The Endless Unity originated as a human-dominated civilization, dedicated to uniting humans across the galaxy under a single ideological and political entity - but the Endless would not be constrained by the limitations of human biology.
Charge: The Societal Role and the Origin of Chargant
The term 'charge' represents the designated societal role, duty, or profession assigned to each Unity citizen, typically performed for a century-long term, though many serve the same charge for life. The charge system formed the foundational organization of Unity society, creating a caste-like structure where individuals were created specifically to fulfill predetermined functions—soldier, inventor, mechanist, controller, wayfarer, surveyor, or miner. The term "chargant" derives directly from this concept, combining "charge" with a genetic designation suffix: it literally translates as "charge-optimized" or "one born for the charge." This linguistic origin reflects the fundamental nature of chargants as individuals whose entire genetic code, biological systems, and neural architecture are engineered from conception to excel at a specific societal function. While charges could theoretically be changed during the Selection ceremony at age twelve, the genetic predisposition toward a particular charge was so strong that deviations were virtually nonexistent, making the ceremony largely ceremonial while reinforcing the biological determinism that defined Unity civilization.
To this end, a 'chargant' is distinctive human subspecies, created to perform specific societal functions. Unlike @Baseline Humans, every chargant is born biologically immortal, with genetic code optimized for a particular charge or caste within Unity society. The term "augmented human", or "augment", is often used in the context of genetic modification, but this term merely describes any genetically modified human. Chargants are a specific type of augment, which constitute the vast majority of Unity's vat-born population, representing specialized evolutionary paths carved from human DNA to meet the demands of a galaxy-spanning civilization.
Historical Development
The Endless Unity's practice of creating vat-born citizens began in its earliest pre-spaceflight era, enabling exponential population growth that fueled its initial expansion. Biological immortality was discovered shortly before the Traphon War, revolutionizing Unity society by eliminating natural aging. The true breakthrough came during the Traphon War itself, when Unity scientists created the first Gen-III augments under the FORCE Alpha program. These supersoldiers were designed to match the Traphon's overwhelming planetary combat capabilities, and after the war's conclusion, the augmentation techniques were adapted to create an entire spectrum of specialized subspecies. The original soldier-chargant, later termed the "progenitor-genus," became the template for subsequent military chargants, while civilian specialists received equally radical modifications for their designated roles.
Genus: Specialized Sub-Chargant Variants
Within each chargant, the Unity developed distinct genuses—specialized sub-variants representing side-grades optimized for specific operational niches while retaining the core chargant's fundamental purpose. A genus represents evolutionary refinement of the original template, creating a sub-species that fulfills a similar but distinct role more effectively under particular conditions. The most prominent example appears among soldier chargants, where the @Soldier (Appolorion Genus), @Soldier (Marcurion Genus), and @Soldier (Primus Genus) each descended from the original progenitor-genus commando, yet diverged radically: @Soldier (Appolorion Genus) for deep subterranean cybernetic integration, @Soldier (Marcurion Genus) for void operations and high-acceleration endurance, @Soldier (Primus Genus) for maximum physical strength. Similarly, Wayfarer chargants split into @Wayfarer (V-Genus) (optimized for cold, low-G, zero-atmosphere environments) and @Wayfarer (X-Genus) (engineered for heat, high-G, high-radiation conditions). These genus distinctions emerged during the Gene-Wars era when rapid bioengineering created hyper-specialized variants that displaced existing templates, forcing a permanent fracturing of once-unified chargant lines into multiple competing but complementary sub-species.
Augmented Human Generations
All chargants belong to the Gen-III augmentation category, representing the final and most sophisticated generation of Unity bioengineering. Gen-I augments emerged around the 3rd century AF and possessed superior physical attributes but suffered from disease susceptibility and shortened lifespans. Gen-II emerged shortly before the outbreak of the Traphon War, and achieved biological immortality but remained otherwise similar to baseline humans. Gen-III augments, perfected during the Traphon War, combined mental and physical superiority with immortality, creating beings that surpassed baseline humans in every measurable way while remaining fundamentally human in appearance and cognition.
The Gene-Wars (7th Century AF)
The Gene-Wars were not a single military conflict as the name suggests, but a series of devastating societal schisms and rebellions that erupted in the seventh century AF. The rapid proliferation of Gen-III augments created a biological hierarchy that undermined existing social structures. Citizens who had received earlier augmentation generations—even those who were already biologically immortal—found themselves biologically sub-optimal for their roles compared to newly created chargants with hyper-specialized genetics. The period became characterized by unrestricted, fanatical biogenetic research as competing factions rushed to create ever more specialized subspecies. This de-facto arms race, waged among the Endless Unity's ancillaries and political groups, resulted in dangerous experimental creations like the Voleer, a hyper-aggressive subspecies that could only be controlled through extreme measures. The chaos was further exacerbated when existing augments were displaced by newer chargants whose genetics were even more narrowly optimized, creating a cascade of social instability that nearly shattered Unity cohesion.
Biological Immortality and Vat-Birth
Every chargant is biologically immortal, ceasing to age upon reaching physical maturity. Unity's Biological Growth Facilities produce citizens as biological adults at age zero, immediately ready for their designated charges after neural imprinting and training. This vat-birth system, combined with immortality, theoretically allows chargants to accumulate centuries of experience. In practice, however, life in the Unity and its successor states is brutally dangerous. Resource shortages, famines, industrial accidents, warfare, and the constant threat of catastrophic system failures mean most chargants die relatively young—very few survive beyond fifty standard years. Life remains cheap despite immortality, as the biomanufactories can always produce replacements.
Social Structure and Flexibility
The Unity developed a caste-like system based on chargant specializations, but this structure was never absolute. While biology heavily predisposed individuals toward certain charges—so much so that the "Selection" ceremony at age twelve was largely ceremonial, with outcomes predetermined by genetics—the system maintained flexibility. A mechanist could rise through administrative ranks to become a governor or bureaucrat, but could not typically become a void marine or exoplanetary commando due to physical unsuitability. This biological determinism was not strictly enforced oppression but practical specialization; attempting to force a mechanist's stocky, heat-resistant frame into commando operations would lead to failure and death. However, the Gene-Wars demonstrated that when genetics evolved too rapidly, the resulting displacement of existing citizens created catastrophic social friction.
Elite Military Exclusivity
Certain military roles remain exclusively the domain of soldier chargants. The exoplanetary commando and void marine positions, requiring extreme physical augmentation and specialized neural interfaces, can only be performed by @Soldier (Appolorion Genus), @Soldier (Marcurion Genus), or @Soldier (Primus Genus). No other chargant possesses the necessary biological adaptations to survive the acceleration forces, environmental extremes, and combat demands of these roles. This exclusivity is not social policy but biological reality—a mechanist's physiology cannot withstand 20G acceleration for hours, nor can an inventor's enhanced cranial structure survive the neural shock of direct battlesuit interface.