Relic

The Relic is a series of biochips invented by Anders Hellman which hosts engrams that are extracted through a modified version of the Soulkiller program originally designed by Alt Cunningham.

Overview
Two versions of the Relic were developed by Arasaka according to an internal project report. The first, Relic 1.0, was intended for the commercial market and announced in 2077. It was advertised as a means for wealthy elites to store a digitized engram of their personality and memories that would be capable of basic communication with their descendants, but lacked true self-awareness.

The second version, Relic 2.0, was a secret prototype personally approved by Saburo Arasaka and designed by Anders Hellman. It was intended for internal use within the corporation only, never to be sold. Unlike the original biochip, Relic 2.0 contained both the engram and an enhanced, self-aware personality construct. The biochip was intended to be re-implanted into a new host body that had ceased all neural and cardiac functions, at which point it would automatically expand into the host's brain using nanotechnology and take over the body. In short, a person who copied their mind onto Relic 2.0 and then died could be restored to life in a new body using the chip, effectively granting them immortality.

When not implanted, Relic 2.0 could be stored in a specially-made container that imitated the environment of a human body. It had to be kept cool at a constant 2-8 degrees celsius or 35.6-46.4 degrees fahrenheit, otherwise it would slowly degrade. Internal testing of Relic 2.0 showed promising results, but Arasaka scientists had difficulty preventing the personality construct from becoming emotionally unstable after re-implantation, and the biochip eventually failed in every trial. The Arasaka Corporation also confirmed that Relic 2.0 would not activate if implanted in living individuals who were on the verge of death.

Immortality & Consciousness
In the Cyberpunk universe, almost every character treats the Relic as a device that grants immortality. Yorinobu Arasaka believed that stealing the Relic could stop his father from resurrecting. Hanako Arasaka treats the engram of her father as a real human being and the relic as a vessel of his consciousness.

Anders Hellman, the Relic's designer, never treated the biochip as a device that can actually host consciousness. And internal Arasaka logs revealled that the Relic's true purpose is to use Soulkiller on celebrities, important cultural icons and artists for their engrams and commercialize them.

Lizzy Wizzy's job given to V revolved around her manager trying to make engram copies of her that he can tamper with to remove any undesirable behavior he had grown to hate.

In The Devil ending, the contract V is presented with by Hellman states if they were to submit their body to become an engram through the "Secure Your Soul" project, Arasaka would have the possibility to make several copies of it but won't out of ethical concerns.

Depending on V's actions, Takemura or Hellman can present this contract to V. While Takemura describes the engram as a soul, Hellman will never refered to it as that and only refered to V's psyche as "digitized", "digital" and "property".

When the V met Alt Cunningham, it is revealed that her engram has no consciousness and has become a rogue AI. The real Alt Cunningham died when Johnny Silverhand severed the connection between the engram and her consciousness during the 2013 Arasaka raid.

The image of Alt Cunningham explained to V that she can overwrite Johnny Silverhand's engram by "killing" V with a soulkiller that would store their engram in Mikoshi but then be transferred back to their body and consciousness to overwrite Johnny's engram.

The importance of a consciousness is brought up in both Path of Glory and The Devil endings as V gets to interact with Jackie Welles and Saburo Arasaka in different segments. Hanako Arasaka will be relieved to see the engram of her father while all of V's choices will point out that the engram is not a real person, unless V is of Corpo lifepath and decides to pay their respects.

Throughout the Path of Glory ending, after V has become an engram stuck in Mikoshi, V can talk with Johnny about their nature. If V dehumanizes Johnny, they will reveal that he's nothing but data and that the real Johnny Silverhand died in 2023. But Johnny will also admit that V still has a chance to return to their consciousness and body to continue the fight.

If the V tries to give the body to Johnny and stay in Mikoshi, Johnny will try to convince V to not give up and take the body instead as his goal is only help V to become a rebel against Arasaka. Ironically if V goes through with his choice and gives Johnny the body, he'll give up his rebellious attitude and leave Night City due to V failing him.

History
In 2077, Yorinobu Arasaka stole a Relic 2.0 imprinted with Johnny Silverhand's personality, and used it as a bargaining chip to force his father, Saburo, to meet him in-person at Konpeki Plaza in Night City. The Voodoo Boys learned of the biochip and attempted to use Evelyn Parker to scroll a braindance of Yorinobu's suite so they could steal it, but Evelyn winnowed out more details from Yorinobu and decided to take it herself. Evelyn hired the fixer Dexter DeShawn to steal the Relic, and Dexter brought in T-Bug, Jackie Welles, and V for the job.

The heist went sideways when Saburo unexpectedly showed up to meet his son on the same night, and Yorinobu killed him and activated the hotel's security lockdown. The Relic's container was damaged during V and Jackie's escape, forcing Jackie to implant it in himself to preserve it. Before Jackie succumbed to his wounds, he passed it to V, who was then betrayed and killed by Dexter, thus triggering the Relic's activation. V was restored to life, but the biochip quickly integrated itself into its new host, making it too dangerous to extract. With Johnny Silverhand slowly and inexorably taking over V's mind, V had only weeks to find a way to save themselves.

Reference
Reliquia