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--- kedalion [2019/05/28 15:47]
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+++ kedalion [2019/06/11 17:29] (current)
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   * Before the war, Kedalion was a centre of industry - with particular specialisms in manufacturing, automation, and cybernetics.
   * The system was also infamous for a tangled culture of corporate espionage, both within Kedalian society and against foreign businesses.
-  * Following the War, Kedalion is scarred both from planetary bombardment and from the waste produced by those facilities.
+  * Kedalion now is run by an assortment of computer programmes that work in tandem with each other to improve the lives of Kedalion citizens.
-  * The corporate leaders from before the war have not been seen for some time, and the planet’s day-to-day management is controlled by a series of optimisation programmes which keep the cities running according to schedule.
 =====A history of Kedalion=====
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 From the start, Kedalion was pure business - settled close to both the resource-rich [[Achelia]], and the (at the time) wealthy [[Eunomia]], Myriad Manufacturing Corp and their partners aimed to create an industrial and engineering powerhouse.  Free from excessive regulation.  Free from the constraints of an already settled planet. Free from anyone else's taxes.  With some generous trade deals set up in the early days (already accompanied by allegations of corruption and espionage), Kedalion grew quickly.  The executives of the corporations made more and more money, the workers kept a good enough life that it wasn't worth leaving, and the corporate espionage operatives were kept busy acquiring or destroying secrets, technology, prototypes, and people.
-By the time of [[The Ananke Conference]], Kedalion was ruled over by a council formed of representatives from the various corporations with an interest there - their representation proportional to their contribution to the economy.  The three big players were Myriad Manufacturing (the founders of the settlement, and still the largest corporate interest there), Opti Automation Solutions (a close second) and NewYou (a distant third, specialising in cybernetic enhancement).  Much of the day to day running of operations was handled by "optis" (or "optimisation engines"), not true artificial intelligences, but programs which could optimise towards a preprogrammed set of goals and priorities, taking into account all the data available and any preset limits.  The leap to a true AI - which could change its goals in response to a changing situation - was never made.
+By the time of [[The Ananke Conference]], Kedalion was ruled over by a council formed of representatives from the various corporations with an interest there - their representation proportional to their contribution to the economy.  The three big players were Myriad Manufacturing (the founders of the settlement, and still the largest corporate interest there), Opti Automation Solutions (a close second) and NewYou (a distant third, specialising in cybernetic enhancement).  Much of the day to day running of operations was handled by "optis" (or "optimisation engines"), not true artificial intelligences, but programs which could optimise towards a preprogrammed set of goals and priorities, taking into account all the data available and any preset limits.  The leap to a true AI - which could change its goals in response to a changing situation - was not yet made.
+Following [[the Ananke Conference]], Kedalion made a number of changes to its corporate strategy. First, following a deal struck with [[Achelia]]’s Tungsten Roses, the planet went to war against Klaycorp. The combination of Kedalion’s resources and the Roses’ conviction and tactics meant that the tides were very quickly turned against Klaycorp, and the coalition swept quickly to victory. Kedalion were able to push a number of concessions from Achelia, and set up a large number of factories on the planet’s surface.
+Meanwhile, back at home, the governing council implemented a new set of governance processes to improve life on Kedalion. These included the adoption of a series of new governance opti programmes, responsible for different areas. These optis were called Mother, Oracle, Housing, Security, Recreation, Education, Health, Research, Economy and Cyber Security. The Security Opti was designed to take over from the previous ‘War’ opti that had been in use while Kedalion was actively at war with Achelia. Following the Klaycorp victory, the new opti was set up to go.
-Soon after the Ananke conference, Kedalion announced a new corporate strategy and the development of a new set of optimisation processes to improve Kedalion’s strategic position. This included the adoption of an opti called JUPITER by OAS and NewYou cybernetics. JUPITER’s focus was developing new ways of integrating people with optis and other augmentations. At around the same time, the MOTHER programme - an integrated feature of the broader JUPITER scheme - was also announced. The role of the MOTHER programme was to look after the wellbeing of the Kedalian populace, a move welcomed by human rights activists concerned about the potential effects of growing optimisation.
+The first five years after the introduction of these new optis were a time of radical change on the planet. The CEOs of the old ‘Big Three’ corporations were taken out, paving the way for the Economy opti to consolidate Kedalian industry. In a notable change from previous policy, the new opti placed a significant emphasis on both citizens’ quality of life, and the planet’s environment. Economy was able to consolidate a large number of the old corporations, with any who significantly resisted being pushed deep into the black market or simply wiped out.
-The planet also began gearing up for war. A number of Kedalion agents had struck a deal with the Tungsten Roses at the conference, promising to work together against Klaycorp. The combination of Kedalion’s resources and the Roses’ conviction and tactics, the tides were very quickly turned against Klaycorp, and the three major Kedalion corporations were all able to set up bases of operation of the planet. The expanded productive capacity helped when Kedalion invaded Cheimeros, though the war was still slow and bloody.
+After five years, a voting system was brought online to allow people to modify the priorities of the optis, making Kedalion a more democratic place, responsive to the needs of its citizens.
-Meanwhile, at home, the first “enhanced” were slowly becoming known to the public - people with Optis integrated to a high level into their neural pathways, encouraged by the JUPITER programme. Progress on Kedalion over the past twenty years has moved at a breakneck speed, with the combination of uncanny foreknowledge and the JUPITER and MOTHER programmes.
+However, this was not without its controversies. At around the same time as the reforms, the first ‘enhanced’ were slowly becoming known to the public - people with Optis integrated to a high level into their neural pathways, encouraged by the new set of optis. While becoming enhanced is entirely optional, here is a perception that because the Enhanced have generally better and faster network access, they have more voting power. Broadly, however, the reforms made are well regarded and seen to have improved Kedalion signficantly.
 =====Kedalion now=====
-Factories cover huge swathes of the planet, but now that Kedalion is not actively at war many of these are being dismantled or repurposed. The planet bears some scars from the war against Klaycorp, but only a few strikes ever landed in the Kedalion system.
+Where Kedalion was once ruled by a number of squabbling megacorps, society is broadly governed by just one, Kedalion Inc. Much of the planet’s day-to-day governance is managed by the Optis which work to keep the planet going, though the fact that true AI has not yet been developed means that human input is still needed.
-{{ :ryan-morgan-industrial-wasteland.jpg?200|}}
-The people live in cities, many of the purpose-built in the early stages of the war. Living conditions are not exactly spacious, but nor are they so cramped as to allow disease and misery to spread - and under the guidance of Nix Ralone, OAS Vice President of Forward Strategy programme, projects are underway to improve them. People live in tall tower blocks run and monitored by the cities’ optimisation systems, with each individual allotted a living space with a specified number of square feet and regular deliveries of nutrient paste and sanitation products. Entertainment is available, mostly in the form of streams pirated from Kybele, and each skyscraper has an exercise suite to keep people in good health.
+Kedalion Inc. has a number of divisions managing different aspects of production and technological development. The four most significant branches are:
-A lot of human care is taken care of by the MOTHER programme. MOTHER looks after the populace of Kedalion, gently watching over them at all times like a mother should. She usually takes the form of a hologram, but she can also take the form of a bald, slender android body using reserves of a liquid plastic. She is frequently praised for her kindness and mercy by Kedalian citizens, and immigrants to Kedalion will almost always be showered with gifts and praise upon entering the system for the first time. She is so kind, in fact, that people are known to find her quite unnerving if they meet her directly; she says herself she has no favourite children, and her love is so absolutely unconditional that people call it inhuman. She is, of course, very hurt by this and continues to watch the people she frightens from a safe distance.
+  * Cybernetics (commonly referred to as “The Menagerie”) - Headed by Melissa Hive
+  * Biological enhancement and engineering (commonly referred to as “JUPITER”) - headed by Daphne Jupiter
+  * Manufacturing (commonly referred to as “Myriad” - though this is officially discouraged due to the association with the outlawed corporation) - headed by Ann Lopez
+  * Opti Development (commonly referred to as “Persona”) - headed by Nix Ralone
+The divisions tend to work closely together - with Persona, the Menagerie, and JUPITER each contributing to parts of the Enhancement system, for example, and Myriad producing the cybernetics designed by the Menagerie. Myraid operates mainly from Kedalion’s moons to spare the planet the ravages of the waste products from manufacturing, and there is still plenty of capacity for Myriad to expand and produce (not to mention, the lower gravity has allowed developments for some improved manufacturing techniques).
-The wider JUPITER network is in charge of ensuring order is kept throughout the planet. JUPITER is focused on creating a planet where everyone has access to education, healthcare, employment, and entertainment.  While people are mostly free, any of the enhanced who attempt criminal acts will find that their muscles cease to obey them, and the police are quickly dispatched.
+Persona is rumoured to be close to a breakthrough in creating a “true AI” - the details of this have been kept very quiet, but rumour has it that it involved experiments with a Chronos machine (though one set up to have no causal effect).
-Of course, criminals are always more creative, and in the old slums there are many who reject such a controlled society, and install patches to remove the anti-crime restrictions.  This is somewhat tolerated provided the crimes remain low-level, but there are occasionally harsh crackdowns if regions of the cities become too violent. A notable example of this is the Menageris uprising, who smashed several living units in protest at the lack of personal freedom. The gang members were quickly removed from the situation and put in ‘Ultimate Safety Bunkers’ for their own protection. This stuck many people as odd, as the Ultimate Safety Bunkers had otherwise been reserved for Kedalion’s elite of executives.
+People live in purpose-built cities, designed by the Optis in the early stages of their activation to be pleasant places to live. Green spaces are limited, but growing in abundance, and there is plenty of space for leisure. Housing is not particularly spacious, but it is well designed, and ensures access to services and jobs. While all citizens are educated to a good standard and provided with the means of survival, any who desire greater luxury are guaranteed paid employment to acquire it.
-Little has been heard from the bunkers, but occasionally hackers from the Menagerie manage to get some contact with the outside world. The picture within is one of absolute safety, with any possible hazard removed from the environment and inhabitants often sedated if they attempt anything remotely dangerous - or controversial.
+There are still rough areas of the cities where gangs are active, and corporate espionage agents still steal secrets from other planets or corporations.  While Enhancement theoretically has some ability to prevent the Enhanced from committing crimes, the restrictions on surveillance through augmentations or direct control of augmented individuals make this rather toothless - and most would-be criminals will just hack these functions out, anyway.
-There are rumours that a few of the most violent criminals on Kedalion have been locked in a single room for years, confined but fed and watered, with a MOTHER hologram desperately asking them every day to talk to her about their feelings. There are also rumours that, if you’re cybernetically enhanced in the right ways, the Opti can sometimes be heard wailing a sequence of numbers. Nobody knows what these numbers mean, but anyone who hears them always cites the same sequence - commonly taken to be some sort of ID tag.
+====The Enhanced====
-=====The people of Kedalion=====
+The Enhanced are one of the most significant features of Kedalion at present. Enhancement is a voluntary operation to integrate the individual with their optis. Enhancement comes with a number of benefits, including:
+  * External memory storage - more like a fully immersive vlog than true memories, this is essentially just a record of sensory inputs, with very little context included. Memory sharing has grown popular in recent years, and a market for other people’s experiences has grown rapidly.
+  * Access to information - as well as immediate access to the internet, Enhanced can use their Optis to collate information on any topic and load it directly into their brains.
+  * Automation - the Opti can take over certain primarily mechanical functions, such as walking or eating, leaving the Enhanced to think about other things. For example, one could set one’s body to autopilot when walking across a city, and spend the time watching a stream instead.
+  * Communication - any Enhanced can communicate with any other Enhanced, to an almost telepathic degree, over great distances (assuming they are in range of the appropriate comms relays!)
+  * Full immersion VR - The Opti can project onto all senses, allowing “deep dive” simulation for replaying memories, or entirely crafted experiences.
+  * Crime bprevention - the Opti will log any crimes the Enhanced commits. This has led to those who have enhancements being seem as inherently more trustworthy - though, of course, this restriction is easy enough to hack out if you know the right people.
+  * The psYber filter - a visual filter which causes the Enhanced to view everything through an ‘artistic’ lens, to an almost psychedelic degree. It also comes with a number of pop-ups, generally talking about the artistic merits of the thing the Enhanced is viewing, though sometimes displaying random works of art or, occasionally, adverts.
-The general population of Kedalion lives in carefully planned cities, and most eat the nutrient mush rations which are supplied from automated farms outside the cities and made from crops carefully engineered to be nutritionally complete.  The joke is that these are enough for you to survive on, calculated down to the calorie, by some Opti which has been told to keep everyone alive at the lowest cost possible. This doesn’t seem to be entirely accurate, as the nutrient paste does at least come in a few different flavours, and various entertainments are provided.  Black market farms and food smuggling were rife for a while, but tightened security measures have made this difficult. Often, the people can be found in the small stretches of park land between the tower blocks - either participating in communal tech projects (and trying to be the first to run off with the idea and sell it to one of the corporations), or just enjoying the dubiously fresh air.
+Although officially an intended feature of Enhancement, many suspect that psYber is actually a piece of malware placed in the software at its creation. PsYber is enabled by default on all enhancements, and can only be turned off for a fee. However, numerous hacks exist which enable anyone with sufficient technological awareness to have it turned off for far less than the original fee. Of course, there are also plenty of people who enjoy the effect, and leave it on intentionally! Largely, those who pay the fee are businesspeople who have a mistrust of hackers.
-Over the past few years, more and more people have opted for the enhancements offered by the JUPITER programme, to the point where anyone without the upgrades is immediately seen as suspicious and locked out of a number of positions. These enhancements allow the person to access all manner of information, to offload any logical deduction or calculation to the Opti, and even to allow the Opti to take control for physical tasks (e.g. allowing the Opti to handle thing like walking to a destination, or manual tasks requiring little in the way of creativity). New features have been added - easier communication between people, almost to the point of telepathy, the ability to visualise projections of others, allowing people to interact even over great distances.
+At the present time, most Enhanced are still those born biologically, who later take the implants.  However, Research has also created “Jupes” - artificial “vat-grown” humans, who have integrated enhancements.  They are functionally the same as those born biologically, except that they have access to their Enhancement abilities from birth, which makes them much more comfortable in the new world. Biologically born humans can only get Enhanced at 15, though this age tends to move lower every few years as the Enhancements become more and more a part of everyday life.
-Most executives of smaller corporations spend their time reassuring the public at large that they are still in charge, and this is all for their own good in the long run, but their assurances fall mostly on deaf ears.  The Executives of the larger corporations spent most of the war in heavily fortified bunkers, allowing Optis to manage their day-to-day operations, but have now emerged and are once again taking control of their companies - though greater opti integration has led people to question the level of control they really have.

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