I was thinking that I want my open table OSE game to have some sort of means of conveying information to the players that gives them a sense of what’s going on with factions in the settings, maybe also gives some sense of the history, but also provides an interface for learning about the local area.

I asked ChatGPT for a few suggestions given my setting, and they were mostly lame and predictable. I had the idea, somehow, that maybe it’s like ARDNEH in Fred Saberhagen’s Empire of the East novels, where (spoilers) there’s a massive, old, possibly vacuum tube-style computer underground somewhere. In Outposts of the Undying, there’s a large, underground computer that’s maintained and operated by some monk-technologist (Adept Lyserius?) up in the hills who might possibly have done this for too long. The computer was originally used to promulgate imperial rescripts to the people, but was also used to spread information about agricultural practices and tips, information about the weather, etc., etc.

What I didn’t have was a good name for this large computer, but I wanted it to be something like ARDNEH or ENIAC or MISTIC or whatever. So I asked ChatGPT, and ChatGPT gave me some awesome options. (I’m going to paste them all, because I think they’re all pretty great.)

  1. AURINEX (Automated Universal Relay and Information Nexus)
  2. OMNIRIS (Omnipotent Networked Relay and Information System)
  3. VORTEN (Vacuum Operated Relay and Transmission Engine)
  4. ELDRIN (Elder Data Relay and Information Node)
  5. ZANTHOS (Zero-Point Automated Network Transmission Hub and Operational System)
  6. MYTHOS (Magical Yoked Transmission and Heuristic Oracle System)
  7. TITANEX (Total Information Transmission and Analysis Nexus)
  8. QUINTEX (Quantum Universal Information Network and Transmission Engine)
  9. ARGENTH (Automated Relay and Grand Information Node of the Empire)
  10. SYLVARIS (Systematic Yoked Luminous Vacuum Automated Relay and Information System)

I could have gone with almost any of these, but AURINEX sounds perfect to me– ChatGPT got it in one.

And in each of the imperially sanctioned towns, the Empire built functionally indestructible screens in the town squares to display the most recent rescripts, remind the people of the impossible power of the Empire, etc. etc. (I can’t decide if the demihuman settlements have AURINEX boards.) Very strict pronouncements were made about the severity with which defacements of AURINEX boards would be punished, but as time has gone on, people post all sorts of flyers and things around the edges of the AURINEX board, so it also serves as a public notice board for issues of more local concern.

I like the idea that there are certain things our monk is obliged to send out with each post (and that may be enforced by the programming of the computer itself), but that there are also little parts of the message where he can add his own commentary (or even code comments that he’s been able to print?). I’ve been messing around with building static sites with Hugo, and I like the idea that you could easily build a website in Hugo that has a cleverly styled archive of AURINEX pronouncements.

Behold the AURINEX!