I mentioned this to the rest of the Lore team, but I would rather this post mention how the CPRD is an organisation on ice. An organisation which over the years has lost a majority of its trust with the Overwatch AI (which is above Breen), the Overwatch forces themselves and Summit 24 being highly untrusting of the organisation, with the CPRD basically being under watch. This is also linked in with the fact that in many cities across the world, the CPRD has been banned outright from operating in some cities and regions which the City Admins themselves or Summit decide.
CPRD has been involved in numerous failures of experiments and treason that Overwatch along with the Summit look down on it for. The only reason the CPRD has not been shot up yet is because of Breen doing his usual convincing to the Advisory to ensure the Combine do not shut them down on the spot and thus are allowed to operate... with the exceptions of zones which some cities or sector admins ban them from.
Basically turning CPRD into a nefarious organisation more than anything else which sometimes steps out of line and goes against all kinds of morals and ethics. D47 was a good example to this and it is mention in IC lore on the server rn that CPRD is banned from City 17 at this time after their major fuckery within. This was because CPRD did some shady actions involving the Virus and its origins and help the rogue CCA take a very important vial out of the City which Overwatch AI went ape shit after it found out about such treason and called a Total Rendition with D47... which is basically part of the Capital.
One can imagine how that might of went down behind closed doors afterwards and the amount of talking Breen had to do to avoid Overwatch steamrolling a section of the organisation.
3. I don't think any individual Sector Admistrators could overrule the CPRD (or they would literally not exist by this point for being a notoriously reckless organization) but rather if Summit 24 (as a whole) decides to vote on matters pertaining the CPRD they would overule the CPRD. The only entities that Summit 24 as a whole cannot overrule is Breen himself, the Overwatch AI and the Advisory.
I think this puts a bit of a hole in our lore tbh. This now conflicts with how an individual Sector Administrator can command Overwatch Forces for example which already puts said individual Sector Admins on an extremely high level of command power. One thing to note is the a City Admin, for example, has no command over Overwatch, the Overwatch just treat him as an HVT and follow the protocols given to them by Overwatch AI which is to protect and listen to "requests".
It tends to be the case that the moment Code Orange hits, all requests are denied and Overwatch will make sure the CA is forced to hide in a fancy room somewhere.
Basically what I am saying is, a Sector Administrator so far is already so far up the chain to be commanding even Overwatch and giving them orders which they do obey unless OW AI decides otherwise. In the end, Summit 24 + its Sector Admins were placed just below Breen in the hierarchy.
Overall I think you can do something similar with how we have Overwatch setup so far the Sector Administration which leads me into this recommendation:
Just like Overwatch, the CPRD does listen to an individual Sector Admin and will cease an operation if commanded, however, Breen can override such as decision if need be. Secondly, CAI, will still exist within the CPRD but be in its own thing in the sense that the Advisory directly controls it and thus cannot be touched by anyone else.
I think this solves the hierarchy contradiction and also adds a layer of story. Because now you have a very interesting setup. Breen can ensure the CPRD is safe all he wants, but at the same time he has to be careful considering how the AI and the Summit are untrusting of such an organisation. So if the Organisation keeps fucking up, there is only so much Breen can do before the AI decides to wipe part of the CPRD out or he annoys the Summit so much with consistent saves that is he effectively having to be more careful. Since if he pisses off Sector Administration, its not like he can replace them easily considering they are a large key part of the Administrative structure of the world. He loses them, the Administration falls into chaos.
So it basically creates an interesting story and conundrum where he has to play a balancing act and I think that is far more interesting than just saying that Summit 24 can not touch the CPRD but instead leaving it to Breen to save them and force him into playing both sides since in the end, he needs or wants both organisations to function. Summit for the control and administrative side, CPRD for the research side. Losing one or the other would be a massive blow to him... and the Combine itself. Which if Breen causes a failure on the Administrative side, well, he will have to somehow talk his way out of that fuck up with the advisory as entire parts of the world collapse into anarchy and low sociostability.
Anyway, moving on.
... Everything else seems fine.
Now a bit of a contradiction of my own to make but:
The CPRD Head Director is the highest ranking scientists within CPRD. Answering only to Breen, they are the liason between Breen and the rest of CPRD. There exists only one, and they reside within Breen's personal administration. They also act as the Divisional Director for the CAI Division. Where Breen establishes the intents of the Combine, the Head Director breaks it down into a vision.
I think answering to Breen is fine... but it does conflict with what I said above with how Sector Admins should be able to get involved and basically tell the CPRD they can't do something until Breen says otherwise.
But reason I bring it up is I think it can still work. Even with the Head answering only to Breen. He will just have to call Breen each time a Sector Admin decides to step in and order the CPRD to stand down on something they may be doing that the Summit does not like. For the most part, we can say this works depending on what it is, but also links into the balancing act Breen has to play which makes the requests 70/30. Something like that where Breen can accept some requests, but has to refuse overriding others and let the Sector Admin do his thing.
Again adds an interesting layer and also adds to the political fuckery of the world which really adds onto the theme hl2 goes with where the Combine looks strong externally, but internally is quarrelling among itself... and the citizens cannot see this nor know how fragile that entire political situation is.
I think that is far more interesting. Feel free to comment.
