Talk:Riftspace

are integrates willing human participants, then? Do they retain their minds/personalities? Is there only one per ship or can they have multiple?

https://fail-fandomanon.dreamwidth.org/309054.html?thread=1762233662#cmt1762233662

Integrates are 1 to 1 with ships. There's one imprintable software and tech-based nervous system on a ship and it's controlled by the nervous system of the integrate's human body, summed up by them as flesh is primary. In this kingdom, integrates are basically voluntary and are extremely well treated to maximize the quality of the spaceship and capabilities each has.

If an integration fails for any reason, the ship is destroyed and the compatible can't try again without having their original fittings surgically removed and being refitted, which is potentially lethal and generally not done. Similarly, if a sync fails during integration, neither the pilot nor the integrate can try again. An aborted sync means you don't get a sync. They take many, many precautions to avoid failed or spontaneous integrations and failed syncs.

In this kingdom, pilots are 1 to 1 with the most advanced ships, but for standard affinity, standard design or private spaceships, it's common to not have a permanently synced pilot and instead have sync pilots, who plug in to pilot. They're only necessary in riftspace, not regular space. These aren't 1 to 1.

The people they're at war with also practice mandatory testing for pilot and compatible affinity, but they emphasize quantity, taking even low affinity compatibles and integrating them whether they want it or not. Integrates there are not considered human after that but spaceships. They use sync pilots, who are trained how to get the most of riftspace out of their integrates but there's no effort to not lose the integrate personality to the ship and there's a lot more straight AI feeling with those, especially as they run the ship from the cradle, which basically keeps their human body out of commission. The ship body is primary.

The first kingdom has historical reasons they find the quantity based approach particularly repulsive, as dehumanizing integrates is against their morals and culture. An integrate's mind and personality are vital to the quality based approach they adopt, as in riftspace, the commander basically stops mattering beyond giving orders to the pilot. The integrate takes control with input through a temporary or permanent sync.