The delegation from Homerealm is a loose coalition of three nationalities, a pair of each from Metrowyld, Slowland, and Free Summer. All three pairs defer visibly to the woman in bikini robes holding a magic staff (which is of course not an actual magic staff, just a laser-projector made to look like one for the sake of being-impressive-at-cosplay at the aliens, and also secondarily to provide arbitrary visual aides during talks).

The pair from Metrowyld is the man who leads civic planning and infrastructure installation, as well as a woman with the honor of being one of the highest ranking Arbiters of Internal Consistency for the nation's Imaginerealm.

Sent from Slowland, a young man who operates and moderates the discourse-about-alternate-worlds online message board in his country, and another man of indeterminate age who happens to be the top technology-maturation expert available on short notice.

Free Summer sent a pair of teenage girls, one the winner of an annual writing contest, the other selected for being the single greatest Nexus in the Network. (The Network is the common term for the engineered-romantic-relationship between several thousand people that serves as Free Summer's government.)

Anadyne has sent the Sanctified, Snowblossom, who speaks for the Unreflected and therefore for the nation as a whole. She's a dark-haired woman in a long white ceremonial coat with gold trim, with black slacks on underneath. Her attendant Earth, a slight girl with pink-dyed hair in a simple lavender dress, has brought along a black ledger-book to take the meeting's minutes in. Another Earth in a dark brown suit has been sent as an independent observer from the Council of Reflections, and he's brought along his Kept Sky (who has pursued a long and successful career as an erotica author thanks to her Keeper's government paycheck.) 

Eravia has sent their most respected diplomat, who is a bubbly thirtysomething Sun known for decimating at social deduction games in her off time, and her Earth, a black-dressed woman with a ledger-book that matches the Anadyne Earth's.

Time has been spent on setting up wifi within the cave, and the erotica author is currently on her phone as she waits for the official meeting time.

Free Summer's contest winner is curious about what the erotica author is doing on her phone. Slowland's technology-maturation-expert is himself very curious about the phone itself. But both will wait for the appointed time, rather than strike up a conversation early on their own.

The Wyldettes are dressed in something vaguely reminiscent of a hentai anime's school uniform design mated with goth clubwear.

The Slowlanders are both dressed in something that looks like its trying to be formalwear and ultra-comfy pajamas at the same time, and succeeding at both better than it has any right to.

The pair from Free Summer are both in skin-tight, sealed, environment suits, because they're both going to a policy-orgy after this and won't have time to go through medical first. (From the neck down the suits are basically high-tech body-condoms, literally, with moldings for their genitals included, but from the neck up they swapped out the skintight hoods for faceplates, since being able to emote clearly and have their faces fully visible is more important during this meeting than being able to kiss anyone or give oral. Neither wears anything over the suits for modesty, because why would they.)

At the appointed time, it's the seventh woman, the one with the staff, who makes the introductions. She introduces the six delegates, and only then introduces herself as Crossover Priestess Matrica.

"For the Anadyne Union, I'm Snowblossom, the Sanctified, and this is my Earth, Peach, and the observer for the Council of Reflections, Cocoa. His Kept is here as well but will not be formally participating in the meeting. I'll let the Eravian delegation introduce themselves."

"I'm Redflower, senior diplomat for Eravia, and this is my Earth, Lily. Welcome to Heart."

(In order, Allofine and Vindella, WordOfWire and Firstmaker99, Tiffany and Jane.)

"Well met and thank you," says Matrica. "As acting coordinator, I would suggest our initial conversation should be a series of meta-question to determine which topics are of-shared-interest and which are of-surprising-interest?"

Redflower looks at Snowblossom.

"That seems acceptable."

The crystal topping Metrica's staff glows. Words appear on the wall of the cave in purple fire. (She's set the liminality-point to track the average of the Heart delegation, it's not as perfect as it would be if the illusion was centered on a single observer, but from her own perspective the words are heavily distorted by the shape of the cave wall; Metrica has practiced reading them anyway.)

It begins as mere labels for three empty columns, but:

Allofine: "I'm interested in their commontechnology, particularly if they've got infrastructural test-data we can use, or visaversa."

Vindella: "I want to know if they've solved the codification paradox."

WordOfWire: "I want to know when our histories diverged, or if we even have a common origin."

Firstmaker99: "I'll probably think of a more general question once I stop wondering if those handheld terminals are commontechnology or creativetechnology."

Tiffany: "I want to know if the way they slice genre is different from how we do it. I want to know the alien genres!"

Jane: "I suppose I'm most interested in the general feeling of priorities for a person of Heart. Biggest problems. Biggest prides. That stuff."

"I think I speak for all of us when I ask what your religious practices are."

There's a round of nods. Cocoa speaks quietly with his Sky, then - "I would like to know more about the role of clothing in your world."

Redflower asks, "What's your political organization like? I see we have three delegations in much different modes of dress."

Peach asks, "How is labour divided on your world?" Lily nods, and adds, "What are the common relationships between people in your world?"

The words of purple fire fill in. Two columns on either side, the middle one still empty.

Metrica gives her delegates the go-ahead to actually start answering the actual questions; she will continue to add things to the list as they come up and center any topics that match across the two side columns.

Tiffany decides to answer the clothing question. "There are of course the practical reasons one might insulate the bare flesh from various things, but outside those considerations I would say clothing is an expression of one's personal and tribal aesthetics. It is an art of communication and an art of presentation both."

WordOfWire responds to Redflower, giving almost the same explanation re: modes of dress, and then explaining. "Slowland is an ecocracy... which mostly means that policy is decided by aggregate economic statistics about things like how often our citizens do various things, and no that's not why its called Slowland that's actually a complete coincidence, actually. But it is very ironic, we know. Metrowyld is a narratocracy; the nation was founded on the idea of using mythology-reconciliation-techniques to make policy decisions. Metrowyld has only existed for three generations, so it's still considered somewhat experimental, but I know more people who talk about moving there than people who've moved from there. Free Summer is kind of an informal republic ruled by a thousands-strong polycule called the Network, that's been socially-engineered in a way that's weaponized relationship drama such that any formations-of-those-who-abuse-power get torn apart by said drama. Before you ask, no, we have no idea how that works. Imitations have been tried, and have all failed. What, exactly, the Network is doing right is one of our biggest open sociological questions."

"Can you tell me how labor is divided on your world, first? So I have a better idea how to answer," Vindella says to Peach. "Of important-relationships-that-aren't-predetermind-by-circumstance, I would say that the most common relationship is mutual-fandom. However, the sort of relationship that looms largest in public consciousness, at least in Metrowyld, is having an inspired-to-have-kinky-sex-by-creative-collaboration-on-a-pornographic-project-that-in-turn-inspires-more-and-greater-creative-collaboration-friend. Does that answer your question?"

Metrica fields Snowblossom's question herself. "I'm part of an internationally chartered integration project; we have many duties that have grown from our initial mission: to invent the mythology from which every Imaginerealm's mythology can emerge naturalistically. Our search for the Unified Metamythology is on-going, but the Crossover Priesthood is highly respected the world over for our impartiality and novel research into codification techniques."

Redflower answers. "Regarding technology, we don't explicitly divide commontechnology and creativetechnology; that said, mirrorbooks like the one Cocoa's Kept is holding are in widespread use. They allow long-distance communication via a secure routing protocol across many network nodes. Eravia has one such network; Anadyne has a public network and then several independent interlaced ones operated by the larger sects, which generally require affiliation in some degree to use them. Networks like this have been in use in Eravia for about a century and in Anadyne for about fifty years. The most modern public version is a joint effort between Eravia and Anadyne, and uses a cluster of satellites in low orbit to provide wireless service to remote areas.

Regarding priorities and relationships and division of labour, the answers are intertwined, because we are heavily influenced by our relationships. Most people on Heart hold the virtue of service highly, but only about twenty-five percent of the population has the discipline to undertake a life of service to others as an Earth, rather than following their enra* as a Sky. Most people on Heart also hold the virtues of grace and beauty and presence close to their hearts, but again, only about a quarter have the va** to be Suns and gather an orbit of Moons to them. The ideal relationship on Heart is of an Earth who provides, a Sun who binds, and two to four attendant Moons and Skies, some pair of which might express their devotion by becoming Keeper and Kept. Any or all of whom might be Mirrors to many Reflections. While gathering stars*** is not uncommon, relationships built on shared sexual enra are most common in Anadyne's ecstatic and devotary sects."

Cocoa is next to speak. "The devotary sects in particular are the ones who most commonly wear clothing similar to that worn by the delegates of Free Summer in our world, and it is generally seen as a veshtarath**** intended to further an enra of service and sentelrin*****, a practice which is controversial even in Anadyne. Naturally I am curious as to whether such an enra is associated on Homerealm."

*Passion, vocation, virtue, fantasy. Approving but with an undertone of flightiness. 

**Radiance, dominance, queenliness, numinosity. 

***A polite term for sleeping around with an eye to gaining new polycule members. 

****Method of control, will-breaker, conditioning. Connotations of aspirational service and deliberate self-modification. 

*****Lit. "Mirror-bearing"; the deliberate minimization of one's original personality in the service of one's reflections.

"I would like to know what the codificiation paradox is. Perhaps we know it by another name."

"Wait, you don't... it sounds like you're running parts of your infrastructure on creativetechnolgy, how do you get your populations to put up with that?" Firstmaker99 asks Redflower, concerned. The pair from Metrowyld nod in agreement, also distracted by this question, such that Vindella doesn't answer Snowblossom immediately.

"As disturbing as that sounds," Tiffany says, "I want to know more about the Sun-Earth-Moons-Skies polyculeconfiguration! That sounds fascinating."

Jane, meanwhile, says to Cocoa. "Oh, these aren't fashion statements, these are functional environment suits. Ornamental clothing in our country is usually more craftwork-like, though given our climate plain nudism is popular too. We do have fashion-tropes that speak to sexual-servility, of course; Priestess, can you show them some examples?"

(Metrica projects some images on the cave wall.)

"It's unclear to me that this is so," says Redflower. "Could you please define Creativetechnology versus Commontechnology for me?"

Cocoa blinks at the comment about the suits being entirely functional. "Our hazard-suit technology is much bigger and bulkier than that; we would be interested to acquire your version, assuming of course that it meets our quality standards."

The images on the cave wall draw a blush from Lily, who's comparatively less well-travelled than most of the delegates here. She keeps quiet though. Cocoa's Kept, the erotica author, is looking at them carefully and taking notes on her phone. 

Snowblossom addresses the question about polycules. "To speak generally about the various relationships - Earths are able to take and maintain positions in unglamourous but necessary professions, and generally use this steady income to provide the backbone of a household's finances. While Skies often contribute as well, the pursuit of an unrealized enra is usually a much more inconstant and uncertain revenue stream. The most competent Earths generally take positions in the civil service, supporting infrastructure and the day-to-day workings of government.

Suns are those who naturally gather polycules to themselves, as a consequence of their va. They generally take the role of formally representing their polycule to others and working as an internal organizer and peacekeeper. In Anadyne, generally Suns become priestesses, usually of an established sect but sometimes of their own. In Eravia they generally work in the entertainment or service industries. 

If you're neither an Earth nor a Sun, the ideal career path is to find your enra and pursue it, but as this is generally quite difficult one usually takes temporary employment until they can find a polycule with an Earth to support them through the lean times, whether that's during one's technical education or while one is working to develop a fanbase. Only about half of Sky-Moons ultimately realize a profitable enra. Those who do are generally set for life, however; most technical innovation and creative development on Heart is built by dedicated Skies pushing the boundaries of what we thought was possible. 

In the traditional Earth-Sun-Three-Skies polycule, the Earth and Sun bear the majority of the weight of daily living through the ages of 20-30, then gradually the Skies' enras realize and the burden shifts to them, with the Earth generally retiring around 40 and the Sun around 50. Skies with realized enras generally work until their health fails them. The anticipated unrealized Sky generally becomes the polycule's Kept and does the household maintenance, with the Keeper dependent on who they're closest to."

"It sounds to me like all three of these topics reveal an answer between them," Vindella comments.

The other delegates all nod.

Firstmaker99 gestures at Cocoa. "Their environment suits are a good example. Within their intended scope, the technology is matured to the point of complete understanding, such that our entire world can coordinate on one optimal design which can then be mass-manufactured on an international scale such that any citizen of any country has access to this specific implementation of a technology without expense. If someone needs to isolate their body from their surroundings, everyone, everywhere, knows exactly how, and what to expect. That is commontechnology."

"We're in the middle of a mock cyberwar, at the moment," Allofine adds. "There's a minority faction pushing for premature commonalizing of certain software; we know it is theoretically possible to mass-modify software after common-installation via ordinary data distribution, and this faction is arguing that this means we shouldn't have to wait for it to fully mature before the choosing-of-an-optimal-design. The rest of us are cheering for the hackers, for obvious reasons."

"Commontechnology is Earth. Creativetechnolog is Sky," Jane suggests.

WordOfWire makes a face at Jane. "You should not have said that. Even if you're mostly right, which we don't know yet, that's a very memetically-infectious bicodification to introduce into the conversation. We're being recorded! We're probably going to be stuck with that false-equivalence for years!"

"Um. Oops."

"We do not as of yet have the infrastructure necessary to build and certify commontechnology on a large scale. There are some infrastructure projects with international backing, such as the satellite internet project, but for most technologies adoption is somewhat ad hoc. There are - common resources - but these are generally determined by an individual sect or business for their members from the sea of implementations available based on the specific needs of that organization."

Redflower nods. "And the universal manufacturing of technological goods to give away is not something that's economically viable for us. We do have programs to ensure that no-one goes without food, shelter, medical care or internet access, but often they are somewhat strained."

Several confused looks are traded between the six of them.

"...we might need to elevate-our-perspective and hear more history," Allofine says. "Our understanding of commontechnology, the concept of commontechnology I mean, is that it is a prerequisite to infrastructure. Even before the roll-out of instantaneous global communications, the pull toward commontechnology was a significant driver of historical events, and the conflict between two civilizations with competing commontechnologies making contact for the first time would usually cause a massive economic depression. And going the other way, you have to be very careful what form of a technology gets commonalized because once a population lowers-their-guard-about-forming-a-habitualdependence-on-a-device, you can't change it."

"The history of Anadyne is a history of verses and choruses - periods of destabilization and fragmentation, and periods of unity and common purpose. In general the beginning of a chorus is heralded by a rapid burst of innovation and development as many enras find harmony in unexpected places - innovation is built upon the interconnection of seemingly unrelated things! In fact, the recent digital revolution is built upon one such chorus."

Redflower raises a hand. "There is some question as to wether the chorus produced the technology or wether the technology produced the chorus. Generally there is a feedback effect - a particularly strong advancement brings more adopters on board applies more technical expertise develops the technology more. And in strict point of fact, the digital technologies that Snowblossom mentions were first developed in Eravia, which is a former colony of Anadyne."

"...I think we're talking past each other," Metrica says.

"We can depart and work our way back to this subject by other means?" Jane suggests.

"No, I think I get it," WordOfWire says. "They treat all their technological challenges like we treat medical emergencies."

Stunned silence.

"That can't be right?" Tiffany says uncertainly.

"How do you treat medical emergencies on Homerealm?"