Preface: The Roma Software

The software that Cornelius is host to is known as the Roma Software, a high powered program that databases and archives social interactions and notions, analyzes them for greatest efficiency, and uses these analyzations to write rulesets that parse the information into a social behaviour pattern for better living. Cornelius is outfitted with all of the equipment necessary to create new hosts for the Roma Software. This is generally done through extensive surgery, DNA modification and the installation of cybernetics.

The Roma Cycle, while at first the name of the long, murderous process of perfection that Cornelius and his clone bretheren went through, has come to be the name of a faction of those who possess the Roma Software. Their goal is the same as Cornelius', to impose Order and efficiency and to further propagate the Roma Software through art-war and indirect coercion involving promises of a better, happier life with purpose and a sense of brotherhood that goes far beyond the mental. All members of the Roma Cycle are outfitted with proper gear to further spread their software, and add societal information to the Roma Software database through observations and interactions.

The Roma Cycle and the Neo-Romans

[A note: 'Culture', here, implies the societal-ruleset imposed on members by the Roma Software which they are host to.]

The Roma Cycle is a super-Culturalist totalitarian faction. From introduction, all members are instilled with an unbreakable sense of cultural pride. Although it is a classed society, it does not tend to turn members against one another. All members are raised in the belief that no matter how small their role in Neo-Roman life, they are making an important contribution to the progress and growth of the Roma Software. The acheivements of others in high power are viewed as an acheivement for all, since all members took thier part in some small way to build the acting member into a model Neo-Roman. This in turn tends to inspire other members to work harder and achieve their own goals. The Neo-Romans are ruled by an Imperator, currently Imperator Cornelius MCMXCIX who was the original host of the Roma Software and brought it forth unto the Mess. The Imperator serves more as an authority figure than anything else, as most Neo-Romans enact incredible degrees of self-discipline upon themselves due to the Roma Software and have very little need for an organic ruler.

The faction asks very little from its members other than that they impose and represent the Roma Software standards correctly. The Roma Software often drives its members to work ceaselessly when any work can be done, even if it is trivial task-work. While a member of the Cycle is in this stage of operations [Usually planned every day when waking up and organized into neat hourly slots], they are referred to as On-Queue. The member remains On-Queue until all of his self-assigned tasks are done [The majority of them usually being attempting to propagate others into the Cycle, or observing and interacting with others to gather more data], at which point he either finds more work to do or deems himself Off-Queue for personal time. This is generally necessary, as members of the Roma Cycle are almost all organic-based creatures who need rest and release from daily stresses.

All members of the Roma Cycle are social equals, regardless of gender or personal lives so long as personal does not become public. Neo-Romans are, by standard, are instructed by the faction to be soldierlike at all times when on queue. When off queue, however, it is not uncommon for many of the members of the faction to engage in controlled amounts of drug abuse and sexual gratification. This is written off as within Orderly standard due to the fact that it occurs within a planned timeframe and that the release of organic stresses helps them perform with greater efficiency when next called to queue. Such acts are kept private from all outsiders due to how easily they could be manipulated and turned to slander, but amongst themselves the members of the faction have no shame for their off-duty pleasures and discuss them openly.

A strict sense of order is at almost all times maintained. Although members have relative social freedom while in their homes or off queue, public face is all-important. Negative media involving members of the Roma Cycle is combatted furiously through deal-making, and when a deal cannot be reached ruthless media campaigns are often put into action by members of the Cycle to decry claims as slander. These demonstrations are highly sensationalist, touting the great progress of the Neo-Roman faction, and the rampant degeneracy of those who live by other worldviews. These displays are often exceedingly authoritarian in nature, and tend to be ordered and synched as perfectly as clockwork. The Roma Software imposes no moralistic rulesets, as the Neo-Roman culture is built on a foundation of order, efficiency, and progress above all else. The Roma Software, long ago, deemed morality inefficient and an obstacle to progress. This leads often, however, to bouts of unparalleled cruelty by members of the faction who find thier worldview to be the one and only acceptable truth.

There is zero tolerance for anyone who speaks out of line with the Roma Software standards. While ages ago this would usually result in a new version of the software being released, it is now considered Chaotic treason of the highest degree, as with Cornelius and its introduction to the Mess, the software had reached its Final Release stage. Those who are malcontent with Neo-Roman life are quickly swept aside, their Roma Software disactivated, and their entire history as a member omitted from the database. This usually results in members no longer talking to said individual, and oftentimes even entirely disregarding their existence. Most members, however, are very happy with their lives thanks to pride and positive encouragement all around them in every facet of their existence.

Members of the Roma Cycle can be easily identified. They often possess entirely white fur, pupil-less eyes or one eye replaced with an opaque rectangular black viewpiece. Many also have steel datacables exposed visibly from their bodies, most commonly on the backs and tops of thier skulls. These odd augmentations are entirely due to the installation process of the Roma Software, which is surgery intensive. Active members can generally be identified very quickly by the titanium gloves they wear, which are used for surgical manipulation and have 'MCMXCIX' imprinted very visibly down the lengths. For a good example of a character outfitted with Roma augmentations, see Cornelius.

Members of the Roma Cycle do not have a hive-mind as far as communication and group-thinking goes. The Software drives them to zealously enforce Order and decry entropy, and also gives them access to all databased information that other members of the Cycle have gathered. This information is generally very non-personal, and is used almost subliminally in directing them how to interact with those outside of thier worldview.

The Seal of the Cycle