| The
Black Magic Project The Story of Human Exploration and Discovery Beyond the Orion Arm The materials contained herein unless otherwise noted are the copyright of J. Austin Wilde, 1991 to 2009, all rights reserved. |
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Navigation Home Sagittarius Colonial Atlas Ahriman (HM+31 0938 B) Amethyst (HB+32 3331 B) Angelique (HM-50 2602 B) Apollonia/Phyrigia (HD+35 2475 A) Aquilla (SAG+56 0107) Arkhangelsk (HM+41 2746) Atlantis (HM+52 0225) Aurora (HM+47 2620 A) Avignon (HM+31 3323) Baker's End (SAG-36 0528) Bellarmine (HM+36 1662 A) Bellissimo (HM+40 2827) Beowulf (HM+39 5516 A) Bounty (HB+38 0524 A) Buran (HD+32 1678) Cauldron (SAG+47 1522) Charybdis (HB+56 0404 B) Concordia (HM+00 2422 A) Cora's World (HM-40 2634) Daedelus (SAG+45 4907 A) Demeter (HM+31 3563) Destiny (HD+47 0309) Dustbowl/New Deseret (SAG-42 4503 B) Frontiera (HD+40 1336) Frostpile (SAG+43 2208) Fury (HM+53 0102 A) Gateway (HM+00 0000) Goldrush (SAG+33 2643) Gulag (HD+40 4019) Hecate's Hate (HM+32 3972) Hyperborea (SAG+44 1855 B) Ice Station Mike (HD+42 3267) Ice Station Oscar (HD+42 5807) Inshallah (HM+53 0608) Jena (HB-33 4139 A) Jewel/Sulfur Flats (HM+41 0955 A & B) Jin Xian (HM-45 4415) Jove/Fuzhou (SAG+49 2911 A & B) Libertad (HD-46 2312) Marino (HD-31 4687) Midgard/Muspellheim (HD+54 1018) Mirabilis (HM-45 1718) Neu Bavaria (HM+31 7329) New Anchorage (HD+35 3455 A) New Ares (HM+57 0405 A) New Havana (HM+55 1217) New Tanstaafl (HM+43 3626 A) New Taranto (HB+31 2685 A) New Zion (HD+47 0954) Paydirt (HM+36 2309) Porto Fria (HM-52 2716 A) Pu'uhuonua (HM+35 2017) Research Station Victor (HB+55 1522) Sakura (HM-31 0629) Sandovar (HM+34 0139 A) Santa Clara (SAG+31 0179 B) Scherzo (SAG+55 2007 B) Sheba's World/Neu Bayer (HD-51 1306 A) Tanner's World (HB-32 1052) Tartarus (HM+31 5806) The Alamo (HM+34 0552 B) Tortuga (HD-37 4529) Toulon (SAG+55 0823 A) Valhalla (HD+31 1168) Viracocha (HM+31 1175 A) Waypoint November (HM+31 1969 A) Waypoint Omega (HM-06 1121 A) Waypoint Tango (HD+41 4528 A) Waypoint X-Ray (HD-66 1619) Waypoint Yankee (HD+10 1721) Waystation Alfa (HM+34 1207) Xiamen (HM+48 2891 B) Zhengzhou (HM-27 9791 B) Encyclopedia Spacecraft Technology Classification Designs AMC Registry of Vessels |
ENCYCLOPEDIA
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The Encyclopedia contains information
regarding the Sagittarius Arm and its inhabitants as well as relevant
historical knowledge of people, places, and events that led to its
colonization. Entries are cross-referenced as much as practical
to allow free-form browsing of the databanks so that visitors may
explore the spiral arm at their own pace. Users may begin their
search by clicking on the letters below corresponding to their items of
interest.
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| Terradyne/SDC
Corporation Headquarters - Fury, (HM+53 0102 System) The Terradyne Corporation was founded in the Zubrin colony of the Martian Alliance in 2240. The corporation specializes in advanced terraforming technologies. Terradyne Corporation was invited to Sagittarius by the SDC to assess worlds for terraforming operations, and to begin such operations on worlds deemed to be economically viable. To respond to the SDC's invitation, they formed a joint-corporation known as Terradyne/SDC, which has in turn entered into a cordial relationship with Helios to supply the antimatter needed to operate the Catalysed Fusion furnaces necessary to transmute atmospheric constituents into breathable nitrogen-oxygen atmospheres, and with Fa Enterprises of Sagittarius to develop new colony worlds. |
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| Terranova Earth-like planet orbiting the 'A' star of the Alpha Centauri system. The possibility of an Earth-like planet orbiting our closest stellar neighbor had long fascinated mankind, and as the 21st century saw the development of more and more sophisticated telescopes and methods for detecting extrasolar planets, astronomers began to see hints that there was in fact an Earth-like planet orbiting the 'A' star of the trinary system. A popular and long running video series called Terranova premiered jointly in the United States and the other English speaking countries in the mid 21st century as the new discoveries were taking hold in the public imagination. The series would run for eight years, and focused on a group of colonists trying to settle and explore the newly discovered planet. Initial plans were drawn up for unmanned probes by the U.S., E.U., and Manchuria, but were soon shelved as the reality of primitive and inefficient propulsion systems made it clear that sending even an unmanned probe to confirm the existence of such a planet would take centuries. The development of the Solar System in the Interplanetary Age was a more immediate and worthy interest. The United States' Stardrive project, led by Solarian Space-Time Engineering, changed perceptions in the late 22nd century. With the Adventurer III's jump to Alpha Centauri on July 4, 2199, confirmation of an Earth-like planet was obtained, and the U.S. began ambitious plans for a manned interstellar mission as soon as Stardrive technology was mature enough to support it. The planet, Alpha Centauri A IV, was named Terranova by the Adventurer Mission's Science Team in honor of the old video series. The first manned mission to Terranova took place in 2206, with Roger Fortunato being the first human being to set foot on an extrasolar planet on August 18, 2206. |
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| Transhumanism The Transhumanist philosophy is one of using technology to become more than human, and through them transhuman societies that overcome and transcend the difficulties and pitfalls of human frailty that have plagued mankind since the beginning of time. Some use the term 'post-human.' In either case, the use of cybernetics, a pervasive information network, artificially intelligent 'agents,' biotechnology and genemodding has created the potential to achieve these goals. The roots of the transhumanist movement reach back to the speculative fiction of the late 20th century, though it would take the advances of the 21st century to start the ball rolling. Transhumanism has several branches of thought about the ultimate fate of mankind - one group advocates for a purely digital immortal 'life' as Uploads, a machine emulation of their once organic brains running either in the real world or the virtual world of one's choosing (sometimes both at once if personality construct copies are being used). Another branch of transhumanism seeks a kind of collective consciousness, and the creation of Stargates seemed the perfect instrument to allow continuous relatively fast communication between stars tying together the various planetary internets into a giant star-spanning web of thought. Others seek immortality and the ability to shape one's self to whatever the heart desires. Many human beings in Orion and Sagittarius are already living lives that would be the envy of most 21st century transhumanists. Cybernetics and information networks are ubiquitous even on relatively primitive colonies, encountering a genemodded person is by no means unique, and even the possibility of Uploading is achievable if you have the means and are willing to die for it. With all of that said, the cultural outlook of humanity has not moved significantly towards the ideal utopia predicted by early transhumanists - humanity, with all of its post-human potential, with all of its interconnection, longevity, and malleability, has remained as fractious and self-destructive as ever. The Nanotopia movement, itself very transhuman in its outlook, collapsed within a decade to be replaced by a literal cancer within the body of humankind. Some modern transhumanists, convinced that the dream can only be realized if they remove themselves from the human world and associate only with like-minded utopians, have fled to unknown parts of Sagittarius or become Hiders on the fringes of space. |
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| Tweak Term used to describe any being that has had modifications (or 'tweaks') to their genome. Tweaks are considered one branch of Transhumanism. Many Tweaks are somatic modifications, affecting only the organism itself, and are not inheiritable. Germline modifications on the other hand are passable to offspring, but typically only if both parents share the same Tweak. The ability to tweak an organism's genetic code goes back to the late 20th century, where it was used for research into genetics, and later to produce compounds and materials useful to mankind but difficult to harvest in large quantities. Early biotechnology and biomedical advances came through tweaking, with the rDNA method of modification being used to create life-saving drugs and therapies from modified bacteria and virii. The first significant modifications to organisms came in the first half of the 21st century, with efforts to produce food crops and livestock that were healthier to consume, more tolerant of their environment, and used fewer resources to produce. Human modifications were geared towards reversing or preventing congenital health problems, but soon drifited into cosmetic mods such as non-normal hair, eye, and skin color. List of Common Human Tweaks Amaranth - Tweaked for longevity and vitality with age. Amphibian - Tweaked for the ability to breath oxygenated water, resistance to extreme pressure, resistance to cold. Astromani - Tweaked for resistance to disease, xenopathogens, low gravity adaptation, and ionizing radiation. Exotic - Tweaked for an exotic physical appearance. Giant - Tweaked for extraordinary large size and physical strength, high gravity adaptation, high pain threshold. Jovian - Tweaked for high gravity adaptation, resistance to extreme pressure, immunity from certain atmospheric taints. Joytoy - Tweaked for enhanced pheromone emission and control, optimized metabolism. Martian - Tweaked for thin atmosphere adaptation, resistance to cold, low gravity adaptation. Musclehead - Tweaked for strength and endurance. Photosynthetic - Tweaked for optimized metabolism, the ability to synthesize blood glucose from skin exposure to light. Valar - Tweaked for empathy and for high intellect. |
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