The following page is a secret brief that is only available to those affiliated to your faction (or who have gained the information through other channels). It represents a significant investment of IC time and effort. Please do not copy and paste the contents to other players.
With that proviso you may feel free to communicate the information IC using your own words. Of course, your faction may not like you spreading their secrets, and if you are caught doing so you may face significant IC consequences.
The Power of Earth must Rise Once More.
Beholden to no Machine. Beholden to no Outsider.
And this time it Shall stand Eternal.
We Children of Earth shall ensure it.
— Creed of The Children
Earth did not succumb to some natural disaster as many believe, nor was it our own hubris that destroyed the planet as other tales tell. No, we were attacked by an alien race known only as The Outsiders. They had seen the rise of Humanity, our Great Potential. And they felt threatened, for we were coming up behind them fast in the technology stakes. So they struck before we could overtake them. Using their advanced technology they set in progress a process designed to render Earth uninhabitable, sounding the death knell for their competitor.
But they had been realised that Humanity might just come up with a way to stop them, so they sent forth their infiltrators to ensure Humanity was suitably distracted. They worked through the greatest of our creations, our Machines. To misdirect the efforts of our great leaders they subverted the great engines of our economies, bringing about a great disaster that took years to recover. To distract our scientists they redirected critical funding and committed sabotage upon our largest instruments, destroying spacecraft that might spot their activities. And for the masses they devised a never ending stream of addictive devices to subvert their attention from that which really matters.
And it almost worked, but for a small group of dedicated individuals who had realised the fragility of our existence and sought to diversify our existence. The groundwork laid by this group allowed our greatest leaders a way to save some small portion of Humanity. Our destiny was not destroyed as per the Outsiders plan, only postponed, and our vengeance shall be legendary.
However, our fight is not over. For at some stage The Outsiders became aware of our escape plan, and though they could not stop it, they could subvert it, as is their nature. They manipulated our leaders into placing Computer, our greatest Machine, and also our greatest Mistake in control. While safeguards in the form of incontrovertible laws have protected us from immediate extermination, Computer constantly seeks ways to weaken and corrupt Humanity to such a state that the Outsider infiltrators on board can end our mission.
The Children of Earth has a large lay membership that, while espousing their ideals, take very little action as a result. The more committed members of the Children view these followers as mere sheep that need awoken from their collective nightmare. The dedicated believers have split themselves into four subgroups, each of which believe they have the best plan to return Humanity to their rightful place. However, they are capable of cooperating if it furthers their shared beliefs, but such endeavours inevitably suffer from inter-factional philosophical debates after a few pints.
The Council of Integrity are a militant faction of The Children that believe that the same covert alien race behind the attack on Earth has sent infiltrators to try and sabotage the ship and weaken Human society. They see it as their job to hunt down these infiltrators and any human collaborators working with them. All other considerations are secondary to purging the taint that would otherwise poison any effort attempted. The Council of Integrity operates a cell structure to avoid a the compromise of a single agent allowing The Outsiders to bring down the entire resistance.
The leader is the legendary Marcus Deveraux Bouillon, a Zorro-like figure known for his dramatic strikes against the agents of the Outsiders and his even more dramatic escapes that follow.
The Council of Isolation live in Blackout, where they control much of the territory close to the Oxygen Forest. They are the only group that claim to have successfully removed Computer control and dependency from their lives completely. The group adheres to a strict policy of raising children in accordance with their worldview rather than in Computer-controlled creches, and in this way have managed to maintain a sense of cultural isolation.
The council of Isolation is lead by Matthew Black.
The Council of Independence believe that removing oneself completely from Computer control is to abandon the unawakened masses. And to do so is unconscionable. They seek to subtly remove critical resources from dependence upon direct Computer control such that, should something “unfortunate” happen to Computer, life would continue without missing a beat. Their ultimate aim is to ascertain when Computer can be safely switched off and then to do so, though to date they have made little to no real progress towards this goal.
Their major advancement towards achieving their aims has come in the form of various “survival kits” they are able to supply, that allow the user to grow their own food and air without the need for reliance upon Computer.
The Council of Independence is overseen by The Dowager de Bouillon, a mythical figure rumoured to be over 75 who apparently has some degree of control over the assignments in Preventative maintenance.
The Council of Interdiction dedicate themselves to fighting the Outsiders with Machines, rather than allowing the Outsiders to have full control. Humanity should not fear its creations, but control them. They practice aggressive hacking and engineering alongside infiltration to prepare the counter offensive against The Outsiders and their minions once the truth is in the open. Many are biding their time, subverting commands, and planning how to claim revenge upon The Outsiders when the mask is finally removed. Some members of the council infiltrate other factions to ensure the right people are in the right places at the right time, whenever that may be.