I Just Finished TAU And I Loved It! The Fact That The Empire Has AI That Isn't Corrupted Is Super Interesting

I just finished TAU and I loved it! The fact that the empire has AI that isn't corrupted is super interesting and makes me wonder what makes them special. I know you probably can't say much about it, so I can't wait to hopefully learn more about them in the next book.

Maybe something you can talk about: while it seems common for salvagers to travel from city to city, what about the average non-salvager? In addition, is there much immigration between the Harbor and the Empire? Is there a formal system of citizenship within the cities/nations?

OH HEY GLAD TO HAVE INDULGED YOU and i can answer a number of these questions! the absence of corruption in the empire is something i will indeed hold my tongue about though :P

travel between city-states is extremely uncommon, and is generally only done by professionals or folks experiencing some manner of duress. alternatively, a number of downworld caravans still exist and travel through the wilds between city-states as a matter of course.

there is little in the way of immigration between harbor states and the empire, though it certainly happens now and again -- there are even post-harbor aigatan communities within the empire! immigration away from the empire is most uncommon, as the empire is in many ways the most civilized place on the downworld, in terms of technological sophistication and access to resources. or at least, that's how it's been for the past few generations. things are getting a bit, uh...unreliable.

citizenship as a system used to vary more when more AIs were actively in charge of their city-states. now folks more commonly have either harbor or imperial citizenship, with a large number of people having neither, officially speaking.