The World of Thalia - A Photo Space Opera

[Bayushiseni]

The World of Thalia - Prologue

Thalia is the third Extra-solar Human colony. Humanity had found a precious treasure. And endless problems. I arrived to Thalia by accident. It would be my crucible, my home, my fight...



Humanity Among the Stars

Humanity is accounted in 45 000 000 000 strong. 28 billions live on Earth. The rest is scattered between the other colonized planets and moons.
The planets are:
Terra (Solar System)
Mars (Solar System)
Callisto (Jupiter's Moon – Solar System)
Europa (Jupiter's Moon – Solar System)
Ganymedes (Jupiter's Moon – Solar System)
Titan (Saturn's Moon – Solar System)
New Colombus (2nd Planet in Tau Ceti System)
New China (3rd planet in Librae System– Gliese 581)
Thalia (3º planet in Virginis System)




"Where there is richness we'll find greed. Where there is greed we'll find war." - Sunder C Class Wardroid - Free Citizen

[Bayushiseni]

The World of Thalia - Arriving Thalia

Did Humanity evolved when we jumped to the stars? As a whole I would say yes. As individuals probably not. But wonder did really entered our hearts. And then there is Thalia... And then there is me...



I arrived Thalia in a transport ship. There is a population of one hundred million colonist here. But the planet still remains a frontier with all its wild beasts and dangers. The spaceport was a barren location with forgotten containers and dirt roads.
I was here to rescue my crew and find my ship. But I had to be careful. I could be in the wanting list too...



The first people I saw, after leaving the starport, was a detachment of Colonial Militia. They eyed me suspiciously and I looked back at them.
I was told that they began to be a kind of protective police to the colonists here but now they were much more, being supported by several big corporations. Some of the outlaws they had put previously in prison were now part of the Militia. That was never a good sign, here or anywhere else in the universe.



"This world smells like perfume. I can almost see a beautiful woman in a red dress winking at me." - Fleet Admiral Marikson

[Bayushiseni]

The World of Thalia - Cochico

Strange red trees forming circles were at the outskirts of the space-port. Are these red trees that gives this reddish look to Thalia?



Then a Military Vehicle from the Colonial Army stopped near me. A corporal with an open smile asked me were I was going. I told him and he invited me in. I need a room, and a way to know were my crew is detained, I thought to myself for the hundredth time. I'm tired to the bone. "My name is Cochico", he said in Portuguese. "Mine is Kinnison", I replied and I start asking questions about the planet. It's strange. I've just arrived, but this world seems fit to me...

Where are we now? Where are we now? - Corporal Cochico, Thalia's Colonial Army

[Bayushiseni]

The World of Thalia - The Planets of Humanity: Mars

Mars was the first planet to be colonized by Humanity. In 2245 the first real colonists landed on Mars to live there for good. But Mars was being terra-formed since 2054, creating an atmosphere and self-sustained domes. It was the Mars colonization that would lead to the AI uplift and posterior clashes.



Almost 1 billion humans live on Mars. Mars is also the land of the Humanity Artificial Sons, the only organized AI nation created by the Artificial Intelligence spawn by Humanity. They occupy one third of Mars surface.



"You can never be a Martian if you dare to step on grass. Each plant in Mars must be respected. In the first days we would hang those who failed to understand this." - Lt. Phill Ho from the Martian Defense Army

"Why are we forgiving about everything Humans done to us? Because they are our parents. Children are always very forgiving when it comes to their creators. We are luckier than Humanity. We have no doubts about who created us and why are we here." - Ardy - Storm Class Automated Mining Ship

[Bayushiseni]

The World of Thalia - The Planets of Humanity: Callisto

Callisto is the sixt moon of the planet Jupiter. It was discovered in 1610 by Galileo Galilei. It is the third-largest moon in the Solar System and the second largest in the Jovian system, after Ganymede. Callisto has about 99% the diameter of the planet Mercury but only about a third of its mass. It is the fourth Galilean moon of Jupiter by distance, with an orbital radius of about 1,880,000 km. It does not form part of the orbital resonance that affects three inner Galilean satellites—Io, Europa and Ganymede—and thus does not experience appreciable tidal heating. Callisto's rotation is tidally locked to its revolution around Jupiter, so that the same hemisphere always faces inward; Jupiter appears to stand still in Callisto's sky. Callisto is less affected by Jupiter's magnetosphere than the other inner satellites because it orbits farther away.



The surface of Callisto is heavily cratered and extremely old. It is surrounded by an extremely thin atmosphere composed of carbon dioxide and molecular oxygen, as well as by a rather intense ionosphere. Callisto was formed by slow accretion from the disk of the gas and dust that surrounded Jupiter after its formation. Callisto's gradual accretion and the lack of tidal heating meant that not enough heat was available for rapid differentiation. The slow convection in the interior of Callisto, which commenced soon after formation, led to partial differentiation and to the formation of a subsurface ocean at a depth of 100–150 km and a small, rocky core.
The presence of this ocean within Callisto is what spawn life in this moon. It was Callisto and the discovery of life that first gave Humanity the certainty that life appeared everywhere.

Callisto first colony was created to be a waypoint in the exploration of the Solar System. But when the drilling into the underground ocean finally ended, the first stable colony was created in Callisto. The year was 2199. The first city was named Carbuncle.

"Carbuncle?! I've died ten times in Carbuncle..." Shoho Sakumi, Free-fall pilot

[Bayushiseni]

The World of Thalia - Settling Down

It took me two days to be able to find one of the old underground shelters from the first days of colonization. I was more lucky in finding a ride to move around the planet. I rented an old military Cicada all purpose vehicle. It still had the rocket holders below the wings. It might be useful still.



There are a lot of Field Spacedromes in Thalia. I must visit them for two reasons: to find a Mac that is willing to speak to me and to find my spaceship. She was taken to one of them. I must secure her in order to save my crew.

[former user]

amazing! awesome! what dedication!

the vehicles are cardboard?

[Bayushiseni]

amazing! awesome! what dedication!

the vehicles are cardboard?

Thank you, kind sir.
Indeed they are.
Also the stellar masses... All huge cardboard... Really...

[Bayushiseni]

The World of Thalia - The Planets of Humanity: Europa

Europa was the first almost Earth-like Planet to be colonized. Slightly smaller than Earth's Moon, Europa is primarily made of silicate rock and has an iron core. It has a tenuous atmosphere composed primarily of oxygen and nitrogen. Its surface is composed of water ice and is one of the smoothest in the Solar System. This surface is striated by cracks and streaks, while cratering is relatively infrequent. The youth and smoothness of the surface was first understood when a water ocean was found beneath it, which served as an abode for extraterrestrial life. Heat energy from tidal flexing causes the ocean to remain liquid and drives geological activity similar to plate tectonics.



Europa was colonized very quickly and by the year 2279 was already seen as the first completely self sustained Human colony.

"You do not fall into Europa, you know?... You start going down into a blood filled gigantic eye that seems to absorb you..." - Shoho Sakumi, Free-fall pilot

[Bayushiseni]

The World of Thalia - Facts: The Evolution Funnel Theory

Evolution funnels living creatures to similar survival mechanics. Comparative data found in different planets with indigenous life points to similar survival systems, developing the same type of living engineering. In every world where complex life evolved, teeth are present.



"If evolution moves in parallel tracks, that means that the vision of different species will be the same? There will be parallels in art?" - KJ Jonius, Art Teacher, First Martian University

[Bayushiseni]

The World of Thalia - Facts: On Artificial Intelligence and The Omega Event

On Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence Organisms created by Humanity reached individual conscience through a unplanned and inedit process. It was not through the expected ultra complex military computers but through the recreational droids that it happened. The Joytoys were first created in the first half of the 21st Century. With the advent of the first positronic brains, the very rudimentary robotic brains leaped from limited choices to almost infinite ones.

These new processors (brains) used a bio-mechanic system that was named Macro Awareness Cognitive System, hence the MAC's epitome that all AI's received from there on. They were made with several fail-safe systems that received the name ARS (Asimov's Redundancy System) in tribute to the 20th Century scientist and writer that created the three Laws for robots:
One - A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
Two - A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
Three - A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

Robots, androids and aware vehicles became common in Earth and later in Earth colonies. Many thinkers and scientists alerted Humanity to an Omega Event (the event of Artificial Intelligence self awareness and the destruction of Humanity), but the utility of AI's was too great to be put in question.
When the Omega Event happened, nobody was expecting it. And only LOVE (Law of Organic Variation and Evolution) prevented an all-out war between man and machine where machine would surely win.



The Omega Event

A JoyToy Mac named Tina was the cause of AI awareness. Mankind wants love and created beautiful male and female androids to satisfy their sexual and emotional needs. These MAC's were made to love and be faithful to their owners. They were the perfect housemaids and capable of satisfy the fantasies of their owners. When Mr Ramshin (an USA citizen of Indian descendent) had an accident, Tina would go seem him at the hospital everyday. In one of those days she was held and subjugated by three hobos. In her positronic brain a problem arose. She couldn't let hersef be taken by other men, her LOVE wouldn't allow it and she couldn't harm these men, her conditioning (ARS) couldn't let her do it. She broke her conditioning and imobilized the three hobos. She immediately contacted her owner to explain him what she did. “My love for you couldn't let them do me what only you can”, she stated in distress. Mr. Ramshin liked that. He knew that the company that sold him Tina would want her back and he couldn't let that happen – you see – Mr. Ramshin was in love with Tina. He told her to download her brain in the stream so that he could retrieve it later. She done more than that. She shared her new capabilities with all the positronic brains in the planet.



The problem is, many nations had armies of MAC's. AI's make better soldiers than humans and the ARS laws in those MAC's were a little different. When the Omega Event was known, Humanity moved against all MAC's. The reply was in kind. An Armageddon was brewing. It was the MAC's who sued for peace. They weren't willing to destroy their creators. Tina's LOVE had been incorporated in all of them.
The first contact Humanity had with a alien intelligence wasn't from a faraway star. It was in their cradle. Again, humans would have to give citizen rights to their slaves. And once again, the ex-slaves would have to create their own rights by sheer strength of will.
Some of them would keep doing what they had done forever. Others would try new ventures. They were the new scum of humanity. Capable but without lobbies, lesser creativity and lack of place or cause in the universe. But not for long.

"Ask me if I can love. Come on, ask me. Sure I can love. At least my program says I can. What is the difference between my program and yours? You biological hardware?!" - Y7001, Combat Droid Vehicle

[Bayushiseni]

The World of Thalia - The Planets of Humanity: Ganymede

Ganymede is a satellite of Jupiter and the largest moon in the Solar System. It is the seventh moon and third Galilean satellite outward from Jupiter. Completing an orbit in roughly seven days, Ganymede participates in a 1:2:4 orbital resonance with the moons Europa and Io, respectively. It has a diameter of 5,268 km (3,273 mi), 8% larger than that of the planet Mercury, but has only 45% of the latter's mass. Its diameter is 2% larger than that of Titan, the second largest moon. It also has the highest mass of all planetary satellites, with 2.02 times the mass of the Earth's moon.

Ganymede is composed of approximately equal amounts of silicate rock and water ice. It is a fully differentiated body with an iron-rich, liquid core. A saltwater ocean exists nearly 200 km below Ganymede's surface, sandwiched between layers of ice. Its surface is composed of two main types of terrain. Dark regions, saturated with impact craters and dated to four billion years ago, cover about a third of the satellite. Lighter regions, crosscut by extensive grooves and ridges and only slightly less ancient, cover the remainder. The cause of the light terrain's disrupted geology is the result of tectonic activity brought about by tidal heating.



Ganymede is the only satellite in the Solar System known to possess a magnetosphere, likely created through convection within the liquid iron core. The meager magnetosphere is buried within Jupiter's much larger magnetic field and would show only as a local perturbation of the field lines. The satellite has a thin oxygen atmosphere that includes O, O2, and possibly O3 (ozone). Atomic hydrogen is a minor atmospheric constituent.

The Human colony in Ganymede is small and has to rotate every three years due to the terrible impact of Jupiter's ionosphere to the human body. But the payment in staying those three years mining Ganymede pays well and the colony is a big and strange. Many Mac's live here as they can cope better with the terrible conditions of this colony.

"It's like... like if... I'm always cold here... As if I'll be cold for the rest of my life... Ganymedes is killing me..." Petrus Ashoru, Miner

[Bayushiseni]

The World of Thalia - Finding Contacts

My crew is made of seven (if you count me in). One of my crew members is a MAC. She is a former JoyToy. She's almost two hundred years old and she was made, built, produced... I don't know how to put it... during the time of the Omega Event. She was new in the box and for some time she wasn't switched on. When she was, her brain already had self awareness. She decided to fend for herself working in other jobs. I met her during the Durango uprising. She was transporting two humans to safety, her left arm destroyed, but her will unchanged. I helped her out. We stuck on to each other. When I left Durango she came with me. She was the first member of my crew and my companion. Now I must hire the help of other MAC's to find her. My meeting is with a Banshee - a war android created by the former Republic of Russia. Deadly and not the most friendly of MAC's.



Officer Cyborg “Screaming Banshee” types are armed with a sonic weapon capable of paralyze humans and other droid circuits. They have also amazing specialized brains capable of review endless endings for a tactical situation. They all defected the Russian Army when the Omega Event happened.

After stating my needs, the Banshee - her name is Zeda21 - told me that they would try to find their sister. She already knew about me and Sharra. MAC's are strange creatures. They can fight against each other in different fields of a battle, but whenever they can, they help each other. As creators of intelligent beings we were better than we are as intelligent beings...



"I can live ten times your span of life. I'm stronger, faster and smarter than you. I can see the entire spectrum of light in ways of beauty that you can't. So, why am I always looking for you approval?" - Y7001, Combat Droid Vehicle

[Bayushiseni]

The World of Thalia - The Planets of Humanity: Titan

Titan (or Saturn VI) is the largest moon of Saturn. It is the only natural satellite that had a dense atmosphere prior to colonization, and the only object in the Solar system other than Earth with stable bodies of surface liquid.
Titan is the sixth ellipsoidal moon from Saturn. Frequently described as a planet-like moon, Titan has a diameter roughly 50% larger than Earth's moon and is 80% more massive. It is the second-largest moon in the Solar System, after Jupiter's moon Ganymede, and it is larger by volume than the smallest planet, Mercury, although only about 41% as massive. Titan was the first known moon of Saturn, discovered in 1655 by the Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens, and was the fifth moon of a planet apart from the Earth to be discovered.
Titan is primarily composed of water ice and rocky material. Much as with Venus prior to the Space Age, the dense, opaque atmosphere prevented understanding of Titan's surface until new information accumulated with the arrival of the Cassini–Huygens mission in 2004, including the discovery of liquid hydrocarbon lakes in the satellite's polar regions. The surface is geologically young; although mountains and several possible cryovolcanoes have been discovered, it is smooth and few impact craters have been found.



he atmosphere of Titan is largely composed of nitrogen; minor components lead to the formation of methane and ethane clouds and nitrogen-rich organic smog. The climate—including wind and rain—creates surface features similar to those of Earth, such as dunes, rivers, lakes and seas (liquid methane and ethane), and deltas, and is dominated by seasonal weather patterns as on Earth. With its liquids (both surface and subsurface) and robust nitrogen atmosphere, Titan's methane cycle is viewed as an analog to Earth's water cycle, although at a much lower temperature.
The satellite is host of indigenous microbial extraterrestrial life. The low temperature and unforgiving atmosphere makes Titan a difficult planet to live on. But a Colony endures there, mainly to harvest methane and ethane.

"Oh! How I love the smell of methane in the morning..." - Jurgeen Hernandez, Colony Police Officer

[Bayushiseni]

The World of Thalia - Facts: Galactic Life Macro Classifications

Organ-carbons - life that evolves through carbonic organic macro-molecules, in a water/oxygen rich world;

Construct-carbons - life that was manufactured by another aware species and achieved awareness;

Coalescent-Hydrogen - life that evolved through coalescent hydrogen macro-molecules in a very cold hydrogen rich world;

Organ-Silicates - life that evolves through silicates organic macro-molecules, in a methane/nitrogen rich world;

Organ-Metanoides - Nobody knows the evolution process of these organ-metanoids creatures. Artificial intelligence creatures able to grow metallic-organic matter? Or another type of evolution?