Ancient Knowledge: A Story for a Video Game

It is said that politics is downstream of culture. We're all obsessed with the latest political controversy. But little thought is given to the roots of the problem: our broken culture. One way that we can influence our culture, for good or bad, is through story-driven video games. That is what I intend to do.

Consider the following story that I want to use as the basis of a video game:

Far into the future, people have allowed artificial intelligence to take over their daily lives. Not unlike Orson Wells' Time Machine, the paradise that ensued has led to the mass idleness of the people. As in Disney's Wall-E, the people don't know how to do anything other than entertain and feed themselves. Even the feeding becomes automated as AI makes humans into quasi-inert people.

A relatively small group of people choose to resist the trend. Inspired by their Christian beliefs in the dignity of the individual and the dignity of work and creativity, these Christians refuse to use AI for most purposes. They work, create, do science, write stories and even begin to explore the galaxy. A particularly brilliant young man named Owen discovers the secret to faster-than-light travel allowing him and other Christians to travel the galaxy. For 40 years the Christians explore the stars. They find planets that they can inhabit and establish colonies. The people of Earth take no interest.

Another young man is born named Narcissus. He has a keen mind, but one devoid of empathy. A true sociopath, he seeks to manipulate and hurt others. He begins to notice that the Christians are moving out. No one else seems to notice, but he can't help but see how those strange Christians with their odd habits keep disappearing from neighborhoods. He spies on them and discovers that they're steadily leaving Earth for the stars. He asks to join them, feigning enthusiasm.

Eventually he learns the secret to creating a hyper-drive, allowing him to travel the stars. At the same time he teaches himself how to program and control the billions of robots and AIs on earth. He begins diverting resources to build an army of robot soldiers and a fleet of warships.

He launches a surprise attack on the Christians who haven't had to think about warfare for centuries. Some of them are unsure that they should even fight back. But after the wanton destruction of their colonies and the brutal enslavement of their brothers and sisters, the Christians rally. They know that the warships are populated and run by AI, so they lose any compunction against fighting back. They retrofit their ships and arm them with missiles and other weapons.

But it is too late. Narcissus' war machine is unstoppable. Eventually, his fleet approaches the last colony, the personal home and peaceful village where an elderly Owen lives in his grand library and laboratory. As the fleet approaches, it arms its missiles to bombard the colony. Owen has one last defense. He sends a signal to the fleet containing a virus that will infect and shut down all of the AI. It works, Narcissus' fleet is rendered helpless in space.

But, alas, the missiles had already launched, raining down on the colony. Owen is killed and seemingly the last of the Christians.

Narcissus is trapped on a derelict space ship in orbit around the last Christian colony. He cannot get the robots up and running again and the ships' computers are kaput. However, he's an evil genius. If he can't win, then he can cause as much pain and destruction as possible. He is able to jury-rig his ship's long-range communications array and relay a message to Earth. The message is the computer virus that Owen created. The message is received and communicated to all AI on Earth.

Earth is thrown into chaos. Now, the people who couldn't purchase toothpaste on their own, must learn to grow food, make clothing and take care of themselves. Civilization collapses.

The game starts 200 years later. Out of the ashes of the collapse, an oppressive empire arises, with strict rules about who can know what. AI is outlawed as it all science and engineering not under the control of the regime. Society is strictly stratified from slave to emperor. Eventually warp drive is invented, a slower faster-than-light engine than the Christians; hyper-drive. The empire reaches out into the stars, but something unexpected happens. Some of the empire's ships discover ruins of the Christian colonies. Those ruins contain books... PAPER books. It communicates strange ideas to them. Ideas like the equality of all mankind and that each person: slave, laborer, merchant, or aristocrat, has a divine spark because they are made in the image of something called God. All people have an unquenchable divine dignity. A rebellion slowly organizes from among the explorers, merchants and even some of the military.

Your character is the captain of a small imperial warship. Your brother, Ben, is in command of a large imperial battle cruiser. He begins talking about the rebellion almost like he has some sympathy for their cause. Why would he do that? He leaves you clues and as you explore the galaxy and encounter challenges and dangers, you begin to discover why your brother has begun talking the way he has. Your crew begins taking sides and loyalties are tested. Soon you must decide if you will fight against the empire or remain loyal. You will also discover mysteries... could there still be Christians hiding somewhere? Were all of Narcissus's robot ships destroyed? What secrets are being hidden by the empire and who is behind the increasing number of "accidents" occurring throughout the galaxy?

You must take command of your starship and find the answers.