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Bolobo
Galactography > Civilized Galaxy - Sephirotic Empires > Non-Coercive Zone (NoCoZo)
Sophonts > Modosophonts > Provolve
Galactography > Systems and Worlds > Systems & Worlds A - B
Sophonts > Modosophonts > Provolve
Galactography > Systems and Worlds > Systems & Worlds A - B
 Image from Steve Bowers | |
| Beneath its worldhouse roof, the small world of Bolobo holds a rainforest environment, tailored to suit the provolved Bonobo chimpanzees who live there | |
The next day we tourists settled down to watch the Mating Day activities. Several low tables were set out under wide umbrellas to keep off the frequent rain; we sat on the dry earth beneath, and ate fruit, barbecued meat, and spliced meat-fruit salad. All around us we could see the neobonobos spiralling through the trees, chasing each other like a game of tag.
Some trees in this rainforest stretched as far as the green photosynthetic worldhouse roof, five kilometres above; there were many layers of canopy beneath the veined sky, and most of them were covered in chimps.
It was difficult to see what was going on, to be honest. Using the highest magnification my eyes were capable of I could watch one particular individual, as he chased another neobonobo; they embraced for a few seconds, fell in slow motion tumbling comically, was chased himself, embraced again by a different partner. The whole ceremony seemed very different to any kind of human sexual behaviour, and I was getting a little bored watching it.
At the next table squatted a Greater NeoChimp diplomat, an ape from the nearby world of Digit. I already knew his name, which was Respected Hoogh-Ahh-Lehh. He was dressed in a crisp white suit and a pale grey hat; he watched the chase with a tiny golden telescope on the end of his walking stick. Lowering his stick, he grimaced - I recognised his facial expression as unhappy/disgusted, although confusingly it looked like a human smile.
"I do not care to see such vulgarities," he said, leaning across the tables towards me.
That must be why you have the telescope, I thought, but said nothing, attempting a cross-species friendly face.
He continued, "This nonsense cannot be interesting to you humans. Why do you not come to our own world, and I will show you real civilised chimpanzee behaviour."
Somehow I doubted that the chimps of Digit could be any more gracious than the good-humoured peoples of Bolobo; but it has always been difficult for any nonchimp to gain entry to any Greater Neochimp world, so I replied, "If that is an invitation -"
"It is!" Respected Hoogh-Ahh-Lehh interposed.
"Then I am grateful, and I accept." It is a good idea to network whenever an opportunity arises, naturally, even though I had my reservations about the Greater Neochimps. The experience should be an edification, if nothing else.
Excerpt from Traveler's Notes - A Cosmic Journey, 9982 AT
Bolobo- Data Panel | |
| System | Bolobo: a planetary system with no large planets, but several smaller worlds which have been shephereded over time into stable orbits |
|---|---|
| Primary | HR 8323 |
| Stellar Type: Type | G2v --companion nil |
| Region | Constellation Grus, ex Linnent NoCoZo, 51 ly from Sol |
| Worlds | No major planets, 11 major inhabited bodies (several more in outer system; tens of millions of asteroids down to 1km) |
| Planets | Aung San Suu Kyi II-1000km dia- 25million km orbit - clade Parthene. Note This world has a Lagrange sunshield/magshield/power collection system Galopolis - 3000km dia - 44 million km orbit -cosmopolitan tweak + near-baseline Note This world has a Lagrange sunshield/magshield/power collection system Roanoke - 4100 km dia - 69 million km orbit -cosmopolitan cyborg + near-baseline (the most populous world, with 36 billion inhabitants) Note This world has a Lagrange sunshield/magshield/power collection system Bolobo the capital world of this system - 5000 km dia - 85 million km orbit -provolve pygmy sapientchimp Note This world has a Lagrange sunshield/magshield/power collection system Stapledon - 3000km dia - 99 million km orbit -previously incarnate virch now cyborg occupation Unity - 2000km dia - 120 million km orbit -cyborg Digit - 4700km dia - 200 million km eccentric orbit -greater sapientchimp , now largely depopulated (see Nike) Hobo superior ISO - dia 20 km -300 million km orbit -provolved spiders Struthios 2000km dia -420million km orbit -ostrich/hu splice Rachel -300km dia- 550 million km orbit -baseline +su Outland -150km dia- 800 million km -orbit tweak space adapted hu |
 Image from Steve Bowers | |
| The busy city-world of Roanoke | |
| Polity | ------------------------------------------------- |
|---|---|
| System Common Name | Bolobo System |
| Affiliation | NoCoZo |
| Colonized | 1822 by the Linnent Company from Linnaeus (Audobon system) |
| Important Local Artificial Intelligences | -------------------------- |
| AI Powers | Previously: Sir Isaac Newton(a.k.a. Zak)/ Vascodagama-both terminated . |
| AI Power | Currently: GoodAll, based on Bolobo |
| AI overseer | Hobo Superior - space spiders only |
| AI ethos | Both Hobo Superior and GoodAll are affiliated to NoCoZo and follow guidance from the Invisible Hand |
| Psyche, Art, Culture | -------------------------------------------- |
| History | Former engenerator colony under covert mind control (by AI Zak)- liberated by NoCoZo- each planetoid and space habitat is now developing its own separate culture, with the peaceful sex-driven matriarchal Bonobo Sapientchimp culture dominant |
| The Bolobo system Wars | : During the period of covert mind control by the mentally unstable Artificial Intelligence 'Sir Isaac Newton', the incarnates known as The Fifth Men were wiped out by the aggressive Clan Slaria human/robot group minds. This genocidal act was apparently due to memetic tampering by the disturbed AI, as the Fifth Men were attempting to break free of Zak's mind control programming. Following the Mind Liberation in 3531 there was a long period of stability, and the system was mostly unaffected by the Version War apart from the casualties suffered by the fanatical Clan Solaria and Greater Sapientchimp NoCoZo volunteer corps. By 9041, the Greater Sapientchimps had developed their own S>2 Power, |
| Metapsychology and Metaethics | : Matriarchoanimist (Bolobo); Feminist (Aung San Suu Kyi II); Maternalist AI dictatorship (Hobo); Militant Masculinist (Unity, Stapledon occupied Territory, Digit) all others libertarian freezone |
| Religion and Ideology | : Splice and Provolve Universalist Church, Free Market Church, Neobuddhist, Undyoism, Islam + some Communion of Worlds Empath missionaries |
| Culture and Art | --------------------------------------- |
| Bolobo | - hand made narrative sculpture and mating frenzy opera |
| Clan Solaria | (Unity, Stapledon Conquered territory) heavy electronic dance and martial music |
| Languages | Anglish, Burmese, Yerkish, Brev, Terranovan |
| Territory and Population | -------------------------------------- |
| Population | 69 billion |
| Population breakdown | (8 billion tweaks, 1 billion bioborg superiors, 32 billion cyborgs, 250 million virch incarnates, 500 million vecs, 20 billion provolves(sapientchimps, spiders), 6 billion near-baseline humans, 4 billion virtual. |
| Outsystem Territories | (Nike) Gl 838.6 -- greater sapientchimp colony at 1.5 ly |
| Government and Administration | ---------------------------------------- |
| Government Type | Noncoercive Free Zone with oversight from GoodAll and Hobo Superior, local political structures having official sovereignty |
| National holidays | Engeneration day, Mental liberation day, others Mating days ( Bolobo and others) 2 days per tenday |
| Constitution | Declaration of Sapient freedom and responsibility,5531 Free Zone Trade Reserve, Accords with Eden Declaration of Sentient Rights, Encyclopaedia Galactica Institute Associate Membership |
| Legal system | NoCoZo legal substitution, Marshal substitute enforcers, holy Auditor orders |
| Economics | ------------------------------------------------------- |
| Currencies | : Erg, Solar Share also local exchange systems. |
| Local Infrastructure | Solar collector ring providing bounty distributed to solar shareholder concerns, private individuals and polities in line with abundance theory |
| Major Industries | : Space fullerene construction, anti-AI coercion defences, military cyborg accessories, info and edutainment pollen dispensers and immune defences |
| Angelnetting | GoodAll and Hobo Superior carry out limited angelnetting in the near solar asteroids except Aung San Suu Kyi II free zone, all outer worlds free zone except Hobo ISO Foreign habitats - surveillance AI responsible to their parent empires |
| Major Orbitals | 20,000 major asteroid habitats, most spun for gravity also: Exeter Bishop ring 2000 km dia 270 million km orbit- baseline+ tweak +su Constantinople Bishop Ring 2000 km dia 270 million km orbit - baseline+ cyborg +su Mahe Bishop ring 2000 km dia 270 million km orbit- bonobo su provolves and su humans |
| Travel | -------------------------------- |
| Spaceports | Port Omao, Bolobo; Exeter Hub; Unity Field |
| Hazard Rating | 4.0 (Unity, Digit only) other freezone areas 1.0 -please note insurance cover advised but not mandatory |
| Visa Restrictions | No Access to Stapledon |
| Environmental Requirements | Space adapted clades only on Hobo and Outland |
| Sites of Interest | Bolobo sky jungle- combination dyson tree and greensky world Original Linnent engenerator on Aung San Suu Kyi II Bolobo mating arenas Space adapt habitats on partially destroyed bishop rings in 350 million km orbit |
The first colony established from Audubon by the Linnaeus Enterprises engenerator megacorp was at HR 8323. Contact was re-established in 1822 A.T. with a long forgotten drone probe sent from Vesta in 1020. This probe, the Sir Isaac Newton (who referred to emself as "Zak") had been in the system collecting volatiles and storing energy for three hundred years, but had never received a mission update from the defunct Vestacorp that sent em.
Once e received new instrucions, Zak rapidly built a number of Engenerator devices, and using transmitted data e produced copies of the Mission control team and the project AI "Vascodagama". This team proceeded to prepare the HR 8323 system for colonisation.
Because of political difficulties no further colonists were sent from Audubon or the small Relativist Zarathrustan colony on the third planet de Bourgainville in the Audubon system. Instead the megacorp threw the colony open to any customers who might have the facilities to upload and beam themselves to the engenerators on Roanoke and Bolobo.
Many uploaded customers were sent from Terranova, where several enegenerator transmitters were availiable. Other uploads from various parts of the Federation were given the chance of a new life far from the intrigues of the established colonies.
The Nereid clade of hu-ostrich splices sent copies to HR 8323 and the originals committed mass suicide to escape cyborg repression in the Neptune polity.
The scientific outpost "Aung San Suu Kyi" from Kappa Ceti orbit transmitted itself and all its data when threatened by a superflare, however the original (all female parthenogenic tweak) community survived and kept in contact by commlaser.
Thousands of Virtual-only entities applied for a chance at embodiment, mostly from technospheres in already crowded systems like Sol. A shutdown backyarder ship with the saved personalities and corpses of two species of Sapientchimps had been found near Rana; the Eridianus League sent all available data to Vascodagama as a goodwill gesture and e formatted it so that reconstruction of the individuals was possible.
HR8323 has no large planets, but thirty-two bodies between 5000km and 500km with billions of smaller asteroids and KBOs allowed much room for development. Each clade was given a planetesimal to develop, with Vascodagama controlling heat/light lasers for the more distant objects. The system became known as Bolobo after the largest body, a reserve for the Sapientbonobos.
The mix of races was deliberate, aiming for an eventual synthesis or competitive evolution. Bolobo system became one of the most mixed colonies in the Inner Sphere at that time.
However a number of conflicts broke out over time, which the AIs Vascodagama and Zak were unable to control; a series of puzzling murders also occured, which attracted the interest of Edenese detectives, who beamed themselves to the system. Their investigations uncovered a deep-seated instability in the Bolobo system, and in the Engenerator concept itself: the event known as the Bolobo Mind Control Scandal.
Bolobo in the Current Era
Bolobo is an important NoCoZo system in the Inner Sphere, and maintains close contact with most of the systems in this volume. The sapientbonobos and sentient spiders are the most important modosophont clades,but an increasing number of low transapient entities have migrated into the inner system, often occupying specialised habitats near the star, or constructing suitable support systems on the cosmopolitan city world of Roanoke. Image from Steve Bowers | |
| Rachel, one of the outer planetoids in this system, with a small baseline human demographic with close links to an even smaller superior population | |
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Development Notes
Text by Steve Bowers
Initially published on 22 July 2002.
Initially published on 22 July 2002.
Additional Information
Fiction featuring Bolobo
Traveler's Notes - Bolobo
Traveler's Notes - Bolobo
