Mindscape

Mindscapes are psychic environments generated by Mind Aethertech, allowing users within a Mindshard's field to perceive and interact with Constructs, Programs, and Sprites. Most function within the "Liminal," a psychic layer superimposed over the physical world. Psydives immerse users in simulated environments that can replace ordinary sensory experience.

Mindscape content ranges from simple screens to complex environments, interactive systems, and semi-intelligent Sprites. Any user within range of the Mindshard's psychic field can perceive its Mindscape, though these fields can be deliberately controlled or set to contact-only for privacy. Interacting with the Mindscape may require special permissions, even if the user can observe it.

Limitations

Mindshards require Omni and Prima Aether to function, often depending on an active user. Most personal Mindshards are worn because contact with an intelligent creature provides enough mental presence and Aether for ordinary Liminal use. Higher-tier Mindshards can maintain limited activity under controlled conditions, but sustained autonomous operation is rare, expensive, and usually built for a specific purpose. Psydives need specialized infrastructure to operate reliably, including leyline taps and supportive enchantments.

Programs

Mindscape programs provide the core functionality within a Mindscape. Each program has to be custom-designed from scratch by a professional Mindshaper, making them extremely rare and expensive to acquire. Programs can usually be transferred between Mindscapes, but never copied.

Notable programs include:

• Inventory (cheap, standard): Provides convenient storage of Constructs.
  • Allows "slots" that can hover near the user, or Constructs such as shelves and chests.
  • Items can be designed to "shrink down" to the size of the inventory slot or Construct, and expand when retrieved.
• Media Player (costly, standard): Allows the user to watch sensory replays of Mindscape recordings and broadcasts.
  • Theaters have specialized media players designed to host for large audiences.
• Timekeeper (affordable): Keeps precise track of the time, as well as timing intervals with extreme precision.
  • Can maintain multiple separate timers, and synchronize clocks or timers with other Mindscapes.
  • Can set and keep track of alarms. Capabilities improve with enhanced sensory abilities.
• Commlink (very expensive): Provides real-time communication to other Mindshards with this program.
  • The sender and receiver must be in range of a Comm Tower and possess each other's Commlink signatures.
  • Commlinks will always provide audio. Some may also include a visual feed.
  • Consumes a modest amount of Aether while active.
• Translator (expensive): Translates a specific language into common, allowing the user to understand it in real time.
  • Can take months for a professional translator to produce one of these programs.
• Projector (expensive): Projects a hologram in physical space, typically up to five or so meters in diameter.
  • Can replicate the visual effect of any Construct or Sprite that exists within a user's Mindscape.
• Tactile Feedback (very expensive): Allows the user to experience tactile feedback within the Liminal, similar to Psydives.
• Map Pins & Routes (moderate cost): Visual cues and markers that appear in the user's field of view to assist with directions.
  • Pins mark a destination, while routes provide a visual path between locations.
  • Can be toggled on and off, set to appear at certain ranges, and utilized by Sprites.
• Grimoire (expensive): Allows a Sprite to take notes or auto-journal on your behalf.
• Recorder (expensive): Allows the Mindscape to record video and audio of the nearby scene.
  • Requires an active user with a powerful aura. Consumes significant amounts of Aether while recording.
  • Commonly used for world-wide concerts, shows, sports, competitions, and important events.

Screens

Programs often include interactive screens that provide useful functionality for the user. Screens follow the user's field of view or are fixed to a Liminal location. Sprites with the correct authority can move, interact with, and adjust settings such as lighting conditions or aesthetics.

• Info Screens: Static screens that provide information about something, such as an article or notice.
• Nameplates: Small screens that hover over people's heads, providing a title, name, and small detail. Requires an Assistant Sprite.
• Interactive Screens: Complex, dynamic screens that require advanced Mindscapes.
• Maps: Complex, dynamic maps with advanced scrolling and zoom features.

Constructs

Constructs are the material representations of tools, objects, and other projections that populate a Mindscape. Constructs can retain a fixed spatial presence within the Liminal, such as to attach a portrait on a physical wall.

Sensory Constructs:

• Natural aesthetics, including trees, plants, and effects like fog and waterfalls.
• Audio, including sounds, music, or dialogue.

Material Constructs:

• Books, scrolls, maps, and texts that allow users to review knowledge or edit and write new content.
• Paintings, decals, sculptures, and other visual art to make an area more aesthetically pleasing.
• Rooms and physical environments.
• Containers such as chests and shelving, to handle inventory organization at specific locations.
• Cards, game boards, gambling chips, and other game tokens.

Special Constructs:

• Tool Chests simplify the process of creating new Constructs by providing simple tools and materials.
• Voids, which appear as a tiny black void, will destroy Constructs that are fed into them.
• Upload Links, which appear as a tiny blue void, allow others to transfer Constructs from other Mindscapes.

Sprite

Sprites are semi-intelligent mental entities that serve as guides, assistants, security, or companions within Mindscapes. They can appear as humans, animals, or fantastical creatures, and range in capability from basic programmed responses to near-sentient behavior. Sprites may be assigned boundaries as part of their ruleset, such as to act as a tour guide for designated areas within a building.

Assistance Sprites are designed as helpful companions that oversee and manage one's Mindscape. They have a thorough understanding of the Constructs it contains. They can locate Constructs, describe them, move them, and interact with them like a user can. They obey the admin's instructions, allowing the admin to influence and interact with their Mindscape environment through instruction.

Transfers

Transfers refer to moving content between Mindscapes. A user with access to two Mindscapes moves a Construct or Program into a visible Upload Link within the Liminal, triggering the transfer.

Interfaces

Interfaces are mechanisms that allow a Mindscape to interact with the physical world, integrated directly into the Mindshard or Aethertech device that is generating the Mindscape. This enables the Mindscape to receive physical and Aetheric sensory input from external sources. Sprites can use the sensory input to determine what actions to take. They can then manipulate toggles, configurations, and other Constructs that are programmed to interface with connected Aethertech, such as Golems.

Psydive

Psydives are fully immersive Mindscape simulations, far more powerful than standard Mindscapes. Intricate, fantastical scenarios can be conjured into existence, capable of producing environments that simulate all natural senses.

When a Psydive field is generated, users within range can concentrate to tap into it, causing them to swiftly enter a trance-like state. This immersion is sustained by the field's psychic forces. Anything happening in the real world short of physical or auditory pain is likely to go unnoticed.

Avatars

Avatars are the virtual representation of a user within a Psydive, reflecting their natural appearance and abilities in the real world. One's neurological, physical, and even Aetheric abilities are so interlinked with a Psydive field that it is indistinguishable from one's natural counterpart in the real world.

Straying from one's natural Avatar form or function within a Psydive is nearly impossible. Very few possess the psychic strength and finesse required to do in practice. A handful of Mindshapers can maintain an altered appearance for a few seconds, but doing so leaves them mentally exhausted.

Sprites can recognize Avatars, allowing them to remember familiar users.

Multiple Environments & Gateways

Psydives can support multiple isolated environments, which is often preferred for entertainment settings. Environments can be linked through Gateways; portals that appear within the Mindscape. Usually these Gateways allow passage in either direction, though some simulations may include one-way portals for various challenges or game design.

Psychic Damage

The mind and body associate the Avatar with the physical self so closely that harming it reflects the natural experience. One's internal Chi physically reacts to Psydive damage as though it were real, even incorporating natural Aetheric defenses. This results in the phenomenon of "damage transference." It is often considered to inflict roughly a quarter of the damage of a normal attack. Though psychic damage is rarely fatal, it can inflict long-term physical pain and mental discomfort that takes time to recover from.

Many Psydives are designed with safety measures to protect Avatars, such as those whose environments are designed for war training or physical competition. Various sports may assign certain damage thresholds, or track Aetheric properties like one's aura to ensure that participants are removed before any safety thresholds are crossed.

Blackouts

When an inexperienced user is forcefully or unexpectedly disconnected from a Psydive, they may suffer a sudden blackout; a burst of temporary disorientation, confusion, and discomfort. They may feel as though they have been mentally "ripped" from the connection. The first generation of Psydives had the potential to inflict psychic damage when blackouts occurred, but those issues have been resolved in newer variants. Those who are familiarized with the experience are often much less susceptible to the symptoms.

Cultural Impacts

Few citizens can afford to possess a personal Mindshard, but most can access Mindscapes regularly if they choose to. Many institutions have integrated Mind Aethertech into various aspects of society:

• Theaters: Venues for group viewings of recorded events; plays, concerts, news, and more.
• Gambling Dens and Gaming Hubs: Establishments that feature Mindshard-enabled games and interactive challenges.
• Odyssey Centers: Training facilities offering immersive Psydive experiences for education and military purposes.
• Libraries: Repositories of books and Mindshards, managed by Librarian Sprites and open to the public.
• Arenas: Competitive spaces hosting sports and tournaments via specialized simulation environments.
• Academies: Educational institutions leveraging Mindscapes and Sprites to enhance learning and resource accessibility.

Mindshard Gaming

Mindscapes can produce nearly any type of gaming simulation, but it requires a massive time investment since each game is built from scratch into a single Mindshard. This greatly restricts their accessibility, and tends to favor the development of multiplayer games. Single-player games are available, but less common and more expensive.

Multiplayer games often have asymmetric capabilities, such as different group roles or playstyles. Mindshapers often split their work on different aspects of a game, and it can be easier to produce games with asymmetric designs. It is no longer as prevalent in modern gaming, but still often established as an intentional design feature due to cultural expectations.

Game developers can return to older games to improve them or fix issues like imbalanced game mechanics, powerful exploits, missing features, new content, and so forth. Most games go through a fairly thorough testing process before release, but there are cases where real-world testing is important. Managers of Gaming Hubs often keep track of game feedback and usage for the developers.

Many games are intended to be played with a specific number of players. Some games may be difficult to impossible without a full group, though it depends on what the developers designed around these restraints.

Types of Games

• Playthroughs: These are more like movies than games. Many participants can join in and watch together. May also include elements of Crowd Games.
• Crowd Games: Participants interact in simpler ways designed to accommodate many people, much like social party games.
• Arcade Games: Simple games, easier to develop. Participants may control similar units, or ones with asymmetric abilities or goals.
• RPGs: These are more advanced simulations that require advanced Sprites to function. Often designed for parties of four.
• Adventurer Games: Action-combat games designed to hone adventuring skills.

Adventurer Games

Adventurer games refer to combat, strategy, or action-style games that were developed to hone adventuring skills. These games are often sponsored by the Adventurer's Guild and are used to help find prospective recruits. Some were used in advanced Adventurer training before being gamified and passed into circulation at major Gaming Hubs.

Adventurer games are especially popular among the younger demographics, targeting their interest in heroics and adventuring. One of the most common ways to gain access to adventuring schools is to score an A or B-Tier threshold in official Adventurer's Guild game before the age of 14. These include gamified combat and athletic simulations that can measure one's potential talent. These games are available in most major cities at their Gaming Hubs, and are also used in certain prerequisite training at the schools themselves.