Silhouette (Deus Ex) - Majestic 12

Majestic 12

Majestic 12 (MJ-12, MJ12, also known as Those Who Rule the World in Majesty and officially as The Majestic Council of the Twelve) is a splinter organization of the Illuminati and led by the former Illuminati member, Bob Page. While the Illuminati prefer to control by assimilating persons of intellect into a grand conspiracy, Majestic 12 plans to control the world in secret through the production of the "Gray Death nanovirus" and the virus's vaccine, Ambrosia. The organization's public fronts include Page Industries, which controls the global banking system and is run by Bob Page, VersaLife (a division of Page Industries), and UNATCO.

The virus is then spread to the public, and then UNATCO and FEMA are used to control the supply of the vaccine. It is provided in limited quantities, and the list of people to be vaccinated is limited to employees and conspirators of MJ12, as well as employees of MJ12 fronts, and to those for whom politicians request it, so long as they co-operate with MJ12.

Majestic 12 also uses complex information-processing systems, including artificial intelligence, at least two systems of which are prominent elements in the game's story, these being Daedalus and Icarus. Daedalus and Icarus are the results of previous efforts of the Illuminati to create an omnipresent surveillance tool to not only monitor, but evaluate world events and even individual lives. Before the events in the game, Page initiated the Aquinas Protocol, allowing MJ-12 to monitor and selectively censor all global communications.

Apart from use of the Gray Death/Ambrosia manipulation, sophisticated military technologies, and advanced surveillance networks, MJ-12 is also not averse to using divide and conquer methods, weakening their enemies and turning them against one another. The organization also holds no apparent qualms about using other types of psychological tactics as they wage war on the world's government. One example of this is the exploitation of the bizarre traits of MiBs to intimidate or unnerve dissidents and coerce them in to submission, and to deter would-be assassins or spies when serving as bodyguards and security forces.

Majestic 12's main HQ is based in Area 51, but has bases including but not limited to submerged Ocean Labs, concealed bases in UNATCO headquarters, bases in the sewage system beneath New York, and the Versalife Headquarters.

Majestic 12 military personnel bear the insignia 'XII, which is twelve in Roman numerals. Other symbols used include a hand menacing a globe; this is displayed in actual form in Majestic Twelve's facilities, including the restricted labs at VersaLife's Hong Kong building, as a kind of centrepoint. The symbol also appears on MJ-12 computer terminals, in this instance the globe being the azimuthal equidistant projection used by the UN flag, under the shadow of a translucent hand. The symbol can therefore be interpreted in either of two ways; as a display of MJ-12's actual covert control of the UN and associated agencies, such as UNATCO, or as an aspiration to the complete world domination that the group strives towards and very nearly acquires.

It is hinted, though never explicitly confirmed, that MJ12 had been a government agency under the control of Lucius DeBeers' Illuminati all through the 20th century. The motto of Majestic 12 is: "IPSA SCIENTIA POTESTAS EST" — Latin for "Knowledge Itself Is Power."