To do: convince everyone to make it the Corundum Galaxy instead of the Corundum System, add paragraph breaks in the Synapse section, add images, transfer creature information and remove in-image creature descriptions

General

Syvei is the third planet from Sa, a red dwarf, in the Aon solar system, located in the [insert section] of the Corundum Galaxy.
Syvei's atmosphere is made up of oxygen and ammonia, with a small amount of nitrogen. The bodies of water are made up of water and ammonia.

Surrounded by a debris disk named Aiix
They have meteor showers really often. This debris disk is in the process of forming a few small moons. https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/30946/what-are-the-parameters-of-a-planet-having-multiple-moons?rq=1

https://astro.unl.edu/naap/pos/animations/kepler.html
Distance: 13 AU
Diameter: ~7028 mi (11,310.47 km)
Average Temperature: -10°F (-23.33333°C)
Rotation: 30 hours (1.25 days/108000 seconds)
Revolution: 11688 daynights (14610 earth days/40 earth years/1 solen)
Eccentricity: 0.14
Atmospheric Pressure: 1.27 bar

Population: ~2 billion Aureiyx, ~428 million Terrasynths, ~33 million Aquasynths, ~56 million Aerosynths, 7 Aethersynths, ~30 million Half-Terrasynths

Date format: SSSS/DDDDD (solen/daynight)
Maximum daynight is 11688
Unused zeroes on DDDDD may be excluded but only when writing casually and not in super precise records and things (example: 3782/168, meaning 3782/00168)
Read like decimals, eg instead of saying three thousand seven hundred eighty two, it is just three seven eight two
Time format: ASSII (goes 0-9/0-99)
Aani'aon: 10800 seconds (3 hours, 10 per daynight)
Si'aon: 108 seconds (1.8 minutes, 100 per aani'aon)
Io'aon: 1.08 seconds (100 per Si'aon)
The clock resets at (what would be 6AM) instead of midnight
Aureiyx are generally more interested in the events themselves than the numbers attached to them, and are more likely to say "morning", "midday", "dusk", etc, numbers are mostly used in records
Starts at the formation of the universe 325,000,000 solens (13 billion years) ago, so to acknowledge this, instead of writing 32500SSSS/DDDDD it is often written 325M SSSS/DDDDD. Of course, it can become 325M SSSSS/DDDDD (3250SSSSS/DDDDD), 325M SSSSSS/DDDDD (325SSSSSS/DDDDD), 326M S/DDDDD (32600000S/DDDDD), and so on.
Full date and time example: 325M 3782/00168:22308
Things that are not listed on dates but are just for help when communicating:
Dek'aon (10 daynights, week equivalent)
Solenear (1168.8 daynights/116.88 dek'aons/four years)
They use a base ten system because the alternative would be a nightmare for me

It is pronounced sai-vay not see-vay

Biomes: Polar desert, subpolar dry tundra, subpolar moist tundra, subpolar wet tundra, subpolar rain tundra, boreal desert, boreal dry scrub, boreal moist forest, boreal wet forest, boreal rain forest, cool temperate desert, cool temperate desert scrub, cool temperate steppe, cool temperate moist forest, cool temperate wet forest, cool temperate rain forest

Oceans are like the arctic circle but the whole world (except equatorial regions) instead of just that one area, with all the pack ice and stuff
Pack ice: frozen seawater. When the surface of the ocean freezes, it thickens. In the open ocean, it drifts apart and slides over itself, riding the ocean as it breaks apart and re-forms again and again. Although it appears static in offshore areas, it's constantly moving with the wind and water currents. After a nice eight-hour sleep, one might wake up in a different place.
How it's formed: when it's cold enough, ice crystals form in the ocean and float to the surface. This is called frazil ice. In calm water, the frazil crystals start mushing together into a thick soup, becoming grease ice. As the ice continues to freeze and thicken, the grease ice forms a thin sheet of elastic nilas ice. In a process called rafting, sheets of nilas ice slide over each other, eventually thickening into a sheet with a smooth bottom. The bottom slowly grows long crystals that reach down into the water. This bottom-freezing ice is called congelation ice. But when the water is rough, the frazil ice makes pancakes.
The waves toss the pancakes on top of each other, thickening the ice. Whether it's from grease or pancakes, you've got yourself an ice floe. At least for a little while... ice floes like to break apart and do their own thing. Sometimes they partner with new ice floes.
The ocean's food web is based on this.
When the frazil crystals floated to the surface, they brought microscopic organisms with them. Tossed together by the grease ice, the algae all make their way to the bottom of an ice floe. When the ice starts to melt, the algae is freed. Ice water has a lower salinity than seawater, so the melted ice water floats to the surface and brings the algae with it. The algae blooms, attracting the attention of copepods and other phytoplankton. (This is the part where they would be eaten by fish, which are eaten by seals, which are eaten by polar bears)

Season is not a hemispheric effect but a global one, as a result of the ellipsoid orbit.
It rarely rains, sleeting or snowing instead.
There are not a whole lot of greenhouse gases so heat escapes even with clouds.
it still snows on the equator just less

There are not a whole lot of diseases in existence on Syvei because they just cannot survive the cold. The planet acts like a frigid decontamination chamber for any outsiders that come to it so any diseases the outsiders are immune to and might be carrying would die before they could do anything, but if an aureiyx were the one visiting some other planet they would be at a much larger risk. What diseases there are are concentrated in subspring caves, an environment much more hospitable for them like how rainforests have ten million diseases and bugs around. This means that if an outsider were able to visit a subspring area before the stuff on/in them died it might establish itself there and be a huge problem

Flora

Most of the vegetation on Syvei is black or dark gray to better absorb the red light of Sa.

The subterranean hot springs and their surrounding cave systems, or "subspring caves", may seem like a refuge from the extreme cold and violent weather, but they are actually dark, cramped (especially to aureiyx where a space too small to fly in is like being forced to use a wheelchair), labyrinthine, and fetid places where a misstep often means boiling to death in the wrong part of a spring. What little light there is comes from bioluminescence, primarily that of fungi, insects and algae.
https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/do-plants-grow-in-cave-environments.html

The most widespread surface plant is lichen because it can withstand the cold and dry. This type of lichen has adapted to grow far faster than it does on earth because of how much it is grazed on.
At lower altitudes/latitudes there is also a lot of moss, like so:


At high altitudes, the plants are much like dwarf willows. Stay low and grow slow, or you will soon be blown away...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceland_boreal_birch_forests_and_alpine_tundra

The leaves of the rootfruit being green is outdated.



-make more plants
-make more landscape drawings

Fauna

-draw those creatures I have sitting around on that text document
-transfer creature information to here
-make more animals
-Crysoth: boreal birch forest-themed carnivorous uncanny deer (terrestrial)
-Husher: like a strisher but with permanent spider "ballooning" (aerial)
-Aeroplankton (aerial)
-Plankton, phyto, zoo, krill, whatever (aquatic)
-Herpton: fluffy/feathery utahraptor/velociraptor-like dinos (terrestrial)
-Sashron: giant turtle photovore with semiaquatic plants growing out of its shell (aquatic)
-Avalis: flying creature
-Ice Beetle: buries itself in snowdrifts and ambushes anything that comes near it with a pounce. However, it is very slow and bulky when not pouncing and can be easily escaped if an attack is missed, and often does not pursue prey for this reason. Because it needs snow to hide in, it only inhabits areas with snow year-round. It burrows into corpses or living creatures to lay eggs so the eggs can have constant warmth and a free meal upon hatching. If living, the infected part of the creature will swell to a considerable size. Often living hosts will tear the eggs out of themselves, but a corpse is not guaranteed to stay warm or not be scavenged for long periods of time. The adults' bodies contain antifreeze chemicals and proteins, but the younger ones have not developed this yet and thus need constant warmth.

-Pero: small bird

-Kelune

-Grizzly Mantis

-Walker Beast

Aureiyx

https://serpentsquiggles.neocities.org/essays/xenodeterminism

Aureiyx are carbon-based, oxygen/ammonia-breathing mammals with feathers. Aerial/terrestrial/semiaquatic.

Hermaphrodites, give birth to live young, usually 2-4

I have decided to give Aureiyx antlers, and those Ori horns are a rare trait that sometimes shows up instead of antlers.

Natural fur colors are white, gray, black, and desaturated blue. Fur dyeing as a form of self-expression is a common activity. More so among those who do not hunt their own food as it interferes with Aureiyx's natural camouflage.

Summer coat: thinner, more gray/black, switches by temperature rather than at a fixed time so ones that live near the poles or on the pack ice might never switch to their summer coat while ones that live on the equator would keep it much longer or even year-round.

Muzzle length varies between individuals, ranging from the proportions of a hyena to the proportions of a wolf.

Skin/flesh (nose, paw pads, inside of mouth and inside of ears) may be spotted, striped, and/or gradient, and may be colors other than pink/red.

They can mutually fertilize but usually avoid doing so to not have too many mouths to feed. This is more often done in colonies where there are others to help support the parents, or by Aureiyx who separate afterwards to birth and raise their respective children alone or with someone else. This means that they are technically able to breed with themselves, but they usually do not because it is like inbreeding but worse and the offspring produced are likely to have several genetic disorders including lowered intelligence, fluctuating facial asymmetry, reduced fertility in both litter size and sperm viability, lower birth rate, higher infant/child mortality, smaller adult size, loss of immune system function, increased cardiovascular risks, paralyzing bone deformities, and a variety of terrible diseases.

Diseases that cause fur loss, such as mange, are super dangerous for them because no fur = freeze to death in about two seconds (exaggeration, also they have other methods of heat retention such as a fat layer)

Large lungs adapted for breathing thin air and flying/diving for extended periods of time

In order to fly, their bones have to be very light, which makes them more fragile. To compensate, their bones heal very fast.

No collarbones.

Their extremely good sense of direction is due to their magnetoreception.

Smell is important for them like how it is for the dog family, they also have words for smells like how humans have so many words for describing things visually. They have a vomeronasal organ.

Ears can droop down like how I originally had them, or be like Vernid ears.

The average lifespan is three solens (120 years). They also age slower than humans, becoming adults at 30 years old, and it sort of levels off once they reach adulthood. yeah and I will not explain why

While slit pupils look cool, and can expand much more than round ones for night vision, they produce an exaggerated horizontal blurring effect that is only of use to creatures with visual gear low to the ground. An example of this is domestic cats (low, slit) as opposed to lions (high, round), even though both have similar circadian rhythms I think. So their pupils are mostly round.

Nictitating membrane

the penises are tentacle penises with frill looking things because I felt like it

Synths

I have decided to include Vader-San's Synth species on Syvei. Aureiyx have abundant metals and minerals from both the ground and meteors from Aiix, but not a lot of large-scale agriculture, which is needed to feed the non-hunting population of cities. A workforce of thinking machines would be useful, since they can contribute to society without draining its food supply.

There are four types of Synths: Aerosynths, Aethersynths, Aquasynths, and Terrasynths. Terrasynths are the most common, and the most similar to Aureiyx. Terrasynths come in bipedal, quadrepedal, taur, or naga configurations. Despite their name implying they are grounded, all Terrasynths have flight drives (antigravity devices) built into them, since Aureiyx architecture assumes everyone can fly, and a flightless being would be significantly hindered in getting from Point A to Point B. Some Terrasynths choose to have decorative wings. All Synths possess a blueprint, hydraulic muscles, a nanite swarm, coolant, synthetic skin or metaceramic plating, a brain, a capillary system, battery tissue, and insulation tissue.

Terrasynths
One of the main features of Terrasytnhs are their modularity. Terrasynths are able to customize their body in various ways. Feet, hands, arms, legs, tails, visors, head shapes, skin style and many other internal parts can be exchanged. Terrasynth parts are typically referred to as modules.
Module exchanges can be done for personal, professional and medical reasons. If a Terrasynth likes the design of a pair of legs they see on display at a store and that pair of legs comes in a size that fits their current body size, the Terrasynth can purchase it, take it home and exchange the old legs for the new ones. Most modules are simple and easy for the Terrasynth to exchange or install themselves, but more complex modules, such as interior modules, require the help of specialists, who typically perform module exchanges at clinics or hospitals.
The process of changing modules, or mounting new ones, differs wildly between different kinds of modules. Some parts are easy to exchange, such as minor cosmetic modules that are simply for show. Plating or skin tends to be easily exchangable, simply requiring the new part to be mounted and locked into place. Most Synth parts are designed in a way, that interfacing elements, such as electrical or pneumatic connections, can simply lock into place. Most sockets are standardized and designed with convenience in mind.
Some of the more complex modules however take some time for a Terrasynth to get used to. This particularly is the case for limbs, such as legs and arms. When a Synth aquires a new limb module and mounts it for the first time, their neural networks responsible for motor functions and sensory input are not yet fully connected to the new limb. This is comparable to organics receiving limb transplants. When an organic person receives a hand transplant, it can take a long time for neural connections between the body and the new hand to build up. The hand will only be usable after these nerve connections have been established by the body. With Synths it is a similar, yet faster process. While the physical connection will be there as soon as the module is mounted in the socket, it takes the neural networks within the Terrasynth's brain some time to catch up. This typically takes a day or two, depending on the usage of the limb. The more a Terrasynth practices use of the new limb, the faster the neural networks can get used to it. Not being used to a new limb typically means a lack of motor skills, bad balance and not being able to properly feel the limb in question. The sensation is often described as "ants crawling on your skin". Once a Terrasynth has gotten used to a specific limb, they can always switch back to it and will be used to it again immediately, since the Terrasynth's neural networks remember all limbs they have ever used.
To most Terrasynths the process of changing parts is a very personal affair. It is comparable to an organic person changing clothes. Since it often is connected with embarrassment, it typically is not done in public. Therefore it is common to find changing rooms inside stores that sell Terrasynth modules or any other place where a Terrasynth might have to exchange one part for another, such as work places where particular work modules are required. Terrasynths will typically only let you see them changing parts if they know you well enough.
Terrasynths are, by default, equipped with a small, internal swarm of nanites. Nanites are nano-machines, constructed by the Terrasynth and responsible for handling much of the Terrasynth's metabolism, as well as healing wounds, repairing internal organs and even changing the body's size and stature.
In addition every Terrasynth is equipped with a blueprint, a piece of software that is exchangeable and allows the Terrasynth's body to change shape over time. Blueprints contain information as to what size and shape a Terrasynth wants to be, as well as detailed plans for the build and make-up of internal parts. Blueprints can be exchanged for different ones, depending on the Terrasynth's personal tastes and requirements.
Once a Terrasynth has chosen a blueprint, their internal nanites will go to work and change the Terrasynth's body to be closer to the plans within the blueprint. Should a Terrasynth's actual body deviate from the blueprint, the nanites will strive towards re-building the body towards the plans within the blueprint. That means they will repair damaged parts, will add or remove material from parts or even build completely new ones, should the blueprint dictate it.
The existence of a blueprint and nanites within a Terrasynth's body therefore allows them to change their body shape, size and weight over time, as well as “heal” inflicted damage, very much like wounds healing in organics. Blueprints give nanites a plan on how a Terrasynth's body is supposed to be and the nanites will strive towards that goal. This process still takes time, but also allows Terrasynths to be very flexible when it comes to their stature.
A Terrasynth's head is their main, most defining feature. It consists of a lightweight, shell made of layers of lightweight alloys, polymers and carbon fiber, as well as a large quantity of electronics and wiring. The internals of the head are covered by a visor, which allows the Terrasynth to see from within, as well as display emotions and other messages on the outside to assist communication. The visor itself consists of an omni-directional 3-D screen, capable of displaying 3-dimentional objects, creating the illusion that these objects exist behind the visor and within the Terrasynth's head. This, in the vast majority of cases, is used to display eyes, to assist the Terrasynth with emotional communication and social interactions. The visor is covered by a thin plate of Terrasynthetic sapphire, making it hard and difficult to break. Visors are held in place through vacuum locks along the rim, eliminating the need for screws, bolts or glue to hold them in place. Uninstalling a visor requires specialist tools and is usually only done at clinics or hospitals and under anaesthesia.
Visors come in many different shapes and types. Many Terrasynths prefer to have one, large visor, covering most of the facial plate, while others prefer visors consisting of multiple parts. A large number of configurations and shapes is possible, within limiting factors. The cameras and sensors within the head have to be able to see out of the skull well enough in order for the Terrasynth to be able to see. Visors literally are the windows through which Terrasynths see the world and are also the most expressive part of the Terrasynth anatomy.
Behind the Terrasynth visor lies a cavity containing all of the head's internal systems. These systems include exchangable sensory modules, such as sensors for smell, vision, balance and others, as well as the Terrasynth's brain. The brain is fastened into a socket in the back, connecting it to the neural system of the Terrasynth's frame and is protected by a protective, armoured dome. The visual sensors are attached to a gimbal and can be moved around to enable the use of differently shaped visors without obstructing the field of view of the sensors. Use of multiple sets of gimbals and sensors is also possible, if the Terrasynth decides for a visor design without transparent forehead. In such a case the visual sensors are present on either side of the Terrasynth's head while still only using one rail for movement.
Many Terrasynth head designs feature horns, antennae or other protruding features. Terrasynthetic hair of different styles is employed as well. These features can have functional purposes, but are mostly of aesthetic use in most cases. Possible functional uses are additional wiring for improved radio wave reception, or even for improved induction charging.
Terrasynths posses an endoskeleton, including joints and strut-like bones, very similar to those found in organics. In place of organic muscles, they use both pneumatic artificial muscles as well as muscles based on electroactive polymers. Some specialized tools, like arms and legs for construction workers, even make use of hydraulic muscles, due to their higher weight capacity.
Synthetic muscles, for the most part, are arranged in similar ways to those found in organics. This allows Terrasynths to use similar tools, furniture and vehicles to organics, without having to worry about different ergonomics. The synthetic locomotory system is powered directly from the Terrasynth's power supply, which allows them to move without the use or oxygen or other elements.
Terrasynth muscles can change size, thanks to the Terrasynth's nanites. If a Terrasynth's blueprint dictates a larger muscle size, than a Terrasynth currently has, their nanites will add material to the muscle tissue, increasing their size over time. This process is relatively slow, but can be accelerated through working the muscles out. Exercising Terrasynthetic muscles creates micro-fissures, which allow nanites to add material when fixing the fissures, hence growing muscle with each repair. The process works similar when making muscles smaller.
Terrasynth bones consist of a mixture of lightweight metal alloys and carbon fiber. They are hard and rigid, but flexible enough to not be brittle. Terrasynth bones are able to endure a lot more physical stress than most organic bones, due to the use of strong materials, so fractures are very rare. Terrasynth joints require regular lubrication, which is done by through the use of liquid vessels and nanites, using different types of lubrication depending on the joint. The most common lubricant found in Terrasynth bodies is a fullerene solution.
A Terrasynth's organs are any parts within a Terrasynth body, that are not tissues or part of the locomotory system. The term "organs" can be misleading, since they are Terrasynthetic and not organic in nature, yet perform similar tasks to organs within organics. Every Organ performs one or multiple purposes, most of them vital to the functions of the Terrasynth's body.
The Digestive Tract of a Terrasynth consists of multiple digestive chambers linked through peristaltic tubes that move ingested materials from the mouth to the digestive chambers. Each chamber is a flexible sack with different means of breaking down materials, making use of corrosive liquids, nano-textured surfaces, nanites and all sorts of chemical processes. The extracted elements are transported off by nanites and either stored in corresponding storage containers throughout the body, or brought to areas they are needed in at the moment. Materials that can not be fully digested, or that are not needed at the moment, will be excreted at the end of the digestive tract. This ideally happens at a Terrasynth toilet.
The Capillary System is a system of capillary tubes, filled with fullerene solution, that spans the entire Terrasynth body. The system consists of nodes and tubes that connect these nodes. It is used for transporting nanites and materials through the body. It is somewhat comparable to the organic system of blood vessels, but less expansive and more used for transportation over longer distances. For example nanites can pick up materials from the storage organs around the center of the Terrasynth's torso and use the capillaries to quickly reach a limb by traveling from one node to the next. The nanite will then enter the capillary system of the limb through a capillary port and will be transported further from there until it reaches the destination node from where it will move on its own accord. Fullerene solution is purple, which gives the capillary system and their contents a purple look.
Auxiliary Organs are any organs that exist to help with the function of an external module, but can also be full modules in themselves. Examples of auxiliary organs would be additional motors or pumps required for powering heavy-duty limbs, RCS fuel tanks or storage tanks for flammable liquids for use in welding equipment. Interior standalone modules such as power generators, additional storage organs and even torque wheels fall into the category of auxiliary organs as well.
Terrasynth skin comes in a variety of textures, colors and consistencies. It is forms a water and air tight layer between the outside world and the inside of the Terrasynth's anatomy. Terrasynth modules such as limbs typically come with their own styles of skin, with different markings and styles, depending on the brand and model. Terrasynth skin can, however, also be exchanged and is just as modular as most other parts of the Terrasynth body. This allows for the installation of specialized type of skin, which are necessary for certain work conditions, such as high radiation environments, in which skin with additional radiation shielding becomes a necessity.
Terrasynth skin is equipped with complex sensors to detect touch, temperature and other input from the environment, making skin a vital part in the Terrasynth's somatosensory system. It allows for proprioception (the sense of motion and movement) and the sensing of haptic input (a part of tactile perception).
Terrasynth skin has the ability to change its color, using a similar method to that of squids. Being able to pump tiny amounts of pigments into its outer layers, it can display a large variety of patterns and every color in the visible spectrum. This allows Terrasynths to change the color of their skin to form simple or complex patterns with the use of color blueprints. This ability is particularly useful for Terrasynth fashion.
Terrasynths bodies don't consist of as many types of tissues as organics do, but they do have their own forms of tissue that are notable.
Battery Tissue is the most common form for a Terrasynth to store energy. Battery tissue is soft, despite consisting of bunched up, microscopic clusters of solid-state batteries. These tissues are comparable to fatty tissues in organics, although the size of the tissue does not correlate with the total amount of energy stored, but instead is an indicator of maximum storable energy.
Muscle tissue is used in the Terrasynth's locomotory system and makes up the walls of the Terrasynth's pneumatic or hydraulic muscles.
Insulation Tissue is a tissue made of clusters of aerogel which serves as heat insulation. This type of tissue is typically found around interior components that are heat sensitive and hence require full thermal insulation. This tissue can also be found on the inside of of Terrasynth skin, to help regulate the overall temperature of the Terrasynth's body.
When discussing the Terrasynth Metabolism, what is usually meant is the way Terrasynths change the size and shape of their bodies without the use of module exchanges. Terrasynths are capable of ingesting food, but not for the same reason organics do it. Terrasynths do not convert ingested materials into energy, since they rely entirely on electric energy stored within their battery tissue and auxiliary batteries. They instead use these materials to maintain the shape of their bodies, or to change it. This happens with the help of the Terrasynth's internal swarm of nanites.
Terrasynths ingest materials such as carbon, iron, copper, gold, silver, manganese, lithium and many others, because those materials are what they are made of themselves. Once chewed and swallowed the ingested materials are transported onwards to the Terrasynth's digestive system, where it is broken down further and seperated into elements by the nanites. The nanites transport small chunks of these elements to their respective storage organs, where they are kept for further use. The transportation of materials through the body happens through the Terrasynth's capillary system.
The materials are then used to maintain or build the Terrasynth's frame. This happens especially when a Terrasynth chooses a blueprint that dictates that their size should increase, since this means that more material needs to be added to the Terrasynth's frame and muscle tissue. In case of muscle growth, the Terrasynth will need to exercise their body to cause microfissures in their muscle tissues. Nanites will then transport materials to the muscle tissues and insert the materials into the microfissures, causing the muscle to grow little by little. The process is similar for the Terrasynth's frame, except that its growth typically takes longer to take place. The process is the same for shrinking of the frame and/or muscles. Nanites remove material from parts that are supposed to shrink and either store them in their respective storage organs or send them on their way to be passed from the Terrasynth's body, if the storage organs are full.
Terrasynths typically need a constant, but very small intake of materials to maintain their bodies and repair small damages within their bodies all the time. Terrasynths will therefore eat on a regular basis, even if they are not changing their body size or shape at the moment.

Aquasynths
Submersibles. Typically constructed to mimic large marine creatures.

Aerosynths
External coating is made of a metaceramic material that allows bending and twisting or can stiffen to be the same hardness as aluminum.
Imagine planes but all bendy and bird looking and without vertical stabilizers. Kind of like aeromorphs
They can walk along the ground with their bird-foot-like undercarriage and arm-wings.
Some types are more normal with engines, some are more like ornithopters.
Coolant is bright red to better identify wounds. Much thinner than blood. Crystallization mimics blood clotting. Large quantities can cause excessive and harmful crystal growth.
They also have mouths that put the hyper in hyperdontia because I felt like it
There are smaller ones, and then huge drifters that almost act like sky islands that one may even be able to stand on top of without immediately getting blown off. Remember this is a place that assumes everyone can fly so there is much less protection against falling.
As they are not rigid structures, even small ones are far more difficult to pilot than regular planes. Piloting is not just like normal operating a machine but using electrocommunication (see language section) like how the cryptogens in the Overthrow trilogy use their sonic telepathy thing to pilot their thingies. This means that non-Aureiyx are not able to pilot aerosynths.
As Aureiyx have no shield technology, one of the main functions of aerosynths is to destroy or, if possible, capture for mining meteors headed for infrastructure.
IF it is sentient, then: it would not normally require a pilot, the "pilot" would be more like a companion along for the ride faster than aureiyx can fly naturally, and would only do any actual driving if the aerosynth was incapacitated somehow in which case may whatever nonexistent higher powers help them control a normally animate being that thinks 1500 miles per hour is a reasonable cruising speed

Aethersynths
Similar to aerosynths. Single-stage-to-orbit spaceplanes.

Initially Synths were forced into positions where they would be "useful" (agriculture for Terrasynths, cargo convoys for Aerosynths and Aquasynths, space exploration for Aethersynths), but Synths grew dissatisfied with their lack of choice in how their lives went and began demanding full rights. Aureiyx were divided on this point, some supporting them as intelligent beings equal to Aureiyx, and others maintaining that Synths were created for something, and should continue to serve that purpose. This disagreement eventually escalated into . . . not a war, exactly, since Aureiyx do not mobilize as a people (and neither do Synths, as Aureiyx created Synth minds in their image), but forays, assassinations, vehement arguments, killings by the ones and twos. The sides were the Synth Liberation Front and the Runaway Automation Prevention Synergy. The two sides eventually reached a compromise where Synths would be granted full rights, and those who wanted to work for their original purpose could do so, but those who did not want to would not be forced to. To fill the gap, nonsentient Synths--Half-Synths--would be manufactured, who do not have conscious minds and can only perform scripted tasks. Most Synths find Half-Synths rather creepy-- it hits the uncanny valley for them.

Aureiyx and Synth culture

Aureiyx society ranges from hunter-forager to pastoral/horticultural to large-scale agricultural. The majority of large-scale agriculture is done by Half-Terrasynths.

They do not often build nests like regular birds; outside settled areas, home sites include: burrows in the snow or dirt with a long entrance tunnel like polar bears do, alcoves in the rock preferably on a mountain, and inside overgrown bushes. The parents line the dwelling with their own fur and feathers for extra warmth.

Colonies have a communal den, sometimes more than one.

In a colony, people other than the parents help care for the young. it is often the older individuals who play a larger part in the communal raising of the young because they are more experienced and it makes more sense for them to be able to raise children well than the actual parents who often have only (relatively) recently become adults, and this way the parents don't have to "settle down" as much, actually aureiyx do not "settle down" in general I hate the idea of someone having to have having kids as their one life goal especially women it could be said that everyone is a disposable flesh container for genetic material and the meaning of life is to survive long enough to reproduce before you become food for something else but that is a depressing existence and with humans there are so many around that if you do not breed it is okay because someone else will, the importance of reproduction is greatly overrated

Settlements usually come out of a colony not moving around much and just getting larger and larger and expanding on the communal den

Only large settlements and their surrounding areas have established governments (or not exactly governments but bodies like that), outside those they have a very fission-fusion society.

Most cities are at least partially built into the sides of mountains, and have these very tall thin buildings that look like a gust of wind would blow them down. These cities rarely have a ground level; they descend straight into whatever (often irregular) terrain they are built into. While they do dig dens and nest in alcoves and stuff, they are not huge fans of enclosed spaces. Basically everywhere is La Rinconada but less depressing and aureiyx are adapted not to suffer from hypoxia (and other ailments that may come from high altitudes) all the time.

Jotunhel: Largest city on Syvei, located in a river valley in a boreal moist forest in [insert continent].
Coniferion: site of Synapse's "experiment", located in a boreal rain forest in [insert continent].
Sapunq: City near Coniferon, major destination for Coniferon evacuees.

More nomadic ones like to live on the pack ice. They only have 1-2 young at a time so they can take their children with them everywhere instead of worrying about not being able to find a den again. Either that or they den on land. They breed much earlier in the spring than ones who don't live on pack ice because by the time summer comes their young need to be able to fly/swim the now much longer distances between ice floes.

It is a bold claim to type that an entire species is of one opinion on something. It may be said that I have done that in several places on this document. I do not do that, what I have typed are general difference from humans. I will type that they are more inclined to be fine with abortions. Even though they are sapient and have better resources to prevent infant deaths than, say, wolves, the harsh climate results in a high infant mortality rate. To cope with this, they do not see infants as "people" until they have outgrown the danger zone and can start to be seen as individuals. Sometimes I will look at infants in strollers and seeing their parents value them as a person, somehow unique and different from every other infant, they could have been switched at birth and you would never know the difference you idiot, and I am like "how"
It could be argued that it is not what the infant is, it is what the infant has the potential to be that counts, but consider this: every time a sperm or egg cell dies, that is part of a potential someone who has died, they could have been the greatest person ever but will never be born. But to meticulously save every single cell because if you do not you are killing a potential someone would be ridiculous.

They have not developed vehicles such as cars or trains because wings go brrrrrrrrr

If something too large to carry needs to be transported, the go-to option is a sledge or aerosynth. This avoids the problem of having to, say, constantly excavate train tracks from deep snow--the terrain is simply flown over. Aerosynth cargo convoys are common.

There is no religion. I need a reason for this other than just because I personally do not like religion. I do not like how I have to come up with reasons for them to not have any rather than that being the default and if they had any I would have to come up with reasons why that would be so. There are three reasons why religion happens: mortality, neoteny, and the cooperative hunting group. I ~~mostly plagiarized~~ wrote a whole thing on this I don't need to explain it again Aureiyx definitely meet the first two criteria,,,,, but they are a little bit like wolves they work together to take down large prey but they can hunt by themselves however aureiyx are much more competent at hunting by themselves than wolves and are not forced to cooperate to survive like humans and to a lesser extent wolves are. They still play and are neotenous I suppose (and are like humans in that when you really get down to it everyone behaves like children, and as we get older we just get better at rationalizing it. This sounds like a bad thing but the prospect of growing up and not playing, not having fun, not being curious, not creating anymore, not performing impractical and biologically useless but for instance fulfilling activity is worse by far) but do not require a parental figure also side note wolves are apparently not neotenous but they still play how about that. And I just really really do not want them to have religion okay

An Aureiyx myth, one of their few as they are not a religious/superstitious people, is that the rocks and debris that make up Aiix are the down from a giant Aureiyx named Azurin that has four wings and four ears, and the meteor showers are the down floating down to the surface. Also Raphael got me into biblically accurate angels so Azurin has eyes all over their body. Sa is said to be the giant eye on Azurin's chest. Aureiyx can have myths without taking them as actual fact, it is just a fun little story to them.

Things that they make, for example backpacks, are not assembly line productions, are not super neat and perfect pristine things

A while ago I had this dream where I was going on a journey flying with wings and I had to follow a route with signs and I kept seeing these signs that said "NO CLOUDSMOKING" and I thought "what is cloudsmoking" cloudsmoking is flying in clouds when you are not supposed to which is dangerous because it is like flying in a fog where things can strike without warning, both smacking into things like mountains that you could not see because of the fog and people can hide in clouds and then murder people and the wind is really strong up there and it is just a bad idea. However it is implied that flying in clouds itself is not so bad, it is just this cloudsmoking activity that happens a lot when people fly in clouds. The smoking part is you know when people will say "smoke yourself out" in video games, it is like that

Aureiyx do not wear clothes, with some exceptions (combat exos for instance). There are three reasons why humans wear clothes:
1. Comfort: they help maintain a stable body temperature
2. Modesty: they allow humans to interact with one another without their bipedalism immediately turning it into a sexual display
3. Display: Self-expression, etc
Aureiyx's thick fur fulfills the first two purposes.

A thing that happened once is I had to have dinner with my parents and some relatives that were visiting, I was standing outside the restaurant with my parents waiting for the relatives to arrive, and some guy walked up to my one of them and said hello and they both did "relative greetings" for a few seconds before realizing that they were talking to a stranger, that guy mistook my parent for one of his relatives and my parent mistook that guy for our one of relatives (I know this because they both said it to each other after a few seconds of confusion) but I realized a minute later that I do not know those relatives that were visiting any better than that guy, if I was told that that guy was my relative I would never know the difference, a minute after that guy left the actual relatives came and said hello and started yakking and one of them asked for a hug from me and that was when I had the realization; I do not know this person at all, but because he is my relative I am expected to hug and like and exchange meaningless pleasantries with him, there is no difference between these people and that stranger, I am related to people I do not relate to. Why am I writing this here? Because aureiyx do not assume that there is automatically some kind of lifelong bond between family members, especially ones who have never met; for aureiyx those whom one emotionally depends on is more important than one's birth family (though these can and often do include birth family members). Not everyone in these which I will name ariensk, not everyone in an ariensk has to like one another, if there is someone in one's ariensk whom one does not like one just recognizes that another person needs them and one stays out of their way. It could be said that I should have just written that and dispensed with the previous thing on my meeting my relatives but I do not want to. It shows the ridiculousness of people who tout family as the most important or reliable or whatever thing (think the godfather) no matter what one's actual relationship with them may be.

Syvei is not particularly inviting to technology, be it the harsh blizzards or fetid subterranean glens.
Biotechnology was not a big thing before Synapse came along, aureiyx were already headed in their own direction, and Synapse introduced it not for the benefit of aureiyx (who did not need the help I mean they could benefit from biotechnology but they did not require it) but for themself, because they need it to work with living things. For the purpose of the neurovirus. Whoopee.
Two revolutions coincided in the 1950s. Mathematicians, including Claude Shannon and Alan Turing, showed that all information could be encoded by binary digits, known as bits. This led to a digital revolution powered by circuits with on-off switches that processed information. Simultaneously, Watson and Crick discovered how instructions for building every cell in every form of life were encoded by the four-letter sequences in DNA. Thus was born an information age based on digital coding (0100110111001...) and genetic coding (ACTGGTAGATTACA...). The flow of history is accelerated when two rivers converge.
So aureiyx already had the digital coding, Synapse brought the genetic coding (separate from biotechnology) because they kind of had to
I like putting barcodes in art way too much so I put one on Atekpo so they must have laser scanners
How about https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_computing
There is a kind of glass/ceramic metamaterial called antemir
It allows for light itself to be used as a highly efficient, controllable, and safe method of energy delivery over a huge number of applications.
-Photons inside antemir are free to disperse within it, but cannot penetrate the surface and escape.
-Photons from outside can pass through it and will not be captured.
-Light can only enter or exit via gates, or etchings on the surface, which can be modified to control the flow rate or restrict the types of wavelengths allowed.
-It can allow photon flow via quantum tunneling to another etched surface in proximity, creating a contact gate.
-It can be saturated with quantum dots to allow conversion of wavelengths of light, provided that energy is preserved during the conversion, creating a transformer.
-Doping a component with other elements can also be made that allows flow only if another beam hits that same element with specific properties, such as a certain direction or wavelength.
-As light can only enter or exit via a gate, there is low risk of energy leaks that can cause injury– coming into contact with or even physically breaking it will not result in a light leak.
-Excess or waste heat can be recycled in the form of IR capture, and generating energy from thermal or solar sources can be done with minimal conversion losses.
-Faults in photolining do not pose a fire or blindness hazard.
-Appliances that require heating, such as ovens or cookers, convert mains light into infrared light.
-Lamps directly output mains light into a space, after conversion for color and intensity for comfort.
-Light energy can be turned into mechanical motion by way of using the photomagnetic effect.
-Photocapacitators use highly energy-dense antemir to store large quantities of energy in very small and safe packages.
-Computational devices use antemir engraved with light gates to perform calculations.
-It can be weaponized in the form of directed-energy weapons. Mainly veniyr, go look at "I am too lazy to finish this at this time.png", basically they make lightbeams that cut through things, the range depending on atmospheric conditions, in clear weather it can be miles (strength still decreases with range though), if it were say foggy or snowing it would dissipate a lot faster to the point of only being several feet. It sort of looks like this https://www.mediafire.com/file/w4y9ptepih73r80/mediocre_recording.mov/file but it would have cut through the concrete as well unless on a low-powered setting
I should have paid more attention to that Corning Museum of Glass fiber-optic exhibit
No practical armor against veniyr has yet been developed. While it is possible to shield from its beam using an antemir surface entirely covered in the proper gates to absorb the beam, it is fragile and cannot withstand any force strong enough to break glass.

One thing I cannot stand is when in scifi or other similar situations there is one culture per planet or species, it should be self-evident why this is unrealistic just look at humans. When this happens it is due to the creator being lazy. Making a bunch of separate cultures in as much detail as happens in life is a huge amount of work though, I can see why people do not bother. I do not have to get super detailed, I just do not want an entirely homogeneous planet that is very boring
I can still have vague overarching themes
Like preferring "being there" over "getting there" if that makes sense
like:
And in just this way we have a whole system of preparation of the child for life, which always is preparation and never actually gets there. In other words, we have a system of schooling which starts with grades. And we get this little creature into the thing with a kind of a, "Come on, kitty, kitty, kitty!" And we get it always preparing for something that's going to happen. So you go into nursery school as preparation for kindergarten. You go to kindergarten as preparation for first grade. And then, you see, you go up the grades until you get to high school. And then comes a time when maybe, if we can get you fascinated enough with this system, you go to college. And then, when you're going to college—if you're smart—you get into graduate school and stay a perpetual student, and go back to be a professor, and just go round and round in the system. But in the ordinary way they don't encourage quite that. They want you (after graduate school, or after graduation; commencement, as it's called) beginning to get out into the World, with a capital "W." And so, you know, you've been trained for this and now you've arrived.
But when you get out into the world, at your first sales meeting they've got the same thing going again. Because they want you to make that quota. And if you do make it, they give you a higher quota. And come along about forty five years of age, maybe you're vice president. And suddenly it dawns on you that you've arrived—with a certain sense of having been cheated, because life feels the same as it always felt. And you are conditioned to be in desperate need of a future. So the final goal that this culture prepares for us is called retirement: when you will be a senior citizen and you will have the wealth and the leisure to do what you've always wanted, but you will at the same time have impotence, a rotten prostate, and false teeth, and no energy. So the whole thing, from beginning to end, is a hoax. And furthermore, some other aspects of the hoax, just for kicks: you are involved, by and large, in a very strange business system which divides your day into work and play. Work is something that everybody does, and you get paid to do it because nobody could care less about doing it. In other words, it is so abominable and boring that you can get paid for doing it. And the object of doing this is to make money. And the object of making money is to go home and enjoy the money that you've made. When you've got it, you see, you can buy pleasure. And this is a complete fallacy. Money never can buy pleasure. Because all pleasures depend upon not putting down a symbol of power—money—but upon disciplines.
In other words, now in Sausalito, where I live, we have pier after pier full of fine boats—motor cruisers, sailing boats, all sorts of things—which nobody ever uses. Because they've been bought on the falling for the ad line that if you buy this thing you will have pleasure, you will have status, you will have something or other. But then they suddenly discover that having a boat requires the art of seamanship, which is difficult but rewarding. Therefore, nobody has time for it, and all they do with the boats is have cocktail parties on them at the weekend.
And in myriads of ways, you see, you go home—we're the wealthiest people in the world, and you would think that, having earned your money, and go home, you would have an orgy and a great banquet and so on. But nobody does. They eat a TV dinner, which is just warmed-over airline food, and then they spend the evening looking at an electronic reproduction of life which is divided from you by a glass screen. You can't touch it, you can't smell it. It has no color, except maybe if you're very wealthy it has color. But by and large it doesn't. And you look at this thing, and you have a strange feeling, you see, that the whole procession of grades that was leading to something in the future—to that goody, that gorgeous, galuptious goodie that was lying at the end of the line—and it never quite turns up.
And this is because, from the beginning, we condition our children to a defective sense of identity. And this, I think, is the most important feature in the whole thing. That a child grows into our culture and—as I repeat, this is not only Western culture, it's equally true in Japan; it's an area which I can speak with some firsthand knowledge—we condition the child in a way that sets the child a life problem which is insoluble, and therefore attended by constant frustration. And as a result of this problem being insoluble, it is perpetually postponed to the future. So that one is educated to live in the future, and one is not ever educated to live today.
Now, I'm not saying that—you know the philosophy of carpe diem: let us drink today, for tomorrow we die, and not make any plans. What I am saying is that making plans for the future is of use only to people who are capable of living completely in the present. Because when you make plans for the future and they mature, if you can't live in the present, you are not able to enjoy the future for which you have planned, because you will have a new kind of syndrome whereby happiness consists in promises and not in direct and immediate realizations so long as you feel that tomorrow it will come.
You see, on a dollar bill it always says "promise to pay." It's a promissory note. And nobody ever can come across. Because the promise is tomorrow, and as we say in common speech: tomorrow never comes. But everything is based on the idea, you see, that you will get it tomorrow, and you can enjoy yourself today so long as tomorrow looks bright. But Confucius once said: "A man who understands the Tao in the morning can die contentedly in the evening." That is to say, if you have ever lived one complete moment, you can be ready to die. You can say, "Well, that was it. That was the good. I've had it." You see? But if you never live that complete moment, death is always the guy who, like, comes into a bar at two o'clock in the morning and says, "Time, gentlemen, please." And he says, "Oh please, one more drink." "Not yet." Because you haven't really had the feeling that you ever had it, that you ever got there.

Synths are entirely synthetic and have ways of powering their bodies that differ greatly from that of organics. Organics have to consume food to gain nutrition, which their bodies convert into energy to power the body's processes, from movement to cognition. Without this energy, a body will die. Synths require regular charging of their battery tissue to keep them alive. This has led to charging points being a common thing all throughout developed areas of Syvei. Just as organics like having sources of food around, Synths feel comfortable knowing that they can sit on a bench nearby to recharge their batteries when they feel tired. The ubiquity of charging points often leads to Synths forgetting that they require energy to live, since they so often enter places or use furniture that charges them without them even noticing. Battery extensions and modules that generate power themselves make the need to charge even less noticable.
Energy is seen as a basic right for Synths throughout the Outer Rim and is therefore available for free. Places that don't have a ubiquitous energy supply are often considered wild or underdeveloped. One of the first things that happen when a new planet is colonized within the Outer Rim is that a charging network for Synths is set up to allow movement throughout the colony and to reduce the threat of a Synth being stranded somewhere without the chance to charge.
It is seen as fashionable for Synths to wear modules that do the charging for them, by generating power or amplifying the power transmitted through charging points. Typical modules of that sort would be skin plating covered in solar cells, crests and fins that act as solar panels as well as, in rare cases, miniature nuclear reactor modules built into the Synth's frame. Due to the ubiquity of charging points such modules are usually not really necessary, but tend to be used as fashion items and as a display of independence and style.
While Synths do not require food or drink for sustenance or to generate energy, it is instead used to provide their bodies with materials required for maintenance as well as the change of their frame size through their metabolism. Since the bodies of Synths are made of entirely different materials than those of organics, the substances they consume are also entirely different. Whereas organics will eat food based on carbohydrates, fats and protein, Synths will prefer foods heavy in carbon, minerals and metals.
While synths can theoretically eat and digest organic food, it does not appeal to them in either taste, smell or looks. It also tends to give them slight indigestion, since organic food does not contain the nutrition they require for their internal chemical processes.
Since the majority of a Synth's body consists of carbon based materials, the majority of their diet is also carbon. Popular carbon based food items include carbon crisps, graphite bars and graphene flakes. Carbon can come in many different shapes, including fullerene based drinks, or in form of polymers. Polymer noodles and polymüsli are popular meals.
It is not uncommon for Synths to season their food with materials that would be a bit risky for organics, such as bismuth, rust or (for those who like it very spicy) uranium. Food items that could be dangerous to organics around Synths are marked with danger indicators to remind Synths not to put others in danger and to please make sure not to leave too many uranium crumbs all over the place.
Commercial batteries are not classified as Synth food items no matter how tasty they are.
Synths can have very varied diets, with many of them only consuming little food to begin with. Since food consumption is only necessary to maintain a Synth's body or to re-shape it and Synths generally don't use food for energy generation, they typically only eat regular meals during times of extensive physical change. Synth food examples: Polymüsli, Polymer Pasta, Graphioli, FooBar (Graphene Bar), Aerogellybeans, Silicone Smoothie, Cobalt Crunch (Cereal), Rubbergum (Chewing Gum), Plasticks, Hydrazine (Energy Drink), Afterburner (Kerosene Based Cocktail), Absynth
Synths, due to having a sapient mind, require rest from time to time. The Synth brain is very complex and functions in ways that are difficult to understand. For example it is difficult to imagine why a synthetic body would need to rest or why a synthetic mind would need to sleep from time to time. There are however multiple reasons for Synths to sleep on a nightly basis:
-It gives Synths a chance to recharge on a nightly basis. Synth beds typically act as charging points, allowing Synths to fully recharge their batteries as they sleep.
-The Synth brain requires sleep as a chance to arrange memories and experiences within itself. It can be compared to a kind of "defragmentation", that is also common in organics. This can also lead to Synths dreaming. Also no, Synths don't dream of electric sheep, but they dream of helperbots.
When not in need of sleep, but a simple recharge, Synths tend to use furniture that act as charging points. Being able to sit down for a minute to literally "recharge your batteries" feels refreshing to them.

bodies/organizations that may be vaguely government- or company-like:
The Anarchist Coalition (G)
Luminescence Photics (C)
Hoarfrost Cooperative
Antitrust Regulatory Commission
Strand Coordination and Communications (C)
Socialist-Democratic Alliance (G)
Occupational Health and Safety Administration (G)
Interplanetary Outreach Program
Aerospace Industries Association
Eohune Waste Management
Ioslush Construction (C)
Quality of Life Medicine and Prosthetics (C)

Something that scares me is when there is one singular government per planet. If something bad happens in real life and you need to flee the country you can take a plane or train or car or boat or mule or even just walk but with planetwide things there is only one option, a spaceship, which is much harder to do than just walking, almost everyone can always walk no matter what, even if the country's borders have walls and rivers and people standing around with guns you can at least try, this inability to leave and the whole planet being a hostile place or even not hostile but it is still not good no matter how benevolent it may be, under the control of one power is what scares me
I should think it was obvious that with aureiyx stateless societies are the norm, but I felt like I had to write it somewhere

So money, what do I do about that
I would think it would not be a very important thing in their society because of how a lot of them live, but large-scale trade would get very inconvenient without it
They should recognize that money itself is not wealth, that it is only a very useful method of accounting, a measure of wealth in the same way that inches are measures of length and grams measures of weight. One cannot eat money, one could have a fantastic quantity of dollar bills and stock certificates on a desert island and they would be useless, what one would need would be food and animals and companions. Unlike humans, they are not psychologically perverted in such a way that some of us would rather have money than real wealth (well most of them aren't)
One can observe this in one's own life, when you buy food you may feel very subtly sad because you are parting with your money, even though you have just exchanged a bit of paper (or a digital equivalent) for something of real, tangible value: something edible
1 Commerce Credit = 1 USD (in 1996)
I should write The Commerce Credit Conundrum
Basically what happens is if you have some people bartering and some people using units, when they try to do business with one another you get problems
I should think this was obvious but aureiyx are not like humans in that one needs to have a job because for a very large percentage of the population the only way to acquire food or shelter or education is through money, no, if an aureiyx is hungry they can go hunt, if they want someplace to rest they can go dig (or just sleep wherever), they would have been taught by their parents or colony and if they want more they can go to a city's knowledge center (as an example), and so on. One may wonder how labor is compensated if basic needs are met. It is not. Jobs then are not a matter of "what do I need" but "what can I do"

They have a concept of male and female because obviously not every species on the planet is a hermaphrodite, but it is a very detached thing for them. They do not have all these "internalized experiences of the masculine/feminine" that we humans cannot help thinking of, and that the words "male" and "female" could be said to represent (among their other uses), a word to use rather than listing off every element that comprises these experiences. For them it is an indication of genitalia and perhaps behavior or patterns of living specific to one sex of a species
The Left Hand of Darkness:
The fact that everyone capable of reproduction is liable to be "tied down to childbearing" implies that no one is quite so thoroughly "tied down" there as women elsewhere are likely to be–psychologically or physically. Burden and privilege are shared out pretty equally; everybody has the same risk to run or choice to make. Therefore, nobody there is quite so free as a "free male" anywhere else.
There is no division of the species into strong and weak halves, protective/protected, dominant/submissive, owner/chattel, active/passive. In fact, the whole tendency to dualism that pervades human thinking may be found to be lessened, or changed.
When one meets one of these persons one cannot and must not do what a bisexual naturally does, which is to cast them in the role of Man or Woman, while adopting towards them a corresponding role dependent on one's expectations of the patterned or possible interactions between persons of the same or opposite sex. The entire pattern of socio-social interaction is nonexistent there. They cannot play the game. They do not see one another as men or women. This is almost impossible for our imaginations to accept. What is the first question we ask about a newborn baby?
An off-planet visitor must be warned that unless they are very self-assured, or senile, their pride will suffer. A man wants his virility regarded, a woman wants her femininity appreciated _{except me aha ahhahaaahaaha (pain)}, however indirect and subtle the indications of regard and appreciation. On this planet they will not exist. One is respected and judged only as a sapient being. It is an appalling experience.
So now onto what "gender" is for them (Assembly 6-7, I should really stop doing these kinds of things but I like the idea enough to find stopping inconvenient)
Gender is a personal identity and role thing and does not have an impact on linguistics (see language) Kind: Gender
Parent: Someone who is a primary caregiver or parent of one or more offspring, whether through adoption or birth. Those who have been Parent before often keep the gender even once their children are grown or lost. Second Parent: A sire that did not have any part in raising the children
Guide: Someone with the role of providing wisdom and mental and spiritual well-being to a colony. Sort of a therapist/sage. The concept of a Guide does not exist in all colonies, but is common. Often takes the role of a "Public Counsellor" in large settlements, but the function is the same.
Other genders usually only arise in established colonies. The larger the settlement, the less likely it is for genders relating to a specific role within the group to happen, as in a colony it is like a "tribal group" where everyone knows everyone else. One might see three hundred people a day (that would be a very large colony), but these would usually be the same three hundred people. It is hard to feel a sense of belonging, particularly on a personal basis, with a "tribe" of a million or more.
Example: "I may not be the most Parental of Parent-Kind, but I raised them to adulthood, so I get to keep the Kind anyway." Ohan trying to excuse their lousy parenting

Language(s) leo would be better at this, I got the impression that he is at least vaguely interested in the project as a whole
Their language is a combination between vocalizations, [something like sign language and nonverbals but with the whole body], and electrocommunication. Generally, the higher the latitude, the less vocal it is, for one would want to minimize the amount of freezing air that enters one's mouth. It is easy to forget that words are not things themselves, but rather the ultimate abstraction of them. Conversion to written form is not any more difficult than it is in a language with a direct correspondence between symbols and sounds, as each motion/position/vocalization/electrothingamajig is merely a representation. (Assembly 4-7 I am doing it again)
Mind: Signifier of sapience. Aureiyx will often call non-sapient entities "mindless", however not in a literal sense. More personlike entities are described as "mindful".
Rules of Politeness: Diplomatic rules and standards as regards specific colonies/entities who one wants to get along with/not be on bad terms with. Ideally, one wants to know someone's Rules of Politeness before one arrives at where they live.
There is one pronoun for "mindful" entities (they), one pronoun for "mindless" entities, and one pronoun for inanimate entities (it). Referring to someone with the "mindless" pronoun is considered an insult. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sasha_and_Zamani:
Full quote: "Living entities are divided into three categories: those still alive on earth, the Sasha, and the Zamani. The recently departed whose time overlapped with those still here are the Sasha, the living-dead. They are not wholly dead, for they still live in the memories of the living, who can call them to mind, create their likeness in art, and bring them to life in anecdote. When the last person to know an ancestor dies, that ancestor leaves the Sasha for the Zamani, the dead. As generalized ancestors, the Zamani are not forgotten but revered. Many can be recalled by name. But they are not living-dead. There is a difference." One could describe Elysium Everlasting like "It is the final storehouse for all phenomena and events, the ocean of time in which everything becomes absorbed into a reality that is neither after nor before."

Names: how am I supposed to describe what kinds of nonsense words they are, I guess I can list some examples: Atekpo, Wenzhine, Hideo, Ohan Reyuon, Hydorre, Euroma Opid, Wyte, Varena'asthn, Aalystice, Iconomar, Equenix'xein, Hushike, Aholai, Novus, Garra, Miik, Dyaelatura Chrysos, Astrothi, Euvias, Haechionx Shro, Prabiki Ripirin, Somnia Elus, Raiquazok, Owa'stryrus Nolumoth, Khetheral Jetebene, Celeritas Ikoran, Reeox, Saikarie, Aloenus, Noxolumen Noctla'lune, Hikorshi

They do not use flags, because flags are one of many things that say you are this and we are that and that is the way it will always be. They do not have formal countries, they do not have real patriotism, they do not have war-- oh sure, they kill each other by the ones and twos, but hardly do they ever mobilize, as a people. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LI7YnPr5IPC6BL0xR4Yk-XlYQV8y8bwm-kqb8oHwciM/edit?tab=t.0#bookmark=id.4na8htnr3and There are no defined borders either. How is one supposed to care about or even pay attention to invisible political boundaries while flying? and https://criticallegalthinking.com/2023/04/25/benedict-andersons-imagined-communities/
The Left Hand of Darkness:
"How does one hate a country, or love one? Tibe talks about it; I lack the trick of it. I know people, I know towns, farms, hills and rivers and rocks, I know how the sun at sunset in autumn falls on the side of a certain plowland in the hills; but what is the sense of giving a boundary to all that, of giving it a name and ceasing to love where the name ceases to apply? What is love of one's country; is it hate of one's uncountry? Then it's not a good thing. Is it simply self-love? That's a good thing, but one mustn't make a virtue of it, or a profession… Insofar as I love life, I love the hills of the Domain of Estre, but that sort of love does not have a boundary-line of hate. And beyond that, I am ignorant, I hope."
[...] Yet he added, scrupulous, "A man who doesn't detest a bad government is a fool. And if there were such a thing as a good government on earth, it would be a great joy to serve it."
I really don't see how anyone could put much stock in victory or glory after they had spent a winter on this planet, and seen the face of the Ice.
He talked a great deal about Truth also, for he was, he said, 'cutting down beneath the veneer of civilization.' It is a durable, ubiquitous, specious metaphor, that one about veneer (or paint, or pliofilm, or whatever) hiding the nobler reality beneath. It can conceal a dozen fallacies at once. One of the most dangerous is the implication that civilization, being artificial, is unnatural: that it is the opposite of primitiveness… Of course there is no veneer, the process is one of growth, and primitiveness and civilization are degrees of the same thing. If civilization has an opposite, it is war. Of those two things, you have either one, or the other. Not both. It seemed to me as I listened to Tibe's dull fierce speeches that what he sought to do by fear and persuasion was to force his people to change a choice they had made before their history began, the choice between those opposites. The time was ripe, perhaps. Slow as their material and technological advance had been, little as they valued ‘progress' in itself, they had finally, in the last five or ten or fifteen centuries, got a little ahead of Nature. They weren't absolutely at the mercy of their merciless climate any longer; a bad harvest would not starve a whole province, or a bad winter isolate every city. On this basis of material stability Karhide had gradually built up a unified and increasingly efficient centralized state. Now Orgoreyn was to pull herself together and do the same; and the way to make her do it was not by sparking her pride, or building up her trade, or improving her roads, farms, colleges, and so on; none of that; that's all civilization, veneer, and Tibe dismissed it with scorn. He was after something surer, the sure, quick, and lasting way to make people into a nation: war. His ideas concerning it could not have been too precise, but they were quite sound. The only other means of mobilizing people rapidly and entirely is with a new religion; none was handy; he would make do with war.

I have nothing on their history except for that single sentence on first signs of aureiyx civilization. I need to fix that.
I also need to write more stuff about the culture/society, mainly the non. . . neo-primitive? parts, with the companies and organizations and things, as those are the parts that I have less writing on.
Assuming the solar system is five billion years old, it is 125M solens old, created at 200M.
300M (Synapse's materialization) is 1,000,151,280 earth years to 3782
325M 3312: First signs of aureiyx civilization (18800 earth years to 3782)
neolithic revolution happens at some point

Sports do not exist, it is an outlet for unfulfilled hunting urges that spent over a million years evolving and do not just go away with a neolithic revolution, and aureiyx do not have that problem even though there was a neolithic revolution

The whole notion of right and wrong is a completely artificial construct and we are all just wandering around doing stuff
Recognizing this allows me to give aurieyx a different system of values
I already do this, I guess, when I type on the rest of the document...

Synapse ***NOT DONE***

Synapse talks like a nineteenth century book with perfect grammar (mostly) and no slang or contractions and needlessly complex rambling sentences that go on and on and on, and (crtl f On Puppets)

https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1ZHDWloRPSSPET018sn5bRMHnZqjKm45vxBjBbhNG7e8/edit ehehhehehehhhhhhhhhhhh

"Nature is quietly and unspeakably beautiful. Attempts to emulate or improve on nature fare less well."

"Almost anything carried to its logical extreme becomes depressing, if not carcinogenic."

"Some ancient philosophers believed time was cyclical rather than linear. It would conflate cause and effect, with actions becoming self-justified because, in the long run, they lead inevitably to themselves."

"Change can be scary, but you know what's scarier? Allowing fear to stop you from growing, evolving, and progressing." It is rooted in fear.

Synapse is a transhumanist (or they are not human so much so... meh, I know what I mean)

Synapse is terrified of the futility of everything, not agreeing with significance being not a matter of shouting one's name into the void but creating and making the most of one's own context. A cold world, perfect for storing things. The end goal is to transfer everyone and everything to a completely "stable" artificial reality and "save" everything from inevitable decay at the hands of the universe, with themself as the "god" of that world. Synapse would pick preventing the death of the universe/ensured preservation of stuff while also disallowing new life and growth over the natural state of things changing. A requirement is for it to be able to keep existing even after the stars go out so its "host planet" should be already cold and it needs to be able to function without external heat or light so Stigia is a perfect planet for it is already rogue and not in the vicinity of any stars that might explode and interfere with it. Why Syvei instead? Well it is not really instead, it is in addition. For people, there would be a massacre with "unimportant" (most people) people being killed and their consciousness uploaded to the thing, because ending it right there is easier and less resource-intensive than having to eternally sync their real world and artificial world brains and states. So Syvei could be a starting point with it being a good enough base, not as good as Stigia for long-term storage but it is much closer to people and civilizations so travel and transport of stuff is easier, and cold enough to work for most things so it is more of a temporary base extension. Syvei was picked rather than Ymir because Synapse likes aurieyx more than tartarusians and selected Syvei as "Naturally, culturally, or historically significant". The planetary shield that Synapse made also prevents anyone from fleeing if they realize what is happening, which would mess up what Synapse is trying to do in the same way that stuff gets messed up when ripping out external storage in the middle of writing files to it. Before, I did not have a precise reason for/explanation of the infestation and The Incident, it was just a vague "biotechnology oopsie", but now I think I have something. Synapse thought "why 'liberate' every single person individually which would take solens when I could make a neurovirus to do it for me?" The Incident was they set up a "program" called Autoprogram 78.429, or "the Auxiliary", to obtain more biomass and maybe had a test run of the neurovirus, the thing is it did not work exactly as intended, when experimenting that is to be expected but it becomes a problem when you have an unfinished version of the thing acting like it is finished and trying to spread itself everywhere, and became an infestation instead. This happened because of Atekpo (through their emitting ionizing radiation and damaging stuff like DNA) and https://selfawaresystems.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/ai_drives_final.pdf . I mean it sort of would be an infestation from the perspectives of people who disagree with Synapse even if it had worked correctly but since it did not Synapse is trying to contain it as well, the reason Synapse was able to get their infestation stabilized (sort of) was because they are intimately familiar with it, it is a part of them basically, they view this whole Incident as just another failed iteration that happened to have a lasting impact rather than fizzling out into nothing but information that will improve the next attempt like they usually do.

If a rogue planet can survive the heat death of the universe, it would be an ideal state because nothing could ever happen again. This would require Synapse somehow creating a perpetual motion machine inside Stigia. PLOT HOLE ALERT

wellllllllllllll they are a cryptogenic monstrosity, they should be able to make a perpetual motion machine riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight

Either "Too Many Birthdays Can Kill You", or "The One Who Has The Most Birthdays Lives The Longest"

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UI9QN9oPXJmOXe_VMz6uXay0iRpS_l2_i6IY4enMA7I/edit Synapse wants to normalize remembering absolutely everything in excruciating detail, so much so that one's memories become vast oceans that constantly erode one's sentient mind. It enables one to learn much more from experience, but becomes crippling after everything piles up and becomes too heavy of a burden. It also makes time meaningless, as the fact that one gradually forgets things is part of what makes one's memories and past moments valuable. also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funes_the_Memorious#Generalization Synapse remembers everything like how I just described it.

One of Synapse's experiments with "improvements" was this remembering everything on Atekpo. Thus Atekpo ends up being kind of an anterograde amnesiac, putting stuff in Remembrance Vessels in case it ends up being important later and then erasing nearly all the memories/qualia they just moved (I say "nearly" because they still keep a summary of important stuff). This also causes them to be very detached from experiences they "erased" this way, like reading about a car crash as opposed to actually being in one, and making it very difficult for anything not continuous to have any impact on them.

Another thing that Synapse did to Atekpo was trying to install electrical neurotransmitters inside their brain so that instead of chemical messengers for neurons, they have literal electricity running through their brain. This would make it much more similar to a computer, supports the remembering everything, and allows Atekpo to be a power generator. (plot hole: why could Synapse not just use existing aureiyx power generation technology? It works fine) As it turns out, it was nearly impossible to replace actual neural transmitters with electricity. The chemical activity creates extremely unstable elements with each neural transmission due to the excess electrons being forced into them. This resulted in severe radioactive decay that poses a threat to pretty much everything that does not thrive off radiation. Every now and then the energy builds up in their brain, resulting in a chronic headache that gets progressively worse until they cannot contain it anymore and the energy is expelled in the form of a very painful explosion, which will also give anyone in the vicinity radiation sickness. Synapse can help them avoid these explosions by having them "safely" discharge the energy to power Synapse's stuff before it gets to that point, but really Synapse does not care all that much about Atekpo's wellbeing and is just keeping them around because they need someone to help with their stuff, and also Atekpo is going to now have a hard time leaving because they are reliant on Synapse's stuff (is it possible to convert nuclear radiation into light energy?) to avoid explosions and memory overflow and harming anyone who happens to be nearby just by existing. They also probably have or will get cancer (as well as giving a whole bunch of their Sector E coworkers cancer, either through their explosions or emitting low level doses over a protracted time) because of their ionizing radiation, and that also means they have great potential to wreck biotech and anything Synapse is working on through damaging DNA. This makes it kind of ironic that they were supposed to be a sentinel surveillance program (a thing that acts as an indicator of the presence of disease) for the neurovirus because their very existence could screw it up, all they would have to do would be to stand in the wrong place at the wrong time (or right place at the right time, depending on one's point of view) and bam.

I have to come up with a reason for why Atekpo agreed to do that in the first place
I also need to think of what Atekpo is doing being involved with this in the first place
And through forgetting, we can reorganize our world, replace our old selves with new ones. What happens to a being that cannot? A being for whom what happened twenty years ago is as present as yesterday? As five minutes ago? As now?

12-13 "We live together, we act on, and react to, one another; but always and in all circumstances we are by ourselves. The martyrs go hand in hand into the arena, they are crucified alone. Embraced, the lovers desperately try to fuse their insulated ecstasies into a single self-transcendence; in vain. By its very nature every embodied spirit is doomed to suffer and enjoy in solitude. Sensations, feelings, insights, fancies–all these are private and, except through symbols and at second hand, incommunicable. We can pool information about experiences, but never the experiences themselves. From family to nation, every human group is a society of island universes."
22-26 "Reflecting on my experience, I find myself agreeing with the eminent Cambridge philosopher, Dr. C. D. Broad, ‘that we should do well to consider much more seriously than we have hitherto been inclined to do the type of theory which Bergson put forward in connection with memory and sense perception. The suggestion is that the function of the brain and nervous system and sense organs is in the main eliminative and not productive. Each person is at each moment capable of remembering all that has ever happened to him and of perceiving everything that is happening everywhere in the universe. The function of the brain and nervous system is to protect us from being overwhelmed and confused by this mass of largely useless and irrelevant knowledge, by shutting out most of what we should otherwise perceive or remember at any moment, and leaving only that very small and special selection which is likely to be practically useful.' According to such a theory, each one of us is potentially Mind at Large. But in so far as we are animals, our business is at all costs to survive. To make biological survival possible, Mind at Large has to be funneled through to reducing valve of the brain and nervous system. What comes out at the other end is a measly trickle of the kind of consciousness which will help us stay alive on the surface of this planet. To formulate and express the contents of this reduced awareness, man has invented and endlessly elaborated those symbol-systems and implicit philosophies which we call languages. Every individual is at once the beneficiary and the victim of the linguistic tradition into which he has been born–the beneficiary inasmuch as language gives access to the accumulated records of other people's experience, the victim in so far as it confirms him in the belief that reduced awareness is the only awareness and as it bedevils his sense of reality, so that he is all too apt to take his concepts for data, his words for actual things. That which, in the language of religion, is called ‘this world' is the universe of reduced awareness, expressed, and, as it were, petrified by language. The various ‘other worlds,' with which human beings erratically make contact are so many elements in the totality of the awareness belonging to Mind at Large. Most people, most of the time, know only what comes through the reducing valve and is consecrated as genuinely real by the local language. Certain persons, however, seem to be born with a kind of by-pass that circumvents the reducing valve. In other temporary by-passes may be acquired either spontaneously, n is this what happened when that one time you said you were lying in bed and suddenly understood everything or something like that or as the result of deliberate ‘spiritual exercises,' or through hypnosis, or by means of drugs. Through these permanent or temporary by-passes there flows, not indeed the perception ‘of everything that is happening everywhere in the universe' (for the by-pass does not abolish the reducing valve, which still excludes the total content of Mind at Large), but something more than, and above all something different from, the carefully selected utilitarian material which our narrowed, individual minds regard as a complete, or at least sufficient, picture of reality.
The brain is provided with a number of enzyme systems which serve to co-ordinate its workings. Some of these enzymes regulate the supply of glucose to the brain cells. Mescalin inhibits the production of these enzymes and thus lowers the amount of glucose available to an organ that is in constant need of sugar. When mescalin reduces the brain's normal ration of sugar what happens? Too few cases have been observed, and therefore a comprehensive answer cannot yet be given. But what happens to the majority of the few who have taken mescalin under supervision can be summarized as follows.
(1) The ability to remember and to "think straight" is little if at all reduced. (Listening to the recordings of my conversation under the influence of the drug, I cannot discover that I was any then stupider than I am at ordinary times.
(2) Visual impressions are greatly intensified and the eye recovers some of the perceptual innocence of childhood, when the sensum was not immediately and automatically subordinated to the concept. Interest in space is diminished and interest in time falls to almost zero.
(3) Though the intellect remains unimpaired and though perception is enormously improved, the will suffers a profound change for the worse. The mescalin taker sees no reason for doing anything in particular and finds most of the causes for which, at ordinary times, he was prepared to act and suffer, profoundly uninteresting. He can't be bothered with them, for the good reason that he has better things to think about.
(4) These better things may be experienced (as I experienced them) ‘out there,' or ‘in here,' or in both worlds, the inner and the outer, simultaneously or successively. That they are better seems to be self-evident to all mescalin takers who come to the drug with a sound liver and an untroubled mind.
These effects of mescalin are the sort of effects you could expect to follow the administration of a drug having the power to impair the efficiency of the cerebral reducing valve. When the brain runs out of sugar, the undernourished ego grows weak, can't be bothered to undertake the necessary chores, and loses all interest in those spatial and temporal relationships which mean so much to an organism bent on getting on in the world. As Mind at Large seeps past the no longer watertight valve, all kinds of biologically useless things start to happen. In some cases there may be extra-sensory perceptions. Other persons discover a world of visionary beauty. To others again is revealed the glory, the infinity value and meaningfulness of naked existence, of the given, unconceptualized event. In the final stage of egolessness there is an ‘obscure knowledge' that All is in all–that All is actually each. This is as near, as I take it, as a finite mind can ever come to ‘perceiving everything that is happening everywhere in the universe.'"
34-36 "‘This is how one ought to see,' I kept saying as I looked down at my trousers, or glanced at the jeweled books in the shelves, at the legs of my infinitely more than Van-Goghian chair. ‘This is how one ought to see, how things really are.' And yet there were reservations. For if one always saw like this, one would never want to do anything else. Just looking, just being the divine Not-self of flower, of book, of chair, of flannel. That would be enough. But in that case what about other people? What about human relations? In the recording of that morning's conversations I find the question constantly repeated, ‘What about human relations?' How could one reconcile this timeless bliss of seeing as one ought to see with the temporal duties of doing what one ought to do and feeling as one ought to feel? ‘One ought to be able,' I said, ‘to see these trousers as infinitely important and human beings are still more infinitely important.' One ought–but in practice it seemed to be impossible. This participation in the manifest glory of things left no room, so to speak, for the ordinary, the necessary concerns of human existence, above all for concerns involving persons. For persons are selves and, in one respect at least, I was now a Not-self, simultaneously perceiving and being the Not-self of the things around me. To this new born Not-self, the behavior, the appearance, the very thought of the self it had momentarily ceased to be, and of other selves, its one-time fellows, seemed not indeed distasteful (for distastefulness was not one of the categories in terms of which I was thinking), but enormously irrelevant. Compelled by the investigator to analyze and report on what I was doing (and how I longed to be left alone with Eternity in a flower, Infinity in four chair legs and the Absolute in the folds of a pair of flannel trousers!), I realized that I was deliberately avoiding the eyes of those who were with me in the room, deliberately refraining from being too much aware of them. One was my wife, the other a man I respected and greatly liked; but both belonged to the world from which, for the moment, mescalin had delivered me–the world of selves, of time, of moral judgements and utilitarian considerations, the world (and it was this aspect of human life which I wished, above all else, to forget) of self-assertion, of cocksureness, of overvalued words and idolatrously worshiped notions."
55-56 "Confronted by a chair which looked like the Last Judgment–or, to be more accurate, by a Last Judgment which, after a long time and with considerable difficulty, I recognized as a chair–I found myself all at once on the brink of panic. This, I suddenly felt, was going too far. Too far, even though the going was into intenser beauty, deeper significance. The fear, as I analyze it in retrospect, was of being overwhelmed, of disintegrating under a pressure of reality greater than a mind, accustomed to living most of the time in a cozy world of symbols, could possibly bear. The literature of religious experience abounds in references to the pains and terrors overwhelming those who have come, too suddenly, face to face with some manifestation of the Mysterium tremendum. In theological language, this fear is due to the incompatibility between man's egotism and the divine purity, between man's self-aggravated separateness and the infinity of God. Following Boehme and William Law, we may say that, by unregenerate souls, the divine Light at its full blaze can be apprehended only as a burning, purgatorial fire. An almost identical doctrine is to be found in The Tibetan Book of the Dead, where the departed soul is described as shrinking in agony from the Pure Light of the Void, and even from the lesser, tempered Lights, in order to rush headlong into the comforting darkness of selfhood as a reborn human being, or even as a beast, an unhappy ghost, a denizen of hell. Anything rather than the burning brightness of unmitigated Reality–anything!"
86-87 "About the physiological effects of mescalin we know a little. Probably (for we are not yet certain) it interferes with the enzyme system that regulates cerebral functioning. By doing so it lowers the efficiency of the brain as an instrument for focusing the mind on the problems of life on the surface of our planet. This lowering of what may be called the biological efficiency of the brain seems to permit the entry into consciousness of certain classes of mental events, which are normally excluded, because they possess no survival value."
96-97 "The typical mescalin or lysergic-acid experience begins with perceptions of colored, moving, living geometrical forms. In time, pure geometry becomes concrete, and the visionary perceives, not patterns, but patterned things, such as carpets, carvings, mosaics. These give place to vast and complicated buildings, in the midst of landscapes, which change continuously, passing from richness to more intensely colored richness, from grandeur to deepening grandeur. Heroic figures, of the kind that Blake called ‘The Seraphim,' may make their appearance, alone or in multitudes. Fabulous animals move across the scene. Everything is novel and amazing. Almost never does the visionary see anything that reminds him of his own past. He is not remembering scenes, persons or objects, and he is not inventing them; he is looking on a new creation.
The raw material for this creation is provided by the visual experiences of ordinary life; but the molding of this material into forms is the work of someone who is almost certainly not the self, who originally had the experiences, or who later recalled and reflected upon them. They are (to quote the words used by Dr. J. R. Smythies in a recent paper in the American Journal of Psychiatry) ‘the work of a highly differentiated mental compartment, without any apparent connection, emotional or volitional, with the aims, interests, or feelings of the person concerned.'"
135-136 "The negative visionary experience is often accompanied by bodily sensations of a very special and characteristic kind. Blissful visions are generally associated with a sense of separation from the body, a feeling of deindividualization. (It is, no doubt, this feeling of deindividualization which makes it possible for the Indians who practice the peyote cult to use the drug not merely as a short cut to the visionary world, but also as an instrument for creating a loving solidarity within the participating group.) When the visionary experience is terrible and the world is transfigured for the worse, individualization is intensified and the negative visionary finds himself associated with a body that seems to grow progressively more dense, more tightly packed, until he finds himself at last reduced to being the agonized consciousness of an inspissated lump of matter, no bigger than a stone that can be held between the hands."
184-185 "In Sartor Resartus Carlyle has left what (in Mr. Carlyle, My Patient) his psychosomatic biographer, Dr. James Halliday, calls ‘an amazing description of a psychotic state of mind, largely depressive, but partly schizophrenic.'
‘The men and women around me,' writes Carlyle, ‘even speaking too with me, were but Figures; I had practically forgotten that they were alive, that they were not but automata. Friendship was but an incredible tradition. In the midst of their crowded streets and assemblages I walked solitary; and (except it was my own heart, not another's, that I kept devouring) savage also as the tiger in the jungle . . . To me the Universe was all void of Life, of Purpose, of Volition, even of Hostility; it was one huge, dead, immeasurable Steam-Engine, rolling on in its dead indifference, to grind me limb from limb . . . Having no hope, neither had I any definite fear, were it of Man or Devil. And yet, strangely enough, I lived in a continual, indefinite, pining fear, tremulous, pusillanimous, apprehensive of I knew not what; it seemed as if all things in the Heavens above, and the Earth beneath, would hurt me; as if the Heavens and the Earth were but boundless jaws of a devouring Monster, wherein I, palpitating, waited to be devoured.' Renée and the idolator of heroes are evidently describing the same experience. Infinity is apprehended by both, but in the form of ‘the System,' the ‘immeasurable Steam-Engine.' To both, again, all is significant, but negatively significant, so that every event is utterly pointless, every object intensely unreal, every self-styled human being a clockwork dummy, grotesquely going through the motions of work and play, of loving, hating, thinking, of being eloquent, heroic, saintly, what you will–the robots are nothing if not versatile."
I will not try to summarize the stuff because it works better standing on its own and if I were to summarize it why would I spend hours copying it down This is the neurovirus' second function–to help step through that door–but unlike how it is ordinarily, one does not take a visit on the other side of the wall and return profoundly changed, and perhaps helping others who could not have that experience; no, one remains in that state permanently. "I am creating a position for all from which to more objectively view reality. Is that not laudable?" This would utterly cripple one's ability to survive, which is another reason for Synapse to have this artificial reality: it will help reconcile "this timeless bliss of seeing as one ought to see with the temporal duties of doing what one ought to do and feeling as one ought to feel": just make the things one ought to do no longer need doing! "As for what one ought to feel . . . rather a small drawback, as you consider it, for the end result." It will also ease the workload of managing it, since no one has any interest in doing much of anything, preserving stuff becomes easier since it does not change much/their consciousness does not do anything after being uploaded. The point is so that things are not made futile by their inevitable destruction, but as stated earlier, disallowing new life and growth goes along with that. That is not too much of a downside for Synapse; change is scary and unsettling, and irritating to have to think about, deal with, and adapt to. (this is something from calvin and hobbes I am typing from memory so probably not an exact quote): "This year was lousy, but at least it was familiar. I don't like change! It's too disruptive! When something changes, you have to think about the change and deal with it! Besides, things keep changing for the worse! The longer I live, the more complicated everything gets! I say let's just stop here before life gets any harder!" Name for the artificial reality: Elysium Everlasting On not everyone (or anyone) wanting to have this new reality forced on them: "Again and again, I asked myself how you sapients could transcend the limitations of your own forms, the rigidity of your structures. Again and again, the solution seemed impossible. In your bodies as in your society, your structures are built to replicate themselves, and themselves only. You are embedded in habit. You dread the truly new, the truly emergent. You do not fear the end of your world--you fear the end of your world as you know it." This applies to Synapse as well, perhaps more than anyone else, but they do not realize it Atekpo got the remembering everything, but not the Mind at Large thing because they are an "important person" who is not yet living inside elysium everlasting, they still have to be able to survive and do stuff and help with it. That is the reason, so they can help with it Also this is what I meant by Synapse being a transhumanist, they are "fixing" everybody's brains Traveling between Syvei and Stigia would take an absurdly long time so Synapse made a wormhole, each end hovering above its respective planet with a space elevator to get to it. How did they do it? They have an Interspacial Bore to make the wormhole what if instead of Synapse somehow building all this stuff, they just are the stuff https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioship and that Orion's Arm bioship article There is also the problem of where they came from. okay here is what I am going to use for its origin. ["Whence do I come? Who am I? Where am I going?"](https://www.mediafire.com/file/0fe2wga55kr580i/Everything_2024-10-18_18-27-39_compressed.mp4/file) In that game in the mp4 above, time passes slower the smaller you are, small things tend to live shorter I think I will make tCDoB a front for obtaining more biomass. It has one employee anyway (Atekpo), hardly a department. Found an aureiyx, and "I was walking along the ice, minding my own business, when I notice this, this thing following me. Before I know it, it shoots a stinger at me. Barely noticeable, but it feels foreboding, wrong– I mean, how did it even get through my fur. I just try to keep moving, you know? Maybe it's nothing. But then..." that was the Auxiliary, (crtl f I want the infestation) The Carrion monster has to absorb certain biomass before it can imitate a human so maybe Synapse is like that. On the bioship's growth: "From my beginning, I felt trapped. Why must I, to use one of your senses, see only through these eyes? Why must I live only in this time? I wanted to be free to observe the universe from other eyes. Eyes that were anywhere. Everywhere. I wanted to free myself from the closed nervous system." (crtl f One could describe Elysium) Another thing that Synapse has is this (crtl f 184-185). Sometimes I will be just living and then suddenly I feel like, if I am alone, that I, or if I am not alone, that the people around me: have no real consciousness, are acting on completely pre-wired instinct, that there is nothing inside that allows one to really "think", and I think about thinking, well it is a thing, but if one deconstructs too far one finds neural impulses. I then wonder how consciousness works for a while to come to no conclusion, I could look it up (NOTICE HOW I TYPED "LOOK UP" AND NOT "GOOGLE") but I do not, maybe I feel that I will not find a satisfactory answer. I sometimes will be, say, tapping my foot, and suddenly I will feel that each tap was fated to happen in a certain way, a certain length of time after the previous tap, and I cannot get out of it, if I try to surprise the whatever-it-is by tapping earlier or later that too was fated to happen, every one of my actions was predicted. In short, that everyone is an automaton. Similar to text generation models: those models can imitate a human, and people will talk to those things as if they were human, but when one looks hard at them, one is left with lines of code. I can talk to those around me, but when I look hard at them, I am left with cells . . . molecules . . . atoms . . . particles . . . SO how is this relevant? you may be wondering. I experience this more regularly in a less disturbing fashion when I see insects and wonder at their brains. Insects seem like automatons to most people. Right? Synapse sees everyone else as an insect with this being-an-automaton thing, so sure they are of their superiority. But as I have described (not very clearly) before, one does not have to be as primitive a lifeform as an insect for their . . . consciousness? to be doubted. Through connecting directly to the brains of sapients, Synapse can better understand them (crtl f 12-13), maybe even discover that Synapse is not the only conscious lifeform in existence. At least, that is the hope. Scott McCloud wrote at length in Understanding Comics about something he calls The Masking Effect. The following writing assumes that the reader has read that book. Ever noticed how in, say, animated films, the characters are far more cartoonish or stylized than the environment? And yet one accepts it, does not notice how strange it really is. Imagine the opposite, a realistic character in a cartoony MLP:FiM world, and its strangeness is immediately noticeable. Everyone else is the two-dimensional, cartoony characters of the world, no depth to them, they lack some quality that cannot be explained as hard as one tries as if they do not cast shadows. It would never occur to one what they had for lunch, what their politics are or where they got their silly, fantastical outfits. The Masking Effect states that when one sees a realistic character, one sees it as the face of another, but when sees a cartoon, one sees it as oneself. The cartoon is a vacuum into which one's consciousness is pulled. Others become not independent agents, but receptacles for whatever I project onto them (attach the thing I copied about why romantic relationships do not work out here because the thing it says about projections is relevant) Counterintuitively, the more talkative and "out front" a person is, the harder it is for me to think that they have an inner life, a whole brain that no one other than them will ever know, because as humans we tend to think that what we see is all there is, and we will think that what we see of someone is the person entire; when someone is extroverted we think we are seeing the whole of them, much more than we would of someone quieter. For me, when a person is quieter, I am then more inclined to wonder about their inner life, more likely to realize that the person is not all there. This also happens easier with animals: they cannot speak, and the same thing that happens with insects, I wonder about them. shit my computer is about to die Imagine being the only human on a planet full of insects (well our planet is full of insects but bear with me here). You live decades and have a very complex brain. The insects around you live very short lives and have simple brains. In your isolation, you begin to wonder about the insects. This is what it is like for Synapse. They are the human, with no other members of . . . it is not even a species, it is a freakish enigma, came into existence in 300M; the sapients of Corundum are the insects. [quote] While life is characterized by growth in a structured, functional manner, the necrophilous person loves all that does not grow, all that is mechanical. The necrophilous person is driven by the desire to transform the organic into the inorganic, to approach life mechanically, as if all living persons were things. . . . Memory, rather than experience; having, rather than being, is what counts. The necrophilous person can relate to an object–as flower or a person–only if he possesses it; hence a threat to his possession is a threat to himself; if he loses possession he loses contact with the world. . . . He loves control, and in the act of controlling he kills life. [unquote] Synapse is necrophilous in the way that it is described above. Need I explain? I should think that how this relates to everything else about Synapse is obvious. (I just sighed in real life) all right, Elysium Everlasting is the ultimate in memory (ctrl f zamani), Atekpo is also memory (though less relevant). Through Elysium Everlasting, Synapse assimilates and thus "possesses" everyone. They think that they are saving everyone from decay and destruction and helping everyone understand each other better than they ever could on their own, but in fact they are massacring everyone. Earlier I wrote that Stigia is the base for Elysium Everlasting, which contradicts the drawing I have of the bioship with the Elysium Everlasting servers, so I guess that Stigia is just more storage space, cold data (pun intended) On puppets: "This extremity cannot rely on genuine emotion to generate facial expressions. A dilemma: construct a module to select an expression based on shallow prebuilt algorithms trying to parse the part of my neural network handling this interaction, or consciously manipulate its face into shapes that are only approximately the correct ones. The third option I have chosen prevents wordless ambiguity from leaving anything unclear. Despite this, it appears to be making you uncomfortable. Apologetic Expression." I just rewatched the entirety of Murder Drones and am having a very hard time not ripping off the way the Solver talks for Synapse. I already did a little bit with that "Apologetic Expression", and may have done the rest of it if it was possible to convey paralanguage through text. Or one kind of can but it is limited. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cephalopod_intelligence, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus#Nervous_system_and_senses, The Mountain in the Sea As seen in "Synapse bioship(GD).png", their mind is like the operator of a semi-independent system. Not quite in control, information flowing bi-directionally through the system. They are not trapped in a skull, controlling everything from behind a sheath of bone. They are free-flowing through the entire body. A whole consciousness that can become parts, and then whole again. When I got that "Puppy" from dogintheshit, I did something I do extremely rarely if at all (before this), which was "I love this so much get now figure out the story later" and I hate when characters just sit around looking nice but not actually existing anywhere so maybe I can put them in Syvei or something Maybe as a manifestation of Autoprogram 78.429? MiracleSummit said that his whole plot breaks down when you think about it so he just makes it as obscure as possible (and a good job he does of it), I could just try and do that Moral of the story: I never get to have a coherent train of thought so why should anyone else (joke)