The World Behind the Curtains

[NinjaCow64]

One morning a reality bender was listening to his radio while having breakfast. He was listening to how an artist was complaining about how his stunt didn't get any attention in Italy.

"Hang on," said the reality bender "That can't be right, that should have got a tonne of attention." The reality bender reached for the nearest Italian newspaper and absorbed it.

"Egads!" said the reality bender in complete shock "She was right! There is no mention of it! Something's terribly wrong!" Luckily, with a few correct finger movements the reality bender could correct this grievous oversight.

"I would like to apologise to any and all inter-dimensional beings reading this for any inconvenience caused by this error." The reality bender said. "I would recommend checking your preferred sources of news for correct information on the situation in Aosta Valley."

 

[Seon]

A long silence followed by a crackle in the air

Spoiler initializing... :

Hello children, and welcome back to Radio Midnight, broadcasting at 117.85i Hz. Before we begin our radio program, here is a message from our sponsors.

.....................

Our out of control consumerism generates untold amount of waste every year, poisoning mother earth and driving entire species extinct. We, as a fellow children of Mother Earth, have a responsibility to bettering our environment for the sake of our children in the future.

Eat the garbage you have produced. Eat Dogsalad. Don't take it from us, listen to these fellows!

"It's literally garbage!"

"What do you mean it's derivative?"

This message has been sponsored by Doritos. Snack Strong!

.....................

Viewers, welcome to Radio Midnight, with your host, Maddie Angel. What? You could've sworn we had a different name yesterday?

I'm sure you are imagining things.

Viewers, today, I would like to talk to you about a subject near and dear to my heart. Conservation efforts. Every year, the realm of the supernatural is pushed back by the advancement of "civilization" or overhunted by zealous hunters, jailers, and exterminators of the strange and beautiful. My friends and I have done the best we could to save some of these magnificent creatures, but these efforts are nowhere enough to contest the sheer amount of threat that creatures beyond the curtain face every day.

The threat posed to these creatures, as well as the 'normies' who live their lives in ignorant bliss, grows exponentially every day too, now that the curtain is at the weakest it has ever been in two thousand years. What can we do to reverse this trend? Well, it is everything that normie liberal media has been going on about for the last dozen year or so.

Awareness. Raising consciousness. Spreading of information. Folks, you can't just cover up your ears and crawl into a blanket somewhere and hope the doom misses the planet. And I'm not talking about the minor silliness that's gripping Singapore either--a planetary doom. End of humanity kind of deal that will surely happen if you let fools who don't know what they are messing with take control of humankind's destiny. You have to learn more about the world beyond the curtain, more than just cursory details of lab notes and observations. You have to live it, experience it, and most importantly, learn to empathize with.

Unless a sustainable and symbiotic arrangement can be arranged between humankind and the world beyond the curtain, well, we will have to constantly fight each other, forever.

Let me tell you this--humanity as it is today may be powerful--wielding great powers beyond even its own understanding--but it is also incredibly fragile. Any number of things will end it forever. The world beyond the curtain, on the other hand, may seem to be getting pushed back at every opportunity, but it is never ending. If it isn't some giant Cthulhu monster rising from the depths of the Triangle to eat our souls, it'll be aliens from outer space. If it isn't aliens from outer space, it'll be our own artificial intelligence experiments or genetic monstrosities. If it aren't those, well, maybe Heaven and Hell will go to war on our plane once again, or God will break the Seventh seal.

Humanity may be able to beat back each and every one of these, but they'll just keep coming, forever. It'll only be a stay of execution until the next crisis.

This is why I am broadcasting to you now, in this room located somewhere within the curtain, that it is not too late to do conservation efforts! Through understanding, love, and art, we can come to coexist with our supernatural brethren in peace and harmony without apology. Instead of beating back each other at every opportunity, we as species can learn to thrive in each other's presence.

Just something to consider, I suppose.

If you are willing to love the weird and magnificent as much as I am, spread the word! Spread the Message through your social medias, your conversations with friends, and graffiti on the wall.

Goodnight, friends.

 

[Nuka-sama]

Wrong thread!

 

[Butteryicarus]

 

[NinjaCow64]

<48 hours until orders lock!

 

[NinjaCow64]

~24ish hours until lock! Get them in folks!

 

[NinjaCow64]

Extending the lock for another 24 hours but please plsase please get them in ASAP.

 

[NinjaCow64]

Orders locked.

As as aside, I'm considering having orders locks be longer in the future (more like two weeks instead of one week). I felt like that people felt a bit rushed getting orders in this turn, not trying to single anyone out but that was just a feeling I got, I could be wrong it. However, I'm reluctant to do this as I found a lot of people only start orders towards the end of the orders cycle no matter how long the update cycle is. This is something that happened in IdIOT a lot, even with the months-long update cycles. Not trying to guilt people or whatever, I just worry that I would be slowing down the game for something that really doesn't benefit anyone.

So, I'm interested to hear all your thoughts. Would longer orders periods be helpful for you? Or do you think its a bad idea? As always, suggestions on this topic or on any other way to improve the game are welcome in this thread, on the Discord channel or via CFC/Discord/Steam DMs.

 

[Terran Empress]

I think it depends honestly NC< at least for me the big problem was that this order set came up at the same exact time as December, I know not everyone does orders at last minute as December people have their orders done usually right after the update comes out, but I feel the more complex a game is the better it is to have a longer order time to give people more time to think about their orders, for a simpler game a shorter order time would be nice, but even then I feel an update a week is a little more content and a little too much orders for me, Perhaps making it every other week would make it not quite so much of a constant barrage of information and games, and instead make it a more manageable trickle.

 

[Sonereal]

Keep orders lock once a week. Orders take about 10-15 minutes to complete and you are right. No matter when you set the lock, people will wait until the last minute anyway so might as well make it a week instead of two weeks if you can handle it.

You know what won't help me? Two weeks between the moment I read the update and the moment I finally sit down and do orders.

 

[jackelgull]

I usually try to get my orders in fast, but this particular time I was trying to get a multi-faction response to the Judas Flotilla which ... didn't really succeed. Someone didn't really get back to me on whether they were in and I probably should've made a group chat to coordinate a plan. That was of course unusual circumstances, so unless you're planning on making diplomacy more integral to the game, one week should be fine

 

[NinjaCow64]

UPDATE THREE – April 2013​

Organisation|Player
The Silencers|Special NPC
The Collective of Applied Hedonism and Coolness|Seon
The Perimeter Agency|Sonereal
Cenobium Security|thomas.berubeg
Necrotic Broterhood|jackelgull
The Hunters|Reus
Jasim Nened |Ailedhoo
United Nations Interdimensional and Paranormal Crime Enforcement and Investigation Organisation|Terran Empress
The Deucalion Guard|KaiserElectric
Ay'la Syn Expedition|Tolni
The Pearl Wraith Guild|Butteryicarus

The Secret Battle of Singapore

Everyone who is anyone was at the Battle, or at least knows what happened there. Its good, because it means I can finally talk about something that happened without breaching neutrality protocols. I can’t remember when that last happened.

The Ay’la Syn Expedition, Cenobium Inc, the Hunters, Jasim Nened and UNIPCEIO had discussed earlier a plan to contain the Judas Flotilla. The Ay’la Syn would create a typhoon using their magical powers to ensure that the areas most at risk from the anomaly in the city would be evacuated. Of course, the typhoon would miraculously go slightly off course in the last minute to inflict the brunt of the disaster on the Flotilla and cause minimal damage to the city. The group would then use their magical expertise to transport the Flotilla to another plane of existence, ensuring that it would no longer be a threat to normalcy.

Five other organisations of note had assets on the ground. The Perimeter Agency and the Necrotic Brotherhood also were planning to contain the Flotilla; however, they were not informed about the plans of the other organisations for one reason or another. After communicating their intent to contain the Flotilla, the five conspirators let them in on their plans with some reluctance. The Perimeter Agency attacked the Flotilla with their naval assets, damaging the anomaly and delaying its approach to Singapore. They also had their operatives on the ground assist with evacuation efforts and had their digital assets censor any unwanted images that made it onto the internet. Meanwhile, the Necrotic Brotherhood provided magical aid to the archspell being cast, as well as scaring any civilians resisting evacuation with zombified terrorists.

There were also organisations that had other goals. The Decaluion Guard was primarily focused on evacuating any Forged out of the city, although they did assist with evacuation of human civilians as well. Decaluion Guard operatives kept a wide berth from other organisations and did not directly assist with containing the Flotilla. The Collective of Applied Hedonism and Coolness was also there, playing loud music through their boomboxes and headphones. The Collective weren’t directly assisting with containment, but they weren’t sabotaging either. They just seemed to be…watching. Whatever they were doing, the Hunters seemed to take great offense at their mere presence and spend a significant amount of their resources attacking Collective agents.

And, of course, like with any major extranormal event there were the Silencers. Only the trained eye could notice the presence of them and their agents, but they were certainly there. Waiting, observing. Biding their time as they determined if they needed to intervene in their heavy-handed manner.

Engaging with Perimeter forces and the typhoon damaged the Judas Flotilla, or at least distracted it enough for the magic users to do their work. An archspell is a sight to behold, especially with such a diverse set of magic users involved. One could taste it in the air, if one had the pleasure of witnessing the event.

With a large flash of light, which mundane onlookers interpreted as lighting, the Flotilla disappeared. It was banished to the Shadow Realm, a dark dimension from which there is no escape. The Judas Flotilla will float on the Dark River forever, never threatening another creature again. The people of Singapore were saved, there were only minimal civilian casualties and no one had their minds enthralled by the Flotilla’s cognitohazard. The damage to Singapore was extremely minimal, with only minor damage to important infrastructure that should be repaired in less than a week.

While the operation was a success, the eyes of the world were on Singapore. If I were in charge of organisations behind the curtain, I would be extremely careful to not draw attention to themselves over the next month. Especially those organisations who were unlucky enough to get blurry images of themselves on camera. But hey, what do I know? I’m just your friendly neighbourhood reality bender, just keeping to my own business. Enjoy your April.

****************​

Mysterious Mint Disappearance [Source: The Star] [EXTRANORMAL INCIDENT] [DANGER LEVEL – 1] [IMPACT – SEVERE]

Millions of Malaysian Ringgits was stolen from the Bank Negara Mint in Shah Alam. This theft has caused panic in the Malaysian stock market as well as the government to do an extensive overhaul of the security systems in the Bank Negara Mint. The government has not released the details of how the mint was broken into out of security concerns, however we have an anonymous source claiming that they were attacked by some sort small creature that was making baby sounds.

Panic on the Streets of Dublin [Source: Extranormal Frontier Law’s Cultwatch Blog] [EXTRANORMAL INCIDENT] [DANGER LEVEL – 2] [IMPACT – EXTREME]

We are issuing an Orange Alert for all citizens of Dublin. A series of riots have broken out in Dublin, with seemingly no political cause and no visible connection. The high occurrence of lynching and arson in these events lead us to believe that they may be connected to an extranormal cult. The suspicious events leading up to the deaths of the majority of the participants in the Digital Dublin festival due to an “accidental” fire gives even greater credence to this theory. The government and the media are playing down the importance of these riots, this is extremely troubling as it means that heavy-handed government action or even Silencer suppression may be near. Cultwatch advices all readers in Dublin to prepare to leave the city and to stay indoors unless absolutely necessary.

Ghostly Hitchhiker [Source: MidnightThoughts Blog] [EXTRANORMAL INCIDENT] [DANGER LEVEL – 2] [IMPACT – HIGH]

Hello fellow Midnight Thinkers, it is time for the follow up on last week’s Ghost Hunt! It looks like the ghost is really stepping up its actions, with hundreds of people dying on the roads. The Argentinean government has blamed this on Islamic terrorist groups, but I think both you and I know better than to listen to them. And it looks like all the curtain’s organisations were too busy in Singapore to pay attention to poor old Argentina. You guys should really do a better job (yes, I know you are watching).

The ghost really seems to hate humans, doesn’t it? Luckily, I am not a human, so I was able to get a one-on-one interview with the spirit. It claims that it is an amalgamation of all the souls lost in car accidents around the world, coming to avenge the victims that make it up by making travel impossible by transport. One might question the logic of killing people on the road to protest car deaths, but hey, that’s ghosts for you.

Bigfoot Sightings Increased [Source: TruthWars Blog] [EXTRANORMAL INCIDENT] [DANGER LEVEL – 3] [IMPACT – HIGH]

Ladies and gentlemen, there have been an imperial ton of sightings of the creatures known as Bigfoot all along the American-Canadian border. And, on the American-Canadian border, missing persons reports for young children have skyrocketed. As everyone at TruthWars knows, the creatures known as Bigfoot are merely deep state agents wearing monkey suits. They are kidnapping children to serve as delivery drivers for the Clinton’s and British Family’s joint owned Satanic pizza delivery service! The deep state crooks must be stopped by every patriotic American (and Canadians I guess, if you even have patriots over there)!

Mysterious Photograph Makes Rounds on Internet [Source: Today Online] [EVENT]

In the chaos of typhoon Gabrielle, few photographs of the incident made it online due to internet blackouts caused by the interreference from the typhoon and the chaos of the evacuation. However, one photograph has caught the international community’s attention. The photograph depicts a misty scene with silhouettes of two individuals talking behind the mist. The interesting part is that the silhouettes appear to depict one of the individuals has having a long tail and the other with a halo and wings. While this widely considered a hoax online, theories about the typhoon have spread like wildfire across areas of the internet that discuss conspiracy theories.

I’m Angry About the UN [Source: Margarine Musings] [EVENT]

As my blog title indicates, I’m angry at the UN. Or more accurately, UNIPCEIO (the Organisation for you uncultured plebs). The extranormal version of Woodstock is happening right outside my window, and what to those freaking plebs do? They drug me and evacuate me from the area! This would have been the perfect time to draw me some exquisite anart (both of the erotic and non-erotic kind), but no here come the literal fun police to police my fun.

So, I am going to write a letter of complaint to my local UNIPCEIO offices. They are located at 40 Watten Circle. THAT’S RIGHT EVERYONE, THE SECRET SINGAPOREAN UNIPCEIO OFFICES ARE LOCATED AT FOURTY WATTEN CIRCLE. It would be real shame if all the organisations that hate UNIPCEIO paid them a visit. A. REAL. SHAME.

Get dunked on you nerds. Don’t bother trying to trace this post, I’m behind seven proxies. Also, my apartment is laced with enough cognitohazards to make you see pink elephants for months. Don’t say I didn’t warn you my dudes.

What is the White Council? [Source: TruthWars Blog] [EVENT]

Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve reached a new stage in late stage globalism. The forces that oppose our freedom and the human spirit are aligning themselves to destroy us all. The White Council consists of the greatest threats to the human spirit ever known. It started as cooperation between the Cultural Marxists and ISIS, an ongoing partnership that has been flourishing for a long time. But now it expands to include other dangerous organisations such as the Illuminati, the Satanists, the Rothschilds and the American Deep State. The Greys were invited as well, but they refused to cooperate with the American Deep State due to an ongoing feud over Area 51. Its time to break out the emergency aluminium foil that you should keep around in emergencies before the White Satellites come out and scramble your brains!

Cults of the Past – Fathers of Industry [Source: Extranormal Frontier Law’s Cultwatch Blog] [EVENT]

Today we are examining a cult of days gone by, before the Extranormal Frontier was even founded. The Fathers of Industry are interesting as they are one of the first extranormal cults that meet the definition of an extranormal cult without worshiping a deity.

Fathers of Industry:
Founded: 1721 (disputed)
Years Active: 1721-1915 (official disbanding), currently inactive.
Cult Activity: Extranormal research, thaumaturgy, transhumanism.
Patron God(s): N/A

The Fathers of Industry were an Extranormal Cult that wished to promote and further the Industrial Revolution by extranormal means. They claimed to be founded by Robert Walpole in his first year as Prime Minister, however extranormal historians heavily doubt this claim. Due to the difficulty accessing records, it is unknown when exactly they were founded, however it is likely that they were founded sometime in the mid-18th century. The organisation claimed to have membership of important British scientists including Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Charles Babbage, however these claims are unverifiable.

The Fathers of Industry spread across the British Empire, initially they were exclusively loyal to the British however as the industrial revolution spread they disassociated themselves with Britain and began servicing anyone who shared their ideals. Their membership was tolerated in varying degrees by the nations of the world, sometimes they persecuted while other times they were praised and accepted. Most of the time they were tolerated by the aristocratic and capitalist classes of the world as their experiments usually increased the output of factories even if it caused the workers irreparable harm.

The organisation was forcibly disbanded in late 1915 when they were caught trying to sell extranormal weapons to both the Allies and the Central Powers. We are unsure about the nature of these weapons; however, they were deemed so unethical that the two groups cooperated to execute the remaining members of the organisation even as World War One raged. This forced their remaining sympathisers underground.

Although the organisation was formally disbanded, sympathisers continued to be influential in the Soviet Bloc and the People’s Republic of China during the Cold War. Most supporters had believed to been purged during the Great Purge and later the Cultural Revolution in China. There have been rumours that members of the organisation survived and are secretly operating in Russia and China, but we have no concrete reports on their survival, hence we have designated them as inactive.

Russian Oligarch Disappear. Is this Putin’s Retaliation? [Source: Russia Uncensored] [EVENT]

Uh-oh, looks like someone is in trouble. Niona Izmestyev, an oligarch who was vocally opposed to the anti-corruption push, has disappeared and rival oligarchs have cannibalised his assets. Could this be part of Putin’s revenge for rival faction’s assassinations of government officials? Join Russia Uncensored as we explore Russia’s increasingly chaotic political situation.

Family Avoids Trash Killer [Source: The Oregonian, via oregonlive.com] [EVENT]

A family of tourists, the Robinsons, claim to have a close encounter with the Trash Killer. The family awoke to a loud thumping noise. Henry Robinson, the father of the family, explored outside armed with a shovel to find a pile of trash on the ground, however the trash killer was nowhere to be seen.

“Someone must have seen the murderer outside our house and stopped him,” Henry Robinson said in an interview “Whoever you are, God bless you! You saved my entire family’s life!” The police have not confirmed if they have a suspect for the killings in custody, nor their opinion on the possible vigilante that allegedly stopped him.

Cat Embassy [Source: Advertisement on CatFanatics Forums] [EVENT]

After months of delays, Spieglecorp’s Cat Embassy is opened. It is the finest Cat Café in all of New York, accepting only the finest of clients! Bring you kitty friends now! Read more at www.spieglecorp/english/cats.de.

World Archaeological Congress to Host Two Annual Events [Source: National and International Archaeological News Online, via http://www.wessexarch.co.uk] [EVENT]

The World Archaeological Congress, one of the world’s premier archaeological organisations, will expand their seminar program to be performed biannually instead of annually. This is part of a measure of programs designed to grow the WAC and increase the importance of archaeology in the world.

The Importance of Feng Shui [Source: Guru Gary the Californian Shaman Blog] [EVENT]

As yet another plane crashes into the Atlantic Ocean, we all must remember the importance of Feng Shui. Feng Shui is something that is completely lacking in aeroplane designs, which is an unfortunate side effect of Boeing’s contract with the deep and dark ones. If we all practiced Feng Shui we would be able to keep the dark ones at bay, which would mean that no one would ever have to feed their sister to one ever again. Makes sure line up your room in accordance of the ancient Buddhist and Shintoist ideals of space and harmony, lest you too end up in the Atlantic Ocean.

****************​

Hi everyone! Let’s put tentative orders lock for the 23rd of February. University is starting up again soon, so I don’t know if that orders lock will be set in stone. You can still predict when orders locks are situated based on when events are held for my weeb game. Wow, rude.

PMs will be sent out soon. Bother me if you don't get one in within the next ten minutes. Most players shouldn’t expect any more details on Singapore, the relevant information for most people should be in the update. Also, say hello to our newest player Butteryicarus!

 

[NinjaCow64]

Alright, PMs should be sent. If you didn't get your PM yet then something has gone wrong so you should contact me ASAP.

 

[Sonereal]

Excerpt /r/nosleep under the title "I'm an Agent for the Perimeter Agency; I have some stories to tell"

The hardest thing about my job is that I don't really have anybody I can talk to. Sure, there are the other agents and informed persons who I can talk to about things in general, but I can't go down to the bar and shoot the horsehocky with a civilian. A lot of people who work for other agencies must feel the same way. When you live in this world, one where you know and do so much, it sucks that you can't talk about it to anybody but your superior and, sometimes, your colleagues.

 

[Sonereal]

Excerpt from /r/nosleep under the title "I'm an Agent for the Perimeter Agency Part 2"

You know, it's been pretty quiet at work lately. I said this at the end of the last update, and some of you PM'd me saying "isn't that a good thing?" Well, no. Quiet is bad. Quiet isn't just the calm before a storm, but the hum before the bulb that's our universe goes out. Some agents have stopped coming to work. Do they know something I do not?

 

[NinjaCow64]

<48 hours until orders lock.

I promise that there will be less long orders locks in the future unless for a really good reason like an exam or something. This huge break was even more painful for me than it was for you, trust me.

 

[NinjaCow64]

Due to tragedy in the family I’m going to put this game on hiatus. Orders lock extended until I don’t know. Hopefully I will be able to come back eventually.

 

[NinjaCow64]

Let's start this up again. 48 hours until orders lock!

 

[NinjaCow64]

I think I've got all the orders I'm going to get for this, thank you to everyone who sent orders in. I'll start work on the update tomorrow as university is being unexpectedly yikes today. Tomorrow I'll be able to work on the update fully, so you can send some last minute edits in if you feel like it.

I'm going to try and have shorter periods between updates. Part of the hiatus was unavoidable, but I probably set the orders lock for way too long anyway which made the problem like ten times worse. Hopefully we will be able to transition to a steadier update cycle that I can also fit into my university studies.

 

[NinjaCow64]

Orders Locked for Reals