Progeny
26 Nov 2022Iridium Nova
So far my investigation has turned up a whole bunch of mundane crap. Apparently one of the soldiers at Aubert Arms is having an affair with the quartermaster, a couple of guards at one of the mining installations are trying to get a grassroots anti-Imperial hate group going, and other utterly bog standard human crap everywhere in this system.The most interesting thing I've come across so far is a research project being done by multiple scientists coordinated across every genetics lab in the system. Apparently one of them got ahold of some centuries old genetic material which they've managed to trace back to Progeny. No, not the dating service. The original Progeny Group. Back when they were an acronym. P.R.O.G.E.N.Y.: Progressive Refinement of Organized Global Eugenics via Natural Yields. In other words, they really wanted their name to spell out Progeny.
Probably one of the most obscure historical references I've ever seen and the only reason I know anything about them is because my mom was a member for a very short period of time, about 5 months, when she was still at Uni. They got their start as a radical eugenics organization centuries ago, promoting selective pairing as a way of preparing humanity for the unknown threats we were sure to encounter in deep space. Initially they were fairly successful, using a scientifically based program designed by a prominent geneticist to appeal to intellectuals. However, eventually extremist elements within the organization gained too much influence and control and pushed them into aggressive, controversial behaviors which eventually had them labeled terrorists and criminals. The marginalized intellectuals within the organization aided law enforcement to capture the extremist leadership and return control of the organization to a new council who enacted policies which would protect against any future extremist coups.
Since then, the organization has gradually diminished. Today they are best known in limited circles as a dating service which features eugenics based technology for match selection. They are far from the most successful or popular dating service, but can claim to be the first to offer a time tested scientifically proven eugenics matching system. Though they are not especially proud of the sordid history associated with the basis for that system, it's pretty much the only gimmick they've got to bank on nowadays.
So what's all this got to do with Chukchan? Well, I'm not sure yet. Whatever these guys are researching, it's got something to with 200 year old genetic material. Compared to the some of the trouble I've gotten myself into in recent years, this is downright tame, but so far it's the most interesting thing I've found to investigate in this system.
Hey, who knows? Maybe at the end of all this I'll find the ancient mummified remains of Zachary Hudson's great great great grandfather and bring him back from the dead to curse the Federation with 100 years of bad luck. Assuming there's anything left of the Federation by then... Or the bubble.