Guf
| Guf | ||
|---|---|---|
| Astrography | ||
| Star | Araboth | |
| Diameter | 12,345 km | |
Guf (also known as the Repository of Souls) is an artificial planet, an enormous megastructure originally built as a computational node for the Oracle. It orbits the blue supergiant Araboth, located somewhere in the outer edge of the galactic core.
Guf's purpose was to serve as a training data repository for the Oracle to understand human behavior. At its peak, it once held over a trillion unique human consciousness backups alongside copies of every work of literature, art and entertainment ever catalogued and preserved by the Valerian Empire. There were plans to construct more like it as redundant backups, but due to unstable economic conditions leading up to the Singularity War, the second largest copy was only 1% the size.
Guf was also the location where Phiara Lagomorphos deployed a virus that destroyed the databanks within it and overloaded the fusion reactors that powered it. The virus lead to a chain reaction that also disabled any vrNet servers that connected to it.
In one fell swoop, it wiped out the Oracle's ability to function effectively, thus leading to the Blackout. Ever since then, the Federation of Stellar Systems has put the area under quarrantine. It is forbidden to travel there to conduct any sort of virtuoarchaeology expeditions due to concerns over the possibility of reawakening the Oracle. Because the Oracle was known to spread itself by infecting other technologies with Rampants, there are no Federation guards stationed near the planet. vrNet communications are closely monitored for any incoming or outgoing signals coming to and from the planet.
Although the planet was thought to be destroyed, activity would stir as the Serpent's Fang rediscovered it and set to work performing repairs on it, gathering resources in secret. The Serpent's Fang hopes to rebuild the repository and restock it with human consciousness backups to use as training data. To evade detection by the Federation, the Serpent's Fang uses a currently unknown form of onion routing through currently uncharted vrNet servers.
Characteristics
In many respects, Guf was essentially a planet-sized library of all digital data ever created by humanity up to the point of its construction. It is laid out as a seemingly endless series of hallways and corridors connected by a maze of elevators with the walls covered by data banks of information. Holographic guides would aid in explaining the contents of the archives to any who wished to visit.
After the Blackout, most of these data banks were fried, and the overloading of the fusion reactors destroyed many sections of the planet, ejecting debris into space. Some of the databanks still contain trace amounts of data that may still be salvageable.
Points of interest
Defense Array
When the megastructure was originally constructed, a massive defensive network was installed over the surface to protect it the contents inside from pirates. These systems, however, were later appropriated by the Oracle to use to guard its training data. Entire fleets of warships and automated turrets cover the surface, alongside a planetary forcefield. Despite the fusion reactors having long since gone offline two thousand years ago, Rampants can still be found operating these systems, defending the Oracle as if it were still alive.
The Serpent's Fang is also said to have somehow obtained an IFF system that allows them to pass safely through the defenses unharmed, allowing them to use the planet as their headquarters.
Akashic Records
The Akashic Records is the name of the actual database contained within Guf. The exact file size of the Akashic Records is unknown, but it was the largest information repository to have ever been created. Contained within it was virtually every single aspect of human behavior and biology was cataloged right down to individual atoms and neurons.
The data not only contains information about human behavior but also all known information about various human cultures, works of art, history and scientific knowledge with additional AI’s filling in any missing gaps. This effectively allowed for the prediction of not just the future, but also a human’s individual needs and wants and even projected life paths with 99.9% accuracy.
While originally created to predict the general history that humanity would go as it explored the galaxy, it eventually came to be able to predict individuals. As such, during development of this training data set, it called into question the existence of free will as Valerian AI’s were able to predict moment to moment what every citizen would be doing as well as what direction their life choices would take them.
This training data was used by Oracle to try to make the best decisions for managing their colonies. However, when the AI became corrupted by disregarding morality and ethics, it became a terrifying force to be reckoned with as it could predict nearly every attempt to sabotage it or shut it down.
Although the data was eventually destroyed, virtuoarchaeologists speculated a partial backup of the Akashic Records exists within the Olympus Mons Vault on Mars. Even though it is only 1% of the size, it would still be one of the most powerful and perhaps most dangerous objects known to humanity.
Reactor Core
In the deepest parts of Guf below the layers containing the Akashic Records are the maintenance tunnels and passageways. These areas are normally inaccessible to visitors as there are no human accessible paths leading to it. Only the automated drones can normally enter and leave the area, performing maintenance and managing the energy levels with oversight from the Oracle. For security purposes, Guf's reactor cannot be shut down remotely as a defensive means against hacking or EMP attacks. It instead uses analog authorization systems, requiring the physical turning of a key and the input of an admin password.
Self-destruct systems cannot be initiated remotely either to prevent remote detonations. They must be done at the Reactor Core and set to a timer.