The Vortex is a spiritual movement with churches wherein practitioners can divest themselves of dreams and fantasies off record.
Cylus and Tera were early software engineer hires at Conara and integral to the development of the Vortex interface.
When the Cataclysm hit, Atlas decryption technologies were used to hack in and steal the Vortex concept (by Gaby, the architect of the Cataclysm). Before the hack could be released, the team made it open source. Soon, the UI became popularly known as TimeFrame.
As it became clear that the Vortex/TimeFrame UI was leading folks in dangerous directions, as well as opening up privacy concerns, Cylus and Tera left. They were also wary of the religious fervor.
<aside> 🚨 The dangerous directions of TimeFrame As people begin building timelines via TimeFrame, many different groups, including religious groups, begin to call their timeline the right timeline. Conflicts begin to brew.
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Cylus and Tera tap back into the original Vortex network after they are forced to live off grid, but they bring focus back to their privacy concerns. As Cylus and Tera form the Outlanders they are joined by some of the founding members of the Vortex movement.
The Vortex movement split like the founders of Christianity split. There’s always a Peter, a Paul, a Judas, and a Mary Magdalene.
Some time after Nox makes Omni public, Nox adopts the Vortex as his belief system with the guidance of Omni. He becomes a member and leader of the Vortex. It becomes integral to Omni's mission via Atlas. This mirrors Emperor Constantine of Rome becoming Christian.
Aspects of the Vortex ideology inform each faction of society (Vortex followers, Outlanders, and Janus’s crew) which are pitted against one another, much like how christians, jews, and muslims have linked mythologies and yet have interacted and fought across History.
Similar greetings are used between all groups.
“Helix model: linear and cyclical history can coexist. From a progressive’s perspective, history is a linear trend, where the “arc of history” bends towards freedom, and where those against a given cause are on the wrong side of history34. Others think of history as cyclical, a constant loop where the only thing these technologists are doing is reinventing the wheel, or where “strong men create good times, good times create weak men, weak men create hard times, and hard times create strong men.” But there’s a third view, a helical view of history, which says that from one viewpoint history is indeed progressive, from another it’s genuinely cyclical, and the reconciliation is that we move a bit forward technologically with each turn of the corkscrew rather than collapsing. In this view, attempts to restore the immediate preceding state are unlikely, as they’re rewinding the clock — but you might be able to get to a good state by winding the helix all the way past 12’o’clock to get the reboot. Or you might just collapse.”