Character · Book 4, The Gate of the Feral Gods

The System AI

The voice that reads every item description, names every achievement and awards every box — snide, profane, obsessed with Carl's bare feet. Distinct from Borant, which runs the season; the AI runs the game.

Segment appearances

Arc

Moods

The AI's voice is the floor's other narrator. It is giddy with Carl after the Iron Tangle — six achievements, a Legendary box, the 'touching-myself' voice for Smushed for Daddy (ch. 2) — and it freezes the world for a half-second 'Please Wait' while Carl reads a boss card — a timeout for duelling routines, Mordecai says; Carl asks whether it had to do with the Gate in the necropolis, and when the fight begins the card has changed (ch. 9). When every gerbil ball misses him it turns: 'Fuck you'; 'Bitch Boy Carl'; thousands of gerbils generated as a punishment; 'The acceleration action has been suspended. This time.' (ch. 13). Its quest text is a comedian's: 'Reward: Ha.'; 'Oh boy-oh-boy'; 'What kind of sick, sadistic fuckers are you?'; 'Oh, wait. They're all dead!' (ch. 7, ch. 15, ch. 29).

A co-defendant

It builds a goose fight where no damage is allowed and a lemonade that is only lemonade (ch. 16); it streams a boss fight to subscribers with live commentary (ch. 26); it is sued alongside Carl and wins seven times, rewarding him with a share of stock and a photograph of each plaintiff's mother (ch. 28); it puts a million-gold bounty on a puppy and then serves monkey soup when nobody collects (ch. 30, ch. 31). Mordecai: all Macro AIs go insane, 'going primal', and this one is doing it earlier than any he has seen (ch. 28); Dr. Hu's colleague fears it will kill the planet before the ninth floor (epilogue).