Civilization: Beyond Earth.Purity Affinity.

Buildings.Gene Garden (Purity Level 2).The first colonial “gene gardens” were created to craft and supply therapeutic DNA transgenes – whether integrated in the genome or as an external episome – for use in somatic and germline approaches. Using recombinant viruses or “naked” DNA, physicians were able to cure or limit a number of genetic diseases still prevalent in colonists from Old Earth, such as Huntington’s, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, lymphocytic leukemia, choroideremia, and several kinds of immunodeficiency, effectively eliminating these from the population. In a number of instances the gene gardens also became the site of research in genetic engineering and genomic cultivation, both fields gaining ever more importance in colonial efforts to adapt their citizenry to this planet. In time, the techniques developed in the gene gardens were used for adaptive human mutations, initially minor ones that involved metabolic adjustments permitting ingestion of native flora and lessening dependence on traditional agriculture. Eventually, the gene gardens became an essential component in the biotech infrastructure of many settlements, contributing to food production, biomedicine, biorobotics, recycling, and even biofuel production. But their role in combating illness remained significant, most recently in the realms of applied immunology, prenatal genetic diagnosis and pharmagenomics.

Bionics Lab (Purity Level 4).As the variety and unique qualities of life on this planet became ever more evident, colonists clamored for facilities dedicated to understanding the processes and discovering the uses of these qualities for the betterment of their lot. Even though bionics laboratories were a significant expense, a handful of settlements invested in establishing such labs. The results of that investment can be seen in adaptive resilin, cholesteric liquid crystal, neuromorphic chips, silicon retinae and a dozen other new technologies with endless applications. With the obvious advantages that these advances gave the investing colonies, other settlements followed suit in building bionic labs. Bionics labs not only contributed to the security and success of colonies, but gave rise to new academic disciplines: biomechatronics, biophysics, biogeology, biomimetric synthesis to name a handful. Recently, the most visible research in bionics labs has been devoted to computer science, leading to the production of artificial neurons, artificial neural systems and a swarm mentality in network design. A divergent development in bionics is the design of the so-called “internalnet,” a brain-computer interface that can link nanochondria, bionic implants and the mind, a step towards the creation of a true cybernetic organism, touted by some as the next stage in human evolution. While some view a bionics lab as the modern equivalent of Dr. Frankenstein’s workshop, others see it as Mankind’s best hope.

Gaian Well (Purity Level 4).The production of F1 hybrids through breeding has been common on Old Earth for centuries, making agricultural cultivars highly productive, adaptive and hardy. Most of these hybrids were polyploid, containing more than two or more homologous sets of chromosomes, and produced high-quality triglyceride vegetable oils. Colonial agronomists soon discovered that these crops not only thrived on this planet, but being polyploid were easier to crossbreed with indigenous species, creating self-propagating adaptive species through controlled evolution.

Expansive horticultural stations, in a wide variety of terrain types, were established by many colonial settlements where these crops were raised on an industrial scale, as well as experimentation in new F1 hybrids could be conducted. The largest of these stations came to be termed “Gaian wells,” for their production of hydrogenated oils seemed boundless. Although the planting, tending, harvesting and extraction is automated or robotic, the cutting-edge research at Gaian wells is largely conducted by human scientists. Their efforts resulted in ever-bearing and rapidly maturing hybrid crops that produce a wide variety of oils used in the production of biodiesel and biobutanol, employed as decorticators and lubricants in industry, and formed the basis for colonial oleochemistry. Gaian well farming is intensive and industrial, and entails crop rotation, irrigating, terracing, and extensive use of pesticides and herbicides where required to maximize production. The rapid growth of many settlements can be traced to the establishment of a nearby Gaian well, and the wellspring of energy resources it could provide.

LEV Plant (Purity Level 5).Once the potential of floatstone in mag-lev propulsion was appreciated, a “floatstone rush” erupted as prospectors – both private and colony-sponsored – sought to stake claim to the richest fields. Since the location of the monopolar “deposits” could be affected somewhat by wind currents and magnetic anomalies, the competition was fierce. Once a field was secured and could be worked, it was often the fact that a lev plant was built nearby for the production of mag-lev engines. Whether the engines were small for personal vehicles or intended for construction or military equipment, the principle was the same: the machined monopole floatstone was “excited” by an electromagnetic field and produced magnetic repulsion of a magnitude far beyond that possible with a bipolar magnet. Since the process generated significant amounts of waste heat, the engine must be cooled by liquid nitrogen systems. The lev plants incorporated the latest developments in automated and robotic assembly line production, quantum programming, and speed-and-feed cybernetics. Most lev plants operate under the Six Sigma theory for manufacturing developed on Old Earth during the 1980s, which minimize variability through a defined sequence of quality assurance checks with a quantified value target – minimum average acceptable by colonial standards is 2.6 defective parts per million units. The movement to Sigma Six operations has made mag-lev vehicles the most reliable and common transportation in most colonies.

Terra Vault (Purity Level 7).While most colonial settlements had a structure that served as a reminder of Old Earth and their journey from it (often centered on some sort of “relic”), in time a number built repositories of information concerning Terra to remind ever younger generations of what had been lost and what had been gained in coming to this alien place. These “Terra vaults” might be considered a technological hybrid of a museum, art gallery, research library, and archive as known on Old Earth. Most of the material in vaults took the form of holograms, data banks, reproductions and later data-jacks for brain-computer interfaces, but there were some original artifacts and hardcopy records. Since these vaults were meant to keep the memory and appreciation of Terra “alive in perpetuity,” they were usually reinforced or underground structures able to withstand most manmade or natural calamities. In some instances, Terra vaults sponsored by settlement administrations focused on the history and culture of the original colonial sponsor, serving the social dynamic of offering a cohesive, coherent interpretation to the citizens. By memorializing the past, it was hoped by some leaders that, as some newer generations drifted ever further from traditional “humanity,” they would be reminded of their human heritage. In time, inevitably, as Old Earth receded from collective

memory, many of the Terra vaults drifted into decay or insignificance… but having been built to withstand the ravages of this world, remained standing with their echoes of the past.

Borehole (Purity Level 8).Borehole drilling has been used since the Chinese Han Dynasty, when shafts were driven as deep as 600 meters; the deepest borehole on Old Earth before the Great Mistake was the Kola “Superdeep” Borehole reaching 12,262 meters, since surpassed by boreholes on Mars and Ganymede. Once colonial geologists constructed vertical seismic profiles of the numerous canyons on this planet, geo-engineers began studies on drilling deep shafts for various industrial purposes. Drilling heads placed in nearby canyons allowed the settlements to tap depths beyond anything known before. The first deep boreholes were driven to depths approximately 10,000 meters to tap deep aquifers, bringing water to supply increasing domestic and industrial demands. Shallower ones were driven for mineral and petroleum exploration and for scientific purposes. But the deepest are meant to harness the geothermal resources of this younger planet; the potential of near limitless, relatively safe energy for colonial industry gave those settlements founded near canyons a distinct advantage. Temperatures at the core-mantle boundary can reach over 4000 degrees Celsius, and the geothermal gradient is sharper on this planet than on Old Earth, making high-heat energy drawn from canyon boreholes practical and affordable. Narrow diameter boreholes of 1000-2000 meters serve for seasonal thermal energy storage for some settlements, permitting the collection of heat or cold trapped in fluids for later use.

Mantle (Purity Level 8).When colonial scientists were finally able to create quantum vacuums of variable size, both absorption and concentration force fields could be generated. The former was a functional force field utilizing a quantum vacuum to absorb wavelengths, frequencies and energies in the electromagnetic spectrum. The absorption coefficient of the field depended on the attenuation coefficient and molar absorptivity of the quantum vacuum was a factor of the amount of quantum energy used to generate the field, and could dissipate virtually all outside energy forms. “Concentration” fields, once it was discovered that a quantum vacuum could drain kinetic energy and momentum from particles, were devised to deflect or stop solid objects. Based on the Schrodinger equations for step potential, the strength of the quantum vacuum determined its effect on solid matter. In time, laboratories for esoteric physics and chemistry research utilizing these fields were built. In a Magnetic-Anomaly Neutral Technology Laboratory (MANTL), penetration of a confined region by both particles and waves could be limited or suspended entirely. The fields can be used to artificially create every environment (including interstellar vacuums or plasma cores) and work space (such as bio-exclusive alloy smelters or wet hypercores) for research in all scientific disciplines. To produce “weightless” conditions refined floatstone was incorporated into absorption fields, allowing research previously possible only in orbital labs. Work in the colonial MANTLs has produced most of the postmodern advances in science on this planet, both theoretical and practical.

Skycrane (Purity Level 10).Mag-lev engines have numerous applications, not the least in the realm of construction. For millennia, humans have used cranes to lift and move heavy weights; it was to be expected that once large mag-lev engines were designed, among the first things to which it was applied would be cranes capable of operating above the surface on both surface and low orbital projects. Because of the nature of magnetic levitation, the sum of all the moments about the base was near zero, skycranes were very stable, and hence the lift load exceeded the usual 85% of the tip load of ground-stable cranes. Colonial skycranes tended to be of two types:

overhead (or bridge), where the hook-and-line mechanism was located under the platform, and sidelift pick-and-carry cranes, where the arm extended over the side of the platform. The largest skycranes had both systems, and some incorporated Bessel beam systems as well. One of the primary challenges with ground-based cranes is leveling, which was avoided in skycrane designs by installing multiple mag-lev engines. In low-orbit construction, skycranes are the standard equipment for shifting and maneuvering large components into position, using hydraulic arms in hammerhead configurations. While load weight is not an issue for skycranes in low-orbit, load inertia is … hence many of the skycranes built specifically for orbital construction have inertial dampers of various types installed.

Units.Battlesuit (Purity Level 4).Improving the quality of individual soldiers is and has always been at the heart of military sciences. The human body is an excellent combat platform: It possesses good load-bearing and cross-terrain mobility, a robust sensory package, and can be improved through training to have excellent in-situ decision-making and tactical reflexes. The Battlesuit enhances the potential of each soldier in all these categories.

The Battlesuit derives from earlier work in industrial exoskeletons. While those earlier models easily boosted the load the operator could carry, they were hampered by the need to carry bulky and short-lived power supplies, or they had to remain tethered to power sources. The discovery of floatstone and its idiosyncratic monopolar gravity fields meant that exoskeletons could be constructed and powered by a new generation of featherweight fusion reactors. Liberating the energy source eliminated the last long-standing obstacle to effective powered armor for the military, and the Battlesuit quickly went into mass production. A soldier now has his combat capacity measured in tons, his mobility effectively doubled, and all this at minimal additional time added to his training.

The Battlesuit builds on the fundamental strengths of humanity. Without its soldier, the Battlesuit is simply an idle construct. It has defined the new standard for infantry; a shift in the strategic landscape such as this has not been seen since the invention of the machine gun.

Battlesuit infantry regiments are traditionally given a nickname based on their regimental commander, with the most valorous and legendary commanders’ nicknames persisting after their death and retirement. The most famous regiment of all may be the highly decorated Juanito’s Jaguars of the 4eme Marine. Col. Richard Juanito may have died in battle some eighty years before, but the regiment’s daily roll call still asks his name first each morning. The Senior Sergeant speaks for the long-dead officer: “He has gone ahead of us.”

Aegis (Purity Level 7).Military researchers have discovered an interesting side effect of bipedalism (first noted by the Willuhn Military Institute): Soldiers fight better alongside a bipedal combat unit than a quadrupedal one. There are various explanations for the Willuhn Effect, but it is believed that the advantage provided to other human soldiers more than offsets the developmental costs of building a bipedal combat unit. Soldiers tend to think of these units as elevated proxies for humanity. A factorial analysis suggests the representation lies somewhere between “combat demigods” and “big brother with the big gun”. This has been taken further by certain military scientists and can best be seen in the Aegis.

Unlike many Purity combat units, the Aegis does have a combat AI, although it is entirely devoted to maintaining posture, coordinating movement, repairing damage, and reloading weaponry, leaving the human operator free to focus on fighting the enemy. By design, the AI cannot initiate any but the most basic of movement (typically just walking in and out of the repair gantry) and may not trigger weapons. The human operator, on the other hand, is more than capable of using the myriad of weapons systems to confront a variety of battlefield threats. The great tactical value of the Aegis is that one human operator can confront many adversaries at a time, or turn all of the weapons of his Aegis against a single threat.

The Aegis does not attempt to hide. It broadcasts its power in its posture and its weapons to friends and foes alike. Aegis pilots are highly-trained and highly-regarded by their fellow soldiers, because the Aegis is always willing to draw the enemy attention right before delivering a powerful attack to save his comrades, thus demonstrating the power of these titans who stalk the battlefields.

LEV Tank (Purity Level 9).Since its inception at the dawn of the 20th century, the tank has been a primary constituent of all human ground forces. Armored warfare theorists and tacticians extended the tank through various iterations, emphasizing protection, maneuverability, and firepower to different extents, and combat models continued to iterate up to the Great Mistake. Afterwards, many proclaimed the “end of armor” as each unit represented a costly investment in scarce resources. But this was not to be the end of the tank.

As improvements to the floatstone reactor led to the anti-gravity field generator, military theorists looked again to the idea of a tank. As suspension weigh limits were no longer a factor in design, armor designers began a new era of tank design and production, superseding anything their terran ancestors could have achieved. Not only could they put more armor on a tank, they could also mount enough weapon systems to let the tank effectively deal with any threat it might face. Main cannon armaments had progressed far beyond the simple tank guns of pre-Seeding Earth, and now could incorporate a variety of munitions fired over longer ranges. While not as fast as aircraft, the new class of LEV tanks were far harder to kill than almost any weapons that had been developed to date. Once again, the pendulum had swung in favor of hard defense.

The LEV tank fills a central role in combat ground forces. Its weaponry is powerful enough to crack most targets, and its armor protects its skilled, trained crew inside. Operating in squadrons and troops, the LEV tank is the vanguard of any attack. The sight of hundreds of metric tons of composite armor and guns gliding effortlessly over terrain is often enough to make skittish defenders throw down their arms and retreat.

LEV Destroyer (Purity Level 12).The discovery that floatstone anti-gravity fields were potentially unbounded at higher energy levels opened up the tactical possibility of moving entire fortifications onto the battlefield. Thus, the LEV Destroyer was created: A massive, armored combat platform built around the most powerful floatstone generators ever constructed. The LEV Destroyer is not just a powerful combat unit, but the anchor point of an entire army. Within its armored flanks are munitions plants, infirmaries, and communications arrays. From within it, the army commander can direct operations over an entire continent. Its cannon batteries are capable of reducing targets to mangled remains, spread across hectares of cratered ground.

The LEV Destroyer is such a costly investment in warfare that it has a moral dimension as well. Political leaders and the population understand that constructing one of these titanic weapons means forgoing a great deal for the population at large. To help the soldiers understand the enormity of their burden, to inspire them to greatness, and to link them to the people at home, each LEV Destroyer has, at its heart, a relic of Old Earth. Often these are small: A scrap of paper from the cover of a manual, or gloves worn by a nameless First colonist. Sometimes they are truly integrated into the structure, such as the Initiator of St. Walter, which is the still-functioning auxiliary power generator from a planetfall lander, repurposed as the starter motor for the St. Walter’s grav engines.

The sight of kilotons of material hovering quietly above the ground is hugely inspiring to the armies that fight alongside it. The LEV Destroyer is a living parable, that mankind, by its own efforts, is capable of rising above strife, can shrug aside any blow, and conquer any threat that faces it. Should we concern ourselves of the burgeoning religiosity of the soldiers who fight within it? Certainly not! Those paladins who fight with the best tools must understand the value of that which they guard.

Wonders.Gene Vault (Tier 1).”The five mythical creatures of Earth are: The dragon, the unicorn, the griffin, the llama, and the chimera.”- Ganesh Edmin, Lists of Prehistory.

Humanity has long considered the question of stocking a given world. Human mythology abounds with people tasked with carrying the seeds of the past with them to new worlds: Noah, Freeman Lowell, Lutunasobasoba and Degei, for example. Given the expense and difficulty of Seeding with the limited resources of Earth, it is unsurprising that most expeditions carried with them genetic libraries of Earth’s species of plants and animals. It is likely that at least one Seeding attempt included actual genetic samples, not simply records.

The Gene Vault is a wonder of the first days of planetfall, a structure whose architecture is undeniably terran, not only in its shape but in the materials used in its construction. Within its walls were likely cryogenic banks, the only technology available at the time to reliably store genetic material without damage.

The Gene Vault is a marvel not only for the work required to raise one on a hostile world, but for the profound link it represents to the planet those first colonists left behind. Our understanding of the lives and cultures of those early colonists and the state of the Earth they left behind is due in no small part to its existence. How much more about Old Earth would we know if the genetic records had remained intact?

Archimedes Lever (Tier 5).”Do not assume the battleground is impartial or in your favor.”- Rejinaldo Leonardo Pedro Bolivar de Alencar-Araripe, Principles of Modern War.

When one examines the extensive military history of humanity, one cannot help but be struck that through time, there appears to have been a prohibition on seismic weapons. Although extensively referenced in fiction and their application described in theoretical terms, it appears that no civilization built a working seismic weapon prior to planetfall (leaving aside for a moment the apocrypha of St. Tesla of Serbia).

The relatively young geography of this world proved to be more amenable to seismic experimentation and manipulation. The earliest Colonists remarked on the efficiency of subsurface shock mapping and s-wave radiometry, and in time engineers developed a series of practices which could allow focused geological upheaval to occur through focused magnetogeologic resonators. The smallest of these “tweeters” were used in agriculture and surface mining. Larger, more energetic “woofers” and “thumpers” were used in geoformation and Mahorovicic cracking.

But none of these could compare to the Archimedes Lever. In addition to possessing the most energetic seismic resonator batteries ever developed, its huge size allowed it to focus over much longer distances. It was also fortuitously situated on a region of highly crystalized substrate, which mitigated energy dissipation over range. Coupled with detailed surveys of the terrain within kilometers, the Archimedes Lever could bring energy to bear on the terrain comparable to the effects of fission weapons. Its crew was an elite cadre of scientists and soldiers, officially known as the Special Planetary Research Division. The diamond cluster of their badge is made of stones the Lever dredged up from the deep interior of the planet.

While the military applications of this device are now legendary (the Battle of Slurry Hill is a representative example), little attention is paid to the geoscience discoveries made while the device was being tested and constructed. For example, the Archimedes Lever was the first tool that allowed direct sampling of the outer core.

Deep Memory (Tier 5).“You may say: ‘I remember,’ but we must also remember what our parents remember, and what our parents’ parents remember as well.”- Samatar Jama Barre, This is Not Exile.

The library must be one of the earliest buildings developed by civilization. Human beings are distinct from other primates (and most other lifeforms) in the creation of external archives of cultural memory, and for the purposes of conveying this information to subsequent generations, for the propagation of the species. The libraries have burned, such as throughout the history of Old Earth, but they have attained their zenith with the creation of Deep Memory. Deep Memory is, in the final analysis, a library. But unlike previous libraries, it can do more than simply archive a thought. Deep Memory can provide an experience of cultural context as well. What meaning is there in reading a play of Shakespeare, if the text refers to events or people unknown to the reader? Deep Memory can provide that, instantly, giving the patron full access to a rich, reconstructed cultural heritage of Earth.

Early colonists brought massive digitized libraries of text and image with them – data storage being relatively lightweight and of high importance to most Seeding missions. In time, it was observed that of all the content created by humanity, a huge proportion was meta-commentary: reflection on work prepared by others. Taken as a whole, the meta-commentary provides a snapshot into the time in which it was written.

Deep Memory is a system that links the entire corpus and its meta-commentary, extrapolates on the social conditions at the time the works were written, and then creates brain maps which can simulate the period in question. When a patron accesses Deep Memory, they can access a highly plausible and accurate simulacrum of the original creation of the work. One can, for example, see Shakespeare’s plays performed in a Globe Theater, by the original actors. One can listen to blind Homer recite the Iliad in the original Greek, understand him, and appreciate

the beauty of the work without the degradation of time and translation. One can experience a videogame of Civilization, on a personal computer, at 4 o’clock in the morning. Deep Memory provides context and depth of understanding that is the work of centuries of human development, and which was previously only accessible to experts.

The result has been a flourishing of the arts and culture, and a real understanding of the development arc of human history. Once can observe the eruption of Vesuvius with Pliny in the morning, take lunch on the banks of the river with Mole and Rat, spend the afternoon listening to the discourse of Paul of Tarsus, and end the night listening to the ragas. How much more we understand the contributions of arts and letters, now that we can experience them firsthand! One is torn between awe, and deep sadness for our ancestors, who failed to understand the light they shed with the lamp of culture.

Holon Chamber (Tier 5).“’Well, mebbe you ain’t heated it enough yet,’ said Paul Bunyan, and he took the plasma out of the hohlraum, rubbed it hard between his hands until the Aleph-field de-resolved itself, and put it back in the Holon Chamber. ‘I reckon that’ll be warm enough to dry your boots,’ he said.”- The Uncle Nevercloned Stories.

The great paradox of Pre-Mistake civilizations is that their sophisticated experiments with high energy physics were ultimately overshadowed by the more pressing needs of the Seeding, and thus energetic physics languished for centuries until colonial science facilities had enough breathing room to continue these resource-intensive exercises on a new world. Of these experiments, the Holon Chamber is remarkable because it not only brought experimental particle physics back up to that ancient peak, but exceeded it in all possible respects. That did not preclude a certain awareness on the part of its builders; the charismatic Chamber Director Hui van der Waald opened the First Proceedings Conference by quipping: “We can now fail at the same level as ancient Earth.”

The immense, spherical structure of brilliant white transceramic commanded the landscape, and contemporary scientists remarked that it either created a feeling of optimism or profound unease set against the landscape of the new planet. Its generators spanned hectares around the structure with power feeds whose current distorted the planet’s magnetic field observably. Its operational AI was repurposed from a military battlefield integrator, and its simulational/analytical AI was so dense that it was almost disconnected on security grounds. And within its heart, past the banks of diamond refractors and plasma pinch magnets, was the hohlraum, whose walls were the smoothest substance that can exist in this universe. And within the hohlraum were contained the hellacious energies of primordial creation, streaming strangeness out to waiting detectors.

But strangeness eventually is combed into meaning, and meaning into application. From the fiery axis of the Holon Chamber humanity created wonderful things: The Alcubierre Principle for FTL communication, stabile transfiraxian elements, xinjushu construction. The Holon Chamber was mankind’s last and best high-energy crucible of its kind.

And sometimes strangeness abides: Recent metachronofield analysis of the Primary Hohlraum Detector Array Dataset has led some theorists to suggest that this universe may be nothing more than a highly realized simulation in a Turing machine of unimaginable complexity.

Technologies.Genetic Mapping (Tier 1).“If you’re going to rejigger an organism’s genotype, you should give it the courtesy of reading its manual first.”- Hutama, We are All Destined to Prosper.

By the end of the 21st Century, the genome of virtually every plant and animal species on Old Earth had been mapped, and the quantitative trait loci identified. Efforts to do the same for indigenous species on this world began immediately upon establishment of the first labs, starting with the large fauna and potential food sources among the flora. Within a few years, an inter-colonial cooperative database of DNA sequences had been launched, although some scientists used the Maxim-Gilbert sequencing method and others the Sanger chain-termination method. This database would serve as the essential reference for later research in genetic design, transgenetics, and artificial evolution. Meanwhile, some Purist colonial administrations maintained repositories of the genome maps of Old Earth species (including human) for potential uses in cloning, cybernetic, and transhuman projects.

Alien Genetics (Tier 2).“Maid of chitin, storm and lightning, how’s your garden grow! Miasma mist and beetle hiss and Siege Worms in a row.”- Traditional colonial children’s rhyme.

The genetic codes of most of the flora and fauna of Old Earth had been mapped by the time of the interstellar diaspora. Shortly after arrival on this planet, geneticists set to the task of doing the same for the indigenous lifeforms here. From the time of Mendel to Lamarck to Khorana, understanding the basic structures has progressed at an increasing pace. Although the alternate DNA structures – primarily A-DNA – and cylindrical harmonic genetic structure of many of the native species slowed the effort, the genetic codes have been unlocked by colonial scientists. Research in alien genetics continues, with an emphasis on practical applications. In those colonies striving to modify the local wildlife to suit their own purposes, this push has led to developments in genetic engineering and manipulation, including new “designer” alien species.

Biospheres (Tier 3).“We have forgotten that when nature goes about her work, she sings to herself. Have you heard the song of this world?”- Samatar Jama Barre, This is Not Exile.

Based on the hypothetical assumption that a planet’s global ecosystem can be evaluated as a single organism, colonial researchers have focused on the biosphere as the study of the interactions of separate ecosystems within that superorganism. The founder of biogeochemistry on Old Earth, Vladimir Vernadsky (1863-1945 AD), suggested that the geosphere and biosphere are closely related, both shaped by the other in a symbiotic relationship, a notion popular among some colonists on this planet. This concept led colonial scientists to theorize that a series of natural, co-feedback loops self-regulate the global biosphere through climate and natural disasters; if the case, understanding the mechanisms might prove beneficial in finding means to avoid some of the extremes of weather, volcanism and seismic activity that have afflicted the colonies, as well as co-exist in harmony with the planetary flora and fauna.

Civil Support (Tier 3).“You don’t win an argument until the other fella thinks your ideas were his the whole time.”- Hutama, We Shall All Prosper.

Civil engineering focuses on the design, construction and maintenance of the structures and systems that provide support for the civilian population – the roads, bridges, dams, utilities and the like that are vital to a modern civilization. Arrival on this planet launched a furious effort to adapt Old Earth civil support systems to the alien environment, and led to significant advances in sub-disciplines such as geotechnical, environmental and control engineering. Of special importance was research into transportation engineering, as colonial administrators were faced with challenges in moving people and materials about; later, as a result of population growth, urban civil support became a priority. In its many forms, civil support research continues apace as humanity spreads across this new world.

Servomachinery (Tier 3).“Morality is measured by the progress of our work. A machine whose works bring us more progress is more moral than a lesser machine.”- Vadim Kozlov, Axioms from the Minutes of the Central Directorate.

Servomachinery, devices with automatic negative-feedback sensors, can be traced back to the first steam engine governors on ancient Earth. Now such devices are common on this planet. As engineered by colonial scientists, these may utilize electricity, hydraulics, magnetics or even primitive pneumatics. Development of positioning and power servomechanisms has permitted the creation of low-weight exosuits; while positioning servomechanisms are used in military fire-control and marine guidance systems. In all types of vehicles these operate as automated speed controls. Servomachines are often found in colonial laboratories as well, where used in servo-arms, autofocus optical equipment, and various biomedical devices (such as centrifuges). Finally, these devices have many applications in the fields of robotics and automation, of vital importance to human settlements here.

Vertical Farming (Tier 3).“In the case of the skyscraper, which has existed since the 19th century, it was not the concept which needed to evolve, but rather the minds of those who used it.”- Hutama, We are All Destined to Prosper.

As developed on this world, vertical farming took the form of rounded skyscraper greenhouses, where sunlight could be augmented with artificial lighting to promote photosynthesis in crops. Built upon microbiologist Dickson Despommier’s 2010 AD designs, the domes use water and nutrient recycling systems powered by externally mounted solar panels and wind turbines to accelerate growth in soulless cultivation. The advantages to vertical farming in the mode practiced by the colonies are numerous: protection from the vagaries of this planet’s weather and climate, conservation of scarce mineral resources, increased yield, less need for herbicides, fungicides and pesticides, as well as other benefits. A number of colonial settlements have come to depend on their domes for all manner of food and pharmacological plants, and would be much smaller without these.

Mobile LEV (Tier 4).“The best way to survive a firefight is to be elsewhere when your enemy starts one.”- Rejinaldo Leonardo Pedro Bolivar de Alencar-Araripe, Principles of Modern War.

The unlocking of the mysteries of “floatstone,” a monopole metamorphic rock occurring naturally on this planet, opened the engineering of practical, efficient, inexpensive magnetic levitation “engines.” Harnessing the properties of electromagnetic monopoles allowed for the creation of superconducting mag-lev fields, which provided lift, augmented by electrostatic levitation generated as a byproduct. The manipulation of the latter granted maneuverability, thus allowed the mag-lev vehicle to be steered. In a matter of a few years after the initial breakthrough, factories were producing mag-lev engines of all sizes. These were used in every kind of vehicle from cargo handling forklifts to massive construction equipment to weapons platforms. The only significant danger during operation is the failure of the liquid nitrogen cooling systems; the only limitation that altitude above the surface is restricted by the extent of the field. Although smooth surfaces provided easier operation of these vehicles, the great advantage is that mag-lev can operate across virtually any terrain.

Human Conservation (Tier 5).

Hyperconductors (Tier 5).

Industrial Ecology (Tier 5).

Seismic Induction (Tier 5).

Surrogacy (Tier 5).

Tactical LEV (Tier 5).

Quotes.Level 1.“How much joy can this new planet hold, when all I can think of is everything I’ve left behind?”- Phaedra, Lamentation for Planetfall.