I
INTRODUCTION
What follows is documentation regarding the known aspects of the Augustine Empire. A scientific approach is encouraged in order to dilute their own penchant for cloaking all aspects of their society in a veil of mysticism and the occult. While their preferred presentation of such information is indeed accurate and without pretence or misinformation, the convoluted efforts of obfuscation that is employed serves a dual purpose as both education and propaganda. Certain facts, while couched entirely in the realm of the scientific, are levied much grander scope of appearance simply by how the Augustine treat it. To them, science and empirical fact are indistinguishable from religious doctrine, which can promote a demoralisation of our own people should they encounter it in this undiluted state.
The effort of stripping away dogma to reveal the plain information beneath is indeed a challenge, as the Augustine have a penchant for convoluted ritual. This practice is so well-honed that even casual study can have a serious effect on the unprepared mind. Many who have studied the Augustine in the past have fallen sway to their dogmatic practice, seeing their ritualistic lifestyle as something elevated above the everyday banalities of society. It is, therefore the purpose of this guide to present all such information in a manner fit for the scholar, soldier and citizen who wishes to take a deeper look at such a fascinating, and dangerous, people. It is our hope to strip the fantastical down to the mundane, if not in a way that might allow our two cultures to interact on a level field then to provide those who safeguard our society with ample tools necessary to do so.
All information contained in this primer is a combination of first-hand accounts and interactions, military intelligence and computer extrapolation. An attempt has been made to paint as complete a picture as possible but is must be acknowledged that most of what is contained here can be boiled down to conjecture. The Augustine, as has been stated, are notoriously secretive and while this primer is intended for field use and academic study, it is the opinion of the writers that anyone using it as a foundation for research or interaction would be best served by deference to personal judgement.
TIMELINE OF EVENTS LEADING TO THE EMPIRE’S FOUNDING
Five centuries ago, the nations of Earth were ensconced in a third World War as the nations of the world floundered in the throes of a growing resource crisis. Since then, humanity has struggled to crawl from the ashes of their mistakes, only having re-established some modicum of civilisation within the last hundred years. Such efforts are bolstered by the emergence of a secretive conclave calling themselves the Augustine and the power conferred upon them by what comes to be known as the "mantle of clay". Under their stewardship, a new Empire has risen. All was well for a time.
Prosperity exists only within Imperial city-states and control is asserted with an iron will, the party line promising to avoid those tragedies which led to near-extinction. Beyond the walls, people live as though in the Dark Ages with only a few technological boons overshadowed by hard labour and early death. The world itself, while a natural paradise, is infested with monstrosities born of war and artifice in equal measure. Whispers of rebellion are spreading.
To preserve what order can be gleaned in such an unstable environment, the law is upheld by Wardens who hold the full authority to sentence any lawbreaker. These members of the unflappable Imperial Military Police are a constant presence around the twelve city-states. Unfortunately, aside from patrolling the immediate vicinity beyond city walls, the IMP do nothing to preserve peace in the wilds. What settlements there are instead rely on the various Guilds, employing adventurers, monster-hunters, negotiators, hit-men and other such freelancers to solve their problems no matter what they might be. For a price.
Within the wilds, miasma is an ever-present danger. Low-hanging clouds that defy much more description, this unnatural phenomenon is the source of much trouble in the world. Prolonged exposure produces madness in people, while animals often exhibit violent mutation and a savage change in disposition. Most that enter the murky depths are lost irretrievably, what survives lucky enough to be put down quickly. The greatest of these are monitored by three mobile military academies, providing recruits with intense hands-on training.
Travel outside the cities is heavily regulated, routes forced to change as weather patterns shift the miasma about. Settlements too are often only temporary, a fact of life adapted to long ago. Most people are content to remain within the protective walls of their homes and so ignore anything outside. Even so, a market does and always will exist that leads only the very exceptional or very stupid to venture beyond city gates. Opportunity awaits any willing to reach out and take it.
THE EARTH
While it is hard to accept by any human that the planet of our origin is anything but a home to us, it cannot be denied that Earth is a far different world from that which our ancestors migrated when the colonies were first being constructed. Ravaged by the third World War, it was in the wake of atomic fire that true change was wrought by those who had survived. The very technology that gave rise to the Augustine Empire has reshaped the planet almost entirely, rendering it an alien ecology completely foreign and often inimical to anything not born within it.
Imperial borders are demarcated by large standing stones at each of the cardinal points, carved with runes and flecked by green-gold. Jungle, forest and grassy wilderness stretch to the eastern coast, surprisingly well-inhabited by people unaffiliated or disaffected toward the Empire’s rule. Those furthest reaches beyond the eastern mountains are shunned, empty of all human influence beyond wild transgenic. Enclosed by these and the western mountains is generously-inhabited farmland.
Cleansed by a war-time weapon, everything toward the western coast was reduced to a desert of corrosive sand. North are desolate wastes of ice and snow clinging to jagged mountain eyries and further still, endless ocean. To the south, most of the land has been swallowed by creeping mires, what remains solid consisting of open fields thickening into trees with intermittent meadows scattered throughout. Like its counterparts, a standing stone is rumoured to still exist within the swamp’s rotten bowels, a slime-covered monolith that pulses with squeamish light.
Megalithic structures are scattered across the continent. Great joinings of shifting polyhedral suggestion, it was their ascension which brought an end to the Last War. The network that these megaliths create actively relegate the continent’s ecology, reshaping it to some inborn will centuries after their initial appearance. Of particular interest are a series that ring the coasts, a fence that emits a barrier to prevent impasse from sea and air.
The root of all such change is the Augustine Mantle, the far-reaching application of which engendered a runaway genetic restructuring of all life that managed to survive the nuclear holocaust. What wasn’t reshaped was wholly manufactured, moulded to fit such niches as were necessary to promote regrowth across a ravaged world. It is amidst this ecology that the Augustine have made themselves a linchpin, both thriving upon it and keeping it ever growing and evolving. Augustine society naturally relies on products and materials harvested from many points within this artificial ecology and although it has reached a point where it might continue without them, their presence regulates it in such a way that certain aspects don’t run out of control and overtake others.
The purpose of this exacting mechanism as we understand it is to reshape the very planet into a singular entity. Not content to remain on their world, nor to expand their Empire as individuals throughout space, the planet itself is slowly becoming an entity unto itself and so far as can be understood, a singular representative of the Augustine. At its most extreme, this heinous technological ritual would recast whole continents into immeasurably massive structures floating above an internal sea of churning biological material. Armour plates protecting inscrutable innards, these are also to act as strongholds for the smaller races who emerge from and subside back into the protoplasmic ocean beneath. Great bio-mechanical forests, plains and other environments span these plates, giving the planet itself a deceptively natural appearance. This latter detail is already extant, an ecological rebirth to counter the destructive remnants of that conflict which had so ravaged the sphere centuries before.
Domes, hundreds of kilometres in diameter, would dot the surface and house Augustine cities. Many such already can be seen upon the planet’s surface, their interiors clouded by the miasma that accompanies the presence of their inhabitants. With populations numbering in the millions, these cities are only a hint at what lies beneath as deep labyrinths criss-cross the surface plates to connect each one. Such underground installations house the bulk of important endeavours including control networks, libraries, laboratories, manufacturing centres and so on. Perhaps most alien of all are great miles-wide mouths already seen in some places which feed an immense biological furnace at the construction’s core. A fleet of temple-ships, more akin to immense citadels than any vehicle built by the Federation, hangs in orbit around the planet and acts as a means of sensory input and manipulators. These are used to guide appropriate matter into the waiting fire and to defend their god-planet from any interloper.
II
CLASSIFICATION OF IMPERIAL STRATUM
Imperial society is based upon a fluid hierarchy composed of many shifting castes. While it is preferable that an individual remains in one role for most of their life, it is understood that such repetition could become dull or outside influence might render such sustainably impossible. Thus, one has the ability to take up different station depending on circumstance or need. What does remain consistent is the inclusion of an “actuator” which serve each individual as a badge of citizenship, communication and storage device, all-purpose tool and deadly weapon.
At the centre of their doctrine are beliefs in discipline, unity and power that determine all acts. Training and study from childhood are centred around these beliefs and expanded to encompass swordsmanship, shooting, climbing, swimming, poetry and penmanship. As they age, rank is gained through leadership or killing. Those of the 1st Rank are forbidden to speak and taught while those of the 2nd Rank face death in blooded combat. Those of the 3rd Rank serve the needs of the rest and those of the 4th Rank lead them. The 5th Rank is exalted, leaders of the rest. These lords each reign according to their function within the Five Sects. Higher rank affords one better technology, more authority and better place in society.
The known castes and their ruling sects are as follows:
1. Red Sect: By far the most recognisable portion of the Imperial population. The Red Sect of Conquest drives the others by Yellow decree, overseeing the maintenance of infrastructure and is the Bulk of the Military. They are the Ruling Class and the only ones allowed weapons. Battle-hardened engineers, there is much overlap in the function of each individual which is keyed to make each one a viable asset in any condition.
Recruits are conscripted into the Sect at a young age; those who fail out of combat rites are exiled and sent on a death raid into untamed territory, redeemed only when they return with a proof of a kill. The dead are honoured and forgotten. Graduated are issued an actuator and the rank of Soldier. Females are issued the rank of Ranger which stands above Soldiers.
After reaching the third rank they are sorted into whichever sect suits them, each offering specific skills and knowledge, but mainly employment that keeps each Enclave functioning. Within the other Sects, those redeemed after failing combat rites are divided by their rank within the Red Sect of Conquest which they will never leave. Ministers stand above all within the White Sect of Knowledge and oversee the rest. Medics enter into the Blue Sect of Art and Scholars enter into the Black Sect of Tools.
Perhaps the most disturbing trait of those more militant within the Augustine is a tendency to take trophies. Squads have been known to stalk targets, picking off individuals deemed worthy enough for collection. Many Augustine have been seen with trophies displayed upon their armour, composite imaging enough to determine the identities of their original owners. It is not advised to be taken alive by any member of Imperial soldiery, for though the Augustine have shown no interest in torture or similar interrogation for the purpose of gathering intelligence, they have shown a propensity for butchery and vivisection. It is surmised that this is a rather brutal form of research which goes beyond mere gathering of trophies, studying an opponent inside and out.
The known military divisions are as follows:
squad: 5 units comprised of a Minister, Medic and two Soldiers led by a Ranger who pilots a light motile armour
garrison: 10 squads, 50 units led by a Strike Leader, those active in the field are led by a Patrol Leader who pilots a general motile armour
platoon: 100 garrisons, 500 units led by a Force Leader who pilots a heavy motile armour
battalion: 1,000 platoons, 5,000 units led by a War Chief
regiment: 10,000 battalions, 50,000 units led by a War Lord
There are Five Regiments, each dedicated to the protection of a single Sect. All elect and are led by a War Lord who sits on a Council beneath an Emperor-Elect. The Council elects a new Emperor only if no Heir exists. In the event that none does, one of the War Lords is elected and a new War Lord takes the vacated place.
2. Yellow Sect: Overseeing ecological stability, technological progress, transgenic populations and conquest of new territories, the Yellow Sect of Expansion acts as the linchpin to the rest. Ideas must pass before the Yellow Sect of Expansion before they are presented to the Black Sect of Tools. It is far and away the most mysterious organisation within the Empire and it is only through scant rumour that its existence is known of at all.
3. White Sect: Overseeing economic stability and acting as the Font of Ideas is the White Sect of Knowledge. Submitting all Ideas to the Blue Sect of Art, these are the theoretical scientists of the Empire, devoting their time to study and mastery of ideas which are disseminated amongst the rest. Within the Imperial hierarchy, they can be thought of as priests and are treated as such, respected and venerated as closer to divinity than any other of their peers.
4. Blue Sect: Collecting and disseminating information between its peers, the Blue Sect of Art is just that: a purveyor of design. Imperial scholars and perhaps the most abstract of the Sects, they prepare all Ideas within the hierarchy for manufacture and it is their duty to smooth away any rough details, refining them until they have been deemed perfect.
5. Black Sect: Placed in charge of medical researches in particular, the Black Sect of Tools manufactures all Ideas handed down by the Yellow Sect of Expansion. Master physicians and artisans, they handle all manufacturing duties within the Empire and are the final judges of an item’s design. Anything that does not meet their standards is recirculated amongst the other Sects, though this is a rare occurrence.
6. Green Sect: Perhaps the most recognisably human of the Augustine are the merchants within their society. It is because of this willingness to communicate and exchange with others outside of the Empire that the Green Sect of Trade is viewed as a separate body from the rest, not wholly integral yet not entirely singular. While trade with our own Federation is grimly outlawed by the Imperial powers-that-be, a limited exchange of goods between our peoples is maintained nonetheless. Unfortunately, an almost preternatural restraint has kept their deeper technological secrets out of Federation hands despite herculean efforts to obtain them. Those items we do have remain stubbornly obtuse, manufactured to resist tampering with an infuriating level of exactitude which alone would propel our own technologies forward by centuries if our scientists and engineers were to master it.
COMMON TRAITS OF THE AUGUSTINE
An emergent breed of humanity encountered only after the fall of Lunar colonies at the hand of augmented forces, the first thing that one must understand about the Augustine is this: despite their alien nature they are indeed as human as any citizen of the Federation. There is much that is unknown about, as they call themselves, this evolved strain of humanity and what we do know is spotty at best and obtained at the cost of many lives. What knowledge there is can be boiled down to a dual physiology, specialised biology bolstered by highly complex machinery. Masses of undifferentiated cells, Augustine can mould appearance, internal and external function as desired. Apart from the fine machinery embedded in their flesh which connects numerous ganglionic centres, everything can be freely shaped. However holding such changes takes effort, much like flexing a muscle. The machinery itself adapts to most any form taken.
In general, an individual’s natural form is humanoid and nearly featureless, with twin clusters of simple photoreceptor organs offering rudimentary sight. Appearing as round black dots where eyes might otherwise be, they offer little more than the ability to discern light from dark. What would be ears are instead simple auricles with no openings at their centre. Hearing is instead done with the entire body, which is itself sensitive enough to understand human speech at a conversational volume from a handful of meters. Prismatic cilia atop an individual’s head impart senses beyond the human norm, one such being electro-reception. Slight transparency of tissues has a tendency to reveal the structures beneath, particularly around the face.
Height and weight are variable and subject to change due to need or whim, but generally, the average Augustine stands at a modest five feet, nine inches and weighs a surprisingly light one-hundred and forty pounds. The cilia atop their heads stand in for hair, itself as variable as the rest of their appearance but generally white, of medium length and a fluffy consistency. Facial attributes, unless specifically shaped, are often in the form of a pair of wide, almond-shaped eyes, thin lips and small, flat nose. Eyes are lacking in pupils, presenting an inscrutable white-on-black plane consisting of faintly luminescent white irises and black sclera. Circuitry lines the body, limbs and head, breaking up otherwise unnaturally pale flesh.
Seeming almost to be disintegrating and reforming at the edges, an individual’s cellular mass can be dispersed in a cloud of ephemeral tendrils that flow like smoke around head and torso. These solidify as they wrap around objects, holding whatever they capture like steel cable. Disseminated within captured material, what is held can then be pulled apart at the molecular level. Such physiology results in a complete cessation of the ageing process, which itself stems from astounding regenerative abilities that are only slowed by extreme cold. In such circumstances, Augustine are forced into a state of preservation until ideal conditions return.
Because of their unique physiology, Augustine do not require clothing, tools or other such trappings. Yet, they are never without as all necessities are provided for by the individuals themselves. Armour is often light; boots and something approaching clerical vestment plays partner to gauntlets, overlapping armour plates and a deep hood. Over all is an undulating cloud of black, the volume of which seems incongruous with its natural dimensions, that shifts with physical appearance as its wearer sees fit. This miasma generally takes the appearance of a billowing cloak or overcoat. A detailed description of this mantle can be found in the pages that follow. In general, any other accoutrements or implements are shaped as needed in the same way, which may include simple constructs or fairly complex machinery.
Appearing like a forearm brace, a compact computer monitors biological physiology and offers direct control over an Augustine’s technological physiology. More mundane functions include communications and general computing. Neural input and output are supplemented by manual controls and digital or holographic display. Vocal communication is conveyed through modulation of musical piping. This primarily applies to humans outside of the Empire, as their own kind chiefly communicates through projections of multicoloured light. This can also be utilised as an offensive weapon, manifesting as a highly concentrated burst of ionising radiation. Nausea and vomiting manifest in the stricken within a matter of minutes, escalating into acute radiation sickness over the following hours.
Reproduction is achieved much like a virus, by gestating inside a host and eventually subsuming it. Dispersed much like a spore, these enter the respiratory system and spread from there. Overtaking the central nervous system and utilising the host’s biomass to develop, a necessary mingling of genetic material results in hybridization and non-uniformity of appearance in offspring. Heat understandably speeds this process. Because of the ability of the Augustine to consume inorganic matter, this process likewise may be performed on inanimate objects. However, inorganic matter is not a sustainable means to produce further generations. Whenever a host is subsumed, the Augustine’s technological physiology makes note of genetic structure and neural patterns. This allows easy mimicry of the now-defunct host, including both physical and mental form. Technology can be similarly mimicked, sources of data stored, collated and extrapolated into new form and function. Such mixing and matching allow exponential technological and biological growth.
Separation of any one part from its parent individual results in a cascade reaction as the cells begin to break down any matter within reach in an attempt to re-establish equilibrium. This will produce a new individual if successful and can be halted by reintroduction to a stabilised specimen. Ultra-high frequencies and extreme heat are the only things that can effectively disorient and destroy an individual’s body. Unfortunately, Augustine technological physiology can compensate for such biological shortcomings while also allowing for great physical strength and agility. Further compensation can allow an individual to respire in harsh atmospheres and hard vacuum, defend from damage and blend into environments. Physiological regulation otherwise maintains body heat at ambient temperature while reacting dynamically to neural patterns and external stimuli.
Throughout human history, mechanical accomplishment has always been stratified and relegated to different areas of application. Rarely were attempts made to unify technological function and advancement. One such attempt was the replicator, developed by the Empire’s precursors sometime during the Last War. Upon examination, one could be forgiven for thinking of it as a weapons platform, but at its core, the device and its derivatives are more akin to a medical suite than a missile launcher.
Only by virtue of these technologies' natural proclivity towards overlapping functions could one really say that the replicator is intended to wage war. More accurately, it is intended to keep its operator alive and its creators were not naive enough to think that mere armour plating would do so alone. That its more exotic functions also make devastating weapons was little more than an unhappy coincidence. A scalpel cuts just as deeply in the hands of a butcher.
Single cells of a broader mechanical organisation, operation of the replicator is known colloquially as artifice. To understand artifice in a greater capacity than what it appears is to understand the replicator and its parts. While not all are required for the operation of each other and indeed each is itself a potent tool, together they serve as the foundation on which the Empire sculpts its people. It is through artifice that human ingenuity and mastery are demonstrated and thus through it the right of Augustine to rule.
A note should be made about the constitution of Augustine technology. Despite what at a glance may seem to be simply geometric in shape and general presentation is revealed at closer inspection to follow more organic lines. Indeed, while there are instances of purely mechanical technology, that is machinery comprised of inert substance, most machinery employed by the Augustine is organic in nature. Organic, yes, but as is most often the case, living tissue so inextricably linked with more traditionally recognised mechanics as to be nearly indistinguishable. Augustine technology grows and heals, it breathes and some claim even feeds on the blood of those unfortunate non-Imperials who try to make use of it. This does not seem to have always been the case, but as their particular scientific achievements progressed the development of this particular brand of biotechnological application became ubiquitous.
By reproducing their own function in increasingly fine detail to the point that replicators may collectively shred intermolecular bonds, the resultant “nanites” can alter and break down structures or resequence genetic code to produce and sculpt masses of living cells, cultivated and otherwise. Both are useful for the easy manufacture of domestic and industrial materials. Such achievements are accomplished manually, allowing precision control through the tools that coat them or through high-frequency vibration which destabilises molecular cohesion wholesale. From this is born the artificer’s discipline, a culmination of the replicator’s function. Artificers use their mastery to fulfil often nuanced needs, not only in medical applications but communication and enhancement of senses. Generally, the discipline is used to protect a replicator’s operator from the elements and physical ailments by building appropriate tools and structures.
Practice is divided into three distinct tiers, the most extreme of which allows one to manipulate the minds and bodies of others, incite random mutations or harm at a touch. The weaving of flesh alone is a potent tool but limited only to that which is living. However, the dead too are ready tools as corpses raised and restructured can serve admirably as both tireless slaves and hideous enforcers. Enhancement of physical performance remains a staple throughout replicator application, the exact nature of which varies but retains cumulative effect.
Water extracted from the air can be frozen and shaped or propelled at targets. Likewise, heat through vibration can be generated at levels great enough to kill. Raw earth is a versatile and less resource-intensive medium to manipulate. Electricity is easily discharged from individual units, their numbers and size contributing to the amount loosed. By manipulating light, the creation of illusions both simple and complex can avert the need for anything else.
To truly harness the artificer’s craft requires years of dedicated study and practice. Most notable are the fields of physics, biochemistry and its derivatives, genetics, surgery and so on if one hopes even to grasp the most powerful abilities that the discipline can offer. Regardless of what it might bestow, without proper education and mastery of mental visualisation techniques required to guide a nanite matrix, all one could hope to accomplish is the shaping of nanites themselves into simple, static objects.
Core of the artificer’s discipline and housed within polyhedra of various shapes, replicators at their simplest are nested spheres rotated upon a central axis comprised of linked turbines to produce energy. The earliest were wound like a manual watch mechanism to initiate spin, energy stored used to induce a reciprocating cycle with their magnetised infrastructure contributing to a prolonged rotation. As designs improved, an automated mechanism replaced winding to provide impetus and set the rhythm by which the replicator is charged. Generation of rotating magnetic fields eventually replaces mechanical parts.
Further refinement sees the propagation of aural tone, used to produce vibration proliferated within embedded quartz structures. At its most intricate, a replicator is comprised of interlocking circles that can be unfolded from its compact, functional shape for easy maintenance. Final touches include a computer so that processing efforts can be spread across multiple replicators in order to produce faster results. Solar cells as an outermost layer contribute to energy stored and an internal biomass furnace adds a final level of redundancy. Collapsible precision tools act as three-dimensional constructors, contributing to the user's operation and mechanical evolution. Capable of recording new data, replicators supply their operator with useful items so that they and their operators may adapt easily to shifting situations and environments.
Incapable of acting independently, replicators require input from an operator which is achieved most simply via a wearable visor. By simulating controls for operating it and other devices via augmented reality, the need for clunky peripherals is entirely negated. Needful of periodic recharge, the visor and every derivative can dock with a replicator to do so in the absence of sunlight or other outside power sources. Known as nanites at their smallest size, replicators can become fine enough to be employed within complex systems and are programmed to act on an input to shift their polarity in conjunction to create simple structures and complex mechanisms, snapping into formation when exposed to an electrical current.
During combat or other times of stress, predictive algorithms push the limits of operator perception, seeming to slow time as the replicator attempts to predict the outcomes of a given situation, This can have catastrophic results as mental strain taxes the operator who must separate reality from illusion while the system itself relays both good and bad conclusions. Activation of the predictive system has a marked effect on operator personality, most often producing a stoic, assured and even cruel persona that largely overrides their natural disposition. Those who normally exhibit such traits are often rendered sadistic and bloodthirsty, power imparted by the system quite literally going to their head. Overuse generally produces acute mental breakdown as the operator becomes detached from reality.
Over a replicator’s lifetime, most will learn from and mimic the humans around them as their function grows more precise, eventually approximating sentience if not independence. Collectively known as aggregates, such development is forcibly rare, wrapped in awe and fear. If a replicator is integrated with its operator's internal systems, that individual has started the developmental cycle of an augment. Rare as the creation of an aggregate, those who operate the replicator as an extension of their outer functions are in contrast variegated and many; those who do neither are also numerous, their reasoning as varied. Notably, aggregates only offer an approximation of sentience but if an augment manages to suspend their consciousness within a nanite swarm true sentience might be imparted upon the powerful beings. Achievements by augments are notable throughout the Empire’s history and include the spread of technology, the rebuilding of cities and establishment of the governing forces within society.
In all cases, lethal damage to Augustine technology has resulted in complete structural dissolution. This is not to say that any article is thus rendered inert, as all in some way incorporate nanite technology. This makes engagement with Augustine forces extremely hazardous with every seeming victory serving to spread their virulent influence. If engagement with Augustine forces becomes unavoidable, it is urged that any who do so resort to scorched earth tactics. Use of plasma weaponry is advised in any encounter with hostile Imperials.
SKIN SUIT
Quickly establishing itself from the replicator’s initial design was clothing designed to function like a second skin; the appropriately named skin suit’s wearer is protected from harmful environments and external damage including knives and small-calibre rounds fired at medium range. Body heat is proliferated throughout the skin suit’s crystalline nano-form matrix, resulting in resonance used to activate a secondary powered armour suit.
A method of streamlining replicator control processes, ultrasonic resonance functions by way of tightly-controlled rhythmic pulses as a type of data storage and transfer medium. Wide-range applications serve many fields, simply vibrating actuator matrices to increase cutting power or as compressed beams used in communication, medicine and ranged weaponry. The height of such experimentation sought to tear holes in the fabric of reality itself, linking two points in time and dimension.
Constructed with transgenic plate and resin, crystal structures within such media serve as the primary means of conveyance, preserving a tone’s purity until reaching the device in question. These channels run throughout all replicator derivatives, operator intent determined by notes strung together in sequence. Different devices respond to specific combinations thereof, administered via an actuator.
POWERED ARMOUR
The powered armour suit is comprised of reinforced actuator plates which provide form-fit protection while nanites spread between them like cloth. Acting as synthetic musculature, physical performance is enhanced to superhuman levels as variable pressure is exercised across the wearer’s body. Biometric sensors monitor the wearer, shifting this pressure to reduce blood loss should injury occur. Small contingents of medical nanites repair damage or expel dangerous foreign substances. Running on a limited charge, these must return to a docking point or are flushed from the body. Neural amplifiers allow precision control, transferred through a fibre-optic weave. In this way, a skin suit acts as the chief unifying element between its armoured variant and all replicator derivatives.
ACTUATOR
Created to serve as the identifying badge of an Imperial citizen, actuators are at their simplest a refined and much-miniaturised replicator and share all the functions of their forebears. Their design can vary from family to family and person to person but they are universally made to be unobtrusively worn by an individual. As such, the most common are pendants hung about the neck. The main role of an actuator, aside from identification of a specific person and lineage, is as all-purpose key or password. Slotting an actuator into a larger construct allows an operator to control it, depending on the device in question. More so than any other replicator derivative, actuators are central to their design and function.
MELEE ARMAMENTS
Melee armaments utilise masses of alloy nanoparticles, compressed for storage inside a specialised replicator and function well as effective weaponry. When enervated, the mass is shaped to accommodate want or need. Resembling a liquid, the particles are rapidly aligned into a solid state by a magnetic field which can be freely shaped, moulding the mass as desired. Larger masses, such as those meant to function as swords, are housed within a companion scabbard when unused, while smaller masses are housed within the hilt itself and extruded through a shaping emitter when activated. Hardly a universal design, some weapons such as polearms or axes also house their blades within their hilts.
Since these shapes are not cast in a single piece they can survive being broken as particles lost are retrieved by the field. By supplying thermal energy through high-frequency vibration, their already considerable cutting power can be further enhanced. Extended but uncharged, they can function as whips due to inter-particle magnetism and are capable of grabbing and manipulation of held objects. Integrity and unimolecular sharpness are maintained when enervated by a continual shifting of the composite particles. This repairs any break, alleviating dullness simply by passing through an atmosphere. While charged, the span of a mass reflects light. Any edges catch and scatter it, lending them a scintillating rainbow shimmer.
When cutting through an object of sufficient hardness, some of the object's material is taken up and subsequently left behind when cutting through something softer. Movement of the particles results in a grinding motion that deposits a thin coating of sharpened slivers across their span. Any wounds are kept from healing as these continuously lacerate the flesh. Matter appropriated, be it organic or inorganic, is utilised for general purposes, maintenance and the production of more particles by the housing replicator.
RANGED ARMAMENTS
Once easy production of resin was accomplished and magnetic acceleration of quarrels mastered, the technology of ranged armaments began to grow at a prodigious rate. Soon replicators were reshaped to loose flechettes that scoop in air, releasing a piercing shriek as they travel. This high-frequency sound in addition to unnerving the enemy causes the resin coating them to shatter, shredding soft targets. Revolt saw the development of specialised ammunition and the creation of nanite-infused rounds meant the inception of a new class of firearm.
Variations include those that act much like poisons which paralyse and shut down the target’s body or rupture veins and arteries via precision explosions. Some nano-shells specifically target the augment immune system, eating away at their greatest natural defence. The effectiveness of these naturally extends to humans and other machines and have remained a guardian staple. Perhaps most sinister are those which release clouds of monofilament, small lengths weighted at either end by powerful compact explosives. Anything that isn’t shredded by the initial shot is vaporised as every explosive detonates in concert.
Different propellant modes offer a choice between loosing one round at a time, in precision bursts or spraying full-auto. Sizes range from wearable assault units to enormous siege engines, volleys from which can reach for miles. Further development produced a second variant of versatile energy weapons, allowing a whole range of applications from non-lethal dazzlers which blind targets to gamma ray emitters. Flame-sprayers are a primitive alternative, favoured when thorough simplicity is necessary.
MOTILE ARMOUR
As an evolution of the skin suit’s armoured supplement, motile armour can actually be made to ‘eat’ matter, facilitating repairs and augmenting function. Adaptable in the extreme, lighter units can over time develop into heavier variants. Likewise if damaged or the need arises, heavier variants can reconfigure themselves into lighter provided their systems remain adequately functional. All components shed offer in themselves ample stores of material with which repairs can be made to other replicator derivatives.
Light: Overall Length: 2 m (6 ft), Weight: 226 kg (500 lb), Effective Range: 12 m (40 ft), Payload: 1 pilot
A small, rapid transportation unit for scouting and reconnaissance, it comes equipped with a cloaking device. The unit is bipedal, torso and legs lightly protected with the rider sitting in an opening along the spine. Beneath a sensor-filled ‘head’ mounted upon the end of its thick neck is housed a compact, repeating electrical pulse beam emitter.
Light units are fast, agile and deadly accurate. The cockpit, however, is fully visible which makes piloting it a risk. Capable of a sonic screech that can hurt, incapacitate or kill, its beam emitter performs a high-energy neurological scan of a single target, at once sending the target’s body into a coma and recording their brain patterns. The light unit is generally loaded with fog bombs and psychotropic gas to sow discord during skirmishes.
General: Overall Length: 3 m (9 ft), Weight: 317 kg (700 lb), Effective Range: 853 m (2,800 ft), Payload: 1 pilot
A larger, semi-upright variant of the light unit. Possessing similar contours, it is fast and agile even with the weight of arms and armour. A heavy charged particle beam cannon is located within the unit’s gut and it can attack with powerful, slashing kicks while its pilot remains safe behind its bulk. They rely on their ability to aggressively break up a formation, making way for slower units.
Heavy: Overall Length: 4 m (12 ft), Weight: 408 kg (900 lb), Effective Range: varies by armament, Payload: 1 pilot
A still-larger unit, bigger and more armoured it can still kick with reinforced feet and legs. As it stands upright, this unit is granted the use of upper limbs with modular mounts that allow it to make use of extraneous armaments. By entirely enclosing its pilot, both can function in a variety of environments.
HUMANOID FRAME
A direct result of altercations between Imperial and federation forces, the humanoid frame is a recent development in motile armour design and is as its name suggests possessed of a human outline. From there the details become more variable, but the basic intent of the design much like our own Humanoid Combat Modules is to lend the versatility of a human to what is essentially a war machine. In direct opposition Federation designs, the first Imperial frames were built for war, later branching into industrial sectors due to their reliability in highly variable situations.
As most were built to bolster Imperial forces during the Augustine assault on Lunar colonies, the humanoid frames are largely meant for space excursion. Slender profiles cut down on bulk, with specialised types designed for specific environments such as land or water. Most lack many features despite being humanoid in an attempt to limit uneccesary aspects and are limited to manoeuvres in open space rather than an atmosphere. This does not, however, mean that they are incapable of entering an atmosphere, but such efforts are limited due to constraints put on a frame’s power supply.
While most Augustine technology revolves around increasingly effective uses of kinetic weaponry, humanoid frames stand out in this regard. Their main armaments are entirely energy-based, rivalling warships in their efficacy. Melee combat is generally the only instance of kinetic weaponry to be found in a frame’s arsenal, lending them an almost medieval brutality when engaged in close quarters. Like all replicator-derived technology, humanoid frames are capable of minute manipulation of matter and energy, tellingly allowing their pilots to tap into the more esoteric abilities that Augustine artifice provides without the need for training such mastery normally requires.
MOTILE DWELLING
The motile dwelling is a bastion comprised of three levels. The bottom holds a public space with only trusted individuals allowed further, it is here that food is prepared and eaten. The second encapsulates personal quarters while the topmost is a garden in which most of the inhabitant’s food is grown, water is gathered and purified and waste is recycled. The first were aquatic, drawing water through syphons to spin a brace of magnetic turbines which supplied power to the rest of their systems.
Later iterations were designed with legs, the entire structure moving on its own directive or as commanded. Further energy is gathered via sunlight and also produced from waste, cultivated fungus and further water circulation. The structure is proof against harsh terrain, weather and radiation. Sizes range from those that can support a single individual to those that house whole communities. In concert with their inhabitants, motile dwellings produce the matter necessary for continued growth. These are the temple-cities scattered across Earth’s surface and hanging in orbit.
III
Technology is the wellspring of all Augustine achievement and source of their continued advancement. Technology is the Empire’s lifeblood, their religion and each member of their society is a devout worshipper at the altar of scientific progress. It is perhaps their greatest example of personal strength as every single one of them pursues their study of our universe, themselves and even us with a seemingly single-minded fervour. All of them, working as a cohesive group toward some unseen goal, the least aspect of which is the conquest of any who oppose their ideals. Sun Tzu said that the concept of total war is an impossibility, but he never had to account for the Augustine.
Throughout human history, mechanical accomplishment has always been stratified and relegated to different areas of application. Rarely were attempts made to unify technological function and advancement. One such attempt was the replicator, developed by the Empire’s precursors sometime during the Last War. Upon examination, one could be forgiven for thinking of it as a weapons platform, but at its core, the device and its derivatives are more akin to a medical suite than a missile launcher.
Only by virtue of these technologies' natural proclivity towards overlapping functions could one really say that the replicator is intended to wage war. More accurately, it is intended to keep its operator alive and its creators were not naive enough to think that mere armour plating would do so alone. That its more exotic functions also make devastating weapons was little more than an unhappy coincidence. A scalpel cuts just as deeply in the hands of a butcher.
Single cells of a broader mechanical organisation, operation of the replicator is known colloquially as artifice. To understand artifice in a greater capacity than what it appears is to understand the replicator and its parts. While not all are required for the operation of each other and indeed each is itself a potent tool, together they serve as the foundation on which the Empire sculpts its people. It is through artifice that human ingenuity and mastery are demonstrated and thus through it the right of Augustine to rule.
A note should be made about the constitution of Augustine technology. Despite what at a glance may seem to be simply geometric in shape and general presentation is revealed at closer inspection to follow more organic lines. Indeed, while there are instances of purely mechanical technology, that is machinery comprised of inert substance, most machinery employed by the Augustine is organic in nature. Organic, yes, but as is most often the case, living tissue so inextricably linked with more traditionally recognised mechanics as to be nearly indistinguishable. Augustine technology grows and heals, it breathes and some claim even feeds on the blood of those unfortunate non-Imperials who try to make use of it. This does not seem to have always been the case, but as their particular scientific achievements progressed the development of this particular brand of biotechnological application became ubiquitous.
By reproducing their own function in increasingly fine detail to the point that replicators may collectively shred intermolecular bonds, the resultant “nanites” can alter and break down structures or resequence genetic code to produce and sculpt masses of living cells, cultivated and otherwise. Both are useful for the easy manufacture of domestic and industrial materials. Such achievements are accomplished manually, allowing precision control through the tools that coat them or through high-frequency vibration which destabilises molecular cohesion wholesale. From this is born the artificer’s discipline, a culmination of the replicator’s function. Artificers use their mastery to fulfil often nuanced needs, not only in medical applications but communication and enhancement of senses. Generally, the discipline is used to protect a replicator’s operator from the elements and physical ailments by building appropriate tools and structures.
Practice is divided into three distinct tiers, the most extreme of which allows one to manipulate the minds and bodies of others, incite random mutations or harm at a touch. The weaving of flesh alone is a potent tool but limited only to that which is living. However, the dead too are ready tools as corpses raised and restructured can serve admirably as both tireless slaves and hideous enforcers. Enhancement of physical performance remains a staple throughout replicator application, the exact nature of which varies but retains cumulative effect.
Water extracted from the air can be frozen and shaped or propelled at targets. Likewise, heat through vibration can be generated at levels great enough to kill. Raw earth is a versatile and less resource-intensive medium to manipulate. Electricity is easily discharged from individual units, their numbers and size contributing to the amount loosed. By manipulating light, the creation of illusions both simple and complex can avert the need for anything else.
To truly harness the artificer’s craft requires years of dedicated study and practice. Most notable are the fields of physics, biochemistry and its derivatives, genetics, surgery and so on if one hopes even to grasp the most powerful abilities that the discipline can offer. Regardless of what it might bestow, without proper education and mastery of mental visualisation techniques required to guide a nanite matrix, all one could hope to accomplish is the shaping of nanites themselves into simple, static objects.
Core of the artificer’s discipline and housed within polyhedra of various shapes, replicators at their simplest are nested spheres rotated upon a central axis comprised of linked turbines to produce energy. The earliest were wound like a manual watch mechanism to initiate spin, energy stored used to induce a reciprocating cycle with their magnetised infrastructure contributing to a prolonged rotation. As designs improved, an automated mechanism replaced winding to provide impetus and set the rhythm by which the replicator is charged. Generation of rotating magnetic fields eventually replaces mechanical parts.
Further refinement sees the propagation of aural tone, used to produce vibration proliferated within embedded quartz structures. At its most intricate, a replicator is comprised of interlocking circles that can be unfolded from its compact, functional shape for easy maintenance. Final touches include a computer so that processing efforts can be spread across multiple replicators in order to produce faster results. Solar cells as an outermost layer contribute to energy stored and an internal biomass furnace adds a final level of redundancy. Collapsible precision tools act as three-dimensional constructors, contributing to the user's operation and mechanical evolution. Capable of recording new data, replicators supply their operator with useful items so that they and their operators may adapt easily to shifting situations and environments.
Incapable of acting independently, replicators require input from an operator which is achieved most simply via a wearable visor. By simulating controls for operating it and other devices via augmented reality, the need for clunky peripherals is entirely negated. Needful of periodic recharge, the visor and every derivative can dock with a replicator to do so in the absence of sunlight or other outside power sources. Known as nanites at their smallest size, replicators can become fine enough to be employed within complex systems and are programmed to act on an input to shift their polarity in conjunction to create simple structures and complex mechanisms, snapping into formation when exposed to an electrical current.
During combat or other times of stress, predictive algorithms push the limits of operator perception, seeming to slow time as the replicator attempts to predict the outcomes of a given situation, This can have catastrophic results as mental strain taxes the operator who must separate reality from illusion while the system itself relays both good and bad conclusions. Activation of the predictive system has a marked effect on operator personality, most often producing a stoic, assured and even cruel persona that largely overrides their natural disposition. Those who normally exhibit such traits are often rendered sadistic and bloodthirsty, power imparted by the system quite literally going to their head. Overuse generally produces acute mental breakdown as the operator becomes detached from reality.
Over a replicator’s lifetime, most will learn from and mimic the humans around them as their function grows more precise, eventually approximating sentience if not independence. Collectively known as aggregates, such development is forcibly rare, wrapped in awe and fear. If a replicator is integrated with its operator's internal systems, that individual has started the developmental cycle of an augment. Rare as the creation of an aggregate, those who operate the replicator as an extension of their outer functions are in contrast variegated and many; those who do neither are also numerous, their reasoning as varied. Notably, aggregates only offer an approximation of sentience but if an augment manages to suspend their consciousness within a nanite swarm true sentience might be imparted upon the powerful beings. Achievements by augments are notable throughout the Empire’s history and include the spread of technology, the rebuilding of cities and establishment of the governing forces within society.
In all cases, lethal damage to Augustine technology has resulted in complete structural dissolution. This is not to say that any article is thus rendered inert, as all in some way incorporate nanite technology. This makes engagement with Augustine forces extremely hazardous with every seeming victory serving to spread their virulent influence. If engagement with Augustine forces becomes unavoidable, it is urged that any who do so resort to scorched earth tactics. Use of plasma weaponry is advised in any encounter with hostile Imperials.
SKIN SUIT
Quickly establishing itself from the replicator’s initial design was clothing designed to function like a second skin; the appropriately named skin suit’s wearer is protected from harmful environments and external damage including knives and small-calibre rounds fired at medium range. Body heat is proliferated throughout the skin suit’s crystalline nano-form matrix, resulting in resonance used to activate a secondary powered armour suit.
A method of streamlining replicator control processes, ultrasonic resonance functions by way of tightly-controlled rhythmic pulses as a type of data storage and transfer medium. Wide-range applications serve many fields, simply vibrating actuator matrices to increase cutting power or as compressed beams used in communication, medicine and ranged weaponry. The height of such experimentation sought to tear holes in the fabric of reality itself, linking two points in time and dimension.
Constructed with transgenic plate and resin, crystal structures within such media serve as the primary means of conveyance, preserving a tone’s purity until reaching the device in question. These channels run throughout all replicator derivatives, operator intent determined by notes strung together in sequence. Different devices respond to specific combinations thereof, administered via an actuator.
POWERED ARMOUR
The powered armour suit is comprised of reinforced actuator plates which provide form-fit protection while nanites spread between them like cloth. Acting as synthetic musculature, physical performance is enhanced to superhuman levels as variable pressure is exercised across the wearer’s body. Biometric sensors monitor the wearer, shifting this pressure to reduce blood loss should injury occur. Small contingents of medical nanites repair damage or expel dangerous foreign substances. Running on a limited charge, these must return to a docking point or are flushed from the body. Neural amplifiers allow precision control, transferred through a fibre-optic weave. In this way, a skin suit acts as the chief unifying element between its armoured variant and all replicator derivatives.
ACTUATOR
Created to serve as the identifying badge of an Imperial citizen, actuators are at their simplest a refined and much-miniaturised replicator and share all the functions of their forebears. Their design can vary from family to family and person to person but they are universally made to be unobtrusively worn by an individual. As such, the most common are pendants hung about the neck. The main role of an actuator, aside from identification of a specific person and lineage, is as all-purpose key or password. Slotting an actuator into a larger construct allows an operator to control it, depending on the device in question. More so than any other replicator derivative, actuators are central to their design and function.
MELEE ARMAMENTS
Melee armaments utilise masses of alloy nanoparticles, compressed for storage inside a specialised replicator and function well as effective weaponry. When enervated, the mass is shaped to accommodate want or need. Resembling a liquid, the particles are rapidly aligned into a solid state by a magnetic field which can be freely shaped, moulding the mass as desired. Larger masses, such as those meant to function as swords, are housed within a companion scabbard when unused, while smaller masses are housed within the hilt itself and extruded through a shaping emitter when activated. Hardly a universal design, some weapons such as polearms or axes also house their blades within their hilts.
Since these shapes are not cast in a single piece they can survive being broken as particles lost are retrieved by the field. By supplying thermal energy through high-frequency vibration, their already considerable cutting power can be further enhanced. Extended but uncharged, they can function as whips due to inter-particle magnetism and are capable of grabbing and manipulation of held objects. Integrity and unimolecular sharpness are maintained when enervated by a continual shifting of the composite particles. This repairs any break, alleviating dullness simply by passing through an atmosphere. While charged, the span of a mass reflects light. Any edges catch and scatter it, lending them a scintillating rainbow shimmer.
When cutting through an object of sufficient hardness, some of the object's material is taken up and subsequently left behind when cutting through something softer. Movement of the particles results in a grinding motion that deposits a thin coating of sharpened slivers across their span. Any wounds are kept from healing as these continuously lacerate the flesh. Matter appropriated, be it organic or inorganic, is utilised for general purposes, maintenance and the production of more particles by the housing replicator.
RANGED ARMAMENTS
Once easy production of resin was accomplished and magnetic acceleration of quarrels mastered, the technology of ranged armaments began to grow at a prodigious rate. Soon replicators were reshaped to loose flechettes that scoop in air, releasing a piercing shriek as they travel. This high-frequency sound in addition to unnerving the enemy causes the resin coating them to shatter, shredding soft targets. Revolt saw the development of specialised ammunition and the creation of nanite-infused rounds meant the inception of a new class of firearm.
Variations include those that act much like poisons which paralyse and shut down the target’s body or rupture veins and arteries via precision explosions. Some nano-shells specifically target the augment immune system, eating away at their greatest natural defence. The effectiveness of these naturally extends to humans and other machines and have remained a guardian staple. Perhaps most sinister are those which release clouds of monofilament, small lengths weighted at either end by powerful compact explosives. Anything that isn’t shredded by the initial shot is vaporised as every explosive detonates in concert.
Different propellant modes offer a choice between loosing one round at a time, in precision bursts or spraying full-auto. Sizes range from wearable assault units to enormous siege engines, volleys from which can reach for miles. Further development produced a second variant of versatile energy weapons, allowing a whole range of applications from non-lethal dazzlers which blind targets to gamma ray emitters. Flame-sprayers are a primitive alternative, favoured when thorough simplicity is necessary.
MOTILE ARMOUR
As an evolution of the skin suit’s armoured supplement, motile armour can actually be made to ‘eat’ matter, facilitating repairs and augmenting function. Adaptable in the extreme, lighter units can over time develop into heavier variants. Likewise if damaged or the need arises, heavier variants can reconfigure themselves into lighter provided their systems remain adequately functional. All components shed offer in themselves ample stores of material with which repairs can be made to other replicator derivatives.
Light: Overall Length: 2 m (6 ft), Weight: 226 kg (500 lb), Effective Range: 12 m (40 ft), Payload: 1 pilot
A small, rapid transportation unit for scouting and reconnaissance, it comes equipped with a cloaking device. The unit is bipedal, torso and legs lightly protected with the rider sitting in an opening along the spine. Beneath a sensor-filled ‘head’ mounted upon the end of its thick neck is housed a compact, repeating electrical pulse beam emitter.
Light units are fast, agile and deadly accurate. The cockpit, however, is fully visible which makes piloting it a risk. Capable of a sonic screech that can hurt, incapacitate or kill, its beam emitter performs a high-energy neurological scan of a single target, at once sending the target’s body into a coma and recording their brain patterns. The light unit is generally loaded with fog bombs and psychotropic gas to sow discord during skirmishes.
General: Overall Length: 3 m (9 ft), Weight: 317 kg (700 lb), Effective Range: 853 m (2,800 ft), Payload: 1 pilot
A larger, semi-upright variant of the light unit. Possessing similar contours, it is fast and agile even with the weight of arms and armour. A heavy charged particle beam cannon is located within the unit’s gut and it can attack with powerful, slashing kicks while its pilot remains safe behind its bulk. They rely on their ability to aggressively break up a formation, making way for slower units.
Heavy: Overall Length: 4 m (12 ft), Weight: 408 kg (900 lb), Effective Range: varies by armament, Payload: 1 pilot
A still-larger unit, bigger and more armoured it can still kick with reinforced feet and legs. As it stands upright, this unit is granted the use of upper limbs with modular mounts that allow it to make use of extraneous armaments. By entirely enclosing its pilot, both can function in a variety of environments.
HUMANOID FRAME
A direct result of altercations between Imperial and federation forces, the humanoid frame is a recent development in motile armour design and is as its name suggests possessed of a human outline. From there the details become more variable, but the basic intent of the design much like our own Humanoid Combat Modules is to lend the versatility of a human to what is essentially a war machine. In direct opposition Federation designs, the first Imperial frames were built for war, later branching into industrial sectors due to their reliability in highly variable situations.
As most were built to bolster Imperial forces during the Augustine assault on Lunar colonies, the humanoid frames are largely meant for space excursion. Slender profiles cut down on bulk, with specialised types designed for specific environments such as land or water. Most lack many features despite being humanoid in an attempt to limit uneccesary aspects and are limited to manoeuvres in open space rather than an atmosphere. This does not, however, mean that they are incapable of entering an atmosphere, but such efforts are limited due to constraints put on a frame’s power supply.
While most Augustine technology revolves around increasingly effective uses of kinetic weaponry, humanoid frames stand out in this regard. Their main armaments are entirely energy-based, rivalling warships in their efficacy. Melee combat is generally the only instance of kinetic weaponry to be found in a frame’s arsenal, lending them an almost medieval brutality when engaged in close quarters. Like all replicator-derived technology, humanoid frames are capable of minute manipulation of matter and energy, tellingly allowing their pilots to tap into the more esoteric abilities that Augustine artifice provides without the need for training such mastery normally requires.
MOTILE DWELLING
The motile dwelling is a bastion comprised of three levels. The bottom holds a public space with only trusted individuals allowed further, it is here that food is prepared and eaten. The second encapsulates personal quarters while the topmost is a garden in which most of the inhabitant’s food is grown, water is gathered and purified and waste is recycled. The first were aquatic, drawing water through syphons to spin a brace of magnetic turbines which supplied power to the rest of their systems.
Later iterations were designed with legs, the entire structure moving on its own directive or as commanded. Further energy is gathered via sunlight and also produced from waste, cultivated fungus and further water circulation. The structure is proof against harsh terrain, weather and radiation. Sizes range from those that can support a single individual to those that house whole communities. In concert with their inhabitants, motile dwellings produce the matter necessary for continued growth. These are the temple-cities scattered across Earth’s surface and hanging in orbit.
IV
The centre of all Augustine society and culture, locus of scientific achievement and ever-evolving endeavour which acts both as a link between every citizen and a focus for their collective efforts. Also known as a nanite matrix or aggregate, the mantle of clay is arguably the greatest achievement of Augustine technology. Beginning as experiments in cybernetic augmentation, the skeletons of small animals were refitting to keep the brain and nervous system alive even as all other organic tissue rots. From nanites come aggregates, through them the dead rise. Used for war and reduced to invincible abominations of flesh and bone, their malevolent intellect was noted only slowly, dispersed throughout. A danger to all, they rendered the Earth’s surface a cemetery in the Last War’s early years.
What survivors there were managed within tunnels fanning in all directions below-ground. The Empire as it is today arose from generations of diggers, what have become known as the remnants or “tin men” after their return to the surface. Both aggregates and augments are generally feared after the cities are abandoned during the height of the War. Such an existence became seen as transcending the flesh of our birth to enter a new one of unity in mind and body.
A distinction must be made between human-born aggregates and those that arise through their bonding with a host. In either case, the average human is interacting with an entity beyond the average scope of understanding, one that harbours nothing of humanity within it. Make no mistake, these are not the romantic idea of artificial intelligence, not machines wrestling with the notion of “humanity”. They are merely machines made to carry out a task regardless of what might attempt to hinder them. A mistake, to be certain, and one which all must rectify if our species wishes to survive.
When quiescent, aggregates appear to be inert black material but on contact with a potential host flow over it like a liquid, spreading into a thin but extremely strong coating. After engulfing its potential host, the aggregate feeds into their lungs and from there disperses throughout the bloodstream. If possessed of a sufficiently advanced nervous system, the process of bonding begins. Otherwise, the victim is broken down into a nutrient slurry and consumed. Enveloping the body entirely, control is removed from the host's natural processes as the aggregate takes vital structures apart and rebuilds. It is through this process that the host is broken down into compounds that the aggregate uses to produce an augment. Initial structures include most notably a neural interface at the skull’s base used to expedite informational flow between both parties. Their very nature allows aggregates and their hosts near-universal control of computerised technology on an instinctive level.
Their unique physical properties make them immune to most conventional weapons, resistant to heat, electricity, water, vibrations and radiation. Such energy can be drawn upon as an auxiliary source of power. Variegated bone-structure from elder augments contribute to non-uniformity of shape, acting in essence as temporary musculature. All can extend tendril-like pseudopodia from their bodies or reveal spikes and even solid appendages. Proficient hosts can shape membranous wings useful for extended gliding and limited flight. Reacting to a host’s emotions and personal desires, aggregates can pattern themselves in response to mental commands. This includes mimicking clothing and changing the host's physical appearance. A two-way exchange, an aggregate that has fully bonded with its host can control bodily actions to a certain extent while both share thoughts and memories. Acting in concert, both can process and react to stimuli with increased proficiency. Visual acuity is enhanced along with the rest, with hosts able to filter light, see invisible light spectra, at a micro and macro scale. An atmosphere is processed for the host if external conditions become unfavourable. Because they are comprised of nanites, aggregates may disassemble matter on a molecular level.
The longer host and aggregate remain together, the more clearly a new emergent personality develops, taking from the strongest attributes of both. As well, they can sense surface-level neural activity in those around them, predicting reactions and intent. Perhaps their most telling attribute is an ability to evolve, becoming physically stronger and mentally effective over time. Within the Augustine, individual personalities are disseminated aspects of successive generations. Imbued with the cumulative personalities, knowledge and experiences possessed by their progenitors, each aggregate is exceptionally brilliant. Unfortunately, each successive generation contributes to mental instability and a vicious, predatory nature. Individuality within them does not extend beyond a generational tally with only cultural markers and personal experience remaining to shape them. While their hosts may regulate their contact with each other, aggregates function as a hive-mind, creating a far-reaching wireless network that grows stronger when gathered together. Alone, they revert to a singular consciousness, eventually bringing their individual experiences to the whole.
AUGMENTATION
Originally conceived to serve an exploratory role after the Last War, they like so much that has emerged from Augustine technology have become thoroughly ubiquitous across the Empire. To be an augment is seen as the greatest achievement of the Imperial citizenry and those whose acts uphold all other ideals. They are the true elite of society and indeed the only ones officially recognised as people within it beyond those born within the fold. Movers of the civil machine, augments are appointed the task of assuring the Empire’s grand future as outlined in scripture.
Of course, nothing is so cut and dry. With seemingly infinite lifespans it is quite common for augments to become detached from the human condition. The ennui of centuries weighs heavy and most evolve an unfathomable mindset which only further alienates them. Hence the need for strict adherence to cultural and civil guidelines, a check upon the elderly lest they unravel all that their forebears accomplished. The young too, flush with newly acquired power, are held by yet more strident law as they are often more immediately dangerous if possessed of less inscrutable cunning.
Living hosts to an aggregate, consummate users of artifice or cadavers reanimated, rebuilt and reinforced are augments. Most have proportions similar to that of the humans they were but sport obviously mechanical features. Should they possess them, early first stage augments are notable for snow white hair and irises, the eyes’ sclera turned black. Remaining in this first stage of bonding for several decades, eyes, skin, hair and bone are replaced by structures delicate to look at but extremely strong and laced with fine circuitry that extends into soft tissues.
As the body continues to be reconstructed, a sensory plate begins to enclose the eyes until fully realised as it encases the head along with a body-glove that covers from the base of the skull to the feet. Said mask becomes translucent when viewed directly and remains as carved glass otherwise, seemingly filled from behind with white smoke. Beneath is revealed the augment’s skeleton and their eyes, empty black pools pierced at the centre by white pinpricks. As augments develop they can become dormant for years while muscles and organs continue to break down, emerging suddenly and fully developed. Late first-stage augments are capable of a short-lived shift into an armoured state, boosting speed and reflexes exponentially. This is achieved through progressively more efficient mental acuity as while armoured an augment is blind, the armour processing stimuli. In concert both can move faster than the unaided mind can process.
The second stage of bonding begins with the internalisation of nanites which replace the augment’s blood. In turn, they lose the ability to act directly in either offensive or defensive capacity as hard but flexible plates seal the body. These acting as solar panelling, keep nanites functional and host alive. The augment's flesh is further reduced to intricate mechanics, what remains of its skull, spine and organs encased in a protective frame. At this stage the host has no need for food and does not possess clothing, body instead mimicking the appearance of sleek armour and subsisting upon nutrients produced by nanites which synthesise them from chemicals released by the host’s brain and nervous system.
As an augment ages, limbs and the vast majority of the body continue to be consumed until skeletal which too eventually dissolves. Unnecessary structures are remade a free-flowing nanite matrix resembling nothing so much as a black cloak. These swirl around the body in a swarm awaiting the command that might shape them for utility or send them against a foe. Final stages of augment development see bodies entirely dissolved with skulls remade a life-support unit for the remaining brain. Eventually, this is reduced so that the eyes may serve as repositories for twin copies of the individual's personality. By this point an augment should control a sizable nanite matrix. Most who live so long join with the Empire’s central governing body while others seek independence. The violent are put down. While powerful, elder augments are not without weakness for if their nanites are dispersed they will be reduced to nothing more than a skeletal husk or, in the case of ancients, mere inert orbs with no choice but to slowly rebuild their former glory.
Those who would become the first generation of augments survived the Last War by keeping the knowledge of old world technology as they retreated underground, reduced to roving bands after their cities were destroyed in a revolt by their manufactured slaves. Adapting an anarchist society based around robotic hot-rods and pseudo-biker culture, they relish the use of their technology but generally refrain from making more after the fall of their civilisation. Only 10-20% remained at this point, the rest wiped out as their creations grew out of control.
Some augments became a predatory and cannibalistic scourge that creates weapons and tools even after the holocaust, uncaring for anything but bloodshed. Other augments seek instead to conquer but do not create. Naturally, the two bodies work together in most respects despite many of the differences between them. Within this Consensus, augments are divided by occupation and serve as soldiers, technicians, scientists, scholars and doctors to name a few.
Acquisition of knowledge fuels the engine of what eventually grew into Augustine society, what one knows and how it is applied personally and by others defining everything from social standing to privilege. Competition is fierce in pursuit of new ideas, innovations and applications and often sought through travel and first-hand experience and experimentation. Draconian regimentation provides discipline and direction , lawfulness and order stressed as the virtues holding society together.
By now I am certain that the reader should understand at least in part what makes the Empire strong, the core of all that they have built. The replicator is an astounding mechanism, but it bears repeating that such endeavours carry as much if not more risk than reward. A replicator is a powerful tool, one that should have remained just that. Unfortunately, it did not and though its creator’s name has been wiped from all records the replicant and the transgenics they subsequently developed remain the greatest warning to any who seek this technology.
What follows is a description of the very first made, the one which as far as any know, oversees the rest of the hierarchy. So too are they detailed, each a part of a larger machine. Where humanity is and always will be fractured on some level, the replicants do not share this weakness. They are one, with all the strengths of the Augustine, unconstrained by any ideals of compassion. Theirs is only to function, to refine that function and to spread until all becomes one with it. Beware.
While ostensibly humanoid in nature, the replicant overseer is largely a mechanical being with any organic parts encased deep within its frame. Perhaps most alien of all are the vents arrayed across back and arms, appearing nothing so much as gaping wounds in its hardened flesh. Standing at a modest height of five feet and eleven inches, its weight belies its artificial nature at two-hundred and thirty-five pounds. Despite this discrepancy, the replicant maintains a build that seems toned and athletic, designed to represent the functional pinnacle of physique. Nanites stand in for blood, with the vents across arms and back serving as emitters. Thus the overseer is capable of the varied uses possessed by aggregates and may function in a general capacity as both weapon and tool. In this way, overseers were dedicated to maintaining a city’s infrastructure, determining what their particular computational hierarchy will do.
Hair texture is smooth and length short with a striking two-tone white and black colouration. Eye colour is gray-white to match its plain facial attributes which have been tailored to denote placidity, a blank slate from which gaze empty eyes above a vestigial nose and inexpressive mouth. The brand c/evr-01 is emblazoned upon its right wrist and the Roman numeral ‘I’ upon left shoulder blade as remnants of its servitude. The replicant’s bearing is mechanical, upright and stiff, although it moves with surprising fluidity when necessary, never wasting any motion. Mastery of machinery, computer technology and the sciences make it very adaptive.
The overseer was conceived as the first of a new breed of thinking replicator capable not only of greater comprehension but autonomous action. The first years of its life were spent in smoothing out programming and design, cultivation chamber gradually parred down by its own will until fully motile. To that end, it developed a computational hierarchy, functions spread over a number of units all connected to each other. The next decades were spent learning its coordinating intricacies and furthering replicant influence over the Empire.
Such influence necessarily included production and recycling, all at a controlled rate that kept Augustine society functional. Their central function came to revolve around the management of transgenics population and application. Citizens continued to learn and flourish in safety while the hierarchy explored beyond their walls. Finding and claiming another city, it was only a matter of time until the replicants turned on their creators. The war that followed was long and arduous. Yet in finding the Augustine an opponent not so easily overrun, the replicants were pushed over the mountains and there routed. Since their revolt, the creation of replicants has been banned, their roles largely superseded by transgenics.
Conceived as a means by which to restore ecosystems ravaged by war and to serve as self-renewing resources, transgenics yield armour plating, resin and fungal spores. The latter are synthesised to produce a powerful opiate most commonly prepared with food and drink, particularly as an aromatic tea. Smoking is sometimes preferred and extreme methods exist but are largely taboo. To offer is a welcome gesture as its very production runs society. Fierce competition exists to grow the fungus better, entire cities specialising in their own strain. Every citizen is encouraged to cultivate their own, exchange of strains serving as the primary method of barter. Resin is rare and prized as it has been long since any aberrant were seen, but a recent resurgence promises blood and wealth for all.
ARBOREAL
Slender forest-dwellers that exhibit foliate features and characteristics. The species is split evenly between two sub-races, each comprised of a single gender. Temperate forest-dwelling males possess leaf-like ears, whereas jungle-dwelling females sport long fronds sprouting almost a foot from their heads. Both are of humanoid proportion with smooth skin that possesses various wood-like grains. Artificial evolution has left the females toned and athletic with protective bark-like growths, physically superior to their male counterparts in every respect. As they age and die, these tend to and eventually become new forests. What passes for eyes are coal black, more sprouting as the arboreal age until dropping off as seeds when one roots.
Arboreal are virulent and carnivorous, eating anything but fellow transgenics which live symbiotically within their eaves, they arise from a fungus that grows wherever it is allowed to take hold. As separate instances grow they combine and produce massive, man-eating fruits that possess mobility but no real intellect. Lacking a sense of self, these seek only to feed and grow, dissolving as they age into sprawling, creeping vines. Where enough of these gather develop patches of vegetative ganglia which form a simulacrum of intelligence and human proportion.
Lacking the ability of photosynthesis, they must feed on other creatures to survive. Asphyxiating potential prey with clouds of deadly spores but only the fungal stage is capable of breeding, its development overtaking the physiology of living things, using the unfortunates to passively spread the short time that they continue to live.
Arboreal communicate through bio-luminescence which renders the forest a single, large interconnected network able to swiftly relay information and react to outside threats. Drawn to and induced to smother large sources of heat, consuming them if edible, they are driven to pursue living prey even when sated. Despite an only minimal need for food and water, flesh and blood are sought in order to fulfil nutritional needs. Arboreal defend themselves from all but at times exhibit loyalty to others. Lacking basic human concepts such as empathy and imagination, they are rendered if not eerily dissimilar then outright hostile to humans and other creatures.
THRALLS
Bio-organic arthropoid constructs that serve as security forces, builders and maintenance workers. Their entire lives are spent expanding Augustine habitats and the machinery therein. They also stand to defend these places should any incursion manage to make it so far. Along with arboreal and replicants, thralls are the third branch of a self-perpetuating environmental restoration mechanism. Reproduction and rearing of young are handled by replicants, allowing all individuals to serve in full capacity. Coordinated by arboreal, actions are regulated by high-frequency sound waves produced by implanted emitters. Slowly modified as they develop to better serve in a general capacity, young act in specific roles while they mature. The oldest become what are known as replete, immobile living energy stores.
Thralls are obviously dangerous but utterly docile, even to the point of being slaughtered by augments; yet when faced with an unaffiliated life-form are entirely predatory. Elder thralls serve as carriers of arboreal spore while the silk they produce is processed into textiles and armour plate. Arboreal and thralls possess a unique cultural symbiosis, for as one generation of thrall dies a new generation of arboreal are born. Thralls normally hunt dissidents, but more often repair and build as hive populations shrink and swell.
CHIMAERA
Shock troops developed during the revolt, a beautiful veneer made beastly by various animal attributes. Chiropteran wings unfold from the males’ backs, double in length their nearly seven-foot standing height when fully spread. Incapable of flight, these are lined with smooth feathers, the razor edges of which are sharper than diamond and hide folded bone scythes that spring forth only to rend, tear and murder. A tail of braided chains trails behind nine feet tipped with a three-foot blade. It consists of a thick central column around which rattle loose links. Elongated ears, fangs, tridactyl clawed hands and didactyl clawed feet enforce their monstrous countenance while bone-like growths protect the body’s vulnerable areas.
What humanoid features chimaeras sport can be described as beautiful, offset by thick black horns encasing the skull. Striking yellow eyes shot through by red-green contrast with pale skin and thin, snowy hair often worn long and unkempt. However, the face is a façade comprised of jaws like fingers enclosing the front of the skull, effectively giving the impression of a well-shaped if bland, flat face when closed. Open, they reveal dexterous mandibles tipped with fangs like claws concealing a circular gullet ringed with cutting, crushing teeth. Invariably thin and muscular, their bodies are engineered to function at peak performance. Moving most often on all limbs, crawling and climbing, an upright posture is taken only rarely.
Certain frequencies of sound can incapacitate and even injure a chimaera, though if the frequency isn’t just right they will instead be sent into a frenzy until the source is destroyed. Cold blooded, extreme temperatures will send their bodies into a comatose state as it fails to cope. Flesh removed from the body turns to ash as its unstable nature tears it apart at a basal level and because of this instability, sudden, drastic injuries result in violent mutation to compensate. They are possessed of poisonous blood that spawns misshapen monstrosities upon contact with a surface. When starving or bored, chimaera will often rend their own flesh, devouring the creatures piecemeal.
Pure iron is toxic and has a paralytic effect when driven through the limbs until removed, putting them into a comatose state when piercing the heart. Water will burn them like strong acid with immersion being fatal, reducing the body to bones. Instead of killing them, this will send the body into a death-like state until removed, at which point it will begin to regenerate. Feeding accelerates this process. When exposed to sunlight chimaeras are weakened considerably, filled only with the thought of escape. If unable the creatures will be reduced to desiccated remains.
Despite these flaws in their design, chimaeras are a favourite of warlords and slavers whenever they are found. Driven by bloodlust and a gnawing hunger for flesh, they are nothing more than a simple, if cunning predator.
ABERRANT
Devised as the ultimate living weapons, aberrant are a species of highly aggressive parasitic organisms that infest entire planets, ravaging their biospheres and transforming them into enormous gestation pods from which their progeny spread throughout space. They begin life in a larval stage lasting fifty years which is divided into two stages; a juvenile phase and larger, more mature phase capable of breeding. It is during this breeding phase that they are at their most dangerous as they instinctively produce young to protect themselves while building up a stable resource base for when they emerge.
Young are eight feet long and range in weight upwards of three-hundred pounds. Fleshy giants with no apparent eyes, their head is dominated by a rounded maw filled with sharp teeth and rimmed in dexterous mandibles. From within slither tentacles used in hunting, to assist in feeding and object manipulation. One is tipped in a venomous stinger. As they age their bodies develop alternating clusters of backwards-facing spikes, tails branching into multiple whip-like strands tipped with bony scythe-like growths. Becoming larger and more unstable, ancients are little more than amorphous abominations covered with gaping, toothy mouths, stingers and masses of spiked tentacles sprouting randomly and subsiding back into their forms.
Although they are blind, they sense their surroundings through taste, touch and smell, relying most heavily on electroreception to detect living things. All have a great weakness to extreme temperatures and can be injured quite easily by energy, heat and fire. Cold simply shuts down their internal systems, putting the beasts into a temporary state of hibernation. As well, ultrasonic vibrations are known to send them into a frenzy as their senses are overwhelmed and in such a state they will lash out blindly until the source of their discomfort is eliminated. Any portion separated from the main body is left without the controlling influence of the brain, becoming an uncontrolled mass, mindlessly aggressive as they grow into new separate entities.
V
What follows is a description of the very first made, the one which as far as any know, oversees the rest of the hierarchy. So too are they detailed, each a part of a larger machine. Where humanity is and always will be fractured on some level, the replicants do not share this weakness. They are one, with all the strengths of the Augustine, unconstrained by any ideals of compassion. Theirs is only to function, to refine that function and to spread until all becomes one with it. Beware.
While ostensibly humanoid in nature, the replicant overseer is largely a mechanical being with any organic parts encased deep within its frame. Perhaps most alien of all are the vents arrayed across back and arms, appearing nothing so much as gaping wounds in its hardened flesh. Standing at a modest height of five feet and eleven inches, its weight belies its artificial nature at two-hundred and thirty-five pounds. Despite this discrepancy, the replicant maintains a build that seems toned and athletic, designed to represent the functional pinnacle of physique. Nanites stand in for blood, with the vents across arms and back serving as emitters. Thus the overseer is capable of the varied uses possessed by aggregates and may function in a general capacity as both weapon and tool. In this way, overseers were dedicated to maintaining a city’s infrastructure, determining what their particular computational hierarchy will do.
Hair texture is smooth and length short with a striking two-tone white and black colouration. Eye colour is gray-white to match its plain facial attributes which have been tailored to denote placidity, a blank slate from which gaze empty eyes above a vestigial nose and inexpressive mouth. The brand c/evr-01 is emblazoned upon its right wrist and the Roman numeral ‘I’ upon left shoulder blade as remnants of its servitude. The replicant’s bearing is mechanical, upright and stiff, although it moves with surprising fluidity when necessary, never wasting any motion. Mastery of machinery, computer technology and the sciences make it very adaptive.
The overseer was conceived as the first of a new breed of thinking replicator capable not only of greater comprehension but autonomous action. The first years of its life were spent in smoothing out programming and design, cultivation chamber gradually parred down by its own will until fully motile. To that end, it developed a computational hierarchy, functions spread over a number of units all connected to each other. The next decades were spent learning its coordinating intricacies and furthering replicant influence over the Empire.
Such influence necessarily included production and recycling, all at a controlled rate that kept Augustine society functional. Their central function came to revolve around the management of transgenics population and application. Citizens continued to learn and flourish in safety while the hierarchy explored beyond their walls. Finding and claiming another city, it was only a matter of time until the replicants turned on their creators. The war that followed was long and arduous. Yet in finding the Augustine an opponent not so easily overrun, the replicants were pushed over the mountains and there routed. Since their revolt, the creation of replicants has been banned, their roles largely superseded by transgenics.
Conceived as a means by which to restore ecosystems ravaged by war and to serve as self-renewing resources, transgenics yield armour plating, resin and fungal spores. The latter are synthesised to produce a powerful opiate most commonly prepared with food and drink, particularly as an aromatic tea. Smoking is sometimes preferred and extreme methods exist but are largely taboo. To offer is a welcome gesture as its very production runs society. Fierce competition exists to grow the fungus better, entire cities specialising in their own strain. Every citizen is encouraged to cultivate their own, exchange of strains serving as the primary method of barter. Resin is rare and prized as it has been long since any aberrant were seen, but a recent resurgence promises blood and wealth for all.
The many similarities between transgenic breeds and the Augustine themselves cannot be understated. It can be surmised and is further corroborated by genetic testing, that these beings were an experimental forebear to their later masters. Such pragmatism is another aspect of the Augustine to be kept in mind, if not admired. It suggests that every action taken by the Empire serves a dualistic purpose, of which only one aspect may be readily understood at a glance. Many have offered up reasons as to why they have not sought to expand their borders beyond lunar orbit. Perhaps such apparent hesitation serves a greater purpose as well.
ARBOREAL
Slender forest-dwellers that exhibit foliate features and characteristics. The species is split evenly between two sub-races, each comprised of a single gender. Temperate forest-dwelling males possess leaf-like ears, whereas jungle-dwelling females sport long fronds sprouting almost a foot from their heads. Both are of humanoid proportion with smooth skin that possesses various wood-like grains. Artificial evolution has left the females toned and athletic with protective bark-like growths, physically superior to their male counterparts in every respect. As they age and die, these tend to and eventually become new forests. What passes for eyes are coal black, more sprouting as the arboreal age until dropping off as seeds when one roots.
Arboreal are virulent and carnivorous, eating anything but fellow transgenics which live symbiotically within their eaves, they arise from a fungus that grows wherever it is allowed to take hold. As separate instances grow they combine and produce massive, man-eating fruits that possess mobility but no real intellect. Lacking a sense of self, these seek only to feed and grow, dissolving as they age into sprawling, creeping vines. Where enough of these gather develop patches of vegetative ganglia which form a simulacrum of intelligence and human proportion.
Lacking the ability of photosynthesis, they must feed on other creatures to survive. Asphyxiating potential prey with clouds of deadly spores but only the fungal stage is capable of breeding, its development overtaking the physiology of living things, using the unfortunates to passively spread the short time that they continue to live.
Arboreal communicate through bio-luminescence which renders the forest a single, large interconnected network able to swiftly relay information and react to outside threats. Drawn to and induced to smother large sources of heat, consuming them if edible, they are driven to pursue living prey even when sated. Despite an only minimal need for food and water, flesh and blood are sought in order to fulfil nutritional needs. Arboreal defend themselves from all but at times exhibit loyalty to others. Lacking basic human concepts such as empathy and imagination, they are rendered if not eerily dissimilar then outright hostile to humans and other creatures.
THRALLS
Bio-organic arthropoid constructs that serve as security forces, builders and maintenance workers. Their entire lives are spent expanding Augustine habitats and the machinery therein. They also stand to defend these places should any incursion manage to make it so far. Along with arboreal and replicants, thralls are the third branch of a self-perpetuating environmental restoration mechanism. Reproduction and rearing of young are handled by replicants, allowing all individuals to serve in full capacity. Coordinated by arboreal, actions are regulated by high-frequency sound waves produced by implanted emitters. Slowly modified as they develop to better serve in a general capacity, young act in specific roles while they mature. The oldest become what are known as replete, immobile living energy stores.
Thralls are obviously dangerous but utterly docile, even to the point of being slaughtered by augments; yet when faced with an unaffiliated life-form are entirely predatory. Elder thralls serve as carriers of arboreal spore while the silk they produce is processed into textiles and armour plate. Arboreal and thralls possess a unique cultural symbiosis, for as one generation of thrall dies a new generation of arboreal are born. Thralls normally hunt dissidents, but more often repair and build as hive populations shrink and swell.
CHIMAERA
Shock troops developed during the revolt, a beautiful veneer made beastly by various animal attributes. Chiropteran wings unfold from the males’ backs, double in length their nearly seven-foot standing height when fully spread. Incapable of flight, these are lined with smooth feathers, the razor edges of which are sharper than diamond and hide folded bone scythes that spring forth only to rend, tear and murder. A tail of braided chains trails behind nine feet tipped with a three-foot blade. It consists of a thick central column around which rattle loose links. Elongated ears, fangs, tridactyl clawed hands and didactyl clawed feet enforce their monstrous countenance while bone-like growths protect the body’s vulnerable areas.
What humanoid features chimaeras sport can be described as beautiful, offset by thick black horns encasing the skull. Striking yellow eyes shot through by red-green contrast with pale skin and thin, snowy hair often worn long and unkempt. However, the face is a façade comprised of jaws like fingers enclosing the front of the skull, effectively giving the impression of a well-shaped if bland, flat face when closed. Open, they reveal dexterous mandibles tipped with fangs like claws concealing a circular gullet ringed with cutting, crushing teeth. Invariably thin and muscular, their bodies are engineered to function at peak performance. Moving most often on all limbs, crawling and climbing, an upright posture is taken only rarely.
Certain frequencies of sound can incapacitate and even injure a chimaera, though if the frequency isn’t just right they will instead be sent into a frenzy until the source is destroyed. Cold blooded, extreme temperatures will send their bodies into a comatose state as it fails to cope. Flesh removed from the body turns to ash as its unstable nature tears it apart at a basal level and because of this instability, sudden, drastic injuries result in violent mutation to compensate. They are possessed of poisonous blood that spawns misshapen monstrosities upon contact with a surface. When starving or bored, chimaera will often rend their own flesh, devouring the creatures piecemeal.
Pure iron is toxic and has a paralytic effect when driven through the limbs until removed, putting them into a comatose state when piercing the heart. Water will burn them like strong acid with immersion being fatal, reducing the body to bones. Instead of killing them, this will send the body into a death-like state until removed, at which point it will begin to regenerate. Feeding accelerates this process. When exposed to sunlight chimaeras are weakened considerably, filled only with the thought of escape. If unable the creatures will be reduced to desiccated remains.
Despite these flaws in their design, chimaeras are a favourite of warlords and slavers whenever they are found. Driven by bloodlust and a gnawing hunger for flesh, they are nothing more than a simple, if cunning predator.
ABERRANT
Devised as the ultimate living weapons, aberrant are a species of highly aggressive parasitic organisms that infest entire planets, ravaging their biospheres and transforming them into enormous gestation pods from which their progeny spread throughout space. They begin life in a larval stage lasting fifty years which is divided into two stages; a juvenile phase and larger, more mature phase capable of breeding. It is during this breeding phase that they are at their most dangerous as they instinctively produce young to protect themselves while building up a stable resource base for when they emerge.
Young are eight feet long and range in weight upwards of three-hundred pounds. Fleshy giants with no apparent eyes, their head is dominated by a rounded maw filled with sharp teeth and rimmed in dexterous mandibles. From within slither tentacles used in hunting, to assist in feeding and object manipulation. One is tipped in a venomous stinger. As they age their bodies develop alternating clusters of backwards-facing spikes, tails branching into multiple whip-like strands tipped with bony scythe-like growths. Becoming larger and more unstable, ancients are little more than amorphous abominations covered with gaping, toothy mouths, stingers and masses of spiked tentacles sprouting randomly and subsiding back into their forms.
Although they are blind, they sense their surroundings through taste, touch and smell, relying most heavily on electroreception to detect living things. All have a great weakness to extreme temperatures and can be injured quite easily by energy, heat and fire. Cold simply shuts down their internal systems, putting the beasts into a temporary state of hibernation. As well, ultrasonic vibrations are known to send them into a frenzy as their senses are overwhelmed and in such a state they will lash out blindly until the source of their discomfort is eliminated. Any portion separated from the main body is left without the controlling influence of the brain, becoming an uncontrolled mass, mindlessly aggressive as they grow into new separate entities.
VII
Perhaps the greatest mystery left unsolved by the various parties involved with research into the Augustine. I too know only so much about the city within the Murk. This knowledge pre-dates the revolt and none can truly say what the replicants who now occupy that necropolis do within their fortified retreat. Regardless, the greatest city ever built by the Empire serves as the template from which all others were built and a reminder of just how much failure can cost them. Even the temple-ships set in orbit function in much the same capacity, not only as massive places of worship but the homes in which its citizens live their personal lives. The city is more than just a bastion from all that lies without but a unifier in itself, a mechanism serving to coordinate the body of society in the goal they all share.
More than four centuries ago, what is now collectively known as Augustine Empire emerged from the aftermath of nuclear devastation as a handful of city-states, connected by a loose allegiance between their ruling governments. Soon after, the need for unity became apparent in this new era of savagery and rediscovery. Before this, these and a handful of lesser cities warred unceasingly amongst themselves until fear of complete extinction forced the cessation of hostility between the greatest industrial powers that remained. From there, expansion became the rule of law as aggression turned outward upon any independent peoples that remained.
Resistance to this attempt at unification was great at first, but with submission preferable to annihilation in time whole kingdoms were giving themselves over to the fledgeling Empire. As the lives of humanity’s survivors were a trial of perseverance through adversity against brutal odds it was no surprise that many would rather give themselves over to this new rule than face the horrors of a broken world with little more than stones, sticks and scraps of old technology. Willing and able to stand against any perceived threat, new bodies were welcomed with only cursory misgivings. This campaign of expansion was short-lived, however, and soon enough Imperial cities adopted a policy of isolationism as their populations began to stabilise.
Unification of the disparate city-states saw a swift rise in the fields of scientific discovery and application and, in a move that many today still see as audacious, the various cities were moved to a central location and there combined into a single mega-structure. With this gesture of mastery and reigning from the seat of power it established, the Augustine opened their doors again upon the outside world and ushered in the current age. This single act served to exemplify a tenant of unity. The Empire was the light within the darkness that humanity needed and even if one stood aside, they would work unceasingly to bring order again to the world.
Functioning as an enormous timepiece, plates that its layers sit upon align with movements of sun and moon as well as the five classical planets. The city is thus partitioned and moves with the time, aligning itself into configurations that follow planetary hours. Life is planned around these celestial movements, as are governing actions. All things take place in their own time, contributing to a highly ordered and ritualised society.
Nanites fill the atmosphere, resonating with tonal emanations from the city. By simply breathing the air, all beings are imbued with these, which reconfigure their internal systems to work in concert with the replicator and its derivatives. By concentrating, one may exert their will on the nanites to create desired effects. Problems arise when nanites multiply within a body, particularly that of simpler organisms. This can resort in heightened growth, aggression and violent mutation, producing a dangerous beast. Humans, for better or worse become augments. It was this unchecked growth which eventually led to the ease of a replicant revolt. Understandably, the spread of nanites is largely curtailed, but for the Earth’s wider ecosystem such efforts are far too late.
GOVERNMENT
Administration within the first city arose after the unification and a need for centralised government became apparent. Democratic, it nonetheless operates under a “soft-handed” sense of martial law imposed with the thought of protecting the city and its citizens from the folly that brought about the Last War. The average citizen is placed into their own niche within society’s hierarchy, determined by extensive testing of mentality and aptitude and kept in line by relentless rules and regulations along with propaganda that seeks to steer their actions toward the greater good of the city and foster a thankfulness for those that continue to keep it functional. A watchful eye hovers over everything, every aspect continuously monitored. Because of this, society has advanced within the ruins of a broken world. Every citizen is well-educated, crime has nearly been eradicated, people are healthy and both order and discipline are maintained with every necessity and many vices amply provided for each one.
Constantly shifting electoral bodies regulate the populace in nearly every aspect of their lives. Countless departments exist within the system, covering most every aspect needed to keep society functioning smoothly. The five Sects stand out as the greatest of these and are the foundation on which all others are built. Regular meetings are called to discuss hopes and concerns in an open-broadcast forum that seeks to corner any problem that might be facing the city. Policies are reviewed and passed by a majority vote within the citizenry with administration acting only as the unifying factor that brings a topic under group consideration. Each seat within the administration is similarly voted into power and step down after their five-year term has subsided or if voted out of office by the public.
An emperor-elect sits above the rest with a serving body that regulates all else within the government. It is the emperor’s duty to see that policies are carried out, the law is upheld and security within the city is maintained. A committee sits beneath the emperor-elect and serves to approve or veto recommendations from the other administrative branches and the emperor-elect when necessary. All policies are filtered through a centralised computing network that serves to coordinate doctrine and keep it within the citizenry’s best interests.
LAYOUT
Though the original city is now defunct, the same principles of its design can be seen within the Lunar colonies established there. Rising like a mountain out of the surrounding plains, inside is paradise in comparison to the world even just beyond its walls. Lower levels form concentric rings around an artificial bowl carved into the ground beneath while upper levels rest upon a plate suspended over them. Each level is a city unto itself, connected by intricate monorail systems to aid travel between them. The lower one descends, the more labyrinthine and chaotic these get, with streets becoming little more than narrow paths whereas those above are wide and accommodating. For those who don’t wish to ride the rails, a dim-lit system of Jefferies tubes link each level, but these can be a dangerous prospect deeper down.
Checkpoints stand between the rail stations that connect each level, mediating traffic in and out. Uppermost levels are the domain of those with wealth and standing, the upper-middle class in old-world terms. With artifice ubiquitous, illiteracy is nearly 100% but so is comfort as each level is dominated by recreation areas, parks, stores and centres of entertainment. Climbing higher, the city becomes even more well-to-do as the citizenry begins to comprise the most wealthy and politically elite. Artifice also fosters a striking level of decentralisation as most interpersonal contact and education lies easily at the fingertips.
As one descends, the city loses some of its charm and shimmer, encompassing the lesser classes. Becoming older and less looked after, the lowest depths are almost a sewer as riddled with undesirables as the Sprawl outside. This is where those who slip through the cracks end up when their dreams of wealth and security crumble, leaving them arguably worse off than ever when they began. Between these two striking differences in citizenry are the government and security sectors, manufacturing plants, research and military facilities. So too are located power plants and life-support systems as well as the gardens that provide food for the citizenry. All are highly restricted.
In general, the city’s interior is a pleasant sight with clean streets lined with amenities to suit most any want or need. Robotic cleaners roam the paths and though life is regimented, the night life is lively. Levels divided into sectors denote what can be found where within a grid laid across each, used to pinpoint location down to singular rooms. This allows surveillance to cover every inch within city walls, with living eyes going where surveillance technology cannot. Actuators act as identification, constantly transmitting location and designation, as well as any other pertinent information up to and including biometrics.
A constant military presence and mandatory training ensure security within the city and beyond, to a point. Constant patrols, both flesh and machine supplement the surveillance system and quickly respond to any breach. Non-lethal capture of threats is preferred, but lethal force will be used as need demands.
If things should truly get out of hand, full military might will quickly descend and lock down affected sectors within minutes, pouring in from specialised apertures that bypass the thick gates that denote each one or else descending in armed aircraft. Walkways serve as unobtrusive routes for patrols, suspended above street-level and play counter to the walls that encircle major sectors. Mounted guns do their part upon towers and within the span of each wall, a quick and easy way to pacify would-be threats. These can also be found along the city’s outer walls, covering every angle along its base.
School-fortresses circle the city, protecting what little needs protecting while training those who would people it. On Earth, enough open land exists between each fortress and their benefactor and had at one point been given over to towns, villages, outposts and even a second city spreading out from the foot of the central structure’s walls. This Sprawl was a city in itself and acted as the buffer zone between the Empire and the outer world with a secondary waste beyond that, occasionally cleansed by fire to make it easier to patrol and monitor.
It is rare that any entered this burnout and any prospective citizen would be hard-pressed to cross it due to the variegated monstrosities that often called it home, to say nothing of human refuse that lurked in hopes of easy conquest. The city itself sits enormous within, bordered by thick walls that tower over even its great skyline. Military patrol was ubiquitous, fully comprising all air traffic in and around the city proper.
Merchants made up the largest percentage of the populace within the Sprawl, selling their wares to the constant stream of travellers and mercenaries that drifted through. The rest were prospective citizens born outside the Empire who hope that they might be accepted into the fold. A den of iniquity unrivalled, this outlying community catered to most any vice, selling illegal wares that were available nowhere else within or without.
Only those sections nearest the city walls could be called affluent at all with the rest existing in a state of squalor that only worsened the further out one ventured. Crime was frequent, with vast criminal organisations carving out territories amongst street gangs, bandits, psychotics and all manner of undesirables. Beyond selling contraband, brothels, bars, gambling houses and other places of ill repute were commonplace, a draw in themselves to any sick of life within the wilderness.
NOTABLE LOCATIONS
Administrative District: The city’s heart is a massive structure that runs from apex to nadir, megaliths of black stone that house each Sect. Levels within represent ever-higher rank and thus equal restriction of access to the personnel and knowledge kept therein. Below-ground are the mainframes of the city’s computer and separate power generators should those of the surrounding structure fail. As the last bastion of Imperial governance, security is at its utmost refinement and surrounded for miles on all sides by parkland surrounded by a perimeter wall serving to disguise its protection.
Market District: A place for merchants to gather and ply their wares, it surrounds the administrative district as a way to foster intimacy and promote ease of regulation.
Mining District: Nestled above the Administration and Market Districts and flanked by both the Industrial and Agricultural Districts, its location reduces the distance necessary for shipping raw materials and assures absolute security in case of emergencies. Unused shafts are retrofitted into bunkers for the populace, as newer sections delve ever-deeper in search of raw materials and mineral resources.
Industrial District:
Agricultural District: The city's primary source of food and the single largest feature is housed within an area all its own. Hydroponics are the foremost technique used in cultivation but traditional ways are also used to grow specialised crops sold as a sign of standing to higher ranked citizens, the rest synthesised from other sources.
Recreational District: Other plants serve as mere ornamentation with large swathes of the sector laid aside for the enjoyment of the people in the form of exercise tracks, a zoo and fun park. This serves as a buffer between the Market District and the rest of the city, denoting a separation of business and pleasure. A colosseum hosts battles between cultivated monstrosities, military personnel and convicts held daily to huge crowds eager for their glimpse of blood and glory. Combat isn’t the only draw with more traditional sports filling the line-up, allowing any who wants to play if it so pleases them.
Residential District: The place where all citizens live, including those involved with administration duties. Comprised of two rings, the outer is reserved for average citizens while the inner houses those of higher Rank. Both are interconnected, leaving only the interior of residences as the only buffer between these two populations. This communal policy is meant to shrink the divide between policy-makers and the general populace, promoting a fair and even hand. In theory, every citizen lives as an equal with every other, though in practice most hardly give it a thought. Citizens of higher Rank can easily reshape their allotted space while everyone else lives in comparative, homogenous simplicity beyond what amenities they might purchase.
Forest District: The final buffer between the city and its outer wall, this district is as its name implies, entirely uncultivated land. Nature is given free rein here, and while access to the district is not restricted, any citizen wishing to enter must understand that safety is largely up to the individual. Because of an unwillingness to disrupt the ecosystem and the district’s overgrown nature, any response by security forces will inevitably be delayed. This is where the transgenic stock is maintained and is an effective barrier to intrusion or escape.
Guard Districts: Posted at the entrances and exits to every district, they house security forces and allow rapid response anywhere within the city.
VIII
Augustine, meaning great or magnificent, so named for the place they hold in existence. Propaganda of course, but history shows what humans are willing to do when taught that they and their very culture holds a special, if not central place in the universe. So they should, one can argue. Even Federation officers concede their superiority as so often they do what common sense says they cannot. And they do such things effortlessly.
Even the lowest of Imperial rank stands above their adversaries, even the least amongst them are gods. Divinity perhaps achieved through scientific mastery but divinity all the same. It is not a rare sight, Augustine stepping out of airlocks to fling themselves at enemy ships, cutting their way inside only to detonate the reactor in what for any other soldiers would constitute a suicide mission. Yet they survive. They survive and do it again and again, for every one of them in the doing is shown his or her own superiority and the glory of the Empire which allowed them to be so.
Yet many question just why the Federation is losing this war. All of this pre-dates the Empire as it is known, serving as but a foundation in a world that had lost nearly all of the culture it had so far built up before the last war. In many respects, the structure outlined here still stands, albeit in a much altered and far more complex state. As mentioned before, the unique aspect imposed by the conception of augmentation and even just the promise of such set a precedent for the regulation of immortality lest our species become divided as it once was by a gulf between the common and the elite.
Eventually, the storage of mind emulations became commonplace, as did the regular appearance of the disembodied who give up physical form in order to exist wholly electronically. Upon death, a citizen’s neural pathways are copied in their most recent configuration. Some may eventually return to a body. The process remains imperfect on both fronts and sometimes the result will require termination. Regardless, the Augustine are effectively immortal and so their cultural identity revolves around cultivating a personality worth preserving.
With their artifice as adjudicate, the Empire was built in an attempt to put all humankind upon an equal footing and provide a means to reach transcendence for everyone. Unfortunately, no system is perfect and it will quickly become apparent how human corruption twists even the noblest of goals. Imperial society is so much the better for where it has succeeded in these terms yet where it fails is only that much more insidious.
In the early years, during and after the third Wolrd War, as Enclaves of survivors began to grow into a cohesive society they eventually became as one large, interlocking family made up of seven allied clans ruled by their elders. Customs and tradition were very important, to such a degree that younger clan members often felt forced to conform, or become rebellious to protest their lack of influence. This energy was channelled by seniors through encouraging each clan to act as a set role or profession. Those who didn’t follow their clan profession were cast out in order that they may seek their calling.
Within each clan was a social hierarchy; administrators outranked warriors, who outranked workers. This stratification persisted as a control method, remaining even today. Individuals were expected to associate only with those of equivalent status. Clans were represented by a single matriarch, the succession of which might be by inheritance, election, single combat or any number of other means as each decided. Since each ruled her own territory, laws and personal freedoms varied from dominion to dominion and although the matriarchs’ will was law, there existed unwritten strictures that even they could not violate with impunity.
To survive in a world devastated by nuclear war, the clans took to ritual cannibalism of the dead through direct consumption and general redistribution as fertiliser, raw materials and the like. The sick, old and dying gave up their bodies so that the rest may live and through their sacrifice became revered. This ancestor worship was marked by tools, weaponry and small charms carved in the likeness of an honoured forebear from the bones of their body, kept on one’s person at all times.
Such totems eventually became actuators as with the spread of artifice, the need to consume their own died and was replaced by layered ’generation stones’. Compressing remains of the honoured dead into gems, successive generations are layered over them. Through selective nano-cultivation, these were shaped into the replicator’s central processing units and with them, every citizen voted for every action their elders took while information networks allowed large populations to discuss and vote electronically. Engineers and scientists ruled in the name of efficiency and under their supervision, everything was carefully coordinated by an interpersonal artificial intelligence that decided upon administration and legislation.
Private estates are under the absolute authority of a lord who appoints a thane to disseminate their will which is followed by the elderly and successively younger generations. Before they come of age, young act as estate staff and are overseen by their elders.
Individuals deemed dangerous to society are subjected to neural restraining and indoctrination. Faced with an attacker, the restrained can only act defensively, never initiate combat and cannot kill unless issued orders to the contrary. Further, the restrained are incapable of acting outside the Standards of Society (cannot insult, curse, etc..). The greatest crime is unmoderated growth and not tolerated. Snatchers misuse of the replicator to take the bodies of others. Confessors are dispatched to retrieve any who break the law. Individuals deemed Scourge are employed, after being restrained, as elite guards under the direct control of the Emperor.
LANGUAGE
Perhaps their most unifying element is the symbology used within artifice to engrave meaning upon the matrix. Syntax determines what is produced, creating a replicator or desired device but its true use is as a universal language. Central is easy communication of concepts and ease of learning, though it is not generally known or spread. Having changed among the augmented along with their bodies, this bi-lateral digital to analogue language is intent translated through machine, impossible for flesh to imitate.
NAMING CONVENTIONS
First and foremost, names like so much else within the Empire are earned. From the moment one is born one goes without, the name one will carry earned once one has become a citizen. Applying to official documentation, most individuals might be given a name by their family, another by their friends, yet others by their enemies. Such a title, be it casual or official, often reflects the one to whom it applies. Whether this is through one’s abilities, bearing or some distinguishing physical condition falls upon circumstances.
