01 / Organizations
The institution behind the uniform
The current faction record defines Cortex as strongly authoritarian and strongly opposed to supernaturals. It is also strongly corrupt. Its activities include influence through patronage and coercion alongside enforcing its authority and controlling supernatural members.
A Cortex character need not be a front-line soldier. The record explicitly includes officials and brokers as well as investigators and researchers. There is no general combat-focus or arcane-focus requirement for membership.
02 / Organizations
Membership does not mean equality
Supernatural people can belong to Cortex without being treated as equals. Strong anti-supernatural faction policy allows natural members to use faction chip control to track or incapacitate supernatural members. Corruption has a separate tier-related control rule.
Civil Servants are automatically assigned to Cortex and cannot remove that membership through ordinary faction commands. The Academy's Civic Educators serve its political project. Neither role should be described as an independent neutral institution.
03 / Organizations
Power in the street
Cortex has coded responses to public violence and public alarms. Those responses have different outcomes. Public-defense squads subdue the original attacker. Alarm arrests can lead to syndicate auction. A State of Emergency or an active dissent room can suspend particular responses.
Losing an eligible off-world operation to an NPC antagonist can also create a breach in Gravesend. The institution that promises containment can therefore become the route by which a new threat reaches the town.
04 / Organizations
Opposition and history
The current faction history says Cortex destroyed the Order. The Order is not an available third major faction. Scum opposes Cortex through democratic organization while accepting corrupt means of its own. Cortex permanently opposes all higher powers.
Propaganda on the website speaks in the institution's voice. These help pages describe the setting and rules rather than treating those claims as an objective moral endorsement.
Source notes c5dfe60
Repository edition reviewed 2026-09-19. The running game may differ.