Augmented

Augmented

(Organization)

Type

Cybernetic activists

Leader

Cypremacy Collective

Headquarters

Woven Towers, Kashak, Verces

Goals

Promotion of cybernetic body modification and self-improvement

Scope

Pact Worlds system

Images of Augmented

Source: Core Rulebook, pg(s). 475

The Augmented are a social movemement that claims to represent those who possess advanced cybernetic body modifications and believe these to be the future of evolution. While basic cybernetic augmentation is common and fairly uncontroversial in the Pact Worlds, those who follow this movement have modified themselves to the point where they believe they are set apart from general society.

History

Traditionally the Augmented were one of the three verthani castes, dedicated to improving their bodies through technology and magic. This caste was particularly popular among aethership pilots, who have kept this reputation to this day. While the caste system has fallen out of fashion and only remains as a mark of cultural pride on Verces, the Augmented has expanded beyond the verthani species, and now counts among its rank people of any species who seek to technologically or magically improve themselves and society.

Leadership

The Cypremacy Collective is a council of augmented invidividuals who are seen as the movement's mouthpiece and send out agents to do their bidding. Many such agents are androids, who are venerated in a near-religious way by those who see them as the Augmented ideal.

Sites

The heart of Augmented society has always been the planet Verces, particularly the nation of Kashak, the first to denounce the traditional verthani castes and promote cybernetics for everyone. The private labs and universities in Kashak's capital Nabokon are unrivaled in the study of personal augmentation, attracting powerful technomancers and organisations as the Everlife Adaptation Cooperative, Haruspex Interplanetary, and the Spellsight Cooperative. The members of the Cypremacy Collective, which is also Kashak's national government, are permanently wired into the Woven Towers, from which they exert pressure on governments and corporations.

Members

While the Augmented have long been associated with mechanical modifications, most members are only concerned with the goals of advancement and self-improvement instead of the method by which this is accomplished, leading people who have biotech or purely magical augmentations to identify as Augmented and take part in running the movement as well.

Relationships

While the Cypremacy Collective promotes acceptance and understanding between those who are augmented and those who are not, some Augmented groups like the Remakers and NextStep believe that 'stocks' (non-augmented people) are actively hampering progress, and use the motto evolution doesn't need consent to justify pouring nanites into water supplies or forcibly modifying public figures. The Collective has fought a shadow war with these groups for generations, and usually hire independent contractors to eliminate them, viewing them as a source of anti-Augmented sentiments. The Banner of Purity has also emerged in response to these groups, who promote a return to the Vercite caste system and violence against the Augmented.

= Xenowardens

The Xenowardens have promoted the view that augmentations can reduce ecological harm and have started to strengthen ties with the Augmented, while barathus have begun to enter Augmented meetings for unknown reasons. Many Augmented appreciate the newcomers' viewpoints, but some are concerned that the group's focus might shift unexpectedly.