Orion's Arm - Prominent Theoretical Artifacts

Prominent Theoretical Artifacts

Types of megastructure that feature prominently in the Orion's Arm setting include:

• Dyson spheres (shells around stars), both swarm-based and dynamically-supported.
• Ringworlds (rigid hoops around stars at a distance of about 1 AU).
• Bishop Ring (habitat) (large ring-shaped habitats), described as the largest spinning ring-shaped habitats that can be built using non-exotic materials. Similar to Iain M. Bank's Orbitals or Halo.
• Complex orbital ring variants (suprastellar and supraplanetary shells) that perform functions similar to Dyson spheres.

Types of nanotechnology-based artifact include:

• Utility fog (swarms of microscale robots that act as a reconfigurable bulk material).
• Disassembler swarms (grey goo-like swarms of nanorobots that dismantle hostile craft/objects).
• Angelnets (nanotechnology-based infrastructures allowing for complete control of the local environment, up to and including mind uploading in the case of severe accidents, that provides functional immortality in addition to its holodeck-like uses).

Other noteworthy artifacts are usually unique items whose principles of operation are unknowable to "baseline" humans (named Clarketech, after Clarke's third law).