The Cyber Confederation.
The Cyber Confederation is not just a faction, but in many ways an Inter-Factional organisation. Much like the Senshi, there is a central core of groups that form the Cyber faction. However if you fulfil one of the following conditions you can be considered a Cyber:
* Possess a non-critical artificial enhancement that provides a meaningful benefit over the non-enhanced functionality.
* Consist of between 40 to 95% artificial construction while still having a biological Ghost value.
* Spend 70% of your time dealing with cybernetics (construction or application)
The above is meant to rule out those with medical implants (those which replace damaged organs), AI's with bodies (who they sponsor to the Metropolis Project), transferred consciousness beings (likewise), and general surgeons.
In essence, most Cybers are members of other factions or groups who have or work near exclusively with cybernetic enhancement. As such, it is fairly rare to find a Cyber who is not heavily into the politics of another faction. One notable function of this is that Cybers are frequently found in information services occupations (couriers, intelligence analysts, librarians, etc...), meaning that a dedicated Cyber can gather a great deal of information on a given subject. The network works the other way, allowing messages to pass more quickly than expected between points. Cybers are also found regularly in the medical profession.
The Cybers are a notable contributor to the Metropolis Project, and unofficially work to the betterment of artificially based sentients.
As they are quick to point out, the Cybers are a TOTALLY different faction than the "Cyb0rz." The Cybers work with hardware as much as software, while the "Cyb0rz." are, to quote one Cyber:
"...Mostly a bunch of Script Kiddies playing around with 'waved computers thinking they're Bad Asses, but just making trouble for everyone. I pity the poor 'L33ts' who try to ride herd on them. They at least know what they're doing."
Despite this animosity, the Cybers get along with all recognised factions.
The two notable organisations within the Cybers are:
The Force Works Committee.
The Committee works much like the W3C committee back on Earth. The 20-ish strong panel represents the twenty or so groups that make up the Cybers faction (this includes civilian, non-governing representatives of all the major factions), and set the standards for the cybernetic community to adhere to with respect to construction and application of cybernetic technology.
They meet three times a year (one of which is about a month before a scheduled Con), with an appointed representative from the various groups in attendance.
The most notable thing about the Committee is that they have a representative from the Borg Collective as a Special Liaison. The Liaison's main job is to give the Committee the latest super-user access codes to the Collective's network. This, along with the similar access granted to the Federation Council, is meant to safeguard against the Collective going rogue, or the other groups coming to a deal and using the power of the Collective to a non-beneficial purpose.
The Sabre Corps
The Sabre Corps consist of two main groups; the Spartan Armoured Forces and the Panzer Kunst Gruppe. The Spartans are cybernetically enhanced and use powered armour of various types. The Spartans are best known for their Search and Rescue actions, mainly because they place themselves on all open stations, Space Vessels and large Space Ships they can get on. They are reluctant to field Space Marines due to the use of similar forces by Bosconians, but those they do field, the Grey Knights, are always accompanied by two general Spartans and a Senshi commander. Grey Knights are almost universally respected for their near-fanatical dedication to the protection of Humanity. (The evacuation of Crystal Osaka only succeeded due to the sacrifice of three Grey Knights, who tied themselves into the control systems of the orbital habitat to keep things stable enough for the evacuation to complete.)
The Panzer Gruppe is generally associated with the Supers, as they are those Cybers capable of full combat operations without powered suits. As a result, the Kunstler of the Panzer Kunst Gruppe are well known as near-BNF warriors of other factions. Officially, there is no Kunstler of above Krieger rank. However, the Sabre Corps maintains several watch orders on individuals that may go beyond Krieger rank, notably including the two most drastically biomodded humans known, Wave Convoy and A.C. Peters, even though Wave Convoy isn't a Cyber.
Sidebar: The Big Nine List
The Big Nine List is a quietly put together unofficial list of the nine most powerful, most influential, or most gifted beings in Fenspace with respect to the Cybers faction. But none of those on the list would claim membership as none of them know about being on it.
In fact, the Big Nine list is nothing but a product of a broken expert system, which its creator keeps meaning to get around to fixing. The small group of friends who get the list tend to ignore it and delete the message. Some of the names on the list make sense (Winry Rockbell is a noted Cybernetic engineer and surgeon, for example), some don't (Noah Scott has been on the list for the past two years for no explained reason), and some are just plain weird (The Dobbses are on the list, despite being fully organic). Also notable are the absences from the list (A.C. Peters has never been on the list, neither has The Professor).
However, the existence of the list has escaped the group and now exists as a rumour in Fenspace. As such most factions (including the Cybers) keep their ears open for the identities of the Big Nine, and there is healthy speculation on that subject even though the leadership of the Cybers faction denies the existence of the list.
The Cyber Confederation is not just a faction, but in many ways an Inter-Factional organisation. Much like the Senshi, there is a central core of groups that form the Cyber faction. However if you fulfil one of the following conditions you can be considered a Cyber:
* Possess a non-critical artificial enhancement that provides a meaningful benefit over the non-enhanced functionality.
* Consist of between 40 to 95% artificial construction while still having a biological Ghost value.
* Spend 70% of your time dealing with cybernetics (construction or application)
The above is meant to rule out those with medical implants (those which replace damaged organs), AI's with bodies (who they sponsor to the Metropolis Project), transferred consciousness beings (likewise), and general surgeons.
In essence, most Cybers are members of other factions or groups who have or work near exclusively with cybernetic enhancement. As such, it is fairly rare to find a Cyber who is not heavily into the politics of another faction. One notable function of this is that Cybers are frequently found in information services occupations (couriers, intelligence analysts, librarians, etc...), meaning that a dedicated Cyber can gather a great deal of information on a given subject. The network works the other way, allowing messages to pass more quickly than expected between points. Cybers are also found regularly in the medical profession.
The Cybers are a notable contributor to the Metropolis Project, and unofficially work to the betterment of artificially based sentients.
As they are quick to point out, the Cybers are a TOTALLY different faction than the "Cyb0rz." The Cybers work with hardware as much as software, while the "Cyb0rz." are, to quote one Cyber:
"...Mostly a bunch of Script Kiddies playing around with 'waved computers thinking they're Bad Asses, but just making trouble for everyone. I pity the poor 'L33ts' who try to ride herd on them. They at least know what they're doing."
Despite this animosity, the Cybers get along with all recognised factions.
The two notable organisations within the Cybers are:
The Force Works Committee.
The Committee works much like the W3C committee back on Earth. The 20-ish strong panel represents the twenty or so groups that make up the Cybers faction (this includes civilian, non-governing representatives of all the major factions), and set the standards for the cybernetic community to adhere to with respect to construction and application of cybernetic technology.
They meet three times a year (one of which is about a month before a scheduled Con), with an appointed representative from the various groups in attendance.
The most notable thing about the Committee is that they have a representative from the Borg Collective as a Special Liaison. The Liaison's main job is to give the Committee the latest super-user access codes to the Collective's network. This, along with the similar access granted to the Federation Council, is meant to safeguard against the Collective going rogue, or the other groups coming to a deal and using the power of the Collective to a non-beneficial purpose.
The Sabre Corps
The Sabre Corps consist of two main groups; the Spartan Armoured Forces and the Panzer Kunst Gruppe. The Spartans are cybernetically enhanced and use powered armour of various types. The Spartans are best known for their Search and Rescue actions, mainly because they place themselves on all open stations, Space Vessels and large Space Ships they can get on. They are reluctant to field Space Marines due to the use of similar forces by Bosconians, but those they do field, the Grey Knights, are always accompanied by two general Spartans and a Senshi commander. Grey Knights are almost universally respected for their near-fanatical dedication to the protection of Humanity. (The evacuation of Crystal Osaka only succeeded due to the sacrifice of three Grey Knights, who tied themselves into the control systems of the orbital habitat to keep things stable enough for the evacuation to complete.)
The Panzer Gruppe is generally associated with the Supers, as they are those Cybers capable of full combat operations without powered suits. As a result, the Kunstler of the Panzer Kunst Gruppe are well known as near-BNF warriors of other factions. Officially, there is no Kunstler of above Krieger rank. However, the Sabre Corps maintains several watch orders on individuals that may go beyond Krieger rank, notably including the two most drastically biomodded humans known, Wave Convoy and A.C. Peters, even though Wave Convoy isn't a Cyber.
Sidebar: The Big Nine List
The Big Nine List is a quietly put together unofficial list of the nine most powerful, most influential, or most gifted beings in Fenspace with respect to the Cybers faction. But none of those on the list would claim membership as none of them know about being on it.
In fact, the Big Nine list is nothing but a product of a broken expert system, which its creator keeps meaning to get around to fixing. The small group of friends who get the list tend to ignore it and delete the message. Some of the names on the list make sense (Winry Rockbell is a noted Cybernetic engineer and surgeon, for example), some don't (Noah Scott has been on the list for the past two years for no explained reason), and some are just plain weird (The Dobbses are on the list, despite being fully organic). Also notable are the absences from the list (A.C. Peters has never been on the list, neither has The Professor).
However, the existence of the list has escaped the group and now exists as a rumour in Fenspace. As such most factions (including the Cybers) keep their ears open for the identities of the Big Nine, and there is healthy speculation on that subject even though the leadership of the Cybers faction denies the existence of the list.