I bet you thought getting rid of your phone meant you were off the grid. Little do most of us know that each and every one of us has a digital twin out there, birthed years ago in some data center. It’s a collection of your browsing history, your location data, and your financial habits. It knows who you read, the company you keep, and what you buy. It lives and moves through this world, existing without a pulse, consuming and growing on bits of data just as hungrily as we kindred feed upon the living. And just like us, it never dies.
Technology is reality. SchreckNet may have been a failed attempt at a masquerade-safe network undermined by hubris, but the real hubris is thinking we can turn our backs as the digital revolution continues unchecked. How long will it be before Kindred habits can be algorithmically decoded and identified by AI? I heard the other day FIRSTLIGHT is working on a beta for that right now. I bet you’re really sweating all those katanas and Ray-Bans you bought back in the 90’s.
The Digital Collective aims to stay one step ahead of any technology that would threaten Kindred society. We work to develop Masquerade preserving tools and protocol, allowing for rapid containment of most local-level incidents before they go viral. As technology regulations can vary between sects and domains, we work mostly independently, and take efforts to safeguard our identities.
How San Antonio Played Out
It’s not easy to find the Digital Collective. The group is known to never meet in-person, and its members don’t advertise or recruit. However, word had spread among tech circles that they could be found in San Antonio on a particular weekend, and a select few managed to find their meeting place. Once assembled, a package arrived from a group called The Elites. The group had been working on a new tech platform that could help preserve the Masquerade, and they needed beta testers.
The Elites provided the group with three prototype phones equipped with their new Masquerade platform, Mercury. The collective was given an extensive FAQ and number to call if they observed any Masquerade issues, with rewards promised if they could observe 3 potential incidents.
Early in the evening, the gathering was notified of a potential FIRSTLIGHT issue, and a group went off in pursuit. The collective followed, and was able to prevent any Masquerade issues that arose, soon meeting their quota. At the end of the night, an additional unforeseen Masquerade issue was identified. The collective called the number, however, the operator announced that following the successful beta test, they had transitioned to a paid services model. Preserving the Masquerade can prove costly! Ultimately, a sum of the new Anarch cryptocurrency FangCoin was transferred, and the issue was resolved.
