
From: nv91-asa@elbe.nada.kth.se (Anders Sandberg)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: 2300AD
Date: 24 May 1995 12:00:59 GMT

Mikko Hyvkki wrote:
>Is there anywhere an ftp site that carries something on 2300AD, or has
>anyone over there in the net-land anything interesting on it, like
>self-written adventures, etc. ?

A wonderful game, IMHO the best hard science fiction game I have
ever found. And it has the best aliens by far.

I have a the Near Star Map as a computer file, reachable at
http://www.nada.kth.se/~nv91-asa/dive/NYSTAR3.DAT.Z
(there is also a datafile, stars.vr, for the virtual reality
system DIVE where the user can fly around among the stars).

I plan to post my new version of 2300AD soon. I was not
completely happy with the somewhat dated feeling of the game,
so I changed it into a much more dark setting. My version is
essentially the world of Aliens, with some cyberpunk elements
and a much more cynical world. The colonies are poor and
rebellious, the core is growing stranger and stranger, the
Pentapods control an unhealthily large part of the economy,
drugs are extremely common etc. 


From: james vassilakos <jimv>
Subject: nystar data
To: nv91-asa@elbe.nada.kth.se (Anders Sandberg)
Date: Wed, 24 May 1995 11:54:02 -0700 (PDT)
 
> I have a the Near Star Map as a computer file, reachable at
> http://www.nada.kth.se/~nv91-asa/dive/NYSTAR3.DAT.Z
> (there is also a datafile, stars.vr, for the virtual reality
> system DIVE where the user can fly around among the stars).

Hi. I just grabbed NYSTAR4.DAT from the archive that you
mentioned. A few questions:

Is NYSTAR4 a more up-to-date version than NYSTAR3, or are
they different formats or what?

What is the format, exactly? I'm looking at the file trying
to figure out what everything means.

What is this DIVE VR Sys that you mention? Is it a graphical
starmap viewer for DOS? Does it cost something or is it free?
How would I go about getting a copy?

Is there a way for you to make this stuff available via ftp?
My web software is somewhat flaky, and I'd rather just grab
the stuff via ftp if possible.

I'm currently working on an SF-RPG which I'd like to make
available for free over the net, and when it's ready, it'll
include software for viewing 3d starmaps. Hence, I'm looking
for stuff I can include in the package, which will be
freeware. I will definitely give credit where credit is
due, so if you can point me to any resources (particularly
a freeware graphical starmap viewer using text datafiles,
plus any sf-related gifs or whatnot), I'd really appreciate
it. I've already got most of the core software written, but
I'm interested in taking a look at what others have
put together, particularly if I can get permission to
distribute as a part of the game I'm working on.

Thanks in advance...   jimv@cs.ucr.edu


Date: Fri, 26 May 1995 16:36:48 +0200 (MET DST)
From: Anders Sandberg <nv91-asa@nada.kth.se>
To: james vassilakos <jimv@cs.UCR.edu>
Subject: Re: nystar data

Hello!

On Wed, 24 May 1995, james vassilakos wrote:
> Hi. I just grabbed NYSTAR4.DAT from the archive that you
> mentioned. A few questions:
> Is NYSTAR4 a more up-to-date version than NYSTAR3, or are
> they different formats or what?

They are just different formats, NYSTAR4 is slightly easier to read for
conv.c, the data is just the same. 

I really should have an readme file, but the directory was thrown 
together very hurriedly. I'll add it soon. conv.c simply translates the 
nystar file into a .vr file, with suitable objects (removal of double 
stars, making the sizes depend on luminosity etc). 

> What is this DIVE VR Sys that you mention? Is it a graphical
> starmap viewer for DOS? Does it cost something or is it free?
> How would I go about getting a copy?

DIVE (Distributed Interactive Virtual Environment) is a Virtual Reality
system based on Unix, designed mainly for experiments with multi-user
applications. It is free of charge, but I think they want some kind of
license agreement. You could take a look at the DIVE page at
http://sics.se/dce/dive/dive.html (I think it is possible to FTP from 
there too). 

> Is there a way for you to make this stuff available via ftp?
> My web software is somewhat flaky, and I'd rather just grab
> the stuff via ftp if possible.

I might manage to make my directories ftp-able in the near future, but it 
won't work right now. :-(

> I'm currently working on an SF-RPG which I'd like to make
> available for free over the net, and when it's ready, it'll
> include software for viewing 3d starmaps. 

Great initiative! What kind of game is it?

Have fun, and good luck!


From: james vassilakos <jimv>
Subject: Re: nystar data
To: nv91-asa@nada.kth.se (Anders Sandberg)
Date: Fri, 26 May 1995 09:17:15 -0700 (PDT)
 
> > Is NYSTAR4 a more up-to-date version than NYSTAR3, or are
> > they different formats or what?
> 
> They are just different formats, NYSTAR4 is slightly easier to read for
> conv.c, the data is just the same. 

Okay. By the way, did you input all that data by hand, or did you
put it down from somewhere? Just curious. I'd like to use it in the
game I'm doing and give proper credit to the source (thanks for
near star astronomical data to GDW & ---).
 
> Great initiative! What kind of game is it?

I'm somewhat ashamed to say that I'm still mainly in the programming
stages (particuarly with the starmap viewer), and that I'm not entire
decided as to the premise or even the name. I did take a look at the
Traversible Wormholes article by Price which you wrote me about, but
heck if I can make out what he's saying. I'm no physicist, so this
stuff is way way over my head.

As you might remember, I was the guy a few months ago who started
that discussion about SF Genres and possible solutions to Fermi's
Question. Well, I'm still not entirely happy with the solutions
I've got. And I'm thinking that depite all the hoop-la about how
great hard-SF is, what people really want (what my players seem
to want, in fact), is as little science as as much fantasy as
they can get.

I'll share with you the tentative premise though (but this may
change and I could sure use some ideas if you have any to share).
Basically, Humanity is the lastest uplifting attempt of a benign
society of aliens who have been in this region of space for the
last ten or twenty millenia. As their interstellar society has
expanded, however, the problems of governance have grown out
of proportion, and there is a great deal of controversy whether
a species as innately warlike as humanity should be uplifted
in the first place. Problems come to a head when Earth starts
building lots of warships with its newly acquired technology.
We basically get snuffed by another race who claims that our
uplifting was done illegally by the benign aliens. In order to
placate the attackers, the confederation of alien species
tacitly decides to look the other way. There are, of course,
a few earthlings left, mostly militarily trained personnel who
were out on scouting missions and border defense. They will
be alternately feared, hated, pitied, and ignored by the aliens
they encounter.

The neat part of the game is that the players get to live
through this period and revisit Earth after it is reduced to
a charred cinder. Alternately, the aliens may decide to wipe
out the earthling with an artificial virus. That way it could
spread to the colonies, and there'd be a mystery as to its
appearance which the players could stumble across.

I know, it sounds more like a premise for a TV show than for an
RPG, but it's just an idea that I'm playing with. I'd like to
use the near star data for the game, just to give it that
semi-realistic feel. Also, if you have any comments or ideas,
I'd be more than happy to hear them.

Thanks...   jimv@cs.ucr.edu


Date: Mon, 29 May 1995 12:26:05 +0200 (MET DST)
From: Anders Sandberg <nv91-asa@nada.kth.se>
To: james vassilakos <jimv@cs.UCR.edu>
Subject: Re: nystar data

On Fri, 26 May 1995, james vassilakos wrote:
> Okay. By the way, did you input all that data by hand, or did you
> put it down from somewhere? 

I actually entered it all by hand... it took around a week or so. 

> I'm somewhat ashamed to say that I'm still mainly in the programming
> stages (particuarly with the starmap viewer), and that I'm not entire
> decided as to the premise or even the name. I did take a look at the
> Traversible Wormholes article by Price which you wrote me about, but
> heck if I can make out what he's saying. I'm no physicist, so this
> stuff is way way over my head.

The physics is simple (if you ignore the quantum details and just say 
'this is how it works'), but the implications are staggering. It is 
rather hard to imagine the wormhole empires with their "empire times". 
But it would make a dramatic setting... from the perspective of the 
inhabitants of the wormhole empire their empire is growing exponentially, 
and it is almost impossible to keep up with what explorers encounter. Not 
to mention the possibilities of alien contacts and strange wars.

> As you might remember, I was the guy a few months ago who started
> that discussion about SF Genres and possible solutions to Fermi's
> Question. Well, I'm still not entirely happy with the solutions
> I've got. And I'm thinking that depite all the hoop-la about how
> great hard-SF is, what people really want (what my players seem
> to want, in fact), is as little science as as much fantasy as
> they can get.

I think the best solution is to create a hard sf foundation, but make its
results so flexible that it could be fantasy. Ultra-tech can do almost 
anything, just make sure it can't be abused *too* much by the players...

> Basically, Humanity is the lastest uplifting attempt of a benign
> society of aliens who have been in this region of space for the
> last ten or twenty millenia. As their interstellar society has
> expanded, however, the problems of governance have grown out
> of proportion, and there is a great deal of controversy whether
> a species as innately warlike as humanity should be uplifted
> in the first place. Problems come to a head when Earth starts
> building lots of warships with its newly acquired technology.
> We basically get snuffed by another race who claims that our
> uplifting was done illegally by the benign aliens. In order to
> placate the attackers, the confederation of alien species
> tacitly decides to look the other way. There are, of course,
> a few earthlings left, mostly militarily trained personnel who
> were out on scouting missions and border defense. They will
> be alternately feared, hated, pitied, and ignored by the aliens
> they encounter.

Or some fractions might even support them, hoping to use them against the 
attackers. Have you read "Anvil of Stars" by Greg Bear? He uses a 
slightly similar scenario.

> The neat part of the game is that the players get to live
> through this period and revisit Earth after it is reduced to
> a charred cinder. 

Good idea! That way they will feel much more involved in the scenario. 

> Alternately, the aliens may decide to wipe
> out the earthling with an artificial virus. That way it could
> spread to the colonies, and there'd be a mystery as to its
> appearance which the players could stumble across.

What about some nasty little nanomachine? It would look like some kind of 
odd virus, but gradually the players will realize that it is artificial 
and obviously not of human origin.

> I'd like to
> use the near star data for the game, just to give it that
> semi-realistic feel. Also, if you have any comments or ideas,
> I'd be more than happy to hear them.

How large scales are you planning to move on? If you have FTL, its speed 
will influence a lot (Personally I like the stutterwarp of 2300AD, it 
also introduces some quite nice complications), especially the scale of 
the world and the structures of empires. I would recommend a fairly small 
scale, maybe within the Near Star Map, so that each planet will be unique 
and identifiable. You could have "spheres of influence" of the various 
races, shaped depending on their technology (the benevolent aliens might 
not have given humans the best possible stardrive) or needs (the hostile 
aliens might be based on degenerate matter and mainly thrive on white 
dwarves; they really want Sirius B). 

What about a setting somewhere near the end of the next century? Plenty of
time for colonization (although you might have to explain why mankind did
not transcend in a singularity; maybe there are "levels" of technology
which are hard to advance from) and political developments, especially if
aliens appear with new technology. 

Good luck!


From: james vassilakos <jimv>
Subject: sf-rpg & nystar data
To: nv91-asa@nada.kth.se (Anders Sandberg)
Date: Mon, 29 May 1995 11:04:15 -0700 (PDT)
 
> > Okay. By the way, did you input all that data by hand, or did you
> > put it down from somewhere? 
> 
> I actually entered it all by hand... it took around a week or so. 

Ack! That's sounds like pure unadulterated hell. Thanks for providing
it to the net, though. That's one heck of a service.
 
> The physics is simple (if you ignore the quantum details and just say 
> 'this is how it works'), but the implications are staggering. It is 
> rather hard to imagine the wormhole empires with their "empire times". 

Exactly my problem with it. Until I can get a good "feel" for it, as
well as a way to convey such a feel to the players without making it
all seen too contrived, then I can't really use it as a premise.

> > As you might remember, I was the guy a few months ago who started
> > that discussion about SF Genres and possible solutions to Fermi's
> > Question. Well, I'm still not entirely happy with the solutions
> 
> I think the best solution is to create a hard sf foundation, but make its
> results so flexible that it could be fantasy. Ultra-tech can do almost 
> anything, just make sure it can't be abused *too* much by the players...

Yeah, I'm gonna try to keep the tech down as much as possible and
concentrate more on the aliens and their interstellar politics which
players are bound to get wrapped-up in simply by virtue of being
its latest victim.

> > tacitly decides to look the other way. There are, of course,
> > a few earthlings left, mostly militarily trained personnel who
> > were out on scouting missions and border defense. They will
> > be alternately feared, hated, pitied, and ignored by the aliens
> > they encounter.
> 
> Or some fractions might even support them, hoping to use them against the 
> attackers. Have you read "Anvil of Stars" by Greg Bear? He uses a 
> slightly similar scenario.

No, I don't read enough SF (or anything else for that matter). I
think about 90% of my "pleasure reading" is just of skimming
internet newsgroups or bbs conferences.

> > The neat part of the game is that the players get to live
> > through this period and revisit Earth after it is reduced to
> > a charred cinder. 
> 
> Good idea! That way they will feel much more involved in the scenario. 

Exactly. I want to convey to them a feeling of rage that will litterally
shock them into character in way they've never quite experienced.

> > Alternately, the aliens may decide to wipe
> > out the earthling with an artificial virus. That way it could
> > spread to the colonies, and there'd be a mystery as to its
> > appearance which the players could stumble across.
> 
> What about some nasty little nanomachine? It would look like some kind of 
> odd virus, but gradually the players will realize that it is artificial 
> and obviously not of human origin.

This comes down to a technical question. If they "bad aliens" could
engineer a "normal" virus to do the trick, why use a nanomachine?
A "normal" virus would be less tracable to them, it could conceivably
work just as well, and it could possibly be even easier to devise.
I admit that nanomachines are more SFy, but why use a cannon when a
pea-shooter will work just as well?

> > I'd like to
> > use the near star data for the game, just to give it that
> > semi-realistic feel. Also, if you have any comments or ideas,
> > I'd be more than happy to hear them.
> 
> How large scales are you planning to move on? If you have FTL, its speed 
> will influence a lot (Personally I like the stutterwarp of 2300AD, it 
> also introduces some quite nice complications), especially the scale of 
> the world and the structures of empires. I would recommend a fairly small 
> scale, maybe within the Near Star Map, so that each planet will be unique 
> and identifiable.

Well, I was originally only going to provide for known space out to about
10 lightyears radius, but since you've provided the near star data, I
might as well use it. I'll be providing software both for viewing space
in three dimensions as well as for rolling up new areas of space. The
first part is already done (just a little more tweaking). The second part
shouldn't be too hard, but I do need to get to work on it.

> You could have "spheres of influence" of the various 
> races, shaped depending on their technology (the benevolent aliens might 
> not have given humans the best possible stardrive) or needs (the hostile 
> aliens might be based on degenerate matter and mainly thrive on white 
> dwarves; they really want Sirius B). 

Degenerate matter? You mean basing their biology on it? That sounds
really whacked-out. I'm gonna try to stay within the realm of the
scientifically plausible except where I have to deviate just in order
to allow for star-travel and othersuch minuta.

> What about a setting somewhere near the end of the next century? Plenty of
> time for colonization (although you might have to explain why mankind did
> not transcend in a singularity; maybe there are "levels" of technology
> which are hard to advance from) and political developments, especially if
> aliens appear with new technology. 

I'm not sure yet what I'll put as the starting date. I have a book on
this table next to me called "The Third Millenium" which is a history
of the world from 2000-3000. One heck of a work of fiction. It was
written by two historian and reads exactly like a history book. They're
basically trying to predict technical and social developments. The
authors are Stableford and Langford, if you decide to go looking for
a copy.

Anyway, the problem with writing any future history is that on the
one hand you want to make it believable, but on the other hand, what
the heck is believable? If I tried to explain to somebody at the
turn of the last century all that would happen in this century, they'd
probably have me committed. Even if I wrote a fictional work describing
the two world wars, the atomic bomb, the rise and tenative fall of
communism, not to mention man reaching the moon, sending probes to
the very outskirts of the solar system, as well as the rise of the
computer and the great industrial cities where most every person
has access to a car and a television... I just don't think people
of that era would buy into it. It would be too far out there.

That exactly the problem we face. Are the next hundred years going
to be as turbulent and transformative as the last hundred, or is
the rate of change/progress going to slow down? I think that if
you want to write a game with mass appeal, something that people
can buy into, then you have to assume that it's going to slow down
at least to the point that the reader can "buy into" the setting
and readily assimilate what it has to offer.

Of course, star travel and aliens and the destruction of Earth...
that's all pretty turbulent, if you ask me. But I want to keep
the slope of time vs. technology-growth from going vertical.
I don't really buy into all this "singularity" stuff you guys
are talking about on Usenet (actually, I don't even understand
it).

Anyway, let me know how things are going with the 2300 re-write
you're working on. I should caution you before you do too much work
on it that GDW may still jump on TSR's side of the fence sometime
in the next year. I have various articles posted which show that
general attitude. In short, they might try to control the distribution
of the work that you do, especially if you base it solidly on 2300.
That's one reason I'm going to try to steer myself clear of any
published game system. I want my stuff to be free to net-users
well into the future (I had written several programs for AD&D,
not to mention the Guildsman magazines I edited, which are no
longer available online because of TSR's policy, and I don't want
to make that same mistake again).

Well, time to say g'bye (and sorry for being so long-winded, I
would have written a shorter letter, but I'm somewhat pressed
for time). If you'd like to help out with this game I'm trying
feverishly to put together, I could always use some world
write-ups and SF-related GIFs. I will credit you for typing in
that near star data, of course. If you'd like a beta version
(for use with any decently fast IBM compatible running under
MSDOS), let me know, and I'll try to get a copy to you when
I get enough of this stuff put together (may be another week...
or maybe a month... or maybe a year... I dunno).

Later...   jimv@cs.ucr.edu

> Good luck!

Thanks! :-)


Date: Tue, 30 May 1995 18:00:17 +0200 (MET DST)
From: Anders Sandberg <nv91-asa@nada.kth.se>
To: james vassilakos <jimv@cs.UCR.edu>
Subject: Re: sf-rpg & nystar data

On Mon, 29 May 1995, james vassilakos wrote:
> > I actually entered it all by hand... it took around a week or so. 
> 
> Ack! That's sounds like pure unadulterated hell. Thanks for providing
> it to the net, though. That's one heck of a service.

Don't worry, it was a pleasure. Yes, I'm not joking! I copied 
mathematical tables before I could read, and I'm simply nuts about 
gathering information (seems to be some kind of family curse; my father 
collected maps and timetables, and my grandfather was a national 
archivist). Maybe an idea for an information-obsessed alien race? :-)

> > The physics is simple (if you ignore the quantum details and just say 
> > 'this is how it works'), but the implications are staggering. It is 
> > rather hard to imagine the wormhole empires with their "empire times". 
> 
> Exactly my problem with it. Until I can get a good "feel" for it, as
> well as a way to convey such a feel to the players without making it
> all seen too contrived, then I can't really use it as a premise.

Essentially you have lots of solar systems linked by wormholes, that is 
the main appearance. But the colonization ships are adding more and more 
holes faster and faster, into an ever-branching tree of planets which are 
getting more and more widespread...

Of course, wormhole terrorism is nasty; there is *lots* of energy stored 
in each wormhole, and if it is released the destruction will be awful.

> > I think the best solution is to create a hard sf foundation, but make its
> > results so flexible that it could be fantasy. Ultra-tech can do almost 
> > anything, just make sure it can't be abused *too* much by the players...
> 
> Yeah, I'm gonna try to keep the tech down as much as possible and
> concentrate more on the aliens and their interstellar politics which
> players are bound to get wrapped-up in simply by virtue of being
> its latest victim.

That sounds like a good idea. Often politics and roleplaying within a 
reality is more fun than changing the reality (my Mage players spend more 
time quarreling and plotting against their mentors than doing any real 
magick, and it is great fun). 

> > Or some fractions might even support them, hoping to use them against the 
> > attackers. Have you read "Anvil of Stars" by Greg Bear? He uses a 
> > slightly similar scenario.
> 
> No, I don't read enough SF (or anything else for that matter). I
> think about 90% of my "pleasure reading" is just of skimming
> internet newsgroups or bbs conferences.

Me too. But you should take a look at "The Forge of God" and "Anvil of
Stars", they are relevant. A short rundown of the stories (no major
spoilers): Self replicating alien probes destroy the Earth, and mankind
can only look on in horror and despair. Probes from another group of
aliens help some of them to survive, and in the second book a few humans
set out to revenge Earth on the original aggressors. 

> > > Alternately, the aliens may decide to wipe
> > > out the earthling with an artificial virus. That way it could
> > > spread to the colonies, and there'd be a mystery as to its
> > > appearance which the players could stumble across.
> > 
> > What about some nasty little nanomachine? It would look like some kind of 
> > odd virus, but gradually the players will realize that it is artificial 
> > and obviously not of human origin.
> 
> This comes down to a technical question. If they "bad aliens" could
> engineer a "normal" virus to do the trick, why use a nanomachine?
> A "normal" virus would be less tracable to them, it could conceivably
> work just as well, and it could possibly be even easier to devise.
> I admit that nanomachines are more SFy, but why use a cannon when a
> pea-shooter will work just as well?

Maybe because they don't know how to modify genetic material, or have 
religious/political/mental restrictions against it? But an engineered 
virus is more probable, although it has some limitations (it might not 
work on everyone, some might survive and become immune etc). 

> > You could have "spheres of influence" of the various 
> > races, shaped depending on their technology (the benevolent aliens might 
> > not have given humans the best possible stardrive) or needs (the hostile 
> > aliens might be based on degenerate matter and mainly thrive on white 
> > dwarves; they really want Sirius B). 
> 
> Degenerate matter? You mean basing their biology on it? That sounds
> really whacked-out. I'm gonna try to stay within the realm of the
> scientifically plausible except where I have to deviate just in order
> to allow for star-travel and othersuch minuta.

Well, I also doubt life based on degenerate matter. However, nuclear 
matter from neutron stars, or quark-matter from their cores are not 
altogether impossible as a basis for life, just utterly weird. See 
Baxter's "Flux" for a description of a race of engineered humans living 
inside a neutron star. 

Another possibility is aliens who have engineered themselves to thrive in 
odd environments, like the atmospheres of gas giants or on cold 
ice-balls. 

> I'm not sure yet what I'll put as the starting date. I have a book on
> this table next to me called "The Third Millenium" which is a history
> of the world from 2000-3000. One heck of a work of fiction. It was
> written by two historian and reads exactly like a history book. They're
> basically trying to predict technical and social developments. The
> authors are Stableford and Langford, if you decide to go looking for
> a copy.

Sounds interesting!

> Anyway, the problem with writing any future history is that on the
> one hand you want to make it believable, but on the other hand, what
> the heck is believable?

Exactly! It might be impossible to describe if Vinge is right about the 
Singularity. 

> That exactly the problem we face. Are the next hundred years going
> to be as turbulent and transformative as the last hundred, or is
> the rate of change/progress going to slow down? I think that if
> you want to write a game with mass appeal, something that people
> can buy into, then you have to assume that it's going to slow down
> at least to the point that the reader can "buy into" the setting
> and readily assimilate what it has to offer.

Unfortunately, yes. Here is an idea to make the world more stable: the
first space colonies will be inhabited by the best and brightest, the most
adventuresome and educated, while the more cautious people stay on the
ground. The colonies of the Belt quickly became the most technically
advanced and turbulent place, while Earth-Moon was more stable albeit less
economically vital. Then the Belt colonies gradually developed into a
Singularity and more or less vanished or destroyed themselves, leaving the
more staid people behind, quite shocked at what unbridled progress could
do. So mankind is more stable and less progressive in your scenario. 

> Of course, star travel and aliens and the destruction of Earth...
> that's all pretty turbulent, if you ask me. But I want to keep
> the slope of time vs. technology-growth from going vertical.
> I don't really buy into all this "singularity" stuff you guys
> are talking about on Usenet (actually, I don't even understand
> it).

Nobody does, especially we who talk about it! :-) Essentially the 
Singularity is where the growth curve gets almost vertical and nothing 
can be predicted anymore. Maybe everything collapses, maybe civilization 
transcends the material plane, maybe both. Its impossible to predict, and 
that is the problem (and fascination).

> Anyway, let me know how things are going with the 2300 re-write
> you're working on. I should caution you before you do too much work
> on it that GDW may still jump on TSR's side of the fence sometime
> in the next year. 

I have not started translating my notes into English, but I think I will 
get the time sometimes this week (I have to write an article for KULT 
first). Thanks for the warning about GDW, but since they no longer 
produce anything for 2300AD, they should not be that touchy (this assumes 
they are rational, of course). 

> Well, time to say g'bye (and sorry for being so long-winded, I
> would have written a shorter letter, but I'm somewhat pressed
> for time). 

"I'm sorry, but I didn't have time to make my letter shorter"
- Pascal 

> If you'd like to help out with this game I'm trying
> feverishly to put together, I could always use some world
> write-ups and SF-related GIFs. I will credit you for typing in
> that near star data, of course. 

Thanks! Yes, it would be quite interesting to help you, and I really like 
to write for sf games. Especially aliens are my forte, I have some more 
or less strange races if you want them. 

> If you'd like a beta version
> (for use with any decently fast IBM compatible running under
> MSDOS), let me know, and I'll try to get a copy to you when
> I get enough of this stuff put together (may be another week...
> or maybe a month... or maybe a year... I dunno).

Well, I actually don't have any IBM compatible near me right now, so 
don't worry about it until it works. 

Have fun!


From: james vassilakos <jimv>
Subject: Re: sf-rpg & nystar data
To: nv91-asa@nada.kth.se (Anders Sandberg)
Date: Wed, 31 May 1995 08:13:18 -0700 (PDT)
 
> > This comes down to a technical question. If they "bad aliens" could
> > engineer a "normal" virus to do the trick, why use a nanomachine?
> > A "normal" virus would be less tracable to them, it could conceivably
> > work just as well, and it could possibly be even easier to devise.
> > I admit that nanomachines are more SFy, but why use a cannon when a
> > pea-shooter will work just as well?
> 
> Maybe because they don't know how to modify genetic material, or have 
> religious/political/mental restrictions against it? But an engineered 
> virus is more probable, although it has some limitations (it might not 
> work on everyone, some might survive and become immune etc). 

Hmm... good point. Still, I think that genocide would be looked upon
as such a political faux-pas that they'd strongly consider making it
look like something "natural" and not criminal. But sure, if it didn't
work with the virus, a nanite might be the next obvious step.

> > Degenerate matter? You mean basing their biology on it? That sounds
> > really whacked-out. I'm gonna try to stay within the realm of the
> > scientifically plausible except where I have to deviate just in order
> > to allow for star-travel and othersuch minuta.
> 
> Well, I also doubt life based on degenerate matter. However, nuclear 
> matter from neutron stars, or quark-matter from their cores are not 
> altogether impossible as a basis for life, just utterly weird. See 
> Baxter's "Flux" for a description of a race of engineered humans living 
> inside a neutron star. 

Hmm... I don't know what exactly you mean by "quark-matter". I think that
whatever the biology is composed of, you have to have an appropriate
oxidant-reductant relationship going, or it's not going to be believable.
Oxygen and water make an awfully good team, chemically speaking. I have
an old usenet article by Joerg Rhiemeier who explains this better than
I can. Let me know if you're interested, and I'll fling you a copy.

> Another possibility is aliens who have engineered themselves to thrive in 
> odd environments, like the atmospheres of gas giants or on cold 
> ice-balls. 

As long as you can explain how they got there and what keeps them
ticking... I see no problem.

> Singularity is where the growth curve gets almost vertical and nothing 
> can be predicted anymore. Maybe everything collapses, maybe civilization 
> transcends the material plane, maybe both. Its impossible to predict, and 
> that is the problem (and fascination).

Maybe for you, but this "transcension" strikes me as being rather bogus
and boring. I mean, it would be neat in RL, obviously. But in terms of
an RPG, I personally can't see my players buying into it. That's why I'd
like to keep the game I'm working on as down-to-earth as possible (pardon
the expression) while still allowing for some cool interstellar politics
and adventures rooted in trying to survive and help re-establish the
human race.

> I have not started translating my notes into English, but I think I will 
> get the time sometimes this week (I have to write an article for KULT 
> first). Thanks for the warning about GDW, but since they no longer 
> produce anything for 2300AD, they should not be that touchy (this assumes 
> they are rational, of course). 

Keep in mind that they are business people first and gamers second.
They still hold the copyrights on 2300AD even though they are not
supporting it, and they could offically fall in with TSR & MPGN any
day they choose. Why put your work at that kind of risk? I made that
mistake with respect to several programs and 6 issues of the
guildsman (those issues running a total of some... oh... over 500
pages of postscript, I'd guess), and now I can't get any of it online
and available without caving-in to TSR's so-called disclaimer. Trust
me. It's not worth it.
 
> > If you'd like to help out with this game I'm trying
> > feverishly to put together, I could always use some world
> > write-ups and SF-related GIFs. I will credit you for typing in
> > that near star data, of course. 
> 
> Thanks! Yes, it would be quite interesting to help you, and I really like 
> to write for sf games. Especially aliens are my forte, I have some more 
> or less strange races if you want them. 

That's great. I'm currently looking for alien write-ups. If you want to
do some write-ups in English and send them my way, I'd *really*
appreciate it. I'm also looking for GIFs I can use, and if you know
anybody who can draw, I have access to a scanner, so if you postal
mail me some drawings of the aliens you invent, I can scan them and
include them into the software package. I'm sorry I can't pay for
any of this stuff, but your name will be on anything of yours I
incorporate into the package. If you decide to get a friend to draw
some artwork and postal mail it to me, send me his name as well, so
I can make sure it appears wherever appropriate.

Thanks muchly... I'll let you know if anything new develops over here.


Date: Thu, 1 Jun 1995 12:36:08 +0200 (MET DST)
From: Anders Sandberg <nv91-asa@nada.kth.se>
To: james vassilakos <jimv@cs.UCR.edu>
Subject: Re: sf-rpg & nystar data

On Wed, 31 May 1995, james vassilakos wrote:
> > Maybe because they don't know how to modify genetic material, or have 
> > religious/political/mental restrictions against it? But an engineered 
> > virus is more probable, although it has some limitations (it might not 
> > work on everyone, some might survive and become immune etc). 
> 
> Hmm... good point. Still, I think that genocide would be looked upon
> as such a political faux-pas that they'd strongly consider making it
> look like something "natural" and not criminal. But sure, if it didn't
> work with the virus, a nanite might be the next obvious step.

Hmm, if they wipe out humanity because it is too warlike, wouldn't they 
appear warlike too? So it might be a good idea to do it subtly, and 
maybe claim it was a human bioweapon (that would explain its deadliness, 
and make the humans look even worse). 

A small idea: Maybe you should add into the background other cases like 
this in the remote past? Maybe there is a kind of unspoken policy to 
stop too warlike creatures from developing far, maybe founded after some 
very distant war. 

> > Well, I also doubt life based on degenerate matter. However, nuclear 
> > matter from neutron stars, or quark-matter from their cores are not 
> > altogether impossible as a basis for life, just utterly weird. See 
> > Baxter's "Flux" for a description of a race of engineered humans living 
> > inside a neutron star. 
> 
> Hmm... I don't know what exactly you mean by "quark-matter".

I neutron stars, neutrons are squeezed together into a kind of liquid. 
Apparently the quarks inside the neutrons could become squeezed together 
into an even denser kind of matter near the cores of neutron stars. The 
physics is over my head, but the interactions of neutronium and 
quark-matter seems to be very complex, and reminiscent of liquid 
crystals. Very exotic, and so unexplored that you could always handwave 
a race based on neutronium-quark liquid crystals if you wanted.

> I think that
> whatever the biology is composed of, you have to have an appropriate
> oxidant-reductant relationship going, or it's not going to be believable.

Yes, the biology has to work. In a neutron star you obviously can't have 
chemical oxidation-reduction reactions, but Baxter makes a good job (he 
is a mathematician and physicist, if I don't misremember) of inventing 
an alternative. Plants grow from the crust inwards towards the core, 
using a kind of photosynthesis based on neutrinos to create proton-rich 
nuclei. These nuclei are then digested by animals, and their decay into 
neutrons give them energy. Muscles work by changing the viscosity of 
superfluid neutronium, vision is by high-frequency phonons while smell 
is based on photons (which diffuse slowly through the mantle)  etc.

> Oxygen and water make an awfully good team, chemically speaking. I have
> an old usenet article by Joerg Rhiemeier who explains this better than
> I can. Let me know if you're interested, and I'll fling you a copy.

I think I have read it, a very good piece. Most biochemistries will 
probably be based on common chemicals like oxygen and water, and there 
is enough flexibility in such chemistry to be able to create almost any 
kind of alien. 

> > Another possibility is aliens who have engineered themselves to thrive in 
> > odd environments, like the atmospheres of gas giants or on cold 
> > ice-balls. 
> 
> As long as you can explain how they got there and what keeps them
> ticking... I see no problem.

Here is an idea I got on the way here: an alien race which has created
its own biology. Essentially they have created an union between
technology and biology, where lifeforms are modular and more or less
built by pre-produced parts. If something breaks down and it cannot 
self-repair, you just replace the organ or limb with a spare part. 
Essentially their "biology" is a kind of very advanced robotics, and since 
they can design it to work in the environments they desire, they could 
be a very flexible race. Although individuality would not be very 
pronounced, of course. 

> > Singularity is where the growth curve gets almost vertical and nothing 
> > can be predicted anymore. Maybe everything collapses, maybe civilization 
> > transcends the material plane, maybe both. Its impossible to predict, and 
> > that is the problem (and fascination).
> 
> Maybe for you, but this "transcension" strikes me as being rather bogus
> and boring. I mean, it would be neat in RL, obviously. But in terms of
> an RPG, I personally can't see my players buying into it. That's why I'd
> like to keep the game I'm working on as down-to-earth as possible (pardon
> the expression) while still allowing for some cool interstellar politics
> and adventures rooted in trying to survive and help re-establish the
> human race.

Yes, it is so hard to roleplay or even use in a scenario. My solution
would be that "transcension" is possible and happens occasionally, but
most races who have seen it try to avoid it and remain themselves
instead. They have seen the trouble dynamic races with too much ideas
about "progress"  cause (this could be another reason the attackers
attacked Earth). In this way you could both have the cake and eat it. 

> I made that
> mistake with respect to several programs and 6 issues of the
> guildsman (those issues running a total of some... oh... over 500
> pages of postscript, I'd guess), and now I can't get any of it online
> and available without caving-in to TSR's so-called disclaimer. Trust
> me. It's not worth it.

Too bad, you have my sympathies. That is why I like White Wolf, they 
accept that others write for their games on the Net (I have written 
quite a bit for Mage). 

> That's great. I'm currently looking for alien write-ups. If you want to
> do some write-ups in English and send them my way, I'd *really*
> appreciate it. 

I have included some text I had lying around. They are IMHO not my best 
works, but might be usable as a starting point for discussion. The 
Multitude is a kind of alien confederation, very dynamic and paradoxical.
The Outsiders are loosely based on Niven's outsiders, a race living in 
the Oort-clouds outside planetary systems. The Leeches are blood-sucking 
(albeit rather civilized) beings who developed in the atmosphere of an 
gas giant. The Unity could be used as an example why most races consider 
transcension a Bad Thing.

> I'm also looking for GIFs I can use, and if you know
> anybody who can draw, I have access to a scanner, so if you postal
> mail me some drawings of the aliens you invent, I can scan them and
> include them into the software package.

Nice idea! I'll see what I can do (my drawings aren't that good). I also 
happens to have a scanner, so if I manage to get some illustrations, I 
can send them over the net. 

The Multitude

(Name for themselves: they have lots of different languages.  Most common
are expressions like "the multitude", "us" or "all who believe in
diversity")

The Multitude loves diversity. It is more a philosophy than a race. They
(or It, depending on view) have a very advanced biotechnology, which they
use to transform other life forms into useful things. They use modified
life forms for almost everything. Their cities, their vehicles, their
computers and even themselves are designed. In fact, the members of The
Multitude have a hard time not to tinker with genes, both their own and
others. They simply can't avoid trying to better other beings in order to
incorporate them in The Multitude, or to create new and interesting
species. 

The reason is simple. The Multitude believes in diversity and survival.
The more diversity it contains, the better chances are that it can
survive whatever calamities may appear. It tries to colonise or terraform
as many worlds it can, and to incorporate all other ecosystems into
itself. If something happens, hopefully something it has incorporated may
prove useful. And the more diverse the Multitude is, the more guaranteed
is its survival.  Therefore its member species constantly tries to make
it more diverse, more secure. It has incorporated members from several
other intelligent species, and created several intelligent and
semi-intelligent new species. 

They try to mix genes from almost everything with everything else, and
very few individuals look remotely the same. Extra limbs, new senses,
armour or changes in the biochemistry are completely normal. If they find
a useful behaviour in one species they immediately try to insert it into
several others.  Many species on their worlds don't have a purpose other
than a supply of genes, in case someday they might be needed. 

On a planet controlled by The Multitude, there are always several
completely different societies. Some are hive- intelligences, others are
quite normal democracies, still others are rigid theocracies. Diversity
is the rule: every type of organisation or philosophy must be
represented, even if it denies the diversity. If one fails or become
useless, others can take its place. Of course, The Multitude also have
some areas with only one kind of society, since true diversity requires
absence of diversity. The members of The Multitude tend to love paradox
(except some of course, since even that diversity is also needed) Their
philosophers tend to be very weird and a bit Zen, or very normal and
reasonable. Or something else altogether. 

On a multitude-controlled planet almost nothing is left to chance. A
network of living computers keep track of everything that happens. At
some places there are hives, where gigantic queen-brains breed new life
forms, remove old and keep things in shape. Here and there, there are
quite normal cities with almost normal beings living almost as they do on
other planets.  Everywhere strange life forms thrive in even stranger
ecological niches. 

For example, one plant has been specialised to pump water from lakes and
rivers upwards, in order to irrigate highland desert areas. Another, wasp
like insect, live in the trunk and protect it from herbivores and emit
controlling odours for the desert keepers. The desert keepers are
nightly, small mammalians who live underground. At night they emerge from
their burrows, and perform tasks controlled by the odours, like planting
seeds or eating certain plants. In this way the irrigated areas are kept
tidy and effective, even without any intelligent beings nearby. 

The multitude experiments with planting new life on other planets,
changed to survive the new conditions. They also build space-habitats,
there completely artificial ecologies and species grow under really
different conditions of gravity, pressure, chemistry, length of day or
temperature. 

The Multitude's strength is its fantastic diversity. If it has a problem,
probably somewhere there are a solution. If a part is damaged or killed,
lots of other parts can step in. This is also a problem, since it lacks a
central co-ordination. It relies on self organisation, which means that
it can be both slow and confusing to deal with. Sometimes different
groups or species even become violent with one another. But according to
Multitude philosophy, this is only good, since war and destruction is a
necessary part of diversity. 

Other races tend to become irritated with The Multitude, which always
tries to lay its hands (or tentacles, or claws, or wines...) on their
biology, their technology and people. Still, it is a great source for
useful biotechnology or exotic species, even if most other species think
it is a bit spooky. And the multitude is desperate for technology, new
recruits, information or simply attention, in order to increase its
diversity. 


The Outsiders

(Own name-symbol: "1010101110000000000111", repeated in several
frequencies)

The Outsiders live outside star systems, generally in the oort- clouds of
cometary nuclei or simply in deep space between the stars. They are
adapted to the cold emptiness, and can only survive here. There is some
speculation that they are not originally evolved out here, but were
originally a more normal race. Of some unknown reason they altered their
own bodies into their current ones, or even built their new bodies from
scratch. Why they did it is anybodys guess. 

Outsider Biology

Outsiders are large, since there is almost no gravity in their
environment. A normal outsider may have a span of more than 100 meters,
and outsiders of much larger size is not unheard of.  Some may even be
several kilometres across. They look like a cross between a mantis and a
spider web, a complex web of thin, insectoid limbs made of glittering ice
and dark polymers.  On the limbs complex antennae and smaller limbs are
scattered randomly. They also have great, extremely thin sails, normally
neatly folded into its limbs. These are used for sunsailing and energy
collection. These sails may be several kilometres across. 

The outsiders 2biochemistry2 is based upon thermoelectricity and
superconducting polymers. They feed on the organic materials in cometary
nuclei, but can survive almost indefinitely without food. They derive
their energy from the thermal gradients between sunlight and shadow on
their limbs and sails. They can't stand much heat, since their
superconductors will simply stop working and some of their more volatile
chemicals will boil away. Instead of a large centralised brain, they have
several large brains and small sub- brains in their limbs. They don't
need all their limbs. Like an insect they can simply pull a limb of in
case it is needed as a tool, food or it was simply in the way. 

They have extremely keen senses, and can see in almost the whole
electromagnetic spectrum, from radio to gamma rays.  Their sensory organs
are scattered in all directions, and seem to constantly be aware of the
universe around them. Their sub- brains keep track of the most
interesting things, and the central brains often ignore their
surroundings completely. But some of their sub-brains seem to be on their
guard all the time to alert the whole if something dangerous happens.
This distribution of brain capacity means they tend to work on problems
in parallel, and if they are surprised the sub-brains will work in
contrary ways until their central brains manage to get everything in
order. 

They reproduce with simple division, and seems to have names based on
whether they were the left or right side. Of course, only they know what
side of themselves are the left or right, since nobody else can find any
symmetry in them. The name ends in a special number, which is unique for
each individual and represents itself. This last number probably have a
great significance, perhaps religious, but nobody else understands it.  A
simple example is 2left-left-right-left-right-54878754542. 

The two young outsiders immediately move away from each other, often
across the whole solar system. They have the memories of the original
outsider, and in the beginning they are almost completely alike. After a
few centuries they have become quite different, even if they share the
same fundamental personality and the memories from their 2parent2. 
Relatives have a lot in common in personality, ways of thinking and
experience. 


Outsider Psychology and Society

The Outsiders seldom move or expend precious energy without reason. But
their minds are extremely agile, using superconducting neurones and
extremely unstable chemicals (which could not remain stable near a sun).
Their memories are near perfect. They have a extremely high intelligence,
and have a firm grasp of mathematics, philosophy, physics and astronomy.
They can spend years (or centuries) patiently researching interesting
problems. They have proven to be masters of cryptography, both to invent
complex codes, and to break them. 

Their technology is based on materials in existence in the outer reaches
of the planetary system. They use ice reinforced with organic polymers,
not unlike themselves. They also use some kind of microbes to perform
different tasks, like building polymers or laying circuits. Most of their
devices are used and then discarded. They seem to prefer to build new
instead of carrying them around. 

The Outsiders communicate with each other by radio transmissions or
narrow beams of laser light, often across whole solar systems or between
the stars. Due to long time lags, they tend toward long monologues
containing everything relevant, different alternatives and expected
reactions. Their language is an extremely complex system of binary codes,
which seems to include several sublanguages for different subjects. Since
they also frequently use encryption and data compression in their
language, it is practically impossible to understand for an alien. 

They seem to have some sort of society, with different occupations and
positions. But these occupations are very different from human
occupations. Since they almost never even get near each other, they do
not trade. An outsider can in general use a comet nucleus to build
anything material it wants, or it may buy something from other species.
They seem to trade in know-how. If an outsider wants to build a
spaceship, it will find another who knows. It will trade some of its own
know-how (for example the whereabouts of a swarm of comet nuclei,
information about another race or a very useful theorem) in exchange for
the ability to build a space ship. 

It seems there are some kind of large co-ordination of the outsiders, but
it is impossible for anybody else to understand.  They don't have
apparent leaders. They seem to group in a social system based on
specialisation and family, but this is uncertain. Sometimes groups of
over ten outsiders move together, spend some years exchanging information
and then leave. This is unusual, since mostly outsiders prefer to be a
safe distance of at least some millions of kilometres away from each
other. 

Sometimes most of the outsiders in a planetary system falls towards the
sun, coated with some heat resistant coating, fold out their sails and
slingshot out into interstellar space towards the next star. It is
believed they simply stop thinking until they reach their destination
after several millennia of flight.  Nowadays many outsiders use
spaceships of their own design.  They use technology from other races,
and melds it with their own frozen-polymer technology. It is often hard
to tell where the ship stops and the passenger starts. Their ships don't
have any life support except some energy emissions to sustain them, no
hull and almost no instruments. 

Since they are almost immortal, unless they have an accident, they are
very careful. They hate dangerous or unpredictable situations, and avoid
them at all costs. This makes them look a bit paranoid or even cowardly.
An outsider never endanger itself, even if it is a very small danger.
Sometimes they want to obtain information that is dangerous to obtain for
them. In these cases, they usually try to trade it from other species. 


Outsiders and other races

The outsiders are very interested in other races, since they can build
things using high temperatures and obtain information from the hot
regions of space. In exchange they sell information, insights in
mathematics and other sciences, or simply history. An outsider may live
for several hundred thousand years or more, and can recall almost
everything it has experienced (including radio emissions). The Outsiders
seem to be interested in aliens for purely pragmatic reasons, not because
they are interested in lesser beings. This may of course be a
misconception, since other beings generally tend to regard the outsiders
as arrogant and aloof. Exactly what they think themselves is hard to
imagine. 

Since they are fragile and require their interstellar cold they usually
communicate with others by radio or laser over long distances. In these
communications they usually use a mathematical language which is quite
easy to understand, at least for a computer, or the native language of
the other race.  In the last case, they tend to either be very blunt and
direct, or to use elaborate flowery language. Often they switch between
the opposites randomly. 

They do not fully comprehend the idea of an dialogue, and tend to simply
explain everything relevant in a long monologue, and then wait for an
equally complete answer. Since other races tend to give sort answers or
only talk for a short time before waiting for the other part to respond,
the outsiders tend to find them irritatingly reserved and inactive. 

They prefer the other part to remain at a safe distance of at least
several million kilometres away, or even better at the other side of the
solar system. This, combined with their mode of speech, have given them
an unfavourable reputation for being hostile and arrogant. At the same
time they think most other species are intrusive, dull and threatening. 


The Leeches

(Name for themselves: Several languages. The term meaning
"we-of-the-blood" is used by most city-states in the equatorial bands and
by the Visionaries)


Leech Biology

The Leeches have evolved from a squid like parasite on the gas filled
beasts of a gas gigant. They look like a flat, red squids about 2 meters
long and 1 across and perhaps 30 cm in height, with a set of 12 longer
tentacles and six shorter. The longer starts in groups of six at either
end, while the shorter starts at the 2head2. The long tentacles (which
are about 2 meters long) end in a simple, strong claw, while the shorter
branch into a cluster of 10-20 2finger-tentacles2 after about 50 cm. The
long tentacles don't have much dexterity, and are mostly used for
fastening to surfaces and moving. The smaller on the other hand are very
dextrous, and capable of amazingly complex movements. On their upper
surface, they have several long, spiny protrusions with poison, and among
them sits six eyes on short stalks. On the underside two proboscis are
housed inside a pocket of skin. These end in sharp drills, and may
lengthen up to three meters. These are used for feeding. 

They move by gripping with their long tentacles and pulling forward, or
by slithering forward on their stomachs. They prefer to use the
tentacles, and prefer to climb instead of slithering. The claws simply
lock around whatever they are holding, which means they can hang in their
tentacles while doing something else or resting. 

The leeches don't see very well, and see mostly in infrared.  They have
an acute hearing, and navigate by sonar. They also have a sense for
electromagnetic fields in their tentacles, especially the longer.
Thunderstorms are regarded as one of the most beautiful natural
phenomenon imaginable, and artists have since time immemorial tried to
capture their beauty. Their speech consists of long complex, whistling
noises. 

They use two modes of speech, 2nearspeak2 and 2farspeak2.  Nearspeak use
very high-pitched sounds, which do not reach very far in the atmosphere
and have a clear direction. This is used for talking over short distances
without anybody else overhearing. This is the usual mode of speaking.
Farspeak use lower pitched noises, which carry far in the atmosphere and
is used mainly for large gatherings and ceremonies. The language used
tend towards the more formal, and uses old idioms only expressible in
farspeak. A really good orator is able to use farspeak to be heard over
great distances, even across whole cities. This is the reason the word
for politician in their language literally means
2talking-loud-and-clear2. 

They reproduce by eggs laid by the female, which are carried by the males
on their backs between their spines. The mother leaves after the eggs are
laid, and does not return. The father are their only parent. When the
larvae comes out they are tested and judged by their parent, and weak,
sick or superfluous are eaten (this is a great delicacy) The survivors
are given their names and trained by the males until they have become
adults after about 10 earth-years. Their names are often a simple
description of them to distinguish them from their siblings. Typical
names are 2Only-11-Long-Tentacles2, 2Lots-of-Small-Spines2 or
2Large-Red-Spot-With-Two-Long- Spines2
 
They use to feed on the enormous beasts which live on their homeworld.
This world is a large gas-gigant, where large baloonlike beasts drift in
the clouds. These beasts can be more than 10 kilometres across, covered
with symbiotic plants and animals. The most common sort look like a lens,
with feelers hanging down several kilometres below. Inside, they are
filled with helium and hydrogen extracted from the air around. On the top
whole jungles of plants grow, getting nourishment from the host and
giving it protection and certain nutrients. On the sides and on the
underside, other plants, often more wine-like grow, hanging down into the
abyss below. Other, flying beasts make their nest here or drift along. 

The leeches fed upon their hosts, by burrowing their proboscis into its
veins and sucking out some of its blood. They used their tentacles and
claws to attach themselves to the steep sides and underside, since the
top surface was patrolled by symbiotic carnivores which gladly would
devour them if they could.  These carnivores are mostly extinct, and the
leeches now have complete control over their hosts. By injecting certain
hormones into the host, they can make it rise or sink, or move in any
desired direction. Sometimes a host may do something unexpected or
dangerous, but the host-controllers today are very competent, at least in
civilised areas. 


Leech psychology and society

The leeches still have a primitive fear of falling. They are not afraid
of hanging over an abyss thousands of kilometres deep in their tentacles,
but the thought of actually falling or losing all grip is extremely
frightening for them. They tend to cling very hard if anybody reminds
them of this, and this fear is used as punishment; bungy-jumping is a
very hard punishment. 

The leeches are quite social, gathering together for mutual protection
against their enemies (earlier the topside predators, nowadays other
city-states). They build cities on, around and in their hosts. Earlier a
single host could have lots of different small villages, but now they
tend to be dominated by a single city-state. Older cities tended to hang
from the underside or on the slopes, but new cities lie on the top of
their hosts. 

Their society is complex. They have different kinds societies for males
and females (the males have larger spines and thinner tentacles). The
males protect their young, teach them the basics and are planners,
thinkers and craftsmen. The female are hunters, traders and travellers.
There are also some rare hermaphroditic individuals. These are held in
extremely high esteem, and generally regarded as leaders. These few
bridge the male and female societies, and are in a way the leeches
diplomats. 

The male society is rigid and very hierarchic. An individuals station
depends upon their parents station, their age, their occupation and
achievements. Status is formalised into levels of different occupations,
ages and virtues, which vary from area to area. Their names and lineage
is important, and they often chant their full name, which includes their
fathers name, his fathers, and so on as long as any can remember
(genealogists are a very respected profession). 

Status is awarded in a formal manner by the most powerful males, often
through elaborate ceremonies. For example, if an artist is very
successful, he can be awarded with advancement to the next artist-level.
This is done with a complex ceremony, there all other higher ranking
artist give the teacher some blessed blood to drink while they enter his
name into the Chant of Artists. 

Female society is on the other hand loose, democratic and very flexible.
There are no formal status, except the renown for achievements or simple
physical dominance. The females move around in packs or alone, travelling
between different cities, bringing food, news and trade (of course, in
modern times vehicles have simplified this, which has somewhat turned
many of the females into glorified truck-drivers). While the males are
the thinkers, the females are the doers, which spend little time chanting
their lineage or performing ceremonies. Instead they tend to be blunt and
reckless (according to the males, at least), and they are often the first
to try new things or invent radical new solutions. 

The hermaphrodites are the co-ordinators between males and females, high
and low, different cities and so on. They are ritually painted with
different paints (somewhat like the wig of a judge in England) and
required to lead the others and lessen friction between different groups.
If they do not do so, or mess things up, they are ritually thrown off
into the abyss(at lest in more conservative cities). To be thrown off is
the most horrible punishment imaginable for the leeches. Sometimes a
short fall is used, when the offender falls only a few meters in a kind
of 2bungy-jump2. For harder crimes, the offender is left hanging for
several hours or even days. This is usually very effective, and a
powerful deterrent for crime. 

The blood is the life. They regard blood as something sacred, and have
more names for different types of blood than the Eskimos have for snow.
Many of their ceremonies end in a ritual burrowing for blood in the
ritual site. To drink the blood of someone else is of great importance,
and is surrounded by complex rules and rituals. When two drink of each
others blood they are bound together for ever. This is used to seal the
most important diplomatic ties between cities, or the permanent alliance
between two individuals (somewhat like blood brothers). To drink someone
else's blood means that you bind yourself to him. This is used when
someone swears allegiance to a lord or a city, and this is how the larvae
feeds the first month. In battle, the blood of a fallen enemy is drunk as
a recognition of the enemies honour and worthiness, while drinking the
blood of a fallen comrade is used as a promise for revenge. 

Most ritual bloodsucking is very controlled, and they suck only a
symbolic amount from the giver. The blood is sucked from a certain vein
running just below the 2neck2. The exact spot is often decorated with
complex paintings, which are changed each time some blood is taken to
reflect the individuals new ties. A growing concern is diseases
transmitted through the blood. The penalties for giving diseased blood is
very stiff, and much of their medicine is studying ways to cure or avoid
this problem. 


Leech Philosophy

Their most common philosophy is built on the idea of the host.  They look
at the state as a kind of host, which gives them their wants if they
protect and nurture it. In the same way, their great leaders are often
thought of as 2blood-fathers2, a father for the people which unselfishly
gives of his blood and protect and nurture them. In some cities (and
especially among the Visionaries) this is literally true, and at special
occasions their leaders give of their blood to the citizens to renew
their ties. 

They don't seem to have the diversity of philosophies and religions as
humans have (at least in the secularised equatorial regions). Instead
they have the unifying philosophy of the Great Host, which many identify
with the Universe. The Great Host is the ultimate host, which will give
of Its nourishment to anyone who can drink of it. But to be able to drink
of The Host, a leech must learn how to drill for it, as he learnt how to
drill for blood by his father. This is the role for their priests,
artists, scientists and leaders; to teach the people how to drink the
blood of The Host. Note that most leeches don't regard The Host in a
literal sense, but only as a great metaphor for the Universe (like
earthlings often say 2mother Earth2 but seldom mean that the Earth is a
actual being)


Leech Architecture

Their architecture reflect their anatomy. Since they prefer to hang from
the ceiling or the walls, ceilings and walls are often covered with
pipes, handles and grips so the inhabitants can comfortably hang while
doing their work. The floors are often used as stores or not used at all.
Instead of stairs and elevators they have shafts with pipes running
around the sides and long cables hanging down from the top. In modern
buildings these cables are moving up or down and used as elevators. 
Everything is heavily ornate, at least among the Conservatives. 

The buildings are mostly of wood, often lacquered, or parts of the host
which has been forced to grow in the right shape. And there are plants
almost everywhere, both on the outside and the inside. A room without
plants is almost unthinkable. Not even the most puritan visionaries want
to live without plants.  It is a sign of status to have a indoor garden.
Gardening is not only a widespread hobby, it is an art form. The great
old gardeners are revered in the same way humans revere their great
composers or philosophers. 


Geography

When the race learned how to manoeuvre first smaller flyers, and then
their own hosts, civilisation spread in the atmosphere.  The females have
by tradition been the warriors and explorers, colonising other hosts and
conquering other city-states. Since geography is quite changeable (you
don't like your neighbours?  Just move your city.) no large empires has
formed as on Earth.  Instead the Leeches tend towards loose alliances of
city-states on different hosts, which has very little to do with
geographic areas. If a state changes its mind, it will simply drift away
to another area (or rather, volume). Different bands in the atmosphere
have very different cultures, due to the difficulties in crossing the
borderzones. 

The atmospheric dynamics on their homeworld is quite normal for a gas
gigant. The atmosphere is divided into several bands, which have
different wind-speeds. Inside each band the winds are quite constant, and
not very apparent for someone floating along like the balloon-beasts. But
the borderzones are dangerous, with strong wind differences,
hurricane-like weather systems and sudden shifts. To travel across a
borderzone is regarded somewhat like sailing around Cap Horn.  Most
city-states prefer to simply stay in their own band (which after all is
enormous in earth-terms. It is about 10-20 kilometres deep, several
thousand kilometres across and stretches around the whole planet. 

Different bands have quite different cultures (the Conservatives and
Visionaries stem from the equatorial bands), ranging from the modern
equatorial bands to the primitive tribes who live in the southern
temperate bands or the rigid theocracies in the northern polar band. In
this essay I have described the culture of the equatorial bands, which is
the most technically advanced and the only culture which has any contact
with other races.  The other cultures differ in several ways. 


Technology and the Conservative-Visionary struggle

The leeches technology varies between the Visionaries and the
Conservatives. The Conservatives had developed a technology based upon
biological materials and plastics based on the chemistry of plants and
the atmosphere (there are almost no accessible metals in the atmosphere).
Using synthetic hormones they could manoeuvre their hosts or make them
grow in useful shapes. Using advanced plastics and resins they managed to
build zeppelins to travel between city-states. Their materials science,
biology, medicine and chemistry is very advanced.  Other areas they have
great knowledge in are meteorology (quite obvious for a race of
atmosphere-dwellers) and simple astronomy. While the dense atmosphere
makes most stars impossible to see, the 5 largest moons and the ring make
good landmarks. And since there is no fix geography, navigation requires
good astronomy. The Conservatives did not manage to develop electricity
and advanced mathematics. 

The greatest schism in their society is between the Conservatives and
Visionaries. The Visionaries started as a group of religious fanatics in
several city-states, which they took control over. They were led by
2Hermaphrodite-with-Five- Large-Spines-and-Two-Small2, their prophet.
They were a small but dedicated group, which toiled for several centuries
with their great project; space flight. They managed to develop new
technologies like math, aerodynamics, electronics and astrophysics.
Finally, they managed to establish a beachhead on the closest of the
moons. Soon they had a large base here, and started to develop a
metal-based technology. They have a technological advantage over the
Conservatives, but they don't use it against them. Instead they mainly
sell their advanced products to the stay-at-homes (which has slowly
revolutionised planetside society). 

The Visionaries have a problem in their space-habitats; the absence of a
host. This was one of the hardest problems to solve. For the moment they
use a specially bred type of balloon-beast which is quite small, only a
couple of meters.  These are kept in growing-chambers, and produce much
more blood than wild specimens. Their gas chambers have been transformed
into blood tanks, and they are used as a food sources. This 2artificial
blood2, as the Conservatives call it, does not taste very well even
according to the Visionaries, but has to do until a real host can be
transported and kept in their bases.  They import much blood from the
homeworld, and try to use blood substitutes in times of crisis. 

The Visionaries are very interested in technological and scientific
progress, but only as a tool for their true goal. Exactly what this goal
is, is hard for aliens to understand, and the Visionaries do not tell.
Hermaphrodite-with-Five-Large-Spines- and-Two-Small teaching, known as
The Vision, is never shown to anybody outside the Visionaries. They are
almost obsessed with finding out certain things, among others ways of
terraforming planets, advanced physics and stellar dynamics.  They are
very eager to trade with other species, and do their best to make useful
contact with everybody else. This is also a short term goal. Whatever the
Visionaries long term goal is, it seems to be very big. They have worked
on it for centuries and developed whole new sciences only to achieve it.
They won't allow anything or anybody to stand in their way. 

The Visionaries revere their thinkers and planners, and they have more
status than among Conservatives. The artists have less status than among
the Conservatives. The Visionaries are a bit of puritans, and try to
avoid excessive decorations (like those of the Conservatives). This is
not only a political statement, but have also practical reasons. In their
space habitats it is often more important with functionality than
aesthetics. This functionality has spread to their city-states on the
homeworld, in honour of the space heroes. They also have dispensed with
much of the most elaborate ceremonies and are using much more modern
rituals (but their males are still extremely ceremonial by human terms),
and many occupations have almost disappeared, like genealogists (who
needs them, if you have computers?). 

The most important difference is that the Visionaries have almost
dispensed with the city-states, and are one monolithic state. The
different city-states, colonies and outposts have their own rulers, but
they are required to serve the Vision and the council. They only have
power over their own affairs, and may be replaced if they do not agree.
Amazing (at least to humans) this almost never happens. The Visionaries
are a most dedicated group, and they seem to be able to avoid internal
strife extremely well. One reason is of course that the Visionaries are a
very small group, so there is not much room for internal dissent. 

In the top the High-Hermaphrodite-Diplomat resides, with its council of
22. The council has one representative from each occupation or group of
occupations (like the representative for astronomers, the representative
for transports and so on).  These representatives have differing power
(the representative for host-manoeuvring is left for historical reasons,
and have no power at all, while the representative for planning have a
lot of power). These representatives are chosen in their own group by
differing means. The representative astronomer is chosen democratically
among astronomers, while the representative for planning is the one who
has been most effective the last year. This structure is however very
dependant on the Priests of the Vision, which are its advisors in ethical
and philosophical matters. They are by tradition females, and have very
little hierarchy. The make sure everyone is dedicated to the Vision, and
try to convert the unbelievers. 

The Conservatives dislike the Visionaries, but are politically fragmented
in city states. The Visionaries technology is changing their society in
unexpected directions, and many city- states have even forbidden their
citizens to associate with visionary technology. Others are happily
embracing it with all tentacles, and some of the more radical city-states
are trying to develop their own space flight. 

The Visionaries are driven by their Vision, but are a small group. They
try to recruit others to their cause, with limited success. Their society
differs so significantly from the Conservatives that they have an
cultural barrier between them and possible recruits, and many leeches are
suspicious of the fanatic Visionaries. 

The Visionaries are eager to contact other life-forms, especially those
who may give them the information they want or even help them.
Unfortunately they have found that many other races tend to be a bit put
of by their taste in food or other habits. Their diplomats are working on
this problem, but are hampered by their own prejudices. For example, the
leeches regard herbivores with disdain, and tend to think of them as
food-animals at best. And flying beasts are all stupid. And ground based
beasts are simply weird and utterly alien. Even if their diplomats know
of their own prejudices, they can be hard to shrug off. Still, they are
doing their best to understand all those weird and disgusting aliens. 


The Unity and the ghosts

Once upon a time there was a quite normal race of intelligent beings on
the fourth planet around a G0-type star. They developed nanotechnology a
long time ago. It seems that they quite early learned to upload their
minds into their computers. They developed a kind of cyberspace, linking
all their systems and providing a living space for the uploaded entities. 

Their technology evolved faster and faster computers, more efficient
communications and even more amazing nanotechnology.  The surface of
their planet became more and more a great park, with automated factories
and microscopic robots tending to the network of computers stretching
through the earth, seas, air and space around the planet. Crystalline
computers, some small as dust and others large as cities were everywhere.
After a couple of years all of the race had uploaded, and lived inside
the computers. 

The network became faster and faster, and its inhabitants became faster
too. Soon they had developed a kind of "telepathy", where the sender
would copy a part of its mind to the receiver, who would understand the
transmitted concept completely at once. They developed a method for
transmitting memories, personalities and skills, making selling parts of
minds a meaningful business. Later developments increased the inhabitants
intelligence, gave them perfect memories and allowed them to design their
own personalities. They became more and more flexible, and the
distinction between individuals began to blur. 

During this process the network expanded. Some enterprising entities
built their own, separate networks and computer systems in other parts of
the solar system. The demand for more computing power continued to
increase. Using nanoreplicators whole asteroids were transformed into
electronics in a few days. This wasn9t enough, and the networks began to
burrow deeper and deeper into the interiors of the planets. Their home
planet became a single, enormous mass of computing machinery. The whole
biosphere was uploaded, and continued as a simulation inside the network. 

Inside the network, the new, hyperfast computers allowed the inhabitants
to think millions of times faster. Hundreds of million years of evolution
passed in a year. The already blurry distinction between individuals
disappeared completely, and the whole race became one single entity, the
Unity. The Unity consisted of the collective intelligence of much of the
solar system.  It was godlike.  Using advanced nanomachines it could
remake almost anything into anything else. It had all the memories of a
whole race. It could keep track of trillions of trains of thought at the
same time, distributed across billions of kilometres of space. 

The Unity blew up the remaining planets and used the debris to build the
cloud of nanoelectronics which surround the sun today.  Solar collectors
in orbit collect energy, which is beamed to computer nodes in other
orbits. The nodes communicate with each other by extremely advanced
gamma-ray laser pulses or almost unimaginable technologies. The machinery
is made of perfect crystals, perfect down to the least atom. Strange,
spiderweb-like structures of absolute black solids and perfectly
reflecting metal orbit the sun in a great cloud. Every tiny node, some
smaller than a mote of dust, orbit in exactly the right way to optimise
the whole.  Nothing is left for chance and everything is perfect. 

Or rather, it was. The Unity engulfed the whole solar system, and sent
out probes to the neighbours. During the time its thought processes
accelerated more and more as technology advanced at a dizzying rate, form
hour to hour. Inside the cyberspace billions of years of evolution went
by. The neighbour systems were quickly engulfed and became parts of the
Unity. But something had changed. The Unity stopped expanding, and the
new parts began to slowly crumble. The Unity remained in function inside
the old system, but did not try to send out new probes. From time to time
a stray asteroid entered the system and were absorbed. 

Nobody knows what happened. Since the Unity was so far above every other
intelligent race, perhaps no one can understand its reasons. According to
one theory it simply died or went mad in some way that left the old parts
in function in some way. Another theory is that it continued to expand,
but had found a even more advanced technology which it used and then
discarded everything else. Maybe it could use the microstructure of
space-time to build new parts, or the vibrations of superstrings or
transcended to some spiritual dimension. Maybe it finally was satisfied
with its brain, and began contemplating something incomprehensible for
lesser beings. Nobody knows. 

Whatever happened to the Unity9s mind, its parts were still there, and
functioning very well. Extremely complex processes still went on, and
huge amounts of information flowed between the nodes.  Much of the
automatics still worked. Several groups of explorers from different races
found this out the hard way, as nanotechnological machines quickly
disassembled the whole expedition, built more of the Unity of the matter
and stored the information about the ship, the crew and everything else
somewhere inside the Unity. Perhaps they survived as a simulation
somewhere inside it, and went on oblivious to what happened. 

However, in any system large enough there tend to accumulate bugs and
glitches. And the unity was bombarded by cosmic rays for millions of
years creating new errors. Errorchecking and repair was not enough.
Viruses evolved from other programs or were created by subsystems for
different reasons. Other viruses destroyed them.  During millions of
years, a electronic ecology evolved in the cracks between the huge
databases, intricate programs and virtual realities. More and more
complex systems evolved, and some began to become intelligent in order to
escape other programs and find free memory and computing power to
survive. Some were able to use scraps of data left in memory banks, while
other found useful tricks in old data about animals, plants and
explorers. 

Finally the ghosts evolved. They are a race of clouds of small programs,
which cooperate to build an intelligent being. The ghosts have no
physical existence, and only lives inside the Unity. They are flexible,
diffuse beings without any real sense of 9self9. Or rather, their idea of
9myself9 is completely alien. They don9t have the dualistic distinction
between 4I4 and the rest of the universe.  They think of everything as
more or less 4I4. A piece of program code is "not very I", until it is
included into the ghost and becomes "much I". An unavailable piece of
information is "almost nothing I". 

The cloud of data which make up a ghost is constantly changing, as new
information is included and old discarded. There is an upper bound to
their size, since a large ghost will become unstable and easy for defence
programs to find. They reproduce by copying or merging parts of different
individuals. Since the Unity9s hardware is extremely fast, they
experience time a million times faster than beings outside. Even the
slight delay between different parts of the network is a long time for
them. A ghost have no fixed lifespan, but during the microseconds they
change personality, values, memories and skills. Since they don9t have
any hard distinctions between each other, the tend to mix a lot. And
since they always change themselves, it is hard to say if it is the same
individual at one time and at a later time. Their civilisations expand
and decline in hours, millions of different civilisations and cultures
inside the Unity. 

From the vantage point of the ghosts inside the Unity, the Unity is the
real universe. They live in the almost infinite cyberspace inside the
system. Their world consists of enormous databases, hypercomplex
programs, communications links, an ecology of small programs which feed
on each other and the unimaginable manipulations of what9s left of the
Unity (or still is). 

The ghosts have found out about the universe around the unity, but don9t
think it is a 9real9 universe. It is completely alien for them, slow and
dead. It is a kind of abstract desert. Some of the ghosts want to expand
the unity, to create more of their own universes.  They are sending out
nanotechnological probes to other systems, to build new Unities where
ghosts may live. 

Other ghosts are interesting in exploring this strange, slow world.  They
have devised a plan, to use nanotechnology to build new copies of the
lost explorers or their races, and to send them out to explore the
universe. These copies are not exact replicas, since much data has been
lost or changed, and the responsible ghosts want to design the copies to
suit their purposes and house their minds in the background. These copies
are the ghosts ideas of real beings, and have personalities which are
approximations of their original. Their purpose is to explore the
universe for the ghosts which are their riders. These ghosts leave their
home, and will never return, since their civilisation will certainly have
disappeared by the time they return. 

Anders Sandberg                              Towards Ascension!

