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Madison Scott-Clary
2023-02-04 18:25:48 -08:00
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@ -124,52 +124,4 @@ As with any social system, conflict happens. People don't like each other. They
The one exception to being killed on the System is through a subtle virus which will crash one's instance. This virus must be tailored to the individual it's meant for and is not trivial to produce, so instances of such death are rare. It's most commonly associated with symbolic objects such as syringes or knives rather than poison; as always, having the symbol be recognized as one that can cause damage is often part of the process.
## Q&A
"Can people be unconscious in the System? Can they sleep and dream?"
: Yes and yes.
"When were the launches announced?
: Around 2307, plans and designs began to form between both sys- and phys-side, and the project was widely announced in 2310. Development began in earnest at this point, with the extrusion of the launch arms beginning in 2315.
"Can instances be kept in a sim without being able to escape?"
: No. There is no locking *in* with ACLs, just locking *out*.
"Why can't people change their form without forking?"
: The basic gist is that it's a consensual dream. That which is possible is that which can be dreamed by everyone. Flying? Go; folks can dream that. Growing a tail and imagining how it would feel to do so? Not quite everyone's thing so it's restricted to the point at which the System steps in to help.
"One has to learn new skills, right? You can't just 'know' new things."
: Correct. You still have a mind in the classical sense, and there is a boundary between your knowledge and the collected knowledge of the System.
"Would something psychosomatic like phantom pain still exist?"
: Yes, definitely. One could fork to get rid of it, but that's not something that's commonly talked about (for instance, the Odists could have forked to address some of their concerns, but never actually did so, and then it become socially uncomfortable to talk about). That said, uploading to get away from chronic/terminal conditions is very common.
"What happens if someone can't fork properly? Will the System notice and take corrective actions?"
: The System will prevent you from forking if it puts the root instance, another individual, or the System at risk, but anything beyond that would likely mean talking to an engineer. The System is very hands-off when it comes to forking, since that only exists due to a System malfunction in the first place, and it overcorrected and destroyed both instances
"What's the population of Lagrange System?"
: Around 20 billion instances, 13 billion clades circa 2310.
"If intoxication is wholly voluntary sys-side, do people still get addicted?"
: To an extent, though mostly in the sense of a psychological addiction or habit.
"Is it possible to schedule a sensorium ping from the perisystem architecture at a later time?"
: Yes. True Name is pinged for a meeting with Jonas in *Toledot*.
"Is there any cost or barrier to forking?"
: Forking was much more expensive early on in the System's history. That dipped dramatically in the 2170s and by the 2300s, was down to negligible amounts, to the point where people rarely realize it costs anything at all.
"How does forking cost work?"
: The reputation debit happens at five minutes after creation of the new instance or when either the new or original instance forks again. Initially, forking split the existing reputation in half between the instance and the new fork with a minimum cost (which has not been decided yet). For instance, If Jace#Tracker has Ŕ10 and the minimum cost to fork is Ŕ5, they can fork and, after five minutes, their reputation will be split so that both they and the new instance wind up with Ŕ5. Later, the reputation split was changed so that the new instance wound up with reputation equal to the cost of forking. This quickly became negligible, so it became habit to transfer a chunk of reputation to the new instance on creation if they were expected to need such.
"How do constructs---human or animal---work?"
: The general rule is if it can be consensually imagined in the same way by anyone on the System, it's possible. We know enough about dogs that someone going through the process of dreaming up Dog, all that makes Dog, the essence of Dog, could certainly make Dog in such a way that everyone thinks "puppy!" It's less algorithm in the sense of sitting down and programming a dog, as it is bringing a dream of dogs to reality.
"Who manages the Ansible system?"
: The Sino-Russian Bloc started it as a way to one-up the Western Federation, so it was run by them for about ten years, but after the population exploded, they seceded in 2125. After that, it was maintained by a loose organization of private and public companies, depending on the nation, which maintained their own upload clinics and licensed access to the Ansible. The physical infrastructure is part of a station at the Earth-Moon L5 point, which started as a luxury experience and then went private.
"Does a neurodivergent person remain neurodivergent after uploading?"
: Nothing is changed during upload. Neurodivergences remain. There are changes that one could make but they aren't required (and, as they require quite a bit of forking to do, don't tend to be done by those who are less comfortable forking).
Should you have any questions about the setting or characters, you may contact me at [madison@scott-clary.clade.id](mailto:mscottclary@clade.id).