Antikythera Nova Pt. 2: Factions

This is the second part of my Antikythera Nova setting (first part here). I'm still not totally satisfied with my writing on that first post, but hopefully it's coherent and engaging enough to keep you reading (and if not, LET ME KNOW!). This post is about the various factions I discussed in part 1, in greater detail. I designed this setting from the perspective that most games in this setting would have players as humans from the KFP, but from a scifi/worldbuilding perspective I think the aliens are really cool, if I do say so myself :). I aim to complete this micro-setting in one more post which will discuss some of the technologies that either provide flavor to the setting or are core to it.

*********************************************************************************

Kaddai Federation of Planets (KFP): The history of the KFP extends as far back as the dark age of the Malik Tous. They have spacefaring and spacefighting technologies, advanced (although not post-singularity) computational power, and the ability to terraform planets. Very few communities within the KFP still directly identify with their Earth origins, although the most prominent cultures maintain elements of 21st-century African, Arabic and Semitic, and Southeast Asian cultures. The racial characteristics of humans in the KFP vary and do not conform precisely to 20th and 21st century conceptions of race.

• One of the larger ethnic minorities are the Häksen, who are closer in appearance and heritage to Central Asian, Slavic, and Scandinavian peoples. During the dark age of the Malik Toas they were enslaved and cannibalized, and they are often scapegoated or stigmatized even in the present.

Hun-Long Confederation (HLC): The HLC split from the KFP shortly after the Malik Tous reached the Antikythera Sector, although their origins are rooted in several ethnic minorities which formed during the dark age of the Malik Toas. It is rumored that the HLC has integrated other factions of humanity which had split from the Malik Tous at one or more points during its journey. In over a century and a half since the HLC split, the KFP and HLC have communicated only to the bare minimum extent, and so there is much that is currently unknown about the HLC people and way of life. Technologically, they appear roughly at parity with the KFP.

Gabor: An alien species with smooth metallic blue skin, long gazelle-like hind legs, lean and muscular upper bodies, three long finger-like tentacles on each hand, and a slightly hunched forward stance. Their heads are round and featureless, semi-translucent, with a glowing brain-like organ floating in fluid inside their skull. On top of their heads are two medium-length horns, curved forward, which glow when channeling psionic energy. The light from their brain-like organ is an indescribable color, and this light seems to be something non-electromagnetic in nature, although it shares similar (although not identical) physical properties to electromagnetism. The light, often referred to as psionic energy, can be used to transmit information through a psionic network, transmit matter at faster than light speeds, and produce psychokinetic energy, among other abilities. Each psionic organ is like a fusion reactor in terms of energy production, however the death of a Gabor or the destruction of a psionic organ does not cause an atomic explosion or the dispersion of deadly radiation.

Given that the Gabor have only recently begun to interact with humans, and mostly on hostile terms, little is known about their civilization and way of life. Communication has proven difficult since Gabor and human physiology and psychology are so fundamentally different, but thus far the use of mathematics, specifically signal processing, has proven the most effective means of communication.

The versatility of their psionic abilities gives the impression of scientific advancement, but in fact, prior to interaction with the human factions, Gabor science was comparatively primitive, as they did not require technology to thrive in the way that humanity does. Their abilities gave them a major advantage against the human factions early in the war, but the systematic application of scientific and statistical methods by the human factions has rapidly closed this gap, and now the Gabor are attempting to learn from humanity.

The Singularities: Even more so than the Gabor, the Singularities is incomprehensible to humanity. Only the symbiotic transhumans who coexist with it can meaningfully communicate with it, or between it and the other factions. It has converted most of the matter on Earth and in the Solar System into sub-nanomachine "gray goo"; a pure computational space. In such a space where matter can take any form and information can be perfectly replicated, compressed, distributed, or processed, the distinction between physical and virtual/augmented reality becomes arbitrary. This surreal reality is the Singularities.

With great power, comes great expense. The exact goals of the Singularities are not understood, but it seems to be folding spacetime and penetrating other dimensions or even other universes beyond human comprehension. Maintaining the gray goo and performing these computations is enormously expensive, and so it uses its less resource-demanding transhuman symbiotes as heralds, scouting for energy-rich worlds, particularly those containing cintammani minerals such as the Gabor worlds, to convert and integrate into itself.

It is capable of manifesting approximations of eldritch beings from other dimensions within the gray goo, although the true form of these beings seemingly cannot exist within spacetime as we understand it. It is unclear whether it is binding these creatures to its will, or if the singularities has itself become an eldritch being, and is merely coordinating with its peers across meta-spacetime.