I swear it worked yesterday!
Bitrot is a colloquial term for a form of
the Veil that specifically effects computers. As more and more of the world is entangled by the web of iron and electronics, every facet of human existence becomes digital - including magic. Where there is magic, there is the Veil, keeping the universe's secrets from the prying eyes of those who aren't ready for it.
Digital Decay
Where did that file go? I knew I put it here somewhere...
Like the Veil, Bitrot twists, warps, and removes information and memories of all things eldritch. No matter where the code might be stored, Bitrot can reach it. It is sometimes disguised as poor maintenance, poor budgeting, or other slips of bureaucracy, but just as often someone might find themselves opening something that used to work and now doesn't. With more information than ever flooding into the web, Bitrot has become so prevalent as to almost be a joke among IT professionals. Whenever something goes missing or stops working, well, Bitrot got to 'em.
Soon enough, they'll forget about that too and just go on with their day. Among magi and technomancers, Bitrot can be a hassle. Electronics never work as well in the Shadow as in the real world, and even tucked away at some far-away sanctum, the Veil censors secrets. None of the solutions tried have been universal, and what works for some fails for others, depending on the inscrutable whim of the Veil.
More than anything, Bitrot has delayed the development of long-term technomagical effects. Rumors say some of them are getting close to a solution... A development that has a lot of magi worried, and a lot of knives are getting sharpened.
Oh, I feel like I was dealing with this in my job yesterday!!! Nicely done, Q. The explanation is so 'short but sweet' with such a nice eerie undertone to it!
Bitrot I think is something everyone who has worked with a computer has experienced... :D
Creator of Araea, Megacorpolis, and many others.
Oh, very much so! :D