The Human Arc
The Human Arc (also known as the Breadbasket Cubes) is a region of the Manifold in which environmental conditions are most conducive to Human habitation. The Human Arc is known as an 'arc' because a continuous, arcing flight path can be traced from on end of the Human Arc to the other without any deviations other than the curve of the arc itself, the inside curve of the arc dodging inflection layers which would lead out of the region.
While individuals, groups, and even small nations of Humans may be found throughout the Manifold, the Human Arc is the region in which Humans are most likely to thrive and congregate. In contrast, regions outside the Human Arc present problems for long-term Human habitation. The Northern and Southern Tesseracts feature particle radiation hazards to which Humans are ill-adapted at their current levels of technology. The Dorsal Tesseract is too geologically stable, with the result that nutrient cycles are slow and, consequently, agriculture is difficult. The Ventral Tesseract is too geologically unstable to support large-scale construction. Distal Tesseract locations feature sunlight likely to cause sunburn, cataracts, and skin cancer with extended exposure, while the ecology in these cubes is hostile due to its reliance on amino acids of opposite chirality to those found in humans. Despite these limitations, the boundaries of the Human Arc are not hard-set, as advances in technology and the reach of airships render ever-more regions of the Manifold amenable to Human colonization efforts.
Geography
While individuals, groups, and even small nations of Humans may be found throughout the Manifold, the Human Arc is the region in which Humans are most likely to thrive and congregate. The Human Arc is defined by its connection to the Medial Tesseract and lack of unappealing adjacent layers. On these cube layers (Medial A, Medial B, Medial C, Medial D, Western C, and Eastern A) the terrestrial sunlight, temperate weather, and unimpeded trade routes allow for easy growth and construction.
Rostral D and Caudal B would normally be considered part of the Human Arc, but activity by competitor species (the Rostrans and Verdial, respectively) makes expansion into these regions difficult. In contrast, other regions outside the Human Arc present more intractible problems for long-term Human habitation. The Northern and Southern Tesseracts feature particle radiation hazards to which Humans are ill-adapted at their current levels of technology. The Dorsal Tesseract is too geologically stable, with the result that nutrient cycles are slow and, consequently, agriculture is difficult. The Ventral Tesseract is too geologically unstable to support large-scale construction or mining despite the wealth of heavy metals. Distal Tesseract locations feature sunlight likely to cause sunburn, cataracts, and skin cancer with extended exposure, while the ecology in these cubes is hostile due to its reliance on amino acids of opposite chirality to those found in humans.
Despite limitations, the boundaries of the Human Arc are not hard-set. Advances in technology and the reach of airships render ever-more regions of the Manifold amenable to Human colonization efforts. There have been human and near-human populations outside the Human Arc, but these are either small groups of Freelander or (more often) to Lost Tribes who are only known of through archaeological evidence.
Fauna & Flora
The Human Arc is inhabited with the most recognizably terrestrial life of any environment within the Manifold, even when other regions of the Medial Tesseract are taken into account. Previous generations of inhabitants rendered some species extinct through over-exploitation - resulting in repeated periods of severe famine - until the modern, conservationist attitude came about through simple necessity. Modern agricultural practices have, however, largely domesticated the plants and animals within the Human Arc, with truly wild strains relegated to marginal cubes or Manifold Conservation Society research vaults.
Natural Resources
Within the Human Arc, easily obtainable surface minerals are quickly growing scarce, having been incorporated into fertilizer, industrial chemicals, and machinery. Deep mines (especially in Free Faces League territory) wind their ways through the earth to aid in the search for more heavy metals. Petroleum in the Human Arc played out early in the era of internal combustion engines; modern dieseltech has the humble biodiesel reactor as a necessary foundation. The scarcity of non-recycled resources in the Human Arc has directly resulted in the majority of all modern human Geopolitical conflict.
History
The history of the Human Arc is too long and convoluted for a single article. See The Geometries of the Manifold Sky - A History and the Recorded History of the Manifold Sky for details.
Alternative Name(s)
Human Axis, Breadbasket Cubes
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