Alchemists
The Alchemists are one of those weird minor civilizations that crop up from time to time. The thing that baffles most psychohistorians is that they have survived as long as they have without splintering.
Alchemists can trace their ancestry back to legendary community of rouge geneticists, genehackers and biopunkers that called themselves "The Alchemists" and used code names taken from historical alchemists. This group is known to have purchased and settled an asteroid in the Solar System shortly before the Nanotech War. Its also known that they disappeared in the early phases of the Great Diaspora. It was assumed that they were wiped out by a rival group or law enforcement. The reality is something different.
Initially, their settlement was an attempt at forming a biotechnologically centered community. However, as the Nanotech War bloomed, and the use of wormholes became more widespread, they decided to leave. Apparently, their enthusiasm for biotechnology extended to portions of their wormhole generator and its control systems. The end result was to jump them near a brown dwarf far from Earth. While unpleasant, it did mean they would be isolated a long time before they could recontact other human civilizations.
During this time they, utilizing their comprehensive knowledge of genetics and molecular biology, transformed themselves into something quite different from the human hereditary form. In effect, they gradually became biotechnological machinery, a support platform housing a still-human brain and some organs. Some conservative Alchemists, to this day, out of respect and pride, refuse to wear any other form than this form.
They needed that transformation to be able to utilize the resources of their new abode and eventually return home. They also took biotechnology further than anyone had expected possible, though their view on what it should like is distinctive.
The Alchemists were rediscovered as they wormholed their asteroid colony back to the Solar System. A Logician system defense ship rendezvoused with the strange centripetal spacecraft that had appeared in Mars orbit. The crew found it apparently inhabited by a race of strange, tentacle-waving aliens.
The vessel's crew couldn't directly identify the nature of the 'aliens,' instead chose to use xeno-encounter protocols. Some time passed before it was determined (by no less than a complete genome-characterization) that the Alchemists were, in fact, human. With this encounter, the Alchemists had once again re-entered the galactic community.
These Alchemists had biotech bodies that were a 2-metre, amorphous shape, bristling with sensors and feelers and moving around using stumpy, sucker-dotted tentacles or a snail-like pseudopod. In addition, there are a wide variety of more exotic platforms - such as humanoid or centaur shapes, as well as flying, swimming and many, many space-adapted variations. While none of these more customized models looks the same, they share certain features- the nightmarish appearance common among bioware of Alchemist manufacture. This is the body used by more conservative Alchemists as a homage to their history.
Some Alchemists shed the mobile way of life altogether, installing their brain and some few support organs into a stationary structure such as a dwelling or enclave fixture. With the level of biotech wielded by the Alchemists, no transformation is irreversible, so an Alchemist that, one day, looks like a regular baseline might the next day, on a whim, have changed into something that doesn't even vaguely resemble a human.
The germ-line genetic tweaks and self-replicative symbiotic nano accumulated over the years are enough for most Alchemists, but they acquire and shed auxiliary biotech augments like another civilization would change clothes.
Since then, most Alchemists reverted back to a more or less human form, an easy feat considering their genetic and biotechnical skill. They retained, however, the strange sense of style and aesthetics they'd developed during their time in isolation.
The majority of the Alchemist population that are not heavily augmented look surprisingly healthy and handsome, especially in contrast to the background of their rather twisted sense of aesthetics - the ultra-organic, tumor-like style that reflects in their every creation, from enclaves, dwellings and vehicles to weapons, tools and household items (see below).
One of the few certain ways of identifying an Alchemist is to confirm to presence of interface ports dotted around their bodies. These looks like small, tightly pursed, sphincter-like muscle toruses, that can be located anywhere on an Alchemist's body. Their function is to serve as interface points between the Alchemist's circulatory, lymphatic and digestive systems and various biotech support services provided by their enclave.
For reasons unknown, most Alchemists prefer to "outsource" their bodily functions, relying on centralized liver/kidney units in their dwellings to remove waste and metabolites form their system during rest periods. This habit, of course, ties them even more tightly to their enclaves.
While most Alchemists could not be immediately recognized as such (especially if non-modified), there are individuals specialized for a specific role in the Alchemist community that stand out distinctly from the rest - those are the so-called 'castes'; warriors, administrators, envoys, rangers and engineers.
The 'Castes'
The 'castes' (the word implying a social status one is born into) are, in fact, not castes at all; they are the secondary stage of development in the Alchemist life-cycle. Once an Alchemist feels that he or she has lived enough, it's considered natural to undergo major biotech augmentation and modification and continue on as a servant to the enclave.
The choice on what pathway to follow - what caste to choose for continuation - is largely based on the psychological set-up of the individual entering into the "caste" phase of life. The way of the warrior is chosen by those not wanting to be kept immobile, preferring instead to continue on as the protectors of the enclave and its inhabitants, with the chance of going out with a bang in the end; sacrificing themselves for the common good.
Those wishing for intelligence expansion, and greater connection to the communitychoose the administrator pathway, which will, in the end, allow them to immerse themselves completely into the Alchemist version of nirvana.
Those wishing to see more of the universe and interact with others chose the Envoy path to serve and benefit the enclave.
Somewhere between the warrior and administrator 'castes' lies those that choose to become Engineers. They become those that maintain the enclave itself, produce its food and other necessities.
A transformation into "caste" phase entails some changes to the personality of the subject, some inaccessibility for friends and family - but the person is still there, just different. With this system in place, death is something subjective to an Alchemist. Not an absolute article, but more of a gradual slide from one state to another.
A member or group of the administrator 'caste' controls each community, and while it seems autocratic, each administrator is always 'on call' through the bio-computer network they are parts of day and night. This means that every member of the community can reach the administrator and lobby him or her for their views and beliefs. While Alchemist communities can decide very, very quickly, they don't frequently do that having a tradition of consensus building.
An aspect of Alchemist culture and physiology is that they communicate with each other through pheromones. This allows them to easily communicate emotions to one another, and more sophisticated users can communicate advanced concepts. Secure communications in their enclaves are carried out through tactile pheromonal communications, which can be much more specific and handle larger volumes of data. Between its esoteric nature and difficulty in eavesdropping, it is a very secure means of communication. Still, despite its oddness, it is most widely used among the Alchemists as a warning tool inside their communities.
Aesthetics
Telling an Alchemist from an ordinary human by physical appearance alone is difficult, but their ideal of beauty and aesthetics are the more noticeable. Every item manufactured in Alchemists' assemblers and replicators bear their trademark. While their items and constructs are no less (or more) efficient than any made by others, their outward appearance, however, is radically different.
Everything Alchemist produced, be it a common house hold tool or a complete enclave, has a cancerous look to it – nature distorted and gone horribly wrong. Everything is discolored and has lumpy growths (without any apparent function) covering every surface of every item, be it a dwelling, a vehicle or a wetware computer. Frequently, it has a glossy, slimy look to it as well.
This cancerous ideal shows up everywhere in an Alchemist community – parks full of gnarled, crooked bonsai-like trees, from which gray-green fruit dangle, covered in ridges, furls and slime like an malformed brain. An Alchemist house is a sickly, bloated, toadstool-like construct, laced with throbbing gangrenous veins and with sphincter-like muscle-toruses instead of windows and doors.
Everything in an enclave, every house, vehicle, commodity and ornament - even the streets themselves - are alive and linked to each other with fat bundles of neuron umbilicals, hanging slackly in the air just above one's head, or worming their way, like slithering roots, underfoot. On the pathways, strange utility-biobots crawl along, waving long, gelatinous feelers, looking like the result of a forced mating between a headless tortoise, a greenish garden slug and a squashed toad. Great mushroom-like protrusions erupt along the paths, lobed and glistening like an exposed liver. Despite the upsetting appearance of their tools and communities, it doesn't smell. An outsider would think it would smell vile, like decay or an ancient slaughter house or surgery. Instead, its very clean and pleasant smelling, with chemical, musky or floral hints of the pheremonal communication system. This only makes it worse for visitors.
To an unprepared outsider, the inside of an Alchemist enclave is deeply disturbing and upsetting. This is, perhaps, the real reason the Alchemists rarely allow outsiders inside their "inner sanctums."
The various biotech constructs the Alchemists export and license, not only function satisfactorily, they don't look like Alchemist manufacture. When money is involved, they will set aside their unique aesthetics.
As mentioned above, the majority of the technology utilized by Alchemists is biological, conforming to their strange ideals. Somewhat strangely, however, is the fact that almost all technological items produced by the Alchemists is equipped with a fairly advanced nervous system, giving it a limited self-awareness, and - more importantly - its own will.
This feature makes Alchemist technologies slightly harder to handle than its counterparts. In short, you have to train the item into doing what you want (and more importantly - when you want it to do it). Each piece of equipment must be familiarized with the user, like a household pet, before it will function flawlessly. Alchemists, of course, don't have this problem - they are very much in tune with their slimy, lumpy, cancerous tools.
Since most Alchemists "outsource" their bodily functions to some degree, its only natural that this norm is also expanded to their technology. Like their masters, the biotech implements and equipment spends resting periods hooked up to a umbilical that provides them with nutrients and removes waste. Outside of an Alchemist enclave, the biotech items need specialized support units providing there services
Curiously, this has not deterred customers from acquiring Alchemist biotech equipment - in some cultures it enjoys something approaching cult status. This is especially true for the curious living jewelery and drug paraphernalia some enclaves produce, this is a "must-have" among some groups of bio-romanticists, wannabe biopunkers/genehackers and people with a taste for the odd and bizarre.
The Alchemist Glow-orbs and Lantern plants (both of which, by the way, are grown purely for export) is quite popular in most polities, as are – quite normal-looking – bonsai plants.
Biotech weapons, however, are something the Alchemists keep to themselves. In part, this is due to the crucial role these weapons have in their culture, but also because of its effectiveness. No other manufacturer of biotech weaponry can quite match the range and/or firepower of the Alchemist arsenal.
Another reason is that these weapons can have a 'mind' of their own. At first, this was something sought after for its novelty and potential efficiencies. But after several incidents involving poorly trained weapons, the Alchemists stopped licensing their macrobiological weapons to members of other civilizations. They did this by raising the cost of the licenses for this beyond the abilities of most purchasers.
Despite their weird appearance, and really unpleasant looking technology, the Alchemists are relatively friendly, if closeted. The civilizations they get along best with are the Mechanicans and the Stored, if only because of their broad views on what is human. The Stardwellers are another one they are friendly with and frequently exchange ideas and technology with each other. They have a long standing relationship with the Logicians, and find the lack of reaction by them refreshing. Roamers, Independents, Old Worlders, Cargo Cults and the Disciples avoid them where they can.
In terms of societies, from the official societies, only the group minds cannot be found among them. All of the unofficial ones can be found among them, especially Pantropists Beta.
Common Name: Alchemists
Emblem: Squaring the circle enclosing the alchemical emblem for sulfur.
Benefits: Pheromonal communications system, the ability to swap ¾ of their Biotech capability for Stringtech capability.
Inspector Status: FBI, RCMP or Customs Inspectors
Core Values: Life and Utilitarian Pragmatism
Their Life CV indicates a respect for all living things, and a broader interpretation of “living” than most people take.
Utilitarian Pragmatism is the Alchemist manner of solving problems. They approach it with a practical mindset and keeping the available resources in mind. For an Alchemist the moral worth of an action is determined by its contribution to the overall utility, meaning that the moral worth of an action is determined by its outcome—the ends justify the means. This is is how the Alchemists wound up with the changes they made to themselves and a very heavily biotech civilization.
| Civilization | Bio | Cog | Meta | Nano | String |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alchemists | 2-10 | 2-8 | 2-8 | 1-5 | 2-8 |
The 'Castes,' Part 2
The Administrators
They are obviously augmented for enhanced intellectual, communicative and administrative skills. Members of this caste are rarely or seen outside the Alchemist enclaves, spending much of their time in communion with the enclave's network of bio-computers, governing the enclave and communicating with other Alchemist groups. They have the same physical characteristics as as any Alchemist, but their bodies are minimal.
They are skeletal, spindly figures with an abnormally large, swollen head, often trailing umbilical conduits which links them to various processor units and memory banks, in the process also greatly hampering their mobility.
The semi-biological spaceships the Alchemists use, are usually commanded by at least one administrator.CVs: Life 6, Utilitarian Pragmatism 6, My Enclave 5, Order 4
Bio 2, Cog 8, Meta 8, Nano 5, String 5
Professions: Crisis Control 8, Financial 4, Legal 8, Locality (Alchemist) 8, Locality (2 nearby communities at 5), Political 8Envoys
They are the most 'normal' looking of the 'castes' and the most commonly seen. Beautiful and charming, the Envoys handle deals, contracts and legal niceties. Despite the charm, they have sharp minds and use them to benefit the Alchemists. They resemble athletic normal humans, with pale, pale skin, golden eyes and night black hair. Most of the changes are internal, allowing them to be independent and more mobile than their kin, as well as to use their pheromones on others.CVs: Life 4, Utilitarian Pragmatism 4, Connection 6, Reciprocation 6
Bio 3, Cog 5, Meta 8, Nano 4, String 4
Professions: Courtesan 4, Financial 6, Legal 6, Locality (Alchemist) 8, Locality (other civilization) 4, Media 6, Political 6, Spy 4Engineers
This group is more diverse than the others, their appearance dictated largely by their function, with no two alike. They might look like a household biodroid, have a roughly humanoid appearance or in some cases some huge, dinosaurian shape.CVs: Life 4, Utilitarian Pragmatism 8, Diligence 6, Community 6
Bio 8, Cog 6, Meta 3, Nano 5, String 8
Professions: Crisis Control 4, Biotech Engineer 6, Nanotech Engineer 6, Stringtech Engineer 6, Farmer 4Warriors
This is the stereotypical image of an Alchemist caste. A warrior rarely stands shorter than 2.2 meters, and is broad to proportion. Their complexion is always dusky gray, and their eyes a uniform dusty-silver in color. Some, but not all, have great manes consisting of translucent, spiraling cords of nematocysts on their heads.
Without exception, they all are heavily and visibly augmented - large, unconcealed symbiotes and biotech modules adhering to them in every visible spot.
When leaving their home enclave, they will wear their traditional biological combat exoskeleton, a bulky, full-body affair, seemingly made out of gray keratin and covered in irregular flanges, bumps and strange protrusions.
CVs: Life 2, Utilitarian Pragmatism 5, Brotherhood 5, Honor 4
Bio 10, Cog 4, Nano 5, String 8
Professions: Crisis Control 6, Outdoorsman 4, Police 6, Soldier 6Explorers
The Alchemists are always seeking new and unique life forms to add to their cell libraries and as examples for their bio-engineers. To that end, they created the Explorer caste (or Exploiter caste in less politic quarters).
They are drawn from Alchemists that want to see more of the universe, especially the wilder parts. To that end they are re-engineered to function independently and be very, very durable – capable of surviving long periods of time in hostile environments. And for the ones they can’t survive in on their own, they can add symbiotes allowing them to survive anywhere.
Explorers are surprisingly social, but able to function by themselves if need be thanks to selection criteria and their meshes. They are short and stocky humanoids with somewhat coarse looking skin and their eyes have nictitating membranes. Their voices are pleasant, melodious and capable of a great range of imitation – this lets them be great mimics and singers.CVs: Life 4, Utilitarian Pragmatism 2, Exploration 6, Seeking Out New Lifeforms 6
Bio 6, Cog 6, Meta 4, Nano 6, String 8 (Defensive only)
Professions: Crisis Control 5, Explorer 6, Locality (Alchemist) 4, Locality (2 others) 4, Outdoorsman 6, Spy 4Rangers
While the Envoys and Warriors are the public faces of the Alchemists, the Rangers are a recent and more subtle creation.
Originally conceived as a Warrior variant to work in tandem with Explorers, Rangers were intended to be more flexible and low profile than Warriors, capable of aiding Explorers in their dealings with other civilizations. Their low profile made them less intimidating and threatening, and ultimately, more useful. Before long they were used by Envoys and Administrators, where a strong response might be needed, but a human touch most certainly was.
Since then, they have been phased out as protectors of the Explorers (except in special cases), but have been widely spread in security, law enforcement and intelligence. They are the most unremarkable of the castes, resembling either a normal Alchemist or the dominant local phenotype. With their advanced biotech procedures, a Ranger can look almost like anyone, with some prep time.
Personality wise, they are personable and observant, if reserved. They are drawn from those that want to protect the enclave, but are modified to be more normal and trained to have a wider set of responses.CVs: Life 3, Utilitarian Pragmatism 5, Caution 5, Community 4
Bio 8, Cog 4, Nano 5, String 8
Professions: Crisis Control 6, Locality (Alchemist) 6, Locality (other) 4, Outdoorsman 4, Police 6, Soldier 6, Spy 6
The Alchemists as Bad Guys
Its fairly easy to imagine these as the opposition in a campaign. Just think – they started as a group that engaged in unrestricted biological and genetic experimentation, completely unencumbered by ethics or morality. They have the creepy and disgusting cancer inspired aesthetic. Then there are the 'castes,' which while they aren't castes in the normal sense, most wouldn't take the time to check. Plus, they're rather private and secretive. All in all, the frame fits fairly well as opposition or scape goats.
So how to make them the bad guys? Well, a few ideas.
- Let there be rumors of coercive joining and involuntary conversions using parasites and symbiotes to brainwash the targets.
- Then let those rumors be true.
- Downgrade the inspector status to advisory.
- Another would be using people as raw materials for their technologies. Not really efficient in the face of replicators, but …
- Bring in Paracelsus from Orion's Arm.
- Bring on the Malignancy, or their expansion campaign.
- Make warriors common, as well as their semi-autonomous weapons.
- Let their exports be full of back doors and other subversion tools.
- Worse, let them export lots of their bioweapons.
- Worse still, let the macro versions breed and carry diseases.
- Play up the creepiness and disgusting appearance of their tools.
- An easy one is to make them enthusiastic Darwinians. At a minimum, let them be a source of supply and comfort. For scary, let them adopt Survival of the Fittest as one of their core values.
