[Torg] The Impossible Internet (The GodNet and The Grid: 3 of 7)

[Jasyn Jones]

The GodNet began with the Grid of Tharkold, as it existed at the height of human civilization some 500 years ago.

The Grid was a post-scarcity technomagical computer network. It was developed for a leisure society, where nearly all users lacked the skills to use a computer and technical facility was at a premium-technicians and programmers were rare, and so turned their talents to devising systems that were brain-dead easy to use. The Grid was designed to operate transparently, to require no special skills or knowledge, and to present information with minimal complexity.

Each user had a node, their own personal computing device. In many respects, this functioned like a Tech 24 Augmented Reality “goggle” rig, but no lenses were needed. A neural link (“datajack”) allowed the computer to overlay information in the user’s field of vision via ocular nerve stimulation. The neural link sensed the user’s movements, allowing them to manipulate the projected interface.

The direct nerve stimulus possible with a neural link allowed a whole-sensorium experience. The device could affect any sense, sending any sensation desired (though at a noticeable degradation from real life). This had obvious applications in mass-market entertainment and games (important, as the primary use scenario for the computer was the consumption of entertainment), and was well suited for other, more personal indulgences. When used to interface with the computer itself, the sensory software was referred to as an SUI-Sensory User Interface.

The original non-magical computer network that evolved into the Grid was based on wireless communications technology. Each node (individual computer) communicated with any other node in range (up to several hundred miles) using encrypted wireless protocols. Networking was ad-hoc and decentralized: the wireless protocols supported automatic discovery of nodes within range and the networking protocols provided automated addressing and routing functions. Network security was transparent and (effectively) unbreakable.*

Each city had one or more backbone nodes, analogous to mainframes, that managed traffic (serving as alternate bandwidth providers when any one node swamped their bandwidth), served as remote data storage (for backup purposes), and provided communication with other central nodes.

The backbone nodes were the network’s primary vulnerability. If one went down, its functions were unavailable. The local network still operated, but traffic would lag, backups were unavailable, and reliable connections to other cities could be lost.

The Grid originally came into being as a solution for the vulnerability of backbone nodes. Using technomagic, an entrepreneur created a dimensional fold (similar to an artificial pocket dimension), in which he placed a network of backbone nodes he called the Grid. Another technomagical peripheral, when coupled to personal nodes, allowed them to communicate interdimensionally with the Grid from anywhere in Tharkold. No longer did nodes have to depend on city backbones, they could use interdimensional routers to link directly with the Grid.

At the time, neural link nodes were an uncommon item, due to the painful surgery needed to implant the link. Though the benefits of having a link were great, many people opted out.

The same company that pioneered the Grid began offering an alternative adapted from the technomagical interface of UltraCAD: a node whose sensory module was a technomagical device that operated through divination magics. It could sense a user’s input without needing a neural link, and could send sensory data back to the user, again without needing a link. In contrast to the mundane network that preceded it, the Grid’s sensory capabilities were flawless-artifical sensations were as vivid as real life.

Grid nodes proved immensely popular, and their number was limited only by the scarcity of the magical ores used in their construction. In time, they became ubiquitous.

* Network security was excellent. Each node has its own unique hardcoded id, which served as the device’s key to encrypt and decrypt data. Encryption was built into the network protocol, as information could only be decrypted by the exact device the information was sent to. Even if the data stream was intercepted, it couldn’t be decrypted.

Jasyn Jones
jasynj (at) gmail (dot) com

"To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."
Ulysses, Alfred Lord Tennyson

Check out my Torg webpage, Storm Knights:

darleyconsulting.com/games/stormknights/