The Technocracy: Colossal Villains Done Right

Have you ever seen a film, read a book, or just seen some sort of story with a villain you didn't like? Of course, by design, we aren't supposed to "like" villains. They are often antagonists to our protagonists, so what exactly makes them "bad" or "good"? Actually, let's rephrase a bit. Did you find them a little weak? Did they not seem realistic? Or maybe you found their motivation not to add up with what they're doing? Now this is very heavy opinion territory... But personally, I like to find the answer through asking a few basic questions, to see if a villain feels "right".

First question: Why do they exist, other than to oppose the main characters? OK, this is where we start talking about our friends in The Technocracy (or The Technocratic Union, or the N.W.O, or The Order of Reason, they go and have gone by many names), which we're going to use as an example villain that I personally love. OK, for the first question, the setup is a little long, but I think in this case it's worth it, so stick with me. How would you react if I told you that magic is real and that technology is really just magic, that everything you thought you knew is wrong? A laugh? A scoff? A quick shaking of the head? A snort? Or would you brush past, making sure not to look me in the eyes? What if I also told you that we share our nightly existence with a bevy of supernatural monsters, most of which share our faces? What if I told you that reality isn't real? The only thing that makes something real is if enough people believe in it? WHAT IF I told you that beyond our mere mortal sight, there are COUNTLESS spirit realms all in a frenzied RUSH to break down the gates and into our hum-drum reality? Even more laughter, and an even quicker disengagement. This is the reason for the Technocracy's existence: to hide the supernatural and spread the consensus of science, which even most supernaturals don't seem to know. All of this nonsense is just your average day in the World of Darkness (A Table Top Role Playing Game Setting, in which we humans share the night with supernatural creatures). Their goal leads to the next question: why?

What is this villain's motivation? They need to have one just as much as our main cast, after all! Well, let's find the answer by talking about a little history. During the age of enlightenment, a few reality-bending wizards had a cookout. They looked at the world and thought to themselves, What a shame. How is it fair that the sleepers (everyday people without true Magick power) have their local reality dictated to them by some guy in a funky hat? Reality for them is a pretty raw deal, with all the demons, fairies, vampires, and werewolves prowling around! What if there was a way for sleepers to get a better cut out of reality? What if we could shape it in such a way that they could use Magick too, or at the very least sorcery! So from then on, they started shaping consensus and doing all that science mumbo-jumbo. Which, to be fair, did help a lot of people. How many would die without the advents of modern medicine, or agriculture, or water purification? If you own a car and drive it to work every day, you have the technocracy to thank! But this leads to the next question: why are they villains?

The answer to why the Technocracy are villains in some people's eyes is threefold. First of all, their history isn't as squeaky clean as I described it. The scramble for Africa, colonialism, and nuclear weapons are all things the technocrats are responsible for. In the name of science and reason, thousands of cultures have been eliminated. With the help of the technocracy, the British Empire crushed millions under its heel to subsume them into a greater whole. But this still isn't the main reason mages hate the Technocracy, I mean, it's not like we're any better. The Traditions have had many atrocities done in our name as well. No, the main reason is that the technocracy has made it a real pain in the ass to do magic that's not technology-based. Ok, basics, when you do magic in the modern world that DOES NOT conform to consensus, you generate "paradox". Think of Paradox as reality snap-back. The bigger, more insane feats of magic you perform, the more Paradox will come to end your active intrusion upon reality. This paradox is stored inside a mage's body an,d upon reaching a fever pitch, will be expelled in a paradox backlash. These backlashes come in many exciting flavors! Such as "The burn," which is like when you see a wizard blow themselves up with a fireball in a fantasy movie. Or even better, you summon a paradox spirit that tries to murder you! OR an even greater option, you get thrown into a paradox realm into a faraway reality-pustule and are trapped. Forever. Fun. Yeah, Magick is dangerous, and the Technocracy helped that happen. And it works both ways too, so sorry, your fancy plasma gun still generates paradox as much as any fireball spell. This is why most mages truly hate the Technocracy; they make their lives harder by just existing. Paradox was not as bad a long time ago, but now? It's almost unavoidable; you have to be thinking about it all the time. And this does not even include the active precautions the technocrats take against their mystical counterparts. Oh yes, the war isn't won yet from the view of the Union. Which is why they work actively to keep the sleepers in the dark, and the reality deviants in line. This also involves the next question: what power/powers do the villains have over our heroes?

The Technocratic Union is huge, like gigantic. If you can think of an advantage that an institution can bring you, chances are they have it. Personnel, equipment, vehicles, cybernetics, space ships, space stations, nano machine-based medical tech, cyber-tooth tigers, a giant space laser, friendship, and this is just a few of the things the Technocracy can provide to its many agents out in the field. And yes, you bet your ass it costs a whole load of money to keep this operation going; which is why the Union invented the concept of capitalism and has a good 1/4 of their organization dedicated to cash flow. For a group of mages that comprises four to five people, how do you go against that? Simple, really, keep your head down, and make sure you NEVER blip their radar. Otherwise, some black suit spook might shove you in their van, and then your family never sees you again. But this great power also plays into their greatest weakness, and our next question.

What flaws does the villain have? That is the question. Like every character, villains must have flaws. But instead of being made to overcome, these flaws are fatal. The Technocracy has two fatal flaws: its size and its secrecy. It takes a lot to run an organization that large, and no workplace is free of crappy management. And when your manager is an insane mad scientist living in their own private bubble in space, they can get quite detached from reality. Which is quite bad considering they're the ones giving orders to people in the field. And when there are thousands under your purview, it gets quite difficult to diagnose problem areas. The other problem is that, despite their name, the sleepers are very astute at catching discrepancies in reality. Which is why the Technocracy has to run in quiet mode all the time. Why don't they orbital strike every vampire elder? Well, because that would be noisy and would shatter the veil of reality. And if they died that, where would we be? Right back at the start, with the consensus being a tattered patchwork instead of a unified whole. Mages can exploit this to stay under the radar and do their dealings in secret, just enough to keep off any Technocrat's hit list. And with the size of the Technocracy, you may find that the net is quite larger than first thought. That is how the magi, brick by painful brick, fight their tyrants.

So, to sum up, what does a good villain need?

• A reason to exist

• A motivation

• Something that makes them villainous

• Power/Powers the heroes don't have

• And flaws that the heroes can exploit to defeat them

And remember! There's an NWO agent watching you right now. Please do not resist as you are taken in for mandatory social conditioning, thank you.