Silicon Shadows
Much of the Numenera interacts with the shattered shells of ancient information networks that crisscross the Ninth World. Many cyphers and artifacts act as intermediaries, fetching and collecting information from these scattered systems before collating and presenting it in formats that have a chance of being understood by these unintended users. Nanos may use, intentionally or not, ancient methods of access and control to reach out into the datasphere and command the mechanisms at work behind so much of the Ninth World to generate the effects of their esoteries. All of these interactions take for granted the prevalence and pervasiveness of the various systems that are, together, called the datasphere without the users ever doing more than trailing the tips of their fingers in these digital worlds.
Of all the means of exploring beyond the "mundane" of the Ninth World, diving into the dark depths of the sea, sailing to globes around distant suns, or stepping through gates into unfathomable dimensions, few are as simultaneously intimate or alien as the ethereal datasphere. Those who choose to attempt to tear aside the veil and peer into to this conceptual realm find themselves in a transcendental place of metaphysics. In these less informed times it is easy to understand why it is so easy to think of these experiences as spiritual journeys.
In many ways attempts to explore the datasphere is more challenging for the scientifically minded. The dark secret of the datasphere is that it is not a single network. Instead, layers of different networks have been built atop and through one another. These interconnection of networks are built upon electromagnetics, biomechanics, photonics, quantum science, subspace transmissions, temporal science, and more. The result of which is that the potential density of information in a given physical space almost infinite. Meanwhile, the possible span of many of these individual networks are nearly universal. Add to this that each of these demesnes is accessible with the correct technological key but utterly hidden otherwise and we realize that finding a constant point of departure is, at best, difficult. Worse, the fundamental nature of each of these worlds is that they are made of moving and self-updating information. Consequently, even assuming a traveler can find a consistent point of departure, the geography of a given datasphere locale is about as stable as dunes in a desert or waves on the sea.
Why, then, would an explorer in the Ninth World seek to dive more deeply into these shattered supernal worlds? For the same reasons they delve into any other ruins; the possibility of wealth, power, and greater understanding.
However much chaos these webways contain, the minds which built these networks needed to be able to traverse the data collected and managed within them. As a result, even the most alien or decayed network once had some manner of order imposed upon it meaning all but the most decayed are still at least somewhat traversable. At a minimum a given demesnes may give access to deeper or farther reaches of the 'Sphere. Eons of building and rebuilding have left information structures of electromagnetism, light, sound, and even stranger media bridged on various levels. The result is a network of networks stretching across the Earth and beyond. Subspace and transdimensional networks once spanned the reaches of this galaxy and beyond carrying the traffic of empires that needed communications as well.
On the other hand, some locations are so isolated or damaged that their portion of the Datasphere can't be reached from outside at all. Gross physical damage is, generally, not enough to completely destroy all the possible networks that might exist in an area but it might, for example, have destroyed those native to a ship. The consequence is the information stored in that location is removed from the larger Datasphere and requires more localized access.
Much of the Numenera interacts with the shattered shells of ancient information networks that crisscross the Ninth World. Many cyphers and artifacts act as intermediaries, fetching and collecting information from these scattered systems before collating and presenting it in formats that have a chance of being understood by these unintended users. Nanos may use, intentionally or not, ancient methods of access and control to reach out into the datasphere and command the mechanisms at work behind so much of the Ninth World to generate the effects of their esoteries. All of these interactions take for granted the prevalence and pervasiveness of the various systems that are, together, called the datasphere without the users ever doing more than trailing the tips of their fingers in these digital worlds.
Of all the means of exploring beyond the "mundane" of the Ninth World, diving into the dark depths of the sea, sailing to globes around distant suns, or stepping through gates into unfathomable dimensions, few are as simultaneously intimate or alien as the ethereal datasphere. Those who choose to attempt to tear aside the veil and peer into to this conceptual realm find themselves in a transcendental place of metaphysics. In these less informed times it is easy to understand why it is so easy to think of these experiences as spiritual journeys.
In many ways attempts to explore the datasphere is more challenging for the scientifically minded. The dark secret of the datasphere is that it is not a single network. Instead, layers of different networks have been built atop and through one another. These interconnection of networks are built upon electromagnetics, biomechanics, photonics, quantum science, subspace transmissions, temporal science, and more. The result of which is that the potential density of information in a given physical space almost infinite. Meanwhile, the possible span of many of these individual networks are nearly universal. Add to this that each of these demesnes is accessible with the correct technological key but utterly hidden otherwise and we realize that finding a constant point of departure is, at best, difficult. Worse, the fundamental nature of each of these worlds is that they are made of moving and self-updating information. Consequently, even assuming a traveler can find a consistent point of departure, the geography of a given datasphere locale is about as stable as dunes in a desert or waves on the sea.
Why, then, would an explorer in the Ninth World seek to dive more deeply into these shattered supernal worlds? For the same reasons they delve into any other ruins; the possibility of wealth, power, and greater understanding.
However much chaos these webways contain, the minds which built these networks needed to be able to traverse the data collected and managed within them. As a result, even the most alien or decayed network once had some manner of order imposed upon it meaning all but the most decayed are still at least somewhat traversable. At a minimum a given demesnes may give access to deeper or farther reaches of the 'Sphere. Eons of building and rebuilding have left information structures of electromagnetism, light, sound, and even stranger media bridged on various levels. The result is a network of networks stretching across the Earth and beyond. Subspace and transdimensional networks once spanned the reaches of this galaxy and beyond carrying the traffic of empires that needed communications as well.
On the other hand, some locations are so isolated or damaged that their portion of the Datasphere can't be reached from outside at all. Gross physical damage is, generally, not enough to completely destroy all the possible networks that might exist in an area but it might, for example, have destroyed those native to a ship. The consequence is the information stored in that location is removed from the larger Datasphere and requires more localized access.
~~*~~
This was, at one point, the introduction to a much, much longer post exploring the Numenera Datasphere. I find this particular feature of the game intensely interesting for a variety of reasons. Not least because it relates so much to the internet that is so poorly understood today even as it transforms our lives. It's also at least as relevant as some of the other spaces explored by official supplements and certainly has the potential to be as strange and varied.
As part of my ongoing lessons in self-management, I realized that what I was attempting to do was write an entire publishable supplement into a single blog post. Insanity. So, for today you get this introduction with the promise that there will be rules that go with it...
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