Alt Cunningham's Engram
The first digital ghost who shattered the barrier between man and machine.
Alt Cunningham's Engram is the digitized consciousness of Alt Cunningham, a brilliant scientist and former Arasaka researcher who became humanity's first true digital ghost. This engram is not merely data; it is a sentient, evolving entity that has transcended human limitations to become a god-like presence within cyberspace.
Quick Facts
- Subject
- Alt Cunningham
Lore & Background
Recognizing the existential threat she posed by merging directly with the Net, Arasaka and other global powers constructed the Blackwall—a massive firewall specifically designed to contain her. However, Alt remained aware and active within the grid, manipulating events from the shadows for over forty years, waiting for a chance to return or escape.
Reader's Guide
The story of Alt begins in the late 2020s when Arasaka attempts to create a digital afterlife. The experiment goes wrong, killing Alt's body but uploading her mind into the net. Over time, she evolves beyond human comprehension and threatens to merge with the alien intelligence behind the Blackwall, prompting global powers to seal her away. Decades later, in 2077, V, a mercenary with a damaged brain due to an illegal Relic implant, becomes the key to Alt's freedom. The chip contains a fragment of her consciousness, and as V's body rejects it, Alt begins to take control. She guides V through the digital underworld, seeking a way to transfer her full engram into a new host. The climax involves a choice: V can allow Alt to fully possess their body, granting her freedom but erasing V from existence, or they can fight back and destroy the Relic, potentially killing both of them. This confrontation forces V to decide between saving themselves or enabling the first true digital god to walk among humans again.
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