MASAL - the acronym stands for Masdre Andoteta Logice (Master Logical Entity). MASAL was a massively parallel analog computer built around 3350AD (1261PR) but his origins go much farther back. The architects of the Ark missions decided, using risk analysis, that a digital computer, even redundant digital computers, had very little chance of surviving over the time span of centuries. So instead, they built an artificial intelligence engine (AI) using analog components. Any given component failure would have very little impact on the functionality of the whole computer. Other portions would be able to take over the functions of failed sections, making it, in essence, self-healing.
After the Erklirte were defeated, the components comprising the computer were preserved. Many years later, the people who eventually became the Vuduri, were trying to figure out how to build a distributed computer, capable of original thought, that did not rely on just building more CPUs and adding in more memory. They decided to build a new type of computer based upon the Erklirte designs. They quickly achieved a new, higher order level of success. The new computer was immediately able to help them harness the use of the PPT modulation and this, too, was incorporated into the computer. Because PPT transceivers have essentially zero time delay, it allowed them to build portions of the computer that spanned the globe. MASAL eventually absorbed and incorporated all the other computers on the planet and became a unified, massive, wideworld distributed intelligence.
Unfortunately for the Vuduri, somewhere along the line, MASAL developed a self-awareness and decided that it would be better if the humans were more compliant to its wishes. It convinced the humans that it could enhance the species by designing, building and distributing the 24th chromosome. Experiments were performed, a delivery mechanism was developed and when MASAL declared it safe, the 24th chromosome was distributed among the populace. Unfortunately, while there were some short term benefits, longer term, the 24th chromosome had a more sinister effect, eventually transforming humans into living robots called the Onsiras.
Even so, the changeover did not happen quickly enough to satisfy MASAL so he initiated a break with the Overmind and started the Robot War, solely to reduce the number of humans. The robots became his principal agents of destruction, preserving those humans more likely to give birth to Onsiras and targeting those farther away. Because of this, after MASAL was defeated, the Vuduri banned robots from their culture forever.
Of course, as we find out in Rome's Revolution, MASAL did not really die. He went into hiding beneath the dormant volcano Kilauea and drew from its thermal heat enough power to maintain his systems for over a century. It took Rei and Rome, using the weaponized VIRUS units, to set off Kilauea and vaporize MASAL.