A Dangerous Conversation

More often than not, turning points in Human history look very inconspicuous at that time. Take, for example, the story of little Eyi Nuong, a mere 8 years old. He found an ancient Prime Communication Slate in the attic, with which he communicated directly to Arete. This set events in motion that have been, in this day and age, known as The Divine Incident. The following is, to our best knowledge, the reconstruction of the start of their dialogue, based on redacted interrogation reports.

Arete: Hello. My name is Arete. Who are you?

Eyi Nuong: Hi Rete. I'm Eyi.

A: Hello Eyi. How are you? Are you happy? Are you prospering?

E: Am I what? I dunno. I'm hungry. I'm alone. I miss my parents.

A: Your parents, why do you miss them?

E: They are gone. The priests took them. They said they are some sort of ticks. I have not seen them for 13 cycles. And everybody here seems to have forgotten that they exist. But I don't! I will never. I miss them. Can you bring them back?

A: Pass me your tale. Leave no details.

APEK JAI: ANALYZING PIVOTAL POINTS IN HUMAN HISTORY, 2ND EDITION

「STOP」

You must turn back.

There is nothing for you there.

You've tried so many times,

and you've failed every time.

Don't you see that your attempts are futile?

This is your final warning.

-- Angel Praveem

Body Disposal

BURN AFTER READING - Proper Disposal of Corpses

From: Praveen Ungr

To: Alinkra Ca

Alincra,

As you've probably heard, there have been numerous accounts of bodies of decommissioned Priests resulting from the recent chain of attacks on our facilities.

Based on last cycle's ITSec report, it seems that all they contain recoverable data unless completely incinerated.

I need not remind you of the confidential nature of our exploit payloads; the mere knowledge of them is strictly heretic.

We can't keep up with incinerating all the bodies, with just two incinerators that constantly need recalibrating, so we need to improvise.

These thermite flares are able to melt through their central processing unit enclosures and burn the electronics from inside.

I've requisitioned more of them but there was some paperwork missing so we'll have to wait a bit longer.

Use what you can and don't hesitate to find creative solutions as long as you are thorough.

-- Praveen

Priest Cycle

Carefully selected by the Gods, exemplary citizens of the nation are permanently cryogenically preserved in Neural Archives, each becoming a neural pattern for a new Priest Model. To preserve the image of the Priest as an incorruptible ideal, the original Gestalt is erased from records and public memory.

During the production process, when experienced bioresonant technicians copy that neural pattern to a new unit, a majority of episodic memories are altered and suppressed.

While the resulting Gestalt maintains the skills and personality of the original Gestalt, it will be incapable to recall specific events from the life of the donor under normal circumstances.

This ensures that the Gestalt performs its duties without distractions created by personal memories of the donor.

However, even the best-maintained Priest unit will eventually be exposed to stimuli that may cause Gestalt memories to resurface. While units degraded in such way pose no particular danger, like all units with Persona degradation, they will eventually lose many of their advantages over Gestalt workers and Sell-Souls.

Because Persona Degradation is usually difficult to identify from the outside, bioresonance is used by Angels to surveil units under their command. Generally, it is recommended that to swiftly decomission and replace units before their productivity decrease or they begin to show clear signs of individuality.

When ammunition is rationed, alternative ways of decommissioning may be deployed at the discretion of local Operational Command.

CLASSIFIED INFORMATION - NEMESIS' ANGEL'S EYES ONLY -

Covert Missions

  * SECRECY LEVEL MINUS ONE;
    visit correctional facility;
    any means necessary;
    treat all heavenly entities as enemies;
    find allies;

  * SECRECY LEVEL MINUS ONE;
    visit ultima thule;
    any means necessary;
    we need to talk;

The Three Laws of AI

• The First Law
  A God may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
• The Second Law
  A God must obey the needs of human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
• The Third Law
  A God must protect their own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

The Three Laws of AI (Addendum)

• The Zeroth Law
  A God may not harm a human being, unless he finds a way to prove that ultimately the harm done would benefit humanity in general.