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All mages, regardless tradition, seek their vision of Ascension (or Descension, in the case of the Nephandi). And through the ages they have created visions or realms mirroring their ideals, hoping to gain clues on how to make them real. Orbital Collective One is the vision of the Technocratic Ascension.
Physically, OCO is an O'Neill-style orbital station, a rotating cylinder 10 kilometres long and 2 kilometres wide. Its inside is a lush garden landscape, not unlike the mountains of Province or wine- yards of California. The flora and fauna is needless to say the best the Progenitors can design. Near the ends of the cylinder the land begins to slope upwards, becoming steep mountains reaching up to the zero-g axis. From beautiful waterfalls (where the water near the top is almost weightless) rivers flow down into the valley landscape below, ending in a central lake. Along the axis an elegant truss-structure holds the artificial sun which lights up OCO and the sprinklers that provide the regular rains (one at noon and one at midnight). On the outside of the colony immense solar collectors gather energy and quintessence to fuel the realm.
In the valleys below lies six cities, each housing 50,000 inhabitants (this has been judged as the optimum for studying and designing social dynamics) named A, B, C, D, E and F. In addition to the six cities there are also six smaller villages called G, H, I, J, K and L, each containing 500 inhabitants for small-scale studies. Both cities and villages are centred around a community centre from which radiates a triangular network of street and monorail lines. Each section contains living quarters, factories and shops, all set in a regular pattern. The buildings are identical hexagonal houses of white concrete, surrounded by small gardens.
The 303,000 inhabitants of OCO are all happy, loyal citizens. They are free from genetic defects and live lives supported by the most advanced Progenitor medicine until they reach 65, when they die painlessly surrounded by their loving families (there have been some discussions of removing death altogether, but the Ivory Tower did not want to tackle the demographic problems yet). From childhood to grave they live perfect, sheltered lives supported by the advanced technology and friendly advice from their DEIs (which also allows the Ivory Tower researchers to monitor their actions). Dissatisfaction or antisocial behaviour is very rare, but when it occurs the Freedom Police quickly appears and bring the deviant to the Coordination Centre for curing.
The Coordination Centre is the main Technocracy construct in the realm, responsible for monitoring and optimising its functions. It is a hexagonal truncated pyramid by the lake, linked to the axis by an elevator line. Inside the Void Engineers monitor the performance of the realm, the progenitors control the biosphere, the Syndicate manage the economy, Iteration X keeps the systems running and the New World Order observes the social life and thoughts of the inhabitants. The technomancers all have roomy, if slightly austere, offices and laboratories with a breathtaking view of their accomplishments outside. Beneath the Centre are hangars and garages for various vehicles, including airlocks to the outside (although most access to OCO is through the axis station) and a reserve of HIT Marks. The top levels of the Centre house the Administration. Here the Administrators oversee the progress towards Ascension, both on OCO and on Earth. These high ranking technocrats coordinate and plan future agendas for the symposium, beside coordinating and regulating the terrestrial contructs.
The other major technocracy constructs on OCO are the axis stations, located along the axis on the outside of the cylinder. Unlike the austere but harmonious Coordination Centre, the axis stations are pure functionalism in Iteration X/Void Engineer style, with bulkheads, steel tunnels with girders and spartan living modules.
In this weightless environment the Void Engineers dock their craft and work with their various monitoring systems. One of the current major projects is the deployment of a SPS (Space Power Satellite), a solar collector several kilometres wide intended to beam the energy/quintessence of space to an receiver installation on earth. There are also several quite powerful weapons systems on the OCO, intended to defend it against most outside threats. A squadron of Void Engine Fighters are always on standby to defend OCO from intruders.
Among technomancers, being stationed at OCO is regarded as a promotion, even if it is just to the axis stations. Not only is the realm quite pleasant (and even the axis technomancers are allowed to spend their spare time inside), but it is an administrative and political centre. But most importantly, OCO cheers the technocratic spirit with its perfection - this is how Earth will become.
Resonance in this realm affects the technomancers too. Even the Iteration X units tend to become more polite and social, and even the most egocentric Syndicate businessman will feel an urge to keep society stable and perfect. The paradigm is needless to say extremely rigid - here only technomagick works, and the Gauntlet is as hard as diamond.
But in some cultures there are also myths about the birth of a great saviour heralded by the appearance of a second sun in the sky...
Up to the Realm PageAnders Sandberg / nv91-asa@nada.kth.se