House Hyperborg began in the heyday of
nanotechnology and
posthumanity,
fourth and fifth century AT. With the ascension to
SI:1
levels, most posthumans found
their subjective experience of time increased by several orders of
magnitude. Many simply adjusted themselves to the new reality, while
others
entered virch worlds which could keep pace with their increased speed
of processing. Running parallel to this were experiments with
Reaction
Time Enhancement. These were often failures,
and in the end led to the Quickness pandemic.
One group, however, took a different, and some in retrospect say
obvious, approach to both problems by combining ascension to SI:1
level, with its accompanying increase in mental speed and time sense,
with radical enhancement of physical reaction time and other peripheral
neural signalling and processing to become the first Hyperborgs. These
Po (posthuman) cyborgs were an odd combination of
conservatism and radicalism. They wished to retain the ratio between
physical and mental actions they had previously experienced as
subsingularity beings, but at the greatly enhanced speeds of nanotech
ascension. They rejected the luxury and attachment of the virch worlds
for the familiar yet now strange "real world". In fact, most of the
Hyperborgs were and still are ardent
Omegists,
who believe they need to study the physical world as
quickly as possible to "Bring on the Omega Point".
This clade/house has become a major force in the physical sciences,
participating in several pivotal experiments and technological
advances. They are a close-knit group who still retain an archaic
baseline Hu appearance which is rendered surreal by the blurring speed
at which they move through the world. Hyperborgs prefer to communicate
using EM transmissions, but can still use sonic speech to communicate
with outsiders. They have kept pace with emerging technologies as a
group, ascending to SI:2 and converting to
picotech
en masse in the 12th Century AT, then with aid from some interested
Archailects upgrading to SI:3
and
femtotech
in the 21st Century AT. Of
course, Hyperborgs dispersed widely in the course of their studies, so
it is still believed that there may be picotech SI:2 and even nanotech
SI:1 Hyperborgs in the
Outer
Volume or beyond. However, these
numbers must dwindle over time, as whenever these Hyperborgs regain
contact with their House, they undergo upgrade. The degree of
cyborgization of House Hyperborg has been extreme, and it is doubtful
that any biont components remain.
Hyperborgs have also made themselves strong and sturdy, both to
withstand the incredible strain their speed places upon their bodies,
and to facilitate their work in almost any environment if their studies
require it. However, between field studies they tend to prefer cold
climate worlds with thinner atmospheres, which are more comfortable for
them as the work done by their high speeds generates a fair amount of
heat, and they find the air friction in thicker atmospheres mildly
annoying. They often will interface with mercurial virch worlds to
supervise the running of some their theoretical models, but even at
ease prefer to remain in the "real world". They have, over the
centuries, become particularly interested in any xeno-wormhole
discoveries, as they hope some will have been moved at relativistic
speeds, allowing them to survey the physical features of the universe
over the fullest expanse of time possible. Rarely, individual
Hyperborgs will eschew a life of study and pursue other careers, the
most common being agents for virchs in their dealings with "real world"
sophonts.
Many other transapients have long since incorporated some of the
physical-mental hyperspeed innovations pioneered by the Hyperborg
clade, but rarely with such elegance. And after their last upgrade to
SI:3/femtotech status, they have left all but a few God Minds behind
them in the dust.
Related
links:
Houses Index Page
The
Great Houses Through the Ages
