BY LETTER
Neophyte (Neo or Newb)
Culture and Society > Cultures and Sub-Cultures
Culture and Society > Cultural Factors > Socio-Ecological Categories
Culture and Society > Cultural Factors > Socio-Ecological Categories
 Image from Bernd Helfert |
A newcomer to Sephirotic society, coming from a newly contacted colony or independent world.
Neophytes | |
| Definition: | one being introduced to galactic society and citizenship, or newly a member of a civilized polity. a Probationer |
|---|---|
| Includes: | all sophonts being awarded freedom which are being trained, augmented, uplifted, memed, or educated in the responsibility of being a Zar |
| Civilizations that allow : | The Sephirotics, The Objectivist Commonwealth, many smaller civilizations |
| Civilizations and Polities that do not have a Neophyte class | The Deeper Covenant automatically provides citizenship without a probationary phase. The Panvirtuality and the Diamond Network have a particular form of ai promotion that likewise does not require a preliminary phase, but only applies to specific phyla (in this case artificials). Some polities, like the Shadow Federation, are very suspicious of outsiders. |
| Sentient Rights Legal Status: | Neophytes have full sentient rights but not yet full citizen rights |
| Toposophics | Most often baseline and nearbaseline equivalent |
| Phyla and Clades: | all |
| Est. Percentage of Sophont Population: | about 5 or 10% relative to full citizens |
The benefits and esteem resulting from zarhood (or equivalent in other civilizations) means that many non-citizens (both wannabe outsiders and former domestics) are keen to join. The requirements and degree of strictness vary greatly from polity to polity. The more missionary polities and hyperpowers such as the NoCoZo, the Solar Dominion, the Negentropy Alliance, and Keter, and smaller players like the Zoeific Biopolity and the Terragen Federation, readily welcome new converts/citizens, provided they embrace and live by the dominant ideology, although inequality between inexperienced neos and seasoned zars means a sort of spoken or unspoken hierarchical social class structure may exist for a some time afterwards, at least until the neo has been able to prove emself (this is especially the case in the Zoeific Biopolity, with its emphasis on tradition or pseudotradition and genome-lines traceable back to the original Federation and before). Others like the Metasoft Version Tree and the Emple-dokcetics require incorporation of their firmware in the subject, and there is usually a short period of adaptation during which the cyborgization and new templates become fully functional. Others again, like the Sophic League, the The Objectivist Commonwealth, and the Communion of Worlds may request a long and often rigorous period of apprenticeship. While in the case of Hider communities such as the Shadow Federation, it is almost impossible to gain entry, unless one has insider contacts.
Many neos are easily recognised by a swagger and know-it-all attitude, as they consider memetic conversion, acceptance, and hyperpower citizenship gives them a superiority over other inhabitants of the galaxy. They also lack the somewhat cynical and jaded attitude one may occasionally find among some long-time citizens.
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Development Notes
Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Initially published on 02 September 2002.
Initially published on 02 September 2002.
