The Harmonious Network
Seek a better melody
Leader: The Auditor
The Auditor is the Universal figurehead of the network, elected by numerous leaders from numerous worlds to act as the voice of the network.
The role of auditor is limited in scope, not a king or president, but simply a glorified spokesperson for a system which has no truly unifying force.
The auditor sets a general agenda that the waystations give voice to and how said agenda is executed (or if it is even executed at all) is
completely out of the Auditor’s grasp- it is left to those within the network to decide, not any caste or collective.
Auditors have come in many shapes and forms over the ages, for the network is a means of existence, not empire or state.
And those who are elected to the position of auditor are to be the voice of the network, to serve the network and to ensure the network’s propagation so that the universe may one day be free of lifelessness.
Description:
The network is not an organization nor a state. It is a system.
A system made in a different kind of harmony, where stability and order are viewed as death and chaos, instability and anarchy are viewed as life.
Such a view comes with a history.
In ancient times the inner network was dominated by an alien civilization that sought a pristine, orderly society that would be eternal. It lasted ages on end, nothing happened. It was as if, in their time, life stopped living.
One day, however, everything just fell apart for them. A civilization that should have lasted forever was ripped apart within a month. It collapsed internally, causing a holocaust of proportions thankfully unseen in modern times and within that vacuum came the Composers.
The nature of the Composers is completely unknown, other than they are biomechanical beings the size of spacecraft who would atop the ashes of the ancient empires, build the network way station by waystation. But they were intent on ensuring that the symphony of life does not end with the ancients, and so a system was built.
A system that has propagated itself among a expansionistic mesh of waystations and kept from stabilizing by the seemingly unpredictable activities of the composers, who meddle in the affairs of those who inhabit the network to ensure no stability ever occurs- for the music of existence cannot be played out in a orderly state.
It can be hard to tell what is and isn’t a manifestation of the Composers, whose ability to play the music of civilization has been refined over the centuries to be ever more unpredictable. Some composers are out in the open and regularly interract with other peoples of the network while other composers are much more reclusive in nature- for the composers are individuals into themselves. Still, they generally seek to keep their interventions to a minimum so as to see their melodies play out uninterrupted.
There are no majority species within the network. Instead there is a diversity of beings unheard of in most other parts of the universe- aliens that truly act the part, of whom regularly have many sub-species built from the biotech which in the amazingly lax environment of the network has become widespread. Biosynthetic beings of sizes ranging from spacecraft to ticks, cyborgs and uplifted animals and humans even of numerous forms, shapes and colors.
Magic however, is absent.
Instead of any single entity controlling the network, instead what you see are various organizations vying for power, in perpetual competition as societies rise and fall, as fame comes and goes unified by multiple provisional committees who have managed to create bare minimal standardizations within the network. Even these standardizations remain an amazingly divisive subject and have been flipped or changed on numerous occasions over the ages.
The primary standardizations merely being the use of a common currency, warp system and intermediately language, none of which one is obligated to use, but are used simply due to convenience or because it is the cheapest option anyways. It also facilitated for the role waystations play in the network, that is as the locus for the network’s social universe. Where information flows freely and unrestricted, thanks to the amorality of the composers who built them and still build them to this day.
Technology wise, biotechnology is far more prominent than usual, with biotech being practically everywhere and cheap to purchase. Genetic modification, symbionts, living clothing, bioships and more all are common sights in the core network. However, technology is overall amazingly diverse as the various organizations seeking their time in the spotlight constantly try finding new advancements to gain critical advantages. Yet, magic is lacking in the network, it is not a force you see in the network much, and usually only due to an immigrant from some magical place.
To join the network is to liberate own’s self from the deathly existence of a stable state where there is no hope for any future and instead embrace the perpetual chaotic state of life itself. To be truly living, and in harmony with the melody that is life instead of being lorded by those who seek to turn animals into rocks. To be a free animal in a realm where nature and civilization have littles boundaries as the forces of life can be truly unfettered on a scale far more grand than any single world.
Goals:
To liberate the universe from stability and create a system where life can truly prosper.
Unique Abilities
Ancient Relics
The ruins of the ancient Cyrawaloc have relics constantly fought for on a regular basis. The science behind them has been lost, with a large amount of uncertainty on how they even work.
As to the range of abilities, this is case by case ((Read: Player dependent, GM approval is needed to introduce new artifacts)). If the relic is more powerful, it is rarer. Any exceptionally powerful relic should be one-of-a-kind. Relics tend to destroy themselves once activated and used if they carry out a direct, active action. Passive relics don't get destroyed, but do overheat and risk being destroyed if their abilities are overused.
Adaptive Symbionts
All citizens of the Network to some degree have an adaptive symbiont as part of them. This is because biotechnology is very developed and mass produced in much of the network and thus at some point someone usually gets themselves a symbiont. These symbionts live on or inside you and are incredibly useful for the sort of interspecies interactions that are the norm of the Network. One tends to forget you have a critter living inside you modifying your body systems to whatever the local environment requires.
These artificial symbionts have a slew of applications, but the primarily application is that of adapting. For the symbionts allow one to be able to populate a more diverse range of environments than one normally would. Symbionts are surgically implemented quite easily as the Symbiont does all the rest. Symbionts do mean you must eat more, but with biotech food is easy to come by in the network so feel free to eat all you like, your symbiont will approve of it.
Bioships
Bioships are living spacecraft. Such biocraft are common in the Network and are deliberately designed to evolve over generations. Bioships are frequent and often have mechanical traits modularly added to the core creature. Bioships are usually made synthetically, but there are bioships that can give birth to new bioships and be genetically modified with various plasmids and genomes. Bioships have the downside of feeling pain and being more tedious to shield.
Territories
The Network is very expansionist, constantly colonizing, constantly trying to make more and more things, is quite natalistic with no attempt made whatsoever to control population growth, abhors the dullness of space and so spreads life everywhere they want with near-absolute recklessness. Unless an organization demands otherwise, assimilate all natives within their path and do so under a decentralized system thanks to the agendas of the organizations and the composers always marketing it.
Harmony must be spread throughout the galaxy, after all.
@Arawak's additions:
The Core Network
The Core Network is the region of the Network most interconnected by the waystations, and is where most activity occurs between various heavily populated worlds. The core Network is where the Majupe, Saukila, Utokma and Paminara all exist and this densely populated region of the network is notorious for its intensive biotech industries and constant powerstruggles among the elite. Still, standards of living are considerably higher here than other parts of the network.
Worlds
@Isotope's additions:
The Myrlian Belt
Insanity, chaos, opportunity, all these words have been used to describe the Myrlian belt. A region of space defined by its four inhabitable systems and numerous terraformed words, the belt was once the site of an extensive, and expensive, colonization campaign. The Directorate of Myr, a government within the greater Harmonious Network, put enough capital into the project that many considered the belt to be a prospective hub of commerce and development. The only problem was that the project became so expensive the Directorate ran out of funds. Taxes higher than any in the network were leveled within the Directorate to address the crises, but ultimately political pressure demanded the entire effort be abandoned.
Isolated on the distant outer rim of the Harmonious Network, with only the most developed planet having a way station, the Myrlian Belt fell apart. Paychecks stopped arriving and then laws stopped being enforced. Billions of credits worth of weaponry went missing as soldiers abandoned their posts and took 'severance packages' with them, aiming to turn into a hefty profit. Those weapons found their way into the hands of individuals who aspired to be the new lords of the belt, and soon war became a constant in the life of those foolish enough to have moved to a once shining beacon of civilization.
Without easy transport millions were trapped to live in a new kind of hell. Those on the less developed planets were the luckiest; for the most part they were free to live out bucolic, yet unimportant, lives away from the ravages of war. However, even on those dusty, half terraformed, and easily forgotten worlds, law had become a thing of the past. Pirates, raiders, mercenaries, the Myrlian belt had forever become a haven and utopia to them all.
The Systems of the Myrlian Belt:
Critical Points
The Tukubwa - The grand Womb
The Tukubwa is a secretive place, being the place which new Composers are born. The Tukubwa is filled with massive structures of unknown cultural origin and acts as both a nursery and ceremonial site for the Composers. The whereabouts of this located have been obscured by floods of disinformation of its location and various assassinations have made a living off killing those know too much of it. If Tukubwa is lost, the Composers would die out.
The Waystations
The Waystations are a network of FTL comm systems that are used to send AIs around the network, make virtual universes, allow for a common sense of identity to be made even within radically oppossed societies and in general keeps things together. Should the Waystations fall, it would be a new dark age to many within the network. Taking over Saukila is of high priority to destabilizing the waystations, one should note.
Utokma
If one were to capture Utokma, the Network would lose a large amount of its industrial complex as Utokma is the largest industrial region in the network- to lose it would be a serious setback for the network.
Faction Relations
The UFP- The Network is not one to be fans of the galactic overlords by any stretch of the imagination. Let's leave it at that for now.
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The current Auditor
Borulama Dy Saukila, Auditor of the Network
Species Roster
Cyrawaloc
Symbiotic aliens who created lot of the foundations for the biotech the Network uses to this day. Their kind made huge empires in the past that all collapsed. Yet despite the collapse, the Cyrawaloc remain a common sight of the network.
Human
Humans are one of the minority species of the Network as humans are seen as all things that are human-like to the point where they aren't really differentiated given the frequent genetic modification seen in the network.
Humans have a long history in the Network as various human businesses seeking a less regulated environment emigrated to the Network seeking new prosperity. For the very lax system the Network has regarding organization activities enabled humans sick of things back home to go somewhere else even if it meant dealing with some quite strange aliens. Most humans over the centuries have nativized to some degree thanks to the incredible frequency of cross-species parenting in the Network.
Paminians
Paminians are arboreal bipeds that come in many shapes and sizes thanks to their rapid adaptability and colonization of various worlds after their integration into the Network on their homeworld of Paminara. The Paminians are a very taste oriented species, as they should be given than their hands and feet are prehensile tongues.
Character Roster
@Arawak's Characters: Borulama Dy Saukila, Auditor of the Network
@Quetzalcoatl's Characters: Iliyana Kris of Melierax
@Oraculum's Characters: Expansion Disseminator Gssanmil Flehsim U Vnohhathri
@Catchamber's Characters: Does he really need one?
@Antarctic Termite's Characters: Aeym the Pilot
@Dark Light's Characters: Arex the Enforcer
Potentials:
-Liasion, shown interest.
-Zyamesial, shown interest.
-Heroic Sociopath, made a char sheet but eh... He really needs to read this thread.
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Note - PLEASE READ
The Network is a system and thus is not like a group with one specific aim or purpose all members are expected to conform to. It is a civilization with an ideology and a couple creative regulations to increase creativity and not anything more intensive than that. Therefore, you can be all sorts of things within the network, there is nothing that says you must agree with the network's agenda, you could just as easily work against it. The Network is more a place than a group, a place with peculiar characteristics, but a place regardless.
There is nothing that says "You must do as the composers do"- the Composer's ideology is not your ideology.
You just need to have a character who was born somewhere in network space or has become a citizen of the network which you can do in all matter of ways, usually involving a bribe or being brought in for cheap labor.
You can base groups within the network, but they shouldn’t align with the composers to avoid making any super group out of the network.
Guidelines for the Network
-Any aliens you add should avoid being human-like, if they are bipeds that is totally fine, just not something that is a slightly modified human. If you want a fancy colored human, just use biotech.
-Please don’t have magic. This is a sci-fi themed society and it would be considerably out of place.
Ideologies of the Network
The network, thanks to its decentralized nature has all matter of ideologies and political parties across its vast web of worlds, for ideas transcend the tribalism and spread like a virus to other parts of the system quite fast so these ideologies could spring up anywhere at anytime.
Neo-Darwinism
Neo-darwinists basically following a survival of the fittest attitude that goes in line with the incredibly capitalist mentality they have. Neo-darwinism is much more concrete than the melody, with its incredibly realist outlook on things and is willing to at times descend into species collectivism- see @isotope's character for an example of this. Neodarwinism usually is much more libertarian than this, seeing the universe as like a massive jungle that evolutionary forces work in, with the strong devouring the weak and whatnot. They have found the composers at times incredibly frustrating, seeing them ironically as getting in the way of 'the natural forces'. The Composers however tend to view monopolization as getting in the way of natural forces in return, which has been a source of quite a bit of tension. That being said, there are Composers who do believe in Neo-Darwinism much to the dismay of many other composers who like making little fiefdoms for themselves in various pockets of the network. Still, neodarwinism isn't viewed as bad as the Biocollectivists. Neodarwinism is commonly found in the Myrlian Belt.
The Melody
The melody is the ideology of the Composers in general, and has sway among the common populace as well. In effect, the melody asserts stability as a form of not living, much like planets orbiting stars are not living. Yes they move, but without the chaotic system, they are dead. Life is viewed as a chaotic force that one can dabble in and influence, but should never acutely control as stability leads to death. In practice this belief system doesn't value corporations over labor unions or charity, it simply is hostile towards any potential stabilizing forces. This has led to lots of tensions between the commitee and the composers, the composers not wanting any standardization beyond the waystations, language and currency and even that took some time for the composers to find beneficial to their agenda of creating a cosmic harmony, for ultimately life is a form of music, to which the universe sways to and the forces which seek to silence that music have to be subverted or else all life may perish. The Composers as a result act as a means of preventing monopolies, which has helped there to be more social mobility in the network that may explain why despite many of the horrors which the network is notorious for, many citizens of the network still see the system as ultimately better than what other societies offer with their siren songs of stability and peace.
Baseliners
Baseliners are those who believe in a baseline standard for living so that higher forms of conflict can be practiced much more often. They are called Baseliners due to the desire for a strong baseline, which is basically a welfare state. The idea of the baseline being that one may be able to do what they want without worry with a strong baseline which all live within so that they may attain new forms of harmony than fighting for survival, which they view as a stability in of itself. Baseliners are common in the core network, often promoted by political machines to gain power and money from taxes by upping the benefits of the baseline. Baseliners don't view themselves in competition with the Melodists or Neodarwinists, but there is much criticism of Baseliners over the amount of money they extort from people, for fears of stability it may cause or that their means of chaos are too contrived, to not even begin about the horrid corruption. The Baseliners usually end up working with Melodists to manufacture chaos to keep complacency from setting in along with the various forms of neo-tribalism that are incubated to launch new conflicts, as well as political machines starting wars within the core network over various fueds on a regular basis to ensure a constant need to innovate.
Biocollectivism
Still, the horrors of the network have begat a counter reaction among various populations who seek to upend the whole system entirely in favor of a more utopian society. The ultimate goal of biocollectivism being to make a super organism which encompasses all species, stupid or intelligent, mechanical or organic in order for a universal bliss which is so absent in the highly individualistic and atomized network. Biocollectivism believes in using biotechnology to modify the very nature of life itself, and upending the individual in favor of a super individual. This belief system is something the other ideologies usually will unite to suppress, due to its sheer insanity to them- still biocollectivist experiments have happened on some network worlds to much horror at the results and has been the source of a several wars within the network due to the tumorous nature of biocollectivism. Biocollectivism can be found in various parts of the network, you never know what world they'll ruin next.
Group chat:
Harmonious Chat Relay
