ok, as promised....
Interesting ideas so far, thanks for the feedback. As promised, here's a brief sketch of what I had in mind. A fleshed out description along with some NPC write ups of important movers and shakers in the group may be forthcoming, depending on my time and interest and the demand for it from fellow players.
Department 7: chatdemon style!
It's a pretty obvious fact that the colleges and universities of the western world are a breeding ground for revolutionary and innovative ideas, and the University of California, Berkeley in the late 1970s was no exception. To many, UCB represents an idealistic icon, a watchtower and proving ground for what will become the dominant social concepts of future decades. Even at an institution as open minded and encompassing as UCB however, there are those who are considered, well, a bit nutty. Conspiracy theorists, occultists, UFOlogists, you name it, you'll find it in the back halls and corner tables of the flagship campus of the University of California system.
Details are a bit sketchy, since records on the events have been destroyed or doctored, and those involved are bound by an informal oath of secrecy, but sometime in 1979, a group of these like minded psychopaths and misfits gained unauthorized access to UCB's Arpanet feeds and began using their new found networking ability to spread the word about their causes and ideas to other campuses and institutions around the world.
When word of this leaked to the press in February of 1981, reporters for ABC news dubbed the group 'Section 7', a verbal play on the military term 'Section 8', used in common parlance to denote someone who is crazy. Since some of the ideas being debated, discussed and researched via the illegal network weren't completely nonsensical, the media branded them Section 7, or 'not quite crazy, but close enough'.
A thorough probe by the FBI, California state authorities and the IT department of the UC school system shut the network down later that year, and urban legend states that at least 4 of the 9 students and alumni of UCB seen as responsible for the security breach are now serving lengthy jail sentences. Of course, given the incredulity of some of the sources of those legends, the truth is somewhat difficult to discern.
By mid 1982, the group, now mockingly referring to themselves as Section 7 to spite the reporters who had contributed to the bust a year before, reemrged, operating on privately owned information networks donated by some of the, now lucratively employed, alumni associated with their cause as well as other wealthy individuals who shared their agenda.
Given the insular nature of their network (both the literal electronic systems and the figurative interpersonal relationships of those involved), little was heard or seen from or about Section 7 again until the early 1990s. Details of the activities and goals of the group in this era are again sketchy due to the code of silence adopted by those involved.
That all changed by 1992. With the coming of mass access to the (newly termed) internet through providers like America Online, Quantum, Prodigy and Compuserv, vast crowds of people with outlooks on society, culture and government similar to those of the people in Section 7 began speaking their minds in online forums and email lists. In July of 1992, Section 7 once more made news headlines when one of its founding members, a programmer from southern California named Kim Silver went public. Ms. Silver addressed the nation and the world first through email to the major internet service providers, and later through an appearance on the late night talk radio show of journalist Tom Snyder (note: I'm not sure that Tom Snyder, a real personality used here as a tie to the real world for campaign believablity, even had a late night talk show in 1992, but that detail isn't really important for the game, you can easily replace him with a radio personality familiar to your players.). On that show, she made the following statements.
"For years, the mass media and the federal and state agencies have misrepresented our group and its goals. We're not terrorists, we're not communists, and we're not anarchists. We're simply a network of likeminded, intelligent and educated thinkers exploring the ideas and information that the mass media fails to provide us. There's a lot of things out there today that just don't make sense, things the people in charge try to hide from you and I or mislead us about. Section 7 is dedicated to finding the truth in those things."
"It is true that we have a presence on every major internet service provider and network, but that is nothing for the average person debating whether to get connected to worry about. We're not the hackers some reporters make us out to be. We weren't as some less reputable media outlets reported, responsible for the 1987 internet worm, and there's a federal inquiry report to back up my claims on that, Tom, in case any of your listeners question my credibility. What we are is a place for those of you who share our doubts, suspicions and curiosities about the world we live to come to and engage in a discourse with others who share your thoughts. We've purchased and set up the equipment to provide our own communications network so the major ISPs are not burdened with our, sometimes heavy, traffic, and also so they can avoid the economic backlash of appearing to promote our group. The misunderstanding and mistrust in our group by the public at large is unfortunate, but understandable, and we don't wish to promote further resentment by having our presence on a major ISP's network adversely affect their stockholder's interests."
"With our new enhanced access to the growing global internet community, we're launching our own internet domain,
www.sec7dept.silversoft.com (NOTE: NOT A REAL URL, DONT BOTHER!!!) to allow those interested in joining us in discussion and research to do so, and also to let the public have a look at who we are and what we are doing. Through our internet site, people can view selected archives of past projects and join various discussion groups we have. I hope that the listeners tonight will be open minded enough to visit us on the internet and make their own informed decisions."
"Yes, that is a good point I should clarify. Silversoft Inc. is my company, we produce electronic security software that's currently considered state of the art and used by such recognized corporations as GeneTech Ltd, Umbrella Pharmecueticals Inc. and Paradyne Robotics. I assure you that our corporate charter and our day to day business, as well as our publicly acknowledged relationship with Section 7 are closely monitored by both state and federal regulatory agencies. In order to fund the equipment and network access to give Section 7 a presence on the internet, the shareholders and I voted unanimously to create the Section 7 Department of Silversoft Inc."
The rest of Ms. Silver's statements from that interview are archived on Section 7's website, but are not really relevant to the history of the group, so are not included here. The result of the group going public was a huge influx of new members, swelling to over 100,000 by 1994, and reported to have reached over 1,000,000 by the end of 1999. The founding members, overwhelmed by the new interest and activity, broke the group into various tiers, called circles to organize the members into more productive subgroups.
The first circle is open to anyone, and is generally scorned by more experienced and active members since it is a low signal-to-noise group dominated by blowhards and the ludicrous theories of the uninformed and novice members. In mid 2003, there are over 1.5 million users subscribed to the various 1st circle forums and discussion groups.
The second circle (which is where beginning d20 Modern PCs will fall into the group at) is made up of more reserved and educated members well on their way to understanding the truths of the modern world. Membership in the 2nd circle is only granted after one demonstrates a loyalty to the group and at least the potential for a positive contribution to the group's agendas. In 2003, the membership for the 2nd circle is around 10,000 worldwide.
The third circle is comprised of the group's elite, the people who have truly 'figured it out' as far as the secrets and conspiracies of the world go. Membership is granted on a case by case basis after an existing 3rd circle member (3rd circle members generally still participate in the 2nd circle groups. 1st circle groups are generally ignored unless some theory or discovery is causing an uproar.) takes notice and nominates the person for membership. Prospective members are then closely monitored for a period of 6 months to a year, at which time a 4th circle member will grant or deny the petition. This group is where the real juicy secrets of things like genetic manipulation, UFOs, government conspiracies, the resurgence of supernatural shadow, and the other things that comprise the essence of d20 Modern gaming are discussed with credibility. Membership numbers of the 3rd circle in 2003 are rumored to be around 500 worldwide.
The fourth, or inner, circle is primarily comprised of the founding members of the group, those people who have been active for 15 to 20 years or more. Now and then an exceptionally gifted or noteworthy newcomer is added, but not without serious monitoring, investigation and interrogation of the person first. The people in this group are mostly anonymous, with the exception of Kim Silver, who acts as the organization's spokeswoman, but are among the world's elite in terms of wealth, influence and power. Members at this rank in the group are sworn to secrecy (Ms. Silver's revelations to the public are carefully debated and worded by the entire 4th circle membership before being released.), and it is widely believed that the punishment for breaking that silence is death (note to GMs, this is true, and applies to 3rd circle members as well if the information leaked is critical enough). There are currently, in 2003, 19 members of the 4th circle, though the group is monitoring a handful of potential additions, so if you as the GM want to put one of your important NPCs in this level of power, there is certainly room to do so. It is recommended that player character heroes never attain this rank, since the people in this subgroup truly have access to all the answers to all the questions.
In 2001, Silversoft Inc. was sold to software giant Microsoft for an undisclosed amount, but part of the acquisition deal required severing ties with Section 7 (rumor among members, some of the media and the public at large speculate that this was done in order to hide the existing ties already in place between the Washington software giant and Section 7, but there is no credible proof to support this at this time.) At that time, the 4th circle members reestablished Section 7 as a non-profit organization, renaming it Department 7 as a nod of gratitude to Ms. Silver and her colleagues, who had provided much of the funding over the last decade. The terms Section 7 and Department 7 are used interchangeably now, with most newer members using the latter while most of the old guard stick with the Section 7 name.
In game terms, the group functions as a source of contacts and information for the characters primarily. Some of the higher level members (3rd and 4th circle folks) will also organize projects and missions for lower level members to engage in from time to time as well, providing the sense of direction and chain of command that some GM's will want Dept 7 to provide. Remember that although the group doesn't exist as a tangible branch of some government or corporation as in most versions of modern era games, the ranking members are extremely powerful people, and characters who participate in the group should take caution to not rub the wrong people the wrong way until they have secured their own positions of authority and power in the network.
I set the group up this way because I really don't like the idea of one coherent omnipotent organization that has all the answers and all the toys, I prefer a more fluid, chaotic network type scenario, where the characters are just as likely to get false leads and misinformation (where intentionally or not on the part of the informant) as they are to get the real scoop.
I'm still fleshing out the finer details, so I'm very open to ideas and feedback. Let me know what yall think, and thanks again for sharing your ideas earlier!
But let's just say they are on the path of a "final solution." If Rich or you or anyone else want to use these in your game, of course, feel free to make Dept. 6 whatever your mind can conspire it to.
