The Empaths

Empaths are a clan defined by philosophy. In simplest terms, this philosophy holds that humans should adapt to the environment of planets, rather than terraforming them. However, this philosophy expresses itself in a number of different schools of thoughts:

• Preservationists believe that at least fifty percent of human-settled planets should be devoted to preserving native ecosystems.
• Isolationists believe that humans should either settle only barren planets, or live in completely sealed environments so as to minimize their influence on native ecosystems.
• Selectors believe that humans should only settle on planets that are completely compatible with terrestrial ecosystems (a belief that would all but eliminate the number of inhabited worlds).
• Withdrawers focus on persuading other humans to withdraw from the worlds they already inhabit in order to preserve the native ecosystems.
• Adjusters believe that humans should manipulate their body chemistry and genetics, grafting themselves into other ecosystems.
• Migraters believe that human settlers should quit their bodies and transfer scans of their brains to suitable species in each ecosystem.

Each school of thought further contains a whole spectrum of ideas about how to achieve its aims, and other matters.

To complicate matters further, these schools of thoughts are usually accompanied by pantheonistic beliefs. For most Empaths, the deity expresses itself in a variety of different forms, and the only way to honour the deity is to respect or emulate the most appropriate form for your environment. Many Empaths also view galactic history as a series of tests and challenges for humanity -- most of which the majority of humans have failed. In some cases, Empathism also includes an apocalyptic element, in which the rest of humanity faces destruction in just return for its careless and arrogant ways.

Wherever their beliefs fall in this complexity, Empaths regard them with the utmost seriousness. They are constantly evaluating the actions of both themselves and those around them in terms of these beliefs.

History

The philosophy of Empathism has its roots in environmental movements that predate space flight. However, the philosophy did not really begin until the first planets were settled. For the most part, those who sponsored colonization assumed with few exceptions that other planets should be terraformed as much as possible. However, a minority opinion has always existed, for reasons varying from ethics to scientific curiosity, that some or all alien ecosystems should be preserved. These minority opinions are responsible for planetary preserves like New Kikuyu and Torholm, which protect proto-sentient species by prohibiting planetfall to all but a few trained observers.

By the outbreak of the Great War, "Protectionism" had become part of many political parties' platforms to a greater or lesser extent. In fact, on such planets as Shipwreck and Rhymer, debates about the extent of terraforming came to dominate the local government agenda. Although Protectionism is unlikely to have ever becoame a majority view, it does seem to have enjoyed the support of a sizeable minority, who were more than willing to compensate for relative lack of numbers with political activism.

The legacy of Protectionism is a well-defined ethic today that prohibits terraforming when a sentient or pre-sentient species is involved, and a recognition that other spacefaring species have a right to make over a world to their own liking. With few exceptions, this moderate outlook seems acceptable to most of those who concern themselves with such issues, despite such unfortunate exceptions as the so-called Algae Genocide of Coriolanus in IY -3467 and the Showboat Massacre in IY 2389.

However, for some, these mainstream views were not enough. The discovery of both C-Tunnels and the spacefold drive were denounced by many Empaths as hastening the despoiling of ecosystems across the galaxy. Moreover, well before the end of the Great War, Protectionists were corresponding and meeting informally to discuss the promotion of their beliefs.

Empathism itself was created by two events. First, in IY -5, in response to the growing alarm over the new wave of colonization in the four centuries since the the discovery of the Spacefold Drive, the first Protectionist conference was held on Xanadu, a planet chosen for its utter lack of life. When this meeting became annual in IY 16, it gave movement members a sense of coherence that they had previously lacked. Similar meetings were held at other locales across the galaxy, and, in IY 51, the name of the philosophy was officially renamed Empathism.

Second, in IY 28 sociologist and economist Savannah Clifton Wu published her seminal work, "On the moral imperatives of colonialism," which constitutes a Protectionist critique of the ravages from the wave of colonization produced by the discovery of the spacefold drive in particular and by human expansionism in general. This essay, later expanded into the seminal "Colonial Ecology," a massive multimedia work written at the end of Wu's life, set out not only the tenets of modern Empathism, but also gave the movement its pantheonistic tendencies. These tendencies were widespread in Protectionism, but it is only only with Wu that they became central to Empathism.

Wu herself is one of those characters whose lives are so enmeshed by legend and rumour that fact and fiction about her have become hopelessly intertwined. We know for sure that she was a native of Daphnae who received a scholarship to the prestigious University of Safe Harbour, and went on to become one of the luminaries of that institution. We know, too, that she was a tireless lecturer, travelling constantly for almost sixty years until she collapsed on a podium at the College of Far Hithern in IY 88.

Beyond these facts, the details of her life are surprisingly scanty for such a well-documented person. We know most of her movements throughout her life, in some periods down to an hour by hour basis, yet much remains undocumented. Even Wu herself makes no mention of such stories as the one that claims she converted to Empathism after she nursed the last survivor of a nameless alien race decimated by Terran diseases on a remote asteroid, or that she heard the Voice of God speaking to her from a polluted lake and prophesying imminent disaster for humanity.

The confusion is all the greater for the fact that Wu's copious body of works on Empathism — in contrast to her earlier scholarly works — was highly metaphorical, although she can hardly be faulted for the literal-mindedness of some of her followers.

Discounting the more sensationalistic biographies written by Empaths — all of whom seem eager to claim Wu for their particular school — we can still make some educated guesses about her life. For instance, although her assistants generallly went hooded to protect their identities, we can indirectly infer the identities of several, and make intelligent guesses about one or two others; if the scholarly consensus is correct, then she was assisted by some of the greatest academics of her age.

We also know that she was a compelling public speaker and, putting aside the undocumented accounts of her conversion to Empathism, became steadily more radical in her beliefs as she wrote.

But if the details of Wu's life are debatable, her influence on the movement is unmistakable. Wu's influence was largely responsible for the change of name in the movement, and her writings also led to the establishment of colonies where Empath beliefs could be carried out, and the emergence of the clan as a self-identified group.

Following Wu's death, Empaths endured a variety of reactions from authorities, ranging from attempts to conceal them by ignoring them, to legal restrictions and extra-legal retaliations. The hostile reactions, particularly the pogrom on Little Beach in IY 173, are believed to have had a direct influence on the rise in Empath settlements on new worlds.

Since the founding of the clan, Empaths' main interaction with the rest of humanity has been as lobbyists for their point of view. Their focus has been on internal debates and the grand scheme of adapting to individual planets. In many cases, even trade goods from other worlds do not reach Empaths, since self-sufficiency and the avoidance of ethical and physical contamination are important parts of their philosophy.

One consequence of this isolation is that Empaths were largely spared any losses in the Disappearance. Although rumors persist that one Empath was among the original crew that discovered the Demons and succeeded in transferring his brain-pattern into Demonic form, for the most part, Empaths' environmental concerns leave little room for interest in psi. For many Empaths, the Disappearance was largely a news event centering on foreigners a long way away.

The Empaths Today

Little can be said about Empath culture as a whole. The difference in Empath schools of thought, together with the varieties of adaptations undertaken guarantee a wide variety of customs. Nor is our concept of Empaths helped by the fact that very few non-Empaths are ever allowed to live among them for any length of time. The few scholars who have frankly believe that they have been allowed to see only what their hosts wanted to display to the world.

Over the eight millennia of their existence, Empaths have developed dozens of cultures. They vary from the marginal to the thriving. Many adherents to the schools of Empath are thought to live lives little different from that of humans anywhere in the galaxy, but the variety defies all cataloging. While some Empaths seek largely terrestial-type worlds, others have sought to demonstrate their devotion by settling on worlds that are at best marginal. Apparently in the grip of an apocalyptic revival, some seem to have sought out deliberately hostile worlds, wishing to prove their devotion to their faith. Terrestial or alien, carbon or silicate, oxygen-breathing or nitrate -- if an environment can be described, the chances are that some of the Empaths have tried it.

The result is a picture that is as bizarre as it is fascinating and diverse. For example, the Isolationists of Lesser Wall Street have evolved a privacy-obsessed culture that is reminiscent of the Aquans, while the Isolationists of the Compact have developed a communal culture where privacy is all but non-existent. Almost any cultural institution developed by humans can probably be found somewhere on an Empath planet.

What fascinates most outsiders is the number of new human-based species that the Empaths have produced. For example,in using gene surgery to adopt to the plains of Pandakota, Empaths have developed a matriarchal herd culture unlike anything else in human space. Similarly, on Darius, Empaths have become hairy tree-dwellers who spend much of their day in meditation and have no need of government or technological culture.

One of the most notorious of the new species is found on Guardian. This species consists of silicate organisms of immensely long life who spend their lives absorbing solar radiation and contemplating the darkness of space. Guardianites have abandoned communication in return for a life of religious duties, and, if their numbers do not increase, neither do they diminish very often.

Still another famous incident involves the coral fish of Settlement Beach. When Spacers landed on Settlement Beach, which had been hitherto uncharted, they initially announced the discovery of a new alien race. To their disappointment, the inhabitants greeted them in a variety of human languages, presenting them with detailed accounts of the settlement from its earliest days.

Most, if not all, of these species are no longer human and do not claim membership in the Empath Clan, although some can still be seen at Empath conferences. However, many humans outside the Clan still view these new species with alarm. Of particular concern is the possibility that some of these new species might remain cross-fertile with humans, and hopelessly muddy the human gene pool if allowed.

Even more alarming are such cases as the hunting packs of Gray Dodger, who resemble large, flightless birds. The Adjusters who settled the planet attempted to transfer their consciousnesses to the dominant proto-sentients of the local ecology, but their success remains debatable to this day. The packs have shown signs of tool-use that they do not seem to have attempted before, but their vocalizations are so complex and so far beyond the normal human range that the success of the project remains uncertain. The question of whether the experiment succeeded and how human impulses affected the development of the packs must remain unanswered until such time as funding is available for more detailed investigations. Meanwhile, more than one popular entertainment on non-Empath worlds has capitalized on the idea of people being involuntarily transferred to horrific bodies by criminals or terrorists.

In daily life, the common factors in those Empath cultures with which we can communicate are that they say a prayer to their pantheonistic deity three times a day, and believe themselves an elite that is destined to survive when the rest of humanity overreaches itself and is destroyed by a long-suffering god.

In addition, no matter what their governments or social organization, all Empath cultures place a heavy emphasis on self-sufficiency. Most, for example, consume only food that can be grown on their own planet, and use only such goods as they can produce themselves. The more moderate Empaths relax this self-sufficiency to the point of using food and raw materials from the local solar system, but even this is enough to have other Empaths label them backsliders. Except where their new biologies have altered their philosophies, Empaths believe not only in not interfering with native ecosystems, but also in ensuring that their cultures are self-sustaining.

The rumour is that Empaths have occasionally banded together to destroy one of their cultures that deviated from such ideals. However, the point is debated. Despite their strong beliefs, Empaths are not generally aggressive, and popular entertainments that depict Empath terrorists are even further from the truth than normal. Still, just conceivably, the violation of their ideals might lead them to violence.

Relations to Other Clans and Intelligent Species

From the Clan's founding, Empaths have lobbied governments heavily on behalf of their beliefs. The most successful of these lobbyists tend to be the mildest Empaths in belief -- ones that stress the scientific aspects while downplaying the religious. Although Empaths are far from a majority on most worlds, their persistence often succeeds in having at least a brief impact on the policies of various governments.

Outside of lobbying, Empaths prefer to avoid contact with other clans. On many non-Empath worlds, they form a self-contained enclave that, while not usually physically threatening, is distinctly unwelcoming to strangers. More extreme Empaths make a point of avoiding other Clans, and, often, other clans return the favour.

The four most dominant clans -- The Aristocracy, Founders, Spartans, and Spacers -- are typically viewed by Empaths as destructive at best, and as the epitome of evil at worst. These clans are seen as not only destructive and hostile to the natural order of the galaxy, but as a perverse influence on the rest of humanity. Much Empath lobbying is aimed directly at the influence of these clans and, to many Empaths, the Disappearance was a divine judgement on these clans.

Pilgrims are similarly viewed as having led humanity astray. Inlookers are seen as only marginally better, since they are dedicated to breeding humans with certain mental traits rather than physical ones.

Empaths have more sympathy with Drylanders, Taurans, and Aquans, as well as the Mer bloodline of the Clones. Such groups fit reasonably comfortably with the less extreme forms of Empathism, although lacking their single-mindedness.

Despite all evidence to the contrary, Empaths tend to view other sentient species as the dupes or victims of other humans. They consider the Bappakana and Ferrets as hopelessly corrupted by human influence, and denounce the destruction of the non-terrestial ecosystem on the Ferret's ruined home world. Similarly, they consider the Forerunners in danger from the rest of humanity, and the inability of the Tsihor to meet face to face with humans as proof of the dangers of the philosophies that prevail among humankind. Even the Crucians, now that they are safely in the past, are seen as victims of humanity's environmental imperialism, and The Great War as a punishment for such attitudes.

Empaths are less sure what to think of the Demons. Some Empaths suggest that Demons with their psi-powers are a temptation that humans must learn to resist. Others counter that the Demons' refusal to interact with humans is the only sensible course for a species that does not want to be corrupted.

These outlooks on sentient life are more abstract than concrete, since few Empaths ever encounter aliens. All the same, they can make for serious misunderstandings on those few occasions when Empaths and other species interact.

Names

Empaths take a new name when joining the movement, or when they come of age. One favourite source of names is a virtue (ex. Adaptive or Steadfast for men, or Devout or Sympathetic for women). Another appears to be famous environmentalists who have been forgotten by everyone except Empaths, such as Muir, Emerson, or Thoreau. Such choices make Empaths instantly indentifiable, since few, if any, other groups use the same names.