The Providence Foundation

[Synnono]

Type: Faction

Founding/Settlement Date: February 1st, 2448

Region of Space: Headquartered in Phoenixport/Biesel/Tau Ceti

Controlled by: Chmn. Claire Cheung, Board of Trustees members

Other Snapshot information:

The Providence Foundation is an NGO organized by academics, citizen scientists and social activists who seek to perform independent Bluespace research in Tau Ceti. The organization's focus is on the study of the Bluespace dimension's properties, including its effects on this dimension's spacetime as a result of sentient manipulation.

The Foundation's desire to 'guide sentients toward a more intellectually and morally complete understanding of our universe' is expressed in its mission statement. While the organization's research may not appeal to the average Republic citizen, the Foundation is known in Tau Ceti as an outspoken supporter of full IPC rights. As such, it has gained some popularity in intellectual liberal circles.

Long Description:

Founded in the late 2440s as Tau Ceti neared the end of its Alliance membership, the Providence Foundation was conceived in order to save and consolidate the Bluespace research programs of five bankrupt Biesel universities. Claire Cheung, then-chairman of now-defunct Eckstrand-Cheung Laboratories, used the selloff of her failing company's assets and the majority of her personal fortune to acquire the rights, equipment, and staff of these programs, and relocated them to her old headquarters at Phoenixport. There, these assets were reorganized under the auspice of a Non-Governmental Organization, with the goal of developing a more ethically sound and comprehensive understanding of the Bluespace dimension.

Cheung, like many of her new academic partners, distrusted the methods of the government and the mega-corporations, perceiving their adaptation of Bluespace technologies as irresponsibly profit-driven, and potentially destructive in ways that society does not yet fully grasp. Over the last nine years, the Foundation has striven to present an alternative to this for-profit doctrine, while promoting itself as being free from governmental or corporate agendas. As of 2457, the Foundation maintains research facilities on Biesel and Luthien, and a branch office on New Gibson. These facilities welcome any capable volunteers, while also supporting a full-time staff of scientific, logistic and administrative professionals. IPCs make up a significant portion of this staff - the Foundation publicly advocates for the equal legal rights and treatment of independent synthetic life across Republic and Alliance space. It uses this platform as a means to gain skilled synthetic employees, and secure donations from sympathetic groups.

The Foundation attempts to pursue its work through scientific grants and donations from benefactors outside of Tau Ceti. These methods, along with dozens of non-profit tax exemptions, allow the Foundation some freedom from oversight by the Republic's government, as well as from NanoTrasen, which interprets Foundation research as competitive. As a matter of policy, the Foundation does not publish its full list of donors, but frequently celebrates generous donations by naming initiatives or facilities after its benefactors. A grassroots team of legal advocates and activists enable the Foundation to maintain a presence within the Republic's legal system, though it does so mainly to deflect the perennial NanoTrasen lawsuit over proprietary rights, or intellectual property.

While minuscule in scale compared to the mega-corporation, The Foundation views itself as a means by which to challenge the results of NanoTrasen research, and frequently publishes papers in academic circles that question NanoTrasen findings, or provide alternative theories to those that the company chooses to make public. Since the near-total takeover of Tau Ceti by the company at the start of the decade, such critiques have been quiet but constant. For its part, NanoTrasen public relations is quick to attack any Foundation criticism of its operations or ethics, using its immense local influence to discredit any dissenting opinions that make it out into the greater scientific community.

Despite contention between the two organizations, the Foundation and NanoTrasen rarely interfere with each other directly. The Foundation cannot stand up to NanoTrasen's near-infinite resources, and taking aggressive action against the NGO is just enough of a PR nightmare to dissuade NanoTrasen from going ahead. While rumors on the extranet point to both groups as being responsible for a number of each other's minor setbacks, none of the sources are particularly credible, and no official investigations have ever been organized.

Still, it might be naive to think that Claire Cheung is unaware of the newest NanoTrasen research facility in the Romanovich Cloud, or its state-of-the-art equipment, specialized science staff, and wealth of experimental data. In the same way, NanoTrasen does not ignore that some legitimate - and hireable - talent has been attracted to Phoenixport. With tensions at an all-time high between the groups, it is difficult to predict what developments the next year will bring.

Edited December 2, 2015 by Guest

[Killerhurtz]

I love this! There's only one detail though:

 

and destructive to sentients on either side of the dimensional barrier

 

IIRC the lore, so far, has not proven that there was any Bluespace sentients.

But that's literally the only bone I have to pick with this. Everything else makes sense and is valuable.

[Synnono]

Thank you for the feedback, and I appreciate the heads-up!

This is the snip I used from the aurorastation.org wiki when I made that statement:

 

A small segment of the scientific community have become increasingly alarmed at how fast the Sol Alliance has invested in bringing Bluespace into society, while there are still several major mysteries surrounding this new dimension and its interactions with our own. Since the discovery of bluespace, humanity has managed to discover several strange artifacts and lifeforms not known to follow the laws of our reality, including slimes, which were originally discovered in areas along with artifacts.

 

I Interpreted that discovery as being connected to what's IN Bluespace, but reading it now I can see that it seems more like fuel for a theory. I'd be happy to adjust that phrasing

[Gollee]

http://aurorastation.org/wiki/index.php?title=Magic

Relevant.

[Guest]

I love this! There's only one detail though:

 

and destructive to sentients on either side of the dimensional barrier

 

IIRC the lore, so far, has not proven that there was any Bluespace sentients.

But that's literally the only bone I have to pick with this. Everything else makes sense and is valuable.

 

They're semi-sentient almost, slimes are rumored to come from Bluespace, as they randomly appear in concentrated groups wherever there are strong bluespace pockets.

[Killerhurtz]

So. I've been put in charge of Lore Canonizations, and I officially approve this - marking as processed until a wiki page is made.

[Killerhurtz]

http://aurorastation.org/wiki/index.php?title=Providence_Foundation

Marking as "Accepted", archiving.