Transcendence?

[ben_07]

What exactly WAS transcendence ayways? All I got is that with the Voice of Planet project you could take to Planet better. And that there was something bad the Fungus was about to do. But the Ascent stops it somehow, and all of a sudden humanity has evolved into Gods colonizing a new civilization on Earth? What did I miss?!

EDIT: Another question that I don't want to start another thread about- The factions split up in the first place because Captain Garland was assassinated after everyone woke up after a machine glitch, right? Who killed him? And is there an *official* history of Chiron that was made up?

 

[Specialist290]

In answer to your last two questions:

1. I think it was one of Santiago's minions, but I don't remember. The story of what happened on the Unity is on the official SMAC site, though.

2. In a manner of speaking, yes; there's the Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri novelization trilogy done by Michael Ely. The individual books are:
-Centauri Dawn
-Dragon Sun
-Twilight of the Mind

I've read the first two, but I've had some trouble finding the last one.

 

[Terje]

Transcendence was when humanity became a part of Planet; our minds got "uploaded" into the Planet Mind, or some such.

 

[ben_07]

Then why did the Epilouge mention us returning to Earth? How did becoming part of Planet make humans immortal and godlike? What would happen if Planet died?

 

[Terje]

Well, Planet wouldn't have died; it would "only" have killed off most of itself (organic life), and so the cycle would have started anew.

As for the "going back to Earth" part, I guess I was a little too vague there; not all of the humans uploaded their minds; some only rested their minds there, or some such, while mainly living in their bodies, with enhanced PSI skills...

Ask more question, and I may remember some more

 

[The Person]

That's something I like very much about SMAC. The incredible storyline.

@S290
Where can I get those books? Are they any good at all?

 

[ben_07]

Our minds were downloaded into Planet's mind like a computer, right? What would happen if AFTER transcendence all life on planet suddenly died, would we then die too? What were we supposed to do for the rest of our "immortal" lives as part of Planet? Would there still be wars, did the factions even still exist? Is transcendence in any of the books at all?

 

[Cuivienen]

No, alas, transcendence is not a part of the books.

Spoiler :

In the books, the Believers and Hive manage to out-manuever everyone else and destroy all of the other factions. Deirdre, Zakharov, Morgan and Santiago flee into Zakharov's (IIRC it was Zakharov's) Virtual World where they will survive for another ~200 years and Lal goes into exile at a tiny Gaian base hidden in xenofungus and so overlooked by Miriam and the Believers. (Note that the ruler of the Hive at this time is not Shenji-Yang, but a clone of him made by his daughter (I think it was his daughter) because she believed that he was becoming decadent.)

Another question that I don't want to start another thread about- The factions split up in the first place because Captain Garland was assassinated after everyone woke up after a machine glitch, right? Who killed him? And is there an *official* history of Chiron that was made up?

A woman named Sarah Jaydo. Nothing much else is known about her. Story --> Scroll down to download "Journey to Centauri," a 99-page story about the Unity mission.

 

[Jack the Ripper]

Trancendence is composed of the human minds and planet minds. Humanity seems to be on the brink of extinction on planet. Some people, if they choose, get rid of all of their possessions and worldly pleasures and go into deep meditation.

"Planetmind" is like a huge brain. The strands of fungs act as brain cells therefore all of the surface of the planet (covered in fungus) has a mind.

As technology evolved on Planet, humans through the use of computers have been able to communicate w/ Planet. The basic scheme of trancendence is to upload all of the info from one's brain and "zap" it into the planetbrain, kinda like putting ur brain on the internet. There you (through your mind) can leave your body and become virtually immortal; as long as there's fungus.

 

[Codpiece]

It's when we 'transcend' our physical form and become sort of God-like, energy based life-forms, able to dance across the universe in an instant. This, as far as I can tell, is the point when we upload our minds into Planet, and the sheer scale of the operation leads humanity into a new evolutionary stage.

It could also just be equivalent to the 'Space Race' victory in the other Civ games, so that the game dynamic didn't have to be changed too much.

Either way it's great fun at the end, when you get to choose your book...

 

[Shodan]

Yeah, its like transcending to the next stage of evolution. Like spiritism, or post-humanism theory. Its kind of confusing but yeah, you really change into a god-like being.