AfterLife is the New Dusk Conclave's faction-wide, mind-integrated internet system. It is primarily accessed through the Geist, a mind-machine implant that is present in nearly all of the faction's citizenry. AfterLife's users have access to an Augmented Reality HUD that provides smartphone-like functionality or a more immersive full dive that lets them move about in various virtual spaces.

While the original Geist provided access to a faction-wide military internet, it wasn't until YE 43 that civilians formally established the wider internet as 'AfterLife'.

In its early years before the Geist's 2.0 version made the implant available to the general populous, the Geist's network was typically used for military purposes only. Much of its security, data transmission systems, and other technical specifics all hail from this origin.

Starting in late YE 42 and moving into early YE 43, the network's new civilian users quickly began to make the network work for their own purposes. This started small, with basic applications like clocks or calendars that worked with the network, but rapidly expanded into an incredibly diverse application ecosystem. This ecosystem then blossomed into a series of increasingly advanced virtual environments.

All of these features rely on a Geist system called the 'Asynchronous Link' - an advanced networking protocol that allows for the transmission, reception, and translation of data into a usable form. Asynchronous Link was often shortened to AL early in the Geist's life; with the introduction of early virtual environments to the Geist network, 'AL' was quickly interpreted into 'AfterLife'. The name has stuck since.

Today, users of AfterLife - which is basically every Geist user - enjoy access to all the media, quality-of-life applications, virtual environments, and more that one could possibly want.

The Geist provides an always-on connection to local networks, a HUD that directly feeds into and from the user's mind, and the ability to deeply interface with digital systems. These three features, when given to the civilian populous, resulted in things not too dissimilar from the modern internet.

AfterLife itself is not a device or a single piece of software. It is, instead, all the things that the Geist can connect to on the civilian network. From this comes a bevy of applications, data feeds, media, and more.

Depending on the user's preference or current needs, they have the option to use either the Geist's HUD as an Augmented Reality system or fully dive into any number of virtual environments.

AfterLife itself has no tangible form, but is instead an amalgamation of the NDC's entire civilian network. When using AfterLife, users have access to any number of AR applications for their HUD, ranging from simple data displays, such as the time of day, to extremely complicated overlays.

The Geist and Afterlife have a number of built-in security systems that make it near-impossible to abuse the system by technical means.

First, all software is 'containerized' in such a way that the software has limited access to the Geist or network's features. The odds of a virus interfering with the Geist is essentially¹⁾ zero. Should an application become problematic, it can be instantly closed with no harm to the broader system.

Second, all accesses are tied to the user's unique biosignature. This biosignature value is encrypted before entering the Geist's network and is sufficiently complex as to be, again, nearly impossible²⁾ to hack. This biosignature is used for all access permissions for any given user.

The last security feature, and perhaps the most important, are the users of AfterLife itself. The faction's AI citizenry, in particular, are highly adept at policing the system and identifying bad actors before they can do any real harm.

In short, the Geist is not easily interfered with - but plots have a way of bending the rules when they need to.

The introduction of built-in, faction-wide augmented reality caused a near-overnight change in the faction's architecture, city planning, home design, business, and more.

After its introduction, buildings are almost always made as featureless as possible. Drab, gray buildings of basic metals or concrete that could be described as brutalist in nature are becoming more common and new cities are almost entirely built upon this aesthetic. To the outsider, this might seem like a soul-crushing place to live; the reality is that these plain buildings provide excellent canvases for an augmented experience. Why paint your building a single color when it could be all of them, every day? Why physically decorate a building when you can do it digitally?

The same principle extends into the home, as well. Rooms are often bare, save for the minimum necessary furniture and a few personal touches. Decorations, color, appliances like TVs, and more are all digitally created based on the user's moment-to-moment whims.

Some users even go so far as to use AR to change their own appearance. Digitally animated clothing, brilliant hair colors, minor makeup 'touch ups', and other details are sometimes applied via AR. Major changes to a user's actual appearance come with an immense social stigma - no one wants to be fooled by someone they're talking to in person.

All AR changes can be disabled in whatever way that the user prefers. Security personnel, for example, often disable the AR features for other users so that weapons can't be hidden in plain sight. In practice, AR is so pervasive that few users actually have the presence of mind to disable it.

One defining pillar of AfterLife is that it offers incredible freedom - without impinging on others. An 'ownership' system exists within AfterLife that is nearly impossible to overcome that makes it so that only a thing's owner can change the way it appears - including their bodies.

For this reason, none of the augmented reality applications provide a way to change the appearance of others or others' property. Basic overlays are possible, but they do not change the user, object, or location's appearance. Even these are limited only to the user's vision.

It is a standard part of the sale of anything that their 'AL modification rights' come with the sale. Likewise, friends and family may share varying degrees of 'modification authority'.

Users who want a more immersive experience can fully enter into a Virtual Reality environment whenever it is safe for them to do so. The degree of immersion varies significantly from world to world, with each new environment requiring the user to browse a list of settings and accepting them before they are allowed to enter. These settings can be things like, “Gravity”, “Pain Reduction”, “Age Requirements”, and more.

Some example Virtual Worlds:

• A company's Virtual Headquarters, complete with offices, desks, and the rest to allow employees to work in the same office, from anywhere
• A fantasy game world like an MMO
• A cozy bar

All users initially enter VR in an area simply called 'the Hub'. The Hub is a huge, ever-shifting, instanced city that allows users to interact with each other, window shop, and more. Many businesses have purchased space in this virtual world, placing their stores and offices in convenient locations. Moving to another world from the Hub is as simple as thinking of where you wish to go.

Smaller in impact than full-blown Augmented and/or Virtual Reality, AfterLife Applications - often called ALAs or just 'apps' - are equivalent to modern smartphone apps. The most common of these are simple HUD improvements/additions, but essentially anything that could be found on a smartphone can be done using the Geist.

The loss of interest in physical goods is certainly a change to the faction's economy, but many of the physical goods that were previously sold have simply migrated into the digital space, instead.

Skilled artists sell 'AR packages' for rooms, buildings, clothing, and more. The companies behind the old physical goods simply sell digital versions now, and in many cases make as much (or more) profit in the exchange.

The Marketplace itself can be browsed via the user's HUD or in a variety of virtual stores that let the user get a better look at what they're buying.

Whisper created this article on 2021/04/16 19:54.

🚧 This article is a work-in-progress. Is it not currently approved.