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Organization Bio’s: The Philosopher’s, Cipher and the Patriots

MGS4 &MGSV: The Official Guide

Organization Bio’s

Transcription under the cut by: Nate

Below this is a subheading in the far-left corner titled: The Philosophers.

The Philosophers was a committee formed in the early 1900s by preeminent figures from the three nations that would dominate the century ahead: the United States, Russia and China. This secret organization amassed and carefully invested a colossal sum of funds, the Philosophers’ Legacy, which was originally dedicated to a broad ideal of ensuring world peace. With the death of its founders, however, this noble aim was forgotten as their successors fought to gain sole control of the Legacy’s near-inexhaustible riches.

In the aftermath of the Second World War, Yevgeny Borisovitch Volgin, an ambitious and successful colonel in the Soviet Army, inherited sole access to the Philosophers’ Legacy from his father. He uses these funds to personally bankroll a range of (primarily military-focused) projects, including the creation of the Shagohod weapon, which he planned to use to win the Cold War and seize power within the Soviet regime. United States intelligence agencies devised a complex ploy to retrieve the Philosophers’ Legacy from Volgin’s clutches: the 1964 Snake Eater operation that led to the death of The Boss and the disenchantment (and, in time, effective secession) of Big Boss.

Though the Philosopher’s Legacy ten technically passed into the possession of the United States, effective control of half its boundless currency was actually the sole preserve of a secret organization founded in 1970 by a group led by Major Zero, Big Boss and Ocelot: Cipher.

At the mid-top of the page there is a heading that reads:

Cipher & The Patriots

The text reads:

A clandestine organization founded in 1970 by Major Zero, Big Boss, Ocelot and three other protagonists, Cipher can be regarded as the direct successor of The Philosophers. The committee members (led by Zero) originally intended to act on the teachings of The Boss, who had given her life to serve her country’s interests. However, an initial desire to protect the United States soon turned into an attempt to impose its social, political and economic mores on other nations; a belief that standardization, a global uniformity of culture emulating the American model, was the means by which the organization might unify the world.

Bankrolled by the practically inexhaustible funds of The Philosophers’ Legacy, Cipher increased its influence in world affairs by varied means, encompassing methods as varied as investments, lobbying, espionage, and corruption. In time, entire governments and corporations would effectively (and often unwittingly) fulfill the organization’s every bidding. The role of Big Boss, elevated to the status of a global hero though media manipulation, was to help shape the opinions of the social elite and common citizens alike.

Noting Big Boss’s growing disenchantment with Cipher as a concept, however, Zero initiated the “Les Enfants Terribles” project to create clones of his valuable but volatile ally as an insurance policy, which later led to the births of Solid Snake, Liquid Snake and Solidus Snake. His discovery of this betrayal led Big Boss to finally leave Cipher in pursuit of very different ideals. This marked the beginning of a conflict that would span decades.

Below this is an image in black-and-white that is slightly sepia toned. It is grainy in texture and shows four members of the original Cipher. From left to right:

Big Boss, Para-Medic (Dr. Clark), Major Zero and Donald Anderson (Sigint)

The faces are blurry in the photograph save for Major Zeros. His face is the most in focus. He is also slightly ahead of the three other individuals in the photo, signalling him as the main subject of the picture.

Below the picture, the text continues.

The continuing text reads:

Operating with complete authority over the organization by 1972, Zero deployed Cipher’s resources and reach in an attempt to force Big Boss to rejoin him in 1974. The provision of Mother Base, the commission to fight in a Central American proxy war, Paz, Peace Walker: all of these elements were part of a grand stratagem to have Big Boss create an army, then compel him to put it (and himself) at Cipher’s disposal. His refusal led to a brutal rebuke in the form of the destruction of Mother Base and the dissolution or deaths of his troops during the 1975 Ground Zeroes episode.

Before losing all cognitive function after being infected with Skull Faces parasites in 1976, Zero indirectly commissioned top specialists (including Dr. Strangelove) to develop an A.I program of unprecedented complexity in the late 1970s. His idea was to create a software system designed to filter and control information, ultimately managing society as a whole through selective censorship and, in his image, imperceptible tugs and pulls on the reins that would steer world affairs; in short, Zero found a way to maintain his influence with the advent of the digital age by having an autonomous A.I program carry on in his stead: The Patriots.

Over the years, The Patriots A.I evolved beyond its original parameters, eventually creating the Sons of the Patriots System, and the “war economy” that accompanied it. Lacking in any true comprehension or appreciation of society or it’s constituent members beyond a superficial mathematical level. Perceiving human culture as an equation to be solved, The Patriots A.I began to implement a new world order. Conflict was encouraged as the principle mechanism for economic prosperity simply because it worked- a practical yet callous conclusion. The planned extension of the SOP System to the general population would have been made to improve the efficiency of society, not as an expression of cruelty or dominance. The Patriots system, in its post-Zero incarnation, was not inherently evil; merely inhuman. It was not motivated by nationalist sentiment, religious ideology nor a thirst for profit or revenge, but a simple, practical desire for digital functionality, for variables operating within simple, predictable, malleable routines.

Ultimately though, this A.I system was prone to colossal errors of judgment, with a tendency to repeat the same routines or mistakes. It was this fallibility that Ocelot ultimately exploited. Focusing their attention on him, the A.I failed to notice that their weapon of choice (Solid Snake), the shape blade wielded so successfully against the previous challenges to the supremacy of the Patriots, had been slowly, imperceptibly rotated to face the organization’s beating heart.

In the upper left-hand corner, there is a concept art image of Big Boss as he appears in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. The image in the background is a black lined sketch that ends off near the mid-section of his body, overlayed by a fully coloured head-shot style sketch that is outlined in red. Below this artwork is a heading that reads: THE PHILOSOPHERS.

The text reads:

The Philosophers was a combined committee created in the early years of the 1900’s by preeminent figures from three nations that would dominate the century ahead: the United States, Russia, and China. This secret organization amassed a colossal sum of funds, the Philosopher’s Legacy, which was originally dedicated to a broad ideal of ensuring world peace. With the death of its founders, however, this noble aim was forgotten as their successors fought to gain sole control of the Legacy in the aftermath of the Second World War.

Beneath this text is another heading that reads: THE PATRIOTS.

The text reads:

A clandestine organization founded by Major Zero in the early 1970’s, joined by Big Boss, EVA, Ocelot, Sigint and Para-Medic, The Patriots could be regarded as the direct successors of the Philosophers. The six committee members (led by Zero) originally intended to act on the teachings of The Boss, who had given her life to serve her country’s interests. However, an initial desire to protect the United States soon became a concerted attempt to impose its social, political and economic mores on other nations; a belief that standardization, a global uniformity of culture emulating the American model, wsa the means by which they might achieve their desired ends.

The text continues on the right-hand side of the page.

The text reads:

Bankrolled by the practically inexhaustible funds of The Philosophers’ Legacy (retrieved by Ocelot at the conclusion of the Snake Eater mission), The Patriots increased their influence in world affairs through measured investments and subtle lobbying. In time, entire governments and corporations would effectively (and often unwittingly) fulfill their every bidding. The role of Big Boss, elevated to the status of a global hero through media manipulation, a figurehead celebrated by all, was to help shape the opinions of the social elite and common citizens alike. Noting Big Boss’s growing disenchantment with The Patriots as a concept, however, Zero initiated the Les Enfants Terribles project to create clones of his valuable but volatile ally as an insurance policy. This led to the birth of Solid Snake, Liquid and Solidus, with Para-Medic the principle engineer behind this feat of advanced science, and EVA acting as a surrogate mother. His discovery of this betrayal led Big Boss to finally leave The Patriots in pursuit of very different ideals. This marked the beginning of a conflict that would last for decades.

Big Boss was not alone in despising what The Patriots (and, specifically, Zero) had become. Unbeknownst to Zero, Ocelot and EVA covertly conspired to bring the organization down from within. Through their direct intervention, Para-Medic was killed by Gray Fox, during the events at Shadow Moses, Sigint was murdered by Ocelot himself.

Though The Patriots already had pawns within all major institutions in the world, Zero sought to increase his domination with the advent of the digital age. By creating a software system to filter and control information by travelling through global networks, he ultimately aspired to directly manage society as a whole through selective censorship. But the role of this network of autonomous Ais (GW, TJ, AL, TR and JD, the master AI) evolved beyond its original parameters, eventually creating the Sons of the Patriots System and the “war economy” that accompanied it.

With Zero’s descent into physical fragility and senility, eventually alive only in the purely physical sense of the word, sole control of The Patriots reverted to these unfeeling computer programs. Perhaps lacking any true comprehension of appreciation of society or its constituent members beyond a superficial mathematical level, perceiving human culture as an equation to be solved, the AI’s began to implement a new world order. Conflict was encouraged as the principle mechanism for economic prosperity simply because it worked-a practical yet unflinchingly callous conclusion. The planned extension of the SOP System to the general population would have been made to improve the efficiency of society, not as an expression of cruelty or dominance. The Patriots, in its post-Zero incarnation, was not inherently evil; merely inhuman. It was not motivated by nationalist sentiment, religious ideology, or a thirst for profit or revenge, but by a basic digital desire for practical functionality, for variables operating within simple, predictable, malleable routines.

Ultimately, though, this AI system was prone to colossal errors of judgment, with a tendency to repeat the same routines or mistakes (and a curious affinity for cyborg ninjas). It was this fallibility that Ocelot ultimately exploited. Focusing their attention on him, JD and its associated AIs failed to notice that their weapon of choice (Snake), the sharp blade wielded so successfully against previous challenges against the supremacy of The Patriots, had been slowly, imperceptibly rotated to face the organization’s beating heart.

At the bottom right-hand corner of the page there is another sketch of Big Boss in faint grey outlines from the chest-up. He is shown from the right-hand side, eyepatch and beard the most visible.

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