Elysium and the Chimeras (ELI)
Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2013 2:18 am
One of the most striking discoveries about Paradise's multifaceted and cutthroat society wasn't its technological level or the level of self-reliance the borderline-derelict state the former penal colony was in – it would be the fact that other humans and Karthians had beaten the official team.
In 1966, Valery Kostya, Michael Sanderson and Elke Anders had been living amongst the Paradise natives for a few months. The Russia-born Karthian was surprised to find a few of his people to have natively adapted to the colony, and was shocked to find that other Grayskins had arranged for the transport of assets and personnel belonging to Terran organized crime syndicates. The purpose behind this would remain nebulous, as no official Terran authorities could not exercise their judistiction on alien soil. At best, one could assume that stories about deregulated markets for the development and sale of augmentation technologies would provide unique investment opportunities, provided the interested parties would be able to venture off-world. The mob answered the siren's call in several countries across the globe, with Japan emerging as the leading purveyor of Black Market cyborg-related implements.
Back home, the first known attempts at cyberterrorism shook the DARPA offices and briefly forced the Pentagon in a week-long blackout, in June of 1966. Each time, the attacks were preceded or followed by a staggered radio signal being apparently sent from Armstrong Station. The Elysium Manifesto was its contents, demanding the unconditional surrender of all mundane and mortal authorities to certain designated immortal “handlers”. Several of those named in the appended list were interrogated. Among their numbers was Aldergard Kuhn, who replied that it would be foolish to believe he seeks to claim control, seeing as he himself drafted the laws which he has made sure to abide by. Jailers, he held, might abuse of their privileges. He, however, sought to liberate his peers from anonymity – not shackle them in the myriad requirements of public life. These measures that were put in place were created in order to prevent abuse, he held. Anyone simply seeking power would have simply taken it.
Still, initial outreach efforts began to take place, and relations between Earth and Paradise quickly became civil, if somewhat distant. The station natives had spent thousands of years assembling a largely cutthroat society ruled by basic common sense and one's ability to perform under pressure. The newcomers' expectance of some form of rule of law was obviously considered as not only odd, but slighly offensive, as well. Thankfully, Tyler Renny of the Dusters was able to keep the scientific team safe for the duration of their preliminary studies, and to see them returned home with the least amount of harm done to them possible.
Over the next few years, Orion Shuttles and Tobolenski Imports would begin to expand and take hold of near-space travel and of the task of ferrying goods and personnel to and from Armstrong Laboratory, the abovementioned scientific colony based on Luna. Regular trips to Paradise would soon be charted, this serving as the Earth's introduction to the Credit system. No Terran currency having a significant value on the space station – safe for perhaps guns, blades and well-dosed threats – the visitors were obviously forced to adapt to this new locale's monetary traditions. Today, frequent flyers tend to own a credit chit; which is essentially a non-expiring debit device. Change counters may convert any amount of Terran currency into a standardized amount in Paradise Credits, and transfer these virtual funds onto the user's chit. These small, poker chip-like devices are old and weathered in appearance, even when fairly recently machined. Their fairly simple data storage method and their versatility as memory-expanding devices also make the trade of counterfeit, preloaded chits or of hacked amounts ubiquitous problems that only do seem to be problems in the eyes of outsiders. As far as anyone knows, the station's slipshod economy functions only because the currently leading gang is typically sufficiently savvy as to understand the importance of guarding and protecting the credit transfer servers.
From 1967 to the very eve of the Battle of Hope, in October of 1975, a kaleidoscope of humanoid and not-so-humanoid life forms began to mingle with the natives along the streets of most of the world's metropolises. Those lucky enough to have reached Paradise only a few generations ago tended to have names and specific cultural beliefs to maintain. Those whose heritage stretched back to the time of the Riot – the near-mythical disruption that cost the Wardens control of the facility and freed the Drifters – were not so fortunate. In any case, the space station had rapidly homogenized beliefs, political stances and general cultures into the resolutely Syncretic and Agnostic mish-mash people like Tam Zainall may call their family's native climate. Not that Earth would not adapt, considering the slew of minor religions most statistics on the subject can't account for.
This period also saw the rapid expansion of Mammoth Engineering Solutions, a company established by Henry Smith, a mammoth anthro. The influx of alien talent provided the Smith family, a recent addition to the city's power players, with the ability to move beyond the simple conceptualization of trusses, support structures and large-scale frames and armatures. In 1969, in fact, the company was rechristened as Goliath Corporation, having emerged as a leading figure in engineering and consumer electronics. Their acquisition of Hyperion Biologics, a small company largely led by Rupert Isaacs as head researcher, would allow the developing mega-corporation to develop in new – and retrospectively unfortunate ways. Indeed, some of the patents and research documents filed by Isaacs for the benefit of his new parent company were stolen very shortly afterwards. Isaacs himself, however, quickly became M.I.A. To this day, no one knows the whereabouts of the eccentric and obsessive bio-engineer.
As before, the Terrans proved their tolerance and ability to accept those differing from the norm in rather disparate ways. Hope, having always leaned towards the Left, seemed largely poised to accomodate any and all special needs some of the aliens encountered. Some sported digestive systems attuned to levo-amino acids, like most humans, anthros and dragons, among others, while others were required to be allowed to synthesize or produce their own food, depending on dextro-amino acids, instead. Entire food chains and restaurants had to be implemented across the world. Obviously, some saw this as an invasion of our millennial homeland. The Fae, in particular, could be criticized for lacking the ability to walk a mile in the aliens' shoes...
In any case, and predictably enough, intolerance was and still is on the menu. Just as right-wing groups jumped at the chance to accuse the Vienna Accords' signatories of the evils of this world, there came a chance for them to put forward Terran-centric organization. The Terra Firma Party, a radical division of the Republicans, would shame anyone who'd believed the Accords marked the beginning of a period of widespread tolerance or that the aliens could expect to live amongst us in assured peace.
Thankfully, the events leading to the Battle of Hope would rapidly prevent the serious emergence of armed and dangerous ethnic cleansing groups. Caliban's escape from Paradise and his travel to Earth would scar several young imaginations over the next few years, and his meeting with Philip W. Noel, Governor of Rhode Island, would mark the end of a fairly strange six-month period in Hope's history. Wishing to escape Elysium's Earth-based collaborators, Caliban spent his first few months living in Hope's sewers, where he befriended the local Circus and its Ringleader, Arthur Holden.
By this point in time, the Drifter model of industry had already begun to mingle with the Terran and Karthian considerations that had already been established. Experiments in cold fusion began to take place, technologies that would seem to exist purely as prototypes in our 2013 were glimpsed at in Hope's seventies – and mages, notably, began to feel increasingly left out of the loop. Previously essential arcane figureheads such as Amazo were being increasingly relegated to theoretical research. Some ten years would need to pass, at which point the Chimeras would have integrated in the general population, for sufficient progress in the study of Arcane Exclusion Fields to be made.
October 1975 marks the beginning of the Battle of Hope, with dropships of an unknown origin even to Earth-based Paradise natives pummelling one of America's jewels. The chimeric beings that emerged from them had been eluded to by Caliban, who had since then been taken in as a ward and source of inspiration by Henry Smith, CEO and founder of Goliath Corporation. In very short order, however, Caliban Smith's intelligence on his cryptid brethren would prove invaluable to the Department of Defense. This would eventually see him in a gubernatorial office, and Henry's biological son, John, at the head of Goliath's board of directors.
With Archie and Bucky reawakened to deal with this rather poignant crisis, a crack team of two Clanks and of the city's best and brightest superhumans and supernaturals was assembled to deal with Caliban's twin brother, Gregory Rendell. The T-Rex was almost able to tap into the Centennial Tree's power but was stopped in the nick of time by the assembled group. With the country poised to launch ballistic missiles on its own soil and the nuclear option spending weeks creeping ever closer, the final defeat of Elysium's patriarch was a huge relief for the country and world alike.
Unfortunately, Elysium's new organic life – the Chimeras – had been able to deploy impressive amounts of destructive power. The city was almost razed in the conflict, off-world and inter-State near-orbit evacuations filling the skies over the Battle's duration. Ultimately, while all loss should be mourned, the devastation would provide Goliath with the chance to grab the servicing contract of a lifetime. Not before burying its founder, however, as Henry Smith had perished in the chaos.
In 1966, Valery Kostya, Michael Sanderson and Elke Anders had been living amongst the Paradise natives for a few months. The Russia-born Karthian was surprised to find a few of his people to have natively adapted to the colony, and was shocked to find that other Grayskins had arranged for the transport of assets and personnel belonging to Terran organized crime syndicates. The purpose behind this would remain nebulous, as no official Terran authorities could not exercise their judistiction on alien soil. At best, one could assume that stories about deregulated markets for the development and sale of augmentation technologies would provide unique investment opportunities, provided the interested parties would be able to venture off-world. The mob answered the siren's call in several countries across the globe, with Japan emerging as the leading purveyor of Black Market cyborg-related implements.
Back home, the first known attempts at cyberterrorism shook the DARPA offices and briefly forced the Pentagon in a week-long blackout, in June of 1966. Each time, the attacks were preceded or followed by a staggered radio signal being apparently sent from Armstrong Station. The Elysium Manifesto was its contents, demanding the unconditional surrender of all mundane and mortal authorities to certain designated immortal “handlers”. Several of those named in the appended list were interrogated. Among their numbers was Aldergard Kuhn, who replied that it would be foolish to believe he seeks to claim control, seeing as he himself drafted the laws which he has made sure to abide by. Jailers, he held, might abuse of their privileges. He, however, sought to liberate his peers from anonymity – not shackle them in the myriad requirements of public life. These measures that were put in place were created in order to prevent abuse, he held. Anyone simply seeking power would have simply taken it.
Still, initial outreach efforts began to take place, and relations between Earth and Paradise quickly became civil, if somewhat distant. The station natives had spent thousands of years assembling a largely cutthroat society ruled by basic common sense and one's ability to perform under pressure. The newcomers' expectance of some form of rule of law was obviously considered as not only odd, but slighly offensive, as well. Thankfully, Tyler Renny of the Dusters was able to keep the scientific team safe for the duration of their preliminary studies, and to see them returned home with the least amount of harm done to them possible.
Over the next few years, Orion Shuttles and Tobolenski Imports would begin to expand and take hold of near-space travel and of the task of ferrying goods and personnel to and from Armstrong Laboratory, the abovementioned scientific colony based on Luna. Regular trips to Paradise would soon be charted, this serving as the Earth's introduction to the Credit system. No Terran currency having a significant value on the space station – safe for perhaps guns, blades and well-dosed threats – the visitors were obviously forced to adapt to this new locale's monetary traditions. Today, frequent flyers tend to own a credit chit; which is essentially a non-expiring debit device. Change counters may convert any amount of Terran currency into a standardized amount in Paradise Credits, and transfer these virtual funds onto the user's chit. These small, poker chip-like devices are old and weathered in appearance, even when fairly recently machined. Their fairly simple data storage method and their versatility as memory-expanding devices also make the trade of counterfeit, preloaded chits or of hacked amounts ubiquitous problems that only do seem to be problems in the eyes of outsiders. As far as anyone knows, the station's slipshod economy functions only because the currently leading gang is typically sufficiently savvy as to understand the importance of guarding and protecting the credit transfer servers.
From 1967 to the very eve of the Battle of Hope, in October of 1975, a kaleidoscope of humanoid and not-so-humanoid life forms began to mingle with the natives along the streets of most of the world's metropolises. Those lucky enough to have reached Paradise only a few generations ago tended to have names and specific cultural beliefs to maintain. Those whose heritage stretched back to the time of the Riot – the near-mythical disruption that cost the Wardens control of the facility and freed the Drifters – were not so fortunate. In any case, the space station had rapidly homogenized beliefs, political stances and general cultures into the resolutely Syncretic and Agnostic mish-mash people like Tam Zainall may call their family's native climate. Not that Earth would not adapt, considering the slew of minor religions most statistics on the subject can't account for.
This period also saw the rapid expansion of Mammoth Engineering Solutions, a company established by Henry Smith, a mammoth anthro. The influx of alien talent provided the Smith family, a recent addition to the city's power players, with the ability to move beyond the simple conceptualization of trusses, support structures and large-scale frames and armatures. In 1969, in fact, the company was rechristened as Goliath Corporation, having emerged as a leading figure in engineering and consumer electronics. Their acquisition of Hyperion Biologics, a small company largely led by Rupert Isaacs as head researcher, would allow the developing mega-corporation to develop in new – and retrospectively unfortunate ways. Indeed, some of the patents and research documents filed by Isaacs for the benefit of his new parent company were stolen very shortly afterwards. Isaacs himself, however, quickly became M.I.A. To this day, no one knows the whereabouts of the eccentric and obsessive bio-engineer.
As before, the Terrans proved their tolerance and ability to accept those differing from the norm in rather disparate ways. Hope, having always leaned towards the Left, seemed largely poised to accomodate any and all special needs some of the aliens encountered. Some sported digestive systems attuned to levo-amino acids, like most humans, anthros and dragons, among others, while others were required to be allowed to synthesize or produce their own food, depending on dextro-amino acids, instead. Entire food chains and restaurants had to be implemented across the world. Obviously, some saw this as an invasion of our millennial homeland. The Fae, in particular, could be criticized for lacking the ability to walk a mile in the aliens' shoes...
In any case, and predictably enough, intolerance was and still is on the menu. Just as right-wing groups jumped at the chance to accuse the Vienna Accords' signatories of the evils of this world, there came a chance for them to put forward Terran-centric organization. The Terra Firma Party, a radical division of the Republicans, would shame anyone who'd believed the Accords marked the beginning of a period of widespread tolerance or that the aliens could expect to live amongst us in assured peace.
Thankfully, the events leading to the Battle of Hope would rapidly prevent the serious emergence of armed and dangerous ethnic cleansing groups. Caliban's escape from Paradise and his travel to Earth would scar several young imaginations over the next few years, and his meeting with Philip W. Noel, Governor of Rhode Island, would mark the end of a fairly strange six-month period in Hope's history. Wishing to escape Elysium's Earth-based collaborators, Caliban spent his first few months living in Hope's sewers, where he befriended the local Circus and its Ringleader, Arthur Holden.
By this point in time, the Drifter model of industry had already begun to mingle with the Terran and Karthian considerations that had already been established. Experiments in cold fusion began to take place, technologies that would seem to exist purely as prototypes in our 2013 were glimpsed at in Hope's seventies – and mages, notably, began to feel increasingly left out of the loop. Previously essential arcane figureheads such as Amazo were being increasingly relegated to theoretical research. Some ten years would need to pass, at which point the Chimeras would have integrated in the general population, for sufficient progress in the study of Arcane Exclusion Fields to be made.
October 1975 marks the beginning of the Battle of Hope, with dropships of an unknown origin even to Earth-based Paradise natives pummelling one of America's jewels. The chimeric beings that emerged from them had been eluded to by Caliban, who had since then been taken in as a ward and source of inspiration by Henry Smith, CEO and founder of Goliath Corporation. In very short order, however, Caliban Smith's intelligence on his cryptid brethren would prove invaluable to the Department of Defense. This would eventually see him in a gubernatorial office, and Henry's biological son, John, at the head of Goliath's board of directors.
With Archie and Bucky reawakened to deal with this rather poignant crisis, a crack team of two Clanks and of the city's best and brightest superhumans and supernaturals was assembled to deal with Caliban's twin brother, Gregory Rendell. The T-Rex was almost able to tap into the Centennial Tree's power but was stopped in the nick of time by the assembled group. With the country poised to launch ballistic missiles on its own soil and the nuclear option spending weeks creeping ever closer, the final defeat of Elysium's patriarch was a huge relief for the country and world alike.
Unfortunately, Elysium's new organic life – the Chimeras – had been able to deploy impressive amounts of destructive power. The city was almost razed in the conflict, off-world and inter-State near-orbit evacuations filling the skies over the Battle's duration. Ultimately, while all loss should be mourned, the devastation would provide Goliath with the chance to grab the servicing contract of a lifetime. Not before burying its founder, however, as Henry Smith had perished in the chaos.