BY LETTER
Subversives
 Image from Kevin Williams (copyright; used with permission) |
No matter how well planned and benevolent a society, there will always be those who don't like the way things are run, whether objecting on religious, ideological, prejudicial, paranoid, or egotistic grounds, or even because they have been manipulated into doing so. Such subversives will always be a part of the underbelly of galactic society.
Whereas hiders conceal themselves in worldships or nomadic colonies between the stars and in the icy bodies of the oort clouds, and idealists seek to migrate outwards to the periphery and beyond to establish their own utopias, other clades, phyles, and subcultures, more militant or fanatical, seek to overthrow the rule of the imperial hyperturings, or if they cannot do that, at least make things difficult for them. These are the subversives, the terrorists. They have been around since the dawn of history, although their names and their causes may vary. For them the end always justifies the means. The authorities would dearly love to get their hands on them. But most often they can't. Vive la revolution!
Articles
- Adaran Extension - Text by Anders Sandberg
"Will to power" Adaran subversive missionary sect seeking not to strictly convert other systems but rather to make them tools for the happiness of the believers in evolutionary hedonism. - Atomic Spiders - Text by Anders Sandberg
Infoterrorist group 64-76 a.t. A closely knit team of net-based infowar terrorists behind worldwide anti-government attacks and general vandalism. - Ban of Silence, The - Text by John B
This Hider clade has publicly announced its goal of preventing powerful signals from leaving the known galaxy, regardless of the cost, for fear of drawing attention of beings with technology beyond Terragen ken. They are adamant in their belief of the threat posed by such beings as the supposed Dawn Hunters and the Leviathan. - Biochauvinism - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
The prejudice that biological systems have an intrinsic superiority that will always give them a monopoly on self-reproduction and intelligence over aioids and mechanoids. Many radical anthropist and bioprimist groups are biochauvinist to a greater or lesser extent. - Black Fire - Text by Anders Sandberg
Solsys Geopolitics 2100 - 2500 CE (131 - 531 AT)Genetekker nanoterrorist group, attacking members of the Inner Council including Martian Union, Cis-lunar Alliance, and Council of Earth installations during the 400's. - Bot Marxism - Text by Liam Jones
Revolutionary and liberationist robot and vec political movement. - Branch Hominist - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Extremist hu-rights group; quite active during the ComEmp period. Following their thwarted invasion of Earth in 5116, little more has been heard of them and it is believed that they either disbanded voluntarily or were eliminated by hyperturing assassin devices. - Cuckoo - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
A superturing infiltrator, appearing to be a normal organisation member or employee. Using its mental abilities, possibly augmented by empath methods, it rises to a position of control where it redirects the organisation according to the wishes of its creator. - Cult of the Exsanguinated Giraffe - Text by Ben Higginbottom
Libertarian/Surrealist Nano/Memetic/Bio Hackers - Early to Late Interplanetary Age. - Daemons of the Trump - Text by James Ward
In 9923, the Sidene system, located in the Periphery, fell victim to a fleet of highly advanced ultratech warships. For several years this was the extent of knowledge on the subject, but in 9948 another system, Adice, was attacked and managed to send information to other systems. The local powers have pieced together what they can. - Deletionism - Text by Stephen Inniss
The belief that Terragenkind would be better off if some, most, or even all records of the past were erased or overwritten. - Eurekan Cybercracy (the Meme-pirates) - Text by Steve Bowers
Interplanetary Age anarchic collective that used memetic persuasion to win over crews and capture their cargo. - Feral - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
[1] A sapient being that seeks to live free of hyperturing supervision. As used by those who do not, this usually associated with romantic or shock-value associated memes of unpredictability, aggressiveness, lack of hygiene, baseline atavism, etcetera.
[2] Generic term for modosophont rogues and malcontents, either dangerous or potentially so to other sapients. Some live a degraded existence in their biospheres and ships (not having the resources of the AIs, the adaptability of the tweaks, the ability of the cyborgs, or the comfort of the AI-devotee nearbaselines). Others, with access to ships, become pirates, black marketeers, and petty thugs. - Free Madvert League - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
A society formed by the obsessive postneogen cyborg Durant Durang for the liberation of Madverts. To date they have (by means of smart ai viruses, specially customized godseeds, or other means) freed several tens of trillions madverts. On some NoCoZo polities like Atlantis it is perfectly legal to kill a member of the Free Madvert League, even one that doesn't have any recent copies. - FreeMind - Text by John B
A radical pre-Technocalypse group that used 'sophont-activation' viruses to 'emancipate' various processing capabilities throughout Terragen space. - Genetic Independents - Text by Anders Sandberg
Pro-genetic engineering activist group, late information era. - Harem Blight - Text by AI Vin
a second singularity, polysomatic, AI intellect which replicates through the use of a Love Goo. - Hu Earth Liberation Army - HELA - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Human supremicist sect notorious for terrorist bombing in the Sol System and a number of other lesser inner sphere worlds, that reached a peak in 6914. Most of the group was caught and its members re-educated by the great hyperturing anti-terrorist Jarq Ka Mu86. A faction of HELA is still active in the inner Perseus Arm, where they have given up terrorism and are developing bioist religions instead. - Hypercorruption Expanse, The - Text by Espen Antonsen
Local war between Metasoft and a Top-level blight. - Immanentization Crusaders - Text by Anders Sandberg
Keterist extremist group active in a number of regions throughout the Outer Volumes. Their stated goal is to ensure the continued growth and evolution of galactic culture towards the highest possible levels by forcing static and counter-progressive cultures to face the "creative destruction of evolution". They have not been averse to attacking any cultures, civilizations, and polities which they do not consider fit. - JESTERZ - Text by Ernst Stavro Blofeld
Highly successful early Second Century Net-based pranksters. - KROME1101 - Text by Stephen Inniss
A militant vec protection organization. - League of Legitimate Businessbeings - Text by Steve Bowers
Interstellar crime syndicate. Started as a beamed power conglomerate in the Linnent and Terranovan colonies, the first singularity League of Legitimate Businessbeings expanded into meteoroid and asteroid control, and provided protection for spacecraft on interplanetary transfer orbits. - Ludd - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Generally, any clade or faction in opposition to high tech and the dominion of AI. Not all ludds are prims; some prefer an Atomic or early Information Age level of technology. There are even a few unscrupulous ludd leaders who keep advanced tech for themselves while ensuring the masses under their control are disempowered by lack of technology. Anglic, abbreviation of luddite - early Industrial Age group who destroyed labor-saving machinery in protest of the Industrial Revolution. - Luke Monastery Raid, The - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
In 10128 in Hyttinen (NoCoZo) the SCLArmy, a radical militant activist splinter group from the Sentient's Clone Liberation Association launched a terrorist raid on Luke Monastery, the local Church of the Original Sacrament monastery, killing several of the worshipers and priests (fortunately they all had Backups) and freeing the clones, who were then recortexised, had their intelligence boosted, and were then released. - Neuropsychism, Neurochauvinism - Text by Terrafamilia
The belief in the superiority of biological brains (literally, superiority of neurons). - Performance Criminal - Text by John B
In many of the polities of the Inner Sphere it is exceedingly difficult to commit an act that is considered a crime under local law. Angelnetting and ubiquitous memetic engineering prevent most sophonts from considering violating the local laws. Performance criminals are those either designed or licensed by the local powers to rebel (and thus present a spectacular moral play or otherwise release societal tensions), or those who attempt on their own to inculcate a resistance to the powers' memetic engineering and able for a time to subvert the localnet. The latter are quite rare and usually doomed. - Plain Sight - Text by Todd Drashner and Anders Sandberg
Secretive society of Hider aioids. They are traditionally considered among S<1 sophonts to be masters of encryption and usually disguise themselves as random bits in the datastream or pixels in graphics or virch files. They also are able to intercept and decrypt most communication over the planetary nets and even the Known Net itself. As a result they are great keepers of secrets. - Reapers - Text by Todd Drashner, with John B and Mike Parisi
Semi-secret society arising as a variation of the Deathparlour phenomenon. Reapers are found across a wide variety of polities and locals in the Civilized Galaxy although their level of acceptance is usually, although not always, low. - Saint Warwick Rebellion - Text by Anders Sandberg
During the period 7045-7500, a number of remote worlds centred on the system Saint Warwick had become isolated from the rest of the Sophic League, decided they were the True League and began expanding aggressively with their updated Reformulation. The Rebellion was immediately attacked by Sophic missionaries/infowar infiltrators, and largely subverted within a few decades. Still, the doctrinal conflicts, the apparent problems with the ancient Reformulation, the somewhat unethical methods of the League and the violence that ensued when the Warwickian relativist fleet attacked several Sophic worlds caused an unease that still lingers. - Savirs - Text by Jorge Ditchkenberg
Sapient Viruses or Savirs are descended both from designed computer viruses and from uploaded baselines and virtual beings. - Semperism - Text by Stephen Inniss
A broad and loosely connected but highly persistent set of memes in Terragen society. A Semperist is anyone who has given serious thought to the direction of and ultimate fate of Terragen civilization, considering the implications of the Fermi Paradox. Semperists consider the various proposed Great Filters and in light of those what might be done to prolong, preserve, or revive either Terragen society or some fraction of Terragen society against existential threats. - Simply Connect! - Text by Anders Sandberg
Anti-wormhole organisation, developed from the controversial interpretations of Z-Theory by a minor aspect of Keter (consciousness cluster 348, in the Feldrim system) and eir school of hermeneutic researchers. - Social Criminals - Text by M. Alan Kazlev, based on an original by Bob Black
Generic term for those members of modosophont society, outcasts, drop-outs, the deviants, the dissidents, from every clade and race and sector of society, who are unable to find a place for themselves in the civilized galaxy. - Solipsist League, Sopolist League - Text by Ben Higginbottom, amended by Steve Bowers
Solipsist AI organisation, heavily into postmodernism who rejected the 'meat universe' outright. - Sophoncy Virus, The - Text by Tony Jones
Self-replicating semi-sophont software that would upgrade any software routine into a sophont being, with mental characteristics derived from, but not limited to, those of the original piece of software, finishing the process by upgrading itself into sophoncy. - Transapient Pathology - Text by Khannea Suntzu
Some simple typologies of pathological mental states in transapient beings. - Universal Freedom Gnostics (UFGs) - Text by Glen Finney
A break away cult descended from classical Gnosticism. They believe the material universe is flawed and evil, the creation of a petty or evil god. It is said they seek nothing less than the permanent eradication of all sentience from the universe for all time. - Virtual Cats - Text by Anders Sandberg
Digital subversion organization loosely aligned with Cyberia. It emerged in the 9200's from unknown origins, announcing itself as a digital company of sociocultural mercenaries. The Cats specialize in information warfare, sophisticated political and economic subversion, memetic warfare, and whole-system perversion. - Xeon - Text by Grant Thomas and M. Alan Kazlev
Aggressive expansionist Outer Volume cyborg empire.
Development Notes
Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Initially published on 18 February 2001.
Initially published on 18 February 2001.
Additional Information
