Belltower Associates

Belltower Associates is the main component of the Belltower Group, an umbrella group of private military company who provide a maximum spectrum private military/security solution in the year 2026.

Background
The precursor company, Belltower UK, was founded by Roger St. John-Ffolkes, a British Army officer. The creation of the company was a result of dissent, that dated back to events during the Falklands war, in 1982. It was incorporated in 1996 beginning life as a security consultant and close protection agency. Originally operating in minor hotspots, primarily handling low-level corporate security, kidnapping, retrieval, and close protection, the company rapidly grew. By the early 2000s, it became the Belltower Associates, and a core element of the Belltower Group.

In the aftermath of the 2013 scandal involving the previous leader in private security, Bluewater International, caught dealing with Afghan insurgents and subsequently disbanded, Belltower filled the vacuum of the need for private security and set a new and highly regarded standard for the business. Belltower, with several sub-divisions, grew considerably and became the world's largest private security company.

2020s
Sir Roger St. John-Ffolkes officially stepped down as CEO in 2023, giving joint control of the company to his sons Luther and Andrew; in reality, he had served only as a figurehead in this post for the last decade. Belltower's influence is considerable, and it is a vital participant in many conflicts worldwide, providing both regular and specialized troops and services. The Australian Civil War is a notable example, with Belltower units being a significant part of the SAF army, including Ben Saxon's Strike Team Six in 2025.

Beside their legal activities, Belltower also managed a comprehensive smuggling network in cooperation with XNG Shipping. The company undertook illegal jobs with corporate clients, and cooperated with players in organized crime, to conduct human trafficking, goods and weapons smuggling. These operations were supervised by particularly tainted officers, like Narhari Kahn, Pieter Burke and John Trent. Belltower also conducted black operations and projects through their special operations forces, including specially enhanced teams like that of Michael Zelazny and the Tyrants.

2027
By 2027, Belltower units were embedded in conflicts across the globe. In Australia, despite setbacks, the Belltower 12th Commando Regiment was instrumental in quelling a Chinese-backed insurgency in the Northern Territory. In less legal affairs, Belltower's special ops division and the Tyrants were responsible for the 2027 terrorist attack on Sarif Industries Headquarters, killing most of the key research staff and abducting key researchers. They were relocated to Omega Ranch, a Darrow Industries facility officially shut down after lethal contamination, where they'd be put to work on Illuminati projects under Belltowers' spec ops "protection".

What Belltower didn't realize was that this routine operation for the Illuminati-controlled megacorporations would have great repercussions: Adam Jensen, one of the only survivors of the attack, would be augmented and make a full recovery, hounding the trail of the Tyrants.

Jensen's personal war against Belltower would kick into high gear in Hengsha, China. Belltower was a staple of the two-tiered city, with its regulars supporting the local police in maintaining law and order and protecting Tai Yong Medical. Belltower was involved in both overt and covert capacities under Narhari Kahn. Apart from enforcing order, Kahn also oversaw clandestine ops, such as the aforementioned attack on Sarif and eliminating loose ends like Arie van Bruggen (typically with an overkill approach, killing any witnesses), and abduction of Tracer Tong, in a bid to force the Harvesters into submission. Both attempts were foiled by Adam Jensen, who learned of the much greater conspiracy in the process.

Belltower also suffered setbacks on another front: Its operation in Panama City, where it protected XNG Shipping shipments of Riezene, was compromised by Ben Saxon, a rogue member of the Tyrants. Riezene, an experimental alternative to Neuropozyne, was covertly sold to local gangs, with any victims of Riezene quietly disposed of. After the World Health Organization inspector Stuart St. John caught wind of the operation, he was assassinated by Belltower, with the intention to blame it on Alex Vega, his personal pilot and former Belltower employee. Saxon's intervention foiled the plan, allowing Vega to escape and eventually join the Juggernaut Collective.

However, the beginning of the fall for Belltower began in its most secretive black site, Rifleman Bank Station. Located in the South China Sea and overseen by the ruthless Pieter Burke, the Station was an integral element of the Hyron Project, where women abducted by Belltower across the world were converted into drones for the project, and trial runs of Hyron (designated OCM Project) were performed, using the Australian Civil War as a proving ground. The operation was a tightly controlled secret, with station commander Netanya Keitner kept in the dark by Burke, convinced that RBS was "merely" a black site for unlawful combatants and terrorists. Inspired by Garvin Quinn, who posed as a covert Interpol agent, Keitner began to investigate the secret operations. Assisted by Adam Jensen (apprehended while stowing away in a cryopod, in a bid to reach Omega Ranch), Keitner figured out the truth. Although Burke had her executed, Jensen and Quinn managed to gather evidence and provide it to the Juggernaut Collective.

Belltower to Tarvos
2027 proved to be the turning point for Belltower. First, it took catastrophic losses in the Aug Incident, due to the company policy of providing free augmentations to Belltower soldiers and security personnel and the resulting mixing of military-grade augmentations with psychosis. The loss of personnel, status, income, and the ensuing lawsuits all may have spelled the end of a company that had risen to great heights. However, it was the revelation of the atrocities perpetrated at RBS that drove the final nail in the company's coffin. The Juggernaut Collective carefully orchestrated a public relations nightmare starting in early 2027: Illegal seizure and wrongful detention of innocent civilians did not sit well in the court of public opinion, and rumors of the atrocities carried out at the South China Sea base, though never officially substantiated, couldn't be completely suppressed. Many of Belltower's high-profile clients terminated their contracts with the private military company. With their ongoing manpower problem, the scandal making their financial troubles worse, and their reputation now in tatters, Belltower was in free fall.

By 2028, Belltower Associates declared bankruptcy, selling off a majority of its military assets to cover outstanding debts, some sold quite secretly. Notably, what was left of Belltower's Spec Ops division was sold to an undisclosed buyer, and its GARM facility was not listed on its balance sheets. Belltower also did not report a number of its Spec Ops units who went AWOL. Belltower fired all of its augmented forces, with the rare exception for those who only had life saving/non-military augmentations. Some ex-Belltower operatives became arms dealers; others became mercenaries of other organizations. What's left of the company then re-branded into Tarvos Security Services.

Organization
Belltower Associates was one of several child companies operating under the Belltower Group umbrella, even though the shorthand typically used to refer to the Associates. Other entities included:


 * Belltower Maritime Security,
 * Belltower Alpha,
 * HackWall Data Protection Services,
 * Skye Secure Aviation.

Belltower headquarters in United Kingdom were located in a hardened skyscraper with all the capabilities of a military base, situated in the London Sink, an area of reclaimed land close to the river Thames. It also operated offices in Afghanistan, Bahrain, China, Iraq, Kenya, India, and the United States. Other key facilities included a maritime base on the US Gulf Coast, a training facility in Bangalore, India, and the black site Rifleman Bank Station in the South China Sea.

Belltower's services were tailored for international clients, including governments (eg. SAF in the Australian Civil War, the United States, China, as security for Hengsha), international agencies, and the corporate sector. Notably, it was also a registered and active UN contractor.

Troops
Organized into flexible regiments (such as the aforementioned 12th Commando Regiment), Belltower's regulars came in three varieties: light, medium, and heavy, identified by their gear and weaponry.


 * Light Troopers wear uniforms emblazoned with the Belltower logo, sometimes wear armor, and either wear caps (with the Belltower logo), balaclavas, or wear no head gear. They are equipped with pistols, machine pistols, combat rifles, or sniper rifles. These men are commonly employed as low-risk security guards and street police. Light troopers with sniper rifles can be equipped with a cloaking augmentation.
 * Medium Troopers wear combat vests and utility gear, and light helmets. They typically carry shotguns, combat rifles, or machine pistols. They are deployed in combat operations.
 * Heavy Troopers wear full combat armor, including reinforced helmets. They carry heavy rifles and are slow moving as a result. Deployed only in situations that require the heaviest of firepower.

Special Operations
Belltower also employs elite Spec Ops units. These men are equipped in advanced infiltration suits with red shoulder guards, and use pistols, revolvers, shotguns, machine pistols, combat rifles, sniper rifles, heavy rifles, and grenades. All Spec Ops variants are deployed in secret operations; such as supporting Tyrants, or manning black sites.


 * Spec Ops soldiers wear a distinctive black Kevlar balaclava, but it offers little to no protection from headshots. Soldiers are equipped with shotguns, machine pistols, combat rifles, and grenades.
 * Shifters provide sniper support to some Spec Ops teams. These troops remove the balaclava and instead wear a cap. They exclusively utilize sniper rifles for long range combat, and use pistols when confronted up close.
 * Sneakers are advanced covert agents can be easily identified by their augmented legs and high-tech infiltration helmets. Sneakers not only move faster then generic Spec Ops, but can cloak for brief periods in a manner similar to Jensen's own cloaking augmentation. They are equipped with revolvers, machine pistols, and combat rifles.
 * Ogres are the toughest and most heavily armed members of Spec Ops teams.. These brutish augmented soldiers wear the same outfit as the normal Spec Ops troopers, but are easily identified by their larger size and greater armor. While they move more slowly, they have external ballistic armor, and subdermal armor much like Jensen's own augmentation, and can take more damage than any other human enemy in the game (barring boss fights). They exclusively carry heavy rifles and are equipped with Typhoon augmentations, which they will use if an enemy gets close to them.

Augmentation and recruitment
In 2018, Belltower started their augmentation program named Plan Infinity. Under the terms of this plan Belltower offers their soldiers immediate augmentation while deferring payment for as long as they remain active employees of Belltower. Despite critics' claims that this amounts to little more than indentured servitude, the program is a great success and is adopted as standard procedure. In addition to the augmentation program, Belltower uses several sprinkling ways to recruit personnel; from taking advantage of national military cutbacks; to standard recruitment drives; to recruiting the foot-soldiers of defeated adversaries. Belltower ranks include personnel from both national militaries, police forces and criminal groups.

Trivia

 * Belltower had a viral marketing website (no longer active).
 * Belltower's normal troop's combat gear, especially the medium trooper's, strongly resembles medieval armor.
 * The viral marketing website 13311tower.com (no longer active) suggested that part of the name was 1337speak and referred to the numbers 11, 13, and 33 which frequently appear in Illuminati and Masonic apocrypha.
 * The website featured an image of a desk with various pieces of speculation about Belltower and its link with the Illuminati. A book seen on the right hand side of the desk featured an of the word "Illuminati". This ambigram was commissioned by Dan Brown for his book Angels and Demons which also features the secret society. Just underneath this book was an image of a man who appeared to be Jaron Namir. This document belonged to Interpol based on the logo on the lower left hand corner.
 * Belltower name, logo, business type, and founding year suggests they are based on the real life private military company Blackwater. In fact, according to an eBook in the Jefferson Drive Police Department, private contractor companies such as Belltower formed in the wake of Blackwater's disintegration.
 * Mankind Divided furthers this by having Belltower rebrand itself as Tarvos Security, mirroring Blackwater's rebranding in the wake of controversy.
 * Montreal, home of the development team, is known as la ville aux cent clochers (the city of a hundred bell towers). This nickname was given by during his 1888 visit to the city.