WF culture

The Western Federation are a self-confessed police state with plenty of opportunity for unique and interesting culture.

WF Agents: Origins
Agents in the WF are usually promoted from within the armed forces and intelligence services. Ironically, the police are very under-represented in the agent ranks, and very few agents work directly for them. It is common for WF police to call in the military to deal with well armed threats rather than use their own resources. This method of recruitment often leaves the WF agent divisions with large skill gaps in the areas of crime, business, street culture and lying & acting.

WF Agent Duties
WF agents are a little different to other corporations in that they take their law enforcement role extremely seriously. Low ranking agents are almost always tasked with police work at some point in their early careers. Such work falls into one of three categories: Working with actual police, Underground-hunting and Enemy agent-hunting.

Working with the actual police force can be dull and is viewed as beneath most agents' abilities. They are needed, however, because if the police find a well armed gang then the agents will be called in to deal with it; this usually leads back to the Underground or foreign enemies anyway. Another task for agents in this line of work is to keep track of the police. Underground sympathisers can infiltrate the police with frightening ease and remain undetected by their pathetic civilian co-workers. Keep watch agent! Some agents enjoy police work so much they request a transfer into the force full time. The request is rare, but commanders almost always allow it; it pays to have eyes and ears in the civilian forces.

Underground hunting is a constant activity that squads are assigned in and out of. American Underground bases, operatives and equipment are always being uncovered by the WF intelligence network and they need taking out. These missions make for excellent television and propaganda, so they are almost always filmed by WF-sanctioned news crews. Agents are never left to hunt the underground for too long, because there is a history of this either turning agents into psychopaths with no regard for human life or making them switch sides. Something about killing civilians who want democracy and equality just seems to bring out the worst in some agents.

Hunting enemy agents is a difficult job, but someone has to do it. And what do you know, you are someone. Sometimes this job is mind-numbingly dull and involves following around visiting agents from other Corporations. On other occasions you may uncover a group of Comoros psychics training hundreds of Underground militia in supernatural powers and be expected to deal with them (or at least survive until reinforcements arrive). Agents usually relish this part of their duties, as it offers a chance to see real combat against well armed opponents. You can also make friends from other corporations, but don't get too chummy; you might have to kill them tomorrow.

If an agent performs well they will be promoted and trained for more specialised tasks in different areas of the WF military and intelligence services. Some may even be hand-picked by the WF's media division to get their own TV show.

WF intelligence services enjoy a level of access to citizens' lives that other Corporations can only dream about. The acceptance of an intrusive police state allows every electronic signal, every piece of mail and every citizen's movements to be tracked at all times. Filtering through this information and identifying illegal activities is the task of the WF Intelligence services, roughly broken down into the following agencies.

National Surveillance Agency (NSA)
Not to be confused with the NSA of the 21st century. This NSA runs the computer systems and hardware needed to keep this incredible monitoring regime in action. There are relatively few agents in this agency because the NSA keeps to the background and works through others. One area in which the NSA does take action directly is in their drone network. The agency runs a vast array of automated observation drones that hover over every WF city. These drones need protecting from Underground attacks and hacking attempts by other Corporations.

Internal Protection (IP)
Internal Protection is the most secretive of the WF intelligence branch and is responsible for watching the other agencies. Almost every member of IP is also in another service, funneling information back to IP's central command. If you are not in IP then you know almost nothing about it. Rumours, stories and jokes about the agency's capabilities are common barracks talk for WF agents and soldiers. Civilians may not even be aware it exists.

Corporate Monitoring Agency (CMA, pronounce Sea-ma)
Gathering intelligence about the other corporations falls to CMA. The group contains tens of thousands of staff working in data centres around the world and performing top secret missions in dangerous territory. Many agents dream of being placed in one of the CMA covert operations teams who are responsible for raiding enemy labs and military bases for valuable research and up to date information. Unaugmented civilians make up the bulk of the agency, even in the field were they collect every scrap of data, including commodity prices and crowd movement patterns.

The WF Police force is a civilian organisation in a military police state. It suffers from extreme underfunding because the Corporation does not view them as cost effective when it can simply call in agents to deal with any serious problems without any civilian oversight.
However, if the WF did not field its own police force it would give the UIG a much better excuse to stick their nose into the Corporation's business, especially in regard to how it treats its citizens. Therefore, the police force is given a token amount of power so that UIG interference in the name of 'peace' is not warranted. Ironically, the police force has become a serious point of weakness for the police state.

The Police- "To Protect and Serve"
Police officers are not augmented like agents but they possess the law enforcement license and basic defensive equipment. They are most commonly called out to deal with crimes such as theft, assault and civilian issues considered below an agent to respond to. In order to solve these crimes effectively they are given access to the WF intelligence and surveillance network , granting them an unparalleled look into citizens' private lives and also into some Corporate goings on far above their station.

The police can cause problems for the WF in three ways. One is by simply failing to do their jobs; citizens need to feel safe and protected by the WF at all times, or why else would there even be a police state? Another way of causing a headache is to work with the Underground. Although risky, being a police officer grants access to an array of information collected by the WF themselves. The third way of causing issues is to work too closely with the UIG.

UIG Liaison Officers - "To Protect the Peace"
The UIG cannot just leave a Corporation to its own devices, but likewise it would not make sense to field a UIG police force if the local groups have everything under control. The UIG Liaison officers are UIG officers of rank 4+ who reside in WF police stations on behalf of the UIG. Police officers can report Corporation-related crimes to the UIG directly so they do not have to worry about their communications being intercepted. The crimes reported could be about any Corporation, but the real intention of the UIG is to learn more about what the WF is up to. It helps that the WF Police force has a deeply ingrained hatred of the Military agencies in the WF thanks to decades of underfunding, mistreatment and hostility. It has been known for entire police stations to become nothing more than UIG spying centres in the name of 'protecting citizens' from the WF itself.

Department of Science Intelligence (DSI)
The DSI is a branch of the WF which coordinates between the research industry and the military. The main objectives of the DSI are to fund research with military applications before other Corporations (usually EI) realise how useful it could be, and to make sure the military doesn't fall behind in conventional equipment such as networking equipment, medical technology, etc. The DSI has a very close relationship with the intelligence sector and is always aware of the research going on in companies such as AMS and Y&S. They employ agents to test out new equipment and to perform intelligence gathering operations (i.e. what Oracle does). The DSI does not perform much research directly, though they position their agents in other corporation's test programs in order to monitor them.

Elite WF Police Officer
Police Officers in the WF are not full agents but they are given better equipment and training as they are promoted through the ranks. An Elite Police Officer is a recognised specialist who works within the WF Police and can often give agents a run for their money. They are employed either in the field, as part of the administration, or as technical staff such as crime scene investigators. The rules for generating an elite police officer character are included below.

Stats: Officers are not able to dedicate years of their life to training their bodies and minds like agents. Instead of 49 points to spend on stats, you have 42. The natural human maximums still apply, but police officers can have stats as low as 4.

Skills: While agents spend years being upgraded with cybernetics, police officers spend their time working and growing their skill sets. Use the same skill levels as creating an agent, but with two skills at level 6.

Trainings: Police officers that have proven their loyalty and abilities are given a lot of training to prepare them for any situation. Choose three trainings at character creation. An officer can choose to trade one of these trainings to receive the ICE cybernetic upgrade instead.

Equipment & Cybernetics: The WF Police are critically understaffed and underfunded. An elite officer will have acquired ~10,000 credits worth of cybernetics and equipment during their time serving the public trust.

The WF Police Code

1. Never oppose a WF officer
   
2. Serve the public trust
   
3. Protect the innocent
   
4. Uphold the law
   

Controlled Substances
The WF recognises that preventing its citizens from enjoying the use of traditionally illegal substances is a recipe for disaster. Prohibition and the war on drugs are just two examples of failed efforts to control what the working-class is able to put inside of itself, and both resulted in massive expense, loss of life and distrust of authority. However, an open market of such materials would result in significant harm to the public, especially the most vulnerable parts of society.
To protect the public from themselves, the WF has a controlled supply of a range of recreational drugs including alcohol, LSD, and many more. The quality of the products is carefully controlled and rationed so that citizens will not be tempted to become addicted to narcotics or overdose. As an added bonus, the market also makes a significant amount of money for the Corporation and keeps the E.I out of the territory.

Alcohol comes in two official forms; a weak and flavourless 'beer' and a foul tasting 'whisky'. There are flavourings available and bars can make a brisk business by providing better tasting alternatives to the off-the-shelf stuff. As you would expect, there is a thriving black market for better quality alcohol brewed inside the WF and imported from the other Corporations.