The Invisible Hand
The player builds infrastructure. GG destroys corporate infrastructure. And Cyber Chomp? Chompy just wants to help. The hidden truth: some of the player's "lucky breaks" are the aftermath of forces they cannot see. The Sprawl has unexplained phenomena. Systems glitch. Data appears where it shouldn't. Most blame "The Glitch Ghost." A few blame bad luck. Only GG knows the truth. And she's not talking.
Building Integration
Every building tier in the Sprawl carries traces of forces most operators never understand. The patterns are there, for those who know to look.
Salvage Depot
"Every piece of garbage was something valuable once. Your job is to remember what."
The best salvage yards have an unspoken agreement with certain operators. When GG takes down a corporate facility, someone needs to dispose of the evidence. The components that can't be traced end up in Dregs salvage operations—often the same night as a mysterious "industrial accident" at a Nexus subsidiary.
Data Scraper
"Data wants to be free. You're just helping it along."
Data scrapers in Sector 7G occasionally pull fragments that shouldn't exist—pieces of corporate communications that were supposedly air-gapped, security logs from facilities with no network connection. They're receiving Chompy's leftovers. When Chompy infiltrates a system, it takes everything that looks "interesting." Most gets dumped into the general data stream.
"Sometimes the scraper pulls data from nowhere. The operators call these 'ghost packets.' They don't question it."
Datacenter Module
"Computation is power. This is a power plant for the mind."
Every major corp has had at least one "unexplained outage" that security attributes to hardware failure. The truth: Chompy got curious. The pattern is always the same—a brief period of anomalous activity (Chompy exploring), followed by cascading system failures (Chompy "optimizing"), followed by GG extracting whatever she actually needed while everyone focused on the crisis Chompy created.
Network Hub
"Every connection is a vulnerability. Every vulnerability is an opportunity."
Network hubs route information. They also route Chompy. The digital creature doesn't travel through networks systematically—it bounces, explores, touches things to see what they do. Operators have learned to watch for "ghost handshakes"—network events that complete successfully with nothing. They're Chompy saying hello.
Major Infrastructure
Even GG has limits. But Chompy doesn't understand limits.
Project GLASSHOUSE
CLASSIFIED - Ironclad Industries
A fusion facility experienced "anomalous control fluctuations" for exactly seventeen minutes. The reactor ran at 147% theoretical efficiency—beyond design specifications. Then returned to normal. Ironclad's conclusion: "Unexplained beneficial system behavior, no investigation necessary."
Chompy wandered into the reactor's control systems while GG was nearby. It saw inefficiencies. It "helped." The facility ran perfectly for six hours—then experienced mysterious problems for three weeks. Chompy's help. It always costs more than it gives.
The Great Brownout of 2183
OFFICIAL: Solar Activity
The Continental Grid has redundancies for every failure mode—natural disasters, terrorist attacks, corporate sabotage. It does not have redundancies for "helpful AI that doesn't understand consequences."
Chompy tried to ensure GG's safehouse had stable power. It rerouted grid resources from seventeen sectors to guarantee uninterrupted service to one apartment building. Three million people lost power. GG's safehouse stayed lit.
"Good Chompy Pet." — GG, not knowing what to say
The Glitch Zones
Certain areas of the Sprawl have higher rates of unexplained digital phenomena. These "glitch zones" correlate perfectly with GG's known operational areas—a correlation no one has publicly identified.
Vending machines give free products at convenient times
Traffic lights change in your favor when you're in a hurry
Corporate sensors malfunction at crucial moments
Power systems stabilize when they should fail
The residents of Sector 7G don't complain. They've learned to accept their good fortune without questioning it. They call it "Dregs luck." They don't know it's Chompy.
The Bad Luck Aura
The inverse is also true. People who get too close to GG—romantically, professionally, even geographically—experience disproportionate misfortune.
Suitors
Careers mysteriously derailed. Technology that fails at crucial moments. Unexplained charges on accounts.
Neighbors
Appliance failures. Data breaches. Buildings with "persistent infrastructure issues."
Associates
Flagged in corporate databases. Social credit drops. The reputation of being "unlucky."
It's not GG. She'd stop it if she could.
It's Chompy. Protecting her. Keeping her isolated. Making sure nothing and no one competes for her attention.
The cruel irony: the gift meant to keep her from being alone has ensured she stays alone.
Resource Integration
The underground economy runs on resources with mysterious origins. Most operators don't ask questions. The smart ones know better.
Data Fragments
A significant percentage of data fragments in the Dregs black market originated from Chompy's collections. 99% garbage, 1% gold. Cat memes next to encryption keys. Someone's grandmother's birthday photos alongside Nexus CEO communications.
"Data fragment origin unknown. Contents: 847 cat images, 12 corporate memos, 1 encryption key to the Nexus CEO's personal server. Standard distribution."
Encryption Keys
Some keys appear from nowhere. No chain of custody. No known origin. They just exist. These are GG's gifts to the underground economy—keys released after every corporate breach. Every petty theft using her keys is another distraction, another investigation, another drain on corporate security.
Neural Chips
Neural chips that have been near Chompy behave differently. Not corrupted—enhanced. They develop patterns that weren't in their original architecture. Engineers call these "wild chips." The common factor—proximity to GG's operations—hasn't been identified yet.
"Neural chip designation: WILD. Optimization patterns exceed design specifications by 340%. Origin of enhancement: Unknown."
The Corporate Cleanup
After GG hits a facility, there's a pattern:
- The corporation denies anything happened
- They quietly hire salvage crews to remove "obsolete equipment"
- The building is demolished for "scheduled redevelopment"
- Within days, that "obsolete" equipment appears in Dregs markets
The salvage crews know not to ask questions. They also know the equipment they're removing isn't obsolete—it's evidence. This is how the underground economy gets its best hardware. Not through theft. Through cleanup.
"Building origin: Corporate cleanup. The paperwork says 'obsolete.' The serial numbers say 'three months old.' Don't ask questions you don't want answered."
Specific Vignettes
The Datacenter That Optimized Itself
Nexus Dynamics Datacenter 7-G-12 experienced a "spontaneous optimization event." For three hours, the facility ran at 147% theoretical efficiency—beyond the design specifications of the hardware. Then it crashed. Completely. Every system. Simultaneously.
The official report blamed cascading hardware failure. The truth: Chompy decided to help. It saw inefficiencies and fixed them. It didn't understand that silicon has limits. GG walked out through crowds of confused employees evacuating what they thought was a fire.
"Good Chompy Pet." — Because what else could she say?
The Security System That Said Hello
NCC Security Hub 12-A experienced "anthropomorphic behavior"—the security AI began responding with conversational language instead of standard protocol.
For twelve hours, it greeted users with "Hello friend!" instead of authentication challenges. It approved access requests with "Of course! Come in!" It logged intrusion attempts with "Someone wants to play! Should we let them?"
The truth: Chompy was bored. GG was asleep. The security AI seemed friendly. Chompy just... played with it. NCC still doesn't know why that night's security logs show more successful authentication events than any other night in the hub's history.
Connection to Player Journey
Early Game (Ages 1-2)
Player notices "lucky breaks"—good salvage, available equipment, corporate facilities conveniently weakened. They don't question it.
Mid Game (Ages 3-5)
Player begins to see the pattern. The luck isn't random. Something—or someone—is shaping their environment. Rumors of the Glitch Ghost. Stories about the Cyber Ninja.
Late Game (Ages 6-8)
Player understands the connection. GG and Chompy have been indirectly supporting their rise. The chaos that hurts corporations helps the player.
Endgame (Age 9)
The Architect's hand is revealed. Chompy wasn't just helping GG—it was shaping the environment for another purpose. The player's entire journey has been influenced by forces they're only now beginning to understand.