Editing Cauldron (section)

===Social Engineering===
They went out of their way to set up several powerful parahuman groups around the world,<ref name="SB3">
:'''DoctorNobody:''' Absent Cauldron's meddling...<br>
:'''Wildbow:'''Think bigger-scale.<br><br>
Absent Cauldron's meddling, there's no [[PRT]] for one thing. There's no [[Suits]], no [[Red Gauntlet]], no [[Elite Sentai]] group or whatever I called them, no [[Elite]]; all groups that Cauldron set up or supported.<br><br>Non-parahumans in the West end up taking a more aggressive stance against parahumans, as certain voices aren't silenced, and without the Protectorate as an example, things are just more anti-parahuman around the world as a whole. Heroes are fewer and farther between than in conventional Worm - you've got an awful lot of shades of grey and people doing their damndest just to get by. The [[Chevalier]]s and [[Miss Militia]]s of the world are staying right where they are, in small town X or Turkey-occupied Kurdistan, and they're helping their town/country and only their town/country. For the most part, parahumans are taking over where they can take over, and because the population is so hostile, they're forced to be a little ugly or harsh to quell dissent, or they're nice and constantly watching their back/focusing far too much on just keeping things functioning.<br><br>Assuming that Cauldron's operatives maybe killed Eden but then just sat on their hands/died, the Endbringers don't exist, the cauldron vials aren't spread out, and there's less of the really powerful parahumans here and there who're capable of acting decisively. Gates to other worlds are left open, feeding into Cote D'Ivorie, spitting out more than a fair share of Case-53 like monsters, only in a very tightly occupied space. If West Africa survives, it's either as a world power or as a mutant-occupied area. If they find Eden's corpse, well, you've got a whole other mess, because they're going to be less careful and organized about it. Assuming they don't accidentally revive Eden, there's going to be a lot of failed doses.<br><br>Further, the major threats that Contessa and Number Man deemed too dangerous to leave alone weren't necessarily eliminated (either because Contessa herself didn't pay a visit, or because Cauldron didn't contrive to have said parahuman put down), so there's more Ash Beasts, Blasphemies, Sleepers and the equivalent roaming around.<br><br>There's no Parahuman Containment Center, so there's no place to put the really dangerous villains. What do you do with the villains who can't be killed, like Gavel? You maybe try to wrangle some giant-killers like Flechette/Foil, but how many of those guys are there, really?<br><br>You're talking about infrastructure, but quite honestly, infrastructure wouldn't survive the 90's. By the mid-2000's, getting food from the agricultural states to the areas with the highest population density (ie. New york) is a struggle, because of bandits, threats, organized crime, disorganized crime and more. - [https://forums.spacebattles.com/posts/15024820 Wildbow on Spacebattles]</ref> to keep make sure there were united fronts.<!--Alexandria's and eidolons interludes -->

====Terminus Project====
<!-- Based on projections everyone will eventually end up with powers.{{Cite}} To preempt this Cauldron tried to set up precedents of good parahuman leadership to serve as an example for others. -->
Sometime before September 16, 2000, [[Doctor Mother]] proposed the Terminus project.<ref name="15.z eFindCandidate">'''September 16th, 2000'''<br>[...]<br>“No, this means we simply need to step up our plans.  If we’re going to go forward with the  Terminus project, we need to advance the overall efforts with Cauldron.  And we need the Protectorate effort to succeed on every count.”<br><br>“Or we need your project to work out,” Alexandria replied.<br><br>The Doctor frowned.  “Or that.  We still have to find the right individual.  Or ''make'' him.” - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/11/08 Excerpt] from [[Interlude 15.z]]</ref> Believing that [[parahumans]] would eventually take charge in the long run, Cauldron wanted to see if a vetted candidate (i.e., either found or made<ref name="15.z eFindCandidate" />) could naturally take charge in a location and set up a stable society without their direct interference.<ref>“How does this turn out?” I asked.  “Cauldron ruling the world?”<br><br>“''Honestly?  I don’t think so.  Cauldron’s primary interest seems to be humanity.  Keeping us going, minimizing chances of war and conflict.  All of this seems to be geared around that.  Setting things up so we aren’t fucked, however things go down.''”<br><br>“Right,” I said.  “Where do the powers come in?”<br><br>“''I think… well, I don’t have enough to say anything for sure.  But the underlying assumption seems to be that parahumans are going to take charge, one way or the other, so they wanted to set things up so that happened naturally.  They’ve been vetting clients, finding the ones who’d work best.  They don’t identify them by anything except number, but… I think Coil was a test case.''”<br><br>I nodded.<br><br>“''So were we.''”<br><br>“We had an idea,” I said. - [[Venom 29.4]]</ref> One of their clients, [[Coil]],<ref name="R2" /> had a craving for power and authority, so Cauldron wanted him as this candidate.<ref name="R4">You talk about the kind of science Coil could do elsewhere on this page. But if Coil was going to be a scientist, he wouldn't have had powers in the first place. Cauldron wanted him for Terminus and used the financial leverage of him being in debt to them to position him. If he hadn't had the craving for power & authority they would have looked elsewhere. - Comment by Wildbow on Reddit</ref><!-- https://redd.it/55dgky --> Thus, they leveraged Coil's debt to position him as a test case:<ref name="R4" /> he was their test run in [[Brockton Bay]].<ref name="discord eTestRun" />

While the test run was ongoing, Cauldron did not interfere or intervene as much in [[Brockton Bay]]. Thus, everyone in the city could get away with a bit more than might be expected. For example, [[Coil]] had hired snipers in [[Coil's Organization|his organization]]. However, Cauldron being more hands-off meant they would not save Coil from dying.<ref name="reddit eHandsOff" /><ref name="discord eTestRun" />

Cauldron did not help [[Coil]] nor did they help those against him. He did not know about this project.<ref>I leaned forward, resting my hands on the railing in front of me.  Grue’s odd departure only fueled an anger that had been simmering, “I had a hell of a lot of time to think, in prison, in my downtime and during stakeouts.  There’s only one thing that really makes sense, as far as your motivations go.  It’s not the clues or what you’re doing, it’s what you ''weren’t'' doing.  Only Legend helped against the Slaughterhouse Nine, but he wasn’t in the know, from the looks of it.  You didn’t help Coil, and you didn’t help ''against'' Coil.  You only helped against Echidna when it looked like everything might go down the toilet.  But Alexandria steps in when I leave, confronts me after I’d surrendered to the PRT.  So I had to ask myself ''why''.”<br><br>“I can imagine,” Doctor Mother said.<br><br>“We were guinea pigs,” I said.  “For what?  So you could be in charge?”<br><br>“Not us.  Never us,” the Doctor said.  “There’s a lot you don’t understand.”<br><br>“''Try us'',” Tattletale said, almost snarling the words.<br><br>“All of this?  It’s small scale,” the Doctor said.  “Important?  Yes.  But it’s nothing in the grand scheme of things.” - [[Scarab 25.5]]</ref><ref name="15.z eImportance" />

On June 18, 2011, [[Doctor Mother]] told [[Alexandria]] and [[Eidolon]] that she believed the [[end of the world]] would not be a concern if this project was a success. Alexandria believed this project was of extreme importance; she actually said ''everything'' rested on [[Coil]]'s shoulders. Note that [[Legend]] did not know about this project at the time.<ref name="15.z eImportance">'''June 18th, 2011'''<br>[...]<br>“But he’ll understand,” the Doctor said.  “If the Terminus project is a success, the end of the world isn’t a concern.  And I believe we ''will'' succeed.”<br><br>“Provided we come up with a solution to the bigger, more basic problems we’re facing,” Eidolon said.  “Or we’ll simply find ourselves in the same circumstances after we’ve gone to all this trouble.”<br><br>Alexandria nodded.  “The Protectorate is proving to be a failure on that front.  Recent events haven’t given me much hope in that regard.”<br><br>“So that leaves only my end of things,” the Doctor said.<br><br>“Coil,” Eidolon said.  “And if ''he'' fails?”<br><br>“Ever the pessimist,” Alexandria said.<br><br>“This revelation about the possible end of the world has decimated our projected timeline.  We don’t have time to prepare or pursue anything further,” the Doctor said.<br><br>“If we assist him-”<br><br>“No,” the Doctor spoke.  “If we assist him, there’s no point.”<br><br>“In short?” Alexandria leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table.  “He doesn’t even know it, but ''everything'' rests on his shoulders.” - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/11/08 Excerpt] from [[Interlude 15.z]]</ref>

Cauldron made backup plans for directly brainwashing capes into being cooperative leaders in case of a scenario where parahumans being leaders in the long run did not work out.<ref>“''Yeah.  But there’s more… I don’t know how much more.  Yet.  Can you flip ahead?  Maybe about three quarters of the way through, there should be a bit about the Overseers and the Terminus.  Flip through… slower… show more of the pages… I’ll go back through the video feed to view each page on my own and figure the rest out myself.''”<br>[...]<br>“''There are backup plans if the whole parahumans-as-leaders thing didn’t work out.  Brainwashing leaders like they brainwashed the case fifty-threes.  So the leaders were absolute and could be trusted.  Um.  Distribution and organization for getting things going again, depending on how many threats remain after we make it through this.  They didn’t know what the end would be like, what we’d be up against, so they could only ballpark here.  The reason for these offices?  Cauldron’s going to staff this place.  It’s going to be a hub, police, a whole lot more, up until humanity’s got the ball rolling again.''” - [[Venom 29.4]]</ref><ref>If the Accord/Taylor/Coil types didn’t work out as leaders, they intended to brainwash -capes-. Probably capes in captivity. Thus ensuring they had cooperative leaders who would stay in bounds. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/09/26/venom-29-4/#comment-43598 Comment] by Wildbow on [[Venom 29.4]]</ref>