Factions/Neo-Boreals

This faction, known for its beautiful biotecture and uncanny ability to predict Puzzlebox's growth, is devoted to seeking signs of cosmic consciousness in the growth patterns of ordinary things. The neo-Boreals believe that natural (and pseudo-natural) phenomena contain an encrypted, lucid, and possibly urgent message from Puzzlebox or its creator. Conscious thought, which is based on a completely different set of formulae, tends to corrupt this message, and thus conscious design must not be allowed to overtake the universe. (In a world where even black holes wear evening gowns and tell jokes, this is a legitimate concern.)

The Boreals (or "neoBs") do not believe that consciousness is evil -- they don't, in fact, put much stock in concepts of good and evil. They celebrate consciousness for its own merits, but simply fear the consequences of its overgrowth. Thus, they operate huge preserves where natural and artificial life is allowed to develop along simple, serendipitous principles. Trained mystics study the results after drugging themselves into pre-conscious states, so as not to contaminate the systems with their observations, and try to intuit meaningful patterns that might lead them to the One Text. ("Boojum," which induces species-atavism, is an especially popular drug for this purpose; it is finding its way into the Mess as a recreational drug, much to the neoBs' dismay.)

The Neo-Boreals are particularly well-suited to Top, and a large minority of their converts are Chitin Queens; insectoids seem particularly at ease with at the transrational thought processes needed to seek the One Text. Upwarpians tend as a rule to have little use for information gathered non-rationally, but there are surely exceptions. Strangewarp attracts a substantial amount of neoB curiosity because of its unique type of fertility, but it is almost never acted upon, and it's doubtful that Strange returns the affection. The neoBs are quite welcome in Charmwarp, but they find the Bubble Dolls too challenging to their notions of consciousness to be more than amiably distant with them. Bottom's Aquarian do-your-own-thing vibe attracts neoBs in droves. And as soon as it was understood that the One Text wasn't found exclusively in organic life, but in anything and everything that grows wild, they gained quite a few converts in Down; these are the fabled "rust shamans."

--taken from Function OR's [writeup]

• ...conscious design must not be allowed to overtake the universe. - All of the unusual things displaying minds around here beg the question of whether consciousness is some kind of a lowest-energy state in Puzzlebox. Or an attempt to conserve energy in the most complex forms available. ::Volarian

Known members

• Far-Spire