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Solsys Civil War Virch
History > 0900 to 3200 AT: Interstellar Era > 1500 to 2100 AT: Late Federation / AI Emergence
Galactography > Cybercosm, The
Galactography > Cybercosm, The
 Image from MacGregor | |
| Ahistorical flag for the First Federation used in the Solsys Civil War Virch | |
The Solsys Civil War is a long-running fiction virch set during an ahistorical depiction of the last days of the First Federation. Currently housed in the Quantarian Hyperplex in the Jinvanco system, the simulation was created in 7282 AT by the enigmatic S2 entity Symphonic Hemorrhage, who continues to oversee its operation. The virch is often described as a sort of game (though never by Symphonic Hemorrhage), where participants are inserted as one of a myriad of characters into the drama. Access is free to modosophonts though they must consent to Symphonic Hemorrhage recording and retaining their in-virch experiences.
Plot Summary
The following represents a summary of the fictional history and events leading up to and taking place during a supposed civil war in the last days of the First Federation. Many of the events - such as the creation of the first wormholes - are depicted as anything up to centuries displaced from their real world origins, while others - such as the civil war itself - never happened at all:The Federation of Sophonts is racked by internal problems. Within Solsys, the worlds and habs have moved to largely handle trade and diplomacy directly among themselves, relegating the Federation to simply a ceremonial role - rubber stamping treaties and agreements it has no actual hand in crafting. Many light years from Sol, rogue megacorporations, upstart colonists, and even petty crime lords are able to do as they please, breaking Federation laws, or worse, claiming to act under Federation mandate. This naturally causes frustration within the Federation government, and leads to a growing militarist movement. As the megacorporations move to richer pastures on the new frontier, and many of the transapient AIs likewise emigrate from Solsys or abandon the Federation to tend projects of their own, control slowly reverts to modosophont leadership.
In the Federation Assembly, factions of "Solarists" and "Universalists" vie with each other over which one can best return a sense of pride and relevance to the Home System, tugging the less enthusiastic but more pragmatic "Centralist" faction back and forth according to the tides of politics. The relatively few resources that the Assembly directly controls are squandered on impractical military buildups and other distractions.
When the first wormhole linking Solsys to the Nexus is established, the Federation leadership sees its chance: while the Federation cannot control the wormhole builders and most of the wormholes are beyond its reach, if it can control access to the Einstein Gate, it will have sufficient leverage to re-unify all of Solsys under a new Federation. In a rare act of unity, the factions push through the Stargate Governance Act. The Act rules that all matters relating to modosophont use of the Einstein Gate are under Federation governance. All transits must therefore receive Federation approval, over and above any rights granted by the wormhole creators. When these demands are ignored, the Federation leadership attempts to assert them through military and economic force, in a series of ultimately unsuccessful blockades and sanctions.
Most of the Federation's Solsys-based polities prove quite capable of defending themselves; those who are not are able to quickly call on aid from their more powerful neighbors and, in at least some iterations, on the wormhole control mind, with devastating results for the Federation forces. The Federation's attempts at economic warfare are equally confounded - its edicts are simply ignored and trade and commerce across Solsys continues on uninterrupted - and hurt no one but the Federation's few remaining fragments of credibility in Solsys.
The final result is a series of desperate and crude attempts at coercion, including the infamous Copernicus Tyranny (named after the month in which the event often occurs), which leads to a widespread revolt. When fighting breaks out, the Solsys Civil War lasts anywhere from 11 to 98 years in virch time. Once certain conditions are met, the virch is restarted. To date, the Solsys Civil War has never been successfully averted nor is it clear if this is even possible in the virch. The actual events of the war, compared to the buildup of the conflict, vary considerably from iteration to iteration.
Reception and Influence
The Solsys Civil War has waxed and waned in popularity over the millennia. While by no means the largest or longest running virch known, it is considered impressive by many cultural historians and virchologists. Much is unknown about the virch's purpose and the stylistic choices made by Symphonic Hemorrhage. The virch contains a curious mix of actual history with a large amount of ahistoric or even outright fictitious personas, locations, and technologies. Symphonic Hemorrhage has refused to become involved in the debate, maintaining a coy silence on the virch's historical veracity or eir reason for running it for such a long time. While the vast majority believe the conditions depicted in the virch are fictional, there are some who claim they represent true events and the accepted historical record is actually an elaborate ruse. Some have speculated that Symphonic Hemorrhage may be ascended from a sophont who lived through the fall of the First Federation and is somehow trying to answer a question regarding eir past, though evidence for this is scant. Various versions of the Solsys Civil War virch exist elsewhere in the Terragen Sphere, run by other transapients. Symphonic Hemorrhage has always maintained that these are mere "adulterations."Related Articles
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Development Notes
Text by MacGregor and Todd Drashner
Initially published on 14 January 2022.
Initially published on 14 January 2022.
