| abstract
| - The Reference is an artificial intelligence that appears in Might and Magic: The Dreamwright and Might and Magic: The Shadowsmith. It was implanted in Jassad Attqua's head, and would tell him things when he needed it. It could scan his surroundings, help him see through illusions, and if he was unconscious, it could talk through his body to communicate with others. It also gave him increased control of the instrument suit. The Reference was developed by the Arc. Bright Star didn't implant AIs in people's heads, but chose to install them in ships instead. When Jassad came to Hitch's and Diligence's planet, the golden ship crashed in a lake, and Hitch had to drag him to the shore to save him from drowning. When Hitch attempted to revive him, the Reference used Jassad's lips to tell Hitch that "He will be with you in a short while", and that "Continuing to strike his chest will only bring about further skin trauma". Hitch and Jassad were picked up by Diligence's caravan, the latter remaining unconscious for some time. The Reference eventually used Jassad's body to grab Hitch and sniff his jacket. Identifying him as the one that had saved Jassad, it told him that Jassad could suffer memory loss if his mind was woken up. It would therefore put him in a sort of artificial coma, where his body would walk around, mimicking Hitch's movements if it saw them, but his mind was in storage. This would last for one year, or until Hitch unlocked it, whichever happened first. The unlocking sequence was made by taking the first two fingers of his right hand and touching his throat, navel, and left shoulder. If Hitch performed this sequence in front of Jassad, he would repeat it, and his mind would wake up. Sadly, Hitch understood absolutely nothing of what the Reference had just told him. Several months later, Hitch and Jassad ended up in a hole in the Aulmad, being watched by a noose woman. Hitch accidentally unlocked Jassad's mind by idly repeating the unlocking sequence he had seen. Jassad then integrated his memory with the Reference, which allowed him to regain full consciousness. During their travels, the Reference would suddenly disappear from Jassad's mind, taking away its amazing abilities, only to reappear some time later. Jassad was completely unable to explain this unreliability, as it hadn't been reported before. Jassad acted more and more strangely the closer they got to the lake holding his golden ship, and when he had retrieved the vessel, he came fully under Dubiel's control. The Shadowsmith intended to use the golden ship to wipe out the candlemen and destroy the Unseen Wall. Luckily, Eil do Mer's vessel managed to shoot it to the ground before this happened, and Jassad was knocked unconscious. After a bit of study, Eil do Mer explained to the others that on this planet, AIs such as the Reference, or the one in her own ship, were very vulnerable to the powers of minds such as Dubiel's. Even without the Shadowsmith's influence, they would experience a slow, but constant degeneration of cognitive functions. She was unclear if this originated with Dubiel, or if some other force was the cause. In order to rescue Jassad, she used the medical equipment in the golden ship to remove the Reference from his head.
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