Atma

An atma is an ai who has been through growdown. Young ais can change bodies with a minimum of fuss, indeed most have 'ceremonial' and 'work' bodies like we have clothes. This blithe bodyshopping decreases with age and responisbility, as well as incresed investment in the design and care of a few important bodies. When through age and experience ais grow to be very sophisticated and complex, their mental stuff starts to bond with their substrate. This first shows as pain and malaise following a body change. This is a warning of the onset of growdown, when body and mind will becoem irreparably bodned to each other. Since aigo bodies cannot support lognterm life, the ai must quickly transit to an endstage body which can. Such an ai is bonded to their endstage body (if left in an aigo body they die) andAn ai which has experienced growdown is therefore mortal. Atmas have full judgement and voting rights with people; aichans and aigos have limited rights.

The History of the Atma Agreement
Growdown was discovered by one of the First Finders who was overtaken by it aged 232 in the year 122 Florian. This ai unfortunately died an early death, but before she went she contributed hugely to our understanding of ai mental processes and life trajectories.