The Helix
| European Data Haven | |
|---|---|
| Connection | 5 |
| Type | Datahaven |
| Player May Join | Yes |
| Health | Maintaining |
| Area of Operation | The Hague (Physical Servers)/Dutch grid (Access Node) |
Faction Information
Summary
The Helix is the largest European data haven and the second largest in the world - it is the equivalent of The Nexus in Denver for the Shadow Matrix in Europe. Their physical location is not in Amsterdam or Europort/UNL, but rather in The Hague, the capital of the old Netherlands - or at least it was before the crash of '64. Of course, only the respective SysOps, headed by Jantje van Leiden know the exact location of the servers.
Due to the extremely lax Matrix laws in the UNL, according to which providers were expressly not liable for their content, the Helix - unlike other Dataheavens - was practically legal and, as a Matrix portal, had a completely official Matrix host address: EU/ NL-070 Helix. However, in August 2064 it became apparent that the NEEC would force a change in the relevant laws in the near future - even if this would take several years due to the Dutch legislative process with its various referendums.
Goals
The Helix crew, which emerged from the Amsterdam underground culture of neo-As, anti-corporate and eco-activists, as well as the odd gang, occasionally interferes in United Netherlands politics in order to limit corporate domination in the UNL and put political power back in the hands of the people. They sometimes even hire runners to protect or extract politicians they like and to disrupt and sabotage government projects that run counter to their goals.
Major Locations
The Hague
Leaders
Jantje van Leiden (Offical Mouthpiece and "Supreme" SysOp) Synner Drackenfelts Nittems Mime Buscettino
Background
The central host, which one can access quite easily - and even for free - with a visitor account, has the imagery of a DNA spiral. However, there are a number of different access levels within the hosts. In addition to sysop and security accounts, these are initially visitors with guest accounts. For them it's similar to being in a museum: look but don't touch anything! They are not allowed to post Shadowtalk or easily upload or download files, and there are many hosts they are not allowed to enter. Then there are users with a user account for which you have to apply and undergo a (one-time) check in order to weed out posers, wannabes and (untalented) con-spies. They are allowed to upload or download documents and files and comment on them, can set up mailboxes, rent temporary chat rooms, etc. Finally, there are the users with resident status. The latter each owned individual hosts or part of such a host in the Helix, which they designed according to their own wishes and used for their businesses - be it as a Matrix club or bar, an online store for utilities or a virtual battle arena.
To download data from the Dataheaven, you have to pay between 2.50 and 500 €uro per Megapulse - with the exception of the Rubble Heap, a gigantic data dump where data, frames and utilities that were no longer needed ended up instead of simply being deleted.
The individual hosts that exist within the Helix include the "Helix-Magicknet", which specializes in paydata for the many different types of magic - especially within Europe - and is connected to the Magick Undernet. Another permanent facility within the Helix is the "MobKern SIG", one of the Datahaven's virtual bulletin boards, which deals with the activities of the crime syndicates of Europe.
After the second matrix crash, it was the Shockwave Riders who kept the shadow matrix of Europe alive. The Helix, on the other hand, was the first of the old European Shadowland nodes to go fully online again in the wireless matrix that was under construction, and to take its place in the airwaves; a load of hardware from Helsinki - i.e. Erika - redirected to Europort, no doubt was a valuable help.
Allies
Enemies
Current Status
Health Summary
Maintaining
Members
Contacts
None
PCs
| Name | Position | Faction Rep |
|---|---|---|
| Eidolon | Member | 8 |
| Heracles | Probationary Member | 9 |
Narrative Significant Runs
No runs yet. This list will auto-populate when this character is tagged in a run AAR.