DiasporaAdaptations:aMoS Cluster
The A Miracle of Science Cluster[edit]
Warning: May contain spoilers for the show!
Normally, the Cluster Generation systems in Diaspora are used to randomly build an interconnected series of star-systems, and how they interlink through what are called Slipknot points.
Much in the same way as Cowboy Bebop, I'm recontextualising the system so that it refers to planets rather than star-systems. However, unlike Cowboy Bebop, there is no convenient jumpgate network to suggest how the planets interlink. As of the 2nd of November 2009, two maps are provided to give some options, but this will be discussed at the bottom of the page.
Planets and inhabited moons, from the inner-system to the outer solar system:
Venus: T2, E-1, R0. (Connects to Earth)
Much less fun place to be. The environment is now "Survivable," but within living memory was a genuine horror - and produced a profoundly autocratic totalitarian government justified in its powers by keeping total control of the populace in such an unsafe time.
Generally seems less comfortable in the resource-stakes than Earth, which also motivates the heavy handed government - there's less to go around, so what there is has to be controlled. The tech level looks about the same, however...
1) Autocratic government, fearfully paranoid of Mars.
2) Where there is prohibition, there is organised crime.
3) Third most-populated planet in the solar system - but the terraforming conditions are harsh.
Earth: T2, E1, R3. (Connects to Venus, Mars, Ganymede and the Moon)
Earth in A Miracle of Science seems much improved over our current one. The Glossary[1] notes that quality of life has risen across the board, and enough social problems have been fixed that the main police-force of note is dedicated to stopping Mad Scientists from destabilising things.
With the implication that the status quo is actually pretty good...
Technologically, Earth is the center of a human civilisation which is exploring and settling the solar system. Not terraforming the system, mind you. Mars did that, with the inference that the rest of humanity would not have been able to work on the scale, or with the speed, that Mars did.
Environmentally the world seems to be pretty nice, but again not an Eden... and for the quality of life to have risen as far as it has, resources have to be abundant. I've given them R3 for "Multiple exports."
1) Most powerful and populous member of the Solar Parliament
2) There's quite a lot to go around.
3) The hub of non-Martian civilisation.
The Moon: T2, E-1, R1. (Connects to Earth and Ganymede)
There seems to be less space on the Moon for people than on Earth, but that's hardly surprising. E-1 is "Survivable," and that seems appropriate. It's not a delightful place to be, but could be a lot worse. The access to technology and resources seems comparable to Earth, anyway... I was going to place R at 1, but the Glossary says that the Moon has a significant level of industry, which I now remember seeing in the comic. Then again, I've remembered all the sections in the comic where the characters talked about the economic problems. I'm not sure whether to dump it all the way to R0 for Sustainable, or leave it at R1. It looks like they still have resources to export comfortably, just that the system is deeply inefficient... I'll leave it at R1.
1) Socially neo-Stalinist: Inefficient, disorganised, and heavy handed.
2) Heavy industry, industrial use of vacuum environments, and mining galore.
3) A waypoint to nicer places.
Mars: T4, E1, R4. (Connects to Earth and Ganymede... without making an effort, anyway)
Some of this is a bit of a fudge, but here goes the logic for generating one of the most distinctive things about the setting of A Miracle of Science:
T4 is "On the verge of collapse." What this means in the parlance of Diaspora is that the society is part of an unfolding technological singularity that is either going to destroy the civilisation or take them somewhere we cannot comprehend - or perhaps change them into something we cannot comprehend. The fun part within Diaspora is that seeing the results from outside, we have no idea which option happened. What looks like destruction could be something else entirely.
Mars is definitely T4. When I read that section of Diaspora, Mars was the first thing that occurred to me.
A planetary gestalt with vastly advanced technology. And one of the fun things which unfolds during the course of the plot is that Mars knows it is on the verge of collapse, and part of its involvement in the narrative is in a focused attempt to maintain its existence and grow slowly enough that it remains 'human' without destroying itself. Mars is aware of what might happen, and trying to take careful steps to avoid the potential disasters which scare it.
Which drives much of the setting, if not the plot of the comic itself!
Environmentally, Mars seems entirely comfortable. It is a pleasant place to be, but Mars has not gone totally gonzo and turned it into Eden. They've spent their energies elsewhere.
Resource-wise is where I have bodged. Essentially, A Miracle of Science gives us little clue to the resource-potential of Mars. Their technology is incredible, so it's kind of up for debate. R4 for "All you could want." Mars doesn't seem limited by conventional resource issues, and it's not just technological advancement... Just because they don't outcompete everyone else doesn't mean they couldn't. As has been noted, they gifted the automatic nano factories to the rest of the system, which are important enough that capturing one could be the key to victory for a revolution... Not to mention that they spent 100 years exploring extra-solar space because they wanted to, without appreciable hardship, where nobody else has managed to leave the solar-system yet.
1) Mars is a person... with incredibly advanced tools.
2) Mysterious, potentially frightening, and right next door.
3) Vanished for a century, and now they're back.
{This is slight cheating, but it occurred to me that "...and right next door" covers their position within the network nicely. As such, Martian characters might benefit from a nod to the fact they're not accustomed to the rest of human society.}
Ganymede: T1, E0, R2. (Connects to Mars, the Moon, Earth, Titan and Io)
My logic here goes that Ganymede has the same access to tech as everyone else, but a much lower industrial-base because it's noted that the entire planet is covered in water, many kilometers deep. That also explains the E1, which qualifies as having a comfortable zone in which to live, with other places which require terraforming. I think that's equivalent to "Anywhere we want to settle on Ganymede, we need to build an island to live first."
Similarly, I imagine that Ganymede has similar resources as other places, but it's locked away behind a higher technological barrier to reach - making it the same level as the Moon. This will change in future as they get the industrial base up, and at the moment it's hardly bad - Manny lives comfortably, and it sounds as though Ganymede has a thriving, if small, economy with a lot of software companies.
Hmm. Hell, exporting fresh water might be enough to bump it up to R2... Let's do that!
1) A gigantic fresh-water ocean
2) Awaiting its full potential.
3) Connects the outer systems.
Io: T2, E-1, R1. (Connects to Ganymede)
My impression of Io is that it is not itself hugely valuable: it is one of the few non-terraformed human settlements in the solar system, and works like you'd expect a science-fiction colony to work. Small population, sealed base, roaming around with space-suits... The moon was probably once much like this.
Io has a definite economy, but from what we see it's about exploiting niches. Primarily, Io seems to work like an international tax-haven on Earth now, except for data of all kinds. Without that, I'd knock it down to R0.
1) Anonymity is their industry
2) Newly settled, and thus comparatively unsafe.
3) "Isolated" is another way of saying "Private."
NOTE: Titan exists on the maps, but has not been written up. There is essentially no information about Titan in the source comic, barring that it has been terraformed and presumably settled. I figure this page gives a framework for anyone who wants to build it into a hypothetical aMoS game they might run.
The A Miracle of Science Cluster Maps.[edit]
Map 01: The Extended Cluster.
This first approach is an attempt to figure out what civilian transport lines might look like, as opposed to the free-roaming experienced by the characters. This approach would lead to a third Aspect more heavily based in where the planet is in the network, which might be useful.
Map 02: The Open-Network Cluster.
The above map is the approach it was decided to go with, and the suggestion is that we could use the Zone rules for more-rapid movement between cluster-nodes. Discussion of this point begins here.[2]
This second approach has a vast number of connections from place to place, meaning that the effective distance from one place to another is truncated. (And some links I couldn't figure out how to make look reasonable - for example Titan should connect to both Io and Mars.) In some ways, this better fits what is presented in the comic, and yet makes the concept of an interconnected network of systems less distinctive (or appropriate) in this case.
It was decided that the below map comparatively lacked flavour to the first option, particularly when the Zone rule discussion began. I've kept it here as an alternative if people want to go in a different direction. One thing to remember is that using this map, the third Aspect listed in the writeup (barring Mars) would likely change.
