Psh well you could always go back and look at one of the old versions. Or make a cool fan site with a real one (didn't someone have an MXO "Wiki" going once?). Before I thought of doing that, and since I can't seem to get mxostory to load up, I went ahead and wrote up a little summary of my own--two, actually.
These are based more on pre-written story outlines than on reports of how things actually happened, so they may not be entirely accurate in their particulars. They also don't include much from the pre-SOE MXO Live Team's activities, since those were developed separately from the main storyline. There are probably a few other things I've left out unintentionally. Anyway, I hope they'll be useful in some way.
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MXO Chapters 1-10
Chapter highlights:
1
Morpheus is killed by an "Assassin" hired by the Merovingian.
2
A militaristic exiled program, the General, appears. The Assassin is hunted down and killed.
3
Cryptos and the Cypherites appear, preaching a return to the Machine pods.
4
The Kid leaves Zion and forms E Pluribus Neo to counter the Cypherites.
5
Powerful "cheat codes" are stolen and exploited by Anome, Niobe's former assistant. His group, Unlimit, attacks the city.
6
Anome is killed. Tensions rise between Zion and the Machines. The General kidnaps Sati.
7
The General is defeated by Zion and the Machines, but saved by the Merovingian. A simulacrum of Morpheus created by the General tries to increase friction between Zion and the Machines.
8
The Man/Machine truce ends when the Machines discover that Zion has been creating a new, heavily fortified city. The Machines destroy Zion's old city.
9
Powerful intruders appear in the city, equipped with programs that can override the Machines. One of them, Halborn, kills the Oracle when she won't help him find a program he wants.
10
A Zionite who never had jacks appears and disappears in the city, stealing data. The intruders are found to belong to a group of humans from outside the Matrix who call themselves "The Oligarchs." The Merovingian finds the program Halborn wanted.
Subchapter summary:
1.1
Introduction to the Matrix under the Truce.
1.2
Morpheus begins a campaign of protest and sabotage to force the Machines to return Neo's body. Zion declares Morpheus' actions a threat to the Truce. Mysterious, hostile groups begin to appear in the simulation: imposter Agents with red eyes, and groups of operatives with masks concealing their faces.
1.3
Morpheus is killed by the Assassin, an exiled disposal program in form of a fly-filled overcoat and porcelain mask. Niobe brings her own group of operatives into the Matrix, along with her new right-hand man, Anome, to bring Morpheus' killer to justice.
2.1
Niobe finds out that it was the Merovingian who hired the Assassin. Operatives begin to gather insecticide spray to fight him.
2.2
Insecticide-spraying flit gun weapons are assembled to fight the Assassin. He is found to move through phone lines, and reside on a garbage barge. The red-eyed Agents vandalize phone booths. The masked men are lying low.
2.3
An exiled program, the General, appears with his commandos in a helicopter, with offers of help for the various organizations. The Assassin's power grows, but he is tracked down and killed.
3.1
Niobe seeks revenge against the Merovingian for the death of Morpheus. The Machines are also working against the Merovingian. Mysterious hissing and creaking boxes appear around the city.
3.2
The masked leader, Cryptos, appears from the hissing boxes, preaching a return to sleep in the Machine pods. The name of the masked group is revealed: the Cypherites. Their agenda is opposed by the other organizations.
3.3
The General joins Niobe and Zion against the Merovingian. Cryptos' past as a fervent anti-Machinist, and friend of Morpheus, is revealed.
4.1
Zion uses kill-codes provided by the General to combat the Merovingian's Exile programs, and searches for Cryptos' base of operations.
4.2
The Kid gathers like-minded operatives and leaves Zion, forming the group "E Pluribus Neo," aka "EPN," to counter the Cypherites. The Merovingian develops weapons to kill the General's commandos.
4.3
The General points out powerful "cheat codes" to Niobe, carried across the city in a locked case. He has the key, but Anome fumbles it into traffic. Everyone scrambles for the key and the case. Zion obtains them.
5.1
Niobe opens the cheat code case, but is betrayed by Anome, who steals the cheat codes, shoots Niobe, and uses one of the codes to trap her in a pocket construct. Everyone tries to stop Anome. The Merovingian offers to help Zion rescue Niobe: his construct specialist, the Effectuator, is at their disposal.
5.2
Zion finds and rescues Niobe with the help of the Merovingian and the Effectuator. The Machines and the Merovingian begin tracking down and killing Anome's lieutenants, who have become super-powerful by ingesting cheat codes. The General is chased out of the Matrix by the Machines.
5.3
Anome formally names his group "Unlimit." Unlimit begins attacking city facilities, particularly those belonging to mega-corporation Pendhurst-Amaranth, whose representative Brenda Utley calls on Zion for assistance. The Merovingian captures Beirn, an Unlimit lieutenant obsessed with Persephone.
6.1
Unlimit kidnaps Brenda Utley, and moves to take over Pendhurst-Amaranth. The Machines learn of Anome's past, and his psychological weakness, from an Unlimit member, Meillak, whose friend Caboclo was tortured and killed by Anome for questioning Unlimit's threats to innocent civilians. The Merovingian uses synthesized cheat codes to restore the Twins. E Pluribus Neo rescues Brenda Utley from Unlimit.
6.2
Anome is killed by Agents. The Machines ask for access to Zion's mainframe, to help head off security threats. Zion learns that the Machines have a massive Sentinel force ready to strike Zion. The Cypherites offer to infiltrate Zion for the Machines. Zion refuses to give the Machines access. The Architect orders increased surveillance and infiltration of Zion. The Merovingian quashes a Exile rebellion in the slums, and discovers that the General's commandos have been active there.
6.3
The General kidnaps Sati. Seraph disappears into the river while trying to rescue her. The sky begins to turn red. Agents dump cheat codes confiscated from Anome into the river, but one lodges intact under the pier. Zion combats the General and his new "Elite Commando" stealth programs. The General reveals to Zion that he was the commander of the Sentinel attack on Zion just before the Truce. The Machines begin shutting down the General's access points inside the Matrix, and find out that he has a base on the Earth's surface, code-named "Stalingrad." The Merovingian makes a deal to assist the General in exchange for the General's help in making a code to kill the Oracle.
7.1
Seraph crawls out of the river, and attacks people around the city. Zion finds out that these people were overwritten by the Machines, and that Seraph, affected by the cheat codes in the river, can cure them. After months of rumored sightings, Morpheus appears in the Matrix, delivering a broken message suggesting that the Machines are holding him and Neo captive. Sentinels close in on Stalingrad while the Machines develop ways to counter the stealth techniques of his commandos. Seraph attacks Cryptos, revealing him to be overwritten by a Machine program, and leaves him in an incoherent state. The General helps the Merovingian locate the last cheat code vial, which he says will be needed for the Oracle's kill-code. The General tells the Merovingian that a Machine program known as the Apothecary can make him an Oracle kill-code, but the Trainman is needed to bring her into the Matrix. The reluctant Trainman is found hiding in his subway construct. The Machines begin receiving reports from Cypherite spies in Zion.
7.2
Seraph, restored to normal by Zion, helps them locate and rescue Sati. Morpheus appears again, but erratically; he is clearly a program, not the real Morpheus. Machine and Commando Sentinels battle at Stalingrad. The Machines shut down the General's network in the Matrix. Cryptos recovers and asks the Machines to reinsert him into the pods; they tell him no such procedure exists. The Trainman brings the Apothecary into the Matrix. After testing against the Machines' Agent Pace, the Apothecary develops an Oracle kill-code for the Merovingian; he allows the Apothecary to be killed by hostile operatives. Spy reports from Zion show that men and material are leaving the city.
7.3
The sky returns to normal. The Machines level Stalingrad. Zion and EPN discover that "Morpheus" is a simulacrum created by the General, based off of recorded pieces of the real Morpheus' speeches. The Merovingian sends a specially-equipped commando to kill the Oracle, but he is stopped by the Kid and EPN. Zion finds out about Cypherite spies in their city. The Merovingian hides the General in his white hallways, and stores some of the commando programs away in hidden constructs. The Machines badly wound the Merovingian's transporter, the Trainman, who disappears.
8.1
Cypherite spies discover that Zion has built a new, strongly defended city. The Machines declare that Zion has broken the Truce. Open hostilities between Zion and the Machines begin. The Merovingian, skeptical about the Morpheus simulacrum's story of humans used as batteries, sends his commando Sentinels to scout the Machine "fields" and pods.
8.2
Zion turns to ex-Zionite specialist Danielle Wright when the Machines compromise their red pill program. Wright develops a new, secure pill for Zion, but is killed by the Machines, who use her hidden, direct access to Zion to insert a virus into Zion's mainframe, while a Cypherite spy destroys Zion's command center with a bomb. The Merovingian finds that the Machines do rely on humans for power, with regular pod centers across the otherwise barren surface of the planet, and have barely enough energy to run the Matrix and their own city.
8.3
Sentinels attack Zion's crippled city, forcing Zion to abandon it. Zion's Commander Lock is missing. Roland, whose ship was destroyed in the attack, is promoted to replace Lock. Roland's crew member Colt becomes a Zion captain; another crew member, Mauser, thought to have been killed, is seen on Sentinel surveillance tapes helping Lock escape through rubble in Zion. The Machines use data captured from Zion's mainframe, unlocked for them by the confused Morpheus simulacrum, to hunt down and kill veteran Zion operatives. The Merovingian finds evidence of the Machines removing live humans from the pod system.
9.1
A glowing "intruder" appears in the city, instantly killing Agents who try to stop him. He wants information from Zion. The Machines pull back their forces in the Real, and try to prevent the intruder from making contact with Zion, but refuse to attack him directly; they eventually admit that he is a freeborn human, with some direct control over the Matrix through "override codes." The Merovingian tries to win the intruder over. Pluribus Neo moves into the wreckage of Zion's old city.
9.2
The intruder pumps Zion for information about their history. EPN begins to fortify Zion's old city, and find Commander Lock lying wounded in a hidden lab at the surface. Lock says he was saved by Mauser, who died defending him from Sentinels. The Machines try to convince the intruder to leave. He becomes increasingly frustrated, and demands that the Machines give him a "biological interface program." They claim that only one exists, and it is not in the Matrix. The Merovingian searches for programs the intruder might be willing to trade for, without success.
9.3
A second glowing figure, Carlyne, enters the Matrix, attacking the first intruder, Halborn. The Morpheus simulacrum contacts Exiles in Westview. Halborn learns from the Machines that the Oracle created the program he seeks, and pursues her. He is supported by the Merovingian, and opposed by Zion, who have help from Carlyne. The Oracle contacts EPN and the Cypherites, giving each group part of an encrypted program, and asks them to watch over Sati. Halborn reaches the Oracle, who refuses to help him, and kills her.
10.1
Sati, Seraph, and the Morpheus simulacrum have disappeared. Halborn continues his stubborn search. The Machines turn him over to the Cypherites, who lead him to the spot in the Real where EPN is handing the recovered Lock over to Zion. Halborn flees the large hovercraft battle that ensues, but his ship was noticed by Zion, who, with EPN, defeat the opposing ships, and take Lock to their new city. Following a chance remark by Halborn, the Merovingian, using the General and his Sentinels, locates a "no-fly" area far to the northwest of the Machine city, avoided by Machine patrols, where they find a heavily defended facility, and a data feed from a massive "Oligarch Network." Zion and Carlyne succeed in surprising Halborn and removing him from the simulation. Cryptos begins research on anti-override codes. Carlyne leaves the Matrix.
10.2
Mauser, who never had jacks, appears in the Matrix. He hops through unmarked hardlines, avoiding contact, saying to Zion only that he's working to win the war. The Merovingian seeds the storm between the Machine city and the no-fly zone in order to reestablish contact with the General. They find Oligarch network data flowing into the Ouroboros Corporation in Downtown. The Machines nearly isolate Mauser's signal, but are interrupted by the Morpheus simulacrum. Mauser steals data from the Merovingian, then disappears. Missile barrages devastate the General's forces in the no-fly zone, forcing him to retreat. EPN detects a small craft outbound from tunnels below the old city, heading north.
10.3
Cypherites find the Merovingian hacking into Ouroboros. Cryptos captures some of the Oligarch data to assist his research. EPN discover data on the no-fly zone left behind at the small craft's launch site, and begin to prepare ships of their own to investigate. Machines try to get the Merovingian out of Ouroboros, concerned that trouble there will bring more Oligarchs into the Matrix. Wright Research sues Pendhurst-Amaranth for a break-in by Mauser. Pendhurst-Amaranth's Brenda Utley helps Zion get information about Mauser's activities, but Seraph appears, and asks them to stop. The Merovingian finds the biological interface program inside Ouroboros' network.
