Methuselah
Race of posthumans designed with negligible aging rates in an attempt at biological immortality.
Named after the long-lived Biblical patriarch, the Methuselahs resembled humans but were designed with regenerative abilities which maintained their bodies in a negligibly-senescent state, not aging to any noticeable extent after maturing. Created during the Terran Restoration, some saw in the Methuselahs visionaries who could lead civilization into a new golden age with their ability to oversee centuries-long plans, and others hoped for a procedure to retrofit immortality into ordinary people.
However, while their designers may have "fixed" their aging, they did not fix their basic nature. Many Methuselahs were born into rich families, and their immortality combined with the general economic fact that wealth accrues upward into dynastic fortunes led to them gathering vast amounts of money over the course of their first few decades. Instead of being generous and using it to benefit humankind, most gave into selfishness and sought to hoard ever more wealth, never mind that they already had too much to spend. An era of inequality resulted in the Sol System at the time, centered around Terra and the colonies in its orbit, as Methuselah plutocrats subverted governments and rigged economies in their favor, running everything they touched for their benefit and theirs alone. With societies on Mars and in the outer system presenting an alternative economic model, far more equitable, the Terran populace eventually reached its breaking point and many Methuselahs met their fates at the pointy ends of pitchforks. Only a handful survived, among them the infamous Jorgus Ronson, who kept his power by doubling down on totalitarianism in the nation he owned.
Though life-extension and regeneration technology eventually proliferated down to the masses, the Methuselahs remain a cautionary tale warning societies against allowing the influence of the wealthy to grow unchecked since death, the great leveler of rich and poor alike, is now slower in coming for his prey.
Comments