The Agency is an international peacekeeping organisation that serves as the protagonist faction in the Crackdown series. Enhanced with the latest technological advancements, they play a key role in the Agents involvement as well as providing support in the form of vehicles, weaponry and manpower.
Background[]
Origins[]
The Agency is supposedly the culmination of every law enforcement agency in the world, in response to growing concerns with the rise of global crime rates. As a result, they began developing effective countermeasures and would put them to the test after taking over Pacific City. Its central island, formally a bustling hotel, became their headquarters known as The Keep.
Three of the worst criminal overlords took over vast territories of the bustling floating metropolis; each taking an individual island to cast their influence over. With three gangs loose in the city, the Agency released the Agents; Their objective: to rid the city of crime. Created using the disgraced work of Dr. Balthazar Czernenko, the Agents became The Agency's final, desperate attempt, to win back Pacific City from the criminals they let loose.
Once all the gangs of Pacific City are defeated, the director officially congratulates the Agent for their efforts. He then reveals that the Agency supplied Los Muertos, turned a blind eye to the Volks illicit activities and were Shai-Gens top supporter. He then reveals his plans of world domination through a New World Order, proclaiming that Pacific City was only the beginning.
Freak Epidemic[]
Ten years later, after the first generation of Agents finally extinguished all criminal elements in the city, a plague created by the dangerous Freak Virus, ravaged Pacific City. It is a man-made plague designed to transform anyone infected into a deadly mutant. Unchained from their unknown origins, minor outbreaks of the virus quickly turned into a city-wide pandemic, causing panic and disarray amongst the uninfected, and the first generation Agents weren't enough to stop the initial outbreak.
In response, Catalina Thorne convinced the common people to rally against the Agency, claiming that they were the ones who started the pandemic, forming the Cell. Gathering what remained of the former gangs' weapons, vehicles and members, Thorne began a long urban war, resulting in the Cell taking over large parts of Pacific City. Worse, Thorne had also botched the Agency's laboratories and turned its Agents into Freaks. Once again, the Agency was driven back into The Keep. Left with few options, the Agency were forced back to the drawing board. The plan was announced: conceive a new generation of Agents, trained to counter both the rising insurgency and the virus. This new breed would serve as the new frontier for the Agency to reclaim the city from the Freaks and the Cell, at all costs.
To combat both the Freaks and the Cell, the Agency unveiled Project Sunburst, in which a large bomb of direct sunlight is planted and detonated inside "Freak" lairs. Thorne and the Cell attempted to prevent its activation but was beaten back by a newly-created Agent. It was later found out based on audio logs that the Agency planned everything to frame Thorne and be given access to the creation of a new super weapon.[1]
New Providence[]
By the third installment, the Agency is faced with competition against a powerful megacorporation known as TerraNova Incorporated, led by Elizabeth Niemand. Their rivalry turned into open warfare when TerraNova created a widespread series blackouts that affected the globe, forcing the Agency to launch an incursion to TerraNova territory: the city of New Providence.
Due to the advanced technology of TerraNova, the Agency and its Agents are forced to ally with a rebel group known as The Militia. Slowly, both the Agency and the Militia took massive swaths of areas previously controlled by TerraNova, though with stiff resistance from the latter. The war ended in defeat for TerraNova, the destruction of their pwoerful Chimera technology, and the death of Elizabeth Niemand.
Motives[]
The Agency showcased elements akin to that of many real-world totalitarian governments, utilizing many underhand tactics and strategies such as black propaganda, sabotage, false flag operations, and total control of mass media to project themselves as an altruistic-peacekeeping organization. Although seemingly a non-government group, the Agency has the approval and collaboration of many national governments across the globe. The ideology of the Agency is never revealed in the series, though they seem to desire to make the world a police state. Additionally, like real world dictatorships, the Agency accumulated enemies in the form of terrorists and rebels, most notably the Cell.
Besides their political savviness, the Agency also took over the globe through its extensive use of high-tech science, being responsible for the creation of the Agents, their weapons, as well as Project Sunburst. The organization has also mastered the art of secrecy, with only the Agency Director conducting most of its public appearances and conferences. That being said, it is not a strong solid group, and throughout its history the Agency has faced internal threats, including Catalina Thorne and the whistleblower. It can also be assumed that the Agency isn't fond of capitalist corpotocracies, probably due to their potential of reaching the same influence of the Agency, such as TerraNova Incorporated.
Leaders[]
Director[]
- Charles Goodwin - Charles Goodwin, also known as the Agency Director who also referred to himself as the "Voice of the Agency" is an enigmatic man who runs the Agency, and the true main antagonist of the Crackdown series.
Commander Jaxon[]
- Commander Jaxon - Jaxon is a high ranking Agent who before joining the Agency, Originally worked for the Navy SEALS (based on the real life Navy Seals). He successfully did a good job in the Navy and succeeded through many Spec Ops, after his days in the SEALS he took his career further by working with the worldwide Military Law Enforcement. Originally founded by the Agencies biggest rivals at the time, the Shai-Gen Corporation.
Units[]
- Peacekeepers - Basic law enforcement officers that brandish whitened-blackened uniforms, and patrol the city whilst guarding Agency sectors.
- Dropsquads - Squadrons of helicopter-dropped peacekeepers that brandish blackened uniforms, and protect properties that agents secure.
- Agents - Genetically modified superhumans that brandish uniforms of any color blue, black, or white spectrum. This unit is responsible for seizing/procuring valuable assets for the Agency.
Allies[]
- Echo - Member of the Militia and an ally during the Agency's invasion of New Providence.