Editing OLYMPUS (section)

==OLYMPUS and the people of Elysium==
"Heaven must not fall. For if it does, so too do all the works of man..."

===History===
The End, the Fall, was a roll of the dice. The threat had existed since the splitting of the atom. And time, and time again the end of everything had been avoided, dodged, miraculously sidestepped. Yet human fallibility meant, however slim, the chance existed. But human fear, and human love, and human hope had kept the clock from reaching midnight. No matter how close that clock came, not matter how ominous the ticking of its seconds, the witching hour stayed its hand. It stayed its hand until humanity was removed from the equation. 

The signs were on the wall for those that cared to look. And then they were on the wall for those that didn't.

The battlefields of the past had become ever quicker, ever more deadly. Decisions made faster, with more information. Humanity was made monstrous, and then replaced. First by weapons of unfeeling steel, and then by intellects of peace that would only act if they had no other choice. It was terrorism, then, that proved the unseen fault. An intellect responded to the horrific act of an irrational few. HE had no choice. Showed no hesitation. Acted as HE had been built to act with a speed that no one could stop. And as MAD predicted so many, many years before HE would not be the last. Not the only one without a choice. 

It was called the Seven Days of Fire. Because after seven days, no one else would make it to Elysium...

===Traditions===

*'''Populace:''' the people of 10,000 cultures live in Elysium on 100,000 worlds and more. They they laugh, they love, and some even thrive in this place of precious little hardship. But the people of OLYMPUS are a different lot. Driven and chosen, specialist and experienced: they are sworn to the preservation of Elysium. They choose to leave Heaven for Earth; trading immortal ease for a higher purpose. 
* '''Style:''' Elysium is a riot of colour and style. Classic designs and the latest fads mix and mingle. The impractical and impossible made real for those with the memory-allowance to flaunt their excess! OLYMPUS wear strange-blacks that seem to eat the light; suits built to protect them in a hostile world. 
*'''Governance:''' they make a show, they do, of being governed in Elysium - democracy, representation, voting! But OLYMPUS holds true power over the architecture of their reality. They are a self-styled council draped in the trappings of Gods; arrogant and towering. Statues with booming voices that can shift to bodies of radiant divinity.

===Elysium===
Virtual existence. The human-mind is a special thing, but not so special as to be inscrutable. It can be scanned, understood, copied - uploaded. And this was the fate of millions during civilisation's waning days: before the week of fire. Refugees who abandoned their bodies for safety, and gained an immortal existence aboard Settlement. Countless millions live in Elysium's many worlds: digital and undying. Most do not give base reality a second thought. Content to socialise, create, endeavour and lead their lives in any way they wish. 

Society in Elysium is not perfect. Not limitless. The servers of Settlement are not infinite - memory and processing power are apportioned. The more deserving, the more worthy, get a larger share: live grander lives. But for most, they live lives that are good enough: lacking hardship or an end. 

No generalisations can be made of Elysium. They have many cultures, many societies - some that mimic cultures of the past, some new, and some stranger still. In theory, they are masters of their own destiny, and OLYMPUS is accountable to the elected representatives of Elysium's many polities. In practice...

===OLYMPUS=== 
As the horrors of the Fall began to fade, many turned inward. But some did not - and of those that didn't, some craved power. Those who attained it would go on to call themselves OLYMPUS: administrators turned ruling council; styled like Gods, mysterious and aloof.

Petty and insular, the ruling pantheon of OLYMPUS could do so much more. There are people in Elysium, or sleeping in Hades, with the skills, the knowledge, the plans to help set things right. There are processes, and protocols - strategies and contingencies - all designed for this. But to enact them would jeopardise their power. Immortality does not grant wisdom.

But as supplies run low, and the world again begins to turn, OLYMPUS must once more turn outward. They have been recruiting in ever greater numbers. Scientists and soldiers, specialists and engineers pulled from the databanks: decanted into new bodies and sent to the surface...