Life in the Hub
How do you live when it feels like the world is about to end? When you can see the wave coming on the horizon but don't really feel like there's anything you can do—and what you can do, no matter how momentous an effort you might do in the face of anihillation, may still do nothing. Or worse, kill you. Or worse, both.
These last days are like a hysterical party, really. There are so many runaway conspiracies and fears that you blankfacedly ride hours of stress and panic until it's all just background drone, until what humor you can find breaks through it like a klaxon and dredges a fearful, awful laughter up from the depths of you.
The silliest news is treated with as much intensity as the most serious. They blur together. Shejlt supremacists band together to burn Verin family. Check out this adorable show about a dog who has been Uplifted to being smart enough to talk, but not smart enough to realize the sitcom he stars in is a production! Here's a meme depicting the mass slaughter of hundreds—it's funny because all the soldiers have their eyes crossed out with charcoal rubbings and one of them is singing "Oh golly I didn't want this!" to the tune of the 1812 Overture. Guess which one gets more eyes?
I'd explain the meme, but that would be a one hour explanation of how three separate pieces of data are all delivered within a signular flow of information, that they were all being performed, conveyed, and recieved correctly, synchronously. Bisecting that lecture would be a five-hour long explanation of the history of Shejlt history, Uplifts, and ancient Human music. You get it, or you don't. That's the language now—if you can speak it, you can find anything. If you can't, you're lost.
Diversion aside. Back to now. Back to that cresting tsunami. We sat, waiting for it.
And then it hit, and it was even worse than we thought, but many of us lived, and carried on. It's been a few generations but you don't rub out that kind of scar. All sense of stability is forever dead, and we all know that someday, with a sort of mad certainty, civilization will come tumbling down in the most absurd way possible.
Just you watch.
Life in the Hub may vary from Banner to Banner, and even person to person, but there's a constant thread throughout the lives of each person in the hub: connectivity.
The lives of those within the Banner are shaped by the constant interconnectivity of technology to every aspect of their life. They exist as much within Æthernet as they do within the meatspace, sometimes, even, more within the former.
The citizenry of the hub mirror the civilizations of times gone by: they live, wax, wane, and die to the rhythm of their Banners. Their lives are like your own: a rich tapestry of internal being and external doing whose individual essence defies any attempt to transcribe it in total. Each is a vibrant shade standing next to vibrant contrasts, but viewed from a distance they becomes meaningless in static, cells of a larger creature.
Some wonder if they matter. Some struggle. Some thrive. Some love. Many fear. They fear what lies beyond the end of their known universe, whether thats a city, a galaxy or all of Ethnis.
Like you they have their diversions and their concerns. They tell each other stories. They make love. They stare at the clock in the dead of night. Sometimes they'll do anything to avoid being alone with their thoughts.
Per Banner
Vanthric Haimarchy
Life within the Haimarchy is a constant journey along a path of growth. As each member of the Haimarchy grows, they are encouraged to explore and expand their identity, to shed the aspects of themselves that are unpaletteable—and even to remove them. The youngest go out and explore the world, the oldest shed their physical forms to live in bodies tailor made to their minds.
The Commoner
Your life is one of hierarchies and political menuvering. There's always more influence to gain, but you may have to risk life and limb to get it, and there are no shortcuts to the top. If you want to become an elite, a journey of hundreds of years waits before you.
ValuSelu Pact
Citizens of the Pact live a life of rituals in concert. They move in clusters, each keenly aware of the ripples spreading out from their influence, each seeking their place of greatest meaning. Most often, this manifests as robust gaming habits and a joy for hobbies, with people sharing ideas and art as much as they argue over them in turn.
Church of the Somnolent
Life within the Church is a life of devotion. The Church practices and enforces a kind of self-mindfulness and meditation. While this practice may consume many hours of a person's week, the result is less stress or concern about larger matters, and more focus in enjoying the delights of their lives and the world around them.
Andromeda Syndicate
Life within the Syndicate is one of constant competition. With the great safety net to soften any failure, the pressure is on to be your greatest self, to create the greatest product, to be the most of something that anyone ever was. In a society that has everything, so many feel like they have nothing.
House of Sorrows
Life within the Sorrows is a life on the run, even when there's nowhere to go. The Sorrows, for all of their allure to the disenfranchised and the lonely, is still reviled due to its dark past. Don't tell anyone who you truly are, lest all the loathing aimed at the sorrows becomes a loathing aimed at you in turn
Apple of Hedonism
To live as a Hedonite is to always be at play. Whether you live your life to the rhythm of music, the patterns of art, or the swirling mindscapes of a constant drug haze, your life is one in constant persuit of stimulation, intrigue, interest, and generally anything else which brings meaning and color to your life.
Federation of Free Planets
Feds are known best for their hardworking attitudes. To a Fed, there's no treasure which cannot bea earned, and no land which cannot be fought for. They are a fiercely vibrant people who live their lives at maximum volume and with burning intensity.
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