CivSpheres are vertically stacked, AI-regulated living environments designed to house the Ladder and Middle Classes of Neo-Europa. They are neither luxurious like the estates of the Gilded Core, nor anarchic like the Smart Slums. Instead, CivSpheres operate as regulated containers for ambition, surveillance, and controlled social mobility.
Engineered after the Veil War of 2080, CivSpheres serve as both homes and behavior-modulation systems. Each resident’s privileges and sphere type are determined by their Ladder Points—a dynamic score linked to productivity, conformity, and social value.
Purpose and Design
CivSpheres exist to:
- Standardize social housing for the Ladder Class and middle-tier citizens
- Encourage upward mobility within a gamified merit system
- Prevent slum overflow while protecting Gilded districts from “lateral infection”
- Facilitate data harvesting and emotional pattern monitoring
Residents are assigned to spheres based on current Ladder status. Promotion or demotion can trigger physical relocation.
CivSphere Tiers
| Tier | Description | Typical Residents | Key Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tier-1: Professional Arc | Highest-ranking Ladder citizens. Maintainers of civil order, codebase stewards, and approved Spacers. | Guild officers, civil engineers, Ladder celebrities | Private Veil pods, neural composting gardens, drone assistance |
| Tier-2: Stabilized Blocks | Standardized living zones for stable citizens. The aspirational middle. | Teachers, data analysts, delivery drone pilots | School-nodes, dining kiosks, AI mood balancers |
| Tier-3: Ascension Grid | Transitional housing for ambitious low-tier Ladder users. Always under review. | Entry-level workers, state apprentices | Obedience incentives, shared bandwidth, motivational feeds |
| Tier-4: Compression Zones | Densely packed, algorithm-governed stacks. Used for compliance training and overflow. | Gig laborers, sanctioned migrants, unranked minors | Group sanitation, rationed water flow, curfew-lights |
| Tier-5: Failure Rings | Semi-functional spheres used for punitive demotion. Often contain echo-risk populations. | Ladder fallouts, chronic underperformers | Blackout nodes, degraded Veil access, basic oxygenation |
Key Concepts
- Neuro-linked Infrastructure
- Every CivSphere is wired to its residents’ neural implants. Comfort levels, food access, and Veil permissions respond to real-time Ladder Point fluctuations.
- Mirror Protocols
- Each resident’s behavior is mirrored into adaptive AIs that suggest environment tweaks—lighting, temperature, even ambient sound—to maintain social alignment.
- Relocation Events
- When Ladder shifts occur, relocation is often instantaneous. Moving from Tier-2 to Tier-3 might mean waking up in a downgraded unit with colder air, louder neighbors, and lower bandwidth.
Exclusions
- The Gilded Core does not use CivSpheres. Its nobles and execs reside in legacy towers, cloned estates, and emotion-curated domes.
- The Smart Slums reject sphere logic entirely. While some structures mimic sphere stacks, their insides follow anarchic design, lacking surveillance compliance and neuro-synchronized architecture.
Culture and Commentary
- Tier-2 citizens often develop a superiority complex over Tier-4s, despite being one algorithmic downgrade away from relocation.
- Some rogue guilds specialize in “CivSphere crashing” — illegal override of access gates to form commune zones or hide Nulls.
- Elevator graffiti in Tier-3 CivSpheres includes messages like “Climb Quietly” and “Your Points Are Not Your Worth.”