Unified Nations Intelligence Operations

Organisation History
Shortly after the formation of the Unified Nations in the wake of the Founder Invasion of 1947, it was decided that a unified government required a similarly unified peacekeeping organisation to safeguard humanity from a variety of extraordinary threats.

A collaboration between the various branches of military operations from countries around the world, Unified Nations Intelligence Operations or UNION for short is a global taskforce responsible for maintaining peace across the planet. In terms of hierarchy, the organisation is on equal footing with the Unified Nations, operates with an almost unlimited budget and is answerable only to the current UN President.

The first person to become Director of UNION was a French war hero named Albert Henry, a close comrade of the first UN President Alexander Gilbert from their days in the French and British armies respectively. Henry was responsible for establishing the organisation's structure, including the creation of a range of divisions with particular specialties, and staffing these with agents he knew personally and trusted. As such, he took a fairly 'hands-off' approach to his role as Director, preferring to have regular meetings with his division heads to get a broad overview of the organisation's operations rather than going too in-depth in any particular area.

Some early victories for the organisation included funding the operations of the team of ace scientists who would become the universe-travelling heroes known as The Futurists, dismantling a large criminal and terrorist organisation named The Merciful Hand, and launching a sub-orbital outer space monitoring facility named Outlook Station.

However, the organisation was struck a heavy blow in the mid-1960s when their involvement in a series of operations against Kymeria, a hostile rogue country which had refused to join the Unified Nations upon its formation, resulted in the deaths of two high-profile enhanced combatants and the destruction of the entire country at the hands of a third. UNION came under intense scrutiny in the aftermath of the events which came to be known as the Siege of Kymeria, and Director Henry was forced to step down.

His replacement, Director Marcus Cage, was a young and ambitious former soldier who brought a very different set of initiatives to the organisation. Dedicated to using the resources available to him, he established The Union, a government-funded and supported superhero team consisting of enhanced humans from many countries around the world, who would be the first line of defense against extraordinary threats. Cage also took a far more hands-on approach than his predecessor, preferring to have a granular knowledge of the operations of his organisation.

While Cage is a far more vocal advocate of the superhuman community than Henry ever was, he maintains a quiet skepticism of them and has devoted a pool of resources and funding towards developing defense mechanisms that do not rely on superhuman involvement. Chief among these is the Homeland Agency for Defence Against Enhanced Subjects or HADES for short, an off the books operation which is primarily concerned with developing strategies for defending against various high-profile superhumans.

However, following a scandal involving HADES in which an experimental artificial intelligence known as Cortex went rogue, killing a number of UNION scientists and enacting a doomsday plan against the world's superhumans, Cage was forced to shutter HADES and dissolve all ongoing projects. He also privately admitted that he had allowed certain operations within UNION to get out of hand, and announced his intention to rebuild the organisation from the ground up.

Since 2015, this restructuring has been ongoing, starting with the closure of HADES and moving through each division of the organisation, in an effort to make it a more effective peacekeeping entity, dedicated to protecting humans and superhumans alike.

Organisation Structure
UNION is split into a number of divisions each with their own specialty and Division Head, who report in to the Director. Some of these divisions also have sub-divisions focused on smaller areas, although there have been attempts recently to prevent the number of these sub-divisions from spiraling out of control, allowing for a more efficient structure.

UNION-S
Main article: UNION-S

UNION-S is primarily concerned with outer space operations. Their primary facility is Outlook Station, a sub-orbital research and exploration platform from which a number of operations are undertaken. Over the years the station has become larger and gained significant resources including a small fleet of outer space exploration and defense vehicles, and they act as the first line of defense against threats from the stars.

The current Division Head for UNION-S is Beacon, an alien of the Certa race and former superhero who now oversees all deep-space operations carried out by the organisation.

UNION-M
Main article: UNION-M

UNION-M is responsible for monitoring all magical activity and creatures across the Earth and all associated realms, including the World Under All, The Axiom and The Great Subconscious. UNION-M work closely with the Merlinine Council and were responsible for establishing the global magical headquarters known as The Enclave.

UNION-M's Division Head is Ciara Corrigan, a powerful sorcerer in her own right who coordinates all monitoring and defensive operations which involve magic in any capacity.

UNION-D
Main article: UNION-D

While UNION-M monitors other magical realms, UNION-D is responsible for analysis of other dimensions, and are primarily concerned with monitoring parallel universes to prevent the possibility of interdimensional incursions. The division primarily operates out of a top secret facility called The Window from which they are able to view activities from other realms and dimensions.

The Division Head for UNION-D is Eko Ekwensi, who also goes by the codename Fact as he exists as a constant across every parallel universe and his life may be tied into very the fabric of reality.

UNION-E
Main article: UNION-E

Focused on the study and monitoring of enhanced humans across the world, UNION-E is by far the biggest division of UNION. They have teams responsible for liaising with different superhero teams across the planet, research teams trying to unlock the genetic secrets of enhanced humans and development groups dedicated to creating new enhancements for government-sponsored superhumans. As the biggest division, UNION-E take up several floors of The Union Building as their headquarters, with a presence across most other UNION facilities as well.

UNION-E also has two division heads, a human and an enhanced human positioned to ensure balance and fair treatment of both groups. The human agent is Ilsa Berenstein, a German woman who has previously worked in public relations roles on behalf of the military; and the enhanced human is Garrison Caine, the son of former UNION operative Harry Caine who inherited his father's 'luck' powers and also operates under the codename Fortuna.

HADES
Main article: HADES

The Homeland Agency for Defense Against Enhanced Subjects, or HADES for short is a deep-black division of UNION which has been tasked by Director Cage with researching and developing strategies to combat superhuman threats, including tactics to subdue the world's greatest heroes in the event that they turn rogue. The biggest project the division worked on before they went public in 2009 was Project Valhalla, a thought experiment to develop methods of incapacitating Vanquisher if she were ever to turn on humanity. However, after a series of morally grey actions undertaken by the division, they were officially shuttered by Director Cage in 2015 and their ongoing projects were dissolved.

Until 2015 the Division Head of HADES was Professor Soren Magnussen, a genius scientist and humanist who believed that humanity was the dominant species on Earth and dedicated himself to proving it. He had also managed to extend his own lifespan considerably, and was operating as far back as the 1930s.

Cerberus Units
Main article: Cerberus Units

Against protocol, Professor Soren Magnussen of HADES had endorsed the recruitment, training and arming of a tactical strike force composed of a number of highly trained soldiers arranged into Cerberus Units. Each unit consists of three specialists, all of whom are psychically linked to the other members of their unit to allow them to operate at peak efficiency and coordination. They are also armed with state of the art weaponry including Nullifiers, weapons which are designed to nullify the abilities of superhumans.

The head of Cerberus is Major Arnim Deschain, a battle hardened veteran who harbours a particular dislike for the superhuman community.

UNION Tactical Response Force
Main article: UNION Tactical Response Force

The UNION Tactical Response Force, colloquially known as the Unifiers, is the military wing of UNION responsible for recruitment, training and deploying of specially trained soldiers for a range of peacekeeping missions across the globe. At least one squad of Unifiers is based at each UNION facility, with the central command station located in the Union Building in Union City, responsible for coordinating all Unifier activity around the world.

The command position within the UNION Tactical Response Force is currently held by Major Karrin Polastri, a veteran soldier and expert strategist.

The Union
Main article: The Union

One of Director Marcus Cage's first actions when he took his position was to create a UNION-sponsored superhero team with the intention of establishing some modicum of control over the superhuman community. Where teams like The Superior Squad and The Ascendancy often worked closely with UNION in peacekeeping missions, they were not accountable to the organisation and were free to disregard suggestions or orders from UNION officials.

As such, Cage formed The Union, a team of superhumans representing many of the various nations of the UN, who were funded and supported by UNION but operated as one of their divisions, and were required to follow orders. Each member of the Union was given a new codename upon joining the team, and each is named after a deity from their individual country or culture.

During the period of tension between UNION and the superhuman community regarding the existence and activities of HADES, the Union disbanded and many of its members joined other superhero teams around the world. However, the formation of a new incarnation of the Union is one of Cage's top priorities in rebuilding UNION from the ground up.

Facilities
Main article: UNION Facilities

As a global peacekeeping taskforce, UNION operates many sites and facilities around the world for a variety of different purposes. These include:
 * The Union Building - A vast skyscraper located in Union City which serves as the organisation's main headquarters.
 * The Nexus - Orbital headquarters of the Ascendancy, built in cooperation with UNION.
 * The Vault - A maximum security penitentiary built to hold the most dangerous criminals in the world.
 * The Hub - A haven for scientists and the official headquarters of The Futurists.
 * The Enclave - A meeting place for magic users from all walks of life.
 * The Window - An inter-dimensional viewing platform staffed by agents from UNION-M and UNION-D.

Strategic Partnerships
UNION maintains a number of strategic partnerships with non-governmental organisations around the world, which they use for weapons and technology development, research and data analysis and recruitment.

MacOne Enterprises
Main article: MacOne Enterprises

The longest-standing partnership between UNION and an independent organisation is the agreement with MacOne Enterprises, which was established in the early days of UNION, when Gregory MacTaggart won the contract to supply UNION with state of the art technology and armaments. This partnership has continued since the early 1950s, until it was dissolved by Jacob MacTaggart in 2010 due to UNION's complicity in the disappearance of two heroes who had been investigating the activities carried out by HADES.

In the aftermath of the Cortex Crisis, with Director Cage's explicit agreement to rebuild UNION with greater transparency, the partnership was reformed, albeit with greater safeguards on the part of MacOne Enterprises.

Geist Industries
Main article: Geist Industries

A frequent competitor of MacOne Enterprises, Geist Industries made frequent attempts to win the UNION contract away in the early days of the organisation, however their possible association with unethical business and scientific practices meant that Geist was always the less attractive of the two options.

When HADES was formed in the late 1960s, it proved to be a key moment for Geist Industries as they signed an agreement with the deep-black division separate to the overarching UNION contract, and began supplying technology and equipment exclusively to HADES. When MacOne Enterprises dissolved their partnership with UNION in 2010, the contract for the whole organisation was immediately handed over to Geist, and they quickly took over the supplying role for a number of projects.

However, after the truth about both HADES and Geist Industries came out in the aftermath of the Cortex Crisis, this partnership was dissolved and all Geist Industries technology was removed from UNION facilities and destroyed, also causing a huge plummet in Geist's stock prices.

Global Emergence Initiative
Main article: Global Emergence Initiative

Unlike the transactional relationships UNION has held with MacOne Enterprises and Geist Industries in the past, their relationship with the Global Emergence Initiative (GEI) has been more charitable, supplying funds and facilities for the non-profit organisation to run their vital operations in helping young people struggling with the emergence of their own superhuman abilities.

There is an ulterior motive and strategy behind this on UNION's part, with certain factions of the organisation intending to use this partnership to recruit a new generation of superhumans into their various initiatives.

Forerunner Foundation
Main article: Forerunner Foundation

In the aftermath of the Founder Invasion in 1947 the alien superhero Beacon identified the existence of Founder sleeper agents who had been deployed around the world as the seeds of a second invasion. Primarily young people, these genetically modified Certa were hidden in families across the globe, ready to be activated at such a time as the Certa wished to mount a second invasion attempt.

Beacon dedicated much of his free time to tracking down these young people and offering them his counsel in an effort to ensure that they were able to fight back against their genetic programming if they so chose. In the late 1960s after the Superior Squad disbanded, Beacon dedicated himself to this cause full time and established the Forerunner Foundation to help these sleepers around the world.

UNION quickly formed a close working relationship with the Forerunner Foundation, providing resources and support to the organisation in exchange for Beacon working with UNION-S in an advisory capacity. When the head of UNION-S died in the early 1980s, Beacon took his position on what was supposed to be a temporary basis, however nearly 40 years later he is still in post.