Simbēâ - Symbia Simbēâ - SymbiaSymbia is an amazing place. It's people, language, wildlife, landscape and history are so similar to our own, and yet so different. Symbia is a parallel world to Earth. This means that it is a world that exists in another dimension, running parallel to our own. However, there are an infinite number of dimensions out there, all with different worlds and universes. What makes Symbia special is it's compatibility to Earth, and it's connection with Earth.
Symbia and Earth are exceptionally easy to travel between, in comparison to the other dimensions around them. When one moves from one dimension to the other, one 'punches through' the very fabric of the space/time continuum [often called the 'ether']. This takes enormous amounts of energy, and is often impossible. If it is pulled off, the object or person streams from the old dimension to the next. The reason that the trip between Symbia and Earth is so much easier is because it is the easiest of all the possible 'streams' one could take. As one streams along from one world to the next, they encounter a sort of friction or drag. However, the stream between Symbia and Earth suffers no drag at all. In this, no 'steering' is necessary. The only effort and energy needed when traveling is to punch out of the current universe. After that, it's simply a matter of letting oneself, or an object, slip away on the easiest stream, straight to the next world.
As if this wasn't enough, there is also the fact that Symbia and Earth are so much the same, where it counts. It's all good and well if two worlds have the same length for solar years and days, but if they both have completely different atmospheres or surface temperatures, then it's of no use. Earth and Symbia, as far as parallel planets go, are almost identical. Listed here are just some of the similarities that lie between the two worlds.
There are, however, some intriguing differences between Earth and Symbia. These differences to not immediately affect ones ability to live from one to the other. Nonetheless, they are completely unavoidable, and often striking. They list as follows.
In 1983 sapiens begun what was to be a monumental change in the way that they used and obtained information. The Internet, as it is known today, is a very large group of computers connected the world over, capable of delivering raw data at remarkable speeds. Concerning music, research, study, entertainment, commerce, communication, relationships and very much more, Earth and it's people were very much changed for the better.
Thousands of years before hand, (or prepaw) the Symbian race stumbled across the same idea. Once upon that time, computers similar to that found on Earth today were to be found. However, a newer technology was taking shape. These systems were known as perella (pârelœ), beautiful gems that contained strains and fractures within them, mostly invisible to the unaided eye. These imperfections work much like the etches in a computer microchip, allowing energy to move around in intricate ways within them very quickly. With the added help of the entomnis, perella were extremely fast, reliable and capable computers.
After a time, perella were connected via a method similar to what is known to sapiens as quantum entanglement. Using this, an almost infallible network was built across the planet of Symbia, much like the Earth's Internet of today, and it was named the Ayas (æâs), after the creator of the networking technology, Shuja Ayars. The main difference between the Internet and the Ayas is the hardware behind the network; the hardy and efficient perella that make up the Ayas along with its dependable and often instantaneous methods of connection make for much better speeds and bandwidths than the sapien Internet. Other than this, both networks are structured very much the same.
The Ayas is made of a sort of backbone; numerous large, expensive and powerful perella around the planet, connected intangibly to each other in a large but simple network. Each one of these perella are housed in what can only be described as a combination library, museum and park, known quite simply as a lock (lok). In turn, millions of perella owned by various individuals are connected to whichever part of the backbone they can. The users of the Ayas simply access the wealth of information much the same way that the users of the Internet do. One either visits a lock to directly access the very large and powerful parella there, or one uses ones own perella to "wirelessly" access the network.
As of 2006, 87% of Symbians in Central own a perella and all of those perella are connected to the Ayas. Almost without exception, all data related services are passed through the Ayas. This includes telephone and visual communication, the distribution of movies and music, personal data and contact information, social communication, gaming, encyclopedic information, sports data, a form of television, commerce, virtual reality simulations, education, art archives, news, directories and maps, public and private journals, perella programming and very much more.
Given the fact that the Ayas runs on relatively small amounts of power, and that on Symbia energy is money, the Ayas is actually a very cheap enterprise. The connection technology it runs on, known simply as PLK [Perpetually Localised Kenetics] requires little effort to setup and maintain, perella survive on just a pawful of ard, even the largest of them, and the administrative work is mostly performed by helpful users. What remains is the cost of producing perella, a time consuming and costly process. Although the simplest of perella can be built by most anyone, the structure and size required for the more useful systems can only be handled by professionals at great cost, especially those located in a lock. This remains to be the one true price to keep the Ayas running.
Within most, if not all sapien societies, sex and its related topics are taboo, quietly talked about, or in the least seen as selective, something that has it's place and time. Symbia has no such sentiments.
If a sapien were to travel the lands of Symbia, they would be suprised by the many differences between it and the lands of Earth. Colors are different, people look different, but nothing is more different that the way that the Symbians conduct themselves, and this goes especially for sex.
Sex, lust, reproduction and similar topics are not taboo. Save in some situations, sexual intercourse is an accepted activity, and is not too uncommonly, encouraged. Within the Symbian equivalents of bars, parks, beaches and the like, sexual activity is seen the same way that kissing is in most parts of the Western culture of Earth. In much the same way, only activity that unduly draws attention is seen as vulgar, and even then it is simply frowned upon, rather than enforced against. However, there are occasions when sexual activity is lesser known, or even banned. For the sake of decency and respect, sex is rarely seen in locks, movie theatres, hospitals and so forth. The Forock Space Station enforces a strict ban on sex altogether, due to health concerns.
What seems to contribute most to this attitude is the mechanics of Symbian sexual practises. Two main points seem to attribute. Firstly, sexual deviations often provide a health risk. Many diseases are spread sexually, some of these are deadly. Secondly, birth-control is major factor. Not all sapiens have sex with the intent of having children, and the same goes for the Symbian races.
To combat the first problem, the spread of disease, Symbians long ago brought about many reliable forms of detection, prevention and cure for these diseases. Most commonly, a couple [or group] will use a perella to gauge the health of themselves and their partner. This has been reliable to almost 100% of cases. The few reported cases where this method has failed have often been tracked back to foul play on the part of either partner when using the perella. Furthermore most diseases, especially those of lesser intensity, have been either outright cured or brought to a very manageable level.
The second problem, birth control, has never actually been a problem for any one race of Symbia. Since as far back in time as record allows, Symbians have an unusual method of reproduction, that in turn allows them to copulate without procreating.
For a Symbian of any kind to produce, they must first prepare themselves for reproduction. Without exception, every Symbian must consume a certain product before sex, otherwise said Symbian will remain sterile. The product required differs per species, but is more often than not a type of vegetable, alcohol, certain barks, nuts, or even flesh. This required product is known as a Symbians ambrose and once consumed a Symbian's reproductive systems will start, allowing pregnancy to begin following copulation. It is for this reason, as well as in respect to the entomnis, that the world of Symbia has it's name, as does it's people. Symbians live in a perpetual and inescapable symbiosis with the entomnis, as well as the land and animals around them. They require the land and it's resources to bear children, and on the entomnis to survive.
The family and social structure within Symbian cultures vary wildly due to these biological facts. A "couple" may not end up being a couple at all; often a family group has more than two mated Symbians. No stigma is is attached to any family group type, and one household may contain many males, females, children, parents and various relatives. One female may have many mates of both sexes and live with them, on male may have many male mates and live alone; any combination goes and they are all seen as perfectly normal. The family types most commonly seen is a mating of three adults, with one male and two females, or two males and one female. The least commonly seen family type is a single, unmated female.
Mated Symbians may or may not have children, and again there is no stigma attached either way. It is not uncommon for a single Symbian to raise a child on their own. The birth of a child is seen as a rather positive event, and when a female learns she is pregnant, it is tradition to have a celebration one month after conception. This is known as a birthday. On this day, the name of the child to be is revealed, as well as the gender and the childs father. These things are known only by the mother [and often, but not always, the father] and kept well secret until the childs birthday. On this day, the child is seen as "born". The actual event when the child leaves the mother's womb is known the nate, ie "natal date" would be day of birth as far as a sapien would see it. However, the birthdate, the day the is one month after conception, is seen as the ruling date of note. Symbians celebrate a birthday on this day each year, and it is known as an Orbit Day, a time to celebrate the fact that the Symbian has "survived the happy days and growing pains another orbit brings" as the Symbian birthday song goes, the term orbit of course referring to the orbit of Symbia around the Sun [also commonly known as Sol]. Each passing of a year signifies one lap of the Symbian orbit, and this is seen as an achievement of the Symbian.
While growing up, a young Symbian will commonly run into themes of sex, in media, from friends, relatives, and from strangers. As much as sex is seen as an important subject, children are in no way sheilded from it. Sex between children that sapiens would see as 'minors' passes as a day to day event. Sex between a 'minor' and an adult is seen as something that must be done with caution, and often the adult, the child and the parent will talk together about sexual activity that has or will come to pass.
Sex related crimes on Symbia are an existant, but thankfully rare occurance on Symbia. It is seen as a highly immoral act and incures wrath from any peer that hears of it.
Imagine a bug. A very small one. Now think of a germ, a virus. Very much smaller again. Now, think much, much smaller than that. There, you have the entomnis.
The entomnis are a species, or perhaps many species, of perpetually tiny creatures. The latest in Symbian and sapien technology shows the size of the average entomnis as 5 picometres, or 0.000000000005 metres. They are very small.
So small are the entomnis, that scientists cannot agree on any one of their features, even within the same scientific field. Since all entomnis are a great deal smaller than an atom, some argue that they are made up of energy particles, others deem them as waves in the ether, others do not agree on the existence of the ether and instead state that entomnis may be as large as atoms, but have properties making them seem smaller. The debate rages on.
The word entomnis is made up of "ent", a derivative of Greek "ento" meaning within, and "omnis", Latin for all, everything. Literally, they are "within everything", and are found almost anywhere on Symbia that one would care to look. They are even on Earth, albeit in vastly smaller amounts.
Despite being found everywhere, and being terribly small, the entomnis have one last striking feature. They don't follow rules. Using loopholes in quantum mechanics, their sheer numbers, and possibly other methods not known to science, the entomnis commonly break every law of physics ever written. And for reasons further unknown, they do it on command.
A Symbian, when born, will arrive into the world with a brand new shard, or shardor, which comes from the mother shard through a type of mitosis, where it splits, leaving one shardor and the mother shard intact. This new shard will be filled with entomnis, and as the child grows, so do the entomnis within the child and it's shard. Using the shard, a child will learn to communicate with and command it's strengths, weaknesses and other characteristics. This has been since as long as the Symbian race can remember.
It is not known exactly how this symbiosis works. It is theorised that the entomnis are intelligent. Some feel that they simply react chemically to changes in a Symbian. Others claim proof that they are actually extremely small robots. No opinion is agreed on. It is not even known weather the same entomnis stay within a Symbian, whether they die and survive through offspring, or whether they leave the shard and or body to be replaced by others entering it. Again, no opinion is agreed on.
The strengths bestowed on a Symbian, through it's shard and entomnis, can vary wildly. Some become stronger, others weaker. Some become impervious to fire, water, radiation. Some become weaker to these things. Some are given powers of flight, invisibility, telekinesis. Some bend light. Some create it. Some consume it to create ard. Some see in the dark, some sense vibration, some sense the movement of the very earth below them. Some are very powerful, some weak. Some have many different powers, and some have just one. The few unlucky [or lucky, depending on opinion] get none at all. These abilities are known as aces and vices. An ace is defined as any characteristic, good or bad, given through the entomnis. Further more, a vice is a characteristic that is particularly harmful or detrimental to the Symbian.
Most, if not all, of these aces are impossible on Earth. Causality, the laws of physics and other realities prevent such things from happening. However, the entomnis are not restricted by these laws, and through them a Symbian can circumvent them. This stands as one of the very main differences between Symbia and Earth.
When religious and governmental parties began to learn of the existance of Symbia and it's people, one of the first reactions was to attempt personal contact. Presidents, Prime Ministers, royalty, as well as the Pope, and other religious leaders; all seeked counsil from the leaders of Symbia.
But they were immensly suprised to find that no one Symbian really seemed to be much more in charge than any other.
Government, so far as defined on Earth, does not parallel with the goings on of Symbia. There are no police, no presidents, no royalty, and no courts of law. There is simply chaos. But within that chaos lies a per person autonomy that is only found on Earth in villages and camps, small tribes and the like. Of Symbia's half billion people, a majority live in cities or suburbs, the rest settling alone in deserts, forests, tundra and other difficult terrian. Suprisingly however, they all seem to live very similar lives. The technologies of power, running water, heat, food, transport, communication and entertainment are used worldwide. A small child deep in the rainforest will laugh of a morning watching a cartoon on a simple hologram, while an old downtown city raised Symbian will chuckle at the same cartoons using the same kind of hologram. The generators that power the lights of an underground home in the desert are just the same portable, personal generators that power each apartment in a highrise. A sick boy in a small country town is carefully fed with food from a substancon, and a man feeds his family of ten children with just the same type of device.
Due to this kind of infrastructure, almost perfect, per-person autonomy is attained. So goverment is not anywhere near as much a requirement as it on Earth.
Decision making is made mostly online, on the ayars. Those who take interest vote on ideas, changes and events and these are taken as the 'will of the people'. For example, it is thought that it would be a good idea if a new highrise is built, however it may cause damage to a nearby rainforest. It is put to vote, those savvy in the workings of construction have their say, those learned in the balance of the forest make counter points, and anyone who is interested votes for or against. After a majority vote is taken, it is decided, as a whole, that the rainforest is in danger, and the highrise is later built somewhere else. The entire procedure usually takes a few weeks, at most a month, and takes place entirely online.
So far as breaking the law is concerned, very similar procedures are in place. For example, a man is murdered, another man is accused, but he claims innocence. Testemony is taken from everyone involved, proof for and against is logged, lie detectors are used and seers are consulted. A majority vote is taken and the man is found to be guilty with overwhelming evidence. Punishments are varied, depending on the aces of the guilty, but most commonly the charged will serve time in a prison, under physical confinement and if nessessary, locked mentally into the virtual world of the ayars, were they can be put to use, but be of no harm.
The last noticable establishment is the Peer Network, a collection of highly trained, screened and investigated group of Symbians who use their aces for the better good. Usually attaining a pop star level of fame, peers act as the police officers of Symbia. When on duty, everything they hear, see, say and do is logged live on the ayars, where still others work hard to fight injustice. Seemingly inspired by the superheros of Earth comics, the peers travel the world searching for trouble, and use their various strengths to save lives, calm conflicts and fight the unruly, all the while being backed up, corrected and watched by the audiance online.
A list of terms used on this site that may be of special signifigance.
, ace
, ambrose
, anthropomorphic
, ard
, Ayars
, beginning
, craft
, entomnis
, have paws
, lock, perella, PLK, prepaw, sapien
, shard, shardor, sym
, or place, is made up of four syms., Symbia, Symbian
, topnigh
, vert, vice