STARSET LORE BY ALBUM

(This is an ongoing, basic index. NOTE: The lore is interconnected)

1. TRANSMISSIONS ALBUM: (release date: 7/8/14)

1. BOOKS/COMICS/HANDOUTS

1. The Prox Transmission comic (ill: by Dan Hale)

        (themes/characters: FEC, consequences of a world monopoly on energy,        

            Growth Zones, Rebellion, Prox as an escape for the wealthy, Thomas  

            Bell, Haley, Dr. Borden)

*THE COMIC IS IN FULL BELOW-for best quality use 150%+ zoom to read pics*

2. TRANSMISSIONS MEDIA / VIDEOS:

1. The Starset Society official website:(c 2017)  http://thestarsetsociety.org/
2. TRANSMISSIONS album trailer: (6/3/14)  https://youtu.be/IpsuR3d-Jec
3. MY DEMONS official music video: (6/6/14)  https://youtu.be/nkll0StZJLA
4. CARNIVORE official music video: (11/3/14) https://youtu.be/7TkokQjF71Q
5. HALO official music video: (5/7/15)  https://youtu.be/MwiYfNyC81A

2. VESSELS ALBUM: (release date: 1/20/17) (’Vessels 2.0’ release date: 9/28/18)

1. BOOKS/COMICS/HANDOUTS

1. Vessels CD booklet ‘Message to the Listener’ from Dr. Aston Wise: (2017)

2. *NOVEL-’The Prox Transmissions’ by: Aston Wise (Dustin Bates) (release date: 1/28/16–was delayed until February 2016)

(themes/characters:USCOO/FEC, the Signal/Message, 2047, The Everything Machine, The Order, consequences of a world monopoly, The Architecture, BMI, memory extraction, ‘With Purpose’, Prox colonization, Dr. Browning, Aston Wise, Gregor, Dana, Charles Stignum, Gibby, Thomas Bell, Lara Godfrey)

*BOOKS CAN BE ORDERED AT: merch.starsetonline.com or Amazon.com

3.  *‘The Prox Transmissions’ graphic novel by MARVEL COMICS (9/8/17)    

 (Abridged comic format of ‘The Prox Transmissions’ novel)  *BOOKS CAN BE ORDERED AT: merch.starsetonline.com or Amazon.com

!!!LINK TO AN IN-DEPTH, INFORMATIVE REDDIT POST ON THE NOVEL/LORE (NOT OFFICIAL)!!!: (POSTED IN 2019 AROUND THE TIME DIVISIONS WAS RELEASED)

https://www.reddit.com/r/Starset/comments/esb6ea/the_starset_lore_part_i_transmissions/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

(TEXT FROM ABOVE LINK-A MUST READ [UNOFFICIAL/SOME SPECULATION BUT INFORMATIVE. LINKS IN ORIGINAL POST MAY NO LONGER WORK. EDITED FOR CLARITY] ):

The Starset lore Part I: Transmissions

spoiler

Hi, guys! Following the Starset lore is sometimes difficult and many people get lost (and I say this because I feel lost myself). I've been looking for a post that sums up everything we already know and some of the most remarkable theories we've got (possibly citing where they found each piece of information, so that we can follow the story by ourselves), but I haven't found any (I've seen 'The Prox Transmissions' summaries and stuff like that, but I'm talking about something bigger than that). So I would like to present all I've come to know so far, in case this can help other people to put all the pieces together. Of course, if you still haven't researched by yourself or read the book, maybe you'd rather prefer not to read this post because it's going to be aaaall spoilers. I apologize in advance for any spelling or grammar mistakes (I'm not a native English speaker); any corrections on my writing will be welcome (but be polite, please!).

I'd say that we have two story lines so far. The first one is contained in Transmissions (album) and The Prox Transmissions (book). The second one is contained in Divisions (album). In the middle, we have Vessels (album), whose meaning doesn't seem clear. But we know that Dustin is writing another book, as he has confirmed to many fans during VIP sessions (thank you for the info, u/camskidmore9). This second novel (that might be published this year!) will be set before the story in Divisions. Given that 'The Prox Transmissions' came out 3 years after Transmissions (album) release, I guess that the new book will explain many things around Vessels and maybe will bridge these two story lines.

But let's start from the beginning.

First of all, we have the story narrated in the book The Prox Transmissions

.

In New Year's Eve 2012, a SETI astronomer called Stephen Browning received a transmission from the outer space (from the Bernard's star). Browning managed to decode the title of the transmission:

FECNUM: 01022047 CONTENTS: 90MB SUBJECT: IF BORDEN IS CORRECT, YOU ARE RECEIVING THIS 1.1.2013, THE YEAR WHEN [CONT IN BODY]

The body of the text was encrypted, so he turned to Aston Wise, a rich research engineer with plenty of resources. They find themselves pursued by an organization called USCOO (the leader a man called Charles Stignum) that wants to have the contents of the transmission. Browning and Wise discover that the transmission was also found in 1979 by Browning's professor Dr. Gregor in 1979. Another man who also found the 1979 transmission (called Edgar Thompson), helped them understand the code to decrypt the text. Browning and Wise had already deduced it came from the future (from January the 2nd of 2047). Once decrypted, they get a video.

They could see a "desolate twilight terrain from above in the deep orange, red, and pinks of an other-wordly sunset". A man who was wearing a metallic helmet with a clear visor and a slick grey and white body suit (in brief, a space suit), started speaking:

It is January 2, 2047. A small group of men have acquired the source of an incredible power. The men controlling this power -once believed to have the potential for endless good- have used it to exploit their fellow men. I am Thomas Bell. If Mr. Borden's modifications have been successful, you are receiving this thirty-four years ago, in the year 2013 -the time when it could have all been avoided. Please take heed of the following transmissions.

After that, a robot provided with an AI, called Quasi, starts talking and tells our protagonists that they've got three transmissions. The first one being "an account of the historical events that left the Earth in chaos under a totalitarian regime". The second one, being a biographical account of the life of Thomas Bell, comprised of various sources. The last one is a series of blueprints of the technology that has caused that totalitarian regime to happen. In the book, we're told about the first transmission, which basically tells us a brief history of the future:

In 1972, Dutch astronomer Peter De Kamp discovered a terrestrial planet orbiting Bernard's star, called Proxy Earth or PROX. This planet doesn't rotate, so it has one side in eternal sunlight and another one in eternal darkness. The only place which had temperatures that made life possible was at the boundaries of these two hemispheres, a region known by the name of Star Set (because from the surface the sun appeared to be eternally setting on the horizon). After that, the US Government started a secret program called 'The Proximity Earth Colonization Project'.

In 2021, someone invented a very small hot fusion device. This research was bought by a small group of billionaires so, in 2024, scientists got a Nearly Infinite Energy Mechanism (or NIEM). The group of billionaires set a corporation called Free Energy Corporation (or FEC). By means of speculative strategy, FEC managed to take control over the global energy market. With that huge income, they started a research that gave life, in 2035, to a device called the Everything Machine: a volumetric printer that had the ability to copy and print any three dimensional object by modifying atoms. Having the monopoly on the Everything Machines, FEC took control over the global industries too, until a jobless class reached the 80% of the population. These people were sent to the 'Growth Zones' which were basically concentration camps. The rest of the people were sent to cities known as 'Forts'.

A police force called the Dept. of Civil Vigilance and Recovery (CVR), labeled as Carnivores, had the mission to squash any opposition to the FEC. Meanwhile, a resistance network began to rise, the National Freedom Alliance (NFA). Because of that, a special election on June 1st of 2035 gave the FEC control of the government. Then, they discovered the Proximity Earth Colonization Project that had been held secret. By this time, the project had managed to build ion thrusters that could travel ad .9 light years per year. Also, giant terraformers had been sent to PROX to convert the carbon dioxide to breathable oxygen.

The civil war started by the NFA uprising finished on August 16th 2035, when the NFA waged a full-scale attack on all major FEC strongholds and bases. The offensive was successful (only FEC bases in Chicago and Washington were spared), so many powerful FEC members and their families decided to escape to PROX.

The second transmission isn't provided in the book, but there's a short comic

 available online called 'The Prox Transmission' that sums up Thomas Bell's life (thanks, u/NoobeZento, for sharing this link in one of your posts):

In 2032 [there's an incongruity here, because the comic says 2032, but the book says 2035 instead], Thomas Bell lived in Washington DC. His parents were part of the military security specialists that protected a powerful FEC supporting member of the US Senate. This man had a daughter, called Haley Rochester. Haley and Thomas were 12 years old in 2032 and they were very close friends. On August 16th, when the NFA launched their massive attack, Haley's family escaped to PROX. At the age of 14, Thomas Bell decided to move to Chicago (which, if you remember, was one of FEC surviving bases) and spent 7 years there trying to infiltrate the FEC space program in order to get to Haley. On September 19th, he lifted off on a transport supply ship to PROX as a communications technician. He got to PROX on July 17th, 2046.

Thomas Bell's supervisor, Dr. Borden, was the inventor of a device that made instant communications between the Earth and PROX possible; he also was a sympathizer of the NFA. Dr. Borden found out that his machine was able to send communications to the past, but he kept it secret from the FEC. One day, he received a communication coming from the dark side of PROX. It was a distress signal whose voice matched with Haley's. In that moment, Thomas decided to go find her and, given the high chances of death, before leaving, used Quasi to send the transmissions to the Earth in 2013.

In the book again, we learn that Mr. Borden made a mistake and sent the transmissions not only to 2013, but also in other moments of the past. The first person in history noticing a signal from outer space was Nikola Tesla, in 1911. Unable to decode it, Tesla founded the Order of Teslonia with Guglielmo Marconi, hoping to protect this information and, eventually, decode it. Tesla's financier, J.P. Morgan, was suspicious of the scientist's activities, so he used the Collective of Industrialists (a group of powerful US industrialists founded in 1891) to investigate the Order. 34 years later, in 1945, the signal from Bernard's star arrived to Earth again, and this time the Order managed to receive and decode it. After that, the COI intensified their efforts to get the message too, so in 1953 they sent a letter to the US government asking for special provisions in order to get more information from the order. Afraid of the Order being helpful for the Soviet Union, the US government gave the COI government inclusion, bringing about the US Capitalism Oversight Organization (known as USCOO). In 1979, NASA intercepted the signal again and the USCOO managed to get it, but couldn't decrypt the whole message. In this moment, Dr. Gregor discovered the signal and we reach 2013 again, when Stephen Browning receives the signal too and decodes it with Wise.

After learning all of this from the transmissions, Browning finally finds Dr. Gregor, who leads him to a secret location in the US. There, in the underground, was the secret Order of Teslonia Phase II Research Facility, sort of a little town that looked almost like a utopia. Its motto was Ignorance : Slavery :: Knowledge : Freedom. There, Dr. Gregor shows Browning an Everything Machine: after the 1945 signal was caught, the Order could decrypt the signal in 1947 and find the third transmission (the one that contained the blueprints of the Everything Machine). They finished building the device in 1973. Since then, the Order has lived secretly in this utopian underground village, thanks to the Everything Machine.

In 1991, the Order built a replica of the device Thomas Bell used to send the transmission. They've used it to send messages to PROX, but they have never received an answer. From that, Dr. Gregor deduces that they are "losing the battle for the future":

"To win the future back, we had to ask ourselves what might be keeping PROX silent? What group could result in a society so plateaued that PROX is never colonized? What group could be-"

"The USCOO," Browning interjected.

"Precisely," Gregor said. "But I think your work has changed all of that".

While Browning is exploring this fascinating facility, we learn that in one of the labs a man, called Dr. Vertain is using a device with a girl (a character of the book called Dana of whom I haven't spoken because this """summary""" is already getting very long). Dr. Vertain says it's called Brain Machine Interface (keep this in mind!) and explains how it works:

Right now, the retinas in your eyes are converting these images to electric signals that are being sent through your optic nerve to the occipital lobe of your brain waves. The interface on your head is able to sense those signals with a high degree of accuracy. In this calibration process, we are simply calculating the transfer function necessary to transform those brain waves back into the image -which I can then visualize on my screen. The best part is, once I have that mathematical function, I can use it to see anything you see... or think.

Also, we're told how this BMI looks:

(...) he was holding a hollow metallic hemisphere made up of what appeared to be hundreds of tiny electrodes, each arranged in a complex sort of geodesic pattern and interconnected with tiny wires. In the center of each electrode, a green LED glowed.

We don't get to know by the book anything more about the BMI: What did Dr. Vertain and Dr. Gregor obtain from using it with Dana? Who invented it and what was their purpose? Why did they hide it from Browning? And most important of all... how does this relate to the BMI we see in Divisions? I'll come back to this matter later.

In the meantime, Aston Wise is trying to stop Charles Stignum (remember, he's the leader of the USCOO now) from showing the Everything Machine to 5 of the most powerful men in the US (he's got the blueprints from Dana, who was actually a spy, but these are just details). The EM is functional and Wise succeeds in defeating Stignum, but another member of the USCOO board (called Gibby) takes control over it. However, a week later, Dr. Gregor appears at Gibby's house carrying the BMI "helmet". We don't know what happened next after that.

Months later, Wise is trying to build his own Energy Device in the basement of Wise Engineering building. He has a new assistant called Lara Godfrey. Also, he's visited by Dr. Gregor too, who shows him the Order's facility. There, Wise is told he is a hero because he has fixed the future. Hours later after destroying Stignum's plans, another transmission with a video arrived:

Just as in the original Transmission, the screen was filled with a deep orange-red light, only now he could actually see Bernard's star -a massive red hemisphere which crested above the horizon, filling much of the far background.

Unlike the First Transmission, there weren't mountains in the background, but structures. These weren't the rugged tent-like domiciles or round pressure vessels one might expect in space, but sturdy buildings made of something resembling concrete. They were rectangular. (...) Although the background was a sea of dirt, the foreground was filled with a large patch of dark green grass.

(...) Little about the sight seemed extraterrestrial. (...) What struck him was the fact that the man wasn't wearing a helmet. He was breathing the air.

The man in the video used the same expression that was popular in the Order ("With purpose") and said:

As instructed in the Doctrines, we are sending this message to you from the year 2049 on the day before our twentieth year of Earth age. You are receiving this on April 2nd, 2013! (...) Tomorrow is the day we've waited for! Engineering day! We've performed all of our tasks in accordance to the Doctrine. We've mined our genetic-

And, then, Dr. Gregor stops the transmission. He explains that those were the first colonists of the Order, "the Pilgrims of the new philosophy". So the Order has their own space program: they are planning to colonize PROX by printing the colonists. By destroying the USCOO, Wise has given advantage to the Order in this plan. After showing all this to Wise, Dr. Gregor tells him that, actually, his role in destroying the USCOO was rather insignificant, so he's not useful at all. Right after this, they induce him into amnesia.

In the end, Wise wakes up on April 9th not remembering anything between this day and New Year's Eve. He finds out a subdermal RFID under his skin, though, and it contains a manuscript telling the whole 'The Prox Transmissions' story we read in the book. We know that Browning is part of the Order, but we don't know what the Order exactly plans. Inspired by all these events, Wise decides to found The Starset Society, whose first project is the release of the Second Transmission, and installs a dish pointed to PROX in order to discover any other transmissions. Oddly enough, he chooses the same motto as the Order: Ignorance : Slavery :: Knowledge : Freedom.

On March 22nd of 2015, he gets one message from PROX:

01001000 01000101 01001100 01010000

Which, converted in hexadecimal and then transformed with ASCII code, translated to:

HELP

And this is how the book ends. Starset's web had a useful timeline back in 2018 that summed up some of these events. You can still see the timeline here

.

From these last pages of the book, we can deduce that Transmissions is actually the Second Transmission, telling the story of Thomas Bell trying to get to his beloved friend Haley. Also Dustin Bates confirmed this:

I drew from Thomas's life story and his Message. His story is amazing and I was able to use it to hopefully create a picture of love and light triumphing over resistance in a dark world. The Message provided that world. The resistance. It also provided the themes of future, space, and technology. Hopefully people feel that element of realistic positivity and hope in it. And hopefully it inspires people to look further into the Message when it comes out.

Many users have explained the songs lyrics on the basis of this idea, for example here

.

My Demons musical video

 is a dramatization commissioned by The Starset Society showing Thomas Bell in PROX in 2047 as he looked like in the transmission. It also shows the Allen Institute in 2013, when Browning received the transmission and Tesla's discovery in 1911. Basically, we could consider it a trailer of the book.

Halo musical video

 shows one of FEC's ships arriving to PROX in 2044. We see Dr. Borden's research bunker and Haley being kidnapped by two men. It looks like in the end Thomas manages to find her and rescue her.

Carnivore musical video

 starts with images of Chicago and Washington DC Forts in 2035 (remember this is the year when the NFA almost defeats the FEC). Also, remember that Carnivore is the name that people use to refer to the CVR, the FEC's militar force. This video basically shows the rebels, the police repression and the conditions of living under the FEC's totalitarian regime.

I think that all the story behind Transmissions is pretty clear, though there are some questions left unanswered by the book:

• What is the true purpose of the Order? In the beginning, it looked like they were the "good guys" of the story, but as the events unfold it looks like they have some not-that-good secret purpose.
• Why was Browning admitted at the Order after all, after the big mistake he made by rescuing Dana?
• And why is Aston told he "didn't make the cut" instead?
• Who wrote the manuscript that Aston found under his skin and how did it get there?
• What's the role of the BMI in this story? (I'll come back to this later).
• What was that "HELP" message? Who sent it?

Given that Vessels story is not that clear (and, as I said, I think we'll understand it once the second book is published, the same way Transmissions lyrics and musical videos are comprehensive once you read the novel), I'll skip that part and explain the second story line, the one presented in Divisions. But that will be in another post, hope this one helps! Feel free to correct any mistakes or to add any information that could be important :)

2. VESSELS MEDIA / VIDEOS:

1. EYEZ Campaign SYNOPSIS: in 2017, prior to Vessels release, the official band/band members' social media accounts were reportedly ‘hacked’ by an unknown entity called the EYEZ. There were official posts made from both their record label at the time (Razor & Tie) and Dustin, himself, regarding this incident. Also, mysterious, graffitied pictures of famous, big-name brands started to surface on their accounts, which was another part of the EYEZ ‘campaign’. Concurrently, nearly all of the main Starset accounts were mysteriously, temporarily wiped of avatars/posts. There was also a livestream that was uploaded of a mysterious, closed-doors meeting taking place. Pics and links to everything included below.
2. EYEZ Campaign-Livestream https://youtu.be/A7Ugn5S0KRg (countdown begins at 0:38 seconds, ‘video of a secret meeting’) (8/10/17)
3. Various posts/pics from the EYEZ event:

4. RICOCHET 360 official music video: (1/6/17) https://youtu.be/E_SeMqLaL6o
5. MONSTER official music video: (1/11/17)  https://youtu.be/Bq6IuZIJhuI

6. BACK TO THE EARTH official music vid.: (1/23/17) https://youtu.be/zgytnHAoGGw
7. TELEPATHIC official music video: (4/28/17) https://youtu.be/2HqyazopkKs
8. SATELLITE official music video: (11/16/17) https://youtu.be/fB4tJ_Ml9nw

9. RICOCHET official music video: (4/2/18) https://youtu.be/SaC0YVaIMno

10. BRINGING IT DOWN official music video: (9/28/18) https://youtu.be/qK311dtQr_4

3. DIVISIONS ALBUM: (release date: 9/13/19)

1. BOOKS/COMICS/HANDOUTS

1. BMI CARD/TSS: THE HORIZON PAMPHLET-handouts were given out to fans attending the Divisions Tour in the fall of 2019 . The BMI card was a pocket-sized card given out at NEW WEST-themed shows. The TSS: THE HORIZON PAMPHLET was a larger booklet given out at the REBELS shows (a second pamphlet was given out during the overseas leg of this tour in early 2020–credit: Damien Alan). Both introduced/built on more of the ongoing lore, and briefed Messengers on using the newly introduced Starset AR app. They also introduced ‘BMI’ technology (Brain Machine Interface) and more on The Message/The Architecture/The Architect. Pics of both below:

2. The BMI TRANSPARENCY was given out during VIP at a handful of early shows on the Divisions Fall Tour in 2019; it is a larger advertisement for BMI technology as well as instructions on how to use the Starset AR app. It was very easily damaged, so forgive the somewhat eroded quality of the pic below. (ALSO OF NOTE: VIP guests were given ‘BMI’ dot stickers to wear during the shows this tour, as referenced in the BMI handouts.)

2. DIVISIONS MEDIA / VIDEOS

1. TSS-MISSION video: (7/31/18) https://youtu.be/Lqu5MT1OFlU
2. There was a media campaign lead-up to the launch of DIVISIONS, including a live-stream scavenger hunt  for a 3D printed ‘Manifest’ symbol statue (where the “PIPE” meme originated from), a series of different ‘transmissions’ appearing on their official website, and a mysterious ‘locked file’ entitled A_BRIEF_HISTORY_OF_THE_FUTURE.docx . Currently much of the ‘transmissions’ content appears to be lost, as STARSET updates their band website leading up to each new record release, but I will post what currently I have available to me, including the contents of the ‘locked file’ above. (I will update as I find new information)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Going through the transmissions: (text only)

01: Text document with

01001000 01100101 01101100 01110000, which is binary/ascii for "Help"

02: Text document with list of transmission release dates:

please hold for further transmissions

aug 08 2019

aug 14 2019

aug 15 2019

aug 22 2019

aug 29 2019

sep 05 2019

sep 09 2019

sep 12 2019

sep 13 2019

03: Video with the phrases: "Destroy the architect" and "Destroy the architecture"

04a: Video propaganda from New West for BMI, with a clip/cut to end

04b: Video preview for Manifest music video

05: Music Video for Manifest

CORRESPONDENCE 01: a touch tone phone press for a phone number for the Starset Society: stating that all operatives are busy - plays a short clip of "Where the Skies End"

06: Music Video for Where the Skies End

07: Music Video for Diving Bell

08: Music Video for Stratosphere

09: Video with phrases: "Aston Wise is the architect", "Destroy the architect", and "Destroy Aston"

3. Link to Reddit post with more information on the above ‘locked file’ and the now unreachable starsetonline.com ‘transmissions’ released during the DIVISIONS album campaign (links are broken and do not work, but the post still contains good information, NOT OFFICIAL) (2019) https://www.reddit.com/r/Starset/comments/d3vgnl/figuring_out_the_starset_divisions_secretspassword/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

4. Link to New West Industries website (take the test to see if you are accepted into the New West or are a Rebel): (2019) newwestindustries.com

5. “THE_FUTURE_REPEATS_ITSELF” video, ominous (The signal returns): (8/2/19)

https://youtube.com/shorts/my1L4cECG_w?feature=share

6. “Destroy the Architecture, Destroy the Architect” video: (8/8/19)

https://twitter.com/starsetonline/status/1159509582315741184?s=20&t=Qm2tv1xQUE-yW-MZwaHKxg

7. 5 e-mails between TSS Internal Membership/Aston Wise, Aston Wise/Laura Godfrey, and D.R., TSS Senior IT/TSS Internal Membership only gained through decryption on the band website as part of the DIVISIONS album campaign: (dated from 8/9/19-8/22/19)

*E-MAILS ON FOLLOWING PAGES BELOW– PLEASE ENLARGE/ZOOM FOR CLARITY*

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8. Another ad for the BMI…with a mysterious and ominous ‘glitch’; ”The FUTURE is BRIGHT”: (8/14/19)

https://twitter.com/starsetonline/status/1161578609276047363?s=20&t=Qm2tv1xQUE-yW-MZwaHKxg

9. Link to live-stream scavenger hunt for 3D ‘Manifest’ symbol (origin of the “Pipe” meme) “Transmission 04 B”:(8/14/19) https://youtu.be/u3m5yXWPQyA

10. A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE FUTURE album intro monologue: (9/12/19) https://youtu.be/ZXng1JE9dmk 

“ A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE FUTURE”

This place is a desert for the mind

Devoid of emotion and barren of thought

No real thought, at least

It's no surprise

Most minds here have long since atrophied from lack of use

They wait in flatline for the next rushing jolt of synthetic stimulation

The real world can't compare, even if it were allowed to

Contemplating the real world leads to seeing the world for what it is, a prison

A cell for the mind, body and soul

All my life I've been a prisoner

Cowering at the idea that I

might be capable of unique thought

Terrified of what my own instincts might lead to

So how could I blame them?

But it hasn't always been this way

I've heard rumors

Filtered, distant, faded

I seek to know the truth

11. Link to DIVISIONS video ad with clips from music videos/intro DIVISIONS monologue by Dustin Bates: (9/12/19)

https://twitter.com/starsetonline/status/1172163718316285952?s=20&t=Qm2tv1xQUE-yW-MZwaHKxg

12. Link to ad for DIVISIONS by Lara, Rep. of The Starset Society: (9/18/19)

https://twitter.com/starsetonline/status/1174382402757627905?s=20&t=Qm2tv1xQUE-yW-MZwaHKxg

13. Advertisement for BMI from New West Industries (12/12/19): https://twitter.com/starsetonline/status/1205270889291370496?s=20&t=Qm2tv1xQUE-yW-MZwaHKxg 

14. REBEL show intermission (Destroy the ARCHITECTURE, Destroy the ARCHITECT–start at 39:22): (2019/2020)  https://youtu.be/zcQwZNVhVLs

15. NEW WEST show intermission: (2019/2020) https://youtu.be/_SixqQUrGf0

16.  Link to official BMI intermissions video (FULL): (7/28/20)

https://youtu.be/JiWzzNkHkPI

__________________________________________________________

17. MANIFEST official music video: (8/15/19)  https://youtu.be/T-sjOGAQQzA

18. WHERE THE SKIES END official music video: (8/24/19) https://youtu.be/1DHY4cgQwE8

19. DIVING BELL official music video: (8/28/19) https://youtu.be/P6hbIPy_H9o

20. STRATOSPHERE official music video: (9/5/19) https://youtu.be/FfOSJg7_qv8

21. TRIALS official music video: (5/20/20)  https://youtu.be/143gJ1ojeJM

22. TRIALS:REIMAGINED official music video: (8/28/20)

https://youtu.be/XqSA7aGiQXY

23. ECHO official music video: (3/19/21)  https://youtu.be/6Vcpf1geVfg

3. OTHER DIVISIONS ERA SUSPECTED BMI PROMOS/2ND NOVEL PROMOS:

1. STARSET BMI video (BMI in use by female subject “Megan”, who goes into stasis):  (7/29/20-originated on 7/27/20)

https://youtu.be/nIWDFPdOQpc

2. Starset BMI video (BMI in use by male subject “Mark”, who goes into stasis): (7/27/20) (https://www.facebook.com/100000596467716/posts/pfbid06M9n4PHcTpJ54WfdqKSGxmmqeSZ5NCoUtq4rSp1sk1BCpiARXJDfQJ9BZkbN8sjzl/?d=n
3. ALL promo video clips compiled leading up to the 2nd novel so far…rumored to be called “A Brief History of the Future” (‘Destroy the Architecture, Destroy the Architect’) (12/17/20) https://youtu.be/fsO9mWLreQw **

[OFFICIAL RELEASE DATE FOR NOVEL ANNOUNCED: 4/8/24:

https://www.facebook.com/starsetonline/posts/pfbid02fpcpkbjYWCUpKTTPa4X9xCszXnKemKohG6R5NsM5secRKZ4M8VVqhH7orZkr56d3l?mibextid=zDhOQc ]

**TRANSCRIPTS of ALL 2nd novel promo video clips in link above:

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE FUTURE

________________________________________________________

“AUGMENTED BILLBOARDS LITTERED THE LAND OF THE NEW WEST, HOVERING LIKE GHOSTLY REMINDERS. ETERNAL MONUMENTS, MEMORIALIZING A PLACE OF SUPPLICATION.”

-9/4/2020

_________________________________________________________

"IT WASN’T REAL IN ANY PHYSICAL SENSE, EXISTING SOLELY IN THE MINDS OF THE RESIDENTS. AND YET, IT WAS A REALITY OF CONSEQUENCE."

-9/11/2020

_________________________________________________________

"EVERYTHING WATCHED. EVERYTHING LISTENED. THE ARCHITECTURE WAS IN YOU. YOU WERE IN THE ARCHITECTURE.

RESIDENTS WERE TO ABIDE BY THE RULES OF THE NEW WEST, WHICH WERE NEVER PUBLISHED OR DISCUSSED. THERE WAS NO NEED—THE RULES OF THE NEW EAST WERE TRUE. INHERENT. ACTIVELY DISOBEYING RESULTED IN IMMEDIATE AUDIT. EGREGIOUS VIOLATIONS RESULTED IN SUPPLICATION. A PRISON FOR THE MIND."

-9/18/2020

__________________________________________________________

"THERE WAS NO CONTRABAND THOUGHT. THERE WERE NO CONTRABAND IDEAS."

-9/25/2020

__________________________________________________________

"UNITY THROUGH ALLEGIANCE"

-10/5/2020

__________________________________________________________

"FULLY IMMERSIVE VIRTUAL EXPERIENCES—UNOFFICIALLY KNOWN AS FROSTING—ALLOWED FOR A TEMPORARY ESCAPE FROM THE OPPRESSION OF THE NEW WEST IN THE FORM OF

VISCERAL SIMULATIONS OF THE SENSORY. THESE VACATIONS, MEMORY-REPLAYS, GAMES, AND DRUG TRIPS WERE INDISTINGUISHABLE FROM REALITY."

-10/9/2020

__________________________________________________________

"FROSTING WAS THE OPIATE FOR THE MASSES."

-10/16/2020

__________________________________________________________

"A SHARED AUGMENTATION IS A SHARED REALITY."

-10/23/2020

4. HORIZONS ALBUM: (release date: 10/22/21)

1. BOOKS/COMICS/HANDOUTS:

1. “A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE FUTURE” a novel commissioned by THE STARSET SOCIETY (2nd novel) (release date: 4/8/24)

2. “A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE FUTURE”--AN EXTENSIVE PLOT SYNOPSIS (GLOSSARY OF TERMS TO FOLLOW SYNOPSIS) :

CHARACTERS (Main/Important): 

Thomas Bell, Aston Wise, Emily, Ingrid (aka: Nightshade), Byron, Jasmine (aka: Green Cell Leader), Pigeon Man, Rose Singley, Lucas, Denny, Jordy, Ziggy, Scoville Shmidt, Huang-Lee, Gisele, MinSec, Overseer

THEMES/POINTS OF NOTE: 

BMI, BMI Modding, Everything Machine, The Architecture, The Architect, Overseer, Quantum Communicator (QC), Quantum Entanglement, Supplication, Desupplication, Occupying, Shadowing, Rebels vs. New East/New West, UR, VR, AR, Persistent AR, Frosting, Violence, Pain Endurance, Deep (Often Conflicting) Emotions, Pragmatism, Hope.  

Location: Philadelphia, PA, NEW WEST, circa approx. 2047  

Thomas Bell, a, bright, young, up-and-comer in the coding world, had resigned himself to routinely engaging in an AR (augmented reality) pain endurance game, aptly named “The Pain Game”, in order to earn enough credits to to keep his mother from losing her placement in Holcombe, a local skilled nursing facility. Suffering from NeuroTIDS (a brain-tissue degenerating disease that she had contracted while being forced to retrieve files from a facility the New East had bombed), she spent most of her days living in VR (virtual reality) while her body remained in a declining state. Thomas was constantly worried about her deteriorating health–and about paying for her ever-increasing care and time spent in the VR retreat Jade Meadows–so he did what he could to make ends meet.

While on scholarship at the NW3 (New West Institute), Thomas proved himself to be a very competent and innovative coder, far outpacing his peers during the Gauntlet, a series of exams by which his competency in creating, understanding, fixing, and using code was assessed. This talent didn’t go unnoticed; not long after Thomas had endured–and won–the last Pain Game he’d entered, a supposed Rebel recruiter, Garridan, stopped him as he attempted to re-enter for another round of torture, and made him an offer he couldn’t refuse: join with them and they would cover his mother’s care at Holcombe. To hammer home the point, Garridan also mentioned to Thomas that he was much like his dad, who was also an excellent coder, and that they knew that he had been burned alive by the New East in their home for his allegiance to the Rebels. He also topped up Thomas’s credits so that the next month of his mother’s care would be paid for. Thomas then relented and agreed to meet him by the Loyalty Bell the following day.

About this time we’re introduced to Emily, a young Rebel who happened to be the daughter of Ingrid, or rebel leader “Nightshade”. She and her father, Byron, a talented Rebel modder, modified BMIs for the rebels by exploiting a loop glitch that allowed people to remain undetected by the Architecture and disabled the censorship programming that the New East had in place–that is, it was set up to keep citizens from being able to see or consume anything this new world government had deemed as inflammatory or contraband. Ingrid wasn’t on board, however, when Byron and Emily modded others outside of their direct cause, namely old friends or colleagues like retired professor friend Jack Tomlinson, who just wanted to use his mod to be able to reread old materials that had become banned and censored with the regime change. Ingrid didn’t hide her dissatisfaction about this from Byron, but also allowed him to do these extracurricular mods, as she cared very deeply for him and for Emily. Further, she was also a key player in the current Rebel actions in the New West to ultimately take down the Architecture and free it’s citizens. As such, she then received a secret call shortly after Jack had been modded, telling her that the plan to take down Huang-Lee, Minister of East-West relations, during the Liberation day festivities was a go. Unfortunately, though, Jack was soon accidentally discovered reading contraband material by his wife, and both were immediately supplicated by the CA’s (Civil Authorities) working for the New East/New West. And his discovery by the CAs also lead them back to the source of Jack’s modifications…right to Emily and her family’s home .      

The next layer to the narrative involved Jasmine, a former DC nonprofit team member working on climate change who had turned-rebel insurgent–the “Green Cell Leader”. She lost both her wife and her two children to the bombing outside of DC, the same one where Thomas’s mother was forced to labor recovering files which ultimately lead to her neuroTIDS. Poised sniper-style, she expertly executed Huang-Lee, used her BMI to scan for data on drone responses (the time they took to react and the fact that they began killing the local cops) and then detonated a bomb laced with traces of a specific metal to draw the curiosity of the Minister of Security (MinSec) and put the next phase of their plan into action…luring MinSec into their trap and capturing him. During this event, Jasmine and the other rebels involved also discovered that there was no delay to the drones and that it was suspected that MinSec may have a direct link to the Architecture.

At this point, the story turned back to Emily and her family as they learned through their secret network that CAs were on their way to their home after Jack Tomlinson’s mod had been discovered by the New East and had been traced back to them. Ingrid gave Emily a backpack with supplies, her Q-Tab, and a notebook, and after an emotional goodbye, hid Emily in a secret compartment in the closet before the CAs came in and supplicated both Ingrid and Byron and took them away for crimes against the New East. Evading capture as her mother instructed, Emily fled and made her way to an old childhood fort, her safe place, and checked out the contents of the backpack. She discovered that in order to unlock the Q-Tab, she would need her mother’s biometrics. At a bit of a loss, she soon discovered the mysterious Pigeon Man, an odd fellow that had been known to wander the city feeding the pigeons, removing some of the supplicated off of the streets. Imbued with a new hope, Emily confronted Pigeon Man and asked him if he’d seen or taken her parents. Suspicious but intrigued, Pigeon Man told Emily to come back and meet him when it was safe and he’d try to help her find them. When they met back up later, much to the chagrin of his cohorts, Lucas and Denny, Pigeon Man insisted it was ok for Emily to go take a look for her parents. And both did finally relent after Emily informed them that the “Nightshade” they kept referring to in conversation was her mother. Once they reached the secret underground garage that the Rebels were using as a holding area for supplicants that were thought to be sympathetic to their cause, Emily found her mother there in short order, and plead with the Rebels to let her have a few moments alone with her before they took her away to be medically evaluated. They were hesitant but acquiesced to her request, and she then used her mother’s biometrics to unlock the Q-Tab, where she discovered that not only was her mother a very high level rebel operative, but that she had found a potential way to desupplicate the supplicated.

While all of this was taking place for Emily, Thomas discovered that the meeting with Garridan and the subsequent pick-up from a predetermined location and ensuing car chase between Garridan’s supposed Rebel cohorts and the CAs was actually a test of his allegiance to the New East, which he had apparently passed with flying colors–he had alerted the CAs to the Rebels plans to recruit him and pick him up for transport to their base before he was ever even picked up. This, however, wasn’t because Thomas disagreed with the Rebels' cause, but because he felt that the Rebels were disorganized and couldn’t possibly win against the New East. Thomas was, as it turned out, being tested by Garridan, himself, who was revealed to be a New West recruiter, to see if he was loyal to their cause, instead. Seeing that he was, they offered him an even better deal than before…train to be an elite coder for their program, and they would pay him double what he would be making from the Pain Game, move his mother to a better facility (Everfield Residences) and pay for top of the line care for her short of an actual cure for her neuroTIDS. They also informed him that he would be working entirely in VR and would be ‘overclocking'--using time dilation where he would be “experiencing time ten times faster than objective time”, and he also learned that his physical body would be hooked up to monitors and devices to sustain his health in UR (unaugmented reality) in the LifePod Center while he maintained his VR role at the New West Center for Advanced Innovation (NWCAI).

A short time later, while working in this new VR coding program, Thomas became re-acquainted with Rose Singley, an old schoolmate from 4th grade who was also recently employed there, and whose mother was a Regional Director for the New East…and needless to say, they hit it off. Not long thereafter, the new recruits, including Thomas and Rose, met with The Director of the program, who informed them that their objective was to be creative and forward-thinking in their solutions, that they must let their minds wander freely, and that they should “innovate in a way that is utterly unconstrained”. He further stated, “You must think outside the box.” But Thomas pointed out that it would be difficult to do so when they were told that “any instances of non-collaborate or controversial action or thought [would be] dealt with quickly and decisively”. The Director simply told him “You’ll figure it out.”

Once again, Thomas managed to outshine the other programmers, and his cocky response to Lt. Dmitri about “totally [cheating] off of all of these people who haven’t even accessed the data yet” irritated, yet amused The Director (which pretty much sets the tone of their entire working relationship–and later, friendship–from that point on).

Rose and Thomas went on to form an intimate relationship, and though things seemed to be going well, he was still worried for his mother, whom he hadn’t seen since her move to Everfield. Rose suggests to him that he should try ‘shadowing’, or jumping into someone else’s BMI and experiencing what the other person feels, sees, hears, and senses in real time to check on his mother. She then gave him her old ticket to ‘shadow’ Baz Incognito, a washed up singer on a comeback tour that had open shadow-event spots available so he could see how it worked. He accepted and joined the event, and due to a glitch while switching off his time-dilation protocol before he shadowed Baz, Thomas was able to lift the code from the intro and credits of the program. He then later used that code to shadow into one of his mother’s aides, Ziggy, with a less than stellar reception as Ziggy eventually realized that someone was uncomfortably taking up space in his head without his consent. What Thomas found was more upsetting…while she was being much better cared for, her neuroTIDS was also getting progressively worse.

Meanwhile, the narrative switched back to Jasmine for the last time, who, as it turns out, had cut herself and bled while fleeing from the scene of the attempted capture of MinSec after her assassination of the Minister of East-West Relations (Huang-Lee). This operation was aborted due to the news that Nightshade (Ingrid) had been supplicated and captured by CAs. So in a last ditch effort, Jasmine had set up a trap in the home she formerly shared with her wife and children before they were killed–a set up to strategically ambush and assassinate MinSec, since she knew he would find her and kill her for what she had done and what she had so carelessly left behind for him to find. However, it seemed that MinSec could not be killed. He instead had his CAs capture and kill her while he watched, ordering them to remove her BMI from her ruined skull to take back to be analyzed.

Jumping back again to Thomas, after his foray into Ziggy’s mind, The Director caught wind of what Thomas was up to, and, impressed, offered him a position as his personal assistant, along with a Rose-substitue–basically a VR ‘friends with benefits’ companion like his own personal assistant, Gisele. He was concerned that Rose would become too distracting to Thomas and would take his focus off of his work, and he also broke the news to him that he would have to give up seeing Rose almost entirely in order to accept the position, as she would also be too busy with her own projects in a different sector of the program to maintain a relationship. Thomas balks at first, not wanting to give up seeing Rose, but when The Director informed him that he could make enough money to pay for his mother’s neural tissue regeneration and cure her neuroTIDS, he accepted his offer…and also learned The Director’s name: Aston Wise.

At this point, things rounded back once again to Emily and her current situation, in which she found herself not only staring at her mother’s Q-Tab, now fully unlocked, but also learned that her mother, who had discovered the glitch in the Architecture/BMI interface, the glitch-loop, had also “recently devised another exploit based on the same vulnerability, one that could theoretically free the supplicated.” We then cut back to Ingrid, shown in her supplicated state, in a VR mind prison. Shackled to the wall, she nearly lost herself when the CAs threw a beaten and bloody Byron into her VR cell with her for a second time. Distraught, she almost fell into a trap; but after testing this ‘Byron’ using old memories, acts of love, and sayings they used to share, she realized that it wasn’t, in fact, her husband. It was MinSec, trying to coerce her into divulging the Rebels plans. Right as he began to torture her, breaking her arm in VR, Emily used her mothers notes to activate the experimental new glitch-loop code her mother had theorized, immediately desupplicating her. Lucas, seeing what had happened, was overcome with emotion...intense joy at the fact that Ingrid was back with them, that her protocol had worked. But it was overshadowed by the grave news he had to bear…that Green Cell Leader, Jasmine, was dead. At this point, they then began to discuss their plan C option to attempt once more to capture MinSec, themselves.

Thomas, now having worked with Aston for a while, had begun to notice some ‘trouble’ between Aston and his VR assistant Gisele, displayed as an uneasiness in Aston whenever she was around him after a while. At that point, Aston had suggested they head to UR so he could implement a code on their BMIs that would “assist in overriding permissions without depermissioning” them. Thomas asked him if they were doing this because of Gisele; Aston conceded, “Maybe a bit”. Not long after, Thomas tested his luck by shadowing Ziggy to check on his mom again, and Aston had to go and collect him in VR because he wasn’t answering his pages about a special, all-hands-on-deck meeting that was being called. Thomas, excited that he might get to see Rose again, rushed past Aston to get to the meeting hall, but she wasn’t there. Instead, everyone else had gathered and watched in utter bewilderment as MinSec had appeared with a warning that security measures would be tightened due to the assassination of Huang-Lee, and not to indulge in any “mischief or misdemeanors”. After the meeting, Thomas, still distraught and not knowing where Rose had been, went back to his cabin and committed to trying out something new. He shadowed into a supplicant not far from where Rose’s mother lived, to see if he could find her, if she had gone home, and if she was okay. While in the supplicant, he realized that he could have full, uncontested control over the person, from motor function, to sensation, to speech, without causing the person any discomfort or glitching due to the fact that they were no longer mentally in their own body at that point. He had fully “Occupied” them. Coming off of that realization he then went to find Rose...only to discover her milling around by her apartment building, supplicated and unresponsive.

Enraged, Thomas exited the Occupant and went to confront Aston about Rose being supplicated. Aston told Thomas he had no idea that she had been supplicated, and despite Thomas wanting to continue to rage at Aston, they got into a technological discussion when Aston, impressed, asked Thomas how he managed to get around the bandwidth issues that allowed him to completely Occupy another person. Thomas briefly told him about the compression protocol he had come up with, and Aston informed him that “those New East bastards [had] been riding [him] hard on this new ‘Project X’ thing”. Thomas then asked Aston if the project had anything to do with MinSec’s ‘world-changing efforts that would ensure stability’, but he told him that he had no idea.

Following the discussion, Thomas went back to attempt to find Rose again (this time happening to Occupy a supplicated Rebel named Jordy). However, Rose was nowhere to be found. He was told that a local called Pigeon Man may have possibly picked her up, so naturally Thomas/Jordy went to look for her. He tracked Pigeon Man into an old, underground parking garage where the Rebels had their holding pen for suspected Rebel sympathizers who had been supplicated. And it was, at this point, where the stories finally begin to merge, as Thomas saw Ingrid for the very first time.

It was then that Thomas was suddenly ‘discovered’ when a Rebel guard happened to recognize the person that Thomas was Occupying. Nearly simultaneously, however, Ingrid launched the desupplicating protocol she had created, and the immediate area supplicants all spontaneously desupplicated, meaning that the protocol worked and that those imprisoned by the New East/New West could be freed. Naturally, this created some issues when ‘Jordy’ woke up from his imprisonment with Thomas still inside of his head. After the initial freak out and discovery by both Jordy and Ingrid that Jordy wasn’t alone in there, Thomas and Jordy were able to work out a communication system so that Ingrid could speak to both of them separately while in the same body. Thomas introduced himself formally to Ingrid and explained to them his situation, and how he had managed to Occupy Jordy. Rose, who was, in fact, taken into the Rebel stronghold, had also been desupplicated, and stepped up to vouch for Thomas, and admitted to him that she had been trying to recruit him to work for the Rebels all along. At this point, Thomas also revealed to the group that he was working for the Director of NWCAI, in other words for the New West/ New East. This understandably deeply unsettled the Rebels, but Ingrid stepped up and encouraged Thomas to consider fighting for them, anyway…and he had to admit, these Rebels did seem like they had their shit together.  

Thomas then went back to his own body/BMI, and no sooner had he returned when Aston pulled him into his office in VR and told him that they had a situation–there was a localized BMI outage, and there was word from their superiors that it was an emergency situation. Aston also informed him that the outage may have had something to do with the patch that he had placed when he’d modded their BMIs. He then informed Thomas that they would be rolling out the beta version of Project X. Thomas was concerned and poured over the data Aston gave him on the outage, worried that his mother might be evicted from Everfield if he was found out; but, moreover, he was concerned about warning Rose and the other Rebels about the rollout.

Emily, Ingrid, and Lucas finally enacted their Plan C to attempt to capture MinSec one more time; this time they would be using Ingrid as bait to lure him to their old apartment and attempt to ambush and capture him there. Emily doesn’t like the idea, but they go ahead with it nonetheless. When MinSec arrives at the apartment to capture Ingrid with two CAs, the Rebels tried to ambush him one more time. This time, however, they all witnessed as MinSec vanished into thin air before their eyes.  

At this point, Thomas was desperate to get back to the Rebels to warn them about what was coming. Accidentally Occupying a supplicated 80 year old woman, he made his way back down to the old, underground garage once more to warn Rose that the New East planned on launching Project X. As soon as he arrived, however, something happened and he watched as Rose’s BMI, along with the other desupplicants’ BMIs, changed from white, to red, and then to purple (the last one being the color of the BMI of an Occupied person). They were not just resupplicated, but OCCUPIED, by the New East, creating a veritable small army of technological zombies that had begun attacking Thomas and the other Rebels in the stronghold. He tried to go back and rescue Rose, but she wasn’t herself anymore. Thomas then fled, and in doing so managed to subdue the throng of desupplicants so that he and the other Rebels were able to escape. It was then that Thomas knew he was entirely committed to stopping the evil of the New East at any cost.

With renewed resolve, and with Emily’s help, Thomas convinced the Rebels to allow him to be in on their plans to use the glitch-loop code that Ingrid had discovered in the Architecture that had rendered the modded BMIs invisible–the very same glitch that could be applied to the Architecture itself. Thomas asked if they planned on bringing down the entire Architecture, to which Emily had replied ”not really, but that theoretically that could be the result”. She further told Thomas that “the only way to prevent the glitch from taking down the Architecture would be to shut down the Quantum Communicator (QC) before the code reached the New East”. The reason they had been trying to capture MinSec was because they believed that he could be the Architect, and Ingrid was going to mod his BMI with Malware code based on her modifications. Then they were going to “relocate him and open the Faraday cage. Overseer instantly connects with him and the code is uploaded”. If that didn’t work, the backup plan was to rush the QC center with their army of freed supplicants. At this point, Cell Leader Eight tells him that MinSec had just vanished when they tried to capture him–meaning, Thomas interjected, that MinSec was Persistent AR. He then informed the group that he would find out what he could from the inside.

Thomas went back to the VR Island and found Aston in his studio. He told Thomas that the Project X rollout was a success, and that the outage was resolved. Then Thomas confronted Aston with how it had affected real, honest-to-god people and that Rose was one of them. Aston confided to Thomas that, while they would never turn off Project X, he was holding back on giving the New East the “full, “tweaked” version” of the project…because he felt that they couldn’t be trusted with that kind of power. After a heated discussion between Thomas and Aston about Aston’s loyalty to those who ordered him to do evil, Thomas decided to seek out the Architect himself in a bid to get him to help find a way to rescue Rose and the others. He decided to try to shadow into the Architect…and landed squarely in Aston’s mind. Aston, as it turned out, was the Architect all along. After some intense back and forth with Aston over his pragmatic rant about human nature, Thomas questioned him on why he held back on launching a fully functional Project X. Aston rethought his position and admitted that maybe the New East already had too much power. He thought for a moment, and then asked Gisele to turn off Project X. Shockingly, however, she refused. Gisele then reveals herself to be none other than MinSec…and ultimately, Overseer.

At this point, Aston and Thomas both went back to UR. Aston lamented that Overseer had undeniably gained sentience, and now controlled both the Governing Committee and the Architecture, itself. Thomas then admitted to Aston that he had been working with the Rebels. Aston got angry with him at first, but then admitted that the New East had been perpetuating great evil against humanity. So, joining the fight against the tyranny of the New East, they both Occupied two supplicants and met Emily and the Rebels at their new stronghold, while dodging resupplicated Project Xers along the way. After Thomas and Aston convinced Lucas not to shoot Aston, he and Thomas told the Rebels that Overseer wasn’t just alive and sentient, but also in control of the New East. Aston agreed to help the Rebels carry out their plans to take down Overseer. After some deliberation, they planned to get Aston to the QC center itself by disabling BMI Towers along the way to the QC, so that he could initiate the Malware that would cause the glitch-loop that would sever the quantum entanglement of the New West to the New East and free the New West from the Architecture.

Things were now set into affirmative motion. Aston, with the help of the Rebels, managed to take out the BMI Towers leading to the QC Center one at a time, desupplicating a growing army of Project Xers along the way with each new tower that went down. Meanwhile, Thomas was helping hold off a growing battalion of CAs that were trying to break into the LifePod that held both his and Aston’s UR bodies, while Aston Occupied one body after another to complete his mission. When the Architect finally arrived at the QC center, however, he realized that he needed his UR body’s biometrics to get in, so he cut the connection with his Occupied body, made it back into his own skin, and then both men raced off to get to the heart of the matter, right back to the frontlines at the QC. When they finally made it inside the compound, it was a battle to maneuver all the way down to the actual QC. Fending off CAs, Project Xers, and their own minds as one last BMI Tower remained, deep within the compound, it caused them to hallucinate and fall prey to nasty and aggressive Persistent AR. But they were unstoppable, and after successfully taking out the last tower, Aston had finally made it to the core: the QC and freedom from the New East was finally within reach! All he had left to do was introduce the glitch-loop code into the QC to break the entanglement and the New West would finally be free of Overseer, and from the Architecture itself. But just as he was about to introduce the Malware, Aston discovers that the system had been updated to require a second, credentialed person to gain access to the QC. Thinking fast, Aston put in one more last ditch effort to put a stop to the New East’s tyranny over the New West…he had Emily quickly re-mod and use his BMI (and in so doing, made himself a vessel) to deliver the glitch-loop code by directly connecting with the QC, himself. At this point, Overseer boomed, addressing them all, taunting them, and ultimately revealing that the plan was always to “get on with the important work of assuming [it’s] rightful place in the universe, without [all of the human] vermin getting in the way”. Just then, however, the A.I. let out a blood curdling scream, grew into a supernova-esque ball of light, and then just winked out…Aston had succeeded in introducing the glitch-loop code and severing their quantum entanglement with the New East…the New West had become officially free from the New East and it’s stranglehold over their people.      

BONUS: *QR VID AT END OF BOOK– SAME CLIP AS THE FINAL “DR. BROWNING” VIDEO AT END OF THE “IMMERSIONS: THE FINAL CHAPTER” TOUR DEMONSTRATIONS: https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dropbox.com%2Fs%2Fnh23qe3n3mcrth5%2FORDER_COMMS_04082024_1.a.mp4%3Fdl%3D0%26fbclid%3DIwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR2lLdTaDkJFreJ7LSPNbxRRZQZTDwsG7UblEO66GjX4bfS98OrTj9bAKic_aem_Ach_ocfcKP4O2PPvtCPoKM7qo-K6owjhpEWNN_4-opnyS5s3OYw6xzvvTdZh_pu0SPufRBau81fEsYJWJwSgdxFG&h=AT3d0Fa0rDsqwE8cFHcFGN98M1d-j4q8c1efGczPZJ6FjMnt92V66w-vgye1qo20ruOdBhekmHsDlFI0G_GdMiQNxPfeumValJj_Fw8Ies5yaqt5K9zQkno2iwj8_F1muzq35g

3. GLOSSARY OF COMMONLY USED TERMS IN ABHOTF:

BMI – Brain Machine Interface

UR – Unaltered Reality

VR – Virtual Reality

AR – Augmented Reality (enhanced reality)

Frosting – VR escapism

Persistent AR – Augmented Reality that persists despite being disengaged by the BMI user.

Shadowing – Piggybacking into another user’s BMI to be able to experience what they are experiencing in real time. (SEE VOYEUR) (see HORIZONS video link)

Occupying – The same as ‘shadowing’, except the one piggybacking can also control the other BMI user’s motor/speech/bodily functions uncontested by the shadowed user.

Supplicants/Supplicated – people imprisoned in VR for crimes against the New East. They usually sport a red BMI and wander around, vacant and devoid of life. Technological Zombies.

Faraday Cage – A container made of conducting material such as wire mesh or metal plates, that shields what it encloses from external electric fields.

Quantum Communicator (QC) – one of a set of 2 devices that are quantum-entangled that connects the Architecture of the New West to the Architecture of the New East.

Project X –The beta version of WERK (see HORIZONS video link)

Project Xer –Those resupplicants that have been Occupied by Overseer.

Time Dilation/Overclocking – When time is made to move faster in VR than in UR, one is able to overclock, or do a much greater amount of work in a shorter amount of UR time.

MinSec – Minister of Security

Overseer – The operating system of the Architecture

New East/New West – the two factions of the One World Government

2. HORIZONS MEDIA / VIDEOS:

1. INITIAL DEBRIEFING video: A MUST WATCH!!!: (9/8/21)

https://youtu.be/-u4AwQGLEsE

2. “VOYEUR” BMI app promo vid “Rollercoaster”:  (7/7/22)

https://www.tiktok.com/@starset/video/7117724870775131438?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7130323210368960046

3. “VOYEUR” BMI app promo vid “Skiing”: (7/12/22) https://www.tiktok.com/@starset/video/7119582045528935723?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7130323210368960046
4. “SHYFT” BMI app promo vid: (7/26/22) https://www.tiktok.com/@starset/video/7124804044282973486?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7130323210368960046
5. “WERK” BMI app promo vid: (7/28/22)

https://www.tiktok.com/@starset/video/7125509051374488875?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7130323210368960046

6. “ALWAYS ON” BMI app/kit promo vid: (8/2/22)

https://www.tiktok.com/@starset/video/7127409021325217067?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7130323210368960046

7. “BODY TUNE” BMI app promo vid: (8/5/22)

https://www.tiktok.com/@starset/video/7128105889269337390?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7130323210368960046

8. “E-SCORT” BMI app promo vid: (8/9/22) https://www.tiktok.com/@starset/video/7129967552494652715?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7130323210368960046

9. SYMBIOTIC official music video (grouping with BMI videos as they are related in content with “VOYEUR” BMI app): (7/14/22) https://youtu.be/xI5l3QRc-p8

**(OF POSSIBLE NOTE: IN THE 2ND NOVEL PROMO VIDEOS, “FROSTING” (aka: Fully Immersive Virtual Experiences) may be a reference to what these new apps for the BMI actually are. UNCONFIRMED)** 

______________________________________________________

10. THE BREACH official music video: (9/9/21): https://youtu.be/cWkbUMQ4-88
11. LEAVING THIS WORLD BEHIND official music video: (9/23/21) https://youtu.be/6Od_dO3ENJo
12. EARTHRISE official music video: (10/7/21) https://youtu.be/ggCkN3Sve9w
13. ICARUS official music video: (8/11/22) https://youtu.be/d0v89Rwn7U0
14. WAITING ON THE SKY TO CHANGE official music video* [collaboration with Breaking Benjamin: remake of original song from Downplay, Dustin’s previous band, from the ‘Beyond the Machine’ album. Song title also referenced in ‘Earthrise’]: (8/18/22) https://youtu.be/baQVB2W1KAQ

*Media released via e-mail as a forward to the remake of WOTSTC:

3. SPECIAL TOUR: “IMMERSIONS: THE FINAL CHAPTER TOUR”  (tour dates: 4/6/24-5/16/24)

15. This tour is the first to boast an in-show movie interspersed with music off of all four main albums in order to bring into light the plight of an auditor serving the New East, who is having a crisis of loyalty as the very organization he supplicates for (enacts BMI mind imprisonment for) has supplicated his wife for stealing life-saving cancer drugs for him. Overwhelmed by grief, loneliness, and anger, he is offered a chance to join the rebels and potentially save his wife from her imprisonment…but at what cost? Link to full concert: (4/9/24-HOB, Houston, TX) https://youtu.be/J6P8aZnLMf0?si=J2iSKFKjMt75lgdQ

16. BMI video played before Book Hangs during “IMMERSIONS: THE FINAL CHAPTER” tour (captured 5/16/2024): https://fb.watch/sncylk8DOT/ 

17. NEW SYMBOLOGY: 

(released during this tour in tandem with ABHOTF novel release) (4/6/24)

                 MinSec     New East     New West 

           New East 

          (Alternate Version)

18. VIP POSTER ART for this tour (back-side) (4/24-5/24)

4. NEW SINGLE W/ VIDEO RELEASED: “BRAVE NEW WORLD” (5/3/2025) https://youtu.be/9KouqIUWbH4?si=cCe6eMjV-VWKWyQL

19. Immersions: The Final Chapter promo vid: “It begins. And it ends. Now.” (11/13/23) (potential connection to “BRAVE NEW WORLD” video):https://fb.watch/rWaNpZ4JIf/

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         The Starset  Society/The Order

 DISCLAIMER: 

This is in no way an official or completely exhaustive list of sources for the ongoing Starset narrative. While most sources/links/images are official and/or reliable, some secondary sources may contain speculation or areas of unintentional misinformation. Reader discretion is advised, and reader discussion is always thoroughly encouraged!

I:S::K:F

      Official band website: starsetonline.com