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 Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2014 8:27 am
In a back room of a government office, back where no one goes and the budget is a joke.
Only one desk is currently showing signs of occupancy. It could be any department of the US government that has been brushed aside for "greater things". Almost. Almost
But in the filing cabinets, on the bookshelves, the information contained is not normal.
Details on disappeared travellers along a certain stretch of highway. Ancient tomes in scratchy uneven hand, green ink that seems to shift itself queerly. reams of information on the more sinister and underground of so called "new religious movements", though none of them are new, according to the records.
There's a coffee percolator and grinder sat with a few sealed Ziploc bags of beans. Only one mug.
This is the Department of Infernal Affairs. A post here is a death sentence they say. They don't know how horribly right they are.
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Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2014 9:09 am
The Rules
1.Respect guild rules and standards
2.Try to maintain literate standards, unless your sanity has been afflicted.
3.Remember, you stand very little chance of killing any of the creatures encountered.
4.You may know the myths, but the myths may not be entirely accurate
5. The department is here to monitor and keep the public generally protected from what they find.
6.PM profile applications so we can work on them
7. Everyone but myself is either a new Department member or a hostile cultist.
8. Resources are limited to our coffee pot, the books and files, a tab for bars and cigarettes and a beretta handgun for each officer. Transport, etc has to be your own.
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Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2014 12:01 pm
Information and suggested reading
Known Factions
The Department of Infernal Affairs
Considered a joke by some, a death sentence by others. The Department was formed in the aftermath of World War 1 after cleaning up the remnants of German forces the military encountered a rogue task force known as "Upyr" Since then it has been their job to monitor all supernatural and unworldly activity, both within their own country and throughout the world. The covert nature of the Department, coupled with the often incomprehensible nature of what they deal with has caused them to be allowed to sink almost out of sight, their budget slight. But they are one of the most necessary Departments in the government, being considered the frontline of the "Shadow Government."
The Sect of the Puppet Lands
One of the most prominent forces of opposition to the D.I.A., the Sect of the Puppet Lands believe that this world and all other worlds are merely marionette landscapes, mechanical worlds that go on from their inception until closedown, repeatedly, endlessly. That our actions are not our own, that everything that is and ever will be is preordained and planned out. They oppose the department by various means, most notably by trying to infiltrate and intercept investigations, stealing artefacts and replacing files with nonsense works, nursery rhymes and children's books.
The Ross Clan
Throughout the Appalachian mountains, this clan holds sway over organised crime, invisibly, incestuously. At first glance they may seem to be your average inbred gun runners and moonshiners, they are more. The terrible secret they hold comes out depending on the moon of their birth. They are lycanthropes, transforming into terrifying wolfmen in the night. They hold an uneasy relationship with the Department, sometimes enemies, sometimes acting as extra muscle during investigations. However, their powers are not like those of the werewolves of film. They are not vulnerable to silver over any other metal, they retain terrible strength in human form and live constantly in the mindset of an animal almost. They are currently led by the ancient matriarch Ma Ross, the only survivor of the initial clan members who travelled over from Scotland
The Cults of the Starborn
There are gods in this world. Terrible, ancient beings from the stars. But they are not the gods of human knowledge. Nor are they those posited by Lovecraft and Derleth, though they resemble them in many ways. Their cultists come in many forms, ranging from those of the outer churches who are little more than dumb cannon fodder given trinkets, to their terrible priesthood, who can be identified by their appearences, which are invariably too human, too perfect. Perfectly symmetrical faces, lips which are too full and red, smooth doll like skin. They represent perhaps the greatest threats of the organised forces, in all their terrible forms.
The Shadow Government
There are faces at every window. Even the dark ones. Especially the dark ones.
The Shadow Government is the pan-global hidden conspiracy. Totally unknown, funding all sides of every conflict. Directing every business. The functions of the Shadow Government are naturally obscure, with total secrecy except for it's outer edges. The oldest esoteric practices meld with cutting edge technology. This form is merely the most recent, properly united variant on the same old theme, with a fracturing and reformation during the 20th century. There is a vested interest in controlling and harnessing the supernatural, containing it. Not above using it for their own ends, they ruthlessly control all magic and psionics among the citizens of the world.
There are four people in charge of the total DIA in the Shadow Government, delegating, fracturing and blocking communication except among themselves. Agent Mabuse knows only one of them so far.
The Sanity System
All characters, protagonistic or antagonist are subject to the sanity system. Exposure to the horrors of the world behind the conventional truth has consequences for all, though they may be more or less severe depending on their state of mind to begin with and their phobias. Cultists may be protected from the horrors they worship by a veil of glamour or hypnosis or simply by the fact they will never see directly their hideous deity.
When a character's sanity is damaged, their narrative, speech, thoughts and actions will become gradually more simplistic, broken and irrational. Extreme cases may even lead to them breaking the fourth wall. However, there are ways of restoring sanity. Daily ritual and routine can help, as will coffee, cigarettes and alcohol in moderation, though they are no substitute for psychiatric care and proper prescription.
Suggested Reading and Listening
The Willows- Algernon Blackwood
Perhaps the best starting place to understand the phenomena investigated by the Department, this classic tale of a malign sentient location was considered by Lovecraft to be the quintessential horror story.
Nethuscarial-Thomas Ligotti
An extremely bleak, disturbing piece, this gives an idea of the terrible encompassing power of the Starborn and the rationale of the Sect of the Puppet Lands
The White People-Arthur Machen
A tale within a tale, Machen spins us a story of the memoirs of a woman who in childhood had encounters with the Faeries, and may have even stumbled into their disturbing, shifting land.
Current 93- I Have A Special Plan For This World
with lyrics by Ligotti, this intensely creepy piece of spoken word and ambient music details the mind of a possibly mad demiurge or one in the throes of a stomach illness.
The Advisory Group-Other Channels
Best described as the noise of a haunted british tv set from the 70s.
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Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2014 9:54 am
Profile Skeleton and Cast of Characters
Character Name:
Player:
Age:
Biography:
Personality:
Physical Appearance:
Starting Sanity:
Alignment:
Personal equipment:
Character Name: Otto Mabuse
Player:Skreemer
Age: 38
Biography: Once an NSA monitoring agent, Otto was sent to the Department after stumbling upon evidence deemed both too sensitive to have disclosed to the major agencies and too valuble to lose. That was 8 years ago. Since then, he has gone from junior agent to the most senior and currently only, having escaped death purely by luck. The work has taken it's toll, broken and shaped him, making him both a walking repository of arcane knowledge and a lonely man.
Personality: On the surface he is a cynical, deadpan person, but behind that he is fatherly and as kind as possible. Deeper still, he carries many mental scars.
Physical Appearance: Lean, but muscular, Otto stands at six feet and 3 inches tall, weighing 180 pounds. He has sandy blonde short hair, watery blue eyes and leathery pale skin. He habitually wears either a blue pinstriped or brown double breasted suit without a tie.
Starting Sanity: Medium. He is plagued by recurring nightmares about past events and current reading, but able to hold it together with the aid of cigarettes, coffee, sociable drinking and a prescription for mitrazepine.
Alignment: Solid Department Man
Personal Equipment: Owns a 2004 Mercury Grand Marquis and a Beretta 12 Gauge Shotgun kept in the trunk.
Character Name: Thirteen
Player: Wicked Lily
Age: 22
Biography: With great difficulty, the scientists of a very top secret lab as managed to capture a female from the Ross Clan, gather her eggs and release her back into the mountains with no memory of what happened. After great debate and discussion, they have picked five females scientist who is top of the class to carry the eggs and top five smartest male to provide the DNA in hopes that the genes would be enough to eventually create a great army of obident Ross soldiers.
Due to the Ross egg have the ability to split to produce more than one child, each woman had to carry three children. Two women died before full development of the fetus. The remaining three has successfully given birth. For years, the children were raised separately in a glass cage. They ended up having to kill three due to the fact they were too animalistic. Two died later due to improper suffer and treatment. That leaves four surviving children, One, Five, Eleven, and Thirteen were the remaining children. They all show intelligence higher then the Ross clan but not yet quite meet up to the human intelligence. They developed the Ross powers too but still weaker; if they children were to meet a full blown Ross Clan, they would be easily overpowered. After long discussion, they have decided to release Thirteen. She seems to have more morals and emotion than her one sister and two brothers.
Personality: Quiet, very curious, have a knack of getting into trouble due to her curiousity. Sensetive towards human emotions.
Physical Appearance: Only being half Ross, she stands tall at 6 feet and 0 inches. Long black hair reaches to her elbow. Dark blue hues that almost seems unreal. Pale skin shows she has never really been out in the sun. Usually wears tight black clothing to give her room to run and fight if needed.
Starting Sanity: Mild. Currently, she is learning morals and have a Fourth grade reading level but can speak well. Suffers from intense night terrors and PTSD if she is anywhere close that reminds her of the lab.
Alignment: The Department
Personal equipment:
Character Name: Samuel Thanati
Player: Yoder
Age: 20
Biography: Sam got into computers at a very early age and has been positively addicted ever since. His parents were at quite a loss due to the severity of his dependency, so they resigned to leaving him to his ways. Since contact between he and his parents grew more minimal as he aged, he didn't realize they had disappeared until a week later. He doesn't know whether they died or abandoned him, but he idn't terribly affected. He entered the agency out of sheer depseration for sustenance. His father had been a government worker, so he sought out the easiest opening available.
Personality: Lacking in the majority of social graces, he's usually quiet except when he gets into a debate. He's prone to talking to himself and is generally unaware of the habit. Overall he is fairly nice, but his unintentionally self-centered disposition can make him seem rude quite often.
Physical Appearance: Best described as wiry due to his long appendages and thin frame, he is pale with everpresent bags under his eyes. Though his hair is blond, it is nearly brown due to his less than stellar hygeine. This also means he's not the best about keeping his hair trimmed, so it usually obscures his green eyes.
Starting Sanity: Medium. Though he would normally be of sound mind, his extended lack of human contact manifesting as paranoia combined with long bouts of sleep and sensory deprivation leave him worse for the wear.
Alignment: Department (self-interest)
Personal Equipment: High-end laptop w/ accessories.
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Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2014 1:27 pm
A grey October morning, the sky threatening it's dull drizzling downpour, a mist of veritable misery. In a nondescript city of the northeastern states, a car paces along the highway. Agent Otto Mabuse, behind the wheel of his allegedly "luxury" car takes a last drag of his cigarette and throws it out the window, winding it up. Pulling off the highway and onto the streets of the office and warehouse park, he curses "******** lies. Again." and punches off his radio. When he parks up, he pulls on the fawn brown raincoat and drags his briefcase off the backseat , slams the door and locks up. From there he walks the needlessly large expanse of the carpark and enters this, this department of agriculture building, flashing his pass that is not like the others to the guards and then begins his winding path past secretary pools and archive rooms until finally he reaches the terminus point of his journey, two doors, one a fire exit where the alarm hasn't worked in years and the other an unmarked wooden door never locked. He opens the unmarked one and enters.
The Department of Infernal Affairs. The only active office of it currently left. removing the superfluous raincoat, he drops his briefcase next to his well worn leather office chair, putting the coat on a rack and finally sighing. Another day of reviewing atrocities. With resignation, he pours a handful of beans into the coffee grinder to begin his morning.
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Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2014 4:17 pm
A quick rapid knock could be heard from the door. Without even waiting for an answer, the door opens and four people enters. "Close the door. Quick." The man in a white lab coat barks at the male in a very professional suit. They are even wearing sunglasses inside. A tall woman stands behind the lab coat male and in front of the two suits. The scientist glances towards Otto, "Good, you are here. Thirteen, sit down." The male says as he gestures to the chair. Nodding, she goes sit down on the chair like a good obedient person.
"Don't have time to answer questions. Here." The male in the white lab coat hands him a thick file. "That's all the information on your new partner. Oh," His hands pat down his coat, looking for something, "When Thirteen becomes too dangerous you are to -found it!- press this button." Handing him a square silver button with a chain that can go with car keys. "Thirteen. Stand, turn around and show your new leader, your back." Being ordered, without hesitation, the slender woman stands as she turns around and removes her black jacket and set it on the chair. Removing her tight black tank top, the male moves her long black hair out of the way so Otto could see what look like silver round pins at each spine. "When you push that button, it will paralyze her. Any questions? Read the file thoroughly and my card is in there. Let's go, we are not to be here longer than five minutes." Matter of minutes, they were gone.
Thirteen, however, watches them leave. Turning to face Otto, she lets in a deep inhale. This office smells odd. Something strong...sniffing a bit more, she finds the source coming from such an odd clear pot. Wearing only her sports bra and pants, she wasn't ordered to put her shirt back on by the scientist. Curious, she looks at Otto, "What is that odd strong smell...?" Trained to kill, fight for survival, learn fast, and to speak, the woman never had pleasures to be in different areas with smells that is not related to the lab. And this is her way to test her new leader. If he dislikes questions, she will never ask one again around him. It all depends on his tone of how he answers her.
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Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2014 5:02 pm
With a look of mild bemusement, Otto watched the show business of some other branch of the Shadow Government and found himself alone with the young woman.
The file. Read it later. He placed the metal square down on his desk
and replied
"It's coffee. You don't have coffee where you came from?"
He barely had time to remember her state of undress as he started to heap grounds into a filter and poured water over it
"Ah, maybe you should put your clothes on. We haven't much in the way of heating back here. Call me Otto."
He gestured at the array of empty desks "Pick any you like and sit down Miss, ah Thirteen was it?" He was digging underneath the coffee brewing table for something. A box of other porcelain mugs. He left her a plain black mug on the side and filled his cup, stirring in two sugars.
A quick glance over the file, this thick tome of carbon copies and photos and things. And at seeing the name Ross he shuddered inside. Still, here they were, a good day or so away from the Appalachians and the start of their territory.
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Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2014 7:21 pm
Hearing his questions, the woman raises her eyebrow and makes a mental note. Coffee. She repeats to herself over and over as well memorizing the smell. So whenever she smells this again, she would know what it is right away. "No sir. We receive limited drinks and food." Watching him, she hears him before nodding. Odd. For a moment there, she missed her siblings. Especially her older brother, One. They both were very close but One was more animalistic then intelligence and was deemed not ready to go out like Thirteen could. She remembers hearing her sister wanting to kill her out of jealously. "Yes sir." The cold doesn't bother her, not where she's from anyways. Putting on her tank top, she removes her hair from between the tank top and her skin. Watching his gestures, she blinks softly before looking at the desks. Pick any she wants? Instinct tells her to pick the one closer to Otto. It's her job to protect her pack and Otto is her leader. Picking the desk closer to her leader, she glances around and is satisfied with her choice. She already have few escape plans if danger were to happen right here and now. "Yes sir, I am named Thirteen." Watching him with curiosity, she is sorely tempted to try to his coffee. But she remembers her lecture at three o' clock this morning. "Stick to your diet. We have provided you a temporary home with things you need. If you must, you can eat meat elsewhere but keep to your water. You have your own juice at your place. Avoid anything new and unfamiliar even if other people are doing so." Like an obedient dog, she doesn't dare to ask if she wants to try this odd smelling liquid, that is apparently called coffee.
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Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2014 4:14 am
No coffee. Alright then. Moving right along Otto thought, feeling slightly hurt. The coffee was literally the only good thing in here in his opinion.
sighing, he took off his suit jacket and started pacing around the room, taking books here and there, files, even a few index cards for the microfiche system in the corner.
"Alright, Thirteen, did they tell you anything about what we do here? No?"
Depositing the stack, there were a few titles readable
"The Harry Christmas reports" "The Pentagon Horror", a book named "The Upyr Incident"
"We do this, mostly. Or at least that's how it's been for the last three years. We read. And research. And sort through anomalous data."
Sitting back down, he pulled out a key from the selection and turned it in a small hidden safe under his desk.
"And now, it seems the Department is active again. So I have to issue you one of these." The item in question was a plain black pistol. His own was nestled in a holster under his armpit.
"Because you need two of us at least to go into the field at any time. And we have a considerable backlog of requests for us to go there."
following up he passed her a box of ammo and then wordlessly pulled a cigarette from his inside jacket pocket, lit it up.
"Sad thing is, even being here in the office isn't protection from what we deal with. Because we deal with all the horrors. The weird s**t. Congratulations my dear. You just got the worst job in the entire government"
And with that, he took a requisition form from the in tray and started to sort through it, looking for something appropriate and likely to still be active, smoking and occasionally taking a draught of coffee.
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Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2014 10:30 pm
Thirteen glances towards her leader softly as he asked her if they have told her about what he does here. Yes and no. They gave her enough information to know she will have cases in which she needs to learn how to survive. Watching him with curiosity as he takes things from around the room. Once he deposit the sack, she blinks as she does her best to read them, after all, she's very curious to what he's doing. Hearing him that they will mostly read and research, she nods. That's good. At least the people at the lab will be very pleased to find out when she improves her reading skills and researching. She was already taught the basic to prepare for this job. Course. She's not an expert at it.
Hearing him, she takes the pistol and decided to take it apart and put it back together quickly. She wanted to know how good is her pistol. Was it taken care of? Is it in a good shape? It seems to be in a good shape and maybe left alone for quite some time. She was already trained how to use weapons so it's not foreign to Thirteen. Hearing him, she gives him a warm smile with a tilt of her head, "I wouldn't consider it an awful job, sir. Which one do you want me to read and research first?"
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Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2014 7:55 am
Taken aback, Otto glanced over the pile on her desk again, took a drag on his cigarette, flicked the ash into a Cthuluh ashtray and then exhaled.
"Read the The Upyr Incident. It's about our founding and the awful circumstances it was in. "
Shifting attention back to his in tray, he began to carefully sort out a smaller pile of cases that filled his criteria. Now he had to whittle them down for practicality, fuel costs and whether it was actually going to need them to be armed... budget costs. He had often considered that the reason they still existed was the lack of activity made them able to run, that he was the only person here for so long meant the pay budget allotted at the departments last height would slowly peter out until he could either retire or get transferred to some other government office where he wouldn't have to deal with many people. The DMV maybe?
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Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2014 12:12 pm
Thirteen twitches her nose softly as she placed her pistol on the desk. She'll find a holster for it that suits her well. She has to admit, she has never smelled cigarettes up front before. She has smelled it off of the scientist back at home but never actually was in the same room when they smoke it. It's more strong that's for sure. But don't they cause cancer? She's curious to why he's smoking something that is not healthy. Heck, she wonders why people would do things that's not healthy for them. Course, she has never really got to experience the difficulties of quitting something so addictive. Nodding, Thirteen takes the file that says The Upyr Incident. Curious, She went ahead and glance towards it. "Exactly what am I looking for sir?" Thirteen questions towards Otto, "Just read up on it and understand what the department is about?"
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Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2014 5:13 pm
Kicking his feet on the desk, Agent Mabuse shot her a short grey look.
"Yes. You read the book.. You see the normal facts, but then you look for the hidden side of things. The Upyr incident... well now" A flick of ash in the tray. "That incident killled just about 30 members of the US infantry following world war one. 30 men. Wiped out by one pregnant upyr. Those ugly arachnid bitches give me the creeps. Figures they were employed by the germans. "
Final drag. The cig extinguished, Otto resumed the coffee,
"Wiped most of the european ones out in world war 2 when we were attached to the army. Fire generally works against most abnormal beings we encounter, so we'd burn their nests."
"If we're going out in the field I want you prepared. On your feet, but not all guns blazing. " His final look was one of dismissal and thought, before returning to his desk job.
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Posted: Sat Oct 25, 2014 8:04 pm
In this small neglected office in which a smoking man and an emotionless girl were becoming acquainted, a desk in the corner stood surrounded by stacks of what could be assumed to be either case files or supplies that stretched to the ceiling. Within this cardboard barrier, a young man sat in the dark, for there was no fluorescent light in his partitioned office area. Most sound was dampened by the makeshift but ever-present wall. He could certainly still hear the goings on outside his cave, but he usually tuned it out.
As the smoke from his coworker's death stick filtered into his computing zone, he snorted and fell from the "zone" he was previously entrenched in. Slowly a stack closest to the wall began sliding away, and his head popped out. Samuel squinted as the bright flickering cold-white light graced his eyes. He had no idea how many hours it had been, nor did he know the time of day due to the lack of windows in this office. While his equipment's OS had a clock, he had been in this department long enough to understand that the occult matters they dealt with rendered time fluid.
His own dingy aura began to enter the room, though the cigarette masked it unless one stood right next to him. Sam's face was long and sickly-looking. His eyes were bloodshot and sported heavy bags. His blond hair looked as if he had not bathed for a day; while it might look like he had simply applied a hair product, his hair's unkempt nature, his appearance otherwise, and his aroma left no doubt.
He began by speaking a curt greeting but switched to drawn-out confusion when he registered the girl's presence in the room, "Morning, Mr. Mabu-- Who is this?"
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Posted: Sat Oct 25, 2014 9:50 pm
Nodding, she doesn't seem to be bothered by the fact, if anything, she seems more curious and anxious to learn more. "Oh!" She says in excitement as she wants to read more about this incident. How fascinating. She doesn't seem to show any remorse about about the fact that there was lives lost. Hearing that she needs to learn to be prepared on her feet and go in guns blazing, that metaphor is lost to her. Looking rather confused, she opens her mouth to ask her leader to what he mans by that phrase but was cut short when she has noticed that someone else entered into the room. Snarling, she quickly places the file on her desk, her hand snatches her hand gun as she palms the bottom of it for support and grips, with her finger right on the trigger. The saftey is already switched off as the barrel of the gun is aiming at the stranger's head. "Do you wish for me to kill him sir?" Thirteen does not yet know which is friend and which is enemy. Her nose twitches as an awful smell enters, she feels like that she's in a dumpster. No. This smell is worse.
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