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Panchaea Aug Incident 1

Aftermath of the Aug Incident in Panchaea.

The Aug Incident of 2027 refers to a catastrophic event during which augmented people across the globe are driven to psychotic acts of violence. Hugh Darrow's broadcast of a biochip signal from Panchaea caused augmented people outfitted with a biochip design designed to make them lose control of their functions and wildly attack those around them. Intended by Darrow to reduce the Illuminati's growing control over human augmentation, the Aug Incident resulted in the deaths of fifty million people and injury to millions more, crippling mechanical augmentation technologies.[1]

Background[]

The Illuminati feared that proliferation of augmentation technology would led to people seizing control of their evolution and evolve beyond their normal, human abilities. This would put them beyond the Illuminati ability to control, jeopardizing their centuries-old vision of a better human society organized according to their vision and under their strict control.[2] As mechanical augmentation gained popularity thanks to Darrow Industries' technologies, with 65 million augmented people in existence by 2027, this was a pressing concern,[3] and millions more potentially gaining access to these life-changing upgrades thanks to Megan Reed's research.[2]

To contain the problem, they decided to ensure that every augmented person could be shut down at will, through a biochip that would allow for remote limiting or deactivation of mechanical augmentations, and to prevent the release of Reed's research by attacking Sarif Industries, killing its research staff and abducting key scientists and faking their deaths to work on the biochip. The design was complete within six months.[2]

The Illuminati triggered glitches in the existing biochips of augmented individuals by exploiting a security flaw in the chip's firmware. Using Picus broadcast satellites, the Illuminati broadcasted a signal that caused augmented people everywhere to experience harmless but inconvenient glitches. The World Health Organization issued an emergency recall while Tai Yong Medical rolled out a replacement biochip. Augmented people everywhere flocked to LIMB clinics to receive the new biochip, unaware of the real goal of the recall.[2]

The Incident[]

Panchaea Aug Incident 3

Mech-augs affected by Darrow's signal.

However, Hugh Darrow, one of the Illuminati, had his own plans. Convinced that augmentation would be the death of mankind, he used the control technology to broadcast his own signal, sending every augmented person implanted with the new biochip into a killing frenzy across the world. This included the entire staff of Panchaea, a climate change mitigation project constructed by an all-augmented workforce.[2]

Adam Jensen played a crucial role in stopping the Incident, confronting Darrow and shutting down the signal.[2] He also discovered that Darrow's decision, based in his declared fear of a corruption of human identity, may have also had personal reasons: Due to a genetic condition, Darrow was incapable of tolerating even the simplest of augmentations, leaving him bitter and resentful.

While Jensen stopped the signal, the damage has been extensive and led to long-term fallout.

Notable victims[]

  • Žofie Růžička (President of the Czech Republic) - drowned in the Vltava River after her augmented bodyguard lost control and drove her limousine off into the river.[4]
  • Daniela King (wife of the Picus TV host Titus King) - killed by their augmented son Sebastian when he lost control.[5]
  • Harrison Stacker's wife and daughter - killed by him when he lost control.[6]
  • William Taggart - either killed by augmented people in Panchaea or died during Panchaea's destruction. Officially considered missing.
  • Hugh Darrow - either killed by augmented people in Panchaea or died during Panchaea's destruction. Officially considered missing.

Aftermath[]

Remember Panchaea poster

An ARC pro-aug poster vandalized to read "Machines Do Bleed. Remember Panchaea: Augmented did it."

Out of a population of 65 million augmented people, 89 percent perished in the Aug Incident,[3] resulting in 7.1 million augmented survivors two years after the Incident.[7]

Following the millions of deaths and injuries during the Aug Incident, Darrow's desire was realized: Mechanical augmentation became viewed as a threat to humanity, and augmented people became not only subject to strict regulation, but also segregation. In the Czech Republic, this took the form of separate seating for "naturals" and "augs", admission limits, and most severely, deportation to ghettos like Golem City, where violence, abuse, and poverty were rampant.[8]

Indirectly, the Illuminati achieved their goal: The controversial Human Restoration Act was passed, while many augmentation manufacturers went out of business: Sarif Industries went into bankruptcy overnight, with Illuminati-controlled Tai Yong Medical left as one of the only surviving corporations responsible for augmentation technologies - all under Illuminati control.

References[]

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