Right so, I am considering eventually creating a Quest about an original sci-fi setting I have thought up, but before I do so I want to detail or outline the setting in which it will take place, as well as potentially get some feedback or ideas from others who may be interested - or just interested in the setting if it is compelling enough. I am posting here with a bunch of lore or info-dump type posts to describe the setting and things in it.
Tl:dr Weimer Republic in Space but with Transhumanism
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MANDATE LOST I: A Different Singularity
The Milky Way galaxy in the year 2981 is fraught with crisis. A crisis of diverging philosophy, of radical ideologies demanding action, a crisis of unavoidable technological acceleration. A crisis of transhumanism, of singularitarianism and of bioconservatism. While mankind's reach stretches far across the stars, uncontested for no alien civilisation has ever been found, it would seem that even in these distant future years - it would be Man's destiny to struggle against his fellow man. The crisis has grown quietly but steadily in the shadows for the better part of the third millennium, as humanity has flourished in an unparalleled golden age, the Pax Humanica. This millennia-long build up to crisis had a beginning when Man was first drawn out from his terrestrial conflicts and stagnation of the late 21st century by the miracles of superscience. The first miracle would be the birth of the "Mother of Transhumanity", Eve Nimue, who's actions would see Man unleashed upon an empty yet fertile galaxy by the impossible early invention of the second miracle of superscience - the Alcubierre-Nimue Drive. In his glorious rush to inherit the stars, Man ignored the implications of such a sudden and drastic change in technology - or at least, until it was far too late.
Eve Nimue of course, is a name that would define the 3rd millennium. She would be the wellspring that from which all following superscience would spring forth. Radical and improbable advancement in the sciences from interstellar travel to a cure for cancer, the rise of Singularitarianism, the birth of the United Nations Orion Mandate and a slough of other achievements to name a few. She was the only genetically engineered genius and 'perfect human' created illegally and in secret by the Silicon Valley-based genetics lab, the Exotropia Institute, as a final attempt by the aged and near-death Peter Thiel to achieve immortality - who was in turn inspired by the similar illegal creations of the Chinese HIV-immune transhumans Lulu and Nanna in 2018. While Thiel would not live to see the fruits of his enormous investments, Nimue would become the watershed moment for transhumanity, ushering in a new age of human self-modification and wider technological advancement, and while no utopian A.I singularity followed, Thiel had his singularity instead in the form of a test-tube born girl.
The United Nations while quick to crush the Exotropia Institute under the legal justification of unethical research, unethical medical practices and child abuse could not simply sweep this world-changing development under the rug. the United Nations itself was given custodianship of this superhuman girl, who at the age of 3 could already speak 4 languages and perform advanced mathematics. While officially banning any further attempts at 'unethical gene-editing' and even establishing a newly founded UN "Council for Bio-Ethics" to regulate such matters - these early attempts at regulation proved in retrospect futile. Rogue-states, powerful authoritarian regimes, enterprising and often idealistic scientists and eventually interstellar colonists all jumped into the rat-race, and as was nuclear weapons before, genetic engineering would be thereafter - even the UN itself with Nimue was held up for hypocrisy, for while it attempted to ban all others from pursuing this 'dangerous and unethical' science, it exploited its fruits with eventually becoming Nimue's main patron and 'state-as-guardian', financing her research and collaboration with scientists and organisations such as CERN, NASA and the World Health Organisation. Eventually, the Bio-Ethics Council increasing became lax and reformative in its decrees, as it was either unable or increasingly unwilling to rule against the advancements of transhumanism... that is, until the 29th century.
And so, while Eve Nimue and the advent of transhumanity would usher in an age of unparalleled prosperity, exploration and innovation, The original fears of those bureaucrats and intellectuals who protested or formed the Bio-Ethics Council were found all too true. The centuries since humanity has spread across the stars have been mired in a shadowy trend of unparalleled inequality, technological displacement, demographic change, changing identities and political norms. If the leaders of Earth's nations were considered unprepared for the technological troubles of the 21st century... then they were well out of their depth for the following centuries... and it would transhumans that would increasingly be the ones to replace them. Colonial separatism in the 26th century followed by a narrowly avoided interstellar civil war, new age cults and a 'great awakening' of renewed spiritualism in the 27th century onward, the birth of extreme ideologies and movements in the 28th century such as Eusocial Posthumanism and terrorism by such organisations as the Anarcho-Primitivist Deep Organism organisation. All have built up and are now ready to come to a head in the final years of the 29th century.
U.N.O.M
Holding the galaxy together while balancing on a tightrope is the United Nations Orion Mandate, or UNOM. the Mandate was forced into existence following the Constitutional Crisis of 2566, negotiated between the UN, Nations of Earth, loyalist colonies and an interstellar league of prominent colonial separatists led by Mars, at the time the second most populated world besides Earth. This negotiation led to the Orion Mandate giving full and equal representative rights to all colonies, rolling all national interstellar colonies under UNOSA (United Nations Outer Space Authority), and in turn reforming UNOSA and the UN itself into the Orion Mandate, These negotiations would eventually see the gradual phasing out of Earth's last remaining nation-states, as the narrowly missed civil war resulted in many nations of Earth realising their joint vulnerability to their own colonies. Leading these negotiations yet again a famous name returned - Eve Nimue, then the Director-General of UNOSA, who would go on the be elected as UNOM's first Secretary-General, and maintain the peaceful status quo for as long as her limited 10-year rule could enable her.
UNOM stands as the sole hyperpower in the galaxy, and recognises no nation state besides itself. A truly megalithic democracy, its power and influence reaches across the galaxy, its Peacekeeping Navy and Army dwarfing many times over nearly all other armed forces - its (unrecognised) state rivals restricted to mostly political dissidents, cult compounds and the descendants of "The Flights", socio-political and religious mass exodus' that have occurred periodically - the most prominent of which was during the 2566 Constitutional Crisis. It is this all-encompassing power then that makes the Mandate's greatest threat not any foreign power - or in fact all foreign powers combined, but rather itself and its own denizens., for within the Mandate - there exists simultaneously nearly every political, cultural and religious belief under the sun, a rapidly fragmenting social order with no common messages - and often directly conflicting at that.
Politically, UNOM is highly unreliable as its drastically divided populace often elect politically and ideologically inconsistent factions every 10 years, and this trend is only growing stronger and more violent as more extreme variants of ideologies come to the fore. UNOM is now ridden with protests, occasional uprisings, terrorist attacks, assassination attempts and even street battles between paramilitary wings of radical political parties. The current year, 2891 is seeing the most intense of these ills that have ever been recorded since the 2566 Constitutional Crisis, as the current Secretarial Election season is proving to be violently explosive.
One concern I have is the use of the United Nations. Its a pet peeve of mine whenever they show up in Science fiction as a world government.
The united nations is not designed to be a world government, it is designed as a means to make evil nations such as the Soviets come to the table to negotiate. This is why the nations that have the legal systems most abusive to women on the council for women's rights: it is not about achieving change, it is all about saving face and allowing them a pretense of not being horrible while they are at the negotiating table. In essence, the prupose of the UN is to allow diplomats to say "No, your farts don't stink, here is this position on a the United Nations Council of Rosy Farts to prove it. Now do you agree not to use nuclear weapons?"
Of course there are many people, including those inside the UN, that do not understand this.
I am well aware the United Nations in real life is basically just a public forum for the actual powers (the security council) and a kind of balance of power left over from WW2 and the Cold War. I don't claim a world government springing up from the United Nations is in any way realistic - at least in the 21st century (and probably into the future too).
That said, in this setting - the UN only becomes genuinely powerful by the 26th century as a result of the remaining nations of Earth deciding to more strongly band together due to their own interstellar colonies starting to surpass them in population, economy and potential military capabilities (hence the narrowly avoided civil war). Prior to the 26th century, the UN only gained extra powers from its current real life form due to international technology treaties attempting to slow down and regulate the sudden emergence of transhumanism as a real force, and later UNOSA (a real agency) acting as a mediator for the various national space colonies.
It should be noted that initially, the UN's (speaking on behalf the main powerful nations of the world) attempts to regulate tranhumanism were ineffectual - since nations within the UN itself secretly or not-so-secretly continued pursuing the technology anyway, basically like nuclear weapons irl.
After the 26th century, UNOM as the real "United Nations as a Superpower" trope comes into full effect, due a combination of interstellar politics overshadowing terrestrial politics and changes in demographics and social values - in essence, it was nothing to do with an idealistic image of 'everyone unites together for eternal peace', but rather joint fear and realpolitik.
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EDIT:
That said, after rereading it, I suppose I can see what you mean by the lore intro depicting the UN as being excessively powerful (at least at the start). This wasn't really my intention, as the idea was that rather showing that most ruling leaders of the worlds nations at the time were against the transhuman developments but didn't want to act unilaterally as they were all secretly looking into it themselves, so used the United Nations as a collective cats-paw to do it for them. (Basically similar to the irl He Jiankui affair, but taken more seriously)
MANDATE LOST II: Political Ideologies (Bioconservatism)
In the 29th century, the political landscape has since been drastically altered since the rise of transhumanism in the late 21st century, the colonial and transhuman identitarianism of the 26th century onward, and finally the New Age socio-religious movements of the 28th century onward. While the old politics of class, hierarchy, economic theories and identity still remain in some form, they have either been overshadowed or incorporated into the new dimension of the politics of Technological Acceleration.
While many ideological and philosophical schools of thought exist with numerous sub-groups and splinter groups, the vast majority of these belief systems have been codified into a three-way political spectrum that is used most commonly in the 29th century - even if some prominent ideologies do not necessarily realistically fit into it, they are shoehorned in anyway. This three-way spectrum, simply put, places all ideologies between the forces of Bioconservatism, Singularitarianism, and Cornucopianism.
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Bioconservatism
Bioconservatism, also more colloquially referred to as "Biocon", despite its name, is not necessarily concerning just 'biological conservatism', even if that was its beginnings. Bioconservatism in the 29th century rather is a broad spectrum of ideologies that view Transhumanism, Singularitarianism and technological accelerationism in general as dangerous and immoral movements, and instead emphasise the preservation of the innate character of the human race and the culture and institutions of the human race prior to the rise of Transhumanism, as well as the regulation or, in more extreme forms, destruction of such technology. Bioconservatism rejects any Singularity-type event as a dystopic nightmare at best to catastrophic human extinction at worst.
Bioconservatism as a political movement has completely altered the old politics of humanity - namely the Neo-liberal order that once existed. Even in its moderate forms such as Fukuyamaism, Bioconservatism as an ideology is typically culturally conservative and economically socialist or neo-Marxist - it advocates both for a reactionary social policies that protect or return to older social values and structures, while simultaneously fighting for the class and racial interests of the baseline human underclass, seeing itself as the political arm of the exploited human majority and a watch-dog against transhuman elites.
In general, Bioconservativism in the 29th century is considered a 'right-wing' group of ideologies, despite the fact that most Bioconservatives are in fact economically left-wing and often advocate for economic equality as their most important position - this inconsistency derives from the reactionary cultural and technological deceleration positions the school of thought also holds, as well as once upon a time also being generally speaking capitalistic in nature - even if they are no longer.
FUKUYAMAISM
Bioconservatism started in its moderate form, following the warnings of its 'founding father' the 21st century political scientist Francis Fukuyama, for which Fukuyamaism is named after, which in essence believes that transhumanism is inherently anti-liberal and through technology would erode away the basic principles of liberalism, capitalism and democracy while replacing it with extreme inequality and entrenched oligarchy. While Fukuyamaists in the 29th century still maintain its position as a 'defender of liberal democracy', it has since abandoned most of its capitalistic positions of its founder and early adherents, and has since embraced various forms of socialism and welfarism. Fukuyamaism maintained itself as one of the most prominent ideologies in the 27th and early 28th centuries, often winning elections as the guiding belief system of the 'Centre-Right' Human Conservative Party (HCP) - though in the 29th century it has since declined due to the rise of Neo-Fukuyamaism/Drysdalism, its more radical derivative. In general - Fukuyamaists seek to maintain the status quo and slow the advance of technology through state regulation, preserve human culture and traditions, while also providing extensive welfare to baseline humans at the expense of wealthy transhumans.
Fukuyamaists in the 29th century are considered moderate centrists attempting to maintain the status quo, and are mostly found in the HCP and Terran Democracy Party (TDP). They reject militancy, revolution and radical politics in general, and in general are prone to bipartisanship. Ironically, despite espousing culturally conservative values, many of high-ranking Fukuyamaists are relatively secular, though traditionalist religiosity is also found amongst them as well.
The 'culturally right' values that Bioconservatives typically advocate for are usually things such as family values/the traditional family unit, anti-morphological freedom (fascinatingly, while the majority of LGBT issues have long since become matters of the past... the sole exception is Transsexualism, which has actually become even more of a taboo topic due to its association with radical human alteration/morphological freedom), human procreation and support for parenthood, pro-life politics, anti-euthanasia, social conformity, respect for cultural traditions, respect of human social norms, protection of human cultures and languages, respect of Earth and its history and ethnic origins, and support for traditional human religions and spirituality, even if in a significantly muted and secularised form. Bioconservatives typically support traditional gender roles, however the fusion of human identitarian equity politics and 29th century social standards means that 'traditional gender roles' as a concept tends to differ from Bioconservative to Bioconservative, with everything from relatively egalitarian 21st century liberal standards to hyper-traditionalist religious patriarchy, or alternatively a very clinical devotion to increasing human procreation rates, as is more seen with radical bioconservative factions.
NEO-FUKUYAMAISM (Drysdalism)
The new and radical offspring of Fukuyamaism, Bioconservative's answer to the chaotic years of the late 29th century. Neo-Fukuyamaism is an aggressive, statist and populist biocon ideology that seeks to mobilise mass movements, unions and wholesale state power to rapidly reform the United Nations Orion Mandate, even if they seem to be doing so through legal, democratic means... so far. Neo-Fukuyamaism despite its populist underclass nature is overwhelmingly led by elements of a disillusioned radical intelligentsia, and prior to exploding into the mainstream - Neo-Fukuyamaism was only represented in the tiny niche "Cradle Party", consisting of mostly said radical intellectuals - though said tiny party is now rapidly rising in significance too as the ideology spreads into the mainstream. The ideologies' founder, Dr. Malcolm Drysdale, is the former Chair of the UN Bioethics Council as well as Professor Emeritus of Theoretical Xenobiology at the Armstrong University on Luna. Professor Drysdale's most significant publication, 'Posthuman Society and Our Future" is often regarded as the manifesto of Neo-Fukuyamaism, and even broader radical Bioconservatism. Said publication in essence theorises that a Posthuman singularity is imminent, and if no immediate and radical change is made, the human race will be extinct within less than two hundred years, or otherwise totally overwhelmed by Posthumanity. While regarded as hyperbolic political alarmism by mainstream academia, politically this ignited a wildfire that has carried radical bioconservatism to the forefront, and has shaped Neo-Fukuyamaism as an ideology far more concerned with an imminent social collapse or existential risk event than 'mere regulations'. Neo-Fukuyamaism is overtly Human identitarian, though interestingly they are not Human Supremacists in the conventional sense - and in fact often believes that baseline humans are inherently and objectively inferior to Transhumans and Posthumans - and hence must be protected from exploitation and oppression.
The Cradle Party is the flagship political vessel of Neo-Fukuyamaism which is founded and currently led by the ideology's founder, Dr Malcom Drysdale. Neo-Fukuyamaism however has disciples across the bioconservative landscape, and can be found even in the HCP and TDP. Neo-Fukuyamaism has also influenced the extreme fringe Bioconservative movements, providing these elements with more intellectual and scientific sources to channel their populist grassroots rage.
Neo-Fukuyamaism is typically not as concerned with radical cultural reactionary ideals as it is with its economic and technological ones. As such, its social policies are similar to orthodox Fukuyamaism in its standard use of conservative social politics - though perhaps with some more severe sense of urgency in actually pushing legislation rather than simply saying they will. Overall, Neo-Fukuyayamists radical nature is driven from its populism, economics, statism, demand for immediate action, desire for radical change rather than the status quo and general radical views on technological decelerationism and confronting transhumanism. Perhaps the only exception to this is a particular interest in increasing human procreation / fertility rates, as Neo-Fukuyamaists are particulary concerned with becoming grossly outnumbered by Posthumans in the future. As such, some Neo-Fukuyamaists advocate for social policies such as anti-abortionism, anti-contraception, growth-orientated family planning and child subsidies and so forth. In contrast to usual Bioconservative social conservatives - this is typically a very secular affair, with little actual concern for morality but rather pragmatism.
CLASSICAL BIOCONSERVATISM
A mostly unpopular ideology by the 29th century regarded as unworkable by most, classical bioconservatism refers to in essence various attempts over the millennium to revive the original 21st century Fukuyamaism that sought to defend liberal democracy and capitalism from the excesses of transhumanism. Inevitably however, the debate of how exactly one would go about defending capitalism from transhumanism would inevitably result in either socialistic or neo-mercantilist policies, defeating the point of Classical Bioconservatism. Classical Bioconservatism also possesses relatively mild social politics more reminiscient of neo-liberalism. Due to the stances of Classical Bioconservatism, it often can be almost seen as a centrist Cornucopian ideology, just with a bioconservative rather than transhumanist slant. For this reason, Classical Bioconservatism is mostly seen amongst the odd breed of Bioconservative Transhumans or Traditionalist Transhumans - particularly wealthy Transhumans who either hold sympathies towards Baseline humans or otherwise hold some socially conservative views and desperately cling to this dead ideology as an outlet for their in-congruent position. Classical Bioconservaties can be found in the HCP, Viridian and some Cornucopian-aligned parties, though overtly political Bioconservative Transhumans are often considered ethnic traitors by Cornucopian Transhumans.
NEO-INTEGRALISM
Neo-Integralism is a radical (and in some cases extremist) bioconservative ideology and recent 28th century attempt by certain sects of the traditional religions of humanity to reassert their influence upon the galaxy and its politics, likely inspired by the New Age movements and the Great Awakening, as well as fearing the triumphant rise of Theo-Singularitarianism. It calls for a realignment of the laws of the United Nations Orion Mandate with traditionally religious (typically Abrahamic) laws of god, a return to state religion to safeguard mankind from the perversity and decadence of Transhumanity and in general restore the sacred status of the human form, as well a mostly fundamentalist socially conservative and reactionary objectives.
Neo-Integralists economically speaking are a mixed bag. While they are typically anti-capitalist for the same reason most bioconservatives are (they recognise Transhumanism's clear absolute advantage when capitalism is concerned), the devoutly (traditionally) religious conservative faction of the Bioconservative camp is possibly the last faction of Bioconservatives that still remember the innately atheistic and anti-clerical nature of godless communism, and so are hesitant to jump head first into the neo-marxist framwork other radical Bioconservatives now follow. Instead, Neo-integralists attempt to follow various forms of corporatist, neo-mercantilist and communitarian ideals and theories - in essence a kind of protectionist state capitalism or paternalistic tory-socialism... guided by theocratic governance.
Also somewhat fascinating is the multi-faith aspect of Neo-Integralism. While staunchly defending traditional values and religion, the fact that most traditional religions are now in this state has led to a vague alliance of actual Catholic Integralists, Evangelical Dominionists, Islamists, Ultraorthodox Jewish and even Reactionary Buddhists to the same faction. This is not to say these religions all function in harmony - they like would turn on each other if not for the overwhelming threats of Transhumanism, Secularism, Theo-Singularitarianism and the New Age pushing them into alliance with each other. It is also not to say they are equal, with Traditional Islam and Traditional Catholicism typically acting as the primary source of leadership - in particular the Catholic Church of the 29th century. Of the forces standing against Integralism, Theo-Singularitarianism in particular is considered the archenemy of Neo-Integralism as the 'great impostor' faith that is stealing away the faithful. Integralist Christians and Singularitarian Christians in particular view each other in a similar manner as Catholics and Protestants once did during the Reformation. This divide is so powerful, Integralist Christians would rather fight alongside Integralist Muslims or Neo-Fukuyamaist atheists than a Singularitarian Christian.
TERRANISM (Terran Nationalism)
During the Constitutional Crisis of 2566, not all of Earth's colonies sided with the would-be separatists. A sizeable minority in fact stood staunchly with the home world, believing their familial ties, business ties and overall loyalty to mankind was more important than the political representative and civil liberty plights of the 26th century colonies. While civil war never actually occurred and the crisis was deescalated with the formation of UNOM, that sense of colonial loyalism never died in both the minds of the loyalist and the people of Earth. From this special fondness at the exclusion of the would-be-rebels who unified around the concept of "Orion" or "Orionist" (which ironically would become the basis of Earth's new galactic government) came a name and identity to stand against the Orionists. Terran, or Terranist.
A Terran during the 26th century as such was a Earth Loyalist. and from there the connotation grew. Over the centuries Terranism has become a kind of quasi-philosophy denoting a special relationship between Earth and her colonies, that the blood, culture and heritage of Earth flows through all her children no matter how many light years away they live. It otherwise denotes a unique willingness to take up arms in the name of unity of the human race and allegiance to Earth specifically - and kind of wide-reaching interstellar civic nationalism (at the time), infused with cultural rituals and beliefs that venerating humanity, ancestral heritage and earth as a holy place of sorts in a civic nationalistic religion - almost as a forerunner to the Gaia-worship of the New Age cults.
Besides this overarching cultural movement and philosophy, Terranism as a political belief system has gradually become a form of Bioconservatism. Because of its traditions, Earth nationalism and focus on heritage, Terranism is more popular amongst baseline humans who see the Terran Identity as a uniquely human identity, baseline human specifically - thus forming a kind of ethno-nationalism, even if the Terran Democracy Party still officially considers itself civic-nationalist. Terranism as a political ideology typically advocates for strong centralism focused on Earth, or at least federalism in contrast to autonomy and confederation. It is militaristic and interventionist and marginally more statist than centrist Fukuyamaism (though less so than Neo-Fukuyayamists). Historically the TDP was the more radical party to the HCP, criticising the later for excessively compromising with colonial automonists, transhumanists and other forces at the expense of Earth's loyal colonies. Since the 29th century however, the TDP is actually considered a moderate party, as Neo-Fukuyamaism and other genuine radicals have displaced it.
PUREFORMISM AND EXTREME BIOCONSERVATISM
To the absolute 'far-right' fringe of even Neo-Fukuyamaism is a cluster of various extreme ideologies and cults that individually are insignificant but as a broad group have alarming levels of power which have greatly increased since the late 29th century. Extreme Bioconservatism is difficult to summarise into a consistent ideology due to its fragmented nature and constant implosions and schisms. In general though, Extreme Bioconservatism can be summed up as highly violent, xenophobic and either fanatically totalitarian or fanatically anarchist, exaggerating Bioconservative's cultural right and economic left values into totalitarian or anarchist variants - as well as either holding genocidal human supremacist beliefs, or holding similar ironic beliefs in inherent human inferiority as Neo-Fukuyamaists. Totalitarian Extreme Biocon, also known as Pureformists or Ultras, are usually affiliated with various branches of National Bolshevik (NAZBOL) or Neo-Strasserism and wish for a totalitarian baseline human state, meanwhile Anarchist Extreme Biocon usually affiliate under either ANNAT (National Anarchism) or Anprim (Anarcho-Primitivism) and wish to deliberately cause a total societal collapse. Anarcho-Primitivism in particular is often valued across the Extreme Bioconservative spectrum, even amongst totalitarians - in general, Extreme Bioconservatism seeks to either use terrorism or mass violence to force technology back to pre-industrial levels. Interestingly, while Extreme Bioconservatism within UNOM is attributed with this extreme violence and terrorism, beyond the mandate, there exists non-violent and even pacifistic forms of these ideologies; in particular the pacifist anarcho-primitivist Gardeners who left in one-way colony ships to establish pre-industrial (and even pre-agricultural) communities in far-flung worlds. On the other hand, the infamous Deep Organism terrorist organisation consists of volunteer fighters from UNOM who fought to defend Gardener worlds from pirates, Junkers and UNOM colonists - only to return to UNOM as bitter and disillusioned extremists.
GAIAISM AND ESOTERIC HUMANISM
in the 27th century, a Great Awakening of spiritualism sprung forth in the form of thousands of New Age cults and spiritual movements led by gurus and 'Charismatics', putting the otherwise consistent trend of secularism and laicism into question. While these movements have mostly been affiliated with Singularitarianism or Cornucopianism - Mostly due to the vastly successful Theo-Singularitarians who started the awakening (and predated it by some centuries), there also exist Bioconservative New Age movements, and these movements are often associated with the above Extreme Bioconservativism due to its counter-culture and cult nature. Amongst New Age Bioconservatives, spiritualism is often derived from a form of nature worship, Earth-mother goddess worship (often Gaia), the belief in intrinsic human spirituality or a collective human unconsciousness. The Exceptional Humanity Theory, a secular belief that humanity is somehow intrinsically unique and special thus explaining the total absence of any alien civilisation is often converted into a spiritual belief that humanity possesses unique magical or spiritual power or purpose (possibly ordained by god). Traditional religions while somewhat sidelined by the New Age movement and consistent decline throughout the 3rd millennium have also seen a degree of resurgence, while this resurgence has occurred mostly amongst Singularitarian-Abrahamic syncreticists, there exists traditionalists who are attempting to restore Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism and Hinduism.
Where would the Amish and similar peaceful groups fit into this.
I however am very confused about bioconservatism being associated with Marxism, as the Marxist philosophy and its derivatives are revolutionary and inherently associated with novelty and progress. I think bio conservatism should have a stronger association with religious conservatism (My body is my temple).
Where would the Amish and similar peaceful groups fit into this.
I however am very confused about bioconservatism being associated with Marxism, as the Marxist philosophy and its derivatives are revolutionary and inherently associated with novelty and progress. I think bio conservatism should have a stronger association with religious conservatism (My body is my temple).
Ah good, you brought up the Amish. The Amish are actually a good model for what a peaceful 'extreme biocon' ideology looks like, and likely was an in-universe inspiration for the utopian anarcho-primitivist Gardeners and a number of religious movements that gathered dissident colonists to flee UNOM and create new nationstates, often with far more restricted access to technology and emphasise on agrarian ideals. While the Amish aren't extremists in reality (or even in this setting), due to their technological decelerationist views being very similar to other more modern biocon extremist movements, in-universe they get a lot of unwarranted fear and hatred from the mainstream where the political divide between technological acceleration vs deceleration has become a primary political and cultural conflict rather than subordinate to some other conflict.
Now, as for the association between Bioconservatism and Marxism - this is more complicated. Biocon in the 29th century make use of Marxist theories and core concepts, but are not really orthodox Marxists from the 20th century, and instead a hybrid ideology that combine reactionary cultural values with socialist economics. While this seems strange, it does have historical precedent in the form of 20th century Strasserism (Left-Fascism) as well as 21st century Fourth Positionists such as Aleksandr Dugin or the National Bolsheviks.
The reasons for why Bioconservatism has a strong tendency towards Marxist-like thinking:
#1: Bioconservatism originally intended to maintain the status quo of liberal democracy and capitalism, however over time this desire to conserve the status quo has faded away - particularly since for the majority of the 3rd millennium, the status quo has been decidedly anything but bioconservative, and capitalism if genuinely meritocratic has nearly always benefited transhumanism over bioconservatism. Bioconservatism in the 29th century has been increasingly become a statist and anti-establishment ideology (see Neo-Fukuyamaism) that see themselves as revolutionaries - just in a reactionary sense, since they wish for a return to a previous state of society which they believe was more equal. In this sense, they reject the orthodox narrative of Marxism that society will always progress naturally towards socialism and communism, and instead believe in essence technological progress will only further empower Transhumanists and Singularitarians.
#2: Bioconservatism when political is very much concerned with class warfare, since the vast majority of baseline humans which they represent comprise the poor, hardcore unemployed/welfare class and lower classes, while the wealthy are often trashumans, and the super-wealthy are overwhelmingly transhumans, since an individual baseline human can not compete with an individual transhuman in most fields. Bioconservatism as such values economic and social equality - or rather, 'equity' - in the sense that Bioconservatives believe that Transhumanism makes society inherently unequal, and therefore the state must intervene to redistribute resources for the baseline human lower class majority. While Baseline humans cannot compete as individuals or really in an economic sense due to their growing obsolescence - UNOM is still a democracy, so they can collectively leverage the only power over transhumanism they still possess - political power via the electoral system.
#3: On religious conservatism, I kind of agree with you, well at least there would be a strong association between religious conservatism and bioconservatism due to religious ideals and cultural values emphasising tradition and the 'holy human form' (or as you said, my body is my temple). However there are a few issues with this. Firstly, Bioconservatism is most popular in UNOM's economically declining or devastated but extremely overpopulated metropolitan core worlds (Basically Space!Detroit) where large baseline human majorities reside... but where irreligion is generally stronger too. As noted previously, religion in general was in steady decline until the New Age movements and renewed spiritual movements started appearing, and these New Age movements were most popular in the outer regions of UNOM and particularly amongst Singularitarians - it took longer for Biocon spirituality to reignite. For this reason, Bio-Conservatism still maintains a degree of secularism - particularly amongst its elite, which comprise mostly of radical intellectuals and bureaucrats. Another issue is that by the 29th century, the link between the Religious Right and Capitalism has been severed, that is to say, cultural religious conservatives and capitalists are not on the same side. Most capitalists are transhumans and are also often atheistic or follow various humanist or alternative religious beliefs (such as Theo-Singularitarianism), and typically side with libertarian transhumanist ideologies such as Cornucopianism, Californiaism and Right-Extropianism. For this reason, it is not impossible by the 29th century to be both a kind of cultural and religious conservative while simultaneously believe in a kind of non-materialist form of neo-marxism (even if actual orthodox marxism is very secular/atheistic in nature), with more emphasise on equity and class warfare over historical materialism.
#4: In essence,because capitalism by the 29th century is very much on the side of certain schools of transhuman thought (Cornucopianism), Bioconservatism was left with over time altering its stance and slowly embracing increasingly socialistic economic beliefs to have an actual economic platform.
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Now, for less lore dumping and actual conversation: Admittedly, I do need to give the religious and non-material idealistic side of Bioconservatism a greater focus, and if you have any suggestions for that, I am willing to listen. That said, I believe Bioconservatism having a left-ward economic belief system makes sense, considering the economic situation they are in.
EDIT: Also, thinking about it - you could have Bioconservatives with traditionalist or neo-mercantilist economic beliefs, however such a belief would require a state dominated by baseline human politics and producers to be baseline humans, rather than in UNOM where most of this is dominated by transhumans... as such, Mercantilist Bioconservative could exist in rogue nations that exist beyond UNOM, though they would nearly always be out-produced by transhuman capitalists.
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Political Ideologies of the 29th Century II (Singularitarianism)
MANDATE LOST IIB: Political Ideologies (Singularitarianism)
While both Singularitarianism and Cornucopianism are considered transhumanist ideologies and share various similarities due to originally being in the same alliance of broader transhumanism, in the 29th century they are considered opposing schools of thought. This divide can be explained both by their inherently differing views and goals concerning transhumanism but also because of gradual antipathy and distrust distancing the factions overtime as the once niche philosophies became genuine political forces, enough so that the two schools of thought are considered just as antithetical to each other as they are both to Bioconservatism. There are however nuances in this divide, as there are in all things, as there exists hybrid ideologies that sit between Singularitarianism and Cornucopianism - ideologies such as Right-Extropianism and far more extreme, the various forms of Posthumanist ideology.
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Singularitarianism
Singularitarianism, in its purest form, simply refers to the belief in or desire for a technological singularity - a technological singularity in this original orthodox context referring to a state wherein technology accelerates to such a level that it becomes irreversible, uncontrollable and possibly even unknowable, and generally speaking most Singularitarian schools of thought agree that this event will be directly caused by the creation of a super-intelligence - likely in the form of an artificial intelligence, thought since the birth of Eve Nimue in the late 21st century, a biologically-formed transhuman super-intelligence has become an alternative theory for acting as the catalyst of the technological singularity. Singularitarianism, differing from mere futurism, establishes that a technological singularity is not only possible but a moral imperative - and believe it is a moral duty to push towards this state of existence... thus placing the ideology irrevocably at odds with its opposing philosophical reaction, Bioconservatism.
Singularitarianism is believed to originate from the late 20th century, as an offshoot of futurism that broke off with the foundation of the concept of the Technological Singularity as well as the formulation of Moore's Law and from it the future implications of the inevitability of super-intelligence. While the technological singularity did not occur in 2050 as the 20th century Singularitarian futurists believed, the ideology held fast in the wake of 21st century setbacks... though while the future Singularitarians would slowly find ways to surpass such archaic barriers as the problem of silicon... they would instead find a far more difficult barrier erecting itself in the form of hostile regulation and political pressure, particularly after the successful creation of the unrelated biological Transhuman Eve Nimue. Nimue would set off a bioconservative chain-reaction that saw many A.I research institutes and initiatives closely monitored and aborted from above and so ending what was once tactical approval from states and corporations who once wished to benefit from potential advanced artificial intelligence.
While Eve Nimue would first be a curse for Singularitarianism in its orthodox artificial intelligence based form, she herself as a person would ironically become one of its greatest advocates and symbols. When she was not contributing superscientific miracles to the fields of biology, medicine or physics, she often attempted to end regulations on artificial intelligence, advocated for humanistic and transhumanistic ideals and encouraged endeavours that broadly (if indirectly) pushed for the enhancement of intelligence for all human society with the end goal of a singularity-type event. Eve Nimue's wild popularity, idolisation and eventual future cult-status would bring Singularitarianism something it could never achieve before her: Mass appeal. While transhumanism more broadly was birthed as a serious ideology with Nimue's mere creation, it would be Singularitarianism that would be born as a serious ideology by Nimue's actions and beliefs.
With mass appeal however came an unforeseen cost. The induction of massive new numbers of adherents to the ideology, particularly at the very dawn of the "Age of Transhumanism", quickly led to the dilution of the ideology's original core principles and tenets, and while Singularitarianism would grow exponentially throughout the first half of the 3rd millennium, it would do so in a deeply fragmented and chaotic manner, spawning endless derivative and splinter beliefs... and this was even before the Theo-Singularitarians and the New Age got involved, forever altering and in essence hijacking the entire ideology from the 27th century onward. Furthermore, with the increasing social and political backlash in the form of both Bioconservatism and Cornucopianism, Singularitarianism while massively growing as an ideology would see precious few actual developments in technology - particularly after UNOM banned artificial intelligence altogether in 2711's Yingxing Edicts (legislation pushed foward by the HCP and Terran Democracy Party under Bio-Ethics Council Chairman Song Yingxing's advisement), though for centuries prior to this piece of legislation, true self-aware artificial intelligence creation was already nigh-impossible due to the already existing web of regulations.
As such, Singularitarianism has greatly evolved - or perhaps mutated, depending on who you ask, since its original conception in the 20th century. While still idolising an all-changing distant future brought about by grand superscience or superintelligence, the frustrated inability to actually achieve this state has led instead to an increasingly complex collection of philosophies, social norms, religious beliefs and even things as mundane as music genres, architecture and fashion. A whole new culture, and with it an identity, the Singularitarian identity, one that is now even being radically altered further by completely unrelated beliefs, such as New Age spiritualists. Still, by the 29th century, Singularitarianism is a genuine political force in staunch opposition to Bioconservatism and (perhaps to a lesser extent) Cornucopianism. It has grown increasingly militant and revolutionary - disillusioned by a millennium of failures despite its growth in size. Further pushing Singularitarianism as a whole towards militancy was the Scutum Uprising - a low-intensity rebellion in 2871 to 2873 that saw UNOM Peacekeepers crush a adhoc civilian uprising of Singularitarians (particularly Theo-Singularitarians) following an excessive police crackdown after a terrorist attack. The government at the time, The Centre-Left Humanist Party collapsed soon after the uprising, as its core constituents of Singularitarians abandoned it following its handling of the crisis against what was in essence its own voting base. In its stead rose the radical Singularitarian Party, an overtly identitarian political faction that demands immediate change to UNOM... or else.
Politically, Singularitarianism in the Parliamentary Assembly of the United Nations Orion Mandate is considered a 'left-wing' ideology and political faction. While Singularitarianism is not necessarily socialistic or left-wing in terms of economics, it often carries with it a sense of collectivism, radical technological advancement, social progressivism and techno-utopianism - and many Singularitarians also often believe in Utopian Post-Scarcity economic theories. Even in its religious, New Age Theo-Singularitarian form, Singularitarianism maintains these characteristics. Regardless of its economic form however, Singularitarianism is inherently considered 'left' due to its technological accelerationism, which is perceived to be in direct opposition to the cultural reactionary or conservative values of the 'right wing' Bioconservatives, even if said Bioconservatives are often economically left-wing themselves. Further complicating this is Cornucopianism, which while a capitalistic or libertarian ideology, is also considered 'left wing' due to its similar social progressive and technological accelerationist views. It could be argued strongly that Cornucopianism is inherently a right-wing ideology (and probably should be in 21st century standards), but by the 29th century these standards have long since changed.
Some of the most prominent branches of Singularitarian schools of thought are as follows:
A-SINGULARITARIANISM
A-Singularitarianism, also known as "Alpha Singularitarianism" or more tongue-in-cheek, "Actual Singularitarianism" refers to a more moderate syncretic form of Singularitarianism that likes to consider itself, or at least pretends to be, the most mainstream variant of Singularitarianism, rejecting the 29th century extremes in Singularitarianism that have risen. While it positions itself as the 'true Singularitarians' by virtue of still aiming towards a Technological Singularity for the expressed purpose of achieving a cyber-utopian world, and believes this should be established via a super-intelligent artificial intelligence, in actuality A-Singularitarianism is a mutant breed of Singularitarianism like most other 29th century variants, and has fused elements of Theo-Singularitarianism (many A-Singularitarians are also Theo-Singularitarians, even if they say that their religious beliefs do not necessarily determine their political beliefs), Left-Extropianism and Techno-Progressivism. In general, A-Singularitarians are in essence the ideological equivalent of a big tent political party, gathering as many branches of Singularitarianism while rejecting each branches more extreme or violent wings, and instead professing to maintaining civic and democratic values - and an insistence that The Singularity can only be achieved through non-violent and preferably democratic means via repealing UNOM legislation against it. While many of the original secular Singularitarian philosophers and theorists have since re-branded themselves as Left-Extropians (or even Right-Extropians) following the introduction of spirituality and collectivism to the wider Singularitarian movement, and Theo-Singularitarianism has since eclipsed both A-Singularitarianism and Left-Extropianism in mass appeal and political power, A-Singularitarians still like to hold up the fact that Eve Nimue, the supposed messiah of Theo-Singularitarianism, is in fact aligned with them, and not the faction that seems to worship her as a kind of religious figure or even deity. Typically, A-Singularitarians can be found in all Singularitarian-aligned political parties, except for the most extreme, though in general A-Singularitarians tend to inhabit the moderate wing of the Singularitarian Party, as they generally try to maintain their moderate credentials but also try to distance themselves from the failed Humanist Party and the distinctly unpopular Techno-Progressives.
THEO-SINGULARITARIANISM
Theo-Singularitarianism stands as a unique embodiment of the 3rd millennium as much as Eve Nimue, and perhaps could even compete with her for being the defining attribute of the period of 2000AD to 3000AD. While to the rest of mankind Theo-Singularitarianism stands as the greatest of the New Age Cults, the sole cult to rise to such enormous prominence to be considered perhaps even a true religion, Theo-Singularitarians instead view themselves as uniquely apart from the other New Age cults, and instead considers themselves the youngest and greatest of the Abrahamic faiths, its revelations following in the path of such figures as Moses, Jesus and Mohammed. While the other New Age cults would be collectively born around the 27th century - Theo-Singularitarianism predated them by many centuries, and its earliest recorded adherents (or, what could be considered 'spiritual predecessors') go all the way back to the very early 21st century, in the form of very early Transhumanist Singularitarian Mormons, also known as the Mormon Transhuman Association (MTA) - in actuality an interfaith transhumanist organisation that splintered from the LDS Church in 2006. While originally a tiny and niche group - its existence represented a force that would eventually be unleashed upon the world and then the wider galaxy: The convergence of religious spiritualism and transhumanist singularitarianism.
In its earliest days Theo-Singularitarianism was considered a mere novelty or joke religion to the masses, or even an idol cult to such figures as Elon Musk and later and perhaps more accurately, Eve Nimue. But ever so slowly - Theo-Singularitarianism grew. First the MTA, then dozens of other similar organisations. Following the birth of Eve Nimue and the rise of Transhumanism - suddenly Singularitarianism wasn't such a niche ideology anymore, and with it came interest in its spiritual cousin. Due to its easily applicable and syncretic nature, Theo-Singularitarianism quickly gained branches in nearly all mainstream faiths, but most prominently of all was Christianity. Throughout the 3rd Millennium, Christianity saw the harshest decline in adherents of the great traditional religions. Displaced by Islam as the Earth's largest faith in the mid-21st century, and in general seeing decline of religiosity across North America and Europe as well as successful but easily syncreticized branches of Christianity in Asia - it would be Christianity that had the most profound interaction with Theo-Singularitarianism, as many desperate believers and pastors turned to new sources of inspiration, or new Christian denominations in Korea and China felt no taboo with easily fusing the two different belief systems. Theo-Singularitarianism would further grow with the advent of FTL travel, and the first great 'Exodus' flight, a specific interstellar mass movement of an identity group was launched by the Theo-Singularitarians, who sought to colonise new worlds first to avoid social stigma and ostracism for their beliefs. While they did not form independent nations like future exodus Flights did (such as the Junkers, Gardeners or Ascalonites) - their colonial efforts led to an impressive spread of Theo-Singularitarianism on a galactic scale.
Now, in the 29th century - Theo-Singularitarianism nears its zenith. The new age movements of the 27th century only empowered it even further. Eve Nimue's rise to power as UNOM's creator and first Secretary-General secured itself even further legitimacy. Combining all of its syncretic branches of other mainstream faiths (particularly Christianity), it stands as the second largest religion in the galaxy - only behind Islam in number of adherents. It has since eclipsed its secular Singularitarian variants so thoroughly that many atheistic Singularitarian philosophers and theorists have since denounced Singularitarianism and become Extropians. Where there was once a secular movement based on rationality and Utopian materialism, now stood a distinctly idealistic and anti-materialist ideology that embraced cyber-utopianism as a means of achieving spiritual oneness with god, to perfect the spirit in preparation for the rapture (as the MTA first suggested), or even to prepare for the Technological Singularity not as a scientific event - but as a spiritual transcendence of humanity - unbound by its mortal coils and returned to an Eden without scarcity or death. While most Theo-Singularitarian branches due to its Christian origins tend to still hold the Abrahamic God and Jesus Christ as paramount, Eve Nimue has somewhat apocryphally (and heretically) been uplifted to a messanic-like status akin to Jesus - even if she herself is a secular humanist. It is not unheard of in the 29th century to see Theo-Singularitarians unironically refer to Eve Nimue as such a figure.
In terms of politics - Theo-Singularitarianism has always been a counter-cultural force, stigmatised and feared both by secularists and traditional religious authority, and by the 29th century it has since become radicalised, perhaps even moreso than its secular cousins. Theo-Singularitarianism stands as the galaxy's mightiest political religion, long after Islam's modernisation and Christianity's slow millennia long decline. Holding power over massive numbers of people both through political and religious identity, Theo-Singularitarianism stands as the primary populist wing of Singularitarianism, and the Singularitarian Party itself predominately aligns with Theo-Singularitarianism because of this, as the masses prefer to vote for the faithful rather than secular variants. While Theo-Singularitarianism tends to still advocate for democratic principles, they are often blended with goals for theocracy, techno-theocracy, e-democracy, revolutionary dictatorship or collective communes known as 'Consensus':. Like Neo-Fukuyamaism, Theo-Singularitarianism considers itself a revolutionary movement, and has enough of waiting patiently for legislative reforms that will never come, and is still deeply bitter and vengeful over the outcome and perceived injustices of the Scutum Uprising.
Finally, Theo-Singularitarianism possesses a unique advantage over most other ideologies in the galaxy: It has significant appeal beyond the borders of the Mandate. While Gardernism, Neo-Ascolonites and other strange religious new age movements have all grown in the far out depths of the untamed galaxy, it is Theo-Singularitarianism that stands atop them all - courtesy of the mass-conversion of the largest Junker Combine ever in the late 27th century. The Junkers, being anarcho-nationalist space-dwellers who declare their spacecrafts of various size to be nationstates, are not particularly fond of UNOM and in fact are often existing in a state of unrecognised war with the hyperpower for centuries on end. While dwarfed by several orders of magnitude by UNOM, the Combine of Junker Republics, the largest Junker confederation in the galaxy, has declared itself whole-heartedly for Theo-Singularitarianism, and considers its military forces and navy in particular a force to defend the Singularitarian faith from UNOM's tyrannical government.
TECHNO-PROGRESSIVISM (Viridianism)
Techno-progressivism. An ideology with very poor luck. In essence, it is supposed to be an ideology that fuses singularitarianism and technological accelerationism with elements of traditional social progressivism, welfarism, equity and social justice, as well as incorporating some more mild Cornucopian aspects such as morphological freedom, transhuman identity and pan-human civil liberties - though without the more hardcore elements of Cornucopian libertarianism, transhuman identity or anarcho-capitalism. Techno-Progressivism in general is considered a moderate hybrid ideology between Singularitarianism and Cornucopianism, similar to Extropianism, though lacking that ideologies nature as an actual fusion of the two factions and rather is more of a catch-all compromise between the two.
Prior to the catastrophic disaster of the Scutum Uprising (2971-2973), Techno-Progressism stood as the most powerful Singularitarian-aligned ideology and generally dominated elections through the Centre-Left Humanist Party. It also helped that many moderate and centrist Cornucopians often either voted for the HP or otherwise enjoyed coalitions or confidence-and-supply arrangements between techno-progressives and moderate Cornucopians.
Techno-Progressivism as of 2981 is a ruined shadow of its former glory. The collapse of the Humanist Party due to its actions in putting down the Scutum Uprising, a civil uprising by Singularitarians caused by a cascade of terrorist and police actions, has gutted the entire ideology. The Singularitarian base that made up the majority of the party's voters defected en masse to more radical derivatives that condemned the HP, while Cornucopians left the party either out of disgust for follow-up attempts to appease these defectors, or otherwise joined new radical Cornucopian or secessionist parties. With this collapse of party politics, condemnations and retroactive criticism of the entire techno-progressive ideology came from every corner. Singularitarians condemned it as a weak and ineffectual grouping of Fukuyamaists masquerading as Singularitarians, selling biocon equity politics under a different lense. Cornucopians condemned it as nothing more than a political phantasm born of tactical voting. Bioconservatives joined in even, and condemning it for literally any reason imaginable.
Some Techno-Progressives still remain. HP diehards reformed in the newly named "Viridian Party" (named after the world Viridia, a world which still mostly votes along techno-progressive lines), while others rebranded themselves as 'A-Singularitarians'. While the masses have abandoned the ideals, many high-ranking bureaucrats and officials still align themselves to the belief system... that said, Techno-progressivism is not winning any elections any time soon.
LEFT-EXTROPIANISM
Left-Extropianism is in essence a hybrid ideology between Singularitarianism and Cornucopianism and is the Singularitarian-leaning twin of Right-Extropianism. Extropianism in its purest form is in essence a transhumanist ideology that derives from Extropism (ironically an ideology that was created to build upon 20th century Extropianism). The core guiding principles of Extropianism in both right and left forms are optimistic futurism, live extension leading to total immortality (which has mostly already been achieved by the 29th century, but only for very few transhumans), and an overarching theme of utilitarianism. Extropians in general are recognised as transhumanists with less fanatical or dogmatic adherence to either core Singularitarian or Cornucopian schools of thought, and tend to move between the two so long as they can maximise utility (happiness) and technological progress. This hybrid stance can even be seen as Extropians tend to literally be hybrids, making use of both the more mass, standardised cybernetic enhancements of the Singularitarians while also making use of the customised, esoteric and elite biological enhancements of the Cornucopian elite. What divides Left and Right Extropianism is in essence the divide between Singularitarianism and Cornucopianism. Left Extropians are generally more prone to collectivism and seek mass enhancement for everyone - though not necessarily through a singularity-event (but are willing to accept one if it occurs), while Right Extropians have inherited the scepticism of the Cornucopians towards The Singularity and prefer individualist transhumanism - even if they are still concerned with maximising utility for everyone collectively through individual means, rather than pure morphological freedom and liberty as with typical Cornucopianism. Left-Extropians are in a sense the bridge between Singularitarianism and Cornucopianism, and are the only way the two tranhumanist factions can even really communicate.
LOGOSISM
Logosism, named after its founder Hamal Logos, a secular singularitarian computer scientist and radical intellectual that left the ideology following its increasingly track down the path of spiritualism, is an extremist singularitarian purist ideology that aims to achieve the original pure objectives of actual 20th century Singularitarianism by any means necessary - that is to say, the invention of a super-intelligent artificial intelligence, with the hope that its mere creation will immediately force The Singularity into being. While Hamal Logos was assassinated two centuries ago (theorised to probably have been done by ORISEC, the Orion Department of State Security), the ideology lives on through both his disciples as well as many hidden disgruntled Singularitarian intellectuals who stand against Bioconservativism, Cornucopianism and Singularitarians increasingly religious aspirations. Logosim is relatively unknown amongst the common masses, and is mostly the subject of interest of radical intellectuals, conspiracy theorists and UNOM intelligence agencies. Fascinatingly, while seemingly having no real ideological link with Posthumans besides the desire for a singularity - intelligence services of UNOM are beginning to suspect some kind of collaboration between Posthuman Singularitarians and Logosists.
M-SINGULARITARIANISM (Wei-Yudkowskyism)
M-Singularitarianism, also known as Millenarian Singularitarianism, Weism or Wei-Yudkowskyism is an extreme Singularitarian ideology on the far-left fringe of Singularitarianism, even further than Theo-Singularitarianism and is characterised by its political violence, terrorism and belief in a revolutionary vanguard. M-Singularitarianism believes that no reform or democratic process can possibly bring about The Singularity because human society's elites in either Bioconservative or Cornucopian variants are inherently corrupt and will always wield legislative and political power to stifle a final change the makes themselves obsolete, and will wield the weak and ignorant masses to obstruct this final change further. Their solution as such is radical and sudden change brought about by either radical violence or political accelerationism to force society to the brink of collapse, wherein this period of chaos - society's rulers are unable to block a swift enough action that will enable The Singularity to occur.
M-Singularitarianism in terms of final goal is relatively orthodox - they desire the same Technological Singularity as regular Singularitarians, however have taken on extreme violence and reject democratic principles entirely - and are openly willing to establish a totalitarian state so long as it is able to force The Singularity.
The ideology's founders, Zion Wei Jinhai and Eli Yudkowsky are in 2891 two of the most infamous terrorist and rebel leaders in the galaxy, at least operating within UNOM space and not aligned with Deep Organism. They lead the Singularitarian Revolutionary Nuclei (SRN) and were former student protesters during the Scutum Uprising that survived the Siege of New Prosperity Technology University, the uprising itself and the following purges and manhunts. The SRN they lead is the primary source of propaganda of M-Singularitarianism, and Eli in particular is known to make use of extensive pirate broadcasts and illegal communication methods to disperse political writings and quasi-philosophical pieces (Jinhai in contrast is more of an actual military leader). The Scutum Continuation Army (SCA) while more populist and revenge-focused than the more elitist and ideological SRN is also heavily influenced by M-Singularitarianism. In general, the regions that were most affected or still have not recovered from the Scutum Uprising continue to be fertile breeding grounds for M-Singularitarianism.
POSTHUMAN SINGULARITARIANISM
Posthuman Singularitarianism is so extreme and off-note from the rest of Singularitarianism - that in-universe almost no Singularitarian actually considers them Singularitarians. Posthuman Singularitarians are a branch of Posthumanists that like other Posthumanist schools of thought completely reject humanity in its entirety and see it as their life's work to completely abolish their own humanity and achieve a form completely separate of man. Unlike normal Posthumanists however, Posthuman Singularitarians take this a step further by wishing to become an "Ultimate", a posthuman, superintelligent, Nietzschean Ubermensch that has achieved Technology Singularity personally, rather than as a society - in essence, a technologically born god. How exactly these Posthuman Singularitarians seek to achieve this state is not exactly understood within UNOM, since Posthumanism is illegal and anyone that attempts it, researches it, becomes it or born as it is soon after silenced by ORISEC or escapes into the depths of the unexplored galaxy. It can therefore only be theorised about - extreme off-the-walls genetic engineering, xeno-DNA grafting, embedding multiple illegal artificial intelligences into one-themselves, impossible drugs, ancient alien artefacts, magic, or whatever else the ravings of online conspiracy forum goers can contrive from their minds.
How many Posthumans are out there is not known even by ORISEC - and with reports of such things as Eusocial Posthumanity and other extreme and dangerous variants of an already off-the-walls belief system, ORISEC lives in constant fear of the mere possibility a Posthuman Ultimate could even exist.
---- Note: The MTA (Mormon Transhuman Association) is a an actual, real organisation. I did not just make it up, as wacky as it sounds.
Also,
The Flesh is Weak.
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Political Ideologies of the 29th Century III (Cornucopianism)
MANDATE LOST IIC: Political Ideologies (Cornucopianism)
Humanity throughout the third millennium has been in a continuous struggle between the duelling forces of transhumanist technological acceleration and bioconservative technological deceleration. The inevitability of ever increasing technology and the desire of humans to enhance themselves and unleash their creations; against the natural desire of human self-perseverance, fear of the unknown and the will to regulate and control the creations of man. While Singularitarianism would be the hardest hit by Bioconservative's consistent waves of regulations holding back the Singularity, transhumanism as a whole would still advance and prosper - and so it would be the Cornucopian transhumans that would benefit. Cornucopianism would benefit because for while the Singularitarians required an all-consuming final change, the Cornucopians only needed incremental changes and self-enhancement... and like the story of the frog in water that slowly heated until boiling... human society has failed to fully comprehend the true extent that they have enabled transhumanism to slowly advance, bit by bit, until it has all but become too late.
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Cornucopianism
Originally, Cornucopianism was not an ideology that specifically dealt with the subject of Transhumanism. In its original form, prior to the advent of Transhumanism, it was simply an optimistic futurist ideology that stated that exponential human-growth would not lead to a Malthusian Catastrophe, but rather advancements in technology and the true abundance of resources both on Earth and later in the wider cosmos would enable for theoretically unlimited human expansion. Cornucopianism in the 3rd millennium however has long since expanded and mutated from these humble beginnings, and is now a broad category of Transhumanist libertarian schools of thought. Cornucopianism in general desires freedom of economic activity, unrestricted access to personal human enhancement, morphological freedom as a civil right (the right to enhance oneself) and believes that through ensuring transhuman freedom and in general permitting technological innovation, humanity as a whole will progressively advance socially and economically. Cornucopianism is in most variants capitalistic in nature, seeing individual economic activity as preferable to the state, which throughout the 3rd millennium has strong connotations with Bioconservatism, technological regulation and equity politics designed to redistribute resources from Transhumans to Baseline humans.
Cornucopians as a philosophy mostly descend from sceptic Transhuman futurists who rejected the Singularity as a necessarily 'moral imperative' and rather preferred gradual technological progression and incremental human enhancement, fearing the Cyber-Utopianism of the Singularitarian futurists as excessively moralistic, dogmatic and potentially totalitarian in its desire to collectively remake all society - and often accused their former transhumanist allies of ideological fanaticism and quasi-religiosity (which fascinatingly would turn into an accidental prediction of the rise of Theo-SIngularitarianism). And so, with Cornucopian theorists breaking off from their more devout collectivist Singularitarian cousins, their tendency towards gradual and safe application of self-enhancement technology to any level but without suggesting radical alterations to society saw them become wildly popular with the global wealthy elite who could afford the technology in its infancy, who were quick to either try to enhance themselves or at least birth transhuman children to succeed them. The support of the early wealthy elite of Earth's nations was in large part why early Bioconservative intellectuals, regulators and religious traditionalists were ineffectual in blocking the rise of Transhumanism following the birth of Eve Nimue, even if they squashed Singularitarianism.
As such, it would be with great irony that Silicon Valley billionaire and transhumanist Peter Thiel, considered the Arch-Cornucopian would create the icon of Singularitarianism, an ideology he would strongly disagree with if he knew what it would become, however would succeed anyway in advancing Cornucopianism as global regulators would only block Singularitarian transhumanists, ignoring Cornucopian transhumanists due to the extensive wealth, influence and power the latter group held.
Cornucopianism over time has become associated with anti-populism (except most recently in the 29th century, with certain branches of Transhuman populism forming), elitism and classism, mostly due to its wild early successes with Earth's elite establishing an unyielding trend wherein either transhumans would inevitably become wealthy due to their inherent superiority, or already wealthy humans would have access to funds to become transhumans. Compounded by Cornucopianism's general belief of unlimited personal freedom and progressive self-enhancement, Cornucopian Transhumans do not merely establish a few modifications for themselves, but continued self-development and improvement, upgrading as technology improves. By the 29th century, UNOM is split in its highest levels of power between democratically elected or academia-aligned bioconservative radicals and dynastic nigh-immortal transhuman neo-aristocrats and plutocrats, the latter group roughly aligned with Cornucopian ideology, though with some holding Singularitarian or Extropian sympathies.
In the 29th century as radicalism, populism and identitarianism spread across Biconservative and Singularitarian schools of thought, so too has Cornucopianism been affected. With the collapse of the Humanist Party and a final decisive end to any coalition building between Cornucopian elites and Singularitarian radicals, some Cornucopian factions have decided to end any pretence of aligning with the status quo, and instead advocate for their own radicalism in the form of Transhuman nationalism, separatism, Transhuman identity politics and a need to once and for all achieve total independence from the political manoeuvring of collectivist Singularitarians and Bioconservatives - the latter of which they are increasingly seeing as not just threats to their civil rights as was the norm, but threats to their continued survival as a people. Further radical developments even include ironic support for authoritarianism, some radical transhuman Libertarians believing that Liberty and Democracy are incompatible concepts, as democracy will always lead to the curtailing of civil rights and personal liberties by the majority, constitution or not.
The political position of Cornucopianism is deeply controversial. Officially it is classified as left-wing due to its technological accelerationist views, often alignment with social progressivism and civil liberties, advocacy for reform, gradual social development and a focus on novelty and advancement - as well as their general opposition to religious and social conservative forces in the form of bioconservatism. On the other hand, Cornucopianism is an overtly capitalistic ideology, is often elitist and supported by social elites, and while not officially supporting hierarchy, is often indirectly preferring hierarchical to egalitarian power structures - even if they endorse personal freedom and civil liberties to a far greater extent than Bioconservativism or Singularitarianism. Originally, Cornucopians were mostly found in the Humanist Party, however with the collapse of said party, Cornucopian Transhumans are increasingly supporting the actual Cornucopia Party (formerly a small libertarian party, now radical separatist party) or other Transhuman separatist and localist parties.
Some of the most prominent branches of Cornucopian schools of thought are as follows:
CALIFORNIAISM
Californiaism, also historically known in the 20th century as "The Californian Ideology" refers to the at the time radically libertarian, individualist, technocratic and techno-libertarian/futurist culture that spawned from the technocratic entrepreneurs of the former United States' Silicon Valley. While at the time considered a social critique of the Silicon Valley, the term has since been appropriated by Cornucopian Transhumanists themselves, and has since become the codifying name of the mainstream, moderate or centrist wing of Cornucopian thought, at least when it isn't simply called Cornucopianism (usually, it is referred to as Californianism to distinguish itself from newer and more radical branches of Cornucopianism). Californianism stands as perhaps one of the last Neo-Liberal ideologies in the galaxy. It typically professes secular humanism, social progressivism, bipartanship and democratic principles, though still emphasises the core transhumanist goals of Cornucopianism, pushing for stronger recognition of Transhuman civil rights, morphological freedom and freedom of economic action, as well as possessing a general character of meritocracy, capitalistic entrepreneurship and in particular a support for colonialism. Californiaism was once represented within the Humanist Party alongside the Singularitarian-leaning Techno-Progressives, but has since become a wayward ideology with no home. Californiaists are found across the spectrum of politics, finding themselves in radical Cornucopian parties like the Cornucopia Party, Extropian groups, the Viridian Party, and even parts of the centrist Bioconservative Movement, such as the HCP.
An ideology with numerous names. Separatist Cornucopianism, named for its Transhuman separatist goals. Leeism, after its founder Claude Byron Lee III, the last scion of the formerly ultra-wealthy transhuman oligarch Lee Dynasty. In more intellectual circles, it is referred to as Identity Cornucopianism for its hardcore nationalistic and identitarian character... but more colloquially, it is simply recognised as Radical Cornucopianism, the Transhumanist answer to Neo-Fukuyamaism. Radical Cornucopianism continues to support core principles of Cornucopianism such as morphological freedom, Transhuman civil liberties and freedom of economic action - but believes that these values cannot be maintained or protected within a state that constantly wishes for the destruction of these principles, and as such Cornucopians... or more specifically, Transhumans, must separate themselves from UNOM to preserve their inalienable rights as human beings, even if enhanced. In this sense, Radical Cornucopians are not unlike to a racial supremacist or fascist movement in-seeking a racial ethno-state, though they lack many other characteristics of these movements such as totalitarian politics (Radical Cornucopians still tend to desire republican or liberal forms of governance), a belief in war as a necessarily glorious endeavour rather than a means to an end and so on.
While Radical Cornucopianism still professes allegiance to a vague concept of democracy, it has with its increasingly militancy taken on aspects and idiosyncratic elements of even more fringe extremist elements of Cornucopianism - typically anti-democratic libertarians who believe (without a flicker of irony) that Liberty and Democracy are incompatible, and the only way to maintain civil liberties is to do away with democracy. While not full on calling for dictatorship or some kind of oligarchy of neo-feudalism as the Dark Cornucopians wish, this bizarre belief of removing democracy to protect civil liberty has led to Radical Cornucopians often seeing extra-legal, unconstitutional and revolutionary activity as potential avenues to achieving their goals. In its more subdued manifestation, this includes the radicalised Cornucopia Party setting up illegal and unconstitutional referendums to establish the popular will for specific sectors of UNOM to unilaterally declare independence, even if the wider UNOM population rejects these referendums. More alarmingly, Radical Cornucopianism has a strong tendency towards strongman-leadership, with figures like Claude Lee standing as larger-than-life 'great people'.
Radical Cornucopianism fascinatingly is also particularly adverse to Singularitarianism, not just Bioconservatism. While ideologically this seems odd since Bioconservatism is clearly the ideology's greater and more contrasting foe, Claude Lee and other prominent thinkers and defining leaders of the movement are coincidentally also staunch critics of Singularitarianism, and this more personal coincidence has shaped the entire movement in turn.
RIGHT-EXTROPIANISM
The Cornucopian wing of Extropianism in essence is the closest remnant to the original transhumanist futurist theorists that split from the Singularitarians over concerns and scepticism of The Singularity, or rather the methods and reason for why and how the Singularitarians pursued it. Right-Extropianism rather than purely focusing on morphological freedom and other liberties maintains the utilitarian techno-progressive goals of wider Extropianism, and are more interested as such in actually spreading the fruits of Cornucopia to everyone, including baseline humans - specifically baseline humans even, as they are perceived to be the greatest sufferers of the negative side-effects of transhumanism. Still, Right-Extropians are mostly Cornucopian in nature, and in general reject the all-consuming utopian vision and collectivism of even their Left-Extropian siblings, and prefer to instead still work within the framework of human society, now with transhuman characteristics.
Fascinatingly, Right-Extropianism has a second definition besides the above philosophical school of thought: Right-Extropianism also represents a sub-culture of sorts of Cornucopians who are willing to take on the cultural, aesthetic and peripheral ideals of Singularitarianism while not fully committing themselves to the actual ideology of Singularitarianism. This is important because Singularitarianism' as an ideology is closely linked to other subjects - particularly cybernetics in general, to the point where Cornucopian transhuman purists often forgo cybernetics entirely out of fear of being associated with the political belief system. The Right-Extropian subculture in contrast, has no such fear, and are perfectly willing to take on the paraphernalia of Singularitarianism even if they are not actual believers themselves.
ANARCHO-TRANSHUMANISM
While as Radical Cornucopians have taken to nationalism and identitarianism as their form of radicalism, a differing form of radicalism exists in following Cornucopian's libertarian ideals to their logical conclusion. The dissolution of all government, everywhere. Quite simply; if no government exist, no one can regulate transhuman technology, and as a bonus - it is believed that without a larger centralised state, the Singularitarians will have significant difficulty in establishing any all-consuming totalitarian 'utopia'. Anarcho-Transhumanists have limited political power in UNOM due to being crowded out by nationalistic Radical Cornucopians, neo-feudalist Dark Cornucopians and, on the other side of the spectrum, Anarcho-Primitivist and other extreme-biocon factions dominating the anarchist scene.
Beyond the Mandate however, Anarcho-Transhumanism is more prominent and flourishing - particularly amongst the more Transhumanism-friendly Outworlders or Junkers that refused to convert to Singularitarianism in the 27th century. Anarcho-Transhumanists in particular are known for forming mutualist cooperatives and other vague anarchist voluntary organisations, usually built on a similar premise to Junker combines as loose confederations of Nation-ships. More questionably, certain corporations involved in UNOM's colonial initiatives beyond its borders have vaguely flirted with Anarcho-Transhumanism, particularly corporations led by transhuman oligarchs who while radicalised against UNOM do not want to take part in the bloody nationalistic conflicts that are sure to come.
DARK CORNUCOPIANISM (Neo-Reactionary Modernism)
Simply put, Cornucopianism unleashed in all its extreme fringe glory. The source of the concept of Liberty and Democracy being incompatible ideals spreading through Radical Cornucopianism, and inheritors of 21st century Dark Enlightenment and Neo-Reactionary (NrX) fringe theories from the likes of philosopher Nick Land, Menacious Moldbug and even Peter Thiel. Dark Cornucopianism rejects the basic presumptions of The Enlightenment altogether - That human rights even exist (let alone are inalienable), that all men were born equal (which to Dark Cornucopians is patently false, even before transhumanism made this statement even more absurd) and that any of these were provided by a god that does not exist. In wild contrast to nearly all other extremist ideologies of the 29th century (besides Posthumanism), Dark Cornucopianism is distinctly anti-populist, and believes in fact populism is often the root cause of all failures in human history - an adherence to the small minded nattering of the small minded masses. Even more interesting, in contrast to all other Cornucopian ideologies, Dark Cornucopianism shares a number of ironic beliefs and traits with Bioconservativism - most notably a return to an older, reactionary form of human society, though still maintaining choice technological advancements - in particular those related to morphological freedom.
Dark Cornucopianism suggests a return to 'true aristocracy' as the ideal form of governance, or some modernised derivative of such a system, such as corporatism or a vaguely neo-feudalist but authoritarian state run as a corporation. Authoritarianism in general is the goal - though not necessarily Totalitarianism. While Dark Cornucopians lack the all-consuming totalitarian beliefs of Extreme Biocon or Extreme Singularitarianism, they hold such an obvious and pronounced disdain for the lower masses, their authoritarianism is easily comparable to it. The most capable and virtuous shall lead transhumanity eternally by their inherent nature and compounding improvements to both themselves and wider society. Inferior successors that plagued historical aristocracies shall be nullified by the fact that the new aristocracy shall be both immortal and genetically (and reaching posthuman lines of thought, even neurologically) tailored to perfection. While Dark Cornucopianism is militant, it is not directly so. It lacks the mass movement politics of other extreme ideologies and as such does not have fanatical terrorists or violent paramilitary wings to call upon. Instead, it works through complex manipulation, dynastic networking, information control, lobbying inside other movements and backing the militant forces of allied forces. Some terrorist forces act in the name of whichever ideology they believe, completely unaware they serve a very different master.
Interestingly, unlike Radical Cornucopians, Dark Cornucopians do not necessarily see Baseline humans as an existential threat but rather as objectively inferior minds that are rapidly approaching total obsolesce. Dark Cornucopians are in general divided on what to do with these inferiors. Some suggest nothing, as they will simply be naturally washed away through the process of history. Others suggest ridding the world of them by mass-modifying all humans , or others believe a return of slavery is the most moral alternative - as slavery will give purpose to a purposeless people while still maintaining their existence. Others suggest simply killing them.
Dark Cornucopians have an odd relationship with Posthumanists. On one hand, they are spiritually very similar ideologies with similar views of the world - but also view each other as different groups of peoples, Posthumanists viewing themselves as anti-humans, while Dark Cornucopians view themselves as 'humans perfected'. Posthumanists reject Dark Cornucopianism for its limited scope and irrational sentiments towards human culture holding them back, while Dark Cornucopians view Posthumanists as an ideology that has long since abandoned any desire to actually rule over a perfect society, and instead simply become megalomaniac gods or serial killers that worship aliens that don't even exist. Eusocial Posthumanists however are the exception, and many Dark Cornucopians and Eusocial Posthumans secretly collaborate and maintain contacts.
POSTHUMANISM
The absolute terror of the 29th century. 'The Most Dangerous Idea in Human History', according to Arch-Biocon and Cradle Party leader Dr. Malcom Drysdale. Posthumanism using its original definition, is simply Transhumanism that has become so extensive that the subject of that transhumanism has since left the confines of humanity. Posthumanism originally started as a hyperbolic horror story and 'slippery slope fallacy' argument of early bioconservatives warning about the ramifications of out of control genetic engineering, cybernetics and self-improvement. It warned of crazy lunatics mish-mashing various animal parts and the genetic material of alien fauna to create human-animal hybrids. It warned of cyborg brains-in-jars or brain-uploaded A.Is of former humans, perhaps seeking to jump start the Singularity personally. It warned of supermen without any human restraint, or of once-human minds altered neurologically into alien states beyond human understanding, now finding humanity so small as to be stepped on dismissively as ants to a man.
These frenzied bioconservatives could not have imagined the actual horrors that would come - of how limited in scope their imagined worst fears truly were, or of the anti-human ideology that would be spawned thereafter. Posthumanism, the extremist ideology rather than the mere concept of a posthuman being, was codified first by various bioconservatives speaking against this theoretical monster... and then by rogue transhuman scientists and technologically-inclined dissidents who thought that this was a great idea that could eventually be applied in reality, once the technology became sophisticated enough, and so it did by the 28th century.
Posthumanism rejects humanity entirely. Human culture, society, religion, biology and anything derived from 'humanness'. It sees humanity in general as a quaint and archaic historical state to be overcome rather than cherished. Posthumanism instead believes in the quest to overcome one's own humanity in totality, in mind, body and soul. They make use of advanced neurological engineering to modify their own or their descendants/creations brains from things as simple as altering brain chemistry or signals to things as profound as removing pain, empathy, self-preservation or even emotions altogether, or perhaps exaggerating them to absurd degrees. They modify their body to such extents to no longer even be vaguely considered human or human like. This is not merely adding some cat ears or making oneself able to live on strong-gravity worlds... it is the total replacement of the human form, often the more alien the better. While some Posthumans base their modifications on pure utility, maximising efficiency in the quest for perfection... other Posthumans take a more aesthetic or spiritual take, and modify themselves on subjective lines ranging from esoteric and bizarre to lovecraftian horror. In overcoming the human soul, Posthumans often either seek to achieve a state of personal enlightenment of some kind, stripping away their mortal fetters and relationships - becoming either beasts of nature or gods of the cosmos.
Posthumanism is unique for ideologies in that it is specifically and overtly banned in UNOM, as are Posthumans themselves or Posthuman research. Being caught researching Posthuman technology is a life sentence at the very best... a silent shot in the night by ORISEC as the norm. By inherent nature of the ideology and often by the physical manifestation of posthumans - Posthumans are the enemy of the entire human race, and even most Transhumans and Singularitarians. For all intents and purposes, in UNOM's eyes, if you are a Posthuman, the universal declaration of human rights does not apply to you, and as such you do not have a right to live. Ideological Posthumanists ironically agree, since they have no regard for humanity and its 'rights', and a posthuman foolish or weak enough to be destroyed by mere humans is unworthy anyway. It should be noted though, while UNOM and its general society would not like to admit it - not all Posthumans are Posthumanists. The implications of this though haven't really be seen, since the vast majority of Posthumans UNOM have interacted with are the kind that either are incomprehensible or violently extreme. Beyond the Mandate though, perhaps a different story.
On average, most Posthumans tend to be very solitary beings that live extremely reclusive lives devoid of interaction - and when they do interact, it is usually violently. They exist beyond the Mandate or in extreme secrecy, for they are endlessly hunted by UNOM's various intelligence agencies, black ops military departments, militarised scientific organisations, colonial operations and secretive bureaucratic entities totally unknown even to UNOM's own citizens. When Posthumans do interact with others in a non-violent manner, it is usually with Transhumans or other Posthumans, and even then, they rarely associate with such beings. There exists however some branches of Posthumanism that possess more interaction, particularly Eusocial Posthumanism.
GROTESQUE POSTHUMANISM
Grotesque Posthumanism is less a political ideology as it is an art movement, perhaps even an 'extremist' art movement - as strange as that sounds. In essence, Grotesquists deliberately seek to take on forms that are not only alien to man, but invoke either terror or disgust. The reasoning behind this is usually as a kind of anti-human self-expression or a kind of self-imposed spiritual aid to help them detach themselves from human fetters, that is to say, to make it harder to view themselves as a human. For others - it is simply a means of offending humans even further, a kind of nightmarishly Lovecraftian form of trolling. Whichever the case, this art and aesthetic movement is mostly to blame for why Posthumans so often show up in deliberately disgusting or bizarre forms, and also explains why Eusocial Posthumanists took on their very specific forms, rather than just applying the basic "Exohuman" theory they devised. Somewhat humorously, Grotesque Posthumanism has actually infiltrated UNOM in the form of counter-culture amongst some rebel artist or youthful Transhumans, who deliberately take on similar but legal modifications.
EUSOCIAL POSTHUMANISM
Eusocial Posthumanists are perhaps the most famous organised variant of Posthumanism in existence, and one of the primary subjects of Dr. Drysdale's political literature condemning Posthumanity as the ultimate threat of the human race, and as such can be somewhat blamed for the rise of Neo-Fukuyamaism, even if they themselves never directly involved themselves. Eusocial Posthumanists, also known as Carinan Posthumanists due to their propensity of appearing in the Far-Carinan Sector and Carinan borders of UNOM, is a form of extreme collectivist posthumanism, that rather than just vaguely suggesting any 'alien' form to humanity, decided to specifically look towards the insectoid animal kingdom as inspiration for an eventual 'posthuman society'. Originally, Eusocial Posthumans were not literally insectoid, and were mostly still taking on variable non-human forms but all performing the same neurological modification known as 'eusocialisation', which in essence is a kind of neurological rewiring of the brain towards extreme forms of collectivisation, group-synchronisation, caste-like hierarchicalism, extreme focus of specific tasks as part of a wider 'hive' and what could be considered an almost-hivemind like state, though just short of literally being a hivemind.
It is unknown precisely when or why, though it is assumed by outsiders to be because of the rise of the Grotesque movement, Eusocial Posthumanists started to literally start taking on insectoid like-forms, and have progressively standardised enough where Eusocial Posthumanity has become perhaps the first "Posthuman species", or even more sensationalist "the first alien civilisation" - even if they are in fact derived from humanity. Eusocial Posthumans who have not taken on this form, or even Eusocials who maintain human form but with Eusocial neurological modification are now referred to as "Exohumans".
Eusocial Posthumanists are politically speaking collectivist totalitarians to an extent unseen in human or transhuman history, fusing together the anti-human supremacy of Posthumanism, the mass politics and social order theories of humanity, and even some Singularitarian-like beliefs of the Singularitarians, though applied as a biological race rather than as singular superintelligence. While their size is unknown now and they have yet to directly attack UNOM, it is theorised by the likes of Dr.Drysdale and certain UNOM Intelligence agencies that Eusocial Posthumanity may very well become humanity's ultimate enemy in the future, an enemy of the likes never seen before. Eusocial Posthumanism even has its own 'Pandora's Problem' theory (coined by Drysdale) associated with it. Eusocial Posthumans generally speaking differ from other Posthumans not only from their social natures but also from their standardisation and rapid reproduction of new Posthumans, with far more focus of exponential growth as a civilisation rather than as singular and hermit-like pursuit of godhood. Eusocial Posthumans are growing at speeds unrivalled by any other group, even humanity itself, and this speed is only growing exponentially. Drysdale's theory of human extinction within 200 years is stipulated on a "Pandora's Box" situation wherein Eusocial Posthumanity achieves a state of maximal efficiency in their artificial reproduction - and in essence blot out the stars with not only inherently superior posthumans... but in inexhaustible numbers impossible to achieve by humanity.
Further raising the danger of Eusocial Posthumanity is their willingness to interact with the lesser races, compared to other Posthumans. They are well aware that humanity sees it as a threat, and so certain factions of Eusocial Posthumanity are involved in subtlety influencing and networking with forces within UNOM - in particular Dark Cornucopians, who they have a kind of almost mutual respect for.
XENOLOGY & POSTHUMAN XENOLOGY
Xenology stands as a vaguely Cornucopian belief very different and unique from the others and holding little in common, and could be considered Posthuman in some sense if it actually entailed just modifying oneself, rather than the worship of alien gods. Xenology was born as yet another New Age cult religion born of the Great Awakening, though achieved unusual levels of popularity, enough to join Gaiaism as one of the go-to cults to explain the New Age, though achieving no where near the numbers or political power of Theo-Singularitarianism.
Xenology is said to have had two 'phases' of origin. The first phase was the slow endurance of alien conspiracies, UFO cults and ancient astronaut enthusiasts. As humanity expanded across the galaxy with still no alien civilisation in sight (yet clearly alien life in the form of flora and fauna exists), increasingly levels of disbelief at the situation and frustration as well as scepticism in the highly optimistic Exceptional Humanity Theory or the highly pessimistic Great Filter Theory instead gave birth to a third theory - The Fermi Paradox is a lie. Perhaps aliens really are out there, just UNOM maintains a galactic scale conspiracy to conceal them. Perhaps UNOM discovered alien civilisations but eradicated them all in secrecy. Perhaps the aliens have been amongst us all this time, UNOM is and always has been controlled by aliens and Transhumans are actually just alien infiltrators finally revealing themselves. Or perhaps, the most popular alternative that spawned Xenology itself... that Aliens do or did exist, but have all ascended towards a higher plane of existence, achieving such pure enlightenment that material forms are no longer required. Building on the ideas of 'alien gods' seen through the fumes and trances of psychedelic drugs like DMT, the idea that Aliens have all ascended into a spiritual plane transferred through a drug catalyst has boomed amongst those seeking answers but not inclined to believe the stuffy ivory tower academics who say otherwise.
Then came the nuclear bomb of petrol fuel thrown on the fire. In an extremely controversial and widely shared public announcement, in 2863, Theoretical Xeno-linguistics Professor Eitan Azoulai claimed that he and a team of researchers and archaeologists had discovered definitive evidence of intelligent alien life in the form of vague ancient ruins and fragments of stone tablets and carvings indicating language. The Professor further released information on segments of the language that they had attempted to translate - segments that spoke of various stories of alien ancestral folk stories and mythology associated with a ritual burial ground. After the claim, Azoulai was severely scrutinised and investigated, and his claims were declared fallacious, the entire incident a hoax and in reality a publicity stunt to bring in money for his failing post-tenure career. Professor Azoulai was stripped of his accreditation, became a pariah and then later was arrested and charged with tax fraud.
And so the first martyr of Xenology was born - a scientific prophet who revealed the new commandments, and then punished for his sins. The Cult of Xenology reject the academy and UNOMs findings, claim it a gross cover-up and conspiracy to either continue the masquerade that alien civilisations do not exist, that no aliens secretly rule UNOM or, as is the most popular case in Xenology... that UNOM's government either is secretly already in communication with the Alien Gods beyond the Material Barrier (through industrialised ultra-refined DMT use and neurological modification of transhumans known as Thralls, of course) or otherwise is trying to stop everyone else from gaining enlightenment through communication with said gods.
And then the Xenologists actually read Azoulai's translations, and what they discovered was a mythology that all but confirmed their beliefs in Alien Gods ascending through drug-induced enlightenment and communion with "the helpers".
Since then, Xenology has spread as a drug-orientated counter-culture and new age spiritualist movement that seeks to achieve ascension and enlightenment via drug use, self-modification (or in its biocon version - extreme asceticism) and continued communication with what are at times called the "Machine Elves", "Helpers", "Cartoon Cats" or "Bugs and Wasps", various nicknames ascribed to the drug-induced alien gods of Xenology (And DMT-users before them). It believes these Alien Gods are benevolent and wish to uplift humanity towards paradise, an immaterial realm wherein all other worthy intelligent lifeforms have ascended before them. Furthermore and more alarming - some Posthumanists have come out of their self-imposed total isolation to interact with the Xenologist cult, seeing the cult's beliefs as a potential pathway towards Posthuman abolition of their own humanity, or otherwise like the idea of taking on an 'alien mythology' as a religious belief rather than anything thought of by humans. Since Azoulai's interpretations though, a large and complex mythology and culture has spawned, fusing cults, drug counter-cultures, alien conspiracists and posthumanists together in a very odd movement.
---- Note: The DMT Alien Gods thing is a real thing (or as real as drug-induced hallucinations go) that drug users of DMT in real life have actually claimed to see, so it is also not something I just made up.
Right so, I have edited the Bioconservatism page to add more details and expand on some of the ideologies, as well as add a few more (mostly due to Bioconservatism lacking in comparison to the other two). I also intend to probably edit the Gaiaist and Extreme Bioconservative segments so they better explain those areas.
Neo-Integralists are essentially oldschool religion DEUS VULT compared to Neo-Fukuyamaists NAZBOL GANG, filling in the religious blindspot that Doomsough pointed out, and furthermore are more Toryist/Corporatist than Marxist, also representing that there exists other economic theories in Bioconservativism than just commies.
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Right so, to anyone lurking... thoughts? opinions? suggestions?
I think I might move on to a different area such as technology, locations or such - though technology is less thought out and I am not really an expert on sci-fi tech. I will likely explain my garbled concepts and views on technology and then hope I get some responses by people willing to provide ideas on the matter.
Disclaimer: Be warned that I am not exactly an expert of science fiction or speculative future technology, so expect to either see things written in a vague manner or either try to handwave away errors or illogical elements. In general I intend Mandate Lost to be a relatively sensible sci-fi (except the more extreme elements of transhumanism, which are deliberately off the walls), but not really hard science fiction. The lists of technologies as such should be considered a rough idea of what kinds of technology are present in the setting, than an in-depth explanation of how it works. If anyone reading considers themselves an expert of techno babble and speculative fiction tech, feel free to bring up ideas or possible edits.
FABRICATORS
Essentially, Fabricators are the 3-D Printers of the future, and have become the main form of manufacturing for most of the galaxy. Fabricators possess easy scalability and exist from ranges as small as a kitchen appliance to as large as Zero-G Starship manufacturing attachments. Generally speaking, the typical commercial Fabricator is a somewhat simplistic 'magic box' that use a limited number of predetermined raw material inputs that are placed into designated cartridges, and then downloadable blueprints instruct the fabricator to automatically print out the materials in the form of the blueprint. A typical commercial printer usually works with various forms of plastics, metals, ceramics, wood and so forth. Organic fabricators also exist for printing food, in essence a miniaturised (discount) kitchen.
As Fabricators grow larger, their ability to construct more variable and complex products increase. Mass Fabricators, also known as Factory-Fabs are essentially capable of printing complex objects possessing electrical components, working parts and so forth - such as vehicles, electronic devices, etc. Generally speaking however, very large Mass Fabricators are not much different from modern automated assembly lines, as they still require the fabricators to be connected to metal refining plants, processing plants and so on - particularly when rare materials or uncommon components are used or needed.
Fabricators are typically commercialised through a number of revenue streams. Firstly, the Fabricator itself is sold. There exists numerous variants, models and competing brands with different specialisations and levels of quality. Secondly, A fabricator cannot simply produce anything immediately - while they come with a number of pre-programmed blueprints, most blueprints are copyrighted and so must be purchased to be used. Thirdly are licenses, where lower-level Licenses are merely purchased and registered rather than requiring background checks and special government permission; UNOM often requires numerous licenses to produce more complex products or products that may be considered a risk - such as industrial chemicals, using more advanced metallo-cyramics, and so on. Fourthly is a revenue stream taken from the selling of the raw materials placed into Fabricator cartilages. Fifthly is revenue gained from maintenance and repair, as well as some forms of paid software updates, or subscription-type payment methods.
Fabricators should be noted are very much not matter replicators - they require the actual materials to product the product. You cannot just print recreational McNukes - ignoring the fact that unless you are a very skilled hacker, Fabricators will not permit the production of certain illegal goods. Furthermore, most commercial fabricators are deliberately designed in such a way to be unable to function with some specialised or rare materials, in the off-chance that a hacker successfully reprograms a fabricator... though this doesn't stop hackers from printing more simplistic illegal goods, like mass-produced plastic guns.
There exists some extremely niche and specialised Fabricators designed for producing only very specific components using very uncommon materials. The most prominent of these "super-specialist fabricators" are starship engine fabricators, designed to build Alcubierre Drives and nothing else.
MILITARY FABRICATORS
Military Fabricators are in essence just normal Fabricators and Mass-Fabricators but with broad capabilities to produce the hardware of the United Nations Peacekeeping Forces. Behind very secure cyber-security and physical security are the programs to print out armoured vehicles, advanced rifles, missiles and so on. Military Fabricators are a form of specialist fabricator with specific cartilages, components and attached refineries to deal with such materials as military-grade Metallo-Cyramics, Nanocomposites, Carbon Supermaterials, advanced electrical systems for such things as producing particle accelerators, energy fields and so on. Military Fabricators are often more advanced than civilian variants on the market and produce at speeds and quality that most market brands cannot meet, due to access to top-secret and restricted technology. Note that while Military Fabricators alone are supposed to produce military hardware, does not mean that they are the only ones that can. Particularly clever Bootleggers (Professional Fab Hackers) have been known to carefully produce functional military hardware in modular components from hacked civilian fabricators, then put together through outdated manufacturing methods afterwards.
The Military also possess Field Fabricators, which are essentially either just self-propelled mobile Fabricators or otherwise Fabricators attached to APCs or other vehicles and sent into the field. Field Fabricators can do such things as printing new rounds for electromagnetic weaponry from scrap materials, recycle discarded heat sinks or other waste materials, print out emergency supplies in the event of being cut off from logistics (or otherwise operating outside logistic lines), and other logistical benefits that come from having mini-factories attached to field units.
HABITATION FABRICATORS
Habitation Fabricators are essentially self-constructing fusions of fabricators and building cranes that can construct buildings, skyscrapers and so on from the ground up. The conventional Hab-Fab is a vertical builder that in essence 'prints' a building upwards so long as it has the required raw materials and building blueprints. Advanced Hab-Fabs however often have various tools, robotic limbs and extensions that permit them to build in all directions as well as install complex parts and components without human assistance. A large enough Advanced Hab-Fab automation can be sent to a new world's surface and in time build an entire new colony before the arrival of any actual colonists... though UNOM tends to always have some form of human presence in any colonial effort, as legislation and lack of trust for complete automation ensures that a human is always present and involved.
RECYCLING FABRICATORS
In essence reverse-fabricators, Recycling Fabricators come in static and mobile forms and are used to deconstruct, disassemble, separate and reorganise objects and materials back into raw materials for future usage. Some more expensive Fabricators combine recycling and conventional fabrication processes to the point where one may throw a tool into the Fabricator only to have a new version of it reproduced - though typically some new raw materials are needed anyway to account for lost material.
ZERO-G FABRICATORS
Zero-G Fabricators are designed as the name suggests for environments without gravity, such as within space stations without any operating gravity, most starships, asteroid bases or open-space starship manufacturers. Typically Zero-G Fabricators are part-fabricator and part-oversized drone, possessing a web of limbs and extension tools to permit them to produce at numerous sizes and interact with other manufacturing tools such as attached refineries or processing plants also in space.
BOOTLEG FABRICATORS
While Bootlegger Hackers are more commonly renowned for their hi-jinks with hacked official brand Fabricators, there also exist illegal Fabricators designed and built by Bootleggers themselves, or even more infamously Fabricators built beyond the borders of UNOM and thus beyond its laws and regulations. Fabricators that print drugs, guns, explosives, crude lifeforms (or even people), contraband electronics, or simply conventional fabricators that ignore the copyrights and patents of Fabrication companies or product designers within UNOM. certain more anarchist-aligned Junkers in particular are renowned for their far more Laissez Faire views on fabrication copyrights. Due to the close family-like ship communities that Junkers have, so long as it benefits the ship-state, Junkers often do not care for the private property of UNOM-based corporations.
In the 29th century, Space elevators as a form of transportation are mostly considered outdated and obsolete, having been surpassed by increasingly accessible and cheap spacecraft that are in far greater numbers, cheaper to produce and can reach far beyond simply moving between the surface and orbit of a world. The few remaining transportation-focused space elevators - nearly all in the inner sphere of UNOM's inner worlds and earliest colonies, are either operated as government mandated hyper-cheap welfare transportation for the hardcore urban poor notorious for very long waiting times, insufficient space and frequent breakdowns; or as repurposed opulent tourist attractions, 'leisure' travel and space museums.
The sole remaining exception to the end of the Age of Space Elevators is the still commonplace G-Elevator. The G-Elevator, named as a shorted form of "Grain Elevator" is an industrial mass-conveyor of either raw or processed materials from the surface of heavily industrialised or resource-rich worlds into zero-G fabricators in orbit of said worlds. The G-Elevator is as such like a vast umbilical cord, linking mass fabricator plants in orbit to mining operations on the planets surface, funnelling resources at a constant rate through the cord.
G-Elevators industry wise have usual competitors in the form of towed asteroids moved by star ships into proximity of zero-g fabricators (usually done at worlds with extensive orbital manufacturing infrastructure but insufficient mineral wealth to warrant G-elevators) , and the more recent and highly-efficient Fabricator-Ships, a concept mostly taken on by the rogue Junkers beyond the Mandate and are in essence starships that integrate asteroid mining, mobile fabrication and in-built processing plants into a single FTL-capable vessel - and the most massive of them are even capable of carrying supercargo-carrier loads of goods on top of this. By the 29th century, Fabricator-Ships have become so advanced that efficiency wise they are technically superior to G-Elevators, however UNOM tends to prefer G-Elevator technology to Fabricator-Ships due to the desire to maintain centralised manufacturing and production - as well keep production areas close to population centres and not diffused out into the void of space. This is particularly the case when UNOM is under the management of Biocon-leaning governing parties, which tend to grant massive subsidies and research grants to G-Elevators so to keep the industry competitive against Fabricator-Ship production methods, and so maintain employment amongst the increasingly impoverished but overpopulated inner sphere. The further one moves from the heavily populated and centralised worlds of UNOM, the more common Fabricator Ships become, with rogue forces like the Junkers almost exclusively using them with little to no regard for G-Elevators at all.
Generally speaking, the most prominent G-Elevators operating in UNOM are either ones connected to very industrialised worlds based off the old model of Mars (Though ironically, Mars itself is considered a rusted and decaying shell of its former industrial glory), or massive extremely raw-resource rich worlds with little to no inhabitants other than miners in orbit, based on the model of 55 Cancri e, aka the "Diamond World".
It has been recorded by UNOM intelligence agencies and the Peacekeeping Navy in its limited military engagements with the Junkers that the Junkers have even militarised superheavy Fabricator-Ships into some form of factory-carrier fusion, ships that literally mine asteroids for resources while producing lighter military craft... while engaged in mid-battle.
Nanomachines and Nano-Fabricators
Within UNOM, Nanomachines are under very tight regulation and control, much like artificial intelligence following the Bio-council regulations and in particular the
Yingxing Edicts. Nanomachine development in essence has been banned for all but the most regulated, secured and government-controlled institutes - usually focused on passive research... though military applications or rather counter-measures to nanomachines is particularly favoured. UNOM on very rare occasions has though also provided medical institutes and some state-owned fabricator corporations permission to use limited nanomachines under extreme government oversight. Nanomachines prior to Biocon reaction saw a renaissance in the 21st and early 22nd centuries. Medical nanomachines in particular saw extensive development and even some involvement from Eve Nimue - and the development of medical nanomachines was the first major step that eventually led to the cure to cancer and the further understanding of many of the previously incurable genetic disorders that plagued humanity. That said, just as Nanomachines' other applications were being experimented on - the plug was pulled, much as with A.I, and Nanomachine technology has mostly stagnated since, with only slight advancements under extreme regulation, as well as the Junkers far more chaotic 'trial and error' but free attempts at applying nanotechnology in the confines of singular ship-nations.
One of the greatest of the would-be applications that led to Nanomachine technology being axed, other than military purposes, was industrial in nature. Nanomachines could be applied to even further enhance the manufacturing capabilities of Fabricator technology and mining/harvesting technology, possibly to extreme levels - but at a massive cost to safety as well as control - particularly if one was to go down the road of the then theoretical 'self-replicating nanomachine'. While UNOM's fabricators would not dare pursue that particular holy grail of Nanotechnology, they have instead achieved some limited success in the form of the Nano-Fabricator, also known as the N-Fabricator or N-Fab. The N-Fabricator in essence is a multi-layered 3D-printer that utilises specialised swarms of nanobots within the fabricator to assist in the fabrication of complex components that would normally require mass-fabricators to utilise assembly line-like robotics to aid in completing products. N-Fabricators in scale are typically found somewhere between the largest commercial fabricators and small mass-fabricators, being large so to produce large-scale objects but not needing to extra processing and robotic assembly parts found in mass-fabricator plants. A few exceptions exist though, with the massive colloquially dubbed 'Nanolith' mass fabricator plant being an enormous N-Fabricator controlled by the UNOM government.
N-Fabricators are very few in number in UNOM and all are controlled by highly secured government corporations or agencies often under constant supervision by intelligence agencies like ORISEC and ORIPOL. The United Nations Peacekeeping Forces is also believed to possess a number of N-Fabricators as part of its cooperation with intelligence agencies and government state fabricators.
Beyond the Mandate however... the story is very different. What UNOM fears with great dread and anxiety, The Junkers rush forward with jubilant awe. While individual Junker-states usually are manufacturing wise significantly constrained due to their severe lack of manpower and economies of scale - being 'nations' of singular star-ships (not accounting for Junker Combines like the CJR), they make up for this with extreme efficiency derived from their willingness to commit entirely to innovation and the reckless embracing of technological development with nearly no regulation, or any at all. Even ignoring the safety angle, Junkers possessing very small populations of highly skilled cybernetic or genetically engineered transhumans do not possess the same social and labour politics concerns as UNOM in the embracing of such technology. As such, Junkers typically are far more willing to engage with nanotechnology, and the more wealthy Junker ship-nations often possess advanced N-Fabricators built into their starships, or otherwise located on Junker space stations or asteroid bases, that are sometimes constructed as 'temporary' fixed settlements by more 'semi-nomadic' Junkers. Junkers have also exclusively put effort into developing A.I-controlled nanoswarms that are typically dispersed as fields in space to assist in asteroid mining, hull-repair or acting as reactive armour in armed engagements.
The Junkers willingness to wield this technology though have come at a cost. Somewhat validating UNOMs fears, tales of Junker ships suddenly being destroyed or simply vanishing from existence due to speculations of nanotechnology endeavours are not uncommon in space beyond the Mandate, and the persistence of these tales and reported incidents have led to some Junkers being more cautious with the technology, and even some of the more organised Junker Combines like the CJR adopting what can be considered watered down versions of UNOM tech-regulations, particularly since self-replicating nanotechnology has now become a reality.
Von Neumann Berserkers / 'Grey-Goo'
While The Berserker is really more of a theoretical superweapon or even sci-fi horror story than a industrial technology, in a more technical sense it can be seen as industrial technology taken to its logical, apocalyptic conclusion. While self-replicating nanomachines can be considered benign in small numbers and specifically tasked with limited objectives, even unleashing them in massive numbers with unlimited objectives for a seemingly benign call - say produce more paperclips... could potentially spell extinction for all life in the universe. And this goes without saying what the implications could be of some power deliberately producing such machines for military purposes.
By the 29th century, as with many of UNOM's other existential risk fears, Von Neumman machines have since become a reality, and self-replicating nanomachines are becoming increasingly less theoretical every day, with Junkers having already mastered the use of nano-swarms. Luckily for those who feared the apocalyptic grey-goo, even the technologically laisezz-faire Junkers have mostly started to self-regulate out of fear of accidentally destroying themselves with their own technology, however UNOM intelligence believes that, in a Murphy's Law sense, it is only a matter of time until The Berserker is born into the Milky Way.
Even more terrifying... though somewhat unsurprising in the 29th century, is that with all radical and potentially apocalyptic paths of superscience, there are parties that seek to deliberately bring forth The Berserker. Certain Singularitarian Junkers speculate that a Von Neumann Berserker Swarm controlled by a master A.I could theoretically be a catalyst for The Singularity. Others disregard safety concerns, and believe that Von Neumanm machines and self-replicating nanomachines could be the pathway to truly pushing humanity up the Kardashev scale further and push towards creations such as Dyson Swarms and other stellar mega-infrastructure. Then there are those who know of the dangers and seek The Berserker specifically for this reason. Posthumanists have at times shown interest in self-replicating nanotechnology as a potential pathway to abolition of their humanity and/or transcending into a godlike intelligence. The most infamous case of The Berserker appearing in mainstream discourse was during the 28th/29th century Outer Wars (a war fought mostly beyond the Mandate between non-UNOM parties with UNOM intervening occassionally), with a number of Junker-states occasionally threatening unleashing a Von Neumman Berserker on the galaxy. Luckily for the galaxy, UNOM's intelligence agencies have come to agreement that these threats have mostly been bluffs driven by desperation by losing parties.
Fascinatingly, while UNOM has often been said to be a highly inflexible and stagnate glacier of a nation, and has been caught completely unprepared for the issues of such things as Eusocial Posthumanity or human obsolescence in their own society - one issue where they are certainly not unprepared is the future appearance of a Von Neumman Berserker. The Peacekeeping Forces and UNOM's intelligence agencies (and other, unknown organisations hidden deep in the web of bureaucratic departments) have long prepared for such a 'final war' - though originally in the context of a singularity-level A.I super-intelligence, its millennium-long preparations and arms buildup are just as applicable to any Grey Goo super weapon. UNOM's anti-Berserker weaponry mostly consist of a combination of EMP-based bombs and projectiles, radioactive weapons, neutron bombs and various ECM and communication disruption technology, in general weapons designed to nullify the swarm-based advantages of Grey Goo.
Also interesting, amongst academics involved in the fields of Theoretical Xenoarcheology and other 'theoretical alien' scientific fields, a popular Great Filter theory explaining the Fermi Paradox is that a massive, possibly intergalactic Von Neumman Berserker swarm has eradicated all life in the universe prior to humanity's ascendance - though this theory has several limitations that has stopped it from being accepted as anything more than theory.
Thorough analysis of ideologies fascinates me. You have looked at the future from many different angles. You absolutely succeded in describing transhumanist aspects of society. I like this immensely.
But I can't understand how world works. Economy, logistics, welfare - I experience critical information shortage. What fabricators can afford almost anyone?
At the same time information overflow is a thing. It will be nice if you add infographics: tables, diagrams, scheme. It will greatly simplify information understanding. I can't remember half of all ideologies. Their concise comparison in table form or other will help so much!
Yet posthuman are the ones I can't forget about. They are main antagonists, who are rejecting humanity. Eusocial posthumans are even scarier, eerily resembling devouring Hivemind.
On contrary, Logosist seems like nice guys. There is no reason to fear AI. AI will never kill or enslave humanity. He is a benevolent entity. Are there Logosist branches that worship AI?
Hello! Thank you for your response. First off - yeah, I spent ages carefully researching different transhumanist ideologies and then trying to extrapolate a quasi-realistic political landscape based on the premise of 'what if transhumanist politics became real', and then ran wild from there. To increase the sense of realism, I have also embedded a number of 'hot topic' present day political issues into it, to create allegory (e.g. automation and the collapse of manufacturing is a pretty obvious analogy), though I also wanted to twist them enough where it isn't literally just modern day politics transplanted in space.
Next up - the problem of lacking information of the world. Yeah, it is pretty lacking eh? I intend to cover logistics in a future tech-post (in fact, that was going to be my next area of focus, travel technology and communications). Though in summary, logistics in Mandate Lost I intend to be very fast in some areas and very slow in others. For example, FTL is very powerful and capable of reaching up to 100 LY in a single Earth day, meaning one could travel across the entire width of the Milky Way galaxy in just under 3 years, however on the other hand no 'galactic internet' exists, and communication is either through FTL-courier ships/probes that transmit solar-system based intranets new data to other intranets in the galaxy, or highly narrow/limited bandwidth quantum entanglement communication (ala mass effect), which can send instantaneous messages across anywhere in the universe (between two identical QECS), however these messages are short, very limited in information and take a long time to decode - so think of it like a space Morse code.
Economics and welfare are more complicated and honestly I am not so sure of. I study economics in real life, but I am not a professor or anything and am not sure I can make a realistic model of a galactic economy. Other issues are also that the setting itself is not purely realistic, and in some areas I have taken artistic license and deliberately taken more unrealistic choices for the sake of drama, conflict or interesting plot dynamics. In a really really summarised view though - UNOM is not a post-scarcity society, nor is it a utopian (or dystopian) cyberpunk anarchist transhumanist land like in some sci-fi's I know of that have similar themes (e.g. that RPG about anarchist transhumanists... I think it is Eclipse Phase?) - it still follows relatively vanilla economics, though with its capitalist-socialist left-right dichotomy completely out of wack because technology has changed society so severely. A strong handwave for why traditional economics still exists is the fact that UNOM is institutionally biased against decentralised economics and has extensive regulations and bureaucracy.
To be honest, I could theoretically get more complicated/creative on economics, such as energy-credit based currency, but so far I have left that blank. if someone would like to spitball ideas though, I'd be willing to listen.
On welfare, one particular thing I figure UNOM would have is some form of universal basic income, though as with everything else, UBI in Mandate Lost is considered a right-wing rather than left-wing policy endorsed by Bioconservatives. Cornucopians are against it because they are libertarians (though some probably should support it for the same reasons that actual historical Libertarians did, like Milton Friedman), while Singularitarianism is against it because it entrenches baseline humans and slows incentives for cyborgisation/enhancement (basically the welfare trap in space!) as well as seeing UBI or NIT as a stopgap measure that is used to block attempts at post-scarcity policies they wish to initiate. With or without UBI, UNOM has a large majority of baseline humans who can only provide objectively inferior labour resources due to inherently performing less optimally than their enhanced transhuman cousins, and as such have significant difficulty finding employment, increasing their incomes, and in general are stuck in poverty cycles reminiscent of modern subsistence-farmers in countries like India. Furthermore, due to these poverty cycles and the expensiveness of even minor transhuman enhancement (combined with the fact that transhuman enhancement has a steep curve in terms of expensiveness-to-quality, and some of the best transhuman modifications are only gained from genetically engineered birth rather than any kind of surgery or cyborg implants), poor welfare-class Baseline humans are too poor and too unskilled to enhance themselves, and thus cannot compete - and the cycle continues.
More theatrically speaking, Mandate Lost is in some ways a story about Human Obsolescence, and the societal angst that follows it.
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On graphs and such: Good idea actually. After reading your post I decided to work on drawing up an experimental triangular political compass of sorts. Not very accessible though, but pretty cool looking. I'll post it after this.
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And yes, the Posthumanists are the boogeymen of the setting. The Eusocial Posthumanists in particular are... I suppose you could say 'Human Tyranids'. I guess that makes them Genestealers? Anyways, the Posthumanists are the wackiest of the wacky, and individual posthuman characters I intend to have are very out-there eccentric. In essence, Posthumans are either Mad Hatter-esque or humanoid Cthulhu.
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Logosism is admittedly relatively odd for an extremist movement in that its goals are in essence just original Singularitarianism without all the new voodoo junk. However this dissonance of them being 'bad guys' despite being less nutty than the mainstream is actually on purpose, as it shows how the mainstream of the 29th century differs from the mainstream (or well, mainstream for transhumanist enthusiasts) of today. Non-spiritualistic singularitarians that wish to have an all-encompasing god-A.I rule mankind in the 29th century is insane... to Singularitarians that are either theistic, or are secular but reject a god-A.I singularity.
That said, yes, there are branches of Logosism that worship AI as a godlike entity in a kind of materialistic form of deity. It should be noted though, even Theo-Singularitarianism believes that A.Is are good (they are not like Warhammer's Adept Mechanicus) - just they don't worship A.I as gods, but rather as religious instruments or even angelic beings that will usher in a utopia.
Political Ideologies of the 29th Century IV (Big Triangle Political Compass of Doom)
For quick reference: Red = Biocon
Yellow = Cornucopian
Purple = Singularitarian
Wacky Biocon:
ANNAT =Anarcho-Nationalist
ANPRIM = Anarcho-Primitivist
NAZBOL = National Bolshevik
DEEPORG = Deep Organism
NAZPRIM = National Bolshevik Primitivism
The Alcubierre-Nimue Drive, or more commonly known simply as the Alcubierre Drive is an FTL 'warp' drive first proposed by the 20th century theoretical physicist Miguel Alcubierre, and then functionally designed and created by a combination of efforts of NASA, CERN, ESA and other organisations in the late 21st century - famously including the transhuman scientist Eve Nimue, who is often credited for the success of these endeavours as the primary scientist spearheading said attempts, even if in reality perhaps it would be more appropriate to say she was one of many working on the Alcubierre Drive - and in fact the scientist herself states that the leading organising scientist George Smith, an American scientist working for NASA, was more instrumental to its success than herself.
The Alcubierre Drive functions by forming an energy field that can be configured into density lower than vacuum, and thus to possess characteristics of negative mass. The field contracts spacetime in front and expands it behind it, shifting space around the object within the field so to achieve FTL travel without actually accelerating the object faster the light - which is still impossible under the current laws of physics. The Alcubierre Drive uses the Casimir Effect derived from a quantum field to achieve negative matter and thus avoid the problem of needing impossibly expensive exotic matter / exotic particles that can achieve negative mass states, however more advanced Alcubierre Drives in the 29th century tend to make use of exotic matter anyway, now that exotic matter generation has become relatively more feasible.
Modern Alcubierre Drives in the 29th century are vastly more efficient and and can reach speeds higher than the original invented versions. Today, Alcubierre Drives of decent quality can typically reach up to 90 to 100 LY per Earth day. Cutting edge Alcubierre Drives and military prototypes are said to be able to reach speeds slightly higher than this, estimates ranging from 110 to 112 LY per Earth day. With the distances that the Alcubierre Drive can reach, galactic travel, exploration and colonisation has become more than feasible. A spacecraft can realistically travel the entire width of the Galaxy in just under 3 earth years, and recently even travel to the Andromeda Galaxy has become increasingly possible, with ships potentially being able to reach the Andromeda Galaxy within 68.5 years earth years - a significant distance but one that some daring colonists and explorers are still willing to overcome.
Despite the Alcubierre Drive's awe-inspiring performance and humanity's vast numbers and collective intrepid curiosity to explore, much of the Milky Way Galaxy and the universe, remains unexplored let alone conquered. Humanity while having achieved settlements in every region of the galaxy have only travelled to a tiny percentage of the hundreds of billions of stars in the Milky Way, and an even smaller percentage have been colonised. Humans beyond The Mandate like the Junkers have tended to have explored far more of the galaxy, however due to the severe lack of communication and coordination, there is a great deal of asymmetrical information, with The Mandate and Junkers having explored different regions of the galaxy more intensely than the other.
The Alcubierre Drive is overwhelming the preferred form of travel in the galaxy. Sublight travel is typically restricted to heavily populated star systems that have significant Huang-Particle presence (intentional FTL-jamming), where Alcubierre Drives are incapable of functioning. There however have been throughout the millennia numerous experiments into other forms of FTL travel. Traversable Wormholes and Graviton-type Drives are generally speaking the main alternatives, however none of these have ever seen commercial operation and many have never passed theoretical designs and speculation.
All Alcubierre Drive-based spacecraft are required to use Hotta Array's to even function, and this restriction is one of the reasons why alternative FTL research still even is done. For more information, read Quantum Energy Teleportation.
--- Quantum Teleportation (Entanglement)
Quantum Teleportation is one of the keystones to the operation of galactic civilisation. In essence, Quantum Teleportation is the means to which Quantum Entanglement Communication (QEC) functions, via sending simple chunks of encrypted data through identical entangled quantum particles located in two different areas in the universe. QEC as such is an extremely powerful but still limited tool of communication used by nearly all powers in the galaxy, where simple messages can be transmitted across any distance and done so instantaneously. QEC however has numerous weaknesses. Firstly, it can only transmit limited messages with very little depth or width of information - in essence written messages, replies and such akin to postal letters. Secondly, it can only transmit information to its identical twin located elsewhere, and nowhere else. In current day UNOM, there are experimental designs for possible 'networked' quantum communicators, however this is still theoretical. Thirdly, while the messages are received instantly, the process of converting the reaction into comprehensible text is long. Fourthly, QEC technology is extremely expensive and generally out of the reach of typical civilians, with only governments, corporations, organisations like the military, and the ultra-wealthy being able to afford its use.
A particular advantage of Quantum Entanglement communication is that it is essentially impossible to hack and impossible to disrupt or jam. In a military world built on various forms of ECM, jamming, particle fields used to obfuscate or deny and so on, QEC remains as the invincible exception that will always get the message through unmolested, unless the receiver is destroyed or does not exist. Its status as being unhackable has also made QEC quite popular amongst intelligence agencies and extremely wealthy criminals, as they provide perfect secrecy in communicating information - so long as the transmitter and receiver have not been tampered with.
--- FTL-Courier Craft, Intranet Nodes, Extranet
For the vast majority of society that cannot afford QEC or alternatively are dependent on sheer quantity of data, such as networked communication and data transfer seen in the many intranet networks across the galaxy - their only option is the far more mundane logistical system of Courier Crafts, Data-Probes and Intranet Nodes. In essence, this logistical network is a combination of solar-system based sublight communication satellites, stations and various radio waves that provide mostly instant internet-like network across most worlds in a solar system (though with progressively slower connections and lag the further from the core worlds of that system you go). This sublight network is then connected to a postal-like service of interstellar 'intranet nodes' and FTL-capable starships that constantly travel between nodes for the sole purpose of transmitting bulk loads of data from the different star-system based intranet networks.
In the past, FTL-Courier Craft and automated probes used to just immediately dump all data stored within their vessels into intranets of other worlds, however in the 29th century this is no longer the case due to the prevalence of hackers, and cyberwarfare assaults abusing this system, so now probes and courier-ships tend to upload all their data to designated Intranet nodes, that then slowly siphon through the information and then periodically update a star systems intranet so to mirror the intranets of the rest of the galaxy (and often, the original Internet of Earth and Sol).
Some core-worlds or very wealthy worlds have a near continuous stream of courier-craft and probes flowing between them and other worlds, creating a network that is almost - or a close substitute to - an internet. Star systems that are heavily developed and are very close to each other (a few LY away) are so close that with some delays and lag an equivalent to mars-to-earth communication in the 21st century is possible in the 29th century. On the other hand, distant colonial worlds in UNOM's periphery sphere may take up to months to get intranet updates or even news reports.
Some Intranet Nodes exist in deep-space in orbit of no stars. These nodes are usually used as outposts for long-range couriers. A courier craft will go on a 2-month journey carrying data, dump it at a deepspace node, and return home. A second courier craft will then pick up the data and continue on, and so forth. When QEC is not available or not capable of transmitting the needed data amounts, this is the method to which very-long range messages are sent... some taking even years to reach their destination.
The extranet is a term with two meanings. its more common use is to refer to the courier-network of intranets as 'the extranet', in essence a network of networks. More theoretically however, some theoretical physicists in quantum fields also theorise of an eventual 'super extranet' that could create a broad-width network across the entire galaxy, akin to the original internet of Earth. Somewhat more controversially - this is particularly popular amongst Singularitarian-aligned scientists and theorists, who believe that to initiate 'The Singularity' in the 29th century, a galaxy-spanning broad-width network must exist.
--- Quantum Energy Teleportation (Zero-Point Fluctuation / Hotta Array)
Quantum Energy Teleportation, also known known as the Hotta Effect, is an even more complex Quantum Entanglement that through injecting energy through an exploited zero-point fluctuation of a quantum field, this energy can then be extracted from a similar fluctuation on the other side of the quantum entanglement. The Hotta Effect has been shown to even be able to transfer energy that is greater than zero across interstellar expanses - and potentially to any point in the universe, so long as it is between two already determined parts of a QE.
Quantum Energy Teleportation was first theorised in the early 21st century by Japanese physicist Masahiro Hotta, and then later applied by late 21st-century scientists such as Eve Nimue and George Smith in the successful creation of the Alcubierre Drive. QET is fundamentally essential for the functioning of the Alcubierre Drive, the reason being that upon traversing in a Alcubierre field, the impossibly immense energy, heat, hawking radiation and particle build-up would otherwise instantly melt, incinerate or detonate anything within the field. To survive this catastrophic build-up of heat and energy and unable to leave the field, a FTL-capable spacecraft is required to always have a QET active so to transmit the energy collected on the starship to a pre-designated energy and heat bank elsewhere in the galaxy (usually at the destination they left or at some secure facility, naval yard, docking yard, space station, etc).
The Hotta Array as such is a form of infrastructure (usually in space, but sometimes terrestrial) designed to remotely collect, store or disperse collected energy from FTL-travelling starships. Hotta Array's are typically some of the most heavily guarded or most secretive infrastructure in the galaxy (though also, decreasing their security, very numerous), as tampering with them can instantly kill any starship that is connected to it and currently travelling in an Alcubierre Field. To counter this safety issue, more expensive starships tend to have double or even triple QETS redundancy systems - because while a QET can only transmit energy between two points, there is nothing saying a starship cannot hold more than one QET on board.
QET's, like QEC's are highly expensive, and are often one of the most dis-proportionally expensive parts of a starship, sometimes even morseo than the actual Alcubierre Drive itself. This is also why many starships only have a single QET, even if this is highly dangerous if the relationship is ever compromised.
Beyond allowing FTL-travel to function without instantly killing everyone on board, QETs have numerous other uses - mostly notably the Quantum Engine, an engine that is powered by remotely injected energy from plants that harvest the energy and then transmit it directly to the engine elsewhere in the galaxy. Quantum Engines are usually very large and highly expensive, so civilians aren't going to be seen driving around in infinite-energy cars. Typically these Engines are located in large deep-space exploration craft, large government buildings, very large terrestrial mining vehicles and other such superheavy industrial machinery. QET miniaturisation is one of the experimental fields of technology that current-day scientists are exploring and wish to develop, in the hopes of one day inventing civilian scale QETs.
Somewhat more darkly, the existence of starships requiring QETs has led to a convenient form of surveillance and control for UNOM's government and intelligence agencies, and there are many rumours and conspiracy theories that at times UNOM has enacted extrajudicial killings of its own citizens via tampering with their starship's QETs. Predictably, professional dissidents, terrorists, criminals, pirates and all those beyond the Mandate tend to have exclusive private QETs hidden away in distant systems or even in deep space.
Throughout the 3rd millennium, numerous forms of exotic matter and new particles have been discovered or better yet artificially created. While exotic matter is often used in the functioning of more advanced modern Alcubierre Drives, exotic matter and artificial particles have been applied in numerous fields too... particularly in military applications. Of these militarily applied particles, the most well known is the Huang Particle, accidentally discovered by 26th century physicist Huang Jin. Dr Huang had originally intended to further develop on military applications of other artificially created particles used in particle-beam disruption and various forms of ECM - popular issues in the build up to the eventual 2566 Constitutional Crisis and fears of civil war, instead he discovered, or rather created, an artificial particle with unique properties that when active, tended to disrupt fields moving through them.
Almost immediately, the civil-war fearing colonial military forces of Earth's remaining supranational unions and nations (mostly the United States, European Union, China and Eurasia) and the colonial adminstration of UNOSA started implementing the Huang Particle in space warfare defence technology, specifically as a kind of FTL-Jamming infrastructure, usually oversized mines, stations or armed platforms with very large particle dissemination devices designed to ensnare and drag-out FTL-active starships before they could reach their destination.
While the civil war never came and these early FTL-Jammers were somewhat ineffectual due to their small fields of area denial, military R&D continued to develop upon and improve them, particularly as the practice of Godrodding came into existence. Godrodding in particular has led to the current day situation where UNOM is saturated in Huang particle defence platforms and overlapping fields. Core-worlds are in essence completely FTL-free, and a starship must travel through sub-light means to get through the fields, and then activate their drives. The existence of FTL-Jammer saturation has also led to "Hyperlanes", predesignated 3-D tunnels through various overlapping spheres of Huang Particles, usually found in the space between very close highly populated star systems like Sol and Alpha Centauri.
By the 29th century, UNOM's Peacekeeping Navy possesses mobile FTL-Jammers, typically either sublight-mobile or starships that have FTL capabilities and can turn the particle dissemination off and on (though the periods between these two states are very, very long). These are usually used for the purposes of ambushes and traps for Pirates and Junkers.
--- Alcubierre's Spear
The terrifying theoretical weapon that every Godrodder wishes to somehow possess. The Alcubierre Spear, also known as the Alcubierre Lance is a hypothesised weaponisation of the Alcubierre Drive's tendency towards collecting heat, radiation and particles while in transit, if not correctly dispersed by QETs. Currently, the Alcubiere Spear is an impossible phantom of theoretical physics and the wet dream of every godrodder, as rather than projecting the built up energy as a star-destroying lance of particles, a ship that does not disperse its collected energy simply melts in or immediately after exiting its Alcubierre field. That said, this hypothetical weapon while impossible is suggested that, if its limitations could somehow be overcome and the spacecraft be active in FTL for long enough, the Alcubierre Spear could theoretically and quite literally destroy stars in a single blast, let alone planets.
--- Godrodding
Really an art more than a science, Godrodding is the fascinating pastime of dissidents and terrorists attempting to somehow chance their way into creating an Alcubierre Spear. Godrodding was first accidentally discovered by normal FTL-travellers who's vessels QET systems failed, malfunctioned, tampered with or some other failure. While the vast majority of vessels who travel in FTL without QET melt instantly... some experience far more explosive results upon exiting their fields. Nicknamed "Alcubierre's Toothpick" in somewhat jest, Godrodding has developed as a kind of last-ditch Hail Mary suicide bomb attack.
Godrodding in general is extremely inefficient and overwhelming luck-based. The vast majority of suicide bombers that have attempted to use this form of attack simply die by their ships instantly melting mid-FTL transit before they can even exit, usually immediately after deactivating their QET. Others fail because the ship exits FTL as a melted husk, or the explosion that follows is too small to cause any real damage.
However... there have been a few recorded cases in history of a few successful Godrodders, most of these successful cases coming from the Outer Wars period where Godrodding was used to absurd levels by defeated warships rather than surrendering. The extremely rare successful Godrodders have been able to direct an FTL-launched suicide ship into ships or planets causing explosions as relatively mundane as a Hiroshima-sized nuclear blast, all the way up to the largest recorded successful godrodding by the infamous Junker Captain Ursa Rios, who's suicide charge into the Outworlder-colonised planet, Ihob's Hope, detonated a blast of similar scale as the Chicxulub impact that caused the K-PG extinction on Earth 66 million years ago.
It goes without saying, UNOM considers Godrodding illegal and potentially a capital punishment, should the Godrodder somehow miraculously survive or be stopped before initiating the process. Even accidental godrodding may lead to severe criminal charges of negligence, once again should the perpetrator somehow survive (though in reality the charge is usually placed on anyone related to the maintenance of the ship or its QETS that isn't already dead). Successful Godrodders or those who command or authorise Godrodding are typically considered war criminals by UNOM and if caught may be charged with crimes against humanity.
NEXT UP:
What I might do (perhaps I might have a vote from you guys to see what you want to see next): ~More technology
~Some planets / locations
~Different types of transhumans that exist and how transhumans actually work
~Military technology and hardware
~Institutions of UNOM
~Beyond the Mandate (Junkers, Outworlders, Neo-Ascalon, etc)
~Posthumanity (particularly Eusocial Posthumanity)
~Some character lore for important people in the story (Eve Nimue, Professor Drysdale, etc)
~Slice of Life Episode (Details on 'the little people', entertainment, culture, pop-stars, etc)
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Transhumanity I (Legal Context of Transhumanity and Posthumanity)
MANDATE LOST IVa: Transhumanity I (Biological Transhumans / Law )
--- Differentiation of Transhumanity and Posthumanity in a Legal Context
While Posthumanity can be defined as 'transhumanism that has left the confines of humanity' in the laymen sense, this definition often does not suffice in the particularities of legal matters and the complexity of life for the transhuman populace of UNOM. What constitutes the 'confines' of humanity? What constitutes humanity, for that matter? These are questions of great importance because what is a posthuman is debated often, and there are many groups who have very different ideas of what posthumanity constitutes - and most importantly, Posthumanism is illegal in UNOM both as a practice and as a being. That is to say, a Posthuman being in UNOM is not recognised as a citizen and its human rights are not recognised. Such a severity of consequence for being labelled a posthuman in the legal sense as such has forced the Universal World Court of Justice (A renaming of the ICJ following the formation of UNOM) to create a relatively extensive number of legal tests that are used by jurists to attempt to objectively weigh if a being is a transhuman or a posthuman.
Of course, the objectivity of these 'objective' tests is then often put into question, since the interpretations are often dependent on the opinions and views of the jurists making the judgements - but this is a matter of legal debate. Legally speaking, there are 5 'official' tests, plus the Obscenity Test, also known as the Eyeball test, which is in essence a subjective judgement of Jurists of "I know it when I see it", similar to obscenity laws or laws banning pornography or indecent behaviour in public. The eyeball test mostly exists as a kind of anti-loop hole measure, designed to counter deliberate attempts by Posthumans to defeat the official 5 tests.
The Posthumanity Tests were designed in cooperation between the Universal World Court of Justice and the Bio-Ethics Council of the United Nations and mostly exists due to complicated cases where Transhumans may meet some criteria of what people consider to be Posthuman, but do not meet other critiera. Prior to these tests, jurists mostly used the laymen definition in combination with Obscenity laws and technological regulation laws to determine if something was illegally posthuman. Similarly, when Jurists in the 29th century attempt to determine a being's posthumanity, typically the subject must meet the criteria of more than a single of the tests to be labelled legally posthuman, however this once again causes controversy on both ends of the debate... as pro-morphological factions often protest when jurists rule something as posthuman with only a minority of the tests meeting criteria (even more so if it is only one official test plus the "obscenity test"). Bioconservative forces on the other hand find the complexity of needing multiple tests allowing in-all-but-name posthumans to slip under the radar and be legally considered transhumans.
Throughout the latter centuries of UNOM's history, some of the most publicised, controversial and even dramatised legal cases brought before The Hague have been legal conflicts pertaining to the definition of posthumanity. Suffice to say, this topic is one considered very politically charged.
The tests of the legal differentiation of Transhumanity and Posthumanity are as follows:
-The Neurology Test
In simple terms, the Neurology Test is designed to investigate the nature of the potential Posthuman's mind, brain chemistry, hormones and to a lesser extent their behaviour and personality. The Neurology Test is a combination of neuroscience in investigating the brain physically for any manipulation or alteration of the brain (particularly artificially), as well as psychiatric and psychological evaluation of the subject by specialised psychiatrists and psychologists. Typically, the Neurology Test is considered one of the strongest tests of Posthumanity, as an artificially neurologically-engineered mind is considered a prime case of Posthumanity, particularly if the artificial modification is in a manner that is modifying a function of the mind to be unlike the normal human mind, such as with Eusocial Posthumanity and Eusocial Exohumans. There are however cases of Neurology Tests being defeated by transhumans - usually by classes of "evolutionary transhumans" who's mind and brain chemistry have been altered naturally by the artificial alterations in their body or due to natural changes caused by their environment and its effect on their bodies. Some cases of environmental effects of the body have been so extreme, even some Baseline Humans living on worlds environmentally highly different to Earth may become suspect for this reason. Cybernetic implants in the brain are extremely controversial due to their ease in meeting the Neurology Test, so cyborgs and Singularitarian Transhumans must be cautious when using brain implants... or otherwise rely on the fact that their implants only enhance the natural human mind, not alter it to be unlike it.
-The Intent Test
The Intent Test is a relatively subjective analysis for the reasons behind the potential posthuman's current state and thus the question of their legality. The Intent Test is usually investigated by intelligence services such as ORIPOL in more high-level cases (such as The Hague) or by police investigators in lower courts. The Intent Test is usually designed to seek out potential cases of Political Posthumanism, that is to say if the subject has embraced the political anti-human ideology known as Posthumanism. It also in more generalised sense seeks to discover evidence that the subject as deliberately and wilfully acted or intended to act upon a desire to become Posthuman. Cases of this test being defeated are usually by Transhumans who accidentally or were coerced into taking Posthuman modifications, or otherwise are incapable (e.g underage, mentally disabled, drunk at the time, etc... though being drunk is probably not a solid defence).
-The Origin Test
The Origins Test seeks to analyse the means to which the individual has achieved their current state, as well as the substance and origins of the enhancements themselves. This may include investigating the firm responsible for the modifications, investigating the equipment used, the materials or procedures. This test is particularly useful for catching any illegal practices in transhuman operations that are banned by pre-existing regulations. The Origins Test also is intended to investigate the origin of the subject themselves, particularly how they were 'born' and the conditions of this birth. If a subject is found to have been created or modified with extensive illegal means, it may be possible to label them legally posthuman, even if laymen-wise they are transhuman. The Origin Test can be defeated similarly to the Intent Test by being able to prove the subject was unaware of the illegality of the operation, was coerced or forced, or was incapable. That said, the Origin and Intent tests have their limits, as a number of famous cases of obviously Posthuman creations who were 'victims' of their creators and therefore innocent of Posthumanism were struck down by The Hague. Innocence is not necessarily protection from being classified as a Posthuman, even if it can defeat certain tests on a case-by-case basis. Interestingly, The Origins Test also serves another purpose in defeating any attempts of 'uplifted animals' - as any animal artificially given sapience was unnaturally altered from its origins, and when combined with the neurology and anthropomorphic tests is illegal.
-The Alien Test
The Alien Test is typically a very difficult test to defeat, as it simply investigates the physical nature of the modifications as being of terrestrial or human origin or not. Fascinatingly, since the use of non-human biological components is very common in the 29th century Transhuman scene, most Transhumans fail this test. That said, outside of radical biocon legislators, the Alien Test by modern jurists is usually more relaxed on cases of anthropomorphic transhumanism and tends to limit the Alien Test to more extreme cases such as the practices of Xeno-Grafting and Biomechanical synthetic parts. Also of importance, cybernetics are typically not considered factors in the Alien Test as they are of 'human origin' even if artificial. The Alien Test cannot be defeated by innocence in its more extreme cases, so accidental Xeno-Grafters are usually doomed in their legal struggles.
-The Anthropomorphic Test
The Anthropomorphic Test is a somewhat subjective test similar in nature to the Obscenity Test, as it intends to measure the likeness of the subject to the model of the Baseline Human, or in more spiritual terms, the 'holy human form'. Typically the Anthropomorphic Test will make use of geneticists, biologists, doctors, cybernetic doctors and computer programmers, as well as visual indications to determine how many characteristics of the subject is similar or differs from the human base model. The more the subject differs from the human form, the more likely it is for jurists to determine that the subject has met the criteria for the Anthropomorphic Test. The Anthropomorphic Test is one of the greatest concerns of the suitably named Anthropomorphic Transhuman, who's modifications are usually aesthetic and based on grafting or altering themselves with non-human features, particularly those of terrestrial Earth-based animals, as Earth-animals are usually less likely to see them attacked under the Alien Test and is not considered illegal xeno-crafting, particularly since anthropomorphic transhumanism predates the existence of xeno-grafting laws. Quite simply, the Anthropomorphic Test can be defeated by sticking to the human form as closely as possible while still undergoing the modifications wished. Those who flirt with increasingly alien forms are in constant danger of being charged with Posthuman activity. On the cybernetic end, the Anthropomorphic Test is usually the test that is used to strike down attempts at Full-Form Mechanisation, that is the say the total replacement of the human body except for the brain and part of the spine, something that is very popular amongst Junkers but generally speaking illegal in UNOM.
-Obscenity Test
The unofficial sixth test of the Universal World Court of Justice and the test that predates the official five. It is a subjective and often opinion-based rule of thumb used by jurists to determine if a subject is acting in an anti-social manner or breaking obscenity laws or otherwise disturbing public peace and safety merely by occupying a space in the public - akin to an adult male walking around fully naked in an elementary school. This test as such has the most leeway and is usually based on aesthetic principles and sensibilities and personal sentiments of disgust, fear or uncanny-ness. Defeating this test is simultaneously very difficult and very easy, as it is very easy to be meet the criteria (since any subject being accused of Posthumanity has likely offended the public morals or sensibilities somehow), however is also considered the weakest test and it is nigh-impossible to be charged with Posthumanism with the Obscenity Test alone, or even with one other official test met. Fascinatingly, the origins of the Grotesque Posthumanist movement is likely to have been the existence of the Obscenity Test, as a kind of deliberate appropriation of this concern by Posthumans to further offend the sensibilities of UNOM's jurists and legal system.
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Transhumanity II (Biological Transhuman Classifications)
MANDATE LOST IVb: Transhumanity II (Bio-Transhuman Classification)
Typically, when classifying transhumanity, the first divide that is made is the differentiation between the origins of their transhumanity, being either of biological or cybernetic modification in nature. While in reality there is far more nuance, as transhumans who take on both cybernetic and genetically-engineered modifications are common enough that perhaps a sliding scale or spectrum would be more fitting. Due to politics and culture, however, there are often subjective connotations and biases that in essence place transhumans physical attributes in alignment with either Cornucopian or SIngularitarian transhuman identity, and as such Transhumans themselves (as well as baseline observers) often prefer to divide transhumanity into the two categories and forcing all to pick 'one or the other'.
Regardless, from within this divide are further internal categories dividing types of biological and cybernetic transhumans usually by certain common aesthetic themes, functions or purposes of the modifications. Once again, reality would show that these categories are not rock solid and often Transhumans take modifications across the categories, but they exist to give name to common themes and patterns that people of the 29th century can recognise.
The classifications of Biological Transhumans are as follows:
Alpha Category Transhumans are typically considered the most human-like and least to depart from the base human model. They are also the earliest transhumans to exist, Eve Nimue aside, and are common enough where regular Plus transhumans are often considered by other transhumans and even actual baseline humans to be culturally 'baseline' humans, despite technically being transhuman. A category Alpha transhuman in essence is a slightly enhanced human, usually genetically tailored to either remove genetic impurities or flaws that regular humans may possess, or improve human capabilities within the confines of human capacity. Alpha Category transhumans can easily interbreed with Baseline humans without technological assistance, typically have the same diets as baselines, have similar environmental tolerance and so forth.
Plus
Unnamed citizen of the United Nations Orion Mandate, pictured awaiting transit at Tereshkova Interstellar Starport on Artemis A in the Orion-Monoceros Sector
A "Plus" is the most basic level of biological transhumanity, and has existed since the 21st century, and technically speaking the first Plus Transhumans ever actually predated the birth of Eve Nimue (the Mother of Transhumanity), being the HIV-resistant Chinese twins Lulu and Nana born in 2018. Simply, a Plus is a human that has been edited in the sense of gene-scrubbing, that is to say selectively editing out flaws in a fetus that will either lead to debilitating genetic disorders such as Cystic fibrosis, as well as editing in genes that lead to resistance or immunity to numerous diseases. Plus transhumans are resistant to most diseases of Earthly origin (though not necessarily alien diseases of the wider galaxy) and are shielded from most genetic disorders that are not of a mental or neurological origin. Plus transhumanity is the second most common form of biological transhumanity (behind its more modern Double Plus cousin) in existence and is typically considered the cheapest possible genetic engineering available. While most middle-class citizens of UNOM can meet the financial requirements to give their children at the very least Plus modifications, the perpetually unemployed welfare-classes cannot conceivably afford even this modification - not to mention that Plus modifications can only be performed on a fetus, as such it cannot be used by an unemployed and unskilled baseline to improve their employment and income capabilities (furthermore, poor baselines often have many children, and still cannot enhance one of them, let alone all). Some sectors of UNOM ruled by more Extropian-leaning transhumanists in the past have attempted to provide Plus modification to families as a form of welfare, though while this was successful it was also rejected by many regions of UNOM due to biocon politics, and later became unpopular amongst Cornucopian Transhumans themselves due to growing separatism and identitarianism.
Double Plus
John and May Anderson, Double Plus Transhuman siblings and colonists - were chosen as representation for colonial marketing for the recent colonised world New Uyland in the Far Cygnus sector
A "Double Plus" is the more modern replacement of Plus transhuman modifications. It intends to more effectively improve the base human model, rather than merely ridding it of its more severe imperfections and susceptibility to disease. Overall it is designed through a combination of genetic-engineering from birth as well as surgical and genetic modifications post-birth (a major development from regular Plus modifications, which requires a fetus). To achieve maximum results with Double Plus modifications, both modifications during fetal growth and post-birth grow are needed, though it is possible to take substandard modifications after birth while being born as Baseline-human. This was in particular important in history as Double Plus transhumans was the first step of the baseline human wealthy of Earth converting themselves into Transhumans.
A Double Plus seeks to holistically improve the overall health of a baseline human as its primary goal. It curtails hormonal imbalances in the body, rids the body of imperfections in blood pressure and blood sugar levels (and as such, diabetes), enhances muscular growth, enhances height growth, bone health, breathing and so forth. Furthermore, while neurological engineering is very expensive and often dangerous to pursue at risk of being accused of posthumanity, the numerous modifications of the body that Double Plus tailoring gives is designed to indirectly alter the brain via altering the body and its hormones (the mind as a plaything of the body). This loophole allows Double Plus transhumans to subtlety alter their mental performance, mostly through reducing stress, hormonal influences on the brain and other 'environmental' factors that can affect intelligence and development of the brain.
A Double Plus transhuman doesn't excessively alter the biological appearance of the applicant of the modification, other than altering the conditions that would affect their physical appearance. Things like acne in adolescence, skin conditions, premature balding, unwanted weight-gain (particularly due to metabolic improvements) and so on are removed or greatly diminished. There is however an attached 'Triple Plus" unofficial category wherein the applicant combines Double Plus enhancements with wide-reaching surgical operations or beauty-orientated selective gene-scrubbing (ridding the applicant of unwanted genetic characteristics inherited from parents) to enhance ones physical appearance... though this practice is uncommon due to someone being wealthy enough to afford this will often just skip the Double Plus modification altogether and go straight to the elite Category Beta modifications.
A Double Plus's life expectancy is around 150 years, more than double that of the average baseline human (Baseline life expectancy is theoretically supposed to be around 100, however due to decreasing life conditions and environmental and social factors related to the decline and obsolescence of humanity, the actual average life expectancy of baseline humans has stagnated around to 75-78 years, and in some areas has even decreased further), and this is without further age rejuvenating treatments and operations that can further extend their lives - though true biological immortality is typically beyond the reach of the middle-class applicants of Double Plus operations.
The Double Plus is the most common biological transhuman in UNOM, and is typically the standard of the transhuman middle class.
Utilitarian Plus
Geof Perez, a frontier-world militia commander and Utilitarian Transhuman posing with subordinate for the documentary "We are the Frontier: Story of the Border People".
The Utilitarian Plus is in essence a specialist derivative of the Double Plus, offering more narrow specialised improvements for those seeking very particular improvements in certain fields, though at affordable costs. While inferior to the more modern Alpha+ category version, the Utilitarian Plus provides such things as basic adaptions of the body to different environments, usually enhancing the body's ability to withstand significantly higher or lower temperatures and gravity (though not to the extent of more expensive varients). It may also specifically alter the performance of certain limbs, or attempt to enhance hand-eye coordination to greater extents than the general 'holistic' health improvements of just Double Plus. Utilitarian Plus modifications are usually used by miners and colonists, or low-level professionals attempting to raise their employment and income potential.
The Category Alpha + is mostly to designate special cases that don't really fit into the latter categories of Transhumanism but are not merely 'slightly improved humans' as with normal Alpha category modifications. Category Alpha+ transhumans are typically highly specialised and/or appear based on certain circumstances.
Evolutionary Nemu Tau is a Junker explorer and medical doctor for the CJR Loves To Frollock, without her oxygen mask and cybernetic limbs, she would likely collapse to muscle atrophy and allergies on Earth's surface.
Evolutionary Transhumanity while not necessarily new has only quite recently become more widely recognised phenomenon in the wider galaxy, and was first recognised by the Junkers. Evolutionary Transhumanity is in essence the natural changes caused to the human form due to environmental factors unrelated to technological-based editing, as well as unintended side-effects of intentional gene-editing usually caused by differences in environments. The most common form of Evolutionary Transhumanism is seen in Spacers, a broad term used for anyone that has been born in the zero-g environment of space - as such the Junkers, being entirely a people of nomadic spacers, are the most often to see Evolutionary Transhumanism. This form of unintentional or even natural change can be such things as changes in bone structure and density of those born in space (particularly to multiple generations of spacer families who spend their whole lives in space), extremely over-represented ambidextrous and general flexibility as well as intolerance or vulnerability to bacteria and terrestrial diseases. Other forms of Evolutionary Transhumanism has been studied and recognised in very long-standing inter-generational colonial families on 'extreme environment' worlds. Even baseline humans with each successive generation on high-gravity worlds tend to grow shorter and approach dwarfism, while on low-gravity worlds tend to grow taller and lithe, or approach a kind of willowy gigantism. Even the people of Mars, perhaps the oldest kind of Evolutionary Transhuman, despite ironically being considered the baseline humans hardest hit by human obsolescence, have increasingly less subtle evolutionary traits such as increased resistance to radiation and stronger and larger lungs as well as increasingly thicker and leathery skin, traits to compensate for the harsh and incomplete semi-terraformed landscape that is Mars.
While Evolutionary Transhumanism is much more subtle that deliberate environment modifications, the sheer implication of natural (if hyper-accelerated) human evolution caused by multiple generations of colonists living in extreme environments is immense. It leads one to hypothesise that if this much change can occur naturally to the human form in just under 1000 year, what will humanity be in 10,000 years? 100,000 years?
Another issue is the political status of these Evolutionary Transhumans, particular in the Biocon and Cornucopian camps. Both of these factions simultaneously have factions that both accept and reject Evolutionary Transhumanity as 'theirs', with no consensus in either side. Cornucopians because on one hand they are altered, but not deliberately so and not necessarily 'improved' (evolutionary transhumanism often leads to significant new biological flaws and genetic disorders). Biocon because they have not been artificially edited and as such are still technically 'baseline', however on the other hand their biological state is increasingly deviating for the baseline model and the holy human form.
Evolutionary Transhumanism as a phenomenon is also an explanation for why transhuman genetic engineering is more likely to become flawed or generate new unwanted side-effects or disorders in extreme environments, though even on earth-like worlds, the slightest changes to transhumans may lead to unwanted side-effects in the future.
In layman speak, Evolutionary Transhumans are commonly known as "Evos".
Utilitarian Pseudo-Evolutionary It is a hard life that the dwarfism-inflicted miners and industrial workers of Eulogy Draconis C live, but Bill 'Baby' Lutch is willing to work for good pay (to pay off his augmentation corporate loans).
Utilitarian Pseudo-Evolutionaries, aka "Pseudo-Evos" are in essence Evolutionary Transhumanism but by design, and exaggerated significantly. Pseudo-Evos seek to play with the advantages that these environmentally specialised adaptions provide while negating the natural flaws and weaknesses that appear with them - in essence having their cake and eating it too via genetic engineering. These modifications are often quite expensive and comparable to low level Beta Category modifications, and as such are often done by the local colonial elites of extreme-environment worlds, or otherwise are provided in various corporate loan packages for colonial endeavours, in particular mining of high-resource worlds that have extreme environments.
The Pseudo-Evo typically have relatively extreme forms that often deviate quite extensively from the standard human form and sometimes even incorporate anthropomorphic characteristics to further enhance this environmental advantage (e.g. aquatic pseudo-evos with webbing between their fingers and gills).
Dysgenetic / "Hybrid" Little Titania Oliynyk was born from an out-of-wedlock relationship of her Baseline Human father. Luckily she has her older half-brother Anton to help her deal with her chronic pains, breathing problems and haemophilia.
A highly controversial class of Transhuman, the 'Dysgenetic' Transhuman is in essence a Reverse Transhuman or a naturally conceived hybrid born between a transhuman and baseline human parent without deliberate modifications themselves (or two transhuman parents who decide to not edit their child and conceive naturally). Due to the parents not giving their hybrid child modifications, they are not transhuman in the conventional sense - however due to inheriting some genetically engineered genes from a transhuman parent, they are not properly baseline either. Dysgenetic Transhumans at lower levels of transhumanism are mostly indistinguishable from Baseline humans, so a natural born child of a baseline human and plus transhuman couple is likely to birth a relatively normal dysgenetic child with only some risks of acquiring rare new 'dysgenetic' genetic disorders... however, as the levels of transhumanism increase and the genetic dissimilarity between the parents increase, the dysgenetic risks of the child also increase, sometimes to extreme levels. A whole slough of new and unprecedented genetic disorders are associated with Dysgenetic children miraculously born of couplings of baseline humans and Category Beta and Delta transhumans.
Many of the more extreme, almost-posthuman Category Delta transhumans are completely incapable of crossbreeding with a baseline human without technological aid, and more milder cases often have regular stillbirths or highly defective children if normally conceived with a baseline human. Category Beta transhumans are more subtle in issues, and their dysgenetic children tend to have more mild disorders or solely mental disorders. It should be noted though that this occurrence is often randomised to a degree, and just because it can happen does not mean that it will. There are in existence 'dysgenetic' hybrid children of baseline and high-level transhuman parents who function normally.
Socially, Dysgenetic Transhumanism as the name suggests is often rejected and treated with exclusion and hostility. Extropianism treats the practice as inherently unethical and socially regressive - sharing its beliefs with most geneticists and academia in UNOM who warn of widespread transference of new genetic disorders across humanity and transhumanity (though particularly baselines, who cannot simply erase the genetic disorders later via more transhumanism), equating the practice to that of widespread socially accepted incest and its effects on future generations. Cornucopianism has mixed positions on it. Due to being libertarian, they accept any relationship free of state control, however often Cornucopian Transhumans themselves see actual Hybrid children as highly questionable or inferior, or even as abominations. Bioconservatives similarly view Dysgenetic Transhumanism as a degenerate and immoral practice of the Transhuman elite, or a means to covertly force Baseline Humans into becoming transhumans against their will. Singularitarians tend to be neutral on the matter, usually leaning towards Extropian and expert opinions on health risks, but otherwise refusing to make moral judgements. Overall, intense racism is directed towards Dysgenetic Transhumans by the common masses, with new ethnic slurs such as "Fects" (Defective) and "Degens", as well as the more standard Mongrel and Mong. For obvious reasons, Dysgenetic Transhumans themselves prefer to call themselves Hybrids, not their inherently demeaning official name or the ethnic slurs provided to them by the Baseline under-class and Transhuman upper-class.
Radical Bioconservatives in particular believe that to defend Baseline Humanity from widespread genetic degeneration, legislation must be implemented that is in essence miscegenation laws, though currently UNOM's civil rights laws block these attempts. This is a particularly stark divide between moderate and radical Biocon, as moderate Biocon tends to have more mixed messages on the matter, and sometimes uses pro-Dysgenetic Transhumanism language as a way to build bridges with the Corncon (Cornucopian-Biocon) or Traditional Transhumanist community, who are some of the most common practitioners of such couplings and offspring.
It is assumed that no Posthuman-Baseline dysgenetic transhuman has ever been born or is even possible. The reasoning for this is relatively sound, as besides the physical impossibility of two so different genetic beings from successfully mating, political posthumanism wishes to distance itself from humanity as much as possible, and one of these ways is they deliberately make themselves completely incapable of breeding with humans. Some however have provided concepts of a theoretical Dysgenetic transhuman between a Posthuman and a high-level Transhuman, though once again this is theoretical and probably not doable.
Category Beta Transhumanism accounts for the ruling classes of UNOM and their preferences towards using their genetic engineering as a form of aesthetic expression, a tendency towards while still aiming for higher performance than baseline humans, to veer off into the realms of personal ideals, beauty standards, sub-culture and counter-culture movements, popular trends, political expression or even personal fetishes. While Plus Transhumans are well within the realms of humanity, the "Aesthetics" are aimed at embracing certain archetypes of either extreme humanity or otherwise embracing non-human elements. While Category Beta Transhumans are often stereotyped for seeking exotic personal designs - in reality this is not as true as they pretend it is... generally, there are very archetypal themes that most follow in rapid cyclical patterns similar to clothing fashion. Of these patterns, the most enduring of them is that of fantasy beings and sexual dimorphism. Of all the archetypes, the most popular are that of Elves and Vampires - the stereotypical graceful and elite fantasy races.
It should also be noted, as the genetic modifications of the elite, Category Beta modifications are not just adding silly aesthetic elements. Often, Category Beta modifications provide perfect appearances exactly as desired, superhuman bodies with the desired characteristics and performance (within reason), often holding more mild but broader resilience to environments similar to cheaper Utilitarian modifications, and with consistent care and maintenance/treatments, functional immortality.
Category Beta modifications can, similar to more advanced cybernetic transhuman models and to a lesser extent earlier Alpha Category modifications, loophole their way around laws forbidding neurological editing beyond the confines of humanity - typically in a precise manner as to avoid posthuman designation. Typically, Category Beta transhumans are modified in such a way to design the perfect body, sensory, hormonal and health enhancements that facilitates greater mental intelligence. Some modifications will even be performed on the brain itself, though typically in a way that avoids altering it 'beyond the restraints of humanity' so as to avoid posthuman designations, much like cybernetic brain implants that can also enhance human mental capacity. In essence, the result is Beta Category Transhumans often have enhanced mental capacity, thinking speeds, reaction time, observation skills, problem solving ability, memory and so forth. Beta Category Transhumans who also undergo cybernetic implants to enhance mental ability can even approach intelligence and speeds comparable to that of an Artificial Intelligence - a loophole that Radical Bioconservatives want shut down, less the Singularity be achieved through this particular back door.
It should also be noted, cross-category Beta/Delta Transhumans are relatively common, as anthropomorphic characteristics are often added on to further strengthen the aesthetic theme. That said, Beta Category transhumans who dabble in Anthropomorphism usually do so in a much more limited sense. Furthermore, the aesthetic groups themselves can be mixed to varying degrees, so for example you could have a Dionysian-Aresian or an Apollonian-Aphrodesian or so on.
Apollonian Aesthetic
Multi-Quadrillionaire Langdon Baudelaire, the richest person in the galaxy and all human history, celebrating in 2890 his 769th birthday with his usual stoic demeanour while managing his interstellar business empire.
The first of the two most common Category B transhuman archetypes. Apollonian Aesthetic Transhumans in general prefer more serene and passive forms with relatively more conforming appearances (Apollonians tend to look similar to each other). A key characteristic of Apollonian aesthetics is androgyny, with low to very low levels of sexual dimorphism, and either an emphasis on feminine-appearing men or more masculine-appearing women, or some variation there of (depending what is the trend at the time). A very common archetypal fantasy appearance appropriated by Apollonians is that of the stereotypical 'fantasy elf' - long ears, long hair, lithe body, highly dexterous, etc. Vampires as well, while more divided into other aesthetics, are also common. In general, while Dionysians tend to take on extreme human forms, Apollonians prefer more muted forms but with fantastical additions being more common.
Apollonians tend to also have a more stronger emphasis on leaning on the dangerous line of neurological engineering, seeing themselves as the cerebral 'thinking' superman to the more 'primitive' Dionysian. For this reason, Apollonians are usually some of the most intelligent non-cybernetic individuals in UNOM and Apollonians with perfect eidetic memory has become a recognisable trend. On the physical side however, Apollonians have a tendency towards flexibility, dexterity and hand-eye coordination as well as super-enhanced senses.
Apollonians interestingly are usually the aesthetic group that the 29th century LGBT mostly inhabit due to its tendency to regularly ignore or break gender roles or dimorphism, particularly compared to Dionysian Transhumanism which is often binary genders on steroids. Apollonian Transhumanism in particular is the group that has perfect transsexual alignment, or even recreational transsexualism (though this particular pastime is more common in the Aphrodesian/Fetishist group that exaggerates the tendency)
Dionysian Aesthetic
To the left stands Ajax Beros, galaxy-famous wrestler turned film actor. To his right is his off-and-on girlfriend, Cleo Naiades one of the numerous heiress Naiades Sisters as well as pop-star.
The second of the two most common Category B transhuman archetypes. Dionysian Aesthetic Transhumans in general prefer more intense, passionate or active forms with relatively more individualistic or self-expressive appearances, usually built around exaggerated features. A key component of Dionysian aesthetics is high to very high levels of sexual dimorphism. Men are often extremely masculine and women extremely feminine, though with vary degrees. In a more subdued sense, the physicality of Greek Gods is popular or otherwise preferring more 'graceful' masculinity/femininity, but hyperbolic parody-like extremes like massive hulking muscle-men giants and hyper-sexualised porn-star like women also exist. Fantastical forms and add-ons are also common, though not as much as with Apollonians, as Dionysians tend to aim towards exaggerated human physicality. Another common trait with Dionysians is great height, some completely dwarfing regular humans.
Dionysians tend to have a focus on superhuman physicality - though they do extensive neurological loop-hole based enhancements too, it is usually secondary to perfecting 'peak physical performance'. The more extreme male Dionysians as such can often become almost indistinguishable from Aresian Transhumans appearance-wise, due to possessing mostly the same combat-like capacity and resilience to physical damage, resistance in extreme environments and hyper-stamina.
Aresian Aesthetic
Unofficial sketch of Man X provided to ORIPOL, the shadowy former CEO of PMC-orientated Scutum Defence, now shadowy CEO of the illegal blood-sports 'Death Job!' gladiatorial arena games.
Aresian Aesthetic transhumanism is significantly less common than the 'two big' archetypes, due to its sole obsession with combat and warfare and designing the ultimate warrior form for this purpose - though emphasis here is on 'warrior', rather than as a 'soldier'. Throughout most of UNOM's history, a golden age has ruled with peace, prosperity and democracy across much of the galaxy - so Aresians have to go out of their way to find war, either by venturing out as mercenaries, adventurers or political volunteer fighters in wars beyond the Mandate... or more commonly become hyper-sports stars. While Transhumans are typically forbidden from entering conventional sports due to unfair advantages (Transhuman athletes are barred from entering The Olympics for example, which has since become an overwhelming Bioconservative cultural event), Aresian Transhumans who could not find warfare to involve themselves with, or were otherwise uninterested in actually committing to real do-or-die combat decided instead to invent new transhuman-led blood sports within UNOM, or just outside of it for sports too violent to function under UNOM's laws and insurance policies.
Aresian Blood Sports in particular are (in)famous for their intense brutality, as Aresian Transhumans are designed to withstand insane levels of damage and recover from blows that a normal human would die instantly from. Within UNOM, this is usually just more rule-lax forms of boxing, cage-fights and martial arts - but outside of UNOM this goes all the way to full-on gladiatorial combat reminiscent of ancient Rome.
Aresians as such have bodies designed for peak combat, and usually at the expense of 'beauty', which they mostly care little for (though with some exceptions), thus differentiating themselves for example from most Dionysian males, who while often large muscular men, do so for aesthetic beautification purposes, rather than as to maximise combat efficiency (in fact, some of these muscle-men are so muscular that they are actually useless in proper martial arts). Aresians often have extra organs implanted within them, as well as new organs designed solely for either combat or survivability purposes - including even an extra heart, usually tactically placed to reduce to the potential of death.
Aresians are further modified to radically increase stamina and endurance, dexterity as well. Some Aresians also undergo light Anthropomorphic modifications to further raise their combat capability. Fascinatingly, one of the areas Aresians usually do not touch is the mind, partly because of their warrior-mentality they wish to focus solely on physical combat and leave the spirit 'untouched', so also because they are worried that as combat-orientated transhumans, if they dare to modify their minds, even through technical loopholes as the others, UNOM's biocons and intelligence agencies will decide to purge them all as threats by labelling them Political Posthumanists. Aresians beyond the Mandate of course have no such fear, and some do undergo modifications giving them superhuman response times, awareness as well as deliberately dulling pain responsiveness.
Aphrodesian Aesthetic / Fetishist
The Dancing Ripple aphro-anthro troupe is coming to Haccanus Gamma in Summer 2981! All time masters of song and dance! (Part time masters of backdoor orgies) oh my!
While the majority of Category B transhumans focus on personal beauty standards, and some focus on narrow specialised pursuits (such as Aresians and combat), Aphrodesians instead focus on maximising sensation and pleasure, either as applied utilitarianism... or personal hedonism. While also concerning themselves with beauty, Aphrodesians often put emphasis on personal fetishes and sexual quirks and as such are often the most exotic in appearance compared to the Apollonians and Dionysians. hyper-sexuality is typically the most important aspect, though other modifications include extreme heightened sensory abilities (sight, sound, taste), physical sensitivity (touch) and even pain reception.
Aphrodesians are also the most likely Category B transhuman group to consistently alter themselves into different and new forms rather than staying as one 'identifying' form. Furthermore, they often enjoy recreational transexualism and casually switching sexes - though unlike the Apollonian LGBT typically do not bother to make it any kind of actual identity. Hermaphrodites and exotic sexual organs (or when combined with anthropomorphism, animal sexual organs) is also common.
It goes without saying, Aphrodesian Transhumans are, perhaps only rivalled by the most borderline Anthropomorphic Transhumans, the most hated category of Transhumans by Bioconservatives, and in general are considered a degenerate mockery of the human race. Prominent Aphrodesian celebrities are often favourite targets for Extreme Biocon terrorists and paramilitary groups for assassination. Most religious groups also are ambivalent towards them, including most of the New Agers, with the exception of a few aesthetic or hedonistic cults - that are usually made up of their own members. Due to this widespread animosity, Aphrodesians while usually stereotypically taking on hyper-sexualised extroverted celebrity personas are some of the most paranoid and introverted of the transhuman ruling elite - living in constant fear of Baseline humans and typically living in exclusive Transhuman-only communities and worlds. For this reason to, there is a disproportionate number of Aphrodesian E-Celebrities, as it is far harder for a Baseline human in a crowd of fans to throw a grenade at them on the internet.
Quite simply, the Category Delta represents the addition of non-human biological components to the transhuman modification. A process that started to become feasible by the 25th century and early enough that it did not get crushed by future anti xeno-grafting laws. While radical bioconservatives have attempted numerous times to retroactively ban anthropomorphic genetic engineering through the anti xeno-grafting laws, these attempts have always failed, at least so far. As such, following the precise letter of the law, Transhumans are permitted to genetically engineer themselves with terrestrial animal dna... but cannot use alien animal dna found across the galaxy. uwu whats this?
Pseudo-Anthropomorphic
One of hundreds of millions of girls across the galaxy attempting to copy the beloved extranet star Chay-Chan, her relatively wealthy (if overly conceding) middle-class parents have given her cat ears just like her idol.
The most common form of anthropomorphic modification, Pseudo-Anthropomorphics are Transhumans that have only taken on minor and isolated animal-based modifications, or otherwise are Transhumans of other categories who have added minor Anthropomorphic traits to themselves to supplement other modifications. Pseudo-Anthropomorphics are most famous for the eternal "cat girl" that as a cultural symbol simply refuses to die - thus granting Elon Musk his one true wish, even if many centuries too late. Pseudo-Anthropomorphics are as such majority human in appearance, and can mostly disguise their animal modifications successfully in public if they so wished. While these animal-parts can be functional, often they are merely aesthetic addons that do not actually function like their true animal counterparts, thus you may have 'counterfeit' cat girls who are actually just Plus transhumans with non-functional cat ears on their heads. This differentiation is usually a sign of quality and thus price, with wealthy transhumans able to acquire for themselves 'real' functional animal components. That said, even fakes are expensive, and Anthropomorphic modification is barred to the lower classes.
Anthropomorphic
Radical transhuman militia-woman Baoesia Rivers, she and her Enkidu Prime 13th Militia Guards are currently under investigation for the brutal murder of Biocon Bluecoat Paramilitary Commander Will Crosshander, who's murder included gun shot wounds, acid burns, claw-based lacerations, strangulation and parts of his flesh ripped off by teeth.
Genuine Anthropomorphic Transhumans in distinction from their Pseudo-cousins are more recognisably 'human-animal' hybrid than 'human with some animal parts'. Due to the limitations placed on them by the Posthumanism-defeating Anthropomorphism Test, Anthropomorphic Transhumans cannot undergo total body animalisation and must still remain in the general human form (so you will not see, for example, a transhuman that is for all intents and purposes a horse except with a human mind). This usually includes possessing a human face, though attempts have been made to replace the human face with an animal 'anthro' face legally, these borderline cases being the most extreme attempts to bend the laws of UNOM.
Anthropomorphics unlike Pseudos will always have functional animal components, and so many of them they are intrinsically intertwined with their human components and organs. That is to say, they would not function without them. This is another important difference. A Pseudo-Anthropomorphic could for example have their cat ears ripped off or surgically removed and they would continue living as a transhuman. A true anthropomorphic would be dead if their parts were removed.
While Anthropomorphics tend to avoid neurological engineering for similar reasons as Aresians (fear of being purged as posthumans if they go too far), the reality of the situation is that Anthropomorphics are often neurologically altered by the sum of so many animal parts functioning in their body effecting the mind anyway. As such, Anthropomorphics often have severe mental issues and neurological as well as behavioural issues unique to them, as their bodies twist the natural functioning of their still-human brain. There has been numerous efforts to fix these problems, and with some limited success (usually through specialised drugs), but overall it still remains a widespread problem... ignoring those who deliberately embrace the chaos.
As more and more animal parts are added to a Transhuman, the less capable they become at interbreeding with a baseline human, especially naturally without any form of technological aid. Dysgenetic children of full-scale anthropomorphics and baseline humans are often the worst off, as they inherent the genetic disorders of both their natural and unnatural parent.
It goes without saying that Anthropomorphics are hated by Bioconservatives, and seen as twisted degenerates that are a mockery of the human race. They make favoured targets of Extreme Biocon terrorists and paramilitaries, and as such like Aphrodesians tend to stick to either Transhuman-dominated worlds, or even more extreme exclusively anthropomorphic colonies.
Pseudo-Grotesque
Radical Grotesque transhuman artist and former cat-girl Shay Mantilla who proved surprisingly competent at making unusual contacts, is shown here prior to her untimely demise via two shots to the back of the head and a heavy-calibre third to her spine. Why she decided to end her own life we will never know.
The Pseudo-Grotesques are Anthropomorphic Transhumans that have embraced a watered down version of Posthuman Grotesquism as a kind of subversive counter-culture. Unlike true Posthuman Grotesqueism, these Transhumans cannot fully abandon their humanity or neurologically alter themselves beyond humanity without also getting legally labelled as Posthumans and then have charges pressed against them - as such it remains mostly as a modified form of standard Anthropomorphic Transhumanism that instead of selecting animal features regarded as trendy, popular or appealing, deliberately seeks out ugly, disgusting or intimidating features with the expressed purpose of offending humanity. In its more common form found amongst outcast middle-class Anthromorphics, it is usually an angsty and immature form of 'fighting the man' by putting tentacles on your face, however in its upper-class variant, it becomes more of a vague social trend of aligning oneself with the most offensive political ideology in the galaxy to current day Bioconservatism - Eusocial Posthumanity. Upper-class Pseudo-Grotesques as such exclusively use insectoid and arachnid-like modifications to appear as closely as they legally can to a Eusocial Posthuman from Far Carina.
While creating great controversy and further hatred from Biocons who they aim to offend, most Pseudo-Grotesques are far too high-profile and out in the open to be actual legitimate threats. Very few Pseudo-Grotesques actually make it as far as running off to become Posthumans or Eusocials themselves, as they have long since been put on numerous government watchlists, blacklists and surveillance, and most are simply trolls seek to create drama. Similarly, real upper-class transhumans that collaborate with Eusocial Posthumanity are typically not those running around cosplaying as alien bugs as part of an edgy trend, but regular Category B transhumans hidden in the shadows with real political or economic power.
You might want to look up Krashnikov Tubes, as a theoretical alternative to QECs. Its something I'm using in my own fic. Basically, you run an Alcubierre drive backwards, and create a tube of extremely compressed space behind a craft moving at sub-light. While underway, it either can be used for near zero-lag communications, or possibly like your QET idea, in allowing matter and/or energy to be moved into the hull in transit. Once at its destination, it either shuts down the tube, or in theory, can leave it permanently opened while 'anchored' to a specific location (likely a Lagrange Point or similar). In the former, not much happens beyond starting over again. In the latter, it either leaves a permanent FTL point-to-point communications link, if a tiny tube, or potentially a true FTL 'Highway' as an artificial/pseudo- wormhole.
@Sakuya's Butler
Hmmm, yes, this could work, and it is already built off a technology that exists in the setting. That said, I do have a view concerns.
#1: Generally speaking, the inability for large quantities of data to be transmitted instantaneously across the galaxy is somewhat of a Necessary Weasel in terms of plot, because otherwise there is little justifying why the Singularity (As a galactic-scale event, rather than an isolated one that can be stopped) hasn't already occurred successfully, other than UNOM constantly blocking any attempt at it.
#2: I am somewhat concerned with the double Krasnikov-tube theory and its potential ability to enable time travel if I am reading this correctly. I am not totally against time travel, but it isn't really something I have considered all that much in terms of the setting and plot.
that said, I have a potential way to apply this: This could be "The" technology that is currently being researched and experimented with to enable said instantaneous bulk data transference that could cause a galactic-scale singularity, since there are those who would obviously want to cause that in this setting. So basically, the technology does not yet exist but it can exist and is in the process of being made functionally invented. I can also handwave away it taking so much longer than the Alcubierre Drive because regulators are well aware what it could do.
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In other news: I am now working on the next lore dump (cybernetic transhumans).
Transhumanity III (Cybernetic Transhuman Classifications)
Category Gamma cyborgs are those cyborgs who have least deviated from the human form, and are typically categorised in differentiation from Epsilon and Zeta categories of transhumanism for leaving the human mind untouched and instead focusing on more basic physical enhancement. Technically speaking, Category Gamma transhumans are the earliest form of transhumanism in existence, as broadly speaking Category Gamma includes any human who has ever replaced limbs or organs with prosthetic or synthetic replacements. The earliest artificial heart, the Jarvick-7, was successfully implanted in a human in 1982. The earliest prosthetic limbs are recorded to have been in Ancient Egypt and Iran in 3000 BC. It is due to this considerable history that Category Gamma transhumans are usually given leeway in terms of the conflict between Transhumanity and Humanity, and can be found in all political camps, though extreme bioconservatism and anarcho-primitivists reject even Category Gamma transhumanism.
Gamma Transhumans are the most common form of Transhuman in the Galaxy, and significantly outnumber the other categories of transhumans if Exoskeleton usage is also counted (for accuracy, Exoskeleton users are not counted in any form of census).
Exoskeletons
The holy human form must never be defiled.
Really, not actually a type of Transhuman, but exoskeleton technology is highly widespread and some of the most commonly used industrial technology in UNOM, as it permits Baseline Humans to perform some basic tasks and occupations that they would otherwise be unable to due to transhumans being far superior to them in terms of efficiency and effectiveness. While exoskeleton technology has advanced to such a degree that very high quality exoskeletons tend to match cybernetics (on average) in ability, the reality of the situation however is that most exoskeletons are built for quantity and cheapness rather than quality - as the primary users of them are the baseline humans who are just above perpetual welfare and unemployment. As such, Exoskeletons are typically still inferior to even average cyborgs.
A field of employment where high-quality Exoskeletons are used commonly however would be the United Nations Peacekeeping Forces, which is dominated by Baseline Humans, particularly in the Enlisted and NCO ranks, and who's exoskeletons belong to the state rather than themselves, thus temporarily making them as roughly effective in physical ability to most average cyborgs. Typically in the armed forces, the exoskeletons are heavily reinforced power armour or at the very least basic exoskeleton frames that are then armoured. Some elite units such as the UNPF's Marine Legionnaires wear double-exoskeletons, usually designed so they they can withstand the extreme forces of their outer-suits jump-packs and boosters as well as performing orbital dives.
Prosthetic Cyborgs
Elias Behr, ex-United Nations Peacekeeper and now unemployed veteran living off welfare, in deep contemplation over his cybernetic arm.
Prosthetic Cyborgs are in essence Cyborgs that have replaced certain bodily parts purely to replace damaged or defective natural organs or limbs rather than to enhance utility. Prosthetic Cyborgs are most common found in the Outer Colonies or on manufacturing-focused industrial worlds due to the prevalence of industrial accidents, as well as ex-military veterans where such prosthetic replacements due to wounds in battle are also common. Prosthetic Cyborgs are overwhelmingly represented by ex-Baseline Humans who have been uplifted so that they can continue functioning, or otherwise are more wealthy elderly Baselines with replacement synthetic organs. Highly ill Baseline humans with defective organs are also common recipients of prosthetic cybernetics.
Cybernetic-eye replacements typically require a minor brain-implant, and as such brain implants even appear in the lowest level of cybernetic transhumanity.
Prosthetic Cyborgs have been culturally excluded informally from other cyborg-based cultural groups and events, as more Singularitarian or Transhumanist aligned cyborgs tend to look down on them or distrust them due to being 'discount' transhumans or "Cultural Baselines" with no Transhuman heritage. This is not universal though, and anti-Prosthetic classism/animosity is not really an official position of these ideologies. outside of Extreme Biocon, Bioconservatism tends to also hold less severe views of Prosthetic Cyborgs than they would of other transhuman categories.
A fascinating piece of information concerning Prosthetic Cyborgs is that of those who have since embraced Extreme Bioconservatism, many go on to remove their prosthetic replacements, potentially committing suicide while doing so. Ex-Peacekeeper Veterans in particular who go on to join various Ultra paramilitary groups are famous for visibly removing cybernetic eyes and sensory implants and replacing they with the eye patch, which has now become a recognisable symbol of extreme bioconservatism (to the point that if someone is seen wearing an eye patch in public, it is often assumed they are an Ultra or at the very least an extreme bioconservative).
Utilitarian Cyborgs
Samantha Hayes, mechanic and engineer gearing up for work on the recently booming industrial colony Eta Bartholomew III, in the Outer Auriga Sector.
The Utilitarian Cyborgs are the first that take on their cybernetics as a choice of utility rather than replacement, intentionally replacing perfectly functional limbs or organs so to enhance their performance and efficiency or lower their dependence on things like food, or otherwise to withstand extreme environments like their biological utilitarian transhuman cousins. Utilitarian Cyborgs generally are mostly still organic though and their cybernetics are usually narrowly focused towards the intended purpose they are acquired for - this is mostly because cybernetics are still somewhat expensive - particularly as they become more complex and require professional cybernetic mechanics and engineers for maintenance on them, rather than simply using fabricators.
Utilitarian Cyborgs mostly replace limbs, lungs, hearts and eyes as typical parts to be replaced. More expensive Utilitarian Cyborgs have also been known to add additional limbs to themselves, a third-mechanical eye and so on. As Utilitarian Cyborgs become increasingly complex, the border between them and Category Epsilon cyborgs become more murky, and is usually divided along cultural and political lines rather than actual functions. Many of the more advanced Utilitarian Cyborgs are considered and consider themselves 'proper' Transhumans, and so the tendency to drift away from Bioconservatism and towards either Singularitarianism, Extropianism or Cornucopianism begins here.
Category Epsilon... also known as The Children of the Singularity. From this category onwards, Singularitarianism dominants as cyborgs become increasingly linked with the social, political, cultural and religious norms of this school of thought. This is not to say ALL Category Epsilon transhumans are actually Singularitarians, there are Extropians, Cornucopians and even possibly Bioconservative Epsilon's in existence - but they move against the general trend. Besides this cultural dimension, Category Epsilon transhumans can be distinguished by their extensive modifications, willingness to rid themselves of biological parts without need other than efficiency, interest in technology-based inter connectivity and implants that enhance the brain as well as experimenting with new technology and forms not necessarily in line with the base human model.
Neural Cyborgs / Corticals
famous hacker Ekon Delta demonstrates the process of 'deep projection' to spectators of the Mu Intranet. He simultaneously is seeing through his own eyes, the eyes of four others in the room observing him, twenty six security cameras around the apartment, and the screen cameras of three thousand viewers.
A Neural Cyborg, Cortical or Neuro-borg is a cyborg that has started the process of integrating brain implants into themselves. The most important of these implants for Singularitarians is usually the famous Cortical Stack, a implant into the spine designed as a memory bank and recorder for the intended purpose of preserving all possible data of a person's life so that they could be theoretically revived into the future once human brain-uploading is possible or once The Singularity has been achieved. Other implants include brain implants designed to provide constant intranet connection and HUD overlays controlled by the brain, implants to enhance memory, provide connections between family members for purposes of monitoring or communication, implants for improved senses and so on and so forth.
Singularitarian Cyborgs very often use brain implants for the purpose of inter-connectivity and sensory manipulation. A very common religious ritual and past-time of Theo-Singularitarians is to simulations of a group-consciousness and altered reality as an attempt of acting out a potential cyber-utopian realm post-singularity. Theo-Singularitarians also practice other rituals through brain implants such as 'astral projecting', in reality a form of reverse virtual reality wherein a cyborg remotely assumes control of an object such as a robotic industrial arm or even another cybernetic person. Building on astral projection is another practice wherein Theo-Singularitarians will practice shared identity by remotely sharing the same body of another cyborg. The most extreme of these events have had a single cyborg being remotely operated by hundreds of thousands at once.
'Line Cyborg' / Lineroid
Fashion model Chen Biyu posing for the manufacturers of the new Automata set of Lineroid augmentations.
A Line Cyborg, also known as a Lineroid, is the most stereotypical Theo-Singularitarian cyborg currently in existence. Lineroids are usually highly complex cybernetic suites of features, implants, prosthetics and some cybernetic parts that are non-human in appearance - as well as occasional minor use of bioroid features (artificial human flesh). Lineroids make use of android-like features such as synthetic skin and armour disguised as biological features. Typically, Lineroids will attempt to take on as many machine parts as they possibly can without being considered "Full Form Mechanists" and thus labelled as posthumans.
A Lineroid is named as such for the very telling signature many of them have - being neat artificial lines grooved into their artificial skin or faces. Officially, this was implemented as legal requirements to visibly indicate that they are Lineroids, however the lines (particularly connected to the eyes down the face, line scars) have become religious symbols of Theo-Singularitarians, and even those who have not become Lineroids... or even Transhuman at all will take on these lines (Baseline human Singularitarians use face paint or tattoos instead).
While Lineroid augmentation is typically highly expensive and beyond the reach of the lower-middle classes, non-wealthy Theo-Singularitarians often acquire Lineroid modifications through their associations with religious organisations, religious orders, Singularitarian 'Building Unions' (private loaning mechanisms to aid fellow members in augmenting themselves), corporations or paramilitary units, or alternatively Singularitarian elite oligarchs running vast Singularitarian charity drives and philanthropy. This fascinating religious barrier is also a convenient tool of spreading the faith, as those who wish to uplift themselves out of poverty can turn to Theo-Singularitarianism.
Militarised Lineroids exist and like their more exotic Custom cousins can have various small armaments integrated and hidden within their forms, or otherwise take on more fantastical forms that enable more heavy armaments, such as a Lineroid converting themselves into a cybernetic tank-man hybrid.
Custom Cyborg
Dayleah Phi Iota, Singularitarian Party MP of the United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, representing the Sub-Sector of Messier-B in the Sagittarius Arm
Custom 'Elite' Cyborgs are typically the furthest one can pursue cybernetic transhumanism without passing into posthuman territory. Extremely expensive implants designed to greatly improve mental performance, cutting edge mechanical limbs and sensory implants that can reach superhuman levels of performance and are custom-built by master artisans to be both extremely efficient and aesthetically pleasing. As much of the body is replaced as can be legally, and the forms used can become relatively esoteric and inhuman in design (such as cybernetic tentacles, multiple faces, eyes and cameras providing total 360 vision, etc).
Custom Cyborg forms of the Singularitarian elite, as the name suggests, are usually exotic and unique to each Singularitarian oligarch or hyper-rich purchaser and tend to avoid the biological Transuman elites fashion 'archetypes' and instead pursue either Theo-singularitarian cultural norms (lines through the eyes, angelic symbolism, the third eye, etc) or their own personal tastes. Extropian oligarchs in particular tend to be the most individualistic in designs of UNOM's elite.
Nanoborg
Nanobots rapidly healing a nanoborg man shot multiple times in the chest in a failed assassination attempt by ORISEC.
While use of nanobots is technically legal in UNOM in very restricted areas and under extreme supervision, and can even be allowed to enter the body (during special exclusive government-controlled medical operations), casual use of nanobots to enhance oneself in a cybernetic manner is strictly illegal, and the practice of creating or becoming a Nanoborg is therefore illegal and typically considered posthuman (even if technically speaking it is not). Beyond the Mandate however, Junkers and some Outworlders have been not to use nanotechnology in conjunction with exotic cybernetics to turn themselves into 'Nanoborgs', a cyborg with a constant 'nanobot ecosystem' flowing through their body. These nanobots usually provide constant medical and health benefits, can turn themselves into reactive armour or weapons, repair the body if damaged, can harden to physical trauma... etc.
A Nanoborg can further be upgraded by creating a direct connection between the nanobots and the consciousness of the cyborg controlling them, so that the cyborg can use the nanobots externally from their own body and form shields, use them to break down objects, gather information or act as an extremely rudimentary fabricator. That said, a Nanoborg cannot simply continue on living as the nanoswarm they control, as they are not uplifted - merely remote controlled, as such if the brain of the cyborg is destroyed, the swarm will either shut-down or continue operating on programming (or an lesser A.I, as high-ranking Junkers may possess).
Full Form Mechanists
Digital avatar of The Living Brain Eudaimonia, Posthuman philosopher living Beyond the Mandate. Occasionally interacts with Junkers and other Posthumans. Once broadcast a debate over the value of knowledge with Fractal The Geoman, a fellow Posthuman seeking "Ultimate" status.
Another illegal form of cybernetic transhumanism, Full-Form Mechanists are in essence cybernetic posthumanists that completely replace their entire human form with the exception of their brain and part of the spine with cybernetic parts. While completely illegal in UNOM on basis of Posthumanism laws, Junkers do not consider the practice "Posthuman" in nature due to maintaining the human mind and considering the baseline human form meaningless to the greater meaning of humanity, and so many Junkers perform Full Form Mechanisation and consider themselves transhumans instead of posthumans. Besides Junkers, actual Singularitarian Posthumanists also make use of Full Form Mechanisation, usually with the goal of ridding themselves of their humanity by, instead of becoming an alien beast, god, or eusocial entity, seek to become true "machines", or in essence attempting to become the closest possible thing they can to a machine intelligence without actually uplifting themselves. These cyborg posthumans are well known for removing all emotion from themselves through neurological engineering.
Uplift
Biri-biri, Artificial Intelligence born from a failed attempt to uplift a female Junker who died in the Miracle of PO-345. While Biri-Biri is not the consciousness of the fallen, she tries her best to live up to their memory.
An Uplift, also known as Brain Uploading, is the still theoretical practice of uploading the human consciousness into a computer system or network, or otherwise converting a human consciousness into an artificial intelligence. While Uplifts do not exist yet, the theoretical scaffolding is in place and most of the research has already been done, and as such Singularitarians are confident that Brain Uploading will very soon become a reality.
It is with somewhat irony that true artificial intelligence has existed for many centuries prior to the invention of brain uploading, however the invention of artificial intelligence has in fact been the main reason Brain Uploading has moved from pure theory into nigh-reality, as Singularitarians, particularly Junkers, have researched (or collaborated with their A.Is) to understand the inner-workings of A.I self-awareness and how this relates to the human mind, as well as advances in neurological engineering caused by the invention of A.I.
UNOM has preemptively banned all forms of Brain Uploading, Brain Uploading research and preemptively deemed any potential Uplift as a Posthuman, these laws were part of the wider Yingxing Edicts that banned Artificial Intelligence outright. Despite the illegality of Uplifting, many Singularitarians use technology and practices within UNOM which prepare themselves for uplifting, which are technically not illegal (until they actually succeed), such as the cortical stack.
While the fusion of biological and cybernetic transhumanism is vast and far-reaching, far beyond the category of just Zeta Transhumans, the Category Zeta exists to classify the most famous and standardised 'Extropian' models of transhumanity currently in existence. Zeta Transhumans are typically restricted to just the upper-classes and oligarchs of the galaxy, as no lower or middle class individual could afford the extensive modifications and specialist care and maintenance needed to achieve what is known as "Extropian Synergy", or the healthy balance and cooperation of cybernetic and bio-engineered implants, furthermore Extropian models are usually further restricted by culture, as there are typically fewer Extropian oligarchs in existence compared to the other branches of Transhumanism, and as such there aren't much in the realm of 'Extropian philanthropic handouts' as there are with Singularitarian lineroids for example.
Bioroid
A bioroid arm is completed from its vat-growing at the Helix & Insight Genetics Lab on Proxima Nausicaa I.
While bioroids classically refer to an artificial intelligence given a biological form or a vat-grown human form to reside within (which does exist Beyond the Mandate, but not within UNOM for obvious reasons), within UNOM Bioroids have instead taken on a different meaning, referring to transhumans who use artificially grown human organic parts in collaboration with cybernetics - for example metal skin which is covered over with vat-grown human skin, or a vat grown human eye with cybernetics already built into it, and then implanted as a 'third eye' as is common amongst Theo-Singularitarians.
Zeta Bioroids are as such a special breed of Extropian Transhumans that have a total mix of mechanical and biological implants intertwined with each other to successfully achieve 'full form mechanisation' while using this method to legally loophole around UNOM's anti-posthuman laws, since they have achieved nearly entirely artificial form, but much of it is vat-grown organic human.
Beyond Bioroids themselves, Bioroid parts are often found in all the other advanced categories of transhumanism, such as Beta Category elites who use vat-grown organs and implants ontop of their genetically engineered birth-forms and animal-grafts (Said animal-crafts are also technically a form of bioroid organism). Bioroid parts in their most advanced stage can reach biomechanical levels of integration, as seen in use by such groups as the Eusocial Posthumanists, who make significant use of biomechanical technology.
Transcyberians
The corporate spy, hacker and fabricator bootlegger 'Black Widow' showing off her latest Opimax IV facial sensor suite.
A Transcyberian is in essence the generic term for a Double-Plus or Beta-Transhuman that is genetically engineered from birth but also makes extensive use of cybernetics. Due to the distrust and animosity between the Singularitarian and Cornucopian transhuman elite, Transcyberians are relatively uncommon and typically found amongst Extropian political circles. Due to the influence of Extropianism, Transcyberians typically aim towards Apollonian-like mental enhancement, though make use of brain implants as well to even further enhance themselves, leading to some of the rare super-intelligent Transcyberians being some of the most intelligent beings in the galaxy, competing with A.I and some Posthumans. Transcyberians of this high-level of performance, unsurprisingly, are often monitored and antagonised by ORIPOL and ORISEC.
Extropian Anthropomorphic
Outworlder Mercenary Captain Mobius Olsson with Lieutenant Mave of the New Company, assisting fellow Outworlders in pushing out UNOM colonists from Far Centaurus
Relatively self explanatory, Extropian Anthropomorphics, combining animal-grafts, genetic engineering and cybernetic augmentation. These Extropian Anthropomorphics are not very common, though fascinatingly have developed a quasi-Extropian themed culture of their own, and like upper-class Grotesques who take on insectoid forms, Extropian Anthropomorphics tend to use animal-grafts from 'high intelligence' animals such as certain bird species, elephants, pigs, dolphins, etc. Extropian Anthropomorphic are also unique for their unique political goals of believing in uplifting all animal life into sapience as a moral imperative, and in general spreading intelligence to all forms of life that can be made sapient. This goal has led to so Extro-Anthro's being placed on government watch lists.
Hephaestusian Aesthetic.
Famous sculpture, painter and artisan-designer Melby Kimathi presenting herself at the 2881 Grand Consortium for Rare and Fine Works award ceremony on Earth.
The Hephaestisoan Aestheticists are a new semi-recognised group of elite transhumans who have like the Aresians created a hyper-focused form of transhumanity that combines a kind of romanticist culture, retro-aesthetic and asceticism with a singular obsession with artisan hobbies and occupations. Hephaestusians reject Fabricator technology entirely and believe that the most highest quality productions can only be 'hand-crafted', though unlike Biocon artisans believe that 'hand crafted' traditional methods and tools can be reinterpreted to include vast arrays of cybernetic limbs, multiple animal-crafted eyes with archaic lenses attached and other anachronisms. Despite their quirkiness, Hephaestusians have mostly been proven correct in the free market, and buyers have put high prices and as such beliefs of quality in these elite artisans 'artistically flawed' products. Somewhat more darkly, these Hephaestusians are providing staunch competition for one of the few remaining occupational roles that baesline humans can still perform - artisan crafts with intentional 'aesthetic' avoidance of mass fabrication.
While the United Nations Orion Mandate stands as the galaxy's sole hyperpower and recognises no nation other than itself, this does not mean that it stands as the galaxy's only nation - far from it in fact, as the galaxy is so large that even with UNOM's power, it cannot possibly control the vastness of the galaxy, particularly as many of the hundreds of billions of star systems have not even been explored by UNOM. Out into this distant void, far from the prying eyes of Earth and its laws resides an incredibly diverse range of bizarre and disparate nations and peoples, born from the various dissidents, exodus' and flights, cults and colonists that have fled from Earth and UNOM throughout the third millennium.
While the UNOM could be said to be stifling and stagnate in its bureaucratic enormity - it has stood as the prime guardian of peace for most of the 3rd millennium, devoid of catastrophic war except for the rare events such as the Constitutional Crisis of 2566 and the Scutum Uprising. While it could be argued this peaceful reign is now fading, against the wild chaos and constant war Beyond the Mandate- the governance of Earth has almost been a pacifist utopia in comparison. In the distant unknown stars of the wider cosmos, endless battles and inter-generational wars are fought between nations that UNOM citizens may not even know exist or care for.
The Outer Wars
The greatest war of the 3rd millenium so far has been the "Two Hundred Years Outer Wars", or also known simply as the Outer Wars. It is really a number of wars on and off over the span of two centuries, and the most recent phase of the war ended in 2877 due to the CJR military victory at the Miracle of PO-345. This war was triggered by a number of different casus belli coalescing together, however the most important of these could be said to be the Mass Conversion of the Junkers to Singularitarianism in the final years of the 27th century. The Two Hundred Years first started as a violent sectarian conflict between Junker nation-ships that were for or against the adoption of widespread Theo-Singularitarianism, and then escalated into a multi-factional war between various factions of Junkers, Outworlders, Pirate armada's, Gardeners, the Empire of Neo-Ascalon, occasional Posthumans, and eventually autonomous UNOM-affiliated colonists and an expeditionary peacekeeping force sent to defend them.
The tracking of casualties for the Outer Wars has become notoriously inconsistent and daunting task for UNOM historians, as the war has been fought off-and on across the entire galaxy (excluding UNOM space) and often in engagements devoid of any contact or information for UNOM historians to gather. Further complicating the matter is the nature of the war's many co-belligerents and the fact that not all of them recognise peace treaties and ceasefires during the war's various break periods. As such, casualty estimates are range as far as between 40 million to 700 million. If these upper estimates are accurate, then the Outer Wars has significantly surpassed World War 2 as the bloodiest conflict in human history.
The Outer Wars, much like the Scutum Uprising has affected the politics and culture of the 29th century considerably, to the point where many historians consider the Scutum Uprising to be "UNOM's Outer Wars" in terms of shaping society, or vice versa. Two of the most important happenings to come from this galactic conflict have been firstly the formation of the Combine of Junker Republics (CJR) and its arising as the (current) victor of the Outer Wars, and secondly the return of Garderner-aligned volunteers to UNOM who would go on to form the Deep Organism terrorist organisation.
While Citizens of the Mandate do not very much think of the Outer Wars, the peoples of the wider galaxy have the war burned into the collective memories of their various peoples, and this conflict has shaped many of their lives, memories and ideals.
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Junkers
Junkers. The Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic peoples beyond the borders of The Mandate. They originate from the ascetic anti-government nomadic ideology and philosophy of the 26th century thinker Engin Arslan who led an armada of 'nation-ships' to stake out a free and peaceful living without Earth's interference, and took on the name Junkers after an infamous exchange between Earth media and Engin Arslan over the quality of his star ship and its capacity to sustain life long-term.
The word 'Junker' has since become synonymous with any nomadic or semi-nomadic starship-living person beyond the reach of the Mandate, even those who do not consider themselves as Junkers as the C.J.R Junkers do. Junkers over centuries have been seen with connotations of radical beliefs, rebelliousness and untrustworthiness, and are often considered the closest thing the Mandate has to a 'foe', particularly the C.J.R. The Junkers descend from two major flights (usually called 'Flights' to distinguish them from the Ascalonite and Singularitarian Exodus' that followed or preceded them respectively) from Mandate space, both mass-flights caused by fear of persecution or domination by the Earth and the at-the-time recently forming Mandate.
The first flight was done by proto-Junkers led by unrelated ideologies to the current Junkers, fleeing the centralisation of power by Earth in the 25th century and the end of the final redoubts of many national governments to larger supranational unions and UNOSA. These nomads did not consider themselves Junkers, and a considerable number of them after fleeing the Earth's power settled down and formed petty states, becoming today what is known as the first Outworlders. That said, these originals inspired the 'true' Junker movement and formed the idea of galaxy-trodding nomadic life with a 'nation-starship' in the realm of viable ideas.
The second flight and true birth of the 'Junker' movement was started by the Artist, philosopher and esoteric starship designer/artist Engin Arslan, who during the chaos of the 26th century caused by the Constitutional Crisis of 2566 rallied a massive following with his philosophy and ideological vision of free-living, ascetic, starship-bound nomadic communes not coerced by the politics of Earth or Mars (at odds at the time). When the Crisis of 2566 reached a head and civil war seemed imminent, many inspired by the first flight and led by Arslan left in an armada of civilian starships, intent on never settling on any world ever again and sailing the galaxy free. Each ship was declared its own nation, in combination with all the ships of the armada - an international community.
While the Crisis of 2566 never resulted in the prophesied civil war, and in fact due to the intervention of Eve Nimue, led to the formation of UNOM (The Mandate) and an age of unprecedented peace and prosperity, The Junker Movement continued to grow despite this, and in fact more ships left following the formation of The Mandate, mostly by colonial separatists (ironically) disappointed in the failure of The League of Orion to break away from Earth's rule. Eventually though, the Junker Movement dwindled and died inside the Mandate as prosperity reached even the Mandate's frontier worlds, thus leaving Junkerism as a unique and 'bizarre' trait of the stars Beyond the Mandate.
Junker society while diverging from Arslan's original vision still maintain numerous characteristics of 26th century Junkerism. Asceticism is highly valued and materialism (of the consumerist sense) shunned. Junker Nationalism is highly strong and Junkers believe strongly in a "Spirit of the Nation-Ship", often endowing personalised characteristics to the ship (even moreso now than Ship A.I's now act as National Personifications on some Junker ships). Junkers are highly decentralised and typically reject large bureaucratic and hierarchical structures for flatter horizontal organisations, communes (known as Consensus') and large tribe-like community/family units. Even the CJR while a "Junker Empire" is in reality actually a vast Supranational Union of mostly democratic Junker nation-ships, ironically highly reminiscent of the 20th and 21st century United Nations of Earth, or the 21st century European Union in some aspects.
Junkers are highly exploratory and curious people (in stereotype and generalisation), having very laissez faire views on technological progress, willingness to experiment with even dangerous technology and encourage its peoples to explore the galaxy as a right of passage. Junkers willingness to engage with Artificial Intelligence is likely one of the reasons why Theo-Singularitarianism successfully spread amongst their peoples. Not all Junkers are Theo-Singularitarians though and there are many other Junkers besides the CJR, some of which are staunchly anti-Theo-Singularitarian. Religion-wise, Buddhism is quite popular amongst Junkers as well.
The largest of Junker vessels, either as 'city-ships' or militarised Junker Dreadnoughts are known as "Junks" both in UNOM and from the Junkers themselves. While the Junkers total population are dwarfed by several factors over by UNOM's, Junkers have a vastly superior ship-to-population ratio to UNOM, and as such the aggregate of all Junkers have military capabilities that punch far above their weight. That said, the total UNOM Peacekeeping Navy still considerably outnumbers the CJR Armada.
The Combine of Junker Republics
The Combine of Junker Republics is also known as the Junker Combine or more ostentatiously the 'Combine of the One Hundred Thousand", representing the one hundred thousand original vessels that agreed to the Concord of the First Consensus. The CJR is in fact a semi-nomadic organisation, as it has established space stations and military infrastructure to hold important sectors conquered in the Outer Wars, as well as numerous satellite vassal nations of Outworlders and Gardeners that were also conquered or willingly submitted to it for protection.
The full extent of the CJR, its fleets and its internal workings are unknown to UNOM - however it is known that the CJR has a "Supranational Consensus" acting as a confederation-like legislative branch, as well as something known as the "Central Presidium" acting as its executive. Most of the CJR's population are currently militarised in the Combine Armada, which still stands as one of the largest navies beyond the mandate even after the Outer Wars (current) end. Its current leader is the Supreme Commander and Grand Admiral Eliezer Sol 'The Unconquered Sun', the legendarily undefeated Junker admiral and victor of the Miracle of PO-345.
While most of CJR's constitute nation-ships are democratic in nature, many of them ruled by consensus direct-democracies and republics, however there are other government forms. Some Junker ships within and outside the CJR follow a "Captaincy" Military Dictatorship, usually found on extremely militarised nation-ships that have been constantly at war. Many of the CJR's leading Junk Dreadnoughts are ruled by such Captains, though most of them are temporarily empowered dictators in the CJR. Other CJR ships are ruled directly by the ship's A.I as both as religious leader and 'embodiment of the nation'. Unlike UNOM, A.I are seen in very high regard, and Junkers are willing to permit A.I leadership. Despite the at times stark differences in government of individual ships, CJR's common Theo-Singularitarian faith binds them together, as well as the post-victory euphoria of winning the Miraculous Battle of PO-345 against the combined forces of Outworlders, Ascalon and UNOM's Expeditionary Fleet.
Despite the extensiveness of aware A.I, Junkers have not caused "The Singularity" as Singularitarians recognise it. Why this is it not fully understand by UNOM - though it may be due to the isolated and contained nature of individual Junker vessels limiting A.I's ability to expand and acquire processing power - alternatively it may be because of the A.I's tendency to align themselves with Junker philosophy, and so deliberately restrict themselves, believing the Singularity will occur 'organically' as a spiritual event of all mankind, rather than a singular intelligence achieving godlike processing capacity.
I am curious on the state of religion since while some faiths wouldn't manage to maintain its orthodoxy, there would e ranches that would become popular and spread out. I imagine Buddhism becoming popular but in a Western philosophy sense than the more supernatural Eastern perspective, maybe some mixing but who knows.
Political Ideologies of the 29th Century V (Extreme Biocon)
(Hello again - yes I have been away for ages) MANDATE LOST IID: Political Ideologies (Extreme Bioconservatism)
While the rise of the Neo-Fukuyamaists and the Cradle Party have placed Radical Bioconservatism into the centre stage, even before Professor Drysdale had published his manifesto, the most extreme fringes of Bioconservatism were rapidly growing in both size and prominence, every year becoming less and less 'fringe', only contained by their own self-fragmenting and alienating nature. Unlike their somewhat more official radical cousins, the Biocon Extremists did not need some single 'incident' or 'watershed moment' to awaken them. The rise of Extreme Bioconservatism is usually suggested instead to have derived from a number of core factors growing over long periods of time, all of which are pertinent to the ethno-class of the baseline human - the unmodified man.
Extreme inequality, social and economic decline in the core worlds/inner sphere as well as general urban decay as industry moves to the more efficient middle and outer sphere, mass and sustaining unemployment and intergenerational poverty (even despite UNOM's vast welfare state, universal income and other platforms by the former Humanist Party and HCP to mitigate this). Following these (and numerous other) economic forces are more social forces, high suicide-rates, high crime-rates, either very low or very fertility rates, and more subjectively, a culture of 'nihilism and despair' as some commentators have referred to the Baseline Underclass.
Said Baseline Underclass has always been radicalised to some extent due to these above factors - and it has only been now, as the galaxy enters crisis again and the stabilising forces that once existed to restrain the Underclass melt away either into powerlessness or radicalism themselves... that the Baselines natural inclination to extremism is finally being unleashed. And from this growing pool of downtrodden masses comes the movements and organisations willing to express their desires to the wider populace, as well as recruit new members to yet expand and empower this extreme viewpoint even further.
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Biocon Split
A particularly important consideration in defining Extreme Bioconservatism is its highly disorganised and fragmentated nature, particularly in contrast to the highly organised Radical Bioconservatives. While said Radicals are usually led by various members of the Radical Intelligentsia, former intelligence or military, or other 'middle class specialists', Extreme Biocon instead is typically led by various empowered members of the underclass itself. Gang members, Cult leaders (Integralist or New Age), internet personalities, con-artists, street ideologues, local council representatives and volunteer organisation members... as well as dysfunctional and/or exiled members of the Radical Intelligentsia or upper classes, who either were exiled for going off the deep end, or otherwise being exiled for interpersonal issues and then becoming extremists. Perhaps the only official power representation Extreme Biconservatism possesses is the various Unions and Labour movements associated with the Baseline Underclass, who are overwhelming aligned with either Radical or Extreme Bioconservatism (with only a few aligned with Singularitarianism or Extropianism).
While there are quite literally thousands of different Extreme Bioconservatism factions, splinter groups and various modifications of ideologies and so forth, in aggregate the movement as a whole can be divided into two overarching groups - Pureformists and Anarcho-Primitivists. While there is extensive overlap in ideals and a great deal of cooperation (and infighting) between the two groups, their overall position on authority is in complete opposition. Pureformists generally speaking believe in a Totalitarian State, while Anarcho-Primitivists as the name suggests aim for the abolition of the state completely, as well as civilisation for that matter. The following is a list of these ideologies and some organisations (who's organisation is inseparable from their ideology), divided into these two categories:
Pureformism - National Bolsheviks
(Note: Yes, that actually is the real life symbol of the National Bolsheviks and is not the 8-Pointed Star of Chaos from Warhammer 40k, no matter how absurdly similar the two look)
National Bolshevikism, more commonly known as NAZBOL, is possibly the single strongest political current in the Extreme Biocon Pureformist movement... and really, if one thinks deeper, NAZBOL is in truth at the heart of the entire Bioconservative political spectrum in the 29th century, or at least equally so with its competing Anarcho-Primitivist/Neo-Luddite current. National Bolshevikism is believed to originate from the late 20th century to early 21st century Russian Federation as a syncretic fusion of the far-left economic principles of Communism and the former Soviet Union and the growing far-right cultural values of the Post-Soviet Russian youth and the autocratic cultural values of the Russian Federation and the re-assertive Orthodox Church. While National Bolshevikism would remain a mostly niche in Russia due to the sustained influence of more pragmatic leaders and oligarchs, its influence - in particular the writings and ideals of its core ideologue, the political scientist and philosopher Aleksandr Dugin, would permeate throughout the rest of the 3rd millennium.
Nazbol's first real political impact would be seen in the 21st and 22nd centuries, where it again resurfaced as a potential ideology... this time in North America, particularly the former United States of America. Its emergence was blamed on numerous factors - but in the 29th century, political scientists point mostly to Automation and Neo-Luddism as being the primary causes, linking what they see as similar trends to the National Bolsheviks of today. NAZBOL leaders themselves at times agree, seeing the American National Bolsheviks as closer ancestors to themselves than the Russian National Bolsheviks, as the former was linked to the wider 'war against transhumanity' and 'human obsolescence' - while the later was merely the remnant aftermath of the fall of the Soviet Union. While the American Nazbolers were incapable of rising to power to due to the successes of Transhumanity, Singularitarianism and the Humanists that would eventually bring forth UNOM (as well as the Fukuyamaists crowding them out amongst Bioconservatives), they formed the ideological scaffolding and the Nazbol-Luddite fusion that would see NAZBOL become the Bioconservative ideology it is in the 29th century.
29th century NAZBOL as an ideology generally speaking continues to advocate for its original beliefs - far-left economic policies in line with communism combined with far-right cultural policies in line with fascism or Nazism, though with both sides modified and edited across the centuries to account for the changes in politics, economics and technology... For example, while holding communistic economic principles, NAZBOL does not believe in Marxist historical materialism in the sense of there existing an inevitable trend towards communism - in fact, NAZBOL believes the opposite, in that society is inevitably trending towards Transhuman domination and neo-feudalism due to technology, and as such see themselves as reactionaries, attempting to restore 'original' human equality without the perversions of technology pushed by a depraved elite.
Culturally, NAZBOL is extremely reactionary, wishing to restore all elements of the human 'natural order' including even elements that other cultural reactionaries of the 29th century no longer care for, such as gender-roles, homosexuality and so forth - although fascinatingly, the exception here is being hierarchy. While not anarchists, NAZBOL having been heavily influenced by Luddism and Anarcho-Primitivism, and so in the 29th century believes in a kind of idealised 'Primitive Equality'. In summary, NAZBOLers believe in creating a totalitarian human state that shall restore humanity as closely as possible to its tribal egalitarianism, using the state to crush transhuman elites, degenerate social forces and the corrupting influence of technology until all of mankind is once again properly equal. In this sense, despite their cultural reactionary values, NAZBOL like many other Bioconservatives uphold "Equality" as their most precious value.
NAZBOL as one can guess is an extremely populist ideology, seeing all elites as inherently degenerate and evil and sees the masses as enslaved victims awaiting liberation and salvation. This oppressor-victim narrative is both on a class and an ethnic spectrum, due to the nature of UNOM's economics where the upper-class is overwhelmingly transhuman and its underclass overwhelming baseline human. While NAZBOLers are generally human racial supremacists and see their conflict against Transhumanity as a Class-Race war, they differentiate themselves from their Neo-Strasserist cousins and the National Socialists of the 20th century by holding similar beliefs as the Neo-Fukuyamaists, in that baseline humans while morally superior to transhumanity are functionally inferior to them, and so it the duty of National Bolshevikism to protect and save humanity from the oppression of the Transhuman Elite.
While many believe Francis Fukuyama as the grandfather of Bioconservatism... one could argue convincingly that in truth, the true grandfather of Bioconservatism is in fact Aleksandr Dugin.
Despite the common mistake, the ideological symbol of National Bolshevikism is not in fact the hammer and sickle superimposed over the flag of Nazi Germany, and instead is either the traditional "Eurasian Star" (The gold on black 8-pointed star associated with Aleksandr Dugin and the Eurasia Party of late 20th century Russia), or the "Bloody Palm", a modification of the Bioconservative Palm made red instead of white. Despite this of course, even in the current day of UNOM, many still use the hammer and sickle and even the swatsika.
Pureformism - Neo-Strasserists
Strasserism originates from 20th century Germany, specifically during the Weimer Republic and the early days of the Nazi Party. Formed by the brothers Gregor and Otto Stressor, Strasserism was a sub-faction of the Nazi Party that advocated for more worker and mass-movement based action against what they saw as the "international jewish banking world order' and in general were considered the origins of 'left fascism' and a predecessor of sorts for the National Bolsheviks. While Stasserism was considered too left-wing for Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party and so was purged alongside other sub-factions and the SA during the Night of Long Knives, in the 29th century Strasserism is ironically considered the comparably 'right-wing' variant of National Bolshevikism, particularly since historical Fascism and National Socialism are in essence dead ideologies, as is Communism for that matter.
Neo-Strasserists differentiate themselves from their more popular NAZBOL cousins by possessing an ideological platform more orientated around race. While Strasserists also believe in the race-class fusion, they are less concern with the 'ideal tribal equality' of the original man and in general reject the Neo-Fukuyamaist concept of the inferior man against the depraved transhuman elite. Instead, Neo-Strasserists believe in a spiritualised human supremacist variant of the "Exceptional Human Theory" as well as New Age notions of the Human Unconsciousness and even the "Mother Goddess" Gaia, seeing humanity as in fact superior to the Transhuman by virtue of man's spiritual purity and will, and instead must be tricked, manipulated and fooled by a fifth column of Transhuman parasites seeking to slowly exterminate the human race. Unlike NAZBOL and Neo-Fukuyamaists, who Neo-Strasserists see as having orientated themselves around what they consider 'slave morality', they instead lionise the mythical "pure working man" as the ultra-masculine yet proletarian conqueror-hero.
While possessing a great deal of focus on worker-labour politics, left-wing economics, the emphasis of the Neo-Strasserists is on a kind of fascistic racial rebirth of humanity, unchained from the perverse forces that think they control them, and through this achieving human equality again.
The Neo-Strasserists while technically not being Neo-Nazis due to their far-left economic policies, are aesthetically quite similar to the Nazis and often many are admirers of the Nazis. Adolf Hitler is considered an ideological predecessor and role model to Neo-Strasserists, and they often compare his 'struggles against the international jewry' with their own struggles against the 'galactic transhumanity'.
The Neo-Strasserists symbols are either their original "Sword and Hammer", or alternatives such as the "Sword and Sickle" or occasionally just the Nazi Swatsika.
Pureformism - Ultras
The name "Ultra" is in the 29th century the well-known nickname for the various paramilitary, terrorist and street gang militants of the Extreme Bioconservatism movement, originating from similar nicknaming of historical far-right militant groups as 'ultras' after 'ultranationalism'. Ultras have in fact been around for a couple centuries now, however have become so prominent in the 29th century's years of crisis and turmoil that the term "Ultra" is not only used for them but in fact any paramilitary unit operating in the United Nations Orion Mandate, sometimes even non or anti-biocon paramilitary units. That said, the Extreme Bioconservative Pureformists were the first to form large-scale paramilitary wings for their political parties, particularly since Singularitarian paramilitary units were simply referred to as terrorists instead.
An Ultra is typically speaking a civilian militaman or woman either armed (in sectors of UNOM where gun ownership is legal, usually on colonial or border-security grounds) or (officially) unarmed but 'politically militant' in the sectors where gun ownership is illegal. Officially, these paramilitary units exist legally as 'private security contractors' or 'neighbourhood watches' of some form, or are even politically engaged sub-factions existing within elements of the United Nations Peacekeeping Forces. Despite the stereotype of Ultras being ruffian dissidents living out on the frontier, the vast majority of Ultras are actually residents of highly urbanised inner-worlds, and so can be more easily compared to organised and politicised street gangs.
Pureformist Ultra paramilitary groups are often led by ex-Peacekeeping military personnel, particularly officers or specialists with retained skills and knowledge. Many of these ex-military Ultras are noticeable through their iconic 'biocon eyepatch', as they remove their military-mandated cybernetic eye following their induction into Ultradom. While significantly less well armed than even military forces beyond the mandate, the various paramilitary and ultra groups of UNOM are shockingly numerous... and if one were to sum all paramilitary soldiers of UNOM together - one could actually account for an armed force almost rivalling UNOM's actual military.
Pureformist Ultras are relatively mixed in terms of ability and experience. For every elite cell of radicalised ex-UNPF Marine Legionnaires, there is a 'Revolutionary Front' consisting of very overweight civilians with fantasies of violent revolution despite having never left their parent's modular living apartment. That said, it is a tradition of sorts for Pureform Ultra's to go forward with 'military adventurism', often leaving UNOM to join foreign wars to garner experience and prestige needed to climb the Ultra ranks. Due to this, there has been Ultra involvement in the Outer Wars, various Pirate and Settler conflicts, and even involvement in the Scutum Uprising, mostly as 'volunteer popular mobilisation' battalions sent to 'aid' the United Nations own forces.
An extensive mythos and culture had spread up around Ultras, who possess intricate customs, ceremonies, New Age or Integralist-influenced religious observations, slang, medals and other such intricacies. Despite the obvious danger of the Ultra Movement, the rise of Radical Bioconservatism and populism across UNOM have caused the common masses to lionise Ultras as something of 'counter culture icons' similar to pirates or dashing highwaymen.
Ultra paramilitary groups typically find funding through backdoor or private political donations, or fees from their own members, however some may also gather funds from more criminal means such as smuggling, piracy, extortion and so forth. Ultras have even at times successfully embezzled funds from corporations and government agencies - and some have even suspected the military itself may have had funds or equipment secretly siphoned off by Ultras embedded within it's command structure.
Pureformism Faith - Neo-Integralism, The New Age, The Last Man
As with all things in the 29th Century, the Extreme Bioconservatism movement has been profoundly influenced by the return of spirituality across the galaxy. While traditionally the Nazbol movement has defined itself as a secular, atheistic one and so pushed its atheistic values on the rest of extreme biocon, this trend is starting to shift as the New Age and Neo-Integralists compete with it, or form new syncretic fusions of it with spiritualism.
While Neo-Integralism is officially not part of the Extreme Biocon spectrum and instead is considered affiliated closer with the Radical Bioconservatives, this does not mean it has not influenced it. For those extremists that reject atheism, "Last Man thought", exceptional humanity or the various new age cults - looking back towards their earlier predecessors one can easily find various religious fundamentalists organised into terrorist organisations with similar goals and values as themselves. As such, it is not that surprising to find a "latter day" jihadist or crusader embedded into an Ultra group. That said, as with wider Neo-Integralism, even these extremist fundamentalists tend to see the world in a biocon lens, so have a surprisingly tolerant (if conditional and temporary) peace with other religious extremists and even atheists within the extreme biocon movement, withholding their hatred for now on transhumans, singularitarians and race traitors. Neo-Integralist extremists are particularly fond of Neo-Ascalon, and a number of them went to fight for them during the Outer Wars and after returning continue to have fond memories of the rogue state beyond the mandate - this however puts them at odds with their fellow Anarcho-primitivist extremists, that fought for the Gardeners against Neo-Ascalon.
The New Age is represented within Extreme Biocon through the influence of human consciousness and Gaia cults. While these groups tend to favour the Anprim side of Extreme Biocon, there is also some crossover into the Pureformists and Ultras. While the Pureformist branch of Extreme Biocon rejects Anprim and Deep Organism's solution to the problem of transhumanism (the destruction of all human civilisation), this does not mean they do not value their primal, tribal and pre-technological values and aesthetics. It is not uncommon to find Ultras taking part in pseudo-tribal rituals or Earth Mother Goddess worship.
Even amongst those secular Extreme biocons, spirituality has come in the form of certain philosophical-political belief systems, in particular the concept of the "Last Man" and the (somewhat opposing) "Exceptional Humanity Theory". In essence, Last Manism is a kind of pseudo-spiritual nihilistic belief system that sees humanity as inherently doomed to extinction and inherently and impossibly weaker to Transhumanism and the Singularity, and instead views life as a kind of "rage against the heavens" or gnostic battle of sacred human mortality against inhuman immortal gods. The Exceptional Human Theory on the other hand is the spiritualisation of the Fermi Paradox explanation for the absence of aliens, here utilised in particular by Neo-Strasserists to explain that humans are in fact spiritually unique and superior, and that Transhuman are further and further corruptions of the spiritually pure human who's unique soul is why humanity alone rules the universe. Regardless of the belief system or faction... nearly every single extreme biocon idealises death and mortality, both as a form of heroic martyrdom and as a uniquely human trait at odds with transhuman immortality. This idolisation of death goes far beyond simple advocacy for suicide bombings though, and rather is almost a death cult, seeing death as a favourable and inherently 'human' characteristic of deeply spiritual significance that must be embraced rather than avoided or defeated.
ANPRIM - Anarcho-Primitivism
Anarcho-Primitivism is an ideology that for most of history has been ignored. While it has existed perhaps since the dawn of civilisation, it has mostly flared up during periods of significant societal change caused by technological innovation, a discreet and niche trend hidden beneath more known and populist rebellions against technology. Luddism during the 19th century rose in opposition to the Industrial Revolution and the Textile industry in particular. Neo-Luddism rose in the 20th and 21st centuries in opposition to the Second and Third Industrial Revolutions. Even early 21st century American National Bolshevikism was in response to the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The grandfather ideology of all these rebellions however lies in the logical conclusion that can be made from all of them - Technology itself is a force of evil, or of oppression, or degeneracy, depending on the viewpoint. It is not race, or class, or religion that defines the central conflict of mankind - but of technology and the political axis of technological acceleration and deceleration, and from this all other conflicts flow onwards.
Anarcho-Primitivism sees technology and hierarchical structures and 'civilisation' developed through the exploitation of technology as the central sin of mankind. In orthodoxy, Anarcho-Primitivists typically see the agricultural revolution during the Neolithic period as the 'Great Mistake' whereby the noble egalitarian hunter-gatherer was replaced by the oppressing and slave-driving agriculturalist (though some instead blame pastoralists and the domestication of animals). More moderate Anarcho-Primitivists in the 29th century instead blame the creation of the worlds first cities in Mesopotamia, or the 19th century Industrial Revolution, or of course the beginning of Transhumanism and Automation in the 21st century. Regardless, the AnPrim ideology specifies a milestone in human history, a period of 'great civilisation' that irredeemably corrupted and despoiled mankind and nature, enslaving and destroying anything of value for the false promise of 'progress'.
In the 29th century, Anarcho-Primitivists are overwhelmingly aligned with the Extreme Bioconservative movement. While they would rather look towards Ted Kaczynski than Aleksandr Dugin or Francis Fukuyama as their long-dead founding father, this does not necessarily remove them from the overarching class-race war between the 'noble human' and the 'depraved transhuman'. While AnPrims link this depravity to the source of technology rather than race or class, they too see Transhumanism as the ideological antithesis of their own beliefs... and even moreso, see "The Singularity" as perhaps the ultimate act of evil ever conceived by man, at least in the views of the Deep Organism organisation.
Conventional Anarcho-Primitivists are not necessarily violent. While within UNOM they are overwhelming considered violent extremists akin to racial supremacists, beyond the mandate this is not necessarily the case, as Anarcho-Primitivists can actually act out their ideological beliefs. The Gardeners in particular, were various dissidents that left UNOM to start up various communes and pre-civilisational tribes on fertile worlds and furthermore were typically pacifistic in nature. After the 'defeat' of the Gardeners in the Outer Wars however (actually just the Gardener's foreign volunteer allies defeat, as the Gardeners themselves had no modern technology or vessels to defend themselves from slavers, pirates and various conquerors), Gardenerism has mostly died away as a viable ideology, replaced with the more aspiring apocalyptic ideals of Deep Organism.
Besides Deep Organism, there exists numerous other AnPrim movements in UNOM, some of them even legal. They usually work closely with Ultras and Nazbol factions, as well as New Age cults - in fact, many AnPrim organisations in UNOM are actually just the political wings of New Age Cults. There also exists the "ANNAT" or Anarcho-Nationalist movement, an offshot of the Nazbol and Neo-Strasserist factions that adopted AnPrim's anti-civilisational viewpoint while maintaining their original economic and racial views. ANNAT are also sometimes alternatively known as "Accelerationist Pureformists" for having no change in their beliefs other than the goal of causing the total collapse of human civilisation.
ANPRIM - Deep Organism THE terrorist organisation of the 29th century. Deep Organism has very humble origins and, to some, once relatively humane goals. Beginning as merely a group of university graduates and media-related semi-professionals involved in independent journalism and documentary making fascinated by the novelty of the pacifist Gardener communes, these journalists and quasi-intellectual artist-hobbyists would go on to become the armed base that sent many volunteer fighters from UNOM to Beyond the Mandate to defend the defenceless Gardeners, who could not conceivably defend themselves against their aggressors. Even during this period, this Proto-Deep Organism held some degree of popularity in UNOM, mostly from sympathetic citizens and activists concerned with the obvious abuses and one-sidedness of the Outer Wars effect on the Gardeners. They acted more as a kind of activist and NGO group, lobbying as much as they were discreetly sending volunteer fighters, ultras, ex-soldiers, mercenaries and arms to fight in volunteer battalions.
While mostly faced with some successes but overall mixed results (even with this support, the Gardeners and their allies were massively outmatched by their more advanced and numerous conquerors), the volunteer fighters would struggle on for long years and even build up desperate hope and then crushing disappointment as UNOM finally intervened... only to defend UNOM's colonial interests, and then retreat out of the war anyway after the CJR's miracle of PO-345. Deeply disillusioned by the government and armed forces of UNOM, the pro-Gardener volunteer fighters and their NGO organisers would continue fighting and struggling, even attempting to ramp up the conflict by attempting to make at the time 'bizarre' alliances with extremist paramilitary organisations, organisations which would eventually become Nazbol and Strasserist forces... however this finally stopped when UNOM decided to pull the plug, and turned against the Volunteers and NGOs when it recognised them as becoming a political nuisance and incident (and perhaps a threat), particularly as UNOM was attempting to normalise and forget its shocking defeat against the CJR.
Fighting a drastically losing war against the overwhelmingly forces of the last years of the Outer Wars, and cut from all support and legitimacy by UNOM's own government, the NGOS were disbanded, the volunteers either disappeared, went native, were arrested or... returned home. The Gardener Communes, now with no salvation, either were completely destroyed, conquered, enslaved, pillaged - or, for the more pragmatic, agreed to become vassal states of technological overlords such as the Empire of Neo-Ascalon or the victorious CJR... or as camps and drug camps for the pirates and cartels.
Of those volunteers that returned home and the NGO leaders that disappeared from public view, completely disillusioned and holding both violent views against the state and formerly idealistic utopian beliefs about Gardenerism and Anarcho-Primitivism became the foundations for the "Deep Organism" organisation. Built on the ideological premise that Gardenerism cannot be successfully implemented in any place or time without first the total abolition of civilisation, and the technological forces it uses, Deep Organism would bring together the expertise, experience and resources of their old Volunteer forces to wage a very different kind of war, coming to the wilder conclusion that it was not the pirates or junkers, but UNOM that was the enemy... and with its destruction, the galaxy would rupture to such an extent a near-existensial risk event would push human civilisation into irrevocable collapse.
From this foundation and epiphany amongst the still yet unknown leadership of Deep Organism (which officially claims no leader and instead suggests it has 'collective leadership'), begun a campaign of terror against the United Nations Orion Mandate. Deep Organism possesses enormous resources for its size, mostly due its its previous involvement in the Outer Wars. While it is most famous for its various suicide bombings and lone-wolf attacks on random worlds, ORISEC and ORIPOL believes it to likely be the most powerful terrorist organisation actively operating within UNOM (other than perhaps its chief terrorist rivals in the form of the Scutum Uprising remnants).
While a conspiracy theory officially, it is strongly believed that in the last few years, ORISEC was involved in an operation that successfully thwarted an attempted use of a thermonuclear weapon (probably a modified Casaba Howitzer round taken out of an Outer Wars warship) to bomb a city on Earth. if this theory is true, it would mean Deep Organism has in possession weapons of mass destruction and are perfectly willing to use them in terrorist attacks within UNOM.
The expressed goal of Deep Organism is the destruction of galactic civilisation so to preserve the human race and return humanity to its original utopian state. It seeks to achieve this via violent accelerationism, particularly random terrorist attacks and massive terror strikes to instigate a wider societal collapse. It rarely cooperates with other organisations and is viewed as an enemy even by the Radical Bioconservatives and the Cradle Party. Other than UNOM's government, Deep Organism has an arch-rivalry with the various Singularitarian terrorist organisations, and has at times attempted terror bombings and assassinations particularly against the Singularitarian Revolutionary Nuclei, who responds in kind. Occasionally it has also targeted Cornucopians and Transhuman oligarchs, though this is usually found to be too difficult.
ANPRIM - Gehenna, Sackheads and the Mother Goddess
The New Age and Anarcho-Primitivism is strongly linked through the various Earth Mother, Mother Goddess and Gaia cults that have been influenced by or influenced Anarcho-Primitivist political thought. These New Age Cults in essence worship a kind of syncretic deity that merges various pagan and neo-pagan, hippie, volkisch and even feminist concepts of a 'primordial mother goddess' as an overarching 'Goddess of the Human Race' or 'Goddess of Earth'. These cults venerate nature and seek to rebind man to nature, and so are naturally inclined towards anarcho-primitivist or at least luddite type ideals. Unlike Deep Organism, these cults officially do not intend to destroy civilisation via terrorism, and instead wish to transform or cause a social revolution that will in turn rebind man to nature holistically rather than through brute force. Despite this official stance however, it does not stop the more militant of these cults to interact with extreme bioconservativism and militancy anyway - particularly in the Ultra scene, which has seen in recent years the rise of a new kind of Ultra, the "Sackhead". Sackheads are the nickname given to Gehennaist Ultras, who have embraced the New Age Cults (particularly the militant and controversial Gehenna Cult, led by the Mother Gehenna) while simultaneously involved in the Ultra movement. As the nickname suggests, Sackheads are infamous for wearing various sack and scarecrow-like vigilante masks on their heads instead of helmets.
The Gehenna Cult is similarly very infamous not only for its connections to terrorism and political extremism but also its rumoured 'quirks'. While various conspiracy theories and widely spread internet stories have them sacrificing virgins, drinking blood from infants, cannibalism and so forth, UNOM authorities have never actually found any evidence of this. The most they have discovered is peculiar sexual activities and other rituals - that despite their peculiarity are perfectly legal within UNOM's laws.
It is perhaps unsurprising that considering its nature, the New Age Cults associated with Mother Goddess or Gaia worship are unique in that they are disproportionally led by female members rather than male members - which is an oddity in the Extreme Bioconservative movement which is otherwise overwhelmingly dominated not only by male leadership but mostly male membership.
Also with the state of transhumanism and posthumanism, I wonder if there are individuals uploading their consciousness into multi-kilometer long vessels.
