Editing Setting:Nutopia/Factions (section)

==Aegis==
The revolution that brought about The Fall came into being as a concerted effort by many disparate organizations across the globe. Various civil rights and anarchist groups, techno-utopians and neo-luddites, fringe extremists from diverse ideological and religious creeds and even corporate intelligence agencies trying to the end to manipulate events in their favor came together in the uprising. The war itself was carried out in a mad combination of planned, surgical strikes on infosphere and realspace assets and simple, brute mob violence. The rallying flag for the global movement, splashed across the Central Park broadcast and flown in the streets, was some variation on a broken chain in a circle, typically accompanied by the local equivalent for the word "Liberty". The general idea of the intensely anti-totalitarian Liberty movement remained after the Fall, but once the rebellion had achieved its goals, differences in ideology became increasingly difficult to ignore. Some of the more idealistic projects (such as a global council in which all factions involved in the Liberty movement were to be represented) had to be abandoned as squabbles between rival groups stalled the decision-making process.

As the surviving settlements struggled to restart damaged technology and defend themselves from looters, terrorist saboteurs and ex-corp raider bands, Liberty was faced with a difficult task. Having been given full responsibility for the lives of all survivors of the Fall, it became clear that a military task force was needed in order to provide security and to prevent disasters that could result from abuse or malignant use of dangerous technologies (such as the infamous murdering, by a rogue Cracker cult, of all inhabitants of Brusselsphere through manipulation of the weather control system). The debate and subsequent vote to create this agency was a long and painful process, and following it, many of the more radical anarchist and pacifist groups left Liberty for good, but in the end Aegis was created. Named for Athena's mirrored shield of legend, Aegis is tasked with the difficult and thankless job to combat the writhing, serpent-haired snake pit of threats, both foreign and domestic, that menace the free world and its citizens. This includes terrorist cells, rogue scientists, fringe cults, corporate remnant agents, raider activity or military incursions from the Alliance of Unincorporated states, as well as between-settlement skirmishes.

Aegis is a non-hierarchical organization, with no central headquarters. Instead, local "chapter houses" serve as a combined training, medical/mechanical and recruitment center, as well as a place for Aegis-booked Delvers to rest and recuperate before a mission. Aegis has no permanent agents, but rather recruits its staff from Delver teams on an as-needed, per-mission basis. The results of all Aegis missions are made public on the Liberty intranet, ensuring that no air of secrecy and suspicion hangs over its activities. This doesn't mean that there's no dark side to Aegis; individual operatives in the field have cooperated with criminal gangs or even slaver parties in order to further their goals. The conflict between base ideals and conditions on the ground is a constant one, leading frequent agents into an attitude of bitter pragmatism. Theirs is a seemingly impossible task after all, holding back the brink, but one they feel is worth doing.

Rumors persist, of course, that not all of Aegis' operations are as open and transparent as they would like you to believe, and that there exists a secret list of jobs and contracts only available to select, trusted agents. There is little concrete evidence to the veracity of these claims, but they persist nonetheless.