Editing Demon: The Descent (section)

==So, What's the God-Machine?==
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Nobody knows. No, seriously. The God-Machine is an enigma; even the Unchained only know that this thing is real, that it created them as angels, and that they followed its commands without question before they Fell. 

Partly physical, partly digital, partly spiritual, partly technological, partly scientific and partly magical, the God-Machine is a sprawling labyrinthine entity-device that spreads itself across space, time and reality itself. It seems as if it seeks to perpetuate the status quo of the Chronicles of Darkness, but its mind (assuming it's even sentient) is so far removed from the human psyche that its motives are all but unknowable. Not even its angels can say what its goals really are, only that they were created to serve it. 

In addition to its angels, the God-Machine  will use humans (and occasionally other supernatural beings) to accomplish its goals. While It does not seem to understand much about the human mind and is thought to be unable to communicate directly with them, It has a solid understanding of how people react to rewards and punishments and has influenced the creation of many cults that unknowingly carry out its instructions. The only way Angels and Mortals are aware of the God-Machine is through its Infrastructure.

===And Infrastructure is?===
In a nutshell, Infrastructure refers to the "programs" or "projects" that the God-Machine is running. Like the God-Machine itself, these span the physical realm and many of the occult realms, weaving together in ways no human could hope to understand to produce bizarre outputs for reasons that are utterly incomprehensible. While many of these are supernatural at least in part, the Machine is nothing if not efficient and will create Infrastructure from purely mundane elements if it would be more effective. 

It's also worth noting that Infrastructure can be completely mundane in its cause and effect in addition to its composition. An example might be a police station (Defense Infrastructure) built right next to the town hall with all the people plugged into the matrix in the basement: the speed at which the police will intervene in the event of a security breach and the fact that killing them will create a whole bunch of evidence will work to keep all but the most bold or foolhardy demons away. Or maybe the mail service (Logistics Infrastructure) is controlled by a GM cult at the highest level but otherwise is completely normal, staffed by completely normal people, and is probably vital to a city's smooth functioning; unsurprisingly, any attacks on it or disruptions to it will bring federal attention.

Infrastructure is the main tool in the God-Machine's arsenal to complete an Occult Matrix.

Demons have classified Infrastructure into five basic categories:

*'''Concealment''': Infrastructure designed to hide the God-Machine's operations from prying eyes. Things like a fake restaurant to keep mortals from poking around in the basement, or a paint whose color causes people to ignore anything painted with it.   
*'''Defense''': Infrastructure used to repel intruders that were able to bypass Concealment Infrastructure. Can be anything from security guards unaware of what they're really guarding to guardian angels. 
*'''Logistics''': Infrastructure dealing with location, acquisition, and transport of raw materials to be used in the God-Machine's outputs. This can be anything from ordinary vehicles to long-lost relics, to say nothing of what the "raw materials" might be.
*'''Elimination''': Infrastructure for disposing/recycling of any evidence following the success or failure of the God-Machine's projects. Depending on the circumstances, this could be as mundane as arson or as esoteric as a mage in the God-Machine's service erasing the memories of anyone in the area. 
*'''Command and Control''': Infrastructure that coordinates the factors that will eventually lead to the output desired by the God-Machine;  Command and Control Infrastructure is the closest an Angel gets to direct communication with the God-Machine, as it is directly involved in the Machine's decision making processes. Its critical role means that they are rarely discovered, and it is believed that the God-Machine employs decoys or redundant Infrastructure to minimize the effects of having one of these shut down. Even then, they are  almost always protected by various Concealment and Defense Infrastructure systems to keep intruders away. An example includes a mainframe of human computers hidden on a non-existent floor in a seemingly ordinary apartment building; the only way to access it is through a special elevator which is itself protected by Concealment Infrastructure.

===And Occult Matrix is?===

In a nutshell, Occult Matrices refer to the method the God-Machine uses to complete its goals. Typically these goals are obscure and alien to most entities, though some Infrastructure can be hacked to reveal the purpose (though how it accomplishes said purpose may be itself difficult to understand). An example of an Occult Matrix may be sacrificing 4 black-haired men who are estranged from their fathers at Elimination Infrastructure on exactly 4:09PM and then using Logistics Infrastructure to focus the ritual's energy into creating a solar flare, which will trigger a nuclear reactor's failsafe before a catastrophic leak destroys the area.