So, today I'm going to be tackling the Men in Black, the New World Order and the bastardly scientists trying to rule the world, in Mage: The Ascension. I feel really close to the Technocracy, as they are my personal faction in the Ascension War, and one of the deepest, in-depth baddies I've ever seen. One of the coolest things about them is that they actually do make a few really good points, that when looked at objectively, are totally true. This doesn't make them completely sympathetic of course, but it adds a depth to the game that you would have a hard time finding in the 'let's kick ass for Gaia' mentality of Werewolf or the 'EVERYONE'S a bastard' morality of Vampire. This advice also applies to any antagonist really, that has a good degree of power, and a vested interest in hiding their activity, such as a particularly powerful Heretic sect or the Inquisition in Dark Heresy, The Seers of the Throne in Mage: The Awakening, or ANY vampire used as a baddy in any World of Darkness game. So, without further ado, let's dig into everyone's favorite mad scientists, The Technocracy.
First off, to really get the Technocracy, you need to understand where they're coming from. Not long ago, in the Dark Ages, the Order of Hermes occupied very much the same position that the Technocracy does now, which, ironically, was exactly the reason they were formed. The Technocrats basically are formed around the idea that normal humans deserve the right to make their own destiny, without supernatural influence. Furthermore, there is no supernatural influence, because everything is perfectly explainable if you study it hard enough. Despite these noble aspirations, the Technocracy sort of dropped the ball when they managed to take over, and transformed into a nasty, all pervasive method of control over the sleepers, rather than one of liberation. This is where the problem starts. While the Technocracy do make good points, you'd be fooling yourself to think of them as being any better than the Traditions, who basically have all banded together because they're losing. Every mage bar the Nephandi are striving towards Ascension, being it personal or universal, but it's always with the implicit subtext that 'once I ascend, the entire world will ascend into my paradigm because I'm RIGHT goddammit!' The Technocracy is simply taking this to its logical extreme.
Now, the second key to the Technocracy is an all pervasive feeling of paranoia, which really, works for any conspiracy based villain. The Technocracy should have eyes everywhere. They've spent years blending into sleeper society and programming the muggles to ignore them. The Technocracy are paranoid about 'reality deviants' in exactly the same way that mages are paranoid about the Technocracy. Surveillance cameras, security guards, even paradox works to the Technocracy's advantage, because at the moment, they're the winning team of the Ascension war. What's scary about them, is that while their aims are in theory, good, they're willing to torture and kill you specifically because you don't fit into their paradigm. The Technocracy represent the cold, scary face of fundamentalism, which won't give you a dramatic monologue about the good of the human race and the God Emperor before blasting you with a flamethrower. There's nothing passionate about the Technocracy. You'll be killed by a sniper from a building a mile away while a bureaucrat puts your file away, with all the boredom of a clerical worker filling out a status report. There needs to be a real 'Illuminati' feeling about the Technocracy. You're never sure who's a member, and who could be betraying you. You never know whether something is just random circumstance or a Technocracy plot. Unlike the squabbling Traditions, the entire Technocratic Union works together with precision, like a well-oiled machine, coldly calculating how best to kill its enemies. The more you think you know about, or can anticipate the Technocracy, the more you're simply playing into their hands.
The Technocrats also have one weapon that the Traditions don't. Coincidental magic is inherently easier for them to apply, because their style of magic (read: science) is a lot more accepted by the general public then the Traditions are. That isn't to say that a Technocratic member of the NWO is going to be any less effected firing a laser pistol then a Hermetic would be throwing a massive fireball, but there's a lot more to disguise it. Sleepers are a lot more willing to buy wildly applied para-science than flat out magic, and that gives the Technocracy an edge, that really should add to the paranoia. Technocratic tools are way easier to disguise than Traditional ones are, which allows them a lot of subtle mind control over the sleeping population. Mind Sphere spells, to both the Technocrats and the sleepers, are just subliminal messages. Entropic Spheres are really very calculated chaos mathematics and training. While this gives the Technocrats an edge, it's also a pretty big weakness. The Technocracy, deep down, find the Traditions unpredictable. To them, very practical Traditionalist rituals are complete wastes of time, and totally alien. A Technocrat, for example, would have no problem following his Chorister target into a church, and will be completely surprised when the Chorister incinerates him with the wrath of God. To the Technocrat, there is no danger because they are intrinsically incapable of accepting the idea of a consensual reality. Even their superiors will make up some technobabble about spontaneous human combustion, because even they can't accept it. Technocrats may be powerful, and better at disguising their magic, but on the flipside, they can't fight the Traditions on it's own terms. All they can do is use their power to stomp them out wherever they appear, and using that, the Traditions can and do outfox them.
The last question one needs to ask, and one of the reasons the Technocrats have such a fanbase is....are they right? The Technocratic view of the world really doesn't seem like a bad one, as they want to unite the world under the power of science and rationality. Screw all that hippy shit, The Technocracy will usher in a new era of world peace, freedom from disease, and nifty Deus Ex style cybernetics, and the best part? No more pesky vampires, mages and werewolves abusing and eating people left, right and center.
Now, while they do have a couple of good points (No one can really argue that world peace, freedom from disease, and grinding every vampire and werewolf into flaky white powder that cures cancer would really be that bad), the problem is the methods the Technocracy uses to accomplish its goals. The Technocracy may have been a good idea once, but centuries of strife and mercilessly trying to maintain its hold on the human psyche has turned it into a brutal dictatorship, no better than the Order of Hermes. The Traditions were bastards and sorcerous overlords in the past, yes, but they've acknowledged that and accepted it. They try to make the world as much of a better place as they can for everyone, and are open minded enough to accept other points of view, even letting two formerly Technocratic Conventions (Sons of Ether and Virtual Adepts) join them. The Technocracy is so obsessed with holding onto its worldview that it not only rejects other points of view, but enforces them by killing anyone who disagrees. The Technocracy are too obsessed with control to have done any growing as a faction, and because of this, their superiors are still operating under the dark age mentality of claiming territory and holding it (in this case, the human mind). If the Technocracy weren't willing to just kill everyone who disagrees with them, and shock of shocks, try to accept the powers of Magi into their paradigm (call it psychic powers or something), humanity would certainly benefit. The true irony is that, by withholding magic from the sleepers, the Technocracy are actually going against their stated goal of empowering humanity. Because the majority of sleepers are so indoctrinated into the Technocratic paradigm, Technocratic magic (sorry, applied science) has less of an effect on people, and stops them awakening, effectively denying humanity the tools to make them better. The Technocrats are certainly not the worst faction in the World of Darkness, but far too many people paint them as unsung heroes. In truth, they're as morally grey as the Traditions themselves. The vast majority of the Technocracy are not foaming psychopaths, but people who genuinely believe that the earth is better off without magic. The only problem is in their application. Ironically, the Technocracy really just needs to grow up.
Good examples in media for a sweet Technocracy inspired game, as enemies or player characters.
The SCP Foundation: A really, really, really good web series, about a secret government organization that finds and contains nasty supernatural things. Each page is basically a report on what weird anomalous object they've found, what they're doing to hold it, and what it could potentially do if released. The Foundation itself isn't squeaky clean though. They're willing to do some pretty messed up things to keep the human race safe, but it's all part of the job. These guys are basically already a branch of the Technocracy, and can make for some really cool inspiration for Technocratic PC campaigns.
Men in Black: These guys are really cool examples, once more of Technocratic PCs. The MIB is really obviously a branch of the New World Order, dealing with visiting creatures from the Umbra. The comics are even better, dealing with things wayyyyyyy more fucked up then the movies did, and showed that the MIB aren't all goody-two shoes either.
The Invisibles: The Technocracy are supposed to be baddies, right? So let's look at a series that treats them like baddies. The Outer Church is basically every negative aspect of the Technocracy ramped up to eleven. They're everywhere, a big, nasty government conspiracy that has no problem with brainwashing, involuntary experimentation and communing with powers from the Outer Void. Also a great idea if you want to deal with Technocratic Nephandi. This entire comic is basically exactly how the Traditions see the Union.
1984: Kind of an obvious, overused one already, but if you want to see a world where the Technocracy wins the ascension war, look no further than this. While they may have had good intentions once, The Ministry of Love is exactly what the Technocracy is going to become when their paranoia about the reality deviants overcomes their desire to help people.
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