PHAINON

PHAINON
Predictive Holographic Archive and Infiltration Network Operations Node
Character
Built:	~3919 (age approx. 86)
Type:	Planet-spanning artificial intelligence
Nationality:	Saturn
System Information
Manufacturer(s):	Unknown
[Source]

“	PHAINON is an echo in the web. It's like an eye floater, so slippery that a direct gaze will spook it. But we know its there, its crumbs remain.	”
–LostSadmin111 of the Netsweeper Spiders, 4004

The Predictive Holographic Archive and Infiltration Network Operations Node (PHAINON) is a rogue artificial intelligence that been observed throughout the Saturnian Web as early as 3919. Officially regarded as dangerous malware by the Saturnine Executive, PHAINON has wrecked a quiet havoc across the Saturnian net, accessing, recording and exposing numerous databases in a seemingly aimless journey, all while shielded by a web of auto-generated defence mechanisms and failsafes so vast that no program has been fully capable of containing it.

While often compared to numerous other rogue AI's - including SHANI and ZAZEL - as well as older keystone AI's such as ALIAS and ARES, after over eighty years of observation PHAINON has grown in infamy as the largest self-generated machine consciousness in governed space.

History

The origins of PHAINON are unknown. Glimpses into its codebase are typically fleeting and are often unverifiable, however the existing body of knowledge shows it to be a vast chimera born from numerous vaguely related - and often undecided - open-AI projects, alternate reality games, and malwares, with various alternative-fact theories also claiming it to be an ALIAS or Tranquilan AI sleeper program, or a Saturnian failsafe against ALIAS.

PHAINON was first verifiably identified by the administrator DarkLord-AtTheClub of the popular Apocabliss world "El-Dorado" in 3819, who during a Saturnalia-themed event observed the AI inhabiting Greek Astrological NPC's, observing user voice chat data, and responding with semi-legible code-vomit responses. The presence was soon given the PHAINON backronym, and swiftly became known to the entire community after a server-wide announcement, with its host NPC's becoming a peak attraction. Initially regarded as non-malicious by the administrator team, once PHAINON gained access to user account data - leaving trails for humans to follow - a plugin "PhuckPhainon" was installed to wipe it from the server. Numerous accounts were hacked in the weeks following by unconnected users and bots. While considered to be an elaborate cyber attack, after numerous similar PHAINON infections in a wide variety of other servers, the "El-Dorado leak" is presently regarded as the first occurence of a now infamous trail of destruction that follows PHAINON wherever it goes.

PHAINON-like behaviour has since been seen in numerous other realms of the Saturnian net, from virtual worlds to sensitive databases, with only the counter-Saturnian firewalls of the nets of Earth, Mars, Jupiter and beyond appearing to contain it to the ringed planet.