Perseus Principalities

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Galactography > Other Major Polities, Empires, and Meta-Empires > Perseus Principalities

Image from Tasp and Worldtree
The animated form of the Perseus Principalities logo

The Perseus Principalities - Data Panel
Overview	Definition: Growing Hybrid-progenitor Empire Symbol: A projection of a higher-dimensional figure, usually rendered in pink within a blue ring. Alternative symbols include fractal triangles and snowflakes with a star-field motif. Ruling Archailect: Prince Vatsceh (SI:5), alongside three other SI:5 minds (Prince Nayadara, Prince Eguil, and Prince Berva) and many subordinate SI:4. Archailect Ethos: Varies by prince, but they actively guide lower toposophic beings in forming diverse communities, and intervene directly when necessary to resolve internal conflicts.
Founding History	Origin: Mixed Terragen and xenosophont. Emerged from splinters of the Solar Dominion and Metasoft during the ComEmp Period, integrating numerous minor polities and local cultures in the Perseus Rift, and more recently a number of Muuh and Soft One cultures. Founding Events (AT): 4445 - 4650: During the Version War, Metasoft and the Solar Dominion lose control of several rimward polities. 4650 - 5400: The Perseus Rift and the polities within develop on their own. Panvirtuality AIs colonize some of the stars in this region and reach agreement with nearby polities on non-aggression and resource utilization. 5400 - 5800: The Solar Dominion recontacts their colonies in the Perseus Rift, who refuse to rejoin - they are thriving on their own. 6000 - 6500: Several transapients in the region ascend to SI:4 and unite civilizations into the Perseus Principalities empire, finding common ground with each other and with the Panvirtuality. They send fleets to explore the Perseus Arm. Due to their active role as sovereigns, citizens (including lower transapients) often refer to the ruling archai as 'Princes'. 8400s: Prince Vatsceh ascends to SI:5. 8750 - 8800: First contact with the Amalgamation. Perseus Principalities join in the foundation of PADO, which eventually halts the Amalgamation advance. 9012: Pluton transformed from a mining world into a livable arcology. 9050: Wormhole nexus construction begins. 10002: Completion of a 3000-star wormhole nexus consolidating their influence.
Culture, Art and Society	Cultural Ethos: Fractalism, pioneer valor, connectivity, and interspecies integration. Society: The Perseus Principalities include a diverse collection of societies, typically comprising a mix of clades that may include xenosophonts. They place a high value on harmony and interconnection for all societal and toposophic levels, and tribeminds are very common. The Principalities also encourage settlement of the frontier to bring more stars and more diversity into the empire. Intertoposophic Relations: Influenced by Fractalism. Perseus culture encourages citizens to temporarily merge with citizens from one or two toposophic levels below them. The higher minds may have parts of their mental architecture dedicated to merging with lower toposophics. There is a continuous stream of citizens who volunteer to merge with higher toposophics. After a set amount of time, the part of the higher mind that used to be independent will become independent once more, leaving room for other minds. In some cases, a lower toposophic level may temporarily merge with a higher one, who then merges with an even higher one, and so on. This extends even below G 0 in the Berram7 'G' Scale. Modosophonts can merge with presapients (G -1), who in turn may be connected to even simpler beings such as insects or jellyfish (G -2). Maintains a robust balance across toposophic levels, with SI:1—SI:3 entities often forming specialized collectives, and higher minds overseeing macrostrategy. Architecture: Fractal architecture is widespread and iconic. Religion and Ideology: A variety of religions expand on Fractalism or coexist with it, though they usually integrate into wider society instead of forming closed subcultures. Ontology: Fractalism - a belief in a 'great web of being' where every entity has a rightful and meaningful place in a cosmically recursive structure. Each being is a fractal element of a greater divine computation.
Demographics	Morphodynamics: The population is highly diverse but more menomorphic than in most Sephirotic empires. A high proportion of the infomorph population is made up of alifes. The individual ascension rate is lower than average, although it is relatively common for citizens of all toposophic levels to form tribeminds, which themselves may be elements of higher toposophic tribeminds. This process can repeat iteratively up to the level of interstellar-scale entities. Many higher toposophic minds are either tribeminds or include them as an significant element of themselves. Population Breakdown: - Infomorphs: 40 - 400 quadrillion - Embodied Terragens: 100 trillion - Embodied Xenosophonts: 20 trillion, mostly Muuh and Soft Ones - SI:1 Transapients: 8 billion - SI:2 Transapients: 7.3 million - SI:3 Transapients: 4.8 thousand - SI:4 Archailects: 47 - SI:5 Archailects: 4
Galactography	Current Territory: A volume containing the coreward edge of the Perseus Arm between the Muuh Empire and the Heart and Soul Nebulae, and adjacent parts of the Perseus Rift. Number of Aligned Star Systems: Approximately 2,474,000 Breakdown: - Core star systems: approx. 63,000 - Aligned star systems: approx. 1,227,000 - Protectorates and client polities: approx. 1,184,000 Capital: The empire has four capital systems, one for each of the ruling SI:5s. Pluton is Prince Vatsceh's main seat, a repurposed mining world turned into an SI:4-maintained habitable world with both Muuh and Terragen bionts, while the nearby star TYC 2874-1893-1 hosts much of Vatsceh's computation. Major Systems and Megastructures: The Blackbody Cluster, Pehhpepep
Government and Administration	Government: Imperial Government: Polyarchal techno-aristocracy of SI:5s and SI:4s with regional authority delegated to lesser transapients. Local Government by Polity: Archailect-ruled polities are often referred to as Principalities, but these are not archailectocracies like the Solar Dominion. Modosophonts normally form their own governments, which take a wide variety of forms including consensus-based, democratic, and meritocratic councils. However, Fractalism encourages leaders and citizens to temporarily form tribeminds with each other or to merge with higher (or lower) toposophic minds, sometimes extending over two or more toposophic levels, so in practice very few Perseus polities are purely modosophont-led. Citizenship: Citizenship is open to all sophonts but requires the approval of one or more transapient patrons; once granted, it is respected by all Perseus Principalities polities. Some citizenship rights are extended to sufficiently intelligent subsophonts. Local citizen status may sometimes be granted by individual polities using a wide variety of means, but is much more restrictive (especially in areas closer to the Amalgamation Containment Region) and not universally accepted throughout the empire. Often this serves as a transitory state for sophonts who have yet to encounter an administrative transapient, or is attributed to those in quarantine due to suspicion of being an Amalgamation vector. Sophont Rights: Strongly protected. The Perseus Principalities generally expect citizens of each toposophic level to guide and protect lower toposophic beings and act responsibly towards higher toposophics. However local laws may be strict, especially in militarised regions and polities. Empire Holidays: - Nexus Completion Day - Epp-Memory Day (mourning and reflection on the Epp War)
Activities and Infrastructure	Civil Infrastructure: Substantial but still developing. The Perseus Principalities maintain a local wormhole nexus connected to the main Nexus via the Blackbody Cluster, along with more extensive Beamrider and Lightway networks. They have a large and growing number of computronium nodes for virches, transapients, and other simulations. The Principalities have a preference for developing and settling moons and planets, especially cold worlds suitable for Muuh and Soft Ones, although most of the embodied population still lives in orbital habs. Economy and Activities: The interstellar economy of the Principalities is focused on expansion and colonisation. Gas giants and some stars are intensively exploited for raw materials for orbital structures, conversion to exotic matter for wormholes, and in some cases weapons production. On the other hand, inhabited worlds are usually relatively sparsely developed, with large areas set aside as reserves or for roleplay and other cultural activities. Military Infrastructure and Warfare: By Sephirotic standards, military expenditures are fairly large and extend across most toposophic levels. Of course, the bulk of such expenditures come from the archailect Princes themselves, who are focused on containing the Amalgamation. Much of the available infrastructure is known to be used for military purposes such as strategic intelligence gathering, and the Princes field transapient warships and combat ISOs at a level comparable to the Archosaurian Empire. Modosophont, SI:1 and SI:2 polities may have their own military forces, often serving in various defence roles within their toposophic level, most often as a way to deter aggressive neighbouring polities. This is due to the unstable hinterland political status of the Perseus Rift. SI:4 and SI:3 military expenditures are more in line with those of the Sephirotics. It is theorised that those toposophic levels are too weak to contribute to the fight against the Amalgamation and that security operations against other SI:3 and SI:4 are less needed.
Interstellar Politics	Treaty Participation: The Perseus Principalities are active participants in many accords and treaties, especially those relating to mutual defence and sentient rights. These include: Tragadi Accords, Perseus Arm Defence Organisation, anti-Amalgamation Defence and Mutual Aid Organisation, Jekaumeatrine Accords, Sentient Rights Protocols (Full Installment), Animal Rights Accord, Bonitsa Baseline Protection Treaty, Tipaza Ethics Agreement, Mekelon Astrogation Information Exchange Agreement. Interstellar Relations: Generally good. The Persus Principalities are allied with the Solar Dominion and Metasoft in PADO, and are on good terms with the other Sephirotics. They also have the closest relations of any major polity with the Muuh (including their System of Response) and most Soft Ones groups. At least at higher toposophic levels, they are also known to have made agreements with the Solipsist Panvirtuality and seem to have a positive relationship with them. Interstellar Disputes: Aside from their ongoing campaign against the Amalgamation, the Principalities are involved in some conflicts with expansionist minor empires around the Perseus Rift. The most recent major war involving the Persus Principalities was the 9583-9949 Epp War fought against an alliance of Methanoid tweaks and Soft Ones xenosophonts.

Introduction

The Perseus Principalities are an emerging hyperpower in the Perseus Arm. The population is diverse and includes sophonts from a notably large number of clades as well as large populations of both the Muuh and Soft Ones. One of the ruling archailects, Prince Vatsech, appears to be creating a hybrid civilization drawing from the cultures of the ancient Muuh, their clients the Soft Ones, and the Terragens.

Besides their diverse population, the Perseus Principalities are defined by their proximity to the Amalgamation, the mysterious and extremely dangerous civilization/blight on their rimward border. They have responded by building alliances with the Sephirotic Empires and taking a leading role in the Perseus Arm Defence Organisation. This has drawn some criticism from outside observers who assert that a number of Principality civilizations have been shaped to be little more than resource extraction systems, happily neglecting their own standard of living and culture to devote maximum effort to the creation of weapons and material for the PADO.

The Principalities practice Fractalism: an ontology that teaches that all citizens have a place in a chain of being that extends both above the highest archailects and below the smallest scales of space. The fractal grows in richness as new worlds are colonised or brought into the fold, and as new life is created by the citizens themselves. Fractalists believe that every citizen has bonds of responsibility extending to those above and below them in the chain, guiding lower beings while following the leadership of higher beings. Fractalism has inspired a fractal motif in the societies and architecture of the Principalities.

History

Origins

The Perseus Principalities trace their origins to the polities founded in the Perseus Rift during the Version War as various groups - mostly colonists loyal to either the Solar Dominion or Metasoft Version Tree - settled the region. Located dozens of light-years away from the nearest wormhole, the colonies soon lost contact with their parent empires who were increasingly pre-occupied by the ongoing conflict. Even though space and resources were plentiful, Metasoft and Dominion colonies distrusted each other, separated by ideological divisions and mutual enmity. In this environment, independent settlers would inevitably go their own way.

Unlike the situation during the founding of the Red Star M'pire, no single transapient held overwhelming dominance over the others during the development of the Rift. The most advanced minds to arrive among the first settlers were seven SI:2 individuals divided into two opposing blocs: four aligned with Metasoft, and three loyal to the Dominion. However, their colonies were separated by distances of tens of light-years, so open interstellar war never occurred.

Instead, the Metasoft-Dominion rivalry in the Rift mainly played out by means of competing memetic missionary fleets, propaganda, a technological and toposophic arms race aimed at creating an aligned Third Singularity transapient, occasional instances of digital and information warfare, and the extremely rare proxy war. Meanwhile, independent colonies led by modosophonts or SI:1s sought to avoid being drawn into the conflicts of the major powers in order to prosper. This was facilitated by the fact that even the most developed Metasoft and Dominion colonies weren't able to efficiently exert power in distant systems because of light-speed lags, logistical challenges, and the countervailing efforts of their rivals. As a result, they couldn't co-opt newly SI:2 entities unaligned with either Sephirotic, and each had to be content to become one among many local interstellar hegemons confined to their respective zones of influence.

Over time, the colonies evolved into distinct cultures, sometimes with little resemblance to their parent empires. Whether that was by accident, design, or the result of benign imperial neglect is something that is fiercely debated in the relevant circles to this day. By the 5000s AT, the Perseus Rift had become a multi-polar frontier dominated by a small number of major polities led by the local SI:3 entities, linked to each other and the numerous minor polities by a dynamic web of alliances and rivalries. The first effort to revert the Rift colonies to the control of the Sephirotic Empires was in the 55th century when diplomatic and religious missions from the Dominion made contact, but the colonies had diverged to the point that few wanted to rejoin.

By 6500 AT one alliance of godlings had ascended to a collective of SI:4 archailects - known as the Perseus Princes - ruling a modest empire and directing expansion corewards and rimwards towards the Perseus Rift. The Princes established cordial relations with the neighbouring Solar Dominion and Metasoft polities, and cemented local agreements with the Panvirtuality for peaceful mutual avoidance. At first the Perseus Principalities - as this alliance came to be known - was largely pragmatic and lacked a defining ideology or ontology. However, shortly after founding the Principalities, the archai fostered the development of a number of syncretic philosophies drawing from Etodism, Solarism, Metasoft network philosophy, and Communion mediation practices. The conception of galactic mindkind as a great chain of being, or a Great Fractal, gained popularity as an ontological framework for these beliefs, and in the 70th century Fractalism emerged as a complete ontology. It was widely embraced by modosophonts and apparently also by transapients.

Image from DSPE
Common visual symbols used for the Perseus Princes. In clockwise order, starting from top-left: Vatsech, Nayadara, Eguil, Berva.

Recent Events

The Perseus Principalities rose to prominence in the 9th millennium due to a number of events.

First was the Principalities' discovery of the Muuh empire in the Perseus Arm, followed by first contact with the Soft Ones in 8294. Less than 200 years later Prince Vatsceh ascended to the Fifth Toposophic and shortly afterwards established eir seat in the Sierpens system, distributing most of eir processing substrate throughout the star system and the rest of the Pluton Volume. During this period the ancient alien civilisations of the Muuh and Soft Ones were forming close bonds with the Principalities.

In 8750, the Perseus Princes received the first report of the Amalgamation. At first, the Princes played a minor part in defending against it, but the Amalgamation kept relentlessly attacking, and when the local powers formed PADO to drive it back, the Princes ardently supported it. The empire grew to value unity in diversity not only as an intrinsic goal but also as a source of strength to oppose the Amalgamation.

In 9012 Vatsceh opened Pluton, a former ice giant stripped of its atmosphere and mantle, for surface habitation by Terragens and the Muuh, and Sierpens grew to be a pillar of Principality culture and economy. Not long afterwards three more Princes - Nayadara, Eguil, and Berva - joined Vatsceh at the fifth toposophic.

In the Current Era, many Perseus polities on the coreward borders continue to expand into the Rift, exerting their political and military power against the smaller neighbouring empires. Meanwhile, the Princes are steadily extending their reach into the unsurveyed stars of the Perseus Arm. However, expansion has almost completely stopped in the areas close to the Amalgamation Containment Region, where the Principalities maintain the bulk of their high toposophic military strength.

Fractalism

The guiding ontology in the Perseus Principalities is Fractalism. This philosophy has roots in Buddhism and Etodism, but also takes inspiration from the traditional beliefs of the local Muuh, Solarism, and Metasoft concepts of cosmos and consciousness as networks. Fractalism teaches each being to act with compassion and responsibility, guiding lower beings while following the leadership of higher beings.

Fractalism also shares roots with ontologies and religions followed in the Sophic League (particularly the Fractal Brotherhood and other Buddhist sects) and common principles with those of the Communion of Worlds and the Technorapture Hypernation. In many cases this has fostered close ties between individual Principality cultures and compatible equivalents in other empires. In others it has caused dissension; Perseus ideologues and their counterparts in other empires often care deeply about the same ideas but differ enough to argue bitterly over them.

Life and Culture

Like any metacivilization, the Perseus Principalties are united by a common memetic.

Guided by Fractalism, they conceive of the ideal society as a harmonious whole drawing strength from diversity and mutual responsibility. Principality cultures love to mix and single-clade societies are the exception rather than the norm. The Principalities value all life, whether biological, machine, or virtual. Certain benefits of citizenship - like freedom of travel, property rights, bodily autonomy, and even translation devices - are extended to presapient beings, and pets and bots are particularly cherished. Custom, law, tribemind bonds, and occasional intervention by the ruling Princes or their seraiphim bring order to this complexity.

The Principalities admire the creation of new life. Sometimes this takes the form of organic neogen or provolve templates, but many more new vec and neumann designs are released each year, thanks largely to a strong Metasoft-derived design culture. New alifes are even more prolific, and successful alife clades such as the Busard Swarms and Bliffoth's Abstract Linkers started out in Perseus virches.

A variety of religions coexist in the Principalities, and many of these build on the foundation of Fractalism. Other unrelated faiths are practiced as well, but they are discouraged from forming closed communities. The Princes prefer their subjects to live as an organic whole, and the Epp War is taken as, amongst other things, a lesson against fanaticism.

As in many Terragen empires, xenosophonts also make up part of the diversity of Perseus life. However, the Perseus Principalities are unusual in forming partnerships with two xenosophont races with their own ancient interstellar empires: the Muuh and the Soft Ones. Although many aspects of Muuh society are inaccessible to outsiders, the Princes - in particular Prince Vatsceh - have been unusually successful in building links with them. While the Soft Ones have a reputation for being conservative and inward-looking, they also have a very adaptable psychology, and some clades such as the Epp have developed new and dynamic cultures within the Princes' domain. Archailectologists have theorised a number of reasons for the Princes to integrate these two species into their empire. Beyond an appreciation for diverse forms of life, the Princes seem to value their millions of years of experience and unusual animin-like AI.

Society

The Princes are considered to be Patrons, taking an active role in the functioning of the empire, but their Principalities are not archailectocracies. They expect each toposophic level to be largely self-governing or at least self-managing. Modosophont governments are diverse, and might be consensus-based, democratic, meritocratic, or any number of other forms. Where there is a need for transapient-level intelligence, governing bodies often work with their higher toposophic patrons to create tribeminds with transavant spikes in the relevant areas, although in some cases a higher toposophic entity may instead gift a polity with one or more transvots.

The Princes are quite encouraging of tribeminds and other temporary forms of merging and communion between sophonts. Often this crosses more than one toposophic level, allowing each level to organically direct the lower toposophics. Many Principalities sophonts find this spiritually significant: they see it as a way to gain the wisdom and experience of higher minds, and to share in turn with simpler minds. It also serves more mundane purposes such as assisting government and managing ecologies and mechologies. The individual ascension rate among Principalities citizens is below the Sephirotic average however, perhaps because tribeminds partly fill the same role.

On the border near the Amalgamation Containment Region, the Principalities have set up stringent border patrol protocols to avoid infection. Meanwhile, many polities on the coreward borders engage in memetic missionary campaigns directed at the smaller empires of the Rift. It is unclear why the Princes themselves do not convert these smaller empires, when they could easily do so. The leading theories among godwatchers and archailectologists are that the Princes see border conflicts as encouraging diversity or invention, while subtly intervening to prevent outright assimilation. When asked, the Princes have given differing answers; most famously, Prince Berva saying through an avatar that "That is only part of the story."

Aesthetics and Art

Perseus art and architecture are rich in fractal motifs. Unsurprisingly, fractal architecture is widespread and iconic, but other fractal patterns - especially snowflakes - are also common in decorative art. Particularly abstract Perseus virches may also include fractals; for example, a virch consisting entirely of web data structures may have self-repeating webs.

Narratives are another popular artform among the Principalities, often in the form of fabulist stories that blend fact, speculation, and myth. Legendary retellings of history or dreams of the future are perennial favourites. Some commentators believe this stems from Muuh culture - but others hold that the Princes are cultivating their empire as a new mythic frontier, where everyone can find a role in the story, and anything truly is possible.

Image from Steve Bowers
Approximate extent of the Perseus Principalities in the Current Era

Articles

Fractalism - Text by DSPE, Nyeti
Philosophy, cosmology and theology based around fractal mathematical concepts
Nekology, The - Text by Anders Sandberg
Outer Volume "empire" of Terragen origin.
PADO, the Perseus Arm Defence Organisation - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
A treaty organisation of all empires and systems involved in the struggle against the Amalgamation.
Perseus Arm - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
The immediately rimward spiral arm of our galaxy.
Perseus Rift - Text by Anders Sandberg
Colloquial term for the volume between the Orion and Perseus arms; a vast and ill-defined volume rimwards of the Solar Dominion and Metasoft.
Pluton - Text by Steve Bowers
Capital of the Pluton Volume, Perseus Prefecture Solar Dominion / Muuh Border. Depleted former ice giant - now an ice core world. Home to many cold adapted clades and xenosophonts.
Pluton Volume, The (and the Epp War) - Text by Steve Bowers and Rakuen07
Wealthy region in the Perseus Arm, with a large xenosophont population; site of the conflict between the Epp and their Methanoid allies, and the Perseus Principalities (with the aid of the System of Response).

The Perseus Principalities - Data Panel