Technology

Human technology, as of the general time that this Universe begins, is similar to our own (or a straight extrapolation of our technology with no new breakthroughs or inventions) excepting three things:

1. Cryogenics was invented recently by humans, allowing for a rush to get to other worlds.
2. AI Superintelligence (was invented some 1400 years ago by ancient humans, and the secret of their existence has not been preserved)
3. Fusion rockets to power ships (also: improvements to superconductor technology, although that's not important).

### *Ship Technology*

Most ships are essentially tin cans with cryogenics and a single axial fusion drive. However, some of the more early-made ships, which were designed soon after cryogenics and fusion rockets were introduced, were actually designed as various separate types of ships with different jobs to perform: dreadnoughts, corvettes, fighters, etc. This was when the limits of the cryogenic pods weren’t known, so they thought that travel would be able to go significantly farther, meaning enforcement would have to happen farther out. In addition, they thought that there would be the economic incentive to build these more sturdy, advanced ships, and were concerned about possible extraterrestrials.

When the limits of the cryopods were discovered, and the mass exodus from the overpopulated and polluted Terra caused the resources (both in research, crews, and manufacturing) to deteriorate, production of these advanced warships ceased, and they were left derelict. Their lack of safeguards for cryopod falloff meant they were almost useless for Caelum Nostrum travel. Eventually they were repurposed for intra-solar system flights to for pirating, pirate defense, or the slave trade.

### *Computer Technology*

Computers have stopped progression around 2010-level as far as minification goes, but they have figured out numerous ways to increase computer power by increasing computer size: more cores, memory, having entire networks of computers act as a single computer. In addition, they don’t have personal computers: since the Computatrum Priesthood runs everything, they want to make sure that these computers are heavy and immovable so that there can’t be a black market on them, and big black boxes that people are only passingly familiar with, so they can’t learn to program or reverse-engineer them.

Screen technology is limited to E-Ink screens. This was a happy outcome for the Pantheon, since it added another delta to the vector of technology development vs. original history, but they didn’t cause it — it was just a chance way that technology developed. These E-Ink screens use reflective instead of black ink, although that’s not universal; they tend to use reflective ink in settings where that would lead to more aesthetically pleasing and noticeable effects: this generally is used on altars and shrines, but black ink is used for ships, for instance. They have also, thanks to having spent more time on it, developed ways of having significantly higher refresh rates on these screens.

*Facticius Mens* are what they call Artificial Intelligences. They are significantly more advanced than what we have today, and are usually “anointed” by the Pantheon, where they use the special technology they have to enhance these AIs — the Computatrum Priesthood generally builds the scaffolding, which is then completed by the Pantheon.

### *Culture*

Culture has largely stayed the same as far as technological competence, but the structure of society has been remodeled after the patriarchal, structured and slow-moving stability of the Roman Republic, with the Pantheon coordinating, ruling and organizing a loose-knit series of semi-sovereign republics. This has slowed down the progress of technology severely, so society has reoriented itself around maintaining perfect records and information about the technology it does have and perfecting the maintenance and construction of it. Few understand how it works. Cryogenics was invented on Numerius X, a somewhat rogue world with a highly liberalized and technocratic society.

The Pantheon had three criteria for choosing a culture to revert humanity to: 1. A language and culture that would stand the test of time and be stable enough so that tens of thousands of years of stasis wouldn’t cause cultural disjoint. 2. A belief system that would benefit them and their subjugation of humanity 3. They want to remove all of modern times from history.

Roman culture and beliefs satisfy the first two, so they erase history from after the Roman times, and rebuild a false history about the continuation of the Roman Republic into space.

Humans set up the Shrines to the Pantheon and construct networks of computers and hardware with respect to it, as a form of religious sacrament, to inaugurate the foundation of a new community.