The Apocalypse is nigh, and it will be digital and broadcast live!
In the 1960s, Gordon E. Moore (one of Intel’s co-founders) predicted that, at the perceived rate of technological progress, the number of transistors on a microchip would double every 18 to 24 months. He’s been right for 40 years, and this theory was canonized as “Moore’s Law.”
Some might say that this idea applies to all current technological and scientific development. Over the last century and into this one, progress looks truly exponential. In every field, whether robotics or pharmaceuticals, artificial intelligence or biotechnology, the evolution of human knowl- edge arcs upwards with an astounding curve. What humans have achieved during the last two millennia pales in comparison to what humanity has achieved during the last 100 years. And, in some fields, what humanity has realized in the last 10 years easily dwarfs everything of the last 100.
Enter the Transhuman Engineers. The mages of this Legacy believe wholeheartedly in the ever-accelerating growth of technology. They see the entire depth and breadth of history as a slowly gathering storm of possibility. The Fallen World has taken its time building steam to this level of raw potential, but that is how it should be. If a child accepts an allowance raise of a single cent that doubles every week, he doesn’t see any significant growth for what feels like forever. But, as the weeks go on, he finds that, suddenly, his allowance skyrockets, and his meager piggy bank can no longer hold the sudden rise in his childhood income. In a year, this doubling allowance would bankrupt the planet. This world has taken a long time to get to here, inching forward step by step in its crawl toward development. But this is now the point at which progress is only just beginning.
With technology advancing in this way, the mages of this Legacy believe humanity will soon reach a point of Singularity. In mathematics, a singularity is a point at which calculation breaks down. A curve leaps to infinity. Technological singularity is the same, except here humankind’s progress will grow to a point that nothing can stay the same and everything must change. Artificial intelligence surpasses our own. Lifespans stretch forever outward, granting everyone equal eternities. Flesh and machine merge. In this scenario, humans are no longer human, but post-human.
This is what the Transhuman Engineers want, and this is what they try to achieve. They know that other mages do not share the Engineers’ view, but so what? The Engineers see themselves as the Prime Movers, the catalysts who push the envelope just a little bit further. They truly believe that they usher humanity toward the light at the end of the tunnel. The Engineers don’t know what exists beyond the light. Is it another Atlantis? Something better? Will the Fallen and the Supernal Worlds reunite? Will all of the Sleepers have their eyes torn open? Will all things unite and become one? The Engineers don’t know. They only know that they will help this to happen, and that everyone who stands in the way of progress is the enemy of a greater future.
Orders
- The majority of Engineers come from the ranks of the Free Council, ’’’if they come from an order at all.’’’
- A few mages from the Mysterium join the growing numbers of Prime Movers.
- The other orders are less comfortable with the Engineers’ mania for progress.
- To the Guardians, the Prime Movers represent an open door — straight to the Abyss.
- The Adamantine Arrow and Silver Ladder both think the Engineers are nuts.
Attainments
- Connection
- Dissolution
- Activation
