The Paranatural Countermeasures Conglomerate
“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown” -H.P. Lovecraft------------------------------------The BeginningThere have always been the monsters. Always. Remember when you were but a child, still naive and innocent? Innocent to the fears of men, like war, poverty, and loss? Innocent to the fear of death? But you did have fear, every child does. The monsters in the dark. Maybe they were in the closet, maybe they were in the hallway, or under the bed. But you were afraid. You feared them like death before that concept was known to you, and as a whole we outgrow that fear to be replaced by more realistic fears that pounce upon us from day to day. But you weren't nearly as naive as you thought you were. You knew. It is ourselves that have forgotten, buried that fear, put it out of our minds for the sake of our sanities. But the monsters have always been there. They still exist in the darkest voids of the Earth, where they hide in waiting for perfect moment when its innocent prey shuts their eyes and covers their heads with the sheets. And that fear still dwells deep within us all. Always.
The Bureau of Paranormal Activity (BPA) was founded in the early 50's as a reaction to the unknown. Dark experiments in Russia. Downed spacecraft in New Mexico. The Bermuda Triangle. The curse of the crystal skull. The biggest crime was that nothing was being done to understand them, let alone counteract them. Originally functioning under United States jurisdiction, the BPA was picked up by the United Nations as a sign of goodwill towards all nations against uncommon and unknown threats. Of course there were benefits with the transfer, those benefits being wider area of operations, better funding, more resources to pull from, and most important of all, less legal interference. This was bigger than all of us, bigger than the U.S., bigger than world peace, Hell, bigger than the universe at large. And only a few, important men and the agents under their charge could ever understand that. The BPA often went outside the law for a mission above and beyond the lives of mortal men for the good of us all. We wouldn't be here today if it weren't for all of the rules they've bent, the rights they've violated... even the lives they've ruined. But no one could see that! All this talk of,
Freedom of Information and
human rights, like anyone would have any of those things without the BPA. If you're gonna make an omelette, you've gotta break a few eggs, and some of those eggs were international policy. But we realized how big we had become and the weight we've been saddled with. So in late 60's the BPA became the PCMC, the Paranatural Countermeasures Conglomerate. Bigger than any government and with hands in every pie, the PCMC doesn't show up on paper, isn't spoken of even in whisper. But the world belongs to us to keep us safe.
Big Brother might be watching, but these God damned fools don't know what he's keeping his eyes out for. It's not your damn phone calls to Grandma, or the meth you cook in your basement, or even the fucking bio-weapons in North Korea. We've got bigger fish to fry here, ladies and gentlemen. Life we as we know it is on the line.
The MissionAs an agent of the Paranatural Countermeasures Conglomerate, your mission is simple: Keep everyone alive and living on Earth as the dominant species as long as you can. Slice of fried bundt cake, right? If only it was that easy. At any given moment there are no less than four entities outside of human control threatening life on this round, blue planet and it's gonna be your job to find and neutralize that threat. Not including the ones within our grasp that we have to stop from doing the same thing. Monsters, aliens, devils, ancient gods, urban legends, and God knows what else are all trying to keep you from doing your job, and even information about any of these freaks of nature could end the game for good. That's where we get crafty. The standard definition, or as I like to call the boring, lawyer's contract of what we do is... lemme get it out... "The mission of the Paranatural Countermeasures Conglomerate is to defend mankind against foreign, unknown, and misunderstood threats through surveillance, identification, fast response, control, containment, elimination, and management of information to include any feasible method in any region internationally,"... So there ya go. You're supposed to do
that.
The MethodsNow it says you are to use "any method feasible", and what that translates to me, the PCMC, and I'm sure all the world leaders, that when faced with a reality-ending threat that any method is "feasible". I won't lie to you, you won't like everything you do here. Like I said, you've got to crack a few eggs to make an omelette and I damn well meant it. There will be times when you'll have to kill innocent tax-paying civilians with wives and children if they so much as suspect that you're not who you say you are, and that's not even the worst of it. A lot of men would crack under the pressure in the first week, but I know you're made of tougher stuff. That's what the psychologists, therapists, and guaranteed two months vacation yearly are for, right? I don't know how they did things at your last job, but your are not to cooperate with local law enforcement. Local law enforcement is to cooperate with
you. Using any means necessary. Is that clear? Your mission is much more important than the lives of a single person, or family, or city or even a fucking country for that matter! So we, the PCMC, finally catch a break in that we don't have to play ball by anyone's rules but our own. You'll be given access to technology only fantasized of in children's comic books or written about by Isaac Asimov in accomplishing this... Sisyphean task. What we need is able-bodied and able-minded men and women to do what is able to be done about threats that would make World War III look like a schoolyard rumble. Not what's legal, not what's right, what is able to be done. By "any method feasible". Do we understand now, ladies and gentlemen?
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Birth Name: (Your character's real name)
Assigned Name: (This is a name assigned to your character by the PCMC. It should be something generic, like "John Smith" or "Mary Brown")
Age: (should be somewhere between 25 and 50)
Attached Photo:[b] (This will function as the "Appearance" section. Write a short description of how your character looks, to include obvious physical features, skin tone, body type, hair style & color, eye color, yada yada. You can go in depth and add height and weight and scars and stuff if you wish, but just the general info is alright. DO NOT WRITE HOW YOUR CHARACTER NORMALLY DRESSES. You may literally add a picture if desired, but keep it somewhat realistic. IF I GET ANY CRAZY ANIME PICTURES THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY.)
[b]Psychological Profile: (This will function as the "Personality" block. Write a very general description of how your character acts around people and alone. However, keep it somewhat formal in your description, and you should add anything important to an actual psychological profile such as recurring alcoholism or a short temper or any psychological treatment they may have undergone. If your character is psychic, this would also be noted here, but you must PM me about that before you get permission.)
Medical History:[b] (Any kind of medical procedure your character may have undergone. This is here because physical and cybernetic enhancements within the PCMC are fairly common. Your character's enhancement, if any, should be something just past realistic for what we can expect in 30 years. It should also not be noticeable among others. Example: Eyes that enable nightvision, IR, and give 40/20 eyesight? Yep! Voicebox that allows perfect vocal mimicry and recording? Sure! Cybernetically modified lungs to greatly improve cardio performance? You bet! Machine gun hand? Hell no! Note: Any other serious medical procedure should go her, like a coronary bypass.)
[b]Technical Proficiency: (What your character is better at or trained at that most others aren't. What is their "role", per se? Some agents might be war veterans with Tactical Operations expertise, some may have been prior Forensic Investigation experts, or have Master's degrees in Criminal Investigation. Something like that.)
History With the PCMC: (All characters will have at least one year of experience with the PCMC. In this section you will list how many years they have been with the PCMC and their major or defining accomplishments within their entire time in. These can be based off actual urban legends or stuff you make up. If you're having difficulty, ask me for help. Think "X-Files")
Prior History: (This will be your character's history before being recruited for the PCMC. All characters should have experience in a job of government nature, such as the military, local law enforcement, or agency such as the CIA or DEA. Your character would have been specially selected for recruitment based upon their merit, meaning they would have stood out in their field in some way, be it exceptional willpower, analytical skills, technical proficiency, ability to influence people, etc. Again, if you're lost, ask me.)
Rules1. Make sure you read and understand the character sheet before making a character. If you mess up and it's obvious you just cut and pasted the format without reading, my reactions will vary depending on how much you blatantly ignored me. On that note, don't add anything else to the character sheet, either, unless you have expressed permission. They're left that general for a reason, trust me. Try to really think about your character, too. Make them interesting, like a real person worth reading about, not just a tool for you to interact with the world.
2. All general and typical rules of the Guild apply, like they always do. No surprise there. The theme is mature in nature, so be prepared for that. Sexual content is not okay past daytime network television standards within the IC, but you're not prevented from doing so. Just go to PM and write a recap post in the IC.
3. I'll give players a huge amount of freedom, but if I say something isn't okay, it's TOTALLY NOT OKAY. If you try to argue a point with the GM on baseless grounds (I REALLY want a machine gun arm, Corporal Lance!), I'll just tell you to leave.
4. If you don't know, ask. I'm trying to keep this one open and general to allow for a lot of development, but if that's too vague I'm always happy to answer questions.
5. It goes without saying, but grammar should be acceptable, and I'm looking for about 3 decent paragraphs per post... which will obviously be based upon the situation, some less, some more. No shit, I had a guy use "lol" in all seriousness within IC character dialogue when he meant for his character to laugh. Don't be that guy. Don't EVER be that guy.
6. I'll be patient about people not being able to post for a bit, but there are limits. If it looks like the thread is dying and the culprit is obvious, we'll move on. I'll be a little more forgiving if you happen to warn me in advance instead of disappearing.
7. On that note, realize that I myself won't be here all the time. I tend to check back every two days and am able to post about almost that often. If I disappear and you still want to play, don't just sit on your hands and hope people return. Give me a PM. If it's someone else and you don't want to seem rude, PM me instead and I'll deal with it.
8. If you break any of the rules, you're out. Plain and simple. That's why they're the rules. Except rule #1. Mess up the character sheet and I'll just ignore you until you fix it. If you make a small mistake or I need you to change something, no big deal, no harm no foul... but if you do what I expect at least 1 player per RP to do (we all know who That Guy is when we see him) and completely ignore my character sheet and thus the rules, I'll ignore you too. Fair's fair.
9. Have some input, please. If you're not having fun or don't like how the tone has changed, please let me know so I can do something about it. I'm very open to new ideas and wouldn't mind incorporating some if you had any. An active OOC is the key to a thriving RP.
---------------------------------Posting Rules------------------------------Players will be given situation and mission updates via PM. Even when gathered together for briefing, private dossiers will be given away individually. These may be the same or they may differ in some way. In addition, characters may receive private communications over inset radios built into the ear canals of agents, which may be public in nature such as an HQ wide alert or more personal such as instruction to meet with their block manager or director. These will generally cover the missions that players are about to embark on.
Players will also have a title to their posts so that it's easy to keep track of where they are and what they're doing. This can be the location or mission name or both, but it should be made obvious that John's back at base doing his taxes and Mary's in the Arctic Circle shooting werewolves in the face. They'll look like this:
PCMC Headquarters, South America
John took another sip of his coffee as he filled out form after form, muttering about how much he hated the IRS.
-------------------------------Operation: Blood Moon----------------------------------
Mary cursed to herself loudly as she dropped her magazine in the snow, frantically fishing for another as the werebeasts bore down on the PCMC tactical team.
Players must wait until all players have posted or expressed their intent to skip for the moment before they can post again. For this reason, I highly suggest the usage of tools such as PiratePad or TitanPad to synchronize conversations. If too much time has gone by to where it is apparent that we're all waiting for a singular or possibly couple of players, I'll give a time warning in the OOC. Once time is up, those players will be skipped or removed from the situation. Keep in mind that I will
never kill a player under any circumstances for being absent, but they may be put into some compromising positions or miss out on missions if they're gone for too long. If I say it's cool to post again in the OOC, then players can post again regardless.
Accepted Character ListThis list will keep track of all accepted players, who their characters are both name-wise and description wise, and what they happen to be doing at the current moment. The order isn't special in anyway, and goes by when the character sheets have appeared in the OOC. Character names will be their Assigned Names.
Holobunny - Mr. Allen Deed, German mad doctor - Currently in the medical labs, giving medical lecture to intelligence analysts over autopsy of a new-found alien species
Roman07 - Jack Romanov, Russian parasitic host - Under standard surveillance in Containment Block D03
Gravislayer - Eddy Doe, English sorcerer - Assigned to stationed guard in Containment Block D03
libbypt - Elli Sari, occult obsessed former soldier - Assigned to stationed guard in Containment Block D03
cunfuzzler - Joanna Johnson, epileptic psychic - Attending medical lecture performed by Mr. Allen Deed
Sixsmith - Sean Adams, M16 man of mystery - On-site liberty
Nereid - Jade Bowen, red-headed ex-cop - On-site liberty
Nerendier - Johnathan Richards, ace pilot - Returning from transport mission, under returning procedures moving to standby/on-site liberty
Tatsua Aiisen - Susan Chase, telepathic experiment - Attending medical lecture performed by Mr. Allen Deed
Here is where a general overview of missions and findings of the RP will go.
It is of course empty right now, because nothing has happened yet.
