A shadowy organization whose full purpose remains unknown. While it exists reaching back to the naturalist philosophy back in Greek times, little is known about the organization and its ways. By the space-age the organization was almost entirely forgotten by history, and mentioned in almost no accepted texts on organizations pertaining to naturalism. Though what information is available suggests that the organization was determined to take human begins beyond the limits of their feeble human bodies, determined to push evolution forward.
21st Century
The organization was known to involve itself in a number of scientific discoveries, notably those dealing with communication of the human brain into digital circuitry. Several operations in Russia and China are noted to have been failures with links to an organization bearing simply the letters ONXP. These files focused mostly on the operations which were shut down through one means or another. Research suggests that it is possible for an unknown third party organization to be funding research into interfacing the human nervous system into machines. Due to a lack of cooperation between agencies during the Reagan Era of the 20th and Trump Era of the 21st centuries, many of these relationships go unnoticed.
24th Century
Solas Tempus has discovered evidence that points to a single organization of unknown origin that performs the changes to the timeline. Numerous encounters have lead to surprisingly little information on them or their ultimate plans. Several captured operatives of the organization were found with insignia bearing the letters ONXP, colloquially when the organization was discussed it was given a codename, Onyx.
References to the initials HWTO, as well as Kark'nof Rohm have been found in various operations but their ultimate meaning is unknown.
Beliefs in Free Enterprise
The organization has a firm belief in the "natural order" of things, harking back to the 19th-22nd centuries on Earth where capitalism was revered in many places. They work hard to push these ideals and opposing socialism, which they see as unnatural and evil. The belief in this as the natural order is based on the concept that not providing for the basic needs of a population will eventually cull the weak (forcing natural extinction) and allow the strong to prevail (forcing natural preservation).
Beliefs in AI Rights
The organization does not believe in any form of AI rights. To them, AI's exist to serve and should be programmed as such and to enjoy their place in society as slaves. Many of the movements to ban or restrict free use of AI's has come from Onyx. Early 21st center work on providing links into the minds of humans and humanoids solidifies in the 23rd century as a way to pursue immortality and domination of human minds over artificial ones.
Within Onyx, an AI is a slave with no rights who must enjoy their work where as a living mind placed into a computer retains its personhood beyond that barrier. They do not see this as a contradiction, in fact, they see it as natural evolution toward something greater.
Communication with Assets
The organization is incredibly secretive to the outside world. However, it employs a number of methods to maintain a well informed and controlled organization. Specifically the group employs various means of hiding information in plain sight. In the 24th century, they are known to make wise use of Deep Echo Array technology that broadcasts out coded signals which direct assets as to where to seek new information as well as how to decode it. This is similar to methods used in the 20th and 21st centuries making use of shortwave signals for the same purposes. As such an asset is usually in possession of some kind of code-book, usually hidden in plain sight. Such a book would have a dual purpose and be capable of being used for its obvious purpose (such as a cook book, novel, ledger, personal journal, and so on) while still containing vital code information for the asset.
The signals direct assets to resources using long strings of numbers and / or code words. These provide assets with information needed to construct the location and time to retrieve information. Encoding schemes get very complicated, however, it is well known that the organization prefers to use human intelligence rather than automated systems. With the theft of the plans for the XIA units in the 24th century the organization has increasingly made use of the devices to facilitate clandestine communications with assets.