Anze

Anze is a civilization of uploaded and synthetic minds, running on easily-available, efficient, readily repairable and upgradable hardware. While interaction over a network is possible and frequent, many prefer embodied interaction, and so nearly everyone has at least one, and usually more than one, physical chassis, nearly always custom-designed or self-designed for practical, aesthetic, or other purposes.

An Anzean chassis has two operating modes. The more common is the many-bodied mode, where an arbitrary number of chassis can be connected to a single mind, which is running on a central computer referred to as a core unit, usually located in the individual's place of residence. Each chassis contains a minimum of two types of compute unit: the synthbrain, usually located in the chest area of bioform chassis and bioconverted chassis, or wherever is convenient in non-bioform chassis; and the auxbrain, one of which is located in each head of a bioform or bioconverted chassis, or near each sensor cluster of a non-bioform chassis. These are actually identical hardware, only separated in name by the tasks they're used for.

Each synthbrain and auxbrain is fully as capable as an Anzean core unit, which leads to the second mode of operation: the direct mode. In direct mode, the Anzean's mind is loaded directly onto the synthbrain of a chosen chassis. This is frequently more comfortable for recently uploaded individuals to use, but most eventually switch to having a separate core unit, as having a core unit stored somewhere safe is generally preferred over having to restore from backup if one of your bodies is damaged too badly. Many also simply find it easier to control multiple chassis from a core unit, rather than having one primary and many secondary chassis.