The Cycle

Note: The Cycle is not part of Horizon lore, and has been made up entirely for Skyline.

Neither religious nor particularly spiritual, belief in the Cycle is belief that the universe has patterns to its order based on concepts like alignment, reuse, and repetition. The agriculture of the Utaru is the easiest example of this: farmers sew when the earth is most accepting of the seeds, harvest when the crops will make the best food, convert waste into fertilizer for future crops, and pay attention to the seasons to know when to start again.

Utaru carry this view of the Cycle into all aspects of life, including:

People and animals are returned to the earth when they pass, to nourish the cops which will feed the next generation.
Machine herds have predictable patterns, which can be used to avoid them or to stage an ambush when their parts are needed. When the parts are no longer of use, they are returned to Scrappers who will return the parts to the earth to become the next generation of machines.
City and village leadership is renewed with the same cycle as the harvest. Anyone who believes their plan for the next year to be an improvement upon the cycle may present it, and all will vote on whether to adopt it.

Acts which would interrupt or degrade the Cycle are seen as egregious. Injuring a worker, for example, would be taken as seriously as murder if the worker were unable to return to their duties. Polyamory and gender fluidity are perfectly normal, and often desirable if they bring alignment to the community, while stealing away a spouse who was also a parent, and therefore unable to continue to raise their family, would be a serious crime.

Small, short-term sacrifices which achieve larger, longer-term benefits are seen as especially honorable. When the Utaru were ravaged by the Carja during the Red Raids, they offered large quantities of grain to restore the peace. This loss of food for the Utaru was seen as a worthy and honorable sacrifice in the service of the far greater good. Disrupting the Cycles of the Utaru was worth bringing harmony to the larger Cycle of the two tribes.

Belief in the Cycle does not come with a title — people who do so are not “Cyclists”. Instead, when distinguishing between people who believe and those who do not, it is generally phrased as “they do (not) understand (the Cycle)”. It is also common to use metaphor to make such references. For example, an Utaru referring to a Nora might say “that one would fish in the dead of winter, then leave the bones in a pile”, alluding to both an ignorance of the seasons and a misuse of a recyclable resource.

Players may be tempted to draw parallels between the Cycle and Buddhist Dharma. While there is overlap in the broad strokes, belief in the Cycle is not a direct descendent of Buddhism. A narrow view of Dharma can be interpreted as implying a “true calling” to all things, but that determinism and fundamental order isn’t quite what belief in the Cycle espouses. Instead, the Cycle does not suppose there is one perfect way for the universe to be in harmony, but that tensions between things can be resolved, or at least reduced, by aligning them through observation and reconfiguration. This may mean changing the functions of one or more parts, whether temporarily or permanently, to improve an entire system.

Depictions

While there is no single symbol to identify the Cycle, all follow similar themes: one or more lines or curves, joined head to tail, in a loop. Most Utaru would mark the head of a line or arc with a single hook-stroke connected to the rest, not a double-stroke crossing the rest. Some variations have particular implications:

A single circle with its own head and tail joined is used only to represent intentionally over-simplistic Cycle concepts, and is often used pejoratively. For example, drawing a circle on your palm without lifting your finger is equivalent to saying out loud “that’s ludicrous”.
An eye shape with the eyelids being a two-arc cycle, and the cornea being another two-arc cycle inside it, is often seen on the armor or makeup of a Pinned Scythe.
Executors of note, who have been successful for a number of years or across a number of projects, are often gifted brooches fashioned from wires of different metals dyed multiple colors, woven in complex patterns which ultimately form a cycle. These represent the Executor’s ability to see and address the complex and inter-related issues present in cycles of significant impact. Wearing one of these without earning it is just short of a crime. Ripping one from the chest of an Executor is a serious insult and accusation.
A broken cycle is a sign of distress, or of vandalism implying an accusation of unfair practices.

Cultural Affectations

The ubiquity of the Cycle leads to some affectations or stereotypes:

Maps with directions always show a route out and back. Leaving off the return trip is almost seen as threatening: the implication is the traveler will be incapable of returning.
TODO