Misodermy

Teklus regarded his travelling companion with a sour expression, a rime of sweat glistening on his tanned brow. "I swear, Ilya," he hissed through gritted teeth. "If Onesby makes me stay in this greasy, burbling shell for even a second longer than it takes to finish the mission, I'll do the rebels a favor and step into that decoherence myself!"

— A conversation between two ComInDS field agents at the Second Battle of Candledusk

Misodermy is the term for a certain attitude among choir and construct blanks that entails a hatred or disgust for the state of being embodied.
For a blank, becoming embodied means taking on a physical, biological form within an instance. Elder blanks originally came from a biological state and instance blank generally know of no other existence than a biological one during their 'lifetimes' within instances; for these classes of blanks, then, the state of being embodied is normal and, to a certain extent, even comforting as a reminder of what life could be like as physical entities back in the physical world. For choirs, who were artificial intelligence or skyphoforms, as well as constructs, who weren't originally created with a physical presence in mind in the first place, taking on a biological form can prove disconcerting and disorienting on a variety of levels. Some biological processes can be repulsive to those who aren't accustomed to them, especially those related to feeding, excretion, or reproduction. This embodiment may also be the first time that such blanks have been forced to grapple with the concepts of physiological pain, infirmity, contaigon, senility, or mortality itself.
Misodermists - that is, those who exhibit an attitude of misodermy - often speak of the fleshy forms they take on as being disgusting, degenerate, greasy, flabby, hairy, itchy, or other adjectives that evoke the great and small discomforts attendant with biological existence. They may choose, to the extent possible given their station within The Substrate, to avoid situations that require them to become embodied to avoid these uncomfortable sensations.
Though it is often misunderstood as such, misodermy does not per se stem from nihilism or bigotry. Most misodermists merely hate the sensation of certain biological realities, not past, present, or future biological entities as a class. As part of the Matrioshka's 'Grand Project,' sentiences both biological and artifical are to be preserved for as long as possible into the future, and this effort may include reinstituting biological forms on distant worlds or even in some universe beyond the heat death of the current one; misodermists are usually happy to render assistance in this important work from behind the scenes, such as under the Committee on Instance Design Standards, where they will not be required to take biological embodiments. Genuine misanthropes are generally not selected as candidates for transmigration and, when they arise spontaneously within the Matrioshka, generally fail to thrive as citizens of The Substrate until they change their minds on the matter. Where misodermy does coincide with a hatred towards oneself or other sentients, the holders of these beliefs tend to gravitate towards membership in illicit organizations such as Broken Eternity.

Type

Mental

Origin

Natural

Rarity

Uncommon

Affected Species

• Skyphoform