Urban societies make up a large part of the world today, having replaced rural communities as industrialisation and centralisation took over. Cities are rarely built from scratch, evolving from previous smaller communities and encapsulating various forms of architecture as buildings evolve and are replaced. Rather than something sinister lurking in the woods, which formed the basis of many rural folktales, cities saw their secrets disappear into the cracks, with pockets of other cultures springing up both in fiction and reality.Within Sin City the main society the stories revolve around is that within Old Town. Here we see that the Girls of Old Town have taken charge to stop the Cops or the Mob controlling their lives. This society is very much in place for the protection and benefit of its members. No mystical heritage, but rather a practical solution and another variation on the overlap between gang culture and societies. As communities in the real world take on their own protection as they feel ill served by the Police the Girls of Old Town becomes less and less of a bizarre element.
Though considerably more fantastical, the film Dark City offered an interesting perspective on experimentation and concepts of reality. Starting with a far too in depth explanatory commentary, which anyone watching the film for the first time would be wise to forward past, the film shifts into a mystery as a man wakes up with no memory in a bath. The following film looks at experimentation on a grand scale, questions reality and perception and is another example where the city as a whole is the secret place. Indeed the city within this piece continues to shift and change shape. A particularly impressive sequence sees whole buildings shift shape to reflect their controllers’ new intentions for them. The noir feel is played to the nth degree as the film heads down similar lines to the original Matrix and our perception of reality within cities is drawn into question.
Another city of experimentation can be seen in City Zero depicted in Wildstorm’s Planetary #8. Created during the Red Scare in America this was a concentration camp, which was used for experimentation on those Americans deemed undesirable. The notion of the secret city being used primarily for atomic experiments is one derived from the Manhattan project, but the writer Warren Ellis combines this with the B movies of the 50s, which were preoccupied with science gone wrong.
The real Secret Cities - Russia, Lost places
The notion of Secret cities, particularly for experimentation, is not just something from fantasy though. Just prior to World War Two the Soviet Military machine created a number of new towns and cities specifically for weapons development and manufacture. This process was increased during the war as the Soviets moved their infrastructure away from the encroachment of the Germans.
Following the war more towns were created, this time “Naukograds” or Science Towns, with some being designated “Akademgorodok” or Academic Cities, geared towards research and development as part of the arms race. These secret cities were collectively known as “zakrytye administrativno-territorial’nye obrazovanila” or ZATO for short, and many were constructed by slave labour from the Soviet Gulag. To keep these places hidden the cities were known only by postal codes, constructed of a name and number. Initially this designated how far in kilometres a facility was from a specific city, but in practice some were assigned arbitrarily and others had their designations changed from time to time to obscure their location.
These secret cities were kept under strict control, being perhaps a natural development of the Soviet system, and were largely self-contained, requiring special permits to enter. Obviously due to the type of work being undertaken in these cities security was high and monitoring stringent. However, the facilities and goods available were often much better than in a normal Soviet city as a reward for the lifestyle involved.
Today many of these cities are now open, but remain focused on military and industrial work. In present day Russia approximately 3 million people live in Naukograds. Many have remained focused on nuclear weapons development and production up until recently.
However it is not only the Russians who operated such secret cities. In 1915, Britain created two new townships at Eastriggs and Gretna to house workers who built and worked in a new factory for war on the Solway River. The factory employed about 30,000 men and women, producing ammunition. The townships did not officially exist and went by the codename “Moorside”. Arthur Conan Doyle, of Sherlock Holmes fame, referred to the towns as Miracle Towns, because they were built with some thought behind them, and indeed were designed by prominent architects of the day.
As part of the Manhattan Project various cities were constructed to house and supply the atomic bomb research. It is from this type of city that the notion of Planetary’s City Zero derives. With the end of the Cold War these previously secret cities have slowly emerged and become part of the normal infrastructure of their respective countries. The cities that formed the Manhattan Project are now well known, and Russia is now striving to find something to do with its ‘nuclear’ cities, particularly in light with the problem it has worked to overcome since Communism was put aside.
The disenfranchised persons have long offered writers opportunities to reflect on our own society. Urban reality is something most of us deal with every day and so by twisting it for fiction it allows a sharper juxtaposition to take place, placing the fantastical more vividly in our imaginations.
It is interesting to note that as humanity seeks to map and understand more of the world, leaving less and less places for things to be hidden, that it is the military machine that still holds the ability to hide even cities from prying eyes. With satellite technology the notion of conventional types of city being hidden is unlikely to work, but hiding facilities and groups within larger urban areas or underground would appear to be the next possible step taken to preserve secrecy. That said the problems in locating terrorist groups in Afghanistan suggest that the hidden complex can still remain out in the wilderness for now.
History
Returning to secret societies. As was previously discussed it is clear that these societies are not a modern phenomenon. The naming of various societies reflects a desire to trace roots back to earlier societies, whether those roots exist or not. Secrecy was part of the practices of priesthoods across the ancient Mediterranean, as well as within Pythagorean circles. For various elites, secrecy remains a form of control as well as maintaining the notion of prestige for joining those elites. For those involved in Pythagoras’ theories, maintaining secrecy served to both keep control over work being done, and to allow denial if the maths did not work.
In terms of medieval society, two secret societies stand out. In the East, the Order of Assassins was originally established as part of a revolt against the Turkish rulers of Persia; however, the Order quickly moved beyond that and concentrated on increasing their influence and power. Organised on a graded structure borrowed from another society (the Grand Lodge of Cairo), there was a definite effort to mislead the lower members regarding the Order’s true nature. Whereas the Knights Templar had their roots in Christianity, the Order came from those connected to the Ismaili Sect of Islam.
The Knights Templar was established following the First Crusade, with the supposed remit of protecting pilgrims travelling to sacred sites. Both the Assassins and the Templars worked towards the benefit of their own agendas rather than a higher ideal in furthering the religions that spawned them. It was only by chance that the interests of the Societies and religions coincided. This attitude was not uncommon in the Middle Ages, with very secular concerns attaching themselves to religions.
The Mongol invasion in 1256 erased the Assassins’ stronghold of Alamut, effectively dispersing them. The Templars’ influence led to measures being taken to break them, leading to the destruction of their power bases. Both societies were broken; however, the spread of the Templars and their diverse power bases allowed their influence to continue, albeit in a lesser form. The Assassins were not targeted because of their prior actions, even though they had been a more obviously disruptive influence than the Templars. Rather it was as part of a scorched earth tactic by the Mongols to prevent a potential threat being left behind.
Freemasons and the Illuminati
The two best-known secret societies, the Freemasons and the Illuminati, share common elements. Evidence suggests there are direct links between the scattered Templars and the Freemasons who formed in Scotland and England. Freemasonry is an organisation based on the “fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man”. The basic organisational unit of masonry are the lodges, which are linked together by a system of mutual recognition. Grand Lodges are formed in each area where enough Lodges are in existence. Modern masonry dates back to 1717 when four lodges in Great Britain formed the first Grand Lodge of England. Lodges first appeared in America in Philadelphia (1730) and Boston (1733). Each lodge confers three degrees/ levels of masonry, whilst additional degrees are conferred by two groups of advanced Freemasonry: the York Rite (which awards 12 degrees) and the Scottish Rite (which awards 30 higher degrees which some equivalents in the York Rite). As a mason achieves higher degrees, he is allowed more knowledge and influence within the society. In the United States and Canada, the Masons have also formed large groups to enhance social and charitable activities, such as the Shriners. To be a Shriner, a mason must be a 32nd degree Scottish Rite Mason, or the equivalent in the York Rite – a Knights Templar. The term used for this level is interesting, as it is a link back to the influence former Templars exerted over the later society.
To be a Freemason, there are a number of prerequisites. All Masons are men, who are at least 21 and who hold two prime beliefs: a belief in a Supreme Being and a belief in the immortality of the soul. There is no definition given on whom the Supreme Being is, as long as the applicant holds the belief in one. There is speculation on how Freemasonry and religion co-exist. Masons are ostensibly a Christian organisation, referring to the Bible as the “Volume of the Sacred Law” and considering it part of “the furniture” of a Masonic Lodge. However, this is only true within Christian Lodges, with the pertinent religious tome being present in Hebrew, Mohammedan, Jewish lodges, etc. Jim Shaw, a former 33rd degree Mason has said that instead of the Bible, Masonry is based on the Kabala; other commentators have agreed that the Kabala’s teachings can be seen in some of the rituals and philosophies of Masonry.
Freemasonry sees itself superseding and unifying all religions. It has met with religious and political opposition. Religious opponents such as the Eastern Orthodox churches have claimed that Freemasonry is a religious and secret organisation. Henry Wilson Coil, author of Coil’s Masonic Encyclopedia argues that if Freemasonry were not a religion, nothing would have to be added to make it one.
Freemasonry opens itself to an antagonistic response from some quarters due to its secrecy, rituals, and potential influence. The possibility of a more secret society, which takes Masonic secrets and other influences to a further extreme, is far more threatening. The ultimate conspiracy theorist’s wet dream is such a society: the Illuminati.
The term Illuminati comes from the plural of the Latin, Illuminatus, meaning “one who is illuminated”. As part of the initiation into the Masons, the candidate requests and is promised “light in Masonry”. An Illuminatus is therefore supposedly a Master mason, who has had all the ‘light’ Masonry can bestow upon him and has now gone beyond all the potential degrees that a Mason can achieve.
The creator of the Illuminati was Adam Weishaupt, who founded the society in 1776. The fact that such a “secret society” has a universally agreed upon date of creation is extremely dubious. The Illuminati are an amalgam of other societies’ ideas: it came from Mason concepts; used mottos from the Assassins; and employed false names in rituals, which came from the tradition of Secret Chiefs (started by various European Masonic Lodges and the Hellfire Club).
Weishaupt was reported to have had a master plan for his society from the start. There were four main points to the plan:
The more information gained about the origins and aims of the Illuminati helps to construct a potentially plausible master plan. However, it remains too pat and exact. The notion that people understood the subject of controlling media in the 1770s is ludicrous. The printing press was not yet effective as a communications tool; rather, the pulpit was still the mechanism for conditioning the masses.
Amongst the accusations levelled at the Illuminati is the idea that the Latin word ‘Lumen’ derives from Lucifer, the former angel of Light. The leap of logic is therefore that the light borne by the Illuminati is that of Satan. The Illuminati continued the Freemason aim to unify all religions. Some theorists believe this single-world religion would be one in the service of the devil. This theory fails to understand the use of religion, particularly in the late 18th Century, as a control mechanism; therefore, the so-called plans formulated by Weishaupt appear anachronistic.
The roles of societies
The existence of a secret society dedicated to doing good for the rest of the world is a popular theme in fiction. This is the altruistic side of these groups, and sadly, it is one based more in fiction than reality. In a future article I plan to cover the secret / intelligence services that are the closest to an altruistic secret organisation as well as societies concerned with protection. Even then, there are the wider concerns regarding personal freedom, overdeveloped powers, etc. - but that is for a different discussion. Roofworld started as a society trying to improve the lives of its members compared to how things had been before. By standing together the Girls in Sin City are better able to decide how their lives should be run rather than be told by various other groups what to do.
A secret society as an organism must have function and form beyond that of its individual members; otherwise, the society has no reason to exist. One of the primary uses for a society is to increase the collective influence of its members.
We have seen examples of this influence with the Freemasons, but the notion of a small group influencing the masses is one that is quite relevant to modern society. There are suggestions of clandestine groups controlling aspects of society for their own aims. Various films and fiction place vampires into this type of role. The idea of immortals in this role is merely a magnification of the concerns over unprecedented control in limited hands.
The idea that secret societies operate by different rules than the rest of us is a source of concern, especially when in cases when we cannot help but be aware of the society’s existence. The idea of Old Boy networks giving some people unfair advantages is both a source of frustration and comfort: frustration, because of the upper hand that ensures certain doors are more open to society members; and comfort because one can blame their own failings on the network, whilst continuing to struggle onwards.
More insidious than this is the idea that membership of a secret society allows someone to operate outside the laws of normal society or get away with an act that should result in retribution. Theories linking the Freemasons to the Jack the Ripper murders play into this idea. The graphic novel and film From Hell was based on the conjecture that the murders started as part of a royal cover up to prevent the revelation of the existence of an illegitimate child by the Prince of Wales. The murders were therefore state sponsored; no identifiable culprits were brought to justice because they got out of hand, and were quietly dealt with by the Freemasons themselves. A Freemason acted as the royal agent; the society who closed the door on the murders. This was a case of a secret society attempting to increase influence by providing a quiet solution to a problem in the upper classes and then losing control, thus creating a new and more public problem. Both the lack of solution and theatrics of the Ripper murders keep it in the public consciousness. No solution will likely be found for the Ripper murders; hypotheses such as this merely allow wider concerns to be addressed, and feed fevered imaginations so that the conspiracy theorist’s own world perspective takes shape or receives new confirmation.
We return to the Illuminati to examine power grabs by secret societies. Speculation abounds concerning the connection between the Illuminati and the French Revolution. As ever with conjecture regarding the Illuminati, motive and opportunity have been found to link the society to a real world event. The notion is that the Weishaupt and his Illuminati engineered the French Revolution through their agents in the French Freemasons. This action was intended to attack the heart of the French Colonial Empire, thereby removing one of the two main powers in the world at that time. It also gave the Freemasons an opportunity to gain revenge for France’s role in the destruction of the Templars; these agents of the Illuminati assumed control after the Revolution, if the speculation on Robespierre and others’ true loyalty is correct.
It has been suggested that the Bavarian and French Governments had the opportunity to stop the Illuminati plot, having discovered the orders to start the Revolution given by Weishaupt five years before their implementation. Legend states that in 1784, lightning struck and killed a messenger before he could deliver the plans to Robespierre from Weishaupt. The documents fell into Bavarian hands, who promptly raided the houses of Weishaupt’s associates and became convinced these were genuine plans. The Bavarian Government outlawed the Illuminati and the details were sent to all the heads of Church and State in Europe. These were ignored and the Revolution went ahead as ‘planned’. The result was that the Illuminates were ordered to infiltrate other groups and form their own secret societies within all other secret societies. Again, this theory sounds plausible on one level, as it fits the Illuminati aim of destroying a government. However, this theory is flawed in that it brought the members of the society too close to the spotlight to fit other aims.
Whilst the Revolution weakened France, the incitement of colonial wars was intended to disrupt Great Britain. It is in the bizarre theories around the founding fathers of the USA that the speculation on the schemes of Weishaupt reaches even more foolish heights.
The number of conspiracies that concern the origins of America or who truly controls it reflects a number of things. Firstly, the modern importance of the United States; secondly, the predilections of some conspiracy theorists; and finally the self-importance of some Americans to imagine that to control America is to control the world. Various symbols on the US dollar bill (the pyramid, the all-seeing eye, the mottos, the star formation, and the number of feathers) appear to be derived from the Freemasons. As discussed in the previous article, there existed the Freemason connection to the Founding fathers, but there is also the suggestion of a much deeper Illuminati plot.
The portraits of Wesihaupt show a man who looked similar to George Washington as he appears on the dollar bill. The theorists would have people believe that a ritual was conducted and Weishaupt replaced Washington and served as the First President of the United States. However there seems to be little evidence to support this apart from the very flimsy likeness.
An alternative to the overbearing Illuminati theories is one that proposes that the secret power in America can be found in 13 families who have ruled the country for centuries from behind the scenes. This notion comes from the Vertigo comic series 100 Bullets, in which a secret council known as the Trust, made up of representatives of these 13 families, meets to discuss how to run the country. The surviving members of a group called the Minutemen, who previously acted as the Trust’s Bagmen until they refused to do a job, oppose them. In one series, we find two groups representing different types of secret societies who have a relationship with influence. The most obvious example is the Trust: is this group the shadow board of the Corporation of the USA or merely a crime cartel? The Trust are described as having a finger in every pie and they appear untouchable by everyone, save for the Minutemen. The Minutemen’s influence is the focus of the series. Agent Graves, who leads the group, offers to various individuals 100 bullets to use as they see fit. Authorities will neither arrest nor pursue anyone using these bullets, because of the influence both secret societies maintain.
This is the seductive power of the secret societies: members can operate outside the law and reap the benefits of past crimes with little or no consequence, except when actions are taken against those who share similar influence. The common man is not engaged in action against members of either the Minutemen or the Trust. Indeed, an early issue of the series shows an ordinary man, destroyed by past actions of a Trust member, trying to seek revenge. The Trust member offers him recompense, but then cruelly snatches it away and delivers her own revenge for a minor slight committed by the man. These societies operate outside the rules; indeed the rules appear to have been written around these societies. The source of power for the Trust has not yet been established, but it seems fairly plain that this society is one that operates on long term plans. However, whatever events caused the Minutemen to break away from them shows short sightedness and the Trust is shown to be rather slow at reacting to events.
100 Bullets is a story of corruption and influence as we observe people being dragged into the spheres of influence of both these groups. Ultimately I believe the story will be about the fall of the Trust as the sins of the past finally catch up.
Short sightedness is not something that you could accuse the Illuminati of. The Illuminati, which continues to be the focus of various fevered imaginations, is the ultimate conspiracy. To sum up: this secret society engineers most wars in the world to bring down governments and give the society greater influence. The Illuminati controls most banks in the world, due to various plans put into place over the last few centuries. The notion of a one-world government is less of an impetus for the society now; rather the goal is control of the monetary systems throughout the world.
What remains unknown throughout all of these theories and evidence is what the ultimate goal of the Illuminati is supposed to be. While it is interesting to suggest that this all stems from Weishaupt’s original plans and that the society is prepared to operate on a long-term basis there is no indication that a concluding point exists. As the structures of everyday society continue to evolve and become more complicated, one must ask, why, if there are truly masters of this world, have they not achieved their goal in the past, when reaching the conclusion would have been much simpler?
Globalisation appears to be the key to this grand conspiracy. Monetary unification feeds the Illuminati dream and now the Illuminati can be found behind international organisations such as the United Nations and the Council on Foreign relations. Monarchies are now a thing of the past, those that remain having little or no true power, and so the one world government is waiting to emerge from the ashes of the next world war. Do the Illuminati really exist? Who can say. There likely are movers and shakers behind events in the world that exist out of the sight of the media. Or it may be that the theorists see the true patterns of world events.
The notion of a grand conspiracy is not restricted to the Illuminati. The Wildstorm comic series Sleeper included a secret monarchy of the world, which met once a year to “decide what will happen in the world, from who will be elected, what region will have constant warfare, to what band will be at the top of the billboard charts…” [Sleeper #3, p18]. This fictional group appears to be an extreme extrapolation of the real life yearly meeting called the Bilderberg Conference. This closed-door conference is a meeting of various industrialists, media barons, politicians, etc. that takes place in private to promote frank and open discussion. The very nature of the people involved and the secrecy surrounding topics discussed there raises an obvious red flag to conspiracy theorists. We know that a select few people make decisions that effect millions. In some cases we voted for them if you believe that democracy really does give a voice to the masses, in other cases they assumed the positions through force or machinations. Conspiracy theories on the influence of secret groups reflect the feeling that an individual can have only a limited effect on modern society. There is a trend in historical theory that individuals are inconsequential and that it is long term trends that effect history and the way the world is shaped. This certainly fits a world where we imagine that behind closed doors secret societies exist plotting centuries in advance to take control of everyone.
Anarchism
As much as a society might exist for long-term gain or altruistic purposes, there is also the idea that such an entity could be used to smash down and potentially replace the government or controlling force of everyday society. This is more than the Illuminati conspiracy, because some of these groups did not want to replace the old order; they merely wished to destroy it. In some cases, the difference between a secret society and a terrorist cell is slight. The Man who was Thursday by G K Chesterton plays with this notion.
The idea of secret meetings, consolidation of resources for a joint purpose and restricted membership all apply equally to terrorist groups as much as secret societies. The Man who was Thursday included a group calling itself the Supreme Anarchist Council. This is obviously Chesterton’s humour coming through, as the notion that anarchists would organise and have leaders controlling their efforts is frankly ludicrous.
In this mass of secret societies that might exist, how can one be sure that the one you belong to has the right goal? The Vertigo comic series The Invisibles initially shows us a group, who fight against the influence of other more insidious societies, most notably pseudo Freemasons. It is a vision of a world influenced by secret masters where people belong to these societies, sometimes without realising it. The Invisibles are about breaking down the controls that everyday society has placed upon us, but ultimately the realisation comes that all the societies have common purpose. Fighting does not achieve the end goal, educating does.
The difficulty I have in reconciling the global conspiracy of the Illuminati with reality is this idea that a long-term plan can really outlive its creator’s lifetime. The anarchist groups and terrorists are focused on short-term goals, with concrete outcomes. The main difference between secret societies and terrorist groups would appear to be in their choice of definition. In terms of construction and composition they may well be scarily similar. Obviously aims would be different, but at the end of a discussion when mainly affluent individuals have formed the building blocks for many of these societies it is interesting to note that they play by some of the same rules as people who potentially seek to remove their grip on the world at large.
Of the societies we have discussed in the article, only the Freemasons and the College Fraternities are ones that we can be certain exist now. In the end do we know what really constitutes a secret society? Influence would appear to be one of the key elements in creating and maintaining a society. A group of individuals work together to accumulate and maintain the collective influence of the society. It would be nice to suppose that altruism does constitute a reason for a society to exist, but really why would you keep such a group secret and behind closed doors? The very idea of secrecy throws suspicion on the actions of every society. True tradition may play a large factor in why they function in such a way, but the theatrics really only serve to downplay the idea that these groups come together for anyone’s benefit but their own.
Mark Peyton – has a MA in History and Research from the University of Hull specialising in the Hundred Years War. In a complete departure from that he now runs communications and membership for a UK based Trade Union as well as being a part time writer/journalist. He is a founding member of Millarworld acting as a moderator and as an editor for the magazine.