Rebuild of Evangelion

Rebuilding in a new world. This is the second Alternate Timeline World Asgard might encounter.

Setting

The story of Neon Genesis Evangelion primarily begins in 2000 with the "Second Impact", a global cataclysm which almost completely destroyed Antarctica and led to the deaths of half the human population of Earth. The Impact is believed by the public at large and even most of NERV to have been the impact of a meteorite landing in Antarctica, causing devastating tsunamis and a change in the Earth's axial tilt (leading to global climate change) and subsequent geopolitical unrest, nuclear war (such as the nuking of Tokyo), and general economic distress. Later, Second Impact is revealed to be the result of contact with and experimentation on the first of what are collectively dubbed the Angels: Adam. The experiments were sponsored by the mysterious organization SEELE, and carried out by the research organization Gehirn.

In the year 2010, Gehirn had accomplished a number of its scientific and engineering goals and corporately changed into the paramilitary organization NERV which is headquartered in Tokyo-3, a militarized civilian city located on one of the last dry sections of Japan; NERV's central mission is to locate the remaining Angels predicted by SEELE, and to destroy them. However, NERV has its own secret agenda, as directed by its Machiavellian commander Gendo Ikari: the Human Instrumentality Project, which, according to Gendo in episode 25, is the task of uniting all human minds into one global spiritual entity. Associated with NERV is the Marduk Institute, which has the task of selecting the pilots for the Evas, the most capable being children conceived after the Second Impact (14 year-olds). The institute consists of Commander Ikari, and NERV's chief scientist Ritsuko Akagi; supporting the two are 108 companies which are all revealed to be ghost companies.

Factions

NERV

God's in His Heaven, all's right with the World.

NERV (German for "nerve") is a special organization that was put together to combat the Angels after the Second Impact and is the organization responsible for the creation of the Evangelions.

Mission

NERV has several missions. First of all, it aims to put in place the Human Instrumentality Project , under the supervision of the high escalon of SEELE. But the public purpose of NERV is to defend humanity against the Angels to prevent them from initiating the Third Impact after the destruction carried out during the Second Impact. For this, the organization has developed and uses the Evangelions. In reality, the destruction of the Angels is one of the stages for the implementation of the Human Instrumentality Project.

Organization

Officially, the NERV is a private organization under the direct supervision of the United Nations, with limited authority by the local administration and, to some extent, over the military forces of the United Nations. However, NERV is primarily independent from the United Nations, except for funding. Due to the inability of conventional forces to fight the Angels, combat strategies are often left to the discretion of the highest levels of NERV without any external interference. NERV is able to keep its own positions if it feels necessary.

NERV employs several thousand people, including scientists, technicians, paramilitary security forces, and support personnel. The standard uniform for NERV employees is a khaki uniform with triangular patterns on the shoulders. People in a position of command (Gendo Ikari, Kozo Fuyutsuki, and even Ryoji Kaji) wears other type of clothes. All NERV employees have a triangular clip on their left breast to indicate their rank.

In the absence of the Commander and Vice-Commander, control of NERV HQ falls to Misato Katsuragi. She and Ritsuko Akagi seem to have more or less an equivalent position in the NERV hierarchy. The exact relationship between the two is a bit unclear. At several times, they give each other orders but it seems that Misato commands Ritsuko on the tactical level, in particular on the use of Evangelions, while Ritsuko commands Misato when it comes to technical level, especially when it comes to damage to the units.

Technical Division

The Technical Division, headed by Ritsuko Akagi corresponds to the scientific branch of NERV, responsible for research and development of Evangelions, as well as maintenance and development. She also carries out scientific analyzes about the Angels to try to better understand them and help the Operation Tactical branch in their fight.

Each NERV facility accommodates a large number of mechanics, electricians and other personnel dedicated to maintenance, repair and construction. The standard uniform consists of an orange jumpsuit and a hat. Personnel involved in Evangelion research, development and testing wear the standard khaki NERV uniform. Doctor Akagi wears a white lab coat instead of a uniform.

Intelligence Division

The NERV Intelligence and Security Department is a division of NERV that includes intelligence and counterintelligence activities. They are also special agents tasked with tracking Evangelion pilots and investigating security breaches. They manage to recover from Shinji Ikari after his escape two days earlier.

Public Relations

NERV has its own public relations department, which manages propaganda and media censorship to control information about Angels and Evangelions to the general public. For example, after the fight against the Fourth Angel, the official information released indicates that no one was injured in the fight between Evangelion Unit-01 and the Angel, when in reality Sakura Suzuhara was mentioned to be injured.

Euro-NERV

Euro-NERV is an organization that deals with the Evangelion production and management as according to the IPEA. One of its bases is located in Paris, France, a facility that contains numerous equipment that was guarded by numerous autonomous Evangelion Mark.44A, Evangelion Mark.44B and one Evangelion Mark.4444C. It was raided by WILLE with Evangelion Production Model Custom Type-08 β-ICC fighting against it as WILLE soldiers could use the sealing pillars to decontaminate the base and regain control of it and its contents.

Seele

Seele (also shown as SEELE) was a mysterious group of beings shown in Rebuild of Evangelion to have significant influence over NERV.

Goals

Seele's goal was to start the Human Intrumentality Project via an "impact" event. The project was meant to exterminate all life on Earth and replace it with lifeforms born with the "fruit of life". The Near Third Impact would have been Gendo Ikari's scenario of the project if it had succeeded, while the Fourth Impact was Seele's scenario. Seele's original plan was to resurrect Lilith, but that clearly failed. Seele's back up plan also failed as Evangelion 13 was deactivated.

Organization

In the first two Rebuild movies Seele is shown to have major control of NERV and funds its operations. However, unlike the original anime they seem to have considerably less direct control over the ensuing events.

At some point following the Near Third Impact, Seele fell silent and remained so by the time of Evangelion 3.0: You Can (Not) Redo. Gendo explained to Kōzō Fuyutsuki that the Human Intrumentality Project would be enacted in accordance with the Dead Sea Scrolls, so there was no need for Seele to speak. Presumably, Seele was certain that with the failure of the Third Impact, the planned Fourth Impact would inevitably follow their designs and achieve their desired outcome, and therefore they had no need to relay further instructions. Despite this certainty, the Fourth Impact was halted soon after Seele is shut down, and Gendo and Fuyutsuki note that their own plans were still on track.

True Nature

Gendo reveals that Seele were lifeforms (whether human or otherwise is not specified) gifted with the "fruit of knowledge" who altered the "shape" of their souls to be able to live indefinitely. Seele apparently assisted human evolution through the ages by granting humans the gift of civilization. Gendo described shutting Seele down as an act of respect and gratitude for Seele's aid because their souls were being returned to their rightful place. Seele 01, the last to be shut down, broke its silence and told Gendo that their wish for mankind had already come to pass, and expressed its final hope that the instrumentality of humanity would occur, along with the "peaceful purification of souls".

As they were deactivated, the usually opaque black Seele monoliths turned white and translucent. Each monolith revealed an anatomical diagram of a brain inside it, which flashed and faded as they were shut down.