The World The World Setting History General Planets and Life The Nova Arcadia Penglai Colonies Pi 3 Orionis New America Atlantis Mary Traha Negsoa Ridgewell Gaia Dionysos Other Sol Adobe Origo Places Crazy Horse Lost Colonies Culture Who's Who Religions Technology Biotechnology Medicine Cryonics Implants Drugs Nanotechnology Higgs Technology Fusion Power Computers Artificial Intelligence Psychodesign Miscellanous Space technology Weapons Spaceships Stories Snail Party Blip Jump Zygote Discussion http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/Game/BigIdeas/player.html [2/9/2000 7:13:39 AM] Big Ideas, Grand Vision 300 years ago humans left for the stars. On the colonies humans have discovered marvels, developed new cultures, changed in new directions - separated by gulfs measured in light-years. But now they are brought together again. Culture clashes with culture, philosophy with philosophy. Technologies recombine into something new, something that can transform humanity or destroy it. Ambitious people plan for the dynamic future. It is a time for... Big Ideas, Grand Vision Big Ideas, Grand Vision is a roleplaying science fiction setting written by Anders Sandberg 1999. It is intended as hard science fiction, dealing with the question "What can humanity become?" It was originally run using the Alternity system, but should work fine in most other general systems. Introduction - what is this? The World - the colonies, their inhabitants and their technology. Rules and System - how to use it in Alternity? - what is going on behind the scenes, how to run a campaign in Gamemaster Information this setting. Acknowledgments - who has helped? Closing Words Web Forum - a space for comments, discussions and suggestions. Copyright Anders Sandberg 1999 Version 1.1 25 December 1999 http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/Game/BigIdeas/index.html [2/9/2000 7:13:48 AM] Big Ideas, Grand Vision Big ideas grand vision, big ideas grand vision Visions of the grandeur grandeur of the past touch me at the bottom of my heart Visions of the future tunnels built to last born to be creator grand has gone to greater Big ideas grand vision, big ideas grand vision Rock the constitution room is for the rage every generation goes to war Rise to the occasion grow a golden age born to be creator grand has gone to greater Big ideas grand vision, big ideas grand vision Seance at the chaebol: Asia's rapid economic advancement wil! outpace the rest of the world's growth Making Asia a more formidable influence in the global economy experienced managers agree That the human element Is the single most important factor for business success Still the business community hasn 't yet developed a means of fully capitalizing on individual capacity Big ideas grand vision, big ideas grand vision Walk across the border cities of the night wide awake we hail the rising sun Houses of the holy tunnels to the light born to be creator grand has gone to greater Big ideas grand vision big ideas grand vision big ideas grand vision big ideas grand vision Big Ideas, Grand Vision, (Hansson/Wollbeck/Bard) http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/Game/BigIdeas/Images/logo.html [2/9/2000 7:13:51 AM] History History The garden of earthly delights will be reserved for the meek, and those who would eat of the tree of knowledge must be banished. What a banishment it will be! Beyond Earth, in all directions, lies limitless outer space, a worthy arena for vigorous growth in every physical and mental dimension. - Hans Moravec, Robot During the first decades of the 21st century fusion power became an economic reality. It was a boon to an energy hungry humanity that wanted an energy source, but the reactors demanded Helium 3. Lunar mining and distillation became profitable, and a major space colonisation initiative began. As the basic infrastructure was created, other industries followed suit: solar power generation, vacuum foamed metals, ultrabandwidth communications, secure genetic engineering, cryotechnology and so on. In the 2020's fusion powered spaceflight had become cheap and efficient enough for powering interplanetary craft, and in the climate of optimism and space enthusiasm many began to think about a manned expedition to the stars. Gradually several independent project proposals coalesced into the TerraNova project. In 2036 the first colonisation ship was sent on its way. Over the next years several other colony ships were launched. As the technology was refined the ships became significantly faster and cheaper, and what once required the capital of all the major world powers now required just a modest investment from a dedicated organisation. At the same time orbital biospheres became feasible. The first, O'Neill I, was constructed 2035-2040 and became a milestone. Just like the colony ships the habitats became cheaper, and using lunar and asteroid material habitats soon became a more efficient way of creating a small world suitable for one's group. The interest in interstellar colonisation waned as people instead began to colonise the solar system. At the same time as space technology advanced, digital technology caused "The Final Revolution" in the 2040's. Earlier information technology had transformed many of the western industrial nations and challenged traditional rulership in most of the world. Now the full impact of global high-bandwidth communications became felt as the old national states and megacorporations http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/Game/BigIdeas/history.html (1 of 3) [2/9/2000 7:13:54 AM] History began to dissolve at a quickening rate when the economy and politics stepped from being merely international to global. Ordinary individuals achieved capabilities that once had required huge organisations thanks to the Net, flexible automated manufacturing, smart software and new social structures. The turmoil and confusion caused many to believe a great cataclysm was at hand, and motivated the launch of the last colony ships bound for Pi3, Gaia and Jerusalem, as well as a diaspora of independent habitats. What really happened was a profound transition worldwide to a networked global society. The details were unclear to the colonies since they experienced the news at a compressed rate, but apparently the last half of the 21st century was spent "relaxing the sociostructural net" through massive movement, ideological competition and several incidents of digital guerrilla warfare between different "memetic attractors". The habitats evolved in radically different ways, and a major exodus of people from the uncertain Earth into space created a boom of new habitat and social styles. A beginning of an adhocratic federation, "The Cocoon", between many habitats emerged and eventually came to absorb most of the societies. During this time many of the transmissions to the colonies ceased as the institutions handling them disbanded or changed beyond recognition; for a while they were manned by volunteers or enthusiasts, but in the end they fell silent. Deductions made by the colonies and hints from Sol suggest that eventually the Cocoon suffered a second "final revolution" as widespread AI, interplanetary communication and trade caused the transition from an interplanetary society to a "system society"; deeply integrated but at the same time extremely free and diverse. The events surrounding this transition are uncertain. Since then Sol has changed unrecognisably, and the inhabitants are no longer traditional humans. Meanwhile the colonies were settled and began to develop on their own. Among the first steps after arrival was building or unfolding a large antenna complex for interstellar communication, both with Sol and other colonies. The original vision of an interstellar society fell, since Sol dropped out, but several of the colonies managed to establish rudimentary transmissions to each other. The news of the alien Trahans and Filigree for example travelled across human space, although in most cases the delays were too long to sustain contact. In the absence of external input, they developed their own cultures, often highly divergent. The earliest colonies were the most mixed and often developed many "nations", while later colonies often remained single societies but with drifting philosophies. When FTL technology appeared on the scene in the 24th century the disparate colonial cultures were forced to meet each other. Some matched well, others were clearly antagonistic. Trade exploded, supported especially by the Atlanteans, New Americans and Novas. Cultural and scientific exchange flourished as Arcadian biotechnology encountered Trahan metaphilosphy and design science, Dionysian and Gaian mental techniques and Penglaiese megatechnology. http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/Game/BigIdeas/history.html (2 of 3) [2/9/2000 7:13:54 AM] History In 2346 the Mothers were encountered by an Arcadian expedition to 51 Pegasi, where they discovered an alien research station in orbit around the planet Crazy Horse. After complex study and mutual translation attempts communication was achieved. The Mothers turned out to have an extensive and diverse sphere of activity, and several clans of Mothers began trading or communicating with the humans. The early FTL period was a time of optimism, exploration and confrontation. Few expected the threats that would change the destiny of mankind. http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/Game/BigIdeas/history.html (3 of 3) [2/9/2000 7:13:54 AM] General Data General Data and Setting The Colony Planet Travel Distance Velocity of Type of colony time from colony Colonies sun (ly) ship (fraction of lightspeed) Nova Tau Ceti 2026-2076