Since time immemorial, House Fornax’s Scintillexes have handled the care of children from pre-conception to approximately two years of age for noble Houses. As time has gone on, they have trained others as well as taken on other responsibilities relating to their original duties throughout the Empire in conjunction with other noble Houses.
Birth & Early Childhood[]
When speaking about things such as conception, birth, and childcare, Scintillexes often frame the conversation around terms like “collaborative creation” and “cooperative biological efforts”. Not every noble is comfortable with this.
There are several methods of collaborative creation the Scintillexes speak about that are considered viable and allowed within the social strictures of noble society as well as the High Church of Messiah-as-Emperox’s rulings.
Natural births are an inexpensive option for anyone but do have their own problems: many planets of the Empire pose potential threats to a parent such as lack of atmosphere of potential invasive contaminants. Though science and technological advancements mean that some complications are easily avoidable, they can still prove unpredictable and potentially dangerous to both child and parent.
Surrogacy is also an option, though it poses its own potential complications. It’s more expensive and means that a family must care for their surrogate throughout their pregnancy. On top of this, are the other complications inherent to a natural pregnancy. Nobles and those with enough money can contract a serf, though it is looked upon with some derision, or an Eridanii viscount in massive debt.
To provide even more safety for off-world surrogates and pregnant parents, there are residential sections of Vienistria on Tiber to provide care and space on one of the Empire’s most comfortable planets.
The most expensive and safest option is out-of-body gestation via Clibano pods, a joint effort between Houses Fornax and Triangulum. Clibano pods can be placed in homes or pods and rooms can be rented out in select Serpens-run clinics across many Imperial core worlds. When used in homes, those who can afford it will often dedicate entire rooms and suites of rooms to a child, giving them every imaginable comfort and potential advantage from the earliest possible stage. This can range from playing particular music, burning incenses, and growing plants to genetically modifying a child to have particular traits. For instance, an Aquilan or Crux family may want a more physically capable child with leadership qualities who is more likely to become an officer but a Fornax or Triangulum family would modify for aptitude in the sciences. Suites in clinics can have a few of the same comforts to those not able to afford a Clibano in their own homes. Clinics also have large-scale nurseries that offer the basics during gestation, including key immunizations and treatments for potentially fatal childhood diseases.
Contraception[]
On the other hand, contraceptives tend to be more equalized. While nobles have better access to incredibly expensive but less invasive methods of contraception, such as temporary genetic manipulation, the methods available to non-nobles are still proven incredibly effective. These include things such as intrauterine devices, slow release subdermal delivery devices, ingestible delivery methods such as pills, annual injections, and topical devices like condoms. Permanent methods, like vasectomies and tubal ligations, are also options though they can be more expensive and are not reversible by methods financially available to most non-nobles.
Cloning[]
While genetic clones are technically allowed by the technology available and the pronouncements of the High Church, many consider the act of creating and raising a clone to be gauche. Beyond genetics, an exact duplicate of any given person is still beyond the grasps of what is technologically possible. Some still choose to continue the practice, however, in hopes that their genetic dupe will continue on with their life’s work as they would.
Early Childhood Care[]
Rather than handling the daunting task of caring for the entire Empire children, Scintillexes train serfs, freemen, and willing parents in how best to care for a child in their most vulnerable years. Generally, this training only takes a few months for parents to a few years for those who have the time and money to dedicate to it as a vocation. These specialized individuals work within grounds that the Houses provide. Some families chose to house a trained childminder within their own domicile.
For those parents who may find themselves mistrustful of non-nobles and are able to afford such a luxury, Scintillex-coded nanny robots in combination with a VI are an option. These however can only fully operate within a relatively small functional area to their previous synth counterparts.
After approximately two years, Scintillex or Scintillex-trained caregivers transition the care of children to their respective Houses for educating in their traditional ways. For those that wish to eschew the care of a Scintillex at any point in their child’s early life, there is an extensive contract that must be signed which holds the Scintillex and House Fornax unaccountable for any harm that may come to the child within their first three years of life.
The Imperial Census & The Grand Genealogy[]
Scintillexes, in conjunction with Eridanii Archevoxes, Lyran Neshmets, and High Priests of the High Church of Messiah-as-Emperox are in charge of the Imperial census and population control of serf workers across all planets. Scintillexes, Archevoxes, Neshmets, and High Priests travel the sector, primarily within the Core planets but occasionally outside of them, to track noble genealogy. Births, weddings, divorces, annulments, deaths, and other life events of note are chronicled and filed into the Insigne Nobilitatis Ducum, or the Grand Genealogy of the Noble Houses of Acheron Rho. This data archive, stylized by a Lyran Meret, is handed to Vela for safekeeping every ten years and no information is publicly released until then. The High Church, however, keeps constant and rolling records that function for the validation of nobility.
Traveling Neshmets prepare bodies and give rites while on planets that cannot have a permanent Neshmet or are in flux waiting for another to fill this role. They also gather information from more permanently established Neshmets to take back to Orpheus as needed.
Scintillexes record the births, deaths and splits of the noble families of the empire for Velan records to be kept for future generations. These can often prove incredibly helpful when planning and arranging marriages or in some cases discouraging them.
Archevoxes collect information on the general populations of each planet, collating the data for use by the Virgo Notitia Records Collective. From there, this information is used to guide population control and bolstering efforts and initiatives throughout the Empire.
High Priests perform their duties as religious officiants and official records keepers for the nobility of the sector. Information is shared between Scintillexes and High Priests share information but High Priests will not commit things not considered official whereas a Scintillex might should they consider it potentially important for future generations.
The Virgo Notitia Records Collective & Non-Noble Population Control[]
The Virgo Notitia Records Collective is a joint effort between Fornax Scintillexes and Eridanii Archevoxes to tailor and control the serf and freeman populations across Acheron Rho to make them as productive and efficient as possible.
With their primary offices centered on Imperial Prime, Archevoxes use the data and information from the census of their traveling counterparts to determine whether population must increase, decrease, or remain stable and by how much within margins. Scintillexes then find methods for promoting this via ad campaigns and other initiatives. Most notably, this collective also tries to quell future uprisings and dissention on planets via population control, along with bolstering and and reinforcing the workforce sector-wide. Deciding on actual initiatives to use is often a long and bureaucratic process that can take anywhere from months to years.
Within the Imperial Core, these VNRC initiatives are adopted and implemented quickly, leading to a more prosperous future. Other planets, like Shān, Hong Lu, and Teuthem, are much more reluctant and either never put to action the VNRC’s advice or lags so long in attempting that new initiatives and programs must be rolled out.