That sounds cool to me.
I agree with the “communication works at light speed” notion. It introduces the possibility for tension/conflict, which as a storyteller, I am all for.
Two words: Quantum. Entanglement.
Boom. Our communications are now at the speed of plot.
[quote=Scen post_id=1379 time=1516230608 user_id=55]
Two words: Quantum. Entanglement.
Boom. Our communications are now at the speed of plot.
[/quote]
Actually… this should be phrased more like “this is how our communications are at the speed of plot.” Because, really, introducing a comm delay into things now would be a fairly massive ret con, as every single time we’ve shown our characters in video conference or on the phone with a character from another dimension, it’s always been depicted as instantaneous. The only reason to introduce a time delay now would be if we’re really really looking for a new way to induce a headache while writing a post. (example: “Ah crap, how long is the delay if my character in Winlan is having a video call with his shady information broker in Ticondera?”)
[quote=Scen post_id=1380 time=1516230852 user_id=55]
Because, really, introducing a comm delay into things now would be a fairly massive ret con, as every single time we’ve shown our characters in video conference or on the phone with a character from another dimension, it’s always been depicted as instantaneous
[/quote]
I always thought we had relay antennas on either side of gates?
[quote=Scen post_id=1380 time=1516230852 user_id=55]
[quote=Scen post_id=1379 time=1516230608 user_id=55]
Two words: Quantum. Entanglement.
Boom. Our communications are now at the speed of plot.
[/quote]
Actually… this should be phrased more like “this is how our communications are at the speed of plot.” Because, really, introducing a comm delay into things now would be a fairly massive ret con, as every single time we’ve shown our characters in video conference or on the phone with a character from another dimension, it’s always been depicted as instantaneous. The only reason to introduce a time delay now would be if we’re really really looking for a new way to induce a headache while writing a post. (example: “Ah crap, how long is the delay if my character in Winlan is having a video call with his shady information broker in Ticondera?”)
[/quote]
It is a retcon, but it’s a smaller one than you think because not all communications are routed through space. In your Winlan/Ticondera example, both these places are in the Core, so their communication gets routed through the much closer and easily accessible portals on the planetary surface. Mike mentioned they could take through relay antennae, but I always had something like undersea cables in mind.
(I mean, this is how the Internet works in the real world…I’m writing this in China, and it’s reaching you in North America by submarine cable, not being pinged off a satellite. Although we haven’t ever worked out exactly where various portals are, one assumes the point-to-point distance of any two places in the Core is not that much bigger than the size of the Earth.)
The only people experiencing lag would be people on space colonies, on ships in space, and people in Merge and Alter. Which…is still a retcon, to be sure. I’m sure at some point we’ve had someone in one of those situations have an instantaneous communication.
Quantum Entanglement has some issues, the biggest of which is that it only works between paired (‘entangled’) qubits. It doesn’t work as well as an “anyone can talk to anyone!” device. This is fine if you just want (say) Admiral Thames to call Derik (they logically would have matching communicators) but it doesn’t work so well if your plucky adventurer in (say) Bal needs to call a Priman underworld boss in the Alter dimension, because they aren’t going to have quantum communicators with qubits that were specifically entangled with each other and then separated. You solve one problem (time) but introduce a whole mess of others. (Although, I must admit, part of me is sort-of fine with the idea that the Web Heads of State have instant communication with each other and their close advisers but it’s not the sort of thing the common people would be able to do.) I kind of prefer a magitek solution because it matches up with stuff I remember from Aurora’s posts back in the day, and if we’re going to handwave a problem away we might as well use the literal magic technology that is well embedded in the setting rather than introducing a hard SF concept with a bunch of other problems that will be more of a pain. (Especially since this technology is a retroactive explanation rather than a new development). I’m sympathetic to this idea because it avoids any retcons and it does keep things kinda simple (rather than “you can talk really quickly with certain areas but not others”, which could be hard to keep straight.)
Well, one reason I like quantum entanglement is because, first of all, it’s damn cool. And second of all, it is sci fi, and I think it meshes well with a lot of the other sci fi things that have crept into the story over the years (e.g. robots, super computers, giant robots, star destroyers). But you are also right that a magitek solution seems more thematically appropriate for Kupopolis as a whole.
The real answer is probably that both things are in play. I actually think there may have been a post at one point where someone referenced a comm buoy out in space near one of the sentinel stations by a strand drop; maybe comm buoys are linked with each other via some sort of magitek component through the actual strand itself – or maybe the comm buoys are linked with each other via quantum entanglement, and relay signals with virtually no time delays to such exotic far-flung locales as Bal, Altena and Surgate.
Well, a few things occur to me:
-We’re not necessarily discussing the story at a fixed point in time. I kind of like the idea that communication and even travel in Reborn-era is faster than Proper-era, and having quantum-enhanced communication (maybe transmitted through a central hub on far-off locales) is one way to do that. This gives the Reborn era a bit of a “closing of the frontier” vibe. (Perhaps even “Fringe” gets somewhat more neutral-sounding update as it tries to shed some sociopolitical baggage.)
-I also initially had in mind not just speed, but bandwidth. Sending a text message is one thing, and maybe holograms are reserved for big ballers like heads of state, but I don’t think someone on a remote alien world would be able to instantly access the whole of the OmniNet, snapgram their delicious Maranda Farms String Cheese and like their friend’s status on MyFace. In other words, you have to play White and Gold Online on a server with other people in your dimension. (…and I personally don’t care much for any social media because I’m becoming an old salty fellow, but it has occurred to me that in writing a story centered around college students it would reasonably be a pretty important part of their lives.)
…this of course ties into the rather thorny issue of the state of information technology in Kupopolis, which is perhaps a separate conversation. (Smartphones? Yeah, probably, in most countries. Social media? It’s a plot by Tauroch, the Lord of Lies!)
oh wow look at all those worms i’m sorry i think i may have accidentally opened a can of them or something
A magitek solution seems cool.
Also: did the Kupop-equivalent of Twitter only rise after Rhodes Palmerston died? 
a
[quote=Tex post_id=1391 time=1516287769 user_id=50]
A magitek solution seems cool.
Also: did the Kupop-equivalent of Twitter only rise after Rhodes Palmerston died? a
[/quote]
…depends on the timing of the former event?
I mean, Rhodes is still alive in CoH-times (he even shows up in an episode!), but he’s dead by the time of White Cell. So it’s reasonable he could be around during the time of whatever Kupop-equivalent there is of twitter.
I was thinking the other day about Rhodes is kind of like the “Bismarck of Kupopolis”, where he forges a huge empire, and then spends the last part of his life trying to forge a stable Web order where that empire can be safe, only for it all to go to poo after he dies.
(…I would link the youtube for “extra credits Bismarck” here, but I’m at work and youtube is no-no.)
I’m 100% certain, even though I can’t think of the post(s) where this happens, but we’ve had smart phones and social media show up in the Kupopolis universe before. So, I’m sure these are things in Proper, at least in the Core.
I’m also pretty sure that interdimensional network play is a thing somewhere. Possibly this is also a Core-only thing (as Travis pointed out, the Core-side OmniNet is probably built on a network of portal-crossing underwater cables, so there shouldn’t be anything preventing someone in Winlan from joining a Crystal dimension server on WGO.
It’s awesome how, like, the passage of RL time has let us have that kind of oomph to our stories.
[quote=Scen post_id=1405 time=1516381281 user_id=55]
Possibly this is also a Core-only thing (as Travis pointed out, the Core-side OmniNet is probably built on a network of portal-crossing underwater cables, so there shouldn’t be anything preventing someone in Winlan from joining a Crystal dimension server on WGO.
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Sure, it seems like it’s not a problem until you lag into mother-effing THANATOS, LORD OF DEATH and pull all of Grimestone Castle and wipe the raid like the n00b you are!