Matrix Games: The Matrix Online: The Sentinel

October 28, 2005

Clicking on the Sentinel Pyramid logo at the top of the newspaper brings up the following encoded message:

Prepare For Street “Amazements”

Illusionist "Cryptos" To Bring his Street-Hip Magic to City - by Sentinel Staff

Cryptos is known to bluepills as a famous Jamaican magician, and he promises to change the lives of every person in the city forever because of his "amazement" (appearing in boxes all around the city), which will continue for over a month. Cryptos performed two years ago when he stood on a flagpole for 12 days, eventually "falling to his death." Upon examination, the body turned out to be a dummy, and nobody knows how Cryptos made the switch.

After a life of abandonment, crimes and drugs (saying that he "should've died seven times"), Cryptos says he found sobriety and salvation at age 18 because angels watched over him. Now, he works tirelessly on his illusions he calls "amazements," describing them as missions from... "Don't say it, mon. It's not the cliché they lampoon in the movies. It's my destiny." This seems to say, "No, my salvation is not what it sounds like, so don't say it." As we later find out, Cryptos is allied with machines, so his spiritual references probably refer to machines and/or the Matrix. See Seraph and colors for more support for my theory on this.

Cryptos is also known for his "preaching," which includes things that would be very confusing to bluepills who don't know that bluepills are considered "sleepers" and redpills are considered "awakened":

"I knew the giver of sleep. He kept his eye on his dream, and achieved it, in a way. But now I wonder if he would approve of this strange amorphous state. I think he would join us. I think he would throw his reds in the river and sing the blues with us. We can never know, may he rest in peace, but this is what I believe."

The only person who would fit this "giver of sleep" description would be Cypher. Considering that Cryptos was also the name of a Zion military officer who went missing, clearly Cryptos has been reinserted into the Matrix. Cypher also wanted to be reinserted into the Matrix but died before it could happen (but it would have happened, thus, he achieved his dream "in a way"). I'm guessing the machines gave Cryptos additional system access that enables him to do what appears to be magic. As we learn at the end of chapter 3.2, Cryptos is being manipulated by Machines to manipulate humans to supress redpills and encourage bluepills to remain bluepills. (Machines can't kill redpills anymore, but they can certainly manipulate them.) Cryptos is almost certainly the Zion military officer with memory implants given at the time of reinsertion designed to change his appearance, his speech patterns, etc. so that Zionists won't go after him. He also proves later to know who Niobe and the Merovingian are, which he couldn't know if he were just a bluepill.

The bluepill article also describes a cult following of Cryptos, which of course is really Cypherites.

Presidential Hopeful Beatts Visits

by City Staff

This article discusses the fund raiser dinner of retired General David Beatts, which is $600 per plate and raised $120,000 for Beatts' "research fund," which can be legally rolled over into a campaign fund. The article mentions that Beatts rappelled down from a helicopter two years ago when he arrived at a debate. In his speech, he discussed "security with sanity" and "creative alliances," not to mention what could be his campaign slogan, "Total Security: Health, Job and borders."

This article confirms that the General (leader of Commandos and sentinel exiles) is indeed known in the Matrix as General David Beatts (as he claimed to redpills). His speech at the fund raiser dinner was interrupted several times by helicopters flying overhead, which he eventually joked about: "I guess they're like sparrows, and they think I'm their St. Francis." Ironically, the helicopters are probably patrolling the area for the General's protection.

Since the General participated in the presidential primaries two years ago, and the General is not currently the President of the U.S., this obviously means the General lost. It wouldn't be surprising to learn that the President of the U.S. is a machine, in order to facilitate control of bluepills in the Matrix through propaganda.

Killer Dead: Virtually, At Least

by Andres Bonifaciaeo

Andres says that he's starting to become comfortable with the Redpill types and their "hush-hush" religion, and that he is "okay" with them even despite his "reasonable skepticism" toward their claims. But their violence scares Andres.

He says Redpills are always talking about duels and fights where "I died" and "I killed him," pointing out that he would be stepping over corpeses all over the city if this were actually true. This is of course explained by the auto-jack-out mechanism before a redpill dies.

When Andres was at a bar, he overheard a group of Redpills trading boasts at a table. He also noticed that redpills "love to stand, have you noticed?" (this is kind of funny since it refers to the fact that MxO players just stand around by default, just like any other massive multiplayer online game). The Redpills described a scene in Azimuth Park that refers to helping take down the Assassin, mentioning piles of dead bodies (referring to the Assassin's Corrupted), which Andres obviously doesn't believe since no "mass murder at Azimuth Park" was ever reported.

When Andres introduced himself to the redpills, they recognized him and said they all read his columns and that they took down the guy who killed his garbage truck driver friend. The redpills confirmed to Andres that it was indeed the man in the mask. The redpills each wanted to get their street handles printed in the paper (Andres couldn't help noticing that the handles were half spelled with numbers). Andres said he'd be happy to if anyone would give him straight answers to his questions, which of course was followed by silence.

Andres concludes by admitting that law enforcement and his trash-hauling friends both confirm no more sightings of the porcelain masked man, and that "Maybe we have a woo-woo nothing-is-real cult to thank for ridding the city of a serial killer. Or maybe they just dreamed it. Now if they could just do something about these helicopters." (Unfortunately for Andres, redpills are actually allied with the General and his helicopter-riding Commandos.)

Clicking on "We took him down" in the original article brings up the following encoded message from the Merovingian (Flood):

Well, you did it. Some others landed a blow or two, sure, but you bon vivants were in there turning that goose into foie gras with the best of them. We expect nothing less, and we expect style. That's what we're about. Big juicy c'est bons to mpminoc, DjWakko and GirlNextDoor for delivering coups de grace. And to everybody who swatted flies. Place smells better already. One thing, though. Looks like some of those nasty little kill codes, the ones that override the jack-out safeguard, are missing, along with the Assassin's gun. Somebody, I hope one of you, has some wicked stuff. If it's you, or you know something, come by and have a little Merlot with us. The Merovingian might be in a very generous mood if you do.

Daily Personals

There are a few daily personals, mostly inconsequential. But one of them says, "Lonely? Wonder what it all means? So do I. When you're done masquerading, maybe we can talk." This is an invitation from the Kid. If you click on "maybe we can talk," it brings up an encoded message from the Kid:

Down the streets and alleys, down hallways and rooms where the stench of desperate kill-or-be-killed moments hangs amid the office equipment that processes fake data in a puppet-show world, the file cabinets and wall safes stuffed with devices and codes and pills, these are our haunts. The pools of light paint the drear streets and walls, but mostly there is darkness. The glowing phone booths are communal bonfires. We cluster about them in our tribal groups. Men leap to and from rooftops. Women dance on sculptures fifty feet in the air. Excuse me if I wonder why. Why we do this. Where it's leading. Because it can't just be for existence. Mere amusement. Neo didn't die so we could play superhero in a city of lying shadows, fighting ghosts. Neo, are you out there? Is Morpheus with you? Are you golden light, in a world of golden light? Don't get me wrong. This world is a gift. The dirty lots that don't begrime us, the bullets that don't really kill. So much to explore, with enough danger to quicken the blood and remind us we're still the savannah animals that donned clothes and then, Godlike, created beasts so smart they fooled us for decades in our collective cyber-dream. Beasts that could still kill us, if they chose. But somehow, so far, choose not to. Because of Neo. Because he saved them when he saved us. Why is there no temple to Neo in the Matrix? Why is there no shrine in Zion, holding Neo's relics? I understand why Morpheus set off his code bombs, though I don't think Neo would've wanted him to. Not that I'm any less glad we got that blank-faced vermin who killed him. Forgive my rambling. My thoughts are unordered. But my yearning is real. For purpose, here in the Matrix. If you feel the same way, come by the Mara Congregational Church. I hang out there. Let's talk. No, I won't identify myself. I'm nobody special, though I knew Neo, a little. I may wear disguises, come to think of it; I don't want to be a celebrity.I'm just a seeker. Same as, maybe, you. Don't trust anybody who says they wrote this. I'll deny it. But let's discuss, with like-minded people, the most important question: What would Neo want us to do?

Keeping in mind that the Kid has not formed the E Pluribus Neo group yet, this is a sincere invitation to truly talk about what Neo would have wanted. The only confusing part of this is when he says Neo probably wouldn't have wanted Morpheus to set off all those code bombs. Later, when the Kid forms E Pluribus Neo, the group sets off even worse code bombs that cause people to wake up in the real world.

News Briefs

Halloween Mardi Gras - City officials announced a new multi-day Halloween celebration inviting people to wear masks all weekend, hoping to attract more tourism. Within MxO, players ended up dressing up however they wanted, often looking like lupine and vampire exiles (even being able to dress up as the fallen Invalesco). Jack-o-lanterns and other decorations were found all over the place. Officials asked people not to dress up in porcelain masks due to the sensitivity of "recent events."

Clicking on "recent events" in the original article brings up the following encoded message from Agent Pace:

Ciao, Rosapillore. You have written your names into Matrix history. The Assassin was destroyed, the Matrix restored and reaffirmed, and you were there. Many of you landed blows. Perhaps more of you knew the pain of almost-death and RSI reconstruction, which we know is distressing. To be out of the Matrix, even for a time, is to be less alive. I salute your patience. I am told some of you use the reconstruction interlude to meditate, to find your focus in an imagined target within your chests. Others stand, stretch, and roll their heads like antennae searching the sky for the radiance of distant stars. How beautiful. Bella. Now two matters must be addressed. One, congratulations to those warriors who had the honor of landing killer strikes: Kanjo; theconstant; CapOne. Others who fought with noble viciousness deserve no less credit, but, though chance has its role in their achievement, these combatante forever have the right to say: I did it, the final blow. The other matter involves the Assassin's weapon and bullets. As you know, we know at least some of the Assassin's bullets contain kill codes that subvert the emergency jack-out mechanism. Now they are missing. Someone has them. Someone has the power to kill Redpills with finality. Obviously, this is a great problem. If you learn anything of this matter, report it to the proper authorities. Pax Vobiscum, Agent Pace

Illegal Fireworks - "Azimuth Park will be closed for re-sodding, to repair burned areas apparently caused by illegally discharged fireworks." This is obviously the machines' way of explaining to bluepills why Azimuth Park suffered so much destruction in the final battles to kill the Assassin.

Lab Accident - There was an evacuation at Wright Research Corporation due to a laboratory accident (toxic materials are now being cleaned up after being safely contained). This laboratory is owned by the Merovingian and is where he develops new weapons and coded tools to use against enemies.

Club Shogo Murder - Two men and a woman were arrested for a murder at Club Shogo[inside] involving illegal firearms. I'm not sure if this has anything to do with redpill events that took place within MxO.

Back to MxO Chapter 3.2 or Back to Sentinel Index