Children Of The Aether

The Children of the Aether are a cultlike faith based around the NMX being the portents of the true deity, Ataxia. Their membership is small, but dedicated and growing. They are primarily based on Yamataian planets, but find purchase in nearly every aether-using society.

The Children of the Aether believe that the aetheric power source draws from Ataxia, and thus the Dark Ones acted as white blood cells to the Yugumo Cluster's abrasions. They believe that using aether power in any form is sacrilige, and will do anything to avoid using it, unless it is absolutely necessary. They believe the Mishu themselves to be a scion of Ataxia, meant to cleanse the impurities of the galaxy. Thus, they either try to modify themselves to be more like them, or take more drastic measures in transplanting whole Mishuvar parts. They make an exception in using Aether when it comes to NMX/SMX technology, but still only use it in an emergency. Their end goal is the extermination of Aetheric technology throughout the Yugumo Cluster. As their membership grows, their efforts will grow more radical - while the front end group preaches louder and harder, the back-end will resort to invasion and destruction of aether power plants (Or factories that produce aetheric technoogies). No sacrifice too great.

Their membership started small in a Kyoto locale from the efforts of a few former antiwar protestors, but since then has blossomed thanks to fervent (But careful) recruitment efforts relying on a front-end and a back-end. The front end group is the face, and generally doesn't know much about the back-end (Read: the augmented ones) besides promises of glory and ascendance. The front-end communicates through open, clear channels, but the back-end relies on in-house courier services to deliver the most crucial messages, or rely on code that can be mistaken for small talk. Recruitment is gained through canvassers in public spaces or door-to-door preaching, with the odd radio broadcast and advertisement peppered throughout standard media. They also have their own radio station and TV channel, but all of the content is in-house propaganda. And the occasional cooking show and “Living without Aether” environmental home and garden shows. Their membership stretches between different walks of life, appealing to both the down-on-hard-times poor man to the well-to-do business owner who wants more from their life. While the members are predominantly Yamataian, the values and beliefs appeal to those living in the other nations affected by the NMX and SMX wars.

When a group in a particular area is small, all efforts are focuse on small-time recruitment. But, with larger groups comes more strident efforts in arming members. Oftentimes, they'll buy up any NMX scrap and turn it into reasonably-functional pieces, though oftentimes they have to supplement the parts with other tech they can find. Bits of everything the NMX use has found their way into the larger chapters - including weapons of a more biological nature. The augments people have on their bodies runs from relatively benign Yamataian body mods to full on synthesis and fusion of flesh with the psionic organs, carapaces, and chemical injecting tentacles.

The more somebody is modified, the less they are allowed outside of the chapters of the Children of the Aether - to protect everybody's well-being, of course. So naturally, Chapters of the Children either go for out-of-town living spaces, or they buy an entire building where possible. They are mostly member-funded, with a side of embezzlement courtesy of ex-syndicate members. If confronted, a Child of the Aether responds with utter devotion to their cause, and will do anything to sway others to their cause. This of course varies from person to person, but the most common sort will be people standing in train stations handing out pamphlets denouncing the use of aether.

Moogle created this article on 2015/12/30 09:45.

Approval thread: https://stararmy.com/roleplay-forum/index.php?threads/children-of-the-aether.18341/

Ideas for Future Additions:

• Some kind of Grab N Go Parasite Augment where people just sorta slap the critter on and become superhuman. See also: Centipede.
• Some kind of standard vessel, like a popemobile combined with a company car.
• the Tom Cruise and John Travolta of the religion: Etou Hasase and Blake Webber, Etou's a stuntman/double who commonly plays as one of the many goons in Yamataian Sentai TV shows (Sometimes as the 'king goon'), and Blake's an actor/producer/director who's been in the movie business for a long time, and going slightly mad with age. Terrorised a TV show presenter in Yamatai, and owns a studio in Showdown on Majestic.Etou is also known for endorsing many odd things, appearing in infomercials for useless products, and is a big name in the zentai scene.