The Interstellar Matrix Campaign

[TKalbfus]

What if the world you lived in was not real?

What if all it took was a program downloaded from the stars and run on you home computer to send you to a distant planet?

The above is possible if the universe we live in is not real.

Consider this: A Dyson Sphere 93 million miles in radius was an inner surface area equal to one billion Earths.

But what if instead of making that inner surface habitable, we make that inner surface into a computer that runs on the entire solar output of the Sun. The computer runs a software simulation of the Solar System prior to the construction of the Dyson Sphere, it simulates the parts of the Solar System that move, its simulates the live that lives on the surface of the planets, it simulates people who don't know they are simulations, people who are otherwise just like us, except they are not "real", only computer simulations. There is plenty of space left on they Dyson Sphere to simulate other Star Systems, in fact a large number of them, but they people living on Sim Earth don't know that, they think their Universe is real.

Then one day a Seti researcher receives a signal from the stars. The signal is easy to decipher, if fact its so easy that it takes a form of a program that can run on a desk top computer, or even an lap top, and when run it can transport the computer and everything a certain distance from the computer a certain distance away. Another program causes the computer to lift off the desk and defy gravity without pushing on anything. Actually what it does is lift everything within a certain radius of the computer. The software can do this because the Universe, the computer its running on and the objects surrounding it aren't real. By partially rewriting some of the software that runs the sim universe, its possible to relocate to some other part of the sim universe without regard to light speed limitations. By entering the proper coordinates into a computer runing this software, its possible to relocate to some other part of the universe almost instantly.

Because of the way the Sim Universe works, it is first necessary to lift of the surface of the Sim Earth and go some distance into space first before utilizing this drive. Another program produces artificial gravity and negates the forces of acceleration.

The reactionless drive program requires an input of electrical energy, which it converts to kinetic energy without using up reaction mass, it does this in apparent complete violation of the know laws of the Universe, but since the Universe were talking about is not real, this doesn't matter. The discoverer of these interstellar programs becomes rich and the production of various Traveller Style spaceship commences.

A jump drive is simply a computer running software that causes a Jump to occur carrying everything within a certain radius of the computer with it. These Jump programs only work out beyond 100 planetary radius's of the nearest planet, but there is nothing too difficult about it, any computer can run the software and the software can be copied, stored on CD-ROMs, DVDs, tapes whatever. When one reads the code of these programs, they don't seem to be doing much except making calculations with random numbers and accepting coordinates for input. But apparently the code is such that it rewrites a portion of the simulations data base so as to change the position coordinates of whatever is in the effective radius of the jump computer. The Jump computer also consumes a certain specified omount of pure hydrogen, that simply just disappears. Another program causes hydrogen fusion to occur without radiation leakage and converts all the output energy into electricity. All that's really required is to build the spaceships that carry the computers running this software. Main requirement is that the spaceships can hold in air, regenerate its oxygen supply and resist radiation Most of the technology is TL 7, everything above that is acturally the effect of a particular program being run on a computer.

This discovery changes everyday life on Modern day Sim Earth in unexpected ways. Why these programs should work no one really knows as no one has every been able to step outside the simulation and the computer that is running it. Meanwhile all the nations of Sim Earth explore and colonize the near star systems which are also simulated by this computer. When they go a certain distance from Sol and realize that they can't go any further, the truth becomes apparent. The reason why the programs so easily defy the laws of physics is because the "Universe" is not real.

Well, what do you think of this idea for a campaign?

 

[kafka47]

Tom,

I think you are onto something interesting. The only modification to your idea is this how I visualize the centre of the Black Curtain on Reference with Vampires routinely calling upon the worlds of Chartered Space to bring and drain more into the matrix. That is until they encounter a lifeform that has also suitably modified itself biologically and cybernetically to merge with a Virus host program.

This is what I visualize as the Dominate...am I even close Martin?

 

[TKalbfus]

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by Vampires, or Black Curtain. The Dyson Sphere Computer can only simulate a finite amount of space, for arguments sake, I'll say it is a sphere about 10,000 light years in radius or about 3070 parsecs from the Sun to the edge of Sim Space. The computer doesn't really go through too much trouble to simulate the vacuum between the stars, or lifeless planets with nobody on them, it simulates people, and complex multicellular lifeforms down to the atomic level, it approximates weather patterns on lifeless planets to the same degree of precision that our current weather modeling software does, but it does not bother tracking every lifeless atom. When someone turns on a computer in sim space, the Dyson Computer runs the program itself rather than running a simulation of a computer running a program, this saves on computational resources, and it also allows for short cuts through space by rewriting the Dyson Computer's database on positional vectors. By similar hacking techniques you can create Grav technology, and reactionless maneuver drives. Since the Dyson Computer focuses most of its computational resources around planets, starships have to travel beyond 100 planetary diameters to allow the hacker programs to rewrite the starship's positional vectors.

The "Black Curtain" you refer to might mean the edge of Sim Space. What happens when a sim ship tries to go beyond the edge? Perhaps the Jump programs fail to take you there. Perhaps the nanoreplicators reproduce the sim starship in real atoms outside the Dyson Sphere, or perhaps it beams the ship's information to one of its distant information gathering probes at light speed. One thing is certain, If a Sim Ship ever becomes real, it will need to deal with real physics, no reactionless maneuver drives, not Jump Drives, no FTL. A ship that depends on such things can do little more than keep its occupants alive. Another question is whether the Dyson Sim Computer runs its simulations in real time or slower than real time.

If it runs 365 times slower that the real universe, it can beam a sim starship's data along with occupants to a distant probe at light speed. The probe can then use nanotechnology to reproduce the spaceship using real atoms and it can then explore the real universe. With a passage of time back in the sphere Sim of about 1 day per light year traveled at light speed in the real universe.

This is a Hard Science Fiction setting in that no real FTL is allowed for. The sim space simulates a softer version of this "Hard Reality", and their are many parsecs to explore in sim space. The Sim Space is modeled on the data collected from the probes out to a distance of 3070 parsecs from Sol. These probes have taken about 12,000 years to reach every star system within 10,000 light years (3070 parsecs) of Sol. The probes simply sampled a few life forms from each planet with life on it and reproduced those planets as it found them in sim space, sending the data at light speed back to the Dyson Computer. Once all that data had been gathered in the year 27,000 AD, simulation began of the Sim Space in the year 2100 AD, and 2005 AD Simultaneously. The people of these two sim spaces think their universes are real and the Dyson Sphere has enough computational resources to simulate both Sim Spaces at once. If the GM wants, he can add a third Sim-Space, this one can involce crystal Spheres, Spelljamming wooden ships, Tech Level 2 technology, and simulated magic. The 2100 AD Sim Space follows Physics the closest, you need a physical jump drive, manuever drive, and grav plates, all these are are just physical manifestations of the software programs allowing for FTL travel and the like. In the 2005 world, simply running the software on a standard desktop computer will achieve these effects. In the Spelljammer Sim Space, Magic Spells are simply programs uttered verbally with material componnents and handwaving which achieve these same effects within this particular sim space. Travel between one Sim Space and another may be possible.

 

[kafka47]

Tom,

What I was actually suggesting is to incorporate into the OTU via the guise of TNE. For an explaination of Black Curtain, Vampires and Virus. You might want to try posting on the TNE portion of the board for an explaination.

But, I do like the basic premise of your idea...

 

[TKalbfus]

Oh, that virus! I thought you meant a virus affecting the Sim-Computer I had an image of runaway nanotech spaceship uploading whole planets of creatures by taking them apart atom by atom in including them into their sim data base, these ships were the vampires. Of course each time a planet is uploaded the creatures memories are wound back a few days so that they have no memory of this event. Perhaps the OTU is in Sim Space and its inhabitants don't know it. Or perhaps the Sim Space is in the OTU in the form of a Dyson Sphere, since they conceil their star, they can remain hidden for a long time, but in this case it would be running a Sim Program that was sufficiently different from Traveller T20 so as to make it interesting. Perhaps Spelljammer for example. A starship that approaches to closely to the Dyson Sphere may find itself uploaded. That is taken apart atom by atom by a nanotech scanner very rapidly. The opposite is downloading, where the same device reassembles the ship and its inhabitants atom by atom in real space.