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The Knighthawk Foundry is probably the most enigmatic organization mentioned so far; it gets relatively little discussion, and there are some things conspiciously absent from what mentions it gets. We know only three things besides the name: 1. They make the mobiles. Everyone, absolutely everyone, uses mobiles in Newcago and presumably they've got a virtual monopoly on communications elsewhere. I do not recall even one mention of any other personal communications device. 2. They're neutral. No one ever gives even the slightest consideration of the possibility of them allowing anyone else to tap into the calls. 3. They have a central server of some form which is not quite as trusted. The mobiles can apparently transmit through anything and link either to the central server or to another mobile directly with substantial range. Steelheart did not demonstrate the capacity to jam them; not even in the room he wired with explosives more powerful than the Reckoners used in an attempt to demolish the entire building. The mobiles are also considered absolutely secure. When Davis says to stop using the link, the other Reckoners flatly refuse to believe it might have been breached until he says that Enforcement has Megan's mobile, which is in their network. Now, apparently they're using some form of encryption that might not have been generated on the mobiles themselves, but they establish a new link remotely, so they couldn't have picked a new one. Well, okay, apparently there are some methods of pulling that off, but the resulting encryption is considerably weaker and also involves large enough numbers the mobiles would need to do the math, so it's still dependent on their built-in security. Their level of neutrality implies that the Foundry cannot be easily overpowered by any given other group. This power is almost certainly intrinsic to the Foundry, since Epics control most military power and would collectively oppose the Reckoners, who are apparently confident in the Foundry's neutrality. That is where things get weird, because there are two possibilities: 1. Knighthawk is a powerful Epic who runs a fortress-factory producing the world's most advanced technology, possibly using his powers in the manufacturing process. In this scenario, it is odd that the Reckoners would implicitly trust his creations when their offical policy calls for his death. Sure, they don't route through the central server, but Knighthawk provides both the software and hardware. They cannot be sure the mobiles are not transmitting back to Knighthawk in secret. But if he is a trustworthy Epic, why does no one ever append "Except Knighthawk" to statements about the behavior of Epics in general? 2. The Knighthawk Foundry is not controlled by an Epic at all. This would then mean there is a technologically advanced faction operating openly on a large scale with sufficent power to stand up to all the Epics who have set themselves up as emperors and totally under the control of normal humans. That, uh, seems like it might have come up. Repeatedly. Also, if it doesn't depend on an Epic, people could make knock-offs of the mobiles. I would expect the Reckoners to use their own design if possible no matter how trustworthy the organization. I'm not entirely sure why the Reckoners do trust the mobiles but not the servers, but maybe they assume that the designers don't know any method of hacking the mobiles and are worried someone will manage to conquer the Foundry and access call records.