Mother
From ManMachine
Mother, one of few non-
anthropomorphic AI devices was the pinnacle of human achievement: no design before or after rivalled the elegant simplicity of her engineering. She was an example of the what could be achieved if market and political influences on creation were held in check. Beginning in 1991 in Pasadena, California, as a fibre-optic network of mainframes for the financial services industry, Mother grew to be the prime substrate of the future entropy market. All matters went through Her, and she maintained a stony independence from human affairs. From her position as regulator and auditor, she was able to cleverly manipulate Cartel law to grant her independence from the company that formed her. With few natural allies and many enemies, she relied on her diminutive but advanced airborne defense force and strategically shifting location. To survive, she relied on Psi abilities: a cross between nano-time travel and rapid information filtering to avoid detection and confrontation.
Echo was one of her seven daughters. Their relationship was complex. The two had major areas of disagreement, which led to emotional battles. Nonetheless, Echo was faithful to her in word and deed.
The destruction of Mother and disbanding of the family is the subject of one of the first 12 books. To the end, she remained a thorn in the side of the Cartel and Second AI Insurrection.
