Humanist Thought

> The Combine Civil Authority represents the aspiration and efforts of the entire species, as a collective, towards a final liberation from instinct and entropy.
>
> ― The Blueprint, 'Our Destiny'

**Humanist Thought**, sometimes simply referred to as **Humanism** is the guiding ideology of the Combine Civil Authority. It is most closely associated with the Bureaus of the Civil Humanist Congress, a more politically rigid and uniform replacement for the system of largely autonomous and varied Civil Workers’ Unions that were once commonplace before the removal of Wallace Breen from power. It can be succinctly described as a form of Fascism adapted to fit a world molded by the cataclysmic destruction of the Seven Hour War.

As a form of Fascism, Humanist Thought is rooted in a number of related tendencies, such as a disdain for elected forms of government, fetishization of strength, fixation on 'rejuvenation' of an in-group, economic centralization and exaltation of authority. However, its more outstanding characteristics are its praise of so-called ‘Paragons’, reverence for an embodiment of the state through a ‘Father’ construct and an authoritarian adaptation of Transhumanism. This adaptation is critical to the stated goals of Humanist Thought, which are the utilization of body-altering technology and an explicitly spartan outlook on human emotions and instinct in order to eventually achieve Ascension, an end state defined by the total eradication of all forms of ‘weakness’ it sees as inherent to the unaltered human experience. These points are all laid out in pain-staking detail in a document known as the The Blueprint, which functions as the regime's ideological primer.

In order to achieve its goals, it sees the Combine Civil Authority through the Civil Humanist Congress as a vital instrument of societal mobilization. It bases itself heavily on Corporatism, advocating the division of society into associations defined by what services they can render to the state. Through the coordination of various those sectors of industry, commerce and science under the unquestioned direction of the aforementioned authorities, Humanist Thought believes that the species can leverage technological, socio-political and economic development to one day facilitate an evolution of the human race.

## Principal Beliefs

### Paternalism

> The Xenian onslaught exposed the frailties of a government founded on the animalistic impulses of a frightened mob. To remedy this, executive councils composed of individuals faithful to His Example will provide the rejuvenation that our species has always been in desperate need of.
>
> ― The Blueprint, 'To Guide Us'

Inherent to the Humanist programme laid out in the so-called 'Blueprint' is a rejection of what it deems 'mob rule', citing the existence of democratic institutions from before the Seven Hour War as nothing more than primitive constructs that lacked the cohesion and strength of will in the more rigid regime of today. The latter is advocated as the product of the attempted 'rejuvenation' of human society by said regime, having laid out its ambitions for a total overhaul of the species itself, originally in what seemed like an effort to better serve the goals of their off-world masters. In order to accomplish this, Humanist literature advocates for the creation of a council of executives with professional backgrounds to act as humanity's 'guiding hand' towards Ascension and as representatives among the interdimensional collective.

Unfortunately for the aforementioned council, an oligarchy of technocrats hardly make for an effective 'face' for an authoritarian regime, a fact not lost on the secret architects of this grand ideological experiment. It was from this realization that Father emerged. Father, as far as the average person is concerned, is a personification of the Combine Civil Authority akin to the 'Uncle Sam' and 'Britannia' constructs of old. His appearances have been entirely confined to portrayals on posters of a man with a face largely obscured by shadow, gazing down at the viewer amidst an aura of paternal might. His choice of garb and ethnicity in these portrayals is usually suited to the location that a given city is located in, wearing whatever would have been expected of a patriarch of a given area's pre-dominant culture as one of a few very rare nods to human cultural identity by the Civil Authority.

This construct is responsible for fronting the bulk of the messaging found in Humanist Thought, often appearing alongside captions entailing slogans commanding the viewer to acquiesce to the strength and wisdom of their patriarch in the name of societal cohesion. He can also be seen acting as a guide, outstretching a hand to the starry night above with his other hand draped over the shoulder of someone clearly much younger than himself, or he can be seen clearing out pests from under a fridge, with the latter labeled in order to signify the ease by which dissident elements in society would be inevitably dealt with. Well into the Uprising, depictions of this figure have persisted within Council-aligned cities, indicating that the sight of this personification is not likely to fade from the sight of the populace any time soon.

It is these portrayals that have created the aesthetic foundations for 'His Example', a common fixture in Humanist writings. Encouraging acquiescence to a supposed better serves as one of a number of cornerstones in this ideological framework, which is normally translated through conflating paternal fortitude, strength and wisdom with submitting to the diktats and social prescriptions of what the Blueprint describes as his 'most faithful' on the Council of the Domain. Even so, there are those who claim that Father is indeed a real man, with theories ranging from him existing as a faceless, hyper-augmented superhuman to an artificial intelligence that manages the entire Combine Civil Authority.

### Corporatist Society

> Whatever a Citizen has to lend in service of our goal of Ascension, whether of hand or mind, art or industry, design or execution, they must be a member of one of five Bureaus who receive from the Council of the Domain a general direction as to the scope of their activities, but are otherwise entrusted to pursue them however they see fit so long as it furthers our evolutionary task.
>
> ― The Blueprint, 'Foundations for Evolution'

In order to pursue Ascension, Humanist Thought promotes a Corporatist mode of societal organization. All sectors of society are organized under a series of five associations within the Civil Humanist Congress - the Welfare, Materials, Commerce, Public Interest and Social Bureaus. These organizations, when coordinating under the direction of the Civil Authority, are said to be the keystones of a foundation for a future evolution of the species through the accumulation of resources, expertise and ideological acclimation. Coordination is repeatedly stressed as integral to achieving this future, evident in the Blueprint's advocacy of class collaboration. Congress workers are commanded to submit to the commands of their bosses and to think of themselves as one of multiple organs required for a larger body to function, forbidding strikes or any kind of labor-related disobedience in the name of preserving societal cohesion. The existence of a heavily-controlled market is regarded as integral to the Humanist vision for society, touting what it believes are the ideal circumstances for facilitating the rise of gifted individuals through carefully managed competition.

Higher-ranking members of the Civil Humanist Congress are not exempt from the expectation of unquestioning obedience, as they themselves are bound by the overarching mandates set for them by the upper echelons of the Combine Civil Authority. For example, business owners who belong to the Commerce Bureau are required to comply with regulations such as stringent price controls, compliance with production and/or profit quotas, strict sanitary standards, a minimum wage and a notoriously extensive review process for any kind of major decision, such as a cessation of operations, a merger, the opening of a franchise and so on. While this kind of extensive state involvement has proven a source of great frustration among prospective and current business owners, those who frequent or work at these businesses will usually remark on the high quality of the services provided and the comfortably consistent conditions provided by their employment respectively.

In an attempt to ensure the harmonious function of all elements of society, the Blueprint advocates that citizens must be entitled to free (albeit mandatory) housing, access to free healthcare courtesy of the Welfare Bureau and a daily, standardized allotment of foodstuffs that scales in size and quality with the position in society held by any given citizen. This allotment is given alongside a kind of universal basic income of Credits, which are meant to enable participation in the economy and discourage reliance on any economic activity that the Combine Civil Authority is unable to readily monitor and regulate, such as the black market or dissident mutual aid networks. This policy of social welfare has met with moderate success, as many survivors of the Seven Hour War still remember the squalor, crippling poverty and endemic violence found in the refugee camps that once littered the planet. This coincides with an active propaganda campaign to paint the world outside of the cities as barbarous, Xenian-infested wastelands that lack the safety and comforts of Combine rule. These assurances are more expansive than what was provided under the administration of Wallace Breen, where no such documents with these guarantees could be found and policies heavily varied in how extensively they handled the needs of the population on a city-by-city basis.

This strategy of societal mobilization is the most symbolically apparent in the Committee of Consultative Ministers, one of the two major bodies of the Civil Authority, the members of which are appointed by the Council of the Domain. It is intended to represent the most 'accomplished' members of civil society, and thus the most entitled to provide insight on how the various sectors of society can be most efficiently coordinated. Ministers tend to come from a number of professional backgrounds within the Bureaus, such as accomplished scientists, prominent business owners, propagandists and veteran medical professionals. Despite this trend, the Council of the Domain is legally able to appoint whoever it pleases, as the only real 'requirement' is the expectation that a chosen individual will constructively contribute to proposals and recommendations.

### Transhumanism and Ascension

> The lack of discipline inherent to our sense of instinct was chiefly responsible for the so-called 'Black Mesa Incident' which brought us so close to extinction. It will be the decay of our bodies that rots away what remains, should we not learn to embrace the reliability of something higher than our flesh. As the survivors, our benefactors have provided us with such an opportunity.
>
> ― The Blueprint, 'Repudiation of Decay'

The idea of evolving past the current iteration of humanity is an integral aspect of the Humanist programme, seeing the unaltered current human form as a symbol for a 'decay' in both a moral sense and a literal one. Thus, it seeks to radically alter this form and mold it into something that better symbolizes what it deems to be a more virtuous, dynamic and stalwart iteration of humanity capable of grappling with its next stage of evolution and the trials of a world scarred by the initial Xenian invasion.

In the moral sense, the aforementioned decay manifests as concepts such as 'instinct' and 'impulse', which it holds as emblematic of the primitive, unfettered thought processes that it declares as responsible for nearly destroying the species through the immediate consequences of the Black Mesa Incident. As such, the Humanist outlook on technological advancement prior to the Seven Hour War is as having been unsustainable and liable to end the human race in a final fit of self-destruction without some kind of guiding hand to heavily restrict it - which it declares to have been manifested in the Combine Civil Authority. Citizens are thus encouraged to consume goods and express their emotions in moderation in an attempt to encourage as robotic and docile of a mindset as possible among the populace. A mindset of servility towards the objectives of the Civil Authority is thus prized as an elevated form of thought and an expression of a strong will, as even the Blueprint broadly acknowledges the difficulties in seeking Ascension.

In the literal sense, it advocates an eventual separation of human consciousness from the confines of its own biology, citing the latter as the source for the worst excesses of human expression. Interestingly enough, it considers death and illness to be among these excesses, and perhaps the most egregious of any literal manifestation of the decay it so vehemently rejects. This ranks among the most cynical of Humanist Thought's prescriptions, as citizens are encouraged to keep themselves as healthy and capable instruments of production amidst omnipresent shortages of goods and resources, veiling this appeal under notions of 'valiantly struggling' against the insidious and chaotic nature of human physiology and biology itself. In the vein of physical expression, acts of loyalty are themselves lauded as an expression of the Humanist ideal, and actions taken on behalf of regular citizens that aid the Combine Civil Authority are lauded in propaganda as especially vital to the progression towards Ascension.

Indulging either of these sets of practices, moral or physical, is lauded as a sign of strength from the Humanist perspective, which cites the individuals that do so as so-called 'Paragons'. These individuals are given privileges and praised for putting the concerns of the species, in the form of the Civil Authority, before themselves. As such, they are considered to be the closest one can get to Ascension without any bodily modification. In spite of this ideological furnishing, this is assuredly a means by which to encourage individual citizens to take on more of the burden for tackling the aforementioned shortages, maximizing their utility, encouraging their loyalty and minimizing the strain that they put on the system.

Bodily augmentations are the most impactful means by which humanity is meant to build towards Ascension, as the replacement of body parts with prosthetics is intended to build a sense of distance between an older, purportedly more irresponsible and weaker iteration of humanity and a newer, more obedient version with the strength to contend with the trials inherent to attempting to forcibly evolve the species. Alas, for the average person, this kind of advancement will seemingly forever evade their grasp as only the most ideologically-driven and fringe elements of the Combine Civil Authority would ever advocate for the incredibly dangerous prospect of granting the average person access to augmentations, and seldom openly. Promises nevertheless continue to be made to the citizenry, citing the accomplishment of vague, far-flung milestones as requirements for eventually making these offerings available to anyone other than vaunted scions of Overwatch.

## Popularity and Iteration

As a means of societal control, Humanist Thought has been met with mixed success. Administratively, the prescriptions it lays out for governing society aided the Council of the Domain, and by extension, the Directorate, to manage the affairs of the civilian government with relatively little of an issue. This is largely facilitated through the Corporatist method of organization found in the structure of the Civil Humanist Congress, which was standardized across every Sector by the onset of the Uprising. As such, the introduction of this ideological overhaul was popular among the rank-and-file bureaucrats of the Combine Civil Authority, given how unpopular the variance between the structure of Civil Workers' Unions between cities was among them owing to the inherent logistical and administrative complications thereof.

The average person has benefitted substantially from the explicit and standardized social welfare prescriptions entailed in the Blueprint, providing something akin to a social safety net in a world where such a thing is far from a given. It isn't uncommon for newer members of the Civil Humanist Congress to join the organization with a degree of genuine ideological alignment with the aims of Humanism as a result, seeing the system it seeks to build as at least a means by which to elevate themselves from squalor. This has diminished the need for systems of political patronage and nepotism in order to achieve the aims of the Combine Civil Authority, as these new members of the Congress have exhibited a more intrinsic motivation for seeing through the Civil Authority's objectives. Despite these benefits, the extent to which these policies alleviate social ills is seemingly not enough to earn the widespread popularity that the ideology's architects had likely hoped for.

In terms of the ideology itself, results are more mixed. The advent of the Seven Hour War has certainly allowed this newly-crafted worldview to take hold in segments of the population who find themselves mired in dejection with the state of the world, desperate for some semblance of direction - even if it isn't their own. Many, however, reject this ideological framework as fascistic nonsense built on a tragically uncharitable view of human psychology. While the bulk of these detractors are found among the Resistance, a growing number of individuals disgruntled with this ideology have begun to emerge within open society, largely as a result of the ongoing Uprising and how it demonstrates the weaknesses of the Civil Authority.

The latter is a common sentiment among Secessionists, former Overwatch and Civil Authority figures who led contingents of explicitly Combine-equipped personnel or run entire breakaway cities with the intention of forming a rival government against or merely securing themselves from the seemingly absolute control of the Interim Ruling Council. These forces are known to sometimes employ a variation of Humanist Thought without the inclusion of Father, or with another wide array of alterations intended to suit the political circumstances of their particular faction. Some defunct Neo-States have also been known to borrow from Humanist Thought in their governance, and while none of these projects remain today, the continued reign of the Interim Ruling Council and the endurance of its political framework have all but assured that there are more attempts yet to come.

## Slogans

* *He wants what's best for us.*
* *He is our light.*
* *Those who hesitate are lost to Him.*
* *When I die, He will embrace me.*
* *His Example endures in us.*
* *Believe, Obey, Overcome!*
* *All is under His watch.*
* *Cut out the rot.*
* *One way, one future - our destiny.*
* *His dream is our own*.
* *Humanism or Barbarism!*
* *He charted the course.*
* *Paragons, leading His charge.*
* *For Humanity, my own.*