Brotherhood of the Machine

The Brotherhood of the Machine is a secret society dedicated to corpsehacking and the discovery of the legendary Legacy Ship. Founded in 2159 by the close friends of Jacob Harvell, there are 404 Brothers scattered across the known systems. They are jealous, scheming, amoral, anarchist, and curious. They are the movers and shakers behind every advance in virus-hacking from the introduction of Heritage 7 to the creation of the Phirrus to the as-of-yet unknown human derivatives they flaunt in secret for each other's amusement. They are the Brotherhood, and chances are you've seen them already, you just won't ever know it.

Public perception of the Brotherhood of the Machine is very limited. When they are mentioned, it is as a joke or a cautionary tale against unethical behavior. Only those who have come across some of their discarded creations have proof they exist, and those unlucky souls would often rather believe otherwise. There is a small group of scholars who insist that the Brotherhood is real and their unsourced rantings sometimes strike close to the truth. The Brotherhood is smart enough, however, to know that the best defense is no offense. They let the ranting journalists and historians continue publishing best selling pieces of myth, half-truth, and outright lies in order to benefit from the smokescreen.

Motivation

Each Brother has his own reasons for what they do, but the Brotherhood as a whole has two motivations. The first stems from their origin as mad scientists and corpsehacking punks--they want to push the DNA of human derivatives to the max. Part of this is because of the hacker's credo--if you can't open it, you don't own it. In this vein, each Brother's body changes yearly, and several have made their personal hacking focus longevity. On average, Brothers have stretched their lifespan to 300 years. Another part of it comes from the darker side of scientific progress. Completely unhindered by the ethics and conventions of the modern world, they experiment with perverted pleasure on human derivatives according to their own aesthetic.

The second motivation is what ties them together as an organization. It is also what makes them dangerous. They are driven to find and activate the Legacy Ship, a legendary alien capital ship with the power to remake the universe in its commander's image. With the power of the Legacy Ship, the Brotherhood of the Machine could destroy the artificial system of governments and corporations and allow the true power of the Machine to come to light.

Organization

The Brotherhood is loosely organized, as befits an anarchist organization. Every one of the four hundred four Brothers has sworn to only a few things: to devote life and limb to the discovery of the Legacy Ship; to protect the secrets of the pages from those who would use it to increase the tyranny of government; and to only reveal the secrets of the Brotherhood to one Acolyte at a time.

Gatherings

Once every year, 41 Brothers are randomly selected to attend a Gathering, a week long revelry of music, sex, recreational drug use, genetic surgery, and showmanship. The Brothers compare notes on their Legacy Pages, build and destroy factions, and let their true selves (selfish, powerful, completely amoral, and curious) show. If normal people could see what goes on inside the gates of the selected Enclave, they would doubtless gather torches and pitchforks and storm inside. The 120 Days of Sodom had nothing on a gathering of the Brotherhood.

In addition to the politics and partying, there is a third function of the Gatherings. Each of the 41 Brothers displays their latest creations, grotesquely beautiful genetic derivatives meant to shock and inspire their fellows. Each Brother strives to be the most over-the-top performer. After their performance piece, the mutations are disposed of, either by euthanasia or clandestine release into the surrounding area.

Enclaves

Every Brother has an Enclave. They are almost always impressively large constructions, completely sealed off from public access. They invariably represent the character of their resident Brother. One may be like Frankenstein's castle from the gothic tradition. Another may be all glass and steel and soaring atriums filled with plants that drink blood. The only rhyme or reason applied is the Brother's unleashed imagination.

The Brother is not alone in his Enclave. In addition to their chosen Acolyte, many Brothers have established themselves as the Grand Masters of smaller secret sects. Brothers are invariably strong personalities, and they draw themselves followers of the corpsepunk movement, both young and old. While they are not allowed into the inner sanctum of the Enclave or entitled to the vast secrets which every Brother hoards, they are fed just enough to keep them addicted to the power and freedom they have found at the Brother's feet.

Deep within the recesses of every enclave are the experiments. Staffed (and sometimes sourced) by the fanatics who follow the Brother, they are in various stages of progression. All are fantastically grotesque, and again reflect the individual interests and personality of the creating Brother.

Acolytes

Each Brother is allowed exactly one confidant beyond the Brotherhood. Often drawn from the ranks of their followers, every Brother chooses an Acolyte to assist them in their research and study. The Acolytes are initiates into the mysteries of the Brotherhood, the Machine, and the Legacy. Their Big Brother holds these mysteries over their head like catnip, taunting them with the knowledge that they will never enter fully into the Brotherhood until their Big Brother dies.

This causes a great deal of resentment and an intensely treacherous relationship between the Brothers and their Acolytes. While it is a close relationship, there is absolutely no trust. Every Brother knows how far they went to earn their place in the Brotherhood, and they know that their Acolyte is capable of worse.

Factionalism in the Brotherhood

Since every Brother has inherited only one Legacy Page, there is a great deal of maneuvering the gain access to the other 403 pages. Sometimes this takes the form of skullduggery and intrusion. Other times it is intense Machiavellian political intrigue which pits Brother against Brother against Acolyte against Brother. No one is safe, and anyone can be a pawn.

Occasionally, a single Brother creates a strong bloc through charisma, force, and intimidation. With this group behind them, they can make a concerted effort to divine the clues from the Legacy Pages and make an expedition for the Ship. None has yet succeeded, but that doesn't keep them from trying. When such a bloc is on its rise, the other Brothers will often band together just long enough to take the bloc leader down. After all, it would never do to have all the power of the Legacy Ship concentrated in any one Brother's hands.

Artifacts/Philosophy

"We are the ones searching for a flaw in the only system mankind has yet to fully master, exploiting this - we conquer life."

• Trevell Hardaway, Brother #187

In the millennium of its existence, the Brotherhood has developed a complete culture of its own, with ceremonies and sacraments to rival the most obsessive cult.

The Machine

The Machine is what the Brotherhood calls the mysterious elements of life, the driving spirit behind every derivative of humanity. The human and its geneborn cousins are fearfully and wonderfully made, and it is by upgrading, modifying, and hacking this Machine that the Brothers gain their power. Organs, tissues, cells, mitochondria and retrovirii: they are both tools and playthings in the hands of an experienced Brother.

A result of this tenet of their philosophy is their utter distaste for Synteks. The Brothers view them as cheaply machined imitations of the Machine.

The Legacy Ship

The Legacy Ship is a myth, just like the Holy Grail. It may be out there somewhere, but the Brotherhood is too fractured an entity to find it. Most people outside the Brotherhood don't even know of it's theoretical existence. It's only appearance in the historical record is a single mention in one of disgraced scholar and businessman Jacob Harvell's final lecture.

According to Brotherhood mythology, the Legacy Ship is a hidden artifact of a once great alien civilization--perhaps the civilization which seeded Earth with the initial batch of humanity. It holds immense power, the exact nature of which is debated fiercely at every Gathering. Some believe it has the power to create and destroy life from scratch, offering direct access to the gears of the Machine. Others go further, and claim that it can manipulate the very fabric of existence in ways unimaginable.

All Brothers take an oath to protect the secrets of the Legacy Ship from those who would use it to increase order and law within the systems. Ostensibly this is so that their brand of hackarchism can give the Machine free reign. In reality, many Brothers have lost this "true" path of idealist anarchy and instead wish to install themselves as rulers of the known and unknown universe.

Harvell and the Legacy Pages

Jacob Harvell was a brilliant mathematician and engineer who was instrumental in the creation of the Plate City concept, allowing the people of Earth to literally rise above their polluted planet. The hopelessness of this gesture weighed heavily on him, however, and he turned to the newest theories of self-actualization for comfort.

Near the age of 50, he became quite ill from carcinogen exposure while building the supports of the first Plate City. While on his deathbed, he wrote a journal 404 pages long. Scholars of the time dismissed it as the dying ravings of a proud man driven insane by despair, drugs, and the pain of his condition. A small group of friends believed differently, however, and took up his journal as the scripture of a new society.

Of course, this history has been in most part lost, even to the oldest Brothers. The general world has forgotten Jacob Harvell and the (publicly) short lived cult which grew up around his death, and the Brotherhood remembers him only as the First Brother, the Son of Legacy, and the dual savior of mankind (first through creation and construction of the Plate Cities and second, the salvation from law and tyranny to come with the unleashing of the Legacy Ship).

All they have left of their First Brother is the 404 pages of his journal, which are painstakingly preserved. These Legacy Pages are handed down from Brother to Brother, and are believed to hold the secrets to the location and function of the Legacy Ship. They are jealously guarded, and without them, a Brother has no standing within the Brotherhood. The general idea amongst the modern Brotherhood is that the words of the Pages must be arranged in a specific pattern and analyzed in a kabbalistic fashion. Of course, every Brother is so jealous over his Page that he will not share it or its contents with any but his most trusted allies, making any sort of complete analysis of the journal next to impossible. Several of the more forward thinking Brothers believe that it is this fact alone which has prevented them from locating the Ship, and that they by rights should have found it four centuries ago.

Prominent Members

The Surgeon General

History

Soon after Harvell's Death

Leadership of Harlan and acceptance of corpsehacking ethics

Involvement in notable political milestones, including Phirrus debacle

Notable attempts to locate Legacy Ship