The Iron Cavalcade
Immortality is a by-product of good work. \\Mel Brooks\\
It is hard to know if it is fear of death or fear of being forgotten that drives the Iron Cavalcade, but those that it can count among its members are devoted to achieving immortality.
The group takes many routes to achieve this goal, and are at the forefront of digitization, recording, and cloning technology among the Assembly. Members can be very religious about installing tracking chips and other hardware to monitor and record everything. These recordings are often used to educate clones of former members in an attempt to create some level of immortality.
Organization
The internal organization of The Iron Cavalcade is not well understood by outsiders. What is understood is that everyone is vulnerable to the ravages of time, and the Iron Cavalcade are the leaders in the expedition to the future. The majority of the members of the Assembly can be counted on to provide donations or fulfill requests of The Iron Cavalcade in hopes that their research will continue to be successful in prolonging and extending life indefinitely.
Recruitment
History
The search for immortality has been ongoing since the dawn of history. The Iron Cavalcade can claim among its origins members as far back as the 9th century when the search for immortality led to the creation of gunpowder. There does not seem to be a straight line of succession between the searches of ancient times and the Sub-Assembly that would form in Yelton Veda in the 2200s but by the 2300s the history of the Iron Cavalcade was very well documented by its members, incorporating the history from a number of like minded individuals from before the Iron Cavalcade was officially formed.
By the 2320s, the Iron Cavalcade can count many among its number in The Magnetic Assembly, and many more members who participate in the Iron Cavalcade even if they are not wholehearted members. A large amount of research on memory and cloning are conducted at Concourse Alpha on the planet Hawking. Many of the research efforts within the Hawking System also include members of the Iron Cavalcade.