Copyright question- I hope this isn't as thorny as it feels...

[Worldtree]

also, i wouldn't be surprised if there were very similar groups to each of these, elsewhere in the setting. Or templates for these groups have been imported through the lightways. But more likely there's some group on the periphery call the "Bleckology" and the "Gybiota" who have very similar features without any pesky historical constraints like 'this group originated 5000 light years and 3500 years ago from the star system you want to write about"..

cybiota
https://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/480d35f9a8ecd
Nekology
https://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/480ea40e3cfa8

[Tangle10]

also, i wouldn't be surprised if there were very similar groups to each of these, elsewhere in the setting. Or templates for these groups have been imported through the lightways. But more likely there's some group on the periphery call the "Bleckology" and the "Gybiota" who have very similar features without any pesky historical constraints like 'this group originated 5000 light years and 3500 years ago from the star system you want to write about"..

cybiota
https://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/480d35f9a8ecd
Nekology
https://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/480ea40e3cfa8

Heh, also true! I was reticent to go with something like that because unless I had something to say with it 'this strategy has emerged multiple times' might not be in itself interesting, and of course I'm reticent to put too many 'cool' things in the same place for fear of it seeming overloaded (I'm still debating whether a natural garden world in the region is reasonable- probably not, right? There are three within about the right radius of Sol (including Earth), but Earth is naturally going to be overrepresented in such matters due to how much longer there's been to study things... and also because the people who come up with EG articles in the real world are probably from there )

Oh- one more question. When I do write this up and post it, how far should I go with tweaking the self-indulgent elements (especially the ones I noted earlier)? I'm already planning to dampen them, but for my first draft- is a first draft expected to have elements that might require major revision or removal (which of course I'm personally expecting- I certainly expected the entire concept to not work in the official setting), or should I be aiming for something conservative which I expect to only require minor changes? Particularly with regards to the four I mentioned as 'beyond the pale' earlier- should I include them in the full form I mentioned, remove them first, or something in between?

[Drashner1]

Heh, also true! I was reticent to go with something like that because unless I had something to say with it 'this strategy has emerged multiple times' might not be in itself interesting, and of course I'm reticent to put too many 'cool' things in the same place for fear of it seeming overloaded (I'm still debating whether a natural garden world in the region is reasonable- probably not, right? There are three within about the right radius of Sol (including Earth), but Earth is naturally going to be overrepresented in such matters due to how much longer there's been to study things... and also because the people who come up with EG articles in the real world are probably from there )

Our standards of acceptance for garden worlds are deliberately high because we prefer that any that are written up should be fully and well described. This wasn't the case in the early history of the project and while we've grandfathered those early efforts in we don't want to add more. So - do you have a really strong and burning reason for having a naturally evolved alien biosphere in this article or is it just 'cool'? Are you prepared to describe it quite fully and extensively?

If the answers to those questions is 'No' - then it might work much better and be a lot less effort to simply say the planet is the result of terraforming and neogenics by the archailect/high transapient, describe it to whatever degree (or not) you find comfortable, and move on.

Oh- one more question. When I do write this up and post it, how far should I go with tweaking the self-indulgent elements (especially the ones I noted earlier)? I'm already planning to dampen them, but for my first draft- is a first draft expected to have elements that might require major revision or removal (which of course I'm personally expecting- I certainly expected the entire concept to not work in the official setting), or should I be aiming for something conservative which I expect to only require minor changes? Particularly with regards to the four I mentioned as 'beyond the pale' earlier- should I include them in the full form I mentioned, remove them first, or something in between?

I personally don't really understand what the problem is with being self-indulgent or what you mean by that term. In that sense, I would suggest that you start with your 'ideal' description and be willing to modify from there - if and where necessary - to have things make sense, fit OA canon, a fit the 'tone' of the EG and wider setting (aiming to do all of that the first time around anyway, of course). Regarding the specific items you've mentioned:

- the presence of both a Nekology branch and a derived branch of the Cybyota - I can't speak to this without taking time I don't have atm to refresh myself on these two groups/civs. It sounds like Worldtree's solution to this would work fine, so I'd just go with that in some form.

- a fairly advanced wormhole network - Note that in OA Canon it takes at least an S3 mind to create/stabilize wormholes. At the S3 level it is just barely doable, requires massive effort, and the results are highly mass inefficient. The Taurus Network pulled it off, but likely that is seen as equivalent to how we view the pyramids or the Great Wall of China - wonders of engineering that are wonderous in part because people at that tech level could pull it off in the first place. With that in mind, it might be better to either have the coordinating archailect be S4 - in which case e would find the Taurus Network laughably trivial and so wouldn't likely need to learn from it - or else have some other archailect put in some wormholes which facilitate longer trips with everything else being done with Lightways, beamriders, and starships. There's also the issue of whether this location is anywhere near the TN which may or may not be a further complication.

- a coordinating AI of roughly low archailect class - In general terms, I don't see a problem with this. I'd probably favor an S3 over S4 since there are a lot more of the former and the latter might be hugely overpowered for what you're describing it ruling here. But perhaps more detail would make me change my mind on this point.

- the AI having an extremely large variety and number of avatars, to the point that Terragen visitors would initially consider it its own small but diverse polity- Given how capable S3 or S4 are, I don't see this bit as really even all that notable, at least at the level you've described it here. Bear in mind that an S3 or S4 could literally - as a minor exercise in imagination - replicate our entire civilization of billions of modosophonts and all their actions, thoughts, words, and culture. So maintaining a lot of different avatars might actually be considered pretty normal and expected. If this is something you want to be notable about this being, then you'd likely need to explain what you mean by 'large variety and number of avatars' such that it is considered notably more than what most such beings use. Given that we have that as an open/unanswered question in the setting right now, it could get tricky trying to explain it since I don't know that we would want this article to set a standard or limit for the whole rest of the setting. An easier option might just be to casually say that the AI likes to use a wide variety of avatar designs or the like and just leave it at that or otherwise open.

Hope this helps,

Todd

[Tangle10]

Heh, also true! I was reticent to go with something like that because unless I had something to say with it 'this strategy has emerged multiple times' might not be in itself interesting, and of course I'm reticent to put too many 'cool' things in the same place for fear of it seeming overloaded (I'm still debating whether a natural garden world in the region is reasonable- probably not, right? There are three within about the right radius of Sol (including Earth), but Earth is naturally going to be overrepresented in such matters due to how much longer there's been to study things... and also because the people who come up with EG articles in the real world are probably from there )

Our standards of acceptance for garden worlds are deliberately high because we prefer that any that are written up should be fully and well described. This wasn't the case in the early history of the project and while we've grandfathered those early efforts in we don't want to add more. So - do you have a really strong and burning reason for having a naturally evolved alien biosphere in this article or is it just 'cool'? Are you prepared to describe it quite fully and extensively?

If the answers to those questions is 'No' - then it might work much better and be a lot less effort to simply say the planet is the result of terraforming and neogenics by the archailect/high transapient, describe it to whatever degree (or not) you find comfortable, and move on.

Oh- one more question. When I do write this up and post it, how far should I go with tweaking the self-indulgent elements (especially the ones I noted earlier)? I'm already planning to dampen them, but for my first draft- is a first draft expected to have elements that might require major revision or removal (which of course I'm personally expecting- I certainly expected the entire concept to not work in the official setting), or should I be aiming for something conservative which I expect to only require minor changes? Particularly with regards to the four I mentioned as 'beyond the pale' earlier- should I include them in the full form I mentioned, remove them first, or something in between?

I personally don't really understand what the problem is with being self-indulgent or what you mean by that term. In that sense, I would suggest that you start with your 'ideal' description and be willing to modify from there - if and where necessary - to have things make sense, fit OA canon, a fit the 'tone' of the EG and wider setting (aiming to do all of that the first time around anyway, of course).  Regarding the specific items you've mentioned:

- the presence of both a Nekology branch and a derived branch of the Cybyota - I can't speak to this without taking time I don't have atm to refresh myself on these two groups/civs. It sounds like Worldtree's solution to this would work fine, so I'd just go with that in some form.

- a fairly advanced wormhole network - Note that in OA Canon it takes at least an S3 mind to create/stabilize wormholes. At the S3 level it is just barely doable, requires massive effort, and the results are highly mass inefficient. The Taurus Network pulled it off, but likely that is seen as equivalent to how we view the pyramids or the Great Wall of China - wonders of engineering that are wonderous in part because people at that tech level could pull it off in the first place. With that in mind, it might be better to either have the coordinating archailect be S4 - in which case e would find the Taurus Network laughably trivial and so wouldn't likely need to learn from it - or else have some other archailect put in some wormholes which facilitate longer trips with everything else being done with Lightways, beamriders, and starships. There's also the issue of whether this location is anywhere near the TN which may or may not be a further complication.

- a coordinating AI of roughly low archailect class - In general terms, I don't see a problem with this. I'd probably favor an S3 over S4 since there are a lot more of the former and the latter might be hugely overpowered for what you're describing it ruling here. But perhaps more detail would make me change my mind on this point.

- the AI having an extremely large variety and number of avatars, to the point that Terragen visitors would initially consider it its own small but diverse polity- Given how capable S3 or S4 are, I don't see this bit as really even all that notable, at least at the level you've described it here. Bear in mind that an S3 or S4 could literally - as a minor exercise in imagination - replicate our entire civilization of billions of modosophonts and all their actions, thoughts, words, and culture. So maintaining a lot of different avatars might actually be considered pretty normal and expected. If this is something you want to be notable about this being, then you'd likely need to explain what you mean by 'large variety and number of avatars' such that it is considered notably more than what most such beings use. Given that we have that as an open/unanswered question in the setting right now, it could get tricky trying to explain it since I don't know that we would want this article to set a standard or limit for the whole rest of the setting. An easier option might just be to casually say that the AI likes to use a wide variety of avatar designs or the like and just leave it at that or otherwise open.

Hope this helps,

Todd

It helps a lot, thank you very much Todd! Will keep all of this in mind as I work on it further and revise. With regards to the specifics you've mentioned-

Neogenics was definitely my plan for most of the local situation, with there being perhaps one garden world- you're right, though, that the idea of including a proper garden world was ultimately a bit... ornamental. It feels like it might be interesting, however, to note an extinct biosphere (macroscopic/garden world level or not) in the region? I find the many ways life can find itself extinct thought-provoking, but even with that personal bias it feels possibly fitting. I'll think over it.

Noted, with regards to the Nekology and Cybyota- already thinking on how to make them meaningfully distinct from their cousins, and interesting beyond 'is similar to this other thing'.

 I believe I had a somewhat misguided understanding of the Taurus Nexus' AI creators- either I misinterpreted something as saying they were S4, or got confused with how transaturation ascension is described. Worst case scenario I'll have to revise the timeframes and rejigger the wormholes, but as I understand the Light Speed Horizon as a front of faster AIs outspeeding most Terragen expansion I'm certain there's many opportunities to get out there and build things up for a while before full contact is established; so that shouldn't be a problem.

Oh good! I was a bit worried that there was something crucial I was missing, or that a S3/4 entity didn't make sense.

...Huh, that's a good point. Somewhere I'd gotten the impression that avatars, at least physical ones, were relatively rare; but I think I'm combining in my head two things: the fact that transapients are often inscrutable and the Tar Vara habitats, which are described as notable for having ubiquitous avatars. The former is easier explained as being simply because transapients are operating on a level literally beyond comprehension, and the latter is probably because of how integrated those avatars are in local society rather than necessarily the fact that Donovea has a lot of avatars. I'll certainly think on how and whether to note the avatars, then!

Thank you again. I hope to get back with something first draft-level and post it in its own thread soonish! (I've been reading a lot of the EG recently, ehe)