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Ayan-4 Affair
Ayan-4*
Image from Keith Wigdor
Since the discovery of the reality of their creation, the Ayan-4 cyborgs have developed a detached and stoic attitude to events
During the early re-colonization of the Serpens region, a culture of cyborgs at Ayan-4 was discovered. This cyborg culture had apparently been isolated in the region during the Version War and had developed in total isolation. Anthropologists studied the culture with interest, but within two decades it was largely forgotten. Like most similar cases it was largely absorbed into interstellar culture and the members scattered widely.

In 6766 the Murmant announced that it had discovered evidence that the Ayans were in fact a forgery. During explorations of Keterist databases it had uncovered evidence showing that a group of low transapients had constructed the entire Ayan culture a few years before contact was achieved with the rest of the wormhole nexus in order to gain an authentic stream of modosophont experience. The Ayan cyborg brains were designed to shunt experience into the Keterist nets, turning them all into independent sources of modosophont-level qualia such as hopes, fears, superstitions and misapprehensions that most transapients can no longer experience authentically.

The discovery caused protests, and the unnamed transapients withdrew. The oldest generation of Ayans uploaded into a long term storage database, leaving their descendants to pick up the pieces. While the majority resleeved into other sophont variants, a small group of diehard Ayans remained at Ayan-4 and elsewhere, steadfastly holding onto their culture and claiming its authenticity.
 
Appears in Topics
6700 to 7200 AT: The Age of CrisisIntertoposophic RelationsSignificant Historical Events
 
Development Notes
Text by Anders Sandberg
Initially published on 02 November 2001.

 
 
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