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Ultimates and Mercurials

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Mon, 2011-06-20 01:59
Prophet710 Prophet710's picture
Re: Ultimates and Mercurials
I agree with above postings about the Mercurials, taking the direction of a social body seeking to advocate equal rights of sentient beings not specifically human in origin. I also like how the direction that was taken on the Ultimates being more of an order, similar to the Teutonic Knights or other religio-militaristic orders. I have them as something akin to Samurai, seeking perfection of the mind, the body and the ethic. Their whole order is modeled after a Shogunate (with a few flairs to show certain directions the specific Ultimate has taken) with the fraternity itself being fluidly structured as opposed to a rigid hierarchy to promote tactical efficacy. I loved the Ultimate ideal so much I've even written out quite a bit of mysticism and history behind them, they have to be my favorite faction presented so far.
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Mon, 2011-06-20 16:05
BOMherren BOMherren's picture
Re: Ultimates and Mercurials
Prophet710 wrote:
I agree with above postings about the Mercurials, taking the direction of a social body seeking to advocate equal rights of sentient beings not specifically human in origin.
I think your description is accurate for the Mercurials faction as a whole - mostly peaceful activists and pundits, advocating for equal protection under the law. But since the faction isn't actually a single movement, but rather a variety of movements and groups sharing a single theme, there's actually a lot more room for variation than that. A particular Mercurial individual or group might also be something like a lobby group, a neighborhood association in a nonhuman ghetto, a hacktivist or even a terror cell. Think the Animal Liberation Front. In space. With nanofabricators.
Prophet710 wrote:
I also like how the direction that was taken on the Ultimates being more of an order, similar to the Teutonic Knights or other religio-militaristic orders. I have them as something akin to Samurai, seeking perfection of the mind, the body and the ethic. Their whole order is modeled after a Shogunate (with a few flairs to show certain directions the specific Ultimate has taken) with the fraternity itself being fluidly structured as opposed to a rigid hierarchy to promote tactical efficacy. I loved the Ultimate ideal so much I've even written out quite a bit of mysticism and history behind them, they have to be my favorite faction presented so far.
Very, very yes. Space samurai, but done in a way that [i]makes sense[/i] within context. You, Sir, get a space-cookie, and an emphatic cry of "link plz". :D
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Tue, 2011-06-21 03:23
Unity Unity's picture
Re: Ultimates and Mercurials
Arenamontanus wrote:
Unity wrote:
My rep is ruined! Ruined!
Ah, may I interest Monsieur in a reputation repair service? Reliable, discreet and with an option (outsourced to ultimates) for retribution?
Hm, anyone specific, or just pointing me in the right direction? Because that outsourced retribution option sounds quite intriguing.
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Thu, 2011-06-23 01:20
root root's picture
Re: Ultimates and Mercurials
root@Ultimates and Mercurials [hr] I'm sticking with the Ultimates being Space Nazis with rocket-jet jackboots. They declare an earnest desire for "perfection" in mentality and body. This presumes that there is a "perfection" to work towards; that sentience has an evolutionary vector. By necessity, this requires some sentience platforms to be superior to others, and since the Uplifts were, well, uplifted, they are to be considered 'le suck'.
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Sat, 2011-06-25 06:33
Rallan Rallan's picture
Re: Ultimates and Mercurials
Unity wrote:
I am kind of iffy about turning Ultimates into a sect of biochauvinists.
So make them a sect of people who have big arguments about biochauvinists. In one camp you've got the guys who think that any sentient which buys into their brand of self-reliance and social darwinism and shows enough dedication to the cause is a sentient that qualifies as an Ultimate. In the other camp you've got the chauvinists who can't get around the fact that the uplifted are creations, and who think the natural role of transhumanity's creations is to serve humanity, or that the whole concept of uplifts is a frivolous piece of whimsy and that we really shouldn't be wasting our time and resources on perpetuating that sort of frippery while the survival of transhumanity is at stake. And naturally they will argue about it forever. After all, you're an Ultimate. You're more intelligent and resourceful than anyone except the Exhumans (who are batshit insane anyway so they don't count), and more [i]right[/i] than everyone. The idea that one of your fellow ubermensch doesn't accept your perfectly logical and sensible position on uplifts is going to piss you off no end :)
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Sat, 2011-06-25 06:28
Rallan Rallan's picture
Re: Ultimates and Mercurials
Yerameyahu wrote:
Some morphs are a hell of a lot more equal than others. For example, even with their synthetic bonuses, most synthmorphs are cruddy (though again, the Ultimate crunch doesn't bar them, it merely ignores them). But my comments are based only on the faction crunch; if it's chauvinist of any kind, that's the Ultimates (or, as I suggested, the crunch inaccurately reflects them).
They've got wiggle-room though, since chauvinism and overweening self-love are rooted in ideology more than anything else. A baseline unaugmented human from the Jovian Republic, for example, isn't a contemptible waste of oxygen because he's a flat. He's a contemptible waste of oxygen because he's a small-minded reactionary coward who mistakes tradition for strength and lacks the moral fortitude to grow a pair and do what has to be done to ensure the survival of transhumanity.
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Sat, 2011-06-25 19:52
Re-Laborat Re-Laborat's picture
Re: Ultimates and Mercurials
It's kind of a shame that the Ripwing is considered a 'pod' biomorph, because I can completely picture an uplift parrot that's splitting the difference towards being an Ultimate/Mercurial...And residing in a modded Ripwing. "Yes, I'm a bird. HEAR ME ROAR." Doggonit. I'm going to do this.
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Tue, 2011-07-05 16:05
The Doctor The Doctor's picture
Re: Ultimates and Mercurials
Yerameyahu wrote:
Yes. That *could* mean that Uplift egos are okay, but Uplift morphs are 'failing to advance to perfection'… unless you simply haven't had the chance to upgrade. Or… not. :) I love the way everything contains multitudes.
Until the party's uberkrake decides to become C'thul'hu. I mean, REALLY become C'thul'hu by working on a way to pack seed AI-class processing power into a cyberbrain the size of a Mack truck and growing a sufficiently large biomorph to go along with it... Why not go all the way?
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Tue, 2011-07-05 19:24
Arenamontanus Arenamontanus's picture
Re: Ultimates and Mercurials
The Doctor wrote:
Why not go all the way?
It probably has to do with the ultimate/exhuman distinction. As I see it, both want to become the top trans/posthuman predators. But ultimates care about how it is done, and want to have some sort of society/community to be top dogs in - a continuation of human history with them as the exemplars at the helm. Ultimates have a fairly evolved cultural tradition (think bushido, Nietzsche, Mishima, Jünger, etc) describing their vision and the (trans)humanistic constraints on it. Exhumans just want transcendence for themselves NOW, and disregard all that human trash. This might also be why many ultimates have trouble with mercurials. They are too close to exhumans just by coming from fundamentally different brains; although most uplifts have been made more humanlike these ultimates think they might have missed some subtle core traits. This, counters others, is just speciecism or prejudice. But Cthulhu ambitions are likely something all ultimates think is beyond the pale.
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Extropian
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Sat, 2013-04-27 05:17
Baalbamoth Baalbamoth's picture
just spent the last 5 hrs
just spent the last 5 hrs reading EVERY mention of the ultimates in existing materials, I understand this conversation is 3 yrs old, however noticed some of the people in it are still on the boards so... no, Ultimates though not as bad as Jovians do not trust AGI and do not allow AGI's in their habs, this probably has more to do out of fears of a future TITAN invasion but it is important to note. further, though they use defensive pods and drones I dont see them as supporting infomorphs... if a H+ can do it, they probably frown on letting an infomorph take control...
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