Postfurry Wiki - User contributions [en]

Bottomwarp

2016-10-08T22:50:27Z

PhoenixTril: Big Revamp, woo~

Bottomwarp

Bottomwarp is one of the six warps of the [[Puzzlebox]], a hedonistic playground populated by those with a passion for pleasure and congress of all stripes.

== Environment ==
Bottomwarp was once described as "''a hot, humid, twilit place, mired in a sea of musky haze''". This is, by and large, still accurate, but it is a pale descriptor of what the warp has become in recent years.

Originally, Bottomwarp was organized largely in a fashion akin to a city, albeit organically shaped and inspired. This was possible by means of a sort of fluffy, foamy organic substrate. After the sundering of the connections that linked Bottomwarp to the other Warps of the Mess, something happened to this stuff. The locals refer to it now as the Growing.

The Growing is one part slime mold, one part insulating foam, and one part flowing concrete. It is definitely alive. At some point, whether by accidental experimental process run amok, intentional introduction and engineering, or random, spontaneous evolution, the substrate took on a living quality, and began to expand, and reshape its environment by designs that were not according to any one whim or collective. Like a tree, it diverged, grew, flowered and bloomed, and it has never stopped for one second since, assuming all manner of texture, colour and consistency. Sometimes, the foamy Growing will even exhibit bioluminescence, either in steady glowing patches, or coruscating whorls and swirls like aurorae.

Bottomwarp is now as much jungle as city, a teeming hive inhabited by all stripes of hedonist and libertine. It has strata, discussed in greater detail below. Its geography is now a panoply of varied terrains inspired by the wildest of terrestrial and extraterrestrial possibilities found naturally, and encouraged and guided from time to time by the inhabitants. Valleys, mesas, rivers, tunnels, forests and fields, all can be found in the varying stratigraphic layers of Bottomwarp in all manner of combination and variety.

The Growing is harmless; it does not consume so much as cover, engulf as much as ensconce. It can be encouraged and persuaded to assume shapes, follow paths, or even withdraw and hold empty volumes to produce usable spaces. It can be negotiated with, as one might negotiate with a cat; sometimes it will comply, and sometimes it will assume its own whims. Nothing remains the same forever, regardless.

Nobody is quite sure how the Growing collects energy; there are conflicting hypotheses. The most common is that it is photosynthetic to a degree that rivals the best solar collectors. Others believe it harvests energy by biological reactor. Still others, conspiratorially, believe that the Growing runs on what some Bottomwarpers describe as “orgone”, the intangible product of organic pleasure, and do everything they can to ensure the Growing has an adequate supply.

The only part of Bottomwarp that remains in the same place is a volume nicknamed the Root. Everything else changes, a controlled, slow-motion chaos. Filmed over the course of days or weeks, the vistas and layout of Bottomwarp can change completely, renewing and rebuilding, forming connections and denying old paths. Many are arguably non-euclidean, and as many, arguably, do not exist once traversed. Change and spectacular, barely-controlled, thriving chaos is now the norm for Bottomwarp.

===The Root===
The Root once contained the nexus of old Bottomwarp’s fast transit system, including the Magic Mirror. As though in deference to its existence, this location has remained roughly static, sufficient that inertial positioning systems, used by those so equipped, can rely on it as a calibration point. While the point in geographic space has remained, the environment around it has changed. It is a nexus of passageways, causeways, highways and breezeways arranged in a gallery akin to a broad, squat hourglass, comprised of gleaming, smooth, rich green Grow-foam. Instead of sand, the flow is of water, cascading down from a seemingly inexhaustible source high above that rings the outside of the upper volume, flows down the inner slope in a patchwork of waterfalls that change configuration by the day, and pour through the neck, along with sunlight, into a reflecting pool in the centre of the lower half.

Spiral stairs wind, and organic elevators slide behind the curtain of water above to access the “surface” of the growing, also called the canopy, an ever changing landscape of peaks and valleys where one can see the crystal blue sky above. Below, the domelike lower half of the hourglass is a common space, frequented by merchant carts, revelers and festivals, and decorated with all manner of holographic and conventional light sources. From here, it’s possible to find passages to anywhere. Some passages remain static longer than others, or change sluggishly; some are gone by the hour. Regardless, the space is honeycombed with ways to travel elsewhere, above, aside, and below.

===The Canopy===
Bottomwarp can be roughly described using analogies to a jungle, aside from the Root. The first of several layers in Bottomwarp’s structure, the Canopy consists largely of the peaks, branches, outcroppings, and stretched awnings that form a forest-like maze of suspended catwalks and bridged branches, and platforms or mesas akin to immense toadstools, akin to inhabiting a village suspended high in the branches of some unfathomably immense forest. Some of these bridges are artificial, composed of the stuff made by people, silksteel cabling and ceramic or plastic, others are spontaneous or at least purely the squishy foam of the Growing. Falling off rarely results in injury, with outcroppings and formations of soft foam the consistency of fluffy padding seemingly strategically placed wherever one is likely to tip over the edge, or slopes that redirect a falling person into one.

These “trees”, immense stalks of sheer grow-foam, are highly variable in colour and configuration, but when occupied, they give some measure of warning when change is coming. An occupied platform or fractally branching ‘tree’ of foam, say with a treehouse-style dwelling built in, may begin to recede over a course of days, giving the occupant plenty of time to adjust, where an unoccupied branch may evaporate in hours, collapsing back towards the ground rapidly. The longest gatherings of sapients in this realm can be measured in months, but no more than that. This forces the dwellers of the canopy level to be particularly itinerant. Aerostats, and airship-based transportation are frequently found here.

Above those that live here is the sky, an endless stretch of blue that meets a horizon line some kilometres distant, implying a spherical body. There is weather, albeit always mild and temperate. Also, a day/night cycle on a familiar timetable, though there are variations there too, defying even accurate timekeeping. During the day, a bright main-sequence star traverses the sky in a direction and progression that changes a little every day, randomly. During the night, a smaller, binary companion illuminates the surface with a lustrous, ivory glow. Long-time residents of Bottomwarp debate whether Bottomwarp ever possessed these astronomical features in the past, but there is even spirited disagreement in that realm as well.

=== The Valleys ===
The most stable of the layers of Bottomwarp, the valleys are, as the name implies, large canyons and gullies that form randomly within the structured, varied surface of the Growing. Like cracks in a cake, their walls are irregular and varied; newly formed crevices can be narrow, jagged, but smooth over within hours, forming graceful, curving slopes and breathtaking galleries. The scale of each valley varies; the largest are a few hundred metres long and wide, whereas the smallest evoke alleyways and crevasses. Frequently, these larger canyons fill with rainwater at their lowest points to create ponds, and even lakes, and hidden springs will occasionally produce streams and rivers.

These valleys also form the backbone of the flora and fauna that occupy Bottomwarp, a rather new addition. The collection includes all manner of flora, in the form of actual trees, bushes, shrubs and vines, and fauna, running the gamut from innocuous insects, fish, crustaceans, birds, mammals and reptiles. Frequently, there are observations that Bottomwarp is like a traveling zoo, circus or nature preserve. The number of species is not large, at any given time, and they seem to come and go; a species declared ‘extinct’, having not been observed for months or years, will suddenly reappear in another location entirely, without explanation. Many species exhibit bioluminescence, none that encounter people are venomous or poisonous, and when studied, there are rarely signs of genetic relation, indicating wildly differing origins.

Regardless, it is these Valleys that form the backbone of what passes for civilization in Bottomwarp. The most stable valleys can last years, but unlike the Root, they fluctuate in their configuration and size considerably on a day to day basis. One can go to sleep in an apartment carved into the side of a Valley with a view of a pond, and discover the next morning that pond is now a lake or is gone entirely, now a river draining into a new Valley spontaneously formed. Catwalks, adhesive temporary structures, cave-like dwellings, all are commonly found in the Valleys, teeming markets, networked cities of hundreds or even thousands of sapients, complete with venues and merchants of all that civilization requires. Some valleys restrict building, refusing to obey the desires of sculptors or settlers by passive resistance, stubbornly remaining as wild parks and untamed nature.

=== Warrens ===

The understory of Bottomwarp, the Warrens comprise a honeycombing of passageways and chambers like an anthill that would seem to continue on down into the lowest depths of Bottomwarp’s core, if such a thing exists. Bottomwarp itself seems to be a solid, soft Grow-foam throughout, lacking any sort of bedrock or underlying geology. Periodically, channels and passageways form in the material, some lasting hours, others days.

Those occupied by people may find themselves in a cozy pocket of foam if they linger long enough, seemingly trapped, but a little cursory exploration will inevitably yield a soft patch of foam that opens into a crevice or passage to admit exit. Some use this intentionally to produce private spaces. Oxygen balance remains constant, waste gases withdrawn, as though filtered and distributed through the foam itself.

The temperature can vary, but it is almost always hot and humid, occasionally with passages that leave only narrow breathing spaces, otherwise filled with water or other organic fluids. Lighting is variable, but there is always at least some degree of diffuse glow at any depth, permitting navigation. Needless to say, the Warrens are not recommended for claustrophobes. Alternative route, however, are easy to find; even reversing direction can lead to somewhere totally different. Retracing one’s steps in the Warrens is essentially impossible; there is only going somewhere new.

The passageways that make up the Warrens go to any number of places, and this is where the non-euclidean nature of Bottomwarp is most apparent. Different passages that lead to the same place, from a different same place, with a known distance between them, can take wildly differing courses and be wildly differing lengths, to the point of being impossible. When unobserved, passages can cease to exist, or spontaneously appear. Navigating these passages, interestingly, produces the best results when conscious intention is involved, suggesting some degree of intuition or telepathy on the part of Bottomwarp itself. A party determined to return to a particular Valley, or to the Root, will inevitably find themselves there, while wanderers will remain delightfully lost.

Spaces and chambers at these depths are described variously as cocoon- or womb-like, and serve varying purposes, the most common of which is spaces for liminal and ephemeral indulgence of pleasure. Secret, spontaneous raves, cuddle-puddles, and meditative spaces are frequent finds, if one goes looking. These spaces rarely exist for more than a few days before disappearing again, making exploring the Warrens an exercise in what the game-players of Bottomwarp affectionately refer to as ‘procedural content generation’.

== Civilization ==

Civilization in Bottomwarp is robust, ever changing, and almost always delighted to see you. Some constants remain in the controlled chaos; there is a robust local commerce, fueled as much on the barter of favours, sexual and otherwise, as the other typical currencies of Puzzlebox: information, ideas, and unique technologies. One can expect to be propositioned (politely) for dalliances and pleasure at every turn, and many of the so-called businesses and establishments carved into the foamy buildings or operating out of ramshackle vehicles or carts cater to fulfilling these whims and urges with aplomb. But aside from that, Bottomwarp is like any other place, but without any sort of central governance or authority. Customary law is the law, but few are of a mind to cause infractions, and those that do are treated as individuals who are unwell and are in need of help.

Bottomwarp's ''modus operandi'' remains, as always, the pursuit of pleasure and pleasurable experiences, primarily focusing on the experiential dynamics of organic experiences. Most residents here spend their time either indulging in or providing the sought-after experiences of pleasure and sensation, or producing the means for others to provide it.

=== The People ===

The population possesses what could be called organic-standard bodies more frequently than average, when compared to residents of other Warps. Often, they sport outlandish modifications (erotic morphing and hypertrophy, dermal alterations, neural restructuring), but they retain a focus on retaining or closely emulating nerves, blood (or blood analogues), chemical neurotransmission, brain function, and the physical sensations of the organic form. Nevertheless, Bottomwarp is home to a minority population of inorganics, ranging from digital sapiences inhabiting computing substrates, robotic denizens, and other life based on alternative means, such as silicon, or energy.

Actual formal industries vary, from crop production on sun-soaked aerostat colonies in the Canopy serving exotic restauraunts in the Valleys, to tech shops in the Valleys providing the equipment for spectacular dance parties in the Warrens, commerce is as diverse as anything, supporting a fluctuating and impossible to census population of at least several thousand individuals.

The politics in Bottomwarp are varied, but there is a sort of consensus to avoid conflict as “unproductive”, or at least to resolve conflict by means other than violence. The most popular alternative is, of course, sex. Political alliances come and go between factions of people, which are anything from loose affiliations that share a secret handshake and otherwise rarely interact in their broad wanderings, to close-knit groups that refuse to travel apart at any time. Bottomwarp’s hallmark is promiscuity, pleasure and intimacy; sex is downright common, to say nothing of nudity, and the orgasm is the most popular and sought after commodity of all.

One popular faction is the Bonobians, who have weathered the change in their environment surprisingly well; falling more into the category of ‘secret handshake’ faction, the Bonobians are bio-augmented libertine neophiles, sexually promiscuous (like most of Bottomwarp’s population) and equipped with glands that cross-connect organic brains’ senses of physical and aesthetic pleasure and encourage a degree of lewd hypertrophy (unlike most of Bottomwarp’s population). The Bonobians hail from all walks of life, from artists to technicians to mathematicians, all given a new dimension of appreciation for their work, finding physical joy in the elegance of their creations and discoveries. Often found wandering, they will periodically form ad hoc groups to tackle problems, and mostly commune with each other via datasphere, seeking out new things and summoning others to them when they find one to delight in shared experiences.

=== Living Conditions ===

Bottomwarp’s residents are itinerant out of neccessity; it is common to have one’s dwelling spaces changing on a monthly, weekly, or even daily basis. Those seeking stability often make their hopes in the Canopy, ironically, aboard floating aerostat colonies. Little more than floating ramshackle platforms of wood connected to dirigibles and balloons, they wander the skies, docking periodically to offload people and goods.

In the lower reaches, a favored tool for creating living spaces is the Sculptor; a combination of paint sprayer, pad sander and laser, this tool is the consensus favorite for coaxing the Growing to assume desired shapes. The paint sprayer works in conjunction with the laser, laying down a stream of experimentally derived nutrient and sugar blend that the organic substrate seems to enjoy “consuming”, and the laser warms the area, encouraging growth. Similarly, the pad massages areas smooth in conjunction with the warming laser, simulating the passage of organic feet in cadence, and thus a wall can be encouraged to retreat to form voids and rooms, and floors can be made firm and tough like ceramic.

The result is that those that wield such tools with commensurate skill, known predictably as Sculptors, can coax and encourage the Growing into arbitrary shapes and formations, sculpting ramps, rooms, vaults, galleries and bridges. Like navigating the Warrens, intention seems to form a significant component of this endeavour; those with patience, respect, and a steadfast hand produce noticeably better results than anyone.

Others still reside in an old Bottomwarp “technology” given new purpose; the venerable domichord, essentially a fairly dumb organism genetically manufactured to serve as a self-contained public housing, do very well in synergizing with the Growing. With their limited locomotion, akin to a slug, they can be encouraged to navigate in the same way that the Growing can be encouraged to take on new shapes. Within them is a simple assortment of life supporting apparatus in a thick, semi-hard shell; a place to sleep, perform ablutions like bathing and toiletries, and a simple organic protein re-processor that will go on making nutritious (albeit uncreative) meals indefinitely, so long as the domichord is supplied some basic nutrients and water.

With a literal footprint the size of a wheeled vehicle, they serve as the day to day home of many individuals, periodically imbedding or anchoring themselves within walls, nestling in as cozy apartments. When the landscape inevitably reconfigures itself around them, they wander on to the next hotspot like a lazy roving herd of lumpy, hemispherical cattle. Others prefer the simpler life of a tent or even just finding a soft private space in the Warrens to rest their heads each night.

Essentials are provided for by the usual suite of Puzzlebox’s post-scarcity accommodations. The instantiation system works without restriction here, in that it will produce everything up to complex elements, but not manufactured goods, with some coaxing. Water and waste handling seem to happen within the foam itself, unseen, and at least some of the fauna in every area are nutritious, usually identified by berry- or fruit-bearing plants. The comforts of home are made by a diverse array of artisans, with emphasis on portability in all things; collapsible furniture, folding tents, compressible pillows and beds.

=== Technology ===

In terms of supporting higher technology, Bottomwarp’s local datasphere is maintained by an enterprising cadre of ad-hoc technicians and engineers that donate their time and materials to the task, maintaining a network of basic servers, radios and routers that link to the larger Puzzlebox network. The Growing seems to be functionally transparent to longwave radio, so data transmission is possible even in the lower reaches of the Warrens, albeit at reduced bandwidth.

Perodically, explorers of the warrens will find nuggets and treasure troves of rare metals and elements that Puzzlebox refuses to instantiate, like titanium and platinum and other materials in demand by cottage industries. This keeps technologically inclined residents happy, while more mundane materials, like wood, can be harvested from the local flora. The rest is recycled endlessly. A closer look at the metals collected in the Warrens reveals that they are compositionally similar to rocks found wandering in space, suggesting that Bottomwarp is “eating” meteors and periodically regurgitating bits and pieces. This keeps the technologically diverse industries of the higher levels supplied at least minimally with the resources necessary to produce high-end equipment; if determined enough, anyone can have anything made, it’s just a matter of how many trades are going to get you there.

Electrical power is supplied largely through a mixture of solar collectors, hydrolox fuel cells and a hodgepodge of other technologies. As opposed to permanent infrastructure, the manufacture and maintenance of high-capacity, high-efficiency batteries is a roaring industry, as is the deployment and operation of temporary charging hubs, which quickly become social hotspots while in operation. Interestingly, low voltages are available by tapping the foam itself, which possesses a latent potential across any two points sufficient to at least trickle-charge basic electronics.

Most residents thus carry a simplistic arrangement of charging pads that can be stuck to a wall with some distance between them for basic needs. As always, there are luddites and technophiles, the overwhelming majority of Bottomwarp’s citizens are content with some nominal technological augmentation in the form of phones and wearables for communication. A wanderer in Bottomwarp is likely only to encounter static installations in the service of an experience, such as a rave’s lightshow, a restauraunt’s cooking appliances, or a library’s data warehouse.

[[Category:Puzzlebox]] [[Category:Stubs]]

Downwarp

2015-05-31T18:34:50Z

PhoenixTril: Finally found a good visual metaphor for what I was looking for.

{{TOC right}}
Downwarp is one of the six warps of the [[Puzzlebox]], a run-down metropolis where nothing holds together without effort. Its inhabitants enjoy the challenge, banding together in tribes and scavenging out a satisfying lifestyle by creativity, tenacity, and direct work with the world and powers that surround them.

== Environment ==

Imagine, for a moment, that you are standing on a cloud. This cloud is one of many, pillars of ragged thunderheads that rise between two solid cloud decks; one above, and one below. These solid sheets of cloud appear so far away, and so solid, that parallax refuses to betray distance or detail. Instead, one is left only a sense of occupying a dizzyingly large space, clouds stretching to infinity, save a narrow strip of open horizon, in every direction.

Now, replace the thunderheads with buildings in every stage of decay imaginable, composed of rusted metal, fraying concrete and cracked glass. This goes too for the distant clouds above and below: they are actually solid surfaces, gleaming in a palette of textured alloys. An endless, staggeringly large cityscape, buildings of every shape and size, rising from miles below to miles above, that stretch as far as the eye can see in every direction to the distant horizon. All merely a single floor in an even larger, incomprehensibly large skyscraper.

This is Downwarp.

The light of day is always burnished by dust, indirect and indistinct at low angles, permeating from some distant, unseen source and riddled with angular shadows. Sometimes, there is a flash of raw sunlight, reflecting crazily off of some of the larger and more-intact city towers. At night, ancient, crooked streetlights come on everywhere, painting the sky a warm, sodium orange. The loglo from distant streets and towers (and, perhaps, the ill-defined ceiling) stands in for stars.

One might expect a ruined city to be a wasteland, but that's not the case in Downwarp; life here is tenacious, one of the best fighters of entropy it screams defiance through tangled, overgrown parks, vine-carpeted walls, and lot after vacant lot bristling with grass that could be mistaken for wheat. Some inhabitants have even taken up farming, in small rooftop gardens, boulevard strips and a thousand other hangnail plots and makeshift planters.

Visitors from outside the 'Box sometimes recognize streets and landmarks in the ruins of Downwarp, as if the city is formed from fleeting glimpses of a multitude of other cities, all jumbled together. It's not clear how this happens, if the Downwarp versions are copies, actual stolen streets, or even whether the inhabitants sometimes tag along with the architecture. Look hard enough, and you'll find witnesses and evidence for all these interpretations.

== Metaphysics ==
Downwarp features several distinct deviations from the baseline Puzzlebox norms, in terms of the motivators and governors of reality. Most notably, entropy appears to run a bit stronger (or at least stranger) in Downwarp. The city seems far more run down than other areas, and despite the theoretically infinite resources available to Downwarp's residents, it remains that way.

Curiously, this also extends to new construction: the bigger and more elaborate a structure, the more likely it is it will quickly wear down to a state of disrepair. This often renders it still useful for ''some'' purpose, but never the designer's original intent. The 'pressure' of entropy, the urgency of decay, varies over time in a cycle that ranges from punishingly strong to (relatively) gentle, though never less than 'Box average. This cycle forms the basis for the [[Downwarp Calendar|the local calendar]].

The same entropic pressure plays havoc with the instantiator system. While the instantiator is never particularly effective at creating complex objects, in Downwarp it routinely fails at creating anything but raw materials. With a maximum resolution of around one centimeter, the instantiator can create things like iron, silicon and food paste in bulk, but anything more elaborate must either be crafted or salvaged.

Fortunately, Downwarp seems to be a never-ending font of useful salvage. No matter how many times a particular abandoned building or collapsed freeway has been searched, there’s always a chance (however slight) that someone might find something interesting. Salvage is never in pristine condition, however, and there's no guarantee that what someone finds will satisfy their immediate needs. This results in a constant churn of swap meets and flea markets, all brimming with potential treasure. Outwarp researchers have suggested that the robust salvage economy is actually secretly enabled by the instantiation system, creating the salvage unseen and sneaking it into piles of rubble and locked rooms to be found later. Downwarpers, however, scoff at such predictability, relying instead on the adage that "the City provides" to explain the bounties of salvage.

Animism is a common approach to life in Downwarp, and there's more to it than just where salvage comes from. Most inhabitants will at least acknowledge spirits and powers as having a hand in their lives, and some work with them directly. They ask for insight, advice, or even direct intervention and help in their endeavors. As with salvage, skeptical outsiders sometimes put this down to merely being a strange way of accessing the datasphere or Puzzlebox's service daemons, but the response from Downwarpers is that they know ''perfectly well'' how to use the datasphere, and an explanation of the difference would be wasted on those casually dismissing such appeals as 'primitive quirks'.

== Sociology ==
Downwarp's inhabitants are as diverse as anywhere else, running the gamut from organics to technologicals to individuals and gestalts that defy classification. Those completely based on high technology aren't as common, noting that they find it a bit uncomfortable to live in a place that likes to wear things down, but this seems a case-by-case problem rather than a universal issue. Regardless of basis, typical Downwarp personal aesthetic is inclined to the primitive and the technological, usually at the same time, often featuring electro-luminescent body paint and elaborate jewelry made of scavenged computer components.

There is little in the way of large-scale organization, as the ambient ontological decay that prohibits Downwarp's progression into a metropolis also prohibits the development of complex social strata. Large group dynamics don't hold together, but the locals seem quite content to avoid them anyway. Instead, they congregate in small tribes and intentional families, usually with no more than a few dozen members. A tribe will settle down in a particular city block or high-rise floor, building it up according to their own personal aesthetics and letting new members come and go as mood and ideology dictate.

As such, Downwarp factions tend to be fairly loosely affiliated, existing more as general belief systems than organized movements. The two most well-known are the [[Gridwalkers]], urban mystics who believe that everything, natural or constructed, is tied together in a network of willfull energy, and the [[Eisenstimmen]], strong-willed workers devoted to improving their bodies as much as their collectives need, to help them bear the burden of sustaining them.

=== Inhabitants ===
* [[User:Aleph|Aleph]]
* [[Arc-Light]]
* [[Groove-Weld]]
* [[Nikolai]]
* [[Scuff]]
* [[Torque]]

== Inspiration ==
* '''Writing'''
** {{wp|Bone Dance}}, by Emma Bull - One of the best syntheses of magic and technology ever to have been given the label urban fantasy, it's about the search for identity in a ruined future Minneapolis where the {{wp|Loa|Lwa}} are just as real as the body-hopping psychics.
** [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/593789.The_City_Not_Long_After The City, Not Long After], by Pat Murphy - Post-plague urban collapse narrative involving San Francisco housing a collective of dreamers and artists, defending it against militaristic invaders via creative and surreal means.
* '''Music'''
** {{wp|Burial (musician)|Burial}} - Dark as a city-wide blackout, but with rich and complex layers of bass and modified vocal samples that are never boring to listen to. It's been called dubstep, but it's like no other dubstep you've ever heard.
** {{wp|The KLF}} - Down-and-dirty situationist house musicians who'd rather burn a million pounds on a beach than let success make them boring.
** {{wp|The Shamen}} - Perhaps no one was more serious about making rave culture into a spiritual experience. And "Techno-tribal, positively primal, shamanic anarchistic archaic revival"? That might as well be Downwarp's motto.
** {{wp|Dead Cities (album)|Dead Cities}} by {{wp|The Future Sound of London|Future Sound of London}} - More than most of FSOL's catalog, this album's pretty close to Downwarp's slightly grungier and ruinous side. Starts out a little more agressive, but fades into more ambient work towards the latter half.

[[Category:Puzzlebox]] [[Category:Stubs]]

Downwarp

2015-04-30T02:00:19Z

PhoenixTril: /* Metaphysics */

{{TOC right}}
Downwarp is one of the six warps of the [[Puzzlebox]], a run-down metropolis where nothing holds together without effort. Its inhabitants enjoy the challenge, banding together in tribes and scavenging out a satisfying lifestyle by creativity, tenacity, and direct work with the world and powers that surround them.

== Environment ==

While there never seems to be any lack of space in Downwarp, the cityscape gives the impression of being merely a floor in an incomprehensibly large skyscraper, whose bounds constantly elude precise measurement. The light of day is always burnished by dust, indirect and indistinct, shining only at low angles and riddled with angular shadows. Sometimes there is a flash of raw sunlight, but only in reflection off some of the larger and more-intact city towers. At night, streetlights come on everywhere, painting the sky a warm, sodium orange. The loglo from distant streets and towers (and, perhaps, the unseen ceiling) stands in for stars.

One might expect a ruined city to be a wasteland, but that's not the case in Downwarp; life here is tenacious, one of the best fighters of entropy it screams defiance through tangled, overgrown parks, vine-carpeted walls, and lot after vacant lot bristling with grass that could be mistaken for wheat. Some inhabitants have even taken up farming, in small rooftop gardens, boulevard strips and a thousand other hangnail plots and makeshift planters.

Visitors from outside the 'Box sometimes recognize streets and landmarks in the ruins of Downwarp, as if the city is formed from fleeting glimpses of a multitude of other cities, all jumbled together. It's not clear how this happens, if the Downwarp versions are copies, actual stolen streets, or even whether the inhabitants sometimes tag along with the architecture. Look hard enough, and you'll find witnesses and evidence for all these interpretations.

== Metaphysics ==
Downwarp features several distinct deviations from the baseline Puzzlebox reality. Most notably, entropy appears to run a bit stronger (or at least stranger) in Downwarp. The city seems far more run down than other areas, and despite the theoretically infinite resources available to Downwarp's residents, it remains that way. Curiously, this also extends to new construction: the bigger and more elaborate a structure, the more likely it is it will quickly wear down to a state of disrepair. This often renders it still useful for ''some'' purpose, but never the designer's original intent. The 'pressure' of entropy, the urgency of decay, varies over time in a cycle that ranges from punishingly strong to (relatively) gentle, though never less than 'Box average. This cycle forms the basis for the [[Downwarp Calendar|the local calendar]].

The same entropic pressure plays havoc with the instantiator system. While the instantiator is never particularly effective at creating complex objects, in Downwarp it routinely fails at creating anything but raw materials. With a maximum resolution of around one centimeter, the instantiator can create things like iron, silicon and food paste in bulk, but anything more elaborate must either be crafted or salvaged.

Incidentally, Downwarp seems to be a never-ending font of useful salvage. No matter how many times a particular abandoned building or collapsed freeway has been searched, there’s always a chance (however slight) that someone might find something interesting. Salvage is never in pristine condition, however, and there's no guarantee that what someone finds will satisfy their immediate needs. This results in a constant churn of swap meets and flea markets, all brimming with potential treasure. Outwarp researchers have suggested that the robust salvage economy is actually secretly enabled by the instantiation system, creating the salvage unseen and sneaking it into piles of rubble and locked rooms to be found later. Downwarpers, however, scoff at such predictability, relying instead on the adage that "the City provides" to explain the bounties of salvage.

Animism is a common approach to life in Downwarp, and there's more to it than just where salvage comes from. Most inhabitants will at least acknowledge spirits and powers as having a hand in their lives, and some work with them directly. They ask for insight, advice, or even direct intervention and help in their endeavors. As with salvage, skeptical outsiders sometimes put this down to merely being a strange way of accessing the datasphere or Puzzlebox's service daemons, but the response from Downwarpers is that they know ''perfectly well'' how to use the datasphere, and an explanation of the difference would be wasted on those casually dismissing such appeals as 'primitive quirks'.

== Sociology ==
Downwarp's inhabitants are as diverse as anywhere else, running the gamut from organics to technologicals to individuals and gestalts that defy classification. Those completely based on high technology aren't as common, noting that they find it a bit uncomfortable to live in a place that likes to wear things down, but this seems a case-by-case problem rather than a universal issue. Regardless of basis, typical Downwarp personal aesthetic is inclined to the primitive and the technological, usually at the same time, often featuring electro-luminescent body paint and elaborate jewelry made of scavenged computer components.

There is little in the way of large-scale organization, as the ambient ontological decay that prohibits Downwarp's progression into a metropolis also prohibits the development of complex social strata. Large group dynamics don't hold together, but the locals seem quite content to avoid them anyway. Instead, they congregate in small tribes and intentional families, usually with no more than a few dozen members. A tribe will settle down in a particular city block or high-rise floor, building it up according to their own personal aesthetics and letting new members come and go as mood and ideology dictate.

As such, Downwarp factions tend to be fairly loosely affiliated, existing more as general belief systems than organized movements. The two most well-known are the [[Gridshamans]], urban mystics who believe that everything, natural or constructed, is tied together in a network of willfull energy, and the [[Eisenstimmen]], strong-willed workers devoted to improving their bodies as much as their collectives need, to help them bear the burden of sustaining them.

=== Inhabitants ===
* [[User:Aleph|Aleph]]
* [[Arc-Light]]
* [[Groove-Weld]]
* [[Nikolai]]
* [[Scuff]]
* [[Torque]]

== Inspiration ==
* '''Writing'''
** {{wp|Bone Dance}}, by Emma Bull - One of the best syntheses of magic and technology ever to have been given the label urban fantasy, it's about the search for identity in a ruined future Minneapolis where the {{wp|Loa|Lwa}} are just as real as the body-hopping psychics.
** [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/593789.The_City_Not_Long_After The City, Not Long After], by Pat Murphy - Post-plague urban collapse narrative involving San Francisco housing a collective of dreamers and artists, defending it against militaristic invaders via creative and surreal means.
* '''Music'''
** {{wp|Burial (musician)|Burial}} - Dark as a city-wide blackout, but with rich and complex layers of bass and modified vocal samples that are never boring to listen to. It's been called dubstep, but it's like no other dubstep you've ever heard.
** {{wp|The KLF}} - Down-and-dirty situationist house musicians who'd rather burn a million pounds on a beach than let success make them boring.
** {{wp|The Shamen}} - Perhaps no one was more serious about making rave culture into a spiritual experience. And "Techno-tribal, positively primal, shamanic anarchistic archaic revival"? That might as well be Downwarp's motto.
** {{wp|Dead Cities (album)|Dead Cities}} by {{wp|The Future Sound of London|Future Sound of London}} - More than most of FSOL's catalog, this album's pretty close to Downwarp's slightly grungier and ruinous side. Starts out a little more agressive, but fades into more ambient work towards the latter half.

[[Category:Puzzlebox]] [[Category:Stubs]]

Downwarp

2015-04-30T01:49:39Z

PhoenixTril: /* Sociology */ First pass edit.

{{TOC right}}
Downwarp is one of the six warps of the [[Puzzlebox]], a run-down metropolis where nothing holds together without effort. Its inhabitants enjoy the challenge, banding together in tribes and scavenging out a satisfying lifestyle by creativity, tenacity, and direct work with the world and powers that surround them.

== Environment ==

While there never seems to be any lack of space in Downwarp, the cityscape gives the impression of being merely a floor in an incomprehensibly large skyscraper, whose bounds constantly elude precise measurement. The light of day is always burnished by dust, indirect and indistinct, shining only at low angles and riddled with angular shadows. Sometimes there is a flash of raw sunlight, but only in reflection off some of the larger and more-intact city towers. At night, streetlights come on everywhere, painting the sky a warm, sodium orange. The loglo from distant streets and towers (and, perhaps, the unseen ceiling) stands in for stars.

One might expect a ruined city to be a wasteland, but that's not the case in Downwarp; life here is tenacious, one of the best fighters of entropy it screams defiance through tangled, overgrown parks, vine-carpeted walls, and lot after vacant lot bristling with grass that could be mistaken for wheat. Some inhabitants have even taken up farming, in small rooftop gardens, boulevard strips and a thousand other hangnail plots and makeshift planters.

Visitors from outside the 'Box sometimes recognize streets and landmarks in the ruins of Downwarp, as if the city is formed from fleeting glimpses of a multitude of other cities, all jumbled together. It's not clear how this happens, if the Downwarp versions are copies, actual stolen streets, or even whether the inhabitants sometimes tag along with the architecture. Look hard enough, and you'll find witnesses and evidence for all these interpretations.

== Metaphysics ==
Downwarp features several distinct deviations from the baseline Puzzlebox reality. Most notably, entropy seems to run a bit stronger (or at least stranger) in Downwarp. The city seems far more run down than other areas, and despite the theoretically infinite resources available to Downwarp's residents, it remains that way. Curiously, this also extends to new construction: the bigger and more elaborate a structure, the more likely it is it will quickly wear down to a state of disrepair. This often renders it still useful for ''some'' purpose, but never the designer's original intent. The 'pressure' of entropy, the urgency of decay, varies over time in a cycle that ranges from punishingly strong to (relatively) gentle, though never less than 'Box average. This cycle forms the basis for the [[Downwarp Calendar|the local calendar]].

The same entropic pressure plays havoc with the instantiator system. While the instantiator is never particularly effective at creating complex objects, in Downwarp it routinely fails at creating anything but raw materials. With a maximum resolution of around one centimeter, the instantiator can create things like iron, silicon and food paste in bulk, but anything more elaborate must either be crafted or salvaged.

Incidentally, Downwarp seems to be a never-ending font of useful salvage. No matter how many times a particular abandoned building or collapsed freeway has been searched, there’s always a chance (however slight) that someone might find something interesting. Salvage is never in pristine condition, however, and there's no guarantee that what someone finds will satisfy their immediate needs. This results in a constant churn of swap meets and flea markets, all brimming with potential treasure. Outwarp researchers have suggested that the robust salvage economy is actually secretly enabled by the instantiation system, creating the salvage unseen and sneaking it into piles of rubble and locked rooms to be found later. Downwarpers, however, scoff at such predictability, relying instead on the adage that "the City provides" to explain the bounties of salvage.

Animism is a common approach to life in Downwarp, and there's more to it than just where salvage comes from. Most inhabitants will at least acknowledge spirits and powers as having a hand in their lives, and some work with them directly. They ask for insight, advice, or even direct intervention and help in their endeavors. As with salvage, skeptical outsiders sometimes put this down to merely being a strange way of accessing the datasphere or Puzzlebox's service daemons, but the response from Downwarpers is that they know ''perfectly well'' how to use the datasphere, and an explanation of the difference would be wasted on those casually dismissing such appeals as 'primitive quirks'.

== Sociology ==
Downwarp's inhabitants are as diverse as anywhere else, running the gamut from organics to technologicals to individuals and gestalts that defy classification. Those completely based on high technology aren't as common, noting that they find it a bit uncomfortable to live in a place that likes to wear things down, but this seems a case-by-case problem rather than a universal issue. Regardless of basis, typical Downwarp personal aesthetic is inclined to the primitive and the technological, usually at the same time, often featuring electro-luminescent body paint and elaborate jewelry made of scavenged computer components.

There is little in the way of large-scale organization, as the ambient ontological decay that prohibits Downwarp's progression into a metropolis also prohibits the development of complex social strata. Large group dynamics don't hold together, but the locals seem quite content to avoid them anyway. Instead, they congregate in small tribes and intentional families, usually with no more than a few dozen members. A tribe will settle down in a particular city block or high-rise floor, building it up according to their own personal aesthetics and letting new members come and go as mood and ideology dictate.

As such, Downwarp factions tend to be fairly loosely affiliated, existing more as general belief systems than organized movements. The two most well-known are the [[Gridshamans]], urban mystics who believe that everything, natural or constructed, is tied together in a network of willfull energy, and the [[Eisenstimmen]], strong-willed workers devoted to improving their bodies as much as their collectives need, to help them bear the burden of sustaining them.

=== Inhabitants ===
* [[User:Aleph|Aleph]]
* [[Arc-Light]]
* [[Groove-Weld]]
* [[Nikolai]]
* [[Scuff]]
* [[Torque]]

== Inspiration ==
* '''Writing'''
** {{wp|Bone Dance}}, by Emma Bull - One of the best syntheses of magic and technology ever to have been given the label urban fantasy, it's about the search for identity in a ruined future Minneapolis where the {{wp|Loa|Lwa}} are just as real as the body-hopping psychics.
** [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/593789.The_City_Not_Long_After The City, Not Long After], by Pat Murphy - Post-plague urban collapse narrative involving San Francisco housing a collective of dreamers and artists, defending it against militaristic invaders via creative and surreal means.
* '''Music'''
** {{wp|Burial (musician)|Burial}} - Dark as a city-wide blackout, but with rich and complex layers of bass and modified vocal samples that are never boring to listen to. It's been called dubstep, but it's like no other dubstep you've ever heard.
** {{wp|The KLF}} - Down-and-dirty situationist house musicians who'd rather burn a million pounds on a beach than let success make them boring.
** {{wp|The Shamen}} - Perhaps no one was more serious about making rave culture into a spiritual experience. And "Techno-tribal, positively primal, shamanic anarchistic archaic revival"? That might as well be Downwarp's motto.
** {{wp|Dead Cities (album)|Dead Cities}} by {{wp|The Future Sound of London|Future Sound of London}} - More than most of FSOL's catalog, this album's pretty close to Downwarp's slightly grungier and ruinous side. Starts out a little more agressive, but fades into more ambient work towards the latter half.

[[Category:Puzzlebox]] [[Category:Stubs]]

Downwarp

2015-04-30T01:31:40Z

PhoenixTril: /* Metaphysics */ First pass edit.

{{TOC right}}
Downwarp is one of the six warps of the [[Puzzlebox]], a run-down metropolis where nothing holds together without effort. Its inhabitants enjoy the challenge, banding together in tribes and scavenging out a satisfying lifestyle by creativity, tenacity, and direct work with the world and powers that surround them.

== Environment ==

While there never seems to be any lack of space in Downwarp, the cityscape gives the impression of being merely a floor in an incomprehensibly large skyscraper, whose bounds constantly elude precise measurement. The light of day is always burnished by dust, indirect and indistinct, shining only at low angles and riddled with angular shadows. Sometimes there is a flash of raw sunlight, but only in reflection off some of the larger and more-intact city towers. At night, streetlights come on everywhere, painting the sky a warm, sodium orange. The loglo from distant streets and towers (and, perhaps, the unseen ceiling) stands in for stars.

One might expect a ruined city to be a wasteland, but that's not the case in Downwarp; life here is tenacious, one of the best fighters of entropy it screams defiance through tangled, overgrown parks, vine-carpeted walls, and lot after vacant lot bristling with grass that could be mistaken for wheat. Some inhabitants have even taken up farming, in small rooftop gardens, boulevard strips and a thousand other hangnail plots and makeshift planters.

Visitors from outside the 'Box sometimes recognize streets and landmarks in the ruins of Downwarp, as if the city is formed from fleeting glimpses of a multitude of other cities, all jumbled together. It's not clear how this happens, if the Downwarp versions are copies, actual stolen streets, or even whether the inhabitants sometimes tag along with the architecture. Look hard enough, and you'll find witnesses and evidence for all these interpretations.

== Metaphysics ==
Downwarp features several distinct deviations from the baseline Puzzlebox reality. Most notably, entropy seems to run a bit stronger (or at least stranger) in Downwarp. The city seems far more run down than other areas, and despite the theoretically infinite resources available to Downwarp's residents, it remains that way. Curiously, this also extends to new construction: the bigger and more elaborate a structure, the more likely it is it will quickly wear down to a state of disrepair. This often renders it still useful for ''some'' purpose, but never the designer's original intent. The 'pressure' of entropy, the urgency of decay, varies over time in a cycle that ranges from punishingly strong to (relatively) gentle, though never less than 'Box average. This cycle forms the basis for the [[Downwarp Calendar|the local calendar]].

The same entropic pressure plays havoc with the instantiator system. While the instantiator is never particularly effective at creating complex objects, in Downwarp it routinely fails at creating anything but raw materials. With a maximum resolution of around one centimeter, the instantiator can create things like iron, silicon and food paste in bulk, but anything more elaborate must either be crafted or salvaged.

Incidentally, Downwarp seems to be a never-ending font of useful salvage. No matter how many times a particular abandoned building or collapsed freeway has been searched, there’s always a chance (however slight) that someone might find something interesting. Salvage is never in pristine condition, however, and there's no guarantee that what someone finds will satisfy their immediate needs. This results in a constant churn of swap meets and flea markets, all brimming with potential treasure. Outwarp researchers have suggested that the robust salvage economy is actually secretly enabled by the instantiation system, creating the salvage unseen and sneaking it into piles of rubble and locked rooms to be found later. Downwarpers, however, scoff at such predictability, relying instead on the adage that "the City provides" to explain the bounties of salvage.

Animism is a common approach to life in Downwarp, and there's more to it than just where salvage comes from. Most inhabitants will at least acknowledge spirits and powers as having a hand in their lives, and some work with them directly. They ask for insight, advice, or even direct intervention and help in their endeavors. As with salvage, skeptical outsiders sometimes put this down to merely being a strange way of accessing the datasphere or Puzzlebox's service daemons, but the response from Downwarpers is that they know ''perfectly well'' how to use the datasphere, and an explanation of the difference would be wasted on those casually dismissing such appeals as 'primitive quirks'.

== Sociology ==
Downwarp's inhabitants are as diverse as anywhere else in the Puzzlebox, with organic folks, technological ones, and stranger things all coming together. Those completely based on particularly high technology aren't as common as others, some say they find it a bit uncomfortable to live in a place that likes to wear things down, though not everyone seems to have this problem. Regardless of basis, the Downwarp personal aesthetic tends to run toward the primitive and the technological, usually at the same time, with features like electro-luminescent body paint, and elaborate jewelry made of scavenged computer components.

When it comes to larger-scale organization, there's not much of it. The ambient ontological pressure that keeps Downwarp from building itself up into a bustling metropolis works on social structures as much as physical ones. Large group dynamics don't hold together, but the locals seem quite content to avoid them anyway, instead congregating in small tribes and intentional families, usually with no more than a few dozen members. A tribe will settle down in a particular city block or high-rise floor, building it up according to their own personal aesthetics and letting new members come and go as mood and ideology dictate.

As such, Downwarp factions tend to be fairly loosely affiliated, existing more as general belief systems than organized movements. The two most well-known are the [[Gridshamans]], urban mystics who believe that everything, natural or constructed, is tied together in a network of willfull energy, and the [[Eisenstimmen]], strong-willed workers devoted to improving their bodies as much as their collectives need, to help them bear the burden of sustaining them.

=== Inhabitants ===
* [[User:Aleph|Aleph]]
* [[Arc-Light]]
* [[Groove-Weld]]
* [[Nikolai]]
* [[Scuff]]
* [[Torque]]

== Inspiration ==
* '''Writing'''
** {{wp|Bone Dance}}, by Emma Bull - One of the best syntheses of magic and technology ever to have been given the label urban fantasy, it's about the search for identity in a ruined future Minneapolis where the {{wp|Loa|Lwa}} are just as real as the body-hopping psychics.
** [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/593789.The_City_Not_Long_After The City, Not Long After], by Pat Murphy - Post-plague urban collapse narrative involving San Francisco housing a collective of dreamers and artists, defending it against militaristic invaders via creative and surreal means.
* '''Music'''
** {{wp|Burial (musician)|Burial}} - Dark as a city-wide blackout, but with rich and complex layers of bass and modified vocal samples that are never boring to listen to. It's been called dubstep, but it's like no other dubstep you've ever heard.
** {{wp|The KLF}} - Down-and-dirty situationist house musicians who'd rather burn a million pounds on a beach than let success make them boring.
** {{wp|The Shamen}} - Perhaps no one was more serious about making rave culture into a spiritual experience. And "Techno-tribal, positively primal, shamanic anarchistic archaic revival"? That might as well be Downwarp's motto.
** {{wp|Dead Cities (album)|Dead Cities}} by {{wp|The Future Sound of London|Future Sound of London}} - More than most of FSOL's catalog, this album's pretty close to Downwarp's slightly grungier and ruinous side. Starts out a little more agressive, but fades into more ambient work towards the latter half.

[[Category:Puzzlebox]] [[Category:Stubs]]

Downwarp

2015-04-30T00:54:30Z

PhoenixTril: /* Environment */ First pass edit

{{TOC right}}
Downwarp is one of the six warps of the [[Puzzlebox]], a run-down metropolis where nothing holds together without effort. Its inhabitants enjoy the challenge, banding together in tribes and scavenging out a satisfying lifestyle by creativity, tenacity, and direct work with the world and powers that surround them.

== Environment ==

While there never seems to be any lack of space in Downwarp, the cityscape gives the impression of being merely a floor in an incomprehensibly large skyscraper, whose bounds constantly elude precise measurement. The light of day is always burnished by dust, indirect and indistinct, shining only at low angles and riddled with angular shadows. Sometimes there is a flash of raw sunlight, but only in reflection off some of the larger and more-intact city towers. At night, streetlights come on everywhere, painting the sky a warm, sodium orange. The loglo from distant streets and towers (and, perhaps, the unseen ceiling) stands in for stars.

One might expect a ruined city to be a wasteland, but that's not the case in Downwarp; life here is tenacious, one of the best fighters of entropy it screams defiance through tangled, overgrown parks, vine-carpeted walls, and lot after vacant lot bristling with grass that could be mistaken for wheat. Some inhabitants have even taken up farming, in small rooftop gardens, boulevard strips and a thousand other hangnail plots and makeshift planters.

Visitors from outside the 'Box sometimes recognize streets and landmarks in the ruins of Downwarp, as if the city is formed from fleeting glimpses of a multitude of other cities, all jumbled together. It's not clear how this happens, if the Downwarp versions are copies, actual stolen streets, or even whether the inhabitants sometimes tag along with the architecture. Look hard enough, and you'll find witnesses and evidence for all these interpretations.

== Metaphysics ==
Downwarp features a few distinct deviations from the standard baseline Puzzlebox reality. Most obviously, entropy seems to run a bit stronger (or at least stranger) in Downwarp compared to other areas. The city itself seems far more run down than anywhere else in the 'Box, and despite the theoretical infinite resources and capabilities of the residents, it stays that way. It seems that the bigger and more elaborate a structure is, the more likely it is to quickly wear down to a state of disrepair, often still useful for some purpose, but never the original intention. The pressure of entropy varies over time, a cycle of punishingly strong to (relatively) gentle, though it's never lower than 'Box average. This cycle forms the basis for [[Downwarp Calendar|the local calendar]].

The same effect also effects the instantiator system in Downwarp; while the instantiator is never particularly effective at creating complex or well-built objects, in Downwarp it seems to be able to create little else than raw materials; its maximum resolution is around one centimeter, so it can create bulk iron or silicon or food paste, but anything more elaborate must either be crafted or salvaged.

In fact, Downwarp seems to be a never-ending font of useful salvage. It seems that no matter how many times a particular abandoned building or collapsed freeway has been searched, there’s always a chance that someone will find something interesting by scrounging further, though it may need some repair work; it <em>is</em> salvage, after all. By the same token, there's no guarantee any person will find something that meets their immediate needs, so swap meets and flea markets are constant, and alway full of fascinating finds. Outwarp researchers have suggested that the salvage economy is actually secretly enabled by the instantiation system, creating the salvage unseen and placing it to be found. Downwarpers don't usually see it that way, but then again the common sentiment to explain good salvage is "The City provides."

Animism is a common approach to life in Downwarp, and there's more to it than just where salvage comes from. Most inhabitants will at least acknowledge spirits and powers as having a hand in their lives, and some work with them directly, asking for insight, advice, or even direct help in their endeavors. As with salvage, outsiders sometimes attribute this to simply being a strange way of accessing the datasphere, but the response from Downwarpers is that they know perfectly well how to use the datasphere too, and explaining the difference is totally pointless if someone is going to try to write everything off as 'primitive quirks'.

== Sociology ==
Downwarp's inhabitants are as diverse as anywhere else in the Puzzlebox, with organic folks, technological ones, and stranger things all coming together. Those completely based on particularly high technology aren't as common as others, some say they find it a bit uncomfortable to live in a place that likes to wear things down, though not everyone seems to have this problem. Regardless of basis, the Downwarp personal aesthetic tends to run toward the primitive and the technological, usually at the same time, with features like electro-luminescent body paint, and elaborate jewelry made of scavenged computer components.

When it comes to larger-scale organization, there's not much of it. The ambient ontological pressure that keeps Downwarp from building itself up into a bustling metropolis works on social structures as much as physical ones. Large group dynamics don't hold together, but the locals seem quite content to avoid them anyway, instead congregating in small tribes and intentional families, usually with no more than a few dozen members. A tribe will settle down in a particular city block or high-rise floor, building it up according to their own personal aesthetics and letting new members come and go as mood and ideology dictate.

As such, Downwarp factions tend to be fairly loosely affiliated, existing more as general belief systems than organized movements. The two most well-known are the [[Gridshamans]], urban mystics who believe that everything, natural or constructed, is tied together in a network of willfull energy, and the [[Eisenstimmen]], strong-willed workers devoted to improving their bodies as much as their collectives need, to help them bear the burden of sustaining them.

=== Inhabitants ===
* [[User:Aleph|Aleph]]
* [[Arc-Light]]
* [[Groove-Weld]]
* [[Nikolai]]
* [[Scuff]]
* [[Torque]]

== Inspiration ==
* '''Writing'''
** {{wp|Bone Dance}}, by Emma Bull - One of the best syntheses of magic and technology ever to have been given the label urban fantasy, it's about the search for identity in a ruined future Minneapolis where the {{wp|Loa|Lwa}} are just as real as the body-hopping psychics.
** [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/593789.The_City_Not_Long_After The City, Not Long After], by Pat Murphy - Post-plague urban collapse narrative involving San Francisco housing a collective of dreamers and artists, defending it against militaristic invaders via creative and surreal means.
* '''Music'''
** {{wp|Burial (musician)|Burial}} - Dark as a city-wide blackout, but with rich and complex layers of bass and modified vocal samples that are never boring to listen to. It's been called dubstep, but it's like no other dubstep you've ever heard.
** {{wp|The KLF}} - Down-and-dirty situationist house musicians who'd rather burn a million pounds on a beach than let success make them boring.
** {{wp|The Shamen}} - Perhaps no one was more serious about making rave culture into a spiritual experience. And "Techno-tribal, positively primal, shamanic anarchistic archaic revival"? That might as well be Downwarp's motto.
** {{wp|Dead Cities (album)|Dead Cities}} by {{wp|The Future Sound of London|Future Sound of London}} - More than most of FSOL's catalog, this album's pretty close to Downwarp's slightly grungier and ruinous side. Starts out a little more agressive, but fades into more ambient work towards the latter half.

[[Category:Puzzlebox]] [[Category:Stubs]]

Upwarp

2015-04-26T19:13:34Z

PhoenixTril: /* Proximity */ Editing, reorganization.

<blockquote>''“A consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation, by children being taught mathematical concepts. A graphic representation of data abstracted from the banks of every computer in the human system. Unthinkable complexity. Lines of light ranged in the nonspace of the mind, clusters and constellations of data. Like city lights, receding."'' William Gibson, ''Neuromancer.''</blockquote>

{{TOC right}}
Upwarp is a warp of [[Puzzlebox]], now reorganized into a city of reason, science, information, and customized environments.

== Environment ==

The city that comprises Upwarp sprawls within a massive, three-dimensional spherical volume, with buildings extending above and below what could be called the 'ground', a transparent plane upon which all things in the warp anchor. Buildings, parks, streets, all are laid out in polar coordinates from the central origin of the volume: concentric circles of buildings ring the core, while streets either follow the circular curve between them, or radiate from the core at random points of the compass.

The plane is the reference for gravity both above and below, but it is only partially tangible. Buildings anchor to it as solidly as bedrock, but an individual can move through it as one might through a sheet of ice. Roads and sidewalks run back to back across its surface. At the fringes of the developed areas, faint gridlines can be seen glowing along the plane.

At Upwarp's heart is a single bright point of light, called the Aleph. From it, a solid beam of light called the Axis projects above and below the city seemingly into infinity, like an otherworldly tentpole for the sky washed in a perpetual twilight of pink, orange, gold and indigo. There's a theory that the Axis is one single line that eventually wraps around the curved space to return to its origin -- nobody has been able to actually test this hypothesis by flying in either direction to find its end. The current consensus is that the Axis serves primarily as a point of reference, allowing one to judge orientation and distance from the core.

The city is comprised of many varying Zones, for which different visual themes and Augmented-Reality (AR) overlays exist. In many cases, entering a Zone includes a change in one's entire sensorium (if so equipped) or matching suite of sensory inputs to match the new area. Additionally, uncountable datafeeds and communication channels permeate the volume, waiting to be tapped from anywhere -- Upwarp is very much oriented around digital information and communication. The fact that Upwarp itself is a virtual environment doesn't tend to bother anyone living there, since they're already at home navigating multiple layers of reality.

It doesn't hurt that it simply ''looks like'' the Jungian conception of cyberspace, as well. From afar, Upwarp is a tremendous, glowing, three-dimensional quartz, with buildings of darker colours outlined in neon highlights of every hue. It is a glistening city of the future, the spherical sky coruscating through the colours of twilight on a roughly diurnal cycle. Everything within is laid in precise geometrical patterns, arranged meticulously on the polar grid.

''Neuromancer'', ''Snow Crash'', ''ReBoot'', and ''Tron'' all inform the aesthetic style.

== Upwarp Science, and The Aleph ==

Upwarp's daily life is connected intimately with the Datasphere -- the popular colloquialism for the repository of information, communications, and constantly-churning data gathered from everywhere in the 'Box. It is vast enough to be considered near-infinite in scope, potentially even containing information concerning events that haven't happened yet, or objects and persons that are yet to exist.

As with any sufficiently large set of data, deriving useful, applicable pearls of wisdom from the Datasphere is an awesome undertaking. Organizationally, this breaks down to what Upwarp denizens tend to call '''Research''' and '''Science'''. Collating data, filtering the oceans of gathered information, sifting and rendering them down to usable forms and readable archives, all these tasks are lumped under the umbrella of Research. The far less regimented practice of finding interesting ideas within that sorted data and ultimately doing something with it is considered Science.

The primary way in which information is gathered is through the Aleph. Functionally, the Aleph is an infinitely vast source of information, but it contains no inherent organization. Like determining a star's makeup by telescope, the Aleph's surface is a churning maelstrom of chaotic, flowing data, and its contents can be derived by studying its cast-off emissions and patterns. Thus, gathering information from the Aleph is akin to collecting water from a waterfall by holding a thimble to the spray at its edge: each thimble contains enough data to keep corps of researchers busy for months.

Physically accessing the Aleph is practically impossible, as the intense energy of the Aleph disassociates instruments and 'matter' within close physical proximity. The most common way to access the Aleph is to simply drop probes in nearby, just beyond the disassociation range, and suck up what you can over time. A cloud of data-probes ring the Aleph in all three dimensions, fuelling the Research consortia in the innermost ring. Surrounding that are the Science Zones, which tend to also maintain the databases of information deemed ''complete''.

Upwarp denizens are much more comfortable sifting and filtering a few different realities or infostreams at a time, derived from curated Aleph data -- but trying to directly experience the Aleph, essentially seeing everything all at once, is madness-inducing. Even a brief, temporary immersion in the raw datastream collected from the Aleph remains a difficult endeavour, but remains as a sort of initiation ordeal for many of the Research consortia. Thus, appropriately, most of them are just a little bit mad.

It's still unknown what the Aleph actually is, despite considerable time and processor power devoted to answering the question; while the Aleph could theoretically contain information about itself, finding that information among the tremendous volume of data passing through it is just as difficult as finding anything else specific. The popular theory is that the Aleph is a singularity containing the remains of the old Datasphere of Puzzlebox, which collapsed in on itself some time after the Magic Mirror system shut down, possibly also taking old Upwarp with it.

== Proximity ==

The existence of the Aleph very directly informs the structure of the cityscape. In closer proximity to the center, information naturally grows more accessible, systems tend to work much faster, everything is extra-efficient (aside from the mad experiments in the Science Zones). Thus, the truly limited resource of Upwarp is the ''space'' available within the spherical volume immediately surrounding the Aleph.

While Downwarp is sometimes considered an experiment in artificially-limited resource scarcity, Upwarp is an experiment in unlimited resources but artificially-limited proximity and space. Zones can be located anywhere, but only without overlap, which means that closer to the center there is less space available. At the same time, space closer to the Aleph is more desirable due to greater efficiency in data flow and processing speeds. Contrariwise, on the outer rim, there's plenty of space but a far less optimal data flow overall. Sections of city can grow upward and downward from the equatorial plane, but there's some functional limitations to extending too far in either direction; rules pervade the environment akin to the real world, and building too tall is a risky endeavour, just as anywhere else.

The limitations of space are more or less enforced by a transportation network limited in speed. Roads and highways are still mostly necessary, though they the aerial versions can more easily break the polar coordinate layout, so they tend to be more common. Actual individual vehicles are mostly for show, since using the transport network could just as easily be done in a tiny personalized pod.

An interesting limitation here is that, for the most part, there is no teleportation allowed. The overwhelming majority of methods of travel that use instantaneous transmission of information, or ''"spooky action at a distance"'', simply fail to function, where they function flawlessly elsewhere. Information flow is stuck to the speed limits imposed by proximity to the core, and nothing seems to be able to violate that cardinal rule. There are quick-travel pads organized by radial sector, but these are more "fast travel" stations, and are much farther apart in the outer Zones.

Both the transportation restrictions and the space-allocation system are managed by a subsystem that remains in the background, interfacing through software agents when necessary. Citizens of up tend to assume it is not sentient, but it has never shown concrete evidence either way, so they have affectionally nicknamed the entity '''Null'''. The main issue that anyone has with Null is that it is perhaps too strict on requirements of space usage.

Essentially, to keep ownership and stewardship of a given Zone or smaller space within it, someone must actively be ''using'' it. The criteria has, of course, been tested extensively and has been found to be relatively simple in practice. A citizen needs to regularly upkeep their zone by moving around within it, giving a certain amount of attention to it. This can also be delegated to other people, but only to a point. A random stranger can't camp out in someone's yard to prevent it from changing, but a citizen can designate someone to patrol the boundaries, making sure that their favorite spot isn't suddenly reallocated to someone else. This doesn't happen randomly -- the Null subsystem helpfully populates the datasphere with plenty of accessible data to tell you rates of expiration and how often one needs to upkeep on zones that one owns (info on zones other people own are not shown, by design). The closer to Aleph one gets, the more desired the space is, and the faster claims decay.

== The Zones ==

The various chunks of cityscapes are, in a very literal sense, functional Temporary Autonomous Zones.

=== Temporary ===

Using the underlying system built into the subatomic structure of the local physics, a zone can be created and filled with just about anything. In the AR overlays, space is still at a ratio of 1 to 1--things can be seen that aren't there, but for the most part physical things you'd want to interact with are created out of the city's smart-matter. However, spaces and the things that make up the zone must be actively maintained or used to keep from being reallocated. For example, you could create a sprawling fantasy monarchy, but be constantly patrolling the borders to make sure some part of it doesn't suddenly turn into someone else's space opera fantasy.

Of note, ''people'' will remain, but ''places'' and ''things'' may vanish or turn into something else. There is a certain amount of negotiation with the allocation system in keeping some personal (important or often-used) things, but an also-limited inventory to keep those in. The limitations are artificial, but intended to provide structure to an otherwise infinite space.

=== Autonomous ===

Zones are managed by their initial creators, and Null maintains access and privacy controls that manage who can go to one or even who can see one. Some Zones are entirely invisible (and thus private) to anyone not living there or on the guest-access list. Zones are also characterized by varying visual themes and settings--a naturalistic setting could be right next to a huge chunk of city. The main principle in play is persistence--spaces do not overlap each other except at the edges, and people can't pass through each other even if they're virtual projections. Roads and aerial highways are always public,

=== Zones ===

Zones can be created by an individual or by a collection or group. Folks can carve out a personal bedroom, house, or larger region by sending a request to Null, with varying degrees of preference for location. Subspaces can be managed within a larger Zone (the interior of a building, a single apartment space within a building, etc). If a general proximity preference is given (close to Aleph, close to other preferred zones), the space is created and allocated the space available up to the size requested. If no preference, then the space is created in a random location--and the creator is relocated to it.

As an example of how this all works (as assumed by scientists studying Null): Nik decides he wants a new lab, close in to the Science zones. He requests of Null a small city-block-sized space. Null finds a spot close enough that's about to expire, keeping watch on several other suitable but less-preferred locations. Three other requests come in shortly afterwards, with similar preferences. Null weights the requests in order they arrived, and performs a lottery based on that data. Nik wins, and is teleported to the empty zone, and given access to customize the space as he wishes. The others in the queue get similar spaces as they become available, even though not all of them are the favored location.

Upwarp

2015-04-26T19:04:01Z

PhoenixTril: /* Upwarp Science, and The Aleph */ Editing, reoganization

<blockquote>''“A consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation, by children being taught mathematical concepts. A graphic representation of data abstracted from the banks of every computer in the human system. Unthinkable complexity. Lines of light ranged in the nonspace of the mind, clusters and constellations of data. Like city lights, receding."'' William Gibson, ''Neuromancer.''</blockquote>

{{TOC right}}
Upwarp is a warp of [[Puzzlebox]], now reorganized into a city of reason, science, information, and customized environments.

== Environment ==

The city that comprises Upwarp sprawls within a massive, three-dimensional spherical volume, with buildings extending above and below what could be called the 'ground', a transparent plane upon which all things in the warp anchor. Buildings, parks, streets, all are laid out in polar coordinates from the central origin of the volume: concentric circles of buildings ring the core, while streets either follow the circular curve between them, or radiate from the core at random points of the compass.

The plane is the reference for gravity both above and below, but it is only partially tangible. Buildings anchor to it as solidly as bedrock, but an individual can move through it as one might through a sheet of ice. Roads and sidewalks run back to back across its surface. At the fringes of the developed areas, faint gridlines can be seen glowing along the plane.

At Upwarp's heart is a single bright point of light, called the Aleph. From it, a solid beam of light called the Axis projects above and below the city seemingly into infinity, like an otherworldly tentpole for the sky washed in a perpetual twilight of pink, orange, gold and indigo. There's a theory that the Axis is one single line that eventually wraps around the curved space to return to its origin -- nobody has been able to actually test this hypothesis by flying in either direction to find its end. The current consensus is that the Axis serves primarily as a point of reference, allowing one to judge orientation and distance from the core.

The city is comprised of many varying Zones, for which different visual themes and Augmented-Reality (AR) overlays exist. In many cases, entering a Zone includes a change in one's entire sensorium (if so equipped) or matching suite of sensory inputs to match the new area. Additionally, uncountable datafeeds and communication channels permeate the volume, waiting to be tapped from anywhere -- Upwarp is very much oriented around digital information and communication. The fact that Upwarp itself is a virtual environment doesn't tend to bother anyone living there, since they're already at home navigating multiple layers of reality.

It doesn't hurt that it simply ''looks like'' the Jungian conception of cyberspace, as well. From afar, Upwarp is a tremendous, glowing, three-dimensional quartz, with buildings of darker colours outlined in neon highlights of every hue. It is a glistening city of the future, the spherical sky coruscating through the colours of twilight on a roughly diurnal cycle. Everything within is laid in precise geometrical patterns, arranged meticulously on the polar grid.

''Neuromancer'', ''Snow Crash'', ''ReBoot'', and ''Tron'' all inform the aesthetic style.

== Upwarp Science, and The Aleph ==

Upwarp's daily life is connected intimately with the Datasphere -- the popular colloquialism for the repository of information, communications, and constantly-churning data gathered from everywhere in the 'Box. It is vast enough to be considered near-infinite in scope, potentially even containing information concerning events that haven't happened yet, or objects and persons that are yet to exist.

As with any sufficiently large set of data, deriving useful, applicable pearls of wisdom from the Datasphere is an awesome undertaking. Organizationally, this breaks down to what Upwarp denizens tend to call '''Research''' and '''Science'''. Collating data, filtering the oceans of gathered information, sifting and rendering them down to usable forms and readable archives, all these tasks are lumped under the umbrella of Research. The far less regimented practice of finding interesting ideas within that sorted data and ultimately doing something with it is considered Science.

The primary way in which information is gathered is through the Aleph. Functionally, the Aleph is an infinitely vast source of information, but it contains no inherent organization. Like determining a star's makeup by telescope, the Aleph's surface is a churning maelstrom of chaotic, flowing data, and its contents can be derived by studying its cast-off emissions and patterns. Thus, gathering information from the Aleph is akin to collecting water from a waterfall by holding a thimble to the spray at its edge: each thimble contains enough data to keep corps of researchers busy for months.

Physically accessing the Aleph is practically impossible, as the intense energy of the Aleph disassociates instruments and 'matter' within close physical proximity. The most common way to access the Aleph is to simply drop probes in nearby, just beyond the disassociation range, and suck up what you can over time. A cloud of data-probes ring the Aleph in all three dimensions, fuelling the Research consortia in the innermost ring. Surrounding that are the Science Zones, which tend to also maintain the databases of information deemed ''complete''.

Upwarp denizens are much more comfortable sifting and filtering a few different realities or infostreams at a time, derived from curated Aleph data -- but trying to directly experience the Aleph, essentially seeing everything all at once, is madness-inducing. Even a brief, temporary immersion in the raw datastream collected from the Aleph remains a difficult endeavour, but remains as a sort of initiation ordeal for many of the Research consortia. Thus, appropriately, most of them are just a little bit mad.

It's still unknown what the Aleph actually is, despite considerable time and processor power devoted to answering the question; while the Aleph could theoretically contain information about itself, finding that information among the tremendous volume of data passing through it is just as difficult as finding anything else specific. The popular theory is that the Aleph is a singularity containing the remains of the old Datasphere of Puzzlebox, which collapsed in on itself some time after the Magic Mirror system shut down, possibly also taking old Upwarp with it.

== Proximity ==

The existence of the Aleph also very directly informs the structure of the cityscape. In closer proximity to the center, information naturally grows more accessible, systems tend to work much faster, everything is extra-efficient (aside from the mad experiments in the Science Zones). Thus, the truly limited resource of Upwarp is ''space''.

While Downwarp is sometimes considered an experiment in artificially-limited resource scarcity, Upwarp is an experiment in unlimited resources but artificially-limited proximity and space. Zones can be located anywhere, but only without overlap, which means that closer in to the center there's less space, but a more desirable location, while on the outer rims, there's plenty of space but a less optimal data flow overall. Sections of city can grow upward and downward from the equatorial plane, but there's some functional limitations to extending too far in either direction.

The limitations of space are more or less enforced by a transportation network limited in speed. Roads and highways are still mostly necessary, though they the aerial versions can more easily break the polar coordinate layout, so they tend to be more common. Actual individual vehicles are mostly for show, since using the transport network could just as easily be done in a tiny personalized pod. The main limitation here is that for the most part there is no teleportation allowed. There are quick-travel pads organized by radial sector, but these are more "fast travel" stations, and are much farther apart in the outer Zones.

Both the transportation restrictions and the space-allocation system are managed by a subsystem that remains in the background, interfacing through software agents when necessary. Citizens of up tend to assume it is not sentient, but it has never shown concrete evidence either way, so they have affectionally nicknamed the entity '''Null'''. The main issue that anyone has with Null is that it is perhaps too strict on requirements of space usage. Essentially, to keep ownership and stewardship of a given Zone or smaller space within it, someone must actively be ''using'' it. The criteria has, of course, been tested extensively and has been found to be relatively simple in practice. A citizen needs to regularly upkeep their zone by moving around within it, giving a certain amount of attention to it. This can also be delegated to other people, but only to a point. A random stranger can't camp out in someone's yard to prevent it from changing, but a citizen can designate someone to patrol the boundaries, making sure that their favorite spot isn't suddenly reallocated to someone else. This doesn't happen randomly--there's plenty of accessible data to tell you rates of expiration and how often one needs to upkeep on zones that one owns (info on zones other people own are not shown, by design). The closer to Aleph one gets, the more desired the space is, and the faster claims decay.

== The Zones ==

The various chunks of cityscapes are, in a very literal sense, functional Temporary Autonomous Zones.

=== Temporary ===

Using the underlying system built into the subatomic structure of the local physics, a zone can be created and filled with just about anything. In the AR overlays, space is still at a ratio of 1 to 1--things can be seen that aren't there, but for the most part physical things you'd want to interact with are created out of the city's smart-matter. However, spaces and the things that make up the zone must be actively maintained or used to keep from being reallocated. For example, you could create a sprawling fantasy monarchy, but be constantly patrolling the borders to make sure some part of it doesn't suddenly turn into someone else's space opera fantasy.

Of note, ''people'' will remain, but ''places'' and ''things'' may vanish or turn into something else. There is a certain amount of negotiation with the allocation system in keeping some personal (important or often-used) things, but an also-limited inventory to keep those in. The limitations are artificial, but intended to provide structure to an otherwise infinite space.

=== Autonomous ===

Zones are managed by their initial creators, and Null maintains access and privacy controls that manage who can go to one or even who can see one. Some Zones are entirely invisible (and thus private) to anyone not living there or on the guest-access list. Zones are also characterized by varying visual themes and settings--a naturalistic setting could be right next to a huge chunk of city. The main principle in play is persistence--spaces do not overlap each other except at the edges, and people can't pass through each other even if they're virtual projections. Roads and aerial highways are always public,

=== Zones ===

Zones can be created by an individual or by a collection or group. Folks can carve out a personal bedroom, house, or larger region by sending a request to Null, with varying degrees of preference for location. Subspaces can be managed within a larger Zone (the interior of a building, a single apartment space within a building, etc). If a general proximity preference is given (close to Aleph, close to other preferred zones), the space is created and allocated the space available up to the size requested. If no preference, then the space is created in a random location--and the creator is relocated to it.

As an example of how this all works (as assumed by scientists studying Null): Nik decides he wants a new lab, close in to the Science zones. He requests of Null a small city-block-sized space. Null finds a spot close enough that's about to expire, keeping watch on several other suitable but less-preferred locations. Three other requests come in shortly afterwards, with similar preferences. Null weights the requests in order they arrived, and performs a lottery based on that data. Nik wins, and is teleported to the empty zone, and given access to customize the space as he wishes. The others in the queue get similar spaces as they become available, even though not all of them are the favored location.

Upwarp

2015-04-26T18:36:16Z

PhoenixTril: /* Environment */

<blockquote>''“A consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation, by children being taught mathematical concepts. A graphic representation of data abstracted from the banks of every computer in the human system. Unthinkable complexity. Lines of light ranged in the nonspace of the mind, clusters and constellations of data. Like city lights, receding."'' William Gibson, ''Neuromancer.''</blockquote>

{{TOC right}}
Upwarp is a warp of [[Puzzlebox]], now reorganized into a city of reason, science, information, and customized environments.

== Environment ==

The city that comprises Upwarp sprawls within a massive, three-dimensional spherical volume, with buildings extending above and below what could be called the 'ground', a transparent plane upon which all things in the warp anchor. Buildings, parks, streets, all are laid out in polar coordinates from the central origin of the volume: concentric circles of buildings ring the core, while streets either follow the circular curve between them, or radiate from the core at random points of the compass.

The plane is the reference for gravity both above and below, but it is only partially tangible. Buildings anchor to it as solidly as bedrock, but an individual can move through it as one might through a sheet of ice. Roads and sidewalks run back to back across its surface. At the fringes of the developed areas, faint gridlines can be seen glowing along the plane.

At Upwarp's heart is a single bright point of light, called the Aleph. From it, a solid beam of light called the Axis projects above and below the city seemingly into infinity, like an otherworldly tentpole for the sky washed in a perpetual twilight of pink, orange, gold and indigo. There's a theory that the Axis is one single line that eventually wraps around the curved space to return to its origin -- nobody has been able to actually test this hypothesis by flying in either direction to find its end. The current consensus is that the Axis serves primarily as a point of reference, allowing one to judge orientation and distance from the core.

The city is comprised of many varying Zones, for which different visual themes and Augmented-Reality (AR) overlays exist. In many cases, entering a Zone includes a change in one's entire sensorium (if so equipped) or matching suite of sensory inputs to match the new area. Additionally, uncountable datafeeds and communication channels permeate the volume, waiting to be tapped from anywhere -- Upwarp is very much oriented around digital information and communication. The fact that Upwarp itself is a virtual environment doesn't tend to bother anyone living there, since they're already at home navigating multiple layers of reality.

It doesn't hurt that it simply ''looks like'' the Jungian conception of cyberspace, as well. From afar, Upwarp is a tremendous, glowing, three-dimensional quartz, with buildings of darker colours outlined in neon highlights of every hue. It is a glistening city of the future, the spherical sky coruscating through the colours of twilight on a roughly diurnal cycle. Everything within is laid in precise geometrical patterns, arranged meticulously on the polar grid.

''Neuromancer'', ''Snow Crash'', ''ReBoot'', and ''Tron'' all inform the aesthetic style.

== Upwarp Science, and The Aleph ==

Upwarp concerns itself quite a bit with the Datasphere--that collection of information, communication, and constantly-created sensor readings from theoretically everywhere in the 'Box. It is vast enough to be considered near-infinite in scope, potentially even holding information on things that haven't even happened yet. However, with any sufficiently large set of data, the task of sorting and collating and making any sense out of any of it becomes a task in itself. This breaks down to what Upwarp denizens tend to call '''Research''' and '''Science'''. Sorting and filtering oceans of information, rendering them down to usable forms and readable archives, is considered Research. The practice of finding interesting ideas within that sorted data and doing something new with it is considered Science.

The primary way in which information is gathered is through the Aleph. It's still unknown what the Aleph actually is, because while it could theoretically contain information about itself, finding that is just as difficult as finding anything else specific. The popular theory is that the Aleph is a singularity containing the remains of the old Datasphere of Puzzlebox, which collapsed in on itself some time after the Magic Mirror system shut down, possibly also taking old Upwarp with it. It is functionally an infinitely vast source of information; but with no inherent organization, what one can access is uncontrollable. Physically accessing it is near-impossible as well. Upwarp denizens are much more comfortable sifting and filtering a few different realities or infostreams at a time--but trying to directly experience the Aleph, essentially seeing everything all at once, is madness-inducing. Even a brief, temporary immersion remains a difficult endeavor, but remains as a sort of initiation ordeal for many of the Research consortia. Thus, appropriately, most of them are just a little bit mad. The most common way to access the Aleph is to simply drop probes in from nearby and suck up what you can over time. A cloud of data-probes ring the Aleph in all three dimensions, fueling the Research consortia in the innermost ring. Ringing around that are the Science Zones, which tend to also maintain the databases of information deemed ''complete''.

== Proximity ==

The existence of the Aleph also very directly informs the structure of the cityscape. In closer proximity to the center, information naturally grows more accessible, systems tend to work much faster, everything is extra-efficient (aside from the mad experiments in the Science Zones). Thus, the truly limited resource of Upwarp is ''space''.

While Downwarp is sometimes considered an experiment in artificially-limited resource scarcity, Upwarp is an experiment in unlimited resources but artificially-limited proximity and space. Zones can be located anywhere, but only without overlap, which means that closer in to the center there's less space, but a more desirable location, while on the outer rims, there's plenty of space but a less optimal data flow overall. Sections of city can grow upward and downward from the equatorial plane, but there's some functional limitations to extending too far in either direction.

The limitations of space are more or less enforced by a transportation network limited in speed. Roads and highways are still mostly necessary, though they the aerial versions can more easily break the polar coordinate layout, so they tend to be more common. Actual individual vehicles are mostly for show, since using the transport network could just as easily be done in a tiny personalized pod. The main limitation here is that for the most part there is no teleportation allowed. There are quick-travel pads organized by radial sector, but these are more "fast travel" stations, and are much farther apart in the outer Zones.

Both the transportation restrictions and the space-allocation system are managed by a subsystem that remains in the background, interfacing through software agents when necessary. Citizens of up tend to assume it is not sentient, but it has never shown concrete evidence either way, so they have affectionally nicknamed the entity '''Null'''. The main issue that anyone has with Null is that it is perhaps too strict on requirements of space usage. Essentially, to keep ownership and stewardship of a given Zone or smaller space within it, someone must actively be ''using'' it. The criteria has, of course, been tested extensively and has been found to be relatively simple in practice. A citizen needs to regularly upkeep their zone by moving around within it, giving a certain amount of attention to it. This can also be delegated to other people, but only to a point. A random stranger can't camp out in someone's yard to prevent it from changing, but a citizen can designate someone to patrol the boundaries, making sure that their favorite spot isn't suddenly reallocated to someone else. This doesn't happen randomly--there's plenty of accessible data to tell you rates of expiration and how often one needs to upkeep on zones that one owns (info on zones other people own are not shown, by design). The closer to Aleph one gets, the more desired the space is, and the faster claims decay.

== The Zones ==

The various chunks of cityscapes are, in a very literal sense, functional Temporary Autonomous Zones.

=== Temporary ===

Using the underlying system built into the subatomic structure of the local physics, a zone can be created and filled with just about anything. In the AR overlays, space is still at a ratio of 1 to 1--things can be seen that aren't there, but for the most part physical things you'd want to interact with are created out of the city's smart-matter. However, spaces and the things that make up the zone must be actively maintained or used to keep from being reallocated. For example, you could create a sprawling fantasy monarchy, but be constantly patrolling the borders to make sure some part of it doesn't suddenly turn into someone else's space opera fantasy.

Of note, ''people'' will remain, but ''places'' and ''things'' may vanish or turn into something else. There is a certain amount of negotiation with the allocation system in keeping some personal (important or often-used) things, but an also-limited inventory to keep those in. The limitations are artificial, but intended to provide structure to an otherwise infinite space.

=== Autonomous ===

Zones are managed by their initial creators, and Null maintains access and privacy controls that manage who can go to one or even who can see one. Some Zones are entirely invisible (and thus private) to anyone not living there or on the guest-access list. Zones are also characterized by varying visual themes and settings--a naturalistic setting could be right next to a huge chunk of city. The main principle in play is persistence--spaces do not overlap each other except at the edges, and people can't pass through each other even if they're virtual projections. Roads and aerial highways are always public,

=== Zones ===

Zones can be created by an individual or by a collection or group. Folks can carve out a personal bedroom, house, or larger region by sending a request to Null, with varying degrees of preference for location. Subspaces can be managed within a larger Zone (the interior of a building, a single apartment space within a building, etc). If a general proximity preference is given (close to Aleph, close to other preferred zones), the space is created and allocated the space available up to the size requested. If no preference, then the space is created in a random location--and the creator is relocated to it.

As an example of how this all works (as assumed by scientists studying Null): Nik decides he wants a new lab, close in to the Science zones. He requests of Null a small city-block-sized space. Null finds a spot close enough that's about to expire, keeping watch on several other suitable but less-preferred locations. Three other requests come in shortly afterwards, with similar preferences. Null weights the requests in order they arrived, and performs a lottery based on that data. Nik wins, and is teleported to the empty zone, and given access to customize the space as he wishes. The others in the queue get similar spaces as they become available, even though not all of them are the favored location.

Bonobian

2015-01-04T20:24:17Z

PhoenixTril: Formatting

Bonobians are a prominent faction of [[Puzzlebox]], with a focus on developing physical and aesthetic pleasure in concert with one another using organic modification as a medium.

== Principles ==
Bonobians are the self-professed epitome of the Bottomwarp philosophy: to find pleasure in all things. However, Bonobians have taken this sentiment almost literally.

In most organic beings, there are two dominating spheres of perceived 'pleasure';
* The pleasures of the body, including touch, sensation, and orgasm.
* The pleasures of the mind, including beauty, aesthetics, and elegance.

The former sensations are achieved quite easily through physical congress. The latter, however, are more elusive. These feelings are elicited when one perceives a profoundly moving piece of artwork or music. To a mathematician, an equation or proof can be described as 'elegant' or 'beautiful'. Fractal patterns are expressions of algorithms, but produce fantastic patterns when rendered visually.

Bonobians' founding members carefully studied this phenomena, seeking to understand the root of it rather than merely pursue it. Their efforts yielded a confluence of technologies, developed together and deployed as the Bonobian 'gland', an artificial organ with a number of properties. When implanted into a subject, a number of structural changes in the brain and body occur, the net result of which being that the senses of aesthetic and physical pleasure become closely linked to one another.

Something such as a beautiful piece of artwork or music can thus produce a physical response (not necessarily an orgasm, but a feeling of intense ecstasy not unlike it), and contrariwise, physical pleasure can elicit the same sort of intense, emotionally moving experience normally associated with artwork, music or other media. These sensations can easily become overwhelming, so Bonobian faction members use technology to 'tune' the Bonobian gland, amplifying or lessening its effects so that they can function on a day to day basis without being overwhelmed by the sensations it evokes.

The gland also produces a number of ancillary effects, not the least of which is a degree of hypertrophy. Enhanced sexual characteristics and drive are an unavoidable side effect of implantation with a Bonobian gland. The resulting practice of beneficiaries of the gland routinely engaging in sexual congress, seemingly at the drop of a hat and even as a means of greeting, led to them being nicknamed 'Bonobians' in jest by other Bottomwarp residents, after the similar practices of the ancient Bonobo pygmy chimpanzee. Rather than shun the comparison, the Bonobians enthusiastically adopted and retained the nickname for their own.

== Membership ==
Bonobians are a tightly knit group, as implantation of the gland tends to produce a significant alteration in the subject's perceptions of the world around them, perceptions which are uniquely shared by other Bonobians. This shared, unconscious vocabulary for viewing the world leads to a degree of separation from the normal Bottomwarp populous, who, while hedonistic, sometimes view the Bonobians' methods as either too narrowly focused or too niche.

That said, the population of the Bonobian clave tends to fluctuate considerably, comprising anywhere between thousands and hundreds as the transitory whims of the curious dictate; Bonobians are happy to supply the gland to any who wish it, implantation and removal is a simple process that takes only a few minutes either way. That said, there is a slowly but consistently growing core population of a few hundred that adopt the Bonobian lifestyle completely.

This core population has a wide and varied talent pool, as Bonobians attract many individuals from diverse fields. As many seek to augment their interest in their chosen talents as develop their talents subsequent to their introduction to the Bonobian gland as their interests evolve. In many cases, individuals find new dimensions of interest in their work, and new connections in the brain elicit alternate approaches to problems that they may not have considered prior. The result is that the core population of the Bonobian faction is made up of individuals with experience in everything from mathematics to sculpture, design to musical composition, genetic engineering to cosmology, and these individuals often draw on each other for inspiration and expertise in their projects.

== Orion ==
Discovered in the outer reaches of the Mess, the Orion serves as the home complex for the Bonobian faction. An immense, derelict vessel, the Orion is physically lodged in a multi-million kilometre long strand of Puzzlebox's outer superstructure. It is theorized that it is powered by a small singularity, and since Puzzlebox (as a sentient entity) does not permit threats to itself within its operational envelope (and singularities are viewed as high priority potential threats), Orion was 'quarantined' on the periphery of the Mess as a means of control.

The vessel is approximately 1,400m in length, and is shaped roughly akin to a flying delta wing that has been rear-ended and halfway subsumed by a blunt, rectilinear volume, each roughly equal in length to each other. Further details are difficult to discern, as the Puzzlebox superstructure has enveloped a significant portion of the ship, like a white blood cell might envelop a virus, and more than two thirds of the ship is hidden from view.

Inside, only a fraction of the vessel's habitable volume is accessible, and that is after considerable work by Bonobian members to make the vessel operational. Basic life support is functioning on only a few decks, including a launch bay located in the port side delta wing, the Forward Observation Dome, a large cylindrical volume in the nose of the ship capped by a field-reinforced diamond window, a large corridor running the length of the ship's central spine, and a few ancillary workspaces and crew quarters.

The interior was found spotless, with all major pieces of equipment removed or stripped down to their basic parts, suggesting an orderly evacuation, but no trace remained of any records or objects that describe the ship's crew or mission. Since its discovery, Orion has served as the base of operations for the Bonobian faction, allowing its members to develop and install workshops, computer labs, and other spaces as needed to explore their diverse talents while maintaining a degree of seclusion from the chaos and overstimulation of Bottomwarp proper.

Orion is linked to the Mess primarily via an n-space compression gate (functionally little more than a frame of superconductor to sustain the event horizon of a spatial fold), and secondarily, a trio of small spacecraft (singleships) with limited faster-than-light capability.

== Technologies ==
Because of their diverse core population, and that population's penchant on creating new technologies and evolving their talents (rather than accepting the Mess's myriad functions as given, or purchasing black box technologies from others), Bonobians employ a mishmash of different 'hard' technologies developed in-house, many of which other factions and warps would not even consider utilizing.

Indeed, the Bonobian gland itself is a product of incredibly delicate (and many would say, very messily ''organic'') genetic and medical engineering. The success of that technology has spurred the faction to retain its focus on developing and bartering or selling technology; difficult technical challenges are viewed as opportunities to explore and develop new, increasingly elegant solutions that are their own intrinsic reward.

Notable products include flexible semi-liquid memory plastics and shapealloys, DNA-based computers, biochemical products such as matchsticks (single-use cannabis vaporizers with many tailored blends) and the Bonobian gland itself, and n-space compression (used in the gates linking Orion to the Mess).

[[Category:Puzzlebox]] [[Category:Factions]]

Bonobian

2015-01-04T20:23:48Z

PhoenixTril: /* Principles */

Bonobian

2015-01-04T20:23:28Z

PhoenixTril: Page creation, rundown.

Bottomwarp

2015-01-04T19:19:57Z

PhoenixTril: Readability

Bottomwarp is one of the six warps of the [[Puzzlebox]], a hedonistic playground populated by those with a passion for pleasure and congress of all stripes.

== Environment ==
Bottomwarp is described as "''a hot, humid, twilit place, mired in a sea of musky haze''", populated by structures comprised primarily of a structural foam that is both mouldable for a time and nontoxic, with a consistency somewhere between shaving cream and icing sugar.

The result is that the spaces, squares, plazas and corridors of Bottomwarp are sculpted into a pantheon of organically-inspired shapes that celebrate the flesh and blood form. The constant supply of this material also means that the spaces are constantly in flux, being moulded over, rebuilt, torn down, and then rebuilt again to new specifications according to the whims of the local population. The overall structure of Bottomwarp, thus, is largely in flux at any given time according to the needs of those that choose to reside there, and is designed and redesigned seemingly daily to stimulate the senses as much as the body.

Some constants remain in the controlled chaos; there is a robust local commerce, fuelled as much on the barter of sexual favours as the other typical currencies of Puzzlebox: information, ideas, and unique technologies. One can expect to be propositioned (politely) for dalliances and pleasure at every turn, and many of the so-called businesses and establishments carved into the foamy buildings cater to fulfilling these whims and urges with aplomb. All manner of pleasures to delight body and mind are available to the discerning customer in Bottomwarp.

== Sociology ==
Bottomwarp's ''modus operandi'' is the pursuit of pleasure, primarily focusing on the realms of organic pleasure and the pursuit of the precious and esteemed orgasm. The inhabitants tend to be promiscuous, and focused on the indulgence of their desires, whatever they may be. Bottomwarp residents tend to avid users of psychotropics and stimulants, and as many are focused on indulging in sensory overload as that of physical pleasure.

Bottomwarp's population possess what could be called organic-standard bodies more frequently than average, when compared to residents of other Warps. Though they often sport outlandish modifications (erotic morphing and hypertrophy, dermal alterations, neural restructuring), they retain a focus on retaining or closely emulating nerves, blood (or blood analogues), chemical neurotransmission, brain function, and the physical sensations of the organic form.

A prominent sect of the Bottomwarp crowd are the [[Bonobians]], who are a cadre of individuals that have undergone physical modification to 'hotwire' and inextricably cross-link the organic senses of physical and aesthetic pleasure. While this is a sentiment often shared by the populous at large, it is taken to its ultimate conclusion by the Bonobians.
Other Bottomwarp factions are far more loosely associated and informal, and remain in flux constantly according to the constantly changing whims of their members, altering themselves (sometimes literally) as circumstances arise to change the tastes and, indeed, fetishes of their members.

=== Inhabitants ===
* The [[Bonobian]] faction makes their home here, within the [[Orion]] complex, linked to Bottomwarp by a small spatial compression gate in the main plaza.

[[Category:Puzzlebox]] [[Category:Stubs]]

Bottomwarp

2015-01-04T19:19:23Z

PhoenixTril: /* Sociology */ Formatting

Bottomwarp is one of the six warps of the [[Puzzlebox]], a hedonistic playground populated by those with a passion for pleasure and congress of all stripes.

== Environment ==
Bottomwarp is described as "''a hot, humid, twilit place, mired in a sea of musky haze''", populated by structures comprised primarily of a structural foam that is both mouldable for a time and nontoxic, with a consistency somewhere between shaving cream and icing sugar. The result is that the spaces, squares, plazas and corridors of Bottomwarp are sculpted into a pantheon of organically-inspired shapes that celebrate the flesh and blood form. The constant supply of this material also means that the spaces are constantly in flux, being moulded over, rebuilt, torn down, and then rebuilt again to new specifications according to the whims of the local population. The overall structure of Bottomwarp, thus, is largely in flux at any given time according to the needs of those that choose to reside there, and is designed and redesigned seemingly daily to stimulate the senses as much as the body.
Some constants remain in the controlled chaos; there is a robust local commerce, fuelled as much on the barter of sexual favours as the other typical currencies of Puzzlebox: information, ideas, and unique technologies. One can expect to be propositioned (politely) for dalliances and pleasure at every turn, and many of the so-called businesses and establishments carved into the foamy buildings cater to fulfilling these whims and urges with aplomb. All manner of pleasures to delight body and mind are available to the discerning customer in Bottomwarp.

== Sociology ==
Bottomwarp's ''modus operandi'' is the pursuit of pleasure, primarily focusing on the realms of organic pleasure and the pursuit of the precious and esteemed orgasm. The inhabitants tend to be promiscuous, and focused on the indulgence of their desires, whatever they may be. Bottomwarp residents tend to avid users of psychotropics and stimulants, and as many are focused on indulging in sensory overload as that of physical pleasure.
Bottomwarp's population possess what could be called organic-standard bodies more frequently than average, when compared to residents of other Warps. Though they often sport outlandish modifications (erotic morphing and hypertrophy, dermal alterations, neural restructuring), they retain a focus on retaining or closely emulating nerves, blood (or blood analogues), chemical neurotransmission, brain function, and the physical sensations of the organic form.
A prominent sect of the Bottomwarp crowd are the [[Bonobians]], who are a cadre of individuals that have undergone physical modification to 'hotwire' and inextricably cross-link the organic senses of physical and aesthetic pleasure. While this is a sentiment often shared by the populous at large, it is taken to its ultimate conclusion by the Bonobians.
Other Bottomwarp factions are far more loosely associated and informal, and remain in flux constantly according to the constantly changing whims of their members, altering themselves (sometimes literally) as circumstances arise to change the tastes and, indeed, fetishes of their members.

=== Inhabitants ===
* The [[Bonobian]] faction makes their home here, within the [[Orion]] complex, linked to Bottomwarp by a small spatial compression gate in the main plaza.

[[Category:Puzzlebox]] [[Category:Stubs]]

Bottomwarp

2015-01-04T19:19:04Z

PhoenixTril: Page creation, basic rundown.

Bottomwarp is one of the six warps of the [[Puzzlebox]], a hedonistic playground populated by those with a passion for pleasure and congress of all stripes.

== Environment ==
Bottomwarp is described as "''a hot, humid, twilit place, mired in a sea of musky haze''", populated by structures comprised primarily of a structural foam that is both mouldable for a time and nontoxic, with a consistency somewhere between shaving cream and icing sugar. The result is that the spaces, squares, plazas and corridors of Bottomwarp are sculpted into a pantheon of organically-inspired shapes that celebrate the flesh and blood form. The constant supply of this material also means that the spaces are constantly in flux, being moulded over, rebuilt, torn down, and then rebuilt again to new specifications according to the whims of the local population. The overall structure of Bottomwarp, thus, is largely in flux at any given time according to the needs of those that choose to reside there, and is designed and redesigned seemingly daily to stimulate the senses as much as the body.
Some constants remain in the controlled chaos; there is a robust local commerce, fuelled as much on the barter of sexual favours as the other typical currencies of Puzzlebox: information, ideas, and unique technologies. One can expect to be propositioned (politely) for dalliances and pleasure at every turn, and many of the so-called businesses and establishments carved into the foamy buildings cater to fulfilling these whims and urges with aplomb. All manner of pleasures to delight body and mind are available to the discerning customer in Bottomwarp.

== Sociology ==
Bottomwarp's ''modus operandi' is the pursuit of pleasure, primarily focusing on the realms of organic pleasure and the pursuit of the precious and esteemed orgasm. The inhabitants tend to be promiscuous, and focused on the indulgence of their desires, whatever they may be. Bottomwarp residents tend to avid users of psychotropics and stimulants, and as many are focused on indulging in sensory overload as that of physical pleasure.
Bottomwarp's population possess what could be called organic-standard bodies more frequently than average, when compared to residents of other Warps. Though they often sport outlandish modifications (erotic morphing and hypertrophy, dermal alterations, neural restructuring), they retain a focus on retaining or closely emulating nerves, blood (or blood analogues), chemical neurotransmission, brain function, and the physical sensations of the organic form.
A prominent sect of the Bottomwarp crowd are the [[Bonobians]], who are a cadre of individuals that have undergone physical modification to 'hotwire' and inextricably cross-link the organic senses of physical and aesthetic pleasure. While this is a sentiment often shared by the populous at large, it is taken to its ultimate conclusion by the Bonobians.
Other Bottomwarp factions are far more loosely associated and informal, and remain in flux constantly according to the constantly changing whims of their members, altering themselves (sometimes literally) as circumstances arise to change the tastes and, indeed, fetishes of their members.

=== Inhabitants ===
* The [[Bonobian]] faction makes their home here, within the [[Orion]] complex, linked to Bottomwarp by a small spatial compression gate in the main plaza.

[[Category:Puzzlebox]] [[Category:Stubs]]