[organizations]Techno Heresy in the Anargo Sector

[Destecado]

Part of the re-visioning of the Mezzan culture includes the incorporation of philosophical concepts that would be consider transhumanist in nature.   Such views are not completely incompatible with those he by factions within the Adeptus Mechanicus.   Since we have yet to define the internal divisions of the Adeptus Mechanicus  or how dogmatic the organization actually is, I will refrain from discussing specifics about the AM.   I will instead lay out some of the basic concepts which (I see) form the framework for the Mezzan and possibly other Techno-heresies within the Anargo Sector.


The Ideas expressed below are subject to change.  Half the reason I am posting them is to use the community as a sounding board, to see if such concepts provide a viable explanation for the development of the Mezzan and other organizations.   All comments and criticism are welcome…but if critiquing, please don’t just say it sucks.  Explain why you think it sucks.


Mezzan Concepts

"Humanity looks to me like a magnificent beginning but not the final word." - Freeman Dyson

Instead of taking a dogmatic view of technologically aided human advancement (evolution), the Mezzan are philosophically Extropians.  Extropy the prediction that human intelligence and technology will enable life to expand in an orderly way throughout the entire universe.  The only limitations to such grow being the extent of a living being or organizational system's intelligence, functional order, vitality, energy, life, experience, capacity and drive for improvement."  

Such improvement is not an end, but a means by which to improve the quality of life.   Extropians also recognize that human intelligence is flawed.  As we advance, these flaws will likely reveal themselves or be apparent to those who come after us.  As such they do note hold to a set of universal truths or immutable values.  Much like the framers of the Constitution of the United States, they have laid down a set of principles by which to organize their lives, but have left it open to revision and amendment.  

Extropian Principles

Extropian “Creed”


Church of the Transfiguration

This group may serve as a technological cult within the Anargo Sector…and perhaps beyond.   I have used an earlier iteration of this organization in the Cyberpunk Universe as proponents of cyber-enhancement and bioengineering to advance humanity.   It is a radicalized version of the organization which inspired it, the Mormon Transhumanist Association.  

The Association is an attempt by some among the Church of Latter Day Saints to reconcile or blend the beliefs of transhumanism with their religion.  Radicalized sects, some with no affiliation to the Mormon Church used this tenuous association between religion and transhumanism to push their political agenda…pushing to create a “homeland” for borgs and those with cyber augments…of course claiming boosters are a persecuted religious minority and that cyberpsychosis is actually higher state of spiritual enlightenment still doesn’t fly with the general public.  



Scaree (scar-ee)

Few of this culture are still recognizable as humans.  In a way, this culture was inspired by those obsessed with cosmetic surgery, the hunt for eternal youth or perfection or having the newest or most unique technology or doodad.  Unlike the Mezzan who sought understanding and embraced pluralism, the Scaree take what they want, be this technology, or genetic material…they cut it out and left the rest behind.

Some have done this to extend their life or to enhance themselves…grafting alien species genetic material into their own.  They may offer to purchase it, but they definitely don’t take no for an answer.  Makes me think of the urban legends of people waking up in a tub of ice and finding that one of their kidneys is missing.  This could potentially be an entire subculture or maybe another take on the spyres of Necromunda.  

Climate change might make a planet less hospitable to humans.  Without the resources to change the ecology of an entire planet, this culture may have turned to changing themselves to adapt to the changing conditions…hybridize.  They may now be hunted or formed into thieving organizations.   Each organization is known as a Curia (Association of “Men).  

[Totenkopf]

Let's not forget the mutatus vir (if that is the name we end up using). I did not post my revision of these yet, since the project is being reworked, but I will see about getting it done soon (not this or next week though) if we are looking at this now.

[Destecado]

Let's not forget the mutatus vir (if that is the name we end up using). I did not post my revision of these yet, since the project is being reworked, but I will see about getting it done soon (not this or next week though) if we are looking at this now.

I was just putting some ideas out there for consideration, while we try to pull together the overall timeline and thumnails for the various subsectors.   Mainly I wanted to see if what I wrote made sense to others and if it was worth exploring once the project was up and running.  

[Dragon Lord]

What relationship do you envisage between the Church of the Transfiguration, the Scaree and the Mezzan?/When are you imagining them being active?

Depending on exactly what direction we go with the Mezzan that stuff on Extropianism could be very interesting, I can imagine a culture that really followed those values being very dystopian.  It would be a civilization of near immortality and never ending wonders for the elite but with the lower orders that are near obsolescence experiencing abject poverty under the uncaring elites.

[Destecado]

What relationship do you envisage between the Church of the Transfiguration, the Scaree and the Mezzan?/When are you imagining them being active?

The Mezzan continue to exist, it is just their micro-empire in Anargo that disappears.  The specifics of what happens to them is still up in the air...are they fleet based, did they relocated elsewhere, did the conflict lead to advances, that took them to a higher plane (dimension) of existence...I'm not sure at this point. 

As for the Scaree and the Church of the transfiguration, I see these as being active in the modern era of (41st millennium) of the Anargo Sector.   The Church of the Transfiguration might be an offshoot of the Adeptus Mechanicus' worship of the Omnissiah...maybe a heretical off shoot or a concerted effort of the Adeptus Mechanicus to sow the seeds of their beliefs, in order to spread their domain. 

Depending on exactly what direction we go with the Mezzan that stuff on Extropianism could be very interesting, I can imagine a culture that really followed those values being very dystopian.  It would be a civilization of near immortality and never ending wonders for the elite but with the lower orders that are near obsolescence experiencing abject poverty under the uncaring elites.

Dystopian...quite possibly, although, there is a place for even those who lag behind,,,and if they were not happy with this place, well  then they would have the drive to better themselves.  There is definitely the possibility of stratification within the society.  Still, not everyone can or is comfortable rising to the top.   But, even if an individual can not achieve upward mobility there are not stuck in a given position.  Horizontal mobility offers a wide range of opportunities at a given level of ability or "integration".   By integration I mean how connected an individual is with the various systems and technology used in everyday Mezzan society.   

An example of horizintal mobility might include movement among different departments in a given company.  I work in customer service, talking to people on the phone all day.  There have been several individuals that have been hired into our department, that have proven ill suited to dealing with the customer directly.  Rather than firing them or having them hate their jobs, they have moved on to back departments of the bank, where they don't have direct customer interaction, but still perform tasks that meat the customers needs.

People who think they are going to find the perfect job on the first try or figure out what they want to do with their lives right out of College are fooling themselves.  It took me several career changes and working for different companies, before I found a job and company that was a good fit.  I see the Mezzan trying to help citizens find something that makes them comfortable, but also a productive member of society.  There are no hand outs (socialism), there is guidance and a hand up. 

And, if there are those who want to be lazy and do nothing with their lives, there is even a place for them...they can rent out the bulk of their cortex, for use in large scale processing (like people do currently with PCs).  To someone in an upper strata, it may not appear to be much of a life.  But if they are a contributing member to the growth of society, and it makes them happy, who is anyone else to judge it a wasted existence? 

[Dragon Lord]

Dystopian...quite possibly, although, there is a place for even those who lag behind,,,and if they were not happy with this place, well  then they would have the drive to better themselves.  There is definitely the possibility of stratification within the society.  Still, not everyone can or is comfortable rising to the top.   But, even if an individual can not achieve upward mobility there are not stuck in a given position.  Horizontal mobility offers a wide range of opportunities at a given level of ability or "integration".   By integration I mean how connected an individual is with the various systems and technology used in everyday Mezzan society.   

That is true I suppose.   In part my view of it being likely to be dystopian was from reading through the second link you provided, in particular going down the sort of reasoning/opinions given by Hans Moravec (of whom I have read other stuff and find to be quite a scary individual), but then exactly to what extent Mezzan society might be dystopian would depend on how much you want to go down the Extropian line with them, and indeed on exactly how you interpret Extropianism.  It is also probably in part down to my own views, much like the author of the second link I would rather wait for a socialist transhumanism.

Anyway on the Church of the Transfiguration and the Scaree, having the Church of the Transfiguration as an offshoot of the Adeptus Mechanicus doctrines in some way would be interesting.  I can imagine it perhaps living at the edge of being declared heretical, perhaps only kept from being by some influencial backer(s), with the Inquisition watching it carefully on a constant basis waiting for them to slip up.  The Scaree in your brief little sketch I can only imagine as being a proscribed heretical organisation with warrants for arrest/execution waiting for anyone who associates themselves with them.

[Destecado]

That is true I suppose.   In part my view of it being likely to be dystopian was from reading through the second link you provided, in particular going down the sort of reasoning/opinions given by Hans Moravec (of whom I have read other stuff and find to be quite a scary individual), but then exactly to what extent Mezzan society might be dystopian would depend on how much you want to go down the Extropian line with them, and indeed on exactly how you interpret Extropianism.  It is also probably in part down to my own views, much like the author of the second link I would rather wait for a socialist transhumanism.

I'm still trying to find a balance, but yeah, there is a tendancy towards Social Darwinism or "scrapping" / discarding the obsolete in the Extropian point of view.  Given the finite resources available to the culture, discarding people , alienating them would be counter productive, so they would most likely have to find a way to reporpose these individuals...i.e. train them in another field that is more to their liking or abilities....

My original thought was to filter the ideals of Extropianism through the point of view of Acadamia.  I've been trying to consider how the Mezzan would grow as a culture.  One thought that I had was an experiment or a research study, where they attempted to replicate the culture of alien race x and live like they did...It would be like Colonial Williamsberg or other settlements, which try to recreate communities from our own past.  They help the public get a sense of what life was like back then, but are also a valuable research tool for anthropologists.   Of course they can't help to completely replicate alien race x's culture, but living like they did could open new insights and provide the nucleus for their develpement into the Mezzan. 

Actually, one of the ways that alien race x may have mitigated some of the dystopian qualities of Extropian point of view that seems to underly their culture is through extended family units and veneration of elders or anscestors.   Ones anscestros are a direct link to ones past, they also mark the advanvcement which has occured in the species, which has culminated in the current generation.   The young owe a debt to their forebeaers (genetically and developementally).  It is through their hard work, that the new generation has the opportunity to strive further.   In essence, they sacrificed a part of their energy that could have been put towards personal growth in order to raise you, so it is your "duty" to give something back.   These clan or familial links might serve to bridge or counteract the stratification in alien race x society. 

The Scaree in your brief little sketch I can only imagine as being a proscribed heretical organisation with warrants for arrest/execution waiting for anyone who associates themselves with them.

This is one of the reason why I see it being a criminal organization.   Scaree that have modified themselves are sometimes mistaken for mutants, but the modifications are generally more symmetrical and fully functional.  Still, they can potentially have an alien appearance, so they may work through middle men and cut outs to contract work.   Hmm...there may be a way for some to hide in plain sight. 

One of the ideas that I had proposed to Kage a while back was that creatures such as werewolves were real.  The original werewolves or Lycanthropes were either creatures from the warp or possibly from a higher dimension of our own reality, who existed in the materium, by either taking the shape of an animal, such as a wolf or by possessing an actual wolf.   Lycanthropy is a disease that they carry, that can be passed along to humans or other animals...kinda like rabies.

Anyway, a true werewolf is a natural shape shifter, it can easily transform even while inside the wolf.   The change for a normal human is not as fluid.   Our bodies have a certain form and a standard way of opporating, which the various systems in our body try to maintain.   Be it residual self image / personal geller field or whatever, the body tries to fight against this warping effect, so the change brought about by the infection does not come easily or painlessly.   Humans are however very adapatable, and given time to become use to their new mutable nature, they might be able to make the change with less pain and in a shorter amount of time. 

Now you may be asking where I am going with this.   It might be that some of the Scaree have found a similar infection or a genetic strain, either created by humans of an alien race, which allows them to change their form into some kind of monstrous creature.   This isn't actually to far out there for 40k, if you consider the callidus assassin's ability to change themselves to look lke anyone with polymorphine.   In this case it is a single change from human to some form of monstrous creature.  It may in some cases allow them to hide in plain sight....although, they still might not smell right to animals or to those humans that can sense such things. 

BTW, an infection, that might be similar to lycanthropy is the infection of Nurgle, which creates plague zombies.  In this case the infection has the ability to revivify dead flesh.   I also postulated that vampires are potentially real as well.  In this case, it is warp entities or higher dimensional beings inhabiting dead bodies.  Part of the reason why they must drink blood / suck the life force out of victims is beacuse they need to maintain their corporeal form.  It is dead fless after all and will decay natrually if energy is not put into maintaining it.   More powerful spirits can even shap change...hence the contradictory stories of some  vampires being able to transform into bats or wolves. 

[Malika]

So will the Mezzan still be extinct? Or will they actually be a faction in the Anargo sector? Another idea might be that the Mezzan, the original ones, have been wiped out during the Great Crusade, but that others have later on found out about them and have taken over (some of) their ideas. This would be quite interesting since we could see many different interpretations of the Mezzan, making the "neo-Mezzan" movement quite sectarian in nature.

Church of the Transfiguration

I'm intrigued by the possibility of having old Terran religions and ideologies making a return in the 40k universe, of course not in their pure form, but its very interesting to see how certain beliefs have survived and evolved over the many millennia...

[Destecado]

So will the Mezzan still be extinct? Or will they actually be a faction in the Anargo sector? Another idea might be that the Mezzan, the original ones, have been wiped out during the Great Crusade, but that others have later on found out about them and have taken over (some of) their ideas. This would be quite interesting since we could see many different interpretations of the Mezzan, making the "neo-Mezzan" movement quite sectarian in nature.

Parts of the original Mezzan culture still exists.   The Horus Heresy interrupted the Imperium’s conquest of the Mezzan.  While the Imperial forces “worked out their differences” the Mezzan had a brief respite…still trying to wok out how long it would have taken to pull together a new Crusade to finish them off after the siege of earth and trying to nail down the traitor legions.   

The Mezzan did not sit idle during this time.   There were those among the Mezzan who decided to take their leave of this region of space…following in the footsteps of the alien culture that gave birth to their society…setting out to explore and perhaps colonize new worlds.  Another faction sought to make peace with the neighboring worlds, which had supported the Imperial forces.  Still another faction wanted to carry the war to the worlds, to punish them for what they had done…and to create a buffer zone for when the Imperium returned.   

“Neo-Mezzan” is a great idea and definitely an area ripe for exploring.  There is even the possibility that there may be Mezzan among the Adeptus Mechanicus.   An area that I’m interested in exploring is whether the Mezzan are actually dead.   Their physical forms may be destroyed, but their “souls” / engrams / ghosts might still be around.  One of the ways that this could occur would be through the crystals harvested from Theta Corionis. 

They of course may exist now as data stored in a crystal matrix, but if a new body can be made for them, they might “live” again.  It also scares the dickens out of people who work on the planet, because sometimes if the vibrations of the crystal are right, you might hear voices or see someone in a room (holographic image caused by light refraction through crystal) only to walk in and find no one there. 

Church of the Transfiguration

I'm intrigued by the possibility of having old Terran religions and ideologies making a return in the 40k universe, of course not in their pure form, but its very interesting to see how certain beliefs have survived and evolved over the many millennia...

Definitely.  One of the things that I always liked about the Dune novel “Chapterhouse Dune” is that Frank Herbert presented a Jewish culture that persisted into the far future.  The “all powerful” Bene Gesserit ended up needing their help to survive.  I’d like to see the possibility of a resurgence of Zoroastrianism, which is all about the battle between order and chaos.  Maybe you could have agents of the inquisition or ecclesiarchy becoming a televangelist or holding an old fashion Baptist revival to introduce the cult of the emperor to a world currently outside of his light.  Not every world need be conquered by the sword.   

Hmm…I wonder what the Amish might be like in the far future.