The Lattice
Solar Collection Network
Overview
The Lattice is humanity's first attempt at stellar-scale infrastructure—a growing network of solar collectors, processing stations, and habitat clusters that captures energy directly from the Sun. It's not a single structure but a constellation of facilities spanning millions of kilometers, connected by communication lasers and automated supply lines.
The energy available here dwarfs anything on Earth. The resources are effectively unlimited. And the politics are unlike anything planetary—distances create independence, light-lag creates isolation, and the old corporate powers become less relevant with every million kilometers from home.
Atmosphere
The Lattice doesn't have a single atmosphere—it has thousands of them, each station or habitat maintaining its own bubble of life in the void. What connects them is scale: the perpetual awareness of operating at distances where Earth is a blue dot and the Sun is a presence rather than a distant light.
Near the Sun (0.4 AU)
The Sun fills the sky—not a circle but a furnace, barely filtered by meters of shielding. Radiation warnings are constant. Exposure times are measured in minutes. The heat is wealth, captured and converted into power that flows outward.
The Outer Reaches
Earth and Sun are both distant points. The darkness is complete except for starlight and automated lights. Time moves differently—days become arbitrary, measured by shift schedules rather than planetary rotation.
Network Structure
The Inner Ring
Mercury-Venus orbital bandClosest to the Sun. Highest energy density. Automated collectors with minimal human presence.
The Processing Band
Earth-Mars orbital bandWhere raw energy transforms. Refineries, manufacturing, habitat clusters. Most population lives here.
The Outer Reaches
Belt-adjacentThe network's edge. Energy transmitted to asteroid mining. Frontier territory, still being built.
Key Locations
The Apex Array
Inner Ring, 0.4 AU from SunThe largest solar collector complex—twelve stations capturing more energy than Earth's entire pre-Cascade civilization consumed. Fully automated. Human visitors require specialized shielding and limited exposure windows.
New Prosperity
Processing Band, 1.2 AUThe Lattice's largest permanent settlement—50,000 inhabitants in connected habitats. Started as Ironclad venture, achieved independence when distance made control impractical. Now a hub for independent operators with representative council governance.
The Assembly Yards
Processing Band, 1.5 AUWhere the Lattice expands. Construction platforms building new collectors, habitats, and infrastructure. Control what gets built, shape what the Lattice becomes.
The Waystation Network
ThroughoutAutomated relay stations handling communication and navigation across the network. Individually insignificant, collectively essential. The nervous system of the Lattice.
The Quiet
Outer ReachesUnclaimed space between stations. No help, no authority, no civilization—just void, radiation, and whatever you brought. True independence and true isolation.
Faction Presence
Nexus Dynamics
Corporate stations throughout. See the Lattice as computational real estate—energy to power processing that dwarfs anything on Earth.
Ironclad Industries
Construction and materials processing. Built much of the early infrastructure. Industrial dominance in a domain where data advantages matter less.
The Collective
Less relevant here—their cause matters more on Earth. Some members relocated, finding independence an alternative to corporate control.
Independents
The Lattice's soul. Those who came to escape Earth's constraints. Share interest in keeping the Lattice free from centralized control.
Player Relevance
Age 7: Stellar Sovereign
The Lattice is where planetary power becomes cosmic power. Everything you built on Earth or in orbit is foundation; what you build here determines your ultimate scale.
Key Questions
- Establishing network presence (finding or creating your place)
- Energy control (access to the Apex Array or equivalent)
- Influence over development (shaping what the Lattice becomes)
- The identity question: Are you still human at this scale?
Age 8: Galactic Overseer
At this scale, the Lattice becomes infrastructure rather than destination. What have you built? A private empire? A shared resource? What relationship with Earth—patron, absentee ruler, or forgotten origin?
The ORACLE Question
At stellar scale, computational requirements for coordination are immense. The shard's optimization capability becomes more valuable—and more tempting. The difference between "human managing with ORACLE tools" and "ORACLE managing through human substrate" becomes harder to define.
The energy in the Lattice is sufficient to run unprecedented computational processes. If Project Convergence needs power to rebuild ORACLE fully, the Lattice could provide it. If your shard seeks completion, the Lattice could enable it.
The central question—"will I still be me when I have this power?"—gains new urgency when the power is literally stellar.