Scion

*"You are the finest of humanity, o people of whom I have given life and body and breath unto. Within your souls and flesh are the finest of the finest. You are spirit of my spirit, flesh of my flesh. Where the rest of humanity are my children, I bequeath unto you that you are my brothers and sisters. You are my Scions.*

"*From you humanity shall be remade and born anew, and a new epoch never before seen shall come. Neither disease nor death nor sickness nor defeat shall ever grace you. With the finest technologies of humanity and blessings of the gods, we shall conquer all and shall defeat the final enemy: Death itself. The universe shall be in our grasp and we shall become it's gods." -- Records of Scribonius Epiphanes, dated Spring SY 512*

The Scions were the principal project of Anthrarchos III and was the culmination of centuries of research. Officially constituting the separate human species *homo sapiens ultima*, the first Scions were lab grown and intended to be test subjects for the technology that Anthrarchos III himself would embrace. They could reproduce with eachother but not with any other human.

Each Scion was functionally immortal and possessed superhuman abilities when compared to *homo sapiens sapiens.* They were the de facto ruling class of the Anthroperium and answered only to Anthrarchos III.

It is likely that they were created with the intention of being the conquerors of the remainder of humanity in Sol System in the Main Belt and the Rim. However, before this could take place, the Anthroperium collapsed due to the arrival of the *Dominion* fleet and intervention of Joshua and friends.

## Background

Believing wholly that control of the populace could be maintained by his own force of will and personality alone, Anthrarchos III dismantled most of the Anthroperium military in a series of public events declaring "total unification for all mankind". These events were declared annual public holidays.

Through the large amounts of resource funding freed up by the dismantling of the military, Anthrarchos III made leaps and bounds advancements in medical technologies, some of which came quite close to the singularity.

During this time, a series of global famines began to rock the planet, along with a small but significant increase in the number of natural disasters. Anthrarchos III blamed this thoroughly on an apostate thread of disbelief among humankind, and demanded increased sacrifices and daily worship to satiate him that he might placate the gods.

## Creation

The regime's research made several key breakthroughs about thirty years into his reign. Coupled with the state-sponsored eugenics programs, he declared "the final perfecting of humanity" and sorted every person on the planet into one of three categories: *homo indignus*, *homo sapiens*, or *homo primus*. The first were possessors of significant mutations or traits declared unhealthy or not beneficial, such as genetic predisposition for diseases, or diseases that could not be cured; the second were the majority of healthy humanity; the third were a small but significant minority who possessed mutations and traits the regime found beneficial.

Anthrarchos III declared all who would willingly sacrifice themselves would be given an ultimate reward in paradise and would be given the gift of eternal return reincarnation, just like Epiphanes himself, in return for the willing surrender of their life; it is unknown whether Anthrarchos III ever actually meant or believed that, or rather simply used it as a tool to motivate the populace. As a result, millions came from the world over to sacrifice themselves and be buried upon Olympus in a short but brutal voluntary holocaust. Entire bloodlines back to the oldest generational family member were wiped out virtually overnight in an attempt to cleanse the human gene pool.

Those deemed to be *homo sapiens* were largely left undisturbed. ~60% of humanity were bearers of this label.

As for the *homo primus* approximately 1.3% of humanity was selected to be intensely studied and have their genomes mapped. Anthrarchos III quietly announced to his regime his full intent to consciously develop and evolve humankind to it's next step. He sent out agents all across the world from Heliopolis to investigate those individuals deemed *homo primus*and find the finest specimens among them*.*Approximately a hundred thousand of these individuals were brought back from across the world. Over ten standard years or so, the regime poured all of it's available resources into studying them as much as possible. This initial pool of people was whittled down to 3,000 youthful individuals; the other 97,000 were allowed to return to their homes laden with gifts and treasures from the regime.

From their research, Anthrarchos III created a new genetic template - which included elements from his own genetic type as well - for a new type of human being: *homo ultimus.*

Such words, the histories record, were met with tremendous rejoicing. The Scions were absolute and hardline true believers in the cause, despite the fact that they were not yet even pubescent.

The three thousand Scions were presented to the world by Anthrarchos III in the beginning of **Spring SY 513**and the world was told that they were his own offspring, divine beings worthy of worship in their own right. This, of course, did not violate the Law given by Epiphanes, for divinity rested solely in Epiphanes and his reincarnations, and to invest that divinity in offspring is to simply make an extension of himself. Therefore, at the Equinox of **SY 513,**all three thousand Scions were presented in the Heliopolis and it was recorded that "*the streets flowed with the blood of sacrifices, the smell of incense, the pour of wine, and the stench of smoke ascending from Mount Olympus, upon whom the bones of unworthy humanity stood in silent praise and testament to these new gods, the offspring of Man Himself which would lead us into an immortal and eternal but as yet unknown destiny."*

## Technology

By this time, Anthrarchos III was only 48 standard years of age, having taken power at the age of fourteen. He took great interest in the full application of the technology discovered by the researchers of the regime that he had just thoroughly purged. It seemed that Anthrarchos III truly believed that through a combination of technology and religion, he could achieve true immortality and break the cycle of reincarnation.

The Scions themselves were used as the test subjects of a various combination of transhuman technology developed over the centuries of Anthroperian rule:

* The heart, pancreas, and lungs were replaced with advanced technological alternatives.
* The **Soporian Implant**, allowing the Scion to transcend the need for both sleep and dreaming entirely.
* **Endecrine Implant**: fine tunes the adrenaline-hormone system and directly hardwiring it to the conscious parts of the brain, allowing the Scion to regulate their own hormonal balances at-will
* **Ocular Implant**: combined with organic eyes to give a range of vision capable of perceiving light well outside of the normal visible spectrum.
* **Aural Implants**: can hear anything from the quietest known sounds to the highest pitched noises.
* **Network Interface**: implanted directly into the brain and connected to a great broadcasting device at Heliopolis that gave the Scion direct and immediate recall access to the full breadth of human knowledge known to the Anthroperium.
* **Interior calculator**: brain implant that computed mathematical equations nearly as quickly as they could be thought.
* **Bone augmentation**: the interior skeleton was laced with a combination of titanium and artificial diamond, making a Scion's bones nearly indestructible.
* **Iron Stomach:** augmentive digestive system that allows essentially any material to be broken down for it's basic caloric value.
* **Internal Keys**: radio-frequency technology installed in the hands that allow at-will control of basically any common Anthroperian technology.
* **Psychic Implant**: while not truly psychic, the brain implant allows for a sort-of hive mind to be created between each of the Scions and Anthrarchos III. This allows Anthrarchos III to make his will known to them at essentially any given moment, as well as allowing the Scions to communicate with each other through simple thoughts and emotions.
* **Immortality Implant:** Final piece of technology to be installed. Controls and shuts down the ability of cells to age, making the Scion appear the same age despite growing older through time.

## Organization

The Scions were organized into twelve groups of 250 each. Each individual Scion was bestowed title and responsibility based upon the zodiac as viewed from Earth:

* The **Aryans**: rulers of the Anthroperium. Placed in positions of power over the regions of the world to enforce the Law and each directive of Anthrarchos III. They were iron fisted but benevolent pragmatic leadaers.
* The **Taurans**: masters, creators, and patrons of art. In reality, the propaganda machine of the regime. Produced works in all media designed to influence and shape the thoughts of the masses.
* The **Gemenids**: science and research. Responsible for the engineering and creation of *homo ultima*.
* The **Cancerians**: the priesthood and new official cultus. Constructed many new cathedrals worldwide for the worship of Anthrarchos III.
* The **Lions**: warriors and peacekeepers. Each Lion trained and kept their own private militia under their sole direction, whom in turn reported directly to Anthrarchos III. Served as the enforcing arm of the Aryans world wide.
* The **Maidens**: the only all-female group of Scions. They were used by the Gemenids to bear children through artificial insemination. Lived exclusively within the great complex of Heliopolis.
* The **Scales**: enforcers of justice. They hunted disobedient and "sinful" individuals across the Earth and were some of the most feared individuals in the entire Anthroperium. They brought people back to the Arena to "face justice".
* The **Scorpions**: the secret police of the regime. They walk amongst the populace disguised as commoners on the various orders of Anthrarchos III, to agitate or to introduce ideas. Pragmatically, they were used to stir existing dissent to eliminate the "weakest" portions of humanity before they were allowed to flourish into rebellion or dissent and to keep a regular supply of both willing and unwilling participants in the Arena.
* The **Centaurs**: keepers of knowledge and wisdom. About half of them at any given time could be found in either Roma or Heliopolis, while the other half publicly taught the populace across the world in universities and schools.
* The **Capricorns**: the most mysterious of the Scions. They were almost always in the company of Anthrarchos III himself and were the personal assistants in his various private works.
* The **Aquarians**: the first Anthroperians to go to space in centuries. Maintained and traveled to and from the various ancient space stations still orbiting the planet, and acted also as peaceful ambassadors between the terrestrial planets, Luna, and Mars.
* The **Pisceans**: captains and commanders of great ships that ensured prosperous and regular trade and distribution of goods across the Anthroperium.

## Legacy

The Second Dominion dissolved the Aryans, Cancerians, Scales, and Scorpions. The vast majority of these Scions were true believers in the Anthroperian cultus and fought an apocalyptic war they hoped would bring about the fourth incarnation of their god. They were soundly defeated by the ascended rulers of the Second Dominion.

The remaining Scion groups were repurposed and integrated into the Second Dominion.