History Main / TheConspiracy

* '''GovernmentConspiracy''': A secret project uniting a small number of members of a powerful but otherwise benevolent organization, usually but not necessarily TheGovernment (hence the name). The project can hardly be older than the government itself. Their power comes from their FrontOrganization's resources and the trust that NormalPeople put into it.

** ''VideoGame/DreamfallTheLongestJourney'' had Project Alchera, a GovernmentConspiracy (actually, a [[MegaCorp corporate]] one, but [[OneNationUnderCopyright corporations ARE the world government in the setting]]) by [[spoiler:the top executives and researchers of the Japanese toy manufacturer [=WATIcorp=]]] to develop and spread MindControl technology disguised as lucid dream toys. Unfortunately, none of them had any idea that there was an entire world of magic that used the same wavelengths as the project. The central AI latched on in curiosity and suddenly [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom instant chaos, test subjects manifest in Arcadia, two worlds in danger, etc.]].

* Suburban Redevelopment Fund in ''VideoGame/LANoire''.

* ''Literature/TheWitches'' by Creator/RoaldDahl has a secret society of {{wicked witch}}es whose ultimate goal is to kill all children on Earth.

* ''Literature/TheHandmaidsTale'': A very far-right fundamentalist Christian faction called the Sons of Jacob with members within the government plotted to seize control over the US, which they then did by massacring Congress and murdering the President (acts blamed on Islamic terrorists). After this the US was reformed into the Republic of Gilead.

[[FAnfic/TheMasksWeWearTeenTitans The Masks We Wear]] has The Court of Owls, the criminal cabal from Gotham City that many think are just a nursery rhyme to scare children. They want to expand into Jump City, bringing them into conflict with both the Teen Titans and Slade.

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* ''Disney/{{Zootopia}}'': [[spoiler: The reason why predators are going savage is because a group of racist sheep led by [[BitchInSheepsClothing Assistant Mayor Dawn Bellwether]] created a PsychoSerum and sniped innocent predators with it. The ultimate goal is for [[FantasticRacism the prey vs. predator tensions]] in Zootopia to be stoked up to such a high level that the prey species (who collectively make up 90% of the population) will unite against the predator species and ensure that Bellwether will remain in power.]]

* ''Literature/TheIlluminatusTrilogy'', the original ConspiracyKitchenSink novel.
* In the novel ''Literature/SpocksWorld'', a group of Vulcans have been stirring up the planet to secession.

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* ''FanFic/YetAgain'': Much like everything else in this fic, PlayedForLaughs. [[spoiler:It's implied that the RunningGag of Konoha's religious reverence of the NinjaLog is actually a plot started by the Senju Brothers, aided by their student Sarutobi, to claim the entire world in the name of the Log, who is an actually deity or some other worldly being]].

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[[folder: WebOriginal]]

* In ''Podcast/AliceIsntDead,'' the {{Narrator}} learns that her missing wife Alice was actively [[ConspiracyTheorist investigating]] a multi-group conspiracy with vague aims before her disappearance, gathering information on three mysterious parties: The Cumberland Project, Vector H, and Bay & Creek Shipping. The discovery of her scattered notes prompts the Narrator to involve herself more directly, going so far as to get hired as a [[IntrepidMerchant long haul trucker]] by [[CovertGroupWithMundaneFront Bay & Creek Shipping]], in hopes of locating her missing wife. However, agents of the Conspiracy, including a cannibalistic HumanoidAbomination, don't much care for her meddling, and its heavily implied that the Conspiracy causes or contributes to seemingly random deaths, disasters and paranormal activity, with tacit approval from at least ''some'' [[TheBadGuysAreCops officials]].
* The first enemies Mathias fights in ''Literature/MagikOnline'' is a conspiracy led by a human-sacrificing cult consisting of Evermarsh's impotent human authority figures and police run by Mayor John Brown who have turned to satanic means in order to regain their former status after they were conquered by the Concordian Empire.

[[folder:Other]]
* ''TheChurchOfTheSubGenius'' blames pretty much everything wrong with the world on "The CONSPIRACY" (which is apparently [[FunWithAcronyms an acronym]] for "Cliques Of Normals Secretly Planning Insidious Rituals Aimed At Controlling You").
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* The Franchise/MarvelUniverse two-issue limited series, ''Conspiracy'', revolves around an IntrepidReporter investigating a mysterious group called "Control". The investigation eventually leads him to General Edward Harrison from ''ComicBook/TheMightyThor'', who explains that in the wake of the attack by the alien monster Gormuu (as originally told via flashback in ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' #271), Reed Richards proposed a scientific think tank addressing fantastical crises, and the military implemented it as a means to control and manipulate everything, from [[ReedRichardsIsUseless the use and influence of revolutionary discoveries]] to {{Super Hero Origin}}s. Soon after the revelation, the reporter meets ComicBook/{{SHIELD}}'s Dum-Dum Dugan, who explains that Harrison is actually a nutcase who's been using his Black Ops resources to make his claims convincing. The comic leaves it ambiguous over who's telling the truth.

* The Franchise/MarvelUniverse two-issue limited series, ''Conspiracy'', revolves around an IntrepidReporter investigating a mysterious group called "Control". The investigation eventually leads him to General Edward Harrison from ''ComicBook/TheMightyThor'', who explains that Reed Richards proposed a scientific think tank addressing fantastical crises in the wake of the attack by the alien monster Gormuu (as originally told via flashback in ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' #271), and the military implemented it as a means to control and manipulate everything, from [[ReedRichardsIsUseless the use and influence of revolutionary discoveries]] to {{Super Hero Origin}}s. Soon after the revelation, the reporter meets ComicBook/{{SHIELD}}'s Dum-Dum Dugan, who explains that Harrison is actually a nutcase who's been using his Black Ops resources to make his claims convincing. The comic leaves it ambiguous over who's telling the truth.

* The Franchise/MarvelUniverse two-issue limited series, ''Conspiracy'', revolves around an IntrepidReporter investigating a mysterious group called "Control". The investigation eventually leads him to General Edward Harrison from ''ComicBook/TheMightyThor'', who explains that Reed Richards proposed a scientific think tank addressing fantastical crises in the wake of the attack of the alien monster Gormuu (as originally told via flashback in ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' #271), and the military implemented it as a means to control and manipulate everything, from [[ReedRichardsIsUseless revolutionary discoveries]] to {{Super Hero Origin}}s. Soon after the revelation, the reporter meets ComicBook/{{SHIELD}}'s Dum-Dum Dugan, who explains that Harrison is actually a nutcase who's been using his Black Ops resources to make his claims convincing. The comic leaves it ambiguous over who's telling the truth.

[[folder:Comic books]]
* The ''Marvel Universe'' two-issue limited series, ''Conspiracy'', revolves around an IntrepidReporter investigating a mysterious group called "Control". The investigation eventually leads him to General Edward Harrison from ''ComicBook/TheMightyThor'', who explains that Reed Richards proposed a scientific think tank addressing fantastical crises in the wake of the attack of the alien monster Gormuu (as originally told via flashback in ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' #271), and the military implemented it as a means to control and manipulate everything, from [[ReedRichardsIsUseless revolutionary discoveries]] to {{Super Hero Origin}}s. Soon after the revelation, the reporter meets ComicBook/{{SHIELD}}'s Dum-Dum Dugan, who explains that Harrison is actually a nutcase who's been using his Black Ops resources to make his claims convincing. The comic leaves it ambiguous over who's telling the truth.

* '''Evil Plan'''. The conspiracy always has a very specific objective: [[WorldDomination power]], [[CorruptCorporateExecutive profit]], selective destruction, etc. Without this unifying objective, a secretive villainous group turns into TheMasquerade.

* In ''Literature/{{Victoria}}'', everything from the Declaration of the Rights of Man, to Madonna and rap music, to feminism, gay marriage and neopaganism is "Cultural Marxism", one part of a deliberate and long-running plot to weaken Western culture and morality and set the people up for a dictatorial communist-in-all-but-name state.[[note]]Never mind that the first entry was before Marx's birth.[[/note]] The UN (specifically UNESCO, which funds education and the arts) is a large part of this. It's unclear how Islam fits in, as Muslims are built up as the mortal enemies of all Christendom, but are pretty hostile to all these ideas themselves. The author himself is a major pusher of the real life Cultural Marxism conspiracy theory.

* In ''Literature/{{Victoria}}'', everything from the Declaration to the Rights of Man, to Madonna and rap music, to feminism, gay marriage and neopaganism is "Cultural Marxism." Part of a deliberate and long-running plot to weaken Western culture and morality and set the people up for a dictatorial communist-in-all-but-name state. The UN (specifically UNESCO, which funds education and the arts) is a large part of this. It's unclear how Islam fits in, as Muslims are built up as the mortal enemies of all Christendom, but are pretty hostile to all these ideas themselves.

* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}}'': The protagonists eventually stumble upon a hidden organization made up of businessmen, politicians and law enforcement officials who are using the MentalWorld of the Palace to secretly influence powerful members of society and cause accidents that will encourage social unrest, all in order to increase their own wealth and standing.

* ''Overwatch (Video Game)'': In Sombra's origin trailer, she reveals that she accidentally stumbled upon a thing called The Conspiracy, who had their hands in Overwatch, Talon, and other places.

* ''VideoGame/Overwatch'': In Sombra's origin trailer, she reveals that she accidentally stumbled upon a thing called The Conspiracy, who had their hands in Overwatch, Talon, and other places.

* In ''Literature/TheSisterVerseAndTheTalonsOfRuin'', John thinks everything is this - and he's right - mostly thanks to the machinations of the setting's resident [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]].

** Joffrey is poisoned by a conspiracy between Olenna Tyrell and Petyr Baelish.

The Conspiracy is generally a great antagonist in any story, but one genre makes a particularly extensive use of it:

* '''ConspiracyThriller''' is a traditional {{Thriller}} narrative [[RuleOfDrama centering on the conflict]] between TheHero and The Conspiracy.

For further tips on writing both of the above, see SoYouWantTo/WriteAConspiracyTheory. For tropes commonly associated with conspiracies, see TheIndexIsWatchingYou.