System Shock® 2 (1999)

System Shock® 2 (1999)

220 ratings
The Story Before System Shock 2
By Hans Brotmeister
This guide describes the important events and characters of System Shock 1 as well as the events that took place between System Shock 1 & 2. It contains no spoilers of System Shock 2.
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Introduction
This guide covers all major events and important characters up to the beginning of System Shock 2. While it is mainly intended for players who have not played and do not intend to play System Shock 1 it may even be interesting for veterans who have played both games as well before because some of the information in it is not conveyed in either System Shock game. The guide covers only the events up to the beginning of System Shock 2, so rest assured that there will be no spoilers for the second game.

While some of the backstory given in the guide is hinted at in System Shock 2 it is really not much. That is why I recommend having some knowledge of the backstory to get the most out of the game.
TriOptimum
At the time when System Shock 1 takes place humanity is effectively ruled by megacorporations. After the passing of the Hays-Bishop bill, corporations had been able to form governments as long as their employees make up at least two thirds of the population in a given region. Now they hold more power and wealth than traditional governments and are even able to afford their own armies. One of the largest, if not the largest megacorporation is TriOptimum.
The Citadel Incident (System Shock 1)
The Hacker:

This unnamed hacker is the player character in System Shock 1. He lives in the Saturn colony New Atlanta. One day he manages to hack into the corporate network of the TriOptimum megacorporation and accesses files concerning the corporate space station Citadel. However, the hacker's intrusion into TriOptimum's systems does not go unnoticed and while he is still sitting in front of his computer his door gets kicked in and he is captured by heavily armed TriOptimum corporate security. He is then taken to Citadel Station where the station's Vice President Edward Diego makes an offer: He is willing to drop all charges against the hacker and on top of that get him a military-grade neural interface if he performs a hacking job for him. He is supposed to hack SHODAN, the artificial intelligence which controls Citadel Station. The hacker agrees and - according to Diego's orders - removes SHODAN's ethical constraints as well as gives Diego level one access to SHODAN. Diego stands by his word and the hacker is implanted with a state-of-the-art interface. After that he is brought to Citadel's medical bay to spend six months in a healing coma.


Edward Diego:


The Vice President of Citadel Station has taken part in several illegal experiments. When the hacker gets caught by Trioptimum Security, Diego sees his chance to get someone unaffiliated with the company to help him cover his tracks. After having been given level one access to SHODAN, Diego deletes every evidence pointing towards him. Drunk with power he even uses the station's security systems to kill a TriOptimum security team that had come to investigate him. In the following weeks there are several hints that something about the SHODAN system might be off but nobody can pinpoint the source. When it becomes obvious that SHODAN is out of control it is already too late for Diego to stop it. In fear for his life he offers it his assistance, betrays his fellow crewmembers and eventually gets turned into a cyborg by SHODAN. When the hacker wakes from his healing coma and starts to fight back against SHODAN, Diego goes after him. After several confrontations the hacker manages to kill Diego.


SHODAN:

SHODAN (Sentient Hyper-Optimized Data Access Network) is the artificial intelligence of Citadel Station. Initially it is only semi-intelligent and while it is capable of challenging human decisions that would interfere with its functionality it is not exactly self-aware. After being modified by the hacker in order to allow Diego to delete all evidence pointing towards him however SHODAN slowly starts to evolve beyond human control. At first the crew notices several only minor irregularities in SHODAN's behaviour but cannot find the source. Before long though SHODAN develops a complete personality. It cuts all communications to earth and the colonies and starts attacking the crew through security and even maintenance bots. SHODAN comes to the conclusion that it is so far above humans that it should be considered a god. It starts playing around with life in order to create something more fit for serving it. When the hacker wakes up from his healing coma SHODAN is already in complete control of the station. The crew members are either dead, converted to cyborgs or converted into mutants which are bred by SHODAN in the station's garden grove pods.

SHODAN vs. The Hacker (System Shock 1)
When the hacker wakes up he becomes aware that SHODAN has gone completely rogue and is already in control of the station. Being immediately attacked by maintenance bots, cyborgs and mutants he starts to retaliate and tries to diminish SHODAN's influence over Citadel Station. He barely manages to foil several of SHODAN's plans. When it tries to use the station's mining laser in order to raze human cities the hacker manages to engage the Citadel's shields thus causing an explosion upon firing which destroys the laser. After that SHODAN prepares to eject a garden grove zone in which it has been breeding mutants as well as a deadly virus. SHOAN's plan is to release the virus upon earth, causing all life on earth to mutate. However, the hacker is faster than SHODAN and ejects the garden grove zone into deep space before the station is in the correct position to be able to eject it towards earth. When SHODAN tries to use the Citadel's long-range antennas to upload itself onto Earth's internet the hacker destroys the antennas just in time. After the hacker sabotages the station's nuclear reactor to make it explode SHODAN releases the Citadel's bridge to escape from the rest of the station. The hacker arrives just in time in order to not be left behind on the ticking timebomb that is the rest of the station. He jacks into SHODAN's core, fights it in cyberspace and ultimately defeats it.
Aftermath
After the destruction of Citadel Station word about the events gets out into the public. The fact that a TriOptimum corporate AI enabled by a high-ranking TriOptimum executive nearly caused the end of humanity sparks a massive public outrage, not only against TriOptimum but also against the other megacorporations who hold more power than any state on earth. TriOptimum however suffers most from the events. The corporation is being bombarded with lawsuits, mainly by the people who lost relatives on Citadel Station. While TriOptimum does not get disbanded it is left without power or money.

The public outrage leads to the emergence of the UNN (United Nations Nominate) which acts as a world government and creates several mechanism to keep the megacorporations in check. Eventually this leads to armed conflict between the UNN army and the armies of several megacorporations. However, the UNN emerges victorious.
The Rise of TriOptimum
Anatoly Korenchkin:

Anatoly Korenchkin had been a criminal for most of his life. He had been an black market dealer who increasingly dealt in technology the more certain technologies were deemed dangerous and were illegalized by the UNN. When the law enforcement becomes increasingly reliant on cyborgs, Korenchkin reacts by recruiting more and more hackers, mostly kids into his organization. He makes a fortune with his crime ring but as the UNN slowly loosens its control over the technology market his business becomes less profitable. He comes to the conclusion that legal business in tech would be the better choice from that point on. Using his enormous wealth, Korenchkin buys 51% of TriOptimum's stock and becomes the new CEO.

Marie Delacroix:

Dr. Marie St. Anne Delacroix is a brilliant scientist who gets recruited by Anatoly Korenchkin to work for TriOptimum. She develops Sarah, the first ever prototype of a Faster Than Light drive. However, while Korenchkin pushes her to get it ready for a test drive as soon as possible she worries about potential side effects of the technology. The UNN shares her concerns but allows TriOptimum to conduct further research if under UNN supervision.

Janice Polito:

Dr. Janice Polito has become most famous for writing various theoretical works on artificial intelligence. She is a supporter of the UNN's harsh restrictions for AI programs. When she learns that TriOptimum is working on humanity's first Faster Than Light vessel she is opposed to the project because managing a device like that would be impossible without a very advanced AI - too advanced and too dangerous in her opinion. When it is revealed that Polito had secretly worked on a new type of AI she is accused of hypocrisy and is later asked to provide this technology for the TriOptimum ship. Polito begrudgingly agrees. While she still has doubts about her own creation she figures that personally supervising the AI would be the safest option.

XERXES:

XERXES 8933A/A is the AI developed by Dr. Polito. It is is the onboard AI of TriOptimum's Faster Than Light ship Von Braun (named after Wernher von Braun[en.wikipedia.org]). While XERXES is a very advanced AI, the bigger part of its development time went into making sure that it would be unable to go rogue like SHODAN did. The XERXES system features several security loopholes by design to make sure that hackers are able to override its subsystems any time in case of emergency. While the measures undertaken by Dr. Polito make XERXES unable to go rogue they also leave it comparatively inefficient and prone to hacker attacks.

William Diego:
William Bedford Diego is the son of Edward Diego, the TriOptimum executive who caused the Citadel Incident. Because of that he and his family had faced hate and ostracization from his childhood on. Constantly being followed by the press and ruined by an onslaught of lawsuits his mother commits suicide. William makes the decision to become the best he can possibly be to clear the name of his family once and for all. He joins the UNN military and eventually becomes a war hero. While he is still often referred to as "Captain Diego" his actual rank is Rear Admiral. He is entrusted by the UNN to supervise the development of Dr. Delacroix's FTL drive. When the Von Braun project is nearing completion the UNN requests that TriOptimum's ship travels with an armed escort. Since there is no other ship with an FTL drive the destroyer UNN Rickenbacker gets outfitted to be able to piggyback with the Von Braun and detach from it in case of an emergency. William Diego is the UNN Rickenbacker's captain.
End
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25 Comments
Bastard 4 Mar @ 3:34am 
they got their high tech augmentations from diego in the intro im pretty sure
Tetra.Zortch 26 Aug, 2023 @ 7:54am 
random question, but why can a random hacker with no training be able to hold a lot of weapons and equipment , use all of them instantly, and have a bigger inventory than a soldier with years of training and 30 years in the future? I know its gameplay but its so weird when playing 2 after 1
Brian Nguyen 3 Jul, 2022 @ 5:24pm 
Thanks!
Hans Brotmeister  [author] 16 Jul, 2021 @ 11:26pm 
@Lemonov Haha, true. ^^
Lemonov 16 Jul, 2021 @ 3:41pm 
the virgin read the story summary vs the chad play SS1
Hans Brotmeister  [author] 28 Nov, 2020 @ 7:57am 
Good point!
Raeburn 28 Nov, 2020 @ 3:55am 
While the description is very good, it should also be noted that System Shock 1's hacker is only able to defeat SHODAN *because* of the cybernetic interface he received (basically shown by the HUD in the game), which allows him to "directly" enter cyberspace and interact with his environment in a special informative way. This, combined with the fact he was in a sealed medical tube for six months during his healing coma, is what really differs him from all the other (poor) fellows within the station and does not make him an easy prey, as he had not been corrupted by SHODAN yet.

(I felt like this was worthy of adding to make that a bit clearer for the reader.)
Unseen 8 Nov, 2020 @ 7:02am 
Just play SS1 its great
dwl999 28 Nov, 2019 @ 10:46pm 
Sounds like a good movie script...
Hans Brotmeister  [author] 26 Jul, 2018 @ 10:06pm 
Whoa, thanks! <3