UNATCO
Encyclopedia
This is a list of fictional organizations within the world of the futuristic cyberpunk
computer game Deus Ex
.
into the ocean. With the United States
government focusing on the disaster on the ex-West Coast, the needs of the other parts of the country went unmet. In 2031, Utah
announced its intention to secede from the United States, declaring its independence and annexing what was left of Arizona
and Nevada
. Inspired by Utah's example, fringe groups in Texas
declared independence as well. Shortly afterwards, various paramilitary groups in Washington, Oregon
, Idaho
, Montana
and Wyoming
united with Utah and Texas to form the NSF. All of these attempts to secede failed, though martial law continues to exist in some portions of these states. The NSF went underground.
In 2042, new gun control
legislation in the form of the Sporting Weapons Act was passed, and the NSF appeared again as the National Secessionist Forces. The new NSF was composed of individuals who refused to give up their rifles, grenades, land mines, and other "collectibles" prohibited by the Act. Led by Leon Woods, the goal of the NSF was to violently overthrow the U.S. government and restore the right of the nation's citizens to bear arms. Originally based mainly in the Western United States, the movement spread eastward, eventually creating a large support base in major eastern urban centers such as New York City
. While the United Nations
and the U.S. government classified the NSF as a terrorist group, many people saw the NSF as liberators from an increasingly authoritarian U.S. central government. Leon Woods was killed at his infamous last stand in 2045 at Squalnomie Square, but the NSF continued on gaining more and more strength, as well as support from Silhouette (the resistance movement against the French government), the Luminous Path Triad (a mafia
group in Hong Kong), and X-51 (a group of former Area 51
scientists). Dissident computer scientists and programmers, said to be based in Seattle and San Francisco, aided the NSF in setting up a highly encrypted communication network; eroding the edge that MJ-12 and UNATCO had due to their control over the Aquinas network and ECHELON. At this point, the United Nations
declared war on the NSF.
In the year when Deus Ex takes place (2052), the NSF discovers that the United Nations and the U.S. government are deliberately restricting poor people from accessing Ambrosia
(the vaccine for the disease known as the Gray Death), and are under the control of a secret organization called Majestic 12 that is intent on gaining absolute control over everything in the world. To give the lower class the same chance to survive as the upper class and employees of the U.S. government, they steal Ambrosia vaccines and send them to Luminous Path Triad scientist Tracer Tong to be synthesized, making the NSF popular with the lower classes. The state of Texas, which unsuccessfully tried to secede in 2032, is described in an email as being in a state of constant warfare between the NSF and UNATCO and the U.S. military.
In an attempt to reduce support for the NSF, UNATCO framed the NSF and their allies for many terrorist acts, including the bombings of the Statue of Liberty
, as well as smuggling illegal drugs and immigrants (although the Luminous Path Triad, being a mafia
group, is involved in such smuggling activities). When the NSF started running out of troops during their assault in New York City, however, they began to desperately take hostages in order to stall for time and delay UNATCO
, despite a policy discouraging hostage-taking.
After the events of Deus Ex
, most of the organization seems to be crippled but not destroyed. This is partly due to the actions of the player, whose short tenure with UNATCO saw the capture of several important bases—including the NSF New York headquarters; capture or death of several commanders, including a prominent NSF leader and financial backer, Juan Ivanovich Lebedev, and the failure of a critical operation in New York City
.
However, the organization remains largely intact—though with a reduced strength in the East Coast. This is probably due to the sending of the NSF distress signal by JC at the New York headquarters in Hell's Kitchen
which allowed other NSF bases and resistance groups in Europe to take necessary counter measures. Several prominent members from the New York Section remain at large, probably waiting to reform the organization in New York; indeed, this is evidenced by the fleeing of NSF commanders Decker Parkes, Erin Todd and Wayne Young to Europe. During the game, an NSF brigade are conducting operations in Paris under the command of Chad Dumier, leader of Silhouette and the Illuminatus Morgan Everett. Morgan Everett, in conversation with JC, mentions their still-operational HQ as being a few hundred miles north of the X-51 base at Vandenberg. In Paris, JC Denton
overhears a man asking his wife to come with him to America as he has been contracted to work with the NSF.
and allowing them to control the media, transportation and civil rights.
Throughout Deus Ex
, FEMA takes an unusually aggressive stance against terrorism and rioting in cities such as New York
, and by the end of the game, and either kills or forces certain individuals within UNATCO to resign if they start becoming a threat.
member nations to the growing problem of international terrorism, JC Denton
discovers that they are actually the police force of the secret organization called Majestic 12. Although it is implied that UNATCO was formed in the early 21st century, the exact date of the genesis of UNATCO is unclear. Several of the game's characters have worked for the organization for many years, including Joseph Manderley, Sam Carter, Paul Denton, and Gunther Hermann. The game's protagonist, 23 years old in the game, also mentions adolescent dreams of working for the organization.
A few years prior to the events in Deus Ex, UNATCO, through collaboration with groups like INTERPOL
and with funding by the United States, became known as a standing international counterterrorist police force
; the term "world police" is used to describe the organization. By the game year, 2052, UNATCO has formed its headquarters on Liberty Island
in New York City
after a terrorist strike on the Statue of Liberty
. Ironically, JC Denton
discovers that UNATCO were the true perpetrators of the Statue of Liberty
bombing, which was staged to reduce support for the NSF and its allies.
The player uncovers financial links that bind UNATCO to Walton Simons, head of the FEMA and a key leader of Majestic-12. UNATCO does much of MJ-12's dirty work, including the dispersal of biological warfare agents against the general population, and military suppression of any peaceful or military resistance to UNATCO member governments.
With the onslaught of the global collapse perpetrated by JC Denton
at the end of Deus Ex, UNATCO, along with most other global entities, is portrayed in the game's sequel, Deus Ex: Invisible War
, as having effectively ceased to exist. The old Liberty Island UNATCO base makes a cameo appearance
at the end of Invisible War as it is used by JC Denton to store the dormant Aquinas protocol, though by the year 2072 when the game is said to take place, the complex is effectively a ruin, and many homeless people live there.
When Deus Ex was released in 2000 Ion Storm
created a website (www.unatco.org) for the fictional organization to promote the game. Ion Storm pulled the website shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks
.
The motto of UNATCO is from the Sententiae
of Publilius Syrus
: "Nihil aliud scit necessitas quam vincere", which means, "Necessity knows nothing else but victory."
It is implied that the Illuminati are the driving force behind the NSF and its French branch, Silhouette. Known Illuminati agents during the events of Deus Ex are Morgan Everett, Stanton Dowd and Harley Filben, as well as the incapacitated Lucius DeBeers.
The Illuminati (plural of Latin illuminatus, "enlightened") are a secret society of people whose goal is to control the world from 'behind the scenes'. Notable leaders include Morgan Everett, Stanton Dowd, Lucius DeBeers, Chad Dumier, and Nicolette DuClare.
in 1776. They have been controlling the world in secret for centuries. Prior to the events of Deus Ex
, set in 2052, Lucius DeBeers stepped down from active leadership due to health problems and was put in stasis by his successor Morgan Everett. Everett's former protégé, Bob Page, became disillusioned with the Illuminati and broke away to form the splinter group Majestic-12, and the Illuminati's bankers and treasurers, the Knights Templar
, were destroyed by Interpol with the help of Joseph Manderley.
to help them defeat the splinter group. They also fund and control both the NSF and the French resistance group Silhouette.
, The Knights Templar are the descendants of the medieval order of the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon
. By the time Deus Ex takes place, however, the Templars have been destroyed by a combined Interpol/UNATCO force headed by Joseph Manderley.
The virus is then spread to the public, and then UNATCO and FEMA are used to control the supply of the vaccine. It is provided in limited quantities, and the list of people to be vaccinated is limited to employees and conspirators of MJ12, as well as employees of MJ12 fronts, and to those for whom politicians request it, so long as they co-operate with MJ12.
Majestic 12 also uses complex information-processing systems, including artificial intelligence
, at least two systems of which are prominent elements in the game's story, these being Daedalus and Icarus. Daedalus and Icarus are the results of previous efforts of the Illuminati to create an omnipresent surveillance tool to not only monitor, but evaluate world events and even individual lives. Before the events in the game, Page initiated the Aquinas Protocol, allowing MJ-12 to monitor and selectively censor all global communications.
Apart from use of the Gray Death/Ambrosia manipulation, sophisticated military technologies and advanced surveillance networks, MJ-12 is also not averse to using divide and conquer
methods, weakening their enemies and turning them against one another. The organization also holds no apparent qualms about using other types of psychological tactics as they wage war on the world's government. One example of this is the exploitation of the bizarre traits of MiBs
to intimidate or unnerve dissidents and coerce them in to submission, and to deter would-be assassins or spies when serving as bodyguards and security forces.
Majestic 12 HQ is based in Area 51
but has bases including but not limited to submerged Ocean Labs, concealed bases in UNATCO headquarters, bases in the sewage system beneath New York
and Versalife Headquarters.
Majestic 12 military personnel bear the insignia XII, which is twelve in Roman numerals
. Other symbols used include a hand menacing a globe; this is displayed in actual form in Majestic Twelve's facilities, including the restricted labs at VersaLife's Hong Kong building, as a kind of centrepoint. The symbol also appears on MJ-12 computer terminals, in this instance the globe being the azimuthal equidistant projection
used by the UN flag, under the shadow of a translucent hand. The symbol can therefore be interpreted in either of two ways; as a display of MJ-12's actual covert control of the UN and associated agencies, such as UNATCO, or as an aspiration to the complete world domination which the group strives towards and very nearly acquires.
It is hinted, though never explicitly confirmed, that MJ12 had been a government agency under the control of Lucius DeBeers' Illuminati all through the 20th century. The motto of Majestic 12 is: "IPSA SCIENTIA POTESTAS EST"—Latin
for "Knowledge Itself Is Power."
. It is owned by Bob Page, and is involved in several industries including robotics manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, construction, computer hardware and software manufacturing
and defense. Page Industries was a major power behind the push for nanotechnology, thanks to their subsidiary VersaLife and Majestic-12 organization, and was a part of the enhancement project that JC Denton and Paul Denton went through.
Assumed to have disintegrated by the time of Invisible War.
(called 'mercenary thugs'), and a few are also seen in Hell's Kitchen (called 'NSF thugs').
VersaLife may operate as a pharmaceutical company, but specializes in established and theoretical applications of nanotechnology, especially in conjunction with living creatures. It also experiments with synthetic creatures, known as transgenics, and—with the aid of nanotechnology—genetically engineers organisms, presumably as a result of experimentation, or for use in experiments, or possibly both or neither. Some of these include: Greasel
s, Grays, and Karkians. In addition to these creatures, Bob Page claims that VersaLife created the protagonist, JC Denton, and his "brother," Paul Denton. This is later proved by four cloning tubes in Area 51 that are labeled for JC, Paul, Walton Simons and Alex Denton.
and the French government are deliberately restricting poor people from accessing Ambrosia
(the vaccine for the Gray Death disease), and are under the control of a secret organization called Majestic 12 that wants absolute control over everything in the world. They are allied with the NSF (the resistance movement against the United States
government), the Luminous Path Triad (a mafia
group in Hong Kong), and X-51 (a group of former Area 51
scientists). They focus their efforts on subversion of media outlets to attract citizens to their cause. Their motto is "Tandis qu'ils dorment, nous gagnerons" (While they sleep, we will win). The philosophy and approach of Silhouette is similar to the real-life French Situationists. By the game year (2052), Silhouette suffered a leak that led to the exposure of one source of their funding, the wealthy French heiress and banker Beth DuClare. After a brief but torrid scandal, she was assassinated by Majestic 12.
Also during that year, an attack on the Statue of Liberty
was the most-cited reason for the establishment of a standing UNATCO
force on American soil. Many throughout the world suspected Silhouette, which had several months before released statements on world cultural monuments, among them a claim that the Statue ought not have been given to America. However, it is discovered that UNATCO had perpetrated the bombings to reduce support for Silhouette and its allies.
Through their leader's close relationship with Nicolette DuClare, Silhouette benefit from the financial, social and intelligence support of the French faction of the Illuminati. Dumier claims that he doubts the Illuminati would continue to assist Silhouette were MJ-12 not a threat, but the younger DuClare sympathizes more with Silhouette. The Illuminati find Silhouette to be useful allies in their struggle with MJ-12.
in 2051 after learning about the shadowy intentions of Majestic 12, the secret organization led by the game's main antagonist, Bob Page.
When they walked out they stole “everything smaller than a paper clip” according to X-51 member and scientist Carla Brown, and C-4
'ed the large pieces of machinery at Area 51 that would make up the Universal Constructor needed for MJ-12's nefarious plans.
After their defection, they are said to have eluded UNATCO
and the U.S. Army by posing as a research consortium and purchased Vandenberg Air Force Base
, which had fallen into disrepair as a result of a catastrophic seismic upheaval mentioned in the game's back-story
only as the "SoCal Earthquake". They have had contact with the NSF, the Illuminati and other resistance movements, however they are not coordinating fully with any organization. Despite this, they are portrayed as well armed and their Vandenberg base as heavily fortified.
They are the only institution excluding MJ-12 who are said to possess a "Universal Constructor", a device with which they hope to find a cure for the plague known as the "Grey Death", a pandemic which has spread across the planet within the game.
Cyberpunk
Cyberpunk is a postmodern and science fiction genre noted for its focus on "high tech and low life." The name is a portmanteau of cybernetics and punk, and was originally coined by Bruce Bethke as the title of his short story "Cyberpunk," published in 1983...
computer game Deus Ex
Deus Ex
Deus Ex is an action role-playing game developed by Ion Storm Inc. and published by Eidos Interactive in 2000, which combines gameplay elements of first-person shooters with those of role-playing video games...
.
National Secessionist Forces
The National Secessionist Forces (NSF) was formed in 2031 as the Northwest Secessionist Forces. A year prior to the formation of the NSF, a major earthquake sunk most of Southern CaliforniaCalifornia
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
into the ocean. With the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
government focusing on the disaster on the ex-West Coast, the needs of the other parts of the country went unmet. In 2031, Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
announced its intention to secede from the United States, declaring its independence and annexing what was left of Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
and Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
. Inspired by Utah's example, fringe groups in Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
declared independence as well. Shortly afterwards, various paramilitary groups in Washington, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
, Idaho
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
, Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
and Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
united with Utah and Texas to form the NSF. All of these attempts to secede failed, though martial law continues to exist in some portions of these states. The NSF went underground.
In 2042, new gun control
Gun control
Gun control is any law, policy, practice, or proposal designed to restrict or limit the possession, production, importation, shipment, sale, and/or use of guns or other firearms by private citizens...
legislation in the form of the Sporting Weapons Act was passed, and the NSF appeared again as the National Secessionist Forces. The new NSF was composed of individuals who refused to give up their rifles, grenades, land mines, and other "collectibles" prohibited by the Act. Led by Leon Woods, the goal of the NSF was to violently overthrow the U.S. government and restore the right of the nation's citizens to bear arms. Originally based mainly in the Western United States, the movement spread eastward, eventually creating a large support base in major eastern urban centers such as New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. While the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
and the U.S. government classified the NSF as a terrorist group, many people saw the NSF as liberators from an increasingly authoritarian U.S. central government. Leon Woods was killed at his infamous last stand in 2045 at Squalnomie Square, but the NSF continued on gaining more and more strength, as well as support from Silhouette (the resistance movement against the French government), the Luminous Path Triad (a mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
group in Hong Kong), and X-51 (a group of former Area 51
Area 51
Area 51 is a military base, and a remote detachment of Edwards Air Force Base. It is located in the southern portion of Nevada in the western United States, 83 miles north-northwest of downtown Las Vegas. Situated at its center, on the southern shore of Groom Lake, is a large military airfield...
scientists). Dissident computer scientists and programmers, said to be based in Seattle and San Francisco, aided the NSF in setting up a highly encrypted communication network; eroding the edge that MJ-12 and UNATCO had due to their control over the Aquinas network and ECHELON. At this point, the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
declared war on the NSF.
In the year when Deus Ex takes place (2052), the NSF discovers that the United Nations and the U.S. government are deliberately restricting poor people from accessing Ambrosia
Ambrosia
In ancient Greek mythology, ambrosia is sometimes the food or drink of the Greek gods , often depicted as conferring ageless immortality upon whoever consumes it...
(the vaccine for the disease known as the Gray Death), and are under the control of a secret organization called Majestic 12 that is intent on gaining absolute control over everything in the world. To give the lower class the same chance to survive as the upper class and employees of the U.S. government, they steal Ambrosia vaccines and send them to Luminous Path Triad scientist Tracer Tong to be synthesized, making the NSF popular with the lower classes. The state of Texas, which unsuccessfully tried to secede in 2032, is described in an email as being in a state of constant warfare between the NSF and UNATCO and the U.S. military.
In an attempt to reduce support for the NSF, UNATCO framed the NSF and their allies for many terrorist acts, including the bombings of the Statue of Liberty
Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886...
, as well as smuggling illegal drugs and immigrants (although the Luminous Path Triad, being a mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
group, is involved in such smuggling activities). When the NSF started running out of troops during their assault in New York City, however, they began to desperately take hostages in order to stall for time and delay UNATCO
UNATCO
This is a list of fictional organizations within the world of the futuristic cyberpunk computer game Deus Ex.- National Secessionist Forces :...
, despite a policy discouraging hostage-taking.
After the events of Deus Ex
Deus Ex
Deus Ex is an action role-playing game developed by Ion Storm Inc. and published by Eidos Interactive in 2000, which combines gameplay elements of first-person shooters with those of role-playing video games...
, most of the organization seems to be crippled but not destroyed. This is partly due to the actions of the player, whose short tenure with UNATCO saw the capture of several important bases—including the NSF New York headquarters; capture or death of several commanders, including a prominent NSF leader and financial backer, Juan Ivanovich Lebedev, and the failure of a critical operation in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
However, the organization remains largely intact—though with a reduced strength in the East Coast. This is probably due to the sending of the NSF distress signal by JC at the New York headquarters in Hell's Kitchen
Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan
Hell's Kitchen, also known as Clinton and Midtown West, is a neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City between 34th Street and 59th Street, from 8th Avenue to the Hudson River....
which allowed other NSF bases and resistance groups in Europe to take necessary counter measures. Several prominent members from the New York Section remain at large, probably waiting to reform the organization in New York; indeed, this is evidenced by the fleeing of NSF commanders Decker Parkes, Erin Todd and Wayne Young to Europe. During the game, an NSF brigade are conducting operations in Paris under the command of Chad Dumier, leader of Silhouette and the Illuminatus Morgan Everett. Morgan Everett, in conversation with JC, mentions their still-operational HQ as being a few hundred miles north of the X-51 base at Vandenberg. In Paris, JC Denton
JC Denton
JC Denton is the player character and protagonist of the first-person role-playing computer game Deus Ex. He is voiced by Jay Anthony Franke in both Deus Ex and its sequel, Deus Ex: Invisible War....
overhears a man asking his wife to come with him to America as he has been contracted to work with the NSF.
FEMA
FEMA, also known as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, government organization and agency of the US Department of Homeland Security, created by Presidential Order on 1 April 1979. FEMA is tasked with handling responses to natural and domestic disasters within the United States. After a blackmail performed by Bob Page, Walton Simons takes over as the director of FEMA in order to further their goals of a New World Order. This allows FEMA to gain significant power, taking control over smaller organizations such as UNATCOUNATCO
This is a list of fictional organizations within the world of the futuristic cyberpunk computer game Deus Ex.- National Secessionist Forces :...
and allowing them to control the media, transportation and civil rights.
Throughout Deus Ex
Deus Ex
Deus Ex is an action role-playing game developed by Ion Storm Inc. and published by Eidos Interactive in 2000, which combines gameplay elements of first-person shooters with those of role-playing video games...
, FEMA takes an unusually aggressive stance against terrorism and rioting in cities such as New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, and by the end of the game, and either kills or forces certain individuals within UNATCO to resign if they start becoming a threat.
UNATCO
Although it seems that UNATCO (United Nations Anti-Terrorist Coalition) was formed as an ad hoc response by UNUnited Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
member nations to the growing problem of international terrorism, JC Denton
JC Denton
JC Denton is the player character and protagonist of the first-person role-playing computer game Deus Ex. He is voiced by Jay Anthony Franke in both Deus Ex and its sequel, Deus Ex: Invisible War....
discovers that they are actually the police force of the secret organization called Majestic 12. Although it is implied that UNATCO was formed in the early 21st century, the exact date of the genesis of UNATCO is unclear. Several of the game's characters have worked for the organization for many years, including Joseph Manderley, Sam Carter, Paul Denton, and Gunther Hermann. The game's protagonist, 23 years old in the game, also mentions adolescent dreams of working for the organization.
A few years prior to the events in Deus Ex, UNATCO, through collaboration with groups like INTERPOL
Interpol
Interpol, whose full name is the International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL, is an organization facilitating international police cooperation...
and with funding by the United States, became known as a standing international counterterrorist police force
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
; the term "world police" is used to describe the organization. By the game year, 2052, UNATCO has formed its headquarters on Liberty Island
Liberty Island
Liberty Island is a small uninhabited island in New York Harbor in the United States, best known as the location of the Statue of Liberty. Though so called since the turn of the century, the name did not become official until 1956. In 1937, by proclamation 2250, President Franklin D...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
after a terrorist strike on the Statue of Liberty
Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886...
. Ironically, JC Denton
JC Denton
JC Denton is the player character and protagonist of the first-person role-playing computer game Deus Ex. He is voiced by Jay Anthony Franke in both Deus Ex and its sequel, Deus Ex: Invisible War....
discovers that UNATCO were the true perpetrators of the Statue of Liberty
Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886...
bombing, which was staged to reduce support for the NSF and its allies.
The player uncovers financial links that bind UNATCO to Walton Simons, head of the FEMA and a key leader of Majestic-12. UNATCO does much of MJ-12's dirty work, including the dispersal of biological warfare agents against the general population, and military suppression of any peaceful or military resistance to UNATCO member governments.
With the onslaught of the global collapse perpetrated by JC Denton
JC Denton
JC Denton is the player character and protagonist of the first-person role-playing computer game Deus Ex. He is voiced by Jay Anthony Franke in both Deus Ex and its sequel, Deus Ex: Invisible War....
at the end of Deus Ex, UNATCO, along with most other global entities, is portrayed in the game's sequel, Deus Ex: Invisible War
Deus Ex: Invisible War
Deus Ex: Invisible War is an action role-playing game developed by Ion Storm Inc. and published by Eidos Interactive. Released simultaneously for Microsoft Windows and the Xbox video game console on December 2, 2003, the game is a sequel to the critically acclaimed Deus Ex...
, as having effectively ceased to exist. The old Liberty Island UNATCO base makes a cameo appearance
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
at the end of Invisible War as it is used by JC Denton to store the dormant Aquinas protocol, though by the year 2072 when the game is said to take place, the complex is effectively a ruin, and many homeless people live there.
When Deus Ex was released in 2000 Ion Storm
Ion Storm Inc.
Ion Storm Inc. was a Texas based developer of computer games founded by John Romero, Tom Hall , Todd Porter, and Jerry O'Flaherty, under the slogan "Design is Law"...
created a website (www.unatco.org) for the fictional organization to promote the game. Ion Storm pulled the website shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...
.
The motto of UNATCO is from the Sententiae
Sententiae
Sententiae are brief moral sayings, such as proverbs, adages, aphorisms, maxims, or apophthegms taken from ancient or popular or other sources, often quoted without context. A sententia , also called a "sentence," is a kind of rhetorical proof...
of Publilius Syrus
Publilius Syrus
Publilius Syrus, a Latin writer of maxims, flourished in the 1st century BC. He was a Syrian who was brought as a slave to Italy, but by his wit and talent he won the favor of his master, who freed and educated him....
: "Nihil aliud scit necessitas quam vincere", which means, "Necessity knows nothing else but victory."
The Illuminati
Within the back story of the series, the Illuminati have controlled the world "behind the scenes" for centuries, carefully managing the world's economies and governments in their quest for complete global control. By the time the original Deus Ex takes place, however, they have been usurped from their position of power by ex-protégé Bob Page and his splinter group "Majestic 12".It is implied that the Illuminati are the driving force behind the NSF and its French branch, Silhouette. Known Illuminati agents during the events of Deus Ex are Morgan Everett, Stanton Dowd and Harley Filben, as well as the incapacitated Lucius DeBeers.
The Illuminati (plural of Latin illuminatus, "enlightened") are a secret society of people whose goal is to control the world from 'behind the scenes'. Notable leaders include Morgan Everett, Stanton Dowd, Lucius DeBeers, Chad Dumier, and Nicolette DuClare.
History
The Illuminati were founded by Adam WeishauptAdam Weishaupt
Johann Adam Weishaupt was a German philosopher and founder of the Order of Illuminati, a secret society with origins in Bavaria.-Early life:...
in 1776. They have been controlling the world in secret for centuries. Prior to the events of Deus Ex
Deus Ex
Deus Ex is an action role-playing game developed by Ion Storm Inc. and published by Eidos Interactive in 2000, which combines gameplay elements of first-person shooters with those of role-playing video games...
, set in 2052, Lucius DeBeers stepped down from active leadership due to health problems and was put in stasis by his successor Morgan Everett. Everett's former protégé, Bob Page, became disillusioned with the Illuminati and broke away to form the splinter group Majestic-12, and the Illuminati's bankers and treasurers, the Knights Templar
Knights Templar
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...
, were destroyed by Interpol with the help of Joseph Manderley.
Events of Deus Ex (2052)
The Illuminati are at risk of being overthrown by Majestic-12, and attempt to recruit JC DentonJC Denton
JC Denton is the player character and protagonist of the first-person role-playing computer game Deus Ex. He is voiced by Jay Anthony Franke in both Deus Ex and its sequel, Deus Ex: Invisible War....
to help them defeat the splinter group. They also fund and control both the NSF and the French resistance group Silhouette.
Events of Deus Ex: Invisible War (2072)
Morgan Everett has either died or stepped down as leader, and Nicolette DuClare and Chad Dumier take over as new leaders. They form the capitalist WTO and its rival, the Order Church, a religious group, to disguise their true intentions of controlling the world. Paralleling this, they also own two rival coffee shops, Pequod's and Queequeg's. If Alex chooses to help them, they bring about a new era of control called the 'Age of Light', where they control the entire world from a space station.Knights Templar
In Deus ExDeus Ex
Deus Ex is an action role-playing game developed by Ion Storm Inc. and published by Eidos Interactive in 2000, which combines gameplay elements of first-person shooters with those of role-playing video games...
, The Knights Templar are the descendants of the medieval order of the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon
Knights Templar
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...
. By the time Deus Ex takes place, however, the Templars have been destroyed by a combined Interpol/UNATCO force headed by Joseph Manderley.
Majestic 12
Majestic 12 (MJ-12, MJ12, also known as Those Who Rule the World in Majesty and officially as The Majestic Council of the Twelve) is a splinter organization of the Illuminati, and led by the former Illuminati member, Bob Page. While the Illuminati prefers to control by assimilating persons of intellect into a grand conspiracy, Majestic 12 plans to control the world in secret through the production of the "Gray Death nanovirus" and the virus's vaccine, Ambrosia. The organization's public fronts include Page Industries, which controls the global banking system and is run by Bob Page, VersaLife, a division of Page Industries, and UNATCO.The virus is then spread to the public, and then UNATCO and FEMA are used to control the supply of the vaccine. It is provided in limited quantities, and the list of people to be vaccinated is limited to employees and conspirators of MJ12, as well as employees of MJ12 fronts, and to those for whom politicians request it, so long as they co-operate with MJ12.
Majestic 12 also uses complex information-processing systems, including artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
, at least two systems of which are prominent elements in the game's story, these being Daedalus and Icarus. Daedalus and Icarus are the results of previous efforts of the Illuminati to create an omnipresent surveillance tool to not only monitor, but evaluate world events and even individual lives. Before the events in the game, Page initiated the Aquinas Protocol, allowing MJ-12 to monitor and selectively censor all global communications.
Apart from use of the Gray Death/Ambrosia manipulation, sophisticated military technologies and advanced surveillance networks, MJ-12 is also not averse to using divide and conquer
Divide and rule
In politics and sociology, divide and rule is a combination of political, military and economic strategy of gaining and maintaining power by breaking up larger concentrations of power into chunks that individually have less power than the one implementing the strategy...
methods, weakening their enemies and turning them against one another. The organization also holds no apparent qualms about using other types of psychological tactics as they wage war on the world's government. One example of this is the exploitation of the bizarre traits of MiBs
Men in Black
Men in Black , in American popular culture and in UFO conspiracy theories, are men dressed in black suits who claim to be government agents who harass or threaten UFO witnesses to keep them quiet about what they have seen. It is sometimes implied that they may be aliens themselves...
to intimidate or unnerve dissidents and coerce them in to submission, and to deter would-be assassins or spies when serving as bodyguards and security forces.
Majestic 12 HQ is based in Area 51
Area 51
Area 51 is a military base, and a remote detachment of Edwards Air Force Base. It is located in the southern portion of Nevada in the western United States, 83 miles north-northwest of downtown Las Vegas. Situated at its center, on the southern shore of Groom Lake, is a large military airfield...
but has bases including but not limited to submerged Ocean Labs, concealed bases in UNATCO headquarters, bases in the sewage system beneath New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and Versalife Headquarters.
Majestic 12 military personnel bear the insignia XII, which is twelve in Roman numerals
Roman numerals
The numeral system of ancient Rome, or Roman numerals, uses combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet to signify values. The numbers 1 to 10 can be expressed in Roman numerals as:...
. Other symbols used include a hand menacing a globe; this is displayed in actual form in Majestic Twelve's facilities, including the restricted labs at VersaLife's Hong Kong building, as a kind of centrepoint. The symbol also appears on MJ-12 computer terminals, in this instance the globe being the azimuthal equidistant projection
Azimuthal equidistant projection
The azimuthal equidistant projection is a type of map projection.A useful application for this type of projection is a polar projection in which all distances measured from the center of the map along any longitudinal line are accurate; an example of a polar azimuthal equidistant projection can be...
used by the UN flag, under the shadow of a translucent hand. The symbol can therefore be interpreted in either of two ways; as a display of MJ-12's actual covert control of the UN and associated agencies, such as UNATCO, or as an aspiration to the complete world domination which the group strives towards and very nearly acquires.
It is hinted, though never explicitly confirmed, that MJ12 had been a government agency under the control of Lucius DeBeers' Illuminati all through the 20th century. The motto of Majestic 12 is: "IPSA SCIENTIA POTESTAS EST"—Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
for "Knowledge Itself Is Power."
Page Industries
Page Industries is a huge multinational corporationCorporation
A corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...
. It is owned by Bob Page, and is involved in several industries including robotics manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, construction, computer hardware and software manufacturing
Software manufacturing
Software manufacturing is the process of producing software in ways similar to the manufacturing of tangible goods. In this way of conducting business, each copy of the software is priced and sold as though it was a tangible product...
and defense. Page Industries was a major power behind the push for nanotechnology, thanks to their subsidiary VersaLife and Majestic-12 organization, and was a part of the enhancement project that JC Denton and Paul Denton went through.
Assumed to have disintegrated by the time of Invisible War.
Rooks
The Rooks are a gang that live in a hidden and abandoned sector of subway in Battery Park, along with civilians unaffiliated to them called the Mole People. They are led by a man named El Rey and hold power that is opposed by few. The only threatening adversary that they have in the subway is a zyme dealer named Rock. Some members of the gang mention that they are considering being hired by the NSF as mercenary contractors. Some may have already taken the offer, as men in the same uniform as Rooks are seen on Liberty IslandLiberty Island
Liberty Island is a small uninhabited island in New York Harbor in the United States, best known as the location of the Statue of Liberty. Though so called since the turn of the century, the name did not become official until 1956. In 1937, by proclamation 2250, President Franklin D...
(called 'mercenary thugs'), and a few are also seen in Hell's Kitchen (called 'NSF thugs').
VersaLife
A subsidiary of Page Industries, VersaLife is itself a commercial behemoth. It specialises in nanotechnology, making several products which use nanites, from nanoaugmentations, to nanotech swords, to the nanite-composed vaccine for the Gray Death. In secret, and in accordance with Majestic 12's plans for world domination, it also produces the fatal Gray Death virus. As the source of both the virus and the only working vaccine, anyone susceptible to the virus is effectively at Majestic 12's mercy.VersaLife may operate as a pharmaceutical company, but specializes in established and theoretical applications of nanotechnology, especially in conjunction with living creatures. It also experiments with synthetic creatures, known as transgenics, and—with the aid of nanotechnology—genetically engineers organisms, presumably as a result of experimentation, or for use in experiments, or possibly both or neither. Some of these include: Greasel
Deus Ex
Deus Ex is an action role-playing game developed by Ion Storm Inc. and published by Eidos Interactive in 2000, which combines gameplay elements of first-person shooters with those of role-playing video games...
s, Grays, and Karkians. In addition to these creatures, Bob Page claims that VersaLife created the protagonist, JC Denton, and his "brother," Paul Denton. This is later proved by four cloning tubes in Area 51 that are labeled for JC, Paul, Walton Simons and Alex Denton.
Silhouette
Silhouette is the resistance movement against the French government, led by Chad Dumier (who is known to the public as "The Minister of True Lies"). They have discovered that the United NationsUnited Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
and the French government are deliberately restricting poor people from accessing Ambrosia
Ambrosia
In ancient Greek mythology, ambrosia is sometimes the food or drink of the Greek gods , often depicted as conferring ageless immortality upon whoever consumes it...
(the vaccine for the Gray Death disease), and are under the control of a secret organization called Majestic 12 that wants absolute control over everything in the world. They are allied with the NSF (the resistance movement against the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
government), the Luminous Path Triad (a mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
group in Hong Kong), and X-51 (a group of former Area 51
Area 51
Area 51 is a military base, and a remote detachment of Edwards Air Force Base. It is located in the southern portion of Nevada in the western United States, 83 miles north-northwest of downtown Las Vegas. Situated at its center, on the southern shore of Groom Lake, is a large military airfield...
scientists). They focus their efforts on subversion of media outlets to attract citizens to their cause. Their motto is "Tandis qu'ils dorment, nous gagnerons" (While they sleep, we will win). The philosophy and approach of Silhouette is similar to the real-life French Situationists. By the game year (2052), Silhouette suffered a leak that led to the exposure of one source of their funding, the wealthy French heiress and banker Beth DuClare. After a brief but torrid scandal, she was assassinated by Majestic 12.
Also during that year, an attack on the Statue of Liberty
Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886...
was the most-cited reason for the establishment of a standing UNATCO
UNATCO
This is a list of fictional organizations within the world of the futuristic cyberpunk computer game Deus Ex.- National Secessionist Forces :...
force on American soil. Many throughout the world suspected Silhouette, which had several months before released statements on world cultural monuments, among them a claim that the Statue ought not have been given to America. However, it is discovered that UNATCO had perpetrated the bombings to reduce support for Silhouette and its allies.
Through their leader's close relationship with Nicolette DuClare, Silhouette benefit from the financial, social and intelligence support of the French faction of the Illuminati. Dumier claims that he doubts the Illuminati would continue to assist Silhouette were MJ-12 not a threat, but the younger DuClare sympathizes more with Silhouette. The Illuminati find Silhouette to be useful allies in their struggle with MJ-12.
X-51
As described in game, X-51 is a group of scientists, technicians and ex-United States army soldiers, led by Dr. Gary Savage, who defected from Area 51Area 51
Area 51 is a military base, and a remote detachment of Edwards Air Force Base. It is located in the southern portion of Nevada in the western United States, 83 miles north-northwest of downtown Las Vegas. Situated at its center, on the southern shore of Groom Lake, is a large military airfield...
in 2051 after learning about the shadowy intentions of Majestic 12, the secret organization led by the game's main antagonist, Bob Page.
When they walked out they stole “everything smaller than a paper clip” according to X-51 member and scientist Carla Brown, and C-4
C-4 (explosive)
C4 or Composition C4 is a common variety of the plastic explosive known as Composition C.-Composition and manufacture:C4 is made up of explosives, plastic binder, plasticizer and usually marker or odorizing taggant chemicals such as 2,3-dimethyl-2,3-dinitrobutane to help detect the explosive and...
'ed the large pieces of machinery at Area 51 that would make up the Universal Constructor needed for MJ-12's nefarious plans.
After their defection, they are said to have eluded UNATCO
UNATCO
This is a list of fictional organizations within the world of the futuristic cyberpunk computer game Deus Ex.- National Secessionist Forces :...
and the U.S. Army by posing as a research consortium and purchased Vandenberg Air Force Base
Vandenberg Air Force Base
Vandenberg Air Force Base is a United States Air Force Base, located approximately northwest of Lompoc, California. It is under the jurisdiction of the 30th Space Wing, Air Force Space Command ....
, which had fallen into disrepair as a result of a catastrophic seismic upheaval mentioned in the game's back-story
Back-story
A back-story, background story, or backstory is the literary device of a narrative chronologically earlier than, and related to, a narrative of primary interest. Generally, it is the history of characters or other elements that underlie the situation existing at the main narrative's start...
only as the "SoCal Earthquake". They have had contact with the NSF, the Illuminati and other resistance movements, however they are not coordinating fully with any organization. Despite this, they are portrayed as well armed and their Vandenberg base as heavily fortified.
They are the only institution excluding MJ-12 who are said to possess a "Universal Constructor", a device with which they hope to find a cure for the plague known as the "Grey Death", a pandemic which has spread across the planet within the game.