TechnoMages
Original Species: Homo Technologicus
Reclusive, powerful, feared ... TechnoMages have almost magical technological abilities understood by none, which they’ve mastered over millennia of monomanical study.
TechnoMages, along with their 'siblings', Scions of Ogo, were created by machine intelligences, known as the 12, during the Synthetic War. These two groups of Homo technologicus, TechnoMages and Scions of Ogo, were originally very similar, but eventually, their paths diverged. TechnoMages focus on technology and virtual realms, while Scions of Ogo interact with the physical world (and hone their martial abilities).
Origins in War
Along with their brethren the Scions, TechnoMages were created during the Synthetic War by the machine intelligences known as the 12. Though not their goal, the 12 succeeded in creating a new species: homo technologicus. All they’d been trying to do was win a civil war by modifying existing humans to gain a technological advantage over their adversaries, the 24 (before the war, the 12 and 24 had been allies, known as the 36). After ninety years or so, their gamble paid off and the 12, along with their allies managed to defeat the 24 — though not without catastrophic consequences. Namely, a two-thousand year dark age that became known as the Great Sundering. It was during this time of isolation that the surviving homo technologicus, free from the constraints of war, were free to live their lives as they chose. Those we now know as TechnoMages chose a monastic life, with a single-minded focus on the study of advanced technology, and those beings to whom it had given consciousness.
An Evolving Discipline
Though the TechnoMages had been bred to be soldiers (and retain the same latent abilities as Scions), they quickly grew to spurn the need for, and use, of violence to achieve their ends, not least because it involved such large groupings of beings. Like monastic practitioners before them, they spent the ages searching for answers to deeper questions of life, through technological experimentation and various synthetic/organic couplings (mixing their consciousnesses with those that lived in circuits).
Try though they might, no secret lasts several thousand years and some information came to be public knowledge. TechnoMages are functionally immortal, possessing the ability to transfer their minds between different bodies. They developed their own ‘religion’, either worshiping or communicating with something called ‘The Prime’. Most are able to communicate with technology at a distance without need or reliance upon synthetic transmitters or communications devices. There is more, but the details are even more far-fetched than what I’ve written here.
A Threat to the Centopoly
In modern times, it is a known fact, that some Scions of Ogo operate in Outback Space, but TechnoMages are so reclusive (and skilled in avoiding technological observation), that their presence often cannot be confirmed. In recent years, alleged TechnoMage sightings have increased in the Outback, which may be a signal that some have decided to become more active in Cosmos affairs. Additionally, some have noticed, over the centuries, profound technological leaps in sub-light space travel, materials science, and other complex areas that are extremely difficult to explain. They credit these advances to TechnoMage intervention.
Due to their immense power, many in the Centopoly believe that TechnoMages have the ability to significantly alter the technological and political landscape of the Cosmos, Although some believe TechnoMages pose a significant threat to the Centopoly, others are not sure. They cite TechnoMages' small numbers and the dominance of the Metric as checks on their power and influence.