Urum Mir

Urum Mir is a small but influential urum that descended from early internet communities. They are supporters of transhuman ideals and have long sought to merge "man" and "machine." All citizens are technologically modified to some degree, and the urum develops some of the most advanced technology in the hierarchy.

Body Modification
Urum Mir's ardent love of all things technological led to the rapid embrace of transhuman ideals in the early days of their society. They dreamed of being able to leave behind their conventional computers and become "one" with technology. Scientific advancement has finally caught up with their ambition.

Every member of Urum Mir has been infused with a wide range of different nanomachines - each one governing various functions. Circulatory nanomachines moving throughout the bloodstream destroy cancer cells, prevent disease, help regulate body weight, and heal minor wounds.

Stationary nanomachines, inserted into particular regions of the body, provide users with a "biological heads up display. This allows people to turn their eyes into a working interface, giving them the ability to "see" information whenever they look at specific objects or people. If they wish to find a specific location, for example, a digital trail will seemingly manifest in front of them, and they can follow it to reach their intended destination. Digital telepathy - communicating with one's thoughts - provides silent communication between peers. Thoughts are transformed into a digital code and then forwarded to another person. The message is then re-translated and "played back" by the receiving partner. This is immensely useful for military operatives. It also allows someone to browse open networks (or the Mir Intranet) at any given time.

Other augmentations are mechanical in nature - such as replacing or enhancing one's bones with a powerful composite skeletal structure to provide enhancements to strength. Fashion augmentations are also popular. Many individuals completely restructure their face and body for aesthetic purposes. Conventional hair can be replaced with synthetic fibers capable of shifting color at will.

Mir Intranet
While general networks are available to all people, regardless of urum affiliation, Urum Mir maintains a secure, private intranet for their own citizens. This allows them to conduct private business and socialize away from the general human population. The majority of Mir social interaction occurs in digital communities -- some large, others small and tight-knit. Each community has its own unique focus and subculture. Some are serious, others are humorous, and some cater to darker fetishes.

The Intranet can be used to set up virtual reality meetings with two or more participants, and this technology can also be used for recreational gaming.

Although augmented athletic sports exist within Urum Mir, infinitely more popular are the digital competitions that are held between professional gamers. Official teams have huge online followings, and top-tier tournaments draw in millions of viewers from multiple urums.

Urum Mir is officially a capitalist economy, but a great deal of altruism exists within the population -- something that separates them from Urum Kankal. Free content, often created out of passion and a desire to helpful, is available for download online. People often pull together to donate to good causes. At the same time, this is balanced by an often callous disregard for the feelings of strangers due to the distant nature of digital communication. The Intranet can, as always, be somewhat unpredictable.

Online Democracy
As nearly all members of Urum Mir can access the Mir Intranet using their augmentations, all citizens have a means to communicate with one another. Government was altered to make use of this feature. Planetary voting takes place instantaneously, with individuals casting digital "ballots" using their integrated communications interface. Most results are processed within an hour -- making Urum Mir the fastest democratic system in the hierarchy. Interstellar voting takes longer, as the results from various planets must be transmitted to others planets and to a central database on the homeworld, yet this practice is also faster than most other urums.

Most politicians do not assemble at a central location, both on the planetary and interstellar scale. Political business is conducted within secure virtual reality meeting areas. This is both a matter of convenience and a matter of safety, as it becomes impossible for hostile agents to wipe out the majority of Mir leaders in a single attack.

Fellow capitalist society Urum Kankal is defined by its strict social castes, but life in Urum Mir is significantly more egalitarian due to a culture of charity, inclusion, and activism. The government and civilian population possess similar technology. At any given time, unhappy citizens are capable of massing together to hack and disable government services. This promotes political efficiency, but occasionally results in periods of problematic unrest.

The Sentinels: Artificial Intelligences
While other urums strictly limit the production and capabilities of AI constructs, Urum Mir makes them a vital component of their society. Each Mir planet is protected by a Sentinel, a global AI which is integrated into every aspect of digital society. They can monitor and track security feeds, all forms of communication, network activity, and personal data. An AI Sentinel also has detailed profiles for each citizen under their protection, which tracks all their personal preferences and typical behavior.

AI Sentinels are tasked with: preventing crimes whenever legally possible, bringing criminals to justice, protecting its citizens, and defending their designated planet from hostile attack.

Each Sentinel develops a unique personality over time. It usually takes four thousand years for a Sentinel to fully "break in" -- to leave behind its factory defaults and develop into a truly mature intelligence. To further signify that Sentinels are sentient individuals, they each have a unique personal name instead of just a unit designation.

The Mir treat AI Sentinels as sentient beings, and think of them as fellow citizens. They just happen to be citizens with considerable power. As such, Sentinels are protected under the law and granted personal freedoms, including the right to ethical treatment. They also have their own set of personal responsibilities and restrictions. If an AI violates the law, they face potential reprogramming or deactivation.

A Sentinel almost fulfills the social role of "planetary god," even though most Mir citizens are staunchly secular. The AI knows everything about each of its citizens, and can have many millions of simultaneous conversations. Most people have casual conversations with their planetary AI on a daily basis. In turn, the Sentinel does what it can to protect its people and give them guidance. While a Sentinel assumes many roles that were once occupied by religious figures, the same religious reverence does not apply -- as both Mir transhumans and the Sentinels simply see each other as two interconnected "digital species."

The concept of an omniscient global AI that knows everything about everyone seems to run contrary to Urum Mir's love of personal freedoms -- but the Mir have all consented to continual monitoring. Sentinels do not interfere with personal decisions or individual legal liberties. They only intervene if laws are being violated and free citizens are in danger.