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Genius Loci |
The philosophy of Negentropy affords the greatest reverence to life, recogising the role of humanity and intelligence in the fight against disorder. Human life is therefore encouraged and supported, and many Negentropic worlds are utopian and comfortable. Diversity of politics and ideology is also encouraged in order to maximize depth in the organisational complexity of the system, although every effort is made to avoid inefficiency and needless debate.
The efficient matter compilers that are provided to homes and institutions in many negentropic human utopian worlds are sometimes refered to as household gods, or Genius Loci. They act as home management and security systems, and all the needs of the citizen of the Negentropic state is taken care of.
The Genius Locus has access to vast amounts of energy, raw materials and recipies for food and consumables, anything from a glass of orange juice to a spacecraft. Where the Negentropic household god is different to those of other polities is in the concern with the moral well-being of Er client citizens. All the basic needs of Er citizens are provided for, but the Genius Locus is reluctant to provide for the desires of Er citizens in many cases, especially where those desires are of a frivolous or wasteful nature.
The interaction between a Household God and a supplicant can be a one-sided battle of wits, because the Genius is very good at demonstrating the undesirability of luxury items and the bad effects on moral well being that conspicuous consumption can have. Managing to extract a luxury item from a Negentropic household compiler is a difficult task, but when it does occur the citizen concerned is rewarded with a sense of acheivement.
Of course allowing the occasional luxury has a beneficial effect on the self esteem of the citizen concerned and these events are carefully calculated to best effect.
