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The Interfacing Operations Network Automaton, or iona, is a creation of Kupha Bevak. He constructed the virtual intelligence after the protocol droid pattern, but omitted any physical body as the VI is intended as a go-between for communications with the IO Protocol. iona is part of the Skipnet company.

To acquire funding for the program, Kupha Bevak lobbied with several noble houses of the Veolian Commonwealth. In order to capitalize on the natural tendency of veolian nobles to distrust droids he dubbed the program suite 'iona' (note the lack of capitalization) to humanize the VI. Furthermore, he incorporated an advanced avatar library he wrote earlier to assist the IO with interacting with others.

Through the use of the avatar library, iona can take on several appearances. It defaults to a single avatar when interacting with natural entities. The default avatar is an amalgam of characteristics of several species in the Union, calculated to get optimal acceptance. The final form factor is that of a near-human, with several self-adjusting parameters controlling appearance detail when interacting with species of which bias-preferences are known.