THE LOOM OF CIVILISATION
Civilisation is a fabric woven on a loom. The 5 Great Webs are the warp threads — thematic strands running lengthwise through all 12,000 years. The 4 Web Types are the weft — crossing through at different relay eras, creating the weave. The Spider learns to see these threads; the Master Weaver understands the whole fabric.
THE 5 GREAT WEBS (The Warp)
From Calories to Consciousness — the story of civilisation told through five interwoven threads: Energy → Knowledge → Commerce → Power → Consciousness.
ENERGY
Power generation and distribution
"Calories — the fuel of everything"
KNOWLEDGE
Information, writing, numbers, communication
"How we record and transmit"
COMMERCE
Trade, exchange, economics
"How we transact and connect materially"
POWER
Governance, authority, control
"How we organise and rule"
CONSCIOUSNESS
Awareness, philosophy, meaning
"The destination — from Calories to Consciousness"
THE 4 WEB TYPES (The Weft)
As civilisation progresses through the 12 relays, the nature of infrastructure itself evolves — from Natural systems to Machine, then Information/Communication, and finally Intelligence.
THE GAME IS THE LOOM
Relay 8 — the Loom — is the moment humanity first programmed a pattern into a machine. The Jacquard punch cards are the direct ancestor of computer programming. In this game, you are the weaver. Each relay is a shuttle pass. Each web connection you discover adds a thread to the fabric. By the time you reach Relay 12, you see the whole cloth — the complete tapestry of civilisation from Calories to Consciousness.