Not all of
Faith is low tech. Some aspects of it, we would regard as extremely high tech. Herein follow (translated!) excepts from Don Armando del Castillo de Nueve Torres y de la Costa de las Espadas' seminal work "
Los Milagros y las Maravillas de Nuestra Edad - en la Alabanza del Dios y la Sabiduría del Hombres". Following each of these are explanatory notes for the more casual reader.
Of all the Miracles which by God's grace have been granted to our Peoples, none would even be possible without the Gift of communication. It is here then, dear Student, that one must begin one's Research into the possibilities of the Galaxy. In the Beginning, the Scriptures tell us, was the Word.
That great Logos is still spread as in ancient Times by Quill and by Parchment, Papyrus and Vellum yet the sages of this great time have supplemented these with a true Wonder, so common that Few even stop to consider what a Great Step it brings in the advancement of our Civilisation.
That Sainted Creation is of course, Evellum. A rolled length of seemingly fine Parchment and yet packed with a Tecknowledge of which Few Indeed can ever hope to comprehend the Full Implication.
On Evellum, one may write with a Specialised Quill as with any other Writing Surface. And yet, when one is done with one's Writing, one may "Store" the work, it fades from the vellum and is gone. But it may be called upon to resurface at any time. Evellum can perform Complex Calculations for the user. It can display Sheets of Facts and Figures in a veritable Accounting that without which would leave the Monetaries of our Ports reliant on Simple Abaci.
Sketches may be made upon it and stored and recalled. Maps may be made. Different Types or Marques of Evellum have differing Capacities for Storage - some may hold much More Data than others but this is a matter of Expense to the Buyer.
If Literacy be the Building Block of Society, then surely Evellum is the Cement which binds the blocks together.
Notes for Players:
Evellum is a touch-sensitive roll of Liquid Crystal Display with a built-in memory of varying capacity. It is fairly hardy and stands up to a reasonable amount of abuse. It does require a specific stylus-type - writing on it with ink can leave permanent marks. It's usually approximately 3 to 4 millimetres thick and of leathery appearance. Often, the edges become cracked or warped with overuse.
Evellum is not capable of wireless communication although it is solar powered and thus can be used wherever there is sufficient light to read it. Very expensive types may display colour - most will not. Sepia looks nicer anyway, right?
Memory capacities start at single-figures of megabytes and currently end somewhere in the terabyte range although those would cost truly astronomical amounts of money.
Evellum will usually be accessed by Typing but by implementing parts of Easel (a 2D graphics application written in-house), Tablet/Stylus entry will be supported.
Back over to you, Don Armando.
Communications consist of more that Writings and Aids thereto - to communicate, one needs a Means whereby the Logos is transmitted to a Third Party. One of the many Reasons for the Importance of Evellum is that it provides Us with our Means to read the Data carried in the Aether. That Aether Network, or Aethernet, is perhaps the greatest true Wonder of our Galaxy.
Around every Inhabited Planet, we find a Wide Variety of Satellites. Some are full Inhabited Space Stations (of which More shall follow), some are the Vital Landing Stations without which Travel through the Wide Mains of the Void would be Impossible and some are Data Stations, devoted to the Collection and Dissemination of the Logos in all its Forms.
Here, inside these D-Sats, throb buzzing hives of Silicon, storing, processing, transmitting via Burst to their Fellows and to Groundside. Powered by their great Sail Arrays, they sit apparently motionless in Orbit, connected by Invisible Filaments of Data to each other, to the Planet's Surface and to the Deep Space Relay Buoys.
All the Galaxy's Markets upload Prices, Information, Supply, Demand, Interest Rates, those Foul Usurious Devices, and the Relative Values of Goods against Currencies. Many Good Citizens find Gainful Employment in this work and many Moneylenders and Traders would be as Nothing without it.
Each Night, at Midnight by the Great Clock of Greenwich, the Data is pushed out from out from each D-Sat to each other D-Sat. Usually, within one Hour, the whole Day's Trading is known and Available within the Galaxy Entire. By this Miracle, Galactic Trade becomes a True and Ubiquitous Lifeline to Us all.
Of Course, within each Solar System, Data Transmission is very nearly instantaneous. This is due to the Vast Distances between the Systems not being a Factor in System-Bound Communications.
Personal Data can be and indeed is stored in the D-Sats so that it is available to be used and shared within any single System. Any Changes to that Data are Replicated with the Great Synchronisation which occurs at Midnight by Greenwich Time.
It's the Internet. And why not? All market data is available, an awful lot of general data is available. All players will be granted (provisionally, this may change nearer Release) 5MB of storage based in their nominated Home or Starting system. This can be moved, sold, rented out, more purchased, the works.
The fun part is that all user and system data will be available externally via the World Wide Web. With a =<24hour delay, of course. Hey, it takes time to push that stuff from the
Faith Galaxy to ours!
Users' pages can hold whatever they want except porn or libelous material, subject to a few conditions, of course. Copyright and stuff, you know the score.
We do have a plan to do something very, very special with the Aethernet, but that'll have to wait until Release. It's a surprise. Everyone likes surprises.
One more from the Don, i think....
Aethernet Data must needs be accessed. It is not beamed directly to a Man's Mind, after all. For this purpose, we must make Use of another Wonder, the Desque.
Appearing at First Sight as any other Writing Desk, the Desque is always found Bolted against a sturdy Wall to prevent Thievery for they are most Expensive to Obtain. The Desque Surface has an Indentation which Precisely Fits the Dimensions of a Single Roll of Evellum spread wide.
It is also connected to a fine Copper Aerial and diverse Mechanisms within the Desque use this to read and write directly to the D-Sats.
To use a Desque, one places one's Evellum in the Indentation and fastens it in with Clips situated around the said Indentations. At this point, any and all Data within the Evellum may be Uploaded to the User's assigned A-Space by use of the Stylus. Furthermore, open Data may be Browsed in an Straightforward manner.
Messages may be Read, or Saved in the Evellum for later Reading. Design of one's own A-Space may be done.
Many Desques are publically available, often without Charge.
Many Individuals and Organisations obtain Desques for their own Buildings or Residences. Once installed, a Desque is very hard to move and too heavy for a Normal Man to lift and yet these Private Desques have the advantage that none may read over One's Shoulder and thus gain Access to Data they should be Privy To.
I have even heard Tell of Desques being fitted in the Larger Ships, but this functions, I know not.
New players are pretty much going to be stuck at public Desques since the private ones a) cost a fortune and b) require you to own a building or ship to fit it in, and those also aren't cheap. Your evellum transforms a Desque from a useless lump of wood and circuitry into an Aethernet Terminal. There, you can get your mail, browse, fiddle with your own webspace, send mail, whatever you want to do. Mail sent within system is delivered immediately. Mail sent between systems suffers the =<24hrs delay mentioned before.
All comments and questions welcome, of course.