3-Piece (3P): Let's start with the surprising truth. This thing, this box that I use to run my life, that I swear does half my planning for me… is a toy?
Brain (B): Was a toy, yeah. Back in 2019, Segotari launched its new handheld console, the Segotari Agent, in Japan and Korea. Its big feature was Your Play, capable of generating new game content based on a player's skills and interests.
3P: I'm starting to see the connection. Go on.
B: Right! Your Play was powered by a self-adaptive pseudo-AI. It's the same core SAAI tech powering Agents today. Really! Thing was, the Agent's launch titles were forgettable crap. It was an interesting tech demo, but kids hated the games. They depended too much on generated content, most of which was boring, predictable, or… just plain unplayably weird.
3P: How'd it make the jump from game console to phone, then?
B: A hacker in Korea scripted a custom app - I think named after a popular TV secretary - to keep track of her schedule, crawl the NET for info, and answer instant messages. Sound familiar? People loved it. Suddenly, the Agent was selling out across Korea and then Japan. Execs couldn't get enough of it!
3P: I'm feeling a little doubt here. Say I'm a high-powered Exec in a Takanaka suit, and I tell my people, “We'll extract their lead scientist. I'll arrange the strike team.” Then I yank a pastel toy from my pocket and ask it “Which wet-work assets do we have right now in Seoul?” Choomba would get laughed out of the room!
B: Yeah, the toy look had to go. Which is why Segotari pivoted hard and fast. By 2020, they started shipping the Double Agent. Same hardware, just a new outer case.
3P: Yeah, that looks as corp as you'd expect. Black plastic. Silver trim. No personality. Boring.
B: Could still run Elflines Explosion Fantasy, though!
3P: Nice. So how come Segotari's such an also-ran when they had such a lead? I mean, you say “Agent,” I think of Zetatech or EBM.
B: Oh, they squandered the lead - kept shipping the same cheap kiddie hardware. Meanwhile, all over the world, other Corporations scrambled and spent billions to catch the wave. By the end of 2020, every electronics firm sold something that looked pretty much like what we've got now, each running its own version of SAAI. Each Corp had their own brand but the word “Agent” stuck as a generic term.
3P: I dug up some sales figures from back in the day. These things sold like bullets in a Combat Zone!
B: Agents were the new thing. Make calls, organize life, get data from the NET on the go without needing interface plugs or a deck.
3P: My mom's boss made her buy one. I still have it - an old Microtech Dot. That was right before the 4th Corporate War kicked off.
B: Yep, another twist to the story. Millions of Agents rolled out of factories, containers loaded on ships, and then the war shut it down. Whole shiploads got parked in warehouses or on docks to make room for weapons and milspec gear.
3P: And then the NET collapsed.
B: Yeah. Moment of silence, please.
3P: Between that and so many Corps imploding, there just wasn't a point. “Agent, remind me to hunt some rats for dinner tonight.”
If you join our Premium Patch, you can watch an extended version of this interview, in which Brain discusses his favorite Agent models and must-have apps and accessories in more depth. And if you don't have a great Tech in your circle to help you shop for Agents, come by Short Circuit in Little Europe. You can make a new friend or two there over drinks! Show the bartender our code 3PHUSTLE53 for this month's free cocktail. We're calling it the Brain Teaser and it is delicious! Until next time, try not to go broke on the streets of Night City.Jericho Hunt (JH): Today At The Source, we're in Heywood for a conversation with a Nomad who rep- resents an important link in our hungry city's buffet line of firearms and firearm accessories. Our talk spoke volumes about our city. How long will we continue to be ignorant of where our things come from? Is our need for consumption eating us out from the inside, leading us, chained at the mouth, speeding into a second Night City Holocaust?
JH: Woodchipper, thank you for inviting me into your garage. Nice place.
Woodchipper (W): It's always a pleasure. It's sad that it's been a while since we last spoke. What's kept you out of these parts?
JH: I've been bouncing around The Glen mostly, working the corporate news beat, saving up to go independent. You're my first interview in a new series, called Today At The Source. We're starting with guns.
W: Well since you came here first I'll take that as a compliment.
JH: Let's just jump into the interview, since I know you are busy. I understand you aren't a Fixer, and you don't deal with a traditional end clientele. How does your business work?
W: Honestly, I work two jobs. My first priority has always been resolving conflicts between Nomad Packs on behalf of the Aldecaldos, especially ones that come up as they come into Night City to refuel and prepare for the road ahead, like conflicts over dock space in South Night City and popular camping parking lots in Santo Domingo and Rancho Coronado. It's all about personal relationships and earning trust.
JH: And what about your second job?
W: It turns out when you do that work, you come into contact with a lot of Fixers looking to trade with the packs. And what do they want? Honestly, anything they can get their hands on, but especially weapons. So now I'm a clearing house for them. They order what they need, and I see if a Nomad brought one in this week strapped to the back of their bike. Most of the time, with things the way they are, the answer is no. But these Fixers are tenacious, they'll call back next week like clockwork, asking for more Archimedes, or M-02 Heavy Rifles, or whatever it is their clientele wants to blow someone up with.
JH: Is that where the demand is? Explosives?
W: Yes, there's been a bit of an arms race on, and, short of a relationship with Militech, most of the heavy weapons have to be recovered from decommissioned military sites out in the Badlands. Usually, that's what's left too, because boy are they heavy. Only us Nomads have the hauling power needed to strip those sites clean.
JH: Do you ever feel like you're feeding a monster that needs to go on a diet?
W: Jericho, you know that it isn't that simple. I'm not arming the boot, I'm arming those under it, and they shoot your monster in its toes. I don't work with corpo- rations, and most of my Fixers deal to non-affiliated Solos and Gangs.
JH: Tough talk from a merchant of death.
W: I don't resent the label. What do you think happens to Santo Domingo if the Corporations get what they want? I'll tell you: it's all employee housing. These fam- ilies will be pushed out further into the lawless wastes, or into the Combat Zone itself.
JH: Right in with those gangs you've armed, I'm assuming.
W: Not every Gang is the Bozos.
JH: Of course. There's also the Maelstrom, and the Reckoners.
W: Point taken.
JH: Thank you for your time, Woodchipper.
W: It's been a pleasure.
JH: Now that that's over with, what exactly have you got for sale here?
3-Piece (3P): Let's start with the surprising truth. This thing, this box that I use to run my life, that I swear does half my planning for me… is a toy?
Brain (B): Was a toy, yeah. Back in 2019, Segotari launched its new handheld console, the Segotari Agent, in Japan and Korea. Its big feature was Your Play, capable of generating new game content based on a player's skills and interests.
3P: I'm starting to see the connection. Go on.
B: Right! Your Play was powered by a self-adaptive pseudo-AI. It's the same core SAAI tech powering Agents today. Really! Thing was, the Agent's launch titles were forgettable crap. It was an interesting tech demo, but kids hated the games. They depended too much on generated content, most of which was boring, predictable, or… just plain unplayably weird.
3P: How'd it make the jump from game console to phone, then?
B: A hacker in Korea scripted a custom app - I think named after a popular TV secretary - to keep track of her schedule, crawl the NET for info, and answer instant messages. Sound familiar? People loved it. Suddenly, the Agent was selling out across Korea and then Japan. Execs couldn't get enough of it!
3P: I'm feeling a little doubt here. Say I'm a high-powered Exec in a Takanaka suit, and I tell my people, “We'll extract their lead scientist. I'll arrange the strike team.” Then I yank a pastel toy from my pocket and ask it “Which wet-work assets do we have right now in Seoul?” Choomba would get laughed out of the room!
B: Yeah, the toy look had to go. Which is why Segotari pivoted hard and fast. By 2020, they started shipping the Double Agent. Same hardware, just a new outer case.
3P: Yeah, that looks as corp as you'd expect. Black plastic. Silver trim. No personality. Boring.
B: Could still run Elflines Explosion Fantasy, though!
3P: Nice. So how come Segotari's such an also-ran when they had such a lead? I mean, you say “Agent,” I think of Zetatech or EBM.
B: Oh, they squandered the lead - kept shipping the same cheap kiddie hardware. Meanwhile, all over the world, other Corporations scrambled and spent billions to catch the wave. By the end of 2020, every electronics firm sold something that looked pretty much like what we've got now, each running its own version of SAAI. Each Corp had their own brand but the word “Agent” stuck as a generic term.
3P: I dug up some sales figures from back in the day. These things sold like bullets in a Combat Zone!
B: Agents were the new thing. Make calls, organize life, get data from the NET on the go without needing interface plugs or a deck.
3P: My mom's boss made her buy one. I still have it - an old Microtech Dot. That was right before the 4th Corporate War kicked off.
B: Yep, another twist to the story. Millions of Agents rolled out of factories, containers loaded on ships, and then the war shut it down. Whole shiploads got parked in warehouses or on docks to make room for weapons and milspec gear.
3P: And then the NET collapsed.
B: Yeah. Moment of silence, please.
3P: Between that and so many Corps imploding, there just wasn't a point. “Agent, remind me to hunt some rats for dinner tonight.”
If you join our Premium Patch, you can watch an extended version of this interview, in which Brain discusses his favorite Agent models and must-have apps and accessories in more depth. And if you don't have a great Tech in your circle to help you shop for Agents, come by Short Circuit in Little Europe. You can make a new friend or two there over drinks! Show the bartender our code 3PHUSTLE53 for this month's free cocktail. We're calling it the Brain Teaser and it is delicious! Until next time, try not to go broke on the streets of Night City.Jericho Hunt (JH): Today At The Source, we're in Heywood for a conversation with a Nomad who rep- resents an important link in our hungry city's buffet line of firearms and firearm accessories. Our talk spoke volumes about our city. How long will we continue to be ignorant of where our things come from? Is our need for consumption eating us out from the inside, leading us, chained at the mouth, speeding into a second Night City Holocaust?
JH: Woodchipper, thank you for inviting me into your garage. Nice place.
Woodchipper (W): It's always a pleasure. It's sad that it's been a while since we last spoke. What's kept you out of these parts?
JH: I've been bouncing around The Glen mostly, working the corporate news beat, saving up to go independent. You're my first interview in a new series, called Today At The Source. We're starting with guns.
W: Well since you came here first I'll take that as a compliment.
JH: Let's just jump into the interview, since I know you are busy. I understand you aren't a Fixer, and you don't deal with a traditional end clientele. How does your business work?
W: Honestly, I work two jobs. My first priority has always been resolving conflicts between Nomad Packs on behalf of the Aldecaldos, especially ones that come up as they come into Night City to refuel and prepare for the road ahead, like conflicts over dock space in South Night City and popular camping parking lots in Santo Domingo and Rancho Coronado. It's all about personal relationships and earning trust.
JH: And what about your second job?
W: It turns out when you do that work, you come into contact with a lot of Fixers looking to trade with the packs. And what do they want? Honestly, anything they can get their hands on, but especially weapons. So now I'm a clearing house for them. They order what they need, and I see if a Nomad brought one in this week strapped to the back of their bike. Most of the time, with things the way they are, the answer is no. But these Fixers are tenacious, they'll call back next week like clockwork, asking for more Archimedes, or M-02 Heavy Rifles, or whatever it is their clientele wants to blow someone up with.
JH: Is that where the demand is? Explosives?
W: Yes, there's been a bit of an arms race on, and, short of a relationship with Militech, most of the heavy weapons have to be recovered from decommissioned military sites out in the Badlands. Usually, that's what's left too, because boy are they heavy. Only us Nomads have the hauling power needed to strip those sites clean.
JH: Do you ever feel like you're feeding a monster that needs to go on a diet?
W: Jericho, you know that it isn't that simple. I'm not arming the boot, I'm arming those under it, and they shoot your monster in its toes. I don't work with corpo- rations, and most of my Fixers deal to non-affiliated Solos and Gangs.
JH: Tough talk from a merchant of death.
W: I don't resent the label. What do you think happens to Santo Domingo if the Corporations get what they want? I'll tell you: it's all employee housing. These fam- ilies will be pushed out further into the lawless wastes, or into the Combat Zone itself.
JH: Right in with those gangs you've armed, I'm assuming.
W: Not every Gang is the Bozos.
JH: Of course. There's also the Maelstrom, and the Reckoners.
W: Point taken.
JH: Thank you for your time, Woodchipper.
W: It's been a pleasure.