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Here are some ideas for various clades and polities that are relatively small in number but could show that nothing is monolithic in space . . .
Most of these I was clueless on, resulting in some googling to find out what you were talking about.
Quote:Note, that the Warsies also have a strong presence at Jupiter. This was one of the 3 references I recognised right off. Frankly though, I don't understand the point. They upload themseves into a featureless hunk of metal/plastic/whatever and brainstorm genetic alteration of normal humans? what can they do with the data the come up with, lacking much in the way of manipulatory extentions and if they are that into genetic engineering, why turn themselves into a form of AI with no biological component?
except for the Black Monoliths: Fens who had uploaded themselves into the Black Monoliths of 2001 fame, and have secreted themselves in one of Jupiter's moons, possibly Hegemone. They rarely deal with other inhabitents of the Jovian system, i.e. browncoats, but do occaisonally trade information. Their goals have to do with modelling genetic experiments on baseline humans, though rumors abound that they have a bioreactor and have gone beyond simple modelling.
Quote:even after finding out what the bound is, I'm still not sure what these people are trying to accomplish.
Bekenstein Breakers: Quasi-monastic infotech order that have devoted themselves to achieving informational density beyond that possible within a black hole, i.e the bekenstein bound. They are supported by various ideospace clades and polities, who see the breaking of the bound as the key to true immortality beyond the end of the universe.
Quote:Sounds like a fairly small faction (Satanic extremeists you might say) considering they've basicly dedicated their lives to this DoS attack.
Satanists: Contrarian order who believe in God, but really dislike him. Hooked themselves up to life-support, chemically gave themselves MPD, uploaded prayers from all religions, and then started praying to initiate a DoS attack on God 24 hours a day, 6 days a week. (wednesdays are margarita and bowling nights).
Quote:the last of the ones I recognised, though I've only seen a couple of episodes. The problem here being that the only prisons to attack are still on Earth, and most if not all interplanetary trade is performed by Fen. There's no real government off Earth to rebel against. For that matter, there isn't much Dane presence off Earth. The only ones I can think of are a US research station in orbit and a US Coast Guard base on the moon.
Blakes: Anti-Federation terrorists who regularly stage prison escapes (if there are such things in Fenspace) and disrupt trade. Known also for factionalizing, so there are Real Blakes, Continuity Blakes, True Blakes, The Avon Brigade, The Provisional Blakes Army, Blakes 700, etc.
Quote:okay, are these 'purely ideospace beings' supposed to be AIs, humans who've uploaded their minds or what?
Kuiper Brain: a computronium mass originally made from a middle sized kuiper belt object, now massing about the same as the moon, holds a community of purely ideospace beings running about 100X human cognitive speed. Not much is known about them, as yet.
The "Socialist Swarm": name given by outsiders to ideospace/baryonspace amphibians who travel the solar system and possibly beyond for fun and "mutually benefitial resource merger." When seen in baryonspace, resemble porcelain figures daubed in abstract paintings, while in ideospace they resemble platonic spheres. Travel in coffin-sized vessels that "swarm" together and apart like a cloud, but can also merge into larger "ships."
*blinks* where the heck is this concept from?
Quote:And pretty much anyone who isn't a member of Cold Shatter I'd think. It's a good thing Wavium doesn't like to make weapons.
Cold Shatter: Ideological movement or dangerous terrorists, depending on your point of view. Believe that anything larger than an asteroid is just wasted space, with no way to easily access the "precious planetary metals" inside. Want to build and use planet-cracker bombs to get at the resources in all the planets, including Earth. Hated by terraformers and Earthies.
Quote:interesting idea, but definately beyond current capabilities (mostly due to the fact that Wavium doesn'twork well with mass production yet)
New Sun: Ideological movement for remaking the sun into a stellar engine; possible connection to Kuiper Brain.
Quote:After googling I discovered that I am familiar with this concept, I just didn't know the original name. As wire Geek pointed out though, I doubt the ship is completed yet (assuming it's been started) let alone on it's way. mostly due to lack of manpower and resources.
Eschaton Express: Two Island 3 cylinders retrofitted into near-light starships so that a community of humans would skip "all the boring bits" and go straight to the end of the universe. Rumored to have devised a time machine so that they could come back with the True Cosmological Knowledge. In their wake, grew a powerful legend that sees other groups of humans doing the same.
There are a lot of factions runing around the Solar System, and they all have their pet projects. Additionally, most of the Earth governments (and for that matter, at least 75% of humanity) aren't showing any interest in expanding off Earth for the near future.__________________
The main reason Santa is so jolly is because he knows where all the bad girls live. - George Carlin.
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"I've always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific." - George Carlin