"He who controls the media, controls the mind."
—Noam Chomsky
The New World Order, often shortened to N.W.O., are the secret police force within the Technocratic Union, dedicated on shaping and guiding information in progress with the Collective Will of the Masses. The New World Order is responsible for much of processing of Reality Deviants and advancing the goals of the Time Table.
One of the N.W.O.’s top brass, Joshua Metcalf, has come to Seattle to personally supervise the
Upgrade and light a fire under those lazy Void Engineers. Joshua is an almost disconcertingly “perfect”
person, a clean young man who looks like he stepped right out of a ‘50s ad. He is, in fact, an artificially
created lifeform, birthed in a Horizon Realm facility that had been cut off behind the Avatar Storm.
Fearing that they would never see Earth again, the scientists aboard the facility dedicated themselves to
creating a being that could transcend humanity and build a new world. The “Ascendants,” as they were
called, were created to age rapidly to maturity, learn quickly, and live far beyond normal human lifespans.
When the storm subsided and the facility reconnected with Earth, Joshua and the other
Ascendants were integrated into the main Technocratic organization and enjoyed a meteoric rise up
through the ranks. Inculcated from birth with the values of Technocrats who had spent long years living
outside the mortal world, the Ascendants believe that the Technocracy on Earth has been sullied and made
complacent by being immersed in the mundane world. The Ascendants are not humanity’s replacements,
but they are destined to serve as their shepherds, guiding them from Horizon Realms above until they can
be perfected enough to join them.
Joshua has a remarkable combination of ambition and naivete. He is still adjusting to being around
Sleepers and rarely ventures out into the world, preferring to stay in his penthouse suite downtown and
observe the patterns of life below. He was one of the driving forces behind the Upgrade and is getting
frustrated with how tough it’s proving to implement. From Horizon, it all looked so simple.
All the other N.W.O. operatives in Seattle follow Joshua’s orders directly. They are currently
working on inserting operatives in key positions in local law enforcement, the better to establish an
information network and detain mages without attracting as much attention as a full HIT Mark strike. They
operate a prison and reeducation center on a large black yacht that they can move from port to port in the
area as needed.
