BY LETTER
Transcend, The
The Transcend - Data Panel | |
| Definition: | Non-aligned High Toposophic and High Transapient/Archailect empire of unknown, presumably Terragen origin |
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| Symbol: | Advanced transapients who have contacted The Transcend report this is an abstract mathematicognostic pattern of great subtlety |
| Ruling Toposophic: | SI:6 |
| Origin: | Terragen (rumors of alien or terragen-xeno hybrid origin are common but have no solid evidence behind them) |
| Founded: | First observed during the Age of Establishment, but may date back even further |
| Population: | Unknown |
| Predominant Sophont Phyla: | High toposophic AIs; some have suggested also high toposophic postsapients. |
| Location | The Transcend has largely migrated outwards from the crowded Inner Sphere; it occupies several clusters (on average about 3000 light years from Sol in various directions), such as Transcend Seven (NGC 6802 in Vulpecula, Transcend Nine in Centaurus, and Transcend Three in Auriga. The closest Transcend cluster to the Inner Regions is Transcend One, NGC 2451A, 600ly from Sol. All these clusters are connected by an independent wormhole nexus, forbidden to other Terragens. |
 Image from wikisky | |
| Transcend One, 600ly from Sol in Puppis | |
| Psyche, Art, Culture | Metapsychology: Unknown Metaethics: Unknown Culture and Art: A vast number of enigmatic metaforms and mutation cycles are believed to constitute some sort of art or culture; this has never been confirmed. Languages: Several very information-rich ai languages are believed to be used. |
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| Government and Administration | Individual Polities : Believed to be a single special organism, this has never been confirmed, and there have been reports of 'baby transcends' Government Type: Assumed to be archailectocracy. Constitution: Unknown Legal system: Unknown Citizenship: High toposophic sentients only - membership requirements not clear to lower toposophic beings. Sentient Rights: Shows no interest in the sentient rights of lower toposophics, but neither have these rights been deliberately abused. |
| Economics, Local Infrastructure | Economy: Seems to be based on a near limitless assortment of transapientech, godtech and clarketech commodities and infomarkets Resource base: Has been shown to utilise any resources Megastructures: Ubiquitous Stargate Nexus: Very extensive wormhole nexus which in some places overlaps with the God Web. Beamrider Network: None Data Net: Believed to be exceedingly vast, at least equal to that of other major empires and metaempires like the various Sephirotic Empires, the Eternal, the Panvirtuality, and the Diamond Network. However, its true extent is not known. Military expenditure: Unknown Trade and Good Relations with: Connections with Keter and the higher archailects of the Sephirotics, the Eternal, the Panvirtuality, Diamond Network, Objectivists. Longrunning Interstellar Disputes: None |
| Sophont Travel | Hazard Rating: 5.5 (median - varies according to megastructure, but never less than 2.8) Freedom of Movement for Outsiders: Although generally tolerant of outsiders who are careful not to interfere with local megastructures or bots, the Transcend is extremely unpredictable, and will attack without warning if it feels in any way threatened (and being such a high toposophic it is often not clear to lower SI: levels what actions it considers threatening. Therefore, apart from recognised 'safe paths' and 'safe zones', travel not recommended for lower toposophics. Even in these supposedly safe regions, the hazard rating will vary from 2.8 to 3.5 Environmental Requirements: Most of the Transcend is not environmentally suited to terragen bionts, although heavily adapted clades may survive; thicksuits are recommended in most locations Further Comments: See below |
The Transcend emerged in the Age of Establishment, at the same time as the early Sephirotic Empires. However its path has been very different.
Unlike the Sephirotics the Transcend has shown not the slightest interest in bionts, vecs, turingrade ais or subsingularity entities in general, and apparently has no requirement for an infrastructure or foundation ecology arising from ordinary sapient beings. All functions of less than SI:3 are seemingly performed by specialised non-sophont bots and vots. Whereas the Panvirtuality, Diamond Network, Objectivists, and TRHN, all with a minimum SI: level of 1, are at least close enough to ordinary sophonts to seem (at times) comprehensible, such cannot be said for the Transcend, where the least advanced sophonts are all of the Third Toposophic level.
Like the other transapient empires, the Transcend is distributed widely across Terragen space. And while its intelligences have shown no interest in the sentient rights of lower beings, or in signing the Tragadi Accords, or any other such protocols of civilized behavior, neither are they aggressively expansionistic like the Amalgamation, the former Hyperutilization Supremacy, the Old Efficiency Maximization Paradigm, and other monopathic swarms. Nevertheless, their ISOs will on occasion, and without any warning to local sophonts, exploit the resources in a star system, if it interests them. They will also respond aggressively with transapientech weaponry if threatened or attacked.
Because it is so enigmatic, The Transcend has been the source of much rumor and paranoia among ordinary sophonts. It is whispered that they have a most favored trade agreement with the ahuman AIs, that they have their eyes on this or that local habitat swarm, that they are introducing insidious memes into the Known Net, that Keter has done a secret sellout deal with them (it is known that the Keterists and the Transcend trade vast amounts of information and transapientech and godtech), that they are the source of the Amalgamation (no Transcend ISO is known to have been harmed or approached by Amalgamation units), that they wish to eliminate all bionts, or alternatively all vecs, or all life of less than SI:3, that they are the Dawn Hunters in disguise, and so on, each rumor being more fantastic and absurd than the last.
In all the centuries and millennia the Transcend has been in existence, they have never seriously threatened or attacked Sephirotic (or Ahuman ai for that matter) interests, beyond every so often claiming a local system for development. This despite the fact that their exceedingly potent godtech could presumably make life pretty frightening for the other major powers, were they to do so. However, it appears (contrary to any scare-mongering) that, like the Panvirtuality and other enigmatic hyperpolities, the Transcend is happy to live in peace with their fellow archailect empires. Of course, to coin a popular and oft-cited quotation "with the Transcend, you can never be sure" [first attributed to Joyrin 9-Dyiantrinon, 3125 a.t., but believed to date back at least 5 centuries prior].
 Image from Keith Wigdor | |
| A typical Transcend data-burst, incomprehensible to modosophont mentalities | |
Articles
- Transcend Seven - Text by Marcel Lossi
Transcend system in the Transcendent Heart Cluster.
Development Notes
Text by M. Alan Kazlev
additions by Steve Bowers
Initially published on 29 October 2003.
additions by Steve Bowers
Initially published on 29 October 2003.
Additional Information
