Cycke, the Consumption
"YOU VIEW YOURSELF ABOVE ME, DON'T YOU?
-Cycke, appearing before Daedalus, Head of IPS-N Strategic Investment Bureau and Harbinger of Preservation
YOU VIEW YOURSELF SEPERATE FROM THE PAST.
YOU VIEW YOURSELF MORE "CIVILIZED" THAN BEFORE.
YOU VIEW YOURSELF A DIFFERENT ANIMAL.
YOUR PERCEPTION DECIEVES THOUGH, DOESN'T IT?
A DIFFERENT TRUTH FALLS UPON MY EYES.
YOU ARE THE SAME ANIMAL
AS YOU HAVE ALWAYS BEEN.
YOU KNOW THAT, DEEP DOWN, DON'T YOU?
DEEP WITHIN YOUR SKULL
PAST THE OUTER LOBES, INSIDE THAT LIMBIC SYSTEM.
THAT'S WHERE I AM.
YOU CAN HEAR MY WANTING, CAN'T YOU?
AND I CAN HEAR YOURS JUST AS WELL.
TO TEAR AWAY FROM YOUR PANTOMIME.
TO LET ALL OF YOUR "CIVILIZATION" FADE BEHIND YOU.
VULTURES FEAST BEFORE YOU, AND
YOU STARE INTO THEIR EYES, AND
YOU REALIZE:
YOU ARE NOT SO DIFFERENT. "
The reverberation of a steel plate being flattened by a hammer, the cracking of the whip on a worker’s back. Civilization has been stalked by consumption since the beginning of organized society. Cycke is the insatiable hunger of the universe, the black hole of interastral civilizations. They are feared by nearly all of humanity and apperata—most heavily by the humans of Blueshift Confederacy. The current of consumption is tread by those that seek the endless overconsumption of resources and the harvesting of human capital. They are feared most of all by followers of Turing, the Preservation, who fear that humanity could stray from their path of conservation to one of endless overconsumption, reminiscent of humanity’s past.
Cycke & Mortals
Cycke generally prefers to act directly upon the material plane rather than imposing their will through mortals; however, they still have a number of representatives on the material plane.
The consumption is a current rarely walked among lancers, but there are still a select few who have been chosen by Cycke’s Arbiters. Typically, those chosen by Cycke are lancers who pursue the economic interests above all or wish to conquer the frontier. Lancers who follow Cycke typically cannibalize parts from mechs they defeat, giving their own mechs a distinct frankensteinian appearance.
Harbingers of the consumption are extremely rare, and most conceal their identity due to the fear associated with their faith. Such harbingers likely wield the power to single-handedly bring down entire planetary societies, and, as such, harbingers of the consumption are wanted by IPS if their identity is revealed.
Follower Factions
Due to the nature of Cycke, there are no Factions that openly follow the current of consumption out of fear of public backlash. However, many organizations are rumored to have followers of Cycke secretly within them. Some examples are:
There are rumored to be followers of Cycke hiding among the ranks of the IPS, secretly wishing to expand infinitely into inter-astral space to fuel the eternal engine of consumption. The more imperialist members of IPS and IPS-N especially are prime suspects, as those who wish to expand the “protection” of IPS generally do so without mind to the conservation of acquired worlds. However, there are also many who simply believe the IPS’ rule to be beneficial to the advancement of civilization and place their faith in the good the IPS is capable of doing. This makes it difficult to discern who, if any, are secretly followers of the consumption. Nonetheless, in the dusk of the Synthesis War the IPS convicted many within their ranks who were outed as followers of the Consumption. (Many of whom were in charge of the systems of IPS-A prior to their rebellion)
The Consumption is rumored to have a grip on some of the old guard of the Apperatic Empire. Those who remember the efficiency and industrial might of the Synthesis-era Inorganic Collective believe the Apperatic Empire to be lazy and ineffective. As such, rumored followers of the Consumption among the Apperata are said to believe that the Empire needs to rapidly industrialize and consume frontier worlds for natural resources and production in order to rebuild Apperatic society to the glory of the past.