Darwinists

While the Calanthites oversaw an incredible growth of human unity, conflict persisted, mainly between the Calanthites and the Nymphaeaceans as a whole. Within the Calanthites, there were two primary factions which endorsed military development and deployment - the Darwinists and the Prometheans.

The Darwinists supported the manipulation of evolution in order to create bioweapons, stating that natural selection, while no longer present on Earth, lives on in the will of humanity. Their experiments, deemed inhumane, cruel, and against the will of Abraham by many, led to rejection and the development of more standard metallic weaponry by the Prometheans.

Through millennia of research, the Darwinists perfected their technique of biological manipulation, leading not only to advancements in weaponry as seen in their Bio-artillery, but the mental, physical, and esoteric biological modules which became popular among the rich and the ruling class.

## Biological Modules

One of the Darwinists' greatest creations, this culmination of incredible breakthroughs in complete genome manipulation, bioesoteric coupling, and nerve synthesis has had incredible repercussions for civilization as a whole across the galaxy. It was a series of biological modifications offered in the form of modules which could be purchased (only by the *extremely* rich or powerful of course) and installed into the body (only by a proprietary Darwinian Mod-physician of course). These modules were capable of enhancing the body in many ways. For example, on the cheaper side, simple strength, endurance, and charisma mods were available. On the more expensive side there were intelligence modules or age deceleration modules.

Of course, beyond that there were modules which were only available to a select few. The ruling class of the Calanthites, merchant-emperors, and of course celebrities which volunteered to run promotion campaigns when public favor dropped to its lowest. These were total physiological overhaul modules - capable of turning a weak, aging king with mental deterioration into a young, strong intelligent one. And finally there were the experimental modules. Installing more than one module often came with risks of rejection and side effects, and even with one it was not entirely safe. In one extremely strange case, a simple physical strength enhancing module malfunctioned and caused the heart muscle to grow so strong that every blood vessel in the subject's body exploded due to the extremely high blood pressure (needless to say, they did not survive).

And yet, there were modules with even more risk, which whispered of even greater rewards - bioesoteric modules. These modules, of which fewer than 100 units were likely ever created - and which likely had a fatality rate of greater than 60%, granted abilities which seem to have violated the laws of reality. No records remain on what exactly each individual module did, as they were each custom-made, and the specific powers granted were kept as a close secret by those involved, but some information was leaked on what exactly the fatalities involved. In one case - The first prince of Jupiter, initiation of the module caused spaghettification of the prince, to such an extent that no remains were left at all. In another high profile case, the head of the Darwinists' Cystarian research department, upon activation of her module, actually dissolved into a pool of Cystarian polyps, along with every other researcher in the department and anyone in a 500,000 mile radius of the research building who had ever seen a picture of a Cystarian. Suffice to say, this permanently crippled the Darwinists' research into Cystarian biology.

Even to this very day, there exists a black market for Darwinist Modules, with many the result of reverse engineering by biohacker groups or simply hijacked shipments of modules.

## Fragmentation

Following the fragmentation of the Calanthites, Darwinist scientists and engineers have diffused across the galaxy, many taking up residence in scientific cabals, or joining pirate or terror organizations.

-Crassius Hadrana