Chapter 8

APPENDIX WINTER WAR The name of a long and protracted war that took place between major nations at the end of the Gregorian era. It was typified by satellite weapon attacks on major cities, destroying many centers of power among the nations. The war moved human society from a citycentric network to a broader distribution across territory, where radio communication and unmanned drone transportation of goods became the norm. The Japanese government transitioned from being centered in the capital to a distributed model via the JR Integrated Intelligence. The war ended when the lack of fossil fuels made preserving satellite weaponry impossible. The name “Winter War” was coined by historians after the fact, due to a cooling of the planet that happened during this time. It has no relation to the war between the Soviet Union and Finland during the 20th century. JR NORTH JAPAN & JR FUKUOKA Companies that arose as a result of splitting government factions during the early periods of the Winter War. They were originally government-run businesses, but as the war lengthened, they gained increased autonomy from the nation, eventually transitioning into private businesses entrusted with government functions. The Japanese government ceased to exist during the Yokohama Station era, but these companies continued to govern in its stead. There were formerly more companies in various regions of Honshu, like JR Tohoku, JR Chubu, and JR Kinki. JR is an abbreviation for “Japan Ruler.” SUIKA A certification method for humans active inside of Yokohama Station. A microchip embedded in the body generates a bio-hash that Suikanet reads to identify the individual. The chips are simple enough that people can manufacture them, but registering for the net requires a deposit of 500,000 milliyen. The process will also cost tens of thousands of milliyen to the cybernetics engineer. A Suika is required for any person at least six years old Inside, as well as for settling payments and gaining access to Suikanet. The name supposedly comes from the Japanese word for requesting another’s identity. CIRCUMSTANCES ABROAD Because communications cables and the means of travel no longer exist, there is virtually no accurate information on the state of the world outside of Japan. The coastal areas of East Asia were rendered uninhabitable by the Winter War, so the Japanese islands are physically isolated. Because the workings of the structural genetic field were a JR Integrated Intelligence military secret, it is unlikely that any other self-replicating structures like Yokohama Station exist elsewhere. Because no other nations had rail networks as dense as Japan’s, even if a similar structure should exist, its speed of growth would be significantly weaker. CURRENCY There is no physical currency Inside. All transactions are carried out through Suika. Because it is electronic money, there is no smallest denomination. It started out as “yen,” but over a period of deflation, the current standard is “milliyen.” In areas outside of Yokohama Station, the JR companies in control issued their own currencies following the expansion of the station and fall of the Japanese government. These are abbreviated JRY as opposed to JPY and come in physical coins and bills. The currency was originally shared among JRs, similar to the euro, but with only Hokkaido and Kyushu remaining, there is no longer any exchange between them. There are also functioning networks outside of the station, similar to the Internet, but some smaller islands do not have network capabilities. For this reason, physical currency is essential. TRANSPORTATION There is only one station and therefore no actual railway. Because the passageways Inside are tight and feature many elevation changes, there are no wheeled vehicles like automobiles or bicycles. The primary form of transportation is on foot, with the aid of moving walkways and escalators. Because power is plentiful, there are some standing-type electric two-wheeled vehicles, but they are too expensive to be widely used. Because of these limitations on movement, the economic discrepancies from area to area are large. There are rumors that a mad engineer tinkered with automated turnstiles to repurpose them as vehicles. Though, if true, no one would want to risk coming into contact with tampered station equipment. SUIKANET The network system contained inside of Yokohama Station. Suika credentials are required to use as a general rule, but some terminals offer anonymous use to anyone. Terminals themselves are often built by people, but the underlying network is generated naturally by the structural genetic field and therefore extremely unstable by the standards of the Internet. Sent data is collected in localized Suikanet nodes as information that may be recreated in distant nodes via a majority rule process. This means that real-time communication over long distances is for the most part impossible, and so most conversations take place over electronic mail that takes time to deliver, much like physical mail. Because a number of nodes are actually under the control of individuals or groups, however, it is possible to have low-latency communication like phone conversations along those routes. If enough nodes are controlled, the information in those communications can even be falsified.