I AM lost

[cyl]

So what do you think happened to I AM during the first age so that it disappeared ?


It seems like he was en route to become a good skynet, but was apparently too connected with people to do such a thing.


Since he was never mentioned in any other book, it could be safe to assume that all his nodes where smashed and his mainframe destroyed... but what if he had survived somehow ?


Would this sentient super database be a good tool to use in your games ?


I'm currently thinking about making a whole organization called the Architects (sort of Illuminatis / Templars) born out of the realization of the incapacity of the terrestrial to manipulate the same power as the celestial once did, working actively with him to concentrate knowledge to "feed" him, and protecting humanity by storing secret knowledge or things too powerful and dangerous to be used ever again (like Thousand Forged Dragons).


Most likely the Empress was one of them before she started her desperate expedition on the Blessed Isle.

 

[Sherwood]

If I AM was restored in the current age, it would be a tremendous help to any Exalts that can tap into it. Having a font of First Age info at your hands in a first class instructor can justify raising your Craft skils up to a high enough level to be able to rebuild the basic infrastructure that the people took for granted.

 

[Brickwall]

I AM is identified as more female than male.


Anyway, reading up on it, the individual nodes became increasingly disassociated as the First Age progressed. It's likely that surviving ones would be of very disparate personalities (maybe insane) with low levels of information, having only what was on active recall at the time. Most likely informative about daily life in the first age, and how to run the technology immediately around it. A home I AM terminal would probably remember its family, how to run a household, child education, and other domestic things. A terminal at a business would probably have a bit more information, like economic stuff, Order Conferring Trade Pattern things, etc. Any maps the terminals have would have information corresponding to the terminal's function.


All-in-all, it's incredibly unlikely that any found terminals would have information on magitech repair or secrets. Such terminals would have been those of the Exalts or of factory-cathedral areas or similar. Logically, these would have been the ones least likely to survive. Think of it this way: I AM was a Yozi, and the nodes were First Circle demons (DotFA makes that exact parallel). Think of the power contrast. There you go.

 

[Quchu]

I think Icemind is hinted to be a reconstructed fragment of IAM. It occupies itself by playing Gateway and planning world domination if I'm not mistaken.

 

[Kyeudo]

Actually, it keeps trying to get more power so it can grow, rather than plotting world domination. World domination comes later.

 

[Gawaine]

I definitely will use I AM in some story. Like Brickwall said, Nodes with much „unimportant“ knowledge, depending on the location. The mainframe would be located in Meru or Tzatli (don’t remember were it was constructed) in some kind of armoured vault, disconnected from the outside and therefore gone lonely and mad.

 

[strawberryleaves]

For those of you familiar with the Raj Whitehall series By S.M. Stirling and David Drake, Center can be likened to a major node of I AM, or even an attenuated version of I AM. Granted, the idea of a supercomputer behind the eventual restoration of Creation isn't very Exalted-like, but it has some promise as a plot device.

 

[Cthulhu_Wakes]

Refer to the old Aspect Book: Air, I believe. One of them. Recalls a Shogunate event dealing with Eyem, a very...well, a lesser version of I AM they tried to play with. Did not go well.

 

[Gawaine]

I'm curious: what happended to those who played with Eyem?

 

[Ledaal Kajiri]

Some were executed for treason. Though it should be noted, Eyem's remains were apparently captured by the Scarlet Empress and 'imprisoned' or something of the sort...

 

[Haku1]

Actually, Eyem fell into the hands of the Manosque who were "corrupted" by said entity and then wiped out by the Scarlet Empress. Eyem now labours under the guidance of the Scarlet Empress... or so it's said.

 

[Malekith]

I dont know where I heard, or read it, but there is a thought that The Lover captured Arianna with the hope of recovering the ice mind.


Some think that The Lover recognized Arianna as the reincarnation of what's her name [sorry, my books are packed away at the moment], the chick with wings from the first age, and sees her as an opportunity to get the IAM.

I think Icemind is hinted to be a reconstructed fragment of IAM. It occupies itself by playing Gateway and planning world domination if I'm not mistaken.