Everything

Humans are weak, but technology makes us strong. Over generations, scientists have augmented humans with state-of-the-art tech, improving bodies and minds. Mass media disseminate news about these new inventions in order to uplift the Consensus; the greatest innovators of such enhancements, though, perfect their creations in absolute secrecy. Under the aegis of the “Clockwork Convention,” elite Technocrats create hypertech devices in secluded laboratories and then deploy them to the Front Lines of an improved reality. Through many iterations of such progress, Enlightened visionaries develop integrated masterworks to surpass mere humanity, striving to meet their greatest challenge: artificial intelligences that can replace the flawed human mind. These Enlightened Scientists seek cybernetic perfection; with each generation, their creations improve. The state of the art is the current incarnation of Iteration X.

Refined over millennia from visionary artisans to posthuman mechanistics, Iteration X commands the most impressive firepower and most disciplined military capacities in the Union. Its military operatives boast weaponry as integral parts of their bodies, from energy-packed blasters to kinetic chain guns. Various enhancements make these agents faster and stronger than their all-too-human rivals. Meanwhile, clones conditioned in laboratories and trained as Kamrads bolster

their ranks. Such operatives pride themselves on efficiency, each individual working as a part of a much larger machine.

Despite the Convention’s military rep, not all Iterators are soldiers. This Convention also specializes in innovation, hyperefficiency, mass production, and statistical prediction. Some of the group’s most visionary work is virtual, not physical, relying upon elaborate simulations and organic/ mechanical integration technologies. Enlightened analysts simulate endless variations of events to predict outbreaks of anomalous phenomena, supernatural deviance, and other chaotic disruptions before they occur. Some operatives refine diverse skill sets, coordinating various operations through interconnected thought processes. Others appear perfectly mundane but are anything but that when you get beneath their skins.

The Convention’s most dangerous agents and weapons remain too advanced for Earthly Consensus; developed in remote facilities (off world, whenever possible), these armatures are shipped in from labs and factories filled with sublime hypertech. In the old days, the machine-realm called Autocthonia represented a near-mythic reflection of sublime perfection. New-millennium Iterators seem less dogmatic about cybernetic refinement – perhaps because Autocthonia fell victim to a Dimensional Anomaly, or maybe just because “Borging out” doesn’t seem quite as cool as it used to be. Even so, certain Iterators believe full Empowerment is possible only within such

Stereotypes

The Traditions: Forces of visionary chaos, doomed to be replaced.

The Disparates: Sad remnants of primitive stages of evolution. Humanity has already moved beyond their kind.

Given the choice between frailty and perfection,

no reasoning organism would choose its flaws.

realms. When humanity Ascends, they believe, all of reality will be recast in mechanistic perfection.

Among the lower ranks, Socially Conditioned Iterators work exclusively with one another, refining their teamwork and proving their value. Successful agents gradually achieve free will, greater trust, upgrades, enhancements, and cross-Convention assignments that reward efficient flexibility. Experienced Iterators learn to critique and question their superiors but also to wait until the right moment to do so. For most Iterators, gray areas are unacceptable; instead, each action becomes a binary choice, swiftly evaluated as either success or failure.

Repeated failures condemn an Iterator to serve time as part of a mindless machine. The lowest-ranking operatives are little more than tools, and a powerful cyborg who cannot manage his resources must temporarily surrender his autonomy to more efficient external management.

Initiation: Sophisticated calculations (that is, Time-based Procedures) help Iteration X recruiters find likely personnel before those people reach Enlightenment. Soldiers, scientists, mathematicians, philosophers, and even people with profound physical handicaps all provide suitable personnel, so long as they can accept an essential role in a greater whole. Previously Awakened recruits are rare, but they can be Socially Conditioned to accept assimilation. Once a potential initiate

has been removed from the distracting imperfections of the Masses,

a complex process of indoctrination, surgery, and enhancement

shapes each Iterator into an effective and often Enlightened operative. Failed experiments, meanwhile, get deconstructed into Kamrads and Ciphers, creating an army of obedient workers and soldiers who act in unison toward programmed goals.

and psychological elements. And so, cybernetics, craftwork

and hypertech forge the foundation of this group’s practices.

Innovative Iterators employ martial arts, social dominion,

hypereconomics, and reality hacking – after all, even perfection

must be flexible! A few even hold a demi-religious faith in

the ultimate potential of The Machine; these days, though,

they don’t often discuss that out loud.

A Mechanistic Cosmos presents the obvious paradigm for Iteration X. Clearly, Tech Holds All Answers. Math-

inclined members of this Convention assure their

comrades that Everything is Data. This group has no use

for “fuzzy” paradigms, so the Sphere of Dimensional

Science is an extremely rare discipline among its ranks.

Organization

Iterators employ chains of command that dictate missions with mathematical precision. Ideally, the operatives and their Convention work as parts of a larger machine, setting aside autonomy and ego. Both agents and supervisors are expected to perform to their utmost ability, sacrificing themselves, when necessary, for the greater good.