One of the more recent factions or groups to emerge within the last few decades is the Escott Institute. Developing as a result of the Battle of Storm and the increasing presence of aliens in the Verge and Bleed, the Escott Institute - full name the Escott Institute of the Mind, Future, and Physicalism - started with a devotion to the study of the various extant aliens that humanity has continually encountered, but quickly expanded from there to include so much more. They were founded by Jean-Yves Fa'izu Seyrès, a former Junior Researcher for the Ain Soph Aur Institute after Seyrès lost his position with the ASAI for being accused of sharing information with non-ASAI members. As are result, there is quite a bit of bad blood between the ASAI and the Escott Institute, and not least of all because the two of them frequently find themselves overlapping in subject matter (by design; Seyrès may have been fired from the ASAI but he didn't lose his interest in the God AIs or other, related matters).
Who the Escott Institute isThe passion project of major oligarch Luis Escott Sabatini (of the Sabatini family, the same family who own the Lucrezia Borgia) who maintains a large say in what the organization does and does not study, and occasionally veers into weird directions. On the surface, the Escott Institute maintains a façade of respectability within the scientific community by being devoted to the study and categorization of all alien organisms, as well as collecting samples and maintaining biosphere samples. The Institute runs a number of artificial habitats that contain a wide range of climates and biomes, employing terraria designers to produce more terraria for the alien organisms that they collecting information on. This means they have one of the largest databases on alien organisms in the Verge Bleed, and that also includes humans - the Escott Genotype Operation, EGO, was tasked with collecting all the various genotypes that humanity has produced for storage and categorization. EGO still has one of the largest databases of human genotypes in the Verge and Bleed, and they are exceedingly good at getting genetic samples; as it turns out, when you have a Major Oligarch for whom an amount of money equivalent to a trillion dollars is a rounding error, there's not much that you can't buy. There are a few holdouts - Clade Labella refuses to sell their data, for instance, and the ASAI of course will have nothing to do with the organization founded by two men that they booted out of their ranks for "unethical experimentation" (a claim that Seyrès and the current Director, Tesfaye Yacobe Danasabe, contest vehemently) - but when the Escott Institute shows up using trillion dollar bills like a cheap ascot, there's few people who won't listen. They make this data available to anyone willing to pay for it, one of the major reasons the ASAI and Clade Labella, among others, refuse to work with them.
However, digging slightly deeper reveals something much weirder. Luis Sabatini is fascinated with the paranormal, the supernatural, and the esoteric, and so while the Escott Institute maintains EGO and other data collection and resale operations, their true purpose is often much weirder. Specifically, the focus breaks down into three areas: The Mind: Sabatini is one among many who are convinced that psychic powers, the soul, and other paranormal things exist - a conviction he shares with Seyrès and Danasabe. So the Escott Institute often investigates and explores these areas. To better understand this, they pursue leads on aliens, especially the ancient aliens like the Stoneburners and Glassmakers, but also observe (or spy on) the Evrem, Mechalus, Frahl, and other aliens. They are also convinced that the God AIs knew about psychic powers and experimented with them. The Future: The Escott Institute is foremost among the "Science" of Cliodynamics, constantly seeking out Weirds and other emergent AGIs to employ so they can get a better grip on what the future might hold. They also maintain the Escott Foundation, which scatters "seed vaults" across the Verge and Bleed, set to activate 1,000 years after they stop receiving messages from the Institute, so humanity will continue to exist. It's part of their Thousand Year Plan. Reality: By far the strangest and most interesting aspect of the Escott institute is their digging into the idea of multiverses, and travelling between them. Seyrès, Sabatini, and Danasabe all share a mutual conviction that the God AIs vanished because they slipped into an alternative reality, and so they are constantly looking for wormholes, or evidence, of these realities. They are also very interested in computer simulations produced by the God AIs, since they believe that these simulations contain some evidence of what the God AIs discovered when they probed these alternative universes. |
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The Escott Institute Wants
The Escott Institute is after the same thing that groups like the Ain Soph Aur Institute and the Archimedes Society are after: information. And they often overlap in weird ways and do not remotely get along with one another; the Archimedes Society feels the Escott Institute is a continuation of the bad neoliberal science policy that damaged the reputation of scientific progress and science in general until the late Interplanetary Period, giving rise to science deniers; they especially chafe at the idea of information being sold. The ASAI, meanwhile, similarly despise the idea of information being sold, and see the release of information for the highest bidder as reckless given the ASAI appears to have a deep-seated mistrust of Oligarchs. That the ASAI has accused the Escott Institute of attempting to break into their data vaults numerous times certainly doesn't help. For their part, the Escott Institute sees the ASAI as antiquated and hoarding knowledge that would be better in the open, and sees the Archimedes Society as naïve for thinking information can be "free" (which, since the Free Masons work with the Archimedes Society, often puts the Escott Institute in conflict with the AlphaCen Lodge, and they lack the clout the ASAI has with the Republic of Letters to be consider members). Conflict between the three has often turned violent; depending on the circumstances, two may gang up on the other, with the Archimedes Society often siding with the Escott Institute on matters associated with advanced aliens like the Stoneburners and Glassmakers, while it will often side with the ASAI on matters of making information available only to those who can afford it. The Escott Institute would just be happier if neither organization existed.
What the EScott Institute can provide
The Escott Institute can provide a wide range of services to anyone who is a member or who has a high enough reputation with them (or can make a reputation check to call in a favor with them). Since they are bankrolled by a Major Oligarch, there are few services that they can't provide. However, some of the more common ones include:
- Accommodations.
- Lore. Like the ASAI, this is what they are good at. Specifically, the Escott Institute can provide access to Expert Skill (Xenology or Psionics), Weird Science, and any Biology and Bioengineering skills, as well.
- Provisions.
- Replacement.
- Training, mostly in archeology and related fields.
- Tools and scientific gear.
Rank
0 1 2 3 4 5 |
Title
Student Professor Research Professor Chief Researcher Department Head Assistant Director |
Advantages
Rank 0 Rank 1, Research License [1]; Research IQ-1, Expert Skill (any) IQ-2 Rank 2, Public Speaking IQ-1 Rank 3, Leadership IQ, Research IQ, Public Speaking IQ Rank 4, Research IQ+1 Rank 5, Leadership IQ+1, Public Speaking IQ+1 |
Mind GamesWhile the Escott Institute claims to be working to study psionics and the potential for the human mind, darker accusations have been leveled against them. The Institute is said to be working with Cognite, a major corporation that's involved in "wet-wear modification" and other neurotech. How closely together the two work is a matter of debate within conspiracy circles, but it's widely believed that psionics are used as an excuse to cover for less ethical neurological experiments. Naturally, the Escott Institute denies these claims, and points out that all their research is up for sale if anyone wants to see it, which includes research into psionic phenomenon and other psi-related fields, as well as a deep interest in the multiverse and prognostication of the future. It's likely these claims are false if only because there's no reason for them to work with a megacorporation - the Sabatini family is far more wealthy than any megacorporation could ever hope to be. However, conspiracists retort that this is on purpose, and that they know things they aren't sharing, or that they're only selling to the richest of the rich. |
history of the Escott Institute
The story of the Escott Institute begins with Jean-Yves Fa'izu Seyrès, the founder of the Institute. Seyrès was born on the Sothic Ring after the Verge War, when the Ring was part of the newly forming Combine before the leadership of the Ring voted to join the Verge Consortium after the Combine couldn't help them afford repairs. Seyrès grew up hearing stories about the Ain Soph Aur Institute and made it a life's goal to join, and he succeeded. A devout Ainsophist, he moved from the Sothic Ring to Keter, where he worked for 15 years with the ASAI, moving up in the ranks. At the same time, Seyrès became increasingly disenchanted with the methods of the ASAI, especially their unwillingness to share what they learned. At some point, Seyrès, along with the current director, Tesfaye Yacobe Danasabe, and 10 others had a falling out with the leadership of the ASAI and were stripped of their ranks and their access to the ASAI libraries. The ASAI maintains it was because Seyrès and Danasabe were carrying out unethical experiments while the ASAI footed the bill, but Seyrès and Danasabe contain that they were only trying to explore further what the ASAI knew, feeling the ASAI wasn't pushing the boundaries fast enough to achieve their goals. In any situation, Seyrès, Danasabe, and 10 other researchers were kicked out of the ASAI and lost access.
Almost immediately, they were contacted by Luis Escott Sabatini, the patriarch of the mysterious Sabatini clan (the same family that own the Lucrezia Borgia habitat/starship). The ASAI was unique in that it locked out all oligarchs from its files (so long as one doesn't consider the 13 Immortal Rectors, the heads of the institute, to be oligarchs); only members were allowed to see the data the ASAI collected, and Sabatini along with other major Oligarchs wanted to have a version of the ASAI that they could rely on, rather than a rogue semi-religious organization that was more devoted to their faith than the bottom line, or the Archimedes Society, which was devoted to open sourcing everything they found. Seyrès and Danasabe both agreed to start their own institute in the vein of the ASAI if Luis footed the bill, and so Luis did, throwing down an unknown sum of money that was likely north of 100 billion to help found the institute. With this funding, and with the support of the Sabatini family, Seyrès and Danasabe founded their own institute, naming it after their patron, Luis Escott Sabatini - the Escott Institute was born.
Almost immediately, they were contacted by Luis Escott Sabatini, the patriarch of the mysterious Sabatini clan (the same family that own the Lucrezia Borgia habitat/starship). The ASAI was unique in that it locked out all oligarchs from its files (so long as one doesn't consider the 13 Immortal Rectors, the heads of the institute, to be oligarchs); only members were allowed to see the data the ASAI collected, and Sabatini along with other major Oligarchs wanted to have a version of the ASAI that they could rely on, rather than a rogue semi-religious organization that was more devoted to their faith than the bottom line, or the Archimedes Society, which was devoted to open sourcing everything they found. Seyrès and Danasabe both agreed to start their own institute in the vein of the ASAI if Luis footed the bill, and so Luis did, throwing down an unknown sum of money that was likely north of 100 billion to help found the institute. With this funding, and with the support of the Sabatini family, Seyrès and Danasabe founded their own institute, naming it after their patron, Luis Escott Sabatini - the Escott Institute was born.
Culture of the Escott InstituteThe Escott Institute has a well-defined culture of tolerance for ideas; very few ideas are deemed too stupid to at least put some money towards, in part because the Institute takes a "throw it against the wall to see what sticks" approach, and an "it's not our money so blow it however we feel" approach. It's well known within the organization that they aren't as forthright as they initially appear; all information they find has to be handed up to Luis Sabatini first, who will then decide whether or not it should be put up for sale. This makes Sabatini the de facto head director of the Escott Institute, even though the actual head director for day-to-day affairs is Tesfaye.
The Escott Institute, for the most part, just wants the truth. They are willing to chase ideas down rabbit holes that few in the past have been willing to follow due to a lack of time, money, manpower, or all three, although they devote a large part of their time and effort towards EGO and the various biological categorizations not just because they want to keep a respectable façade, but because at least someone asked if it was possible to document every living species in the Verge and Bleed and so the organization threw enough money at the question to see if it could happen. The liberal donations of Sabatini make this culture of "whatever we do, we do it fully" possible and without these generous endowments - which probably cost Sabatini next to nothing, given the Sabatini family is so rich that money literally doesn't mean anything to them anymore - the organization would quickly dry up and wither away. And all of the members are aware of this reality, and so spend and study each day, knowing that their next day hangs on the whims of a major oligarch who is interested in weird paranormal phenomenon∎ |
The Reality of Cloak-and-Dagger ResearchAs noted under the ASAI page, psionics don't actually exist; the ASAi has been researching psionics for centuries and nothing has come up, which eventually led to the ASAI putting the research on the backburner and pursuing different tasks. This would save the Escott Institute a lot of money if they knew that, but the ASAI doesn't want to share, and has no problem with the Sabatini family sinking billions of dollars into research that will inevitably prove futile - they reason it will keep the Escott Institute from pursuing more fruitful ventures, like the research into the multiverse and into alien angelnets. However, the ASAI is drastically underestimating the amount of money that Luis Sabatini is willing to throw at his project, and so do many governments for that matter. The Escott Institute, so far, remains unaware of alien angelnets and the multiverse; if they did find evidence, they would publish it immediately and provoke and all-out cloak-and-dagger conflict with the ASAI that would likely escalate to the assassination of researchers and leaders - a conflict the ASAI would handily lose. Already the ASAI goes out of their way to handicap Escott researchers in the field. However, this conflict might also draw in the meta-empire governments - whose research into the area remains unpublished and largely unknown, although many signs do point towards a multiverse existing and it's well-known the alien angelnets exist and can be manipulated. The wild card in all this is the Worldtree Commons Council, who also have the ability to manipulate alien angelnets and may know about the multiverse. The Escott Institute keeps them at arm's length, since association with the WCC can damage credibility, but if they do learn, the the WCC may be forced to chose between the ASAI and EI, and violence may result. |