Science & Technology (Embers)

Emberspores

The first and, to date, only Emberspore discovered was noticed as an astronomical curiosity in orbit around Kennet's moon. Once telescopes progressed enough for a more detailed analysis, it was found to be a metallic sphere of perfect dimensions, with eight lines of unreadable text printed on one side. The revelation that it was a product of some other intelligence spurred on the development of spaceflight. All the while, the greatest minds on the planet worked to decipher those eight lines of text.

After decades of study, the text turned out to be a dedication of some kind:

Before you woke, the Embers stood

and held the cosmos in our hands.

We sang to stars for eternity

then left these worlds for you.

These spores are cherished memories

a gift to those yet to come

so that you may walk in our footsteps

to understand the universe.

The first teega astronaut to touch the Emberspore caused it to "bud" and produce the first Empyrean, growing the vessel in a matter of hours. In the years to come, the Imperial Fleet was produced and the Empire founded, welcoming other worlds and races, and expanding across the stars. All crews were informed to keep a watchful eye out for more Emberspores, an edict that has become all the more important since the first Emberspore ceased operating. While it is assumed that all Emberspores resemble the first, metallic perfect spheres, it is not a certainty.

Telepiary

The telepiary is a marvel of modern science, an integrated communication and information network that can cover a whole planet. It connects homes and offices, governments and schools, allowing every citizen of the Empire to keep in touch with the rest of their world. Obviously it is incapable of spanning the vast distances between worlds or stars, but within its limitations it is a powerful tool.

A telepiary network is made up of hundreds of thousands of computer systems, called stations, each one with its own specific numerical identifier, called an "address". To connect to another computer, all a user has to do is dial the right address, and the two computers will connect, allowing access between the two. This is accomplished via switchboard relays, where large banks of jacks (arranged by their numerical address) are linked by cords. In the early days, these were manipulated by hand, but the job is now done by machine arms specially designed to be able to connect up to eight jacks a second.

Telepiary prompts come in a number of shapes and sizes, depending on their intended use. A typical home prompt has a small screen for text display, a pair of speakers and a microphone for receiving and transmitting audio, and a keyboard for entering addresses and commands. An office prompt may have a larger screen capable of receiving images, an attached printer for producing hard copies, and headphones for clearer sound reception. A prompt has very little memory itself, so information and data must be stored on a dedicated station, called a mainframe. Mainframes are purely for storage and autonomous tasks, such as playing records for the purposes of music stations, and can only be accessed via prompts.

Tele-operators, or operators for short, are skilled at working with the stations on a telepiary network. They know how to fix problems with stations, both internal and external, repairing faulty hardware or weeding out awkward coding. Frequently they are easily identified by their mobile prompt, a special prompt that can jack in to any other station, and contains more memory and processing power than the typical prompt. The mobile prompt is the key tool of the operator's trade, since it is often loaded with special commands and programs that can root out problems.

Rogue operators, called phreaks, use their skills to treat the telepiary network as their own personal playground. Some are relatively harmless, seeking only to do petty things like ensure their favourite music is being played on the radio, or connecting to other stations without paying any bills. Others can be malicious or outright criminal, seeking to break into the mainframes of banks and businesses to do damage or steal valuable documents. These criminal phreaks are hunted down by bluecoat operators from the Peace Service, although sometimes given leniency for their crimes if they agree to testify against their employers.