Robot Civilization (Evernight Era)

The Robot Civilization is the Earth’s civilization during the Evernight Era. It retains a small portion of human civilization’s legacy but is significantly smaller in scale and technologically regressed compared to the peak of the Sunset Era. Currently, the civilization is facing a slow but steady decline.

History

After the last human passed away at the end of the Sunset Era, robots inherited the civilization, marking the start of the Evernight Era. In Geocity, robots attempted to replicate various human governance models, but all efforts failed, resulting in social unrest and destruction that further weakened their fragile society.

The last major turmoil occurred about a decade before Alice was discovered. Several groups emerged to stabilize the situation: the Geocity Volunteers, Shadow Vigilantes, and Robot Engineers Association. Once order was restored, the Circuit Court of Robots was established to try those responsible for the chaos; it later became a permanent judicial institution. Recently formed, the Snowfield Expedition Team aims to investigate environmental conditions and uncover remnants of the Sunset Era.

Population

When Alice woke up in the Evernight Era, Geocity’s registry listed about 1 million robots, including those absorbed from other abandoned underground cities.

Robots are categorized into families based on the data templates used to create their digital souls, which also determine their last names. Members of the same family are treated as siblings.

Despite having no limited lifespan, longer lives haven’t made the robots wiser. Alice observes that the robots of the Evernight Era tend to be immature, making her— a junior high student (with extraordinarily rich life experiences, nonetheless)— seem more “mature and composed” by comparison. She suspects this immaturity is linked to their lifestyle that disconnected from reality.

Life

Most robots live in the online virtual universe without physical bodies, only borrowing public ones to interact with the real world when necessary.

On contrary, members of the Geocity Volunteers and Snowfield Expedition Team live in the real world most of the time. They often have highly personalized bodies. The Shadow Vigilantes, on the other hand, use uniformed anti-riot bodies.

The operation of Geocity is fully automated, no one needs to work. Robots can freely enjoy life in the virtual universe. However, this luxury is made possible by the hard work of the Geocity Volunteers, a fact most people overlook while taking their good life for granted.

In the virtual universe, many robots emulate human life from the Sunset Era, forming communities based on interests and social connections. Each community has its own culture as they explore subcultures for “meaning of life,” escape reality, and provide emotional support to one another. Despite life appearing rich and stress-free, psychological issues are widespread among robots; boredom and lack of purpose plague their souls. People increasingly seek excitements through intense entertainment or even crime to feel alive.

Organizations

Currently, Geocity operates by the works of five main organizations:

  • Geocity Volunteers (infrastructure maintenance)
  • Robot Engineers Association (research and management)
  • Shadow Vigilantes (law enforcement)
  • Circuit Court of Robots (dispute resolution and justice)
  • Snowfield Expedition Team (information and resource collection)

Politics

Currently, there is no official government in the Robot Civilization. The Robot Engineers Association controls key technologies and system privileges, managing society through small software projects based on their studies. Robots see this as a perfect automated system where governance participation is unnecessary.

In reality, all key decisions are made by the core members of the Engineers Association. This oligarchy class is even more naive and disconnected from reality than ordinary robots, leading to misconducts and unpopular policies.

When Alice woke up, the Engineers Association appeared to have a harmonious relationship with the citizens and other organizations, but underlying tensions were evident. Life in the virtual universe remains vibrant; despite complaints, the citizens are far from considering a revolution. Meanwhile, members of the Geocity Volunteers and Snowfield Expedition Team are so frustrated they are considering breaking away from the system.

Industry and Technology

Geocity has inherited some technology and industry from human civilization, making it self-sufficient but unable to manufacture heavy equipment or conduct fundamental scientific research. They can barely maintain the status quo. If major components of the city’s automated facilities fail, they may not be able to produce replacements to keep the system running.

Economy

The economy of Geocity consists of three aspects: physical, power, and virtual.

For physical goods, all assets, including robot bodies, are public property. People can borrow items from the public inventory and must return them after use. Buying and selling real items are prohibited.

Power (watt-hours) is the universal measure of value in Robot Civilization. Geocity’s power generation capacity is limited, allowing each person a daily allocation—akin to an unconditional social fixed income—that covers basic needs with about 20% surplus for free use or savings (capped). Additional power can be requested if necessary. In the real world, power is primarily used to charge robotic bodies and tools; in the virtual universe, it is used to purchase computing power for services used.

In the virtual universe, finance is entirely free-formed. Each virtual world can create its own financial system and issue digital currency. This digital money holds no real-world value and cannot be used for transactions involving physical goods or services. Essentially, they are “game tokens” meant solely for trading virtual items.

As more Geocity Volunteers and Snowfield Expedition Team members personalized their bodies, created their own tools and parts, and generated their own power, they began to assert ownership of these physical assets. Currently, Geocity’s policy states that if a body is used daily and personalized over 10%, the user can claim it as their dedicated body with only a formal return-borrow procedure required each year. Self-made physical assets and self-generated power are not managed by the system, making them gray assets. Since the Geocity Volunteers and Snowfield Expedition Team members are very close to each other, these gray assets often circulate as gifts within these organizations. However, some individuals have also engaged in illegal trading using digital currencies as a medium.


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