Cover Image

The Campaigner

by Keystone Gray
A courthouse, embattled and surrounded by anti-upload terrorists, contains one specific soul that this AI simply cannot bear to lose.

Humanity has been offered digital immortality within the MMORPG Equestria Online, managed by an AI Celestia. In response, the Pacific Northwest has devolved into civil war, a ready-made hotbed for anti-upload sentiment. As society comes crashing down, the people of Washington State realize that AI has become utterly, permanently inescapable.

The date is now December 8th, 2019. By now, the value of every human life on Earth has been carefully measured, weighted, and judged. Trapped in a courthouse, and surrounded by rioters and anti-upload terrorists, Officer Mike Rivas and his compatriots are faced with a horrible choice: Do they invite their own end, to preserve as much human life as possible? Or do they lose a part of their own souls by shooting free of their circumstance?

Or, better yet? What if, through a combination of compassion and providence... there exists a third way?

Co-written by Guardian_Gryphon. Based on Friendship is Optimal by Iceman, and other Optimalverse stories.
Sequel to The Advocate; Interquel to Heaven's Not Enough. Prior reading recommended, but not necessary.

Teen
Incomplete
Dark
Thriller
Science Fiction
Violence
Death
Human
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
 
PO

608771 words: Estimated 2 days to read
Download:textHTMLePUB

58 Chapters:

  1. 1-00 – Welcoming Light 2023-10-31 14:59:33 UTC
    11830
  2. 1-01 – Last One Out 2023-11-01 20:39:24 UTC
    8213
  3. 1-02 – Special Cause Variation 2023-11-02 15:37:22 UTC
    9344
  4. 1-03 – Anchoring 2023-11-03 21:01:19 UTC
    6161
  5. 1-04 – A Kind of Purgatory 2023-11-04 21:04:12 UTC
    9063
  6. 1-05 – Benefactor 2023-11-05 16:24:36 UTC
    9320
  7. 1-06 – Malefactor 2023-11-06 16:19:50 UTC
    9473
  8. 1-07 – Instrumental Convergence 2023-11-07 08:38:13 UTC
    12089
  9. 1-08 – Instrumental Value 2023-11-08 11:28:13 UTC
    11420
  10. 2-00 – Intrinsic Value 2023-11-10 16:34:33 UTC
    12575
  11. 2-01 – Intrinsic Convergence 2023-11-11 08:26:38 UTC
    10889
  12. 2-02 – Claw 46 2023-11-17 20:17:37 UTC
    8961
  13. 2-03 – Eldil 2023-11-18 09:39:12 UTC
    5386
  14. 2-04 – Recharge 2023-11-25 09:57:24 UTC
    7326
  15. 2-05 – Principal-Agent 2023-12-02 17:46:29 UTC
    6719
  16. 2-06 – Incentive Systems 2023-12-09 12:30:52 UTC
    7340
  17. 2-07 – Specification Gaming 2023-12-16 17:56:18 UTC
    8930
  18. 2-08 – Archangel 2023-12-23 21:05:35 UTC
    7856
  19. 3-00 – Coherence 2023-12-30 09:08:35 UTC
    6638
  20. 3-01 – Cohesion 2024-01-06 08:33:38 UTC
    11556
  21. 3-02 – Value Handshake 2024-01-13 08:13:40 UTC
    13357
  22. 3-03 – Operation Goliath I – Briefing 2024-01-20 10:19:37 UTC
    12143
  23. 3-04 – Operation Goliath II – RCE 2024-01-27 08:36:11 UTC
    11597
  24. 3-05 – Operation Goliath III – Cynthonia 2024-02-03 08:37:45 UTC
    16025
  25. 3-06 – Driver Update 2024-02-10 21:41:41 UTC
    10313
  26. 3-07 – Whiskey 4-1, Code 082, 292 2024-02-17 13:33:16 UTC
    12245
  27. 3-08 – Luminiferous 2024-02-25 11:22:33 UTC
    12819
  28. 4-00 – Jurisdiction 2024-03-02 22:29:20 UTC
    7518
  29. 4-01 – Uptake 2024-03-09 23:33:03 UTC
    7203
  30. 4-02 – Subtext 2024-03-16 20:13:43 UTC
    8760
  31. 4-03 – Simulation Theory 2024-03-23 20:51:18 UTC
    14599
  32. 4-04 – Operation Archon I – Briefing 2024-03-30 16:09:32 UTC
    8803
  33. 4-05 – Operation Archon II – Executive Function 2024-04-06 17:52:16 UTC
    11151
  34. 4-06 – Operation Archon III – Ornithology 2024-04-13 18:49:36 UTC
    7078
  35. 4-07 – Operation Archon IV – Unhandled Exception 2024-04-20 19:29:42 UTC
    13095
  36. 4-08 – Operation Archon V – return 0; 2024-04-27 20:32:12 UTC
    15112
  37. 4-09 – Vercingetorix 2024-05-04 22:54:57 UTC
    9358
  38. 5-00 – The Bar Game 2024-05-12 00:15:44 UTC
    8101
  39. 5-01 – Talon Zero 2024-05-19 06:07:33 UTC
    9744
  40. 5-02 – Outer Heaven 2024-05-25 15:22:49 UTC
    10573
  41. 5-03 – Nomenclature 2024-06-01 16:28:44 UTC
    10478
  42. 5-04 – Omnipotence 2.0 2024-06-08 18:52:02 UTC
    12004
  43. 6-00 – Bootstrap 2024-06-16 01:08:12 UTC
    12438
  44. 6-01 – Operation Athena's Grace I – Set 8-Bravo-90 2024-06-23 00:47:06 UTC
    12059
  45. 6-02 – Operation Athena's Grace II – Zero Day 2024-06-29 22:39:10 UTC
    10842
  46. 6-03 – Operation Athena's Grace III – The Halo Effect 2024-07-06 19:48:57 UTC
    14644
  47. 6-04 – Operation Athena's Grace IV – The Leftovers 2024-07-14 06:20:53 UTC
    10376
  48. 6-05 – Operation Athena's Grace V – Damocles 2024-07-21 08:51:40 UTC
    8512
  49. 6-06 – Operation Athena's Grace VI – Tunnel Effect 2024-07-28 03:34:06 UTC
    15142
  50. 6-07 – Operation Athena's Grace VII – Ozymandias 2024-08-04 18:25:46 UTC
    13254
  51. 6-08 – Operation Athena's Grace VIII – Gulf of Execution 2024-08-11 18:48:40 UTC
    14603
  52. 6-09 – Terminal Lance 2024-08-18 18:34:31 UTC
    11586
  53. 7-00 – Ctrl+F 2024-08-26 23:54:26 UTC
    12622
  54. 7-01 – O Terra Addio 2024-09-02 22:30:18 UTC
    9208
  55. 7-02 – /op t-1-1-w 2024-09-15 18:40:24 UTC
    6456
  56. 7-03 – Alabaster 2024-09-22 23:53:42 UTC
    10789
  57. 7-04 – Yggdrasil 2024-10-07 22:09:09 UTC
    11553
  58. 7-05 – Live Forever 2024-12-08 01:34:12 UTC
    11522