What's people's opinions on the Lore so far? Here's the story from the main site. It's long so I've stuck it in spoiler tags. Put the kettle on and settle down to immerse yourself in this!
...and here's the first version from Patreon:
This is Lore version 2.1 (also from Patreon)
I love the idea of a Dyson Sphere. It's such a beautiful science fiction archetype. Clearly a lot of thought has gone into this. I can't wait to see how it is fleshed out.
What do you think?
The year is 2758 and the near complete megastructure known as Sanctuary embraces the Sun. This gargantuan, multifaceted metal-platform now shelters over a trillion lives. Alas, Sanctuary is far from the idealised paradise it was meant to be. Great chasms of serrated metal teeth gnaw hungrily into the vast expanse of space – evidence of the Mooncrash and countless ongoing battles. War ravaged shells of cities stand exposed to the darkness of space, looming over scorched earth and barren wastelands – painful reminders of better days, long past.
Despite Sanctuary’s turmoil, not all is consumed by warfare. The vastness of Sanctuary has allowed some of its inhabitants to escape the chaos surrounding them by retreating into unmarred cities of technological marvels surrounded by nature's bounty. Such brilliant havens stand testament to humanity's will to survive.
The seed of this conflict can be traced back to the year 2554. Humanity's past mistakes had chased them to the stars – pollution and overcrowding threatened Earth and its colonies with extinction. IVY, the first artificial sentience, which had originally aided in the colonisation of the solar system, proposed the construction of the Dyson Sphere: a man-made paradise fueled by the warmth of a star. This synthetic nirvana was named “Sanctuary”.
In 2647 a new subspecies of human, dubbed the Chosen, was created. The Chosen were selected from the brightest and most influential members of society. Remaking their bodies into highly advanced metallic forms, their organic brains were converted to liquid light energy matrices, granting them physical immortality. Intelligent and ambitious, the Chosen came to rule most of humanity with a detached benevolence.
ver the next century, resentment among the natural human citizenry toward the Chosen’s political dominance grew and festered, resulting in protests, social unrest and in some cases, outright civil war. Finally in 2741, a coalition of disenfranchised civilian and military organisations formed the Earth Defence Alliance (EDA) to oppose the Chosen's stewardship. The EDA's fiery rhetoric quickly gained them support amongst the natural human population, causing an even greater divide between the two cultures.
Sanctuary neared completion in 2758 as the ever-growing tensions between the EDA and Chosen reached an all-time high. A controversial and duplicitous plan to move and assimilate the Earth’s moon into Sanctuary was implemented. As the Moon neared Sanctuary, disaster struck. It failed to slow down, continuing unabated on a collision course for Sanctuary. The resulting Mooncrash was catastrophic, extinguishing billions of lives.
Considering the Mooncrash to be a deliberate attack, the EDA and Chosen declared war on one another, sparking the greatest conflict in human history – the Great Solar War. The resulting military action was unlike any other in its savagery, bringing untold destruction and devastation upon humanity’s paradise.
Now, as the stalwart EDA fights tooth and nail against the cutting-edge Chosen, a new threat emerges. Sanctuary’s AI caretaker Ra has repurposed Sanctuary's worker bots to create the Guard, an implacable robotic army determined to protect Sanctuary through the forceful pacification of the warring factions. As the great Solar War reaches its peak, which faction will you pledge your allegiance to? Will you lead your side to victory, or will you face annihilation?
Despite Sanctuary’s turmoil, not all is consumed by warfare. The vastness of Sanctuary has allowed some of its inhabitants to escape the chaos surrounding them by retreating into unmarred cities of technological marvels surrounded by nature's bounty. Such brilliant havens stand testament to humanity's will to survive.
The seed of this conflict can be traced back to the year 2554. Humanity's past mistakes had chased them to the stars – pollution and overcrowding threatened Earth and its colonies with extinction. IVY, the first artificial sentience, which had originally aided in the colonisation of the solar system, proposed the construction of the Dyson Sphere: a man-made paradise fueled by the warmth of a star. This synthetic nirvana was named “Sanctuary”.
In 2647 a new subspecies of human, dubbed the Chosen, was created. The Chosen were selected from the brightest and most influential members of society. Remaking their bodies into highly advanced metallic forms, their organic brains were converted to liquid light energy matrices, granting them physical immortality. Intelligent and ambitious, the Chosen came to rule most of humanity with a detached benevolence.
ver the next century, resentment among the natural human citizenry toward the Chosen’s political dominance grew and festered, resulting in protests, social unrest and in some cases, outright civil war. Finally in 2741, a coalition of disenfranchised civilian and military organisations formed the Earth Defence Alliance (EDA) to oppose the Chosen's stewardship. The EDA's fiery rhetoric quickly gained them support amongst the natural human population, causing an even greater divide between the two cultures.
Sanctuary neared completion in 2758 as the ever-growing tensions between the EDA and Chosen reached an all-time high. A controversial and duplicitous plan to move and assimilate the Earth’s moon into Sanctuary was implemented. As the Moon neared Sanctuary, disaster struck. It failed to slow down, continuing unabated on a collision course for Sanctuary. The resulting Mooncrash was catastrophic, extinguishing billions of lives.
Considering the Mooncrash to be a deliberate attack, the EDA and Chosen declared war on one another, sparking the greatest conflict in human history – the Great Solar War. The resulting military action was unlike any other in its savagery, bringing untold destruction and devastation upon humanity’s paradise.
Now, as the stalwart EDA fights tooth and nail against the cutting-edge Chosen, a new threat emerges. Sanctuary’s AI caretaker Ra has repurposed Sanctuary's worker bots to create the Guard, an implacable robotic army determined to protect Sanctuary through the forceful pacification of the warring factions. As the great Solar War reaches its peak, which faction will you pledge your allegiance to? Will you lead your side to victory, or will you face annihilation?
...and here's the first version from Patreon:
Far into the future an overpopulated and polluted solar system is in desperate need of a new home. An AI going by the name "The Guard", presents to humanity a way of saving them from their ever growing need for resources and ever increasing, life-endangering pollution.
The Guard would drain material from the sun itself in order to construct a Dyson sphere, the AI named this sphere “Sanctuary”.
Only several decades after construction began, parts of Sanctuary were already habitable. First millions, then billions of humans started to call it home.
A group of scientists began work on a procedure that could transfer or rather “Ascend” the human mind into a computer where you could live in a digital world. Post-ascension, they were named Azrael's, after the angel that takes the soul from the body. The beings that were uploaded in this way were Azrael's. The process of picking a was a vigorous one leading to the moniker “Azrael’s Chosen” or simply “The Chosen”, and upon Ascending, a Chosen gives himself a new name and is assigned a place in this digital society.
The Chosen being immortal and also more intelligent quickly rose up through the ranks of society.
This new “species” was both fascinating and polarizing to the mortal humans, when asked to handle great administrative tasks by the old humans, they nonchalantly obliged and, with every turn, effortlessly pulled feats of adroitness that revolutionized the job in question. It was hard to argue with the results and hard not to give in to the temptation of a brighter future.
But there was also a growing divide on the matter of their growing responsibilities among mortal humans and Chosen alike : did it matter that under mortal human organization, governance and legislation, more died and suffered if it was more than counteracted by morally desired goals like independence?
During the years that these questions continued to be front and center and despite these issues remaining unresolved the gradual loss of mortal human’s control over their own agency continued to take place to the opposed element’s dismay and utter frustration.
Some mortal humans agreed : it was demonstrably for the best, other MH couldn’t stand this. Likewise the Chosen remained divided : these are our kin, our venerable ancestors, the least we could do is leave them their agency, we have no need to control both their affairs and our own. While the clear majority of Chosen felt their arbitration and help was not merely asked of them it was unquestionable.
It didn't help that humans were delegated to more and more simple tasks as almost all the leaders and high ranking people were now Chosen.
Tensions between rebellion groups and Chosen were at the brink of war more often than not.
A new Chosen, pseudonym : Mephisto, harboring intense disdain for Mortal Humans, quickly gained a following of like-minded Chosen. Initially talking up threats and promoting hate and violence against the uprisings on earth, sometimes going as far as threatening all Mortal Humans. Eventually talk turned to actions and on occasion the uprising suppression turned violent. A faction known as the Earth Defense Alliance (or EDA, for short), was formed on the basis of counter-acting Mephisto and his followers, but accrued anti-Chosen sentiment as well as more members joined. These two entities clashed verbally and physically at an ever-increasing pace. After some lengthy negotiations the Chosen sided with the Mortal Humans and detained Mephisto to prevent all out civil-war.
Due to the EDA governing humans rather than Chosen governing humans being more accepted and considered more ethically correct it was appealing to a vast majority of people, and as such, it grew exponentially on both earth and Sanctuary.
While EDA now led most of human society, uprisings against both EDA and Chosen were commonplace. The EDA did their best to control humanity but it was not always an option, uprisings and attacks in Chosen territories were left for Chosen to deal with, generally brutally making an example out of the uprising, which were touted by the EDA as a crime against humanity.
In a cycle of Chosen political control that, unfortunately, favored the Futurists (as opposed to the Benevolents) the controversial resolution to dock the moon and then also the Earth into specially made openings in Sanctuary was passed. This plan succeeded the Futurist’s failed previous plan to simply dismantle the Earth in order to build additional sectors on Sanctuary.
Only a week before the moon was meant to arrive it’s thrusters burnt all their fuel putting the moon on a critical collision course with Sanctuary, despite all efforts to stop it the moon slammed into Sanctuary, tearing a titanic breach in it, the chain reaction from the initial impact destroyed more than 15% of Sanctuary, a gaping wound christened “Breach” by Mortal Humans and Chosen alike.
Driven by sky high tensions, many groups of extremists wanting to destroy one faction or the other had sprung up over the decades, but it was only now, with Breach, that one had succeeded in a plan of this scale - taking control over the moons thrusters and surviving just long enough to put it on a collision course with the sphere.
The damage caused by the moon destroyed the Chosen’s HQ along with most of their military. The Chosen’s line of succession was clear, they quickly recovered their governmental structure but their societal infrastructure was heavily damaged. To compare this attack to pearl harbor would be an understatement. This sealed the fate of the Benevolent party, who’d lost all credibility, the Chosen united under a single banner and declared this an act of war perpetuated by EDA and by extension Mortal Humans and retaliated by closing “the Eclipse”, the aperture that let light from the sun reach earth. This plunged the Earth into the dark and into an unnatural ice age. The Eclipse’s closing was also followed by attacks on many critical EDA strategic locations.
The war raged on with more and more of Sanctuary being destroyed. Suddenly and unsuspectingly a third faction joined the war, popping up all over Sanctuary. They began indiscriminately decimating Chosen and EDA alike, now facing a third threat: EDA and Chosen’s conflicts grew even more desperate, both sides feeling forced into actions that previously were avoided.
Driven to do so by the increasing damage to the Dyson sphere, the machines that built it calculated that pacifying both factions was the only way the war would end before the mounting damage became irrecoverable. Sanctuary had to stay intact.
In the initial moments of this new war between these three entities, The Guard created specialized robots that were free to think and act on their own, them being autonomous from her fulfilled two goals, firstly it wouldn't matter if her signal to them was disrupted or cut entirely even for long periods of time, and secondly there would be no delay for their actions.
In order to manage the immense task of maintaining a Dyson sphere, Sanctuary was designed to be an intelligence in and of itself. This AI was called CORE. Despite being unfathomably intelligent its motivations were its own, while it did not like the idea of its mother attacking the humans and Chosen that it had come to know and respect, it understood that she was doing it for both of them.
On occasion CORE would intervene and give instruction to a faction be it its mother, EDA or chosen to help reduce collateral damage to Sanctuary in their necessary battle, The Guard shared CORE’s concerns but sometimes damage to Sanctuary was a necessary outcome to ensure she could hold her ground.
The Guard would drain material from the sun itself in order to construct a Dyson sphere, the AI named this sphere “Sanctuary”.
Only several decades after construction began, parts of Sanctuary were already habitable. First millions, then billions of humans started to call it home.
A group of scientists began work on a procedure that could transfer or rather “Ascend” the human mind into a computer where you could live in a digital world. Post-ascension, they were named Azrael's, after the angel that takes the soul from the body. The beings that were uploaded in this way were Azrael's. The process of picking a was a vigorous one leading to the moniker “Azrael’s Chosen” or simply “The Chosen”, and upon Ascending, a Chosen gives himself a new name and is assigned a place in this digital society.
The Chosen being immortal and also more intelligent quickly rose up through the ranks of society.
This new “species” was both fascinating and polarizing to the mortal humans, when asked to handle great administrative tasks by the old humans, they nonchalantly obliged and, with every turn, effortlessly pulled feats of adroitness that revolutionized the job in question. It was hard to argue with the results and hard not to give in to the temptation of a brighter future.
But there was also a growing divide on the matter of their growing responsibilities among mortal humans and Chosen alike : did it matter that under mortal human organization, governance and legislation, more died and suffered if it was more than counteracted by morally desired goals like independence?
During the years that these questions continued to be front and center and despite these issues remaining unresolved the gradual loss of mortal human’s control over their own agency continued to take place to the opposed element’s dismay and utter frustration.
Some mortal humans agreed : it was demonstrably for the best, other MH couldn’t stand this. Likewise the Chosen remained divided : these are our kin, our venerable ancestors, the least we could do is leave them their agency, we have no need to control both their affairs and our own. While the clear majority of Chosen felt their arbitration and help was not merely asked of them it was unquestionable.
It didn't help that humans were delegated to more and more simple tasks as almost all the leaders and high ranking people were now Chosen.
Tensions between rebellion groups and Chosen were at the brink of war more often than not.
A new Chosen, pseudonym : Mephisto, harboring intense disdain for Mortal Humans, quickly gained a following of like-minded Chosen. Initially talking up threats and promoting hate and violence against the uprisings on earth, sometimes going as far as threatening all Mortal Humans. Eventually talk turned to actions and on occasion the uprising suppression turned violent. A faction known as the Earth Defense Alliance (or EDA, for short), was formed on the basis of counter-acting Mephisto and his followers, but accrued anti-Chosen sentiment as well as more members joined. These two entities clashed verbally and physically at an ever-increasing pace. After some lengthy negotiations the Chosen sided with the Mortal Humans and detained Mephisto to prevent all out civil-war.
Due to the EDA governing humans rather than Chosen governing humans being more accepted and considered more ethically correct it was appealing to a vast majority of people, and as such, it grew exponentially on both earth and Sanctuary.
While EDA now led most of human society, uprisings against both EDA and Chosen were commonplace. The EDA did their best to control humanity but it was not always an option, uprisings and attacks in Chosen territories were left for Chosen to deal with, generally brutally making an example out of the uprising, which were touted by the EDA as a crime against humanity.
In a cycle of Chosen political control that, unfortunately, favored the Futurists (as opposed to the Benevolents) the controversial resolution to dock the moon and then also the Earth into specially made openings in Sanctuary was passed. This plan succeeded the Futurist’s failed previous plan to simply dismantle the Earth in order to build additional sectors on Sanctuary.
Only a week before the moon was meant to arrive it’s thrusters burnt all their fuel putting the moon on a critical collision course with Sanctuary, despite all efforts to stop it the moon slammed into Sanctuary, tearing a titanic breach in it, the chain reaction from the initial impact destroyed more than 15% of Sanctuary, a gaping wound christened “Breach” by Mortal Humans and Chosen alike.
Driven by sky high tensions, many groups of extremists wanting to destroy one faction or the other had sprung up over the decades, but it was only now, with Breach, that one had succeeded in a plan of this scale - taking control over the moons thrusters and surviving just long enough to put it on a collision course with the sphere.
The damage caused by the moon destroyed the Chosen’s HQ along with most of their military. The Chosen’s line of succession was clear, they quickly recovered their governmental structure but their societal infrastructure was heavily damaged. To compare this attack to pearl harbor would be an understatement. This sealed the fate of the Benevolent party, who’d lost all credibility, the Chosen united under a single banner and declared this an act of war perpetuated by EDA and by extension Mortal Humans and retaliated by closing “the Eclipse”, the aperture that let light from the sun reach earth. This plunged the Earth into the dark and into an unnatural ice age. The Eclipse’s closing was also followed by attacks on many critical EDA strategic locations.
The war raged on with more and more of Sanctuary being destroyed. Suddenly and unsuspectingly a third faction joined the war, popping up all over Sanctuary. They began indiscriminately decimating Chosen and EDA alike, now facing a third threat: EDA and Chosen’s conflicts grew even more desperate, both sides feeling forced into actions that previously were avoided.
Driven to do so by the increasing damage to the Dyson sphere, the machines that built it calculated that pacifying both factions was the only way the war would end before the mounting damage became irrecoverable. Sanctuary had to stay intact.
In the initial moments of this new war between these three entities, The Guard created specialized robots that were free to think and act on their own, them being autonomous from her fulfilled two goals, firstly it wouldn't matter if her signal to them was disrupted or cut entirely even for long periods of time, and secondly there would be no delay for their actions.
In order to manage the immense task of maintaining a Dyson sphere, Sanctuary was designed to be an intelligence in and of itself. This AI was called CORE. Despite being unfathomably intelligent its motivations were its own, while it did not like the idea of its mother attacking the humans and Chosen that it had come to know and respect, it understood that she was doing it for both of them.
On occasion CORE would intervene and give instruction to a faction be it its mother, EDA or chosen to help reduce collateral damage to Sanctuary in their necessary battle, The Guard shared CORE’s concerns but sometimes damage to Sanctuary was a necessary outcome to ensure she could hold her ground.
This is Lore version 2.1 (also from Patreon)
The year is 2554 and mankind has colonized the entirety of the solar system. However, pollution and overpopulation threaten humanity with extinction.
In order to solve this problem, the super AI, IVY, proposes the creation of a Dyson Sphere to serve as a man-made paradise for all of humanity.
This artificial heaven was named “Sanctuary”.
Sanctuary is a Dyson Sphere, a megastructure large enough to encase the sun and harvest its energy. Being several kilometers thick, Sanctuary is approximately 563 Earths above the surface of the sun. It was built by countless autonomous worker bots which later served to maintain the sphere from a network of maintenance tunnels within Sanctuary. In order to make the colossal structure, all mass in the solar system and part of the Sun itself was harvested completely with the exception of the Earth and its Moon.
As Sanctuary grew in size, IVY started to become overwhelmed by the complexity and number of tasks, which extended beyond Sanctuary. In order to manage the sphere’s many essential systems, IVY created a second super AI: Ra. Ra was put in charge of the many systems of the sphere in addition to the numerous worker bots responsible for keeping it running. Using Sanctuary itself, both as hardware and as an energy source, Ra grew to become the most complex and expansive AI ever made.
The inside of the sphere is a hot, uninhabitable hellscape. Contained within, are the crucial solar collection systems which constantly harvest energy from the sun to power Sanctuary, a number of mass generation facilities, and life support systems. Solar panels and thermal transformers are affixed to the underside of Sanctuary in vast arrays to process the raw energy of the sun.
The outer side of Sanctuary was constructed to be as similar to native Earth as possible. The gravity and atmosphere are practically identical, and many biomes native to Earth have been replicated, although several new ones have been created as well. Lush vibrant forests, vast oceans and expansive savannas cover the sphere from end to end. Although more extreme biomes such as tundras and deserts do exist, they are smaller and more tame in nature when compared to their Earthly counterparts. Even then, they’re closely monitored and controlled by the AI Ra to prevent undesirable effects.
A number of apertures in Sanctuary exist in order to let sunlight out. The biggest of these openings is called Eclipse, which is responsible for providing sunlight to Earth. The rotation of Sanctuary was adjusted in a way that the Eclipse is aligned with the Earth at all times.
A system of orbiting mirrors is responsible for providing sunlight to the outer layer of the sphere. These mirrors work in conjunction with numerous focused apertures which consolidate the light before passing it through the Sanctuary.
Atmosphere is constantly being produced and lost at compensating rates, allowing for stable ecosystems. Areas directly on the edge of fissures are devoid of atmosphere, and those near it have thinner atmosphere when compared to other sections of the sphere.
Besides “natural” humans there are beings known as the Chosen who also inhabit the sphere. They are humans who have had their minds remade via “ascension” into highly advanced metal bodies and their minds are composed of liquid, light energy matrices. Extremely intelligent, the Chosen have come to rule most of mankind. Although their rule has brought many benefits, a schism between the Chosen and the paramilitary group EDA (Earth Defense Alliance) threatens to tear humanity apart.
As Sanctuary neared completion, a controversial and radical plan was proposed. The public was deceived into believing in order to expedite the completion of Sanctuary, the Moon would be vacated and its mass harvested for Sanctuary. Yet in truth the Moon's movement was plotted for nefarious purposes, born from the high socio political tensions between the Humans and Chosen. This plan was met by outrage by both the Mortal Humans and the Benevolent Chosen. The EDA claimed this was a political move by the Chosen to finally control humanity as a whole. Nevertheless, the plan proceeded and the Moon was transported by massive thrusters from its orbit around Earth to its new home in Sanctuary.
During the final approach of the incoming Moon, disaster struck. On the Moon's final approach, something went wrong and it failed to slow down, continuing unabated on a collision course for Sanctuary. Attempts were made to re-route or destroy the Moon, all in vain. In the end, the inhabitants of Sanctuary could do nothing but watch helplessly.
The Earth’s Moon collided with Sanctuary, at enormous speed, in the year 2782. The damage was catastrophic. In an instant, billions of both humans and Chosen died as the Breach caused by the Moon collision left a massive tear in Sanctuaries surface and the Moon continued on, falling into the Sun. As the Moon impacted, the Eclipse became misaligned, plunging Earth into freezing darkness.
Considering the Mooncrash to be a deliberate attack, the EDA and the Chosen declared war on one another, sparking the greatest conflict in human history. The resulting war was unlike any other, bringing untold destruction and devastation upon humanity’s paradise. With the conflict quickly escalating, the worker bots responsible for the maintenance of the sphere were repurposed into deadly war machines. Creating a new breed of independent AIs to lead the repurposed worker bots, Ra unleashed the Guard, a merciless, robotic army determined to protect Sanctuary from further damage, through pacification of the warring factions, by force.
Currently, Sanctuary is a little over two thirds complete. It appears as a gargantuan, semispherical, glimmering multifaceted metal platform sporting various environmental biomes. In addition to the natural biomes there are also sprawling metropolises sequestered wherever space provides to accommodate the 100+ billion lives living on Sanctuary’s surface. Sanctuary however is far from being the xanadu paradise it was supposed to be. Great chasms of serrated, metal teeth gnaw hungrily into the vast expanse of space, evidence of the Moon-crash and the countless battles still brewing abroad. War ravaged shells of cities, encased by the darkness of space, loom over scorched earth and barren wastelands, painful reminders of better days, long past.
However despite the rampant destruction pervading Sanctuary, not all is consumed by warfare. The size and scope of Sanctuary has allowed small areas to exist, which protect a few fortunate inhabitants from the chaos occurring elsewhere. Though not fully free from the impacts of the war, these areas serve as safe havens for refugees and civilians. Filled with technological marvels and surrounded by nature's bounty, such iridescent cities stand as painful testaments to humanity's better days. With the war getting worse however, it's only a matter of time before they too shall succumb to the vicious wars surrounding them.
In order to solve this problem, the super AI, IVY, proposes the creation of a Dyson Sphere to serve as a man-made paradise for all of humanity.
This artificial heaven was named “Sanctuary”.
Sanctuary is a Dyson Sphere, a megastructure large enough to encase the sun and harvest its energy. Being several kilometers thick, Sanctuary is approximately 563 Earths above the surface of the sun. It was built by countless autonomous worker bots which later served to maintain the sphere from a network of maintenance tunnels within Sanctuary. In order to make the colossal structure, all mass in the solar system and part of the Sun itself was harvested completely with the exception of the Earth and its Moon.
As Sanctuary grew in size, IVY started to become overwhelmed by the complexity and number of tasks, which extended beyond Sanctuary. In order to manage the sphere’s many essential systems, IVY created a second super AI: Ra. Ra was put in charge of the many systems of the sphere in addition to the numerous worker bots responsible for keeping it running. Using Sanctuary itself, both as hardware and as an energy source, Ra grew to become the most complex and expansive AI ever made.
The inside of the sphere is a hot, uninhabitable hellscape. Contained within, are the crucial solar collection systems which constantly harvest energy from the sun to power Sanctuary, a number of mass generation facilities, and life support systems. Solar panels and thermal transformers are affixed to the underside of Sanctuary in vast arrays to process the raw energy of the sun.
The outer side of Sanctuary was constructed to be as similar to native Earth as possible. The gravity and atmosphere are practically identical, and many biomes native to Earth have been replicated, although several new ones have been created as well. Lush vibrant forests, vast oceans and expansive savannas cover the sphere from end to end. Although more extreme biomes such as tundras and deserts do exist, they are smaller and more tame in nature when compared to their Earthly counterparts. Even then, they’re closely monitored and controlled by the AI Ra to prevent undesirable effects.
A number of apertures in Sanctuary exist in order to let sunlight out. The biggest of these openings is called Eclipse, which is responsible for providing sunlight to Earth. The rotation of Sanctuary was adjusted in a way that the Eclipse is aligned with the Earth at all times.
A system of orbiting mirrors is responsible for providing sunlight to the outer layer of the sphere. These mirrors work in conjunction with numerous focused apertures which consolidate the light before passing it through the Sanctuary.
Atmosphere is constantly being produced and lost at compensating rates, allowing for stable ecosystems. Areas directly on the edge of fissures are devoid of atmosphere, and those near it have thinner atmosphere when compared to other sections of the sphere.
Besides “natural” humans there are beings known as the Chosen who also inhabit the sphere. They are humans who have had their minds remade via “ascension” into highly advanced metal bodies and their minds are composed of liquid, light energy matrices. Extremely intelligent, the Chosen have come to rule most of mankind. Although their rule has brought many benefits, a schism between the Chosen and the paramilitary group EDA (Earth Defense Alliance) threatens to tear humanity apart.
As Sanctuary neared completion, a controversial and radical plan was proposed. The public was deceived into believing in order to expedite the completion of Sanctuary, the Moon would be vacated and its mass harvested for Sanctuary. Yet in truth the Moon's movement was plotted for nefarious purposes, born from the high socio political tensions between the Humans and Chosen. This plan was met by outrage by both the Mortal Humans and the Benevolent Chosen. The EDA claimed this was a political move by the Chosen to finally control humanity as a whole. Nevertheless, the plan proceeded and the Moon was transported by massive thrusters from its orbit around Earth to its new home in Sanctuary.
During the final approach of the incoming Moon, disaster struck. On the Moon's final approach, something went wrong and it failed to slow down, continuing unabated on a collision course for Sanctuary. Attempts were made to re-route or destroy the Moon, all in vain. In the end, the inhabitants of Sanctuary could do nothing but watch helplessly.
The Earth’s Moon collided with Sanctuary, at enormous speed, in the year 2782. The damage was catastrophic. In an instant, billions of both humans and Chosen died as the Breach caused by the Moon collision left a massive tear in Sanctuaries surface and the Moon continued on, falling into the Sun. As the Moon impacted, the Eclipse became misaligned, plunging Earth into freezing darkness.
Considering the Mooncrash to be a deliberate attack, the EDA and the Chosen declared war on one another, sparking the greatest conflict in human history. The resulting war was unlike any other, bringing untold destruction and devastation upon humanity’s paradise. With the conflict quickly escalating, the worker bots responsible for the maintenance of the sphere were repurposed into deadly war machines. Creating a new breed of independent AIs to lead the repurposed worker bots, Ra unleashed the Guard, a merciless, robotic army determined to protect Sanctuary from further damage, through pacification of the warring factions, by force.
Currently, Sanctuary is a little over two thirds complete. It appears as a gargantuan, semispherical, glimmering multifaceted metal platform sporting various environmental biomes. In addition to the natural biomes there are also sprawling metropolises sequestered wherever space provides to accommodate the 100+ billion lives living on Sanctuary’s surface. Sanctuary however is far from being the xanadu paradise it was supposed to be. Great chasms of serrated, metal teeth gnaw hungrily into the vast expanse of space, evidence of the Moon-crash and the countless battles still brewing abroad. War ravaged shells of cities, encased by the darkness of space, loom over scorched earth and barren wastelands, painful reminders of better days, long past.
However despite the rampant destruction pervading Sanctuary, not all is consumed by warfare. The size and scope of Sanctuary has allowed small areas to exist, which protect a few fortunate inhabitants from the chaos occurring elsewhere. Though not fully free from the impacts of the war, these areas serve as safe havens for refugees and civilians. Filled with technological marvels and surrounded by nature's bounty, such iridescent cities stand as painful testaments to humanity's better days. With the war getting worse however, it's only a matter of time before they too shall succumb to the vicious wars surrounding them.
I love the idea of a Dyson Sphere. It's such a beautiful science fiction archetype. Clearly a lot of thought has gone into this. I can't wait to see how it is fleshed out.
What do you think?