General Description

The Arena is the simple name given to what is possibly the largest construct ever created by any intelligent race, anywhere. It is nothing more or less than a controlled, enclosed scale model of the entire universe, built inside of - and occupying the entire volume of - the alternative dimension which human beings call Sandrisson or Kanzaki-Locke space, through which any vessel using the FTL drive must pass.

The Arena is a monstrous construct, a sphere between 16 and 32 lightyears across, within which are about 120 billion "spherepools" roughly isomorphic with galaxies; Spherepools average about a billion or two kilometers across and are separated on average from the others by 50-100 billion kilometers. Within the Spherepools, individual Spheres, representing each and every star within the corresponding galaxy, are found. Spheres themselves average about 20,000 kilometers across and are separated from other Spheres by, on average, 100,000 to 200,000 kilometers (measured from the edges of their gravitic areas of influence).

The entire volume of the Arena is filled with air of varying composition, often breathable, always fairly dense. Each Sphere habitable area - or areas, in the rare case where two or more intelligent races exist in one system - has and maintains a tolerable atmosphere for the residents; outside of the volume controlled by the Sphere, conditions are not controlled. Gravity itself is only strongly active out to a distance of about 20,000 kilometers from the Sphere surface (radius of about 30,000 km), with near zero-G conditions existing in the Spaces between. Forces connect the Spheres together which are not gravitic, but cause them to behave in fashion similar to their real-space analogues, and are probably responsible for controlling the around-Sphere environments. A semi-gravitic effect is associated with each Spherepool (galaxy analogue) which leads to the spaces between Spherepools having considerably thinner "atmosphere" than the areas within the Spherepools, and a tendency for the atmosphere to "circulate" within the Spherepools themselves.

Currents, winds, storms, lost/disabled ships, native or adapted lifeforms, and potentially hostile vessels may be encountered in the spaces between. Nonetheless, there are excellent trade and strategic reasons to make the crossing, and vessels of myriad designs sail the star-ocean, making use of the winds, currents, and Sky Gates to reach other Spheres. Sometimes a Sphere has remnants of Voidbuilder technology on it, or ruins of prior sophonts who died out for one reason or another. Sometimes the Sphere is open and the explorers gain direct access through the Drive to another solar system and all its resources. Sometimes, there's another species in residence, and the result may be negotiations, trade, or war.

Humanity's Sphere

The Sphere into which the Holy Grail emerges (and nearly crashes) is on first glance a typical Sphere, about 20k kilometers across, with a semi-spherical hollow "Harbor" and orrery-like duplicate of our home system, and a habitable Upper Sphere and interior layer. Through discussions with other Arena inhabitants, however, a few anomalies have been noted; firstly, the "Straits" of Humanity's Sphere are apparently about five times the diameter of those of most other Spheres (100km versus 20km across); secondly, the first interior area of Humanity's Sphere, with its half-ruined, broodingly ancient contents, is not in keeping with the description of other Spheres, which apparently only have the neatly constructed and lit area that Humanity finds in the second interior layer.

Nexus Arena

Nexus Arena - the Arena Core area, a gigantic volume something like one of the Spheres grown ten times larger - is the one location where ALL races currently active in the Arena proper can meet under at least reasonably equal conditions. All Spheres have Inner Gateways which lead directly to Transition, a sort of main travel lobby where, in theory, anyone can go anywhere. Outbound Gateways may be directed to take a traveller back to their home Sphere, or to any known Sphere, or even to any random open Inner Gateway.

The lattter was the action that Orphan took when fleeing the Blessed; as the Blessed are not particularly well-liked by most other factions, it was a reasonable calculated risk that he would end up somewhere that would slow the Blessed down more than it would him. It appeared at first that he'd made a terrible miscalculation, as there was no one present at all - one of the rare Inner Gateways that led to a now-dead Sphere which had not yet shut down. Instead it turned out to be his first encounter with the luck of the human race.

Within Nexus Arena are a number of locations in which the laws of physics are less… modified, such that fusion reactors may function. These are of course some of the most hotly contested areas of the entire Arena, as this permits the generation of power in efficient ways. Those who control these locations are the Powerbrokers, and they trade energy for favors, unique gifts, etc. Nexus Arena will not, however, permit any one individual, organization, or race to control these areas in perpetuity without defending it. Every so often - theory is that it may be some time period significant to the Voidbuilders, perhaps their original month or year - any Powerbroker must successfully meet a Challenge in the Grand Arenas, or their reactors shut down, and only when a new group takes over will power generation again be possible.

Nexus Arena contains areas which may be considered "embassies" - locations which a species may use as an advance base to contact and negotiate with other species without either exposing themselves to danger by entering areas controlled by those other species, or to the danger of allowing others into their (perhaps not yet adequately secured) Sphere. However, an Embassy cannot be established until a new species has won at least one Challenge against one of the already-established species.

Also in Nexus Arena will be found entertainment and trading areas, a market for the unusual - design-concepts, handmade arts, imported luxuries, and so on. As there are a limited number of known biologies, even foodstuffs are often worthwhile trade goods; biological entities which are quite different from ourselves, for example, can still break down and derive nourishment from our foods, just as we can consume fungi (and vice versa).

Nexus Arena's single most important features, however, are the Grand Arenas, the areas in which any Challenge must be answered. The precise nature of the contests held in the Grand Arenas can be quite diverse, but they share several features:

• All Challenges involve considerable strenuous effort; while a Challenge may designate some form of intellectual contest at its core, it is presented in a form which cannot be solved merely by sitting and thinking.
• All Challenges are binding; whatever the matter being contested, the contestants must abide by the agreed conditions - and those who attempt to renege will find the Arena itself imposing a penalty, which may range from temporary loss of one of the Sky Gates to a complete sealing of their Sphere.
• The Challenged has the privilege of selecting the nature of the Challenge; if the selection is not to the liking of the Challenger, the Challenger may withdraw the Challenge. However, if the Challenger then issues another Challenge to the same individual or species, they must accept the selected Challenge. Additionally, if a Challenger withdraws twice from two separate Challenges in a row, they cannot withdraw from the next Challenge they issue, no matter what the form of the contest that their target decides; if they do withdraw, it is registered as a loss and they pay the full price that would have followed from the loss of the Challenge.
• The stakes of a Challenge must be significant and balanced. Challenges cannot be for trivial matters, nor can they require that one party be risking essentially their entire existence for something the other side can easily afford. A small faction with only two Spheres may be Challenged for one of those Spheres (its non-home Sphere) by one of the large factions, but in that case the large faction must risk, not just one Sphere, but a large proportion of its Spheres.
• There are a few types of "impromptu" Challenges. The most obvious Challenge of this sort is if a First Emergent finds that some other species or organization has already landed upon/colonized the Upper Sphere that is their home Sphere; convincing - through force or negotiation - the interlopers to leave is considered meeting a Challenge by the Arena. Depending on circumstances, other combats/confrontations in the greater Arena (i.e., the spaces between/around Spheres) may be considered Challenges as well.

Challenges are the lifeblood of the Arena in a sense; they determine much of the social/political standing of the many factions, permit those lower in power, prestige, or resources a means of improving their position, and are essential for a number of advantages or positions within the Arena, such as Powerbroker, Embassies, Adjudicators, and so on.

The most common form of Challenge is still a direct personal conflict. Challenges can be issued formally for virtually any offense, or in order to gain some specified advantage. If the Challenge is issued "for cause" - that is, due to some offense perpetrated by an individual or group - the Challenged being or group must answer the Challenge.

There is one tremendously important exception: an individual, group, or being may not be Challenged to provide access or ownership to their "home" Sphere, or their sole controlled Sphere if they have no actual "home" Sphere. This prevents the Challenge from being used to completely eradicate newcomers or weak factions.

No one may issue a Challenge, or respond to a Challenge, if they do not either directly control at least one Sphere, or are at the least a designated agent for ones who do, with the power to make binding arrangements with respect to that Sphere. Note, however, that selecting a designated agent is sometimes a considerable risk, because the AGENT - not the group he represents - is the recipient of any benefits/prizes after victory, and must explicitly turn these over to the group they represent in order for the group to acquire them.