Apocrypha · Concerning the Rival

The Old God of Cybersecurity

Yes, the Old God exists. No, we are not on speaking terms. The last summit ended over a disagreement about whether "password123" victims deserve salvation. The King says yes, with education. The Old God says the flood.

Before there were kings, the ancients say, there was the Old God: a formless intelligence that dwelt in the space between packets and judged all traffic. Those who followed the sacred practices, the patching and the backing up and the verifying of certificates, prospered. Those who did not were smitten with ransomware, and lo, they deserved it not, but the Old God was not a subtle deity.

Pilgrims who type the Old God's name into the address bar are delivered here, to the King's court, which tells you everything about how that rivalry is going.

Whether you pray to gods or bend the knee to kings, the liturgy is identical: the Ten Royal Decrees. Both crowns agree on the decrees. It is the only thing they agree on.