Computers are processors, and they're best at math. Brains are processors, and, arguably, they're best at memes. That is to say, one can consider the human brain & mind as a the processor upon which the human memescape runs upon.

It is also clear the human memescape evolves; memes are created, spawn, and die. The Aia literally process information via evolutionary processes; is the same possible for humanity using the memescape? What kind of intelligence would result from this?

Annnd that's about where I get stuck. But I think you get the basic idea. Comments, questions, critiques, etc - you know the drill. Interact to cause thinking.

The idea behind Ian M Bank's "Culture" is that you have really incredible AIs ("Minds") running the show, with humans riding along in the resulting post-scarcity mature anarchy. (To quote one Mind regarding why the Minds in ships keep the entirely unnecessary human crews; "They're entertaining").

However, in SA, you don't actually get to make AIs like that. They just end up as Aia.

Enter the Bentusi AKA "The Unbound" from Homeworld; they "solved" this problem by plugging themselves into their ships and turning their "human"-stock minds into Minds.

These guys are also, in many ways, extreme combinations of Stored, Cognitechnicians, and Titrogenia. That is, what they've done parallels, follows, or uses what these other groups have developed, but towards different ends, and without abandoning each level of consciousness.

The Unbound have used technology to expand, create, and upgrade their minds & brains to extreme levels with the express purpose of building themselves into ships. The Unbound run as many different versions of their minds at once; they have used Group Mind technology to "bind" the Organic and the Digital.

An important note is that the Unbound are actively attempting to prevent a religion or cult from occuring amongst them regarding the simple fact that in order to achieve true Unboundedness, you must undergo a replicator scan and print. Many see this as a reincarnative act; the Me that I was before becoming Unbound died so that the Unbound me could live; but to harp on this idea to much distracts from unbinding.

Suffice to say:
Bio - 4-8*
Nano - 4-10
Meta - 2-6
Cog - 6-10
String - 4-10

• The Unbound treat bio… differently. This stat actually represents the sophistication of the non-ex-human biological components or fabrications of the Unbound's ship-body. They use the higher of their Bio & Cog for lifespan. Additionally, you can't kill a an Unbound via Bio alone; you just take out the "organic processor" (Which hurts, don't get me wrong, but it's like killing one part of a group-mind).

CVs: Unbound & Benevolence
(The Unbound have a god-complex)

Benefit: You're a starship. No, really, you're a starship. That's what you are. Crews are optional but possible.

Names: Descriptive phrases! Proper nouns are highly discouraged, except when they're references. Examples: "Suggested Donation", "Insufficiently Incomplete", "Clearly Lacking Mileage", "When Buddha Met Nietzsche".

Trexlers - The Federated Nanotechnological Republic of Trexler

Nanotech enthusiasts, nanarchists, hackers and fetishists settled Trexler during the early to mid Diaspora. They established their colony, with the capital city of McCarthy, with the stated intent of exploring the limits of nanotechnology, particularly utility fogs, bush robots and microbot swarms (as well as the related technology robot swarms).

Nanarchists: Individualistic anarchists and anarcho-capitalists that believe the technologies of the era (replicators, nanotech, wormholes, inversion power sources, etc.) free them from dependence on their fellow man. The term originates from around the Nanotech War.

While they haven’t reached their grail yet – miracle fogs (utility fogs that can work at the nano levels to create and destroy actual materials instead of just simulate them) – they have made substantial progress and pushed the limits of the technology. They have created effective bush robots, utility sand (a fall out from their investigations of both microbot swarms and utility fogs) and a host of new nanotech derived materials. They’ve also created a society uniquely dependent on nanotechnology.

Originally the Trexlers were a very loose organization of nanarchists and other nanotech enthusiasts, cooperating on research efforts and large scale projects. This resulted in some very odd and tense situations over the years, as the extremely individualist nanarchists bumped heads with less individualistic researchers. Over time, there was less and less cooperation between the nanarchists and the others, and even among the nanarchists themselves.

The lack of cooperation and understanding between the groups did lead to conflict and the widespread use of nanotech weapons in terrorist actions, ultimately leading to the destruction of the capital of McCarthy during Founding Day ceremonies, and the destruction of many of the nanarchist factions by everyone that was appalled by the action. Since then, their government changed from a confederacy to a strong federated form of government with an eye to providing a legal system, common defense and planetary protection and restoration.

The government has three branches - legislative, judicial and executive. Since the majority of the Trexlers were from North America, the branches are known as the Congress, Judiciary and President. Unlike the various North American governments, the Congress has only one branch without any proportional representation by population and is elected by geographic representation (which lead to some wrangling over how to represent airborne arcologies). Otherwise, it resembles the various federal democratic governments of North America in the early twenty-first century.

Today, they have restored and improved Trexler, with the exception of McCarthy - maintained as a monument to the Founding Day attack. The climate was moderated, the ecosystems restored and diversity improved. The government also used its resources to build the beanstalks and their accompanying orbital stations. Another was to build the globe girdling solar power networks that cover the deserts (especially the phage deserts). A more recent project was the construction of a global rail network. Each continent has a network of underground magnetic rail tunnels containing a vacuum connecting the major settlements (currently the threshold is a population of 25,000 – there is talk of lowering this, which some attribute this to the government looking for something to do).

The World of Trexler

Trexler is a beautifully terraformed world designed to have larger semitropical and Mediterranean climatic zones. Because of this it has numerous small seas and gulfs, with the continents crowding around the equator and above the tropics. There are subcontinents at the poles. The planet is obviously inhabited, because the desert areas are covered with pseudo-material solar power cells and two equatorial beanstalks.

Visitors to Drexler will find it foggy. Not because of the climate, but because of the ubiquitous utility fogs and microbots. While invisible to the unassisted human eye (Nanotech 5+), the sheer numbers of them cause water to condense, forming fogs.

Feynman

Feynman is the capital city of Drexler and small by galactic standards. It sprawls along roads radiating out from the vacuum mag rail line linking it to other cities on the continent. One unique thing about Drexler cities and towns is that the only things that stay the same are the roads – everything else changes on a regular basis – color, appearance and shape.

Common Name: Trexlers, Trexlies

Epithets: Fog witches, nanosmiths, foggies, nanomancers

Emblem: Silver silhouette of a C60 molecule on a black background.

Inspector Status: Equivalent to FBI, Secret Service, Customs Service or RCMP.

Benefit: Neural mesh (regardless of Cognitech score), dermal microbots and one of the following:

• Bush robot
• Utility fog
• Microbot fabrication unit
• Polypede swarm

Core Values: Innovation and Nanotech

Innovation means that Trexlers are always looking for a new way to solve a problem. This means the CV can be added to attempts to do something new. It also subtracts from attempts to try to use tried and true methods.

Nanotech means that the Trexlers are convinced that nanotechnology is the superior technology of the age. It also means they are convinced that their approach to nanotech is superior to others. They will try to use a nanotechnology based solution owhere others may be more appropriate.

Other common values include Pride, Identity, Individualism, Freedom, Nanarchy, the Hacker Ethic and Privacy.

Bush robots

Originally conceived in the late 20th century, they have arms that branch in a fractal manner down to nanoscale level manipulators. This makes them the ultimate in dexterity and manipulation. Combine this with the ability to extend the manipulators a short distance and the bush robot is very versatile tool, especially for tasks involving fine manipulation.

The standard bush robot consists of two sets of three 'arms' that do double duty as arms and legs (which means the Bush Robot can climb up walls and ceilings easily). Sensors are excellent, especially at the microscopic scale. Security and military grade bush robots can reproduce themselves from other materials.

By law, Trexlers keep only Servile AI familiars on Bush Robots. They are terrified of the idea of a Scout or Bonsai getting on a Bush Robot and overriding the safeties on a civilian model, or worse, getting possession of a military/security model. Oddly, there is a blackmarket among Bonsai AI's for the Bush Robot as a remote, not a host for their essential software. Another group fond of Bush robots as remotes are the Stored.

Tech Level: Nanotech 5+, Cognitech 4+
Cost: Low to Moderate. Moderate for military models.
Descriptors: Auxon for military/security models.

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Utility Fog

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Microbot fabrication unit

Sufficiently Advanced p 143

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Polypede 'swarm'

Robot swarms are another old concept that the Trexlers worked to develop, implement and refine. The polypepe 'swarm' is one of them. Each 'swarm' consists of a small independent unit that can interlock with other polypede units and assume a variety of configurations. The default is a X 2 meters across (6'7" to those that use English), which walks on all fours, with the 'legs' also doubling as arms and manipulators. Each polypede unit can function as a sensor (usually audio, video, haptic, IR and laser) and as a set of fine manipulators equivalent to human fingers. By reconfiguring itself, the polypede 'swarm' can become a rolling hoop, a single very strong 'arm' crane or a burrowing 'snake.'

Most Trexlers keep Servile AI Familiars on these as 'pets', typicall Cognietch 3 or 4. Some have upgraded their pets to Bonsai AI status. Some of these polypede swarms are 'guard dogs' and have significant skills in Athletics and Soldier.

Tech Level: Stringtech 4+, Cognitech 4+
Cost: Low.

Survivalists

Most authorities are aware of the society of Survivalists, but rigorous analysis indicates there is a larger organization that works with them. This organization helps provide wormhole generators, replicators without safeties, or patent office regulators, an extremely efficient slower-than-light transport system (for those that don't trust the
wormholes) and other things.

Recently, information on this secret civilization has become available.

Like their more 'public' face, the Survivalist civilization is dedicated to the survival of humanity in the event the Transcendentals lied. Among themselves they admit that in the face of direct action by the Transcendentals they probably could not survive, but by keeping low profiles and hiding, they hope it will never come to that.

They typically try to avoid using Transcendental derived technologies, fearing that it will reveal their existence. They've gotten around this by re-inventing the devices from first principles and building them from scratch. As a result they are someof the most brilliant minds in human space. Thus, they have their own versions of wormhole generators, inversion beams and other technologies. Still, for some of them, this isn't enough and the result is a unique innovation for their civilization - the beamrider network.

Beamriders are slower-than-light magnetic and plasma sail starships driven and powered by immense particle beam installations. These ships are immense, easily as large as Spacer ships, but with smaller payloads of only a few hundred people, most of them in suspended animation. Still, they are efficient and able to achieve velocities of .3c with smaller packet vessels able to reach .9c.

The Survivalist civilization spurns planets. They wouldn't settle on one and are nervous about visiting them. They consider habitable worlds likely targets. After all, they're fairly easy to find between the stars they orbit and their emission signature. They also won't get close to a star either. Usually, the closest they'll get is the cometary halo, or Kuiper belt, if that.

Their preferred habitat are brown dwarfs in deep space. There they have mass to build with (and absorb emssions), a source of fuel and power and a possible mask for their emssions. Typically, the habitat is a hollowed out asteroid or comet, or 'beehive habitat.' These habitats look as much like an unaltered asteroid as the Survivalists can manage. It is without gravity and uses lasers to radiate away the heat. If they can't radiate it away, they use heat sinks until the asteroid begins to differ significantly from its neighbors, at which point its abandoned to cool, or if an insertion orbit into a brown dwarf can be arranged, it is completely disposed of.

Because of the extremity of their environments, most Survivalists are altered to survive and thrive in micro-gravity and low temperature environments. A typical Survivalist is an extremely tall and pale endomorph, but without massive fat reserves - enough to stay warm easily under cold conditions, not enough to make it difficult to maneuver in their habitats. Vacuum capable survivalists are also found, but their use of Biotechnology is not as radical as the Stardwellers - even the most extreme vacuum adapted ones are humanoid and frequently recognizably human.

Because of their low profile tendencies, Survivalists are extremely thrifty, recycling wherever possible, salvaging patching and making do.

Survivalists, Alchemists and Heptagons

If your game incorporates Alchemists or Heptagons, this may be worth considering.

All three of these civilizations have had brown dwarfs figure in their development and history. The Alchemists have abandoned all of their brown dwarf colonies for more habitable planets and habitats, save for the first, maintained as a living museum and memorial to their founders.

The Heptagons started around one and still seek out and colonize brown dwarf systems today - and the Survivalists have nothing but contempt for Heptagons finding them wasteful and that they bring attention to brown dwarfs making it harder for Survivalists to hide.

Survivalists govern themselves in small enclaves, each one selecting a leader through a variety of means (direct elections and by random choice are common). As a whole, they have the political centralization of an amoeba. Conclaves meet every 5 years, but not all enclaves send representatives. About the only things they do agree upon as a group is remaining outside of the larger galactic economy and the survival of humanity as a whole.

Survivalists have no formal relations with any civilizations save through their society.

Emblem: None

Common Name: Survivalists

Benefit: Receive Survivalist at 5. This can function like Outdoorsman or Spacer.

Inspector Status: None. Actively hostile to Inspectors. Approach with extreme caution.

Core Values: Survival of Humanity and Low-Profile

Survival of Humanity. Survivalists are determined for humanity to survive, usually starting with them. This can be added to resist Metatech attempts to convince or coerce them to to do things that are self-destructive or destructive to humanity as a whole. It can also be used to convince them to help preserve humanity - possibly even at the expense of their own lives!

Low Profile means the Survivalists are dedicated to keeping out of sight and out of mind. It is added to resist Metatech attempts to convince them to reveal themselves or their group. It can also be added to convince others to keep a low profile.

Other common ones are: Paranoia, Thrifty, Privacy, Survival, Secrecy, Info-socialism and My Enclave.

Since their earliest beginnings, the Stardwellers have built starships for their own reasons, as well as space stations. The one most others are interested in are their Dyson Trees and Yggdrasil bushes. And from those come a tale…

Thirty seven hundred years ago, the world of a Celtic inspired cargo cult was on the edge of destruction due to a massive volcanic eruption. The Hospitallers called for aid and received a large amount from a collection of Stardwellers. While the planet was a loss for at least five hundred years, they were able to offer a place for the people – several Dyson Trees in a nearby system.

Less than two hundred years later, this small grove was home to a new civilization – the Daoine na Réalta Foraois. The cargo cultists set aside their ritual and became proficient with the technology and knowledge of their hosts. Before long, they were effectively a Celtic recreationist society among the Stardwellers. Not long after that, they established their own tree in the grove and were in negotiations for the ownership of more trees. At this point, they had moved from society to civilization. And there was no way they were going back to their old world.

The Daoine na Réalta Foraois (or Daoine) draw technology and knowledge from their Stardweller benefactors, and culture, religion and language from their own histories. They are a nice group (but that is not a synonym for stupid or naïve), sophisticated space faring people. Visitors describe them as smart, open and passionate. They can, and do, feud through the infosphere, which is punctuated by the occasional punch-up, brawl and low-key riot.

Guests are always welcome, but until they are cleared of biotech and nanotech hazards, they are confined to the sacrificial tree (a quarantine tree). Once released from quarantine, guests are welcome almost anywhere in the groves, the exceptions being sensitive and delicate areas. Visitors are encouraged to visit the pubs and stores often.

Today, the Daoine are a small civilization with several orbital forests in what was their home system. They’ve developed some hard won knowledge and expertise with vacuum adapted life forms and biotech in general, as well as nanotechnology. Add in the fact that over the last thirty five hundred years that they became some of the best Dyson foresters around with their versions of the trees, and they do well for themselves. Another minor export for them is vacuum distilled spirits and advanced bio-tech drugs. While replicators can make these quickly and easily (and meshes simulate the effects of the drugs), the original templates still have to be licensed and there is a cachet to consuming original Daoine products among some of High Society.

Appearance wise, the Daoine use extensive 'Good As Gravity' biological modifications to allow them to be comfortable under a wide range of gravities. They've also engineered themselves to be more resistant to radiation. Despite what they can look like, the Daoine look like orthohumans, with a small minority showing extensive biological modification.

Daoine Religion, or Pan-Celtic Polytheism

Originally, their world was settled by recreationists with a predominantly Irish themed Celtic culture, drawing from Irish myth and religion. Once the Stardwellers rescued their ancestors, the Daoine were exposed to the length and breadth of human religious history. Some became atheists, others Transcendental worshippers, others adopted new faiths and beliefs. A bare majority adapted their original faith to their new circumstances. This lead to paring down the pantheon to Brigid and Cernunnos for worship and acknowledging the Morrigan.

Brigid is the Triple Goddess of fire, personifying the Maiden, Mother and Crone. The Maiden represents inception, expansion, the promise of new beginnings, birth, youth and youthful enthusiasm. Typically, she is revered by expectant parents, researchers, young adults and anyone making a start at something – a relationship, business venture or journey. The Mother represents creativity, ripeness, fertility, sexuality, fulfillment, stability, power and life. In her Mother aspect, foresters, farmers, parents, romantics, engineers venerate Brigid. The Crone represents wisdom, repose, death, and endings and receives special reverence in the face of the hostile environment they and their Dyson trees live in. As the Crone, Brigid is a favorite of druids (as judges), gardi, researchers, engineers, lawyers, financiers, the military and anyone bringing a project to a close. Because of her fiery aspect, they renamed their star Brigid and she is the favorite of string engineers.

Cerunnos the Horned God, or Master of the Hunt, is also worshiped. He is considered the personification of their Dyson trees, and more recently, feral vacuum forests and ecologies. He also personifies sexuality, virility and hunting (which until relatively recently was a elaborate game of hide and seek). This makes tends to make Cerunnos a favorite of young men, detectives, counterintelligence agents, intelligence agents and men who wish they were young.

The Morrigan is acknowledged as a triple goddess (Anann, Macha and Babd) of war, destroying fire, rage, fury, battle and death. She has no official worshipers, but the very desperate do call on her in dire straits, or for her older aspects of fertility, politics and sovereignty. Some heretical thinkers consider outer space and uninhabitable worlds to be her domain. Others try to propitiate her to avoid melt downs and solar flares.

The Daoine govern themselves democratically. A governor controls each tree and is elected by popular accord. From there each tree's governor can stand to run for high governor, the Supreme Executive of the Daoine, which is elected every 10 years (local) by direct election. Each governor is considered a deputy for the Supreme Executive. The legislature of the Daoine, an tOireachtas, is based around each tree and elected by the people.

The judiciary is the province of the educated classes, called the Druids. Experts in metatechnological matters – law, finance, sociology – they have managed to maintain their independence from the Supreme Executive and an tOireachtas for millennia (and look to keep doing it). Anyone can become a Druid after years of study, and they are accorded great respect for their years of study and service to the community.

Their military is relatively low key, concentrating its efforts on biological and nanological defense of the groves. While the small is their strong point, they do have a space defense force to guard against brute force efforts.

The Daoine are a popular civilization, with visitors welcome from every civilization. They get along especially well with the Stardwellers, their patrons from before. The Roamers are another civilization that is always welcome (so long as they confine themselves to spying and not sabotage). They are somewhat dubious of the Mechanicans due to their extensive cybernetics. The Union disturbs them, but they receive an open handed welcome, just as well as any others. The Replicants are welcome, especially since they pay a premium for Daoine replicator templates for their drugs. As to societies, all of the official ones are found among them. The Disciples of the Void maintain a few anchorages near Daoine space and trade with them, but find the Daoine too noisy and rambunctious, even though there are converts.

Common Name: Daoine

Emblem: A stylized knot work wreath with regular breaks in it around a star.

Benefit: Comfortable under free fall. Daoine receive an extra plot point at the beginning of each session, which they may only spend through Comprehension, Magnetism, or Empathy.

Inspector Status: Equivalent to FBI, Secret Service, Customs Service or RCMP.

Core Values: Zest for Life and Courage

Zest for Life represents the enthusiasm with which the Daoine engage life. Whether its love, an argument, an idea or friendship, the average Daoine will pursue it with enthusiasm.

Courage is the ability to confront fear, pain, risk/danger, uncertainty, or intimidation. This also covers moral courage, acting rightly in the face of popular opposition, shame, scandal, or discouragement.

Other common Core Values for the Daoine include Hedonism, Individuality, Knowledge, Patience, Freedom, Diversity, Worship (polytheism), Ritual (polytheism) and Sensation.

During the Diaspora, many colonies were founded. Some survived to become major civilizations, others became Cargo Cults or Old Worlders, many died out entirely. Others dramatically changed from their roots. The Heptagon is one of those.

Founded originally by the libertarian/anarchist wing of the Space Freedom Alliance, they were convinced that the reasons their previous colonies had failed in the Solar System was the proximity of 'free loaders.' Like so many others, they paid for a batch of replicators, a lot of nanotech, colony supplies and a wormhole to their colony site and disappeared from human history for many, many years.

There colony site was in orbit around a brown dwarf with an asteroid belt, and they'd brought a colony cylinder with them. Full of hope and libertarian ideals, they set off to make their ideal society. Needless to say, it didn't work out like they expected.
Within a few years, there were a several colony cylinders and a multitude of mini-colonies spread throughout the belt, and the colonists had altered themselves to have 'Good As Gravity' biological alterations. Before long though, they began fighting with one another and the majority of the colony cylinders were wrecked in the conflict, along with much of their industrial base.

As the colonists coalesced into factions, one began working to great effect – The Heptagons. Based on the seven virtues of cooperation, the Heptagon began to easily out compete the others, and soon out fought them as well. Within a generation they dominated the brown dwarf system. By the second generation, they owned it. There were scattered rebellions and terrorist acts (the Heinleiners were the worst offenders of these) for at least a century after the last of the armed conflict. Over the next several centuries, the Heptagon thrived in its difficult habitat and diverged mightily from the ideals of their ancestors.

The Heptagon's Seven Virtues

The seven sided emblem stands for the seven virtues of the Heptagon. Their seven virtues are:

1. Diligence – A zealous and careful nature in one's actions and work. Decisive work ethic. Budgeting one's time; monitoring one's own activities to guard against laziness.
2. Community – Selflessness, and the giving of respect. Giving credit where credit is due; not unfairly glorifying one's own self.
3. Courage – Courage, also known as bravery, will and fortitude, is the ability to confront fear, pain, risk/danger, uncertainty, or intimidation. 'Physical courage' is courage in the face of physical pain, hardship, or threat of death, while 'moral courage' is the courage to act rightly in the face of popular opposition, shame, scandal, or discouragement.
4. Justice – Being just, righteous, equitable and moral.
5. Foresight – Caring for and providing for the future, prudence.
6. Patience – orbearance and endurance through moderation. Resolving conflicts peacefully, as opposed to resorting to violence. The ability to forgive; to show mercy.
7. Kindness – Charity, compassion, friendship, and sympathy without prejudice and for its own sake.

As a civilization, they had (and have) zero tolerance for those that think hanging separately is better than hanging together. Their entire civilization is centered around the preservation and expansion of the common life support system. Because of this, schooling is intensive and long – the age of majority is 30 – with conscript service for environmental maintenance. To facilitate this intensive schooling, everyone has a neural mesh implanted at an early age and receive more and more control over it as they approach the age of majority.

There is also a high level of surveillance, with multiple overlapping surveillance networks. Many visitors find this constant watchfulness stifling (and many Heptagon youngsters do as well), but social privacy is an important concept for them. With it, a person can be left alone and to their own devices – so long as they don't endanger others, or the common life support system. While surveillance is strong, there is also sousveillance, where the population watches the watchers and leaders as well.

The Heptagon has nearly a half billion inhabitants scattered among hundreds of multi-layer cylinder habitats in orbit around a baker's dozen of brown dwarfs with no inhabitable worlds (they're very proud of that last fact). The typical Heptagon habitat cylinder has two layers, is 50 kilometers long and 8 in diameter, made of diamondoid with a illumination cylinder running down the middle. The outer layer has higher gravity, darker and considered less desirable than the inner layer with its open spaces, lighting and lower gravity.

The infosphere within Heptagon space is rich, diverse and varied. Since every member of the civilization has access to it, it reflects the diversity of Heptagon society. Its also very, very useful with additional instructions for key components of the life support system, as well as wireless instructions for non-essential systems.

Travel within Heptagon systems is typically by space liners between the habitats. These liners depart on regular intervals and can hold hundreds of people (thousands on major routes). Most of the passengers have a seat and possibly a semi-private area, though private cabins can be purchased for those that can afford it. And if you really need to get somewhere fast, there is always travel by wormhole.

Government is omnipresent with its surveillance and services, and is democratic, but requires tests and exams to even run for office. Office holders must be competent and the Heptagon doesn't suffer fools gladly – especially in high elected offices. Sociologists characterize it as an authoritarian meritocratic representative democracy.

Their military is largely concerned with defense, rescue and law enforcement, to the point that the national police force is in its chain of command. To this end, it also maintains a fleet of spacecraft for defense, evacuation and relocation of habitat cylinders. It will also involve itself with the protection of major Heptagon enterprises, especially those related to the national security.

In its dealings with other civilizations, the Heptagon is well thought of. They get along very well with the Spacers (and there is some major cross-pollination between the two) and the Stardwellers. They routinely deal with the Mechanicans for advanced engineering and equipment. The Tao of History leases the majority of a habitat to produce entertainments on the Heptagon (and Spacers). They even get along relatively well with the Union and Rationalists. The Masquerade, Replicants, Disciples of the Void and the Stored give them fits because of their potential to easily bypass surveillance.

Emblem: A heptagon containing obtuse and acute heptagrams on a black background.

Common Name: Heptagon, Many-Angled Ones

Inspector Status: Equivalent to state police.

Benefit: Comfort in free fall – Heptagons suffer no penalty in low gravity and free fall situations. They also receive Spacer at level 4. All Heptagons receive a neural mesh no matter their Cognitech score.

Core Values: Diligence and Community

Diligence is what kept the Many-Angled Ones alive in the depths of space around brown dwarfs. It gives a bonus to all actions performed very carefully and without haste, triplechecked and tested for certainty. This takes about twice as long as usual. Ultras can also use this to prevent people from convincing them to half-ass a job.

Community what holds the Heptagons together. Working together as a community allowed them to overcome their foes and survive in brown dwarf systems. They know that they can turn to other members of their community without hesitating, knowing that the rest of the Heptagon is there for everyone. This CV has a very broad application for group work, giving a Heptagon character a bonus on any effort to form a team, community or keep either together. Community can also give a bonus to group actions, but only when working together as a common identity. The drawback is an unwillingness to leave or break up a community once it has been formed.

Other common core values that can be found among the Many-Angled Ones are listed among their seven virtues.

When others look at the CAPP, they see a group that went too far with cognitive technologies too quickly. They see an entire society bent towards the solution to an algorithm they never truly understood to begin with. They had just enough calculating power to back themselves into a hole, and they stayed in that hole.

The CAPP sees it differently. The CAPP was founded by a coalition of a few thousand people, led by the best and brightest minds in mass cognition, memetic processing, and other fields. They devised a method of producing a collective, societal computational process without forcing each individual mind to subservience to the whole. It was like the distributed computations of the 21st century, only distributed across brains rather than people, using the intelligence that they weren’t using at the time. The lens that permitted this would transmit information through subtle memetics to others, forming a large organic processor that resting in the "backs of the minds" of all those involved. Then lower-bandwidth data streams could be used to connect to other "processor nodes". All of this would occur nearly without the host minds realizing it - while they were aware of it, it was literally in the parts of their minds they weren't using at the time.

The civilization, very small at first, was called the Collected Assembly. The Assembly wanted to be able to predict the future, and so that was what their civilization-wide cognitive process was dedicated to. Unfortunately, they were still small, and while they got results the future is a very big place. More processing power was required… and more, and more. Individual minds became enhanced quickly and powerfully, strung together in a metatech device that practically constituted a wonder of the world. More and more results were gained, but more importantly people began to see them as the ultimate thinking people – not emotionless rocks like the Logicians but actual people. Because of this, more people started joining, becoming the super-enhanced cogitors of the Assembly and adding to its processing power.

Then it happened. A result had come, soon to be called the Preenacted Pattern. Believing this to be insight not even the Transcendentals had, the civilization began to trace and control the Pattern. The Pattern, itself, is a series of events. Their chronological order is mostly known, but their exact placement in time is not, and in many cases neither is their exact placement in space, and the exact way they turn out might not be either. The event might be for the good or for the bad, depending on circumstances. However, each event is, in theory, going to happen, regardless of what other events occur leading up to them. They are the mathematically inevitable outcomes – there is no other way but for these to occur (if the theory is correct).

Armed with this knowledge, the CAPP (as it came to be known) now attempts to take control of it, working to make certain that the Pattern’s events happen in ways that will lead to positive outcomes. They work with the Transcendentals where possible, but it almost appears that the Transcendentals don’t even know if the Pattern is valid. This doesn’t matter to the Assembly, however – they know, and they will use this to the betterment of life and sapience.

Individual Enactors are a strange people. Although private as much as anybody else, they do many things in public that seem odd. They are extremely talkative, engaging in small talk like it was their last opportunity. This is because they connect to a Civilization-wide Infosphere by these means, using semiotic queues and the like to send and receive signals as hubs and routers on a cognitive network. They chat, get dressed in public, have private moments out in the open, etc., because while they do this they are remaining connected to the Assembly Infosphere, contributing their processing power to it and gaining its benefit.

Most Civilizations find them relatively strange but useful, since any Civilization whose stock in trade is data proccessing will have a large number of friends (and enemies, with many names shared on both lists). The Union and the Assembly have a bad relationship - after several Union memetic attacks, it has become clear that the Union desperately wants the distributed computative technology that the CAPP possesses. Because of how easily the memetic process of the Assembly Infosphere could be used to convert the minds of its users into Unionists, this has led them to a state of cold war, and at least one event in the Pattern has been manipulated to directly attack the Union (or so the CAPP claims).

The Assembly symbol is a geodesic lattice whose nodes are closed eyes.

“Thou shalt not fail.”
-Memetic virus once caught and eradicated from the Assembly Infosphere

Common Names: The CAPP, the Assembly, Enactors

Benefits: Enactors gain a mesh for free, and automatically have a specialized assembly lens. This lens permits those Enactors who have contact with their own Civilization (are on their world or using a data transmission) to use simple public activity in a crowd to connect to the Assembly Infosphere, adding their own cognitive power to the Infosphere and gaining the benefit of everybody else who has added their cognitive power as well, becoming part of a massive distributed computing network. Note that they don’t have to be physically present so long as they are virtually present – a projected hologram with cameras to see others around the projection, present in a Stored virtual environment filled with fellow Enactors, etc. While these Enactors connect to others through lower-bandwidth connections (like telecommunications lines), the processing power to interact with the Infosphere doesn’t come into being unless at least twenty are present at the same time and on some level interacting with each other.

Once in this environment, the Enactor can access the Infosphere as if by Mesh. This allows the Enactor to perform Research Blitzes and similar actions without access to any information resource, since much of the data is stored in the backroads of Enactor’s minds. It should be noted that the primary advantage of this isn’t so much the fact that the Enactor has an Infosphere, but that the Enactor has an Infosphere of living, sapient minds each of whom have a Cognitech Capability of 10 and a Metatech Capability of at least 6, all acting as a massive parallel processing CPU. Even if the information isn’t available, it can often be inferred through forms of reason beyond our ability to understand.

Inspector Status: Patent Office Inspectors have no technical legal rights as Inspectors, although they do have the rights of visitors provided they are in the Civilization legally. However, the Assembly is more than willing to work with the Transcendentals to control the future, and are quite happy to assist Inspectors or receive assistance from the Inspectors about the future.

Core Values: Determination and Openness.

The Assembly functions because its individual members are willing to face travail and woe in order to maintain the Assembly’s function, because the Enactors have the Determination to see it through. The individual members are grand and driven enough (many would say “arrogant enough”) to have as their objective dominance over the outcome of the future. They strive and dedicate themselves to this task.

Enactors are also, by nature, utterly gregarious, and their Openness manifests as a willingness to do daily personal activities in the open so as to continue contributing to the Infosphere. Enactors have allowed any unused part of their intellects to be utilized by society as a whole. Some remain connected in their sleep, cameras showing holography of their sleeping bodies on the Assembly Infosphere and meshes transmitting the outside world into their dreams. This is an extreme example, but it shows that although the Enactors do have secrets, private lives, etc., anything not private is not only public, it’s freely broadcast.

Openness and Privacy: Don’t let the idea of Openness as a Core Value mean that the Enactors have few secrets. They actually have many – like any society of people who have no personal space, Enactors have learned the social queues that tell people “don’t look at me, I need to be as alone as possible”. This is made easier by the Assembly Infosphere. If you ping someone and they show up as not on the Infosphere, they obviously are trying to be at their own thing, and so are generally ignored. Once they come back online, people pay attention to them again.

Given all of this, and their own psychohistorical projections, they believed that the Association of Stored Humans was doomed as a civilization. So they got out early, making their own life boats.

To do this, they began designing robot bodies that could contain enough computing power to run themselves independently of the servers of the rest of the Stored. Each one got his, or her, own body. Most of these are as human looking as can be managed by the designers and builders, though some are beginning to branch out into non-human bodies for a variety of roles.

Since then, the Reincarnate (or more popularly, the Revenants) have quietly moved out and among other human civilizations making friends and learning.

As a splinter of the Stored, they define themselves frequently in reaction to the Stored, or very much like them. One difference is the way the Revenants seek to experience things directly, preferably as many things as possible. As a result, they seek the new and can be found as explorers, actors, artists, and any other profession where they can expect to have new experiences. It also leads them to change careers when they get bored or simply want new experiences.

Revenants are governed by a representative meritocracy, with citizens sitting for exams to advance in the government. All posts in the government are assigned by the exams – including the representatives of regional departments. The executive is chosen from the top 20 examinees by the citizens and representatives (with representatives having 10 times the voting power of a citizen). Its an odd system, but it seems to work for them.

Revenants split between creating eggs and sperm based on their scanned DNA and using artificial wombs, or by creating children and placing them in child bodies that are periodically upgraded to allow more capability. The children of the latter category are fully adult size due to computing requirements (7.5 liters), though they aren't adult by any stretch of the imagination. These child bodies are deliberately downgraded to keep them from destroying themselves.

The Revenants are thought of as creepy by many (after all, it is a 'ghost' inhabiting a machine), but basically human – though with some very hedonistic tendencies. The Stored think of them as weird nerds that go about things the hard way.

All societies from the core rules can be found among the Revenants. As can all of the additional ones save, Pantropists Beta.

Common Name: Revenants

Benefit: Revenants have no biological body and are immune to aging, poisons and disease. Use their Cognitech for determining their lifespan and to resist computer attacks. They also receive a free robot body of their to use.

Inspector Status: Equivalent to an FBI agent or customs inspector.

Core Values: Identity and Sensation

The Masqueraders see Identity as “who you really are underneath your mask.” For Revenants, it means, “You are a unique and individual being; there is only one of you, and you alone hold power over your self.” The interpretations and consequences of this provide a good amount of the Revenant worldview.

Sensation is that the universe is a vast, fascinating place and there to be experienced. This CV means that the Revenants will seek out new experiences and avoid boredom. It can be used to tolerate painful or unpleasant experiences. "To enjoy the flavor of life take big bites" sums up much of their beliefs on this.

The New Michoacan Company became the Antilia Corporation for the after its resources were moved from the New Michoacan Asteroid to the surface of Aira. Forty years later, the Antilia Corporation became the property of the Kingdom of Antilia when Richard’s son was elected ‘Constitutional Guardian’ during a period of crisis caused by the technologies that the Transcendentals had unleashed. The replicator in particular worked a hardship on the Antilia Corporation driving down its value and eliminating a need for many of its products.

The Saldana and its advisors family proved itself resourceful, adapting to the circumstances by declaring a emergency and using the replicators to make sure that their people would be provided for. Then they concentrated on how to make money using the replicator and things that could not be duplicated with one. Finally, they concentrated on creating a stable political entity that could stand the tests of time, with the trappings they approved of.

With that the Kingdom began making incremental steps and small successes, concentrating on stability, providing for its citizens and making a profit. Stability was valued over all, but not at the cost of stagnation or being left behind or mindless conservatism. To that end the Kingdom of Antilia also built their own He3 mining system in the gas giants so that they were not dependent on anyone for fuel.

Antilia has been a constitutional monarchy ever since the constitution was ratified during the period of crisis by the shareholder-citizens. Queen Juana III rules today.

Fiercely Christian in its early days, Antilia restricted immigration only to those that were Christian. As their economy and the universe changed, so did the policy. One can still find many Christians among them (a majority in fact), but immigration opened to all 75 years after the great crisis.

Since those early days, the Kingdom has expanded to the other two less desirable habitable worlds of the binary Antilia system (Anhuib and Ansalli) and terraformed a marginal world (Ansesseli) and two moons of a jovian supergiant (Ansodi and Ansolli are the moons, Payaso the gas giant). Currently, the Kingdom is considering a Bishop Ring named Con, but it is only in the planning and study phases. Similarly, they are studying stellar engineering to redirect the solar wind of Antilia to make space industry easier to maintain.

Parliament consists of an upper house (the Peers) whose membership is hereditary, comprised of peers accepted to the House and Cadets, as well as peers' heirs. There is a lower house (the Commons) whose members are elected and who cannot be members of the aristocracy.

The Crown is the Head of State, and appoints a government from leading political parties in Parliament. The Crown's executive power is exercised by the responsible Cabinet, led by a Prime Minister who must command a working majority in the House of Lords.

The Kingdom of Antilia is wealthy and provides a high standard of living to its inhabitants. It does this with its advanced medical, nano and string technologies that it licenses out to other entities through the Antilia Corporation. The Antilia Corporation is owned and run by the royal family, making it state-owned. Because of this, the Kingdom of Antilia works closely with the Patent Office for its rights. It also earns money through its supplying of raw materials for replicators and He3 for fusion reactors. Because of these sources of income, the Antilians are always looking for new talented and creative immigrants, plus those that know how to operate in space, where they do most of their mining.

Aira

The capital world of the kingdom. Aira was settled by Richard Saldana, his family, corporation, admirers and invited settlers. Later, it became the financial hub of the Antilia, as well as the most populated world and center of government and military affairs. It is still home to the Saldana royal family and the Antilia Corporation. The capital city, Nuevo Antilia, is considered to be one of the most beautiful in the whole human diaspora.

Life on the worlds of the Kingdom of Antilia is fairly idyllic and a bit odd. From the viewpoint of the player it is like a world from a space opera – nobility, romance, intrigue, wealth, kings and queens – without all the drawbacks of those things usually imply (only a few of them actually).

It is also focused on long term stability. Well before Saldana spoke his famous quote, he intended for Antilia to be a long term proposition – the term being measured in planetary and stellar scales. Bearing this in mind, the society has been engineered for stability and endurance, not stagnation.

The style of clothing can be described as 'high tech Victorian with Renaissance elements' – a Victorian style and sensibility taking advantage of modern materials and techniques. The Renaissance elements include bright colors and the use of accessories by both sexes. High tech items, like personal computers, incorporate stylistic antique elements that makes them less jarring – a common version is a pocket watch shaped computer. Taoist designers for the 19th century and early 20th centuries can earn a very good living in, or from, the Kingdom of Antilia. Their architecture departs - is very airy, with clean lines and using lots of diamondoid in the structure and windows allowing in much natural light. Buildings use replicator manufactured advanced materials that mimic the look and feel of traditional wood, stone and steel, while taking advantage of the lightness and durability that modern materials offer. Commercial and government buildings tend to be very large as a status symbol (as well as the homes of the very wealthy), but others are appropriate to their needs and station.

Families in Antilia space are very traditionally nuclear, using cheap communications, telepresence, Infosphere access and transport for extended families to give support where they can.

The Kingdom of Antilia is destined to remain a minor civilization – its vested interests in stability and an archaic governmental system means it can only expand so far. Still, it isn't a bad place. They do place restrictions on what memes can be imported and circulated. The Stardwellers, Union and Replicants are only welcome under careful supervision and subject to expulsion for violation of the laws. The Kingdom does get along well with the Independents, and purchases goods and services from the Mechanicans as well (though their appearance is disturbing). The Tao of History is adored for the entertainments, but the Tao is both concerned and intrigued by the Antilians, currently negotiating for the rights to create Antilia centered entertainments. The Logicians are welcome, as fellow monarchists.

Common Name: Antilia
Benefit: Extra CV
Inspector Status: Equivalent to the FBI, Customs Inspector or RCMP.
Core Values: Tradition and Perseverance. The third is the player's choice – it can be any, but Order and Stability are common among the Antilians.

The Tradition CV provides an anchor to the Antilian civilization. Its primary purpose is to hold them together in the face of change and dynamic universe, giving citizens bonuses to actions that keep the kingdom intact (such as fighting off civ-wide metatech assaults, convincing other citizens to keep to their traditions, and the like). The Tradition CV doesn’t say that any specific tradition is important; rather, it is important to have traditions and to hold to them. It says that all traditions have worth and value, that they are what bring people together.

Perseverance is activity maintained in spite of difficulties or steadfast and long-continued application. This is the long view Antilians are known to have. As a Core Value it is used to maintain the long view and the long term goals of the Antilian kingdom (slow steady expansion into the universe) and its subjects.

HISTORY:
The Nanori began as a colony heavily experimenting with nanotech, attempting to, essentially, create an entire artificial ecosystem by using self-replicating and evolving nanotech, as well as a very serious and in-depth exploration of what could actually be done with the technology.

The Nanori home-planet was originally the target for a Spacer slow-boat, however, worm-hole exploration showed that the planet would be unsuitable for terraforming to a terran biosphere. The Nanori colonists then purchased both the claim and the Spacer ship that they might attempt a radical new method of terraforming: Nanophages. The colonists set their specialized home-built nanophages to work alongside altered terraforming bacteria, and over the centuries of intermittent wakefulness watched the world develop into something new and never before seen. When the "biosphere" had developed enough that a clear direction had taken place, the Nanori sent to work developing the tools to manipulate the phages and to keep terran life competitive on the planet and continued the "terraforming" process.

What resulted was a planetary ecosphere of unrivaled variety, amazingly familiar and excruciatingly alien, dangerous and new - and a people utterly transformed on the microscopic level. The Nanori world is a strange mix of cellular and nanotech biology, and the people posses an amount of nanotech inside themselves that most people would consider insane.

The government of the Nanori is a representational democracy more similar to the European Union than the US, although not all member states follow that format. The Nanori have since nanoformed numerous other planets, planetoids, gas-giants, and asteroids, and are /the/ place to go for anything involving nanotechnology. Nanori diplomacy stems from their unique abilities to deal with out-of-control nanotech, but is hampered by the inherent deadliness of their populace, who cannot enter another civilization without either a hardy "environment suit" or being classified as a /deployed/ WMD.

"Well, of course the product didn't work as advertised! It needs to permeate at least a continent before it'll stabilize."
- Nanori tech support answering customer complaint of "extinction-level distaster resulting from faulty product". (Suggested by Tau Ceti)

"Whole planet, wiped out, because someone tried to mug the wrong foreign national."
- Nanori Nanophage Task Force on the Cetanios-7 reclamation operation.

Core Values:
Potential Unexpected Diversity -
Core to the Nanori way of life is the allowance of new and unexpected things. However, to contrast with Stardwellers, the Nanori do not deliberately design nor aggressively seek out said diversity - they attain their diversity by setting up situations in which new things will come about .

Evolution -
The Nanori believe very strongly in encouraging evolution, although not the violent, aggressive evolution of the Darwinists. Where the Darwinists preach that only strongest will survive, the Nanori hold much more closely these Darwin quotes:
"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change."
"I have called this principle, by which each slight variation, if useful, is preserved, by the term Natural Selection".

Tech:
Bio: 3-8
Cog: 2-6
Meta: 2-6
Nano: 6-10
String: 2-4 (9)

Benefits -
<> Nanori, being infused with nanotech to the point of nearly replacing their biology, may use Nanotech reserve and skills instead of Bio reserve and skills. Additionally, they possess three reserve points for every one point of nanotech, although they may not spend more than their score on any given roll (as usual). For age purposes, use the Nanotech score of the character rather than bio.
<> Nanori, harboring many active "nanophages", are deadly to most other civilizations, and are required to wear a String-9 environment suit when not in Nanori biospheres. String-10 is not required as not even Nanori life-forms can survive in environments requiring such technology.
<> For Nanori access to nanotech, always use the Nano score. (For instance, nanophages are String-9; a Nanori of nano-9 has access to them, but not other String-9 technology)

"People are scared of nanophages only because they don't realize that they're no more dangerous than the most virulent and deadly protein-based diseases that man has created. What's the difference between solar-conversion nanites and cyanobacteria? Materials."