The Technocracy of the 50s?

[Arzie]

Hi all! I've been kicking around in my head the idea of a Technocratic Chronicle set in the 1950s, but I haven't found a lot of in-book data on the time period aside from that was when the Computer was discovered, the MiBs were developed, the VEs discovered the Things Lurking Beyond, and the Progenitors developed their three main Methodologies.

I'm wondering what everyone in the Brain Trust considers would be important and/or interesting to toss into a 1950s Technocrat Chronicle. Not necessarily plot idea; those I have. More like, themes, Union Ideals and goals, etc. Not the stereotypical Black Hat of the early Convention Books, but what is the real Technocracy like from 1950-1963?

Thank you all in advance for your input!

[IanWatson]

Well, the Virtual Adepts left in 1956 and joined up with the Traditions in 1961, which certainly would have been a big deal.

[Konradleijon]

Also MKultra that was a real thing along with many other crazy governments experiments

[Dwight]

Have you watched the television series "Dark Skies" or the more recent "Project Blue Book"?

[Arzie]

Have you watched the television series "Dark Skies" or the more recent "Project Blue Book"?

No, I haven't, but I'll look them up on Wikipedia and TVTropes.

I'm not really looking for plot ideas or stories, but more themes, attitudes, Union Ideals. . . that sort of thing. :^)

[marin]

Per their Revised Convention Book, the Space Race caught the Void Engineers off-guard (since it was driven by politics rather than curiosity). On the upside for them, it reduced Paradox just that little bit.

Progenitors and Void Engineers both note the Conventions had trouble during the Cold War, trying to get people stuck the other side of the Iron Curtain out, which became progressively more difficult over time.

While the Progenitors fought for the rights of the physically and mentally disabled in this era, sometimes they only went so far in the name of letting the Masses decide.The frustration sparked a movement in the Convention of Progenitors who wanted to get more involved. wanted to do right by the Masses.

Hm. The NWO, the Syndicate, McCarthyism and censorship... Both Conventions are involved in the media, after all.

[Ramnesis]

The Late 40s and early 50s saw the rise of the Cold War and the paranoia that came from it. There's a similar element going on in the Technocracy. In the mid to late 40s the Technocracy and Traditions had to work together to put down the Nephandi. At the beginning of the 50s there's probably a lot of technocrats more willing to work with the Traditions than is officially appropriate, and there are probably a lot of others who saw that as a major threat. This would come to a head in 1956 when the Adepts defected at which point the Traditions Tolerant members would be weeded out.

[Konradleijon]

Per their Revised Convention Book, the Space Race caught the Void Engineers off-guard (since it was driven by politics rather than curiosity). On the upside for them, it reduced Paradox just that little bit.

Progenitors and Void Engineers both note the Conventions had trouble during the Cold War, trying to get people stuck the other side of the Iron Curtain out, which became progressively more difficult over time.

While the Progenitors fought for the rights of the physically and mentally disabled in this era, sometimes they only went so far in the name of letting the Masses decide.The frustration sparked a movement in the Convention of Progenitors who wanted to get more involved. wanted to do right by the Masses.

Hm. The NWO, the Syndicate, McCarthyism and censorship... Both Conventions are involved in the media, after all.

Don’t forget Laika.

[Grumpy RPG Reviews]

The hardware used is often 30+ years in advance, so agents equipped with 1980s style computers, cell phones, links to satellites and so on should be very possible. Project MKUltra failed in the real world, but might have succeeded among the Technocrats at the time in the WoD.

[No One of Consequence]

The 1940s and 50s are usually described as the "Golden Age" of science fiction writing. The single biggest influencer of this period was John W. Campbell, the publisher and editor of most of the major sci fi magazines. He tended to push stories that had a certain degree of realism and psychological depth to their characters than had been seen in the earlier periods (when Gernsback was the major influencer). It's often described as the gizmo now being less important than the character using it. There's also an often recurring idea that technological accomplishment will miraculously solve all of man's problems. This is very much in keeping with certain aspects of the Union view of the world.

[babi_gog]

There would also be "the bright new future" theme running through the world, that by 2000 we will be living on the moon and all driving hover cars. That technology was advancing day by day

[JagneStormskull]

So, you've got a lot of complex stuff going on.

First up is the Virtual Adepts defecting in 1956, but their defection began in 1947 (in our world, Turing died in 1954, but in the WoD, he was MURDERED in 1947). After Turing's murder, a cold war began between the NWO and the Virtual Adepts, with a couple of cross-Convention groups who had been censured before joining the VA. After the Defection, these groups became known as the Cypherpunks and Chaoticians. The NWO-VA Cold War could certainly be a significant plot thread.

Second is the Space Race. The VE thought that it was stupid because it was motivated by politics, not the desire to explore!

Third is the IRL Cold War:
The Technocracy's involvement in McCarthyism (as marin mentioned) is of course an option, but there are a couple of more.
An M:tAs writer mentioned that, in his Sorcerer's Crusade chronicle, he made the Quintessence in Venice dry up by having the High Guild move a trade route out of Venice 20 years early because the player characters were going around destroying everything. You could easily do the opposite by having the Syndicate open trade with China or other countries early in order to make better use of Primal Utility.
The Technocracy involvement in nuclear... well, various things. Whether that's Iteration X involvement in nuclear weapons, Progenitor involvement in nuclear medicine, the NWO trying to prevent nuclear war, or the Progenitors (again) making hyperdrugs as safeguards for radiation poisoning during a nuclear apocalypse.

[Gryffon15]

For me the thought that always occurs with the Union in the 50s is that in many ways the 50s was an anomaly while also forming the basis of decades to follow.

I see, while not a full civil war, a definite rivalry coloring all parts of Union life between the theories of Capitalism and Communism with both factions within the Union using the language of either doctrine to justify increased authoritarian policies and with a ruthless desire for victory that allowed the Nephandi to infiltrate both sides.

It’s going to be a big time for every convention but I feel that’s particularly true for Iteration-X, the New World Order, and the Syndicate; as military-industrial action, politics, and economics became so central to the ideological conflicts that defined the period.

For instance, I’d argue that irl programs like Project Paperclip demonstrate how, like the US & USSR took former fascist-axis (especially Nazis) scientists and agents into them to use their skills, the factions of the Union in their desperation to prove their supremacy would allow ‘a controlled element’ of corruption into their ranks for the purposes of overwhelming and undermining their ideological rivals to determine the future.

This infighting not only helping to ferment the corruption found in the Union’s ranks to this very day but triggering the excesses which helped fan the Council’s flames during the 60s during the counter-culture era.