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 as Those Who Rule in Majesty, the Twelve and They Who Rule the World in Majesty, is a secret organization aiming to achieve global domination through communications and high technology. Originally a branch of the Illuminati, MJ12 became a distinct organization in its own right after a coup by Bob Page.

20th century: Formation as an Illuminati branch
During the mid-20th century, the Illuminati leadership realized that it would need to control both financial matters and technology. To this end, they created two new branches of the Illuminati: the Bilderberg Group and Majestic 12, respectively. The establishment of Majestic 12 dates back to the year 1947, when an intact UFO was reported to have crashed in Roswell, New Mexico. After being seized by the military, Majestic 12 was commissioned by the President of the United States as a blue-ribbon panel to study the craft. The Illuminati saw to it that MJ12 was stacked with their own high-ranking members, and the US government became very quiet about Roswell, denying the UFO crash ever existed; regardless of the truth, this successfully integrated MJ12 into the larger Illuminati power structure, and it set about researching and exploiting post-atomic technology.

In the 21st century, Majestic 12 was the most vital arm of the Illuminati, due to the enormous power and influence obtainable through its technology. Majestic 12 gave and suppressed technology, controlled both legal and illegal drug distribution, and introduced diseases. MJ12 was also tasked with influencing (and if possible, managing) the world's intelligence organizations.

As the scientific and technological branch of the Illuminati, Majestic 12 engaged in research, with the most notable efforts undertaken in the secret facility at Area 51. Not all of their work was immediately useful to the Illuminati, but MJ12 researchers were skilled at repurposing previous research. The Bovine Manipulation Project, for example, 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 had recovered alien technology from Roswell and that the Area 51 facility was a cover for research on this technology achieved such popularity that it became an effective informational smoke screen, diverting attention from actual MJ12 research taking place at the site. Much later, during his research into nanotechnological augmentation, Bob Page invented a way to repurpose the still-nascent technology as a weapon.

2020s
For the most part, Majestic 12 did a satisfactory job at keeping technology under control, with the notable exception of communications technology. In the early 21st century, MJ12's solution was the Picus Group, a megacorporation dominating the global world market. 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: Lazarus, the Juggernaut Collective, and Samizdat, which prove difficult to counter or otherwise shut down. Rather than rely on last-generation Echelon surveillance system, MJ12 switched strategies in the late 2020s, focusing on harnessing the nascent artificial intelligence technologies. The success of Eliza Cassan, a convincing Picus spokesperson and influential voice in the global culture, MJ12 began a far more ambitious project: Creating an artificial intelligence capable of processing 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 the much more sophisticated and powerful system known as Daedalus. The next-gen Echelon system, was built from the ground up as a distributed system to sort through and regulate large amounts of data, making it ideal for controlling Internet communications. In fact, over the next decades Daedalus became the backbone of the Internet, as a seemingly innocuous protocol system.

2030s
Majestic 12's change from an arm of the Illuminati into an independent organization was triggered by events that took place in the United States of America during the early 21st century. Teetering on the verge of collapse after a series of epidemics and the 2030 earthquake, which turned much of the west coast into a disaster area, the US was expected by the Illuminati to collapse in on itself. Such a collapse would allow the secretive group to take power more easily, suspend the Constitution entirely, and use the derelict United States as a power base for establishing a one world government under their control.

The US failed to collapse, however, through draconian measures brought about by secessionist movements that sprung up after the devastating earthquake and the resulting Northwest War. The inaction of the Illuminati leadership, refusing to take direct action and seize the opportunity, resulted in Bob Page and his supporters enacting a coup against the Council of Five. Majestic 12 was officially formed as a separate group under Page's complete leadership. By 2035, Majestic 12 has taken control of the political, financial, military, and religious arms of the Illuminati, displacing the former controllers. Page also created a private military force to implement his will, in stark contrast with the traditional illuminati, and invest in weapons of mass destruction to destabilize society - relying on hammer strikes, not gentle nudges to bring the world down.

MJ12 immediately began pursuing countless research projects to advance Page's agenda across the world. These included seizing control of former Soviet research laboratories, such as Biopreparat, and accelerating experiments with human augmentation through nanotechnology. Contrary to Illuminati's secretive efforts, Majestic 12 would openly use the organization name in its operations, though without additional context, it would tell outsiders very little. In foreign languages, the term Majestic would also be translated, rather than used as a proper noun: In aforementioned Biopreparat, all research was carried out under the codename Velichestvennii (Величественный).

2040s
As the organization was no longer restricted by the Illuminati and was thus free to pursue these goals in any way it sees fit, Page and his coterie moved aggressively to establish more direct means of control. 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, though Page stopped short of direct assassination, except for exceptional cases, such as with Beth Du Clare in 2051.

2050s
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. The few foolish enough to directly challenge Page, such as McMoran Global Steel, which bested it in the bid to provide the mass driver for the Chinese Zhou Enlai Lunar Mining Complex, would fall prey to MJ12 sabotage, which would pay little heed to collateral damage. Page also succeeded in manipulating the Hague and the NSA to rubber-stamp new Aquinas protocol. Ostensibly intended to provide free bandwidth worldwide, to every Internet user, the protocol centralized all Internet communications through the Aquinas router at Area 51, increasing efficiency, but also opening every singly byte of communications to scrutiny by MJ12's Daedalus system. The protocol gave Page virtually total control of communications worldwide, and became the final nail in the surviving Illuminati's coffin, depriving them of safe communications between each other and forcing them to rely on face-to-face meetings to organize.

However, that was only one part of the plan. The other 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 him. For threats without the United States, MJ12 performed a terrorist attack and bombed the Statue of Liberty in New York, pinning the attack on the French Silhouette. The resulting outrage culminated in the foundation of UNATCO, a global counter-terrorist agency nominally under UN oversight, but in practice subordinated to MJ12 as a convenient front for its global operations. In Europe, MJ12 sometimes didn't even need a front and operated in the open, such as in France.

The goal of global control was at hand for Page, who planned to undergo dramatic nanotechnological augmentation and merge with the Echelon AIs to become the Supreme Enlightened, a god-king ruling over humanity using the MJ12-controlled USA as a power base, and the Aquinas-controlled Internet as conduit. However, for all his genius, Page miscalculated: MJ12's pair of nanotechnologically augmented prototypes, Paul and JC Denton, went rogue. After their recapture by UNATCO and MJ12 troops, the Echelon AI, Daedalus, went rogue and identified Page's organization as a terrorist group. The resulting surveillance blackout forced Page to improvise and create Icarus, a replacement for Daedalus, while JC Denton slipped from MJ12's grasp and linked up with the scattered resistance groups worldwide. Denton became the catalyst for the first organized counter-attack in two decades, rallying Silhouette, the Chinese Triads, National Secessionist Forces, X-51, and even Illuminati remnants under Morgan Everett.

The control deteriorated. Icarus battled Daedalus across the Internet, wreaking havoc on the infrastructure, while Denton crippled MJ12's pandemic operations by destroying the universal constructor in Hong Kong, one of only two places worlwide where Gray Death could be synthesized, and sinking Stanton Dowd's superfreighter that carried the remainder of the nanovirus stockpile in New York. Page retaliated with a direct attack on X-51's headquarters at Vandenberg Air Force Base, to prevent the creation of a vaccine, while pushing forward with his ascension at Area 51. JC Denton's intervention not only saved the rogue scientists from imminent threat, they also resulted in the creation of a cure for the Gray Death and permitted Everett to attack Icarus with a modified Daedalus AI. The resulting entity, Helios, was a new artificial intelligence, more than the sum of its parts and a true artificial lifeform.

Page actually gambled on the outcome, as he desired to merge with it after undergoing the drastic augmentation in the bowels of Area 51. Even if the United States burned around him, after Simons' declaration of martial law and FEMA-backed coup d'etat backfired, leading to widespread rebellion across the union, he'd still become the god-king and leverage his 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 penetrate the bunker, where it was he who merged with Helios, not Page. The resulting catastrophic destruction of the facility ushered in the Collapse, which destroyed the global order and the MJ12 with it.

Structure and organization
Majestic 12 is a secretive entity, operating primarily through public fronts, such as UNATCO, Page Industries, or VersaLife. For black ops and security, it has 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 appear to be subordinated to indoctrinated and augmented members of MJ12, designated simply Agents.

Orders, ranks, and secrets
MJ12 uses a certain degree of mysticism to indoctrinate P-series agents. They are stripped of their identity and inducted into the organization, in what appears to be a semi-mystical fashion: The birth names of these recruits are taken away and replaced with a generic string of numbers. This 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". Individuality, including a unique name, is viewed as being the "least" part of a person, and thus must be surrendered in order to advance through the ranks of Majestic 12. In addition to the First Secret, there are at least three others. 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 recruits] Heart" if they perform their duty. Apart from the First Secret, these secrets are not outlined. The recruit is then assigned to an Order and advances through its ranks, according to the level of devotion they exhibit. The only named order is the Order of the Night Sky, of which the only known member is Adept 34501. Adept 34501 is a Third Rank member of this order. She comments that due to her ability to feel pity, she will not advance past this rank, as Majestic 12 views this emotion as a weakness.

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 the highest ranks of MJ12.

MJIDs
Majestic 12 have an identification system which categorizes 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 dates 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 MJIDs include JC Denton (MJID-0003JC0189), the NSF member Decker Parkes (MJID-0984IS3270), and Nick Pausback, a clone of Bob Page (MJID-8392ER9203). Various MJ12 projects such as augmentation canisters and grays are assigned IDs. Interestingly, the MJID appears to be used outside Majestic: An augmentation canister is quoted in a correspondence to Jaime Reyes, despite him not being an MJ12 member.

Majestic 12 Net
MJ12 operate a global communications network that is used by its members, known as Majestic 12 Net or MJ12Net. Majestic 12 Net interconnects members of the organization from all over the world and allows information to be easily exchanged between them. Some MJ12 agents, such as those stationed at VersaLife, covertly receive instructions from Majestic 12 over this network. It is also used to access and share classified information, such as the schematics of the Gray Death virus and UC components.

Gray Death epidemic
Majestic 12 is solely responsible for the outbreak of the deadly Gray Death virus. This virus, which has affected numerous US cities by 2052, has a 93% fatality rate. In addition, it has begun to spread to rural areas of the United States, infecting millions of people in the process. The virus is created as a means to plunge the world into chaos and to be used as a leverage for power. Places such as New York City, which have been overrun with the Gray Death, are plagued by rioting, sickness, and looting. This creates the perfect excuse for Majestic 12 to put these cities under martial law, effectively giving MJ12 forces absolute control over them. This rioting, although not endorsed by MJ12, is viewed as a useful tool by the leadership of the cabal. They hope that the situation will deteriorate to the point that people will beg Majestic 12 for help, rather than being forced to comply.

The Gray Death is used as a direct means to force people into carrying out MJ12's bidding. Bob Page coerces a senator infected with the plague into appointing Walton Simons as the head of FEMA. He does this by offering to place him on the priority list for the plagues vaccine, Ambrosia. Ambrosia, like the Gray Death itself, is manufactured by Majestic 12. This means that the cabal alone has control over who gets infected and who receives the cure. This grants MJ12 an unprecedented amount of power and influence over the world's elite, who are in a position to afford the vaccine. This includes people as influential as the President of the United States. Once President Mead has been infected, it is not long before the entire US is placed under martial law. This is likely not a coincidence since Mead has little choice but to comply with Majestic 12 once he has the Gray Death.

"Counterterrorism" and UNATCO
From the 2030s, terrorist groups become a problem for MJ12. In response, they launch a "counterterrorist" movement, acting mainly through the United Nations Anti-Terrorist Coalition. UNATCO, an international effort to curb terrorism, operates all over the world. In the US, UNATCO's biggest opposition is the National Secessionist Forces (NSF). This terrorist organization attempts to locate and capture shipments of Ambrosia and distribute it to plague victims. Even though the goal of the NSF is a noble one, it does not line up with the desires of MJ12 and is thus quashed by UNATCO. Similarly, Silhouette in France are viewed as a threat by Majestic 12. Silhouette largely participate in a symbolic or 'meme' war, rather than a violent one. They attempt to counteract MJ12 propaganda by revealing the truth about events such as the Statue of Liberty bombing. Majestic 12 is not happy about this, however, and sends agents to Paris in an attempt to eliminate them. As part of this operation, members of Silhouette are taken hostage and interrogated. Chad Dumier, the leader of Silhouette, expresses his fear of the interrogation methods Majestic 12 will likely employ, suggesting that their brutality is widely known. Dumier is aware that MJ12 will kill the prisoners once they get the desired information from them. UNATCO treats its prisoners in a similar fashion. Following the NSF attack on the Statue of Liberty, Walton Simons executes non-cooperating NSF prisoners at UNATCO Headquarters. Majestic 12 is even willing to use extreme torture methods on their own rogue agents. The "viability" of the agent 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 makes many technological advances; particularly in the fields of nanotechnology, genetic modification, and weaponry. They develop multiple classes of augmented agents. Nanotechnologically enhanced agents are amongst the most advanced type. 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 design a machine capable of constructing devices on the nano-scale. This machine, referred to as a Universal Constructor, makes multiple other technologies possible. These include Majestic 12's Non-Eutactic Blade (NEB), and the Gray Death virus (including its cure, Ambrosia). Majestic 12 use UCs to make clones of their various transgenic species. These species include greasels, grays and karkians. They do a large amount of this research through the corporation VersaLife. In addition to the NEB and transgenics, VersaLife creates advanced armor for MJ12 Commando's known as Obsidian power armor. MJ12 also researches an experimental plasma rifle that is deployed to their special operations teams.

Control over territories and countries
A certain portion of the world came under direct Majestic 12 control when it inherited the Illuminati's infrastructure. However there are a notable number of countries and regions that are free from their influence. The United States of America is one of the first countries that MJ12 attempts to take over. The Gray Death epidemic is used to destabilize the country and to give them access to organizations such as FEMA. With FEMA, the cabal would be able to suspend the constitution and take control of the government. On the streets of certain US cities such as New York, Majestic 12 operates either through UNATCO or their own troops once martial law has been implemented. MJ12 has a significant amount of power in France, to the extent that they can operate openly in Paris. They operate under the guise of a "security organization" associated with Page Industries that will work closely with local and national authorities to keep the peace. Paris, like the US, is placed under martial law presumably through the work of Majestic 12.

The conspiracy has almost no foothold in Hong Kong despite the MJ12 activities taking place at VersaLife. In an attempt to rectify this, Maggie Chow, a Majestic 12 agent, is instructed to initiate a dispute between rival Triads in the region. It is hoped that the ensuing turmoil will make it possible for MJ12 to gain control over the region. By securing their authority over Hong Kong, it will become easier to do the same for the rest of China.

Armed forces
At the height of their power, Majestic 12 controls a large private army that guards their facilities and areas under MJ12 control. The composition of this army is varied. It includes land and aquatic units, as well as regular and augmented humans. Certain non-human entities are also used as part of Majestic 12's security measures.

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 a physiopharmaceutically augmented group of Majestic 12 agents that supervise MJ12 facilities and operations. Men and Women in Black are sometimes tasked with carrying out assassinations and locating wanted individuals. They also act as bodyguards for the high ranking members 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.

It is unknown how Majestic 12 recruits soldiers and operatives. 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. This is in case the agent defects and needs to be terminated.

Facilities
Majestic 12 run a number of different facilities across the globe. Some are created solely for MJ12 projects, while others are taken over by the organization when they have need of them. The majority of these facilities are research labs which develop Majestic 12's top secret technologies.

Headquarters
The base of operations of MJ12 is the underground portion of Area 51, situated in the Nevada desert, USA. Area 51, also known as Dreamland, has been used by MJ12 since its foundation for secret research. It is the location of their human cloning project which leads to the creation of JC Denton and Alex Denton. A number of UCs can be found here as well as the Aquinas Hub through which all internet communications are routed. In addition to surveillance being centralized in Area 51, critical components of the 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, develop the MJ12 Obsidian power armor.

Labs such as the Liberty Island MJ12 lab and the Pasadena Ocean Lab are involved in research related to transgenics. The Liberty Island lab houses a medical center and nanotech lab which in part study the tissues of JC and Paul Denton. The Ocean Lab, at one point, possesses a Universal Constructor and seems to manufacture the Gray Death virus using it.

Information Center
Hidden underneath Picus Communications in Montreal, Canada, is MJ12s center for information control and early AI research. Officially called Picus Confidential, it is accessible only by a funicular and a hidden helipad. This hidden subbasement houses several offices, a hologram generator, armory, and the physical hardware of E.L.I.Z.A. (Eliza Cassan), a semi-sentient AI progenitor to what would become the M Initiative.

Other
There are numerous other facilities under MJ12 control including the Missile Silo near the western US coast and the Chemical Insertion Facility in the sewers of Hell's Kitchen. The Chemical Insertion Facility has a small lab in which the scientist Ford Schick, is forced to work. Here he does research related to the Gray Death on both homeless people and on tissue cultures from "JCD". It is insinuated that this facility is involved in infecting New York's water supply with the Gray Death, hence the name "chemical insertion". Majestic 12 also operate 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, who are primarily based in the city once MJ12 has overthrown them.