058: Eingerost

ENTRY 058: Eingerost

For every transhuman with an eye toward the future, pushing their bodies and minds to the limits of the available technology while developing the next step beyond, there are transhumans who are unable or unwilling to see to the basic maintenance of their morphs, lost souls who have enough functional skills to surf the Mesh but whose education and understanding of how even the most basic tech works is about a century out of date. They’re the lazy, clanking masses; unique but banal egos who shuffle through their life collecting achievements in Mesh games and credits towards the next resleeving, cheering on the more motivated and creative and skilled while they wile away the hours and days and years embroiled in petty dramas and the small crises of life.

There are people that rise above the masses, who go off into strange and terrible futures and never look back; and there are the Eingerost. They were common, disheveled, living the precarious existence of those embroiled in small dreams and with small means, until someone came along and staged an intervention—to show those transhumans their potential, to break them out of their rut, sometimes literally. Through love and cruelty and discipline, those faces in the crowd became something more: focused, imaginative, with vast goals and the abilities to realize them, to know that they could realize them, and the drive to do so. And those transhumans freed from the bondage of their old lives looked back and decided the greatest thing they could do was to provide the same experience for others—and became the Eingerost.

Authorities who are aware of the Eingerost treat them as terrorists; others view them as ruthlessly compassionate vigilantes or martyrs. They operate alone or in small groups, sharing data through private networks, and their goal is nothing less than to transform humanity, one ego at a time. Some use relatively peaceful methods, but most ascribe to a philosophy that only sudden, violent action can initiate the psychological transformation that will shift the arses of the clanking masses. So their techniques include kidnapping, often under the cover of explosive events designed to destroy the anchors of the victim’s past life, and even the murder of friends and families, the permanent erasure of personal data, and extended imprisonment. Once the “break” has been made, however it is accomplished, begins a rapid period of cultural deprogramming and re-education. Egos are broken down, taught new skills, placed in high-stress situations that require them to break their personal and societal mores, and forced to re-examine and question everything about their old existence. While this need not be traumatic, most Eingerost are cruel—for only with stress and love can the new transhumanity be forged.

When the Eingerost deems the subject is done, they are let free. Some go on to new lives, others are brainwashed by the indoctrination and become Eingerost recruits, seeking to share the experience and repeat what was done to them. Others just want revenge, or try to rebuild their lives as best they can.