Very simple in principle, the DVDF is a planet-sized Biomechanical construct that allows living beings to experience the workings of the mind as reality. Users perceive the ‘mind-only’ environments with all of the twelve universal senses, and may interact freely with any elements within the DVDF.
However, there are two caveats:
The first is that users have no visible form. While the imprint of their native form is retained, it becomes invisible during the /psyche→/thrust/ into the DVDF. This is an undesirable side-effect of the thrust that technicians have been unable to overcome as of this writing. Though the body form is invisible, it is tangible. Therefore, while the user may move about and interact inside the DVDF without being seen, the senses of the user still provide input to the user’s mind. So, physical perception is not altered, leaving the user open to pain, pleasure, injury and body/mind death. While those users experiencing mortality within the DVDF cannot be said to be dead when disconnected from the Forge, they seem to exist in a state of permanent catalepsy within the DVDF environment last experienced. Technicians are working to resolve this oddity of existence.
Second, users do not experience the environments of their own minds. Because currently there is no method of targeted insertion into the DVDF, each experience is one of random chance. Therefore, a human user may find that he or she has been inserted into the mind-environment of a Gens Residuum or a Deep Void Dweller, depending on the ethnographic makeup of users at any one time. Obviously, this can have a negative impact upon the mental state of those unprepared for such possibilities. This said, it is often as likely that the user will be inserted into the mind-environment of a fellow being and enjoy vivid and deeply satisfying experiences.
It should be noted that during recent years, certain omnicidal Gens Residua have accomplished pirated insertions into the DVDF. Because of the woeful lack of policing inside the DVDF, these omnicides have been able to effectively destroy a large number of beings within the DVDF parameters. This achieves a twofold effect; First, it disables the victim of the attack both inside the DVDF and in the real-world environment. Second, because victims of mortal experience inside the DVDF cannot be said to be dead in real-world environments, many races offer long-term caretaking services for these victims, thereby diverting resources, both monetary and lifepower, from other needs, such as defense. Lately, some nearby planetary councils have begun to refuse funding to groups that provide caretaking to voluntary ‘psychonauts’, as users of the DVDF are known. Three well-known councils have even instituted ‘Drift’ laws into their legal codes. Simply put, when cataleptic or unresponsive users of the DVDF are identified by council representatives, they are summarily loaded into holds of Deep Void Waste Craft and set adrift in the Void. Though there has been some outcry against these policies, more and more councils are considering implementing them.
Update: Recent developments regarding the DVDF bear reporting. Because of the extremely long lifespan of certain Gens Residua, it has become possible to map more or less stable environments within the DVDF. The DVET, which owns the DVDF, has placed a number of these beings in permanent stasis within the DVDF, in order to provide detailed descriptions of the environments engendered thereby. It should be noted that the DVET placed these beings in stasis under the law of “assumed consent”. Under the letter of this universal law, consent for any act can be assumed if no dissension is observed. Because many of the Gens Residuum have no capacity for communication of any kind, the DVET finds them to be exceptionally accommodating in this respect.
Despite these stable environments, target insertion is still not possible. However, the DVET hopes eventually to have enough ‘voluntary’ beings in permanent stasis to provide users with a reasonable expectation of enjoying a pleasurable experience inside the DVDF.
It should be noted that during recent years, certain omnicidal Gens Residua have accomplished pirated insertions into the DVDF. Because of the woeful lack of policing inside the DVDF, these omnicides have been able to effectively destroy a large number of beings within the DVDF parameters. This achieves a twofold effect; First, it disables the victim of the attack both inside the DVDF and in the real-world environment. Second, because victims of mortal experience inside the DVDF cannot be said to be dead in real-world environments, many races offer long-term caretaking services for these victims, thereby diverting resources, both monetary and lifepower, from other needs, such as defense. Lately, some nearby planetary councils have begun to refuse funding to groups that provide caretaking to voluntary ‘psychonauts’, as users of the DVDF are known. Three well-known councils have even instituted ‘Drift’ laws into their legal codes. Simply put, when cataleptic or unresponsive users of the DVDF are identified by council representatives, they are summarily loaded into holds of Deep Void Waste Craft and set adrift in the Void. Though there has been some outcry against these policies, more and more councils are considering implementing them.
Update: Recent developments regarding the DVDF bear reporting. Because of the extremely long lifespan of certain Gens Residua, it has become possible to map more or less stable environments within the DVDF. The DVET, which owns the DVDF, has placed a number of these beings in permanent stasis within the DVDF, in order to provide detailed descriptions of the environments engendered thereby. It should be noted that the DVET placed these beings in stasis under the law of “assumed consent”. Under the letter of this universal law, consent for any act can be assumed if no dissension is observed. Because many of the Gens Residuum have no capacity for communication of any kind, the DVET finds them to be exceptionally accommodating in this respect.
Despite these stable environments, target insertion is still not possible. However, the DVET hopes eventually to have enough ‘voluntary’ beings in permanent stasis to provide users with a reasonable expectation of enjoying a pleasurable experience inside the DVDF.
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