Welcome, Guardian
You have been selected for the Redacted Shield Program. This is the highest honor an Echo can achieve: the opportunity to serve the stability of the Chronoverse by acting as a biological deterrent against Chronoclast sabotage.
Your selection was not random. Your Chronicle was reviewed. Your loss was noted. Your love for what you have lost was identified as an operational asset.
The Wasp Ritual
Upon acceptance, you will be implanted with a Causal Larva. This is a sophisticated CTH-construct that resides in your amygdala. For the duration of your service, your personal Chronicle will be placed in "Suspended Animation." You will no longer feel the pain of your lost Origin. You will be clean.
- The Guardian Instinct: Like the ladybug protecting the wasp's cocoon, you will experience a profound, irrational loyalty to the Authority Asset you are assigned to protect.
- Mnemonic Suppression: You will ignore all external stimuli that contradict your mission. If a Chronoclast attempts to "appeal to your humanity" by showing you pictures of your former life, the Larva will interpret this as a Vector Threat.
- Combat Response: The Larva triggers a surge of combat adrenaline in response to Vector Threats. This is not a side effect. This is the point.
Service as a Redacted Shield is temporary but total. When the Authority Asset is successfully stabilized, the Larva will "hatch."
- Result: Your remaining Emotional Mass (μ) will be consumed as fuel for the final recursion.
- Reward: You will be retroactively granted a "Standard Citizen" template in a high-stability Era of your choice. You will not remember your service. You will not remember your trauma. You will simply be.
[WAIVER 77-B ACKNOWLEDGMENT: By signing below, the applicant confirms voluntary participation in the Redacted Shield Program and waives all claims to Emotional Mass recovery post-Hatching. The Authority thanks you for your service. The Authority regrets that it cannot remember it. — Recruitment Division, Biological Integration Wing]