The Nexus

The Nexus

The ‘Nexus’ is an extra-dimensional region that has the appearance of a wide, infinitely long tube about 100 km in diameter. Both the start and the end of the Nexus are unknown; it is theorised that the Nexus has no start or end and might even be an infinitely long torus; go far enough in one direction and you will eventually return to where you started. The bare surface of the Nexus is a bronzed looking manifestation of space-time, impenetrable to any known methods.

The indigenous inhabitants of the Nexus (simply known also as ‘The Overseers’), a collective of semi-biological machine constructs, create openings, known as Gates, along the length of the Nexus as part of their inscrutable behaviour. Where other intelligences inhabit the found universes, the Overseers leave the Gates open and move on, seemingly only interesting themselves in those universes without any apparent life.

The openings of Gates in a universe can be moved, like any other object (although they have substance, and can be manipulated, they appear to have no mass and are not affected by local gravity), and are generally sited where it is convenient for that universe's residents. Once open, Gates have a tendency to shift along the surface of the Nexus, gathering with other Gates with similar environmental conditions on the far side. They position themselves about 85 kilometres from each other, with the Nexus around them shifting form to match the conditions on the other side. A Gate that opens into space retains the same vacuum on the far side, but if, for example, the far side contains a surface and atmosphere, an area around the Gate about 42 kilometres in radius alters to match. As the Gates collect in similar conditions, large areas of the Nexus' surface become habitable and joined. Even the physical laws seem to shift to match that of the universe beyond.

Trade and interaction takes place between the inhabitants of the universes opened up by Gates and, along a lot of its surface, and entire cities cover some parts; either of a single species looking to set up a more permanent enclave in the Nexus or, in more cases, a metropolitan hive of thousands of species known as a Focus, coming together to trade and exchange information. The busiest gates have thousands of people and vehicles pass through them hourly.

Overseers seem to roam the entirety of the Nexus, but are concentrated in Hub, a vast cylindrical construct, two hundred kilometres in length and about 30 kilometres in diameter. Power is supplied from a number of Gates that open into the heart of a star. The plasma from these gates is funnelled up in brightly glowing field tubes to the Nexus’ centre where it is fed into the centre of Hub for processing. It is the energy from these tubes that illuminates and heats the Nexus.

After an unspecified event in the past, the Nexus Council was formed by some of the civilisations using the Nexus in an attempt to codify interactions within the Nexus. The Council is the legislative and judiciary body that manages such interactions, and is made of representatives of all Occupants.

Occupants

Inhabitants of a universe that a Gate opens into are called ‘Occupants’ and most new Occupant species are assigned a Mentor from a list of volunteer Occupants. Nexus Law details the interactions Occupants may have with each other, enforced by the Nexus Council. Repeat and recalcitrant offenders will find their universe cut off and/or other Occupants being granted permission to engage in punitive actions. If trade is arranged between Occupants, then the Council reserve the right to tax said trade, dependant on the nature of the trade and the wealth and status of the Occupants.

Occupants have the right to claim part of the Nexus for themselves, typically around their Gate, but other areas as well, with Nexus Council sanction. Through means unknown to even the most advanced Occupants, the Nexus moulds itself to meet the environmental requirements of those living in a given area, generating appropriate gravity, atmosphere and terrain seemingly from the base materials of the Nexus itself.

Referencing System

The Nexus referencing system is relatively simple. The Nexus Council currently has open Gates along 2 million kilometres of the Nexus, with the centre point being designated by the location of Hub. This represents the ‘centre’ of the Nexus and all points are marked from there.

  • From Hub, the Nexus is divided into thousand kilometre long ‘Sections’ running ‘North’ and ‘South’.
  • The 500 kilometres in either direction from Hub is Section 0.
  • Sections north of this are sequentially numbered from 1 to 1000, sections south are numbered -1 to -1000.
  • A line is taken along the surface of Nexus to represent 0 degrees. This is the ‘Top line’
    Within a Section, a simple grid system is used using the number of whole degrees from the ‘Top line’ and the number of kilometres from the ‘north’ end of the Section
  • An example reference would be -453,68,832. This represents a location 453,000 km ‘south’ from Hub, 68° from the ‘Top line’ and 832 km from the north of the Section.

Laws of the Nexus

  1. New Gates opened that contain intelligent species (see Section 4, Definitions, for the classification of ‘intelligent’) come under the remit of the Nexus Council
  2. When a new Gate is opened, the first faction to whom first contact is made shall be designated an official Occupant
  3. Once first contact is made, the Nexus Council shall give brief instruction as to the nature of the Nexus
  4. Mentors are automatically assigned to all Occupants possessing technology levels below that of E-1. Occupants with a technology level below that of A-1 may be assigned a Mentor at the discretion of the Nexus Mentoring Board
  5. The Mentor is responsible for instructing the Occupant to the Law of the Nexus and directing the Occupant to the nearest Occupant Focus (see Rule 2.e.)
  6. Mentors are forbidden from interfering in the internal politics of an Occupant universe
  7. In the event of a change of faction control of the Gate from within the universe, the Mentor shall transfer duties to the new faction
  8. In the event of a properly sanctioned change of faction control of the Gate from outside the universe, Mentor status shall be reconsidered
  9. Mentors are selected from a list of Occupants wishing to volunteer for such duties and must meet certain requirements
    1. A technology level of at least A1
    2. No active conflicts
    3. Held Occupant status for a period of not less than 10 Nexus years
    4. Compatible language structures with potential Occupant
    5. Have no conflicts of interest with other Occupants being Mentored or non-controlling factions within the Occupant universe
  10. Mentors are responsible for ensuring their Occupant is capable of operating within the Law of the Nexus
  11. Mentors are free to exchange technologies and cultural information as they see fit but are not obligated to share information or technology that the Occupant does not already possess
  12. Mentors are forbidden from any action that would lead to the irreparable damage to their Occupants universe or its inhabitants
  13. Mentors are forbidden from using their Mentor status for profit; e.g. Enslavement of Occupant, resource stripping of Occupant universe, information hording, etc.
  14. In all cases, the Nexus Mentor Board has final arbitration over the actions of the Mentors
  1. Occupants are entitled to free and open use of all public access areas of the surface of the Nexus and to an altitude of twenty kilometres
  2. Public access areas are clearly designated and it is forbidden for Occupants to attempt to restrict movement of other Occupants in such areas
  3. Forbidden zones are clearly marked using red fields and attempted entry will incur penalties
  4. An Occupant is entitled to an area of the Nexus around its Gate as a designated Enclave
    1. The minimum size of an Enclave is 5 kilometres in radius from the Gate
    2. An Enclave is the sovereign territory of the Occupant and can allow or restrict access to other Occupants as it sees fit
    3. All laws and rules within the Enclave are the privilege of the Occupant
    4. Expansion of an Occupant’s Enclave can be done with permission of the Nexus Council
  5. A collective of Occupants may designate a portion of the surface of the Nexus as a Focus through application to the Nexus Focus Board
    1. A focus is a public access area at least 25 kilometres from a Gate
    2. A minimum of three Occupants is needed to request a Focus, there is no upper limit
    3. The governance of a Focus is determined by representatives from the founding Occupants. The exact structure is the responsibility of the founding Occupants
    4. A focus starts at a diameter of 10 kilometres. Further space may be requested by the Focus government with the following restrictions:
      1. No part of the Focus may be within 15 kilometres of an established Gate
      2. No part of the Focus may entirely encompass a designated Enclave
      3. The decision of the Nexus Focus Board regarding Focus expansion is final
    5. It is the responsibility of the Focus government to set rules and laws within the boundaries of the
    6. Focus so long as said rules do not negate the Law of the Nexus
    7. Once a Focus is established, no Occupant may be refused permission by other Occupants to enter the Focus, trade within its limits or purchase property within the Focus
    8. Merging of adjacent Focus areas is at the discretion of both Focus governments. The new government will comprise members from both Focus governments
  6. An Occupant may request that a portion of the surface of the Nexus be allocated to the preservation of an ecosystem from within the Occupants own universe.
    1. The granting of such a preserve is decided by the Nexus Preserve Board
      Preserves are open-access areas
    2. Management of the Preserve is the responsibility of the Occupant who requested it
    3. Mismanagement or neglect of the Preserve shall result in the loss of said Preserve. The Nexus Council reserve the right to continue its management or hand over management to a third party
    4. Preserves orphaned by the loss of the Occupant responsible shall be managed directly by the Nexus Preserve Board
  1. Trade is defined as the transfer of ownership of any defined item, tangible or not, between Occupants who otherwise would not have been able to do so without the existence of the Nexus
  2. Trade between Occupants is entirely the responsibility of the parties involved. The Nexus Trade Board shall only engage in arbitration where it can be shown the Law of the Nexus have been broken or third parties are affected
  3. Trade agreements must be lodged with the Nexus Trade Board. Failure to register a Trade will result in loss of Occupant privileges and/or a fine
  4. Once a trade agreement is lodged, the Nexus Trade Board reserve the right to impose a tax or levy on the trade. The tax will never be punitive nor remove the profitability of the trade.
  5. Disputes between Occupants should be registered with the Nexus Conflict Board as soon as reasonably practical.
  6. Occupants participating in unregistered Conflicts cannot claim Council representation for legal Disputes relating to the Conflict.
  7. Once a Conflict is registered, the Occupants involved must set forth their rules of engagement. These rules are defined by the Occupants with the following restrictions
    1. The Rules of Engagement must establish the aims of the conflict. Once the aims are achieved, the conflict is concluded
    2. The conflict must be restricted to the defined Conflict Zone established by the Nexus Conflict Board. The size of this zone will reflect the size and scope of the relative Occupants in involved.
    3. The Conflict Zone may be an area of the Nexus or part of a universe allocated to the Conflict
    4. The techniques used to resolve the conflict must relate the scale of the conflict and the Occupants involved.
    5. Devices more than 5 technology levels more than the target are banned.
    6. The Nexus Conflict Board reserves the right to stop any conflict within the Nexus or restrict movement to conflicts outside of the Nexus.
    7. Third parties may only join a conflict upon application to the Nexus Conflict Board