By The Mirrorball Man (j_hirt@yahoo.com)
When the Earth was close to destruction, the Virtual Adepts were not very optimistic about their future. While many magickal sects were preparing themselves to reach for the stars, the Adepts kept their focus on the artificial reality of the Digital Web. Some of them were becoming more and more cynical and obsessed with death, and many actually joined a recently founded branch of the Euthanatos.
However, not all Adepts adopted a passive stance. A Virtual Adept Cabal called Silicon Pulse imagined a way to save all Virtual Adepts. It was really easy: they just had to upload themselves to another planet. The only problem would of course be that they would not have the benefit of a human body any longer. Silicon Pulse managed to find out about all the newfound Soulgates. They decided to build information superhighways in every Afterworld, which would allow their signal to travel beyond the speed of light. They had decided to become the clandestine passengers of the Void Age, travelling illegally through the Afterworlds of other factions.
Many Virtual Adepts did not share the Cabal's enthusiasm. They did not think that living as discorporate ghosts on a clandestine intergalactic network was a good plan for the future. Most of them were still attached to their human flesh, and were not prepared to leave it behind. But there apparently was no other way.
At the same time, Void Engineers had the same problem. They were not part of Iteration X "special project", whatever it was. And although they were supposed to be specialists of space travel the discovery of Soulgates was an enormous challenge to their leadership in this field. They had to find a solution, or face the consequences. Desperate, they approached Virtual Adepts, knowing that both groups shared a similar approach towards authority. The two groups even had a secret common project, called Project Cyberflight, which they had hid from their respective associates. They were trying to build spaceships directly controlled by the pilot's mind.
Creative members of both groups joined and decided to work together on a strategy that would allow them to be saved from Earth's demise. Despite some heavy protestation from fundamentalists of both sides, they finally found a solution. Virtual Adepts hackers were sent in the Hyperspace, Iteration X's Soulgate, through their secret electronic network. There, they waited for Iteration X scout ships to pass through the Hyperspace. When a group of ships finally arrived, they took control of their computers. Void Engineers pilots merged their mind with the ships' astrogation computers, and brought eight spaceships back to Earth. Iteration X thought they had lost their shuttles due to an attack of Marauders or Nephandi.
The eight ships had free access to the Hyperspace. If the new allies were subtle enough, they could evacuate all of their Enlightened personnel without Iteration X noticing anything. Virtual Adepts took special measures to prevent anybody from detecting any anomaly. 90% of the allies were saved this way before Earth's destruction. After that, they settled on a planet they called Babbage, and renamed themselves the Cybermancers. Cybermancers eventually found a way to live in peace with the Teknolords, and to stay neutral. They gained free access to the Hyperspace and the Other Side, and most factions accepted to incorporate in their Afterworlds what was now called the Infosphere, the Cybermancers communication network. Nowadays, they are the explorers of new frontiers, whether in the Void or in the Infosphere.
The faction is also divided in specialized units, such as the Final Frontier Corps, which explore unknown worlds, the Astropostal Division, which delivers mail and messages through the Infosphere, the Digital Corps, which explores and protects the Infosphere, and the Computer Science Division, which develops new technology.
All effects require merging, but Cybermancers also use electronic devices, energy fields, weapons, meditation, military behavior, etc. . . .
Nephandi: As explorers of the Void, we are in the front lines of the war against the Fallen.
Teknolords: Their utopia has turned into a dystopia and they don't care!
Wu Lung: Martial arts are cool, but it's not really my hope for the future.
Euthanatos: Insane, morbid individuals.
Freetraders: Beware! These guys want to use our Infosphere for commercial purposes.
The Order: They too deal with information. But their secrets are burning their eyes.
Progenitors: There's more to life than just. . . life.
Dreamspeakers: Our most valuable allies. They let us in their Afterworld, and we help them protect native civilizations.
Marauders: Wild, enthusiastic people. We often meet them in the Infosphere.
Verbena: This kind of old-fashioned paganism is not what mankind needs.
Death is a road. In this day and age, there is little doubt about it, but Euthanatoi have always known that. For centuries, they have been the only ones to wander about this forlorn place, talking to its inhabitants, and learning secret truths from them. Meanwhile, other Factions laughed at them, feared them or despised them for their radical stance about death. They were called murderers, necromancers or worse. But they knew that their ways were stainless, that they showed the dead due respect, and that all they did was in the interest of the living.
The group used to be as interested in preventing death as in killing people. They gave people with a bad karma a new chance in the Karmic Wheel of Rebirth by murdering them gently, and saved the lives of precious people by healing them from illness or despair. Their allies did not see the beauty of their mission, and accused them of being cold-blooded killers. Euthanatoi knew better: they killed out of love, to deal with misery and decline in the most effective way.
Scholars, they were also students of death, listening to ghosts and other creatures of the night, and learning from them. While other groups were frightened of the night, Euthanatoi claimed it as their own. They traveled through every road leading to the kingdoms of Death, from the Underworlds to the Afterworlds. And some of them had already settled on other planets before the beginning of the 19th century. But the group wasn't very interested in exploring the world. They wanted to save it.
When Dreamspeakers told the Council of Nine Mystical Traditions that Earth would soon be destroyed, nobody believed them. Euthanatoi were too attached to the idea of reincarnation to conceive that the Earth would be gone forever, and they refuted these allegations, just like the other Traditions. However, some of them were intrigued by this revelation, and tried to learn more about it. They met old Vampires, listened to wise Sluagh, and asked Wraiths for prophecies. What they learned did actually confirm what the Animists had said, and it tormented the quiet Euthanatoi.
Not being very optimistic, the Death Mages decided that they would retreat in the Underworld and wait for Earth's demise. They would help Ghosts dealing with the enormous afflux of new Restless Dead. And one day, the last of the Euthanatoi had left the Earth. Though some Mages met them after that, they had ceased to be interested in the world of the living.
Earth finally reached its fate and Death Mages had the difficult task of welcoming several hundred million human beings in the Underworld and to tell them that the Shadowlands did not exist any longer. All that was left was the Tempest. Millions of Wraith turned into malevolent Spectres, and Euthanatoi had a hard time building fortresses in the Tempest to struggle against them and to protect the remaining Wraiths.
When the situation was stabilized, parts of the group moved on to new tasks. They decided to resume their exploration of the Afterworlds, and to learn as much as they could about this fascinating phenomenon called death. They became a society of space travelers, having free access to all existing Afterworlds. Their time in the ashes of Earth has had an enormous effect on them, and they no longer hold any interest in living beings. Some of them still give others the Good Death, but it is merely a diversion, or a method of practical study. Others help all the Factions and act as a kind of dreadful traveling agency, giving free tickets to any destination, but the price they ask might be too much.
No formal divisions exist within the group. Cabals specialize in certain tasks, such as transportation, exploration, research, murder, healing or protecting the Restless Dead, but they don't form large syndicates or divisions.
It is interesting to see that, while Euthanatoi refer to this place as "Earth", other factions have granted it with the nickname "Ghostball".
Nephandi: They fail to understand that nothing ever ends. Entropy doesn't bring destruction.
Teknolords: They say they want the Kingdom, but they don't want gods in it.
Wu Lung: Our spiritual kin, they don't seem to realize that there is a world outside their confined culture.
Cybermancers: Machines won't save them from their fate.
Freetraders: They are wasting their precious lives trying to forget about death.
The Order: They want to learn the truth, but they refuse to follow its consequences.
Progenitors: Life fades away, death is eternal.
Dreamspeakers: Clinging to worlds that are doomed to disappear is a sad crusade.
Marauders: We pity them, because they are no longer able to see the truth of their condition.
Verbena: Blood is not a symbol of life.
When the Syndicate learned that the Earth would soon cease to exist, it was already too late to do anything. And they didn't care. They didn't want to build an empire in space, to be responsible for millions of human beings, to explore the Void, or anything that would put them under the spotlight. They just wanted to be the cockroaches of the new universe: they would not be frightful, but they would be indestructible, and they would be everywhere. Their plan was to become a mighty commercial association.
In the last days of Earth, the Syndicate had become the driving force behind the Technocracy. The NWO's star was fading, and they had to take the mantle of power in a world where economics had become more important than politics. Syndicate members knew that they would have to assume a radical change of image if they wanted to hold some influence within the non-technocratic oriented Factions that would arise in the future. They had a plan: they just had to build a joint venture.
The Syndicate then approached influential Mages of the Cult of Ecstasy. The Ecstatics were really depressed by the Apocalypse, and a worrying number of them were becoming Nephandi, not to talk of all of those who committed suicide in all kinds of creative ways. Syndicate executives offered the Ecstatics a place in their future association. They promised them that they would drop their financial and criminal activities, and concentrate instead on commerce. Cultists would be in charge of advertisement and merchandising. Some Ecstatics -- but by far not all of them -- accepted the deal and created the Benevolent Guild of Ecstatic Trade in collaboration with the Syndicate. The Guild, which would later be called "The Freetraders," wanted to bring transcendence to every single person in the universe. But of course, these people had to pay for it. Drugs, art, food, weapons, all kinds of vices, it was not relevant: customers just had to order, and the Freetraders would bring them what they wanted. This new alliance of commerce and desire just had to make sure that it would survive Earth's destruction.
That proved quite easy. Tradition-, Technocracy- and Craft-oriented groups allowed them to use their Afterworlds, as long as the Ecstatic Guild respected their rules and laws and traded good with them. In the beginning of the Void Age, having a group devoted to commerce was a blessing. This way, Factions could fight each other while exchanging goods.
However, unbeknownst to most Freetraders, the Guild is controlled by a covert group called the Corporation. The Corporation wants the Benevolent Guild to infiltrate all factions and to control them through the use of money and criminal activities. They already were quite successful with one branch of the Teknolords, the Liberalists.
Actually, the Guild is only united by some common organizations, such as the X Bank, which emits Xs and control their fluctuations, the Stock Exchange, a system designed to bring investors' money to companies, the Intergalactic Ecstatic Commerce Ethical Board (the IECEB), which is in charge of the application of social conventions and intergalactic trade treaties, and some other, minor structures. While some Freetraders actually work directly for these organizations, most prefer to work as space merchants, and compete harshly against each other.
Common foci include money, luxuries, credit cubes, holovision, nice clothes, advertisement, drugs, sex, sport, gestures, music, etc.
The other way to rise in the organization is to be one of the many Sleepers who work for the Guild, and to Awaken. These people may then become genuine Freetraders.
Nephandi: Illicit concurrence: they share their vice for free!
Teknolords: A good organization to build upon. Soon we will be indispensable to this Faction.
Wu Lung: They produce magnificent silk and jewelry, but they are not good customers. Too old-fashioned.
Cybermancers: Idealists: it's always dangerous.
Euthanatos: Dead people don't make for good customers.
The Order: We trust them. As long as they pay cash.
Progenitors: Bio-engineering, drug design, these people can bring us everything we need.
Dreamspeakers: They should stop being childish and join the party.
Marauders: We have nothing to sell them.
Verbena: They don't know how to have a good time. But everybody can learn.
During the last years of Earth, the New World Order was a declining Convention. The Syndicate held the true power inside the Technocracy, and Iteration X was slowly preparing its transformation into the United Teknolords. The NWO couldn't do anything about it. The Syndicate was funding every operation, they had agents everywhere, and the era of ideology belonged to the past. The NWO was nothing more than a group of spies working for their Syndicate masters.
That was what everybody thought, at least. In reality, the NWO had foreshadowed this evolution for decades. They were no longer interested in the Technocracy, and had other plans that would guarantee their survival. Led by an innovative Amalgam of the Ivory Tower, members of the New World Order had approached influential Mages of the Order of Hermes. House Bonisagus, Quaesitor, Janissary, and Thig accepted to make a pact with the NWO, a pact that would eventually lead them to found a new magickal Faction. The Order of Hermes was facing the same problems as the NWO, slowly losing its predominance among the Traditions, and no longer able to adapt itself to an ever-changing world. Four of the more secretive Houses decided that to compromise was better than to disappear. And since they no longer trusted their allies in the Council, they welcomed the NWO's offer. When the other Hermetic Houses found out about that, they excluded them from the Order of Hermes, but it was already too late.
At first, the new organization had only two goals: trying to work together and surviving. They had to find a way to weave Hermetic knowledge into technological devices, and to create a new way to perform Magick. Both groups had to cast their dogmatism aside. Survival was easier: in the first phase, all they had to do was to stay in the shadows and to keep a straight face to their former allies. And, after all, secrecy and deception were specialties of both orders.
After twenty years, what was then named "The Order" had kept most of the Hermetic metaphysics and most of the Technocratic style and procedures, to produce an original blend of magick and technology. The Order had infiltrated all Traditions and Conventions; it had spies everywhere, and knew what everybody's projects were. They knew about the Soulgates, about the Haven, and about Silicon Pulse. They made sure that all these projects would work. When the Void Age begun, they did not have any Afterworld but were all undercover aboard the ships of other Factions.
Time passed and the Order became more dogmatic and esoteric. It was becoming almost religious in its philosophy, and drifted further and further from its Hermetic and technologic roots. After a few years, they decided to come out of the shadows and to reveal their existence. Since then, they have been working as spies, archivists, diplomats, information sources or assassins by all the other Factions. But their true agenda remains a mystery.
The Order is divided into 12 ranks: Apprentice, Initiate, Master, Secret Master, Perfect Master, Prefect, Judge, Knight, Virtuous Knight, Sublime Knight, Venerable Master of the Keys, Ineffable High Prince of the Great Truth. Some say there are another 12 ranks after that, but the Order won't tell. These ranks come up with specific symbols and adornments, as well as social advantages within the Order. When a member of the Order is promoted to a new rank, he is being told secrets by his peers, secrets about the Order or about the universe.
There are no formal divisions or specializations within the Order. Members are supposed to execute their superiors' commands without asking questions. And usually it's exactly what they do.
However, as man is not ready to face the Truth and to accept it, the Order has set up a hierarchy of enlightenment, which makes sure that every individual only knows what he is able to comprehend. Strangers to the Order will not be given access to some pieces of information before they are ready. Nevertheless, the Order often enough works for other Factions, collecting information or doing jobs that require secrecy, such as assassination or spying.
The Order also believes that a messiah will come and restore the Truth for the Masses, bringing mass Enlightenment. They call him the Avatar of Infinite Essence, and are constantly looking for him.
Common foci include computer files, detection and analysis devices, trance, books, numerology, secret languages, mental conditioning, holovision, communicators.
Nephandi: They are in contact with primal forces that might hold interesting secrets.
Teknolords: If only they would bring their ideals further, we would be able to share some secrets with them.
Wu Lung: They are so embedded in their customs that they can't see the beauty of the universe.
Cybermancers: Why should we need an artificial world when we don't fully understand the real one?
Euthanatos: They have the knowledge, but don't want to do anything with it.
Freetraders: They can't bring us anything we need.
Progenitors: Technology is not an end in itself.
Dreamspeakers: Their ability for making contact with strange beings is valuable.
Marauders: They live in delusions. Our worst enemies.
Verbena: Superstitious fools.
Progenitors were among the last Enlightened beings to realize that the Earth would soon disappear. They had spent too much time in their labs to care about the Masses anymore. Very similar to Iteration X in being a "technical" Convention, the Progenitors weren't as dogmatic. They did not really care about politics, ideology, or the building of a better reality, they were only fascinated by science and engineering. What their fellows Technomancers would do with their creations did not interest them. So when the bad news arrived, they did not panic. Science would always be needed, after all.
Thinking that way was not a good idea. There wasn't much time remaining, and the Progenitors did not do anything to escape planet Earth. Some of them reacted against this apathy, and joined the Haven. They helped found the Biotech Methodology. Others built special devices that would send dozens of their clones in space, frozen in little space capsules. Yet others tried to genetically modify human beings to allow them to survive in the Void. Of course, they hadn't thought about the kind of life these monstrous creatures would lead in the crippled solar system.
Interestingly enough, if Progenitors still exist today, it is because of the Celestial Crusaders. A branch of moderate Soldiers of God saved fifty Enlightened Progenitors and six hundred sympathizers, taking them aboard one of the first War Cathedral. It was a gesture of compassion and humanity, done despite irreconcilable philosophical differences between the two groups. The Crusaders left the Progenitors on an uninhabited forest moon. Of course these moderates were executed shortly after they came back to Vatican.
The Progenitors, having no further choice, decided to colonize this planet. They called it Hippocrates, and realized it offered an impressive genetic diversity. The Progenitors decided that they would try and rely solely on their own methods to colonize Hippocrates, namely restraining themselves from using hard technology. Everything that would be built on this moon would be bioengineered, from the sewer system to streetlamps to highways.
It took them fifty years, but it worked. After this period, they were able to rely entirely on devices that grow and breathe. The environment of the planet was completely controlled, and every living creature on Hippocrates had something to bring to the ecosystem. And there was another good piece of news: the Progenitors had built a spaceship. Looking like some sort of giant ornamental turnip, Lifeseeker One was sent through outer space. It should have traveled forty years before it would reach a planet. Fortunately, it did not last that long. A Cybermancer Companion ship found Lifeseeker One after eight months.
Shortly after that, all Factions visited the Progenitors on Hippocrates. At long last, the Progenitors were able to take an active part in the Void Age.
Progenitors are divided into five Methodologies. Pharamacopeists study the effects of drugs and artificially induced chemicals on the human body. They use them to enhance physical prowess and to spread Enlightenment among the Masses. Vitadapters are the specialists of transformations and adaptations. They work on improving their patients' bodies through implants and surgery. They also produce clones for most Factions. Biospherians think that the environment has to adapt to human settlers, not the other way round. They are experts in terraformation techniques. Symbiotics produce all kinds of bioware, from living weapons to vegetal spaceships. Finally, the Administration is composed of members of other Methodologies. It organizes and supervises all aspects of the Progenitors' society.
Progenitors despise hard technology or any dead device, and would never use anything like that. However, that is their only ethical limitation: they are ready to collaborate with anybody on any project. They don't care about conquering the universe, or about ideals and utopias. The only thing they care about is science.
Nephandi: They represent anti-life, and are a danger for all species.
Teknolords: Dead technology users. Their Biotech Methodology is nothing short of amusing.
Wu Lung: We're still trying to create a bioengineered Celestial Dragon, and they are still laughing at us.
Cybermancers: They could be more efficient if they accepted our bioengineered Companions!
Euthanatos: Death is not useful. Life is useful.
Freetraders: They have the ideal commercial network for our products.
The Order: They should share their secrets, exactly like us.
Dreamspeakers: It is absurd to be satisfied with nature as it is.
Marauders: We don't cross their path very often. Their nature is too chaotic.
Verbena: They too use bioapps. But they are too dogmatic about it.