Virtual Reality

Their signature technology, known to have influenced every aspect of their lives, Virtual Reality is a complex series of Vaurca mechanisms that create alternate reality settings, experiences and emotions beyond any technologies other species from the Orion Spur can recreate. These simulations are often seen as esoteric because of their long cultural importance and their own composition, which tests the limits of perception. Since the discovery of Vaurcae, their Virtual Reality has caught the attention of researchers and megacorporations because of its entertainment value, cultural importance and even possible means of reincarnation.

History
The earliest forms of virtual reality were created by a small, uncredited Hive. This primitive virtual reality, formed around 40 000 BCE, was very much like the human conception of virtual headsets and holographic entertainment. However, even then the main purpose served a diplomatic and religious need, where many could congregate in environments formerly unthinkable due to the barren nature of Sedantis I.

Modern Virtual Reality was developed in 36 670 years ago, as a major breakthrough of Lii’dra scientists and artists. Unlike its current form, the Lii’dra Hive was then a small force with leading technologies. The adoption was nothing but gradual, with the members of the Court of Queens adopting Virtual Reality rapidly. Unlike the earlier versions of the technology, this technology no longer had the same limitations of before. Major Hives, such as Zo’ra, restructured their mythology and philosophy around the novel technology. In a few thousand years, universal concepts such as the Afterlife and the Realms were formed.

After the Great Hive War, High Queen Zo’ra made Virtual Reality freely available to all surviving Hives. Its Lii’draic origins have since been concealed, with Zo’ra claiming to have developed it themselves. Multiple origin myths have also surged, as it is understood to the Vaurca that Virtual Reality is almost a natural technology, with the same foundational importance as that of the wheel or the control of fire.

Technology
Like many of the Vaurcesian advanced technology, Virtual Reality has a biological component. Unlike other species, which seek to develop artificial intelligence as a means to supersede biological realities, the Vaurca believe that their augmentations instead should be in service of what can be deemed as natural. Thus, early in the Era of Augments, the current caste developments allowed for the creation of the Cephalons, huge biological computers which have the primary purpose of storing large amounts of data. These Cephalons are, however, best known for serving as hosts of Virtual Reality.

Each Queen has a neural rod which allows access for all Vaurcae, regardless of their Hive, to access Virtual Reality. The rod beams its own Realm information, while it also relays that of other Queens, making Virtual Reality accessible in most areas of the Orion Spur. The neural socket is the quintessential augment for a Vaurca, and one they would find themselves disoriented if living without. This is what allows an individual to access Virtual Reality at will, however, the bodily functions cannot be suppressed when inside VR.

This has led to the creation of special cryogenic pods, which are known to have housed some connected Vaurcae for thousands of years, as many of those that first arrived in human space were in stasis for long periods. A downside of this is that respiration is still a required function, and for those in such long periods of stasis, they will continue to metabolize phoron, albeit at a much slower rate than a Vaurca not occupying these pods.

While the effects of the cryogenic pods in the long-term have not been tested, many individuals have claimed to have suffered muscle atrophy, derealization and even other forms of anxieties. While it is common practice that those victims of these conditions are to be culled and deemed as defective, regulations in human and Skrellian space do not allow for these methods if the individual in question can still be treated and eventually recover. This has led to some controversy among many Vaurcae, as well as ostracization of those that are deemed too crippled to work.

Realms
A realm is the virtual dominion of a Queen. Some of them can barely be described as places, but more like states or ethereal sensations. Each Queen’s realm is open to all Vaurcae, given that they acquire an access code to those that are not from their own Hive. Some areas are locked for members of the Hive only, or for permanent residents. Tas are the only ones that hand out codes, and they may restrict access as they please. A common punishment is limited access to one’s own Virtual Reality. Each Queen has molded her realm to her own personality, and a description can be read in their brood pages.

Personal Subrealms
Personal Subrealms are spaces controlled by a particular individual in a particular realm. Originally granted to Xakat’kl’atan only, they are now a subscription-based model, if one pays enough tribute to the Queen from their own salary. This is justified by the Queens as a maintenance cost, given the extra strain a Cephalon may have if it hosts too many subrealms. The liberty of the subrealm is still very much linked to what is possible in the mother realm, as well as different tribute prices for sizes and other peculiarities.

Time in Virtual Reality
To Vaurcae living in or visiting the Virtual Realms, time is typically viewed as an ever-moving stream, the speed of which can be molded by the Queens as easily as any other element. A given realm will often have sections where time will seemingly flow faster or slower relative to the real world and areas around it, further changed in subrealms as easily as any other element.

In a location of entertainment, what to the Vaurca seems like a month may have passed. However, the individual leaves the Virtual Reality to discover only a few hours or days have transpired. To the layvaurca, this phenomenon is simply time travel, another avenue by which the Queens exercise their omnipotence in the Aether. Nonetheless, many scientists and scholarly Vaurcae believe the effect is simply accomplished by changing the clock rate of certain areas through clever usage of the Cephalons. The faster the clock, the slower time appears to pass, and vice versa, when the difference is only subjective. Experts point to the evidence of the odd phenomena that come from adjusting time too far in one direction, where calculations become more abstract. At first, this may be unnoticeable, but pushing it too far in the other direction makes more precise practices such as science almost impossible.

The Interstice
Between all hosted VR constructs there is an interstice connecting them. The primary purpose of this interstice is to transmit the massive volumes of data between all members of the hive. Entire perceptions can be shared with individuals by their use. With it, a Vaurca could share its entire life story from its own perspective in no time at all. Within the interstice itself, the physicality of simulations tends to break down, becoming less indicative of reality at all. Will and thought are the only tools needed by Vaurca who dwell here. These tools are used to create structures and worlds not constrained by three dimensions, to create what their minds choose. Yet most tend to merely use the interstice to communicate or travel between each Realm. Those that do choose to live out their afterlife here are often seen as eccentrics.

The Interstice is also seen as a meeting place for Xakat’kl’atan and those interested in the Pilot Dream religion. Queenless may congregate in hidden sections of the interstice, as their presence, especially of their Tas, is barely tolerated in proper Realms.

Surveillance and moderation
Ever since its invention, Virtual Reality has been linked to the Hivenet. However, the mechanisms behind Virtual Reality are much more complex, and thus its encryption is harder to decipher. While most places have logs, akin to how the Hivenet conversations are logged, there are certain places, such as the Interstice or Mouv’s realm, which are harder to read. If one were to revise what is left from these conversations, more often than not it appears only as a sensor glitch. This has caused some issues with both the Republic of Biesel and the Jargon Federation, which wish to moderate Virtual Reality as much as they do with Hivenet. While the Flagsdale logs have been considered “the Rosetta Stone of Virtual Reality”, the truth is law enforcement still has made little progress, with the Hives being reluctant to cooperate as much as they have with non-VR communications.

This does not mean, however, that Virtual Reality space is not moderated by the Hive authorities. Many Warriors of all broods have traditionally served as enforcers inside Virtual Reality, making sure law is followed and no conspiracies are formed. Punishments go from simple bans to the void of their consciousness, even if alive. It is said that mind voiding is a punishment enforced against Unbound criminals with non-VR crimes too, since it is a legal loophole to capital punishment in the galactic community.

Afterlife
Ever since the aftermath of the Great Hive War, the ability to upload their consciousness has been the cornerstone of Virtual Reality, with its rapid adoption and importance linked to the “death of death”. For Vaurcae, Afterlife is not only a promise, but a reality they can see inside the Realms, and because of this alien religions have had a hard time proselytizing.

Cheating death is the most interesting part of Virtual Reality to many investors, which may see it as a more viable option than cloning. However, deeper analysis of how the Afterlife works has caused controversy.

In early 2463, the Xavier Trasen Medical School released a research paper which supposedly proved that older Vaurcae residing in Scay’s afterlife appear to be more “limited” than consciousness that have died more recently. This has led many to believe that the Afterlife is akin to an AI that acquires singularity once it has copied the data from a Vaurcesian brain. After the Zo’ra Hive supposedly threatened to stop funding the Tau Ceti Foreign Legion, this study was censored, though discussions have arisen from metaphysics philosophers to 64tan threads.

The possibility of actual consciousness, translated into data and uploaded to the Afterlife, has been supported by other scientists and thinkers. The main argument is that the consciousness of dead individuals are lucid in a way that an artificial brain would never be able to emulate. Proponents of this solution are excited to unlock the secrets behind VR, and it is believed that this position is what helped seal the deals between C’thur and Einstein Engines.

Resleeving or reincarnation, while possible, is still a niche. How it works is that a neural socket copies the consciousness from the Afterlife, and is then inserted into a pupating Vaurca right before their training. While those that believe that Afterlife is just artificial intelligence say that these new Vaurcae are merely indoctrinated to assume the identity of the one cloned, the ones that believe Afterlife is possible claim that this resleeving is a better solution than cloning, with no identity issues stemming from this. However, it is reported that some memories may become glitched or falsified, but this has not been proved yet in a major study.