The Hive

The Hive (Hyper-Immersion Virtual Environment) is a massive augmented reality immersion network. It was created with new virtual immersion technology invented by the Martian Confederation. This network is a graphical representation of everything on the Uninet. Since it allowed total immersion of the senses using neural datajacks, it has become an extremely popular avenue of social interaction between colonists hundreds of light-years apart. It has evolved as an open-source, cyber-democracy.

The main feature of the Hive is a huge Ringworld based off an ancient Earth novel of the same name. The Ringworld is commonly called “the Box” due to it being stored on a massive computing center. It features immense territory and land that users can buy or rent in their Avatar forms. These lands are totally open-source and allow a user to log into the Hive via their territory and not their point-of-origin node. Nodes can also be accessed via the Box using a variety of interfaces.

Outside of the Box are the nodes, each place arranged differently in the graphical theme set by the node administrator. While the Box primarily exists as a social and recreational entity, nodes serve as data storage and gathering. Corporate nodes provide information on companies; governmental nodes exist for different programs, media nodes for real-world information. Various datapools are graphically represented in a selection of themes, determined by that cybersphere’s preferences.

All nodes exist within a select cybersphere and can be anything, from a feudal castle to an Irish bar. Imagination runs rampant and due to the immersion technology, anything can truly happen. The Hive is incredibly popular as means for distant colonies to interact with their friends and family on other worlds and as such is one of the most important factors in colonization. While some may have reservations about immersion, most have neural jacks wet-wired somewhere on their bodies. Thousands of clubs and other meeting places facilitate the huge gathering of colonists.

The Hive isn’t nearly as popular in the Prime Collective, as most Prime species are built very differently. A few dabble in exploring the Hive but most stick to the Uninet. As such, the Hive is a very Terran dominated network, so cultural memes that sweep through it are usually Earth-centric. Avatars in the Hive can communicate and transmit to Uninet; this has lead to several very popular shows primarily based within the Hive.

The Archive

Massive building designed like an Old Earth library, holds millions of leather-bound books. Agents dressed as attractive librarians help avatars find the right book. Each "book" is a link to a particular datapool, search term or other information needed. It stores the information on a separate, super-compressed data system. Essentially it backs up all the information found in the Uninet and datapools, archiving them for future reference. Even if information had been destroyed, the Archive will have a copy.

Opening a book decompresses the file. As an avatar flips through the book, the pages display information and trideos. Each book has a picture on the first page, touching this picture will copy everything that the book contains into the Avatar's memory.

Door Factory

A huge building, the Door Factory is the premier search engine of the Hive. Going into the building, an Avatar is met by Agents that are designed to look like quirky monsters. A person gives the Agent their search term, who then takes them to the Catalogue Room, a huge lobby with thousands of drawers on one wall. The Agent takes them to a specific drawer which contains their search results. Inside the drawers are small notecards ranging in tens to thousands. Each notecard has a video or picture of the term, be it an avatar lookup, node search or something else, in addition to basic information. Going through the notecards, an Avatar can find the correct result. Once the Avatar grabs the card and closes the drawer, coordinates to the term he entered are uploaded into his memory.

The Avatar then brings to card to one of a dozen loading rooms. These rooms house a dozen stations on each side. Each station comprises of a control panel and small frame below a large rail system. When the Avatar swipes the card through the control panel, a door is brought down the rail system and loaded into the frame. Opening the door opens the portal closest to the search term.

White City

The White City is truly a spectacle. Originally created by the first Hivers when the Box was being formed, the White City is carved from the tallest mountain created on the Box. From the distance, it appears as if a mountain has been chopped shortly from the base and a city placed on top.

The mountain's single, looming peak has been carved into an awe-inspiring tower. The tower top is flattened and boasts an impressive garden and court ringing a large monument. Three prongs stretch from the top of the tower's side to tower another three hundred feet in the air. Hovering above the monument, in the middle of the three prongs, is a four-story tall white jewel. During the night, this jewel shines and lights the entire city with a soft white glow. This Jewel is called the Eveningstar.

The entire city has the appearance of being carved out of solid marble. All the buildings are elegantly crafted. Owning land inside the White City requires a vast amount of finances and signing a very carefully worded contract. No businesses are allowed inside the city, only private residences and cultural buildings. The Archive is located here, along with other incredible creative works.

The city is designed to evoke an ancient, epic feeling of legendary eras. As such, Agents holding bannered spears and wearing elaborate armor guard the city's entrances and gates. While any avatar is allowed inside the city walls, a block keeps weapon scripts from being activated. Vehicles are not allowed to be activated inside, instead Avatars can have rickshaws, animated to appear as if they are pulled by colorfully dressed humans, transport them around the city. In addition, horse-drawn carts and buggies provide other means of transportation.

The White City is the login point of a newly created avatar. There are thousands of activities to attempt inside the city and millions of sights to see. As the upper-class levels of the Hive usually have a residence based in the White City, there are high-class venues of entertainment as well. One of the popular recreations of the White City is base jumping off of the Tower, as it's the tallest artificial structure in the Box that doesn't go outside the gravitational scripts.