Majestic 12

"Ipsa scientia potestas est (Knowledge itself is power)"

- Majestic 12 motto

The Majestic Council of the Twelve, more commonly called Majestic 12 or MJ12, and also known by other names including Those Who Rule in Majesty, the Twelve, and They Who Rule the World in Majesty was a secret organization aiming to achieve global domination through communications and advanced technology. Originally a branch of the Illuminati, MJ12 became a separate organization following a coup by Bob Page.

20th century: Formation as an Illuminati branch
During the mid-20th century, the Illuminati leadership had realized the need to establish other forms of control, including technological superiority. Their opportunity came following the reported crash of an alien spacecraft near Roswell, New Mexico, and its subsequent seizure by the United States military. Majestic 12 was originally created by President Harry S Truman to study the craft, but its members were primarily high-ranking Illuminati. Majestic 12 research and development, largely conducted in the secret facility at Area 51, quickly became an essential part of the Illuminati power structure.

2020s: Ascendancy
In the 21st century, Majestic 12 was the most vital arm of the Illuminati, securing power through the selective distribution of its research. Through various subsidiaries, it controlled the spread of legal and illegal drugs, diseases and their cures. MJ12 was also tasked with influencing (and if possible, managing) the world's intelligence organizations. MJ12 also excelled at repurposing previous research to meet new goals: the Bovine Manipulation Project, was deemed a failure, but sightings of the transgenic gray lifeforms it created attracted public attention, furthering rumors about the Roswell UFO crash. This acted as an effective propaganda campaign for the Illuminati: The idea that the US military was experimenting with alien technology achieved such popularity that it became an effective informational smoke screen, diverting attention from actual MJ12 research taking place at the site.

For the most part, Majestic 12 was adept at keeping technology under control, with one notable exception: communications. In the early 21st century, MJ12's solution was the Picus Group, a megacorporation dominating mass media and mainstream news outlets. The public face of Picus was Eliza Cassan, a semi-sentient artificial intelligence that controlled the information Picus disseminated. While the scope of Picus gave Majestic 12 a great amount of influence over public opinion, it also led to the emergence of rival news outlets, including Lazarus, the Juggernaut Collective, and Samizdat, and these operations proved difficult to counter or suppress.

MJ12 switched strategies in the late 2020s, focusing on harnessing the nascent artificial intelligence technologies. Encouraged by the success of E.L.I.Z.A., MJ12 began a far more ambitious project: an AI capable of rapidly analyzing the terabytes of data flowing through the chaotic Internet and processing them to provide actionable intelligence and analyses. Bob Page and Morgan Everett were instrumental in what became the Morpheus Initiative. Morpheus was an important first step toward developing the technology needed to achieve mass surveillance of internet traffic, and served as a prototype for a much more sophisticated and powerful system: Daedalus. Unlike centralized technologies such as E.L.I.Z.A., or daemon-based software like older Echelon programs, Daedalus was built into the backbone Internet, functioning as a protocol. By the 2030s, the new system was wholly decentralized, distributed across every device with an Internet connection.

2030s: Overthrow of the Illuminati
In the early 2030s, the United States of America suffered a series of disasters, culminating in the 2030 earthquake which turned much of the west coast into a disaster area. Under the weight of civil unrest and secessionist movements, the Illuminati predicted the United States would fall, and decided to let it. Following the collapse of its government, the secretive group would be able to take power, suspend the Constitution entirely, and use the derelict United States as a power base for establishing a one world government under their control.

However, the Council of Five underestimated the measures the federal government would take to retain its power. By placing extreme restrictions on its citizens' freedoms, and responding to resistance with overwhelming military force as in the Northwest War, the United States stayed intact, and the Illuminati lost their influence. The wasted opportunity gave Bob Page and his supporters enough momentum to enact a coup against the Council of Five. By 2035, the power structures created by the Illuminati were controlled by Page; in effect, Majestic 12 had supplanted it.

In stark contrast to the Illuminati's subtler approach, Page applied his technology more directly, using a trained military and weapons of mass destruction to advance his agenda. MJ12 rapidly expanded operations during this time; it seized scientific organizations like Biopreparat, and accelerated experiments with human augmentation through nanotechnology. Unlike the Illuminati, who delegated operations to other organizations, Majestic 12 used its name openly since it told outsiders very little. In the aforementioned Biopreparat, all research was carried out under the codename Velichestvennii (Величественный).

2040s: Consolidation of power
After inheriting the military, political, financial, and religious arms of the Illuminati, Page and his coterie moved aggressively to establish more direct means of control over the world's. Page Industries' wealth increased tremendously by cornering the market on medicine through VersaLife and single-minded pursuits of market dominance in communications and high technologies. Control of Daedalus made this increasingly easy, as did Page's willingness to use force, blackmail, and other crude methods to further his agenda.

Former Illuminati leaders were marginalized through a combination of overt and covert actions: While the world was none the wiser, a secret war raged in the shadows as Page neutralized the former Council of Five. Stanton Dowd was stripped of his wealth, Everett was forced into hiding with Lucius DeBeers, and Elizabeth DuClare was assassinated.

2050s: Gray Death and Aquinas
By 2052, Page's plans were nearing fruition. Page Industries was a global giant, operating with very little opposition either directly or through its agents. Those foolish enough to directly challenge Page became examples; when McMoran Global Steel bested Page Industries to provide the mass driver for the Chinese Zhou Enlai Lunar Mining Complex, MJ12 sabotaged the device, causing the death of thousands merely to damage McMoran's reputation. Page also succeeded in manipulating the Hague and the NSA to rubber-stamp the new Aquinas protocol. Ostensibly a means of providing a high-speed connection Internet user, the protocol accomplished this by routing Aquinas router at Area 51, opening every singly byte of communications to scrutiny by MJ12's Daedalus system and giving Page total control of communications worldwide. This was the final nail in the coffin for the remaining Illuminati, depriving them of safe communications between each other and forcing them to rely on face-to-face meetings to organize.

The next step of Page's ambitions focused on bringing the United States to heel. The Gray Death nanovirus, developed in 2051 and synthesized at the universal constructor in Hong Kong, was deployed to select locations in the United States. The new pandemic rolled through the nation, killing US citizens as VersaLife unveiled Ambrosia, a vaccine that could cure the virus. The threat of infection became a potent tool for blackmail, allowing Page to further his control, installing Walton Simons at the head of FEMA, giving him the ability to trigger REX-84 at a moment's notice and subjugate the nation to Simons - and indirectly, Page. To respond to threats outside the United States, MJ12 bombed the Statue of Liberty and pinned the attack on the French group Silhouette. The resulting outrage resulted in the foundation of UNATCO, a global counter-terrorist agency nominally under UN oversight, but in practice Simons' private army for MJ12 global operations. In parts of Europe, like France, MJ12 sometimes didn't even need a front, operating in the open and commanding police operations.

2052: Downfall
Page's ultimate goal was to undergo dramatic nanotechnological augmentation and merge with the Echelon AIs. In doing so, he would become a god-king ruling over humanity, using the MJ12-controlled USA as a power base and the Aquinas-controlled Internet as a conduit. However, he made a fatal miscalculation: when MJ12's first pair of nanotechnologically augmented prototypes, Paul and JC Denton, went rogue and were arrested by UNATCO, Daedalus classified Page's organization as a terrorist group and locked him out. The resulting surveillance blackout forced Page to improvise: he created Icarus, a replacement for Daedalus, while JC Denton slipped from MJ12's grasp and connected with scattered resistance groups worldwide. Denton became the catalyst for the first organized counter-attack on MJ12 in two decades, rallying Silhouette, the Chinese Triads, the National Secessionist Forces, X-51, and even Illuminati remnants under Morgan Everett.

Icarus battled Daedalus across the Internet, wreaking havoc on its infrastructure, while Denton crippled MJ12's pandemic operations by destroying the Hong Kong Universal Constructor responsible for synthesizing the Gray Death and sinking the superfreighter carrying the remainder of the nanovirus stockpile in New York. Page retaliated with a direct attack on Vandenberg Air Force Base, where former MJ12 scientists were developing a cure. JC Denton's intervention not only saved the rogue scientists from imminent threat, but also gave Everett a chance to have a modified Daedalus AI attack Icarus directly.

With his plan for drastic augmentation in the bowels of Area 51 already underway, Page made a gamble: using the Aquinas Protocol to monitor Daedalus' attack, Page merged Icarus and Daedalus into Helios, a new artificial life-form, more than the sum of its parts. Even if the United States burned around him, after Simons' declaration of martial law and FEMA-backed coup d'etat backfired, leading to civil war, Page would still achieve apotheosis, and leveragehis newfound power to usher in a new era of global domination. Here, he made his final mistake: Page directed Howard Strong to obliterate Vandenberg with a nuclear strike, using a missile mothballed at an X-51 silo for the purpose. JC Denton's quick attack on the silo resulted in the missile striking the Area 51 bunker instead, right on top of the Aquinas router and Page. The devastation allowed Denton to infiltrate the bunker and merge with Helios instead of Page. The resulting shutdown of the Aquinas Router triggers the Collapse, destroying the global communications network, the Area 51 facility, Page himself, and Majestic 12.

Structure and organization
Majestic 12 was an enormous secretive entity, operating primarily through public fronts, such as UNATCO, Page Industries, or VersaLife. For black ops and security, it had a well equipped and trained military force, organized in a fashion mimicking a national military and using many of the same ranks: Platoons organized into companies (such as 1st Force Recon Company), led by captains. These regular forces are subordinate to augmented members of MJ12, designated simply Agents.

Mystical associations
In some of its operations, MJ12 used a certain degree of mysticism to indoctrinate P-series agents. Having their names stripped away is in accordance with the First Secret, as described in The Doctrine of the Mighty: By giving up the "part of you that is the least, you are elevated to the Most". The individuality signified by a unique name is the "least" part of a person, and its surrender in service to the Majesty.

In addition to the First Secret, there were at least three others, none of which are detailed. The Second Secret can be understood only by "those who have submitted to the first Body and Soul". The Fourth Secret will "find a place in [a recruit's] Heart" if they perform their duty.

The only named order is the Order of the Night Sky, of which the only known member is Adept 34501. In her writings, she muses that her ability to feel pity is a weakness, and notes that it will prevent her advancement past the Order's Third Rank.

Security clearances
Following their split from the Illuminati, Majestic 12 formulates a set of security clearances that their members can acquire. These security clearances are comparable to the Illuminati's degrees of Illuminism, although one difference is that they are secular, rather than mystic. These clearances are shared with organizations controlled by Majestic 12, such as UNATCO. There are ten obtainable security clearances in total. The first nine are named after the Christian angelic hierarchy. The highest clearance is referred to as "God" clearance, and is presumably reserved for Simons and Page himself.

MJIDs
Majestic 12 had an identification system which categorized people, items, and projects by a ten character serial number. These 'MJIDs' comprise four numbers followed by two letters, and an additional four numbers. This ID system dated back to when Majestic 12 was a branch of the Illuminati. The MJID system is universal, and includes not just Majestic operatives, but also persons of interest, such as MJ12's compromised individuals list. People with known MJIDs include JC Denton (MJID-0003JC0189), the NSF member Decker Parkes (MJID-0984IS3270), and Nick Pausback, a clone of Bob Page (MJID-8392ER9203), as well as items and projects such as augmentation canisters and transgenics. MJIDs are sometimes used in open communications with non-members; an augmentation canister's ID is used in an email to Jaime Reyes.

Majestic 12 Net
MJ12 operated a global communications network used by its members. Also known as MJ12Net, this network connected members of the organization from all over the world and allowed classified information to be easily exchanged, such as the schematics of the Gray Death virus and UC components. Some MJ12 agents, such as those stationed at VersaLife, covertly received instructions from Majestic 12 over this network.

Gray Death epidemic
Majestic 12 was responsible for the outbreak of the deadly Gray Death virus in the United States, By 2052, the virus had infected millions in not only major cities like New York but also rural areas. With a 93% fatality rate, the virus was extremely effective at sowing chaos. Places such as New York City, overrun with the Gray Death, were plagued by rioting, sickness, and looting. Page dismissed these, certain that when the situation deteriorated far enough, the desperate public would welcome Majestic 12's help, rather than being forced to comply.

The plague vaccine, Ambrosia, like the Gray Death itself, was manufactured by Majestic 12. By controlling who gets infected and who gets the cure, MJ12 gained an unprecedented amount of power and influence over elite figures powerful enough to afford the vaccine, up to and including the President of the United States. Once President Mead was infected, he had little choice but to comply with Majestic 12, and the United States was soon placed under martial law.

"Counterterrorism" and UNATCO
Organized resistance to Majestic 12 began almost as soon as Page took control. Labeling these resistance organizations as terrorists, MJ12 primarily used the United Nations Anti-Terrorist Coalition to hunt down its enemies all over the world. In the US, UNATCO's biggest opposition was the National Secessionist Forces (NSF). The NSF's operations in New York revolved around capturing shipments of Ambrosia and distributing them to plague victims, a plot ultimately foiled by JC Denton to further MJ12's objectives Silhouette in France were viewed as a threat for their ability to counter MJ12 propaganda, such as the Statue of Liberty bombing. However, Majestic 12 was powerful enough to operate openly in Europe, even taking command of the Paris police to root out and destroy Silhouette. During this operation, Chad Dumier, the leader of Silhouette, expressed his fear of the interrogation methods Majestic 12 would employ on his captured comrades. Indeed, Majestic 12 is willing to use extreme torture; the "viability" of the subjects is of secondary importance as long as the interrogation results in "maximum informational yield".

Propaganda and censorship
Considering the large amount of illegal and unethical activities carried out by MJ12, it is necessary for them to censor the truth and use propaganda to further their agenda. This is made possible through the Aquinas Protocol and Icarus, who monitor all digital communications. UNATCO use a considerable amount of propaganda, most notably in the Know Your Enemy bulletins, to defame organizations opposed to Majestic 12. Another way that MJ12 smears the reputation of these organizations is by framing them for the deaths of MJ12's assassination targets. These assassination targets begin as "compromised individuals" who pose as a potential threat. At first, defamation campaigns are carried out so as to reduce any influence that their opinions may have. If these campaigns are ineffective, the individual is terminated as the ultimate form of censorship.

Technology
Majestic 12 made many groundbreaking technological advances; particularly in the fields of nanotechnology, genetic modification, and weaponry. They developed multiple classes of augmented agents, notably the advanced nanotechnologically enhanced agents. These agents have been infused with nanites which grant them enhanced stealth and combat abilities, among other things. A similarly sophisticated form of augmentation is physiopharmaceutical augmentation. Majestic 12 perfects physiopharmaceutical augmentation, leading to the creation of Series P agents. In addition to having comparable skills to their nano-augmented counterparts, these Series P agents also display absolute loyalty to Majestic 12. In order to create nano-augmentations, MJ12 scientists at Area 51 designed a device capable of synthesizing nanites and other technologies on a very small scale. The Universal Constructor made multiple other technologies possible, including the Non-Eutactic Blade (NEB), the Gray Death virus, Ambrosia, and even clones of their various transgenic species including greasels, grays and karkians. MJ12 also designed Obsidian power armor for their commandos, and an experimental plasma rifle for use by deployed to their special operations teams. Much of this research was carried out through the VersaLife corporation.

Control over territories
Most of the world came under direct Majestic 12 control when it inherited the Illuminati's infrastructure. The United States was a notable exception, and one of the first countries that MJ12 attempted to take over, using the Gray Death epidemic to destabilize the country and to gain access to organizations like FEMA. With Simons in charge of FEMA, constitution and take control of the government. On the streets of certain US cities such as New York, Majestic 12 operated either through UNATCO or their own troops once martial law has been implemented. MJ12 had a significant amount of power in France, to the extent that they can operate openly in Paris as a "security organization" associated with Page Industries. They cooperate with with local and national authorities to "keep the peace", placing Paris under martial law.

The conspiracy had almost no foothold in Hong Kong despite the research taking place at VersaLife. In an attempt to rectify this, Maggie Chow, a Majestic 12 agent, was instructed to start a war between rival Triads in the city. Simons hoped that the ensuing turmoil would give MJ12 control over Hong Kong, and eventually the rest of China.

Armed forces
At the height of their power, Majestic 12 controlled a large private army that guarded their facilities. The composition of this army was varied, including standard infantry, augmented agents, military bots, marine units, and even transgenics

In gameplay, the most commonly deployed unit are MJ12 Troopers. These are non-augmented human soldiers that frequently use pistols, assault rifles, and combat knifes while in combat. On occasion, these troops are accompanied by Doberman Pinschers who are trained to attack the enemy. A more deadly version of the Trooper is the MJ12 Commando. Although they have not been augmented, these Commando's are fitted with advanced armor that greatly enhances their combat abilities.

Men and Women in Black are physiopharmaceutically augmented agents that supervise MJ12 facilities and operations. Men and Women in Black are often found in charge of sensitive operations, such as assassinations and locating wanted individuals. They also act as bodyguards for the cabal's higher-ranking of Majestic 12.

MJ12 scuba divers are the only known aquatic unit of Majestic 12's military forces. They guard the waters surrounding the MJ12-controlled Pasadena Ocean Lab at the SoCal Seawall. Additional security measures used by MJ12 are military bots such as the Page Delta-2 Peacebringer and Chiang Arcbot Model 5, and transgenics such as grays and karkians. Grays are recreated by Majestic 12 for the sole purpose of guarding their facilities.

Some members of Majestic 12 are unaware of their employer. UNATCO, in particular, goes to great lengths to hide the conspiracy from its agents, and installs a killswitch into all of them to eliminate those who develope sudden crises of conscience. Even a trooper stationed at Cathedrale de Payens is hired under the pretense that he is working for a "private security organization". This implies that not all members of MJ12 are entrusted with knowledge of the conspiratorial cabal. In addition, UNATCO (a branch of Majestic 12) does not inform its agents (such as the Denton brothers) that they are in fact working for MJ12. In fact, they appear to place little trust in their agents since they install a killswitch into all of them, in case the agent defects and needs to be terminated.

Facilities
Majestic 12 ran a number of different facilities across the globe. Some were created solely for MJ12 projects, while others were commandeered when needed by the organization of them. The majority of these facilities were research labs which develop Majestic 12's top secret technologies.

Headquarters
Since its foundation, MJ12 was headquartered in Area 51, also known as Dreamland, situated in the Nevada desert. The facility was used for secret research, such as the human cloning project which led to the creation of JC Denton and Alex Denton. The site was also home to number of Universal Constructors Aquinas Hub through which all internet traffic was routed. In addition to surveillance being centralized in Area 51, critical components of the global power grid and electronic infrastructure are located in the compound.

Research laboratories
Majestic 12's labs are dispersed all over the world in places such as Hong Kong, California, New York, and Zürich. The labs in Hong Kong have been constructed under the VersaLife building. VersaLife employees work on various projects here including physiopharm-augmentation, psionics, and the Gray Death virus. As the possessor of a UC, this facility is one of the key manufacturing centers for the Gray Death virus, Ambrosia, and Non-Eutactic Blades. The Hong Kong labs, as well as the ones located in Zürich, Switzerland, developed MJ12 Obsidian power armor.

Labs such as the Liberty Island MJ12 lab and the Pasadena Ocean Lab were involved in research related to transgenics. The Liberty Island lab house a medical center and nanotech lab studying the tissues of the Denton brothers. The Ocean Lab, at one point, possessed a Universal Death virus using it.

Information Center
Hidden underneath Picus Communications in Montreal, Canada, was MJ12's center for information control and early AI research. Officially called Picus Confidential, it was accessible only through a funicular and a hidden helipad. This hidden subbasement housed several offices, a hologram generator, armory, and the physical hardware of E.L.I.Z.A. (Eliza Cassan).

Other
MJ12 kept operatives in strategic locations like a Missile Silo near the western US coast. Howard Strong helped MJ12 troops capture the facility for the purposes of launching a nuclear strike on Vandenberg Air Force Base. In the sewers of Hell's Kitchen, MJ12 kept a small laboratory where the scientist Ford Schick was forced to perform research on the Gray Death, on tissue cultures from "JCD" as well as homeless people kidnapped by MJ12. Known as the "chemical insertion facility", this plant was likely infecting New York's water supply with the Gray Death. Majestic 12 also operated a school in Switzerland, in which they indoctrinate the students to unquestioningly obey authority. The only known student of this school is JC Denton.

Trivia

 * The Majestic 12 logo features a map of Earth from the official emblem of the United Nations.
 * One of the few places that Majestic 12 openly operates in is Paris. This may be intended to mock the Illuminati, whose surviving members are primarily based in the city once MJ12 has overthrown them.