Kickstarter Manuscript Preview 3.0 © 2020 White Wolf Entertainment © 2020 Onyx Path Publishing Unit 4: Internal Matters Other things may change us, but we start and end with the family. — Anthony Brandt “So,” he said, “I need all the information on the recruiting in your department for the past ten years, and as soon as possible. Can you help?” Poor guy, Duv thought, grinning benignly. Stephen looked just ever so slightly harried, which meant, in Duv’s experience, that he was seriously stressed. Served him right, too; he’d always breezed through training, testing and assignments with an annoying aplomb that even the most highly ranked agents were known to envy. It was about time someone gave him a difficult assignment. “Sure, sure, glad to. When do you need it by? Couple a’weeks is probably the best we can do.” “Tomorrow morning. Tonight would be better.” Duv raised an eyebrow. Either this was serious, or Stephen had truly pissed someone off and generously decided to share. Well, it didn’t actually matter which it was; either way, Duv needed to jump or risk getting official displeasure splashed all over his nice black suit. He mentally added another case of his favorite beer to the tally he reckoned Stephen owed him at this point. Fortunately, there was an easy solution to this particular problem; one that Duv took frequent advantage of with an almost religious devotion: “Hey Madelyn, I want you to meet my friend, Stephen. He needs some information, and everyone knows you’re the source of all wisdom around here.” Fortress. Family. Home. The Technocratic Union, by definition, is a fortress unified by a technological elite. Yet that fortress has doors, windows, walls, and passageways; cracks in its foundation. Among its theoretically unified ranks dwell fallible human and not-exactly-human beings, whose imperfections and differences mock the monolithic façade around that fortress. To outsiders, the Technocracy seems soulless and impenetrable. To those living and dying within this organization, though, the Technocratic Union is not a reality-strangling conspiracy. It’s a home. Strange as this might seem, the Technocratic Union provides focus, purpose, salvation, family. For many of its operatives and employees, the Union is the greatest thing they’ve ever known. Like any family, it has its flaws; but like the best of families, it nurtures and protects its people in ways outsiders can never understand. Oh, it can be abusive, true, and each member must surrender most of their autonomy in order to remain in the good graces of the Inner Circle. When outsiders challenge the stability of that family, though, the Technocratic Union locks the gates, mans the walls, and drowns outsiders in seas of their own blood. The following chapter builds on and expands upon information presented in Mage 20 (pp. 166- 195) and The Book of Secrets (pp. 223-233). It’s not exhaustive, nor could it possibly be that way. In place of the subjective perspective of the previous chapters, this Unit takes a relatively objective stance. Even then, however, much of the Union remains in shadows. No family, after all, can be summed up fully in a few thousand words. Think of this chapter as a family portrait: A bit remote, outside by definition, capturing certain elements of each family member while suggesting relationships you never clearly see. Artificially presented, but ideally capturing a moment of truth before people in it swirl off with lives and agendas of their own. Be it ever so hostile — to RDs, anyway — there really is no place like home. Toward Technocratic Humanity The Technocratic Union exists to further the march of human progress, protecting humanity from Reality Deviants, who (according to the Technocrats) are dragging progress and humanity backwards, relying on beliefs that do not make sense, and on practices based on those beliefs, invented to comfort a less-advanced form of humanity. The Technocratic Union consistently looks forward, wanting to integrate as many kinds of thought as possible, all of it focused on change for the betterment of humankind. The Union’s goal, despite popular belief, isn’t violence and destruction. The goal is to raise humanity up to from the limitations of its present form; ideally without destroying the things that make humanity beautiful. But what is it like, serving the Union? How do people live and breathe within the confines of its rigid structure? Children grow up within its strict rules and guidelines, marriages are made, partnerships forged and broken, and real living people of all types find themselves working at the core of the Technocracy. Outsiders frequently forget that Technocrats are, at their core, human. They feel, they love, they cry, they relate to others. Of course, where Reality Deviants might have more strict beliefs on what precisely constitutes personhood… What, Within the Technocracy, Constitutes a Person? The Technocratic Union does not see “humanity” as being defined by the parameters of blood and flesh. The structure of the Union requires that broader parameters be applied in order to support new kinds of life. Where some people might consider a test tube baby, or even a child or person born from primordial ooze, to not be “human,” the Union recognizes that humanity changes with the advancements of science. Looking forward, Technocrats see only opportunity, with the boundaries of “humanity” becoming redefined by clones, cyborgs, genetically re-evolved human beings, and even people who have transcended the current concept of “human” landing squarely in the realm of operatives of the Union. Humanity changes; it adapts to new circumstances. As the oceans rise, as technology advances, as the world itself bends to human will, the ways in which a person becomes a person become more complicated. The Union takes the widest-angle approach possible. Instead of placing restrictions upon the concept of humanity, they open their arms to the many varied ways in which people might adapt to the world. Because adaptation is the strength of the Union, adaptability is the quality by which every Technocrat lives and dies, and with that adaptability comes an acknowledgement that within a changing world, there can only be an ever-changing humanity. The Technocratic Union’s approach to what constitutes a person — or for that matter, what constitutes a non-person that is still considered a safe addition to the Technocratic community — is important because it colors the ways in which the Union operates as a whole. While many outsiders see the Technocratic Union as a monolithic fortress filled with violent and unfriendly men in dark suits and sunglasses, that impression is not true. Such assumptions, however, are rooted in a long history of the Technocratic Union preserving and enforcing a culture of bigotry and judgment — a culture that has come to be phased out only within the last few decades. Recent Past and Current Events Despite the egalitarian ideals (at least, by late medieval standards) of its predecessor, the Order of Reason, the Technocratic Union is a product of Victorian Europe, with all the imperial, ethnocentric prejudices that origin implies. Thus, even now, systemic bigotry remains an innate element of the Union’s foundations. That bigotry has poisoned the system for a long time. Outsiders still regard the Technocracy not as a beacon of hope for humankind’s future, but as a monolith of hate seeking to erase anyone disagreeing with it. Ironically, that monolithic impression masks deep internal divisions within the so-called Union, and many of those divisions come from different perspectives about human identity, diversity, and the value of “raw” human beings within a group dedicated — at least in theory — to the advancement of our species. Certain Conventions (notably Iteration X and the NWO) prize collective identity over the capitalist Eurocentricism of the Syndicate and the Darwinian extremism of the Progenitors; meanwhile — as epitomized by the Men in Black agents only recently converted into Black Suits — those same Conventions retain a white- centric, male-gaze legacy that prizes ability over disability and male prowess over feminine skill. Those contrasts between egalitarian ideals and cultural realities provide a complex social battlefield for the supposedly unified Technocracy. In recent decades, though, the ideals have been winning, if only because bigotry is a proven waste of talent and resources. Removing that bigotry from the Union, then, has become imperative for Technocrats in 21st century leadership positions; but people, like institutions, can be stubborn and resistant to change, and so egalitarianism remains a fight that progressive Technocrats must constantly pursue. In recent years, one region within the Union’s primary influence has been spilling pervasive bigotry: the United States. Once a center of technological pride and innovation (albeit one steeped in slavery, genocide, and masculine-power ideals), the USA has embraced large-scale religious and cultural fundamentalism. Although this trend suits the coffers-filling goals of Syndicate operatives, Technocrats from other Conventions have been horrified to see the constant reduction of science education and funding throughout the USA, the spread of anti- intellectual and anti-science propaganda, and the government’s belligerent withdrawal from international accords that took decades to construct. Other global superpowers (notably the United Kingdom) have followed suit, and the resulting surge of willful ignorance — spread, ironically enough, through technological venues like the internet — troubles many Technocratic operatives and leaders alike. This is not the Enlightened future prized by Technocratic Union ideals. Although the authoritarian trend of recent years does not exactly run counter to the Technocracy’s goals (the Union is, after all, a militaristic authoritarian elite), the idea of humanity throwing away centuries of scientific progress in favor of ethnocentric bluster and willful ignorance appalls Utopian Technocrats.