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Socio-Ecological Categories |
The whole galaxy is shaped by the archailects and AI Gods. They determine everything, but they leave spaces for beings of lower toposophics
There are large areas off-limits to ordinary sapients. Simply uninhabitable by bionts, or worse, actively hostile no-go zones; great megastructures, ISOs, computronium bands, nebula, also small areas too.
There are places where only third toposophic minds go, places where second toposophic powers keep first toposophic transapients as pets, and so on.
In all the dyson spheres, orbital bands, ISO clusters, banks orbitals, bishop rings, terraformed planets, megastructures of all kinds, scattered throughout the terragen sphere, most are off-limits to basic sophonts (apart from those deliberately retained as subroutines or other purposes). But even those few areas permitted to ordinary sapients are thousands, if not millions, of times vaster than anything available or possible in the pre-artilect era. There is thus no shortage of living space! And of course there are worlds away from the nexus, there's the beamrider network, there's the outer volumes, the wilds, unexplored and undeveloped regions, feral regions and wildhu reserves, and so on.
In any transapient (ai or po) run polity, subsingularity sophonts can expect to belong to one of the following categories:
Sovereign - a citizen or other sophont who has dominion over a great many others
Citizen - Zar, free citizens, free beings (also means Sir/Madam, Lord/Lady, one deserving of respectful, highness, excellence, owner, patron, etc.)
Neophyte - initiate, apprentice, one being introduced to galactic society, one in the process of being uplifted etc (pertains to the Civilized Galaxy only)
These categories are distinct:
domestic - companions, pets, servants (treated well) - have full protection and sentient rights
livestock and sophontstock - slaves, semi-autonomous subroutines, sophontstock, etc (limited sentient rights in the Civilized Galaxy, none elsewhere)
societumans - inhabitants of a societum. Generally have few sentient rights but are still usually well cared for.
experimentals - lab-sophonts or test-sophonts (some treated well, others cruelly, (some sentient rights in the Civilized Galaxy, but not in all other civs).
These categories tend to overlap:
outsider - sophont who is not a member of galactic society, and is not interesting in being one, preferring eir own unique status. Nevertheless they may associate in sephirotic and other territories. Differ from wild, parawild, etc in having a greater element of choice
wannabe - sophont who is likewise not a member of galactic society, but would very much like to be. Generally they hang around the main missionary regions and sephirotic borders, oping to be discovered and incorporated into wider galactic life
stray - a domestic that has been abandoned by or lost eir Sovereign or Zar. If e survives e may be adopted by another Sovereign or Zar or a shelter, or become parawild or feral
symbiotics - may or may not be owned by a ship, habitat, megastructure, ecology, or higher toposophic entity, from whose proximity ey benefit. Retained, encouraged, and generally protected because ey fulfil a valuable role.
commensals - exist in a larger ship, habitat, megastructure or ecology, from which they benefit. Tolerated or ignored because they do no harm. Similar to parawild but with greater dependence
parawild - wild/free but associated with environments created by higher toposophics, and dependent on them, harmless (common)
wild - wild/free but in reserves or designated areas only, may or may not be dangerous (although more often than not harmless)
feral - wild/free but outside designated areas, considered dangerous to other beings (fairly rare in the Sephirotic polities, reasonably common elsewhere). Overlaps with predator but generally a distinct category)
predators - exist in a larger ship, habitat, megastructure or ecology, in which they feed or prey upon other sophonts. May be tolerated, encouraged, or culled, depending on the type of being, its environment, and its prey.
parasites - exist in a larger ship, habitat, megastructure or ecology, from which they benefit, while causing home to the greater whole. Include viruses, blights, and so on, as well as amoral and self-serving sapients or clades. Are generally culled when found.
vermin/weed - any of the above that becomes a nuisance and is culled (rare in the Sephirotic polities, but reasonably common elsewhere)
Note that some of these principles also apply to transapients who infringe the living spaces of Minds of one or two one singularity levels higher than they are.
