The size and scopes of these groups and organizations varies widely. Some have in-house members/employees while others subcontract out for field research, acquisition, extraction, or extermination based on “institutional” needs.
All of these exist. // None of these exist. Their presence in the world is dependent on the shifting realities and cannon established at the table.
d66 roll table
1-1: Astero Incorporated.
1-2: The Foundation Society.
1-3: Stross Industries.
1-4: Astral Terrorists.
1-5: Seybold Crime Syndicate.
1-6: OPHIDIA.
2-1: The EU Paranormal Service.
2-2: Society of Metaphysical Expansionists.
2-3: Acceleration Investment Management.
2-4: The Unusual Files Division.
2-5: Manufacturers Guild.
2-6: Anomalies Anonymous.
3-1: Devotees of Carcinization.
3-2:The Loom Society.
3-3: The Architects.
3-4: The Orphans.
3-5: The Talent Agency.
3-6: HAVEN.
4-1: ZERO.
4-2: Apocalypse Keys.
4-3: Better Together.
4-4: Humanity United.
4-5: PHANTOM.
4-6: Gather.
5-1: Project Wormhole.
5-2: Webber Tech.
5-3: Shinji Industries.
5-4: Better Beauty.
5-5: Magi Association.
5-6: The Smiliest Place on Earth.
6-1: Ascension.
6-2: The Hermetic Order of Resonance.
6-3: Cabal of Disorder.
6-4: Syntropy Society.
6-5: Swine Industries.
6-6: Society of the Forgotten
1-1: Astero Incorporated. A private organization that's core business model is its access to the Cascade Commons Service Corridor. In the 1980s Astero discovered stable access to the Corridor. Over the years they have leveraged that access to great success. They are one of the few denizens who are able to open doors within the Corridor and explore its sister dimensions. Over the past decades they have continued to explore the Corridor for a variety of business uses, including securing space which they provide access to for blacksite usage. They have a strict safety protocol that has any employee or contractor dawning full body biohazard suits that uses a complex color system.
1-2: The Foundation Society. A group of immortal archivists who operate from an undisclosed location. Their primary drive is to catalog and document events on all planes and dimensions. Their intervention (direct or indirect) is applied based on an unknown stricture/guidance. Many theorize they step in to ensure things occur in alignment to their sacred text. Some top level Bureau management believes that The Archivist may have defected from this organization.
1-3: Stross Industries. A research and development company primarily focused on complex AI systems, autonomous robotics, and cybernetics. An extremely small operation in comparison to its market share. Their consumer side is high quality and wildly expensive. The industrial side is super secretive, with wide reaching contracts and stipulations on deployment of cutting edge products. A reclamation clause is in effect on any inter-corporate leasing. They guard the specs and internal workings through encrypted (both digital and physical) proprietary safeguards.
1-4: Astral Terrorists. A catch-all term deployed by the Bureau to malign any individuals they perceive as a threat to the material plane. In reality the true core group that was first given that moniker was originally a Bureau department that splintered off. The inciting incident has been heavily redacted, but something led the department to rally around the need to "Destroy the Bureau." There are varying levels of organization, from single individuals to cells to fully organized subgroups. Astral Terrorists will use RAs to destabilize and overthrow the Bureau for the sake of liberating the material plane from the shackles of the Bureau's control.
1-5: Seybold Crime Syndicate. A longstanding criminal organization that uses knowledge of Resonant Artifacts and anomalously impacted individuals to boost profits and success of their criminal enterprises. Often operating in tandem to larger criminal organizations, records indicate that Seybold leadership has been culled at least twice since the 1920s. While unverified in its authenticity, the modern iteration of the syndicate resembles splinter factions operating under the guise of traditional crime family structures.
1-6: OPHIDIA. A secretive international group of scientists, occultists, and military personnel that leverages Resonant Artifact disposal and research in order to influence politics across the globe. No one nation stakes a leadership claim but many are entangled in their operations and machinations. They keep their existence fiercely hidden as nothing puts a shadowy cabal at risk as too many eyes on them.
2-1: The EU Paranormal Service. The European Union's analog to The Bureau, often called EPS. In its pre-WWII iteration the service acted as a wing of colonial expansion, overseeing coordination of its subsidiary paranatural agencies of colonies and vassal states. Following the aftermath of WWII the British Service joined together with other European countries to lead the charge in paranormal containment. This reorganization was solidified during the creation of the European Union in a special closed door session. Its existence is kept tightly under wraps. The Service is both an ally with, and in competition with The Bureau. It is worth noting that since Britain's exit from the EU there has been internal struggles in the EPS given the main framework of the service originated in Britain as an extension of the crown.
2-2: Society of Metaphysical Expansionists. A secret occult society of academics that arose out of a need for secret societies to survive the modern era. SOME functions primarily as a group of academics that are active on campuses, libraries, and alumni groups. SOME will often subsume smaller secret societies, integrating their rituals into the larger framework and structure allowing it to shift its primary focus on the occult. SOME keeps at its center the idea that anomalous manifestations are potential wells of power and opportunity.
2-3: Acceleration Investment Management. A private equity firm that has an insatiable hunger for growth. AIM will often deploy less than legal means to destabilize assets in order to acquire them for as low a price as possible. Nothing makes AIM want something more than having a competitor go after it as well.
2-4: The Unusual Files Division. A “special unit” of the FBI dedicated to investigating unsolved or mysterious cases that defy conventional logic. Minimal oversight with an even smaller budget. The UFD has mostly been forgotten from the main hierarchy. Originally made as a failsafe in order to keep the Bureau in check, its original mission has long since been forgotten. UFD agents primarily focus on solving, cataloging, and preserving instances of paranormal incursions.
2-5: Manufacturers Guild. Colloquially referring to themselves as the Children of the Replicator. While the business is small, their output is exorbitantly large. They are able to produce items at an impressive scale that baffles their competitors. This organization secretly secured a device in the 1800s that is able to create identical replications of items. Upper management uses above board contracts to pay the bills while secretly working with organizations to obtain high value assets they can make copies of.
2-6: Anomalies Anonymous. A support group for people who have been impacted by anomalies (fallouts, surviving attacks, etc.). Highly secretive and protective of its membership rolls. The group is primarily run by volunteers who engage in targeted outreach following exposure events.
3-1: Devotees of Carcinization. Build on the belief that all roads end in a perfect evolutionary outcome. Their primary goal is searching for items that can quicken the evolutionary growth of its members. They are privately funded by some well to do venture capital funds.
3-2:The Loom Society. A group of assassins and spies. Their origins are unknown, they often become involved in dimensional anomalies or other incursions. While their direct goals are unknown, the current theory is that members of the Loom want to see widespread use of Resonant Artifacts and a full integration of those changed by exposure into everyday life.
3-3: The Architects. A death cult whose leaders are plagued by immortality. The primary function of the groups is searching for a means to truly die. Sequestered away in an underground bunker surrounded by miles of tunnels. One of their primary recruitment methods is to offer new followers the promise of immortality (this is a lie as they would never punish another with that curse).
3-4: The Orphans. A transhumanists cult financed by tech oligarchs. Their primary goals are to bring about a new form of humanity through exposure to resonant anomalies. They have been secretly building shelters as the only way to truly usher the new form of humanity is to end the world as we know it.
3-5: The Talent Agency. A fixer of sorts. The Talent Agency acts much like a temp-agency or gig-economy-app, linking other groups with temporary employment that meets a certain skill level (or expendability). Perfect for outsourcing work or for those that require professional distance. Sometimes they send temp agents to join a squad or mission, while other times they act as a third party logistics, handling all parameters and mission support.
3-6: HAVEN. A para-military organization that functions as its own sovereign group. Built primarily of cast-offs from private wars and failed coups. HAVEN acts as a refuge for survivors of conflicts, providing opportunity and meaningful employment. The continued destabilization created by other groups provides ample opportunity for the members of HAVEN (both in employment and recruitment).
4-1: ZERO. A privatized military group who are willing to take almost any contract. Their primary recruitment method is to offer new identities to its criminals who enter into their service. They have even been known to extract high value potential hires from imprisonment.
4-2: Apocalypse Keys. Aimed at bringing about a hyper-specific end of days. Their primary focus happens to be preventing other avenues of destruction, going so far as to keep other groups from gaining power as their gains may put their specific precursor events at risk. They have been around for centuries. The current iteration of the group is a large accounting firm.
4-3: Better Together. A global human rights organization aimed at providing support and organization to those impacted by “incidents.” Not only do they provide aid and structural support, offshoots have been known to organize grassroots actions against groups perceived as putting profit over human rights.
4-4: Humanity United. A massive humanitarian and aid organization with undisclosed backing. Has a massive reach across the globe and is able to set up support hubs. HU's aid work is often used as a cover for research, asset recovery, and extermination. This is usually done at the employ of one the groups that secretly fund HU. Hospitals or aid hubs act as fully functioning fronts for human rights abuses of all kinds.
4-5: PHANTOM. A decentralized hacker organization. Focused on a wide range of issues and causes. Primary alignment against institutionalized oppression in all its forms. Not all members concept of anomalies but they do show up in the data. Some members are starting to put together prediction algorithms that hinge on anomalies' existence and their implications.
4-6: Gather. A group of collector(s?). They seek specimens of anomalous material and sources in order to create a catalog. They prefer their specimens to be alive but will take dead and damaged.
5-1: Project Wormhole. A coalition of space scientists that publicly are aiming to build a research hub on the moon. Behind the scenes they are working on securing financing and ritual materials in order to open a gateway on the moon.
5-2: Webber Tech. A biomedical research company used as a cover for their primary passion, cloning. External operations focus on acquiring assets (scientific or paranormal) that can potentially be used in the creation and manufacturing of clones. Highly classified protocols involve use of cloned assets in operations and it is rumored that any externally hired contractors may be biometrically scanned prior to deployment.
5-3: Shinji Industries. A massive biotech firm that specializes in pharmaceutical research and development. Many view Shinji Industries as Panopticon's main rival as both expand into various industries through subsidiaries and shell corporations. Shinji Industries primary business mechanism is research into cutting edge biologics, leveraging resonant anomalies in order to unlock new biological assets and potential.
5-4: Better Beauty. A beauty and cosmetics MLM/Pyramid scheme that acts as a front for a witches coven. Fairly traditional in structure, using recruitment mechanisms to spread their beauty care products to as many customers as possible. At the top of the pyramid is the witches coven that draws its strength from members that don’t know they’re a human aspect of a massive ritual. The Coven only gets directly involved in resonant anomalies if it aligns to their business interests.
5-5: Magi Association. A group of academics who also happen to be ritual users of various levels. The Magi maintain membership at many institutions of higher learning. They branch out into multiple subject areas in order to cover a wide range of influence. The Magi will leverage rituals for pursuit of knowledge first and foremost. The Association fiercely guards their membership and resources.
5-6: The Smiliest Place on Earth. A series of establishments, theme parks, party places, restaurants. Started out as an animatronic children’s show and traveling event that eventually branched into a world spanning franchise of middling quality. While not the most popular or successful, its reach has been impressive. Fairly regularly a few locations will quietly become unlisted or closed suddenly, sometimes surrounding disappearances in or around those locations. A large part of the corporate operation is devoted to PR, complaint management, and hush money.
6-1: Ascension. A self help wellness “cult” as indoctrination apparatus. Online seminars, viral marketing, influencers, memes have spread the Ascension brand. The main leader has never been identified. While multiple attempts have failed, top of the line data analysis has revealed a guiding logic that indicates a single entity at the helm. The Ascension "group" will secretly fund operations to protect its wellbeing or gain assets that it deems will be of use. Location of base of operations unknown. It's decentralized by nature. The group and its followers is growing at an alarming rate.
6-2: The Hermetic Order of Resonance. A community of ritual users that have secretly hidden throughout everyday society. This group is isolationist in their views and primarily uses their magics for gain, power, or preserving the balance that keeps their existence secret. They have strict clauses in regards to keeping membership hidden and preventing knowledge of anomalous incursions from society. The order will employ outsiders under magical NDAs and will seek to gain more power whenever possible to maintain balance as they rule from the shadows.
6-3: Cabal of Disorder. This group uses lies and disinformation as a means of metaphysical sustenance. The origination of this drive has been lost to time, buried under lie after lie. The Cabal regularly attempts to create situations that allow for untruths (destabilization, chaos). Diametrically opposed to organizations that engage in research, cataloging, and archiving as these evidence machines create opportunities to debunk the lies they use for fuel. Lies are such an ingrained foundation that members lie to each other and to their minions.
6-4: Syntropy Society. A group that is opposed to normalcy. Agents will often create situations or aim to introduce chaos to already destabilized events. Syntropic agents have been known to drop Resonant Artifacts and other anomalies into public settings in order to study their effects on the material plane and humanity. The exact question they are looking to answer is closely guarded.
6-5: Swine Industries. Headed by Reginald Swine the 13th, a spoiled brat who built an empire with the express purpose of acquiring resonant artifacts in order to hopefully get the ability to go back in time to ruin the lives of those who called him annoying as a child (records indicate he very much was). Swine Industries. A megaconglomerate that does a bit of everything. Their current venture is into the political sphere. Their crowning achievement is a massive 100 story building: Swine Tower.
6-6: Society of the Forgotten. A secret society whose aim is to free humanity from anomalous influence. Their primary drive is to prevent the spread of knowledge through forced memory erasure and destruction of corrupted materials. They deploy multiple means of memory redaction whenever possible.
EXTRAS
The Spear Society: A tech company that originated as an industrial area religious cult that originally attempted to build a mechanical messiah for the industrial age. After a spectacular failure (due to sabotage from the Church of Divine Mutilation) and alongside advancing technology they pivoted to a publicly traded business. In this modern era they are still attempting to build their messiah under the guise of advanced consumer robotics.
Genesis: A secret government cabal centered around a fragment of a dead god discovered at the turn of the century. Using fractured interpretation of ancient texts accompanying the fragment they aim to push research and global politics to a breaking point that will allow for a prophesied second coming.
Order of the Supreme Truth: A doomsday cult that believes that sacrifice is necessary in order to bring about a new dawn. Their targets are random and vary in scale and type but all hinge on the use of Resonant Artifacts as a means of destabilizing this reality in order to untether the “absolute truth” from the