The Utopian League

The Utopian League is one of the factions and sects within the Sons of Ether.

## Nicknames

Utopians, Ethercrats (sarcastic), Doc Law, The Ideal College

## History

The Ethernauts might have been the most outraged at the Order of Reason, but the idealists who formed the Utopian League felt an even deeper betrayal. Consisting of proto-psychologists, historians and ethically minded independent Scientists, the nascent League banded together after realizing that the potential of Electrodyne Science — free energy, limitless travel and universal health — was being deliberately curtailed by the Cabal of Pure Thought. Ironically, members of the Cabal joined them to protest their comrades’ complicity. To these dissidents, the ban on Ether Science and the worship of scientific reductionism seemed designed to limit what Sleepers could achieve without the Order of Reason’s guiding hand. Aside from hoarding Enlightenment in direct contravention of the Order’s original ethos, the move would deny the public life-saving technologies.

In 1905, an Etherite symposium across Europe hammered out the Scientific Ethos and, by extension, the future of the Tradition. The League’s Scientists were to observe Etherite endeavors then use their political and psychological prowess to help integrate them into the Consensus. Over the next nine years, Utopian business evolved to include courier services and the management of Paradigma, all to support a common cause among the Sons.

By 1914, commitment to that cause faltered; the Great War dragged some of the Etherites’ finest minds into battle. Along with the Technocracy, individual Sons of Ether invented weapons that impressed themselves into the Consensus with their sheer cruelty. The war made it difficult to judge the morality of Science; military engineering responded to horrors with horrors. Through government contacts on all sides, the young Shadow Ministry uncovered the worst offenders against the Ethos, but the Etherites didn’t have any agreedupon way to deal with criminals. In addition, the Council of Nine demanded that the Tradition develop an internal code of justice — unless they wished to rely on the Euthanatos’ occasional “corrections.”

Two years later, the Utopian League organized the Council for the Enforcement of Scientific Ethics to serve as the Tradition’s judges. In a referendum, the Sons of Ether approved of the body. Dissenters gradually distanced themselves from the body of the Tradition, creating a new generation of Mad Scientists. Then, in 1918, several Utopians left the fold to join the Russian Bolsheviks. Attracted by the possibility of a “Scientific State,” they attacked the League’s “bourgeois” values. Up until the late 1980s, a trickle of Etherites emigrated to Warsaw Pact states, where their experiments with ESP, ideologically driven Science and UFO technology left an indelible mark on Soviet scientific thinking.

The Council for the Enforcement of Scientific Ethics survived these trials, going on to help prosecute Awakened criminals in the Second World War and rooting out Nephandi and Infernal machinations in the Tradition’s ranks. The rest of the League worked just as hard, helping to insinuate quantum theory and dark matter into the Consensus. The Shadow Ministry also lobbied within governments to support humanistic values and freely share new technologies with the developing world. In many cases, the Technocracy had the upper hand, so struggling nations ended up with aid, but also took on severe debts to pay for foreign labor and innovations. Neither the Union nor the Utopians can take all the credit (or blame) for the result, but the compromise that Sleeper politicians created bore their collective stamp.

When the Avatar Storm hit, the Utopian League lost contact with thinkers and diplomats who had been assigned to various Horizon Realms. A leaner, grassroots League was prepared for the task, albeit with unexpected assistance. The “Bolshevik Scientists” began to return to the fold in the early ’90s, often raving about Russian “witches” and a psychic barrier that hindered their work. This “Shadow Curtain” seems to have collapsed in 2000, but the prodigal Etherites of Russia continue to return, bringing weird inventions back with them.

## Science

Utopian Science is not so much concerned with a particular area as it is with the idea that Scientific research should benefit the Sleepers as much as possible, as soon as possible. It is true that many Utopians study the Mind Arts and make up the main contingent of Etherite psychologists and sociologists. Others study political theory and history to learn how to influence Sleeper society for the better.

The League frowns on members who develop lethal weapons, but it realizes that this work is sometimes necessary for self-defense. Under no circumstances does it permit its members to allow such technology to fall into Sleeper hands. Two World Wars and the examples of the Technocracy have convinced them that the rest of humanity can learn to kill on its own. On the other hand, the League encourages nonlethal defensive technologies. Utopian Scientists have what may be the world’s most diverse arsenal of nonlethal weapons at hand, and they aggressively attempt to make them available to Sleepers. The upswing in interest by Western governments will, they hope, lead to future wars fought with bloodless arms. These conscientious weaponsmiths study Life, Forces and Matter to develop stun rays, enveloping foams and knockout drugs.

## Organization

It’s easy to join the Utopian League: Members take an oath to uphold the Scientific Ethos, the rules that are supposed to govern all Etherite research and conduct. Granted, adherence is spotty and some Scientists are notoriously guarded about their research, but a true Utopian sets an example that he hopes members of the Tradition, Sleepers and even Technocrats will follow. Obviously, breaking the Ethos is grounds for expulsion as well as discipline by the Council for the Enforcement of Scientific Ethics. The League is particularly adamant about making an example of its failures. After joining, Utopians are free to follow their own research specialties, but they must also take on projects to develop technologies that benefit humanity and share the fruits of Science with Sleepers. In the past, quarterly reports on these activities were submitted to Paradigma, but with the collapse of that institution, most see fit to either report their work in one of the journal’s successors or contact other Professors and Chairs.