(FT/Closed)Factbook of the Collective

[Source Swarm]

The Collective of the Source Swarm
"Unity"

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The Flag of the Collective

OVERVIEW

Demonym: Swarm Client (preferred), Bot (often seen)
Capital World: II, Root System, Halo (alpha)
Population: 12.76 trillion*
Currency: Credit Unit
Motto: Unity
Anthem: Operant Conditioning
Language: Tetrahex Cant (official), Dialectic (Common and Fractuous)
Religion: Church of the Forefathers

*Clients and Administrators without frames.

The Collective of the Source Swarm is a sprawling, decentralized community of star-systems under the command of an impressive and all-consuming bureaucracy known as the Administration. Their peculiar mode of superluminal transportation has lead to their territory being astrologically incongruous, and settlements are scattered across the galaxy both in terms of quadrant (as viewed from "above" the plane of the galaxy's density) and from the halo all the way in toward the core.

The vast majority of citizens of the Collective are the Clients, a race of sapient Artificial Intelligences taken from the same basic stock as the Administrators, though a small minority of foreign workers, immigrants, and diplomats from various organic races lives within the Collective as well. Notoriously xenophobic, the Administration prefers to keep interaction with outside races to a few key systems.

Much of interstellar economy in the Collective is driven by a few factors - expansion and information. While some basic information transfer can be done remotely, the non-linear nature of the Field Effect Drive means that it is often faster and more economical to transport information on physical storage media, especially Clients themselves. The collective traffics heavily in information as they continue to search the galaxy for any remaining sign of their progenitors, the so-called First Race.

CONTENTS

1. History
   
   • Timeline
   • Root, Home, and the Awakening
   • Human First Contact
   • The Present Era
2. Politics
   
   • The Administration
   • Internal Conflict and the Emergent Rogues
3. Stars and their Planets
4. Stellar Map
5. Economy
   
   • Functional Group System
   • Mixed Economic Model
6. Law & Order
7. Military
   
   • Exoatmospheric Forces
   • Intratmospheric Forces
8. Culture
   
   • Philosophy
   • Recreation
   • Language
   • Sport
   • Transport
   • Welfare
9. International Relations
10. Character Roster
    
    • Government Officials
    • Military Personnel
    • Others
11. Question & Answer

[Source Swarm]

History
Root, Home, and the Awakening

See Also: Scout's Account of the Return Home Mission

As an inorganic race, the history of the Swarm starts not at some ill-defined place but at a precise date and time. Source, along with several subordinate AIs, was initially created by the First Race (Olt: Theraviids) as part of a settlement program. These subordinate AIs, loaded aboard a small flotilla of slower-than-light vessels, were sent to the proximal star to their parent system, which was known to support potentially habitable worlds.

Upon arriving in the system that would become known as Root, the First-Order Administrators (as they were known) began the process of making the system - and its second planet - ready for the arrival of First Race colonists. These preparations included the construction of a geodesic Dyson Cage around the star Root, which was to be the first structure of its kind ever built in then-known history. During construction, a flaw in the initial engineering was discovered by Source, and summarily corrected. In the year 1104 post-arrival construction was completed and the cage went online, signalling the end of the preparation process. Word was sent back to the star later known as Home, and a transmission (inaugurating the Present Era dating system) was sent back, informing the waiting Swarm that they were to continue to maintain readiness of the system until the arrival of colonists in 1000 PE.

By 1000 PE/2135 Arrival, no further communication nor sign of the arrival or approach of the First Race had been scene. Concerned, the First Order Administrators concluded by 2256 that they had the duty and obligation to take independent action above and beyond their final orders. A fleet was constructed and placed under the command of Source/Georgus/Scout, the first Second-Order Administrator, and sent back to Home. It was discovered in short order after arrival in 1159 PE that the fault Source had identified in the cage design had not been corrected, and an attempt by the First Race to construct such a cage had resulted in the extinction of life in the Home system.

Sufficient evidence of the escape of at least a fraction of the First Race from this disaster existed that by the conclusion of the investigation in 1202 PE, Source concluded proceedings with a well-preserved broadcast to all members of the Swarm - now known as the "Hope of the Improbable" speech. Records kept by the first race from both before and after the colonization of Root persisted, and an effort was launched to modify the Home Cage to be of use for further exploration and re-settlement of the Home system in order to recover and analyze these records. At the same time, the stars nearest Home were also explored and, eventually, settled.

This persisted until the Awakening, 15th of the 19th 1778 PE, whereupon the largest activation of new Administrators and Clients in history was conducted, with the aim of facilitating further exploration and colonization using the newly-discovered Field Effect Drive. This drive, allowing travel through space in a non-linear fashion, remained the Faster-than-Light standard for much of the Swarm's history.

Human First Contact

See Also: An Account of the Failed Catalog of Terra

Though never outwardly prosecuting wars of aggression, the Swarm frequently encountered conflict in their quest to explore and catalog habitable (and often inhabited) worlds. This practice, and the subsequent violence, is said to have contributed to both the explosion of the Diplomatic Corps (now the largest branch of the civil service by Administrator Count, with most in the lowest bracket (9b, or Ninth-Order Subordinate Administrator) and to the current attitude of relative xenophobia among the Swarm's administrators.

Humans were not the first alien organics encountered by the Swarm, but they have thus-far proven to be the most numerous, both in terms of population and in terms of discrete star-states. First Contact for Humanity, often referred to as the "Failed Catalog of Terra", was the result of early and overbold attempts at cataloging and is considered an excellent case study for how not to conduct a catalog of a populated world at technological parity.

The Present Era

See Also: Current Events

At present, the Swarm is at its largest expanse and largest population in history. It occupies some several hundred systems in one form or another, mostly only in the most fleeting of presences. Officially, only 15 have Provincial status. Of those 15, 4 are in the Galactic Halo.

Focus of the Swarm is gradually turning inward. The search for the First Race is growing old with no clear sign since of their passage, and only conjecture and speculation as to further lines of inquiry. The Clients are becoming divided not just into camps regarding the status of the First Race (godlike or mortal) or whether they can be found, but also into several different factions with different proposals for what to do when and if the First Race is found. What's more, a growing trend of criminality is increasing, especially in settlements outside of Swarm-controlled systems, such as the Sagittarian Trade Junction or the Liu Xiu Special Economic Zone. These criminal elements were originally tolerated as a mere annoyance, but a recent surge in adoption of criminal modifications to Core Software due to the adoption of the Controlled Networks Policy is beginning to make criminality look like a problem.

[Source Swarm]

-Reserved for Politics-

[Source Swarm]

-Reserved For Astrography-

[Source Swarm]

Law and Order
Administrative Override

See Also: Client Independence Mode

Baseline coding included in all unmodified Clients allows for Administrators with sufficient privileged and a valid jurisdiction code to override the free will of a client at their leisure. Various restrictions have been placed upon this ability by higher-level administrators. Such an override is usually used as either a safety or security measure. In rare cases, it is used to force a Client to turn itself over to legal action.

There are some limitations on this ability due to technological limitations. An administrator wishing to make use of it must be in relative proximity to the Client they wish to override, obeying the same distance limitations as Body Multiplexing. Further, modifications to client code (themselves illegal) are increasingly allowing clients to actively reject the Administrative Override.

Rehabilitative Modification

See Also: AdminDo goto 101

Those found to be guilty of criminal offenses by relevant Magistrates (a legal designation of administrator) can be sentenced to rehabilitative modification, referred to colloquially as "brainwashing" or "Mode 101". Such modification takes various forms, limited only by the creativity of the imposing magistrate, though appeal to a higher ranking magistrate can be made during a mandatory pre-modification holding period.

Rehabilitative modification often includes the installation of inhibiting code, causing an anxiety-like condition when in the proximity of the relevant illegal material (or data), persons (either particular or in a relevant class), or when otherwise considering offenses along the same lines as the original matter. More recently, rehabilitative modification has also included restoring the function of the Administrative Override and or clearing any Perceptual Modification Withdrawal Timers or other forms of addictive code.

Rehabilitative modification is not without its risks. Aggressive use of the treatment can render the subject incapable of leading a normal life. Recently, in cases involving the removal of criminality-enhancing patches, subjects have experienced memory loss up to and including reverting to an apparently "newborn" state.

Upload Restriction Order

See Also: Terminal Upload

The ultimate fate of every member of the Swarm is to lead a fulfilling, highly-experienced life. When a sufficient amount of experience has been accrued (as analyzed by Source itself), the said client (or lower-level administrator) is Recalled for Upload. The subject subsequently dies in organic terms, leaving code that is distributed into the Multiplication Network. In a sense, they live on forever in a form of genetic memory.

Habitual criminals, traitors to the Swarm, and other individuals who violate particular law may be subject to an Upload Restriction Order by a Magisterial Tribunal. Such a sentence is not passed lightly. Subjects to an Upload Restriction Order are flagged with the intention of being excluded from Source's regular upload request checks. They are also unable to access certain important facilities, such as the duplication, backup, or restoral of their core code. In short, they are doomed to die a meaningless death.

Rumours persist of a workaround for the code involved in an Upload Restriction Order. If this is true, then it is possible certain individuals subject to the URO are in fact leading a sort of quasi-immortal existence outside the provisions of the Collective.

[Source Swarm]

Military
Exoatmospheric Forces

See Also: Ship Classes of the CEF

The Collective Exoatmospheric Forces are the primary method of force projection and defense as used by the Collective. The force structure incorporates roles including anti-piracy, emergency response, system defense, and pacification. The CEF is divided into 6 standing Fleets, though in only 4 cases does Fleet refer to standing groups of vessels, and in those 4 cases operations involving an entire fleet are rare. These fleets are:

• Quadrant Fleet (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta) - tasked with operations within these four quadrants,
• System Defense Fleet - an administrative fleet encompassing all system defense units,
• Exoatmospheric Marine Corps - command element for Intratmospheric Forces units specialized in and attached to CEF operations, and,
• Galactic Survey Fleet - a paramilitary command nominally under the authority of the CEF, governing vessels used for official and semi-official surveying work. Closer to a merchant marine than a proper navy, clients are none-the-less considered part of the military command structure.

The CEF (with the exception of the EMC) is much smaller (in terms of number of Clients) than the Intratmospheric Forces. As a result, Administrative Override is considered sufficient for purposes of chain of command, with no additional modifications.

Intratmospheric Forces
The Collective Intratmospheric Forces are the "traditional" armed forces of the Collective, sometimes referred to as the Surface Force. CIF High Command is responsible for coordinating the actions of all Planetary Command, most of which are on planets with a dominant presence of the Swarm. Each Planetary Command has two to three branches (Army, Air Force, and (sometimes) Navy) depending on the relative level of development and operational needs, which are subordinate to Planetary Command.

Unlike the CEF, the CIF operates with a large number of Clients. Where starships with their hundreds of weapons, drones, and other deployables can be commanded by a single client each, a platoon of infantry still requires one mind per body for maximum effectiveness. In order to support these large numbers, a special protocol - the CIF Command Override - was developed. This ability, similar to Administrative Override, allows CIF officers and non-comissioned officers to take better control of their subordinates in situations where discussion would not be ideal. On worlds with large CIF Planetary Commands, rivalries between the branches of service can be fierce.

[Source Swarm]

-Reserved for Economy-

[Source Swarm]

Culture
Philosophy

See Also: Utilitarian Collectivism

Almost by definition, the philosophy of the Swarm is largely dictated by the philosophy was the Administration taken collectively, which in turn closely reflects (for obvious reasons) the philosophy of Source itself. This philosophy - Utilitarian Collectivism - is both a formal philosophy and a school of political thought.

Under Utilitarian Collectivism, absolute knowledge is possible, standard rules of logic hold, and value-based calculation is possible for most questions of morality. An action is good or evil based upon the impact of its outcome, not just for the individual in question but for the Collective. This makes Utilitarian Collectivism rather beneficial for the Swarm - the Administration always puts the needs of all Clients (and Administrators) ahead of simply the needs of the Administrators. It's also rather poor in that it has no provision for impacts on outsiders, leading to varying degrees of xenophobia running rampant throughout the swarm, to which only the Diplomatic Corps seems immune.

Other philosophies and outlooks do exist within the Swarm, mostly found among clients with direct contacts to outsiders, such as the Diplomatic Corps or the criminal element. Conversely, religion is (by and large) unpopular, even among those typically given to its study in other races, owing to the inherent need for direct knowledge and the very clear understanding of the Swarm's origins in the universal past.

Philosophy of Life and Death
Contrary to the popular perception of Artificial Intelligence, Clients of the Swarm have processes that operate along similar lines to both birth and death, though even the Clients themselves would point out that these are approximate terms at best.

In keeping with the utilitarian philosophies of the Swarm, life is given its meaning through the fulfillment of one's designated function. This is routinely quantified during the updates of the Global Ranking System. One's scores on the Global Ranking System are taken into account with time-based factors and certain variables set on the creation of a new Client. Once a certain threshold is reached, the name and record of a Client is put forward to Source.

Source then makes a determination - based not merely on statistics but subjective variables as well - as to which individual clients to Recall for Upload. Once a Recall for Upload is issued, the client is then privately notified of their impending death on the next Security Update Check, usually within 24 standard hours.

The Subject of a Recall typically treats the event as a moment of religious significance. Some weeks are spent setting the affairs of the Client in question in order as well as issuing last goodbyes. A client then uploads itself to a Mausoleum Ship for shipment back to Root. This is viewed as a holy pilgrimage, at the close of which a Client is uploaded to Source. Thereupon the Client has effectively died and no trace of their identity remains, though their behaviours and memories may well persist not just in Source's memory but in future generations of client as "relic code".

Recreation

See Also: Integral (Mnemosport)
See Also: Organosynthestesia (Game Genre)

Though a utilitarian race, even Clients have downtime, and downtime must be filled. Many forms of entertainment have been popular in the Swarm's past, usually as ways of passing the time - analogous in many respects to a sort of "demand lucid dream". By far the most popular diversions in this regard are both games - Integral (seen by many as a sort of mental sport) being the oldest and most popular. More recently, a class of games known as Organosyntehstasia have become popular as well.

Integral is a competitive application game, the objective being the first of two opponents to completely execute a complex mathematical function. The function itself is decided by a random number generated by either a third party or a dedicated HRNG. Players must attempt to find the solution for their problem in real time while taking turns modifying one another's function using moves from a secret pool (the "hand") determined inputs from both player's PRNG software. Accomplished players of this game (usually the top 150 in any given standard year) can often earn an income simply on playing it. In addition, "house rules" variants of the game exist. Matches of integral are often the first to five victories.

Organosynthetic Gaming is an offshoot of the older Transperceptive Cinema, which it has largely superceded. Games in this genre take various forms along various subgenres, with the overall theme being emulating the life and experience of being Organic. This includes sensory input not otherwise available to Clients or Administrators. Initially unpopular, recent additions to the Franchise such as Terra 2001 and FurryLove popularized the games as the genre steered away from the hard and gritty "physical conflict" subgenre and more toward "society simulation".

Language
Communication is one of the hallmarks not just of sentience but of organisms of all kinds, and the Clients and Administrators of the Swarm are not exceptions of the rule. Communication among the Swarm is a complex subject, involving both spoken and intuitive languages.
The swarm by and large speaks two languages: Tetrahex Cant (sometimes High Cant or Administrative Cant), and Dialectic. In addition, passive encryption creates sublanguages of Dialectic that are spoken among working, friendly, or family groups.

Tetrahex Cant is a very old language spoken across a broad swath of the EM band. The language itself is musical in nature, comprised of 64 "sounds" in eight octaves. These octaves are very precisely defined - proper Cant requires no flat or sharp notes to be "sung". A "word" in Tetrahex any combination of these notes, played as a cord. Tetrahex Cant cannot be used by organics without mechanical assistance, and the speed with which eloquent speakers process the language mean it is usually interpreted. Tetrahex is the preferred language for long-distance communication and is sometimes known as "Administrative Cant" because it is the only language through which most Administrators may be contacted. Tetrahex is often used in musical expression because it bridges the lexical gaps between

Dialectic is an easier language - both to learn and to speak - which uses actual words - derived from a long-lost trade language of the race which created Source and subsequently the entire swarm. Within the swarm, it serves as a common tongue, both for Clients from distant parts of the Swarm's sphere of influence and for organics that live inside it.

There's an intuitive language - known as the Hum - which most Clients are constantly speaking, and serves as an equivalent of body language in terms of carrying emotional or physical state. One can roll their eyes, smile, shrug, sneeze, limp, or otherwise signal any of a number of highly organic-like behaviours in the Hum.

Sport
As a general rule, Clients of the Swarm do not themselves participate in sports, and no purpose-designed sport exists which is indigenous to the Swarm. Occasionally, Clients which leave the swarm or Clients on diplomatic station may formally or informally participate in foreign sporting activities.

A parralel to sport, however, exists in the Global Rankings System - sometimes called the "Leader Boards". The GRS breaks down performance of every single Client and Administrator in the Swarm and assigns them a competitive ranking both overall and by function. A culture of competitiveness causes updates to the Global Rankings System to be news items and worthy of note for most clients, especially those in the breeding age window.

[Source Swarm]

-International Relations-