![Artist Luis Fernando Mesquita: Four colored lines form a pair of interlocking elongated hexagons.](png/pzosfs0005_cognates_logoc6eb.png?w=300)
Cognates
Motto: Diversity in knowledge, unity in purpose.
In the aftermath of the Data Scourge and Drift Crisis, a growing number of Starfinders lost their faith in technology and Guidance, sparking an anti-technological movement that swept through the Starfinder ranks. Led by Royo, and joined by the countless agents whose lives have been altered for the worse by technology or by their over-reliance on technology, the movement caused heated debate between agents. After First Seeker Ehu Hadif opened a dialogue with Royo and his fellows, the movement solidified into a new minor faction, the Cognates. Today, the Cognates work to ensure that the Starfinder Society isn’t over-reliant on technology and instead utilize a multi-disciplinary approach to innovations, operations, and problem-solving.
![](png/pzosfs0005_royoc6eb.png?w=300)
Faction Leader: Royo
Faction Leader: Royo (LN male ysoki) A well-respected member of the Forum, the elected ruling body of the Starfinder Society, Royo specializes in scholarly affairs and believes information and a thorough education should be accessible to everyone, regardless of status, wealth, or connections. Denouncing the impermanence and mutability of digital data, he maintains a massive archive of physical manuscripts and tomes spread across facilities in countless star systems. Royo’s beliefs often lead him into disagreements with the Dataphiles.
Objectives: Cognates believe technology is a single tool in a well-stocked toolkit, and that over-reliance on any one discipline, such as the Starfinder Society’s current over-reliance on technology, is close-minded, dangerous, and ineffective. Instead, Cognates focus on a multi-disciplinary approach to innovation, operations, and problem-solving, including natural, magical, and low-tech analog methodologies, as well as the co-mingling of these, to form a balanced and secure foundation for the Society.
Year 7 Goal: The Cognates aim to ensure equal opportunities for research and development in all methodologies and fields, and demonstrate the usefulness of some recent innovations. They have agents on site in Eternity, alongside the First Seeker, to prove their use in the field.