The Social Engineers

By Anders Sandberg

The Social Engineers are a relatively liberal sub-convention of the New World Order, involved in the spread of collectivism and the idea of the welfare-state. While they seemingly lack power both over Reality and the Technocracy, their real influence is profound. The Engineers are a force to be reckoned with, and they are often underestimated.

The Engineers are responsible for bureaucracy, social engineering and the idea of a welfare society where everybody is equal, supported and cared for by the state. Their ideal is collectivist, where everybody happily obey the state, since the state helps them (as opposed to the conservative NWO, which wants to terrorise everybody to obey). This should be done using a large bureaucracy, which plan the best course of action and direct people to it. They dislike the idea of individuals, and prefer to see that power is wielded by the system, not people. Private initiative is frowned upon, since it is often not adapted to the needs of society as a whole, and often is quite unplanned. The Engineers want to let all planning and initiative to come from the appointed bureaucracy, which will plan the best course of action.

Their first great success as a sub-convention was to demonstrate how they could turn rebels and anarchists into useful tools for the Technocracy. In the Russian revolution, they turned what just a few months before the revolution was a small group of fanatics into an ruthless and powerful elite. Partly through luck, skill and clever politics, the Technocracy managed to create a powerful state controlled mainly by the NWO, with crucial help from the Engineers. The Engineers was responsible for the creation of Soviet bureaucracy and many other aspects of society after the initial mayhem ended. While their administration was hardly the best from the standpoint of the Syndicate, the society the Engineers had created turned out to be a massive success for the Technocracy, and was to test out new methods of control and planning.

After this success, the Engineers wanted to spread their visions. They started with Scandinavia, where they already skilfully manipulated and created popular movements. They decided to use the Social Democratic Party, a small and obscure leftist group as a starting point. Using their manipulative skills, the Engineers made the party to grow, helped by many of the popular social movements. Finally the Socialdemocrats gained power in the 30's. During the next 30 years, the Engineers started to create the Swedish Model, using the Party.

The Engineers are extremely anonymous. Actually, not even other Technomancers see them much. They are even more anonymous than the most paranoid Progenitors. They surround themselves with an impenetrable bureaucracy, which implements their plans and supply them with information and recommendations. It is quite possible that there are very few Engineers left inside, and the bureaucracy is running itself. This would mean the convention has succeeded in replacing itself with almost entirely sleepers, something no other convention have ever dared to try. Even the Engineers themselves seems to dislike the use of magick and high technology. Instead they rely on organisation, planning and experts.

The most spooky thing about the Engineers are that they are omnipresent. Every other convention rely on bureaucracy to some extent. Most modern states could not exist without their administration. And yet, they are almost completely invisible. While the Traditions fear the infiltrators of the Progenitors, the Men in Black from the Syndicate and the cyborgs of Iteration X, they always underestimate the Engineers. This is also true inside the Technocracy, where most technomancers are content to believe that the Engineers are a part of NWO. In the meantime, the Engineers may plan something, and nobody expects anything.

While the Syndicate control Big Business and much of the criminal world, and NWO control much of the Military and Intelligence business, the Engineers control Government bureaucracy completely. Of course, Engineer control is always extremely subtle and somehow woven into the system. When the Engineers want to change something, they do it completely legally and in an ordinary way. Their bureaucracy and every other bureaucracy are seamlessly joined, and no sleepers even notice the fact. The bureaucrats simply get their orders from a distant department most employees never have heard from. Should anybody check it out, it will turn out to be perfectly normal and according to routine. And who gave the order to the distant department? Well, another department which sometimes sends them orders to implement. And so on into infinity. There is never an end when the Engineers are involved.

What are their goals? It seems that they like their own bureaucrats once they have gained power, will do anything to retain it, but do not want to go further. Once this convention was responsible for the revolutions which shaked Eastern Europe. They created the Scandinavian welfare-states. But when they had gained enough power, they became more and more conservative. The radicals left for the other parts of New World Order, but most members preferred to spread their bureaucracy without any obvious goal. As long as nobody interferes, the Engineers are content to watch what is going on. But if somebody threatens them, they can bite back subtly and yet ferociously. Another goal, besides their preservation of their administration, is to spread their idea of society across the world. While they mostly was content to support the countries they had formed, the fall of Eastern Europe became a shock. Many Engineers realised that they had let things slip too far, and began to try to reassert themselves around the world in different ways. They have started to try to save what's left of Eastern Europe, and have began to counter the advances of the Syndicate in Scandinavia. In America they have started to spread their ideas, trying to create a more efficient social security and health care system. They are trying to turn the EEC into their domain, in hard conflict with the Syndicate. Overall, the Syndicate tend to oppose the Engineers, while the New World Order tend to protect them.

The Engineers are masters of manipulating social movements using organisations and public opinion. Instead of supporting groups they approve of in any obvious way, like helping them in the bureaucracy or hindering their enemies, the Engineers often help them by making their organisations work better. An organisation which otherwise would have trouble surviving due to internal conflicts and lack of funds will begin to stabilise, becoming more efficient in spreading its opinions. Quite soon it will have become much larger and powerful (and as a rule less extreme, whatever its original opinions were. The Engineers dislike fanaticism).

The Engineers seldom use magick. In fact, it can be questioned whether they really are mages or some kind of awakened accountants. They seem to understand what the other conventions are doing, and support them. But they never influence reality in any overt way. Instead they rely on the administrative structures to do their magick. When they actually use magick, it is always coincidental, and often extremely normal. A form has not been properly signed. A change in regulations. Somebody has lost the documents. Due to security reasons which happens to apply in this case, access to certain information must be restricted. The person responsible for a certain problem is on holiday. The committee will not meet until on Friday. The Engineers are the uncrowned masters of misdirection and red tape in the Technocracy. But they can also speed things up, turn an otherwise inefficient bureaucracy into a efficient work force. Somehow, a proposal passes without anybody noticing. Long lost documents and regulations are found again. An efficient and slightly ruthless person is appointed as chairman.

If the Engineers use Spheres, they would probably focus on Mind and Correspondence. Their Mind is geared towards the control, manipulation and creation of large administrative structures. There are rumours that the Engineers have developed rotes to mentally control their organisations. There are even rumours about Engineers merging somehow with their organisations. They are also very interested in overcoming problems with communications and logistics, often using their Correspondence to view what is going on.

Philosophy

We strive to build a society where everybody is equal and solidarically cooperate. Everybody will be protected and supported by the state. To achieve this obviously desirable goal, we are creating a great administrative structure to supply every need. When we are completed, our administration will be able to handle any reasonable request in the most efficient way possible.

Quote

"The submitted proposal do not conform to the current regulations, and can not be evaluated by the commission until it has been either resubmitted in a form conforming to the regulations, or been approved for non-standard evaluation by the relevant committee due to emergency reasons as defined in the standard regulations."

Organisation

The Engineers are intensely aware of organisation. They are organised as an enormous bureaucracy, consisting of innumerable commissions, divisions and departments. Most of these groups don't know exactly what purpose their work serves or what place they have in the greater whole. That doesn't lessen the overall efficiency of the organisation. Most members are sleepers and most don't even know the whole picture. Only a few may be awakened, if any.

Meetings

The Engineers meet in section meetings according to individual schedules, decided by a planning commission. These are completely like organisational meetings in any large administration. Much emphasis is put on the formalia, to keep the meetings orderly.

Initiation

If there are still awakened persons in this convention, they are probably awakened and initiated in several steps according to the standard procedures. First the initiate is studied to see if he has the correct ideology, personality and general suitability. If necessary, he is subtly manipulated in the right direction. After that step, the initiate is tested too see if he is loyal to the ideals of the Social Engineers and the concept of the Technocracy. If the initiate passes, the Engineers start the real initiation, and reveal the truth to him. This initiation consists in giving the initiate the transcendental experience of seeing the totality of administration of the world, giving him a brief glimpse of the Social Engineers vision of a perfect world. After that the initiate becomes trainee, and is given a position in the organisation.

Constructs

The Engineers prefer to work in their gigantic administrations. Most of their organisation is quite legitimate, and would not arouse any suspicion. Typical examples are the EEC bureaucracy in Brussels, parts of the Swedish government and several international organisations. They do not create constructs in the usual sense, but they have several organisations which tie everything together, like the Institute for International Economical Development (IIED), an anonymous but extremely influential international organisation tied closely to the World Bank and the UN. It is rumoured that they even have horizon realms housing their central bureaucracy, shaping the organisation on Earth.

Acolytes

Administrators, politicians, bureaucrats.

Stereotypes

Ahl-I-Batin: A good case for the importance of organization. If they had worked together as a unity, they would have been efficient. Without unity and central planning, they were nothing at all.; They talk much about unity and cooperation, but their words ring hollow. The Unity is not the unity of bureacrats and oppressors.
Akashic Brotherhood: Organised into small groups, which do not require much administration. Effective in local, direct issues but not able to handle larger problems. They have a tendency to inaction which makes them even less threatening. .; Like all of the New World Order they have no regard for the individual. They seek too press everybody in the same mould and build their "perfect society" out of the bricks. But still, there is some glimmer in their ideas of a society in harmony and perfection that echo our own ideas.
Dreamspeakers:: Tribal social structures are outmoded.; These Technomancers are more lost than most. They have lost their souls into the dead void of bureaucracy, in the same way Iteration X have lost theirs into their machines.
Celestial Chorus:: Their logistics could be improved. Currently it is far to hierarchical, and does not reflect the demands of a new time. Their religious beliefs are an useful method for achieving organisatorial stability, but seems to have gone a bit out of hand. With some help, they could become an efficient and useful part of out organisation.; The Social Engineers have realised the need for unity, to make people work together towards a higher goal. Such a pity they have blocked their progress in red tape and grey bureaucrats.
Cult Of Ecstasy:: No direction and no organisation.; Regulations! Administration! Sub committees! What is there to say? They are the most boring convention there is!
Euthanatos:: They have direction and drive, but a consensus based organisation is vulnerable to internal dissent and will react slowly to changes in circumstances.; This convention is really scary because they are impossible to attack. You can kill a person. You can even kill a progenitor if you are devious enough. But you can almost never destroy a bureaucracy. It just reorganises itself! And while we cannot give their static organisations the Good Death, they actively create societies that force those who needed to die to live on instead!
Hollow Ones:: Their are united purely by social interactions, and lack both direction and drive. Their rebelliousness are sometimes irritating.; Who? Are there mages in the bureaucracy?
Order of Hermes:: They have developed several interesting forms of organisation, but like their other ideas, they have only academic interest. The Order completely lack any interest in practical social matters, and is no concern of us.; A convention of bureaucrats? How amusing! There is much good to be said about organisation, so there should be no surprise at all that even some technomancers realise it.
Sons of Ether:: An interesting group, since they prove that even total individualists can organise themselves into a somewhat viable grouping.; I have found out who runs the university administrations! And who decides who will get research grants! Comrades, put on your goggles and get your meters! Tonight the streets will run with shredded forms!
Verbena:: Small groups, which lack global coordination. Their internal structure is often unorganised too.; Among the dead, these are among the most dead.
Virtual Adepts:: Their defection led to a re-evaluation of our current security policy. Since they lack an efficient organisation, they are no big threat.; These guys stifle creativity on an industrial scale! They tried to make us create systems for them, showing us specifications and sending us memos all the time. What's the point?
Rest of New World Order:: They value good organisation, but are too paranoid to create an efficient administration. Their methods are far to harsh and creates only more dissidence. When they learn that the best way to control is with both a stick and a carrot, they will return to us.; They are good at retaining the status quo, but they do not defend it or advance further.
The Syndicate:: The Syndicate are content to think that everything works out well if we the trust the Invisible Hand of market economy. When their plans fail, they claim it was due to imperfections in the market. They must learn that economy is just one important aspect of the whole of society, and start to plan their economies to suit the needs of the whole of society. Unfortunately, they currently seems to be against such needed changes in their organisatorial policy. This has led to several unnecessary clashes between our organisations, which would have been avoided if they had understood our position.; The Engineers are irritating. They always interfere with our important projects. We try to bring humanity to Ascension, and they respond by setting up a committee and wrapping everything up in red tape.
Progenitors:: The Progenitors seems to be either wrapped up in their research or attempts of infiltration. We actually let them infiltrate our organisation. They do not realise that their individual infiltration is pointless, since a well designed bureaucracy is self- correcting and impossible to influence by individuals.; The Engineers are very interesting. They have shown us that it is possible for a convention to dispense with individuality and perhaps even awakening.
Void Engineers:: Their results have so far not been very socially useful. Their work on protecting the fabric of reality is appreciated by us, but our studies have shown that their other goals serve no useful purpose.; They are far too earth-bound. They lack visions, and hinder others with their red-tape. Look what their acolytes have done to NASA!
Iteration X:: This convention have understood the need for organisation and communication. Unfortunately they have realised it by integrating themselves into a technological system instead of an administrative system. On a deep level these two models are the same, of course, but our method is must more cost- effective.; Lost in the past. They rely too much on human information processing. If they would start to rely on the much more efficient and faster technologies we can provide, they would become an useful tool.

Rotes

Curse of Kafka (Mind 2 Prime 2)

The Engineer creates a pattern in the aura of somebody which will make bureaucrats and administrators subconsciously dislike the individual. This will lead to endless problems, as administration will start to turn against the victim. Documents are lost, important people are in meetings and secretaries happens to spell the name of the victim wrong. Even to fill in a form will turn into a kafkaesque adventure. The Engineers prefer to do this rote coincidental by simply putting some errors into the personal information of the victim.

Administrative Murder (Mind 2 Correspondence 3)

This is one of the nastiest methods of eliminating people the Engineers use. The victim disappears form every register, computer and administration in the world. Suddenly his passport is invalid, his bank-account doesn't exist, his apartment is marked as empty etc. In an administrative sense the victim has ceased to exist, and have never existed. There is no way he can prove he is the person he claims to be. Of course, using this rote indiscriminately would be stupid, since such victims tent to make a fuss about it. It is mostly used by the Engineers on people they want to eliminate physically too, to prevent too many to notice their absence too much. They also use it to remove any traces of persons who have "disappeared" or as an warning (in this case the person "reappears" into the system after a while). The Engineers perform this rote coincidentally by spreading some misinformation to the relevant registers, form where it will spread.
[ If the Engineer responsible keep the rote up, he can make the memory of the person start to fade too (or use Mind 4 to remove the memory completely). On the positive side of this rote is the fact that the victim gains as many dots in Arcane as the number of successes, on tracking by bureaucratic means. ]

Pulse of the Administrator (Mind 3 Correspondence 3)

The Engineer extend his awareness into his organisation. He is able to see what is going on everywhere inside it, the state of every project, all information contained inside it and everything else. In effect, they can influence everything on an extremely subtle level. Many Engineers subconsciously use this rote daily to keep in touch with their work. They slowly merge their consciousness, and turn more and more into spokespeople for the organisation itself. This rote is often coincidental, as the mage seems to be just an exceptionally efficient employee who knows almost everything needed, and makes the best possible use of the information network of the organisation.

Omnipresence (Mind 5 Correspondence 3)

The Engineer merges completely with an organisation, effectively becoming its consciousness. He will influence everything from the employees to the feeling of the locals. All information and control will be in his hands. It is guessed that most Masters among this convention end like this. Organisations controlled in this way are extremely dangerous, as they in effect are able to use extremely subtle coincidental magick against their enemies, and are able to coordinate their resources in uncannily efficient ways. Fortunately, these organisations tend to act rather slowly.