The Current

The Current is a loose network of resistance cells organized after the Declaration, and the primary opposition to the Primacy's rule of Earth. Although acceptance of a certain faith is not a requirement for joining, the Current is largely comprised of Christians, Jews, and members of other faiths who refused to accept the Declaration and acknowledge the Primacy as superior to their own deities. With all who refused being declared expats and subject to execution, many of the world's faithful escaped to the Environs, where they organized into various local cells generally known as Shelters. These cells serve as the spearhead of all significant anti-Primacy insurgency, and are among the only refuges for expats targeted by the Primacy for their faith.

As a highly segmented and geographically disconnected movement, the Current's goals and methods vary largely by region. Most Shelters prioritize the rescue of expats, the sabotage of unmanned Primacy assets, and the development of new anti-Primacy weapons and defense technologies. In many sectors, the various Shelters coordinate joint operations, sharing intel through any means available and often trading supplies for technology or armaments. In the Americas and Europe, the Current's activities remain largely limited to guerrilla warfare and hit-and-run operations, whereas in the highly religious populations of the Middle East, the local Current has engaged in open war with the Primacy's forces.

As the last significant bastion of resistance, the Primacy has focused nearly all of its tactical efforts on the elimination of the Current, by tactical force, social manipulation, and Reintegration. Herons are routinely dispatched to patrol the skies over the Environs, with the goal of locating and bombing Shelters and their occupants. Eidolons were designed with optimizations for the close-quarters combat necessary for clearing out any Shelters who survived the bombing runs. An unprecedented propaganda campaign was launched to turn the populace of the cities across the globe against the Current's beliefs, often portraying violent bombings, shootings, and suicide attacks and ascribing them to Current operations. While it is known among the Environs that the vast majority of these attacks were actually carried out by the Primacy's operatives under a false flag, rumors persist that some Current cells have actually launched attacks targeting civilians in the cities, rumors that the Primacy investigates and circulates continually.

Despite the Current's strong majority of religious expats, the movement did accept nonbelievers who were marked by the Primacy for various reasons. In a strategy considered controversial among many Shelters, the Current eventually began to employ nonbeliever informants who worked within the Primacy's power structure, those who had accepted the Declaration verbally but privately harbored resistance to the Primacy's policies and level of control. These informants often provided invaluable scraps of intel to the Current, disagreeing in the arena of theology, but unified in the mission of ultimately freeing mankind from the Primacy's rule. This initiative soon led to a partnership between believers and unbelievers, with the faithful working against the Primacy from the outside in the physical war, and the skeptics working against it from the inside, in the war of information.

Soon after its birth, the Current began to standardize its ranks and roles across many Shelters, to allow for better intra-movement coordination. Those who organized and took command of the individual Shelters were termed Huntaways, named for a breed of sheepdog, due to the similarity in their roles. The expats who volunteered for combat and survival training, taking the lead on the frontline war against the Primacy, were named Anglers. Many Shelters designated one experienced Angler, typically an expat with a history of military or security service, as their chief security officer, known as a Watchman. Those with skills in cybersecurity, electronic warfare, and hacking were named Navigators and tasked with the responsibility of keeping up with the Primacy's exponential advances in digital warfare. And the Current's medical experts were termed Samaritans, both in reference to the movement's strong faith, and due to the lifesaving work performed by such specialists.

Despite its relatively small size, one of the most active Shelters in the Current is Adelphi Shelter, led by Huntaway Phoebe Adrakis. A leading figure in the movement, Phoebe played a large role in initially organizing many of the Current's ranks, as well as devising covert communication methods to allow the Shelters across Cascadia Sector to exchange intel without being overheard by the Primacy. She contributed heavily to the development of the Angler training program, as well as to the movement-wide efforts to translate the Primacy's internal language. Other Adelphi responsible for notable victories in the war include Asa Colt, Kelvin Sycar, and Matthias Augustine.