Welcome! These forums will be deactivated by the end of this year. The conversation continues in a new morph over on Discord! Please join us there for a more active conversation and the occasional opportunity to ask developers questions directly! Go to the PS+ Discord Server.

The Olympian Group

16 posts / 0 new

Last post

Thu, 2012-05-17 17:18

Prophet710 Prophet710's picture

The Olympian Group

The Olympian Group is a start corporation funded and designed by eccentric Hyperelite Cormac Freize. Freize, known for being a genius programmer, uncanny weapons designer and innovator prodigy has always had a strong affinity for Earth and its retaking, being a fall-evacuee and naturally Earth born. The Olympian Group is dedicated to the eradication or careful study of TITAN and Exsurgent threats and is openly well funded, well armed and well researched. Ties to groups such as the Reclaimers has also served to put the Olympian group in the limelight of many news feeds. The Olympian Group maintains a few isolated habitats in the outer rim for the purposes of experimentation and study as well as trading with the many anarchistic and brinker habitats. However, in the inner system there are several campuses located on Venus, Mars and the Lunar-Lagrange points that serve as training facilities, fabrication plants and armories for the groups activites within the system. Though not openly degraded by either the Republic or the Consortium, the Olympian Group has taken quite a bit of public relations flak for its aggressive and sometimes outright Total War tactics in its dealings with threats and surveillance. The Group is also known to use heavily restriced or banned technologies such as anti-matter based weapons technology, free-reign nanofabrication devices and self-replicating nanoswarms. However, where the Group is based and located both rumors and actual incidents are isolated and the local populace is reported as having a sense of ease about the locale. As of AF 10, the Olympian Group is the only public organization that openly recruits from all factions, remains completely neutral in all political dealings that do not relate to Earth or the TITAN's and has delegated charter to trade with all factions without having sanctions from any singular entity. Not to be undone by distance, damage or insurgency, Freize himself has overseen the construction and design of the entire group, installing every habitat with the most advanced QE communications equipment, invasion countermeasures, weapons and defense systems and cloning facilites that are currently on the bleeding edge of market technologies.

—

"And yet, across the gulf of space, minds immeasurably superior to ours regarded this Earth with envious eyes. And slowly, and surely, they drew their plans against us."

Thu, 2012-05-17 18:23

Arenamontanus Arenamontanus's picture

Re: The Olympian Group

Sounds like the group is setting itself up as a target of Consortium memetic warfare: they do not like Reclaimers, and the activities of the group sounds like something that could be easily turned into bad PR. "What are they actually brewing in those labs? How do we know Freize has not been taken over by the TITAN horrors they are studying?" So what is the *real* agenda of the group? Maybe it is actually a big psy-op by the Consortium to suck in people who might otherwise have done risky things on their own. Keep your enemies closer and all that - now they are in an organisation that they indirectly control and and can pull the plug on. Preferably in such a way to discourage others from investigating certain things. Maybe it is actually what it claims to be, but Freize is not human. It is an independent Promethean AGI that has carefully brokered a deal with the other Powers That Be. They need a neutral go-between, someone that can do analysis and work on dangerous technologies without being beholden to anybody. However, they would not allow this if they did not have plenty of ways of ensuring that Freize kept the deal. Probably pretty terminal ways - those countermeasures are against minor factions, not the Powers. Maybe it doesn't exist. Maybe it is a magnificent experiement in reality-warping from a group of Interstellar Intelligence analysts in their spare time, where they have exploited memetic engineering and the distributed nature of transhuman culture to insert a semi-plausible but yet dramatic story. The Olympian Group is the larger than life fraction that is always two habitats away, working on things nobody should get away with working on and yet remaining pristine and trustworthy. Call it a myth to instil hope.

—

Thu, 2012-05-17 18:38

Decivre

Re: The Olympian Group

From what I'm understanding, the Olympian Group looks in many ways like an alternate-universe Firewall which has decided to operate above the table rather than in secret. It does open up a lot of possibilities. [list][*]The Olympian Group is a smaller organization that acts as a front for Firewall. Their actual purpose is to test the waters for Firewall to come out in the open, and see how it would pan out. [*]The Olympian Group is a separate and independent entity, which represents all of Firewall's nightmares come true; it is rife with corruption, and neutered by distrust from all the political blocs. [*]The Olympian Group might have been created by a rival group, such as OZMA. They are using it to try and make society even more distrustful of such a secret umbrella organization, specifically to hurt Firewall. [*]Worse off, the independent Olympian Group has become corrupted by TITAN or exsurgent influence, and now acts as a legitimate arm for groups trying to help their agendas. [*]The Olympian Group is a nonexistent entity, a conspiracy theory pieced together by people who have caught glimpses of the actions of such groups as Firewall and OZMA, but have only put together some of the puzzle pieces. It then took a life of its own, and Freize bankrolled the farce so he could benefit from the reputation boost. Secret groups leave it in existence because it keeps prying eyes off of them... who will be on the lookout for Firewall when all those suspicious dealings are probably due to the Olympian Group? How long before the Olympian Group is not willing to take credit for all the actions of these groups?[/list]

—

Transhumans will one day be the Luddites of the posthuman age. [url=http://bit.ly/2p3wk7c]Help me get my gaming fix, if you want.[/url]

Thu, 2012-05-17 18:49

Prophet710 Prophet710's picture

Re: The Olympian Group

This is some good stuff. I'd like to see where it is going to go myself.

—

"And yet, across the gulf of space, minds immeasurably superior to ours regarded this Earth with envious eyes. And slowly, and surely, they drew their plans against us."

Fri, 2012-05-18 00:42

Marek Krysiak Marek Krysiak's picture

Re: The Olympian Group

Such a perfect organisation in tomes so dire.. I'm just - waiting to see their dark and rotten heart - they're too nice to be true. Either they have some hidden devious agenda, or they [em]are[/em] as good and ethical as they seem, which means they're heavily psycho-edited and brain-washed - maybe even a product of some experiment in creating a human with superior morality (with their founder's name being so ominous and strangely familiar...) Or maybe not. Maybe they are just nice guys. Then parasites, predators and carrion-eaters are already congregating and waiting to infiltrate, subvert and exploit them - and the first among them is one special secret organisation governed by a bunch of supposedly benign AIs. It wouldn't be the first time Firewall was forced to make [em]sacrifices[/em] on other’s behalf (later they are terribly sorry of course, and go through all stages of grief in x60 time acceleration).

—

Fri, 2012-05-18 05:36

Xagroth

Re: The Olympian Group

Too Marty-Sue for my taste, specially in a setting where *everything* is more or less broken. Questions: How did they get there? Where and when did all started? Why are they doing it? How are they getting the manpower, and how do they manage the logistics? Why are they in the solar system instead on an exoplanet? Who are they a front for? * Ozma: it is a trap! Bait all the unsavory elements Ozma wants controlled, eliminated or under their wing and profit! * Firewall: public, nice front. After a few months, people might notice all the unsavory actions derived from this people's investigations and explorations being made by a shadowy organization (Firewall) and the group will be targeted by Ozma as a beachhead against their nemeses. * Titanian microcorp: actually this one gets well with the "too good to be true" feeling of the group. Rival organizations (Ozma, Firewall...) planting moles inside are to be expected within the week...

Fri, 2012-05-18 08:51

Arenamontanus Arenamontanus's picture

Re: The Olympian Group

Hmm, one way of getting around the Marty-Stu problem: yes, it is about as nice as described. It actually has the stated goals and tries to make the world better. But that is because the founder made his enormous fortune in an absolutely horrific way and is now plagued by a bad conscience. Imagine that you were one of the key players just before the Fall. You had insider information about what is about to happen - perhaps the Fall was partially orchestrated by a hypercorp conspiracy aiming to set up what would eventually become the Consortium but it got slightly out of hand, maybe you had sold out to the already growing superintelligences, perhaps you just had a really good forecasting department. So you short-sold the world. You made investments in off-planet backups, you played the economic game, and you made zillions from gigacide. Now things have calmed down a lot. You and your fellow co-conspirators are all ensconced in power, rulers (more or less) of the solar system. Except that you cannot sleep at night. You know what you did. You know what your actions led to. So you are trying to prevent it from ever happening again. Your peers were first amused, then began to warn you: don't rock the boat. Don't look back. But you cannot stop, despite their growing ultimatums: the nightmares will not let you.

—

Fri, 2012-05-18 12:34

Prophet710 Prophet710's picture

Re: The Olympian Group

THE SKINNY From how I envision it The Olympian Group and its mysterious benefactor are a blend of some above mentioned themes. Cormac Freize is an Exsurgent. The FIRST Exsurgent actually. Before the Fall, Cormac Freize was a pioneer in nanotechnology and AGI research. He personally oversaw the development of several self aware AI projects including the TITAN project, funded by DARPA. Through these developments Cormac would continually implant himself and augment himself with the latest technologies. In so doing he was able to tailor specific things in his own direction for his own gains as well as gather information for the public at large by testing on his own clones. As the TITAN project began to grow, and the number of ATLAS enabled AGI's doubled, Cormac linked personally with the AGIs in many instances. This is how he first came into contact with the Exsurgent virus. Cormac then moved to infect the rest of the DARPA upper echelon. Soon massive amounts of resources were spent on establishing major sites throughout the Sol system, from Mercury to the Oort Cloud. Many projects were moved off-planet under the guise of safety. By this time global war had ravaged most of the planet and a major collapse was all but inevitable. For whatever reason (I keep this secret) Cormac himself, along with the highest ranking individuals of the TITAN project and other DARPA affiliated projects unshackled the growing TITANs and unleashed them on the rest of the world. Soon after came The Fall. Ten years later comes the grand unveiling of The Olympian Group. The would-be saviors of humanity. Funded by corrupt projects that can be linked directly to The Fall and designed and orchestrated by The First human Exsurgent. Where this will go and what the group will inevitably do is anyone's guess. But one thing is for sure, Cormac Freize, a stylized Illusive Man, wields nearly limitless power.

—

"And yet, across the gulf of space, minds immeasurably superior to ours regarded this Earth with envious eyes. And slowly, and surely, they drew their plans against us."

Fri, 2012-05-18 14:20

Quincey Forder Quincey Forder's picture

Re: The Olympian Group

Could be a media stunt from Experia, a sort of real TV. Kinda like Survivor meets The Voice meets Who Wants To Be A Superhero? Public, through RepNets, vote for their favorite Olympians, giving them an O-rep. Those with the lowest O-Rep retire Or, if you feel sadistic, have an...accident, shall we say Could also be a joint venture between DirAct and Experia. A way to 'redeem' criminals (or get rid of them) and recruit new personnel Sort of like the 75th Quarter Quells in Sue Collins' Catching Fire, except in open world addendum: CW is starting a new show this fall called CULT that would fit nicely as the dark side of the Olympians [url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGs36fBSewQ[/url] "It goes beyond a tv show. Waaaaayyyy beyond!"

—

[center] Q U I N C E Y ^_*_^ F O R D E R [/center] Remember The Cant! [img]http://tinyurl.com/h8azy78[/img] [img]http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg205/tachistarfire/theeye_fanzine_us...

Thu, 2012-06-07 22:33

#10

Thampsan

Re: The Olympian Group

I like the premise and I don't see why Firewall and Ozma should have cornered the market in 'Aggressively Preventing X-Threats'. I've been pondering why autonomist groups, especially the argonauts, ultimates or extropians, wouldn't have their own 'counter-elimination' group to prevent their sometimes delicate experiments getting blown up (or stolen) by over-zealous Firewall (or Ozma) agents. Think of MI5 instead of MI6, ASIO to ASIS, sort of thing. Having said that, given the nature and narrative of the core book it's not surprising that only Firewall and Ozma threats are listed, maybe other organisations would be smaller and so more secretive only rarely coming onto the radar of these larger organisations.

Sun, 2012-06-10 17:43

#11

Xagroth

Re: The Olympian Group

Thampsan wrote:
I like the premise and I don't see why Firewall and Ozma should have cornered the market in 'Aggressively Preventing X-Threats'. I've been pondering why autonomist groups, especially the argonauts, ultimates or extropians, wouldn't have their own 'counter-elimination' group to prevent their sometimes delicate experiments getting blown up (or stolen) by over-zealous Firewall (or Ozma) agents. Think of MI5 instead of MI6, ASIO to ASIS, sort of thing. Having said that, given the nature and narrative of the core book it's not surprising that only Firewall and Ozma threats are listed, maybe other organisations would be smaller and so more secretive only rarely coming onto the radar of these larger organisations.

There are two reasons to keep that only to two organizations: first, it is an "out of the game" explanation. It makes it simpler to have two factions than a lot of them. The second explanation, leaving aside the probability that any organization devoted to study or counter X-Threats will have one or more moles working for Ozma and Firewall, is that neither one wants the competence and they use their influence to shoot new projects before they even start. Also, Firewall tries to get the new recruits that are not in Ozma's payroll... meaning not much people able (and willing) to go against x-threats are on the market... Personally, I do not see it strange, because I think most of transhumanity wants to forget about The Fall and the TITANs, so having groups of people devoted to counter them will be... bad for morale. Also, Ozma and Firewall have more resources each one than any given organization in the book. They are, after all, the heads and tails of the X-Threat "route" in EP.

Mon, 2012-06-11 12:42

#12

Thampsan

Re: The Olympian Group

Realistically the only things that Firewall and Ozma have is immediately vested interests. Firewall is sitting on one of the Prometheans, and Ozma has corporate interests in mind meaning that they are likely working for a broad spectrum of hypercorp interests as 'the ultimate black-op group'. Yes they have assets, but i'd disagree with you about people trying to 'forget' history. Anyone near a Pandora Gate is constantly aware. If you're on Luna you endure screening tests frequently, and I highly doubt that the Jovian Republic would be finished beating the crap out of that particular horse to keep it's population in line. The fear of infection and transmission is ever present. I think people are motivated, but educated to greater or lesser degrees - which is what the larger orgs offer. Certainly in the outer system no one is going to say that The Ultimates faction was ever willing to step down from a fight to keep themselves pure. I'll grant for narrative purposes in the books having only two factions is convenient, but I think for GMs out there they should be willing to bring forward new factions or cabals because X-Threats and policing them is in everyone's interests.

Tue, 2012-06-12 11:34

#13

Tyrnis

Re: The Olympian Group

The Planetary Consortium has very good reason (control of multiple gates, plus locations like the TQZ on Mars, large population, and most importantly that they're looking not just to protect against but also to actively exploit anything they find) and more than sufficient resources to warrant the existence of a dedicated organization. For smaller groups, unless x-threats are a regular occurrence, there's far less need for that level of specialization. I would expect that most groups simply use their standard intelligence and security forces for any existential threats that do pop up in their territory, rather than having devoted organizations for such things.

Mon, 2012-11-26 23:27

#14

beej

I love this. I will be using

I love this. I will be using this group for my campaign that will be running next year. I leaning toward unwitting pawns of an exsurgent. Great job guys!

Tue, 2012-11-27 13:39

#15

savanah

Interesting, it would be

Interesting, it would be interesting to have this group as some new and overly idealistic guys that will descend into paranoia and self destruction through the adventure. Anyone can say that want to save humanity, but when you need to gun down a group of children because they are infected by exsurgent...

Thu, 2012-11-29 18:52

#16

Prophet710 Prophet710's picture

Or, alternately we could have

Or, alternately we could have them be squelched out. A sort of open cold war where they are branded as terrorists by many news and memetic sources but the true nature of their organization is benevolent.

—

"And yet, across the gulf of space, minds immeasurably superior to ours regarded this Earth with envious eyes. And slowly, and surely, they drew their plans against us."