Everything

Gods do not create and destroy life. Scientific

laws do. With an understanding of such

laws, then, nothing separates a man from a god. In fact, given the errant nature of gods, a dedicated scientist can improve on the decidedly unintelligent designs of natural selection and thus become greater than the capricious divinities of legend. The Progenitors – those Technocrats working toward beginnings – understand that the only things standing between flawed evolution and a new, improved strain of organic life are the understanding of organic principles and the willingness to reshape them to one’s own design.

Originating in the esoteric and often forbidden mysteries of life and death, this Convention retains the scary allure of its witchy forebears. From bloody-handed midwives and dirty-fingered herbalists to the hunters and domesticators of nature’s rough beasts, the Progenitors share their beginnings with the mystic Verbenae. But whereas the earthy Pagans kept their craft wrist-deep in entrails, the embalmers and physicians of the classical era studied the workings of mortality and the methods of transcending it. Medicine came first, followed by the manipulation of living organisms: adaptation, mutation, artificial limbs and organs, chemical enhancements… the possibilities seemed limited only by technology and fear.

But fear’s a powerful force. Despite their many victories and cures, these physicians remained pariahs among the terrified cattle they sought to save. Even when the healer Hippocrates established his Cosian Circle in ancient Greece, mortal terror haunted the practitioners of those fearsome arts. The descendants of that Circle joined the Order of Reason during the medieval era, but not even their tireless work to cure that age’s plagues could save some Cosians from flames and censure. Is it any wonder, then, that Progenitors tend to hold a chip on their collective shoulders?

Only when we face the first can we secure the second.

Potential horror is the cost of liberation.

When Darwin’s work popularized what the Cosians already knew – that life is organic adaptation, not divine providence – the Cosians adapted as well. Shedding their classical trappings in favor of Victorian formalism and the budding scientific method, these small-p progenitors continued to push the boundaries of healing and mutation. The First and Second World Wars gave them plenty of material to work with, and though some of those experiments were… shall we say, unethical… the data gained from 20th-century conflicts vaulted the Progenitors to the horizons of organic potential.

These days, a Progenitor enjoys clean facilities and bleeding-edge technologies developed far outside Earth’s invasive ecosystems. Healing, cloning, genetic manipulation, viral evolution, chemical consciousness, biological mutation, animal crossbreeding, accelerated and controlled evolution, compound synthesis… their list of projects and accomplishments makes Iteration X look dull. Despite their reputation – even within the Union – as “Frankensteinians,” these visionaries retain the courage and imagination of their ancestors, bravely shaping new worlds from primal materials and fresh technologies.

(Pharmacopoeists, Genegineers, FACADE Engineers, and the

cross-disciplinary Damage Control), this Convention follows an academic hierarchy. UnEnlightened facilitators (janitors, lab assistants, receptionists) provide support for the ascending

Fellow Conventions: The strong right arms of our scientific body.

Stereotypes

The Traditions: A mud-smeared pack of evolutionary mistakes.

The Disparates: Apparently, and thankfully, extinct.

ranks of Students, Research Associates, Primary Investigators, Research Directors, and the mysterious Administrators. A ruthless but unEnlightened contingent of field and street operatives (backed up by the Conventions’ considerably more capable collection of clones, constructs, Victors, biomodified agents, and bestial projects) provides muscle when needed. The most versatile Progenitor agents learn techniques and Procedures from all of these disciplines, developing formidable arsenals of scientific knowledge.

Advancement through those ranks demands constant study, research, and innovation. Students must pass many tests, eventually providing and defending a thesis that demonstrates her mastery of Enlightened Science. Success means promotion to progressively higher levels, levels at which the various scientists contend for grants and resources. Investigators spend copious amounts of time working with teams of other agents to prove their loyalty and usefulness to the Technocracy. As one would expect, if they can’t publish successful results for the Union, they might perish for their failure.

Affinity Spheres: Life or Prime.

Initiation: This Convention prefers to find potential recruits before they Awaken. Working with the Ivory Tower, Progenitor supervisors analyze standardized tests and search databases to find clever scholars with budding potential. (Recruiting Progenitors after their Awakening is more difficult… but the Union offers answers for troubled minds.) Promising recruits get tagged before medical school, sponsored with scholarships, and offered a chance for something more. If a recruit accepts, she receives training above and beyond what the Masses can offer; if she refuses, then the entire episode gets wiped from

Focus: The intricate enigmas and potential of organic life provide the foundation of Progenitor techniques. Upon that framework, an individual Progenitor can build a wide variety of innovations.

her mind and she just has a bad quarter, defined only by hazy recollections and a lingering feeling that she missed something grand. In the worst cases, the student ODs on recreational drugs or suffers stress-based suicide. The Progenitors hate to waste good material, but life isn’t always fair.

Although specific applications must be

scientifically defensible (see “Wait

– I can Explain!” in the Chapter

Six sidebar SCIENCE!!!, p.

290), the Progenitors employ a dizzying variety of theories and Procedures. That said, those weird-science techniques typically demand the presence of a well-stocked lab and intricate, often time-consuming, labor. Any tool that a healer, scientist, or naturalist would use can yield miraculous results in the skillful hands of a trained Technocrat, but the Progenitors usually need time

and space to work their miracles.

To certain evolutionists, Might is Right, paradigm-wise. Most Progenitors, however,

favor the agnostic Gaia-hypothesis approach

to Creation Is Innately Divine and Alive. Cybernetics

blend in with a hypertech approach to

medicine-work, and the Con-

vention’s eclectic

methods often seem like weird science by the standards of other Conventions.

Organization

Throughout its various Methodologies

Focus

The intricate enigmas and potential of organic life provide the foundation of Progenitor techniques. Upon that framework, an individual Progenitor can build a wide variety of innovations.