History
Though many have tried to tie the history of The Elevated Vessel to the botanists and naturalists of
Yelton Veda's great civil war, there is little to show a connection to the origins of
The Magnetic Assembly.
The creation of the
Daqin and
Chongwu have increasingly given attention to the idea of Uplifting: augmenting animals to make them as intelligent as humans. The actions of both the Daqin and Chongwu have increasingly soured the pure-uplift line of thought. The resulting Elevated Vessel beliefs include respecting the genetic code of existent animals, and call for increasing the capability of these animals through machines that can aid them in navigating the human world.
The group itself would find members mostly among those studying the natural sciences in
New Cambridge, and some of the more spiritual members of The Magnetic Assembly. Over time their members have become prominent in botany and other systems essential for
life support in space. This has made the group one of the few that largely feels like an outside organization that has joined the Assembly, rather than one that arose naturally out of internal members.
Culture
The Elevated Vessel gets its name from a Manchu-born
Qing dynasty author who stated that
"if water rises, a ship is elevated." or "A rising tide lifts all ships." In this context, their argument is that by helping our animal-friends we help ourselves. Members often incorporate Buddhist beliefs like watching for bugs when sweeping, but also have a tendency to be against
rules and authority in general.