New reader with a question about wormhole networks

[Drashner1]

More questions!

So I decided to start my reading adventure with Frei. Frei is a warm gas giant orbited by the Makrania Orwoods. It says the rings of this world have been converted into dyson trees. Does this mean that the dust and ice that make up the ring was converted into a habitat? Is it a ring-shaped structure orbiting the planet? Or lots of little structures orbiting in a ring?

As Rynn says, the ring would consist of a large number of habitats, mostly dyson trees. Or possibly a mix of other habitats and clusters of dyson trees. Bear in mind that dyson trees can grow to be a 100km across or so. So, small in comparison to many other Terragen constructs, but quite large by our standards. And the Makrania Orwoods could encompass hundreds of them at least.

Second question, it is easiest for me to imagine things from the perspective of someone as close to baseline as possible. Would a NoCoZo planet / orwood like Frei have something close to baseline humans, or humans with only "superficial" upgrades?

Frei is an old system and the Orwoods and such have been around for around 7000 years. And, it's a major crossroads with lots of visitors. So, while there will probably be lots of nearbaseline humans (and a few baselines - they are rare in absolute numbers, which means very few are to be found in any given place, generally speaking). But there will also be lots and lots of other sophonts as well. Expect to see everything from provolved Aardvarks to cyborg Zebra-splices and everything in between. Humans who are part machine, giant sophont spiders looking for interspecies sex (and yes, OA tech allows one part to literally eat the other at the culmination of the act - and then they can share breakfast together afterward), dragons with a taste for poker, spacefaring dinosaurs who want to dance all night, etc. etc. Nearly all of them looking to have a good time (however they define that).

I'd suggest checking out our Sophonts pages. In a system like Frei, you're likely to encounter any or all of the beings we have listed and many more besides.

On a related note - Even 'minimal' upgrades by OA standards are going to result in people who are pretty much ageless and immortal, able to link their minds to computers and other people, able to rise from the dead, immune to all forms of disease and can regenerate limbs, and with the option of changing orientation, gender, species, or substrate with a level of effort ranging from what we put into changing our screensaver to remodeling a room in our house (depending on the type of change). Etc.

Hope this helps,

Todd