Mosaic

Gear; Idea
See also: Dataspace

The Mosaic is a complex phenomenon with different interpretations.

Metaphor

In the ancient religion/philosophy of the Planters and Reavers, the Mosaic is a metaphor for reality. The Mosaic is the overall pattern of existence, composed of individual tiles, or "tessera." The largest tessera are made up of large tessera, the large tessera are made of smaller tessera, and so on. The tessera of various sizes are dimensions, galaxies, planets, cities, people, and so on. Most tessera are in motion, creating the patterns that sentient beings perceive as space, matter, energy, and time. Some of the motion is harmonic/resonant, and these larger dynamic patterns are called "datawaves" or simply "waves." The largest waves are the Eternals and the Shadows.

Virtual Environment

In the "Rossman-Mackey Paradigm," the Mosaic is a computer-generated environment. The environment is similar to a massively multiplayer online (MMO) game. It can be accessed with a Mosaic box, a black market product. The first boxes were based on the virtual reality technology discovered by Dwight Mackey and Elias Rossman. The technology has since diversified. A box allows a user to become fully immersed in the environment, either using a cap with inductive electrodes or a surgically-implanted jack in the skull or spine. Entering the environment is called box diving. The Astral Team often dealt with the use and misuse of Mosaic boxes, especially the evolution of stalkers.

Resolving the Different Interpretations

There are competing explanations for the different interpretations of the Mosaic. Some experts believe the virtual environment is just a tessera. Others believe that Mosaic boxes allow more direct manipulation of datawaves, including making significant changes to reality "outside" the virtual environment. Some experts believe that Rossman and Mackey were accessing the Astral Plane in a new way.

Different paradigms treat the metaphor and the virtual environment in different ways, so it's difficult to reconcile the interpretations. There is consensus that some phenomena in the virtual environment have effects beyond the environment. This especially includes beings that originate in the digital environment yet take material form (e.g., stalkers) and other Rossman Crossovers (i.e., beings or objects moving from the digital to the material or vice versa).

Elias Rossman may have been inspired by Reaver texts on Sihblos in his early work with technomancy. When he named the virtual environment "the Mosaic," he may have been embracing the metaphor for reality, or he may have believed the Mosaic boxes gave direct authorship of reality beyond the virtual environment.