HORUS

The Headless Body

HORUS is an oddity among the various pan-galactic corpro-states, outfitters, and manufacturers. Operating in a grey legal state between harmless omninet communes, open-source fabrication collaboratives, black-market printers, and deeper, more esoteric collectives, HORUS is counted among the Big Four not due to its influence on galactic politics, but because of its ubiquitous coverage: one can be certain that wherever there is omninet, HORUS is either there or soon to follow. Rumours abound as to the manufacturer’s nature – some say it’s the dream of an unshackled NHP or a hacker collective dedicated to open-source manufacturing (at its most mundane levels others insist that it’s the proving ground for one of the corpro-states’ R&D departments, or the realspace projection of an alien entity’s ongoing wish.
The group’s history is as mercurial as its present. Union records dating back to the First Committee Period indicate contact with groups, individuals, and state actors claiming to be (or identified as) agents of HORUS, itself described as an individual; a terrorist group; a philosophy church, or political party; an activist group; and many other forms of association. Contemporary reports indicate a subtle shift toward a more cohesive organizing structure – certainly accelerated following the Deimos Event – that points to some form of organizational mission and internal culture at levels far beyond the civilian and criminal levels of engagement with greyspace HORUS fronts.
This entity first rose to public knowledge following the Deimos Event, leading many who know of it to assume that it is a product of the Deimos Event—eager cataloguers of HORUS history are quick to suggest that it is a branched-intelligence of RA, a sliver of the MONIST entity given to spreading itself among those who it deems worthy.
However, other possibilities exist: that it is a blacksite Union project to track and identify rogue NHP programs or militant Horizon sympathizers; a Union (or Triumvirate) R&D program that crowdsources results from blind field testing; the dream of an NHP in cascade, and its adherents the interpreters of that dream; an intrusionary thread of a parallel universe, its reality bleeding into ours via a permanent rip in blinkspace; evidence of a true alien intelligence, generated memetically by the long-dead minds of the Union Intelligence Bureau team team that disappeared with metavault XOLOTL.
Many possibilities exist, and whole groups and movements are devoted towards discovering the true nature of HORUS. In the meantime, HORUS continues to release their unique pattern-groups to a select cadre of pilots, revealing nothing of its inner workings, history, or goals.
This more complex level of organization is reflected in HORUS’s mechs. Unlike the collective’s broad, civilian-facing projects – omnicode, hacks, data, and open-sourcing of otherwise restricted information, services, and platforms – HORUS mechs and pattern groups are limited in the extreme, usually first appearing as endemic manifestations of print anomalies in conflict zones across the galaxy. Save for rare situations (heavily documented by the Union Intelligence Bureau), these outbreaks seem to take place independent and ignorant of all factions and actors, and have one goal: manifest, then proliferate.
HORUS’s oldest frames are built according to standardized forms, as with most other mechs. The collective’s more recent chassis are stranger. Union’s Universal Threat Assessment Manual (UTAM) classifies them not according to models but according to “pattern groups” (or PGs). Each pattern group is a list of specifications that describe a particular combination of experimental, unregulated, and esoteric paracausal weapons and technology that, when taken together, resemble something like a distinct product line or frame. However, it is important to note: the pattern group classification system originated with Union analysts, not HORUS. Because there is no official manufacturer-entity or (known) central organizing body, the “proper” designations and design intentions of most HORUS mechs are all but unknown. Thus, the UTAM pattern-group designations.
HORUS “licenses” are highly coveted, and are distributed according to no discernible requirements; scholars and specialists who study HORUS generally assume that the collective’s licenses – that is, access to deep-level designs, specifications, and print patterns – are available only in limited quantities, likely becoming available after the corporeal death of their previous holders.
HORUS’s licensing process is atypical — and not, it should be noted, officially recognized as a "licensing" process — involving an esoteric and inaccessible set of criteria unique to each candidate. Often appearing as a white rabbit series of clues, or as a persistent haunting, or as an otherwise routine status-sync when confirming a requisition, licensure from HORUS is a mixed bag to many pilots. Some wear it as a badge of honour, proud that their years of investigating the entity has paid off with a confirmation of its existence — others keep it a closely guarded secret, both for the trouble it would cause them with their commanders and the rumour that HORUS licenses are only granted to a new pilot upon the previous license-holder’s corporeal death.
HORUS mechs universally field mysterious, unregulated, greyspace technologies – perfect for pilots seeking a technological edge that few other organizations can provide. They seem to focus on crowd control, individual unit management, and terribly powerful systems.
HORUS only makes systems, weapons, and protocols. It makes no consumer goods, and is unknown to all but a small percentage of the galaxy’s population. Your average galactic citizen would have no knowledge of HORUS. Knowledge of its existence is restricted to high-clearance Union Intelligence Bureau officers and deep-omni hacker cadres. HORUS has no “official” representation — occasionally one may see the wadjet stencilled onto an alley wall—but this entity keeps no offices, stations, or worlds. There are no standing HORUS armies or fleets or security services.
Be aware that by seeking out HORUS technology, you may find yourself wrapped up in mysteries with no end, and dangers far beyond your deepest fears.

"CONGRATULATIONS, PILOT. YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN. ACCESS IS YOURS, AS LONG AS YOU CAN KEEP IT."

Founding Date

4900

Type

Secret, Occult