Silicon Shadows
Beyond the defined borders of the established systems is the vast "unformatted" space. This "fractal network" called the Strange changes not at all from the way it is presented in the Strange core book. (Ch14 p 212). Key points of interest are the ability to travel between recursions directly through the Strange (p214) and relics of the Strange (p218). Conversely, the threats of the Strange are at least as great as those of the formatted Recursions into which most access pods and juncture points will deliver travelers. Alienation (p216) threatens those exposed to this unformatted space and various creatures call it home (p217).
Creatures of the Datasphere;
An individual or group traveling the through the datasphere will not do so uncontested or unthreatened. While recursions have their own native threats, corruption in their systems assaulting users or ancient defenses against attack, in other places stranger things lurk benefitting from the lack of constraints in the unformatted reaches.
Inklings- The far-removed descendants of 20th century viruses or worms, these threats proliferate in unprotected spaces and seek any opportunity to swarm spaces of richer feeding.
Planetvores- These malign entities exist in grand proliferation. Some were designed as AIs by ancient civilizations while others might once have been recursions (or inhabitants of recursions with the spark) who have "transcended." Regardless of their origin, this class of entity seeks to absorb the resources of "unimportant," "unused," or "enemy" systems- which they generally define as any system other than their own. Some of these creatures are little more than malign cancers that blindly hunger without greater thought or reason, but the most dangerous are ancient and crafty intelligences that reach out to the inhabitants of various recursions or travelers in the naked network offering them deals which open cracks by which they can begin invasions of new recursions.
Others- Just like the strange, the number of other types of beings that inhabit the strange is virtually uncountable. Lone survivors of ancient and lost Recursions, sole inhabitants of tiny pockets that were created or evolved, results of the myriad interactions of the Strange space, their sources and varieties are virtually uncountable.
Relics of the Datasphere;
Just as in the base Strange game; while the Artifacts of an individual Recursion are tied to the rules and systems of that Recursion cyphers and certain Strange artifacts are, instead, based on certain underlying features of the datasphere. By tapping into the underlying physics of the datasphere these objects are capable of maintaining their own data matrixes, including energy sources, making them wholly independent of a given Recursion. There are a number of ways such objects arise. However, the easiest is for them to be physically imported from the real world. This does mean that the such objects found in the datasphere can generally be imported (or repatriated) back to the real world with the proper equipment regardless of their source.
This entire entry basically exists to help fuel GM imagination for excuses to bring things between the core Strange and the datasphere. As I've previously mentioned, the ease of mapping the Strange network itself with myriad its Recursions a substrate datasphere with individual and wildly differing systems is the main reason that I went this route. The fact that the game comes fully packaged with threats that fit the paradigm, needing only a light re-skinning to frame them appropriately, isn't an accident. Franky, given the language in the core Strange book regarding the space I would be surprised if exactly this translation wasn't intended;
The Strange, also called the Chaosphere, was intentionally constructed by the Precursors— technologically advanced aliens—billions of years ago to facilitate intergalactic travel across the universe. The aliens would upload themselves into the dark energy data web, then “print” themselves anew at some distant star, without having to travel the light years between the two locations in the normal universe. Something went wrong in the network, and the aliens lost control. In the billions of years since, the Strange has continued to expand. As it did, the planetovores that dwell within it swallowed civilization after civilization that innocently “pinged” the dark energy network, and in so doing, provided a bridge to that civilization’s world. (tS 212-213)
Beyond the defined borders of the established systems is the vast "unformatted" space. This "fractal network" called the Strange changes not at all from the way it is presented in the Strange core book. (Ch14 p 212). Key points of interest are the ability to travel between recursions directly through the Strange (p214) and relics of the Strange (p218). Conversely, the threats of the Strange are at least as great as those of the formatted Recursions into which most access pods and juncture points will deliver travelers. Alienation (p216) threatens those exposed to this unformatted space and various creatures call it home (p217).
Creatures of the Datasphere;
An individual or group traveling the through the datasphere will not do so uncontested or unthreatened. While recursions have their own native threats, corruption in their systems assaulting users or ancient defenses against attack, in other places stranger things lurk benefitting from the lack of constraints in the unformatted reaches.
Inklings- The far-removed descendants of 20th century viruses or worms, these threats proliferate in unprotected spaces and seek any opportunity to swarm spaces of richer feeding.
Planetvores- These malign entities exist in grand proliferation. Some were designed as AIs by ancient civilizations while others might once have been recursions (or inhabitants of recursions with the spark) who have "transcended." Regardless of their origin, this class of entity seeks to absorb the resources of "unimportant," "unused," or "enemy" systems- which they generally define as any system other than their own. Some of these creatures are little more than malign cancers that blindly hunger without greater thought or reason, but the most dangerous are ancient and crafty intelligences that reach out to the inhabitants of various recursions or travelers in the naked network offering them deals which open cracks by which they can begin invasions of new recursions.
Others- Just like the strange, the number of other types of beings that inhabit the strange is virtually uncountable. Lone survivors of ancient and lost Recursions, sole inhabitants of tiny pockets that were created or evolved, results of the myriad interactions of the Strange space, their sources and varieties are virtually uncountable.
Relics of the Datasphere;
Just as in the base Strange game; while the Artifacts of an individual Recursion are tied to the rules and systems of that Recursion cyphers and certain Strange artifacts are, instead, based on certain underlying features of the datasphere. By tapping into the underlying physics of the datasphere these objects are capable of maintaining their own data matrixes, including energy sources, making them wholly independent of a given Recursion. There are a number of ways such objects arise. However, the easiest is for them to be physically imported from the real world. This does mean that the such objects found in the datasphere can generally be imported (or repatriated) back to the real world with the proper equipment regardless of their source.
~~*~~
This entire entry basically exists to help fuel GM imagination for excuses to bring things between the core Strange and the datasphere. As I've previously mentioned, the ease of mapping the Strange network itself with myriad its Recursions a substrate datasphere with individual and wildly differing systems is the main reason that I went this route. The fact that the game comes fully packaged with threats that fit the paradigm, needing only a light re-skinning to frame them appropriately, isn't an accident. Franky, given the language in the core Strange book regarding the space I would be surprised if exactly this translation wasn't intended;
The Strange, also called the Chaosphere, was intentionally constructed by the Precursors— technologically advanced aliens—billions of years ago to facilitate intergalactic travel across the universe. The aliens would upload themselves into the dark energy data web, then “print” themselves anew at some distant star, without having to travel the light years between the two locations in the normal universe. Something went wrong in the network, and the aliens lost control. In the billions of years since, the Strange has continued to expand. As it did, the planetovores that dwell within it swallowed civilization after civilization that innocently “pinged” the dark energy network, and in so doing, provided a bridge to that civilization’s world. (tS 212-213)
I've reversed this somewhat, making the recursions the leading edges. They become individual "local" networks that were, intentionally or not, connected by the Strange. In turn I've de-emphasized (but definitely not removed) the ability of the Strange as a physical teleportation network.
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