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m (→The Daodan: since they're time-aliens and not space-aliens) |
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==The New Deal== | ==The New Deal== | ||
It is plan A that worked (although plan B was activated too). Muro was raised as a human weapon, and the Syndicate (Council/Hydra) was too late in realizing that they could never control him. | |||
New allegiances sprung up. Some were subjugated by Muro's charisma (he is the ultimate alpha male), others simply seized the opportunity to free themselves from the council's authority. | |||
The Council convoked a plenary session that was supposed to vote the termination of the Daodan project, and it is at this moment that Muro struck, eliminating most of the conservative decision-makers and influencers. | |||
A few Syndicate "bosses" (either cautious or lucky) survived the initial purge, but their troops and hired assassins were no match from Muro and the fanatic "Strikers" that assembled around him. | |||
This is, in a nutshell, the story of the "coup" that turned a mostly conservative Syndicate (committed to a stable coexistence with the WCG) into some much more unpredictable and radical ("TITAN"?). | |||
Muro | Muro was still a teenage boy at this time, and Hasegawa secured his place as Muro's most infuential advisor. The first task was to suppress all resistance and rule out any resurgence of the "old Syndicate". | ||
Hasegawa ( | Hasegawa (helped by Mukade's engrams) suggested to resort to freelancers: a new generation of assassins and hackers who related to the "wind of change" embodied by Muro's coup (such as [[Kojiro]]). | ||
Each of those neo-mercenaries who managed to eliminate one of Muro's major opponents gained access to Hasegawa's "circle of honor" and became a candidate for Daodan/Chrysalis implantation. | |||
This is how a new technocratic and intellectual "core" assembled around Hasegawa. Meanwhile, Muro was continuing to redefine the moral identity of his growing army of "Strikers". | |||
Muro's declared goal was Project [[STURMANDERUNG]]: a biological ultimatum to the WCG civilization and, eventually, a forced "hyperevolution" of Mankind (subjected to Muro's authority). | |||
The cynicism of this project (deliberate pollution, anarchy/feudalism) is striking. Such a nightmarish scenario fits in well with Muro's megalomania, but not so much with the supposed altruism of his father! (Muro's "I've accomplished everything our father dreamed of doing." is also very disturbing in that respect, and can be resolved - as one possibility - through the [[Oni2_talk:Truth Number Zero/French#The True Truth|"True Truth"]] hypothesis.) | |||
---- | ---- | ||
==During Oni== | ==During Oni== | ||
" | The "true Mukade" (who has also been called [[Oni2:A Storyline#Hasegawa|Old Man]]) stays in the shadows and is never seen. Either he doesn't do anything, or he moved to the wastelands and is busy assembling a "Fight Club" (which may later evolve into [[Oni2:Phoenix|Phoenix]] in Oni2's plot). | ||
One way or another, he is not interfering with the processes that he initiated (or helped to initiate) - that is, Muro's "New Deal" (radicalization of the Syndicats) as well as Mai being sheltered by the TCTF (and eventrually turned into a human weapon by [[Griffin]], as insurance against Muro's Daodan threat). | |||
The story of Mai's upbringing at the TCTF is relatively simple because it happens in a very conservative system (even if you take into account [[Griffin]]'s cruel pragmatism and overzealousness). | |||
Meanwhile, Muro is gradually repurposing the Syndicate, which is now no longer (or not only) an organized network of tech crime, and is geared towards megalomania and terrorism. | |||
:( | :(We can say that Muro is to the Syndicate what Muro's Daodan is to Muro himself - he devours the Syndicate from within, imposing new motivations and levels of consciousness.) | ||
Muro's Syndicate (which by the way no longer refers to itself as "Syndicate") gradually abandons secondary projects and focuses on [[STURMANDERUNG]]. | |||
Apart from various low-level smuggling, freak projects like [[Deadly Brain]]s ou [[Bertram Navarre]]'s experiments become useless as [[STURMANDERUNG]] draws nigh. | |||
The WCG becomes aware of this loss of balance, but does its best to conceal this apparently meaningless/insane radicalization of the Syndicate. | |||
The TCTF continues staging (or faking) small-scale operations against "traditional" tech crime (smuggling, drugs, etc). | |||
That way, the government is maintaining the illusion that Muro and his Strikers - even if they look and behave like maniacs - are still "doing business" like in the good old times of the Network. | |||
---- | ---- | ||
== | ==BGi against Hasegawa and Muro== | ||
In reality, the only stronghold left from the old-school Network/Syndicate, at the time of Oni's events, is the [[BGI|BGi]] conglomerate along with its child companies ([[Musashi]] etc). | |||
BGi, like the [[WCG]], does not welcome the loss of balance brought about by Muro and his Strikers, and is planning to oppose/disrupt the STURMANDERUNG project at the best opportunity... | |||
And then there is Hasegawa. With his scientific genius, the Daodan enhancement, Mukade's engrams and the neo-technocrats gathering around him, he has been providing the Strikers with unprecedented autonomy, i.e. he is capable of making BGI redundant in the logistics-and-infrastructure department. Therefore BGi hates both Muro the megalomaniac and Hasegawa the prodigy. | |||
Muro | Muro controls the Strikers mainly through a constant reshuffling of the hierarchy throughout the network. | ||
:(This is how terrorist networks work in the modern world, whether there is a leader or not; Fight Club, too.) | |||
( | When needed, Ninja can be used as a last resort to enforce the internal order (by intimidating or eliminating rogue elements). The Ninja are an army of androids (half-robots, half-SLDs - basically like cyborgs, but with artificially grown brains) imprinted with the "engrams" of Mukade/Hasegawa and sharing a collective consciousness. The also behave as antennas used for surveillance, thereby increasing Mukade/Hasegawa's awareness to practically omniscient/ubiquitous levels. | ||
Apart from the Ninja (as mentioned previously), Hasegawa(Mukade) surrounds himself with "neo-technocrats": a few expert hackers and killers who have earned their rank by tracking down the "old Syndicate" and are now candidates for Daodan implantation. | |||
In addition to the Daodan project, Hasegawa/Mukade&Co may be developing some advanced technology (WMC cannon - possibly -, Mukade's gadgets). | |||
All this - the emergent technocracy and the Ninja army - puts BGi in a precarious situation, without any guarantee of stability. | |||
:(and of course there is Muro's megalomania and STURMANDERUNG, which goes against common sense and would mean the triumph of anarchy) | |||
( | Faced with this situation, BGi reluctantly makes a pact with the WCG, and receives "carte blanche" to contain the threat represented both by human hyperevolution (Daodan) and by the impending bio-terrorist ultimatum (STURMANDERUNG). In this context, BGi secretly develops heavy weapons, cyborgs and robots that are more than a match for Strikers, and an [[Iron Demon]] that is capable - at least in theory - of kicking Mutant Muro's ass. | ||
---- | |||
==The True Truth== | ==The True Truth== | ||
Muro's "New Deal" (a megalomaniac radicalization of the Syndicate) is part of the "big change" intended by Mukade's and Hasegawa's plan (or contingency). It is a necessary sacrifice. | |||
Violence begets violence, therefore Muro and the Strikers (maniacs attracted by his charisma) achieve ''mutual'' alienation (the Strikers' insanity feeds on Muro's and vice versa). | |||
Muro | Muro is lost as an individual (sacrificed). Mais meanwhile the global network of organized crime has been irreversibly destroyed. | ||
The next step of the plan is that the doomday pollution surge, for which [[STURMANDERUNG]] was built and which drives Muro and the Strikers so much, '''will not happen'''. | |||
At worst/least, the signal sent by STURMANDERUNG array of satellites will ''not'' trigger an "inversion" of the aircleaning processes at the ACCs, therefor there will be no dramatic extra poisoning. | |||
At best/most, Hasegawa/Mukade et his Ninja will have performed "constructive sabotage" on the ACCs which, once triggered by the STURMANDERUNG signal, will ''improve'' the efficiency of the ACCs instead. | |||
Muro and his Strikers will find themselves royally duped. Terroris wannabes who thought they had the ultimate bomb, and in the end have nothing to threaten people with. | |||
Hasegawa | Hasegawa/Mukade and the Ninja will simply disappear, as well as most of the technocrats, after sabotaging most of the Syndicate's infrastructure. | ||
Working in the shadows, the Ninja will eliminate the die-hards (Muro and his generals), and the rest of the Strikers will be left to themselves. | |||
:( | :(and of course Chrysalises won't actually have been implanted to anyone yet, apart from [[Barabas]], maybe Kojiro and a few others...) | ||
Assuming that Hasegawa/Mukade was aware of the BGi-WCG pact, there may have been a plan of coordinating BGi and Ninja actions - bringing down the full force of BGi's troops and tech upon Muro and the Strikers. | |||
With Muro out of the picture, the plan is that Hasegawa (possibly with help from the "true Mukade") will go take care of the [[WCG]] next. | |||
Organized crime has been dismantled. The bioterrotist threat has also been eliminated. The environment is also healing by itself (Hasegawa has either improved the ACCs or is planning to do so). | |||
All this has the effect of destabilizing the "Big Brother"-state that is the [[WCG]] and paves the way for an evolution (or revolution) of the social model and of the totalitarian system. Hasegawa/Mukade will soak up wisdom for as long as necessary, and then take action - infiltrating, manimulating, eliminating if necessary - just like what the Daodan Chrysalis is doing to the organism of Hasegawa/Mukade himself. | |||
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==The big fuck-up== | ==The big fuck-up== | ||
Unlike Muro (or Mai), Hasegawa has practically "mastered" his Daodan symbiosis (or at least come to terms with it), thanks in part to the widom he inherited from the "true Mukade". | |||
:( | :(however, his identity/personality/sanity is being challenged both by the hyperevolution and by Mukade's engrams: he is doubly alienated) | ||
Nonetheless, he has remained "human enough" to long for Jamie and to arrange a face-to-face meeting Mai, instead of ignoring her. | |||
It was a very bad idea. | |||
The objective goal of the [[Rooftops]] episode was of course to analyze Mai (gone rogue by then) and see if she was a threat. | |||
:(a threat for STURMANDERUNG - both for the fake project led by Muro and for the actual "anti-sabotage" intended by Hasegawa) | |||
:(and, more generally, a threat to society and mankind; one should not let a rogue symbiote run around the city unchecked.) | |||
But Hasegawa also considered the idea (bad idea!) to save Mai from the spiral of violence that had already "swallowed" Muro. | |||
During the rooftops faceoff, Hasegawa tried - first of all - to find out if Mai was ready to hear the truth about the Daodan. | |||
#If she was ready, the wouldn't fight: he would tell her everything or at least advise her appropriately. | |||
#If she wasn't ready, he would fight her and lose (play dead). The CD and Kerr would take care of the rest. | |||
She wasn't ready. Once he understood it, he intimidated her, then fought and lost according to plan (2). | |||
His big mistake, then, was to not play dead, for the (bad!) reason that he had sensed Mai's doubts following his defeat. | |||
The will to save Mai came back, and he went for Mai's mercy, not clearly doing (1) or (2) any more. | |||
Mai reacted in an unpredictable and cruel manner (possibly the Daodan was protecting her from too many doubts and new emotions), and killed Mukade. | |||
The rest is history. No one informed Mai about STURMANDERUNG's counter-sabotage, and no one stopped her from blowing up Atmospheric Processors all around the world. | |||
Thus the crucial part of Hasegawa/Mukade's plan failed thoroughly, mainly because of this face-to-face meeting on the rooftops. | |||
Left for dead by Mai, Hasegawa either recovered on his own, or was picked up and revived by his acolytes (Kojiro & Co). Even if he actually died, the acolytes would be able to impersonate him later. | |||
:(as for the "true Mukade", in [[User:Geyser|my]] opinion it looks best - cleanest - if he keeps his distance during all these events) | |||
==BGi's fiasco== | |||
BGi's army was developed to contain the threat of the STURMANDERUNG project and the emergence of Mutant Muro. Unbeknownst to Griffin, the BGi forces would have hit Muro and the Strikers (at the Mountain Compound or elsewhere) just before he'd execute his plan. However, when Mai goes rogue and escapes Griffin's control, she also becomes a threat in BGi's jurisdiction (before that - i.e., on her first day out - they were merely observing her from afar). | |||
BGi troops make several attempts to eliminate rogue Mai, starting in Chapter 7 (Atmospheric Processor), then on the Rooftops, and finally after Chapter 13: after Mai comes crashing into TCTF HQ, knocks everyone out and follows Griffin into the Omega Bunker. As she walks out of the bunker the BGi army is here, and is determined to leave Mai no chance of survival, terminate her and then go take care of the real problem (Muro and the Strikers). | |||
However, Mai's "badassitude" by that time is "over 9000", so she cuts through the BGi forces (killing or disabling many), steals one of their transports, follows the lead to their HQ (one of the "ghost chapters" initially planned by Bungie) and disrupts their military infrastructure - and only then flies off to the mountains (also using a BGi transport?) to confront Muro on her own. | |||
Thus Mai has truly messed everything up - Hasegawa's "true plan" is ruined and BGi (which was supposed to counter Muro and the Strikers) is crippled as well. As if this wasn't enough, she doesn't as much stop Muro as she wreaks havoc herself, by blowing up the worlds Atmospheric Processors, polluting hundreds of cities/megapolises and killing millions (billions?) of people. Atta girl... | |||
:(EDIT: An alternative chronology of the BGi encounters in the final act - more consistent with our knowledge of pre-beta Oni - is as follows: after jumping in the acid at the end of Chapter 12, the traumatized Konoko does ''not'' go in hiding for "over 48 hours", licking her wounds and gathering her strength before confronting Griffin; instead she is captured by BGi and taken to their regional HQ, but escapes confinement, and "blows everything up" - this establishes her as the #1 threat, and all the remaining BGi forces are instructed to converge on her rather than on Muro's Mountain Compound; stealing a stealth aircraft from BGi HQ, Konoko reaches the roof of TCTF HQ, confronts Griffin etc; upon exiting the Omega bunker, she needs to fight her way through BGi troops - disabling many units and killing several commanders - then uses a BGi aircraft to fly to the Mountain Compound; BGi rigged the aircraft to self-destruct in mid-air - hence Konoko's theatrical entrance; although in disarray, some BGi troops may still attempt to raid the Compound at the same time as Konoko, but with their depleted forces they cannot fight on two sides against both Muro's Strikers and Konoko; once Konoko blows up the ACCs, the remaining BGi troops are ordered to stand down and Konoko is confronted by officials - "better late than never"...) | |||
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==The after-Oni== | ==The after-Oni== | ||
Mai's actions decimate the population of WCG megapolises and aggravate the pollution in the short and middle term, except in the few cities (if any) whose ACCs were spared. Intact cities (if any) must now deal with an enormous inflow of refiugees, as well as Striker attacks. Strikers no longer have the means to terrorize the WCG or bargain with it (the Daodan's secret has seemingly disappeared with Hasegawa and his acolytes - or at least it's not available to Strikers). So instead the Strikers are trying - more or less successfully - to take over cities, hi-jack air cleaning facilities, intercept humanitarian convoys, etc. | |||
BGi acknowledges its own failure in dealing with the Daodan problem and averting the ecological disaster, and refocus on humanitarian aid and disaster relief. Heavy industry and high tech are atapded to the new world, and optimized to suit the needs of the surviving population. | |||
The more cunning/competent Strikers change sides and join the WCG-BGI, and this new conglomerate will eventually evolve into the [[META]] utopia. META is controlles by ex-members of the WCG-BGi elite and by Hasegawa's "technocrats" (let - or not - by Hasegawa himself or by one of his acolytes). This utopian society - starting with its leaders and masterminds - is "Daodan-enhanced", so its long-term goal is to achieve a "hyperevolution" of society, gradually replacing all the "weak links" with something fluid and totipotent, somewhat "alien"/unearthly, but which somehow will still be "an expression of mankind's true nature" - a process echoing what the Daodan does to an individual, but transposed on the scale of a whole civilization. | |||
(EDIT: In other words, the aftermath of STURMANDERUNG is very different both from the pre-Oni status quo and from the "counter-sabotaged" outcome planned by Hasegawa/Mukade. All the factions (including "Hasegawa&Co") must adapt to this dramatic turn of events, and find new ways out of the crisis - which is perhaps even worse than what Muro's STURMANDERUNG was supposed to accomplish.) | |||
As for Mai, she doesn't easily find her place in the immediate after-Oni. She gradually realizes the dramatic impact of her actions (primarily the decision to blow up the Atmospheric Processors, which spreads toxic waste - byproducts of air cleaning - in and around most of WCG's megapolises, sealing the fate of millions if not billions of human beings). Initially she believes that the Chrysalis will provide an answer to the crisis, i.e. that mankind with find one way or another to overcome the catastrophe (either by actually using the Daodan on a "general availability" scale, or through some kind of metaphrorical evolution: "we have been taken out of our comfort zone, and whatever happens next can only be for the better"). But, one after another, her hopes turn into disillusionment. No other Chrysalis will be implanted in the immediate aftermath (Hasegawa has disappeared with the inception/implantation secret, and what's left of the WCG would have deemed the Chrysalises dangerous/impossible to mass-produce and monitor anyway). Also, Mai is quickly designated (rightfully) as the sole responsible for the Cataclysm, and finds that she isn't welcome anywhere. | |||
(EDIT: Before the world leaders decide to lay the whole blame on Mai, there may be a short period - a few months? - where the government "lets her be" and even grants her some privileges, like visiting Muro (or Muro's remains) in a high-security prison (or grave). C.f. "Wasteland Flowers" and derivatives thereof.) | |||
Wandering at the edge of civilization, she tries to serve a good cause, by fending off some Striker attacks on life-support convoys, but even there she is face with misunderstanding and violence (as soon as people realize who she is). She is also struggling harder and harder against the "second nature" imposed by the nearly-fully-integrated Chrysalis. Eventually she goes into exile, haunted by Shinatama's ghost and general guilt about the Cataclysm that she brought about. Comes a moment when she encounters the Old Man (true Mukade?) and his "Fight Club", or speaks to some other characters (ghosts or physical) who "help" her realize how absurd her situation is, and how her decision to "blow everything up" was (probably) just a jolt of her Daodan alter-ego - in other words, she sealed the fate of mankind on a whim. | |||
Suicidal insanity ensues, but the Chrysalis makes suicide impossible, so instead it all ends in stupor and a "hard reset" of both the body and the spirit: a coma followed by amnesia and nearly full "latency" (i.e. Konoko's body is fully transformed, but the Daodan - aura - practically vanishes from it, remaining in "deep standby"). | |||