User blog:Mr.Robbo/The Chaos Crisis and Me

Greetings, all!

I'm no expert on the Chaos Crisis.,in fact I have contributed very little to plans for the event so far; so I almost slapped myself when Avetzan1 asked me what will happen to my own civilizations (Zambarau Concord, Free Co-operative Zone, Qʼanglʼamʻryyşʼan) in the Chaos Crisis, and I realised I hadn't given the subject even a thought! Anyway, as I said, I'm no expert on the Chaos Crisis, so I decided I'd let you decide!

By the way, all of my civilizations so far have been multicultural, cosmopolitan and FTL incapable ('locally', anyway; the FCZ uses microscopic wormholes, which is a form of 'global' faster-than-light travel). All are also based in the Deras grid of the Andromeda Galaxy.

Scenario 1
The Zambarau Concord has experienced both AI takeovers and grey goo disasters during the Obsolescence Wars, meaning they would already have the experience and facilities to deal with problems such as the Anathema. This, along with their small size and remote position in the Deras grid (the Zambarau Concord does not have direct contact with any other civilization), means that the Zambarau Concord survives the most destructive part of the Chaos Crisis relatively unscathed.

However, such a high-energy civilization would doubtless draw in huge numbers of refugees near the end of the Chaos Crisis. As a multicultural/cosmopolitan civilization the Concord would be obliged to take them in, and would likely be capable of this, due to their mass production of space habitats to house their growing population of 1.82 trillion. However, the citizens of the Zambarau Concord are subject to a lot of social engineering by AIs to keep them in check, so the Commissioners (ruling AIs of the Zambarau Concord) would likely consign refugees to restricted habitats for social reconditioning. The opportunities for cultural intrigue and social turmoil are obvious.

Scenario 2
The Zambarau Concord has a very high population density and is a very high-energy civilization, so it could be hit hard by the Chaos Crisis. Most damage would likely be to large megastructures and planets (especially damage from the Skojan), resulting in most inhabitants fleeing (if they can), to the millions of habitats in the Concord. The habitats, being distributed throughout the huge expanse of space, would be far safer.

With planetary surfaces being no-go zones, the Zambarau Concord is effectively destroyed in its current form, becoming the Affiliated Habitats.

Scenario 3
Everybody dies.

Scenario 1
The extensive network of micro-wormholes that facilitate interstellar commerce and communication in the FCZ would be traversable to the Anathema, meaning the huge expanse of the FCZ could be decimated within days. However, wormhole links are not closed (as this would risk seriously affecting the interstellar economy). As the Anathema encroach the FCZ, there is mass panic and most of the wormhole links are destroyed in an attempt to halt the spread of the Anathema. This saves many solar systems and habitats in the region, at the cost of destroying the only means of interstellar travel available in the FCZ; it would take thousands of years to transport the wormhole mouths, slower-than-light, required to reconnect the vast region that the FCZ once occupied.

As a result, in the aftermath of the Chaos Crisis the Free Co-operative Zone has been fractured into hundreds of independant territories, gradually struggling to reconnect each other by wormhole (or perhaps some will be trying to develop some other form of faster-than-light travel).

Scenario 2
The extensive network of micro-wormholes that facilitate interstellar commerce and communication in the FCZ would be traversable to the Anathema, meaning the huge expanse of the FCZ could be decimated within days. Realising this, most corporations close down their wormholes (by adjusting the wormholes to make then non-traversable), expecting they will be able to weather the Chaos Crisis in their respective solar systems. When the corporations realise this isn't working (likely after the destruction of several solar systems and habitats), they selectively open the micro-wormholes required for corporate representatives to meet in a pre-arranged habitat to discuss a new plan. The corporations agree to form a kind of emergency government known as the Galactic Interchange Confederacy; the first government with sovereignty over the whole FCZ (previously the Free Co-operative Zone was basically a corporate free-for-all).

As threats such as the Anathema and Skojan gradually eat away at the FCZ, the huge corporations gradually begin to go bankrupt (for the first time in history). The Confederate Government has no choice but to sell the bonds required to bail out the corporations, which are instrumental to society in the FCZ.

As the FCZ recovers from the Chaos Crisis, the corporations come under complete control of the Confederate Government, representing the biggest ever change to the FCZ. The new GIC (Galactic Interchange Confederacy) is very different from the old FCZ (Free Co-operative Zone); the GIC is smaller and has a weaker economy, it is much more centralised and militarised and runs a mainly mercantilist command economy, rather than a free market capitalist economy.

Scenario 3
Everybody dies.

Scenario 1
Qʼanglʼamʻryyşʼan, being a slow thinking, highly distributed, cloudlike intelligence, are able to mostly evade destruction in the Chaos Crisis. They even survive a dirct attack by the Anathema by reproducing as fast as they are being destroyed (as well as the fact that they have a slightly similar amorphous nature to the Anathema, though only fleeting).

This results in Qʼanglʼamʻryyşʼan being much more distributed than they were before, perhaps resulting in contact with more civilizations after the Chaos Crisis.

Scenario 2
Qʼanglʼamʻryyşʼan, as they are effectively a molecular quantum computing cloud, manipulating electric and magnetic fields, as well as quantum effects, may be able to actively counter the Anathema (at least to an extent) by disrupting Anathema command signals. This could be prompted by co-operation with other civilizations.

Scenario 3
Everybody dies.