The Initiative (Buffy the Vampire Slayer organization)
| Universe | Buffyverse |
|---|---|
| Type | Military, Paranormal investigation |
| Founded | Prior to World War II |
| Location |
|
| Key people | Riley Finn |
| Purpose |
To research demons |
| Technologies |
Known technology includes:
|
| Powers | Access to high-tech gadgets which can be used to slay demons and control their actions |
| Affiliations | Federal government of the United States |
| Subsidiaries | Unnamed demonic resistance group |
To research demons
Known technology includes:
The Initiative is a fictional secret government organization in the television series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.
The Initiative program seems to be established during or before the 1940s, when it employed Angel's talents to liberate a sunken captured German submarine during World War II. It was originally known as the "Demon Research Initiative." The Angel episode "Why We Fight" explained that the Third Reich had a similar program and investigated the possible use of vampires in the war effort with three vampire captives – Spike, Nostroyev and the so-called Prince of Lies. The Nazis had lured the trio to a supposed virgin-blood party in Madrid. This revelation seems to cast the Initiative in the same light as other World War II era projects, such as the nuclear weapons of the Manhattan Project.
In 1999, the research center of 'the Initiative' is located underground, beneath the University of California campus in Sunnydale. It is commanded by Maggie Walsh, also a psychology professor at the school. Under her direction, military commandos captured vampires, demons and other supernatural creatures to be studied by scientists for the covert U.S. government operation. The Initiative experiments on the creatures, a primary goal of this being to negate the threat that "hostile sub-terrestrials", demonic entities, pose to human beings. However, a more sinister and ultra-classified goal is to hybridize demons and humans to create super-soldiers. The Initiative's captives have (at various points) included the werewolf Oz and the vampire Spike, the latter of whom was implanted with a chip that caused him to experience extreme pain whenever he attacked (or intended to attack) a human being.
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