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Andromeda Kids |
Early feral tweak-cyborg hu superbrights who established a number of feral colonies in the vicinity of Kapteyn's Star during the middle Federation period. Their leader / clonemother was a derived hybrid Homo geneticus (subspecies uncertain) variously known as "Andromeda", "S'has'a" and "Lady Kitsune". They developed a brief cult following, especially among those opposed to Federation hegemony, but most historians and cliologists agree that almost all of their exploits were the result of clever memetic engineering (the only exception, the so-called Bobishka Coup, seems to have been nothing but a publicity stunt gone wrong). Following their capture by the authorities in 1420 (with help from the hyperturing Longward Farsqare who took a personal interest in the case) they were employed by Stirling Immersives, New Nuiyork Orbital, Cis Lunar. At the time Stirling Immersives was under heavy competitive pressure from some the novamedia corps (Tau Ceti II orbitals) that had recently set up branches in the Sol System and elsewhere throughout the federation. S.I. made the Kids into socially acceptable malcontents, and managed to nuture a number of neogrung-hedonic adventure subcultures. The interactive milieus The Andromeda Kids, and the Andromeda Kids Again, made S.I. one of the most powerful cislunar mediacorporations, at least until the Murr-Opusbatch takeover. Andromeda's former lietenant, The Fuckedupclonekid Juddhead, later broke with his clonemother in a bitter dispute over proprietry rights. He went on to found his own clan, the Juddheretics, but without decent mediacorp backing he had little success. Following the rise of the Gonnamessyaheadups (Barnard Belt) the Andromeda Kids fell from favour, and their members retired into comfortable obscurity.
Nothing more was was heard of them until the middle Empires period, when a posthuman bioborg claiming to be the Ascended Lady Andromeda, set up a personal fiefdom in the Patricia Habitats Free Zone, Garwain (outer quadrant, Pachacamac Sector, FAS). Most historians (see especially Academician-Mind-Cluster 5Yun IIas' masterly Pre-Second Federation Posthumans) agree that this po has no more than 2.1% continuity with the original (but see Peer Robi Folq5's interactive The Rise and Fall and Rise of Lady Andromeda for a dissenting opinion). During the later Inner Sphere era several Andromeda Kid Klades appeared around several old cultural worlds, like Eden, Nova, Corona, New Earth, and Pacifica, where they fed off the nostalgia and sympathy value. Despite their superbright status, they had especial appeal for disenfranchised nearbaselines (the so-called Superhero Syndrome). None of the newcomers had the success of the original Andromeda Kids, as the galaxy had long since moved on to bigger and further things, and the mediacorps like Novamedia and Infiniteworlds were more interested in exploiting the "baseline factor" with charming tales of bumbling normals.
As with all archaic fashions, the Andromeda Kids are variously "in" and "out" throughout the centuries. The last time they were "in" was during the later Alliance period. There are believed to be a number of long-lived Andromeda Kid Klades - mostly nominal ferals or feral posers - scattered throughout the middle regions and the outer volumes. Despite each claiming to be the authentic Andromeda Kids (complete with genome and historical augments) they differ quite markedly from each other and from the original Kids, and neither has done enough to interest the authorities enough to either exterminate them or employ them.
