Alnen

Also known as light speech or speaking, this is the mental communication with a perfusive network of nanobots known collectively as the Allnet/Alnen/Lights of Yallen. This was created by the scientist Yallen J. Elmore during the great war, and is what precipitated the Great Silence. On the planet Visp, light speech has slowly become entrenched in religion, attracting a following which calls itself the Lux, who deify Yallen and teach that humanity is a fallen creature trying to seek liberation from the world. Since this was aimed at the military, it was simple and intuitive, only had four aspects, as already described, and the nanobots self-replicated until a desired density was reached. This was calculated at a kilometer wide level so there can still be dense and shallow pocket. It is essentially how far out it can receive signals. If there are a certain amount of signals then it stops. It is incredibly difficult to block signals, Lacola manages it by masking on a planet-wide level, much more exact jamming is very complicated because the nanobots send and receive signals based on a very distinct algorithm that feigns randomness. This means other alnbearers can jam or block commands, but machines can’t. The nanobots are also designed to be the kings of the ecosystem in a sense. If they find a signal of their own kind that doesn’t fit the algorithm, they kill it. They are very good at destroying other nanobots, which is why another strain doesn’t appear. The Alnen is at a critical mass by the time other strains are developed meaning they don’t have a chance. The nanobots are about the size of a mitochondria, and self replicate and store tiny amounts of energy from a string generator that takes in power from kinetic movement (temperature at this size) and radiation.

Alnbearers are usually only able to access one or maybe two of the functionalities depending on lineage. The Guardians could use four, as could Yallen, and his descendants (Elessa, Forer, Alden, Farak, Emma). Those who can use two Alns are called Pashmirs, those who use three are Erdonins, those with all four are unheard of, though they are called World Speakers.

1. Aln of the Storm/ stormbreaker (move energy): Discharge and direct electrical bursts, blind with light or incinerate with heat. Their power often is used up once the nanobots expend their energy and they must wait to recharge. Great alnbearers could construct vast illusions like mirages. Can also rid an area of energy, cool something down, dim it, go invisible etc.
2. Aln of the Bird/ Kineticist (move position): energy comes from user unless they have a second energy related aln. They can move things depending on stores of energy, much more than one might think. They are great at delicate tasks and some can even fly. Sometimes called Aln of the Sky because of that.
3. Aln of the Historian/ (no normative because it is banned) (collective memory): Not much is known, only one man has it, and he is insane. There are dangerous things in the collective memory. High Eltair Mostet is the greatest of these and can recall everything in history with perfect acuity. This is the first Aln that Alden gets
4. Aln of the Wise/ Wind Walker (computing power): allows the alnbearer increased mental speed and acuity when nanobots are around, more per concentration. Great at thinking up plans and if trained, nearly impossible to beat at hand to hand combat. Great alnbearers could prophesy by calculating outcomes. Their knowledge is limited by what they can think up though.The nanobots cannot ask the questions.

There are two types of nanobots, the general Alnen, and command bots. Command bots only live in the brain (blood brain barrier), and they charge in much the same way, which means overuse tires one out and lowers body temperature. They cannot transfer energy like the general bots. They have some extra instructions that cause them to migrate to the brain, and in order to replicate, they need lots of glutamate and substance P, or pain neurotransmitters. This was initially to control the Alnen just for a time until Yallen found a better way. The brain nanobots have the encryption code, and the general bots have the key, works the same way as prime encryption works. People have tried to crack the software of the larger brain bots, but they have been unable because Yallen designed them to be nearly impossible to hack. Their waveforms are encrypted and shielded. If it leaves a brain after being there, for a while, it dissolves in moments. How they do this is unknown. If a part of is is broken or contacted by non-atomic metal, it dissolves. It is very finicky. The bots are directed by detecting what neurons are firing. The bots exist mostly in the language section of the brain, and are able to determine what the user wants by detecting firing neurons in a similar pattern to the old speech. Strongest signals come from is when the word is coupled with the action. This grammar is non-ambiguous so commands are always exact. Alnen can work with just similar patterns of neurons firing to the word itself. The bots always exist in the visuo-spatial section as well and people with it can learn to see through it with practice passively.  Yallen’s final plan was to make a nanobot that slightly altered brain connectivity so that it produced the same prime signal naturally, so the general Alnen could be controlled without brain bots, and the brain could receive information without them as well. The military didn’t like this because it gave everyone power, and they needed the tech that instant however, so they shut down his project after the pain tests were successful. Yallen continued his work on the technology in secret, developing the final strain just before his planet was destroyed. He died there, but gave a tiny glass capsule of the bots to his son and daughter, who fled to Visp, a fringe world.

More notes on the Allnet

* Alnbearer’s bodies cannot be attacked or affected by another alnbearer because of a protective bubble basically. If an attack occurs during sleep, the person will wake up. There are some special ways around this that involve meditation and some other things.
* Two types of nanobots, intra and extracranial. Extracranial is all the nanobots in the world. Intracranial exist in the mind and are what control the outside ones. The more you have the more power you exert, though the more power the swarm has over you. Will stop reproducing naturally, but there are ways to get more intracranial nanobots artificially.
* Allnet is passive normally, whenever an alnbearer wants to do something, they send out a signal and the allnet responds, this can be detected. Rikanth sends out a massive signal and the only thing that keeps that signal from reaching the ground, and the nanobots from responding to it is the great tower.
* You gain more intracranial, and thus more power, by the amount of pain you have and are experiencing. That is so that it can’t be controlled by robots. It is barbaric and was not what Yellen intended. Yellen made a second strain before he died but was not able to release it correctly before he died. His descendents carry it still.