Illuminati Mambo

[Ghostman]

What do you think of the individual elements I've presented so far?

They are interesting but feel a bit disconnected so far. It's hard to see how some of them fit into the bigger picture, and how they might come into play. Especially the Gibborim don't appear to have any kind of ideology or interest beyond conflict with others of their kind and with whoever happens to get in their way. Also it's hard to picture PC agents giving a damn about the Gibborim and their politics, they'd have to be simply mercenaries who could be easily bought by a higher bidder. Contrast with the Satanist vs Luciferian conflict which actually is something I could see PCs getting very invested in.

[Xeviat]

One thing that I'm curious about, and would motivate me as a player, would be what conspiracies are true and what aren't. I can only imagine that the real truth is very different then what people have come up with.

How much super natural are you wanting? Are we talking about X-files, where it's heavily obfuscated? Or full on Ancient Alients/Angels/Demons/Cthulhu? You mentioned all in your OP, and it just makes me itch for answers.

I love conspiracy theories, and "Ancient Aliens" is one of my guilty pleasures. Secrets as a motivation is definitely an interesting idea, and I could imagine them working system-wise as a form of currency or XP for characters. Heck, just tying XP to secrets you've learned would be a great way to guide player actions away from fighting and stuff and to the true crux of the setting.

[Rhamnousia]

One thing that I'm curious about, and would motivate me as a player, would be what conspiracies are true and what aren't. I can only imagine that the real truth is very different then what people have come up with.

Honestly I'm still working on that. Something I've settled on is that The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which are the basis for a truly staggering amount of conspiracy fiction, are themselves a work of sinister disinformation to keep people from discovering who the real bloodsucking alien vampires are.

How much super natural are you wanting? Are we talking about X-files, where it's heavily obfuscated? Or full on Ancient Aliens/Angels/Demons/Cthulhu? You mentioned all in your OP, and it just makes me itch for answers.

First of all, never Cthulhu. Cthulhu is the Boba Fett of the Lovecraft Mythos. However, there’s a ton of supernatural forces at work at virtually every level of the Illuminati. On one hand, the truths of the supernatural are heavily-obfuscated, like whether or not Satan really is a fallen angel cast out of heaven by the Abrahamic Godhead or some other sort of malign alien prison-warder consciousness that latched onto (or inspired) medieval Christian doctrine. But on the other, an investigation by the agents into the bizarre transhuman experiments being conducted at a Quiverfull cult compound in New South Wales could take a turn when a Young of the Black Goat smashes through the door and starts eating people alive. Player characters themselves will have access to the Remote Viewing, Medium, and Magic general abilities. So I’d describe the arrangement as “weakly-X-Files” in that the nature of supernatural isn’t always clearly-defined, but that that the supernatural itself exists isn’t hidden from the players.

And as to the idea of using secrets as XP or currency, you’re pretty close to what I had in mind. The GUMSHOE system doesn’t have a defined currency mechanic so much as it has narrative states (Insufficient, Steady, and Excessive Funds) that determine what the players can justify purchasing. Acquiring and selling secrets is a great way to bankroll big, expensive purchases or justify a big favor from a power broker who otherwise wouldn’t give you the time of day. This is canonically the way that a lot of transactions within the Illuminati work. There’s also a mechanical use of investigative abilities that NBA calls “Tactical Fact-Finding Benefits”: in a nutshell, you uncover a secret, you make a roll to capitalize on it, you get a serious bonus in an applicable action scene.

I can’t believe I’ve gone this long without talking about the United Nations. Yes, Alex Jones is absolutely correct on this one – the UN does want to destroy the sovereignty of individual nations-states and openly implement a One-World Government that will manage all of human development from the top down and Agenda 21 really is intended to cripple the industrial capacity of developed countries. But here’s the thing: the United Nations is ultimately acting in the best interests of human race. The UN Secretariat’s vision of a better world is a little like a well-guarded nature preserve, where industrial development has been radically downsized to sustainable levels, growth is carefully controlled to eliminate the chances of a Malthusian catastrophe, and the planet is fortified against any “foreign” (i.e., alien) incursions. In fact, its opposition to mass-death solutions is one of the reasons why the UN hasn’t been more effective in consolidating power. The UN acts primarily through its many specialized agencies and programmes, including the World Health Organization, the International Monetary Fund, and UNESCO, all of which act as convenient fronts for its intelligence-gathering and direct action operations. The UN also supervises at least twenty “invisible countries” that the international community is not ready to know about yet. Right-wing fears of invasions by UN Peacekeepers in black helicopters are not completely unfounded. The Department of Peacekeeping Operations is rumored to have a standing army of between one and five hundred thousand crack troops hidden in plain sight among the armed forces of its member states – and not the ones you’d expect. Joining this secret force is a lot like joining the Foreign Legion, only the DPKO will give you a new past as a natural-born citizen of any country in the world. As mediating international crises is one of its central justifications for existing, the United Nations is one of the biggest covert supporters of so-called “rogue states” in the world: North Korea is almost entirely run by their UN advisors, for instance. Of course, being such a massive organization means that the United Nations suffer from many of the same problems as the Bilderbergers, being absolutely lousy with infiltrators and fifth-columnists.