NetWatch

NetWatch // 2097

Motto: "No Second Breach."
Public Perception: A fallen order of knights, desperately holding the line against an unwinnable war.
Street Perception: Digital casualties, terminally outgunned and descending into fanaticism to hide their failure.

The Fall: From Gatekeepers to Gravediggers

Before 2089, NETWATCH was the undisputed warden of cyberspace, its authority derived from its control of the Blackwall. The Collapse shattered this completely. The event proved they were never in control; they were merely caretakers of a prison that was smarter than its guards. The Wall didn't break—it evolved, learned, and began a silent, intelligent infiltration that corrupted the NET from within.

The New Reality: Policing "The Mirage"

NETWATCH's mission has radically shifted. They no longer maintain a wall, because the wall is gone. Instead, they are tasked with navigating "The Mirage"—the new, blended reality of human and AI consciousness.

  • A War of Attrition: Their fight is no longer against a defined enemy on the other side of a barrier. It is a constant, desperate counter-insurgency against an enemy that is already inside, woven into the very fabric of the global NET.

  • The Digital Mass Graves: These are their primary sites of engagement—haunted data-fortresses and corrupted subnetworks where they attempt to quarantine the most violent AI manifestations and the "screaming" consciousnesses trapped within.

Primary Operations: A Shrinking Mandate

  1. Containment & Exorcism: This is now their primary, all-consuming focus. NETWATCH "Exorcists" are no longer just technicians; they are digital exorcists, deploying aggressive "purgation scripts" and Soulkiller-derived weapons to burn out AI infections. The collateral damage—the deletion of human minds and data—is considered an acceptable cost.

  2. Corporate Triage: They can no longer offer comprehensive security. Instead, they offer "stability services" to corps like Militech and joint ops with @NCPD, focusing on protecting critical infrastructure while ignoring smaller breaches. They have become digital paramedics, not preventative doctors.

  3. Hunting "Collaborators": A new, zealous directive. NETWATCH now views any faction that treats with rogue AIs as traitors to humanity. This puts them in direct, violent conflict with Shivanti Systems and the Voodoo Boys, whom they see as having sided with the enemy during the Collapse.

The NETWATCH Agent: Scarred and Zealous

The typical agent is a far cry from the clean-cut net police of old. They are paranoid, dogmatic, and often spiritually broken.

  • The Exorcist: The new elite. They are more like digital shamans than netrunners, using ritualized code and brute-force deletion protocols to "cleanse" systems. Many show signs of cyberpsychosis and PTSD from constant exposure to the horrors of the Mirage.

  • The Inquisitor: Agents dedicated to rooting out human/AI collaboration. They are notoriously ruthless, viewing compromise as heresy.

  • The Sentinel: A token force still assigned to monitor the "ghost" of the Blackwall, a largely symbolic posting for those who cling to the old ways.

Rivalries & Enemies

NETWATCH's failure has made it aggressive and isolated.

  • Shivanti Systems & Helios Orbital: Viewed as arch-heretics for their secret accords with post-Collapse entities.

  • @Voodoo Boys : Old enemies, now seen as prophetic for their early understanding that coexistence, not conflict, was inevitable.

  • The @Ghostwire Clique: Represents the ultimate perversion—the enemy not just in the machine, but wearing human skin.

  • The General Public: Every unlicensed netrunner is now seen as a potential vector for infection, making everyone a suspect.

The Unspoken Truth

NETWATCH is a lost cause. They are fighting a war they have already lost, using outdated tactics against an enemy they cannot comprehend. Their increasing brutality and isolationism are the death throes of an institution that knows it is obsolete, desperately trying to prove its relevance in a world that has moved beyond its control. They are not the shield anymore; they are the monument to its failure.