Demigod Communications Blackout

“	Travel and communication have become difficult in the last few months. We haven't heard from our friends at Camp Jupiter in weeks. No new demigods have arrived. Satyrs aren't reporting in from the field. Iris Messages no longer work. (...) Except that normal human communications are also on the fritz. Of course, phones have always been dangerous for demigods -- (...) But recently, our phones have stopped working altogether. Mobile, landline, Internet... it doesn't seem to matter. Even the archaic form of communication known as e-mail is strangely unreliable. The messages simply don't arrive. (...) I fear the problem is more complicated. We have no contact with the outside world.	”
–Chiron to Apollo and Meg McCaffrey in The Hidden Oracle

The Demigod Communications Blackout was a major event orchestrated by Triumvirate Holdings during the Great Imperial War. Using the powers of the Greek-Egyptian hybrid god Harpocrates, the three god-emperors effectively silenced all methods of demigod communications, making it much harder for the scattered Greco-Roman forces to coordinate against their enemies.

In the aftermath of the Triumvirate Holdings' downfall and the fading of Harpocrates, the blackout dissipated and all forms of communication, including Iris Messages, have been fully restored.

Description

Using Harpocrates' powers as the god of silence combined with Sutro Tower amplifying the effects, Nero, Commodus and Caligula were effectively able to silence all forms of communications used demigods. Iris Messages wouldn't work and neither would holographic scrolls and attempts by demigods to use mortal forms of communications such as cell phones failed as well. According to Leo Valdez, he and Calypso were unable to use dream visions either to contact their friends. While regular mortal mail still worked, it was incredibly slow to reach the recipients and it was thus inefficient as a communications method. Regular mortals such as Rachel Elizabeth Dare were unaffected by the blackout. The emperors were also able to make sure that their own forces were unaffected by it somehow, even demigods like Lityerses.

Tracking signals appear to be unaffected by the blackout as both Harley's Home-Beacon and a tracking device used by the Hunters of Artemis still worked.

Harpocrates' powers were such that, even when the blackout was ended, it took months for communications to be fully restored and they were still spotty and hadn't reached as far as the East Coast by the time of the Battle of Nero's Tower and the Triumvirate's final defeat. It ended up taking months for the blackout to fully dissipate, even once the source of it was gone.

Strategically, the blackout was a brilliant move, cutting off the Triumvirate's enemies from each other and keeping them from being able to effectively coordinate with each other, making their job much harder during the Great Imperial War while at the same time, their own forces lacked this particular weakness due to being immune to the blackout's effects. One great example of this is how the Waystation, after learning of an upcoming attack on Camp Jupiter, couldn't simply Iris Message the camp and warn them. Although Leo personally delivered the message instead, the camp was unprepared for the scale of the attack and suffered massive casualties.

However, towards the end of the war, the strategy started to lose its effectiveness as the demigods and their allies started finding ways to circumvent the blackout. Although largely inefficient, Reyna and Thalia's correspondence by mortal mail ended up giving Reyna a vital clue that helped to pinpoint Sutro Tower as the source of the blackout. The best example of the increasing ineffectiveness of the blackout in the later stages of the war is how, before the final battle of the war, Rachel used her status as a mortal to make the call for much needed reinforcements to Camp Half-Blood when her companions couldn't. This allowed them to have the forces that they needed in order to defeat Nero and his men. While Chiron had initially said that even e-mail had stopped working, since Rachel was a mortal contacting Chiron who was a centaur, the species of both sides of the communication allowed it to circumvent the blackout.

History

At some point during the six months following the defeat of Gaea, Triumvirate Holdings implemented the blackout as they prepared to make their move. Not only did mythological types of communication such Iris Message stop working, but so did normal human communications with Camp Half-Blood's phones, Internet and even their e-mail stop working. Isolated from each other and their allies, the various demigod factions were only aware that communications were mysteriously down.

The Trials of Apollo

The Hidden Oracle

When Apollo arrives at Camp Half-Blood, he is informed of the communications blackout plaguing the mythological world which Chiron lists as one of many issues that the camp is facing. When Chiron tells Apollo that even e-mail is down, he suggests that Chiron look in the junk folder. Chiron admits that he had originally been able to convince himself that the communications failures were nothing but an inconvenient happenstance for awhile until campers started disappearing. It's later revealed that Triumvirate Holdings is responsible for the blackout.

When Leo Valdez arrives at camp six months after his death and resurrection, Leo mentions that he and Calypso had tried contacting Camp Half-Blood by sending more holographic scrolls, Iris Messages, dream visions and phone calls, but nothing had worked. The two were stuck going from one crisis to another until Festus picked up Harley's Home-Beacon and followed it back to Camp Half-Blood.

The Dark Prophecy

It's revealed that the forces of Triumvirate Holdings, including demigods like Lityerses, are immune to the blackout's effects and are able to communicate freely with each other.

After discovering the impending attack on Camp Jupiter, Leo Valdez volunteers to fly there on Festus since the communications blackout means that the Waystation has no other way of warning them.

The Burning Maze

Apollo complains that the Triumvirate's forces have no trouble communicating while demigods still can't use Iris Messages and other forms of communication with each other.

The Tyrant's Tomb

Reyna reveals that she has managed to get around the blackout to communicate with Thalia Grace and the Hunters of Artemis by using regular mortal mail, although it takes much longer.

Following the prophecy from the Sibylline Books, Apollo, Reyna and Meg McCaffrey venture to Sutro Tower where they find Harpocrates heavily guarded and chained up, the source of the communications blackout. After being convinced that Apollo has changed, Harpocrates willingly fades, ending the blackout.

While communications are restored, allowing Reyna to briefly communicate with Frank Zhang using a holographic scroll, the effect takes time to dissipate rather than everything coming back online all at once. After the scroll bursts into flame, Reyna theorizes that they overheated it, and that the communication disruption must be slowly breaking up and working its way out from Sutro Tower. The lifting of the blackout allows Apollo to successfully use an Iris Message to summon Diana for help during the Ceremony to Call for Divine Help.

After the Battle of San Francisco Bay, Thalia reveals that she had gotten Reyna's letter about her brother's death a few hours before Apollo had summoned Diana. This was because an aura - a breeze nymph - had plucked the letter out of the mail and flew it to Thalia personally at great risk to herself.

The Tower of Nero

A few months after Harpocrates fading, the blackout has been slowly dissipating, but communications are still spotty, and the effect hasn't reached the East Coast yet. As a result, Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase don't hear of Jason Grace's death until their arrival at Camp Jupiter to begin college in New Rome.

Before the Battle of Nero's Tower, Rachel Elizabeth Dare volunteers to contact Chiron for help from Camp Half-Blood. Although neither Apollo nor Meg McCaffrey can contact him by magical means just yet, Rachel is a mortal and thus is unaffected by the blackout. Rachel is able to circumvent the Triumvirate's communications block by buying a cheap cellphone and sending an email to Chiron who she had rightfully suspected would be watching his computer for any such messages. As a result, Chiron brings in the forces of Camp Half-Blood to help finally defeat Nero.

The Nico di Angelo Adventures

The Sun and the Star: A Nico di Angelo Adventure

Months after Harpocrates faded and two months after the defeat of Triumvirate Holdings, the blackout has completely dissipated, and demigod communications are fully back online as demonstrated by Nico di Angelo and Will Solace successfully contacting Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase in New Rome from New York.

Trivia

• In The House of Hades, it's mentioned that Iris Messages aren't working very well currently and have horrible reception. Hazel states that some magic is interfering, possibly Gaea, and that the Romans might be shielding themselves.
• Iris Messages are working fine during The Chalice of the Gods which takes place between The Heroes of Olympus and The Trials of Apollo, meaning that the blackout wasn't yet in place until a later point during the six months between the two series.