Editing Setting:Nutopia/Factions (section)

==Mission Ascension==
One of the most prized hauls a delver can discover is a previously unknown or not widely distributed technology. Hauling back a few tons of ammunition or foodstuffs can do a great deal of good for the local settlements, and getting a power station or factory back online can improve a whole region, but bringing back research, or better yet schematics and prototypes, for new technologies can have a global impact. These discoveries, along with a core humanitarian drive, are what brought Mission Ascension into being. 

Modeled on similar programs of the past, this group operates with the intent of bringing the best technology has to offer to the corners of the globe that never seemed worth developing, whether due to scarcity of resources, local danger or both, to the powers that be. Teams comprised of intrepid explorers, doctors, and scientists venture into areas of the world where the tech level is as high as the late 20th century at best, and usually then in all the wrong places. If the automatic weapons are more up to date then the farming equipment, Ascension wants to be there.

Their simple stated goal is to take the most useful technologies that delvers haul out of the ruins and make them openly available. More directly, they wish to bring these technologies to backwater nations, if they want them, and "bring them up to date" so to speak on the fruits of corporate inventive progress. Most Ascension missions, however, refuse to distribute or develop weapons technology (as the founder of Mission Ascension, Dr. Herbert Solms, said in a widely-publicized interview, "people have the means to kill each other quite in hand, what we come to give them are tools to help them feed themselves and care for their sick and dying"). 

Ascension operations range around the world from the jungles of South America to the deserts of the Middle East. They move with little consideration for national borders or protocol, preferring to operate on a local level, and outright ignoring the prohibition of their actions by exterior forces if they feel their help is needed. They duck xenophobic militias and even Chinese military cordons to get their supplies and professionals through. Mission Ascension is vehemently pro-open-source, arguing that concepts such as copyright or patents have no meaning in a world where everyone is struggling to survive, and where all tools of technological progress are needed everywhere. Mission Ascension and its personnel (nicknamed Missionaries) is banned from entering all Unincorporated Alliance countries, as the bloc accuses the organization of being spies for corporations or "destabilizing ideological elements". Mission Ascension does not care.

Delvers will typically come into contact with this organization in one of two ways. Firstly they might be outright hired on as either security, guides, or experts for a particular expedition, or to retrieve a specific prototype or schematic Ascension thinks it knows the location of. Second, if venturing in the undeveloped wilds, Delvers friendly with the organization can always find shelter with expedition base camps. Finding these can be tricky, their locations aren't exactly broadcast globally for fear of raiders searching for easy pickings, but on a local level, or if on good terms with the organization, delvers ought to be able to pick one out as a place to stop and replenish supplies or seek assistance. Lastly, some Ascension Missionaries may choose to leave the organization and become free Delvers themselves; the harsh reality of the world often strips the idealism from an active Missionary in the space of a few expeditions. Still, even if they are cynical and jaded, most former Missionaries still retain a passion for justice and a desire to help those in need, and due to their connections and experience, ex-Ascension Delvers are invaluable resources to teams operating in unincorporated territories or other low-tech areas.