Genius The Transgression/Chapter Three:Systems and Foundations
"The fear of infinity is a form of myopia that destroys the possibility of seeing the actual infinite, even though it in its highest form has created and sustains us, and in its secondary transfinite forms occurs all around us and even inhabits our minds."
-Georg Cantor
A genius' Breakthrough is an amazing and hideous event, and a great accomplishment: those who survive the experience (somewhat) sane and whole should be commended merely for making it through in one piece. But catalyzing is only the beginning of a genius' journey. For weeks or even months, a genius might flail about with nothing but raw Mania and the effects it can engender. Some lonesomes might stay here indefinitely, with a touch of insanity separating them from mere mortals and a gift for understanding machines and pushing them to the limit.
But eventually, most geniuses, even isolated ones, start to recognize patterns and systems. They look past the apparently random shifts of Mania, the equations that dance on the page or behind the computer screen, and find tangles of predictability and repeatability, something they can hold on to: the Axioms of mad science. From there a genius can start to build up a system and a philosophy.
The Foundations:
A genius' first Axiom―and likewise her first wonders―are often based on her catalyst. These "core" Axioms―Apokalypsi, Epikrato, Exelixi, Katastrofi, and Metaptropi―are glimpsed more clearly than the others, as they seem tied to the natural conditions of a genius' Inspired soul. But many geniuses, after cobbling together their first wonders based almost purely on the intensity of the emotions they felt during their Breakthroughs, cast around for more. Curiosity is a companion to all geniuses, and "Are there more people like me?" is a natural question to ask.
Some geniuses find no one. Even for one of the Inspired, it's not easy to know the telltale signs of mad science, nor to separate Inspired ramblings from crazy ones, whether on the Internet or face-to-face. Many lonesomes, even ones living amidst dozens or hundreds of other geniuses, grow discouraged after a cursory search and retreat into the solitude of their work. Others, especially as they tilt toward madness and megalomania, are noticed by Lemuria, which indoctrinates them into the Lemurian worldview.
The foundations were created to stop this loss of brilliant minds to Lemuria or isolation. The Conclave of Troy was called in 1814 to organize the world's (or at least Europe's and Arabia's) free geniuses against the encroaching threat of Lemuria. (The conclave took place in the ruins of another lost city, not actually Troy, about 300 miles from the site of Schliemann's discovery; no one bothered to change the name because no one knows what that city was called and now no one can find it.)
There, free geniuses representing the Invisible College, the Brotherhood of Artifice and Mechanism, the Children of the Demiurge, and the Cartographic Order of St. Christopher the Undeceived, along with a dozen smaller groups, united to form the Peerage, an affiliation of "peculiar natural philosophers and savants" dedicated to rescuing their fellows from madness and the depredations of Lemuria. Over the years, the number, kinds, and names of the foundations have changed: the Cartographic Order was swallowed by the Invisible College, then re-emerged as the Navigators; the Brotherhood split violently into the Artificers and the Mechanists; the Fellowship for Manifest Direction appeared to confront Lemurian industrial hegemony; the Progenitors were destroyed and reborn; the New American Artisans flourished before dwindling into insignificance, and so on. But the Peerage remained and prospered, some groups seeking out mad scientists hidden in their midst, others searching distant parts of the world for lone geniuses, while still others organized the great libraries and philosophical roundtables that drew the respect and attention of geniuses all over the world.
Today the Peerage boasts five foundations, as well as numerous fellowships, splinter groups, and affiliated collaboratives. Most geniuses who are aware of the larger Inspired community and who do not immediately join Lemuria to fulfill their psychological needs (that is, most geniuses fit to be played in a game) end up as peers. There they are tutored by more experienced geniuses, given the foundation's organon―its core philosophical texts―and introduced to the rest of the Peerage. This is not a formal process, and the Peerage is not a formal organization: there is no official debut, no code of law, no system for "mad scientist duels," and no secret decoder rings or handshakes. The foundations are deliberately non-hierarchical and open, to encourage as many geniuses as possible to join.
This openness has not always been the rule. The Peerage goes through regular cycles of alternating openness and exclusiveness. Currently the foundations are approachable and accommodating, but in times of great stress or difficulty, such as during the last Invisible War or during the ideological struggles of the early 1990s, they can become rigid and dogmatic. For the foreseeable future, though, the Peerage has relaxed its standards and encourages as many geniuses to participate in it as possible.
Joining a foundation offers a genius more than a social network. Though the psychological cushion of the Peerage should not be underestimated, most geniuses join to get access to the organon and the mechanical benefits that accompany access to a regularly updated body of mad research. This flow of data toward the genius offers two benefits. First, a genius receives an additional favored Axiom, chosen from among the foundation's two Axioms of focus. Second, it offers a grant. The grant is a special technique that the foundation offers its members.
Keeping Up the Subscription:
In order to benefit from a foundation's favored Axiom and grant, the genius must stay in contact with other members of the foundation, contributing research data and keeping abreast of the latest developments. In game terms, the genius must bind one point of Mania to her foundation. This bound Mania doesn't just vanish into the ether: it turns into research, analysis, useful samples, or articles that are examined by other members of the foundation, who in turn absorb that data. That data, along with the mindset necessary to appreciate it, in turn "fuels" the favored Axiom and Grant of geniuses in that foundation.
A genius can leave a foundation at any time, but it takes one month for the subscriptions and services to run out. After a month she loses all foundation benefits and regains her point of bound Mania. She will also automatically lose access to her foundation if entirely out of touch with the Inspired world (no email, snail mail, rocket courier, or passenger pigeon) for a full month.
Leaving a foundation is not necessarily permanent and is not even very stigmatized. The situation can be rectified simply by re-binding a point of Mania, getting back in touch to renew one's subscriptions, and waiting one month to regain foundation status. The current loose organization of the Peerage frowns on holding grudges and understands that sometimes geniuses are incommunicado (or Mania-poor) for long periods of time.
Changing Foundations:
It is possible for a genius to change foundations, or even to change affiliations, moving from rogue status to part of the Peerage or Lemuria, or back, or to move from the Peerage to Lemuria. This requires two things. First, the foundation requests a donation of Mania equal to the genius' maximum Mania, paid off either all at once or over a period of time. Second, the genius must devote time to study and retraining. In mechanical terms, the genius must gain one dot in a specific Skill. (If at the maximum number of dots for his Inspiration, she may instead elect to gain a Specialization in that Skill.)
| Foundation | Skill |
| Artificer | Computer or Crafts |
| Director | Persuasion or Socialize |
| Navigator | Athletics or Drive |
| Progenitor | Medicine or Occult |
| Scholastic | Academics or Investigation |
| Atomist | Politics |
| Etherite | Science |
| Mechanist | Crafts |
| Oracle | Occult |
| Phenomenologist | Academics |
If looking to join a foundation, the genius must not be an unmada. Conversely, if looking to join a Lemurian baramin, the genius must be an unmada.
The genius joins the foundation after having bound a point of Mania to that foundation for a full month.
Becoming a rogue does not require any Skill training, and occurs automatically after a month if the genius stops keeping up her subscription.
