City of Unity - The Ministry

"HAIL, EINHEIT!"

For some, they are galant yet mysterious and intimidating guardians who will protect civilization from the Fimbulvetr. For others, the Ministry are the epitome of state terror, and engineers of genocide on an epic scale. Regardless of which type of character you intend to play, this section will help to give you a basic idea of what your character and the people around him or her might know about the Ministry, or some of the rumours surrounding the military elite behind the curtain of Einheit City's controls.

Due to the extremely advanced RP experience requirement, and the immense responsibility that comes with playing a Ministry character, applications for Ministers will be strictly reviewed to a much higher standard than those of any other character types, and will be required to demonstrate exceptional understanding with the game's setting in order to be approved.

For information about how to use the Ministry in the RP, you should refer to the Playing The Ministry page, in addition to this one.

Basic Weapons & Equipment

Chain Of Command

Departments Of The Ministry

Organization History

"...The sturmgeists come as red eyes in the blizzard... Like wraiths they appear, striking a number of our packmates down with weapons of unknown make, only to fade into the storm before we can counter with our plasma rifles or gunblades. They leave no footprint, no heat signature, no sound but the death screams of my comrades..."
- Excerpt from a journal found by ECM scouts on the corpse of a Colonial special forces soldier.

Due to the organization's efforts to conceal its activities, much of the truth surrounding the Ministry's formation and rise to power are shrouded in secrecy, yet there are several widely known facts.

In the city-state's early years following its discovery by Dr. Avram Frey and his exiles, the Einheit Civil Militia was formed by Frey to provide a deterrent against what little crime there was among his generally peaceful and co-operative people, and to fend off incursions from the various monstrous terrors inhabiting the Nightlands, such as snowrunners and ice wyrms. Consisting of members of all species or hybrid combinations thereof, Most of these citizen soldiers - or ECM's as they were called - were either civilian volunteers with basic training on weapons and tactics, or disillusioned veterans of the Species Wars who had deserted from their Colonial militaries to join Frey's exodus.

Upon the Heart Machine's activation which marked the end of Einheit City's short-lived golden age, the ECM was caught off-guard by Dr. Frey's assassination and the siege which followed. Citizens flocked in mobs to recruiting stations enlist with the ECM and defend their new motherland of equality and freedom against the invading Colonial forces. Even though the Colonial armies fought amongst one another as much as they did against Einheit City, the vastly superior numbers, firepower, and sheer merciless bruality of the Colonial militaries swept through ECM lines like a wind of destruction.

The Heart Machine Council which assumed interim control of Einheit City's fractured government after Dr. Frey's death came forth with a military solution which would prove to be both salvation and damnation for the besieged city-state; The Ministry.

The first Ministers were stark few in number... On the ground, they were lone, red-goggled hybrid figures clad in ghostly white full-body armor unlike anything ever seen before, appearing from the swirling smoke and ice of battle and singlehandedly annihilating or routing multitudes of Colonial troops before the eyes of awestruck ECM soldiers. In the skies, the Ministry arrived in the form of stealthy, masterfully-pilotted aerodynes swooping in to take charge of outnumbered ECM aero squadrons, leading them to victory against the Colonial bombers and skyships which had been raining death upon the city. The Ministry quickly assumed a tip of the spear, leading role over demoralized and outdated ECM, serving as tactical advisors and guiding assaults on Colonial forces. From where exactly the first Ministers came from, or how they were already so well trained and equipped within months after Frey's death, is unknown.

Before long, the Ministry's efforts stabilized Einheit City's fronts to where the Colonial armies and fleets were no longer able to penetrate the city en masse. With the enemy mostly held at bay, the Ministry was then able to focus on internal matters. The Heart Machine Council absorbed itself into the Ministry, its members fading away into the secrecy of the military's commanding levels, while leaving behind a framework for a nominal civilian government which would later on become the office of Chancellor Mara Kadesh. By keeping citizen focus directed on the Colonial threat and frightening rumours of enemy agents within the city, the Ministry was able to plant the seeds of totalitarianism beneath a trusting and hopeful public.

To the rest of Einheit City, the Ministry in its early years seemed to be a genuine force of heroism. Although it was a largely enigmatic, perhaps even intimidating organization, citizens widely believed the Ministry to be their protectors. Scattered accounts of the Ministry carrying out horrific acts of torture or execution of Colonial POW's, or massacres of purebred non-combatants, were dismissed as slanderous lies planted by the enemy. Likewise, the decreasing freedoms, increasing surveillance, the formation of the UniClass and the resulting hybrid/purebred segregation under the name of Unity were initially seen as a merely inconvenient but necessary measures which would benefit the greater good in the long run.

As the Ministry's power and influence grew, the ECM underwent changes as well. By 23 ECE, purebreds and hybrids became increasingly segregated in the ranks, and purebred soldiers were often sent on extremely dangerous infantry-wave attacks to soften Colonial defenses for the advancing hybrid ECMs. Perhaps predicting that having a large number of outer class citizens with combat training would be an obstacle in the future, in the final months of the Species Wars, whole legions of purebred ECMs, galantly engaged in close combat with Colonial forces, were "heroically sacrified" when Ministry skyships ominously watching from the clouds dropped indiscriminate bombardments on the battlefield below, annihilating both Colonial and Einheit City purebred forces. News of these atrocities seldom reached Einheit City until the war's nominal end. But by the time Operation Boreas wiped out Colonial civilization and sent its survivors scattered to the Nightlands, purebred ranks in ECM were thinned to where they would not pose a serious threat to the Ministry after most of the ECM was deactivated, with its remaining active elements now being more akin to locally organized para-police UniClass watch groups and ceremonial guards for Chancellor Kadesh and UniClass politicians.

By the time that that the grim truth found in the silenced voices of dissent was believed by any considerable number of citizens, the Ministry could no longer be removed from power by what the civilian government. Even then, the civilian government was staffed entirely by UniClassers who had little interest in changing the status quo. The Vorhang became one enormous Ministry installation, and the apex of the Toride was sealed off to all non-Ministry personnel, becoming the organization's heavily fortified command center. Ministry skyships hung in the black sky above the city, and the peaceful worker's utopia envisioned by Dr. Frey had transformed into a eugenecist's de-facto military junta.

Training

"The mind is little more than an organic computer. And like a machine, it is vulnerable to viral infection and hacking. Certain sound and sight patterns have a mental effect, that being equivalent to a flash-hypnosis in which one can force another into a waking nightmare or turn the body against itself. Through awareness of these sounds and motions, you will be able to resist these attacks, and in turn thrust your enemy upon his own sword."
- School Of Ministry Instructor

Ministry recruitment and training methods have evolved over the years since the organization's creation, but the end result has always been the same: selfless warrior servants of the State, enforcers of the Unity idea, and a horrifyingly efficient elite soldiers. Little is known outside the Ministry about its recruit training, and Ministers rarely ever discuss it in non-Ministry company, as it is regarded as a profound metamorphoisis which those who have not taken the White can ever understand.

Joining the Ministry is not an easy task, and surviving its long cycle of basic training is even more difficult. An elite force which emphasizes quality over quantity, only the most physically and mentally capable UniClass citizens are considered for recruitment, and many are turned down for mysterious reasons known only to the Ministry. And even then, they must provide a detailed case to a Ministry recruitment office as to why the Ministry should recruit them, for it is not the job of a Ministry recruiter to seek out applicants to meet a quota, but in fact to discourage enlistment, so that only the most confident and determined individuals are left for consideration. This has resulted in the Ministy's single known weakness - its very limited numbers. The minimum age to enlist is 16, with the maximum being 28, however waivers can sometimes be approved for especially qualified applicants who seem worthy despite being under or over-aged. Unless there are any presently noticeable factors barring recruitment, the candidate will have to submit to several extremely deep background checks, lie detector tests, and neuroscans. If no undesirable results turn up in the potential recruit's investigation, he or she will then be entered into a brief waiting period, usually no longer than a few nights or a couple weeks, until there are enough other confirmed candidates to form a training platoon.

Once this is accomplished, the new recruits will be transported with nothing in their possession except identification and a bare minimum of clothing on their backs to the Ministry's hidden training facility in the deepest foundations of the Toride, where the great tower's roots reach down into the Undercity. Officially it has no name, though unofficially it has been referred to as The School of Ministry. Its location is unknown except to Ministry personnel with a clear need-to-know, and by the Instructors who staff the School. During their transit to The School, recruits are kept in a completely lightless, windowless, sound-proof passenger container carried by a Ministry dropship, not only to protect the location of The School, but also to intentionally disorient the new recruits for what is to come.

Upon arrival at The School, recruits are met with a tidal wave of sensory overload as the doors fly open and they first encounter the Instructors; a special class of veteran Ministers who have demonstrated incredible excellence throughout their service, exceeding standards and surpassing their peers in every way. Ministry Training Instructors, or "TI"s, wear their WhiteGear at all times while in the presence of recruits, hence recruits do not see the faces of their Instructors, let alone know their identities except for the title of 'Training Instructor'.

From the very beginning, recruits are stripped of everything from their past lives, especially their individuality. No contact whatsoever will be made with the outside world for the duration of training, not even with family members. Names are replaced with serial numbers. Sexism is utterly forbidden in the Ministry, and platoons consist of both males and females. Speaking in first-person is forbidden. Recruits may only refer to themselves as "This Recruit" or "These Recruits". After one final search, scan, and being clipped with a recruit collar (similar in function to the Citizen Rehabilitation Collar, except that instead of holding a lethal toxin if the recruit needs to be killed, the collar holds a small explosive charge), recruits begin Phase 1 of their training.

Phase 1 consists of the first waves of not just breaking, but completely destroying a recruit, mentally and emotionally. Here they are first issued their Training Greys; a simple, form-fitting physical-training uniform that will be their foundational garment. Ministry recruits generally have exceptional loyalty to the Unity cause well before enlisting, but even this will not make basic training any easier for them, as their TI's always, without fail, find a weak point to exploit which will bring an individual recruit's mental defenses down to nothing. While this phase primarily focuses on crushing a recruit's mind and opening it in such a way to be able to process the teaching to come, there is also a tremendous amount of physical conditioning that occurs as well. Recruits will be required to accomplish long-distance timed runs, obstacle courses, combat swimming, and load bearing exercises, while almost always being severely deprived of food or sleep. Phase 1 is where the majority of suicides occur, as well as a few deaths caused by the hazards which come with extreme levels of physical activity.

Phase 2 is when the actual teaching begins. By this point a recruit and his or her platoon have been conditioned to where they are more able to comprehend and retain the knowledge imparted to them in this phase. Phase 2 is when recruits are given endless classes about Ministry philosophy, weaponry, martial arts, first aid, history, interrogation/torture techniques, survival skills, and the ideals of Unity, and the Ministry's more martial sub-schools of Unity: Uni-Juche and Neo-Songun. Classes are usually followed by practical application events where recruits are evaluated on how well they can perform what they were just taught. Mental and physical conditioning in Phase 2 is increased from the levels seen in Phase 1, as recruits will be required to perform even more difficult tasks, as well as reflex and flexibility drills, which will determine if they are capable of handling the next level of training.

Also in this phase, recruits will begin to learn the Ministry's seret code language which is used between Ministry personnel if there is the faint possibility of unwanted interception or eavesdropping by outside parties. Like much of the Ministry's source of power, this complex Code Speak is suspected of being a product of Architect influence, though with additional touches made in order to fulfill the needs of the Ministry. If it were to be compared to any other existing languages, it has a sound which vaguely resembles Ancient Arabi. Because of its complex nature and multiple tiers, training in Code Speak continues throughout the rest of the training cycle, and if the recruit makes it to graduation, well into the rest of their Ministry service.

Phase 3 is where recruits are finally introduced to the Ministry's mysterious and widely feared biomechanical body armor system; the WhiteGear. However, since a recruit is not a true Minister, they have not earned the privilege to wear the White, and are issued a special form of training armor called GreyGear. A suit of GreyGear is essentially the same as the average Medium WhiteGear, with the exception that its functions can be remotely controlled by an Instructor in order to simulate the affects of EMP blasts and other strong attacks which could potentially disrupt or damage WhiteGear in combat. Recruits are also familiarized more intimately with weaponry, combat tactics and martial arts, and will undergo several battle drills which simulate combat in urban, subterranean, Nightlands, aquatic, atmospheric, volcanic, zero-gravity, and Nightlands environments. These drills cover an extremely wide range of likely and unlikely combat scenarios, but they also frequntly entail simulations of suit failures or casualty evacuations, where recruits will have to perform rapid repairs on their or their comrade's GreyGear and/or carry an incapacitated partner and their gear through battle. Recruits will be taught on how to avoid capture by the enemy, how to escape if captured, how to resist torture and interrogation, and how to will their own heart to stop beating in the event that their capture could put their comrades or Einheit City at risk.

By Phase 4, the recruit sculpture which their TI has been hammering and carving over the last several months is beginning to vaguely resemble a Minister. Recruits at this point begin to regain some of their confidence broken in previous phases, begin to think of themselves as defensive cells in a military organism rather than individuals, and are already more skilled in the art of combat than the vast majority of other militaries throughout history. But their journey is far from over. Phase 4 is when the more esoteric soldiery skills unique to the Ministry are taught, and where the recruit's mind becomes a weapon. For weeks on end recruits are wetwired to a neural network linked to The Library - an almost impossibly vast biodigital atheneum of combat knowledge found in the Ministry's huge stores of Architect lore and relics. During these wetiwiring sessions, tremendous amounts of information from recorded and theoretical combat scenarios are uploaded into a recruit's central nervous system, followed by him or her being physically tested on this knowledge in practical application drills until it becomes possible for them to be able to pre-emptively calculate an enemy's presence and activity, and to deliver a killing blow or shot while at the same time remaining out of the enemy's zones of attack. Combat at this point becomes a lethal dance of muscle memory, mathematics, and predicting the enemy's position and intent through observation of subtle, practically invisible patterns in the recruit's surroundings. The end result, to some, would seem to be outright psychic ability, though the truth of the matter is far more complex than that.

The amount of information each recruit's mind is required to accept and process in such a short amount of time is so much that a small percentage of Phase 4 recruits suffer fatal brain hemmorraging, become comatose, or simply go insane beyond recovery, and are taken out of the training cycle, never to be seen again.

At the end of Phase 4 comes a recruit's final test, The Ascension. In this multiple-night event, squads of the remaining recruits will be forced to impliment everything they have learned over their long training cycle, starting with a subterranean forced-march through a massive Architect-drilled tunnel beneath the Toride's vast foundations, hundreds of miles long and laced with all manner of hazards and combat simulations. Recruits will be clad with GreyGear, as well as carrying at least 100 lbs of gear and/or weaponry. This tunnel worms its way in a wide spiral path until it comes to the base of a colossal, vertical tube sealed off to the rest of the Toride, and exists largely without the knowledge of the rest of the UniClass due to the Toride's sheer size. Here the recruits will have to ascend platforms spanning the full 13 kilometer height of the Toride, as well as its additional subterranean portion which they are already struggling through, all while enduring all manner of combat drills, remotely-commanded equipment failures, simulated weather hazards, casualty evacuations, mounted combat drills, hand to hand fighting events, and countless other lethal obstacles which threaten to send a recruit falling to his or her death down the Toride's abyssal shaft, or simply kill them through sheer exhaustion.

Throughout The Ascension, the surviving recruits solidify bonds closer than family with their comrades, and begin to understand what it truly is to dissolve one's individuality to become a cell in the military organism of the Ministry... And to love it. Those who survive the Ascension and emerge at the first deck of Ministry Command at the Toride's upper portions will be the strong, cunning, and ruthless few who have earned the White. For the first time they will witness their almost supernaturally brutal and terrifying Training Instructors remove their WhiteGear masks and congratulate them face to face as brothers and sisters, and fellow Ministers.

At this point the new graduate is a basic Minister. However, one should not be mislead by the "basic"' terminology. Although they have not yet advanced to their secondary training school, a "basic" Minister is worth at least ten times his or her number in professional, heavily-armed enemy combatants, with or without WhiteGear, and would be more than ready to be deployed into direct combat if need be.

Also, it should be noted that a small number of candidates for officer commissions are chosen from each graduating training company, based on their performance at the School Of Ministry. After graduation, these elite-of-the-elite will be shipped to the Officer Selection Battalion, where they will be given several months of additional training with focus on skills relevant to commanding other Ministers. After completing OSB, Ministry officers are commissioned, and rejoin their enlisted comrades for the final stretch of entry-level training: Technical School.

Whether a boot Minister is a junior enlisted member fresh out of School Of Ministry, or a new 2nd Lieutenant getting used to his or her role as a junior-leader, the final phase of training is where they will learn their specialty field for whichever Ministry Department they are to go into. Unlike the basic training cycle, the Minister's secondary school will usually entail a few hours of liberty in the evenings or weekends if the training schedule permits, and contact with the outside world is usually permitted if deemed secure by the higher-ups. Training cycles for each Ministry secondary school vary in length, with some being only a few weeks to others being as long as a year or more.

But even after a Minister completes his or her specialty school and is assigned to their operating unit, training in the Ministry's endless library of weirding combat ways, black science and mental conditioning never truly stops, and a Minister's evolution towards becoming an even more efficient cog in the machine continues until his or her retirement or death. Because of their higher skill and experience, senior Ministers will always lead from the front, serving as the tip of the spear in any operation and setting an example for their lower ranked comrades to follow.

Ministry Core Ethos

"Ideas are more powerful than weapons. It takes a single Minister to destroy a hundred well-armed foes. But it takes a whole Ministry to destroy an idea."
- Minister Ankam Rith

Ministry philosophy and ethics are a complex matter which volumes of literature have been published on, but the core pillars of the Ministry's martial and political values can be summarized as such:

The Ministry will never abandon gear or comrades. In all of the Ministry's history, there has never been a single instance where a suit of WhiteGear was successfully captured by any enemy. If forced to abandon equipment for whatever reason, Ministers will go to great lengths destroy it to ensure that it cannot be studied or re-used by the enemy. Ministers will never leave their comrades behind when there is still the faintest hope of rescuing them. In the event that a Minister is captured with no hope of rescue or escape, he or she is trained to will their own heart to cease functioning in order to commit suicide.
Ministers on duty speaking to non-Ministers will never use the words "I", "Me", "My", "Mine", or any other singular 1st person references. When speaking through the silent com-channels in a Minister's WhiteGear, he or she may speak normally, but if using speech audible outside the WhiteGear, such as when a Minister is giving an order to a civilian, they will speak in terms of "We", "Us", "Our", "The Ministry", and so forth. Ministers will demonstrate steely bearing devoid of emotion towards the outside world while in the line of duty.
Ministers are not motivated by money, power, or fame, but by Unity. Pay for the average mid-ranked Minister is usually enough to live a basic middle class lifestyle. While Ministers with dependents are given enough payment to support their families, single Ministers typically lead frugal, spartan lifestyles. Because a Minister's motivation and passion is to be an armed servant of Unity, they are notoriously impervious to bribery and corruption.
Ministers do not need or use chemical stimulants, bodily-implanted cyberware or bioware for combat effectiveness. Unlike many of the Colonies which made use of cyborgs and robotics in their militaries, reliance upon artificial augmentation of one's body through cybernetics or bionics is considered a crutch and exploitable weakness by the Ministry. While the civilian sector is permitted to do this within legal limits, Ministers do not need to enhance their bodies through external additions in order to accomplish their mission. The only time a Minister might ever make use of cybernetically or bionically enhancing themselves is in the event of a lost limb or compensating for some other major injury.
Privacy is an obsolete desire, not a need. A Minister is at peace with the fact that he or she may be monitored at any given time, even in their most private moments. Likewise, privacy must be cast aside order to protect the Unity idea and the safety of the UniClass from crime, dissent, and corruption. Mass surveillance, undercover spying on UniClass affairs, and similar means of monitoring civilian life are necessary for the good of the collective.
Heroic deeds are to be commended and held as examples for all to follow, but should not be worshipped either. Ministers who rise above and beyond the call of duty may be awarded and commended, but hero-worship and similar obsessive behaviour towards the individual is inappropriate. Instead, the greatness of the team or collective should be celebrated.
Individuality is weakness, Unity is strength. A Minister is free from the tyranny of the individual and its fleeting wants and urges. A Minister will consider the needs of the collective before considering him or herself, and takes pride in doing that which benefits the Many rather than the Individual.
Unity is not an idea to be followed with blind faith or worshipped, but to be enforced with logical understanding. The basic tennant of the Unity idea is that in the absence of species divisions, as well as the absence of religion and dissenting thought, civilization will find perfect peace. This is one of the notable differences between the Ministry and the UniClass civilians it protects. While some UniClass civilians may support the Unity idea out of emotional reasoning or otherwise not perfectly logical grounds, a Minister is aware of his or her cause on a higher, grimly calculating level.
A Minister is never truly off-duty. Even when not behind the WhiteGear mask, if a Minister detects a threat to Unity or the integrity of the UniClass, he or she will take the necessary measures to eliminate that threat just as they would while on duty. A Minister is a Minister 24/7.
Religious faith and instinct are obsolete. Purebreds are characterized by the Ministry as being slaves to primal instinct and the base need to eliminate any threat to one's own species. Religion is characterized by the Ministry as not only contradictory to science and logic, but also divisive and dangerous supersticion that is a trait of mental instability.
Sexism is forbidden. In the Ministry one will find an equal number of females in the same positions as males, and discrimination between the two is simply unheard of. Sexism is widely viewed as a trait of obsolete patriarchal purebred thinking.
Retirement is rare. Ministers rarely retire voluntarily, and the vast majority who join the Ministry will still die in it. Those who have become too old or disabled to continue on in their specific Ministry duty are usually reassigned to less field-oriented specialty, such as administrative work or training personnel, where they can continue to serve as active duty Ministers. However, retirement is still possible, and while it is not exactly frowned upon, it is considered unusual.
The arts are of vital importance to Unity. Creative talent is celebrated in UniClass society and looked upon favourably by the Ministry. Although Unity is a social-scientific goal which should be understood and strove for with a logical mind, it also well and good to express one's devotion for Unity, patriotism, and brotherhood through use of music, visual art, and theater. To this end, there are numerous epic works of propaganda celebrating the ideals of the Ministry and UniClass.

The WhiteGear

Medium Whitegear

If there were any single thing symbolic of the Ministry as a whole, it would be the WhiteGear suits which all Ministers wear while in duty. Derived from biomechanical Architect technology augmented with modern nanotechnology, the WhiteGear is by far the most advanced armor system in known history, able to provide tremendous protection from attacks without compromising speed and flexibility to its wearer. The WhiteGear is unique in that it amplifies the Minister's strengths, using already existing abilities and multiplying them to make an already elite soldier into something of almost supernatural-seeming ability.

Although the Ministry permits no form of mystical or spiritual belief, outsiders who have had the chance to observe the profound connection between a Minister and his or her WhiteGear might think otherwise, judging by how Ministers care for their WhiteGear with almost religious-appearing fervour and obsession, as if it were literally a living, breathing thing.

Because there are so many different Ministry specialties and Ministers with different body traits, the list of different WhiteGear models is an extremely long and detailed one. However, all WhiteGear shares certain characteristics, which are described as follows:

WhiteGear covers the wearer's entire body. When not being worn, a WhiteGear suit unfolds itself in a manner similar to the bud of a mechanical flower, and sometimes left on a wall-mount made specifically for holding the suit upright so the wearer can quickly step into it. When the wearer steps into it and activates the suit, the WhiteGear automatically closes itself up over the wearer's body. However, depending on the individual Minister's physical traits, certain areas of the body - namely the ears, tail, and certain skulls - require especially complex parts which cannot simply be encased in already present plate-armor segments like the rest of the suit. After the rest of the suit has been donned, what occurs next are ribbons and filaments sprouting from the suit to wrap themselves into ballistic muscle-like fabric around the remaining body areas, then being automatically scaled or mailed over by nanomachines which seal into flexible, yet tough reactive armor which provides high levels of protection while allowing maximum flexibility. Other areas of the armor may also made up of 'smart' ballistic-reactive semifluid. Beneath the WhiteGear suit, a Minister typically wears undergarments suited for high levels of activity, and a vital signs monitoring collar.
WhiteGear comes in several different models suited for different Ministry roles. In some units, the WhiteGear alone is worn, whereas others wear a patrol coat, tabard, and/or garrison cap over the armor, as per the individual unit's orders are regarding uniforms.
WhiteGear can function in most environment while shielding the wearer from temperature extremes, including areas contaminated by chemical, biological, or nuclear agents. Breathable air is filtered in through a respiration filter on the facial mask. In the event of a complete lack of oxygen in the environment - such as the Minister finding him or herself in a vacuum or underwater situation - the WhiteGear will be able to provide at least 5 minutes of emergency oxygen. Additionally, WhiteGear is highly flame-resistant. For more extreme environmental conditions which would prove too much for the average WhiteGear suit, there are usually suits crafted specifically for those conditions and used by Ministers trained for it.
The WhiteGear's exterior adjusts itself to match the surrounding temperature, this disguising it from thermal vision spectrums. However, while the outside of the suit itself may be as ice-cold as the snow surrounding the Minister, the inside of his or her suit would remain warm enough for the wearer.
When speaking, the wearer's voice is distorted by a vocoder device in the WhiteGear's muzzle-geard/respirator array. As part of the Ministry being a military organism devoid of inidividuality, when a Minister is speaking, their words will sound nothing like their natural voice, but more like an androgynous, digitized machine voice.
A comm-radio interface is included inside the WhiteGear's helmet. This has eliminated the need for radiomen to be included on every patrol, save for those where extra broadcasting power is required due jamming or some other form of interference. When using the comm-radio, the Minister has the option of speaking into the microphone inside the mask without having their voice audible outside the suit, leaving it possible to hold communication with the rest of the Ministry without giving away one's position to nearby enemies. It should also be noted that the Ministry's encoded frequency is EXTREMELY hard for outside parties to intercept and listen to, and has only been accomplished by a few rare individuals, most of which are no longer living.
WhiteGear is biomechanical powered armor. Because of this, the suit negates its weight resistance by using the Minister's own muscle movements to guide itself into motion. An action such as lifting an arm or leg which would normally cause the wearer to feel resistance from the suit's weight instead feels as if they were wearing nothing at all, thus allowing them to move with astonishing speed, stealth, and flexibility. It is fueled in part by the wearer's own body heat, which is captured by the suit's interior and converted into viable power for the WhiteGear. Movement in the suit's joints also generates additional power during times of physical activity. For heavier WhiteGear models which cannot be powered by body heat or movement alone, additional power cells are usually installed into slots on the suit.
The goggles/viewscreen inside a WhiteGear's helmet provide multiple view spectrums as well as a HUD. Aside from normal, unfiltered visible spectrums, the goggles built in with the suit's helmet are capable of switching to infrared, thermal, standard nightvision, and other modes, some of which are spectrums only the Ministry has been able to view, as well as zoom capabilities. The HUD displays the basic readouts of the wearer and suit's status, as well as the names, ranks, and vitals of any WhiteGeared Ministers in view, and a short range compass-radar showing the relative positions of any other nearby Ministers. In order to conceal the chain of command, WhiteGear normally does not display names or ranks, but instead holds a chip which gives off a small signal that can only be picked up by other WhiteGear suits, which in turn display the Minister's information over them when they are within the field of vision of another suited Minister.
WhiteGear is resistant to EMP effects, but not immune to it. Because WhiteGear is biomechanical, it is not as vulnerable to EMP as a completely mechanical suit of powered armor would be, but certain functions such as the HUD and strength-assistance provided by electronic power would be disrupted or entirely disabled, depending on the strength of the EMP. In this case the Minister would have to reboot the suit through its restart switch and insert a fresh power cell or move the suit's joints around in order to jump-start it up again. In the event of the HUD being disrupted by an EMP attack and making it impossible to determine ranks and names within the affected unit, each Minister carries a set of snap-on rank insignias and nametags that can be hastily stuck on their armor until the HUDs can be reactivated.
WhiteGear has a vitals, visuals, and audio monitoring system and tracking device. In the rare but possible event that a Minister should somehow become separated from his or her comrades, their WhiteGear is equipped with a small tracking device which allows for the Ministry to pinpoint their location, as well as remotely monitor their heart rate and other vitals, in addition to being able to observe what he or she is hearing and/or seeing from their suit.
WhiteGear is self-repairing to an extent. Just as wounds on an organism can be often healed, the WhiteGear's biomechanical nature and its pockets of nanomachines allow for it to repair itself to a degree. While it cannot regrow entire sections of armor blown off by a powerful attack, it can repair damaged areas that are mostly intact, such as sections which have been hit by heavy rounds without fully penetrating the armor or killing the wearer.

There are three main categories of WhiteGear which all other sub-categories fall under; Light, Medium, and Heavy WhiteGear.

Light WhiteGear adds very little extra weight to the wearer and tends to have a very streamlined silhouette. While it still provides the same full-body cover as all WhiteGear, it is not as strong against high-caliber rounds or explosions as heavier WhiteGear would be, and has more limited strength-boosting characteristics, making it not as ideal for sustained ground operations with extremely heavy combat loads. Light WhiteGear is worn by Ministry pilots or other vehicle crewmen, where sleek armor unlikely to interfere with vehicle operation. It is also worn by Ministers in low-risk areas such inside the Toride, and by Ministers in extremely high stealth operations, where the WhiteGear is usually augmented with active camouflage.
Medium WhiteGear adds noticeable bulk to the wearer's silhouette, but offers much greater blade, ballistic and explosive protection, as well as greater strength-boosting in order to assist the wearer with lifting heavy gear or throwing more devastating hand-to-hand blows. This is the type of WhiteGear most commonly worn by Ministers on typical patrol duty, due to it being well suited for infantry operations. Because it is the most common form of WhiteGear, there are many different sub-categories suited for various Ministry operations, such as Medium-Light and Medium-Heavy armor, but for the sake of simplicity are kept in this general label. (See image at the top of this section for an example of Medium WhiteGear)
HeavyWhiteGear is what commonly comes to mind when one thinks of powered combat armor, adding anywhere from 15 to 40 inches to the wearer's height. These types of WhiteGear are used for heavy combat support when truly massive firepower is required without the uncombersome bulk and navigation problems that combat vehicles present, or when guarding highly sensitive areas in conjunction with Ministers in lighter forms of WhiteGear. Heavy WhiteGear has tremendous load-bearing capabilities, making it capable of plowing through obstructions or destroying vehicles by mere hand-to-hand combat. Heavy WhiteGear is typically worn by Ministers tasked with carrying extremely heavy gear or weapons which would require a vehicle or ground mount if used by non-WhiteGeared individuals, such as flak cannons, mortars, heavy machine guns, light artillery, and so forth. While it is still capable of extreme speed and agility, Heavy WhiteGear's size makes it not as ideal for tighter, confined spaces where Medium or Light WhiteGear would be more appropriate.

Basic Weapons & Equipment

Ministry hardware varies greatly depending on the duties of the individual Minister or the mission at hand, and but found here is a small list of some of the items often commonly seen being used by Ministers on the streets of Einheit City. Note that this is only a very abbreviated list of some common Ministry equipment and should not be treated as all there is, but more of a quick example to fall back on if you are ever in a situation where you need to describe Ministry weapons, and are unsure what to use.

Genetic Identification Device (GID) - (Carried by all Ministers unless noted otherwise) Vaguely resembles a taser, yet with a small digital screen on it. When its prongs make contact with another individual's exposed flesh tissue (skin, scales, etc.), a tiny needle puncture is made which takes a sample of the individual's DNA. Since all registered citizens, outer class or UniClass, are registered into the Ministry's enormous DNA registry, the GID will then display both the individual's citizen profile, as well a readout of their species, or mixture thereof. If the individual is not a registered citizen (which is a serious offense usually resulting in immediate arrest), it will list them as such, as well as a reading of their species.
K1A1 Pulse Rifle - Standard assault rifle used by the Ministry. Bullpup configuration, selective fire, fires box or drum magazine-loaded explosive 6x20mm caseless rounds, and can be mounted with an underslung 30mm grenade launcher. The rifle can fire multiple types of ammunition in the 6x20 caliber, the most common being Pen-Ex rounds, which explode a few inches after penetrating a target's flesh or armour. While not augmented with any noteworthy Architect technology like some of the Ministry's more devastating weapons, the K1A1 proved itself as a rugged, reliable killing tool in the hellish conditions of the Species Wars soon after its invention in 7 ECE, and was often smuggled to Colonial hybrid rebels who sided with Einheit City after its discovery by the Colonies. Maximum effective range is 1000 meters for point targets (this is increased with longer, scope-mounted models, and decreased with shorter close-quarters models), yet its size and rate of fire makes it just as effective in close urban combat, firing a very powerful round while utilizing a sophisicated gas-powered pulse-action system to absorb recoil and chamber rounds. Because the round's volatile propellant - a rectangular block of nitramine-7 - is able to launch the projectile at an extremely high velocity with such a small amount of propellant, K1A1 magazines have a very large round capactiy.
K303 Smart Gun - The main squad-support machine gun of the Ministry. Recoil-dampened by a sliding pulse-action system, fires selective-fuse explosive 8x30mm caseless rounds, drum magazine fed. Like the K1A1 Pulse Rifle, it has been in service since the early years of the Ministry's creation, undergoing modifications and improvements over the years as it was tested in battle. The K303 is a unique weapon, combining heavy fire superiority with agility by being mounted on a highly flexible, gyrostabilized articulation arm attached to the gunner via a clamp-harness that forms itself around the Minister's torso. The gun thus supported by its arm allows the weapon to be aimed in an almost endless variety of ways while allowing the user to similarly have several ways to position him or herself, which gave the Ministry a tremendous advantage in addition to its already skilled machine-gunners, especially when navigating complex urban terrain or trench lines. Above its barrel is a blackwave (a spectrum which so far only the Ministry has managed to make visible) pointer which emits a beam visible to the helmet-mounted eyepiece worn by the Minister when armed with the Smart Gun, which allows for marking of targets. It should be noted that when powered on, the gun arm will self-steer the gun barrel to boresight on the target; either center-mass, head, or appendages depending which option the Minister has programmed in. One should not assume the gun's aim-assistance software makes it an easy weapon to use or that it is by any means a crutch for the Ministry, for the user must be intimately receptive to the K303's movements and know when to let the weapon aim itself, or when to power it down and aim manually.
M20 Monofilament Grenade - Basic 5-second fuse grenade carried by Ministry ground troops. 10 meter kill radius, with a 25 meter casualty radius. The M20 functions like most grenades, by producing a powerful blast at the core of the kill area, with the explosion projecting shrapnel throughout the casualty radius. It should be noted however that the grenade's shrapnel consists not only of the casing, but also of hundreds of tiny, packed balls of monomolecular wire tipped at each thread's end with small bolas. Upon explopsion, the tiny monowire bolas spring open and are flung throughout the area, capable of reducing a tightly-bunched group of unarmored/lightly armored targets into piles of finely sliced flesh, or incapacitated amputees.
Saito T6 - Basic magazine-fed handgun often used as a Ministry sidearm. Fires 10mm rounds from casings filled with gel propellant, and can be fixed with a single-shot underslung 15mm gyrojet barrel, capable of being loaded with HE, incendiary, or armor-piercing gyrojet minirockets.
Shockbaton - As the name implies, a rapidly extendable/collapsable baton which delivers a high-voltage electric shock with adjustable power levels for targets of different body sizes. When collapsed, it is simply a small black cylinder.
Centauri Z9 Vibrosword - A slightly curved, nearly monomolecular-edged sword powered by a small vibration engine held inside the pommel, which sends a permanent resonance of practically unaudible shockwaves up and down the blade when activated. The vibrations result in a sword with tremendous cutting power, capable of shredding through average combat armor with a single blow, while delivering horrific damage to tissue and bone. What would normally be a shallow cut caused by a glancing blow from a normal sword would be a massive, gaping bite of flesh taken out of the cut area when the same blow is delivered by the Z9. Although it is not as devastating as chainswords, which are also used by certain Ministry personnel, the Z9 is much lighter and almost silent, its vibrations only audible as a quiet, metallic ring when the blade is drawn close to an individual's face. Vibroswords are commonly carried by Ministers equipped with kinetic energy shields, due to firearms being impossible to use inside a body force field.
"Forseti" Coil Rifle - The Forseti Rifle is an immensely powerful scoped multistage Gauss rifle which uses electromagnetic current to launch a 7mm slug at tremendous velocities capable of disabling armored vehicles, and reducing enemy flesh targets to splatters of gore. Due to its almost perfectly flat trajectory, the Forseti is ideal for super long-range, high-penetration, pinoint-accurate strikes where hiding the Minister's position is ideal. Although laser weapons or high-caliber chemical-propellant rifles are often used in the same roles, the Forseti's advantage is that it leaves no telltale beam trail or muzzle flash which could give away the Minister's firing position. Its main drawback is its size and weight, but even then, the average Minister is more than capable of wielding heavy weapons such as the Forseti, making this only a minor problem at worst. This weapon is usually carried by Ministers assigned with a designated marksman positio in their squad, often being positioned on rooftops or riding passenger on patrol aerodynes.
"Hachiman" IFA (Infantry Fighting Aero) - The Ministry's primary medium-armored fighting aerodyne, crafted for rapidly transporting small squad-sized elements and providing a full sphere of fire support. Roughly 4m wide (not counting its winglets and gyropods), 7.5m long, and 3.5m tall, with room for a 3 man crew plus 9 Ministers bearing full combat loads. Propulsion is provided by a VK8 Gyrothrust inertia-drive engine, with stability assists and speed boosters from jet thrusters, in a manner similar to most aerodynes. Armaments vary depending on the specific Hachiman model, but the average on-board weapon systems consist of a nose-mounted dual-barrel light plasma turret, three retractable miniguns (roof-hatch, right and left sides), and an array of countermeasures. However, these weapons can be easily removed and replaced with a wide range of other weapons, including gauss guns, laser systems, recoilless rifles, and so on. Originally the Hachiman was developed as a rapid insertion and extraction aerodyne during the Species Wars, capable of moving troops and light equipment to cramped urban areas or treacherous Nightlands terrain with little landing space. In the present age the Hachiman's mission is still theoretically the same, though more commonly it is used as the Ministry's main patrol vehicle, usually seen flying at a low speeds through the city's endless tangles of bridges and skyscrapers, and over the streets. If fuel needs to be especially conserved, the Hachiman can convert to hover mode, where it behaves essentially as any other hoverdyne requiring a liquid or solid surface beneath it in order to navigate. Or if power loss occurs while airborne, the Hachiman automatically blossoms a set of heavy parachutes which allow it to make an emergency landing.

Rank Structure

In order to conceal the chain of command, WhiteGear normally does not display names or rank insignias visible to the naked eye, but instead holds an embedded chip which gives off a small signal that can only be picked up by other Ministry visual systems, which in turn display the Minister's information over their body on a HUD when they are within the field of vision of another WhiteGeared Minister. However, in the event of a strong EMP blast or some other electrical disruption which would complicate HUD usage, all WhiteGeared Ministers carry an extra set of physical name and rank tags which can be quickly clipped onto their armor.

Enlisted Ranks, from highest to lowest:

MASTER SERGEANT - Three black & red V-shaped chevrons, three crests over the top, red flame in the center.
GUNNERY SERGEANT - Three black & red V-shaped chevrons, one crest over the top, red flame in the center.
STAFF SERGEANT - Three black & red V-shaped chevrons, red flame in the center, one rocker below.
SERGEANT - Three black & red V-shaped chevrons, red flame in the center.
SENIOR MINISTER - Two black & red V-shaped chevrons, red flame in the center.
MINISTER FIRST CLASS - One black & red V-shaped chevron, red flame in the center.
MINISTER BASIC - One black & red V-shaped chevron.

Commissioned Officer Ranks, from highest to lowest:

GENERAL - Red five-point star encased in a gear with two silver wings.
COLONEL - Red five-point star encased in a gear.
MAJOR - Red leaf.
CAPTAIN - Red fasci symbol.
1st LIEUTENANT - Silver bar.
2nd LIEUTENANT - Gold bar.

Departments Of The Ministry

The Ministry is a complex organization, hence not every single one of its sub-organizations can be easily categorized, but most of them fall somewhere under the categories listed here. As always, if you have questions, please feel more than welcome to contact the City of Unity staff.

Intel Division - Handles the vast amounts of surveillance, information deciphering, interrogations, and general intelligence activities of the Ministry. While the Intel Div functions like most other intelligence agencies throughout known histories, Intel Ministers are known to have unusual obsessions for hoarding information, down to very minute, seemingly irrelevant or almost invisible details. Interaction with Intel Ministers can be very difficult, due to their conditioning which requires their minds to function in a nearly machinelike, almost alien manner in order to quickly process the massive flow of information fed into their minds, constantly making calculations and speaking in highly abbreviated, monotone speech. It should also be noted that the Intelligence Division has almost immeasurably large archives of recorded surveillance footage from the millions of overt and covert cameras and microphones planted throughout the city. Little is known about the purpose behind this, though the Intelligence Division regularly reviews these archives of seemingly empty footage, as if searching them for hidden patterns.
Truth Preservation Bureau - Searches out and incinerates art, literature, film, music, and any other media which has been blacklisted by the Ministry for its content. Truth Preservation Bureau Ministers undergo extremely lengthy training to become intimately familiar with the arts and media, its affect on the audiences' mind, especially when it holds a message or content contrary to Unity, and how to locate such material. Ministers in this bureau are able to recite the entire texts of outlawed books and speak about banned films, music and artworks with the intensity and passion of a professional critic, and then incinerate them - along with their owners - a moment later. Truth Preservation Bureau Ministers normally wear Light WhiteGear, along with long white fireproof trenchcoats over it, service caps with the TPB's crossed-torches insignia, and are typically armed with a flamethrower and Saito T6 pistol. It is also known that the Truth Preservation Bureau possesses a vast library of banned media from Einheit City and even the Colonies, though the facility's security clearance is one of the tightest outside the Heart Machine. Truth Preservation Ministers are sometimes informally referred to as "Firemen".
Machine Hunters Brigade - One of the smallest departments of the Ministry. Because the Ministry banned the existence of self-aware/advanced AI in Einheit City several years ago, this brigade exists for the sole purpose of searching and destroying out androids, self-aware AI, or other intelligent thinking/feeling machines which occasionally appear, as well as their creators. Most of the aforementioned androids or artificial beings are the results of rogue outer class scientists, or were left over from Frey's time when such creations were freely permitted. Machine Hunters may also work closely with the Undercover Ops division, sometimes conducting more sensitive missions in plain civilian clothes.
Undercover Ops - Conducts the Ministry's clandestine operations among the civilian populace, both UniClass and Outer Class, inserting the Ministry's eyes and ears into those delicate places where an AirCam or suit of WhiteGear would botch a mission. Undercover Ops Ministers are the only Ministers who, for obvious reasons, do not wear WhiteGear while on duty. Ministers in this are chillingly efficient masters of manipulation and deception, and during the Species Wars managed to infiltrate extremely high positions in the Colonies. Ministers in field assigned to the Midcity or Undercity are usually hybrids who resemble purebred races, and then are given extensive cosmetic surgery and trained on how to hide their DNA in order to be entirely indistinguishable from the species they are meant to blend in with. It is suspected by most of the city's dissidents that the Undercover Ops department is responsible for the assassinations and murders of certain undesirable individuals, both purebred and hybrid, in order to make it appear to the public as acts of purebred violence. Additional theories have appeared claiming that the Ministry's Undercover Ops are to also to blame for manipulating various purebred groups into fighting one another, thus helping to keep the outer class too divided to threaten the Ministry's dominance.
Cyber Ops - Einheit City is home to a vast, tangling web of electronic information, and with it, a considerable threat from hackers and digital terrorists. The CyberOps division is tasked with guarding UniClass networks from malignant activity, as well as searching out and eliminating rebels using the city's dataweb for dissident activity. CyberOps Ministers work closely with the Intelligence Division and share many of their duties as far as surveillance is concerned, and could almost be considered the same department if it weren't for the slightly different specialties. Like Intel Ministers, CyberOps Ministers develop an almost alien obsession to detail, their minds becoming more like organic supercomputers due to being required to monitor tremendous amounts of information in such short periods of time. Unlike many of the Colonial militaries or police forces which had similar cyber-units, the Ministry's Cyber Ops rarely, if ever, have any actual cybernetic modification implanted into their bodies, instead interfacing with the data before them through natural sensory observation which, thanks to their training, is as good as it would be even with cybermods.
Armor Korps - Encompasses most of the Ministers who specialize in the use of armored combat vehicles, be it a tracked terradyne tank, a hoverdyne APC, or mechanized panzer-suit. Ministers in this field work closely with the Legion and other ground troops, often being the ones tasked with setting up roadblocks, checkpoints, and providing motor transport and heavy fire support for street-level patrols. Armor Korps Ministers typically wear Light WhiteGear, due to their vehicle operation requiring as much freedom of movement as possible.
Ministry Legion - The backbone infantry and light-mechanized troops of the Ministry. These are the most numerous Ministers, though should by no means be means be considered expendable foot-soldiers, as even a small fireteam-sized element of Legionnaires would normally be capable of wiping out several times that number in enemy troops during the Species Wars. Even though they make up the largest arm of the Ministry, the Legion is still tiny compared to many of the Colonial military branches it faced during the Species War and dealt catastrophic defeats to, in spite of the odds. Ministry Legionnaires cover a wide range of different specialties, including but not limited to: rifleman, combat engineer, machine gunner, mortarman, anti-armor specialist, chemical warfare specialist, demolitions expert, bladesman, laser gunner, scout-sniper, and so forth. The Legion has the widest range of WhiteGear in use out of all the departments, due to having to fulfill numerous roles which call upon different levels of armor for various tasks.
Aeronautical Division - Encompasses everything relating to the Ministry aerial operations, be it the light patrol aerodynes seen rapidly zooming between MidCity skyscrapers, to long-range stratobombers, to the sky-devouringly large, gun-turreted skyships constantly hanging over Einheit City. If it goes higher than a dozen meters off the ground, chances are it's part of the AeroDiv. The AeroDiv's main duty in Einheit City is to serve as transport and aerial cover for ground troops, often dropping off Ministry Legionnaires, Marines, and/or vehicles to a location, then circling overhead to provide observation and fire coverage until the operation is complete. Similar to Colonial armadas of the past, the Ministry Aeronautics Division - though technically an air force - employs naval-styled tactics when its large skyships are brought into the equation.
- Pilot Elite - A very, very small, extremely selective section of the AeroDiv which is handles the Ministry's most demanding airborne operations, such as dropship piloting, flying specialized fighter craft, and controlling skyships. Because some of the Ministry's more advanced aircraft are heavily augmented with Architect technology, much of their workings are beyond the mental and physical capabilities of the average military pilot. The Ministry solved this problem with the creation of the Pilot Elite soon after Einheit City's entry into the Species Wars, utilizing highly secretive, and possibly unethical training methods which would have been unquestionably illegal during Dr. Frey's time. Pilot Elites are capable of conducting aerial maneuvers and controlling craft which would be utterly impossible for conventional military pilots, or at the very least result in permanent mental/physical trauma to those attempting the same feats. Pilot Elites are also given some of the Ministry's highest levels of survival training in the event of surviving a crash-landing in hostile territory, and are capable of conducting combat with horrifying efficiency. On a final note, due to the nature of Pilot Elite training, many of these Ministers exhibit a noticeable streak of aloof, enigmatic behaviour, possibly a side-effect of their almost machinelike levels of thinking. All Pilot Elite are commissioned officers.
Marine Korps - A very small, elite section of the Ministry which was more numerous during the Species Wars when massive skyship-to-skyship battles and stratosphere drops were common, serving as the Ministry's expeditionary force of rapidly deployable shock troops. Marine units usually take the form of small platoons stationed on Aeronautic Division skyships. Ministry Marines are particularly specialized for combat in extremely high altitude/unstable gravity conditions, cramped quarters, and atmospheric drops. Often times they are armed with the more deliberately cruel weapons of the Ministry, such as black-napalm flamethrowers, atmosphere-deprivation devices, chainswords, chemical weapons, flechette cannons, and other similar devices ideal for shock warfare. The Marine Korps' duties often overlap with the Legion's in recent years, and given the lack of ship-to-ship combat as there was in the Species Wars, and an increasing issues with Ministry Marines adjusting to cityside duty and low-intensity warfare, there has been some speculation that the branch may soon be disbanded. It should be noted that hybrids who later on became Ministry Marines were Species Wars orphans raised in the Toride's military academy, then recruited into the Ministry at an earlier age than the average enlistment.
Civil Support Bureau - Although employed by the Ministry, the individuals in this section are not Ministers, but are instead UniClass civilians who in some way or other work with the Ministry, whether it's as office clerks, hospital staff, mathematicians, social theorists, researchers, archivalists, propaganda engineers, public relations experts, or sometimes politicians from the Kadesh administration. Usually these individuals have no authority over actual Ministers, instead serving as assistants or advisors depending on their particular task, and supporting jobs which allow actual Ministers to focus upon more military-related matters.
The High Ministry Council - The command department of the Ministry, and by far the most secretive and little-known. To UniClass civilians, the High Ministry's existence is largely unknown, due to efficient media blackouts, historical records, or the rest of the Ministry never directly acknowledging its existence. Most of the outer class knows similarly little about the High Ministry, though in the scattered networks of conspiracy theorists and dissidents, rumours and the occasional footage taken by rogue journalists have surfaced, forming a vague, grim collage of the Ministry's commanding council and most horrifyingly powerful personnel.
What information exists about the High Ministry is generally limited to the rest of the Ministry regulars who encompass every other department, and the Ministry guards what little it knows about its enigmatic benefactors. The High Ministry is thought to be headquartered somewhere in the Toride's apex - the most heavily guarded and top-secret Ministry facility of all, for it is there where the massive Heart Machine is housed. Even then, only a tiny number of Ministry regulars have ever been given clearance by the High Ministry to enter this area. It is for this reason that no known footage of the Heart Machine has ever surfaced.

High Ministers are almost never seen, even by the rest of the Ministry, thus practically leaving the regular Ministry commanders in charge... Save for when the High Ministry does decide to make one of its rare appearances. When and if the High Ministry decides to become directly involved with the world outside, it is only in the form of one High Minister at a time, and one High Minister is all it ever takes to accomplish whatever needs resolution. Still, this is extremely rare simply because the regular Ministry is efficient enough as it is. But there are those rare times where, for whatever reason, the Ministry is unable to solve the problem at hand, and that is where the High Ministry comes in.

Just as they hold godlike say over government affairs, the physical and possibly paraphysical abilities of High Ministers are similarly powerful. Those who've ever witnessed a High Minister in action claim that they can predict bullets before they're fired, that they can fold shadow and defy physics. Most evidence suggests they may be augmented with Architect Age technology of some kind; devices capable of creating fields of pseudo-reality or chaos pockets which allows a High Minister to bend physics to their will, which is the explanation accepted by the Ministry, though there is an abundance of more mystical theories among the few purebreds who've ever witnessed the High Ministry and lived to tell about it.

It is a noteworthy event that even a regularMinister would even see a High Minister. But it is possible to visually identify High Ministers, from the few times they have ever been encountered. Unlike all other Ministry personnel which wear white, High Ministers are entirely black, both bodily and in clothing, their faces never visible, always seeming concealed by permanent shadow, as if they were inky silhouettes. The only weaponry High Ministers are known to carry is a single katana, nothing more, nothing less.

There have been a few incidents where a group or individual proved themselves to be enough of a threat to Unity to warrant the attention of the High Ministry. In each case, the presence of only a single High Minister was ever required to completely eradicate each threat in question, no matter how well-armed, cunning or numerous the threat may have been.

Should one be unfortunate enough to be sought after by the High Ministry, the only hope is to run. To turn and face a High Minister, for all practical purposes, is suicide.