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information on MARKO
10/2/15 14:00MARKO basically has 3 faces. The public one, the semi-public one, and the completely hidden one. The organization is divided into little factions and each of them has a determinate level of privacy. Depending on how far into the organization you are (or how much of the organization you need to see) you’ll be given one level of security clearance or another. People who are deep enough into the organization know better than to try to snoop around to know more than what they should, because the punishments for breaking the organizations’ trust are usually… intense.
Most people lose their job and get blacklisted. Some are unluckily enough to see something so incriminating that it isn’t worth it to keep them alive anymore- though most people working for MARKO think that’s an exaggeration, some kind of urban legend. It isn’t.
Most people only see the public face of MARKO. They have incredibly good PR teams, the best ones money, favors and a little bit of intimidation can buy. Because of that the world has a pretty good view of them and honestly truly think they are trying to do good and help the poor Supers.
MARKO has different public sections: there’s scientific wings all over the city where different teams try different approach to find a cure for the genetic illness that gives the Superhumans their powers and makes their lives hell. Supers can and do offer themselves voluntarily to be tested on, and MARKO will pay generously for their efforts after they sign a non-disclosure agreement. They have certain ‘meeting spots’ where Supers can join diverse support groups to learn how to live with their powers. They have facilities where Supers can live, adapted every time they get a new Super so their rooms are adequately fitted to their powers. In some cases the family of the Super is the one that requests their services because they can’t handle living around them anymore and MARKO happily obliges. Obviously all of this raises some red flags and not everyone is happy with this organization or trusts them. Some of the scientific facilities have been attacked sometimes, and there have been some manifestations in front of them claiming that they don’t need any kind of cure. But overall the views on this part of MARKO are pretty positive.
Then there’s the semipublic face. This is the part that isn’t readily disposed to the public but some determined reporter or a spy working for them at a low level can eventually get to. MARKO actually uses this to trim who in their organization can be trusted and who will end up getting fired. Testing on animals, lousy contracts… all things they expect to find. Jackson Young was smart enough to realize that once an inquisitive person finds something he was supposedly not meant to see they get so full of themselves they stop looking for more. Most people don’t even think twice before going to the authorities or the media. And so the best way to protect secrets they actually care to keep that way is to let go of some basic ones every now and then. MARKO has been involved in some cases that have made the news, and people’s trust took a heavy hit, but their PR teams are good enough to have them eating from their hands in a couple months, after they assure them they have made the necessary changes to see something like this doesn’t happen again. Rinse and repeat because people have a very hard time believing an organization can be squeaky clean but implicitly trusts one that admits to their mistakes and shortcomings every now and then. There’s a little team in the organization whose mission is specifically to make sure there’s enough corruption, embezzlement or scandals of some kind to go around.
And last but not least we have the private side of the organization. This is where most of MARKO’s funding goes, if only to assure they will be private about it. MARKO’s actual mission is to get rid of the Supers, once and for all. Sure, ‘curing’ them and turning them into normal humans would be nice but that’s a far off dream. A pretty lie to tell the population so they can live among disgusting, scarily powerful Supers without falling into hysteria. They aren’t any closer to finding a cure or an explanation for their powers than they were when this all began. So they have to get rid of them in some other way.
And so, they kill them.
Obviously it’s not as simple as that. There’s no mass extermination, they won’t kill every super on sight. But it’s their main goal in mind, even if they are aware it’s still just a dream. MARKO actually has some Supers working for them, they aren’t stupid enough to not use an asset when it offers itself so freely. Some Supers have a lot of self-loathing inside of them: they consider powers ruined their life, that Supers are ruining everything humanity should stand for. (Others are simply bored).
There are different squads in different teams, and each team has their own jobs and missions. A few of the squads, heavily trained, are basically assassins ready to strike at important, influential Supers whose deaths would tumble down any movement that regards Supers in a positive light. They have a lot of DELTA blood on their hands, and some of those murders were even made to look like accidental deaths or even suicides. These are the most private squads, and no one knows much about them- not even the higher ups. They are basically their own section: the organization points their fingers and the squads make the death happen, no questions asked.
There’s also scientific teams, much like the ones MARKO proudly shows to the public. But they aren’t looking for a cure: they are looking for weaknesses. Ways to kill them, to get rid of them. A lot of Supers have been tortured and killed on the tables of their laboratories, and a lot more will. This is the most grey area of the private sections, since some of the scientists simply take samples or make tests without really knowing why. Some teams are simply told to create prisons to hold the supers, bunkers where the normal population can hide, create weapons based on a Super’s powers… nothing would make them suspect they are aiding with the extermination of an entire race. Again, they don’t ask many questions: it’s simply better that way.
And then there are the retrieval teams. So much experimentation requires a lot of Supers, and the volunteering ones only get so far. This is where most of the Supers work, since their abilities make it easier for them to retrieve other Supers. These squads also work pretty freely, they can pretty much get free reign as long as the Super they need gets brought to the organization (pretty) unharmed. They usually get placed in teams on 5 with a leader, but each member of the squad can complete the mission on their own once it’s given to them and most choose to go that way. The members of these squads are the ones that get the most free time, since they aren’t required 24/7 but aren’t at such high risk as the ones in the killing squad.
(Funnily enough there’s a bit of competition between the retrieval teams and the killing squad…)
Most people lose their job and get blacklisted. Some are unluckily enough to see something so incriminating that it isn’t worth it to keep them alive anymore- though most people working for MARKO think that’s an exaggeration, some kind of urban legend. It isn’t.
Most people only see the public face of MARKO. They have incredibly good PR teams, the best ones money, favors and a little bit of intimidation can buy. Because of that the world has a pretty good view of them and honestly truly think they are trying to do good and help the poor Supers.
MARKO has different public sections: there’s scientific wings all over the city where different teams try different approach to find a cure for the genetic illness that gives the Superhumans their powers and makes their lives hell. Supers can and do offer themselves voluntarily to be tested on, and MARKO will pay generously for their efforts after they sign a non-disclosure agreement. They have certain ‘meeting spots’ where Supers can join diverse support groups to learn how to live with their powers. They have facilities where Supers can live, adapted every time they get a new Super so their rooms are adequately fitted to their powers. In some cases the family of the Super is the one that requests their services because they can’t handle living around them anymore and MARKO happily obliges. Obviously all of this raises some red flags and not everyone is happy with this organization or trusts them. Some of the scientific facilities have been attacked sometimes, and there have been some manifestations in front of them claiming that they don’t need any kind of cure. But overall the views on this part of MARKO are pretty positive.
Then there’s the semipublic face. This is the part that isn’t readily disposed to the public but some determined reporter or a spy working for them at a low level can eventually get to. MARKO actually uses this to trim who in their organization can be trusted and who will end up getting fired. Testing on animals, lousy contracts… all things they expect to find. Jackson Young was smart enough to realize that once an inquisitive person finds something he was supposedly not meant to see they get so full of themselves they stop looking for more. Most people don’t even think twice before going to the authorities or the media. And so the best way to protect secrets they actually care to keep that way is to let go of some basic ones every now and then. MARKO has been involved in some cases that have made the news, and people’s trust took a heavy hit, but their PR teams are good enough to have them eating from their hands in a couple months, after they assure them they have made the necessary changes to see something like this doesn’t happen again. Rinse and repeat because people have a very hard time believing an organization can be squeaky clean but implicitly trusts one that admits to their mistakes and shortcomings every now and then. There’s a little team in the organization whose mission is specifically to make sure there’s enough corruption, embezzlement or scandals of some kind to go around.
And last but not least we have the private side of the organization. This is where most of MARKO’s funding goes, if only to assure they will be private about it. MARKO’s actual mission is to get rid of the Supers, once and for all. Sure, ‘curing’ them and turning them into normal humans would be nice but that’s a far off dream. A pretty lie to tell the population so they can live among disgusting, scarily powerful Supers without falling into hysteria. They aren’t any closer to finding a cure or an explanation for their powers than they were when this all began. So they have to get rid of them in some other way.
And so, they kill them.
Obviously it’s not as simple as that. There’s no mass extermination, they won’t kill every super on sight. But it’s their main goal in mind, even if they are aware it’s still just a dream. MARKO actually has some Supers working for them, they aren’t stupid enough to not use an asset when it offers itself so freely. Some Supers have a lot of self-loathing inside of them: they consider powers ruined their life, that Supers are ruining everything humanity should stand for. (Others are simply bored).
There are different squads in different teams, and each team has their own jobs and missions. A few of the squads, heavily trained, are basically assassins ready to strike at important, influential Supers whose deaths would tumble down any movement that regards Supers in a positive light. They have a lot of DELTA blood on their hands, and some of those murders were even made to look like accidental deaths or even suicides. These are the most private squads, and no one knows much about them- not even the higher ups. They are basically their own section: the organization points their fingers and the squads make the death happen, no questions asked.
There’s also scientific teams, much like the ones MARKO proudly shows to the public. But they aren’t looking for a cure: they are looking for weaknesses. Ways to kill them, to get rid of them. A lot of Supers have been tortured and killed on the tables of their laboratories, and a lot more will. This is the most grey area of the private sections, since some of the scientists simply take samples or make tests without really knowing why. Some teams are simply told to create prisons to hold the supers, bunkers where the normal population can hide, create weapons based on a Super’s powers… nothing would make them suspect they are aiding with the extermination of an entire race. Again, they don’t ask many questions: it’s simply better that way.
And then there are the retrieval teams. So much experimentation requires a lot of Supers, and the volunteering ones only get so far. This is where most of the Supers work, since their abilities make it easier for them to retrieve other Supers. These squads also work pretty freely, they can pretty much get free reign as long as the Super they need gets brought to the organization (pretty) unharmed. They usually get placed in teams on 5 with a leader, but each member of the squad can complete the mission on their own once it’s given to them and most choose to go that way. The members of these squads are the ones that get the most free time, since they aren’t required 24/7 but aren’t at such high risk as the ones in the killing squad.
(Funnily enough there’s a bit of competition between the retrieval teams and the killing squad…)
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