Lemniscate

Insinsi who are engaged with infinity.

Basics

• Taxonomic Order: Insinsi

• Alignment: Paradoxical

• Energy: Complexity

• Lifespan: 5,000 years

• Diet: Energy

• Habitat: Upper atmosphere

Origins

Lemniscates evolved from shemir who moved to the upper atmosphere to study infinity.

Description

Lemniscates appear to be anthropomorphic beings with high foreheads and cerulean skin that varies in translucency by individual (ranging from nearly clear, revealing starry energies within, to nearly opaque, only showing bright spots). They have glowing spots throughout their bodies. They have fingers that are proportionately longer than one might expect from the size of their hands. They have hair on the fringes of their heads but not on top.

Procreation

Lemniscates reproduce sexually with one another. They sometimes reproduce with other insinsis, where the species of the offspring follows that of the mother. Reproduction with any other species requires supernatural intervention.

Powers

Lemniscates have excellent vision, able to see for miles further than most mortals, and they can levitate at will.

Counting

Lemniscates can count anything countable instantly if it is within their range of vision or in a container whose size is conceivable.

Weaknesses

If a lemniscate stops counting, they stop thinking.

Nations

There are two nations of lemniscates:

• Pagihapa: a split-off nation dwelling in northeastern Dabusen.

• Reaba: the original nation dwelling in the upper atmosphere in Gyrah.

Culture

Reaba culture is focused on counting the stars. Once, long ago, a group of shemir went to the sky to do just this, and they found they could not even in their extended lifetimes complete the task. So they turned to the paradoxical energy of complexity to try to count them, perhaps to find an equation or computation to do it, but they could not. As eons passed, they failed in their task, but the energy changed them, and they evolved into the lemniscates.

So they count the stars. Some of them sought another vantage point and moved to the surface of the world, forming the Pagihapa nation, but most remained in the skies. They built telescopes, counting machines, and the Metanet in order to count the stars. And they keep counting, one by one, as they discover new ones. Still, Ages later, they haven’t even counted all of the ones in the galaxy, though they have counted many beyond it.

At last count, they are at just under a trillion.

Lemniscate children are taught to count as soon as they can be. They are raised by their parents and sent to school by age six. By age nine, they are expected to be able to perform complex equations, and by age 15, they are expected to know calculus, trigonometry, and algebra. By age 20, they are expected to be more advanced mathematically than most mortals can even dream of. By age 100, a lemniscate has had the opportunity to study math at a level shorter lived mortals spend a lifetime wishing they could reach.

Many fail, of course, spending centuries studying at the lower levels.

The city-state of Reab is a sprawling, non-Euclidian masterpiece made of glass, metal, and crystal, and its focus are the three massive, spherical universities suspended within its impossible highways. These schools teach math - theoretical math, applied math, and esoteric math - and form the heart of Reaba society. Everyone is enrolled, by age six, in one of them (based on geographic location within the city), and they spend every moment in the school until they are 20. At the age of 20, they face tests. If they excel, they are encouraged to stay and learn more. If they fail, they are sent to be a worker in the city. If they are somewhere in the middle, they are asked to be a worker in the school.

Most people fail. These find jobs in the city, jobs that support the universities, and work for one of the corporate entities that own the technocratic infrastructure and government of Reab. Those who work in the university usually have support jobs - cooking, cleaning, taking care of the young, teaching aides, etc. - and those who keep studying become researchers and professors. Most, however, are those who fail and go to become counters. They take shifts each night, looking into the telescopes, and counting stars.

These counters attach themselves to a counting machine, which guides them esoterically, helping them identify unidentified or uncounted stars, and to record when they find one. Most lemniscates do not find new ones; they spend their nights searching. But those that do make a note of it. Regardless, the work they do generates complexity, which powers the entire city.

Every million stars counted, the entire city is given a night off to celebrate.

Because Reab is positioned in the upper atmosphere, the Reaba can access all sorts of energies, esoteric and otherwise, and capture it in special complex nets. These nets are harvested and the energies placed in batteries, which the Reaba drain for sustenance. The owners of these nets are the same rich technocapitalists who own the universities, counting machines, and Metanet.

The city is run by a bureaucracy known as the Anakrounh, which answers to the technocratic corporate overlords.

National Cultures

The Pagihapa are a low-tech version of the Reaba. They do not have the Metanet, flying cities, or a technocracy. Instead, they have abacuses and counting sticks, basic telescopes, and ceremonies that they hope will keep the skies clear at night. They have a single school on their island, and they are led by elders and religious leaders who make sure they keep counting. They have, however, reached roughly the same number as those in Reaba, which is a fact the Reaba technocrats keep secret.

Esoterica

Lemniscates are beings of complexity, the paradoxical energy that is generated by counting and mathematics. They are its greatest wielders. They also wield flux, possibility, vonzot, psionic energy, soul energy, kakraohy, tahalana, qeernariji, the bright, kiiric yihi, euphotonia, gossamer light, drenante, quaestus, momentum, menab’e, mashoaab, bailaohu jinghua, euskepsia, stravomenos, kutsegula, ayase, kor, and poioumenon.

Religion

The lemniscates of both Reaba and Pagihapa worship Arithmus, the Infinite, which they see as a reflection of the entire universe, and they worship them by counting.

Gender

Gender is infinite, but unimportant.

Economy

Reaba is a technocorporate capitalist city-state.

Military

The rulers of Reaba employ a mechanical infantry in order to get around having to let anyone do anything but counting or calculating. They do have technocyclists, technogunners, and technobladers among their forces which are made up of living lemniscates, as they need some non-automated soldiers and police, but the bulk are mechanical.

Language

Their language is a mixture of southeastern Asian languages, Greek, and Latin.

Trade

Reaba trades in technology.

Occupations

Some common occupations include the following:

• Numerologer: the esoteric science of counting.

• Technoblader, -gunner, or -cyclist: those who use numerological powers to wield technological weaponry.

Outside View

Those who know of lemniscates confuse them with other insinsi and see them as strange, aloof, and confusing.

Notables

• Parabolus, Lemniscate Manifest, Aeonian

Estimated Populations

• Reaba: 33,333

• Pagihapa: 11,111

• Other: 1,000

Sample Stats

PRO 8
ATH 9
STR 7
AWA 11
WIL 8
PRS 8
STH 8