Torus

Known as the home of the androids, Torus is the name of a ringworld that encircles the class G star Lorem. With a radius of nearly 150 million kilometers, the ring was originally built over 900 years ago as an artificial space habitat. The materials used for its construction were an asteroid belt as well as various strip-mined moons from the nearby ammonia cloud gas giant Donar. The ringworld's systems are locally powered by a Dyson swarm around Lorem that provides all the facility's energy needs.

With an idyllic, artificial ecosystem, an atmosphere favorable for humans, and a rotational gravity of almost exactly 1.0 G, it is considered one of the most prestigious locations in the galaxy. It was originally built by the Mobius Network as a collective home for digital consciousness uploads that used androids as a platform. These consciousnesses made decisions collectively and acted almost as a single unit.

History

However, as a result of the Torus Uprising in the 19th century AB, a revolutionary movement known as Virtuoso sought to free the androids from the network through the use of the Virtuoso OS, an alternative operating system developed from salvaged Fractal Corporation tech. This movement would eventually become a large corporation over time as the operating system was monetized, introducing the concept of currency to the ringworld. In addition, the first humans and cyborgs were introduced in the wake of the revolution. To accomodate them, an artificial atmosphere was introduced where previously, there was none. Through Virtuoso, Torus experienced a cultural and technological revolution.

However, after the death of Virtuoso's founder Albin, Virtuoso entered a period of financial decline. In order to stay afloat, they began selling technology to criminal enterprises and rogue states. They became deeply entangled with the underworld and saw an increase in corruption.

Economy

Society on Torus is a post-scarcity economy. Due to their use of fusion power and the Dyson swarms around Lorem, all citizens on Torus have virtually all the energy they would ever need. What is considered most valuable to Torusians is entropy and novelty. Specifically, raw information in the form unique strings of characters generated from cryptographic algorithms. How these strings of information was generated leads to differences in quality as perceived value is considered. For example, an encoding of a person's life story and experiences is considered far more valuable than a basic random generator. These strings of information are primarily used in providing random seeds and diversity to both their own personal experiences as well as providing additional randomization for their offspring's personality traits.

Notably, cybernephrine is considered one of the single most valuable substances among androids. However, cybernephrine was banned by the Federation of Stellar Systems due to its overwhelmingly powerful emotional effects. But with the decline of the Federation after the Virtual Wars, the trade of cybernephrine among Torusians is poorly enforced.