SWN: Voyage of the Yggdrasil: Life on the Ygg 1

The following several posts are the player facing documents that further flesh out the setting. Some are in response to questions by players, and as such there are some sudden turns in conversation flow I have tried to iron those out where I can.

If you have just stumbled over this project you will find its beginnings and a table of contents
here Section 1: Introduction
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Previous section, Section 3: Beliefs

More Tech

How critical is it to have a dataslab vs just a compad?

Data slab will give you wider access, but it isn't at all necessary. A compad would do a lot of the data slab functions but just at the intro level. It would still be the best cellphone ever, but outside of a communication rich area it gets crufty. Keep in mind large portions of the ship are "wild" and many are without power or communication. Mind you that would hit a data slab too, but at least it would still have most of its on board resources.

Another way of thinking of it is a data slabs is like a tablet meets cyberdeck. A Compad would be the most impressive smartphone you ever met, but still just that.

Most Compad programs are largely stored in the cloud and if you are out of shipnet the data in the cloud is out of range. If you need access to a xeno medical document but have no link to the larger data base you are scrogged, but if you want to have 100 hours of surgical video backed up, and are willing to off load your cat videos to do it, you could have that information on hand. This is best handled logically. If you say "Yes I would have that saved on the data storage of the device" that is good enough. If you decide it is too far fetched then it probably is. We don’t need yet another encumbrance system.

A major drawback of of compads is that they can’t run even basic software agents or VR/AR feeds to your trode net. (But there is your friendly Shipnet assistant... as long as you don't have a Scottish accent.)

If you have a data slab (commonly just called Slabs) you can look "through" them and see ARO (Augment Realty Objects). You will will need a Trode Net to "see" them with your eyes (or hear or smell them). Trode nets are a pretty inexpensive resource (200 Credits), but it is a necessary one to use the DNI.

Person's of Interest

Gatekeepers and Bankers.

As I mentioned before the Bridge doesn't get very involved with people's lives often. When it does, it works most often through Agents. Two types of Agents are Gatekeepers and Bankers.

Gatekeepers can give permissions to use to the lifts in the Axis Mundi to travel from one Level to another. Any Gatekeeper can grant this privilege at any time. They usually exercise this power either for the community leaders of a Level or for the Bridge, but some use it to further their own agendas. Some can be bribed, but most Agents are pretty wealthy so credits or physical goods that can me Maker produced will be of little use. Not all Gatekeepers can grant movement to all levels, and any some Gatekeepers can override others. The politics of Agents is pretty arcane and beyond the scope of the understanding of most Passengers.

Bankers give Credits from the Bridge. Credit flow between Passengers is their own business, but new credits are granted from the Bridge Crew only. Credits aren't the only unit of exchange. There is also barte, service, and even in some small Feral pockets hard currency is used, but Credits are universal in Civvi areas as a unit of exchange. It is theorized that Bankers can also drain credits, but this is just a rumor. Bankers also collect Credits on behalf of the bridge, in exchange for favors. These Credits leave the flow of circulation. In this way inflation is kept in check.

Lift Passes and Credit Balance are information stored in the Shipnet and coded into the hardware of a characters DNI, which was installed as a Crew member. This means Ferals usually don't have these resources, and if they get them it is usually through a more shadowy means. If a persons Hardware (DNI) and the Software (Shipnet) don't match then the action is denied. .

More on travel between Levels: Pathfinders

While the Axis Mundi lifts are the most common way between levels, not to mention the fastest, there is another method that is very rarely used by Civvies but is the most common means for Ferals.

The Axis Mundi has tunnels, stairs, and service ladders that do reach between levels. The AM is massive and not efficiently patrolled. Guides, known as Pathfinders, will lead parties, for a steep fee, into the secret ways to the next level up or down. This is dangerous on many for many reasons. Security will shoot to kill if they encounter such trespass and frequently will close a passage after such an altercation, so the passages are a shifting maze between the levels. Also old technology, rarely upkept, will go rogue. This includes corrupted expert system controlled robotics, such as maintenance machines, and weird life that has been flourishing in the dark places (Can we all say Mutants!). Most people, given a choice, use the lifts.

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Humanity?

Though most spacefarers of this era can agree firmly that aliens, AI, plant beings, uplifted animals, VI, and non biological creatures are not humans, the question of what that came from human genetic stock that is still human is up for debate.

In a universe full of cyborgs and genetic manipulation, not to mention a million forms of cosmetic alterations, people, on the whole, don't get to fussed by appearances. Walking along the corridors of the Ygg you may see many people who look cosmetically different than any humans on Earth (maybe lightly furred, or naturally camouflaged to a jungle environment, or chromed out), but they would still be instinctively understood to be human in most cases. This isn't to say they would be liked or accepted (we do tend to be a tribal species), but the essential humanity would be recognized.

With that said, humans that move beyond the "basic mold" (say choosing a digital life or with an unpleasant mutation, or who have to live in a environment suit) cause revulsion instinctively in many humans. The PCs react as is their nature and background controlled by the players, but humans who aren't "human enough" tend to upset NPCs more than aliens would.

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The Bridge

Different groups would argue which division of the Bridge is most influential. Security and Communication are brought up most frequently, but those in the know say, perhaps it is Facilities.

Facilities maintains the power grid, the physical structures that support Shipnet, environmental controls, water, and maker feed. Anyone who causes harm or interference with these ship infrastructures will soon get a visit from Security. Then Facilities comes and makes it right.

Facilities also maintain makers, med pods, and data terminals. These last three resources though they only keep in working order. The control of these vital resources is governed by whom ever can hold them. This is what gives a lot of power to the various level Passenger governments. Travelers on the Ygg are suggested to learn who controls these resources and how to gain access to them. (It has been known in the past for "terrorist" to seize a maker or med pod, use it, and then flee. Usually this ends very badly for the terrorist)