The O.R.C.

Occult Research and Containment

DESCRIPTION: The O.R.C. was established around 1767 from the remnants of old world anti-magic orders that didn't survive in the new world as it was growing, they gained a bad reputation for events such as the Salem Witch Trials of the privious century. Originally called the Iron Brotherhood, it was redefined into the Occult Research and Containment around the 1900's, and really took off around 1939-1960 as World War II threatened to break the Masquerade with occult research skyrocketing with efforts by the National Socialist Party of Germany. The ORC was a leading role in combatting occult threats, and in the aftermath of the war absorbed the German scientists and facilities. The Tsar Bomba incident was a joint operation with the Soviets, who've since joined ORC International. There were almost as many German ORC as there were Americans at the time, so it had an impact on the internal culture. If they could accept the Germans and Communists, they could accept others; Witches. Skip to the present day and the ORC is a cooperation of humans and witches heavily investing in the exploration of occult matters, magic, with machinery. They can appear to have stagnated, but their old fashioned appearances hide complex connections and artifacts used to achieve things beyond what technology alone can achieve... And besides, the 1950's look works for us. Initial designs for fabrication tools and development enchantments have locked in on the aesthetic and it'd be an unnecessary hassle to change it. We're a government operation and have long standing institutional inroads with the military that have allowed us to prevent those Watchers or Hespatians from getting a foothold within it and when operating in the Real we work off the military for a strong global presence and mundane assets. Just don't remind them that ORC International tends to have the same sort of military connections in the militaries of many other countries much like the smarmy suits at Alphazon are gaining international influence within business as the first unaccountable Megacorp.

At the ORC you can find pencil pushers of all sorts, scientists of every field, and many laboratories studying magic anomalies, artifacts, and witches themselves. As a witch, you'd be in the same boat as me. We're field agents. Witches tend to be less fragile than mortals, the name sticks for a reason, and we're treated in the ballpark of being a living weapon- with feelings. Lucky for us the ORC carries old school opinions on their American roots such as the 2A and a person being their own weapon isn't such an issue. Every ORC member is strapped with tools to help level the playing field if one of us decides to become a problem, and tensions have died down, it's now normalized and we're as much a part of the team as the humans, and our field capabilities are respected.

You can expect to do many things from keeping tabs on non-ORC witches, look for newly awakened witches to get onto our side, hunt dangerous beings, monsters, anomalies, and artifacts for containment, and don't forget to file reports and check in for full-spectrum arcanoscopies to check your health and potential curses or damage to your very existence from mishandeling an ancient... or alien artifact, Outsiders|Outsider problems tend to stain more than just your nice dress. The ones we don't, or can't, destroy are kept in secure ORC Vault Facilities that are kept under constant guard of a mix of personelle and the handful of contracted spirits that have a good vested interest keeping something locked down tight typically due to the threat aligning with something important to the entity, others just like the attention they recieve, getting a taste of the good old days when powerful spirits were worshipped. The Masquerade put a damper on those things, in most cases.

LOCATION:

The ORC headquarters is in a private realm originally tapped by the German Mustache Man himself, we've done some improvements and may have copied some trade secrets from Hawthorne to create a blueprint based on vintage New York, and it's been growing on its own ever since. Incredible art-deco skyscrapers with bridges. A lot of the city is empty despite a population of 96 million spread out among international districts (UK, EU, Russia, India, China, and Japan) and the common "uptown" core, so you can find an unclaimed building for yourself to call home. The humans tend to stick together in luxury partments, for security reasons and they get around using magitech planes you could use if you don't have a broom. The buildings are over a mile tall, but there IS a street level some people prefer. We had to establish key portal networks. Many English speaking residents and visitors call it Deco City, but there are many other names that it gets called by in various other circles.

RELATIONS: Witch factions aren't a fan of us. Hawthorne despises us and we're actively hostile with the Hespatians|Hespatian coven. Arcadia is timidly undecided, and we but heads with Watchers. Alphazon are soulless double-speaking corporate vipers. We have a great relationship with Lunabella and negotiated with them around the events of the lunar landing. We cooperate frequently with the Alliance, and naturally Outsiders are public enemy #1.

ORC License
ORC Agents recieve the X01-License, the "License to Kill". This badge pings government servers automatically when in proximity with police. An officer can manually run your badge, and they'd be met with a high level warning to dismiss. ORC will internally review usage of the badge with leniency but enough to prevent overt abuse. It can be used to request backup and assume authority over crime scenes under secrecy protocols. Corruption? Look, we do our best, but things like this are necessary when you're facing against storybook nightmares. Have you ever been eaten alive?

Gadgetry is half price for you.