#11. Ada

Lore

The Ghost in the Machine

"Target Ada is confirmed. Suspect is armed and located at the rear of the sixth floor...and on the roof...and twice on the third floor. All units, surveillance protocols are compromised. ignore radio communication. Set Aim Augmentation to Manual. Disregard...[garbled]...on sight...[garbled]...incoming...[garbled]...down...[elevator music]"

– Recovered from a Mobile Command Unit blackbox, MBFC


"Combat Cryptography is easy. Once you can ignore the bullets and the screaming, it's just basic quantum calculus."

– Ada, shouted to a recruit during a raid on GovernCorp

As the story goes...

Records show a precious young Ada offered a place in the training program of Meyers Baby Food Corporation ("Your Friend in Nanotech"). After that, no official records of Ada exist. Part of an experimental group, Ada's public education neurosims were replaced with training in real-time signal decryption and urban warfare.

Graduates of the experiment joined Meyers Baby Food Corp's black ops division, but Ada hacked the corporation's maincloud and learned her division was protecting the Upload Enslavement Initiative. Soon, records of Meyers' secret operations were playing on every news feed, and Ada had disappeared.

In the undersea free state of Miami Dome, Ada founded the Right Wrong Cavaliers, an elite team of combat hackers and post-punk revival band, and she led their masterful guerilla campaign against Meyers and their shadowy GovernCorp backers.

She's pretty sure Valhalla is all some sort of computer sim, but until she can find a way out, she's playing to win.

Connections

• Involved in a techno-fantasy euro pop band with Fait, Isaiah, and Ulgrim
• Ada is hinted at in Barraza's lore, as the MBFC's "rogue agent" targeted by the self-replicating nanobots that became the cause for the apocalypse Barraza lived in
• Ada is never mentioned in Val's lore, but Val's actions against the Right Wrong Cavaliers makes it clear that they are each working on different sides in the fight for/against MBFC
• Diana told the story of her betrayal to Ada (shown in Mordex's lore)
• Discussed with Cassidy and Jhala the unfairness of Ragnir's participation in the Grand Tournament
• Once hung out with Zariel, teaching them about "the internet" (Zariel took a quiz about what type of bread they are)
• Fait needed Ada's hacking skills to take over the official Brawlhalla Twitter account a few days before she (Fait) was released in Brawlhalla

Context

Ada fits the "cyberpunk" archetype. Cyberpunk is often described as "high tech, low life." Founded in the "new wave sci-fi movement" of the 60s and 70s, it tends to blend the features of sci-fi and film noir while avoiding some of the tendencies and features of earlier science fiction. Some sources say that the term "cyberpunk" originated in this short story by Bruce Bethke. Based on the early works of the genre (Blade Runner, Johnny Mnemonic, and New Rose Hotel), it is easy to see where the "cyber" part of the title comes from.

What does the "punk" part mean? The ideas that seem to unite all the "punk" subgenres are anti-establishment, individual freedom, and sometimes a dystopian world view or a gritty, edgy tone. More information about another "punk" sub-genre (steampunk), can be found on Scarlet's page.

Ada's title, "Ghost in the Machine," is a clear reference to Masamune Shirow's Ghost in the Shell, a manga series that formed the basis for a recent film or the same name. Ada has many similarities to the main character in that she was born a human, but received a large amount of cybernetic enhancements supported by combat training, all from a powerful corporation.

Fellow lore nerd, ASkyHappy, discovered some really cool connections with Ada's name! First of all, Ada Lovelace is sometimes regarded as the first computer programmer (with her work related to Charles Babbage's proposed "Analytical Machine")! This is likely the same Ada that inspired the naming of a computer virus and a programming language centuries later. Puts a whole new meaning to that "Lovelaced Ada" skin for the annual Valhallantine's event, doesn't it? ;)

Blasters and spear aren't exactly the first weapons that come to mind when it comes to cyberpunk. Well, maybe the blasters, but the spear? The spear can actually make sense because in the cyberpunk genre we often see archaic designs and items strongly enhanced by technology. To use a non-cyberpunk example, look at the Wakandan spears and other seemingly "old-fashioned" weapons in Black Panther.