Kyle Web

The Kyle Web, also known as the psiberweb, is an interstellar and instantaneous communication network in Catherine Asaro's novels Saga of the Skolian Empire.

The network can be thought of as similar to the Internet. It has however an enormous size and data capacity, spanning numerous star systems and capable of carrying massive amounts of data. Numerous computer networks connect to the Kyle Web in order to share information.

Unlike internet, the psiberweb, rather than existing in real physical form, transmits information through Kyle space. Also known as the psiberspace, the Kyle space is an alternate dimension, that exists separately from our conventional concepts of time and space. It is based heavily on quantum theory and Fourier transforms. It can be also described as an "universe of thoughts", as the only people who can connect to the psiberweb are psions. When a thought is transmitted in the Kyle Web, it exists (is received) simultaneously everywhere across the entire network.

The psiberweb was created and used in Skolian Empire and is crucial in their defence. Access and control of the psiberweb is what gives the Skolian Empire its equal strength to the more powerful and more numerous Trader empire.

To create and maintain a psiberweb in the Kyle space, a Rhon psion is needed, the only known Rhons being the members of Ruby Dynasty, the ruling family of Skolian Empire. Less powerful but still strong psions called telops can also access and use the Kyle Web, but cannot construct it or "enter" Kyle space.

Triad

The Triad is the three person group that powers the psiberweb, both as director of the physical medium and as administrator of the interstellar networks in Kyle space. Originally a Dyad, the members of the Ruby Dynasty eventually discovered that three people can comprise the group and maintain the Kyle Web.

Triad members, so called Keys, have substantial political influence. A person joins the Triad by touching the singularity found in the Locks, gaining the capability to create the web connections and nodes of the psiberweb. A member of the Triad/Dyad must be a Rhon psion, as those are the only genetically suited humans capable of interfacing with the Locks.

Locks

A Lock is one of three powerful sentient machines created by the ancient Ruby Empire. It is a disruption in normal spacetime, which manifests as a great column of light called a "Kyle singularity". The Locks' construction apparently is the result of advanced mathematics, neuroscience and mysticism. The ancient technology which created the Locks has been lost, but people of the Skolian Empire have deduced some of its functioning.

There are three known remaining Locks since the fall of the original Ruby Empire:

* one on the Orbiter space habitat.
* one on the planet Raylicon.
* one on the Onyx platform.

It is possible for a Rhon psion to physically enter psiberspace via a Lock, as the Ruby Pharoah Dyhianna Selei and her son Taquinil did to escape an Aristo attack on the Orbiter. Dyhianna eventually emerged from psiberspace on a random planet, but Taquinil's whereabouts remain unknown at the time of the novel Catch the Lightning.

See also

Catherine Asaro