Morgan Everett is the CEO of the Montreal branch of Picus TV in 2027 and amongst the Council of Five who led the Illuminati prior to 2052.
Background
Early life
Little is known about his early years except that he was born into a life of wealth and power, growing up under the shaping influence of the Knights Templar: he mentions a childhood memory of taking Catholic communion in the Cathedrale de Payens alongside "two Rockefellers and a Rothschild".
In 2027, living in Paris, he was a member of the Illuminati and the protegé of Illuminati leader Lucius DeBeers, while also covertly serving as CEO of the Montreal branch of Picus. His establishment of Picus' secret propaganda division, Picus Confidential, allowed Morgan to implement the Illuminati's "Icarus Effect Plan", which sought to control "destabilizing" elements and individuals within society via careful media manipulation and covert monitoring of data. Picus Confidential would eventually become the core upon which the Majestic-12 branch of the Illuminati was founded.
Illuminatus
During this period Everett brought Bob Page into the Illuminati, training Page to be his successor (as DeBeers had done for him) and treating him as an adopted son. DeBeers did not trust Page's motivations or his belief in the Illuminati's secret mission of ensuring world stability from the shadows, and warned Everett about Page stealing information for his own selfish uses, but Everett was too attached to his protegé and DeBeers' warnings fell on deaf ears.
When DeBeers fell mortally ill, it was Everett who constructed a cryogenic storage device designed to keep the Illuminati leader alive well beyond his normal lifespan. Although Everett justified it out of humanitarian reasons and respect for his patron, it was actually a strategic power move that went against DeBeers' own stated wish to die naturally; by keeping DeBeers alive and nominally still in charge of the Illuminati, Everett was able to take over all of his power and authority within the organization while indefinitely avoiding the costly power struggle that would come from the death of the ruling leader.
Page's Coup
As it turned out, DeBeers had been right to suspect Page's intentions: he had never respected Everett or the Illuminati, and considered their calm, secretive brand of global leadership (particularly in regard to the virtually-infinite power of the Majestic-12 division) to be merely a sign of cowardice and weakness. Having plotted against him for some time, Page waited until DeBeers was out of the picture, then struck: sometime between 2031 and 2035, Page turned on Everett, ousted him from the organization and stole credit for the creation of the computers that controlled Majestic 12, making him the most powerful man in the world virtually overnight. MJ12 quickly split off into it's own organization, usurped the aspects of global government previously held by the Illuminati (such as FEMA and UNATCO), and ruthlessly eliminated any remaining resistance to Page's new ambitions.
After the coup d'état that removed him from the Illuminati, Everett went into hiding in Paris, although the exact location was kept secret to all but his most trusted accomplices, such as Toby Atanwe, his maid Carmela and his mechanic Pierre - the latter was killed by an MJ-12 spy to plant a bomb on Jock's helicopter.
2052
| "Among the elect group that knew anything about the Illuminati, everybody know that Morgan Everett was the man to watch. There was no question that he was being carefully and personally groomed to take over the organization when Lucius DeBeers died or retired. Then fate intervened to shatter the massive Illuminati power structure. Everett's own protégé turned against the organization, and Everett (partially form his own choice) never did ascend to the ultimate seat of power. He did, however, manage to come through the sea-change more secure in his fortune and influence than any of the rest of the council except one. Nonetheless, he was greatly deminished from his glory days.
But after all, what's the point of being a gray eminence at all, if you can't keep plotting when the chips are down? His enemies think he's out of the great game, and for now that suits Everett just fine. When he's ready to strike, then they'll know." |
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| — description of Morgan Everett to the player, Deus Ex | ||||
Everett responds to a contact request sent by JC Denton from fellow Illuminatus Beth DuClare's secret routing station. To prove his loyalty, JC is told by Everett to open access to MJ12's network at the Templars Cathedral in Paris, allowing Everett to retrieve the core design of the Gray Death from MJ12, and use it along the design of Ambrosia from Tracer Tong (sent by JC on an earlier mission from VersaLife), to synthesize a vaccine. After JC proved his loyalty to the Illuminati, Everett allows JC into his headquarters and sends him on a mission to meet X-51, a group of scientists who left Area 51 for moral reasons, and the only people besides MJ12 capable of producing vaccine on a large scale due to the X-51 Universal Constructor. During JC's traipse through Vandenberg Air Force Base, Everett tells JC to upload the Milnet to connect Daedalus to Icarus in an attempt to take control of Icarus, only to have the plan backfire with the merger of the two AIs into Helios.
He later makes contact again when JC is at Area 51, via JC's Infolink and Area 51's holocomm, and tries to persuade him to return power to the Illuminati by killing Page by shutting down the four blue-fusion reactors, which prevent detonation of Page's chamber, and pressing the engage switch near Page to detonate the chamber. It is unclear what has become of Everett by the time of the sequel. The Illuminati is now being led by Chad Dumier and Nicolette DuClare; whether this means Everett has retired, died, or been deposed is unknown.
Quotes
- "I once knelt in this chapel for communion, with two Rockefellers and a Rothschild. Since the time of the Crusades every leader in finance has prayed for the continued stability of Templar banks, founded on gold."
- "You see the need for global organization. Someone has to bring these disparate groups together."
- "You and me, JC. We'll rule the world in secret, with an invisible hand, the way the Illuminati have always ruled."
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