Earth is the third planet from the sun, and the humans on Earth are still emerging from a relatively recent evolutionary “Great Leap Forward” to become the intelligent masters of their world. Though many relics of their hominid past yet persist in their psyche, humans have made great strides culturally, and they might one day become a species capable of becoming interplanetary.
If not for the Strange.
Earth is not actually a recursion, although very often when referring to recursions collectively, Earth gets lumped in. Earth is technically a prime world, and it owes its existence to the laws of the physical universe, not to the laws of the Strange.
Earth of The Strange is just like our real world Earth, except that it keeps amazing secrets.
Though PCs may be exploring the crypts of soulshorn in Ardeyn or fighting spore worms in Ruk, on Earth most people go to work every day, pay their bills, watch TV, and probably absorb themselves in a hobby or two, such as sports, games, art, or as in your case, the occasional tabletop roleplaying game. So you already know about what it's like to live on Earth. You live it every day, and you know how the calendar works, some geography, some history, and so on. You might even be up on current events and follow a particular sports team or two. We don't judge.
So, in essence, this chapter is where you'll find out about the exceptions to what is commonly known and understood about Earth, how the Strange affects the planet, and the secrets that even knowledgeable quickened NPCs don't fully grasp.
Only a handful of organizations (and less cohesive groups) on Earth purposefully interact with the Strange. They may intentionally travel to recursions, monitor travelers from recursions, and attempt o limit or exploit those interactions, depending on the group. But most keep their particular knowledge of the Strange hidden from the public at large. The most cohesive and active group on Earth is the Estate.
People on Earth, even those who are quickened, probably don’t realize just how special Earth is. Thanks to an accident that occurred not long after Earth formed, our planet has a unique connection to the Strange.
That connection has to do with Earth’s moon. The moon formed as a result of a massive impact. Scientists the orize that an object at least as large as Mars slammed into the proto-Earth, blasting a bolus of magma into space, where it eventually accreted to form themoon. As it happens, the theory is accurate. Sort of.
It’s true that a Mars-sized object smashed into our fledgling planet, but it wasn’t a sibling protoplanet, as planetary researchers assume. In fact, it was a small piece of a defunct alien intergalactic transport system. This device—let’s call it Aleph—was larger than the solar system. When it malfunctioned millions of years after its fabrication (whether through sabotage or neglect is unclear), it shattered, and its components hurtled across millions of light years. One of those components found its way across space and smashed into a random protoplanet.
If no life had ever developed on that protoplanet, that likely would’ve been the end of it. But life did develop, because that protoplanet was Earth. The evolving sapient life on Earth triggered a residual function in the Aleph component.
The component released a unique quantum field energy that had many repercussions, themain one being that the Earth became connected to the Strange in a way few, if any, other prime worlds ever were. Earth is a rare planet, in that it has generated hundreds of recursions through fictional leakage and hosts paradoxes, spinners, and vectors. The Aleph component is buried deep beneath the Earth’s mantle—a secret that no one knows about, not even the ancient factions of Ruk. For now.
The Estate was founded in memory of Carter Strange. Known as Carter Morrison on Earth, he saved Earth and created Ardeyn. Exactly how Morrison saved the planet is one of the Estate’s most closely guarded secrets. It’s possible that most of the lead operatives or chief investigators don’t even know the whole story.
To the world at large, the Estate is a Only a handful of deserving causes on a yearly basis), organizations (and the Estate’s actual goal is to protect less cohesive groups) the Earth—and all of its life forms— on Earth purposefully from all threats to its existence from interact with the Strange. the Strange. As one of only a handful They may intentionally of organizations cognizant of the travel to recursions, dark energy network, the Estate is monitor travelers from uniquely positioned to deal with the recursions, and attempt to limit or exploit those facade works because the Estate does grasp. award scientific grants to various the group. But most keep their particular knowledge of the Strange hidden The Estate is careful to keep its actual from the public at large. The most cohesive and motivations and activities a closely guarded active group on Earth is the Estate. secret. To the world at large, the Estate is best that even knowledgeable Earth, how the Strange affects the planet, and the secrets quickened NPCs don’t fully interactions, depending on philanthropic institute interested in funding research in several scientific fields of inquiry. While that’s partly true (the threats the Strange represents.
If the PC begins the game as an in-the-know Estate operative, she has already undergone the recruitment process and this experience can be an important part of her backstory.
If you know someone you’d like to nominate for a Morrison Fellowship Prize, or if you think your own work might qualify, visit TheEstateFoundation-org for more details. It is recommended that you use the incognito setting on your browser and take other security measures before visiting.
The Estate is careful to keep its actual motivations and activities a closely guarded secret. To the world at large, the Estate is best known for the yearly scientific awards they distribute (called Morrison Fellowship Prizes) to between thirty and fifty people, working in any field, who “demonstrate remarkable talent and the promise for continued creative work.” The prize is $500,000, paid over seven years in biannual installments, and comes with no strings attached.
As wonderful as that might be for awardees, the prize gives cover to Estate field teams who show up to investigate strange events and accomplishments to see if they're actually Strange events and accomplishments. It's amazing what the lure of a cash prize will do to even the purest of motivations.
The funding required to pay out such large sums is charitably provided by various named and anonymous donors, most of whom believe they are supporting a philanthropic foundation.
Of course, the Estate spends far more cash than just the yearly prizes. Additional funding is generated by operatives working inapposite gates to bring valuable material up from Ardeyn or Ruk, which is sold to various third-party companies who've discovered it's best not to ask where the odd coins, minerals, or gems come from if they wish to keep their contracts.
The Estate wants associates and operatives that are skilled and can handle themselves in a variety of situations; they also have to be mentally stable enough to take knowledge of the Strange in stride. Someone who meets all these qualifications would be a fine asset to the Estate—possibly even suitable for working on a field team. However, the Estate values a potential recruit far more if she is quickened.
A quickened recruit can dispense with a lot of the red tape others have to deal with, including an extensive background check. A quickened PC with a questionable past is not an issue for the Estate (though individual Estate operatives may decide to keep a close eye on such a PC, especially if that “questionable” past puts the PC too far outside normal moral behavior).
After the Estate becomes aware of a potential recruit and determines suitability (possibly without the PC ever knowing about it), the organization approaches the character, probably under cover of determining whether the PC is a good candidate for a Morrison Fellowship Prize. At some point during that meeting, the PC is introduced to the Strange, and if he isn't already aware of them, to his own quickened abilities.
Estate associates can expect a small monthly stipend of a few hundred dollars; operatives with a career outside the Estate get slightly more. A full-time operative receives a salary and benefits sufficient to pay for a comfortable middle-class lifestyle.
An Estate ID badge looks official, and flashing it with authority can get many operatives past checkpoints without too much trouble. The ID makes no illegal claims regarding the authority invested in the holder. Still, an average person who sees an Estate badge is likely to grant an operative a little more leeway, at least for a while.
A few select members of the Estate.
sLead Operative, a founding member of the Estate, and one of the institution's most important field agents. She was an associate of Carter Strange back in the day.
Investigations Chief, tends to monopolize operatives. A functional alcoholic, balancing on the edge of being put on administrative leave for related lapses.
Special Operative, a felon that the Estate freed to exploit his amazing skills of theft and infiltration. So far, Kincaid has been a strong asset, though some consider him a security risk and are waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Chief of Public Relations, a reformed(?) con artist who's become a respected and important member of the Estate, despite occasional irregularities. Liza hands out Morrison Fellowship Prizes.
Research Chief, a native to a recursion formed by fictional leakage from a random blend of science fiction novels and manga comics. He returns there yearly on a secret sabbatical where he tends what he calls the “Orchid.”
No one officially knows who the Fixer really is; it's better that way. If operatives are in trouble with local authorities on Earth, a call to the Fixer smooths things over. The Fixer can take care of complications following a gunfight (including hiding bodies), get operatives out of custody, and even spring operatives from prison. But a word to the wise: those who overuse the Fixer's services risk that the Estate will ask the Fixer to “fix” them.
The Estate explores recursions and the Strange, defends the Earth, and creates conditions to keep civilization safe from related threats. The operatives are assigned to divisions, which have several goals, including locating the newly quickened, shutting down recursion miners, hobbling research into quantum computing, keeping an eye on their “sister” organization the Quiet Cabal, and investigating any events that could be related to the dark energy network. Perhaps most important, the Estate spends about a fifth of its resources working against the September Project, a pseudoresearch organization with a much darker goal.
For years, the Estate has been able to keep tabs on the September Project thanks to having several spies in the organization. This allowed them to discredit many of the September Project's attempts to popularize quantum computers (and thus attract actual scientific talent able to develop the technology past its current state).
Unfortunately for the Estate, those spies are now turning up dead, or never turning up at all. Something is happening at the research campus in Palo Alto where the September Project keeps the public face of its operations on Earth, and it could be critical.
Division Chief Keaton is looking to send a new group of operatives in. Perhaps the PCs are interested in being part of the infiltration team? Keaton suggests posing as a group of industry experts looking for new places to invest. If the PCs prefer a different mission, word has reached Keaton that a few cells of September Project activity have been detected in San Francisco and Austin. Someone needs to look into those, pronto.
The Estate keeps tabs on all the recursion miners it knows about that aren't affiliated with other groups. Sometimes freelance recursion miners spring up when a quickened individual, on his own initiative, discovers the ability to translate. Those who don't draw attention to themselves may never come to the Estate's notice.
Many end up calling attention to themselves, though, by activating an inapposite gate, by bringing cyphers up to Earth and offering them 150 EARTH EARTH for sale, or by pinging the dark energy network itself in some fashion.
Lead Operative Katherine Manners is following the reports of “hauntings” that could well be related to an inapposite gate in the Seattle area, possibly the result of spirits of Ardeyn passing to Earth. She's putting together a team that she'll coordinate to canvass a few different neighborhoods and get to the bottom of the disturbance.
When a high school kid shows break-out talent, whether in sports, academics, or a competition like a science fair or a robot challenge, it's usually just natural talent at work. Likewise, when someone quits her job at the pizzeria to become an overnight success inventing gadgets, investing, or making 3-D printers, it might just be the culmination of long-simmering desire. But sometimes these kind of successes are a few ticks beyond normal and could be the result of someone becoming quickened. The Estate watches for these sorts of “feel-good” news stories and may send out a Morrison Fellowship Prize Evaluation Team.
If someone really is quickened, the Estate's goal is to make contact with her before she is poached by the Quiet Cabal or the Office of Strategic Recursion (OSR), or worse yet, the September Project or Circle of Liberty.
PR Chief Liza Banks is putting together a Prize Evaluation Team to check out the exploits of a kid in Nebraska who has authored three best-selling novels under a pseudonym, written a popular indie computer game, and amassed a secret Bitcoin fortune. While there's a chance that the kid is just using his natural talents, it doesn't bode well that the first round of Estate agents who went to check him out have gone missing.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the Estate's interest in quantum computers is closely tied to its very reason for existing. When an experimental quantum computer chip breached the Strange and nearly cost the Earth everything, it was Carter Morrison who stepped in and saved the planet.
Thus, one of the main uses of the Morrison Fellowship Prize is to “back” those working on quantum breakthrough technologies. In this case, the “no strings” promise is a ruse, for those who accept the generous stipend are subtly channeled toward less dangerous avenues of quantum research.
Research Chief Hertzfeld is something of a loner (especially because no one really knows anything about the “Orchid” that he slips off to tend every year), but few people understand quantum theory better than he does, which is why he is not only tolerated but greatly respected by those in the Estate. While on a field mission to see what kind of progress a particular Morrison Fellowship Prize winner was making on functional quantum computer wristwatches, Hertzfeld disappeared. Quickened operatives are being gathered to track him down.
It’s rumored among Estate operatives that Hertzfeld keeps an entropic seed in the Vault against a future need when all other options have failed.
The Estate keeps its headquarters in the Seattle region, having purchased a local airline company's unused office parks for its own purposes. Several buildings make up the Estate, all behind a checkpoint through which visitors are allowed only if accompanied by an operative or associate, or by appointment. Here, staff issue visitor badges, and they take security very seriously.
The Estate also keeps a few field offices in different locations, but none have the amenities and features approaching those of the smain Estate headquarters.
Security systems, locks, materials, and resources in the Estate headquarters are all level 7 or higher. The Vault is level 8.
HQ houses offices for administration, offices for operatives, a cafeteria, a dojo for combat training, analytics, a communication center, a garage that holds a variety of vehicles, a computer lab, meeting rooms, an auditorium, security center, IT, and more, including the following: Lodging. Full-time Estate members have the option of staying in functional dormitory-style rooms. They aren't extraordinary, but the y're clean, warm, and safe. Operatives who choose to live off-site can still requisition an emergency dorm for special circumstances.
A visitor's center, devoted to telling the story of the Morrison Fellowship Prize, is a five-minute drive off-site. It's staffed entirely by employees who don't know anything about the Estate's real purposes, who do a great job in popularizing and advocating for the Prize.
The Gate House (which is always under strict security) contains several permanent recursion gates (mostly translation gates, but a few inapposite gates) connected to various locations in Ardeyn, a few places in Ruk, and several lesser-known recursions. Most of these recursion gates require a key or password.
Research on the nature of gates, the interaction of laws, the nature of fundament, and the like is conducted in this stand-alone structure. One hot research topic is finding ways to seal recursion gates quickly and completely. Some researchers prefer a quicksealing expanding foam, while others prefer a “negation charge” (which doesn't leave behind 152 EARTH EARTH a gate that could be unsealed later).
This structure houses an extensive archive and library of hard-to-find books and similar documents. A lot of material regarding recursions predates the Internet, and the Estate library gathers as much of it as it can.
Connected securely to the Gate House and Recursion Lab, Holding is a kind of detention center for keeping dangerous individuals, whether that means an OSR spy, an operative who temporarily lost her marbles by spending too long in the Strange, or a creature from another recursion bent on destruction.
The facility contains a variety of cells, including a couple of experimental pocket dimension secure chambers where the law of Substandard Physics operates, which provide no foci and dampen the abilities of quickened individuals.
Translating out of a cell in Holding requires a difficulty 9 translation roll.
The Vault stores dangerous artifacts from other recursions brought to Earth through inapposite gates, as well as items that (like cyphers) translate to Earth but remain incredibly dangerous.
The Estate stores arms and ammunition in this bunkerlike structure. Here, weapons are also maintained and repaired, issued to authorized users, and tested. Combat training is also conducted on the extensive firing range beneath the armory. Most kinds of legal firearms are stored in the armory, as well as a few weapons normally available only to themilitary. The armory also contains several cypher weapons, carefully stored to avoid deletion chain-reaction. These cyphers may be issued to operatives for important missions.
When operatives are assigned to an official mission, they receive a mission briefing in a set of conference rooms designed to pass information quickly and efficiently. During such a briefing, the PCs receive any necessary handouts, photos, and information. They can also request a mission kit, which could include a cypher or two, some “spy” equipment, and a car from the garage.
Operatives who return equipment after use are more likely to continue to enjoy the privilege of receiving mission kits.
The Estate is the organization on Earth that PCs are most likely to work directly with or on behalf of. But other organizations and less cohesive groups also interact with recursions and the Strange. One, the Quiet Cabal, is even more far-flung in its operations than the Estate, and its main headquarters are not kept on Earth.
In addition to the Quiet Cabal, there exists the Circle of Liberty, the September Project, and the OSR, as well as recursion miners, spiralers, and butterfly objectors.
The recursion of Ruk has nestled in the Shoals of Earth for millennia. Ruk natives made a connection with humanity once humanity evolved sufficiently, an evolution that was possibly helped along by one or more Ruk factions. Today, the faction most interested in Earth's welfare is the Quiet Cabal.
The Quiet Cabal's membership is mostly human, at least on Earth. Members in the highest echelon are aware of the Strange and the existence of recursions. The Cabal works to keep Earth and Ruk safe from dangers of the dark energy network and its recursions, dangers including nihilists from Ruk itself, creatures native to an exotic or toxic recursion who somehow find their way to Earth, and planetovores.
The Cabal keeps a few sanctums on Earth, which are akin to field offices. These sanctums are usually camouflaged to appear like bed and breakfasts or isolated farmsteads on the outskirts of a community. The owner of said B&B or farm might be an agent in full standing but is just as likely to be a contractor paid handsomely to keep a part of his establishment set aside for Cabal use, no questions asked. In this case, the proprietor of the establishment has been vetted to make sure that even if odd things are heard or seen, he will keep quiet and allow the agents to go about their business.
Some sanctums contain special, rare objects native to Ruk (brought through an inapposite gate) called recursion keys, which allow a quickened agent to translate to the specific location within Ruk where that object originally resided—usually, that location is the Quiet Cabal High Command. A few sanctums also possess translation gates.
PCs who are Quiet Cabal members that are native to Earth might live in a sanctum if they wish. Unlike the Estate operatives, Quiet Cabal agents on Earth operate without much oversight (or help) from the Quiet Cabal. As long as a PC agent makes regular reports, either personally or via courier drop, the cabal is mostly content to let her forge her own way.
Some Quiet Cabal agents are responsible for collecting message drops and transferring messages between agents and the Quiet Cabal High Command. PCs might take on such a mission for a time, which would involve a tour of various places in the U.S., a translation through various recursions, and a final destination in Ruk before returning to Earth.
Maureen Lincoln is an NPC Quiet Cabal courier known by many other Ruk agents, as well as by a few operatives of the Estate and OSR. Agent Lincoln routinely translates between Earth and Ruk on courier duty, but also to spy on various organizations who think they know all about her. When she goes undercover, she slips into disguise as a member of the Circle of Liberty or OSR, as a representative of Zal looking for prospects on Earth, or, most surprisingly of all, as a minor division chief at the Estate.
Maureen Lincoln: level 6 Zal
The Circle of Liberty isn't cohesive; it's a collection of loosely affiliated groups that publicly advocate for decentralized government. Despite being mostly unknown to the public at large, the Circle of Liberty is organized and has a well-funded donor base that keeps it active. According to Estate investigations, the Circle of Liberty is funded to the tune of millions of dollars a year. All the money comes through hard-to-trace funding networks.
The Estate paid more attention to the Circle of Liberty when they thought the Betrayer out of Ardeyn was ultimately behind the group (and indeed, the Betrayer might well be one of the funding sources). But after investigating, the Estate learned that most of the donors can ultimately be traced back to the Karum, a group of Ruk nihilists. Though the Karum's aims are not dismissed by the Estate, the group is also seen as being in the “jurisdiction” of the Quiet Cabal.
The subgroups under which the Circle of Liberty operates include various “charities,” think tanks, advocacy groups, and industry associations. Some of these are part of the funding scheme, and others attempt to manipulate public opinion as well as legislative policy. For instance, one policy that might be the result of Circle of Liberty manipulation is conservative opposition to climate policy of any kind, presumably in an effort to bring about long-term destabilization of Earth governments as the y're forced to deal with everaccelerating global disasters.
The Circle of Liberty's most famous advocate is disgraced senator Jerry Toomey. Toomey found a second career by becoming a radical voice on every possible media outlet. Toomey is famous for his intense orations that seem to sway almost any panel he appears on, if only while he's present. Cabal agents believe Toomey is quickened and can twist the perceptions of others. In truth, Toomey is a native of Ruk. Transplanted to Earth, he took on the persona (and skin) of the real Toomey, and in addition to becoming a talking head, he also created a private compound called Promised Land. Brochures paint Promised Land as a wonderful place for the wealthy to get away for a weekend of relaxation and fun, but it's actually a place where the wealthy and other opinion-makers get brainwashed by Toomey. Destroying the compound would be a nice feather in the cap of any group of Quiet Cabal agents who felt up to the challenge of dealing with the small private army Toomey has employed to guard the place.
Jerry Toomey: level 4, level 7 in tasks related to persuasion
Dr. Gavin Bixby, professor of nuclear research is another person of interest who receives money from the same funding network that finances the Circle. Bixby keeps busy consulting with various particle acceleration labs on best practices. Bixby's ultimate goal (as a secret Ruk native and agent of the Karum named Dadanum-tal) is to help Earth scientists develop a high-energy particle accelerator with enough energy to ping the Strange. Bixby must wait before providing all the information required to achieve the goal, because the Karum aren't quite ready to cast Ruk off from the Shoals of Earth. Until then, Bixby provides only small hints and clues regarding the technology required to advance the field. In fact, he's had to squelch advances that ran out too far in front of his timeline a few times. Doing the work of the Estate or Quiet Cabal rankled, but eventually Bixby knows it'll all pay off.
Dr. Gavin Bixby: level 4, level 6 for all tasks related to deception and particle physics
Butterfly Objectors is a group composed of a subset of former Estate operatives, OSR agents who've gone into hiding, and others who have experience translating into different recursions.
What distinguishes this group is that they have completely given up their abilities to translate, and for the most part, their former affiliation.
The reason they've distanced themselves from their abilities has to do with the butterfly theory, though it's not the “butterfly effect” made famous by chaos theory. Instead it is a theory put forward by one Dedrian Andrews, which draws on the analogy of a caterpillar turning into a butterfly.
It's popularly imagined that a caterpillar enters its chrysalis and is gradually modified until it becomes a creature capable of flying. sMost of society sees this transformation as a beautiful metaphor for how people can grow and change. Dedrian, however, shines a light on the truth. What actually happens to the caterpillar in the chrysalis is that its body melts down to a sac of nutritious goo—a sac of nutritious goo that serves as the feedstock for a wholly new creature, the butterfly. (If you were to cut open a cocoon at the right time, caterpillar soup would ooze out.) The upshot? The butterfly isn't really the same thing as the caterpillar that preceded it.
Dedrian extends the butterfly's reality to describe what happens when someone translates. He maintains that the person on the other end isn't the same person with new features, it's a copy of that person made from random material in the new recursion. The real person dies each time, and a copy moves on, walking in the former person's place.
Butterfly objectors represent a small but growing number of former recursors. The group hasn't offered any violence, but they are radical when it comes to their desire to broadcast “the truth” to as many quickened as possible. Some objectors see organizations that use operatives to translate—including the Estate—as evil perpetrators of lies that kill.
A standard Internet search describes the September Project as a research group developing the next generation of quantum computers. A lot of glitzy web marketing makes a convincing case for the benefits such machines would provide.
The group's desire to create a true quantum computer is real—not because they want to solve anyone's problems, but because the group's secret founder—a man named Jason Cole (known as the Betrayer in Ardeyn)—wants to claim both Ardeyn and Earth for himself.
The ultimate narcissist, Cole has attained planetovore-style aspirations. Only a few elite September Project agents know Cole's ultimate goals, and even they believe that they'll be spared when Cole finally succeeds.
The September Project has a research facility in Palo Alto, California, a city known for its computer talent. Thanks to the efforts of the Estate (efforts that consist of bribes, hiring away talent, destruction of prototypes, arson, and so on), the research never really got off the ground, and the September Project eventually earned the reputation as something of a joke in the computer industry.
But lately, the Estate's agents at the Palo Alto research facility have been found dead (one having suffered a stroke, the other a heart attack) or missing. The September Project has developed a new security strategy. Every seven days, they bring in a telepath from a recursion called Atom Nocturne that operates under the law of Psionics. The telepath is Soma Kitsune.
Soma stays just long enough to clear out any new secret agents or other security breaches, then she is quickly shuttled back to her world before her Talent gives out completely. Soma contracts blinding headaches themoment she enters Earth as its alternative law begins to digest her Talent, but a heavy dose of painkillers allows her to operate for up to two days. If Soma remains on Earth for more than a few days, the strain would likely kill her. Soma believes that she's doing good, and that the secret agents she is rooting out are working for a dubious organization; she's convinced that the September Project are the “good guys.”
The visible head of the September Project's marketing push is COO Shanice Blickenstaff, but the person who leads real operations on Earth is CEO Gayle Cooper. Gayle is a native of Ruk, originally one of the leaders of the Karum. Gayle didn't find the Karum radical enough for her purposes (they moved too slow). She's happier with the idea of completely obliterating the Earth on the Betrayer's schedule, though would probably switch sides again if the Betrayer were to do something to endanger the Karum's goals.
Dedrian Andrews: level 4, level 6 with persuasion skills
Soma Kitsune: level 5, level 8 for various psychic abilities
Shanice Blickenstaff: level 4, level 5 for all tasks related to deception
Gayle Cooper: level 6, level 7 for Speed defense rolls
LeRoy R. Cain: level 4, level 6 for perception tasks; sawed-off shotgun attack inflicts 6 points of damage to two targets within immediate range; carries a level 5 vanisher
Individuals and groups who find and explore recursions—and who attempt to create new recursions—are recursion miners. Such miners are especially interested in acquiring cyphers and returning with them to Earth. Some recursion miners accomplish this goal responsibly, but others engage in unsafe methods that risk destabilizing a particular recursion and drawing dangerous attention from the dark energy network. The Estate keeps tabs on all the recursion miners it knows about, and it steps in to neutralize those who go too far.
Watched recursion miners include the following.
Dr. Law is an anthropologist who investigates various cultural sites in Africa. Dr. Law usually works with a team, but she always mines alone, descending into ephemeral recursions birthed via fictional bleed from various African myths. The kinds of cyphers she translates up to Earth are mostly benign, peaceful, and used for good works.
Diamond is a freelance recursion miner who has a criminal record on Earth. He has at various times worked for OSR, the September Project, and even the Estate, which is why he hasn't been dealt with quite yet, despite his predilections. If the Estate knew that Diamond wasn't quickened, but utilized a technology known as an inapposite harness, they'd put an end to his career. Lately, he has been searching for cyphers and artifacts among recursions created by Native American fictional bleed.
Laughton is a hairstylist quickened later in life. The fifty three year-old Laughton visits tiny recursions created through the fictional leakage from children's television programming. So far, her explorations have been harmless; she returns to Earth with cyphers that turn out to be selfanimating and harmless toys (if colorful and given to annoyingly high-pitched singing). But operatives keep watch just in case.
One repercussion of Earth's interaction with the Strange is the development of a street drug called spiral dust. Spiral dust is made from cyphers through a process the Estate still works to unravel, and by people or groups that the Estate is still working to root out.
People who become addicted to spiral dust are called spiralers. Addicts are easy to spot: their hands tremble with excitement, their speech is exuberant, and most telling of all, their irises become purple-stained and slightly deformed, taking on the shape of a fractal spiral.
Spiralers have incredibly vivid hallucinations while they're on the drug, and they tend to believe that each such trip is a continuing leg of their spiritual journey. Particularly heavy users disappear. The public at large believes such disappearances are either because an addict leaves behind her regular life to join a spiritual messiah in a distant compound, or because she dies of an overdose in an illegal drug den.
The truth is more strange. Spiralers aren't actually hallucinating; they're peering into, perhaps even dreaming into, a recursion. Particularly heavy users don't die; the y're translated against their will into a recursion (perhaps the same unknown recursion for everyone) and can't ever escape.
One supplier of spiral dust is LeRoy R. Cain. LeRoy is quickened (and would qualify as a recursion miner, by the Estate's lights). He uses his ability to hunt for cyphers in small recursions created through fictional leakage. He stays away from the larger, established recursions like Ruk and Ardeyn because he figures it's just too likely he'd be discovered.
The less he has to do with other quickened people, the better. He prefers one tiny recursion in particular whose name he doesn't even know, where he walks a beach along a sea hidden in autumn mist. The surf always throws up a cypher or two if he's patient enough. He remains safe as long as he avoids a certain cave farther inland where smoke regularly puffs. LeRoy suspects the smoke is the breath of a great hibernating monster, and he isn't wrong.
The Office of Strategic Recursion is a secret agency of the USA that has ties to governments around the globe. Like other agencies that thrive without possessing any “official” existence, OSR is funded through misleading accounting, misdirection of seized funds, and other less palatable sources. Imagining the existence of such departments usually falls to conspiracy nuts, but when it comes to OSR, they wouldn't be wrong. The fact that OSR agents employ black suits and use cyphers only provides more fuel for conspiracy forums and late-night talk shows.
OSR is well aware of recursions. It monitors groups like the Estate and the Quiet Cabal. In fact, it's a policy of the OSR to feed these two groups leads on a regular basis to foster the belief in both groups that OSR is on their side.
The truth is, OSR isn't working for the same goals as the Estate or even the Quiet Cabal. Sure, OSR will put down a rogue dragon from Ardeyn or deal with a Karum-aimed paradox trying to set fire to Washington, D.C. But its ultimate policy goal is to discover all the ways that elements of the Strange can be weaponized for use on Earth. OSR even created a few recursions designed to spec, thanks to agents who undertook a genesis quest.
Truetopia is a recursion that operates under the law of Standard Physics, created by OSR for the purpose of creating “true believers” who will serve as cannon fodder should a war break out on Earth. Results are too preliminary to discern whether Truetopia will be a rousing success or an abysmal failure.
Agent Saladin Nixon is working on a plan to translate several animate skeletons from Ardeyn up to Earth. Skeletons are dangerous and expected threats in the wilds of Ardeyn but on Earth, they would be monsters capable of striking terror in anyone they attacked. Better yet, they would disintegrate after just a few days under the pressure of Earth's natural laws, leaving no evidence behind other than themayhem they wrought.
Urania is a recursion created by OSR for the purpose of mining rare minerals, especially uranium. Urania remains too immature to provide much in the way of dividends yet, but a few agents have the ongoing responsibility of maturing the recursion to an age category where uranium can be mined easily. A few hiccups have seen the accidental creation of natives of living mineral, some of which have developed the spark and a bad attitude against OSR.
Saladin Nixon: level 5
Skeletons: level 3, level 5 in combat tasks with long-range rifle; Armor 4 against gunfire, 1 against bash attacks; rifle does 4 points of projectile damage per attack
The Unexplainable Frontier Foundation (UFF) seems to be a public organization dedicated to studying unusual phenomena of the kind that might otherwise only go as far as a Fortean Times headline. Members live throughout the world, but organize and communicate via online channels and various public and private social media outlets. Unlike other societies dedicated to uncovering oddities, the UFF was founded by one Calvin Lewis who claims that he was visited by strangers from another world. After that visit, he wanted to share the news with the public. To this end, UFF puts out weekly calls for information regarding news of “strange worlds, strange powers, or strange visitors” on its web page.
Calvin Lewis isn't what he seems—he's an operative of OSR. Lewis sends membership rolls and keeps tabs on people who seem most interested in the same kind of phenomena that OSR monitors. If a member discovers information that is a little too accurate, that person is “disappeared” for further debriefing.
Calvin Lewis: level 5
A supersecret division within OSR is charged specifically with monitoring other groups with knowledge of the Strange. Some within Clean Slate advocate for completely eradicating these “competing” organizations.
Plans have been drawn up to accomplish just that, but they are classified as contingency plans only, not as actual policy. Every time OSR finds a double agent within its own ranks, certain high-ups in the chain of command privately discuss putting the contingency into full operation.
Sometimes it's desirable to take enemy combatants, political prisoners, or other persons of interest off the board for safekeeping, while keeping them within reach in case they prove useful. That's why OSR keeps an escape-proof prison on a small recursion called Homebound. Thanks to the qualities of Homebound, translating either in or out is a difficulty 10 Intellect-based task, which means the only reliable way in or out is through a translation gate that OSR keeps on a secret armored rail car, always moving around the country, picking up and “processing” new residents for Homebound.
Despite the fact that Earth operates under the law of Standard Physics, researchers within OSR have been tasked with trying to confer on soldiers special enhancements. To this end, they attempt to study the technology of Ruk especially. They hope to accelerate the creation of an upgraded human being without the degradation recursors from Ruk experience after arriving through an inapposite gate. To date, the project has reported advances in increasing oxygen absorption, enhancing vision, and accelerating muscle response. For any soldier who is current with the drug regimen that maintains this state, all combat-related tasks are modified by two steps in her favor, but the drug regimen is dangerous because side effects are common.
Anyone who spends more than a few days on the pharmaceutical cocktail risks sudden heart failure after each exertion (1-2 on a d100 roll), until the drugs and the abilities that come with it are completely cleared from the bloodstream.
“Starseeds” are what some people on Earth call themselves. They are also known by others as “star people” and “lightbeings,” or just “deluded.” Starseeds believe they are not human, that they originate from another place in universe, but walk in a human body. Individuals who identify as starseeds exist as a loose-knit community on the Internet. Psychologists describe the starseed phenomenon as a coping mechanism for people who don't feel they fit in. Just as some find an answer to their needs in a holy book, starseeds hold tight to the idea that their feelings of isolation stem from the fact they have come to Earth to fulfill an urgent mission... if they could only remember what it was.
Given the reality of the expanse of the dark energy network under Earth, who's to say that starseeds aren't correct in their belief about being special? Maybe some of them really are aliens who've translated to Earth after having fled a prior alien civilization's collapse. It's not the first time. Just look at Ruk. On the other hand, it's more likely that starseeds (if “real” in any way) are accidental immigrants translated from one of the recursions around Earth who suffer amnesia regarding their former existence.
The Estate and Quiet Cabal haven't taken any official notice or interest in the starseed phenomena. On the other hand, OSR is curious and has opened an investigation. They have several starseeds in their sights who they suspect may be on the verge of “awakening” to their original consciousness. Starseed targets include the following:
Janet Collins is a retired high-school teacher who taught shop classes. Now in her middle sixties, she continues to work on what brought her so much joy through her life—making things. Recent advances in 3-D printers and the collaboration provided by various makerspaces has given Janet the outlet she craved. Janet has a particular gift for creating simple robots, though of late, insights in her dreams have led to increasingly complicated circuits that are so advanced that they rival anything university robotic labs are producing.
Janet Collins: level 3, level 7 for all tasks related to robotics
Ankur Dass operates an art print shop in a small town a few hours outside of a major metropolitan area. Ankur holds art classes every Tuesday evening in the warehouse in back of his shop. He has always been something of an inspired artist, but lately it seems his talent has finally awakened. The fractal-like landscapes he creates never fail to stun viewers, and sometimes people who see his latest landscape dream about the images later, and depending on the image, feel much better or worse for thememory.
Ankur Dass: level 3, level 7 for all tasks related to fractal art
Ipsa scientia potestas est—“knowledge itself is power” —written on the first page of many of the reports and journals stored in Collections
The Estate believes its own founding operatives were the first on Earth to discover recursions and the Strange. They’re wrong. As it happens, a secret offshoot of the Royal Geographical Society of London (founded in 1830) has long been aware of recursions. This secret “sister” society was originally made up of a handful of regular Royal Society members: those who were also quickened and able to translate. The so-called Implausible Geographical Society met clandestinely within the confines of the larger organization until 1913. That’s when the regular Royal Society moved into the Lowther Lodge in Kensington Gore, when the ban on female membership was lifted, and when the Implausible Geographical Society (IGS) moved to its own, separate headquarters. In fact, the IGS moved to a virtual duplicate of Lowther Lodge, located not on Earth but in an Earthlike recursion of London based on the writings of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
The Royal Geographical Society was founded to advance geographical knowledge and science. The Implausible Geographical Society’s purpose is the same, except its members explore both known and new recursions. Unlike the more well-known society, the IGS doesn’t widely broadcast its discoveries or publicly award medals to its members who have achieved amazing things in the face of adversity. The IGS keeps all it learns secret among its members. However, that membership is quite large. In fact, several individuals who the Estate regards as lone recursion miners are affiliated with the Implausible Geographical Society.
The truth is, members of the IGS have been active in the Shoals of Earth for almost two hundred years. A record of most of those activities can be found in a section of the group’s headquarters called Collections.
Dame Amanda Wallace: level 5, tasks related to games of chance and recursion knowledge as level 7
Richard Hunt: level 6, tracking and resisting disease and poison as level 7
Sir Raymond Creswicke: level 5, tasks related to IGS history and recursion knowledge as level 7; given time, can always fix his position
Several rooms in the IGS lodge are given over to Collections, which holds a couple of centuries’ worth of discoveries, including expedition reports and journals, recursion maps, photographs, paintings, and objects (brought by inapposite gate travel) from alternate recursions. In total, Collections comprises over a million discrete items. An associated reading room is available for visiting members who wish to consult the trove. With a little research, information found in Collections can form the seed for new expeditions, which in turn could lead to yet more documents, maps, and objects being brought back to IGS.
Most of the recursions known and visited in the modern era did not exist when the Implausible Geographical Society was founded because the fictions that seeded them had not yet been written. Many recursions explored by IGS members were based on fictions and myths popular at the time, including Pellucidar, the Forgotten World, and the myths of humans of every culture. The Garden of Eden was reputed to be a favorite, though its dangers were equal to its delights.
The question is, once these recursions were discovered, what became of them? Few recursors, either associated with the IGS or employed by agencies such as the Estate, seem to find such recursions any longer, and if they do, the worlds are usually small and without much occurrence of the spark among natives. Some people suspect that as fictions lose attention in the modern world, recursions seeded from those fictions are negatively affected. A competing hypothesis is that older recursions somehow drift away and become harder to reach. Either way, because IGS members have the advantage of a record stretching back nearly two hundred years, they’re in a unique position to explore these questions.
Explorers are usually explorers for a reason— they’re not particularly happy around other people, and several are downright antisocial. That’s why some explorer-recursors could never be happy within the confines of a group like the Estate. But these very same independent-minded recursors enjoy their association with the Implausible Geographical Society. Members are essentially left to their own devices, there are no managers or supervising officers, and, in fact, there’s no expectation that a member will return to the Lodge ever again. But most do check in from time to time to file the maps and reports of their latest discoveries in previously unknown recursions, to ask for advice from other explorers, or to engage in a little uncharacteristic social time among others of like constitution in the common room.
New members are selected by invitation only, but any full-fledged “Geographers” (as members often refer to themselves) can extend an invitation. Invitations can be given to other recursors or to someone with a keen interest in alternate worlds who isn’t quickened. However, the society sees itself as an exclusive club, which means that knowledge of the Implausible Geographical Society isn’t to be spread beyond the group and its actual members. When information does escape, volunteer Geographers are sent to erase it by whatever means necessary (and they often use artifacts culled from different recursions, such as memory erasers acquired from a recursion called New York Grey).
Like Dame Amanda Wallace, Creswicke is one of the few IGS members permanently installed in the Lodge. He is in charge of seeing to the organization of Collections. Given half a chance, he’s keen to give advice to new or prospective members, especially when it comes to choosing a new destination to explore. Creswicke is also available to teach new members how to use various cartography tools. In some recursions, a sextant and a compass are worthless, but in many, those items work fine, as does GPS or more advanced positioning techniques.
Dame Amanda Wallace: Wallace occupies the office of the president, but she hasn’t taken that role, nor would she want it; the Society hasn’t had an acting president in thirty years. Her main duties are to provide IGS Lodge security, to vet new member applications for potential red flags, and to make certain that knowledge of the group doesn’t leak out. Wallace also nurses a gambling problem and sometimes slips out to put money down on the horses—which is how she came to the attention of Moriarty, a cross-recursion criminal of the worst sort. So far, Moriarty has been content to observe Dame Amanda Wallace and, through her, the activities of the Implausible Geographical Society. For her part, Wallace knows that she has come under observation, and she’s preparing a trap of her own if something dangerous comes of it.
Cantankerous but a man of his word, Hunt is tougher than any three other Geographers put together. When he leads an expedition, he doesn’t put up with weaklings, and in fact he makes those who travel with him agree to be left behind if they become a liability. As a result, opinions about Hunt among other members range from those who revere him to those who think he’s the worst human ever. The latter are happy that he’s rarely at the IGS Lodge—mainly because he’s always out looking for ever more extreme recursions to explore and map.
One of Hunt’s pet theories has to do with missing explorer Percy Fawcett, who disappeared in the Amazon on Earth in 1925. Hunt believes the explorer tumbled into a recursion of particular mystery, one that has resisted discovery to this day. Lately, most of Hunt’s expeditions have to do with finding this particular recursion (which he calls “the City of Z”), even though most other Geographers think he’s bound to fail, just as Fawcett did before him.
Given that Earth operates under the law of Standard Physics, artifacts are not common. They are usually created by accident, and they rely on the intersection of a subtle law of reality and a quickened inventor. Artifacts from other recursions are not usually able to translate, but some have that capability and so can also be found on Earth.
On the other hand, given that Earth has developed technology that operates well under Standard Physics, many of the appurtenances available on Earth could be considered artifacts in other recursions. For example, if a machine gun traveled to Ardeyn via an inapposite gate, it would be considered an artifact.
Level: 1d6+1
Origin: Earth (emergent)
Law: Standard Physics
Form: Automatic rifle
Effect: This automatic rifle functions as a normal medium weapon of its kind. However, because of its unique design, rounds fired from the weapon ignore most kinds of Armor found on Earth, such as flak vests and even tank armor. Against alien (or magic) force fields, the weapon ignores Armor only if the level of the machine gun is equal to or higher than the level of the source of the effect (or the tier of the ability user). This device is a rapid-fire weapon, and thus can be used with the Spray or Arc Spray abilities that some characters have, but each round of ammunition used or each additional target selected requires an additional depletion roll.
Depletion: 1 in 1d100
Level: 1d6+1
Origin: Earth (emergent)
Law: Standard Physics
Form: Cherry-red flamethrower
Effect: This weapon sprays a short-range line of flaming, high-pressure liquid at up to three targets standing next to each other, inflicting damage equal to the artifact level. Affected targets are also doused in burning liquid, catch on fire, and take 2 points of damage for three rounds following the first round.
Depletion: 1 in 1d6
Level: 1d6+1
Origin: Earth (emergent)
Law: Standard Physics
Form: Jumpsuit with rough surfaces that mimic mechanism used by geckos to stick to walls
Effect: The wearer can climb any surface without the need to succeed on a Might-based task, but only as long as he keeps his speed down to an immediate distance per round. Doing something other than climbing (such as climbing and fighting) requires that the user attempt a normal climbing task; however, while wearing the suit, he has two assets to any such task.
Depletion: —
Level: 1d6+3
Origin: Earth (emergent)
Law: Standard Physics
Form: Gauntlet with a mechanical suction device on the palm
Effect: The wearer of the glove has an asset for all tasks related to gripping, which includes making an attack with a melee weapon, climbing, and holding tightly to something.
Depletion: 1 in 1d20
Level: 1d6+2
Form: Rigid chest and belt harness studded with readouts and controls
Effect: When the wearer activates the harness, which requires a difficulty 2 Intellect-based roll, he can step from one recursion to another as if through an inapposite gate. Unless a mishap occurs, only the wearer and what she can carry is transferred. The wearer can set the harness to return to a recursion already visited. In this case, the wearer appears within short range of where he left the recursion with the harness. The wearer can also choose to randomly step into a never-before visited recursion. Doing the latter increases the difficulty of the roll by two steps.
If a wearer fails the activation roll, roll on the following table to determine what happens. A depletion roll is required unless noted otherwise.
d6 Mishap Effect
1 Nothing happens; no depletion roll necessary
2 Nothing happens, and a short inflicts 5 points of ambient electrical damage to wearer
3 Successful transfer after a warm-up period that lasts 1d6 minutes
4 Successful transfer to random recursion
5 Successful transfer to target recursion, but a random level 1d6 creature also appears and attacks
6 Successful transfer to target recursion, but a random level 1d6+2 creature also appears and attacks
Depletion: 1 in 1d20
Level: 1d6+1
Origin: Earth (emergent)
Law: Standard Physics
Form: Tiny flying drone shaped like a dragonfly
Effect: This microdrone uses four quad-copter rotors housed in synthetic but lifelike dragonfly wings, giving the mechanical device a disguise that is difficult to pierce when it is flying. The microdrone comes with a remote control and virtual-reality goggles that give the user visual and audio in the drone's proximity. Under most circumstances, the drone has a range of 1 mile (2 km).
Depletion: 1 in 1d20 (Check per flight; depletion usually means the microdrone suffered a mishap, but it can be repaired with a difficulty 2 Intellect task if the right part is available, or with a difficulty 6 Intellect task if not.)
Level: 1d6+2
Origin: Earth (emergent)
Law: Standard Physics
Form: A broad-barreled rifle rich with embedded electronics
Effect: When the rifle is fired, a designated recursion gate (translation or inapposite) within short range collapses if it leads to a recursion whose level is less than or equal to the artifact level. The recursion beyond the gate isn't otherwise affected.
Depletion: 1 in 1d10
Level: 1d6+2
Form: An engine with custom parts the size of a coffee maker
Effect: A perpetual motion engine doesn't require fuel. If attached to something capable of doing work (and properly braced), the engine can deliver up to 300 horsepower for up to a day (which is considered one use of the artifact).
If the engine is depleted, fixing it to working condition requires a difficulty 5 Intellect-based roll and several hours in the shop.
Depletion: 1-3 in 1d100
Level: 1d6+3
Origin: Earth (emergent)
Law: Standard Physics
Form: Tube with sight and trigger
Effect: The user can make a long-range attack with a rocket-propelled grenade that inflicts 7 points of damage to the target and every creature and object next to the target.
Depletion: 1 in 1d6
Level: 1d6+1
Origin: Earth (emergent)
Law: Standard Physics
Form: Bluetooth visor and smartphone app
Effect: By emitting terahertz and long-range infrared light, this device allows a user to see a short distance through most interior walls of standard structures, through normal clothing, and into normal bags and briefcases. Only stone or concrete more than 6 inches (15 cm) thick prevents a scan. Regardless, images are black and white and fuzzy, without offering fine detail.
A terahertz scanner visor utilizes the same technology as is used in airports on Earth, but it is far more portable thanks to the relentless advance of technology.
Depletion: 1 in 1d20 (check per use; depletion usually means a special part must be replaced)
Level: 1d6+1
Form: A deluxe, highly stylized metallic key
Effect: When turned in the lock of any door, and the door is opened within ten minutes, the doorway becomes a translation gate to a specific recursion. Each artifact is “keyed” to a specific recursion. While the origination door can be at any location where the key is used correctly, the destination is determined by the regular rules of translation (with the keyholder being considered the one initiating the translation). A recursion gate created by a key lasts for up to ten minutes before fading out.
Depletion: 1 in 1d20