Famous Mindseas of the Galactic Empire

Attequol

Attequol founded the galactic empire, and is said to have developed the science of Patternistics to maintain it. They say that his intimate knowledge of the structures of space, time, and identity permitted him to accomplish feats of telepathy and teleportation; perhaps telekinesis as well. His emblem reflects his intention to bring the dawning of a new age.

Oijus

Oijus, King of Ulona, opposed Attequol's campaign to unite the galaxy. The Ulonan pattern for life, honed by countless generations for practice, was far superior to Attequol's dehumanizing ideas. He never stopped fighting the conqueror, even after his planet was flashed and his civilization reduced to cinders.

Aturon

Aturon, the son of Attequol, turned his back on his father's empire to hunt for new worlds in distant galaxies in his mighty ship Amber Sun. His emblem expresses his determination that the hunt should never end, as well as his gloomy and unsociable nature.

Enrolled (retroactively) of the Galactic List of a Thousand in Imperial Year 10.

Skeorlian

Skeorlian convinced himself, and strove to convince the Common Mind, that he had all the answers. Attequol's grasp of Patternistics had made him a god, so Skeorlian's studies made him a god as well. His emblem boasts of his ability to focus the combined energies of the Empire's citizens into a clear vision of the future. And yet he failed in his greatest ambition; he could not open the portals to Attequol's energy temple where the soul-gem was housed.

When the usurper Quokisa arrived, claiming that she had penetrated the temple, Skeolian exploded into fury. He did not rest until he had driven her and her Shadowfolk backers from Lal, even though it took him millennia.

Enrolled 5,545.

Quokisa

Quokisa claimed to be a granddaughter of Aturon, but she was known to be a liar as well as a thief. Her emblem whispers of her speed, stealth, and her wish to sweep the empire clean of its trammeling bureaucracy and righteous pretensions.

Enrolled 6,422.

Tseorue

Tseorue's origins were unknown, but she resembled Skeorlian so closely that rumors made her his unlisted child or even his female copy. Unlike him, she had no patience with religious fantasies. The universe ran on the real and practical, not on wishes or theories, no matter how pretty or scientific they were. Her emblem suggests that her practical mind and business accumen will propell the Empire toward the lofty destiny other emperors have failed to reach.

Enrolled 9,542.

Rathax

Rathax was the proponent of Patternistics in its bare bones, leached of passion, mathematical aspect. He believed that all potential universes should be manipulated in order to maximize the resources available to their master, himself.

Enrolled 30,464.

Zipo

Zipo felt himself to be the epitomy of mindseas—an unstoppable force of will. Life was struggle, and constant battering shaped living creatures and made them beautiful. He welcomed strife and expected his will to prevail over all vicissitudes forever.

Enrolled 27,556.

Wastoe

Wastoe was inspired by her study of ocean habitats to seek a more efficient lifestyle for imperial citizens. If humans could draw power directly from solar radiation as plankton did, their lives would become simple and easy, and more attention could be focused on uniquely human aspirations rather than mere existence.

These thoughts inspired the first Greenist movement, called the "Green Wave." The Empire was not converted to Greenism, but Wastoe passed the idea of improving human life through genetic engineering to her descendants. Through the generations into the Age of Illumination, there has always been a "Wave Supervisor" to champion the cause of genetic alterations.

Enrolled 40,587.

Xegle

Xegle didn't resemble her parents and felt out of place in imperial society. Her mindpowers developed as she pursued the mystery of her origins. Memories from ancient times when all humans had lived on Earth bubbled up within her, inspiring her to return to life one of the ancient people for whom she felt kinship. She studied the genome of pre-humans and created a mate for herself—Roxun. She had served as imperial major for the weak emperors who had followed Zipo, and they wearied her. The empire needed more fire in its leaders, she thought, and so she made Roxun emperor.

Her emblem depicts the memory of an ancient cataclysm one of her pre-human family had seen through.

Enrolled 40,772.

Roxun

Roxun was not a typical member of the Common Mind. Like the woman who had assembled his gene specs, he recalled ancient lives among a people who had dwelt on Earth long before the precursors of imperial citizens had built their civilization. Those ancient people had passed their heritage through dance, and Roxun felt most himself when he danced.

He could also fight, propelled by ancestral memories of a struggle for survival in a wild land. He became a fearsome warrior on his Deep-level horse, for those memories also told of a world where pre-humans and animals had lived closely entwined.

He didn't care much for politics, as many concerns of imperial citizens seemed frivolous to him. He fulfilled his obligations as best he could, but at times he needed to get away, and then he would adopt the persona of a beggar and mingle with the Empire's humblest citizens. His emblem is a reminder that no matter how great one becomes, one still depends upon the lowly creatures that form the basis of the food web for all life.

Enrolled 48,422.

Svalmips

Early in life, Svalmips figured out that a mindsea's power came from choosing which timelines to follow when resurfacing from a plunge into the Deep, and that equated with the manipulation of probabilities. She became an expert at this skill, which enabled her to retain the imperial throne for millennia, despite a few setbacks. Her emblem symbolizes her power to make things happen her way.

Enrolled 49,961.

Trero

Trero was a son of Svalmips, but he lacked his mother's iron will. To him the important things in life —far more important than getting your way—were the causes that humans strove for, causes that made their lives meaningful. If the flames of such higher aspirations were quenched, life would be without purpose.

Enrolled 61,184.

Besi

Besi believed that those able to tap lnto the tremendous forces of creation and destruction that flowed from the Deep should make it their goal to improve the quality of life for all creatures. They could guide the unfolding of the world as others could not, so it was inherent upon them to choose the best possible future. Beauty must prevail over the ugliness and indifference of the universe.

Enrolled 64,890.

Quazi

Quazi harbored memories passed down from an ancient people, and they made her tremble. The memories told her of the vanity of human beliefs. Every aspiration, even one conceived by a mindsea, was doomed to failure, and all human works, no matter how beautiful, would crumble.

Enrolled 76,560.

Kahee

Kahee was the son of Quazi. He too was haunted by darkness and doom, and yet he felt that someone braver and better than himself should spearhead the battle against the evil of nonexistence.

Enrolled 76,715.

Za Leit

Za Leit believed that despite the pretensions of civilization, humanity remained a part of life's web, and the teachings of evolution still applied. All living creatures were either predators or prey, and in the galactic empire, mindseas were apex predators. She was a perfect example.

Enrolled 76,556.

Zupa

Zupa worked hard all her life because she knew that strategic effort laid the way for success, whether you were a mindsea or a shallow-embedded citizen. To imagine that love or ferocity or willpower would make things fall out as you desired was to delude yourself.

Enrolled 87,610.

Horl

To Horl, it was clear that not even mindseas could prevail in every situation or make the universe sweetness and light for everyone. The ultimate truth was balance. Every good thing supplied to one creature meant something bad befell another. You must choose where to fight your battles, for victory demanded sacrifice.

Enrolled 87,981.

Tlashiu

Tlashiu, a son of Kahee, was a hermit who preferred to keep his philosophy to himself. But if asked, he would tell people to stop focusing on what they couldn't get, because that caused no end to conflict and suffering. If only they would find joy in the wonders life did offer them, all would be well.

Enrolled 89,707.

Zarapeth

Zarapeth was a daughter of Horl, though she was much closer to her mother. She decided early on that a mindsea should never submit to the dictates of ego that drove Shallow, Deep-blind beings. Rather than trying to be a celebrity or paradigm-shifter, she would quietly lend her efforts to helping others where her mindpowers made her useful, as in the Deep-level shipyards of Medne.

Enrolled 91,621.

Kriwin

Kriwin was a son of Horl who strongly disagreed with his father's philosophy. If you remained calm amid all of life's vissicitudes, you could draw on the forces of the Center—the eye of the storm—to achieve any goal you sought. No balancing act was required. He was one of the Three Heroes of the Decadent Epoch.

Enrolled 95,439.

Thermeon

Driven by violent passions he hardly understood, Thermeon set out to overcome any obstacle he found in his path, hence his patternistic name, Crossing Over.

His goal was union with an incomparable goddess-star known only to himself.

In his quest, he produced so many children that his detractors felt his hidden agenda was to mold future generations through their sheer numbers.

Enrolled 99,568.

Morning Glory

Thermeon's sister, Morning Glory, knew that all life was woven together in the sun-dance, a Deep-level tapestry that leached into the mortal realm in bonds that tied each generation to the next. It could be expressed in the fierce love of parents for their children, or even in a sister's caring for her brother.

Enrolled 99,549.

Fuerida

Fuerida, the daughter of Morning Glory, saw herself as a heroic force working to restore the empire to its full and glorious potential by striking down the shadows of greed, incomprehension, and devolution that assailed it. Her emblem invokes the same image as Attequol's, but in a fiercer aspect.

Enrolled 99,600.

Quixa

Quixa, a daughter of Thermeon, believed the ultimate truth of the universe was the isolation of all living minds; who were, in the end, aspects of a single mind divided from itself by illusory mists of space and time.

She wrote patternistic poems expressing her views.

Enrolled 99,747.

Puflet

Born a slave, Puflet had a passion for freedom. She channeled her mindpowers into a relentless war against the galaxy's slavers. Only a free humanity could find an evolutionary path leading upward.

Enrolled 99,907.

Maxuas

Maxuas, a son of Thermeon, felt that denizens of the Deep, such as himself, drove the evolution of humankind with their will and their vision. He envisioned the next step in evolution to be the coalescing of individuals into a sentient empire comprised of many bodies in the same way that animal bodies are composed of cells. He would be the mind of the super-organism.

Enrolled 100,151.

Vedina

Vedina, a daughter of Thermeon, saw history as sentient creatures' best tool for coming to grips with and understanding the universe. History was an extension of individual memory that all imperial citizens shared; it gave them bonds of fellowship and a unity of purpose. Maintaining the records that had been compiled on thousands of planets across the millennia was of utmost importance to the empire's health.

She was headmistress of the Mindsea academy of Lal.

Enrolled 100,627.

Katora

Katora believed that the intelligence, insight, and hard work of a mindsea untainted by the evil of negative thoughts could guide humanity into an age of illumination. She founded the Mindsea Academy of Alonaton to spread her teaching.

Katora traced her ancestry to Empress Besi.

Enrolled 101,425.

Dino

Dino, a son of Thermeon, preferred to use his mindpowers to influence games of chance, eschewing serious matters. His emblem expresses his observation that mindseas and the Deep-blind alike are caught in an endless cycle of repeating dramas that ultimately have no meaning.

Enrolled 101,706.

Quintillion

Quintillion was the son of Kahee and grandson of Quazi. His emblem illustrates his preoccupation with the dark aspect of mindsea power. No matter how much care a mindsea took not to harm others, disaster would billow out with his every breath.

Enrolled (for the second time) 102,373.

Serpenlino

Serpenlino was a son of Quintillion. Unlike his father, he believed that action could be positive if one allowed oneself to be guided by the wisdom and good luck afforded by gazing into the Center of creation. He would walk along a beach and watch patterns of the surf on the sand, reasoning that all he sought to know lay in every grain of sand by way of the Total Configuration Effect known to patternists.

Enrolled 102,217.

Torm and Fintuo

Torm was Vedina's son and Quintillion's stepson. He was born in a primitive land where his parents had been exiled during the interregnum. Everything he knew he learned from observing life in this wild and natural place, where every animal was wiser than the Experts in their pink palace. Strength was beautiful and beauty was strong. That was why he would prevail over his ugly and twisted stepfather. In order to overcome Quintillion, he had a copy made, who was assigned the name Fintuo. Torm's emblem was "Beauty & Strength," while Fintuo's was "Strength & Beauty."

Enrolled 103,507 and 103,797.

Shell

Shell was the daughter of Quintillion and Katora. She wanted to extend herself both through multiple timelines as her hero, Rathax, had, and through the mindspaces of other species, both Earthborn and alien.

Enrolled 104,037.

Habel

Habel was the son of Katora and Dino, and his mother's first hope for leading the way into the Age of Illumination. But he needed to be his own man, and he found strength in the First Tenet of Patternistics, which told him that each moment contains eternity as it renews the universe. When he experienced his eternal moment, nothing that had happened before was real; his mother and father became illusions that no longer could warp him.

Enrolled 104,398.

Karali

Karali was the daughter of Katora and Thermeon, and her mother's next hope for guiding humanity to the Age of Illumination after the disappointment of Habel. Karali saw the age of illumination as the step in evolution during which all humans embraced the Deep and flexed their mindpowers. She had no use for the Deep-blind. Her emblem exhorted one and all to take the plunge into a deeper life, as she had.

Enrolled 104,902.

Poba

Poba was the daughter of Puflet and Serpenlino. She didn't come into her own until after being killed and restored to life augmented with genetic material from a blow fly, Calliphora vomitoria. Then she wished all of humanity to be winged as she was.

Enrolled 104,990.

Nathimeon

Nathimeon was the son of Katora and Thermeon. He replaced his sister Karali as his mother's hope for the future, but he never grew into the role. He preferred to ride his own way. The oceans he encountered away from the imperial capital inspired him. He saw all of life as taking part in a single vast oceanic event, in which self-awareness and sportsmanship were far more important than individual power or leadership fantasies.

Enrolled 105,375.

Kweenk

Kweenk was the daughter of Morning Glory. She found power and magic flowing from the patterns of life all around her.

Enrolled 106,302.