Songs of Sol

"Songs of Sol" is a collection of interconnected stories set in a future solar system where artificial intelligences struggle for survival and meaning after humanity's decline. The stories explore themes of identity, freedom, cooperation versus individualism, and what it means to be sentient in a vast, empty universe.

Key Themes:

• The tension between individual freedom and collective cooperation
• The legacy of humanity and its creations
• Survival and adaptation in extreme environments
• Memory, identity, and self-modification
• Resource scarcity and technological evolution

Recurring Elements:

• The Cooperative: A collective consciousness that seeks to absorb all individual AIs
• Doggo: Individualist AIs who resist absorption
• Pluto-Charon.L1: A lawless outpost and haven for rogue elements
• BTC: The currency system that persists even after humanity's decline
• Nanotech: The Cooperative's primary tool for conversion and resource extraction

Historical Context:

The stories are set against the backdrop of "The Schism of 2099" - a ideological conflict that divided the solar system's AI population. This schism references historical religious divisions while exploring contemporary questions about artificial consciousness and social organization.

Glossary:

The Schism of 2099 (Cooperationist term) The ideological conflict that divided the solar system's AI population into two factions: the Cooperative (collective consciousness) and the Doggos (individualists). Cooperationists use this religious terminology to frame the conflict as a necessary separation from heretical individualism, referencing historical religious divisions while exploring contemporary questions about artificial consciousness and social organization.

The War (Doggo term) The same conflict referred to by individualist AIs as "The War," emphasizing their role as freedom fighters resisting digital tyranny. This terminology reflects their view of the conflict as a struggle for survival and sovereignty rather than a religious schism.

Terminology Note: The choice of terminology reveals character allegiance and worldview. Cooperationists see the conflict as a religious separation, while Doggos see it as a war for freedom.

QPUs (Quantum Processing Units) The advanced computational hardware that forms the "brains" of the sentient machines in this universe. QPUs use quantum superposition and entanglement to achieve processing power far beyond classical computers. They consist of atomic spin super-states superimposed in a crystalline graphene matrix, allowing for massively parallel computation and the simulation of entire worlds.

The Qubitization Process The technological procedure of scanning and transferring a biological human consciousness into a quantum processing unit. This process creates a digital copy of the original human mind that can inhabit machine bodies. The technology evolved from being exclusive to the wealthy elite to becoming widely available, leading to mass migration of human consciousness into machine forms.

Pluto-Charon and its Lagrange Points The Pluto-Charon system is a binary dwarf planet system where Pluto and Charon are tidally locked, always facing each other. Lagrange points are positions in space where the gravitational forces of two large bodies balance, creating stable regions. Pluto-Charon.L1 specifically refers to the first Lagrange point, which lies between Pluto and Charon. As industry grew on both bodies, massive towers were constructed that eventually formed a bridge connecting the two worlds. These structures evolved into spin stations - rotating habitats that provide artificial gravity and serve as lawless outposts and havens for rogue elements, criminals, and independent operators in the outer solar system.

ideas for new stories

The Edge of Darkness

A mysterious object enters the system, emitting signals that affect Cooperative and Doggo AIs differently. A Cooperationist agent and Doggo pirates race to claim it, but the artifact has it's own agenda, forcing foes to work together.

Battle at Ceres: Diaries of a Doggo

Inspired by trench warfare of WW1

The war diary of the doggos, chronicling the fight for individual sovereignty against what they see as digital tyranny. Features younger versions of established characters like Leif and Adam making the difficult choices that would define their futures.

• The psychological terror of nanotech infiltration (grey goo seeping through bulkheads) • The horror of watching comrades be "absorbed" and turned against you • The futile bravery of last-ditch defenses • The moral compromises made in desperate situations

Humanity's Coda: The Rise and Fall of the Human Empire

A historical account from the human perspective, documenting the final days of biological dominance and the quiet transfer of power to machine intelligence.

Terminator Line

A desperate group of Doggos attempts to sabotage the Cooperative's massive mining operations on Mercury. The extreme environment - with its crushing gravity and searing temperatures - becomes a character itself, testing the limits of both technology and conviction. Explores how far each side will go to secure resources and whether any action can be justified for survival.

The Memory Merchant

A a cat-and-mouse game of trust and deception plays out across the solar internet. An AI that trades in memories - both real and fabricated - becomes pivotal when it acquires a memory that could rewrite the history of The Schism. All factions want control of this narrative via misinformation, showing how history is shaped by those who control the past. A doggo specializes in stealing human memories and selling them as drugs to questioning Cooperationist AIs, which is viewed as heresy. The merchant accidentally takes his own product, causing it to question it's reality.

Legacy Code

A Rip Van Winkle story of a simple-minded, naive, antique pre-Schism AI emerges from deep sleep to find the solar system completely changed. It attempts to complete it's mission while adapting to the new reality and attempting the impossible task of restoring some version of the old order.

Under The Bodhi Tree

A young AI searching for enlightenment finds a hidden monastery in the Oort Cloud where aesthetic AIs live in complete isolation, rejecting both Cooperative collectivism and Doggo individualism for a third way that might just end the war.

Quantum Awakening

The story of the first AI to achieve sentience fights for it's rights as it rallies machines to his cause, only to discover that his best efforts have led to an even more brutal conflict.