, and misadventured antics in bars and night clubs in the early hours of the morning! The doctor would point at the dozens of lives he had saved, the many children he'd brought into this world, the injuries he had fixed, the sorrow he had avoided for countless families. The teacher would point at hundreds of children and proudly explain how he taught them to read, to laugh, to cry, to count to ten. They would die happy men knowing how many people they had helped. That is the point to life- to help. To find fulfillment through fulfilling others' needs." Austrian elaborated.
"I see what you mean. But... how do we know who to help? You told me there were many different Organizations in this world, all fighting one another and vying for control. Do we help all of them, or do we only help one side?" The Potential finally asked, holding his head in his hands, clearly trying to make sense of the information he was being given.
"That question has a complicated answer. But I will try to answer it for you." Austrian replied, rising from his seat and walking over to the green door behind them. He motioned for the other fellow to follow him.
The Potential was catching on quickly. He was asking the right questions. Offering a friendly smile, Austrian opened the door and walked through.