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Deeper Covenant
Yang Band
Image from Steve Bowers
The Yang Band, an important Deeper Covenant system near Sol

The Deeper Covenant - Data Panel

DefinitionMajor Civilization
SymbolNo single agreed upon symbol, although a stylised representation of the fourteen (or sometimes twelve or sixteen) sephirotics is sometimes used
Capital SystemHightower
Ruling Toposophic:None officially. Although the Deeper Covenant includes a number of transapients within its ranks, of which the most advanced are known to be S3, they officially operate only as technology providers or in a purely advisory capacity. Other polities, transapients and archai of various S-levels, including even some of the less extreme ahuman elements, count themselves as advisors, associates and allies as a result of the excellent diplomatic work that the Deeper Covenant has conducted over the millennia.
OriginTerragen
FoundedLate Interplanetary Age
PopulationEstimated 190 trillion embodied (primarily Cyborgs, tweaks and a few xenosophonts) with a fluctuating virtual population 2-4 orders of magnitude greater.
Predominant Sophont CategoriesAi, po, bionts, cyborgs, artificials, and virtuals all found.
Psyche, Art, CultureMetapsychology: Pragmatic, empathic, independent, xenophilic, periodically isolationist

Metaethics: Strong sentient rights approach; altruistic cooperative.

Culture and Art: Varies by individual polity

Languages: Highly derived variants of the anglic and other Old Earth terragen language families are the most wide-spoken among bionts. Other clades may use different languages.
Government and AdministrationIndividual Polities: A number of distinct Covenants, Alliances, and Trade Federations

Government Type: Varies by individual polity, mostly cyberdemocracy or concensus mediated aiocracy.

Constitution: Declaration of Covenant.

Legal system: Varies by individual polity

Citizenship: Includes members of all clades of sapient level and above.

Sentients Rights: Good
Economics, Local InfrastructurePolitical Economy: Varies greatly, post-scarcity allocation of basics universal

Resource base: Mostly Brown dwarfs and M-type stars

Megastructures: Vast network of beamrider-linked stations, lightways, some amat farms, large habitats.

Stargate Nexus: None

Beamrider Network: Very Extensive, the Deepers make up the largest Beamrider and Lightway Network in the terragen bubble. Some routes and beam stations are co-managed with Sephirotic worlds.

Data Net: Local Nets only

Military expenditure: Usually minimal (varies by individual polity).

Trade and Good Relations with: Diamond Network, The Objectivist Commonwealth, The Perseus Princes

Longrunning Interstellar Disputes: Solipsist Panvirtuality subversion and encouragement of local blights and perversities, Amalgamation remains a source of anxiety, Diamond Network appropriation of resources.
Sophont TravelHazard Rating: Usually 0.0 to 1.0, in some cases up to 5.0 (depending on clade, polity or world).

Freedom of Movement for Outsiders: Varies by individual polity, usually high

Environmental Requirements: Varies by individual polity.



The Deeper Covenant is a loose, extremely distributed cyberdemocratic civilization living mostly on, in and around the brown dwarfs and interstellar rogue planets of the Terragen Sphere. The founders of the Deeper Covenant were descendants of the construction crew of the first beamrider who escaped the solar system and migrated to the binary brown dwarf Yin-Yang during the Technocalypse.

The Deepers, as they are generally called, have a strong social ethos of cooperation and service in general and of maintaining and extending the Beamrider and Lightway Network in particular. They are a relaxed, but hardworking culture. They consider themselves a part of modern civilization, but at one remove from it, unlike their very distant cousins the Backgrounders and Hiders who regard themselves as separate. Social stability is reinforced by the use of 'empathyware' neuromods. When in close proximity to another person using the e-ware a short range LAN is set up and transmits a low power sense of the emotional state of the person to everyone around them. This technology, although rejected by some, is credited for much of the peace and stability of Deeper culture. Given the vast time-distances between Covenant systems (up to thousands of years of travel) e-ware also facilitates rapid consensus of social etiquette. Upon meeting, the e-ware of two Deepers from distant cultures will interface and negotiate an acceptable etiquette protocol based on their shared experiences, quickly installing the agreed upon model into each Deeper's exoself.

Deepers make use of the full range of modern technologies and have members of virtually every type of clade and species. It is not at all unusual for travellers on the Network to feel an affinity for these pleasant people and to decide to spend a few years or decades or centuries living and working as one of them. Nor is it uncommon for born Deepers to come to live in the hustle and hurry of the Wormhole Nexus for a time before eventually returning to their worlds. Being a Deeper, it is said, is more of a state of mind than a state of being.

Technologically, Deepers are as advanced as the inhabitants of nearly any system in the Nexus and are able to employ all but the most powerful technologies. They often use advanced conversion fusion 'sunlines' to illuminate the equatorial space of their parent brown dwarf and terraform the extensive moon systems such objects usually possess (cf Apogee Maximal). Perhaps because of their dependence on the beamrider system they also make extensive use of active compression members and Lofstrom structures in their architecture, sometimes on a scale to rival even the MPA (though some citizens of the MPA will hotly contest this). Depending on the desires of their inhabitants the worlds and dwarfs of the Covenant may be extensively re-engineered or even disassembled to construct macrostructures for habitation or to tap the abundant magnetic and fusion fuel resources available.

Space Station
Image from Dieter Ludmann (copyright; used with permission)
Space Station (image copyright Dieter Ludmann)

Links to the Wormhole Nexus

Although they make only minimal use of it, the Deepers do have access to the Known Net and the Wormhole Nexus. Their most developed systems can include a microguage communication link and a number of the Network's stellar boost stations are located in systems equipped with transport wormhole plexi. This permits the Covenant to both access the Known Net (although queries may take months or years to complete due to lightspeed lag between the sender and the nearest commgate) and to use the Nexus to expand into new areas from widely separated points without first travelling across all the distance between. Most recently a Deeper 'advance party' was seen travelling into the region of the Carina Rush. The group was spotted passing thru the Nexus some 25 years ago and then dropped out of sight. It is estimated that it will be another century at least before the results of their work become evident in the region.

Overall, Deepers are a quiet but all pervasive part of modern society. Although hard numbers are almost impossible to acquire, it is estimated that they have a population of some 190 trillion embodied beings and hundreds of quadrillions of virtual sophonts spread across approx. a hundred million different locations. Population density varies greatly in Deeper systems as waves of travellers through the network come and go. In many cases Deeper systems may be completely abandoned for a time, left to be maintained by autonomous systems until the next arrival.

beamrider station
Image from Steve Bowers
A Beamrider Projector Station
 
Articles
 
Development Notes
Text by Todd Drashner

Initially published on 10 August 2002.

 
Additional Information