Orion's Arm Basics
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Orion's Arm Basics |
No-one knows how the future will pan out. The present OA setting is a hypothetical dramatic device. It is something very different to most other science fiction settings. It is also, at least in some of its central themes, terrifyingly possible.
Although humanity has long since been surpassed by advanced AIs and posthumans, it continues much as it always has, but now serve as the base of an incredibly vast and complex galactic ecology.
In designing the OA universe we wanted to explore a different option to the standard idea of a future in which an unmodified (or as we say here "baseline") albeit a technologically more developed humanity is the top dog in the galaxy. In OA humanity joins a number of other races as lesser members of the galactic ecology. This is not to demean the nobility of humankind (or other sentient beings); only to suggest that when some individuals (whether originally human or otherwise) ascend to higher levels of intelligence and ability, it is inevitable that they will leave their fellows behind, and become something much greater than they previously were.
The "current setting" of the OA universe is a place in which, for thousands of years, the civilized galaxy has been ruled by mighty Ascended Intelligences or Super Intelligences - self-evolving entities so vast they span entire star systems, so technologically advanced that their activities seem like magic, even in a civilization of ultra tech. Because they are so far above us in power and intellect, these beings seem like gods. They are the true sovereigns of the terragen sphere.
Thanks to DIY genetic engineering, cyborgisation, software and wetware evolution, deliberate planned adaptation, utopian social experiments and genetic drift in small groups isolated in ships or on asteroids or biospheres or planets, the human race has split into countless millions of distinct races, cultures, languages, psychologies, and physiologies.
And not all of these races and species are recognisably human. Many have evolved completely beyond the original unmodified genome or "baseline" human condition; becoming post-human superbrights and hyperbrights, some pursuing an organic evolution, others using advanced cyborgisation to meld with AIs. There are cyborgs, superhumans, "provolved" animals (animals raised to human or greater intelligence) and more. And of course there are still a few unmodified people around as well, only they now occupy a much lower position in the galactic hierarchy than man does on Earth now.
But for all its diversity, for all its homo superiors and ultra-tech, a person from today's world will recognise some of the same issues, the same struggles and hopes and fears and loves and losses that have historically characterized sapient beings.
All these genetically or cybernetically enhanced people will not necessarily be "wiser" or more "spiritual" than us, just as we are no wiser or more spiritual than animals. There is a central core of human nature that persists in most sapients that have evolved from the original baseline condition. And along with the higher and nobler things like art, creativity, altruism, self-sacrifice etc there still is greed, selfishness, stupidity, exploitation, deceit, lust for power,... But as for the transapients and above, who knows?
Even thousands of years of advanced deep space infra-structure and life-support systems haven't made the universe a friendlier place. Things might be warm and cozy in your orbital habitat or on the surface of a well-terraformed planet, but don't go exploring the universe without a well-checked space suit and on-ship biosphere!
The fact is, outer space is an incredibly hostile environment. It is a hard vacuum, bombarded by life-threatening cosmic rays, unimaginably cold except in the proximity of stars, where it is unbelievably hot. Most settled worlds will be under sealed domes or other such biospheres in which life-sustaining resources will be in short demand and very expensive - an oxygen tax will probably be standard fare! And apart from the terraformed worlds, conditions on other planets will be very be nasty indeed (look at our own present solar system - the Moon - airless vacuum, Mercury - hot enough to melt lead, Venus - rains of sulphuric acid, Mars - thin unbreathable atmosphere and arctic cold even at the equator...)
Linking well colonised star systems are the stargates, artificial tunnels in space-time - vast, static, temperamental, hugely expensive and strategically important artificial wormholes. Within their nexus, all the worlds are cozy and well connected. But travel beyond, and you will need to spend decades and centuries moving at close to the speed of light to get anywhere at all
Not only is outer space hostile to life. Outer space is also huge. It is huge and vast and empty and lonely beyond the power of the human imagination to comprehend. In fact it is so huge and so vast fact that no technology, no matter how advanced, will ever give us a cozy little universe you can waltz across in a few hours or days [note]. If you want to get anywhere, you will be subject to the tyranny of Einsteinian physics. No matter how advanced the drive unit (and we do have some pretty advanced propulsion in Orion's Arm), your ship will still take decades or centuries make the journey between even nearby stars. Such sub-relativistic (rarely relativistic) spaceships will often be cramped and smelly and piloted by robots or genetically tweaked post-humans who have been adapted to microgravity and can compensate for genetic damage caused by cosmic ray bombardment.
This is not to say there won't also be large, fast, sleek, well-shielded, reactionless drive ships as well ;-)
Equally unlikely is the idea of every star having planets, even mars or Venus-like planets. Although there are certainly earth-like ("garden world") planets out there, they are likely to be a lot rarer than previously assumed, and many planets will occupy such highly elliptical, even irregular, orbits which will make developing domed and self-contained life even harder than it would be in outer space.
The above is only a beginning. But it should give you an idea. More themes and elements can be found in the Topics page. Or see Voices from Orion's Arm for more of the atmosphere.
