Federal Office of the Abnormal

The Federal Office of the Abnormal, better known simply as the FOA, is the oldest organization dedicated to the study and regulation of metahumans, dating back to late 19th Century America. It is by far the most powerful and influential of such organizations in the world, having a massive command on the global ichor supply, as well as having control over all American superhero teams. The FOA presents a gilded front to the world, appearing benevolent and altruistic, but hiding countless layers of secrets, conducting morally bankrupt experimentations and missions, and supplying the scum of the earth with ichor to further its own goals.

## History

### Foundation

The Federal Office of the Abnormal began in a small moonshine shack within the Appalachian Mountains of Georgia, in the year 1890.

## Organization

### The Directorate

The Directorate is the ruling board of the FOA, being made up of the highest ranking leaders of the organization. The Directors of the four Divisions of the FOA are the most influential members of the Directorate, and alongside them are their subordinates, the Deputy Directors who run the Subdivisions of the FOA.

### Divisions

The various branches of the FOA are broken down into several divisions, each of which fulfills a different function for the Office. Every Division is headed by a Director, while Divisions large and powerful enough are further broken down into Subdivisions, each of which is headed by a Deputy Director.

#### Metahuman Affairs

Main Article: Metahuman Affairs Division

The Metahuman Affairs Division is the largest office within the FOA, and a department level organization within the United States Government. The Metahuman Affairs Division is responsible for managing civilian metahumans, maintaining the Metahuman Registry Database. Additionally, the Division works closely with the American Superhero Association, organizing the operations of various superhero teams. Furthermore, they also coordinate with law enforcement, assisting them with all manner of metahuman related crimes.

#### Support

The Support Division is responsible for the "housekeeping" of the FOA, handling many of the tasks necessary to ensure the organization runs smoothly. Such functions of the Support Division include logistics, security, communications, and financial operations.

##### Office of Communications

The Office of Communications is responsible for ensuring a smooth flow of information throughout the FOA. They maintain the organization's numerous servers, maintain the various communication satellites the FOA possesses, and are responsible for keeping all communication channels secure.

##### Office of Security

The Office of Security coordinates the protection of various FOA properties and personnel. Their numbers include the security guards responsible for policing FOA sites, bodyguards for important staff members, as well as the various technicians who maintain the innumerable devices and technologies which protect FOA sites. The Office of Security coordinates heavily with Argus, and many Argus teams are kept on FOA sites, ready to defend against any metahuman attack or intrusion.

##### Office of Logistics

The Office of Logistics is charged with the distribution of nonmonetary resources throughout the FOA. Such resources include mundane office supplies, weapon shipments, and ichor. They are one of the most loathed branches within the FOA, as their peers usually blame them for resource shortages, and simultaneously fear annoying their personnel, worrying that their supplies might get snubbed in response.

##### Office of Finance

The Office of Finance directs the flow of the FOA's funds, and maintains records of all the organization's monetary spending. Its executives wield considerable influence among other offices and branches of the organization, thanks to their control over funding, which they can control at a need. The Office of Finance works closely with most every other Office in the FOA.

#### Research and Design Division

The Research and Design Division is responsible for researching metahuman abilities and the properties of ichor, as well as developing gear and other general equipment and technologies for other divisions. The Division is composed of all manner of brilliant scientific minds, including biologists, chemists, programmers and engineers.

##### Weapons Development

The FOA's Weapons Development Subdivision is responsible for all the innumerable technological weapons developed for the organization. Primarily, such technologies are designed for use against metahumans, and range from gas bombs, specialized bullets designed to penetrate inhumanly tough tissue, and massively potent shock batons. Weapons Development works closely alongside the Metahuman Analysis branch, as the information the latter provides is invaluable for their work.

##### Metahuman Analysis

Metahuman Analysis is a Subdivision within the FOA that focuses on the study of metahumans and ichor. They are responsible for the creation of new ichor formulas, and performing research into the abilities of metahuman subjects. High clearance level activity within the branch involves all manner of horrific experiments on meta subjects within the FOA's more covert facilities. The research they perform is often used to assess the threat level of various metas, as well as provide the Weapons Development branch material to help facilitate their work.

#### Operations

The Operations Division is the branch of the FOA which conducts all manner of missions out in the field. Field agents often find themselves tasked with missions including infiltration, espionage, sabotage, and assassination. The Operations Division includes both human and metahuman agents, and operates around the world in places of interest to the FOA.

##### Argus

Main Article; Argus

Argus is the military arm of the FOA, its operatives charged with a singular purpose: Containing and killing metahumans. Argus members are all elite soldiers, equipped with knowledge and equipment from the R&D Department to allow them to neutralize all manner of metahuman threats. Given the deadliness of some of the foes they face, Argus incorporates metahuman members more frequently than most other branches within the organization.

##### Intelligence Branch

The Intelligence Branch of the FOA focuses primarily on espionage and information gathering. Their operatives are planted all around the world, in news outlets, gangs, and foreign governments. They focus primarily on the identification and location of metahuman threats, but operatives within the branch are frequently employed to perform assassinations and blackmail in order to further the FOA's interests.

### Clearance Levels

The FOA is privy to all manner of highly classified information best kept out of the eyes of the general public, and even many of their own personnel. For this region, the FOA assigns a Clearance Level to all its personnel, which designates what information, locations, and equipment they are allowed to have access to. For the most part, Clearance Levels are issued as part of rising through the ranks, but it is also possible for individuals of similar rank to have different clearance levels, as one might be more trusted by the higher ups. In addition to general Clearance Levels, individuals are also assigned specific clearance when the need arises: For instance, a janitor with a general Clearance Level of 1 might be given access to a secret facility that they are responsible for cleaning.

* **Level 0:** Clearance Level 0 is assigned to civilians and anyone else who is not a member of the FOA. Such individuals have access to the most basic of all information, such as publicly available registries on various metahumans, access to public FOA facilities, and other information that is available to the wider populace.

* **Level 1:** Clearance Level 1 is possessed by the lowliest of FOA personnel, individuals which do not require said personnel to have access to any level of more important information. Level 1 Clearance does however grant access to areas within FOA facilities that are off limits to the public, but are not extremely secretive.
	+ Examples: Receptionists, janitorial staff.

* **Level 2:** Clearance Level 2 is usually assigned to low level personnel involved in coordination, security, and administrative support roles. Individuals with Level 2 Clearance might facilitate communication, organizing logistics for field operations. This level grants access to moderately sensitive information, like routine operational procedures in public facilities and private (but not secret) case files. Level 2 Clearance grants access to most locations within public facilities.
	+ Examples: Security Guard, DSA Recruitment Officer

* **Level 3:** Level 3 Clearance gives those who possess it access to information best kept from the general public, such as knowledge of the existence of various FOA bases and sanctioned superhero hideouts, more detailed databases on metahumans, though access to their actual locations are given out on a case by case basis, as needed.
	+ Examples: Superheroes, ASA field technicians, security officers.

* **Level 4:**
	+ Examples: Argus agents
* **Level 5:** At Clearance Level 5, FOA personnel begin gaining access to some of the more secretive (but still legal) aspects of the organization. They gain access not only to all standard metahuman databases, but also on more classified files, including Termination Protocols. Level 5 Clearance also grants total access to all public FOA facilities, as well as access to a number of highly classified ones.
	+ Examples:
* **Level 6:** Clearance Level 6 is reserved for individuals who are highly placed within the FOA, such as high performing intelligence agents, upper level managers, and researchers involved in weapons development projects. Those with Level 6 Clearance have access to detailed mission briefings, and sensitive intelligence reports, and are aware of some of the illegal activities the FOA takes part in, such as ichor distribution and intervention in the affairs of foreign governments. This level also grants limited access to specialized facilities where advanced research and development projects are conducted.
	+ Examples:
* **Level 7:** Level 7 Clearance is possessed by individuals whose roles demand access to site wide or regional intelligence, and long term strategic data on the FOA's activities in order to fulfill their purpose. Level 7 Clearance indicates that an individual has demonstrated a capacity for ruthlessness in line with the FOA's most despicable practices, and is reserved for top administrative staff and the most elite and trusted of field agents and researchers.
	+ Examples:
* **Level 8:** Individuals with Level 8 Clearance are privy to a large majority of the FOA's dark secrets, which usually encompasses the entirety of the blackest acts committed by their respective Divisions. Level 8 Clearance can only be granted by a member of the Directorate, and as such, those who possess it report directly to them, acting either as top ranking administrative staff or as personal agents to one of the Directorate.
* **Level 9:** Clearance Level 9 affords almost complete access to all of the FOA's resources, with a rare few exceptions which have been selected to fall solely under the purview of the four Directors.
	+ Examples: The Deputy Directors of the Directorate have Level 9 Clearance.
* **Level 10:** Clearance Level 10 grants total and unrestricted access to all FOA facilities, databases, and technology, and the authority to use it in any manner they see fit.
	+ Examples: Only the four Divisional Directors of the FOA have Level 10 Clearance.

## Drives and Ideology

Outwardly, the FOA presents the image of an organization which seeks to provide prosperity and protection to the American populace, both human and metahuman. The FOA is there to help, a source of order and security, whose chief goal is to maintain the safety of the American people, and defend them from all threats.

That could not be further from the truth. In reality, the FOA has been corrupt for decades. It began with a hunger to understand the new and unexplored, but almost immediately, devolved into a hunger for power and control. Brutal scientific experimentation laid the foundation the FOA was built on, and its walls were mortared with blood and lies.

While the average FOA employee may be well intentioned, or simply an ordinary citizen doing their job, the higher ups of the FOA are far removed from common standards of morality. They range from zealots who believe in order through tyranny, mere despots who desire power for its own sake, and greedy profiteers out for nothing but personal gain, but all share a capacity for ruthlessness that would chill the blood of ordinary people. All desire control, and don't care who they need to hurt to get it.