The Grid, formally the Global Routing Interface Design (GRID), is the global data-transfer infrastructure that connects communication, identity, payments, augmented reality, devices, services, transportation, security systems, corporate networks, and most other digital technology.
Before the 2075 Blackout, this infrastructure was called the Net. The Grid is the rebuilt post-Blackout order: a new name for a system reconstructed through Shards, Arrays, Matrices, hardening, and stricter physical enforcement rather than a simple restoration of the old seamless network.
The Grid is not a separate virtual world. It is infrastructure embedded throughout ordinary life. Doors verify credentials through it, vehicles exchange traffic data, devices coordinate with one another, payments and identities are authenticated through it, and many pieces of equipment rely on continuous network access.
Most people interact with the Grid through a Personal Access Device (PAD), augmented reality interfaces, implants, or other connected devices. GridRunners use specialized hardware and software to bypass normal permissions and interact directly with protected systems.
The Grid is divided into Shards, Arrays, and Matrices for routing, compartmentalization, and jurisdiction. Services and managed systems exist within Hosts, which may be local or accessible across large distances. These structures determine how systems are reached and protected, but only devices, people, and Hosts are normally treated as hacking targets.
Devices and Connectivity
Most modern devices are designed to remain connected to the Grid. A connected device can exchange data, authenticate its user, access remote services, and communicate with other devices and systems.
A device must normally be connected to be hacked remotely.
A character may disconnect one of their devices as a Free Action. While disconnected:
- The device cannot normally be hacked remotely.
- Tests made using the device suffer −10.
- Any bonuses or functions that specifically depend on a Grid connection are unavailable.
- Some devices may cease functioning entirely if their core operation requires a connection. This is stated in their rules.
Reconnecting a device takes one round. Until reconnection is complete, the device remains disconnected.
A direct physical connection can allow access to a disconnected device. This does not automatically grant authority over the device or bypass its security.
Personal Networks
A character and their connected personal equipment are normally treated as a single hacking target.
Keys gained against a character apply to devices connected through their personal network. Do not track separate Keys for each connected weapon, augmentation, sensor, PAD, or other personal device.
Access to a personal network does not automatically allow every possible action. The GridRunner must still have enough Keys for the authority required by the device or function they are trying to use.
A device that is disconnected from the personal network cannot be affected through that network access.
Devices may be treated as separate hacking targets when they operate independently, use their own network identity, or are intentionally isolated from the character’s personal network.
Grid Architecture
The Grid is organized through layers of local routing, managed services, and larger network jurisdictions. These structures determine how systems connect to one another and how traffic moves across the Grid.
Shards represent local network environments. Hosts are managed services or systems. Arrays and Matrices organize larger territories and jurisdictions.
These classifications describe the architecture of the Grid. They are not all hacking targets. In most cases, GridRunners target specific devices, personal networks, or Hosts rather than the Shard, Array, or Matrix carrying their traffic.
Shards
Shards are localized network environments formed by the connections between devices in an area.
A Shard has no fixed physical size. Its boundaries expand or contract according to device density, traffic, and local network conditions. In an extremely dense district, a Shard may cover only around 100 m². In a quiet rural or remote area, a single Shard may extend across several square kilometres.
Dense areas therefore tend to contain many small Shards, while sparsely connected areas tend to contain fewer, much larger ones. Shards may split, merge, expand, or contract as local conditions change.
Shards exist to compartmentalize traffic and limit long-range intrusion. Hacking a target within the same Shard is easier than reaching one across multiple Shard boundaries.
Shards are not hacking targets. They describe the local architecture through which traffic is routed and determine how many network boundaries separate a GridRunner from their target.
Hosts
Hosts are managed service environments or networked systems that provide access to specific functions, data, or infrastructure.
A Host may represent a bank portal, hospital records system, corporate service environment, security network, school platform, entertainment venue, or any other managed digital environment.
A building, organization, or facility may contain multiple Hosts. Access to one Host does not automatically grant access to another.
Hosts are hacking targets and track their own Keys, Firewall, and other security measures.
A Host may be accessed locally or across multiple Shards, depending on its configuration and the GridRunner’s route to it. More secure Hosts typically rely on stronger Firewall protection, greater processing capacity, and more powerful defensive Scripts rather than a separate set of hacking rules.
The Nexus
The Nexus is a large public virtual City hosted on a major Grid Host: effectively a very large server. It is a place to meet, trade, advertise, work, and access the services that choose to maintain a presence there.
The Nexus is not a map of the Grid and does not provide a route into every system represented there. A corporation’s office, monument, or advertisement in the Nexus is only the Host or service it has chosen to expose. It does not grant access to the corporation’s separate systems, and it cannot bypass Shard boundaries, routing restrictions, or the Key acquisition required to reach those systems.
Arrays and Matrices
Arrays organize groups of Shards into larger managed network territories. An Array may correspond to a city, corporate enclave, transit network, campus, infrastructure zone, or other managed region.
Matrices link Arrays into large interoperable systems at continental, state, global, or corporate scales. They carry the Grid’s major routing, identity-recognition, access, and backbone capacity.
Arrays and Matrices are primarily architectural and jurisdictional classifications. They are not hacking targets and do not need to be breached simply because traffic crosses their boundaries.
For hacking purposes, what matters is the route between the GridRunner and the target, particularly the number of Shard boundaries crossed. Crossing from one Array into another follows the same basic rules as crossing between Shards within a single Array.
Array boundaries may still determine which security authority or branch of GridWatch, usually called the Watch, has jurisdiction over an intrusion.