To outsiders, the Technocratic Union seems to be a vast monolith, while insiders see how fractured the Union really is, especially in the Final Nights. On the base of the Union are regular Sleepers (common powerless mortals) that work for the Union as paid workers, but have no real knowledge of Hyperscience. Permanent employees are called Extraordinary Citizens, who are effectively technomantic hedge mages. These two groups work all across the Union and are part of every Convention.
After that, each Technocrat is assigned to an Amalgam, a work team. Every team of agents has a Supervisor who sends it into the field to act on the Union's behalf. A Supervisor can come from any one of the Conventions, but one is usually chosen for his expertise in a specific field. The Ivory Tower, into which we will deepen, reps coordinate espionage. Each amalgam may also enlist a coordinator, an agent who uses advanced Correspondence Procedures to maintain surveillance and communication within the team.
Protocol dictates what a Technocratic amalgam can and cannot do in the field. All agents should remember that the Technocracy is not a recognized legal enforcement agency. Although there are cells of citizens in the FBI, the CIA, and other similar societies, most Technocrats do not flash badges, acquire search warrants, or enforce mundane law (despite insistences from the Traditions). The Union follows its own code of behavior, the Precepts of Damian, although enforcement tends to vary on the dominant Convention and their overall loyalty to the Inner Circle.
Beyond that are the Symposia, groups that oversee geographical areas and oversee the procedures of the Time Table. They report to masters in Horizon Construct, who in turn answer to Control, the invisible Inner Circle of the Technocratic Union.
The methodology or convention (branch) of the Technocracy that Combeferre belonged to is the Ivory Tower, which oversees education and administration. The purpose of the Ivory Tower is fivefold. They teach new recruits of the Technocratic Union the accepted worldview, operate in mortal universities to make sure they conform to the party line, run the bureaucratic structure of the Union itself, and protect it from invaders and infiltrators. Furthermore, they are in charge of the process of Social Conditioning and often act as talent scouts in universities.
The academic range of the different Collegia stretches from the venerable subject of history to newer fields of study like Gender Studies. The Ivory Tower consists of 30 different Collegiums who collectively form a think tank that guides the policy of the Union. Some believe that certain subjects, like psychology, were supported and disseminated by agents of the Ivory Tower.
The Ivory Tower is a place of academic freedom and expression, in contrast to several other Methodologies in the Union. The Tower has been investing a lot of money and time in expanding the integration of its bureaucracy deeper into the other Conventions’ infrastructure. The Tower claims that it is doing so to relieve its peers of the burden and responsibility of mundane clerical work. Other Conventions see this as an unwanted intrusion into their own hierarchies.
SOCIAL CONDITIONING
The hidden masters of the Technocracy are not named "Control" for nothing. If the loyalty of a Technocrat is wavering, he can expect some very pointed questions from his superior and – in the most extreme case – brainwashing. The Union has learned from the betrayal of the Electrodyne Engineers and the Virtual Adepts, as well as the internal chaos of the Union during the Second World War. Each Operative of the Union is classified according to Six Degrees of Separation, which codify the loyalty of the individual to the "One World, One Truth, One Order" goal of the Union.
The degrees are observed by Psych Ops, psychologists and doctors that offer succor to Technocrats who waver in their dedication to the technocratic goal after exposure to deviant behavior.
- Stage One: Indoctrination - mild fanaticism, fervor for the work
- Stage Two: Submission - submission to most minor Technocratic Procedures without resistance if they are administered by Control
- Stage Three: Suspicion - Distrust of anything outside the Technocratic paradigm, observance of one's allies of any sign of disloyalty
- Stage Four: Ostracism - total rejection of an individual based upon Control's orders
- Stage Five: Pacifism - ceasing of any aggression after Control's orders
- Stage Six: Conspiracy - Betrayal of even close friends to the Technocracy
There are four other Degrees applied only to especially notorious troublemakers
- Stage Seven: Alliance - Complete trust in a Technocratic superior
- Stage Eight: Rejection - Forgetting of any person, even including close family members
- Stage Nine: Devotion - Betrayal an object of his love or adoration, if necessary.
- Stage Ten: Reverence - complete submission to Control
- Bring Stasis and order to the Universe. Predictability brings safety. Once all is discovered and all is known, Unity will be won.
- Convince the Masses from the benevolence of science, commerce, politics, and of the power of Rationality. Conflict and suffering will be eliminated in our Utopia.
- Preserve the Gauntlet and the Horizon. Chaotic individuals who open gateways with impunity threaten the stability of our world. Uncontrolled portals also allow outside forces, such as Nephandi, access to our world. This must never happen.
- Define the nature of the universe. Knowledge must be absolute or chaos will envelop all. The elemental forces of the universe must not be left to the caprices of the unknown.
- Destroy Reality Deviants. Their recklessness threatens our security and our progress toward Unity. A Reality Deviant is Technocratic newspeak which indicates an entity which exists beyond the proscribed boundaries of reality. The term also applies to other entities such as vampires, werewolves, wraiths, changelings, demons, and other less quantifiable creatures.
- Shepherd the Masses; protect them from themselves and others
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