Dr. Eduardo Miranda Jörg Li Ralf Marie

The doctor is a six member anthropologist/diplomat from Unity station 3. The unity is relatively young, just 4 years old in its current form, although it is based on a partial around 8 years old.

Eduardo and Miranda were the first members, a husband/wife pair that immigrated to Unity around 15 years ago. They were originally part of the Landfall embassy (Eduardo as a diplomat, Miranda as a social scientist), but became fascinated by Unity society and decided to join. They essentially switched sides, something that didn’t endear them to the Landfall Foreign Office. After lengthy training they formed a partial group mind. It was during this time the first interstellar contacts occurred, and Eduardo/Miranda joined the other Unity diplomats in making contact with other societies. During this period they worked closely with some other non-aligned diplomats, and eventually the four others joined. Jörg was an ex-Landfallian neurotechnologist, while Li, Ralf and Marie were native Unity-born. The six member unity turned out to be a skilled diplomat and anthropologist, even if the internal structure was a bit shaky.

It was at Adobe where the unity proved itself and "popped". During an intense meeting with the Mothers of the Radical Unificationalists they achieved group-satori and managed to negotiate a very favourable information exchange deal right in front of the competition. In fact, the unity impressed even the Mothers, who over a span of weeks introduced it to the Linker ideology. The unity didn’t completely buy the idea, being naturally sceptical, but took the chance for further contact and information exchange the Linkers offered. Since then the doctor has acted as liaison between Unity and the Mothers, promoting certain Linker ideas and gathered useful information.

It was the Li that really convinced the doctor that the Linkers were on to something. Fascinated, the unity studied the results and immediately saw the implications for Unity. With the Li, not only could unities be strengthened, but it might even be a step towards an Omega society.

Structurally, this unity is somewhat shaky, the members usually are not united other than as a telepathic connection. However, when it is really needed or the situation is critical, then it is able to unify quite well. Eduardo and Miranda are usually in dense communion, while Li, Ralf and Marie tends to be more closely linked with technology. The unity is driven by a will to discover and understand other cultures, mostly because it interests the members or because it might help Unity (Jörg and Li’s motivation). Eduardo and Li contribute with enthusiasm and a certain wry sense of humor, while Miranda contributes practical optimism. Ralf is the practical doer. Jörg has a slightly religious bent (he really believes in the Unity ideals), which while creating some internal friction also helps the unity to stay on track. Marie is fairly neutral, mainly acting as a mediator. There is an undercurrent of egoism and unscrupulousness in the group which it carefully ignores.

The members are

Eduardo: A skilled diplomat, supplementing his own personality skills with his wife’s.

Miranda: Expert in the social science of group organisms. Wife of Eduardo.

Jörg: Neurotechnologist, responsible for the informational and neural function of the unity.

Li: Xenobiologist.

Marie: Diplomat, somewhat lacking in personal drive but excellent at formalism.

Ralf: Linguist

The unity has plenty of quirks, like most unities (the combination of individuals tend to amplify certain random characters). In this case there is both an addiction to complex virtual reality games (both abstract and hyperreal) which the different individuals play simultaneously, and a tendency to quote obscure mythological references from a variety of cultures. The relatively mixed food, clothing and art preferences of the individuals produce the potential for complex aesthetic games. Overall, like many other unities, it enjoys multiplexing and looking at things from many points of views at once.