4A
Azrael- Azrael (1010-1505) was the most powerful of the Lords of Fire and Shadow, and one of the most infamous Metatechnological Intelligences of the period. Azrael was designed and summoned by Albert Shorringer, Chief Shaman-Engineer of the Technosophic Church, using the latest in Zietgest technologies to be an embodiment of the Technosophic Church’s defiance of pre-Enlightenment superstition. He was assigned to be an overseer in the Ascension Pogrom, and to monitor fluctuations in the Gravatical-Ontological-Theodocical-Hermetic energy generation device (GOTH). It was thus a terrible blow to Shorringer’s prestige and faith when Azrael did not ascend past the paradox that served as his energy source (specifically, IF-GODPLEX-GOOD, WHY-EVIL-PTY-LTD?) but instead defected to become the intellectual and philosophical champion of the Neo-Luciferin Rebellion, even acting as their nominal leader for a brief period between 1343 and 1354.
Though he came to public attention when he drove the Chainji Imperial Court from the Forbidden Planet, his most meaningful early services to the Rebellion were in his advances in the fields of memetics and bio-ethics- his “EXISTANCE IS COMPLICITY” campaign, in particular, was attributed with instigating the Guild Strike of 1333. By the end of his time as leader, Azrael had corrupted the souls of over ninety billion humans, and slaughtered the robotic population of New Shangri-La with a virulent Worm Virus. His policies of total destruction of free-willed mechanoid populations and his absolute opposition to the Ascension Pogrom were costing the Rebellion in both the polls and the viewing figures, and were eventually deemed too extreme even by his traditional supporters among the Courts of Fire and Shadow. Ultimately, after an exceptionally short but damaging time as leader, he and his organic host, Frieden of Yevedia, were persuaded to go into exile past the Avanian ring system. During his exile, he primarily occupied himself with rewriting the King Huxley Orange Technical Bible as a Neo-Luciferin tract, and the Tome of Dark Science & Nuclear Degeneration is perhaps his most lasting achievement, remaining a core text of the Revivalist branch of the Technosophic Faith even today.
- Gronick Bathus
See also- GOTH energy generation; Evil Pty Ltd
Absorption- The intial procedure that replaced the pre-Technosophic notions of family and mating, once the full effects of Compulsory Upload had been completed. It was approached, which is to say, enforced, by the Seraphs, particularly those arising from the Declination of Blood-Moon. As is doubtless unnecessary to say, the Declination of the Blood-Moon was a response to the Great Insanity of 756. Heretofore, it had been practice by persons who felt a particular sense of affection or kinship to congregate into a society of several bodies, a family unit. The non-biologically related of these were known as couples, and mixed organic fluids to produce naturally occurring offspring - a process as disgusting as it sounds. With the advent of the Compulsory Upload, such frightful pursuits ceased to become necessary - it was simply a matter of merging one's nanite flow with the object of one's affection. This immediately cut down on the rates of separation, and consequently, crime, blood-sport, and existential angst.
The unification of persons into a single gestalt entity, however, caused a marked population decline, as more and more citizens clamored to be part of each other. The Technosophic Order proceeded to put a limitation on this, lest an insufficient number of nanite swarms existed for the tasks ahead, by outsourcing all nanite convergence through EterniCorp. EterniCorp was inundated with a wave of applications, but was able to, through a process of acceptances and tacit rejections, begin a clandestine eugenics program, the effects of which can still be seen today in the Cybernetic Enhancers and their war against the Lords of Fire and Shadow. Of course, the portions of the population deemed unworthy for the Compulsory Upload immediately began to clamour for the same privilege (removing that whole frightful business of fluids), gaining access to the Limited Genetic Data Devices that are now (thankfully) present in all organic lifeforms, such as your narrator. Still, some pockets of the mating heresy still survive, although thankfully the Order goes to some effort to ensure those practicing are sent to the Re-Education Chambers.
- Dax Theophant
See also- EterniCorp; Seraphs
Ant Hive, The- The vernacular term, as coined by Conceptual Corps officer Valentin Zcbyczek and meme-reinforced by a score of popular media, for the Sierka-Slavic region that was the first to experience Hostile Deific Intrusion aka "The Wrath", as unlicensed technological artists introduced untested GodTek algorithms into the local infosphere. The area, already labeled high-risk due to the density of unlicensed DeadTek experimentation, was successfully partitoned off from the mainland through the swift work of the Conceptual Corps with an absolute minimum of political tension. Some misguided attempts by self-appointed "civil rights activists", acting in willful ignorance of the dangers of entering the area led to a larger body count than strictly necessary. While the incidents itself is highly deplorable, it has to be noted that the "Ant Hive" has been the single largest area for Ministry-funded research of emergent feral Deiforms. Speculation that the initial experiment forcefully introduced a tesseract Concept Womb seems to be largely confirmed; the regularity with which new substances and concept-forms emerge seem to indicate a construct of sufficient complexity. The emergence of the "Deep Blue" meme only fourteen months later (57/06) seems to indicate another step in cross-dimension evolution for the rogue divinity - designer-scientists of the Ministries managed to chart and mostly contain its´ hatching of concept-eggs in the lower memesphere, and limit its´ influence to minor memeplex-mods on a small percentage of the DT-sensitive percent of the population. Though undeniably interesting, the reports that full-fledged followers of Deep Blue even exist, much less providing open displays of "divine gifts" to citizens of the Ant Hive, are hearsay at best.
- Natalya Petrovina II
See also: Concept-womb, Deep Blue
