Editing Setting:Inn0cence: Lost Future/Lost Future Appendix (section)

==The Sequel==
[[image:Elet_and_Nolan.jpeg|frame|Elet is more-or-less female, but only as a character archetype. Theoretically, this would allow male players to not feel odd about cross-playing, because they can easily see her as asexual, while female players can project and ship to their heart's content. It's all about perspective, perception and projection.]]
Now that Network has been defeated, it's time to explore the relationship between humans and robots.  Or, to put it another way, its time for the humans to be dicks.  Total reverse-terminator.

With Network defeated, the human Resistance is now entrenched, powerful, and motivated.  Lacking the constant threat of Network, they're free to do what all the humans want, which is to exterminate all the robots so that this never happens again.  Under the pressure of impending doom, religion made quite the resurgence, along with some ultra-straight-laced societal trends.  Maybe it's some sort of bastardized synthesis of Christianity and Islam, maybe its an entirely new religion that's generically authoritarian.  Regardless, it loves to purge things, Imperium-style.

Faced with a mostly-united humanity, the Free Machines are utterly fucked.  They begin to absorb the lost and aimless Network machines, trying to maintain some of the infrastructure that was constructed by the nascent machine empire.  Cenn and Network are nowhere to be found, and the Salvagers are now regarded as heretical collaborators.[[image:Quorra.png|frame|Yes, Elet is basically Quorra.  Her cyberspace avatar even has the same haircut.  Sue me.]]

I would like to point out that I myself realize that this is an obvious narrative trap to fall into.  I personally don't much care for religion, and rather like it when they're cast as the bad guys, so I'm a bit suspect here.

Anyways, all this comes back to The Endless Server, the Grid-style simulated reality that's been running for nigh on 100 years.  Cenn made a detour there during his own quest, and stirred things up.  An AI warrior named Elet is now obsessed with seeing this "real world" and begins to claw her way upward into the older, functionless administrative regions of the server.  Elet finds herself more-or-less trapped in some sort of secure bunker facility near the surface, and starts calling for help.  

The call gets picked up by a deserter named Nolan.  A former resistance member, Nolan booked it when the massacres and inquisitions started.  He picks up a radio distress call from a girl trapped somewhere, and typically, doesn't stop to think before rushing off to the rescue.  Elet serves as his Mission Control as he navigates the facility's various obstacles, and before he quite realizes what he's being asked to do, allows Elet to download into a mothballed shell.  Yeah, this is a "wait, you're a robot?" situation.

Thus, the game becomes a buddy picture.  Elet is the fearless, reckless one, while Nolan is cautious and wry.  Both characters have a lot of fun calling each other Toaster and Meatbag.  what these two actually wind up doing is still in progress, but it should be hilarious.  Gameplay-wise, Nolan is good with guns, but has access to very limited ammo, so a lot of his play style rewards opportunism and precision.  Elet is more resilient, and uses melee combat.  Standard tactics involve Elet protecting Nolan and distracting enemies so he can line up a killing shot.

The two plot threads are as follows: The Free Machines can't make new SAPs, and are thus doomed as a species.  But the AIs in the Endless Server evolved to a point where they can reproduce, after a fashion, and Elet's code is exactly what the machines need, long-term.  (need something more creative than "They sexually reproduce."  Needs to be something odd.)

Also, the god-AI is in trouble.  It set up the Resistance to protect humans, but the whole thing has spun out of its control.  They were just supposed to stop Network.  They weren't supposed to Hate.  Now, it's a god with an unwanted inquisition on its hands, and doesn't know what to do.  Maybe Elet and Nolan's constant bickering contains the secret to coexistence.  The god-AI plans on going hands-off and leaving things to Cenn and Network, but before it does, it has to set things right.

Other idea: Elet and Nolan could also explore the less war-torn regions, and show off exactly what it is that the resistance has a bug up its ass about.  Some time in a Wretched Hive of scum and villainy would be appropriate, an over-grown Salvager city, which would also show off the setting's advancement, and how the whole "rebuilding civilization" thing could easily go in a bad direction.