The Christmas “vacation” is rarely a period of rest. For many of us in the development and writing space, it is the only time to tackle the mounting pile of deferred tasks—the house repairs that have been ignored for months and the IT projects that require deep-focus hours the standard work week simply doesn’t allow.
This year, my dilemma is one of scale. While the house needs its fixes, my primary focus is the technical and creative backbone of my world-building. My goal for Game in the Brain (GITB) has always been to make Hard Sci-Fi incrementally more accessible, and that starts with consolidating my ecosystem and reclaiming our data.
1. The Foundation: MediaWiki and Infrastructure
The core of my world-building is the Wiki. It isn’t just a repository; it’s an engine. I’ve been documenting my setup process here:
https://wiki.gi7b.org/index.php/MediaWiki_Setup_Guide_Portainer-Docker-251215-00
The Wiki is expanding into several critical sections:
- Mahadlika — Under Heaven: A reframing of my world-building. This section talks about the “Free People” and the grounded challenges they face, reframed into a narrative that explains why fighting for a better future is the most “Epic Fantasy” game you can play. This term is drawn from the historical classification of the free class in pre-colonial society, as noted on page 35 of History of the Filipino People by Teodoro Agoncillo: https://archive.org/details/historyoffilipin00teod/page/34/mode/2up. You likely won’t find this specific spelling or context in modern search engines, as explained here: https://blog.gi7b.org/2025/03/10/type-mahadlika-on-search-and-you-wont-find-it/
- LibreOffice & Blender: Dedicated tutorials on using our specific GITB tools and demonstrating that professional-grade book design is possible with open-source software.
- Our Apps: Guides on hosting the Mneme World Generator and installing the PWA on Android.
- SysAdmin & Self-Hosting: Deep dives into Nextcloud, TrueNAS, and Netgate PfSense. We are living in a dystopic tech landscape where we need ownership of our data against corporate surveillance.
2. Mneme CE SRD and Character Generation
We are expanding the Mneme CE SRD Variant. This is more than a simple update; it’s an overhaul that integrates:
- Expanded Mechanics: Merging Mneme Variant Combat, the World Generator, and Space Combat into a definitive update of the CE SRD.
- Character Generation: My holiday task is to outline the goals for the PWA’s character gen module. The focus is on generating both “CASTs” (crews/groups) and individuals with enough depth to feel grounded in the setting.
Everything we produce—every PDF and guide—is being created in LibreOffice Writer. I want to demonstrate the power of LibreOffice and provide tutorials on how you can use it to write and layout your own books without expensive subscriptions.
3. The Science: Ships and Lagrange Points
Hard Sci-Fi is often gated behind complex math. My product line is built on making these concepts incrementally more accessible. This isn’t necessarily a “high demand” mass-market product line, but it is a necessary gamification of science and technology.
The Ship Designer & Lagrange Points:
We are normalizing the process for different vessel tiers, from ITS (Intrasystem) to IES (Intersystem)—vessels large enough to house the capex of jump drives and high-volume fuel—and finally Interstellar jump-capable ships. The “Launch/Orbiter” process abstracts the heavy lifting through an intuitive UI while explaining the “why” behind every leg of the journey.
4. Influences & OJT Reference Map
My work doesn’t exist in a vacuum. To help my OJTs (On-the-Job Trainees) and the community understand the mental models that shape GITB, I’ve compiled a guided map for self-study. These aren’t just “influencers”; they are reference points to study and critique.
Ethics, Consumer Rights, and Repair
Profit and ethics are not opposites, but incentives decide outcomes.
- Louis Rossmann: (https://www.youtube.com/@LouisRossmann) – Focus on right-to-repair and ethical but profit-driven business.
- Rossmann Group Wikis: Degoogle Guide, Consumer Rights, Right to Repair.
Systems, Linux, and Infrastructure
Theory collapses when systems hit scale, heat, or bad assumptions.
- Level1Techs (Wendell & Ryan): (https://www.youtube.com/@Level1Techs) – Linux, storage, and long-term trends.
- Lawrence Systems: (https://www.youtube.com/@LAWRENCESYSTEMS) – Real-world enterprise IT (TrueNAS/pfSense).
- Chris Titus Tech: (https://www.youtube.com/@ChrisTitusTech) – Pragmatic Windows/Linux administration.
Automation, DevOps, and IaC
Repeatability beats heroics.
- Jeff Geerling: (https://www.youtube.com/@JeffGeerling) – Ansible, ARM, and treated infrastructure as software.
- Tony Teaches Tech: (https://www.youtube.com/@TonyTeachesTech) – Practical Linux and self-hosting fundamentals.
Embedded Systems and Physical Reality
Limits teach engineering discipline. Software does not exist without factories.
- Andreas Spiess: (https://www.youtube.com/@AndreasSpiess) – Sensors, RF, and the “measure first” mindset.
- Internet of Bugs: (https://www.youtube.com/@internetofbugs) – Embedded fundamentals and the debugging mindset.
- Anastasia in Tech & Strange Parts: For understanding the manufacturing and physical reality of chips.
Science, Futurism, and The Commons
- Watabou (Oleg Dolya): Procedural generation excellence.
- Atomic Rockets (Project Rho): The Bible for Hard Sci-Fi realism.
- The Document Foundation (LibreOffice) & Blender Foundation: The gold standards of open-source creative power.
- EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation): The front line of digital rights.
5. The Heart: Grounded Reality and Data Sovereignty
While the IT projects are the “how,” the “why” is rooted in the reality of living in the developing world. The climate crisis, corporate greed, and political corruption are central to my writing because they are central to the pain around me.
My writing (2050–2100) is inspired by my volunteer work and my professional open-source projects at Comfac. I’m currently documenting my own self-hosting journey—complete with pictures of my setup and a breakdown of the costs. This is about the “Right to Repair” and consumer rights in an age of unsecure, corporate-controlled data.
I’ll admit, I’m going through a bit of a productive mania—a “psychosis” of sorts where I’m applying the problem-solving techniques I learned in gaming to solve real-world technical and societal problems. Reclaiming our data and making complex science accessible is my way of doing something about the world we’re living in right now.
Links for following the project:
- Wiki Setup Guide: https://wiki.gi7b.org/index.php/MediaWiki_Setup_Guide_Portainer-Docker-251215-00
- Blog: https://blog.gi7b.org/
- Github: https://github.com/StevenTiu22/mneme-world-generator-pwa
- DriveThruRPG: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/403824/mneme-world-generator
Leave a Reply