ADVENT: History

The Dissolution of EXALT

"The more I think about it, the more I'm sure EXALT got exactly what they wanted."

- XCOM Soldier Carmelita Alba

Commander,

Integrating the former EXALT personnel into ADVENT is proceeding as we expected. EXALT is adapting many of their worldwide installations for outside usage, and diversifying their rosters to avoid suspicion. While it is inevitable that some outside ADVENT personnel will have suspicions as to the history of these people, they are unlikely to act on them in a way that compromises us.

Overviewing the candidates Saudia has listed for the various agencies and military, I strongly suspect that there may be some internal conflict between those who were with EXALT, and those who were not. Resentment from those under EXALT, perhaps, in dealing with the fact that they are answering to someone who were not aware they existed days ago, and superiority from former EXALT personnel. I am aware that EXALT indoctrinated their members into believing they were superior to regular people, so it is not unreasonable to expect some of them acting on this conditioning in a detrimental way.

Thus far, Saudia has showed restraint, only appointing Elizabeth Falka as Director of ADVENT Intelligence, and one of the Mercado family as the Chief Engineer. That being said, she had seeded all the ranks below those directly in charge with former EXALT staff. While they appear to have positions relative to their ability, and even lower in some cases, it is entirely possible that Saudia is simply appointing them to lower positions to appease us and has plans to promote them naturally.

As we also expected, the majority of the Falka family has transitioned to work directly for ADVENT Intelligence, while some Falka operatives have expressed interest in working for XCOM Intelligence as an alternative. Zhang has responded by currently refusing all applications until the Manchurian Project is complete, as he suspects they would act as spies for Elizabeth. I personally would suggest we simply have them be interrogated by Patricia or Aegis, but his suspicion is warranted.

The Eridan family is also mostly staying put. They are scientists by training, and have taken many positions in ADVENT relating to the multiple fields of science and medicine. Vahlen has also considered accepting some former Eridan scientists, as she believes their familiarity with alien technology would be beneficial provided their loyalty could be assured. Knowing Vahlen, I trust her to be careful with integrating people from questionable sources. If she can control aliens, she can control humans from a shadow organization.

The Mercado family has largely acted the same, staying within their fields of expertise. Interestingly enough, none of them have expressed any interest in XCOM whatsoever. The most plausible explanation for this is, of course, that we attacked their headquarters in China and their family head committed suicide in an attempt to stop us. If there is any part of EXALT that will hold a grudge, it will likely be them.

The Solaris family has largely integrated its members into the Peacekeepers, with Matthew Solaris himself moving Solaris Industries into a fully-fledged arm of the State. Under ADVENT they will likely be a primary arms manufacturer, and may conduct research into more advanced weapons. Interestingly enough, Saudia (Or Mr. Solaris) didn't place any of his members in high-ranking positions within the Peacekeepers, but rather as ranking officers on the ground. Team leaders and the like. I advise we watch what the Peacekeepers do closely, not just their command.

Surprisingly enough, the Vyandar family has done very little, nor truly made an attempt at integrating directly into ADVENT. This may appear as favoritism until you know what the Vyandar family actually did, which was providing EXALT with the wealth needed to sustain their operations. Saudia apparently doesn't want to interrupt a winning strategy, so she's pretty much left them alone with the exception of quietly placing all Vyandar companies and businesses under ADVENT control. That family alone gives them enough money to rival one of the European countries, so don't discount their influence, and if any part of EXALT will draw outside questions, it is likely that the Vyandar family will be a primary target.

On to what is likely completely unsurprising, the Venator family have all taken positions in the ADVENT military, mostly as part of the Lancer Division due to their skills, but a good number are officers in the Military proper. Saudia has taken a similar approach to them as the Solaris family, which is to seed them at the lower levels and only moderately influence the command structure. And as you know, several Venator soldiers have expressed interest in joining us, including Zara Venator herself. Considering you have allowed her into XCOM, I imagine the number will grow if her integration continues without incident.

As for Saudia herself, at the moment it appears that she fully intends to lead ADVENT to the best of her ability. I highly doubt that she will pose a direct threat to us, but in that event, both President Treduant and Supreme Leader Gwan will serve as checks on any rogue actions and we will take appropriate action if needed. As long as we have people watching her, there should be no issues.

- Ariel Jackson, Central Officer of XCOM

There is absolutely no way that this came out of nowhere.

Sure, that's probably obvious in retrospect, but I was under the impression that ADVENT was a completely new organization and building up science and engineering teams from scratch. Obviously there would be some familiarity between initial teams since they've probably been working weeks before I even arrived.

This is nothing like that at all. I feel like I'm coming into something that's been established for years, maybe longer. There is a very obvious portion of my colleagues who work, talk and poke fun at each other as if they've known each other for years. They know their individual preferences and quirks, which is suspicious since the most I've ever been able to get out of them was that one of them knew a couple for a "couple months" prior to coming.

Uh huh. Sure.

What's most disconcerting is that they aren't obvious about it. On the surface it doesn't appear that they are even willing colleagues, and they don't spend time with each other outside work to establish anything there. But I've been in labs before, and I'm not an idiot when it comes to reading people. They know each other, and are deliberately making it appear as if it's not the case.

Why? Most obvious theory is that "ADVENT" existed a long time before anything was offered to us. But that doesn't explain the secrecy. Why not just say they've been here and just working? What could be worth going to all this subterfuge to make sure the illusion is maintained? It's the only reason I've held my tongue and not called them out on their deception; because if there is some nefarious reason they're acting like this…it probably goes to the top of ADVENT.

I'm not getting myself killed or worse just for my damned curiosity. Probably paranoid, but if I learned that Chancellor Vyandar was behind some nefarious plot to control the world, I would believe that. Don't care what she says, complete strangers don't get handed the keys to power without good reason, and if that's true, those reasons are definitely worth killing over.

In the meantime, got a new project from Dr. Tygan. Better focus on that instead.

- Journal of Michael Storms, ADVENT Geneticist

We have succeeded.

As most of you are aware, we have ceased major hostile actions against XCOM in recognition of the fact that the alien threat is one too large and dangerous to solely handle on our own. During this time we have also been working as usual to prepare the world for a coordinated and strong defense against the alien threat.

Because of our work and experience, we have been working with XCOM to establish a full world government per our own directive, and under my command. As of today the goal of EXALT is fulfilled and per our agreement with XCOM, EXALT will officially disband and be integrated fully into the organization established as ADVENT.

It is highly unlikely that your current roles will change overmuch, but we move forward with the understanding that our time in the shadows influencing events from afar is over. We will be instrumental in determining the path of humanity forward and that will never change, even as we must allow outsiders to work in close proximity.

It will not be easy for some going forward, but it is the next necessary step in ensuring that both ourselves and humanity has a chance against the pressing alien threat, and here is where we will demonstrate to the world the correctness of our vision for a united, independent and powerful humanity.

We have proven ourselves capable of being given the responsibility of overseeing the world. Now is the time to prove we can do it.

- Saudia Vyandar, Director of EXALT in memo to all EXALT personnel detailing the dissolution of EXALT.

I'm sometimes not sure what goes through the Commander's head. I've accepted that there are some decisions that I'm not going to agree with, but this seems…extreme, even for him. He…spared EXALT. Not only that, but seems to be putting them in charge of the world.

Why?

Ignoring the fact that our own soldiers died fighting them…it doesn't make sense. EXALT was bent on controlling the world. I can understand using them, but this is frankly rewarding them for what they've done. It's exactly what they wanted and it seems very unlike the Commander to even entertain the idea, let alone actually go through with it.

Did he want a puppet? Someone he controls? Does he have blackmail on her damaging enough to make him feel confident enough to put his enemy in charge of the world (Admittedly the knowledge that she was leading an international espionage ring is pretty damaging). Did he threaten to kill her? Her family?

Maybe it's simpler. If nothing else, EXALT knows about the alien threat more than most, and pure practicality in this case would make sense for him…somewhat. It's one thing to have EXALT soldiers in XCOM and putting them in direct positions of influence. Maybe he thinks that only someone with experience should be leading the charge against it.

Maybe what's more disconcerting to me is that another reason could simply be that the Commander has genuinely lost faith in the leadership of the world and truly believes that a woman who's spent her life manipulating the world it is more trustworthy than actual leaders. What a depressing thought, and that doesn't bode well if that's actually the case.

Or perhaps more frighteningly, the Commander agrees with EXALT's goals a lot more than he lets on.

I don't know. Guess I can give them a chance at least. See what they do before condemning them. If nothing else, I know that if they try anything, the Commander will put them down. Small comforts, but nothing else I can really do now. Best focus on the aliens.

- Log of Fakhr al Din, XCOM Soldier