Congressional tech Q&A

[Brian]

It's actually almost never in 0g, excepting during certain manuevers, or when EVA is being performed, or when a communication array needs propulsion to cut off.

Low g happens, but the craft usually maintains 1g of acceleration at all times (in the hyperspace bubble, anime-physics take hold, and constant acceleration equals constant velocity).

[Brian]

Okay.  How the Eidolon is designed and how it actually works.

   The Eidolon is made of all the cutting edge technology that Heaven and Corvalis can theorize, visualize, and then with Congressional funding, actualize.

   That means that a lot of what's on board is relatively unique and experimental.

   First off, visually, at least, the ship looks like a wedge, mostly, the point facing forward, and the rear face being the propulsion system.  Being designed by Angels, the hull is sculpted with curling lines, which suggest a pair of feathery wings.  These lines are filled with sensory equipment, which protects them from the majority of debris that might be struck while traveling as sub-light speeds.

   The 'top' of the ship is the point furthest from the engines.  As there is no artificial gravity, save that from acceleration; all of the ship's natural 'floors' are oriented so that 'down' is engine-ward.  Everything is also designed to be as safe and comfortable as possible in the event of the ship being without gravity, with rails everywhere to aid movement.

   In terms of practicality, the Eidolon is actually two ships.  The center of the ship is the cryo-chamber and bridge, as well as the primary computer facility.  The maintenance robots are also stationed there, and no more than three of the six will leave the core at any time.  In theory, if there was an accident such as a hull-breach, or significant weapons impact that devastated the hull, the core of the ship (and the engines) would separate from the rest of the vessel and leave something that was basically just a bridge, quarantine, and cryo-chambers to ditch the wreckage and return home.  The core is technically christened the Prometheus, but until it actually separates from the rest of the ship (which is, in theory, not a reversible process), considered to be a part of the Eidolon.  Directly around the bridge and cry-chambers are the crew quarters, which line Prometheus's inner hull.

   The engine itself begins shortly 'below' the Prometheus' bridge (which is also the Eidolon's bridge).  It's roughly cylindrical, and about forty meters across, and has been named the Mjollnir.  It is, in theory, the most powerful engine ever assembled, and is self-sufficient thanks to cunning design that does not at any point include bouncing a graviton particle beam off the main deflector dish.  (The ship has antennae, but no deflector dish.)

   The bulk of the Eidolon is actually laboratories, shops (for machining components), databases of instructions (for figuring out how to machine components), and loads of equipment for exploring whatever system the Eidolon ends up in.  Some of the equipment is simple basic stuff that would be carried by people on foot and used by hand, and some of its is fully automated, such as the two robots designed to be launched into a gas giant to explore its composition (they don't come back from that mission, though).  There are also six landers, which can accommodate thirty people each, and two variable-altitude rovers which are not designed for re-entry, but have a greater lateral range than the landers.  In addition, there are a pair of sea-craft, and a pair of what are essentially glorified jeeps.  These craft are (by default) pre-loaded into the landers, which reduces their personnel capacity by ten, meaning that in the event of an emergency, the entire crew would (in theory) be able to board the landers and abandon ship.

   The cryochambers are large, egg-shaped pods, about seven meters across and eleven high.  Each one contains five people.  The pods are designed to withstand re-entry, deploy parachutes (within an atmosphere) and have an emergency fuel supply with disposable engines that can in theory land the pods safely.  If these are jettisoned (which they can be, if it's necessary) then any crew within them are automatically thawed over two days and then released with a week's supply of food and water.  Beyond that, the pod will use what little energy remains to power the built-in comm. system to broadcast a distress beacon.

   The bridge is mean to be manned by fifteen people comfortably, though there is room for additional personnel at sensor-stations.  The seats are soft, and swivel, but are bolted in place and contain straps to restrain anyone during 0g.  The consoles are modular and can be moved from station to station.  While the ship can be flown manually, this is done via relays, not direct line-of-sight.  There are no physical switches and levers, all of the controls are soft-keys on the consoles, which can be reconfigured to each crewman's personal tastes.

[Brian]

Philosophy and outlook for Tribes:


   Congressionals:

   Congressionals tend to believe that they are the last surviving heirs to the empire of Old Earth.  And perhaps they are, though Terra can't verify this -- she doesn't have any concise records of other branches of humans, though according to stories and what evidence remains, they must have existed.

   Beyond that, the outlook of the Congressionals is the most erratic of all the Tribes.  There is no unifying religion or spiritual belief among the planets -- old Hindu followers and modern Cosmic Christers live side-by-side, along with a good number of agnostics, and so on.  Other than the fact that they all speak Congressional Standard (though many Congressionals also know at least a few English (Old Earther) words), and are unified under Congress as the central government, Congressionals are the most diverse and varied of all the Tribes.


   Selkens:

   Selkens are a little more unified than Congressionals, sharing the same very practical, down-to-Earth and logical pragmatism that's evident in every aspect of their culture -- from their labor-trade, to their art, to their computer fabrication facility.

   Most of the Selken therefore also dress appropriately, putting very little value on 'nice' clothes, instead going with whatever is the most durable and sensible clothing for the environment.  The Selken tend to spurn religions that attempt to define specific actions as 'bad' or 'evil', instead preferring those with messages of accommodation and adjustment.  Spiritualism is mostly evident in the forms of Buddhism and Taoist, along with compatible Old Earther Native American shamanistic practices and the like.  Worship of specific gods is rare among the Selken to the extreme.


   Angels:

   Angels generally tend to have faith that there is a being beyond mortal understanding that can shape the universe, as it must have at some point shaped their system.  This is also reflected in the amount of engineering that everything in their lives evidences -- an Angelic tool is almost never going to be limited to a single function.  Moreover, anything that an Angel builds is designed to do its job well, and withstand massive damages thrown at it while retaining functionality.  (Case in point -- the Eidolon itself.)

   Angels don't usually like to specifically worship a god by a name, though some bands of Angels are fervent Cosmic Christers, usually those that live and mine on Purgatory.  Angels will dress in whatever's appropriate to the occasion, but moreso than the Selken (or most Congresionals) they do care for appearances.  The down-side is that while products of Angel manufacture are usually without peer, it takes a good long while for most of them to be made, and much longer than that to be designed.  (The Eidolon's drive system and hull was designed nearly three decades before there was an order for it to be assembled.)


   Spacers:

   While technically Angels are members of the above three tribes, their cultural values often tend to differ, as they have the most communication and movement between the three tribes.  Spacers are often poor at social interactions with non-Spacers, which is attributed to months of travel without much contact with other people.  Foremost among Spacer beliefs is atheism, because if a Spacer can't watch out for his/her self, God's not going to seal the airlock for them.

   On that note, Spacers tend to be very cautious, as without caution, it's quite easy to die in space.  Among their culture, obsessive-compulsive disorder is not considered a detriment, and is in fact, considered a sign of practicality and good breeding.



   In general:

   The Congressional sector, while expansive, is fairly sparse.  For all of the planets they have access to, with their varying degrees of suitability for hosting human life, the sector only has a population of about five billion, just below half of that in the Congressional system specifically.

   The most inhabited planet is Aquilla.


   In specific:

   General notes about cultures on individual planets.

   Landonites are all assigned a 'Genetic Merit' rating on birth (or formalization of citizenship) which indicates who they are allowed to breed with, as Landon is under very strict population control laws.

   It is rumored that Stygians are all given access to a great secret of Old Earth, but this is considered to be foundationless speculation, as Terra knows nothing about it.  Then again, she also knew nothing about the Guardian of Landon before it apparently failed.

   Among Angel Spacers and natives of Purgatory there is a unified band that calls themselves the Threaders.  'Threading' is the process of piloting a ship between God's eyes while they (and Mote) are in a specific alignment, so that Mote's magnetosphere makes a brief (and very narrow) gap between the stars where the solar radiation can be effectively blocked by a decent hull.  After threading the needle-like window, Mote's gravity allows the ship launched through this gap to break free, and escape back into the system at large.  While generally impressive pilots and crewmen, Threaders often have little regard for practicality.

   Among the Selken there is a band called the 'Riven'.  All of them are born on Demeter, and after reaching the appropriate age to join the labor-trade fare, they move to Daphne, Draconus, and then Corvalis.  Apparently, the Riven are relatively secretive, but do have access to Draconus as non-military functionaries at what the Selken claim as a religious site.  Only Riven are allowed to access this site, which Congress has scanned with deep radar, and found to be nothing but an empty crater.  The ritual journey from the center to the edge of the circle is based on planetary alignment, and is said to emulate the cycle of life.

[Brian]

Why and how you were chosen for this mission:

Most of you were approached by recruiters, as you had at least a solid reputation in your area, and Congress has very complete records.  Some of you may have heard about the mission and asked to join.  Some of you saw advertisments for the jobs no one really wanted because they were high-risk.

All of you apparently found it worthwhile to gamble 40 or more years, even if the majority of that would be in cryo (which you still age in, if much, much more slowly).

As far as the general culture, it's usually shaped by the individual planets.  On Landon and Congress, Congress is practically Big Brother, but outside of those planets, they are much more relaxed.

If one had to be chosen, it'd be closer to Ringworld than Blade Runner ... but Alien isn't too far off the mark, either.