The Illuminati is one of the most important associations within the world of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. It's made up of wealthy and influential individuals analogous to real-world patricians, researchers, and other types of people who have some influence in the world, aiming to establish order and control.
It's an organization that operates in secrecy, but Deus Ex: Mankind Divided reveals some of the Illuminati's intentions. In the early 2030s, it began to suffer from an apparent decline. Yet, thanks to one branch that managed to break away from its parent association, Majestic 12, it eventually saw a revitalization.
The Illuminati's Decline in Deus Ex
As mentioned, the Illuminati progressively declined during the 2030s due to various events that led the association from being the most influential in the world to near-total failure. As if that were not enough, the country's political situation was also in peril due to earthquakes and other devastating conditions. Under these circumstances, the Illuminati decided it was time to completely rule the world.
The plans of the Illuminati were thwarted, as the US government did not fall. New terrorist groups surfaced, which was a scenario that the Illuminati could not afford; some of its members proposed to intervene, but no action was considered. This choice was not taken in stride by Bob Page, leader of Majestic 12, who decided to take control of the Illuminati's affairs. The actions of Page toward the association began its period of decline.
Page's conduct resulted in a kind of resistance called the Council of Five, which included the five most prominent members of the Illuminati. They hid in Paris, but as Majestic 12 controlled dispatches worldwide, they could not communicate with each other. Nevertheless, communication was pivotal in ousting Page from his leadership position. Morgan Everett and Beth DuClare began using different types of codes contained within specific chips to stay in touch. This way of communicating was ingenious, since the contents of the chips were deemed irrelevant by outside observers.
Unfortunately, Illuminati leader Lucius DeBeers was not in good health, and thus was placed in the care of Morgan Everett. While Everett promised to help DeBeers, that was not his real intent. Everett hid the technology needed to help DeBeers recover in order to ensure that he could not exert his influence.
Meanwhile, Beth DuClare decided to carry out a counterattack against Page and Majestic 12. Although she and Everett were able to uncover his plans, they had neither the military strength nor the technology to fight him. Majestic 12 was getting stronger, so the Council of Five decided to support a French group called Silhouette. DuClare was the most determined member to end the empire Page was erecting, but unfortunately, she was killed in 2051 by Majestic 12. After DuClare's death, Everett was the only one left to stand up to Page while DeBeers did not improve and Stanton Dowd lost contact.
Everett asked JC Denton for stopping what appeared to be a willful advance on Page's part. He found a cure for the Gray Death, a virus created by Page. Everett knew this was the right time to attack, so he arranged for JC to kill Page in order to reclaim the Illuminati. However, with the destruction of Area 51, the world returned to chaos as dispatches and the economy were destroyed.
Illuminati's Revival
In 2052, Majestic 12 announced Bob Page's death, and this seemingly unfavorable situation became a chance for the Illuminati to regain influence. In a world where chaos reigned supreme, there was a need for someone to restore order. Morgan Everett succeeded in this and began to combine groups with the Illuminati, including to the World Trade Organization headed by Chad Dumier and the Order Church led by Nicolette DuClare.
The part of these two associations was, among others, to oppose each other. However, in reality both associations were in close contact, and Dumier and DuClare worked together to unite them under the New World Order name. Both leaders firmly believed that the post-collapse world demanded an association that was suitable to give humanity more points of view.
In any case, although the hate between the two associations was not real, there were different ideas upon which they were predicated. Being a religious association, the Order Church was founded on far conservative ideals compared to the more marketable, profitable ideas of the World Trade Organization. An example is the Knights Templar, a revolutionist group belonging to the Order Church that firmly believed humanity had gone too far with technology.
As time went on, the Illuminati became as influential and essential as ever. In fact, it wasn't long before it constructed a new technology that was compatible with everyone. The Illuminati intended to use this technology for its own purposes, and therefore commissioned Alex Denton to kill JC and Paul Denton. Both were members of ApostleCorp, an association that aimed to install the Helios AI into every human. The Illuminati was in opposition to this idea, so the only way it saw around the problem was murdering the most important members of that opposing association.
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is now available for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
