General Setting Discussion (new posts)

Stranded!: Re: Stranded!

Tue, 16 Nov 2021 00:39:24 +0000

I've solved the rêvetech problem by having the Transcendentals, who know what is going to happen to Taylor, gifting her with advanced cognitech which will help her process any weird dreams although she will require more sleep to do so. Also, the Transcendentals gift her with a sufficiently complete nanotech database so she can build her own nanotech from scratch. I think Taylor will be fine now.

Stranded!: Re: Stranded!

Sat, 13 Nov 2021 13:06:32 +0000

I know it's a bit late but I would say have her either use the tinkers to shortcut her way into getting the tech needed or have a small portable version of the machinery, enough for herself only, sort of like a solar powered camping item when one needs tech but off into the wilderness.

General Comment On Post-Scarcity: General Comment On Post-Scarcity

Tue, 02 Nov 2021 21:30:56 +0000

I have a problem with post-scarcity as a term. It's more accurately called post-need. Nobody starves, nobody is deprived of education or opportunities. But some things are always going to be scarce: custom original literature or artworks, a night of passion spent with the hottest person on the habitat, weapons of mass destruction, ginormous starships, habitable planets… You can't get everything in a "post-scarcity" society and you shouldn't get everything in a "post-scarcity" society. Some objects or services are going to be rare due to difficulty of manufacture or acquiring the general trust of society to access such things.

So the civs in SA are definitely post-need but their metrics for what constitutes a basic need certainly differ. An average citizen of the Tao Of History has Metatech 5 which is basically mind control powers. Such a citizen could wreak havoc in a habitat belonging to the Disciples Of The Void. Their civilisational Metatech has a maximum of 2. How do the Disciples protect themselves from being subverted by a malicious Taoist or missionary Unionist?

Also, how do these Civs with these different attitudes to what are basic tech police themselves within their own societies and without?

EDIT: Looks like I misunderstood the term post-scarcity. Looks like it means post energy and resource scarcity.

Stranded!: Stranded!

Mon, 01 Nov 2021 12:56:30 +0000

I'm planning a Worm/SA crossover fanfic. The premise is that Taylor Hebert is a Patent Office inspector who gets sent to Earth Bet by an illicit piece of technology. As a nod to original Worm canon, this version of Taylor Hebert has Cognitech 5 (for the multitasking) and Nanotech 4 (to reflect canon Taylor's bugs). The thing is, she needs access to a rêvetech service for the cognitech or she'll go doolally and her nanotech will eventually burn out without replenishment. How is she going to cope without access to a sufficiently advanced civ?

Stranded!: Stranded!

Mon, 01 Nov 2021 12:55:23 +0000

I'm planning a Worm/SA crossover fanfic. The premise is that Taylor Hebert is a Patent Office inspector who gets sent to Earth Bet by an illicit piece of technology. As a nod to original Worm canon, this version of Taylor Hebert has Cognitech 5 (for the multitasking) and Nanotech 4 (for the sensory capabilities). The thing is, she needs access to a rêvetech service for the cognitech or she'll go doolally and her nanotech will eventually burn out without replenishment. How is she going to cope without access to a sufficiently advanced civ?

Civs Against Post-Scarcity: Civs Against Post-Scarcity

Thu, 06 May 2021 17:27:56 +0000

I wonder if there are any civs that oppose post-scarcity. Not talking about cargo cults here but actual starfaring civs.

Civs as superheroes: Re: Civs as superheroes

Thu, 19 Nov 2020 04:36:18 +0000

I think the Replicants would be best exemplified by the villain Coil from "Worm". He would do the save-scumming thing and would likely have chronotech (to simulate Dinah Alcott) and metatech (to simulate Tattletale).

Shape And Size Of The Universe: Re: Shape And Size Of The Universe

Tue, 17 Nov 2020 15:12:35 +0000

Remote wormholes have no range, and there are probably folks out there looking for Doppelganger spaces. As of the default start points in SA2's various settings, no one's found one yet.

Shape And Size Of The Universe: Re: Shape And Size Of The Universe

Tue, 17 Nov 2020 07:22:57 +0000

The nearest identical Hubble volume is about 10^10^100 LY according to Tegmark. Is there a range to remote wormholes? Has anybody in the setting found a Doppelganger volume?

Shape And Size Of The Universe: Re: Shape And Size Of The Universe

Mon, 09 Nov 2020 20:36:07 +0000

In my own personal opinion, our universe is flat, infinite, unbounded, and simply connected, with matter distributed over the entirety of it. I believe in Type 1 alternate universes as a necessary consequence of that, and am agnostic on other types.

However, I haven't made that an official stance in the game, because if someone comes up with an awesome plot that requires a particular cosmological setup, that sounds totally awesome and they should go for it. :)

Shape And Size Of The Universe: Shape And Size Of The Universe

Mon, 09 Nov 2020 04:54:28 +0000

The civilisations of the game have doubtless crossed the horizon of the observable universe. Is the universe finite or infinite? Is its curvature flat, positive or negative? Is it simply or multiply connected?

Chronal Ethics: Re: Chronal Ethics

Sun, 01 Nov 2020 16:07:23 +0000

There's an analogous situation with medical science benefiting from the meticulously kept records of hideously inhumane Nazi experimentation. Modern day researchers didn't commit any human rights abuses in this instance but they have benefited from the atrocities of others. The chances are pretty high that medical procedures that have saved my life (I have heart problems and diabetes, have undergone blood transfusions) are rooted in concentration camp vivisections.

People of the Starry Forests: Re: People of the Starry Forest

Thu, 06 Aug 2020 21:52:04 +0000

Thanks for the note. I'll add that to my list for the next time I revise the corebook. It might be November before that happens.

Copying and the Stored: Re: Copying and the Stored

Thu, 06 Aug 2020 21:50:59 +0000

The Stored once they are in digital form do just one plank at a time, but getting to digital form is the "burn it all down and build it anew" approach, at least from their point of view. For a group that gets to digital form one plank at a time, check out the Builders of the Great Beyond in SA2.

People of the Starry Forests: People of the Starry Forest

Mon, 03 Aug 2020 02:26:17 +0000

I believe the proper rendering of the name of the Daoine should be:

Daoine na Foraoise Réaltaí

Sorry to nitpick but it was bugging me :'(

Copying and the Stored: Re: Copying and the Stored

Sun, 02 Aug 2020 23:31:44 +0000

It seems to me that complex entities in our universe are Ships of Theseus. The difference between the Stored and Replicants seem to be that the former replace each plank, one at a time whereas the latter burn the whole ship down and build one or more ships according to the original shipbuilder's plans. In other words, the Stored see the finished ship as being more real than the blueprints but the Replicants see the blueprints as being more real than the ship. In Orion's Arm terms the Stored believe in Continuity Identity Theory and the Replicants in Pattern Identity Theory.

Civilisations Ranked In Order: Civilisations Ranked In Order

Mon, 01 Jun 2020 10:46:57 +0000

The metric used was the square of the civilisation value for each capability added together. Chronotech was included in the assessment. Parenthesised values are for a typical citizen of that civilisation.

150 (100): Illustrious Stardwelling Armada
116 (102): Nanori
114 (55): Cognitive Union
109 (62): Harmonious Nations of Gaia
105 (70): Association of Eternal Life
98 (46): Perpetua
93 (64): Tao of History
92 (45): Daoine na Realta Foraois
91 (60): Eternal Masquerade
84 (68): Association of Stored Humans
84 (28): League of Independent Worlds
77 (45): Listeners at the Celestial Post
73 (62): United Planets of Mechanica
70 (36): Builders of the Great Beyond
60 (16): Rationalist League
56 (37): Disciples of the Void
54 (46): Spacers
9 (9): Cargo-Cults
5 (5):Old-Worlders

Without Chronotech included:

125 (75): Illustrious Armada of Stardwellers
98 (39): Cognitive Union
91 (44): Daoine na Realta Foraois
91 (86): Nanori
89 (61): Association of Eternal Life
84 (37): Harmonious Nations of Gaia
77 (48): Tao of History
75 (59): Association of Stored Humans
75 (51): Eternal Masquerade
73 (37): Perpetua
68 (24): League of Independent Worlds
64 (58): United Planets of Mechanica
54 (27): Builders of the Great Beyond
52 (36): Listeners at the Celestial Post
51 (16): Rationalist League
47 (36): Disciples of the Void
45 (37): Spacers
8 (8): Cargo-Cults
5 (5): Old-Worlders

Lessons to be learned from these lists? The average Nanori or Stardweller citizen is very dangerous. The Logicians appear to keep the general citizenry deprived of technology for reasons that no doubt appear rational to them.

Arisians And Eddorians Or Vorlons And Shadows: Re: Arisians And Eddorians Or Vorlons And Shadows

Tue, 07 Apr 2020 18:46:40 +0000

Canonically, the Transcendentals are basically united in their loneliness and their desire to have more time-spanning intelligences in the world. Eventually, once more people have those sorts of abilities, I could definitely imagine there being factions within the group, and I could see some T's setting that up early on - though not leaning into it too hard, because eventually everyone's going to know about any bad behavior (and thus everyone already does).

Arisians And Eddorians Or Vorlons And Shadows: Arisians And Eddorians Or Vorlons And Shadows

Mon, 06 Apr 2020 17:22:42 +0000

Are the Transcendentals in the Patent Office as united as implied? Are there Transcendentals who have a different agenda? It seems to me that there would be disagreement on what to do with those transhuman civilisations. I mean, they get data from their future selves but would disagree on the interpretation because they're not all clones in lockstep. I would assume there would arise three general factions:

1) Ignore.

2) Help.

3) Control.

The Scope Of The Great Diaspora: Re: The Scope Of The Great Diaspora

Fri, 03 Apr 2020 01:20:04 +0000

The canon reason is that inhabitable planets - specifically, ones you can drop humans onto where they can immediately breathe the air - are extremely rare, at a rate of a few per galaxy. Very few worlds in SA have life on them that produces oxygen. The Logicians got almost all the inhabitable worlds in the Milky Way, and everyone else got things farther out. Worlds that can be terraformed are about ten times as common, but require varying amounts of work.

For total number of colonies, there's a little bit of text in the Cargo Cults section about this, sorta. If there are 30ish civilization-sized groups (some of which are from mergers), 200ish Cargo Cults and Old-Worlder groups, and 800 unaccounted-for wormhole transits, that puts it at around 1100 original colonies. 350ish of them are failed colonies - dead worlds.

Again, all this is just the standard canon. Feel free to adjust it for your own game universe.