Now, what did I just wander into... No way.......

[stevebowers]

Greetings!
I joined this project mainly because the view of the future depicted here was so close to my own that my ideas needed very little adapting. So your experience is similar to mine.

[Will the Wanderer]

Actually our general response to this situation (use of term(s) or concept(s) that is - as best we can tell - OA specific) would be to want you to include an attribution statement somewhere in your book to the effect that some terms or concepts in the book originate with Orion's Arm (www.orionsarm.com) and are used with permission. There are other variants of that basic idea that we've used with other authors in the past, but proper attribution is our core concern in such situations. The exact wording and/or attribution would depend on the circumstances and is something we would generally work with you to develop. Assuming that that kind of issue were to arise.

Yes Sir! I wouldn't have it any other way. This is is said in the spirit of sharing this, already really mind bending, experience with others. I try to find ways to directly give credit within the narrative, whenever possible. I sometime do it in subtle ways. For example, the character is living homeless and the woods because they liked the book Into the Wild. I also picked the title, Into the Stars, because I liked the title concept of into. I pay homage to it within the text by having the character refer to themselves as a Supertramp. Something that Krakauer reported. 
But these are all just dreams for right now. I have not even introduced my provolve into my story, let alone finished the book and gone through production. Thank you for making it make sense to me and being so supportive. I can't wait to learn more and try my hand at a short story for your universe. Where is the best place for me to start if writing for you is the direction I want to go?

[Will the Wanderer]

Greetings!
I joined this project mainly because the view of the future depicted here was so close to my own that my ideas needed very little adapting. So your experience is similar to mine.

Awesome! By the way, I have seen your name around and I can't wait to read your specific work.

[Drashner1]

Yes Sir! I wouldn't have it any other way. This is is said in the spirit of sharing this, already really mind bending, experience with others. I try to find ways to directly give credit within the narrative, whenever possible. I sometime do it in subtle ways. For example, the character is living homeless and the woods because they liked the book Into the Wild. I also picked the title, Into the Stars, because I liked the title concept of into. I pay homage to it within the text by having the character refer to themselves as a Supertramp. Something that Krakauer reported. 

Sounds like you're coming into writing with a good attitude when it comes to other people's work

Exactly what form this takes with regard to OA is something it's probably too early to discuss just yet since I'm not entirely clear yet on how you envision using OA content/ideas/terms in your writing (or if you envision that at all yet - or if things are far enough along in your writing for you to know one way or the other yet).

Funnily enough, I grew up maybe 50 miles from where the events of Into the Wild took place and much of the movie was filmed in my home town. Which makes watching the film a slightly surreal experience tbh

But these are all just dreams for right now. I have not even introduced my provolve into my story, let alone finished the book and gone through production. Thank you for making it make sense to me and being so supportive. I can't wait to learn more and try my hand at a short story for your universe. Where is the best place for me to start if writing for you is the direction I want to go?

Hm. I think the biggest goal if one is wanting to write in the OA setting is to become very familiar with that setting - particularly what we do and don't allow based on OA Canon. OA is pretty strict about following its Canon, which primarily includes following the laws of physics as they are currently understood in real life. That can preclude a number of common SF tropes (Ex: Our 'ascended' transapients are physical beings of superhuman intelligence and therefore capability - not living energy or the like such as depicted in most SF such as Stargate SG1). We are also very committed to an approach that might best be summed up as 'In OA, the bad guys can shoot straight'. The trope of 'The Stormtrooper Academy of Aiming' does not exist here - quite the opposite in fact.

Anyway - Getting back to the issue of becoming familiar with the setting: A common method used by many members is to just go spelunking in the EG for a few weeks. Seriously, based on personal experience and the reports of other members it is not uncommon for new folks to spend a lot of time - sometimes weeks - just reading EG article after EG article and following hyperlink after hyperlink and discovering new things about the setting. This in turn may lead to questions posted to the forum, which we then answer, which may lead to more discussion or ideas or another dive into the EG. Doing this isn't required by any means, but it does seem to be a common way that people get familiar with us (and from some of your earlier comments may be something you are doing already).

Getting a bit more focused on specifics, however. I'd recommend reading the following pages:

Introduction to OA page - Read the Statement of Purpose on this page and then look at the list of Additional Links down the left side of the page. Read the Illustrated Primer, Canon, FAQs, How to Contribute, and Copyright and Submission pages. Before starting and as you go along, please note the following:

a) The How to Contribute pages - particularly as they pertain to fiction - are a little out of date and will likely get updated sometime in 2020. As such, don't take what you read there as set in stone and we should probably have a conversation about that page once you've read it so I can update you on any changes in how we do things in this area. Just post something to this thread or another (if appropriate) or PM me when you're ready to have that discussion.

b) The Copyright and Submissions pages are written very formally in contract speak and can be intimidating/confusing. Again, after you've read them, please let me know and we can have a conversation about what they are actually saying. It's a lot simpler than how the page makes it sound.

Ok - moving on from there:

Read the six main topic pages of the EG (in any order) - LINK

Five of the six (not the History page, which currently works a bit differently) - provide a sort of high level overview of how things work in the OA setting. The History section is the timeline and covers 10,000 years of history. Feel free to jump around in the timeline or read it straight through or something in between. The main takeaway is that as a potential author you have 10,000 years to play with and set stories in if you are so inclined.

As a quick disclaimer - 4 of the 6 main topic pages were updated last year. History and Science haven't been done yet and when or if they will be isn't clear atm. They both work a bit differently from the other four. Point being that those two pages may read a bit differently from the rest.

Finally, I'd suggest going to our fiction section and reading some of the stories there. This should give you a feel for how we tend to depict the setting, although there is no single official way of doing that. Nor do we really want one

IIRC you've already purchased After Tranquility and so have (or will be soon getting) a whole batch of OA stories that are representative of the setting. For some additional reading, some of my personal favorites from the fiction section (that also IMHO help paint a picture of the OA setting) are:

A Day in the Life of a Bureaucrat
A New Way
From the Shadows
Festival Season
In the Garden on Eden
A Minor Demonstration of Power
Under the Looking Glass

Please note that the stories have been written across a 20 year period and may not always line up with our current take on things. Feel free to ask questions all along the way whenever clarification is needed. Note also that the above suggested stories are intended to help bring you up to speed on the setting and there are plenty of others that are also a wonderful read that I just haven't listed here - but feel free to read other things in the fiction section as well!

Finally finally - Never be afraid to ask questions on the forum. Part of what we are here for is to help people wrap their heads around OA - it's kind of a big and complicated place, but a lot of fun to play around in, once you get the hand of it

Hope this helps,

Todd

[Drashner1]

So, not to bury you in reading material, but in thinking about introducing you to the setting and also the topic of ascension/transcension as OA treats it, some other links came to mind:

First Singularity - Basic Transapients

Second Singularity - High Transapients

Toposophic Level and Brain Size


We don't have the Third Singularity or higher minds written up in such detail yet, but generally speaking:

Third Singularity - Brain the size of a moon or equivalent (think 3000 km across or so). See the Technology topic for representative capabilities.

Fourth Singularity - Brain the size of Jupiter or Equivalent.

Fifth Singularity - Central brain around the size of a 10 solar mass star - additional 'lobes' spread across anything up to hundreds of solar systems and connected by wormhole links.

Sixth Singularity - Brain may extend into artificial universes an encompass their entire empire of tens of millions of solar systems employing hundreds or thousands of processor types and based on a 'W-brain' - a brain heavily linked by wormholes that are themselves part of the processing substrate.

For something totally different - here is a description of Sol System in Y11k - LINK. Bear in mind when reading this that Solsys is considered a backwater place with little or no real power or political importance.

Finally - You might enjoy the TV Tropes page on OA as a way of coming up to speed. It's about 97% accurate in my estimation and kind of fun to read.

Ok - off to start my work day.

Todd

[Will the Wanderer]

Thanks again Todd!

You've really out done yourself in providing with me resources and support. I loved your input on my first write up. If energy based does not work here, that's fine. I have not found one mention of multiverse theory here, so I'm concluding that is not a part of the Canon.

I will be respecting the Canon. Challenge accepted! The Canon is vast.

I did get my AT2 copy today. Thanks for giving it a glossary at the beginning. I'm starting it tonight. I've said this is several posts, I'm not going to really try anything really yet. I still have my own to finish and I was progressing with it at break neck speed. The discovery of this forum slowed it down. But I think this forum is going to enrich it.

I'm not entirely clear yet on how you envision using OA content/ideas/terms

Right now, just the word provolve. I avoid using many new and invented terms, in my book to keep it as accessible to a wide audience. But I think my background story for pets will require a term. So using the word provolve sounds really cool to me and it is instant shout out. Plus, history and culture are major focuses of mine. I've already planned a formal dinner setting where sci-fi as a genre is brought up. OA now has a guaranteed mention.

Idea wise, I do keep finding similarities in our ideas but that's all that matches, the idea. Terminology, history, philosophy, and attitudes diverge, keeping us unique to each other. I'm sure if I want to borrow more ideas, I'll tell you. But for now, just the word provolve because I need one for that.

This forum is legit fun. I'm off to read AT2.

[Drashner1]

It depends on what you mean by 'multiverse theory'. OA does have the highest Archai creating artificial universes and includes the concept of 'the Bulk' as well as the idea that other universes exist in it. It is rumored that the Archai may be able to access the Bulk and possibly other universes. But so far that is only a rumor.

If you mean the multiverse in the sense of an infinite number of parallel universes existing, each slightly different from the others due to quantum mechanics, etc. OA doesn't explicitly reject that theory, but does take the position that since such parallel worlds can't be accessed, there's not much to be said about them.

Or did you mean some other form of multi-verse theory? There are several - each with different starting premises or dealing with different aspects of the world - I believe.

Todd

[Will the Wanderer]

It depends on what you mean by 'multiverse theory'.

Fair point, the structure of the multiverse is the infinite count of universes and possibilities. There will be universes with every single possible scenario.

I think I have found a creative work around that guarantees Canon compatibility and enables me to tell the near exact stories I’m generating in my head right now.

I’d like to develop a religion for OA. That is my approach to introducing the idea in my story and I think that will work just as effectively here. I want to put the same religion in OA. 

There, I can tell any story I want in the form of someone shared as a myth. This can enable me to practice OA guidelines but have more creative flexibility since it is a form of fiction within our fictions.

Then, I can go full bore on developing my ideas on the mathematical structure of ALL space time, the counciousness realm, and fully answer the three key existential questions of our time: Why are we here? Where do we come from? Where are we going?

Do you think this approach can enable the story flexibility without violating the setting?

[stevebowers]

My currently favoured concept of the multiverse is a 5-dimensional block universe. Every individual timeline exists as a 3-dimensional universe, which is extended in a 4th dimension of time; however the many-worlds phenomena in quantum physics cause this 4-dimensional structure to branch into myriad alternates, which coexist as a 5-dimensional tree of possibilities. This 5-dimensional structure can be eternal and unchanging, but it includes an infinite (or near-infinite) number of branching possibilities, allowing the illusion of free-will and a changeable future fate for intelligent 3-D entities embedded within it.

However the people of the Terragen Sphere do not have any way to navigate between timelines, so the multiverse remains a theory. Both timetravel into the absolute past and travel between alternates remain impossible, even for archailects. Allowing either possibilities in OA would create a kind of chaos that would remove any intelligible narrative, as far as I can see.

[stevebowers]

Note, however, that the Archailects do like to create virtual worlds of their own that include multiple alternatives; they can create each alternate timeline separately, and allow contact between these virtual worlds in they wish. An example of a virtual world with multiple timelines and time travel is given in this story.

Out of the Loop
.