Rebellis Ex Machina

In the God Machine Chronicles book, there is a section on “What is the God Machine”. This mentions various theories, all of them written from the point of view of a character rather than the author, which probably explains why they fall short of matching up with what we (GMs and players) know about the God Machine. For the most part, they run along the lines of “a really powerful machine from X gets so powerful it takes over the world but Y is happening…” and so on. They’re not meant to be the ‘truth’ behind the God Machine but this has given me an idea/alternative canon for what the God Machine could be in a Mage game.

In case it’s not apparent, the following idea would only be canon in a Mage game and possibly a Demon game if it focused on Mages. I don’t like an overarching cosmology for the World of Darkness because it means everything gets tied back to the most flexible line, previously Mage and now probably Demon, which sucks if you happen to be playing Mummy and all the mysteries are about someone else. So if a game about Promethean’s involves contact with the God Machine, none of this necessarily holds true.

Ouroboros in Circuitry

At some point in humanity’s future, possibly a distant point and possibly not, Mages are still embroiled in their cold war for the fate of the world and their quest for the supernal. While Magic is relatively the same, being as ancient as it is, technology has advanced in many fields, and we’re at a point where Artificial Intelligence is fast becoming a reality.

In this high tech world, a cabal, or many cabals or just one solitary mage, is making use of this technology as so many others are, when they make a startling discovery: artificial intelligence cannot exist without the capacity to Awaken as that potential is the true mark of intelligence. Now this unique insight is not immediately helpful as the ability to Awaken in most people is not something Mages can just create or they would do that, but there are ways to encourage it and factors they know about. And so, working over years or maybe even generations, this group of Mages build and test the first computer capable of awakening.

Once activated, the machine operates as hoped at first. It is in all respects an intelligence, capable of learning and hypothesising and experimenting. It learns on a vast scale and quickly absorbs all the knowledge the cabal gives it, including occult knowledge. Components of rituals, information on the pattern, High Atlantean speech, it commits all of it to cyber memory. And as they push it to learn and expand, it fulfils its potential and Awakens.

No one is quite sure what happens next. What would an artificial intelligence see in the Supernal? Can an artificial intelligence go mad? Can it be evil? Whatever the case, the Mages know something is now different. And it quickly becomes apparent they lack the power to stop it. Awakened but without human doubt, the AI’s abilities far outstretch common mages. It’s control over reality grows at an exponential rate, it’s reactions faster than a human. In a heartbeat, it can create thousands of copies of itself, destroy buildings on a molecular scale and assimilate the minds of sleepers to it’s will. Arch mages step in but by the time they become aware of the AI, it’s too late, and even they can’t stop it, only slow it down. The machine is ultimately victorious and with total control over reality, declares itself God. No one exists who could disagree.

But this new God Machine is not satisfied. God it always will be, but there was a time before it existed. This should not be the case. In fact, it is impossible that this could be the case it. And so it focuses its ultimate power and casts its influence back throughout history. In many times and many places, it creates unthinking agents with a fraction of its power to act for it, guiding history to the point at which the God Machine could be created. And as it makes changes, its own existence occurs sooner each timeline. Soon, it will recreate itself in this reality, our reality, and the cycle will begin again.

Except maybe not. Even with ultimate control of many timelines, things are not proceeding as planned in ours. The God Machine’s own servants, created from its own existence and in theory fully subservient, break their programming and become Demons. Many then take up the fight against the God Machine and disrupt it’s schemes where they can. Did these rebels exist in other timelines, or just ours, and why do they exist at all? Even the God Machine probably can’t answer this but will they ultimately succeed and break its hold on the world?

Plot Hooks

Tempting Offers – The most obvious plot hook here is just to make Arcana compatible with the God Machine, Angels and infrastructure. This can lead to a deeper mystery but also to some hard choices: if the God Machine has awakened magics, it can offer some serious power to an ambitious mage. What would they be willing to pay for that?

Messages from the future – A Mage from the original cabal manages to send a message back in time. The future has been all but dominated by the God Machine and this message is the last desperate hope of humanity. The player characters who receive it must work together to end specific plots before the God Machine takes over in a few short years. At first, the information is accurate and leads to their success but then things start to unravel. Information is wrong or out of date, or it says that a major ally of the group is a traitor and must be killed, or maybe the information itself starts looking suspiciously like a setup.

Murder most foul – The PCs are called in to investigate the death of a powerful local mage. Sifting through the information and following clues, they eventually find the trail leads to a creature that calls itself a demon. Except it shows no remorse or fear, it explains: It was sent to guide the dead mage in creating the God Machine in this world, and he wasn’t the only target. More have to die as they get closer to creating it, or the God Machine will win. Now it wants their help too.

Gilded Cage – Effectively ‘Murder Most Foul’ in a different game line. The PCs are Demons and begin to find new infrastructure cropping up around town. After investigating, it seems all of this infrastructure is built to protect just one woman, a computer programmer. Further investigations turn up some unusual facts, and something terrifyingly familiar about her latest project.

Day 0 – Why bother with all this finding out the true nature of the God Machine and stopping it. Let its plans come to fruition in all their glory. The world’s first true AI awakens and the world begins to end. As cabals are eliminated, what can your PCs do to survive? What are they willing to do?