〘POLARIS.〙=Lore=

Cresion Breezes

Cresion Breezes

Beta Tester of Life
Original poster
LURKER MEMBER
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Posting Speed
  1. One post per day
  2. 1-3 posts per week
  3. One post per week
  4. Slow As Molasses
Online Availability
Afternoons to midnight-ish (EST)
Writing Levels
  1. Give-No-Fucks
  2. Intermediate
  3. Adept
  4. Adaptable
Preferred Character Gender
  1. Male
  2. Female
Genres
Hard Scifi, Psychological, Generally weird stuff, fantasy is cool, modern fantasy is also cool, crime/film noir
"Somewhere, sometime, upon a world where we must live in perpetual daybreak……"​

PROLOGUE.

Nobody knows what happened to The Planet, nobody knows its name, or who built the 600 kilometer thick artificial shell upon its surface, or why the climate control system failed 700 years ago. All we can do now is survive, upon this mechanical crust, chasing the night.

Welcome to The Planet, as its measly surface residents call it, a desolate world that is covered in a spherical man-made shell filled to the brim with machines, automatons, and structures that humanity cannot comprehend the purpose of. Most believe that the shell was constructed by the true residents of The Planet, those who live on the true crust of the world beneath the enormous construct.

Life on the surface used to be simple, energy and material could be harvested from pipes and linings, resources regularly flowed up from beneath, and a multitude of satellites controlled the climate of the surface. Organic life lived and thrived, until the fateful day The Planet stopped revolving. It happened so suddenly, satellites fell to the ground en masse, the climate became brittle and cold or scorching with radiation, the air thinned, and hostile machines began to attack organic life. Due to the disaster, the majority of The Planet became uninhabitable. Life took refuge underground, huddled away underground in the Daybreak Zones, the small band where the temperature can allow basic survival. It was difficult, but it got worse, as The Planet began to revolve again decades after the disaster. The Daybreak Zones were shifting, slowly, but too quick for life to keep up on foot. Despair was widespread as life inched towards extinction as the scorching day and freezing night inched forwards, until the emergence of the one thing that gave them hope...
 
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THE WORLD TODAY.
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Welcome to the Polaris, one of the last refuges of organic life. Constructed 700 years ago, it is a giant mobile fortress that houses the remnants of humanity & co. Following the Daybreak Zones, it makes laps around The Planet, year after year. Society has stabilized and is functional, despite the dangers of the world.

Sheltering more than 750,000 persons, Polaris boasts a multitude of functions that emulates the lives of surface residents of the bygone past, including seasonal climate control and regulated day-night cycles.

Polaris had developed into a bustling society due to the fact that it houses the last hope for organic life: God Program Operators, or GPOs as they are commonly known as. God Programs are named for their ability to grant user control over certain aspects of The Planet, from anything to abandoned satellites to sewage pipes. These Operators do various difficult tasks to ensure the Polaris functions as intended, from defeating hostile automated machinery to resource scouting.

GOD PROGRAMS.
God Programs Operators have various characteristics and abilities, mostly unique to the specific program attuned to, but there are a few shared traits. They become much more sturdy physically, and their metabolism undergoes changes, allowing them to only require 20% of food, water and oxygen compared to their original bodies. A powerful regenerative ability is also granted, allowing Operators to regenerate almost any injury as long as their vital organs and brain are intact. The rate differs between different types of programs, but all users are capable of fully reconstructing entire limbs and minor organs.

Of course, it is not easy to become a God Program Operator. No one really knows what makes one compatible. Genetics seem to play a role, but even genetically identical clones and twins would often yield different results. There exists preliminary testing for compatibility administered to all residents, only one out of around two hundred individuals can be considered "compatible", but not all of them can successfully attune. Anyone who yields a compatibility rate above 55% has the option to undergo the conversion process on a volunteer basis, but the higher the compatibility rate, the more they are encouraged to do so.

The process to become a GPO is mysterious and uses equipment found deep underground within the mechanical structures. In order to attune to a God Program, an Operator must be put into an excavated conversion chamber, in which all of their blood will be replaced with a fluid of unknown properties. The entire process can take from anywhere from milliseconds, up to 72 hours, and the sensations felt by the subject also varies greatly from anything to excruciating pain to blissful euphoria. All recorded failures of the process have always resulted in death, where the physical body is completely lost within the chamber.
 
THE POLARIS.

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​
Access to the outside world is severely limited for the average resident due to how hostile the environment is, and residents are usually divided by how qualified they are to traverse the outside world. The bottom third of the fortress is largely devoid of life, as the engines and other internal mechanisms that keep the Polaris' system functioning are placed here. The only time that people traverse through this area is during times of urgent repair or investigation, only qualified engineers and technicians, as well as combatants who follow to serve aS protection. Due to how much time has passed since its creation and its sheer size, traversing the engines is quite challenging of a feat in itself, as small hostile machinery that has slipped in and the inner mechanisms themselves can all be life-threatening.

The midsections of the Polaris are the most heavily reinforced due to the fact they are also the most heavily populated, it houses the bulk of residential sectors with an extremely high ceiling that emulates a natural sky. Life for organic life here is usually calm and idyllic in peace times, there is various infrastructure such as schools, hospitals, and some commercial services. There are great towers that connect this section to the top sectors, the bottom of these towers also serves as the emergency lockdown shelters for the population in case of outer wall breechings or other extreme circumstances.

After scaling the miles of the tower, one can find themselves in the top sector. In some accordance with its name, those in the top sector enjoy the highest quality of life that is possible onboard the Polaris, along with the newest most cutting edge technology excavated from the shell. Despite this, the top sector also contains the highest resident mortality rates, as its residential sectors are the most likely to be breached during hostile encounters. Most GPOs and military personals reside in this sector during their time of service, though regular residents like their family or those who provide certain services can still choose to reside here if they are willing to give up safety for the benefits.

The very top platform of the Polaris is perhaps the most dangerous place one can be. Being completely exposed to the outside world, non-GPOs require specialized gear just to survive. But the dangers don't end there, as the top platform is equipped with an electronic signal emitter that draws all hostile machinery in a certain radius to the top, where GPOs and regular military engage and exterminate them.
 
APOTHEOSIS FLUID & GPO ABILITIES

Apotheosis Fluid is the name given to the unknown liquid that GPOs have in place of blood, it can be nearly any color depending on the individual. Apotheosis Fluid runs through a GPO's body exactly like how blood does, but in most GPOs, the moment it enters the vicinity of the brain, it will revert back to normal blood. While the outer layer of a GPO stays visually the same, sometimes the color of their Apotheosis Fluid can show on some body parts, such as the tongue/inside of the mouth, flesh underneath nails, pupils/sclera of eyes.

Any microscopic observations or attempts to decipher its chemical properties resulted in damage to either the equipment used or data collected. Despite this, Apotheosis Fluid can be easily observed to be the source of GPO abilities and theorized to be the energy source of many infrastructures found in the shell, as the mysterious liquid has been found in many excavated devices and even hostile machinery themselves.

GPO abilities are classified into categories based on how the Apotheosis Fluid of the user behaves:

[Self-Augmentation] - The most common type of GPO ability, where the user's Apotheosis Fluid grants them special abilities pertaining to their own body. The color of their fluid is always unique to the individual.

[Systemic Control (Common Models)] - The second most common type of GPO ability, which allows manipulation of common systems found throughout the shell, such as electrical wiring and automated pipelines. The GPOs who use these abilities share the same color Apotheosis Fluid as the system they are able to control.

[Systemic Control (Unique Models)] - Very similar to the common model variant, but with a singular, more powerful device, essentially granting the user a hyper-personalized weapon or utility. The GPOs who use these abilities share the same color Apotheosis Fluid as the system they are able to control as well. The most common form unique systems take on is satellites.

[Systemic Detection] - Extrasensory ability that pertains to detecting specific types of infrastructure within the shell, unlike their manipulation based counterparts, these GPOs' Apotheosis Fluid does not ever revert back to their original blood, not even within the brain.

[Simulation] - Sometimes considered a subcategory of Systemic Detection, simulation-based GPOs have the ability to create vivid and extremely accurate simulations of certain aspects of the world with clairvoyance like accuracy.

[Organic Based] - In a world filled to the brim with machinery, these GPOs are quite rare and have niche yet important abilities that relate to organic matter. While most Apotheosis Fluid is fatal to normal organic life, theirs are harmless or even can be beneficial to them.

[God Program Related] - Undoubtedly the rarest form of God Program ability: ones that seem to be tailored to supporting other God Programs. They possess Apotheosis Fluid that emits resonance signals with the fluid of others.
 
RACES.
There are five branches of humans on The Planet, two types of organic people who has lived since before recorded history, and three types of artificial humans that were created and integrated:
Humans Sifes Series Clones Auxiliaries


  • Polaris Population Ratio: ~50% of all Residents
    GPO Population Ratio: ~45% of all GPOs
    Average Natural Lifespan: 120 Years

    Sometimes called the "unmods", is believed to be what humans originally are like before the species branched out. All types of humans are a subspecies of these, which is why the term "human" most commonly refers to this group. Biologically, humans have not undergone any major changes in recorded history, and are highly versatile in what they can do.

    Humans benefit from having the ability to reproduce very easily and reliably, pre-birth modifications to human infants is a very established process and can eliminate nearly all natural diseases and deformities. In every major population demolishing disaster, the human population was always the first to bounce back.

    While being versatile and vast in numbers, humans are also very needy in order to survive and have high maintenance bodies. They have a tendency to reject more invasive prosthetic implants, some humans accept artificial prosthetics, but most require custom grown biological parts to replace injured body functions.


  • Polaris Population Ratio: ~35% of all Residents + ~5% Sife-Human Hybrid
    GPO Population Ratio: ~15% of all GPOs + 5% Sife-Human Hybrid
    Average Natural Lifespan: 150 Years

    Short for "Silicon Life", they are functionally similar to the original humans both by interior and outwardly, but with varying color palettes and some physical properties. Unlike the beige to brown, warmer skin tones of humans, sifes tend to lean to cooler colors such as grey to steel blue, often with more saturated hair colors. Most sifes also possess longer hair, as their hair is made from an elastic, fiber-like material that is very strong and difficult to cut. Biologically, they are on average taller and heavier than their carbon-based counterparts. Silicon and carbon-based humans can easily interbreed and have been doing so for an extended amount of time, it is random what traits hybrid children will inherit.

    As their name implies, sifes are life forms mostly made out of silicon, in place of carbon in original humans. They have been present for all of recorded history and have largely coexisted with carbon-based humans peacefully, especially in the era of Polaris. Their compatibility rate with God Programs is usually on the extreme ends: either little to no compatibility or very high compatibility.


  • Polaris Population Ratio: ~5% of all Residents
    GPO Population Ratio: ~25% of all GPOs
    Average Natural Lifespan: 70 Years

    Purely artificial humans created from scratch, they are a somewhat controversial group that is made in bulk for the sole purpose of operating God Programs. Series are usually created in groups of 6, 12, or 24 genetically identical sets, after a God Program and its former users were extensively studied. With compressed mental training and grown acceleration, series typically reach physical and psychological adulthood in just 7-8 years. Series boast very high mortality rates in both the attunement processes and on the frontlines; it is not uncommon for more than half of a group to fail before a member successfully attunes.

    Biologically, series are very similar to humans and sifes, but are created with no biological sex or reproductive capabilities, though some series adopt appearances or pronouns that identifies them as a certain gender. Even though they are not genetically unique, they can still express individuality. Series, even those from the same group, can end up with different appearances and often adopt a sibling-like relationship with their genetic copies. Despite their controversial origins, series are treated well onboard the Polaris. This is mostly due to their part in operating many powerful and important God Programs. They have access to special various services such as Artificial Human Counseling.


  • Polaris Population Ratio: ~5% of all Residents
    GPO Population Ratio: ~5% of all GPOs
    Average Lifespan: Based on Original Genetic Provider

    Clones are artificial humans made from a genetic template of a natural-born person, it is usually required for the original template provider to have passed or expressed explicit consent or request in order for a clone to be produced. Clones can be of a human, sife, or hybrid. It is a fairly rare occasion for someone to be cloned, both consent wise and approval wise.

    There are most commonly two reasons why an individual is cloned officially: some aspect of their talent, or their God Program compatibility. The former does not always succeed in recreating and achievements of the original, while the second is reserved for those with both high compatibility and natural talent in operating God Programs, and has become less common since the creation of Series. Most clones have knowledge that they are a clone, due to it being legally required for them to be informed during their upbringing, and make different choices with that information. Some choose to pursue the continuation of their original's achievements, while others choose to live in ways they prefer. It is very possible for a clone to live a vastly different life than their original, some clones even go on to successfully become God Program Operators when their originals failed or opted out of the option.


  • Polaris Population Ratio: ~1% of all Residents
    GPO Population Ratio: ~5% of all GPOs
    Average Natural Lifespan: 250 Years (Hardware)

    Auxiliaries are another form of artificial humans, created either from scratch or from a personality matrix of an existing person, they are not the digital version of an organic person, instead, they are a unique entity born of the digital world. There is no technology to make sentient digital life upon the Polaris, the synthesizing of auxiliaries is a process that was recovered from deep within the shell, and similar to the God Program attunement process, it is not fully understood.

    They have no organic bodies like the other types of humans, but do possess a physical body known as a Blackbox, the hardware that Auxiliaries store their digital consciousness in. Blackboxes are excavated from the mechanical shell and are limited in number. Auxiliaries are free to roam electronic devices that they have access to in a certain distance surrounding their Blackbox, different individuals have different preferences to what type of device they like to "reside" within.

    Auxiliaries can attune to God Programs that do not contain functions pertaining to an organic body, they cannot be tested for preliminary compatibility, but they also do not die if they fail to attune. After the attunement ritual, regardless of whether it is successful or not, something will happen to the auxiliary's Blackbox that makes accessing its data impossible. Unfortunately, no one currently knows how to properly maintain Blackboxes, and an auxiliary will "die" after their hardware wears out.
 
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SOLARIS & OUTPOSTS.





Far far away on the other side of The Planet, there lies another band of space where the temperature is suitable for life to exist, and another vessel that also traverses the world, in perpetual sunset. In The Sunset Zone, Polaris' sister ship Solaris also houses humanity. Historically, the two were both created in The Daybreak Zone, and traversed side by side in certain eras. Until Solaris suffered a catastrophic breakdown due to large hostile machinery around 100 years after The Planet began to spin again, losing 95% of its population and over half of its GPOs in the grand raid. This incident forced the great vessel to lockdown in place, in the next four decades, Polaris initiated repairs on its sister vessel every year it passes by. After some system functionality was recovered, a small group of people and GPOs stayed behind in order to further repair progress, surviving the eternal day by shutting themselves deep into the structure and going into cryogenic sleep. Eventually, though it took decades, Solaris was restored and started its engines in the area now known as The Sunset Zone.

Systemically and culturally Polaris and Solaris are very similar, they try very hard to keep communication, though that is not always possible. Only simple communication such as radio waves can be used between the two due to numerous sources of interference on the shell, but established underground bunkers called Outposts take up the role of storage unit used to exchange supply and personnel between the two vessels.

Outposts are small underground bunkers suitable for at least 3/5 planet revolution time of survival, but for non-GPOs, transferring between vessels is still considered a great risk. Hostile machinery attacks, shell layer shifting, electromagnetic waves, and other dangers constantly threaten outposts. Due to this, every Outpost as a number of GPOs stationed in order to guard against these threats, usually in event of the Outpost being destroyed, these are the only survivors. But even with their enhanced abilities, there are still many GPOs who die in the eternal day or night, as it is easy to be worn out or caught off guard without the proper abilities to combat situations encountered.
 
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