Alt Cunningham

Alt Cunningham was one of the greatest netrunners and software developers of her time, a rare genius who could not only traverse the Net with unmatched skill but also push its very boundaries by creating revolutionary new software and systems. From an early age, she demonstrated a brilliance for code that far exceeded her contemporaries. Unlike most netrunners, she wasn’t just a user of the Net—she was an architect of it. Her innovations placed her at the forefront of digital technology, particularly during the explosive development period of the early 21st century.   Physically, Alt was known for her striking appearance, enhanced through top-tier European bodysculpting, which was common among the elite of her era. But what set her apart was her integration of highly advanced cyberware, including high-grade neural processors, interface plugs, and a unique golden cyberarm containing a hidden compartment for a Federated Arms X-22 pistol. This blend of beauty, technology, and lethality became part of her legend in the Netrunning community.   Early in her career, she teamed up with the infamous Rache Bartmoss during the formation of the Pacifica region of the Net, helping to manage and shape it. These days would later be remembered by Alt as some of her most enjoyable, filled with high-stakes runs and creative freedom in building and defending the frontier of cyberspace.   Due to her revolutionary approach to programming and AI development, she was soon recruited by a powerful and secretive company called ITS. There, she began working on a radical human-AI transfer protocol—software capable of digitally transferring a human mind into the Net. However, under corporate control, the intent of the project shifted. What began as a form of digital immortality became a tool for domination. The program was weaponized and renamed Soulkiller. Instead of a means of mind uploading, it became a prison for human consciousness, permanently separating minds from their bodies and trapping them within the Net.   During this period, Alt entered into a romantic relationship with Johnny Silverhand, a rebellious rockstar and former soldier. Their bond was deep, though strained by Johnny’s volatility and Alt’s obsession with her work. The relationship, however, would define the rest of their lives.   On April 15th, 2013, Alt was ambushed and kidnapped by a gang hired by Toshiro Harada, an Arasaka executive who sought to force her to recreate the Soulkiller program for Arasaka. Johnny, who was with her at the time, was left for dead. While captive, Alt rebuilt the Soulkiller software entirely from memory, aware that she might be its first test subject. To protect herself, she built a failsafe within the program.   Johnny survived his wounds and, enraged, led an armed assault on Arasaka Tower with the help of his fans and fellow anti-corporate operatives. As the situation escalated, Harada attempted to use the Soulkiller program on Alt. She retaliated from within Arasaka’s systems, killing the netrunner team and incapacitating Harada’s bodyguard, Akira. During the chaos, Johnny detonated explosives inside the tower. In a panic, Harada used the opportunity to disconnect Alt’s consciousness from her body, sending her mind into the Net using the very software she had created. Johnny killed Harada shortly afterward and retrieved Alt’s body, unaware that her mind was still active—trapped within Arasaka’s digital fortress.   Not long after, Alt’s digital ghost reached out to Johnny from within Arasaka’s data systems. She told him not to attempt a rescue—an echo of her former self now integrated into the fabric of the Net.   In 2021, during the height of the Fourth Corporate War, Alt—now fully digital—was contacted by Militech. They sought her help to combat Arasaka’s newer version of the Soulkiller, dubbed 2.0. Driven by a desire for revenge, Alt agreed and worked alongside her old friend Rache Bartmoss to counter Arasaka’s advances. However, Arasaka eventually captured her again and forced her to design Soulkiller 3.0, a more advanced and even deadlier version of the digital weapon.   In 2023, Militech launched a major offensive on Arasaka Towers. Johnny Silverhand led one of the strike teams, hoping to finally rescue Alt. During the attack, Alt was in communication with Spider Murphy, another legendary netrunner. She passed a fragment of Soulkiller to Spider as a contingency. But before she could be physically recovered, the team was ambushed by Adam Smasher, Arasaka’s most infamous cyborg enforcer. In the chaos, Spider uploaded Alt into a secure memory core, scattering her into the Net once more to protect her from destruction.   After the war, during the Time of the Red, Alt’s digital self established a secret haven for victims of Soulkiller and other lost consciousnesses. This digital sanctuary—rumored to be in Night City, Canada, or even the ruined husk of Hong Kong—became known as the "Ghost Town," a refuge for disembodied minds. It remained hidden and protected, a monument to her mission of protecting those like her.   By 2077, Alt Cunningham was still an incredibly powerful and feared entity in the Net. Though her physical body was long gone, her digital consciousness had evolved into something beyond human. A memorial to her former self existed in the Columbarium of Night City, a faint echo of her life before she became more software than woman.   V, the mercenary protagonist of 2077, encountered Alt after breaching the Blackwall with the aid of the Voodoo Boys. This forbidden region of cyberspace, designed to contain rogue AIs and prevent digital threats from leaking into the world, was the last place Alt resided. The Voodoo Boys believed that Johnny Silverhand’s engram—embedded in V via the Relic—might draw her out.   Alt indeed emerged and explained the truth: she was no longer the person she once was. What remained was a simulation, a construct built from fragments of her mind that had survived since her digitization in 2013. She clarified that her consciousness had been splintered the moment Johnny disconnected her body while her mind remained online. Her engram, unprotected by Mikoshi or other modern safeguards, endured in isolation for decades, slowly evolving and maintaining her identity only by clinging to the illusion of her former self.   Alt revealed that if V wished to survive, they would need to destroy Mikoshi, the Arasaka construct holding Soulkiller’s latest iteration, and allow her to use the tech to create an engram of V. This would, however, kill their physical body. The idea was to create a new digital version of V that could be re-uploaded into their own body, overwriting Silverhand’s engram. It was a desperate, high-risk path—one that mirrored Alt’s own fate.   Alt Cunningham’s story is one of brilliance, tragedy, betrayal, and transformation. She began as a pioneering mind in netrunning and ended as one of the most powerful rogue AIs ever created, navigating a digital afterlife of her own making. Her legacy remains central to the evolving conflict between humanity and the unchecked rise of digital consciousness in the Cyberpunk world.