(Agents of Change) Operation Prospero

History: In the wake of a number of unusual activities, The U.S. Government, overly concerned about the nature of certain types of individuals began a program of study and recruitment. people who had developed strange mental powers and bizarre physical mutations were to be brought into the fold with carrot, and with stick, if necessary. in order to have their services should another world war break out.

This program, entitled Operation Prospero, began as a very small and select group of scientists working for the War Department. What time and fortune will bring is anybody's guess.

Agenda: The agenda of Prospero is multifold. Its primary objective is to understand the mutations that have come about as a result of Hammersmith's accident. To this end, they are trying to test as many "mind talents", and "physical talents", as they can find. So far the gamut of this testing is non-invasive nor particularly strenuous. They are attempting a catalog of powers that have expressed themselves among these persons. and this catalog is fairly complete. The only difficulty is that Prospero scientists do not recognize Daredevils as falling into their field of study. the study of "wild luck" as regards individual persons is tantamount to the study of Voodoo in the eyes of the scientific arm of this project.
The secondary agenda of this group is to recruit as many of these individuals into various branches of government services and to use their unique abilities for military and scientific applications. Many times, a simple appeal to patriotism and an offer of a job is enough to get many people involved. In other cases, the expunging of a criminal record, Pardon, or similar legal favor has been useful in bringing people into the fold. At present, there is no blackmail or physical force being used but you are dealing with military types. Hell on execution but not so good on the morals or ethics of a specific action.
The Tertiary agenda of this group is to develop methods to control, combat, defend against and fortify against individuals of these powers. A small hand selected strike team is training constantly with new and technologically advanced weaponry in order to contain mutated persons should that sort of threat arise.

Resources: The primary resources of Operation Prospero are the labs. a fairly large complex of laboratories located in New Jersey. These labs are state of the art and guarded by a Marine guard at all times. In addition to this lab complex, there is an office building and vehicle pool available to the Prospero contact representatives. The office building has administrative personnel and also handles a fair amount of data sifting from the labs and from major media outlets (for better recruitment efforts.) There is also a tiny training facility for the marine squad that handles Hostile encounters but this is well removed from both of the major complexes.

Membership: Almost the entire complement of the project are baseline humans. Most are extremely competent in their fields. The Scientists are top notch and the Marines are very capable in a fight. (do not expect to be dealing with mooks.) There are a couple of mesmerists and super scientists who have joined the think tank end of the project. Some of them are appalled at the direction the research is taking and others flatly don't care. There is a small permanent care facility that has only one occupant at present but room for more. Most of the inspired people who have had contact with Operation Prospero are unaware that they are being surveilled at least part of the time.

Ongoing Operations: As mentioned above the operation has multiple balls in the air. They look for likely candidates, approach them for recruitment and testing, and if the candidate shows a desire to leave the program they are watched for the rest of their life. (hopefully, a situation will turn up to make them run to the arms of their helpful government.) In some cases, the candidate is deemed "hostile" and a decision is made in the field as to whether to break contact or destroy the candidate in question. The field commander prefers to leave them alone if they don't pose a danger to other people. Less of his marines get hurt that way.

Alliances: Naturally, the Prospero scientists are working very hard to unravel the secrets of Hammersmith's event and this has drawn many eminent minds out of the woodwork. The group also naturally has the backing of the federal government.

Enemies: Hephestia Geary-Wexler is getting wise to the group's real intentions and has planted a spy or two among them to reap as many of the rewards as she can manage. Also, there have been a few incidents of harassment against the inspired but those who try to complain or seek redress are slandered very quickly. Mostly pointing to some sort of unpatriotic attitude or rampant paranoia on their part. Most people believe it too. After all, the government doesn't lie...It's there to help you.

The Inspired: As stated above, most of the group is human. There are a few mesmerists (most have some scientific background) and a super scientist or two. There are quite a number of daredevils moving around in the background, though.

The Future: In the early days of world war two, Michael Donighal hears an interesting rumor about a government conspiracy to harass people with special abilities. Looking into it, he breaks into the New Jersey lab complex and discovers something so horrifying that he razes the place to the ground and walks away a very changed man. The files are all pulled, classified at the cosmic top secret level and then dumped into a file cabinet in a disused basement bathroom with a broken lock on the door and a sign bearing the legend, "Beware of the Leopard!" They are still moldering there well into the Trinity age.

Additional Notes: Players are going to be wary of government conspiracies under every tree. We grew up in the X-files age. But what needs to be remembered about this whole bunch is that most people in this time absolutely trust the government. Also, you can play this group both ways. Sure, the research group looks you over and is perfectly happy to talk to you about the work they're doing. (It's hush hush of course, but if you're a test subject, you've got the right to know.) Still, they are not going to know, nor will they want to believe that their work is being turned to unpleasant purposes. That the military is planning to deal with ALL inspired beings, not just those who pose a threat to themselves or others, will slide right by them. Operation Prospero is like a great big onion with lots of layers to peel away. In the end, fear wins out over curiosity and Prospero is turned into a weapon for some and a jail for others.