# Third Survey Database

The **Third Survey** is the structural core of the simulated universe in **The Corporate Wars**. It is not a mere catalog of planets or a route map, but an active, decentralized, and asynchronous database that models the physical and logical elements of charted space.

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It defines what exists, what is connected, and who can exert authority over what.
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> Information is not static: it evolves over time, is transmitted partially, and experiences delay depending on real information flow.

This behavior is not a narrative device, but a direct consequence of the model: worlds, routes, and power structures are stored, processed, and updated within program-derived accounts (PDA), anchored to specific programs.

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## Worlds as dynamic nodes

Each world is a program-derived account (PDA), whose contents are compressed into a Merkle Tree representing a **dehydrated profile** of the planet: essential data encoded in an efficient and verifiable manner.

This includes population, tech level, legal regime, estimated GDP, government type, climate, and other key attributes.

Moreover, each world maintains a **version history**. Instead of overwriting its state, each change is stored as a *diff* from the previous version, allowing precise reconstruction of its evolution at any point in the past.

These worlds do not exist in isolation: they are linked by routes that determine not only physical transit, but also access to updated information, valid orders, and applicable authority.

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## Routes, visibility, and governance

**Jump routes** are program-derived accounts that represent *all functional connections between worlds*. They record latency, traffic volume, operational conditions, and restrictions.

They are technical entities, but also political: they enable or block the transmission of orders, goods, data, and power.

The system simulates an **asynchronous and partially visible** universe. Each world only sees what has been transmitted through its active routes.

> There is no instant global truth: two worlds may hold different versions of the same event, depending on their position in the topological graph and the delay in information propagation.

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This logic faithfully replicates the physical limits of interstellar communication.
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> This entire framework is where the *Allegiances* operate — the governance entities of the system.
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> None can exercise authority in the abstract: they need **controlled worlds** and **operational routes** connecting them.
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> Without infrastructure validated by the system, their ability to act is null or symbolic. Authority depends on topology: one does not govern where one cannot reach.
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> The structure is also alive. Worlds may be founded, change hands, be terraformed, abandoned, or destroyed.
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> Routes may close, degrade, or open due to diplomatic decisions, systemic events, or technological shifts.
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> All of it is registered and reflected in the program-derived accounts of the Third Survey.

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In summary, the Third Survey doesn’t just describe the universe: it defines it.\
It is the ontological source of the game.\
What is not in the Third Survey does not exist.\
And what is not up to date, is uncertain.
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