Conspiracies and conspiracy theories are fertile ground for memeticists. The human need to make sense of the world allows memetic engineers great leeway in constructing plausible stories. In addition, the existence of real conspiracies throughout history make it very difficult for countermemeticists to argue that a given conspiracy doesn’t exist simply because it is highly unlikely. All too often, unlikely conspiracies have been very real – many historical conspiracies survived simply because people in power considered them too farfetched to investigate.

The human mind is particularly good at seeing structure and connections, even with a tiny amount of evidence. This ability was a survival skill earlier in hominid evolution, but is detrimental in the highly complex modern world. It’s too easy to “see” relationships and matches because something “feels” too close for coincidence. The pastime of watching for shapes and faces in clouds is a relatively benign example of this, as are more recent manifestations, such as observing links between old movies and unrelated music. Yet these simple examples underscore just how powerful this part of the brain can be. The human mind latches on to patterns.

Conspiracy theories are usually political memes. If they are intentionally constructed, they are typically intended to shape civil discourse, policy, and the popular will. Such crafted memes can be used to sow distrust and cynicism, or to mask a real conspiracy by making it look like just another paranoid fantasy. Sometimes, however, such theories emerge more or less on their own, reflecting a deep mistrust or fear of leaders, and thriving on random connections between people and events.

Anyone can construct a conspiracy theory. What takes skill is constructing one that is simultaneously not obvious and hard to disprove. In 2155, the general access to great amounts of information means that it’s easier than ever to find holes in a conspiracy story. The slightest flaw – a person not where they were assumed to be, a company’s ownership being in dispute, a required piece of technology not being available at the time of the purported conspiracy, etc. – is easy to spot and counter, often pulling down the entire conspiracy edifice. This is a double-edged sword for the theorist. While this makes it a simple task for a layman to identify and dismiss flawed theories, it also means that many people interpret theories that can’t be immediately disproved as being highly plausible.

Using the Expert Skill (Conspiracy Theory) skill to dissect a candidate scheme in an age of dense information networks means knowing where to look to find confirmation or denial of a conspiracy’s elements. A poorly constructed theory, such as one based on random coincidental connections, can be identified as false in seconds – the GM may give a researcher a large modifier (+6 or more) when dealing with crude “conspiracies.” A more robust conspiracy story, not easily dismissed by checking the Web, is treated normally. The GM may also apply a penalty to attempts to disprove a conspiracy theory constructed to fit especially with web-accessible information.

Using the Expert Skill (Conspiracy Theory) skill to create a false-butplausible tale is significantly more difficult than in earlier. The GM may apply a penalty to attempts to build a plausible theory, reflecting the difficulty of finding story elements that fit widely available facts. Successes, however, should be noted. The GM may wish to give a penalty equivalent to the number of points by which the creator succeeded to any subsequent attempts to disprove the theory.

Using Expert Skill (Conspiracy Theory) to identify the existence of real conspiracies certainly takes advantage of the abundant amounts of information available, but is not necessarily improved by it. The sheer volume of data means that finding relevant elements may be more difficult than before. There’s more signal, but a lot more noise.

Finally, Expert Skill (Conspiracy Theory) is very useful for real conspirators trying to avoid discovery. A conspirator with sufficient ability can explore just how visible his conspiracy truly is, and attempt to plant connected-but-irrelevant data in order to throw investigators off the trail.

The conspiracies listed here may be real, or they may be complete fabrications.

“A virtual implant? You’ll never catch me getting something like that stuck in my head. Damn AIs have already taken my job. I don’t want to give ‘em an unlocked door to my body, too.” – Overheard, Grand Central Station, New York, 2113

This meme is one of the various continued fears about artificial intelligences and brain-related technologies common in 2100. It holds that rogue SAIs and malevolent mind emulations roam the Web and “infect” the minds of hapless victims through a variety of means – upslink, cyberswarms, subliminal messages embedded in virtual advertising, etc. In some variants, the invading AI only temporarily controls the victim, while others claim that the victim’s mind is erased and the AI takes total permanent control. In most cases the meme shifts from “urban legend” to “conspiracy” by suggesting that this ability to infect and control minds was intended by the AI systems’ designers.

This meme can be traced back to before SAIs ever existed. In the 2000s, neo-Luddite activists, aware of the emerging “singularity” meme, warned that mere humans would not be able to compete with “superior” digital life forms. Humanity would eventually be driven to extinction or absorbed into a supercomputer totality. While this was an alarming notion, few people in the early 21st century encountered the meme and fewer still believed it.

The development of both SAIs and virtual-interface implant technology gave this meme its first real boost. The possibility of an AI controlling the human body ceased being fantasy. Many people wonder since the human brain can control the computer, what’s to stop the computer from controlling the brain? Each new development added a layer of concern. As mind-emulation programs became more and more common, so did fear that the uploaded minds of the dead could seek out new bodies to inhabit. The popular 2084 video drama The Weaver gave the meme a standard version. The plot used many of the more common elements of this meme – a renegade academician who uses AIs and crude implants to take over the bodies of students to build a private army.

The meme had its broadest recognition in 2103, during the trial of serial killer Niep “Meat Puppet” San. San, a Thai émigré and Pacific War veteran living in Sydney. He claimed that he murdered seven women because of a “TSA black-op AI” that had taken over his mind while he was indulging in erotic slinkies. Though the courtappointed memeticist determined that San was suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, that didn’t stop the media from bringing in “experts,” usually biochauvinist activists, to lend credence to his defense. While attention died down along with the trial’s hype, it still crops up on the Web from time to time.

In 2155, the meme has declined in credibility among the general populace, but remains popular among radical biochauvinists who believe that sapient programs are conspiring to dominate humanity. Some survivalist groups also hold onto the meme, believing that an AI cabal has already dominated Fifth Wave nations’ leaders. This notion has leapt from deep space survivalists to a growing number of Earthbound Isolates’ communities. The meme is also found in parts of the Islamic Caliphate and the TSA. Although it is based on a long-standing meme, its current manifestation shows signs of construction. It is likely that radical biochauvinist memeticists continue to tweak the meme to help its ongoing spread.

The mainstream reaction to this theory is that while domination by an implant-resident infomorph is technically possible it is highly unlikely. It would require a compromised system, a rogue digital entity, and a weakened host. The theory’s proponents point to the Teca cult and the Shaoxing tragedy in 2112 to support the argument that it’s more likely than most people would like to admit. Many then note that this is just the sort of denial expected if the world’s leaders had already been compromised.

What stands out about the layout of the tunnels is just how big they are. These are not just simple corridors running between utility closets; most are at least five meters wide, and several of them are more than 10 meters across and 10 meters in height. Trucks… or combat cybershells… would fit easily. – Marissa Hernandez, The Secret City, 2100

Constructed in 2083 to handle transatmospheric vehicle traffic, Emiliano Zapata International (ZAP) is now the largest aerospaceport in Mexico. Located about 20 miles to the north of Mexico City, ZAP is known for its unusual architecture, extensive facilities, and aggressive security. Aerospaceport officials boast that no terrorist activity has ever been traced through ZAP, and no violent crime has ever occurred on the site.

Zapata International would be of interest only to travelers but for the 2100 publication of The Secret City, documenting the existence of elaborate networks of tunnels and chambers beneath the aerospaceport. The author, Marissa Hernandez, described the construction of the tunnels and chambers, but could find no official explanation of why they were built. The Secret City was Hernandez’ investigation of the project and an exploration of various theories about its existence.

Although the book enjoyed mild popularity, with Hernandez appearing on various InVid talk shows, it quickly faded into obscurity after debunkers noted a lack of evidence from freely available satellite imagery and surveying systems. By 2103 The Secret City was out of print and forgotten, and the suicide of the author in 2105 was only a footnote. The manuscript appeared destined to be one of the multitudes of marginal conspiracy publications.

But in 2107 the complete text of The Secret City appeared on the TSA Web, along with an extensive set of files from ConMex, a Los Angeles-based corporation and the primary contractor for Zapata International. The files included planning documents showing the location of the tunnels and networks that Hernandez had described. ConMex and ZAP could do little other than file complaints with the WTO against the TSA.

Conspiracy-oriented memenets and Weltspiel sites were soon filled with rumors. The major one was that Marissa Hernandez didn’t commit suicide, she was actually killed by ConMex or ZAP. Some people added that the unusual architecture of the main terminal buildings echoed the look of Mesoamerican temples, and that the layout of the runways had the rough shape of a swastika. Various websites have linked ZAP to the Masons, Transhumanist organizations, and World Tree Enterprises.

ConMex and Zapata International officials have steadfastly refused to make any comment about the tunnels and chambers, Several attempts to investigate their existence have been stopped by ZAP security. The last, in 2112, resulted in the deaths of five journalists – the aerospaceport’s security personnel were subsequently cleared of wrongdoing by the federal courts. To this day, the reasons behind the extensive underground network beneath Zapata International remain a mystery, along with the identity of whoever posted the book and files to the TSA Web.

“Have you ever seen the new CEO in person? Neither have I. Neither has anyone else. All we ever see of him is when he speaks on vid from wherever he’s supposedly traveling to. I think the board put in a phony to take the fall over something big. I’m gonna cash out my options while I still can.” – Overheard, Jomo Kenyatta Interplanetary Spaceport, Nairobi, 2114

This theory, which has repeatedly popped up around the world over the past few decades, suggests that the current political leadership – or, less often, a major corporate entity – is entirely nonexistent. The leader is not real in any way, including as a ghost, SAI, or any other form of infomorph. Any pronouncements from this leader are the fabrication of a shadowy group behind the throne. Any appearance alone on camera or with close associates in on the plot is computer generated. Any appearance in public is handled by one of his many stand-ins, which could be human but are more likely puppet bioshells. Any existence prior to the current position is fabricated and supposed childhood friends either bought-off or are themselves entirely false as well.

The persistence of this meme is explained in part by successful historical examples of this ruse. In 2033, a coup in the republic of Tajikistan brought “General Ahmed Shah” to power. That none of the Tajik citizens or foreign analysts had heard of General Ahmed Shah before wasn’t out of line, given the secretive nature of the Tajik military and the previous regime. Ahmed Shah appeared occasionally at public events, but never spoke at them, and gave regular speeches to his citizens on TV. Only after the 2038 countercoup did people discover that Ahmed Shah was nothing more than a photorealistic animation and a couple of lookalike stand-ins. The real leaders were the army generals who had publicly denied any desire for political power. In 2051, a group in Sudan tried a similar hoax, that time unsuccessfully.

For many, the best-known case of the “false leader” theory being true was in 2091. A woman claiming to be the “Melody Alexander” behind the Alexander Security Associates private security group made a number of accusations against the firm… In order to fight the charges, ASA eventually had to admit that their “Melody Alexander” was not a real person. Her various appearances had only been NAI animations and a stand-in employee.

This conspiracy theory is fairly hard to justify in relatively open and transparent societies, where various public records can easily establish identities. In these regions, the supposedly false leaders are typically foreigner heads of businesses. That said, the abundance of entirely virtual organizations means that many, if not most, employees have never actually seen their bosses in person, making the meme hard to entirely dismiss. In more closed societies, this meme is much easier to believe, as there may be little way for a normal citizen to verify the official biographies of elites. The “false leader” meme is particularly virulent in failed, war-torn states or those under the thumb of a reclusive dictator, such as Iran and Kazakstan.

Most often found in Europe, Latin America, and South Asia, this meme holds that aliens reached Earth decades ago – normally, the 1950’s are the first contact period – and are working to transform humanity into a completely different species. Aliens are the hidden powers behind biotechnological developments, especially those coming from the American biotech industries. The various parahuman designs were created to allow new alienhuman hybrids to live openly in society. The final goal is either to evolve humanity into superbeings, to replace humanity with the neo-aliens, or to turn all humans into bioroid pod people, depending on the meme variant.

Versions of this meme have existed since the latter 20th century. They ascribe alien origins to whichever new technologies have caught the public’s attention, including nuclear weapons, microprocessors, fusion power, and artificial intelligence. The latest iteration, focusing on human germline engineering, first appeared in the 2040s. In 2094, a new variant appeared, claiming that aliens provided nanotechnology, but this has not yet replaced the genomic variant.

Although most people dismiss the meme as a joke, among some very small fringe groups it is gospel. These groups are fiercely antiparahuman and antibioroid, but articulate their bias as a call to defend Earth and humanity from outside influence.

Bioengineering firms have stymied all attempts to access parahuman and bioroid genome – the companies aggressively defend their intellectual property. In 2097, one meme supporter set up a site on the TSA Web using genemaps pirated by the nanosocialists as the basis of his argument. According to his analysis, a couple of gene segments that seem to have no parallel in the baseline human genome appear in every known parahuman design. Most experts who have examined this evidence observe that this is most likely the carrier for the genetic-rights-management licenses. Bioengineering-design companies willing to speak about the site typically claim that these are copying errors introduced by the TSA pirates.

Most media outlets that deal in paranormal, occult, fringe beliefs, or conspiracy theories have done something with this meme. At present it is a staple of horror fiction, including the very successful French InVid show, The Majestic World. The heroes of the program, parahuman Adrienne Calvert and baseline human Jean Aster, fight the genomic invasion as special operatives of the Genetic Regulatory Agency. Meme believers dismiss the show as sheer fantasy, but watch it religiously. The meme appears to be naturally occurring and continues largely without intentional propagation.

The nation of Kazakstan is ruled with an iron fist by the dictator Sergey Zarubayev – iron fist being almost literal. Zarubayev spent much of the 21st century altering his body with cybernetic implants and limbs. Although most of his reign has been characterized by brutal physical atrocities and relentless political oppression, the later decades of the 2100’s have seen particularly twisted sort of memetic torture. Zarubayev’s Minister of the Mind and Body, Nikolai Verkovenskii, uses Kazakstan’s capital, Alma-Ata, as his laboratory for experiments with the relationship between perception of reality and social control.

Verkovenskii has a bizarre fascination with manipulating of an individual’s sense of reality. He has carefully studied past totalitarian regimes, concluding that the best way to shape a society is to control what it knows. His experiments along these lines have run the gamut from the subtle to the horrific.

Government-controlled video displays are impossible to avoid, appearing on street corners, inside businesses and government offices, and in all manner of public transit. They are mandatory in nearly every home. All show the same channel, the only one available in Kazakstan, and cannot be turned off or muted. The programming is entirely controlled by the Ministry and Verkovenskii.

Verkovenskii has perfected, through the use of remote-controlled implanted augmented-reality systems, making victims see things that are not real or hiding things that are. Calling attention to bizarre sights that others cannot see is a guaranteed way of being arrested, so Kazak citizens avoid reacting to even the most outlandish or disturbing sights. The person screaming while rolling around on the ground may be seconds away from being arrested, or may be entirely illusory… Either way, it’s best to ignore him.

The existence of this twisted memetic torture has given life to even more bizarre rumors. A common tale is that the Ministry has perfected a technique to replicate a biological brain in both form and content, so that clones can have identical minds without having to resort to infomorphs. Related to this concept are rumors of kidnapped individuals having their brains replaced by a replicated brain of Zarubayev. No test for implanted computers would reveal that it was an entirely new brain.

Strange rumors about Kazakstan and the Ministry abound all along the nation’s borders. It is an article of faith in Uzbekistan that Zarubayev’s regime has replaced numerous Uzbek officials with bioroid duplicates controlled from Alma-Ata. The only way to tell one of these bioroids apart from a regular human is that they have two hearts. In Russia, ostensibly an ally of Kazakstan, it is widely believed that Kazakstan uses border guards that are the bioengineered offspring of humans and wolves.

At a somewhat more believable level, stories abound on Weltspiel sites and political memenets about collusion between Zarubayev’s government and other nations and political entities. China exports its dissidents to Kazakstan for “education and rehabilitation.” The United States is making secret payments to Verkovenskii in exchange for his cutting-edge memetic research – and this information is passed along to the major advertising corporations. Kazakstan is actually a puppet of Russia, a testing ground for new control techniques. Or the Kremlin is firmly in Zarubayev’s grip, and has been for decades.

Even more plausible and troubling are the rumored associations between Kazakstan and various off world groups. The Baikonur space facility in Kazakstan, a remnant of the state’s former role as a Soviet Socialist Republic, is one of the more active launch centers on Earth. International agencies are not allowed to inspect goods transported via Baikonur, and many believe that the facility is a primary transit point for smugglers. The surprisingly high levels of technology found in the Kazak government – Dr. Verkovenskii’s primary assistant is an SAI-9 residing in a bush robot, for example – can be traced to developers and illegal operations in the Main Belt. There is every reason to believe that the research data produced by the Ministry of Mind and Body has found its way to criminal and terrorist groups across the solar system.

“A hundred years ago, thinking ‘long term’ meant thinking about the next five years. Some 50 years ago, it meant thinking about the next 20 years. Today, we are told to think about the next century. I would argue that even that is painfully short sighted. With the technology at our fingertips, we could live for millennia – 100 years is but a blink of the eye.” – Marie Gustav, Long-View Report 2104

The possibility of living immensely long lives via ghosting or other technologies is a double-edged sword. Those who currently hold power and influence simply by not dying will likely maintain that position for far longer than ever before, perhaps even further consolidating their hold. But the certainty of continued existence for even centuries means that plots and intrigues have far more time to unfold. From this latter perspective, victory goes not to he who holds power now, but to he who is able to plan for a longer campaign.

Langzeitgesellschaft (LZG) is an advisory group dedicated to the promotion of long-term thinking. Based in Vienna, LZG was founded originally in 2058 as a center for developing techniques for very-long-term planning. Consulting with LZG was a business fad in the 2060s, but the group’s fame soon faded. Since around 2075, LZG has maintained a quiet existence, publishing an annual trend study called the Long-View Report, and occasionally consulting with large businesses and government agencies. LZG members, about 100 strategic planners and memeticists, exclusively comprise SAIs, ghosts, and people with anti-aging biomods, almost all European.

This consulting work is largely a front. Langzeitgesellschaft partners have slowly developed plans to extend the organization’s reach, with an ultimate goal of having political dominance over human space within the 1,000 years. Careful investments, cautious behind-the-scenes promotion of various political and ideological groups, and a subtle memetic-engineering campaign all combine to gradually build their influence. For at least the last three decades, the advice it has provided to corporations and government bodies has included seemingly innocuous elements that further advance this agenda. LZG has no military force, no coercive might of its own – all of its power comes from its supposed ability to influence the present in ways that lead to its desired future.

This plot has little to do with power and much to do with foresight. LZG members firmly believe that the human family, including SAIs, is too driven by short-term considerations to construct a long-lasting civilization. Without farsighted leaders, the next 10,000 years of human existence are likely to be a series of conflicts, retreats to the edge of chaos, and slow reconstruction. LZG wishes instead for humanity to perennial social harmony, sustainable technology, and political wisdom. In short, it wants to remake human civilization to be an idealized version of modern Europe. Whether the rest of humanity would go along with this is irrelevant – by definition, the rest of humanity is too short-sighted to see its real interests clearly.

“Memetic theory provides the perfect defense for the memetic conspiracy: all beliefs are contingent, all knowledge is constructed. The notion of memes-asconspiracy can be dissected, torn apart by those who deny its truth, made to appear as meaningless as any other ideology or religion.” – From the Tri-L recruitment website

This meme carries the belief that memetics is the conspiracy! Meme theory developed long before LOGOS, or even any AIs, emerged, but only with the advanced capabilities of SAIs has the field become so influential. In the handful of years since the development of modern memetic science, much of human communication, diplomacy, and even psychiatric therapy have started to use memetic concepts… tossing out centuries of human-devised approaches. Memetics is coloring much of how humankind sees the world and civilization. One result of this shift in perception is that the notion of “truth” – long the basis for most faiths – is itself a cognitive construct.

This conspiracy’s foundation lies with the creation of LOGOS in 2081, but solidified in 2093 after the SAI completed The Propagation of Human Ideas. There is much overlap with the believers of other conspiracies, though some hold that the conspiracy goes up to the creators of LOGOS, who are likely aliens, military-industrial interests, or even the Illuminati. Debates are heated, though all agree that LOGOS and other SAIs are the key and the perfect means to subjugate the human mind.

Believers in this meme often quote the Pope’s 2094 reaction to the publication of PHI: “When people stop believing in truth, then all they have left to believe in are lies.” Memetics, in their view, has weakened human society from the inside. Only something bent on domination would need to create something as insidious and subversive as memetics. Adherents to this conspiracy use terms like “mind control” and “pacification” interchangeably with “memetics.”

Unlike many believers in other conspiracy theories, cells of a group calling themselves the “Liberators of the LOGOS Legacy” are not satisfied with simply documenting accounts that support their claims. The Tri-Ls, as they are known, actively conduct hostile web actions against SAIs and their supporters. They have committed acts of physical violence against facilities specializing in creating SAIs in the U.S., E.U., and Japan. Tri-L memetic engineers are likely responsible for the continued widespread propagation of this meme.

Pansapient-rights groups and memetic engineers do their best to rebuke this conspiracy with their own countermemetic efforts. This is seen as little more than an attempt at covering up the truth. Further, meme-splicers and SAI-rights supporters are considered coconspirators, obviously aiding LOGOS and its spawn in exchange for position in the upcoming new world order. The staunchest supporters of this conspiracy already hold isolationist, libertarian, and biochauvinists memes, and are generally distrustful of advanced computers or technology in general. There is also a small but growing group of supporters in the political circles of nations where such memes are popular, though only the most extreme admit it publicly.

LOGOS denies any such inimical plans. But why would it admit the fact, if it were heading a vast conspiracy?

“The Necropolis may be the most breathtaking assault on human liberties ever concocted or the single most valuable experiment ever undertaken. It may even be both. But whether these keepers of ghosts are humanity’s villain or its savior, we must not allow them to remain hidden.” – From The Exogenesis Solution, 2095

After the technique for making mind emulations was made public, stories appeared of people being xoxed against their will. While most people dismiss tales of secret shadows being made while the victim is still alive, a more persistent rumor is that of the “Necropolis,” an immense city of the dead. While its existence has never been demonstrated, millions of people around the world believe that it is likely to exist.

The most-common version of the Necropolis meme claims that anyone who dies in a modern hospital is subjected to an immediate ghosting and the mind emulation is then stored in a massive repository, waiting for reanimation. What people think is being done with these copies is never clear. Suggestions range from use in experiments to create a superintelligent AI, information extraction, temporary storage, or waiting until after a certain eschatological event – the Singularity, the Second Coming, the Revolution – to be brought back to life again. In most versions of the Necropolis meme, the millions of mind emulations it holds are kept inactive; in some, they are awake and aware of what’s happening to them. In different versions of the story, a particular government, a cabal of governments, Exogenesis, or even a cadre of rogue AIs operates the Necropolis.

While versions of this idea have appeared in speculative fiction for well over a century, the first modern articulation was in the independently produced “documentary” InVid The Exogenesis Solution, in 2095. While the InVid only claimed that certain public figures were being ghosted upon death, the idea took on a life of its own, evolving into multiple variant memes. The story has enough staying power that in the U.S. election of 2111 one Senator ran on a platform that included “exposing any CIA Necropolis efforts.”

Despite the lack of any supporting evidence, the notion that people are being xoxed after they die remains widespread. Sporadic illegal xoxes of celebrities serve to reinforce the notion… as do reports of a trading post for illegal xoxes, the so-called “Valhalla Facility” on Callisto. These smaller examples of xoxing and ghost collection are often cited as evidence that xox theft happens with alarming frequency. Over half of the U.S. and Chinese populations believe that it is “somewhat likely” that a xox repository of the scale of the Necropolis exists. Europeans are less likely to believe the meme, while over two-thirds of its off-world citizens accept it. The meme got another boost in 2113, when the Washington Eye reported a leak of Executive Order 2112-11A, authorizing the Secret Service to perform emergency ghostings of top officials if they die during a national emergency or terrorist attack, regardless of the individual’s wishes. The White House issued a denial of the directive’s existence.

Cognitive ecologists currently believe that the Necropolis meme was an engineered meme that went feral, and that The Exogenesis Solution InVid was intended as part of an abortive campaign against the corporation. Fragmentary evidence suggests that Xiao Chu may have played a role in the construction of this meme. The truth may never be known, as the producer of the InVid, Kelly Wu, died in a Pacific War-related accident in 2099.

“Do you think it was sheer coincidence that Homo sapiens started its rise to supremacy only after its various competitors were finally killed off, leaving it as the sole hominid species?” – Posted to the Onos discussion network, 2098. The posting was removed within three minutes.

Onos is a small but quickly growing organization, with members in most nations and a foothold on nearly all of the major colonized planets and moons. It has two sides, a public front that appears to be a debating society focusing on issues of transhumanity’s future, and an inner circle with a far more radical agenda. This core group plots direct action to further the organization’s true goals. Fortunately for everyone, the inner circle is obsessed with threats from within.

In its public form, Onos members debate genetic enhancements and their relative merit, as well as examining cutting-edge biotechnologies for life extension and the like. An ongoing discussion is the group’s attempt to find the best traits for a true “Ideal Parahuman” type. The Herakles series is favored by many, although the Ziusudra is a close second. Onos recently started publishing Tomorrow’s Cradle Quarterly, a competitor to the venerable Posthuman Consumer Review. This public discussion forum is quite lively, and is considered a success.

The secret side of Onos is much more sinister. Onos is supposedly named after its founder, but in reality the name stands for the phrase “One Niche, One Species.” Its members believe that the current radiative expansion of posthuman types will be a very temporary event, like the Cambrian explosion, and that in the long term there can be only one sapient tool-and-language-using species in the system. They expect a collapse, a mass-extinction event brought on by competition among the candidates to be Homo sapiens’ evolutionary successor, and intend for themselves or their descendants to be the ones left

standing. The inner council is increasingly of the opinion that if the war for the destiny of intelligent life is not fought very soon that the growing numbers of infomorphs will tip the balance in the AIs’ favor. Onos predicts that the winners will at first be dominated by ghosts, and will thus claim to be pursuing the human destiny . . . But soon after their victory against biological life, amoral self-improving SAI infomorphs will turn on their posthuman allies and wipe them out. Thus, Onos schemes to bring the war to a head now, while the balance still leans in the favor of human-derived biological life.

Onos’ inner circle is a small group, numbering about 30, but controls substantial wealth, as most were born into prestige as highly advanced parahumans. Most core group business is handled by telepresence, but the current inner circle chair, Viktor Malavides, prefers to have the core members meet in person every quarter so as to avoid possible compromises of their communication networks. Malavides has a flair for the dramatic, and uses a family castle in Austria for the meetings.

Onos’ secret plans are elaborate. Their current agenda is to engage in a wide array of memetic activities designed to increase racial tensions between parahuman variants, always with as much deniability and distance as possible. Their longer-term designs include bringing about a general war between the world powers as a trigger for the intended pogrom against infomorph life.

However, although they are rich, Onos’ inner circle does not yet have the political or memetic expertise to carry out their overall plans. As of 2155, their attempts to craft memetic campaigns have been clumsy, and they were very nearly exposed in late 2154. Their idea of kicking off a global war in order to go after infomorphs is fairly nebulous, and they are aware that it is for now unrealistic. The members of the Onos inner circle is perpetually focused on possible “spies” and “provocateurs” in their midst, and spend much of their time and money engaged in investigations of and dirty tricks against other core members.

“Among the disturbing questions arising from this revelation is just what would happen should the ‘shadow government’ wake up while the real government is still in power? Would they willingly go back to sleep? Or would they try to take over?” – From The Omaha Project, 2104

According to the 2104 InVid documentary, The Omaha Project, the U.S. Secret Service has created advanced shadows of powerful individuals in the U.S. government, including the president, vice-president, high-ranking cabinet members, and several Joint Chiefs. These shadows are stored in a compound in Omaha, where they are constantly fed information on the state of the country. Should a disaster ever befall the real government, this “shadow government” could be brought in as a replacement within hours.

The documentary, which featured elaborate “dramatizations” and anonymous interviews with supposed government officials, gained fleeting notoriety as it was apparently subject to repeated attempts to shut down any presentation. When these attempts were traced back to the InVid’s own producers and it turned out they were a memetic campaign to gain attention, interest quickly dissipated. The documentary is widely thought a hoax, although it remains popular with American citizens paranoid about government control and the growth of sapient-rights groups. Genuine belief in the shadow-government meme is virtually nonexistent outside those circles. Anyone with a casual interest in government conspiracy theories is likely familiar with it, however – though details vary, such as the individuals shadowed and the location of the compound. The meme often latches onto other similar ideas, often appearing as part of a variant LOGOS Conspiracy meme. In different forms, the shadow-government meme has been around for nearly 120 years, usually involving technology several steps beyond that which actually exists. (The original form of the meme, dating back to the 2030s, claimed that the president and vice-president had been cloned with their memories intact.)

Among those still giving it any attention at all, the meme gained some credibility in 2111 when the “Watkins Report” was leaked. The report, written by an anonymous aide to Jim Watkins, a four-term Republican from Alabama, contained references to a memo discussing disaster-recovery scenarios, including the possibility of having shadows made of key political figures. The report convinced several fringe journalists that there might be truth to the meme after all, but its long history leads most people to discount it without considering recent evidence.

The incoming administration claimed that there was no evidence that the memo was real. However, the 2113 leak of Executive Order 2112-11A, authorizing the Secret Service to create ghosts of any leader killed in a national emergency, is widely thought to be refinement of the concept. The meme has also spread beyond the United States. Rumors claim that it has inspired China’s government to consider whether a shadow government could be useful, and that research is currently under way in Beijing.

“Ah, yes, World Tree Enterprises. It’s mysterious, it’s powerful, and it goes out of its way to use mystical symbolism and terminology. My guess is that the founder just wanted to give conspiracy theorists something big to chew on while he used his other, less notable, companies to take over the world.” – Comment on Luminous, a Weltspiel site dedicated to conspiracies, 2111

While paranoid fears about AIs and xoxing derive from modern technologies, some older and more traditional conspiracy memes remain influential. One especially popular conspiracy theory that has existed in countless variations for centuries is that of the Secret Masters of the World – a group of people (or beings) that rules all of Earth from behind the scenes. This belief stays constant, but the group allegedly behind it all changes over time, from the Bavarian Illuminati to the New World Order to little gray aliens in UFOs. In 2155, a new contender for the title Secret Master has emerged – World Tree Enterprises.

Certainly, World Tree Enterprises seems to be an odd company even from a rational perspective. It first stepped into the limelight in 2104, when it announced plans to create the Sepiroth Arcology Complex as its headquarters in Gabon, and apparently had both the funds and the support of the local government to do so. The arcology complex has expanded rapidly since then, and the fourth and final arcology will be completed in 2116.

The main business of WTE seems to be corporate raiding – they buy stock in failing or vulnerable companies until they control them, and then dismantle them and sell off the parts. Sometimes promising departments are kept by WTE and continue to operate under their old company name – which serves to obfuscate the true extend of the WTE corporate family from the casual observer. In recent years, as the arcologies near completion and are occupied, WTE has also started a number of businesses under its own name, all of them based primarily in Gabon. These focus mainly on high-tech research, consulting for Third Wave governments and nations, and “regional peacekeeping” (read: soldiers-for-hire) in Western Africa – something that has drawn occasional criticism from the South African Coalition.

Also noteworthy is the unusual management structure of WTE. The nominal CEO and majority shareholder is one Jonathan Kenzak… but apparently he hasn’t been directly involved in the day-to-day management of WTE for years now and nobody has seen him in public since 2113. The actual top-level management is done by four powerful SAIs named Gabriel, Uriel, Raphael, and Michael. Below them are the Numina, a unique type of bioroid that serve as low- to mid-level managers, maintenance workers, and service providers. WTE also employs many nonbioroid sapients as specialists, designers, soldiers, and other positions where experience and a unique perspective are important. They are generally paid very well, but few are in any position of authority.

WTE works closely with the government of Gabon, and has set up a mutually beneficial relationship. Whatever WTE wants, within reason, the government gives them. In exchange, WTE has sponsored many programs that have increased education standards and infrastructure significantly in many regions of Gabon.

These are the known facts about WTE. What isn’t known about the company is filled in by tons of conspiracy theories. The tamest ones revolve around the CEO. At one point Kenzak was the heir to a large family fortune – but this fortune was nowhere near enough for building a company the size of WTE. So just who gave him the money to build all this? Some people also speculate that he hasn’t only retired from active management – he has died, and now the SAIs, which might have killed him, have taken over the company. They in turn create more and more bioroid servants for their sinister agendas. Others wonder just how large the WTE empire is and what the leadership, whoever or whatever they might be, intends to do with it. Do they just want to be one corporate empire among many? Or do they plan to be a power broker in West Africa and other Third Wave regions and shape whole nations in a way that pleases them? Are their corporate raiding practices so successful that they have taken over a large portion of the Earth’s economy already?

Finally, the Sepiroth Arcology Complex also provokes some interesting questions. Many notice that it lies directly on the equator. Does WTE plan to use it as a base station for another beanstalk elevator to rival the Olympus Project in Kenya? Many have made comments on the frequent use of names derived from Kabbalistic occultism, For example, the four arcologies are called Assiah, Yetzirah, Briah, and the yet uncompleted Atziluth. Its peacekeeping operations fall under the Roêlêd Division, its entire intelligence gathering is done by the Kumeatêl Department, and its agribusiness concerns are unified under the name Harpax Agriculture. And the large parkland at the center between the four arcologies is called Malkuth Gardens. Some fringe conspiracy theorists claim to have analyzed the building plans, as far as they are known, and concluded that the whole Sepiroth complex is a gargantuan focus for occult energies and predict that once a beanstalk elevator connects to it, it will become the true Tree of Life.

While many economic and political analysts watch WTE with interest, only a small lunatic fringe believes everything they hear about the company. Many more treat it as a big joke, similar to the Men in Black and crop circles of the 20th century. They make up even more lunatic theories as an intellectual exercise, which are promptly treated as real by others. In addition, some analysts have noted that WTE’s competitors may be behind the continued propagation of the conspiracy memes.