The Electric Archipelago (WIP)

Appendix A: Organizations and Subcultures

Kawaiichen

The group's name is a combination of the Japanese word Kawaii (cute) and the German 'chen' word form. They are bound together by their love of all things cute, as well as their youthful attitude. They are known to be excitable, bubbly, playful, and energetic.

The subculture is entirely made up of young women, although some groups will have effeminate male friends that occasionally hang around.

Their style of dress is focused on being cute and conveying a sense of youthfulness. Garments and accessories are often colorful, pink is common, but excessive use of it is frowned upon. Complete schoolgirl outfits or elements of them are a staple; this applies to both the English and Japanese versions.

There is a subset of cat girls. Unlike the ones from the Furry community, these ladies generally only have the ears which sit on top of their heads. Some use mechanical ears, these are often removable. Others use organic models, which are created using the woman's DNA. There are some cat girl Kawaiichen and their admirers that dislike the removable ears, viewing them as being for posers. A few also have tails. There are a number of fox girls.

As with all subcultures there is a negative stereotype associated with Kawaiichen. Many people see members of the set as just being older women that have gotten young bodies and are desperately trying to relive their lost youth.

The Church of the Ascended

Tim Martin was the son of a wealthy businessman. An only child, his early years were spent in luxury, but he described it as lonely. Young Martin spent a surprising amount of time reading. He was sent to college with the mission of earning business and law degrees, with the ultimate aim of beginning his own career. While in school he took a class on world religion, this would give birth to his fascination with spirituality. His father and stepmother would only find out that he had switched his degree to religious studies when they attended his graduation.

Mr. Martin was livid. He disowned Tim, cutting him off from financial aid. The young prophet wasn't deterred. He still had money, more than enough for what he had planned. Over the course of a decade he would go on a great journey, a slow pilgrimage across the world. He visited holy sites and met with scholars. He would chronicle his adventures in a non-fiction book, My Journey of Mind, Body, and Soul. The experience, along with his education, would be key in forming his philosophy, his other main influence was LSD.

Lysergic Acid Diethylamide was discovered in 1938 by Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann. During the early years of the cold war between the United States of America and the USSR the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) experimented with the chemical. As a part of their tests the CIA exposed American troops to LSD without their knowledge. In a bizarre attempt to gain the power of mind control the CIA carried out project MK-Ultra. The project would involve torture and sexual abuse, even of children, combined with doses of LSD. This operation would accidently start the counterculture movement of the 1960s. It would only be the first time that the CIA started a drug epidemic in America, the next time it would be intentional.

Tim Martin became convinced that the use of psychoactive drugs was necessary to obtaining total enlightenment. He experimented with many different kinds of psychoactive substances, including a large amount of LSD. But he would ultimately settle on DMT, as it is naturally generated by the brain for use in dreaming. Martin teamed up with a brain surgent to develop the DMT emitter, an implant that would gather and store the DMT generated by the user's brain. The substance can then be used at will.

Having finally run out of money, Martin would spend the next three years going from one house to another. There are several famous incidences associated with this period. The press was scandalized by the fact that he was going around sleeping on people's couches, and as was often implied, cavorting with happily married women. Another focus was his increasingly strange body modifications.