The Neuman reject chips completely. Chips are slavery, proof of dependence.
Through the consumption of chipped humans, their bodies became saturated with nanites. Those nanites didn’t give them foreign Skills, they unlocked their own.
Every Neuman who undergoes the Bloodfast has the chance to awaken a Soul Skill.
For them, this is absolute proof: Soul resonance is inherent. The System is a lie.
They live aboard massive floating battleships that drift on thermal currents and storm fronts. Each is both a home and a war engine.
A battleship is a city in motion:
Feasting halls where chipped prey are butchered and shared.
Marrow vaults for storing harvested blood and bone.
Echo chambers where the Choir is sung into steel bulkheads until the walls hum with voices.
They travel singly, rarely in fleets, preferring predatory isolation. A meeting of multiple warships is always a herald of war.
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Doctrine of Proof: Humans awaken through chips. Neuman awaken through flesh and will. Therefore Neuman are the true inheritors of resonance.
The Choir: Soul Skills always awaken with voices, not of the prey, but of resonance itself. The Neuman claim this is proof they are beyond human, a species capable of hearing their own souls.
Empties: A child who fails to manifest a Skill after the Bloodfast is an Empty. Empties are vented into the skies.
Lighter bones, expanded lungs, membranes for short gliding. Their physiology is adapted to thin air.
Nanite saturation has stabilized into heritable traits, resonance passes more cleanly to their children, making Soul Skill manifestation common.
Many carry faint tracery marks beneath their skin, glowing under stress. To Neuman eyes, this is beauty: visible proof of resonance.
War-Keepers (Captains): Rule by resonance strength, not bloodline.
Binders: Manage the Bloodfasts, choose which flesh fuels awakening.
Echo-Speakers: Lead the Choirs, turning resonance into war-song.
All labor is martial. Repairs, harvesting, and feasting are acts of war-preparation.
Idleness is weakness. Every Neuman is a fighter.
Scars: Instead of tattoos, they cut steel into their flesh and let it heal around. The scar forms ridges of nanite, badges of endurance.
Bloodfast: Feeding of chipped flesh to children until resonance awakens.
Feast of Ascension: When new Soul Skills manifest, the whole ship feasts, honoring proof of superiority.
Silent Drift: Once a year the ship goes dark, engines off, crew silent. Each Neuman listens for their Choir alone. Some don’t return.
Vertical drops from storm clouds.
Hook strikes to haul prey into the sky.
Isolation of targets for harvest.
Hooks, bow lances, nets, spears.
Ship-mounted kinetic lances, only for breaking resistance when hunting.
Objective: Always capture chipped prey when possible, for research, for food and resonance fuel.