Omar (Deus Ex)

An Omar

The Omar are a fictional faction in the computer and video game Deus Ex: Invisible War.

History

As described within Invisible War, the Omar are a global society of radically biomodified cyborg traders that flourished after The Collapse, an event that precipitated a global meltdown. They apparently originated in Russian science cities when a group of Russian scientists submitted themselves to radical biomodification in an attempt to survive the massive Russian famines following the Collapse. In the video game Deus Ex, in-game emails and documents indicate that a large amount of Russian nanotechnology research took place at a facility in the Russian city of Sverdlovsk. It is possible that the Omar originated from that facility and then spread to others. In the twenty years since the Collapse, the Omar have spread around the globe, their extensive augmentation earning them the ire of the Knights Templar, an organization that hates and detests human enhancement, and fear from others.

Organization

The Omar are not fully individuals, rather, each Omar is part of a merged collective consciousness, achieved through the replacement of their frontal lobes with a wireless cortical interface. Thus, if something happens to an Omar, then all Omar will know about it and react accordingly. The Omar expand their ranks through covert recruitment of humans, both biomodified and not; it is unclear how voluntary this recruitment normally is. In the game, some characters state that homeless people are the primary targets of this recruitment, but the validity of this is uncertain. To finance themselves, the Omar quickly found a niche dealing in biomodifications, weapon modifications, and information on the black market all over the world. They are rapidly dominating the field, often by aggressively squeezing out their competition whenever they move into a new area, either through assassination or assimilation. They often use human agents as fronts and intermediaries while conducting their business for their personal safety. However, the Omar also sell their wares directly, normally outside of policed areas. They are almost always accompanied by one or two armed Omar, called Protectors, who act as bodyguards for the Traders.

Physiology and philosophy

All of the Omar wear dark blue exoskeleton suits with gas mask-like respiratory systems. Their internal appearance (if any) is not known. The Omar exoskeleton suits allow them to survive comfortably at a range of extreme temperatures, from sub-zero arctic climates to harsh desert heat. They are also fire-proof and resistant to most forms of radiation and poisons. However, their collective consciousness makes them susceptible to strong Electromagnetic pulses, which disrupt their connection rendering them unconscious and comatose. The Omar are constantly in search of new technologies to improve their existing cybernetic modifications. Though many individuals outside the group are augmented, the Omar are the only post-Collapse group to openly espouse "Posthumanism;" their ultimate goal is to become capable of surviving in any environment, no matter how harsh, so that they may eventually inherit the Earth through natural selection. Like the Illuminati, a secret society which wishes to regulate and control nanotechnology on a global scale, and the Knights Templar, who wish that nanotechnology be destroyed completely, the Omar are opposed to ApostleCorp head, and Deus Ex protagonist, JC Denton's proposed "Great Advance", which would biomodify all of humanity, rendering the Omar collective obsolete; however, they lack the resources to mount an effective opposition to Denton and ApostleCorp. The Omar collective are utilitarian realists - to them, the Knights Templar are hazardously puerile neo-luddites, the Illuminati's New World Order theories of control are an outmoded and backward waste of resources, and the views of ApostleCorp regarding "perfect democracy" are an archaic oxymoron when technology exists allowing all such delimited ideologies to be disposed of. If the player chooses to side with the Omar, they instruct him to kill the Dentons (J.C. and Paul), the Illuminati leadership (Nicolette and Chad), and Grand Master Saman of the Knights Templar. The world does not need any new delusions of messianic grandeur; humanity has proven itself often enough to be undeserving salvation from its long belated abolition, and the Omar are dispassionate critics. The closing cinematic shows the Earth as a barren chunk of rock after two hundred years of war, and an Omar walking over the bodies of the dead, towards new frontiers for the new species.

Trivia

The Omar are likely inspired by a concept introduced by science fiction author Bruce Sterling in a short story called Cicada Queen, where he introduces the idea of cyborgs, called "Lobsters", which are internally human and externally modified instead of the other way around. The Russian word for lobster is Омар (pronounced as "omar"), and so the name of the Omar references the Lobsters of Cicada Queen. Also it seems likely that the Omar also represent the Nietzschean ideal of the ubermensch.