General Lore Discussion

[SSS]

The quick primer and longsleep revival briefing are relevant.

I've seen the game lore talked about here and there, but there aren't any topics devoted to discussing or speculating/theorizing on it that I could find. I figured it would be easier to create a general topic rather than limiting it to something specific within the lore, so feel free to talk about or speculate on whatever you want.

Anyway, I've been thinking about Glitterworlds recently. I'm particularly curious about their culture, since the only core descriptor seems to be "peaceful". That could entail a lot of different possibilities, including highly spiritual or highly scientific cultures (or even an attempted balance of the two). Their technology could also provide unusual contributions to their culture, such as AI-enhanced/interconnected brains (much like in a hive mind) or biomechanical ecosystems. The type of "peaceful" we're talking about really depends on the specifics of the world's culture and tech.

At that- what would happen if someone was foolish enough to attack a Glitterworld? Do these Glitterworlds actually have unparalleled weapons of destruction that they simply refuse to use unless they must? (The Bentusi from the Homeworld series comes to mind, if you're familiar with them.) Or have they totally forgone their old weapons of war, like, for example, the last of the Chozo in the Metroid series?

How do they spend their time? Do they like to see technology and nature in unison or segregated? Are they highly accepting or very set in their ways? Ect., etc., etc.

I'd love to hear some others' thoughts on it.

[Clayton]

Attacking Glitterworld: I feel like a super-advanced society like this would be heavily bogged down in democracy or some other form of popular choice. I feel like an attack on Glitterworld would be met with a vote of how to respond to said threat, determining the amount of retribution and if any at all.

My personal opinion of Glitterworld is that they're not only highly advanced in technology, but in state of mind. I feel like they take advantage of their state of life and shit like that. Imagine being a highly advanced society like them: we'd still have outlets like video games and media and things along those lines.

[Cyclops]

In the grim darkness of the far future, all the bureaucracy is made of latin.

Obviously, glitterworlds are going to have some kind of communist structure where all the people make the decisions but still retain their individuality.

To hell with votes, mind-internet connection FTW!

[milon]

I've always thought of Glitterworlds as being like the Queendom of Sol (see Wil McCarthy's 4 book series).  Nearly limitless power, but still quite able to destroy itself.  And the humans remaining after the collapse may be nothing like humans now.  (Tynan, if you haven't read the series, have a look - it does an excellent job exploring realistic-ish tech and the social implications.  No aliens either. It's right up your alley!)

[Goo Poni]

I picture a utopian Coruscant. Though the lower sectors of Coruscant are probably on par with Urbworlds.

[EscapeZeppelin]

Since there's no ftl travel I imagine that the collapse of a Glitterworld is an internal thing, and the current lore seems to imply that rise of a world to the ultra high-tech Glitterworld status and then total collapse is a cyclical thing.

I suspect the reason for the collapse is usually the same. Increasing population tries to maintain their Glitterworld standard of living on increasingly scarce resources. Eventually everyone sees the writing on the wall and all hell breaks loose. Groups try to seize power either to protect their status or attempt to impose rationing but there are too many people and too little to go around. Chaos turns into all-out war and what could have been saved is destroyed as civilization collapses and scant remaining resources are turned into weapons of war or ships to leave the system. Survivors are either forced to abandon their now unsustainable technology and become primitives, become raiders in order to maintain what little tech they have, or flee in cold sleep to a Rimworld to start the process of building/collapse all over again.

[ShadowTani]

I imagine Glitterworlds to be somewhat like the society proposed by the Venus project. What I imagine is something like this:

1. Monetary system replaced by a RBE (resource based economy) that have eliminated all poverty and the profit-based destruction of nature.

2. A direct democratic technocracy/cyberocracy that has no career politicians - experts (doctors, scientists etc.) acts as guides and advisors instead, while each person contribute to all decisions needed according to interest. Super computers runs and monitor the system and also make the changes that is agreed upon by the public.

3. Near full automation of all labor, where the few tasks that haven't been automated yet is rotated on by a thriving volunteer system. As such the population overall dedicate most of their time to hobbies, social pursuits, education, enjoying/caring for nature, sports and similar things.

4. They will have developed a high respect and appreciation for life, so if threatened they would most likely favor non-lethal weapons. And after striking down the enemy with highly efficient non-lethal weaponry they would likely capture any unconscious attackers and have them rehabilitated according to their values.

However, how such a society could collapse eventually is beyond me; I can see these colonies progressing towards transcendent worlds far more often than collapse. Population growth doesn't sound like a plausible scenario for collapse to me as a highly educated society of today usually suffer negative population growth - mostly gaining growth from refugees. As an example this is a huge problem in Japan where immigration is fairly low, there the retired population is becoming far greater than the working class. However, in a Glitterworld where I can imagine there's no career to consider and life prolonging methods reach close to immortality I would suspect population growth might reach a considerable surplus again. But then again I would think that could be regulated through colonization? Either way, fascinating topic. x3

[RawCode]

Don't forget about George Orwell like worlds, i may recommend this to view
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0238380/

Current "list" lack dystopian world type with extremely advanced technology and full control over citizen life, such worlds should be completely unforgiving places.

Most valid references are Psycho Pass world, half-life 2 and deus ex worlds.

With technology beyond any imagination, unlimited energy and resources, government still keep population under strict control and decide every move of everyone.

Thought crimes are common, some worlds punish any offence with death.

Unlike "glitterworlds" that may feature no military, attacking dystopia is plain suicide, since such governments keep extreme amount of military to suppress population and that military always elite.
In case of Psycho Pass, in order to suppress riots government used tanks from border guard duty to deal with civilians - keep power at any cost, ever if everyone will die, such state will try to keep power.


half-life 2 world, deus ex world, lots of mange\anime about cyborgs (high tech low life concept)

[Riordan]

i feel it was a failed experiment, the world that exploded and it's resulting shock wave caused you and the crew to crash land on a planet. also catapulting the mechanoid hives of their military across the galaxy, and now without their technologically advanced builders the mechanoid army has gone...mad looking for their home world. Viewing all other organics as hostiles to the glitter world home hive...leaving you with the mess of a broken utopia who's scientific greed caused their own destruction, and in doing so destabilizing the entire galaxy.

[keylocke]

Obviously, glitterworlds are going to have some kind of communist structure where all the people make the decisions but still retain their individuality.

To hell with votes, mind-internet connection FTW!

ahahaha... nice ones.

[minami26]

Glitterworlds fall because they are drawn to the chaos, and the imperial inquisition will destroy their heresy. For the emperor!! Oh wait. Wrong universe.

[Headshotkill]

Glitterworlds... where the Iphone is Idictator.

[JonoRig]

Glitterworlds fall because they are drawn to the chaos, and the imperial inquisition will destroy their heresy. For the emperor!! Oh wait. Wrong universe.

I don't know, I think it could be interesting to think of rimworld being post-fall, pre-emperor 40k universe

[fraz]

I have a concern regarding the lore. The Longsleep Revival Briefing states:

Humanity is smeared across a region of the galaxy about 1,200 light years wide. [...] there is a general trend towards greater population density towards the center of the galaxy, where stars are closer together, travel times shorter, and resources more abundant. In the opposite direction, towards the rim of the Perseus arm of the Milky way, the rimworlds drift alone and mostly unvisited.

This is great, except that the galactic center is approximately 27,000 light years from Earth. Even if the entire 1,200 light year distribution of humanity stretches from Earth directly toward the galactic center, that gets us <5% the distance to the core. Likewise, the Perseus arm - the nearest galactic arm to Earth - is around 6,000 light years from Earth. A 1,200 light year region is simply too small to match the distribution described in the briefing. We would need a region at least 10x as large, and therefore the game would need to take place much farther in the future.

[StorymasterQ]

I have a concern regarding the lore. The Longsleep Revival Briefing states:

Humanity is smeared across a region of the galaxy about 1,200 light years wide. [...] there is a general trend towards greater population density towards the center of the galaxy, where stars are closer together, travel times shorter, and resources more abundant. In the opposite direction, towards the rim of the Perseus arm of the Milky way, the rimworlds drift alone and mostly unvisited.

This is great, except that the galactic center is approximately 27,000 light years from Earth. Even if the entire 1,200 light year distribution of humanity stretches from Earth directly toward the galactic center, that gets us <5% the distance to the core. Likewise, the Perseus arm - the nearest galactic arm to Earth - is around 6,000 light years from Earth. A 1,200 light year region is simply too small to match the distribution described in the briefing. We would need a region at least 10x as large, and therefore the game would need to take place much farther in the future.

Two possible answer:

- It is actually 12,000 and Tynan (and all Sci-Fi writers) don't have a sense of scale.
- The spreading actually started a few thousand years AGO, and this Earth is just one of the 'colonies' of that spread.