Gaiaspheres: Green Oases of the frozen Earth
Welcome to the Dharmaverse, a near-future scifi world where the Earth has frozen due to a dying Sun, but Humanity survives with the help of powerful AI Metagods. Sacred technology provides everything people need, but to access it one must play the Dharmagames. It is a dark and terrifying world, but therein also lies infinite hope, compassion, and faith.
Gaiaspheres are the last remaining preserves of Earth’s most precious habitats. From space they appear to be giant gree circles surrounded by a vast expanse of white. And at the heart of each Gaiasphere is a giant world tree between one and two kilometers tall.
When the Sun died in 2023, it was a race against time to save as much of the natural habitats of the world as possible. The Amazon, Congo Basin, Southeast Asian Rainforests, just name a few… were precious jewels of Earth’s diversity that faced mass extinction. Gaia, the Metagod of nature, came to the rescue. From the Amazon, she appeared riding upon the back of a great Garuda eagle. Her body was blue lapis lazuli. Her hair flowed past her shoulders in an effervescent emerald green. And she came dressed in a gown of verdant leaves interlaced with flower blossoms of every hue. It is said that in a single day she flew across the world and planted twenty one seeds.
Seven she planted in the Amazon.
Three in the Congo Basin of Africa.
Three in the Southeast Asian Rainforests, in Indonesia, Maylasia, and the Philipines.
One she planted in the Tongass National Forest (68,000 km²), in Alaska.
One in the Valdivian Rainforest ( 248,000 km²), in Chile.
One in the Central American Rainforest, in Costa Rica.
One in the West African Rainforest, in Liberia.
One in the Great Smoky Mountains, in Carolina.
One in the Siberian Taiga, of Russia.
One in the Western Ghats, of India.
One in Madagascar.
The whole world tuned-in to witness fly across the Earth at the speed of a fighter jet. At her last stop in Madagascar, after planting the final seed, she simply disappeared into the forest. Some say she is still there, although no one has seen her again, except in simulant form in the Dharmaverse VR world.
The seeds she planted began to grow right away. In a month, all twenty one World Trees had grown to the height of the greatest Red Wood, hundreds of feet tall and towering above their surrounding forest. Their growth only accelerated from then on, as their rapidly expanding root systems began to siphon up raw material from the earth. So much rock was sucked up that the earth around them began to sink after a month. Soon, they were each skyscrapers, over a thousand feet high.
Much attention was given to the miraculous growth of the World Trees in late 2023, so much that in order to insure their safety, the Order of Garuda was summoned to protect them from undue harm. Riding atop great garuda vehicles similar to the one ridden by Gaia, their ranks included the reincarnations of great heroes such as Tupac Amaru II, Chief Seattle, and King Ashoka.
Around the three month mark a wall of vertical roots had appeared to form a circular perimeter around each Ecosphere. They grew as rapidly as the World Tree itself, and quickly rose to be as high as a hundred feet tall. The roots then intertwined with one another to form a great interwoven wall, to create an enclosure.
Today, in 2066, there are a total of twenty Gaiaspheres remaining (one was destroyed in the First War). Each Gaiasphere contains an enclosed area between 50 to 120 square kilometers large, and is supported by a single super organism, connected with Gaia, in the form of a World Tree. Extensive research been done on World Trees, and how they function… And what people have found is that the secret to how they work lies in their roots.
Rootpan, Rootspring, and Rootwell
Each World Tree forms a giant reservoir of fresh water beneath the forest, called the Rootpan, which accumulated vast amounts of water from pre-existing rivers since before the freeze.
During this time, the water from these natural rivers become redirected to flow down into the Rootpan as the Rootwall forms around the perimeter, to enter into an underground tunnel that pumps the water back up on the opposite side, such that the river can continue it’s orginal flow.
Meanwhile, an internal, self-circulating river forms to replace the original flow. This is accomplished through a system of Rootpumps that pump water from the Rootpan resevoir into its original path through a Rootspring, on one end of the Gaiasphere, while water flows back into the Rootpan resevoir through a Rootwell, on the other end.
Thus the original path of each river is preserved.
The Frostdome
It is the root system which protects and maintains the source of water of each Gaiasphere. It is the Frostdome which protects it from the cold air.
World Trees range between one to two kilometers tall. At the top a leafless canopy of branches that range between 300–500 meters diameter wide. From this canopy a protective cover forms over the entire Gaiasphere enclosure, until it connects all the way to the top of the Rootwall in all directions.
The frostdome formed by World Trees not only function as protection against the cold, but they are also capable of generating light, such that the brightness and warmth of the Sun, Moon, and Stars from outside the frostdome are greatly magnified to match their original strength. Thus, the light energy received inside each Gaiasphere habitat is maintained to match their original power.
It is understood that Frostdomes also function as a atmospheric regulators capable of replicating the conditions of the original habitats, and even generate cloud cover, and rain.
The Treeheart
Each World Tree possesses it’s own independent source of energy, in the form of the Treeheart. Each World Tree is unique, not only in color and appearance, but also in the location of their Treehearts. Most Treehearts are said to be located deep beneath the Earth, where they are kept safe. It is said that the Siberian Gaiasphere was destroyed precisely because its Treeheart was exposed, as having been located near the center of its enormous trunk.
Other World Trees with exposed Treehearts include the Menabe World Tree of Madagascar, and the Icaros World Tree in the Amazon…
World Tree Tree Trunks
The main material that makes up the giant trunks of World Trees has been dubbed Terrasilica, for its high levels of Silicon. They are a semi-organic super material that is said to also be capable of sense.
Since each Gaiasphere is an independent, self-enclosed ecosystem, there has been no access to any world tree except pictures taken from outside, and what remains of the one that was destroyed in Siberia. Terra Silica is highly prized, and has been forged into armors and used as a super building material throughout the Earth. Each gram of Terra Silica is worth more than it’s weight in gold.
Symbiolution
In accord with the Boddhisattva dream of spreading enlightenment to ALL sentient beings, it is said that Gaia’s mission in particular is to help all the plants and animals of the world attain enlightenment by means of the Gaiaspheres.
There is rumor that all the plants and animals of the Gaiaspheres have undergone considerable cybernetic and genetic augmentations, especially for the purpose of expanding their level of intelligence so that they too can begin to practice the Dharma.
Although the phrase “for the enlightenment/liberation of all sentient beings” has been around for over a thousand years, this remains a highly speculative, and controversial subject. Afterall, what is sentient anyways? Which animals can be considered sentient? Are plants sentient as well? And what level of intelligence on top of sentience is necessary for one to practice the Dharma, to have a chance at attaining enlightenment?
Even the Buddhists seem to be divided on this issue. On the one hand, proponents cite that Buddhist practitioners have traditionally refrained from eating meat of all kinds precisely because the animals are sentient. But the sutras also often point to how Humanity is special in its ability to practice Dharma, implying that animals are capable. How then, is it possible to bring enlightenment to ALL sentient beings?
In any case, some highly speculative sources have revealed that it is the trees inside the Gaiaspheres who were the first to receive augmentation, and are in fact alive with thoughts. It is said that they gained sentience as soon as their root came into contact with the roots of the World Trees.
The closest proof of sentient plants and animals of Gaiaspheres lies in the remains of the Siberian World Tree, and has been completely cordoned since its destruction by the Ivanashrama Protectorate.
Recently, sightings of intelligent, talking animals who have left the Gaiaspheres for whatever reason have been reported by nomads living on the Frozen Seas. Some even say these augmented animals are even capable of Metavision and using Mani-tech just like humans. No official ICON opinion exists on this subject, especially since there has already been a history of convincing hoaxes. That being said, public interest remains high due to the inaccessible nature of Gaiaspheres, which continue to feed the allure to uncover their mysteries.
