Aquarian Age: Muses and Daemons

[Steve]

With the advent of Persona-controlled Homonculi, an offshoot of that area of AI magitechnology was the creation of Daemons and Muses. Essentially, they are AIs that work within an existing human soul, installed into the human brain.

 

Of the two, Daemons are the more controversial, but their use is limited. After a series of controversial court cases allowed their use, incarcerated and paroled felons are issued a Daemon who monitors their activities, acting as a sort of 24/7 parole officer. Using a form of eidetic memory with essentially unlimited recording capacity, it records the sights and sounds that the host person experiences. It will also issue its host mild to inreasingly stern warnings concerning possible parole violations. If a felon flees from authorities, it will assist in their capture by sending out a code locator signal that police wizards are able to home in on.

 

Muses are a form of Persona that is slaved to an existing human soul, acting as a companion and helper. It is equipped with a knowledge base that draws on the Akashic Record, a thaumaturgic version of the Internet containing the sum of human knowledge. Muses assist in accessing this information and also act as personal secretaries and confidantes for their host.

[Cancer]

Is there a difference in how someone would go about ridding themselves of either one? Or can you rid yourself of either? And could there be both on a person at the same time?

[Steve]

Muses can be disposed of by a simple process of dispelling them, so long as you have the proper spell key. It's kind of like uninstalling software from a computer.

 

Daemons are much, much harder to remove, since the spell keys to do so are held by the government until a felon is done with incarceration and/or probation. It is possible to have them removed without the key, but it requires dispelling an AI built with Difficult to Dispel.

 

I suppose a person can have both. The Daemon functions more as a form of prisoner monitoring than a helper. That said, totalitarian governments have been considering installing Daemons into their entire populace to monitor for dissent, but none have done so yet due to the high likelihood of mass revolt.

[IndianaJoe3]

That said, totalitarian governments have been considering installing Daemons into their entire populace to monitor for dissent, but none have done so yet due to the high likelihood of mass revolt.

 

There should probably be another reason for that. Maybe expense, or reliability?

[Cancer]

Could be that there is (or at least rumored to be) the ability to do a mass-dispell on Daemons, involving a refutation of one of the spell theorems involved in their construction. Supposedly it is not all that hard to do once you know what you're doing and have the requisite ritual components. Dissolving all the Daemons for a thousand leagues simultaneously would allow instant freedom of action by those freed from the control.

[Steve]

Hmm, I like the mass dispel idea. My thought was that expense was one of the limiting factors. Perhaps only key people could be watched that way, so it would cause resistance efforts to require a cell approach and recruiting spellcasters who could scan for Daemons would be vital.

 

The same could be said for criminal organizations. The authorities could install a Daemon on a mole.