Otissa is a mushroom-shaped building located in one of Upwarp's Delta Sector pyramids. Its main features include a large open communal floor for entertainment and activities, several classrooms and several discussion chambers, and a large escalator which stands as an hommage to an original investor in the project which began many many years ago on a far-off planet known as Earth.
As soon as you enter Otissa, you can stop moving. The building is completely automated with moving sidewalks and elevators that can get you to your destination in a rapid, precice or interesting manner. Everything is decorated in an intellectually stimulating manner, with many quotes and mathematical theorems displayed on sound walls, usually changing to one that would appeal to you as you pass by.
And though it's very large and holds a vast population, most Otissians can live happy lives without leaving their home, which is why they are rare elsewhere in the Mess.
Otissa's philosophy stems from the wonders of automation. If it can be done by machine, it is done by machine. This includes preparing meals, organizing schedules, and general societal fine-tuning. As an Upwarp faction, they embrace all types of technologies that could increase the standards of living. Otissa's "assisted living" standards turn every menial task, and we mean EVERY menial task, into a breeze.
At age 20, all decanted Otissians have the option of removing their body, thereby freeing up their brain space in order to pursue higher cognitive streams. While the process isn't immediate (a 21 year-old Otissian still thinks like a 21 year-old), the standards of life in Otissa are so high that their lifespans can extend for periods of over 500 years, barring accidents.
Of course, the disembodying ritual can also be due to Otissa's sedentiary lifestyle. The Otissians who choose not to part with their bodies eventually become so obese that they are no longer mobile. Most bodied Otissians are frowned upon by the community.
Otissians reject artificial and permanent modification of the brain. They fear brain surgery, they refuse implants, and only use the safest of recreational drugs. In Otissian philosophy, the brain is the central purpose for existence, and that its functions should not be altered in any manner, for any reason.
Instead, they embrace techniques like psychotherapy, hypnotism, support groups, and diet changes.
The age of touch is over. By eliminating the source of a great variety of kinaesthetic information, Otissa has removed the need for physical activity, physical stimulation, and control over lesser organs. This lack of sensory information is rumored to increase the capabilities of the other senses. In practice, it's not quite true, but it does offer the brain the chance to create new pathways over an extended period of time. Otissians rarely engage in touching activities, though the fuzzier heads will allow themselves to be held if a non-Otissian needs comfort.
Otissians themselves see physical desire within themselves as immoral, or at least childish. They look down on physical activity, sports and sex as a Professor of natural science might look down at the Catholic Church (or vice versa), full of misguided, complex rituals with no point. They're not without a sense of humour or fun, but they see non-Otissians who give in to physical pleasures as stray sheep. However, they don't actively seek out new memebers.
People are an Otissian's favourite subject, and they're very social. For entertainment, Otissians write, read, watch films and plays, philosophise, and many other cerebral activities. They even hire non-Otissians to act in their plays. Far from xenophobic, Otissa is eerily welcoming to non-Otissians. However, some have a habit of being obscenely interested in the outside world and the people inhabiting it. This wanderlust decreases with age.
Otissa is a commune, and its inhabitants live in a communist society. Its leader is a massive quantum computing device under the commune, a predictive engine, which keeps a copy of each individual Otissian mind within it, running simultaneously with its flesh and blood counterpart. This enables Otissa to predict each and every Otissian's needs and desires, and instantly provide for them. Everything in Otissa is shared, most notably its large open-concept commons area on its top floor, as well as its robotic vehicles which enable the bodyless Otissians to move about outside the commune.
Below the commons area are individual rooms for each Otissian, and though each room is tailored to the aesthetics of the individual that lives within it, everything still belongs to the commune. In a post-scarcity world, and with an impartial control system, the downsides to such a system are negligable.
Otissians are generally genetically engineered animals with no body below the jawline with no, or at the very least short-cut, headfur. When in Otissa itself, the heads are carried around on conveyor belts or hanging cradles, and handled delicately by robotic arms. When outside Otissa, they tend to use large chromed robots that contain their food, their water, and their entertainment.
Their voices and appearances are androgynous, as all decanted Otissians are gender-neutral. They are the picture of health and sanitation, with smooth features and bright eyes.
Until age 20, native Otissians have bodies, and are given the chance to opt out of the body-removal procedure.
At age 50, they begin Sentient Studies, and for the next 50 years learn to craft their own sentients. This is a deeply philosophical and psychological study.
At age 100, they begin Environment Studies, and for the next 100 years they learn about how the environment effects sentients. This is a sociological and organisational study.
At age 200, they begin Planetary Studies, and for the next 300 years they learn about how to craft a closed societal system. There aren't many 500 year-old Otissians left (many have, against all odds, gotten bored and left the faction, or simply found other things to do than education). 500 year plans are frequently submitted to authorities to be compiled for active simulations. Most Otissians disappear at this point, into their designed worlds.