tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4437120060500409634.post4296451108688351416..comments2024-03-22T20:03:46.044+04:00Comments on Calypso 1577: Nisse, CladeJehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13508420729659052439noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4437120060500409634.post-27673213427688035372018-11-12T10:24:59.510+04:002018-11-12T10:24:59.510+04:00Slave-ownership
One controversial development on t...Slave-ownership<br />One controversial development on this planet was the introduction of hereditary slavery and serfdom among many of the major nations, following a rapid but widespread series of wars. The victorious Tramecksan empire absorbed several smaller nations in 7988, and declared that the defeated population would henceforth be subservient to the victors.<br /><br />At this time the only transapient in the system was a Sophic League Omega class ISO, the Jambudvipa, orbiting the star at 0.2 AU and deeply committed to ecumenism. This broad-minded entity expressed er concern at this cultural atavism, but agreed to refrain from intervention in the afairs of this world as long as the slaves were treated well. The Tramecksans adopted a policy of paternalistic slavery, where the slave owners were responsible in law for the well-being of their human property.<br /><br />Slaves who did not obey their masters or whose work was judged inadequate were imprisoned, in conditions that were reasonably comfortable but far below normal living standard in the Terragen Sphere. In most cases slaves were obedient and performed their duties well, especially as those duties were not too onerous given that most tasks were automated to a greater or lesser extent.<br /><br />Slaves were status symbols for the slave-owning classes on Blefuscu (who were distinguished by white or golden caps). The slavery system had originated as a way for the victorious Tramecksan empire to assert their dominance over the losers; this practise continued within that empire as a marker of status and respectability. Mostly slaves were drawn from nations defeated by that empire, or from nations which were economically indebted to them or their allies.<br /><br />Slaves who were well-cared-for were particularly good markers of respectability; since the well-being of the slaves was the responsibility of the masters, many slaves did not actively desire change. Very accomplished masters might own a small army of slaves, who carried out many responsible duties within their households). A reasonable number of slaves were freed by their masters; a few freedpersons in fact went on to hold high office, but none of these appear to have been able or willing to change the system.<br /><br />Paternalistic slavery persisted in various forms on Blefuscu for more than two thousand years, despite efforts by various liberation movements (including the Pansophontists) to free them. Eventually slave-owning simply went out of fashion; there were hundreds of countries on Blefuscu, and not all were slave-owning cultures. Over time the countries that did not own slaves became more influential, and by the 10200's slavery was an anachronism, practised only in a few locations for the benefit of tourists.Jehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13508420729659052439noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4437120060500409634.post-80502133223186450722018-11-12T10:23:43.649+04:002018-11-12T10:23:43.649+04:00The Blefuscans
Already a highly modified species, ...The Blefuscans<br />Already a highly modified species, the miniaturised human of Clade Nisse were further modified to live in the unusually high gravity of this planet. Only 22 centimetres tall on average, Homo tantilis Blefuscu are strongly muscled and compact.<br /><br />A Blefuscan has a short thick neck that supports a small head, with a highly optimised neural structure within the skull to allow normal human-level cognitive abilities. Their heads are the same size as other members of the Nisse clade, but their bodies are shorter and stockier, an adaptation to the high gravity of their homeworld.<br /><br />Due to the helium content of the atmosphere and their short vocal chords, they have unusually high-pitched voices, which drop an octave or two when breathing an Earth-standard atmosphere. Their small size allows them to cope with the higher gravity well, although their reflexes and sense of subjective time need to be considerably faster than those of humans living on planets with lower gravity. The high gravity acts to rapidly pull any fallen object to the floor, so a Blefuscan who falls over or drops something must react quickly or damage will almost certainly result.<br /><br />Many or most Blefuscans wear helmets or reinforced hats and caps, to protect against falling objects and the heavy raindrops that fall from the low clouds. Knee and elbow protectors are also commonly worn.<br /><br />Blefuscu has a large land surface area, more than three times that of the Earth, and the Blefuscans are one-eighth as tall as normal humans; as a consequence of this there are many small but relatively populous nations on the fifteen continents, subcontinents and major islands. This has resulted in a complex political situation on this world, rapidly changing in line with their faster experience of time.Jehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13508420729659052439noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4437120060500409634.post-7602605852005587122018-11-12T10:20:56.150+04:002018-11-12T10:20:56.150+04:00Blefuscu
Superterrestrial world with a population...Blefuscu<br /><br />Superterrestrial world with a population of minaturised humans<br /><br />Originally a dry, anoxic superterrestrial, this planet has now been terraformed and has a helium-rich but breathable atmosphere<br /><br />First reached in 6110 by a Nisse colony ship, this large world in Pyxis, 2105 ly from Sol, was originally a dry SuperGaian type world with very little water. Several thousand water-ice outer-system objects were diverted to impact with the surface of this world, increasing the ocean cover to 50%. The high gravity of this world means that elevation differences betweeen highlands and lowlands are quite small, and the ocean is generally shallow. There are fifteen major continents, with many smaller islands.<br /><br />The nitrogen/helium/carbon dioxide/neon atmosphere was modified over the next six hundred years to contain enough oxygen for easy respiration, at which point it became possible for the colonists to occupy the surface without breathing apparatus.<br /><br />Jehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13508420729659052439noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4437120060500409634.post-56694528881303444212018-11-12T10:18:20.238+04:002018-11-12T10:18:20.238+04:00Neb = Near-Baseline Human
One of the most common ...Neb = Near-Baseline Human<br /><br />One of the most common clades in the Terragen Sphere, Nearbaseline humans can be found in every major Sephirotic empire and most minor polities on the Periphery. Nearbaselines have been part of the Terragen Expansion from its earliest days, and in the millennia since then their vast numbers have given them enormous influence over modosophont societies. They slowly separated from Baseline humans over time, adopting the most popular genemods for themselves and their children, while not carefully controlling their development as Superiors do. The result has been an astonishingly diverse collection of human-derived cultures with many advantages over Baselines, though which ones they possess varies from one Nearbaseline clade to another.Jehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13508420729659052439noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4437120060500409634.post-5348769874387892662018-11-12T10:15:23.794+04:002018-11-12T10:15:23.794+04:00For all other bionts the three most common install...For all other bionts the three most common installation methods are:<br /><br />In situ assembly: Technocyte spores are introduced into the body in the form of a nasal spray, small injection or consumable food or beverage. Following their programming, the technocytes migrate to the central nervous system (CNS) via the vascular system before carefully crossing the blood-brain barrier and distributing themselves to key locations, where they begin to replicate. As they do so they differentiate and organise themselves into complex fibrillar components. Different growths develop into different DNI components, eventually linking up into one connected system. This method is the simplest and most comfortable, but also the slowest, taking weeks or months to complete. Nefarious uses of this method include covert DNI installation on third-parties for bodyjacking, neural rewrites, and bindings.<br /><br />Whole self-insertion: The key phyisical components of a DNI are embedded in a surgiconic delivery system. This unit is then applied to the head or neck of the user where it inserts millimeter-width tendrils through an available entry point in the skull (for baseline humans this includes the foramen magnum, ear canal, and optic nerve). The tendrils numb the nerves along their point of entry to remove discomfort as they penetrate into the CNS before implanting DNI components. This process can take a few hours after which the tendrils retract, plugging their entry passages with regenerative tissue scaffolds. After a few days to a week the components have sufficiently integrated with each other and the surrounding neural tissue to activate. It is very common for this method to be bundled along with the surgicons used in a medisystem implantation.<br /><br />Docbox surgery: The fastest possible means of installing a DNI requires a docbox. After sedating the user, the autodoc performs several major craniotomies, removing sections of the skull for bulk access to the brain. Thousands of assembly and support fibers infiltrate the brain to rapidly build a complete DNI. To avoid fatal heat damage, the majority of support fibers pump coolant to maintain optimum temperature. After a few hours the surgery is complete and the sophont is woken up ready to use their DNI (operational tutorials are often installed as knowledge grafts during the procedure). Mild side effects and fine surgical scars fade in a few days as the user acclimatises and medicyte clusters perform final tissue remodelling.Jehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13508420729659052439noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4437120060500409634.post-26083853723842875852018-11-12T10:15:01.320+04:002018-11-12T10:15:01.320+04:00Direct Neural Interface (DNI)
Ubiquitous technolo...Direct Neural Interface (DNI)<br /><br />Ubiquitous technological implant for connecting a sophont's brain to their exoself, the Net, equipment, and other beings.<br /><br />The first commercial DNI system was invented in antiquity by medical start-up Biotronics Incorporated and the VR-entertainment megacorporation Inscape. This was the "Gibson neural jack" (named after the famous writer of cyberpunk). Incredibly exclusive the Neural jack could only be afforded by the rich and had to be implanted by specialist neurosurgeons. It was also very simple, offering little more than an Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality and sub-vocalisation interface. Despite these limitations the neural jack stimulated interest in the field, particularly as neurosoftware advanced and allowed DNI users to massively increase their productivity. Once self-inserting models were developed during the Nanotech Age their widespread adoption was all but assured, with only temporary halts during the Technocalypse and Amalgamation crises. Over the millennia, DNIs have advanced and been refined to near perfection (from a modosophont perspective at least), offering a plethora of capabilities and functions to their users.<br /><br />DNI installation is one of the most common augmentive procedures in the Terragen Sphere (alongside medisystem infusion). There are many ways a sophont can have a DNI inserted depending on their requirements; some clades (particularly Biopolity superiors) have gone so far as to engineer biotech versions into their genome to benefit from the technology from birth. Jehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13508420729659052439noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4437120060500409634.post-43024515970773096062018-11-12T07:58:29.998+04:002018-11-12T07:58:29.998+04:00Goo, Blue
Nanotech replicators that are used as p...Goo, Blue<br /><br />Nanotech replicators that are used as protection against adverse forms of goo such as Grey Goo, Khaki Goo, Golden Goo and so on; a mechosystem's equivalent to biological immune cells. The most powerful forms of Blue Goo have wide-ranging abilities, and can adapt as the hazard they are designed to counter attempts to evolve around whatever countermeasures the Blue Goo is using. 'Blue Goo' is sometimes use to denote any form of benign and protective neumann-capable technology.Jehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13508420729659052439noreply@blogger.com