Insomniac Theories - KIs, The Nexus, and You
Posting from Eder Gira...
I can't sleep at all. Everytime I try, there's way too much stuff rushing through my head to find any rest. So instead I linked to Gira, where I've been soaking in the hot water while reading "Order of the Phoenix". Yes, I know I'm about two years late. Granted, linking to Gira probably wasn't the best idea either... it really just made my mind wander more. I keep forgetting about the book and finding myself watching the twin moons slowly trace their way across the sky, and going back to the original thoughts. But I digress...
I'm posting partially as a distraction, but mostly because I want to record some ideas that came to mind during one of my moon watching mind wandering breaks. What were D'ni libraries like? Usually when you think about books in relation to D'ni, you automatically imagine the linking books that bridge worlds so easily. But what about literature? Were there seperate libraries for written works, or were all books collected in the same libraries?
What about the Nexus? Could there have been several Nexus type machines in the libraries, that could dispense not only linking books, but written materials as well? But then again, the KIs that we use to interface with the Nexus were primarily used by the Guild of Maintainers... only a few of the highest of D'ni nobles seemed to have them aside from the Maintainers. Hm... new point then.
There are five Nexus terminals accessible to us on Ae'gura... probably quite a few more beyond the barricaded areas. Did common KI-less people see these terminals and think "Wow, those Maintainers sure are lucky, being able to use the Nexus so freely"? Or to move a step further.... you need a KI to register the location of the pedestals, and to operate the Nexus itself. But the books on the pedestals are still wide open, so anyone could use them, regardless of having a KI or not. I wonder if anyone ever used the Nexus links, and ended up stuck there... assuming that they didn't have a linking book on their person, that is.
If they DIDN'T have a book, how long would they be stuck there? There has to be hundreds of chambers and machines within the Nexus.... the rooms are too small for more than one or two people, and no matter if you link seconds or hours after someone else, you never encounter them in the Nexus. Perhaps the whole thing is a massive machine with hundreds of rooms that keep passing through the link-in point?
There's also open Nexus links in every neighborhood, as well as the ages we have access to... though I think those were all placed by the DRC for ResEng and Explorer use. The imagers all require interface with a KI to store images or notices, so it seems that the things that we keep posting our goofy photos and messages on could originally be altered only by Maintainers and higher-ups. The Great Zero also interfaces with the KIs somehow, since they records all of the marker data for it's (still up and coming) recalibration... once again, something only accessible by Maintainers.
Hm... it all makes sense to me except for the pedestals. It doesn't seem quite right for them to be accessible to anyone who comes along, regardless of whether they have a KI or not. It'd be a safety hazard. They're also built into the structure of the island too well for the DRC to have placed them... they've definitely been there for a while.
One more thought... what about the KI dispenser we keep directing new explorers to? There are over two thousand registered explorers since D'mala, and one of the first things that they're required to do is get a KI for easy communication. That machine has spit out over two thousand KIs so far, not even beginning to count how many were given out back before the restoration was halted. It shows no sign of stopping either. Does it have a finite amount of KIs stored somewhere? Or does it automatically manufacture more of them somewhere within Gahreesen, to refill the machine and continue dispensing them?
...ergh. I shouldn't think about D'ni tech when I'm not fully coherent. I think I'm going to read a bit more, and try one more time to get some sleep.
I can't sleep at all. Everytime I try, there's way too much stuff rushing through my head to find any rest. So instead I linked to Gira, where I've been soaking in the hot water while reading "Order of the Phoenix". Yes, I know I'm about two years late. Granted, linking to Gira probably wasn't the best idea either... it really just made my mind wander more. I keep forgetting about the book and finding myself watching the twin moons slowly trace their way across the sky, and going back to the original thoughts. But I digress...
I'm posting partially as a distraction, but mostly because I want to record some ideas that came to mind during one of my moon watching mind wandering breaks. What were D'ni libraries like? Usually when you think about books in relation to D'ni, you automatically imagine the linking books that bridge worlds so easily. But what about literature? Were there seperate libraries for written works, or were all books collected in the same libraries?
What about the Nexus? Could there have been several Nexus type machines in the libraries, that could dispense not only linking books, but written materials as well? But then again, the KIs that we use to interface with the Nexus were primarily used by the Guild of Maintainers... only a few of the highest of D'ni nobles seemed to have them aside from the Maintainers. Hm... new point then.
There are five Nexus terminals accessible to us on Ae'gura... probably quite a few more beyond the barricaded areas. Did common KI-less people see these terminals and think "Wow, those Maintainers sure are lucky, being able to use the Nexus so freely"? Or to move a step further.... you need a KI to register the location of the pedestals, and to operate the Nexus itself. But the books on the pedestals are still wide open, so anyone could use them, regardless of having a KI or not. I wonder if anyone ever used the Nexus links, and ended up stuck there... assuming that they didn't have a linking book on their person, that is.
If they DIDN'T have a book, how long would they be stuck there? There has to be hundreds of chambers and machines within the Nexus.... the rooms are too small for more than one or two people, and no matter if you link seconds or hours after someone else, you never encounter them in the Nexus. Perhaps the whole thing is a massive machine with hundreds of rooms that keep passing through the link-in point?
There's also open Nexus links in every neighborhood, as well as the ages we have access to... though I think those were all placed by the DRC for ResEng and Explorer use. The imagers all require interface with a KI to store images or notices, so it seems that the things that we keep posting our goofy photos and messages on could originally be altered only by Maintainers and higher-ups. The Great Zero also interfaces with the KIs somehow, since they records all of the marker data for it's (still up and coming) recalibration... once again, something only accessible by Maintainers.
Hm... it all makes sense to me except for the pedestals. It doesn't seem quite right for them to be accessible to anyone who comes along, regardless of whether they have a KI or not. It'd be a safety hazard. They're also built into the structure of the island too well for the DRC to have placed them... they've definitely been there for a while.
One more thought... what about the KI dispenser we keep directing new explorers to? There are over two thousand registered explorers since D'mala, and one of the first things that they're required to do is get a KI for easy communication. That machine has spit out over two thousand KIs so far, not even beginning to count how many were given out back before the restoration was halted. It shows no sign of stopping either. Does it have a finite amount of KIs stored somewhere? Or does it automatically manufacture more of them somewhere within Gahreesen, to refill the machine and continue dispensing them?
...ergh. I shouldn't think about D'ni tech when I'm not fully coherent. I think I'm going to read a bit more, and try one more time to get some sleep.
posted by vid | 4:33:00 AM
1 Comments:
I remember reading somewhere that the population in the cavern before the fall was somewhere around six million... and since the Maintainers were gearing up a program to get KIs to the entire populace, even if there was a finite number made, I doubt that we'll be running out soon.
Of course, for a civilization that could rearrange atoms in common rock to create nara, it wouldn't suprise me at all if the machine just made them.
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