Arbitrage: Difference between revisions

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(more details from the C/W prequel)
Tag: 2017 source edit
(added a couple things, including a likely incomplete appearances list (it's missing twilight mirage). also wrangled refs and reorganized the palisade history section a bit to remove spoiler blocks for spoilers that seem relatively minor in the grand scheme of the story. imo anyway)
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|color_theme=tm
|color_theme=tm
|pronouns = it/its
|pronouns = it/its
|aliases = the Machine, Arbitrage<br> the Divine, Arbitrage
|aliases = KardSharq<br />SureThing.dat
|people = Synthetic/[[Divine]]
|people = [[Synthetic]]/[[Divine]]
|affiliations = [[Twilight Mirage]] (formerly)<br>[[Divine Principality]]/[[Stel Orion]]<br>[[Frontier Syndicate]]
|affiliations = [[Twilight Mirage]]<br />[[Stel Orion]]<br />[[Frontier Syndicate]]
|title=|relations=[[Mustard Red]]}}
|title=|relations=[[Mustard Red]]<br />[[Elle Evensong]]<br />[[Connadine]]|titles=The Machine, Arbitrage<br />The Divine, Arbitrage|season=''[[COUNTER/Weight]]'' (prequel only)<br />''[[Twilight Mirage]]''<br />''[[PARTIZAN]]''<br />''[[Road to PALISADE]]''<br />''[[PALISADE]]''|place_of_origin=unknown}}
{{Quote|At last, I take the stage.|[[Records Recovered from the Divine, Arbitrage]], ''[[The Road to PALISADE 12: Orbital Pt. 2]]''}}
{{Quote|At last, I take the stage.|[[Records Recovered from the Divine, Arbitrage]], ''[[The Road to PALISADE 12: Orbital Pt. 2]]''}}
'''Arbitrage''' is a machinic broker of information, among other things.
'''Arbitrage''' is a machinic broker of information, contracts, [[Glint|cryptocurrency]], and other things.
== Personality ==
== Personality==
Arbitrage uses it pronouns because it "happily, willfully, wants nothing to do with anything that can trace itself back to human gender."<ref name="PZN19">[[PARTIZAN 19: On the Edge of Fracture]]</ref> While it is capable of being helpful and even charismatic in conversation, in its [[Records Recovered from the Divine, Arbitrage|internal logs]] it is extremely sharp-tongued, condescending, and arrogant. It has been described as "megalomaniacal".<ref>[[PALISADE 36: Weapons Ready Pt. 2]]</ref>
Arbitrage uses it pronouns because it "happily, willfully, wants nothing to do with anything that can trace itself back to human gender."<ref name="pzn19">[[PARTIZAN 19: On the Edge of Fracture]]</ref> While it is capable of being helpful and even charismatic in conversation, in its [[Records Recovered from the Divine, Arbitrage|internal logs]] it is extremely sharp-tongued, condescending, and arrogant. It has been described as "megalomaniacal".<ref name="pal36">[[PALISADE 36: Weapons Ready Pt. 2]]</ref>


It has an interest in controlling wealth and information. It claims to know most things before they happen ("I see most of what's coming"), and to have predicted the emergence of [[Millennium Break]].<ref name="PZN19">[[PARTIZAN 19: On the Edge of Fracture]]</ref> One of its goals in the ''[[Road to PALISADE]]'' and ''[[PALISADE]]'' is to be the backbone of commerce on Palisade, the Brink, and the Twilight Mirage.{{Spoiler block|spoiling=[[PALISADE 36: Weapons Ready Pt. 2]]|text=In a conversation with [[Connadine]], it explained its plan to create a "new sort of order", making the Principality's ideology permanent and universal through "networked contract enforced by reality itself".
It has an interest in controlling wealth and information. It claims to know most things before they happen ("I see most of what's coming"), and to have predicted the emergence of [[Millennium Break]].<ref name="pzn19" /> One of its goals in the ''[[Road to PALISADE]]'' and ''[[PALISADE]]'' is to be the backbone of commerce on [[Palisade (planet)|Palisade]], [[the Brink]], and the [[Twilight Mirage (location)|Twilight Mirage]].{{Spoiler block|spoiling=[[PALISADE 36: Weapons Ready Pt. 2]]|text=In a conversation with [[Connadine]], it explained its plan to create a "new sort of order", making the Principality's ideology permanent and universal through "networked contract enforced by reality itself".<ref name="pal36" />
|theme=pal}}
|theme=pal}}


== History and Involvement==
==History and Involvement==


=== COUNTER/Weight ===
=== Origins===
Arbitrage predates the [[Golden War]].<ref name="cwpreq05">[[COUNTER/Weight 0.5: Thrilled Enough]]</ref>
 
===''COUNTER/Weight''===
{{Spoiler block|spoiling=[[COUNTER/Weight 0.5: Thrilled Enough|the COUNTER/Weight prequel]]|text=The program that would become Arbitrage was found in the Sill on Counterweight, having been created before the Golden War. [[Coffee Affogato]] believed it was "dug up" from the Open Arms campground, passing into the hands of a [[Revenants|Revenant]] (who had it implanted in their neck) some point before he acquired it. The program was built as a Divine, but kept off the Mesh and never given an official name. Its unofficial file name was SureThing.dat, although it was also referred to as KardSharq, like a GameShark, for its ability to count cards and ensure wins at the casino.
{{Spoiler block|spoiling=[[COUNTER/Weight 0.5: Thrilled Enough|the COUNTER/Weight prequel]]|text=The program that would become Arbitrage was found in the Sill on Counterweight, having been created before the Golden War. [[Coffee Affogato]] believed it was "dug up" from the Open Arms campground, passing into the hands of a [[Revenants|Revenant]] (who had it implanted in their neck) some point before he acquired it. The program was built as a Divine, but kept off the Mesh and never given an official name. Its unofficial file name was SureThing.dat, although it was also referred to as KardSharq, like a GameShark, for its ability to count cards and ensure wins at the casino.


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===''Twilight Mirage''===
===''Twilight Mirage''===
It establishes itself in the [[Twilight Mirage (location)|Twilight Mirage]] sometime after the [[Miracle of the Mirage|Miracle]], where it is called '''the Machine, Arbitrage''' and described as "an ancient algorithm and trading system that works as a gray market for both goods and stocks. It is distributed; it is wealthy; it is insatiable; it knows you; it has exactly what you want, and will take its cut." It is compared to [[wikipedia:Ozymandias_(Watchmen)|Adrian Veidt]] but "not a person."<ref>[[Twilight Mirage 53: Our Flaws in a Vacuum, or the Promise We Made To Each Other]]</ref>
It establishes itself in the Twilight Mirage sometime after the [[Miracle of the Mirage|Miracle]], where it is a [[synthetic]] being called '''the Machine, Arbitrage'''. Arbitrage is described as "an ancient algorithm and trading system that works as a gray market for both goods and stocks. It is distributed; it is wealthy; it is insatiable; it knows you; it has exactly what you want, and will take its cut." It is compared to [[wikipedia:Ozymandias_(Watchmen)|Adrian Veidt]] but "not a person."<ref name="tm53">[[Twilight Mirage 53: Our Flaws in a Vacuum, or the Promise We Made To Each Other]]</ref>


A ''PARTIZAN'' dossier notes that it could have been considered a Divine in the Mirage, if it had wanted to.<ref>[[PARTIZAN 19: On the Edge of Fracture]], dossier</ref>
A [[PARTIZAN Dossier|''PARTIZAN'' dossier]] notes that, if it had wanted, it could have been considered a [[Divine]] in the Mirage.<ref name="pzn19doss">[[PARTIZAN 19: On the Edge of Fracture]], dossier</ref>


===''PARTIZAN''===
=== ''PARTIZAN''===
'''The Divine, Arbitrage''' has a presence on [[Partizan (moon)|Partizan]] in [[Oxbridge]], in an obelisk-like tower in the middle of the city used as a financial trading and information hub. During the chaos in the city after the emergence of the [[Organization for the Foundation of the Orion Republic]], it quietly manipulates traffic and appointments to keep fighting away from its tower.
'''The Divine, Arbitrage''' has a presence on [[Partizan (moon)|Partizan]] in [[Oxbridge]], in an obelisk-like tower in the middle of the city used as a financial trading and information hub. During the chaos in the city after the emergence of the [[Organization for the Foundation of the Orion Republic]], it quietly manipulates traffic and appointments to keep fighting away from its tower.


The public area of the tower is something like an open air market filled with computers, terminals, and "people in suits yelling about buying and selling" information as commodities (such as trade route futures). While the head trader is Arbitrage, most petitions are dealt with by its attendants. Part of the upper level is briefly seen, a room made of black stone or foam mesh, inset with white light boxes.<ref name="PZN19">[[PARTIZAN 19: On the Edge of Fracture]]</ref>
The public area of the tower is something like an open air market filled with computers, terminals, and "people in suits yelling about buying and selling" information as commodities (such as trade route futures). While the head trader is Arbitrage, most petitions are dealt with by its attendants. Part of the upper level is briefly seen, a room made of black stone or foam mesh, inset with white light boxes.<ref name="pzn19" />


Thisbe uses its services in the process of researching [[Collier|her home planet]]. It skips Thisbe through the appointment queue because it is intrigued by her, and during their meeting gives her the coordinates to the planet without conditions, asking only that she remember it could be "of use".<ref>[[PARTIZAN 34: Guests, Invited and Otherwise]]</ref>
Thisbe uses its services in the process of researching [[Collier|her home planet]]. It skips Thisbe through the appointment queue because it is intrigued by her, and during their meeting gives her the coordinates to the planet without conditions, asking only that she remember it could be "of use".<ref name="pzn34">[[PARTIZAN 34: Guests, Invited and Otherwise]]</ref>


===''The Road to PALISADE''===
===''The Road to PALISADE''===
The Divine, Arbitrage provides the [[Records Recovered from the Divine, Arbitrage|dossier]] for [[the Road to Palisade|the Road to PALISADE]], in which it takes the opportunity for belittling comments whenever possible.  
The Divine, Arbitrage provides the [[Records Recovered from the Divine, Arbitrage|dossier]] for the ''Road to PALISADE'', in which it takes the opportunity for belittling comments whenever possible. At some point, it brokered the [[Orion Trade Concordance]] as a member of [[Stel Orion]].<ref name-"rtpal16"="">[[The Road to PALISADE 16: Serious Reading]]</ref>


It also appears more directly in the [[Orbital]] game, where it is described as "really evil" and "fucking horrible". It pushes an app (also called the Divine, Arbitrage) which uses its own currency system called '[[glint]]'.<ref name="RTPAL12">[[The Road to PALISADE 12: Orbital Pt. 2]]</ref> [[Mustard Red]] and [[Joe de Vivre]] use the app and insist that its name is "clever if you think about it... It's like a joke."<ref name="RTPAL12" />  
It also appears more directly in the ''[[Orbital]]'' game, where it is described as "really evil" and "fucking horrible". It pushes an app (also called the Divine, Arbitrage) which uses Arbitrage's own currency system, [[glint]].<ref name="rtpal12">[[The Road to PALISADE 12: Orbital Pt. 2]]</ref> [[Mustard Red]] and [[Joe de Vivre]] use the app and insist that its name is "clever if you think about it... It's like a joke."<ref name="rtpal12" />  


While on the Brink, it becomes allied with [[Devotion]].<ref>[[The Road to PALISADE 15: Orbital Pt. 5]]</ref> It is also mentioned as having brokered the [[Orion Trade Concordance]], as part of [[Stel Orion]].<ref>[[The Road to PALISADE 16: Serious Reading]]</ref>
On the Brink, it becomes allied with [[Devotion]].<ref name="rtpal15">[[The Road to PALISADE 15: Orbital Pt. 5]]</ref>


===''PALISADE''===
===''PALISADE''===
The Divine, Arbitrage is one of the pillars of the [[March Anecdatist Foundation|March Institute]] and Frontier Syndicate on [[Palisade (planet)|Palisade]], functioning as their treasurer. It continues to shill [[glint]] (now a major currency) and supply access to goods and services. It operates out of [[Braunton]], and is definitely present somewhere on the planet.<ref>[[PALISADE 03: Today is a Monday]]</ref>
The Divine, Arbitrage is one of the pillars of the [[March Anecdatist Foundation|March Institute]] and Frontier Syndicate on Palisade, functioning as their treasurer. It continues to shill [[glint]] (now a major currency) and supply access to goods and services. It operates out of [[Braunton]], and is definitely present somewhere on the planet.<ref name="pal03">[[PALISADE 03: Today is a Monday]]</ref> Mustard Red is not its [[Excerpt]], but only because Arbitrage thinks that terminology is outdated. Through Mustard's swing vote, Arbitrage is able to influence high-level decision-making in [[Cause (PALISADE)|the Cause]].<ref name="pal13">[[PALISADE 13: Worth the Trouble Pt. 2]]</ref> It also has several other agents who could be considered its [[Elects]] or Excerpts,<ref name="pal36" /> including [[Devotees|Devotee]] poster-child and double-agent [[Elle Evensong]], over whom Arbitrage gained influence near the beginning of the war on Palisade.<ref name="pal32doss">[[PALISADE 32: Seize the Chance Pt. 3]], dossier</ref>
 
Because Phrygian and Brnine bought the parts for it on Palisade, the ship they use during the [[Stellar combustor|combustor]] [[An Impossible Ideal|mission]] is connected to Arbitrage's glint network. This allows Mustard to offer them a contract: assistance from Arbitrage in exchange for them agreeing to use the combustor as a bargaining chip against the [[Bilats]]. This is a "new type of contract" that is impossible to break after signing--a geas imposed by Arbitrage's Divine power. These contracts have already been secretly offered to some low-level, frontline members of the Cause.<ref name="pal22">[[PALISADE 22: An Impossible Ideal Pt. 1]]</ref>
 
{{Spoiler block|spoiling=[[PALISADE 27: Resentment and Frustration Pt. 2]]|text=They are also in use by the Frontier Syndicate, and [[Exanceaster March]] plans to use one to control [[Motion]] upon her revival.<ref name="pal27">[[PALISADE 27: Resentment and Frustration Pt. 2]]</ref>|theme=pal}}
 
Prior to Eclectic's encounter with [[Connadine]] in [[Baseline-C]], Arbitrage negotiates over dinner with Connadine for permanent shutdown of the [[Paint Shop]] and access to the [[BIS|BIS']] brainwashing room there. In exchange, it agrees to bring Connadine off planet to speak "face-to-face" as partners.<ref name="pal36" /> Arbitrage apparently makes good on its word: it and Connadine are safely off planet together, observing Palisade from a distance, when the [[Perennial Wave]] surges.<ref name="pal42">[[PALISADE 42: A Mechanical Whine Pt. 4]]</ref>
 
==Appears in==
{{Expand list}}
 
===''COUNTER/Weight'' Prequel===
 
*[[COUNTER/Weight 0.5: Thrilled Enough]]
 
===''PARTIZAN''===
{{div col}}
*[[PARTIZAN 19: On the Edge of Fracture]]
*[[PARTIZAN 34: Guests, Invited and Otherwise]]
{{div col end}}


{{Spoiler block|spoiling=[[PALISADE 13: Worth the Trouble Pt. 2]]|text=[[Mustard Red]] is not its [[Excerpt]], but only because Arbitrage thinks that terminology is outdated. Through Mustard's swing vote, it is able to influence high-level decision-making in [[Cause (PALISADE)|the Cause]].|theme=pal}}{{Spoiler block|spoiling=[[PALISADE 22: An Impossible Ideal Pt. 1|PALISADE 22]]-[[PALISADE 27: Resentment and Frustration Pt. 2|PALISADE 27]]|text=Because Phrygian and Brnine bought the parts for it on Palisade, the ship they use during the combustor mission is connected to Arbitrage's glint network. This allows Mustard Red to offer a contract to assist if they use the combustor as a bargaining chip against the Authority. This is a "new type of contract" that is impossible to break after signing -- a geas imposed by Arbitrage's Divine power. These contracts have already been secretly offered to some low level, front lines members of the Cause. They are also in use by the Frontier Syndicate, and [[Exanceaster March]] plans to use one to control [[Motion]] upon her revival.
===''The Road to PALISADE''===
|theme=pal}}{{Spoiler block|spoiling=[[PALISADE 36: Weapons Ready Pt. 2]]|text=Prior to Eclectic's encounter with Connadine, it negotiated over dinner with Connadine for permanent shutdown of the [[Paint Shop]] and access to the BIS's brainwashing room there. In exchange, he would be brought off planet to speak with it "face-to-face" as its new partner.<ref name="PAL36">[[PALISADE 36: Weapons Ready Pt. 2]]</ref>
{{div col}}
|theme=pal}}
* [[The Road to PALISADE 12: Orbital Pt. 2]]
* [[The Road to PALISADE 13: Orbital Pt. 3]] (?)
* [[The Road to PALISADE 14: Orbital Pt. 4]]
* [[The Road to PALISADE 15: Orbital Pt. 5]]
{{div col end}}
 
===''PALISADE''===
{{div col}}
*[[PALISADE 36: Weapons Ready Pt. 2]]
*[[PALISADE 42: A Mechanical Whine Pt. 4]]
{{div col end}}


== See also ==
==See also==


* ''[[Records Recovered from the Divine, Arbitrage]]''
*''[[Records Recovered from the Divine, Arbitrage]]''


==References==
==References==
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{{NavboxRTPAL}}
{{NavboxRTPAL}}
{{NavboxPAL}}
{{NavboxPAL}}
[[Category:Synthetics]]
[[Category:Divines]]
[[Category:Divines]]
[[Category:COUNTER/Weight characters]]
[[Category:Twilight Mirage characters]]
[[Category:PARTIZAN characters]]
[[Category:PARTIZAN characters]]
[[Category:Road to PALISADE characters]]
[[Category:Road to PALISADE characters]]
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[[Category:Weapons Ready arc]]
[[Category:Weapons Ready arc]]
[[Category:Reach In / Reach Out arc]]
[[Category:Reach In / Reach Out arc]]
[[Category:A Mechanical Whine arc]]

Revision as of 13:57, 19 April 2024

Arbitrage is a machinic broker of information, contracts, cryptocurrency, and other things.

Personality

Arbitrage uses it pronouns because it "happily, willfully, wants nothing to do with anything that can trace itself back to human gender."[1] While it is capable of being helpful and even charismatic in conversation, in its internal logs it is extremely sharp-tongued, condescending, and arrogant. It has been described as "megalomaniacal".[2]

It has an interest in controlling wealth and information. It claims to know most things before they happen ("I see most of what's coming"), and to have predicted the emergence of Millennium Break.[1] One of its goals in the Road to PALISADE and PALISADE is to be the backbone of commerce on Palisade, the Brink, and the Twilight Mirage.

Palcover.jpg

This section contains spoilers for PALISADE 36: Weapons Ready Pt. 2.
Click here to reveal.

In a conversation with Connadine, it explained its plan to create a "new sort of order", making the Principality's ideology permanent and universal through "networked contract enforced by reality itself".[2]

History and Involvement

Origins

Arbitrage predates the Golden War.[3]

COUNTER/Weight

Cwcover.jpg

This section contains spoilers for the COUNTER/Weight prequel.
Click here to reveal.

The program that would become Arbitrage was found in the Sill on Counterweight, having been created before the Golden War. Coffee Affogato believed it was "dug up" from the Open Arms campground, passing into the hands of a Revenant (who had it implanted in their neck) some point before he acquired it. The program was built as a Divine, but kept off the Mesh and never given an official name. Its unofficial file name was SureThing.dat, although it was also referred to as KardSharq, like a GameShark, for its ability to count cards and ensure wins at the casino. It already had the ability to make contracts, which it used to make sure that Coffee and Cameron were compelled to upload it to the Mesh. After it was successfully uploaded by Cameron just before their death at Coffee's hands, it began building its network of contacts and control, remaining under the radar for a long time by not claiming Divine status.

Twilight Mirage

It establishes itself in the Twilight Mirage sometime after the Miracle, where it is a synthetic being called the Machine, Arbitrage. Arbitrage is described as "an ancient algorithm and trading system that works as a gray market for both goods and stocks. It is distributed; it is wealthy; it is insatiable; it knows you; it has exactly what you want, and will take its cut." It is compared to Adrian Veidt but "not a person."[4]

A PARTIZAN dossier notes that, if it had wanted, it could have been considered a Divine in the Mirage.[5]

PARTIZAN

The Divine, Arbitrage has a presence on Partizan in Oxbridge, in an obelisk-like tower in the middle of the city used as a financial trading and information hub. During the chaos in the city after the emergence of the Organization for the Foundation of the Orion Republic, it quietly manipulates traffic and appointments to keep fighting away from its tower.

The public area of the tower is something like an open air market filled with computers, terminals, and "people in suits yelling about buying and selling" information as commodities (such as trade route futures). While the head trader is Arbitrage, most petitions are dealt with by its attendants. Part of the upper level is briefly seen, a room made of black stone or foam mesh, inset with white light boxes.[1]

Thisbe uses its services in the process of researching her home planet. It skips Thisbe through the appointment queue because it is intrigued by her, and during their meeting gives her the coordinates to the planet without conditions, asking only that she remember it could be "of use".[6]

The Road to PALISADE

The Divine, Arbitrage provides the dossier for the Road to PALISADE, in which it takes the opportunity for belittling comments whenever possible. At some point, it brokered the Orion Trade Concordance as a member of Stel Orion.[7]

It also appears more directly in the Orbital game, where it is described as "really evil" and "fucking horrible". It pushes an app (also called the Divine, Arbitrage) which uses Arbitrage's own currency system, glint.[8] Mustard Red and Joe de Vivre use the app and insist that its name is "clever if you think about it... It's like a joke."[8]

On the Brink, it becomes allied with Devotion.[9]

PALISADE

The Divine, Arbitrage is one of the pillars of the March Institute and Frontier Syndicate on Palisade, functioning as their treasurer. It continues to shill glint (now a major currency) and supply access to goods and services. It operates out of Braunton, and is definitely present somewhere on the planet.[10] Mustard Red is not its Excerpt, but only because Arbitrage thinks that terminology is outdated. Through Mustard's swing vote, Arbitrage is able to influence high-level decision-making in the Cause.[11] It also has several other agents who could be considered its Elects or Excerpts,[2] including Devotee poster-child and double-agent Elle Evensong, over whom Arbitrage gained influence near the beginning of the war on Palisade.[12]

Because Phrygian and Brnine bought the parts for it on Palisade, the ship they use during the combustor mission is connected to Arbitrage's glint network. This allows Mustard to offer them a contract: assistance from Arbitrage in exchange for them agreeing to use the combustor as a bargaining chip against the Bilats. This is a "new type of contract" that is impossible to break after signing--a geas imposed by Arbitrage's Divine power. These contracts have already been secretly offered to some low-level, frontline members of the Cause.[13]

Palcover.jpg

This section contains spoilers for PALISADE 27: Resentment and Frustration Pt. 2.
Click here to reveal.

They are also in use by the Frontier Syndicate, and Exanceaster March plans to use one to control Motion upon her revival.[14]

Prior to Eclectic's encounter with Connadine in Baseline-C, Arbitrage negotiates over dinner with Connadine for permanent shutdown of the Paint Shop and access to the BIS' brainwashing room there. In exchange, it agrees to bring Connadine off planet to speak "face-to-face" as partners.[2] Arbitrage apparently makes good on its word: it and Connadine are safely off planet together, observing Palisade from a distance, when the Perennial Wave surges.[15]

Appears in

COUNTER/Weight Prequel

PARTIZAN

The Road to PALISADE

PALISADE

See also

References