Worldbuilding — Synthetic Domains

Design record for staging scenes inside Synthetic domains (Neon, the Cube, and their kin). Established 2026-07-12 while writing the Folio's The Third Set. Chapter 6 (domains, Neon, the Cube) and Chapter 8 (Sensus, editions, consent) remain authoritative for canon; this document records the working model and author rulings not yet folded into the manual.

The working model: a Second Life region

A domain is best staged as a Second Life region hosting a venue. Every attendee is present as an avatar, Synthetics included; physical bodies may be light-years away. The venue, the weather, the drinks, and every sensation are domain-rendered. Interaction and economics (event terms, subject releases, personal editions, derivative licensing) behave like that platform's. Treat no attendee's form as a physical body unless the scene says so.

Boundaries, crowds, admission

• Regions are bounded. Walk far enough and you reach the literal edge of the world; in The Third Set, the last street gives out and the rain falls into dark that nobody dressed.
• Street crowds may be partly NPC ambience, rendered so the district never feels empty. Anyone in a scene involving consent, releases, or editions is a real attendee.
• Vetting happens at connection: keys and signatures checked, the venue's terms agreed to by the suit, all of it settled before the region gives the guest a body. There are no doormen; a door is architecture. ("The door remained a door.")

Weather and comfort

Weather is a property of the region, never a performance someone operates. Neon's rain and night are permanent. Guest comfort governs contact: rain contact is opt-in, and a drop deletes itself just above anyone who asks to stay dry. Visible wetness is therefore a legible personal choice; you can read who wants the weather by who is wet. (Aleena keeps rain contact on; her character sheet records it.)

Rendering defaults

Rendering serves the majority's senses. Most domains omit the thermal layer entirely: Syliri never miss it and Synthetic hosts rarely think of it, so a typical club reads to Vyrkani eyes as one grey. A venue that renders heat well, like the Cube, has made a deliberate and noticeable investment.

Worked example

docs/morlencirfolio/sections/1_the_third_set.md — arrival, the walk, the no-doorman beat, opt-in rain, thermal rendering, an atmospheric production, and the edition economy end to end.