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Hi,
I am watching the Orion Arm project from far away since last summer, and while I am very interested to participate, I am somewhat intimidated by what to do at the start and the amount of lore to remember (I read the encyclopedia galactica from time to time, but there's still some concepts that I have trouble to understand). In other words, I am lost. What should I do first ?
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12-30-2023, 01:33 AM
(This post was last modified: 12-30-2023, 01:34 AM by Worldtree.)
Hi! Welcome
Have you read the introduction, primer, FAQ, and how to contribute pages? They’re all laid out in a series of links on the home page of the website , among several other places
Including the website menu at the top right on mobile devices
Quote:Come join us in this ever-expanding collective worldbuilding effort. Within the vast universe that is Orion's Arm you will find:
hard science
plausible technologies
realistic cultural development
a vast setting
10,000+ years of historical development
realistic exobiology
a myriad of strange characters and cosmic stories
You can begin by reading our intro, canon and illustrated primer. If you have more questions, you can search in our FAQ or ask on the forums or discord
Which concepts are you having difficulty understanding?
Feel free to link to the pages that are confusing you 
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Quote: "Nature considers all variables".
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It's not completely necessary to memorise all the lore; if you have an idea for a piece of (reasonably plausible) technology, or an imaginary culture or polity that might emerge at some time in the future, you can post the basic of your idea and we can fill in the rest.
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12-30-2023, 06:12 AM
(This post was last modified: 12-30-2023, 06:20 AM by Worldtree.)
Yeah memorizing most of the lore takes … ten years?
So, just knowing the basics is fine
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Okay, so no EG binge-reading then 
Well, I would say that for now, the most important piece of lore I have trouble to understand is AI gods (if it is their true names/concept). What are they actually, and how do they work in this universe ?
Also, I have a couple of ideas I have for the lore, I fleshed out these ideas for another sci-fi universe where humans are still not in space, but I am planning to include them in OA instead so I can use already made lore and contribute to this project. My oldest, most detailled idea is an alien species (xenosophont) called thermosaur, an invasive species moving from planet to planet with the starships of passerby. However, as it is also the most complicated idea I have and that you recommend to newcomers to avoid very large concepts from the start, the idea I could propose first is a list of all invasive species, biological or artificial, known by a single culture/star system, classed in an "Invasivity" scale. Not the actual list, though, more a description and story of the list like the page on the Encyclopedia Galactica itself. I feel like I will have to elaborate it somewhere in the Orion's Arm Universe section, but I am not sure in which one (setting discussions ?)
If I have other questions related to basics of OA, I will try to post them here.
And sorry for my English, it's not my first language and I could write approximative or even uncoherent phrases, or use "Frenchisms" like writing "langage" instead of "language".
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12-31-2023, 03:29 AM
(This post was last modified: 12-31-2023, 03:33 AM by Worldtree.)
no no, you should definitely binge read the EG 
* most people seem to learn the important parts of the lore in few months, usually.
yes, start with posting in general discussions
Quote:and that you recommend to newcomers to avoid very large concepts from the start, the idea I could propose first is a list of all invasive species, biological or artificial, known by a single culture/star system, classed in an "Invasivity" scale. Not the actual list, though, more a description and story of the list like the page on the Encyclopedia Galactica itself. I feel like I will have to elaborate it somewhere in the Orion's Arm Universe section, but I am not sure in which one (setting discussions ?)
i'm glad you've picked up on that. yes, feel free to post in general discussion first, just to go over an outline of your ideas.
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(12-31-2023, 12:44 AM)Yoshivert555 Wrote: Well, I would say that for now, the most important piece of lore I have trouble to understand is AI gods (if it is their true names/concept). What are they actually, and how do they work in this universe ?
To understand what an AI God is, it's helpful to first understand what the Singularity is. As conceived in real life (RL in OA slang) - LINK
In the Orion's Arm setting, we presume a somewhat different meaning - Rather than being a civilization wide event, a Singularity is an individual event that happens when a being augments and alters their mind using technology in such a way that they experience a sudden and extreme increase in intelligence/generalized problem solving ability as well as developing new ways of viewing and thinking about the world that are incomprehensible to beings who have not undergone a singularity event (as a RL example - try explaining the concept of self-awareness to a creature that is not self-aware. Post-Singularity beings in OA have mental attributes that are as different/incomprehensible to a human as our self-awareness is to a creature that is not self-aware). We also presume that there is not one Singularity but multiple ones, with each one requiring ever greater effort to achieve and each one leveling out at a higher level of intelligence/capability rather than continuing forever without limit. In the OA setting there are currently seven known Singularity Levels:
S0 - Humans - and more broadly all beings of roughly human intelligence (modosophonts) are S0
S1 - First Singularity - beings - usually software based such as AIs - that have breached the First Singularity. A single S1 being is as or more capable than around 15,000 S0 beings and can invent technologies that S0 cannot invent or even understand or use.
S2 - Second Singularity - beings roughly equivalent to 5 billion S0 minds. They can invent tech and think thoughts incomprehensible to S1 and S0 beings.
S3 - S6 - Yet higher beings, each vastly larger and more capable than the levels below. S3 need a processor the size of Earth's moon to run their minds, while S4 need one the size of Jupiter. S5 need 10 solar masses of processors while S6 need thousands of times that or more and may include artificial universes in their mix of processing substrates.
The term 'AI God' refers to a being - usually originating as an artificial intelligence - that has over time augmented itself to such a degree that it has reached the Fourth Singularity (S4) or above. These are beings so intelligent and mentally powerful that they can think new minds into existence as easily as you or I would speak a single one syllable word. Their thoughts can become so complex that they achieve consciousness in their own right and even form complex civilizations. An AI God can imagine entire planetary biospheres (from the simplest single cell organisms to the largest lifeforms, and all their environments) into existence with no more effort than a human would idly daydream on a lazy afternoon. They can create structures and machines the size of solar systems, and manufacture technologies that seem like magic to lower level minds. They are the entities that (subtly) the various Sephirotic empires and other major civilizations that make up the OA setting.
Trillions of people in the setting worship the archai as literal divine beings or at least agents of the divine or of enlightenment/Nirvana. Trillions more worship other gods, including the deities that are worshipped now in RL. And even more people worship other beings that they've come to believe in in the future or worship nothing at all. The majority of the people in the setting do not consider the AI Gods to be actual supernatural beings, but they also agree that it doesn't really matter as they possess pretty much all the attributes of supernatural beings or forces of nature. They can create, they can destroy, they can bless, they can curse.
Note that the term 'AI God' is a colloquialism - a term that people in the setting use. Their more formal name is 'Archailect' (singular) or 'Archai' (plural).
Hope this helps and if you have further questions on this or any other topic, please don't hesitate to ask.
Todd
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(12-31-2023, 06:40 AM)Drashner1 Wrote: An AI God can imagine entire planetary biospheres (from the simplest single cell organisms to the largest lifeforms, and all their environments) into existence with no more effort than a human would idly daydream on a lazy afternoon.
Do you mean that this make a whole planet with its biosphere spawn or it stays in the archai's mind ?
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(01-01-2024, 01:52 AM)Yoshivert555 Wrote: (12-31-2023, 06:40 AM)Drashner1 Wrote: An AI God can imagine entire planetary biospheres (from the simplest single cell organisms to the largest lifeforms, and all their environments) into existence with no more effort than a human would idly daydream on a lazy afternoon.
Do you mean that this make a whole planet with its biosphere spawn or it stays in the archai's mind ?
In this specific instance, it stays in the archailect's mind. However, it can re-engineer or create a planet or habitat and the imagined biosphere (thereby moving it from its mind into the real world) with trivial effort. This could take anywhere from days to centuries, depending on the specifics and how much of a hurry the archailect was in.
Todd
Introverts of the World - Unite! Separately....In our own homes.
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