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Canon Hub » Third Law Hub

Don't be discouraged by the size of the canon! While Third Law might seem large, it's very easy to start reading. There is no single overarching narrative within Third Law — most tales exist standalone, or are part of a short series of tales that only rely on each other.

Any articles that are part of a series are listed below their series hub, making it easy to identify standalone tales and narrative dependencies — you can safely start with pretty much any top-level entry on this page without having to worry about missing important background info.

Additionally, articles within this canon are extensively crosslinked, so you can quickly get up to speed if you come across a reference to another work that you haven't read. Even then, the content of many crosslinks can be safely intuited through context, and isn't crucial to understanding the article.

If this is your first time reading Third Law, and you're looking for a good place to begin, here are some tales and articles that we recommend you start with. Some are heavy worldbuilding pieces that serve as a launching point for organically exploring the universe, while others are more iconic standalone pieces that can give you a feel for the canon's tone and themes.

The Bard of Ambrose — A man and his computer debate the nature of consciousness in a story about an artificial intelligence that believes it's as conscious as its creators: which is to say, not at all.
The Analog Kid — The dream of transhumanism is alive in Three Portlands, as a trio of scientists try and crack the secret of electronic telepathy. Just remember, it isn't a hive mind.
Moonlighting — One part character study, one part cyberpunk mood piece, Moonlighting is a tale about an amateur anartist putting himself into his work and the ways that we suffer for our art.
Preliminary Report of J. C. Randall... — This article fleshes out a large portion of the canon's cosmology and alternate history, while also providing a modern, multi-universal take on the pioneering spirit of Golden Age science fiction.
Under Control — Corporate malpractice, sovereign citizens and a special hell. This tale distills the car-crash of the mundane and the anomalous that is daily life in Three Portlands, seen through the eyes of an unhappy medium in an unhappy medium.
Operation LLEWYN DARK — When a stray space rock ends up causing a worldwide paratech catastrophe, the Foundation and the Horizon Initiative join hands to clean up an industrial accident on the final frontier.
SCP-2664 - Redline — A slice of surreal mind/body horror set at the peak of Cold War hysteria, this article explores the geopolitics of the world behind the Veil, and asks just how much wrong you can do for the right reasons.

Up to speed? Click here!

Latest Entries

"充分に発達した科学技術は、魔法と見分けが付かない。"

— アーサー・C・クラーク

"テクノロジーは善でもなければ悪でもない。そして、中立でもない。"

— メルヴィン・クランツバーグ

"どんな行動にも必ずそれと等しい反対の反応があるものである。"

— どんな行動にも必ずそれと等しい反対の反応があるものである。

操業開始 (1881-1939)

The early days of the paratech industry, as companies like Prometheus Labs form to capitalize on the potential of anomalous research in the wake of the Sixth Occult War.多くの重要な発見はこの時代に生まれ、全ての未来のパラテック研究の基礎となりました。Normalcy preservation organizations begin to assume their modern forms, and the idea of the Veil — long upheld by informal consensus — is first articulated as a formal policy.

Preliminary Report of J. C. Randall... — In 1927, Doctor John Carver Randall led a team of experts on an expedition to explore the multiverse. They never returned. Written by GreenWolf
Zeitgeist — A day in the life of a ghost hitman, a space-drug smuggler, a psychic mob cleaner, and a junkie witch. Enter: the Chicago Spirit! Written by A Random Day

バブル (1939-1992)

第二次世界大戦と同時に発生した第七次オカルト大戦、その後の冷戦はパラテック需要の高まりを生み出し、冷戦の終結まで続くパラテック・バブルを導きました。この時代は市場がよりよい需要と出会うために、数多くのパラテック企業が合併を行いました。 Normalcy preservation organizations and national paranormal agencies reach the height of their power, giving rise to a strong Veil and the so-called "Golden Age of Normalcy".

The Seventh Occult War
- Obskuracorps Memos Acquired in Operation BLACK ROPE — Nazi wizards frantically plot to assemble a doomsday weapon, all while being hounded by a machine that punches fascists. Written by GreenWolf
- Archival Document -- HSA-008-Advent — Mankind has always been enamored with cool swords. The Allied Occult Initiative has to make sure the Obskuracorps doesn't sway the course of the war with one. Written by 9Volt
- A Man of Clay and Men Formerly Men — Special Operative Josef invites himself into an abandoned manor to put an end to an occult experiment. Written by 9Volt
- SCP-3457 - The Rite of Solomon — Want to create a god that lets you control who gets to be a wizard? Well you can't because the Foundation won't let you, but if you could you'd have to use this. Written by ChaoSera
SCP-2664 - Redline — Guns Pointed at the Head of God — In 1950, Joseph Stalin demanded a weapon for world domination. GRU Division "P" built a weapon for world peace. The year is now 1963, and that weapon wants the world. Written by A Random Day
SCP-2350 - From the Mind of Malinalxochitl — At some point in the 1950s, the United States weaponized the concept of mosquitoes. Not the mosquitoes themselves - but the concept. Written by A Random Day
SCP-2630 - Stock of a Sort — The market seems awfully bullish today. Written by Taffeta
Make Portland Weirder — During a massive music festival in 1970, a Foundation agent inadvertently ends up in Three Portlands and finds the UIU already waiting for her. Written by Jacob Conwell
オペレーション・リーウィン・ダーク — When a contractual mind control satellite run by demons is struck down by a meteoroid, it's up to the Foundation to do some emergency maintenance. Written by Taffeta
Grant Request for Utilization of Electro-thaumic Computers... — How do you deal with a growing demand for exorcisms? Prometheus Labs has the answer: build a better exorcist. Written by GreenWolf
The Necromancer — A grouchy necromancer and her harried intern disrespect the ghost of John Maynard Keynes. Written by GreenWolf
'Unicorn Horn' (HYTCH/8FNE6/B77KT) — Marshall, Carter and Dark discover that unicorn horns are amazing contraceptives, and take the inevitable equine body horror to its logical conclusion. Written by GreenWolf
Grant Request for Genetically Engineering Low-cost Organic Automatons... — "Slave" is such an outdated term. We prefer the name All-Natural Automatons^TM. Written by A Random Day

崩壊 (1992–1999)

ソビエト連邦の崩壊と冷戦の終結により。パラテック・バブルは崩壊しました。パラテック・ブラックマーケットは旧ソビエトのパラテック所蔵品の消失と同時に台頭を始めました。１９９８年のプロメテウス研究所の衰退と堕落は、すでに衝撃を受けていたパラテック市場にさらなる波紋をもたらしました。The downsizing of national paranormal agencies and the emergence of new mass communications technologies puts the integrity of the Veil in question for the first time in decades.

星間科学船の建造のための認可計画 — Prometheus Labs has always dreamed big, and there's nothing around bigger than space. So the logical conclusion is to build a starship powered by a black hole. Written by GreenWolf
アンブローズの吟遊詩人 — After years of work, Prometheus Labs has finally succeeded in creating an artificial intelligence capable of thinking like a person. The only problem is that it thinks it doesn't think at all. Written by GreenWolf

反響 (1998– )

プロメテウス研究所の残党によるいくつかの小さな会社の出現は、パラテック企業により激しい競争をもたらし、技術発展と経済回復の時代へと動かしました。パラテック・ブラックマーケットは解体後のプロメテウスの消失したパラテックが犯罪者の手に渡ると同時に拡大を続けています。 Normalcy preservation organizations fight to maintain the weakening Veil as they adapt to the chaotic landscape of the new millennium.

SCP-2897 - The Bard of Analytics — What do you do with an AI capable of thinking that it doesn't think at all? The Department of Analytics thinks it has the answer. Written by GreenWolf
SCP-2820 - Vaishnavastra — The Lord makes his presence known in many forms - including an AI-controlled death ray. Written by A Random Day
ムーンライティング — Building an android for an art show is clearly the best way to get back at your dad. Written by A Random Day
SCP-2176 - Ghostlight™ — It's a lightbulb. Filled with ghosts. It's a ghostlight. Written by GreenWolf
SCP-2308 - Futures Trading — As it turns out, time travel isn't a safe investment strategy after all. Written by GreenWolf
UIU File: 2014-014 — There's a big gentle shark who only wants to get away and a bunch of crazy technocultists who want to get metaphysical with it. Written by 9Volt and LordStonefish
アナログ・キッド — What's the difference between a hivemind and two-way telepathy? Is there a difference? The answer may lie inside an abandoned machine shop in Three Portlands. Written by GreenWolf
アポートシス
- アバタラ — After life is death. After death is rebirth. After rebirth is causing death. Written by A Random Day
- 人体の生得的な限界に、ある種の研究資産を利用するための調査の認可計画 — In 1988, Prometheus Labs unearthed the corpse of a god. This is what they planned to do with it. Written by GreenWolf
- SCP-2970 - 聖なる誤配置 — An immortal missionary, last survivor of a religion long lost to the ages, begs to be made whole. But how much does he truly know? Written by TyGently
  - オペレーション・アズール・ペレグリン — Mobile Task Force Tau-5 "Samsara" in action. Written by sirpudding.
- 授く主 — The god of transhumanism. Written by sirpudding
- サムサラ — The Warrior seeks revenge. Tau-5 seeks humanity. Neither of them realize that they are pawns of a higher force seeking to become whole. Written by A Random Day and TyGently
ラムネスの泉 — You wouldn't download a car, so why would you download Cthulhu? Written by Taffeta
Investigations — Quid Pro Quo
- Vital Signs — A clandestine meeting in a coffee shop, an excursion to a library outside of space, and an illegal search of the headquarters of a community leader. How far will one UIU agent go to repay a favor? Written by GreenWolf
ノワールになるか、ならないか — There are only two things I hate about this job. The plasma cannon cleanups and the fanfiction reading. Written by Taffeta
Unusual Investigations — The Three Portlands Bomber
- Permanent Waves — A couple of UIU agents, a bomb, and a chain-smoker. Just an average week in Three Portlands. Written by GreenWolf
- A Farewell to Kings — The chase is on as Agent Green and the UIU hunt down the individual responsible for planting the memetic bomb in Three Portlands. Written by GreenWolf
- Moving Pictures — The UIU's hunt for the Three Portlands Bomber culminates in a climactic wizard duel in a museum of illegal art. Written by GreenWolf
Guns Pointed at the Head of God — In 1998, Prometheus Labs built a weapon with enough firepower to kill a god. Twenty years later, it's become obsolete. This is the arms race of the new age. Written by A Random Day
- T Minus
- T Plus — [Non-canon; Pending Rewrite]
- Deus Vulture — [Non-canon; Pending Rewrite]
- Conqueror Worm
Portlands Derby Teams (Ranked By How Much They Scare Me) — Three Portlands has more roller derby teams per capita than anywhere else in the world, and all of them scare me shitless. Written by ch00bakka
State of Being — Three years ago the Unusual Incidents Unit encountered a shark that ate concepts. It's November of 2017, and the investigation that this spurred is far from over. Written by 9Volt
- 1. Abstract Naught
The Unusual Suspects
- 1. The Dedekind-Infinite Demographic — The Unusual Incidents Unit tackles a multiversal IP theft and the end of Samsara becomes the beginning of something much worse for the Foundation. Written by Taffeta
- 2. Suspect Ratio — Pulling some Foundation strings, the Unit finds out just who their criminal really is — and more importantly, what she is. Written by Taffeta
ハイパーヴェロシティ — An adrenaline junkie snorts demons like cocaine and robs a cursed bank. Written by A Random Day
Terminal Velocity — A criminal mastermind snorts demons like cocaine and hijacks an interdimensional train. Written by A Random Day
Mutable State — A story about a robot lady and the cryptofascist spinal-monster that hates her. Written by The Great Hippo.
Overheard At Deer — Deer College is the premier occult college adjacent to the Northweastern United States. It is also the only one to be haunted by a terrible seltzer water. Written by ch00bakka and A Random Day
Under Control — A young medium finds himself at the intersection of geas, magic drugs, necromancy, and unethical business practices. Written by TyGently
Comedown Machine — Murder. Taco Bell. Espionage. Art supplies. It would be one for the history books, if anyone could remember it. Written by TyGently
- Prologue: A Confluence of Clandestine Conferences
- 1: Slow Animals
- 2: Automatic Stop
- 3: The End Has No End
- Intermission: Intermission

Extra Reading

These tabs contain additional material about the canon's setting and background. If you're just a casual reader looking to get into Third Law then you don't need to read these, but if you're planning to contribute — or are just curious about the setting — then these are for you.

Tab	Contents
Overview	This is the tab you are reading right now. It has a table of contents for the other tabs.
Contributing	A guideline for potential contributors, explaining the basics of writing for the canon and giving a brief summary of the underlying continuity, the overall tone, and the major themes.
Continuity	A detailed explanation of the various states of extra-canonical continuity, and a list of major works outside of Third Law that are considered to be within the canon's continuity to a greater or lesser degree.
History	An overview of the in-universe history of the canon, starting with the 6th Occult War and covering important events up to the start of the 21st century.
Groups	A list of the various Groups of Interest that exist within the canon, with an introductory summary for each.
Locations	A list of the various locations which serve as recurring settings within the canon, with a brief summary of each.
Timeline	A detailed timeline of the major events within the canon and its continuity, with extensive crosslinks to the relevant articles where applicable.
References	Some additional resources for readers and writers, including a glossary of terms used throughout the canon, an index of major characters with links to their individual appearances, and an index of recurring paratech.

Basic Points

Before writing anything for this canon, please talk to the other contributors about your idea, to ensure that what you want to write doesn't contradict established or planned continuity.
- Most major Third Law contributors hang-out in #Apotheosis on SynIRC, the Third Law IRC channel. Feel free to hop in at any time for brainstorming and general discussion.
- If you're not comfortable using IRC, you can also send a Wikidot PM to GreenWolf or TyGently.
While talking with other contributors and having them review your work prior to posting will likely catch most continuity errors, it is recommend that you read through and familiarize yourself with the entire body of work within this canon before you try writing for it. This includes all of the articles listed above, plus the other tabs here.
When posting a new Third Law article, make sure to do the following:
- All pages that are part of this canon should have this hub page set as their parent, to allow for breadcrumbs navigation.
- All pages that are part of this canon should be tagged with third-law.
- It is preferred that any articles (especially tales and GOI formats) written explicitly for this canon use the Third Law CSS theme (or one of its variants), although this is not a hard requirement. You can do this by adding the following code to the top of your article. It will even work on the sandbox!

[[module CSS]]
@import url(/component:3lawtheme/code/1);
[[/module]]

What We're Looking For

Third Law has a wider scope than most canons, lacking an overarching narrative or a fixed setting. Instead, Third Law is defined by a single continuity, a common tone, and a set of recurring themes; as a result, almost any story which fits these criteria is eligible for inclusion in this canon.

Continuity

While a full overview of Third Law's expansive continuity would be too long to cover here, the following are the basic tenets of the canon's worldbuilding which form the foundation of the continuity. If an article contradicts a point listed here, it is fundamentally incompatible with Third Law.

The universe is ultimately comprehensible. While there are many things that exist which defy the conventional understanding of physics, the universe is fundamentally ordered and logical, and all anomalous phenomena may eventually be understood, given time and effort. This is most evident in the fields of parascience — thaumatology, metaphysics, psionics, etc… — which have succeeded in providing theoretical frameworks for many anomalous phenomena, even if they remain separate from conventional physics. This is a more optimistic take on the Foundationverse than is usual, and it means that works which take a more pessimistic stance — works that can usually be classed as cosmic horror — are likely to be incompatible with Third Law.
Paratech is common. This serves as a corollary to the first point. Rigorous parascience has allowed for the extensive development of paratechnologies, which are widely used on both sides of the Veil. Many consumer products contain technology that is paranormal in nature or derived from paranormal phenomena, although the truth of this may only be known to a few. In an expanding anomalous world, normalcy preservation agencies like the Foundation increasingly rely on paratech to uphold the Veil, despite potential ideological reservations.
The Veil is present but weakening. The existence of the anomalous, including entire fields of parascience, is concealed from the majority of the world by normalcy preservation agencies and national governments, in an effort known as the Veil. This largely takes the form of suppression of information relating to anomalous phenomena, although agencies such as the Foundation may take a more proactive role in attempting to contain anomalous objects. The Veil is not absolute — most people have at least a vague awareness of the existence of things unexplained by science, although few individuals would admit to such if pressed. Indeed, entire cities and communities exist on the other side of the Veil, populated entirely by people aware of the anomalous and the efforts to conceal it. Peaking in strength in the middle of the 20th century — shortly after the 7th Occult War — the Veil has been steadily deteriorating since the end of the Cold War, despite the best efforts of normalcy preservation agencies.
Normalcy is defined by consensus. Anomalous phenomena are an inherent part of the universe, and are only deemed "abnormal" by the consensus of those who uphold the Veil. Many thoroughly understood fields of parascience are kept behind the Veil, while many mysterious phenomena have been publicly documented by conventional science. The decision on what is and is not anomalous is often due more to politics than science.
Artificial Intelligence is exceedingly rare. Due to the extreme potential danger posed by the possible development of machine thaumaturgy, all research into general AI is heavily restricted by normalcy preservation agencies. As of 2020, the only general AI in existence are the GOC's Silicon Nornir, the Foundation's SCP-2897, and a small number of uncontained Bardeen-derivatives.
There is no Heaven. There are various empirically observable phenomena which can be considered "souls", and it is possible for consciousness to persist after death, independent of a body, but cessation of consciousness is final. If there is an afterlife, no one's found it yet.

トーン

Third Law is best described as science fiction in an urban fantasy world, a combination which gives rise to its own unique tone. The world is full of fantastical wonders and horrors, but through human ingenuity and capability, they can ultimately be understood, and even harnessed. Yes, there are monsters and demons and even worse things from Outside, but humans can and will fight them. Thus, the overall tone of the canon is one of optimistic stubbornness in the face of a universe that is terrifyingly vast and unknown.

This one is a bit hard to quantify, so you don't get bullet points. Sorry.

テーマ

If the tone of Third Law is one of scientific optimism, then the themes are those of scientific consequences. Stories and articles within Third Law should try to explore the effects — both direct and indirect — of parascience on the world at large. This can range from technical documentation of a paratech project to a slice-of-life tale about a day in an anomalous enclave. Another potential avenue is to take the various frameworks of parascience to their logical conclusions, examining edge cases in a framework or looking at how different paranormal phenomena interact.

Some specific points:

Knowledge is power. This is important enough that we made it the subtitle of the entire canon, and it's the in-universe motto of both Prometheus Labs and the Foundation's Department of Analytics. Every organization in the Foundationverse is ultimately working to increase their own knowledge — of the anomalous, of each other, of everything — because knowledge gives you the power to alter the world, sometimes extremely literally.
Actions have consequences. Usually unintended. The long-term effects of any individual action are numerous and unpredictable, and even the best intentions can go horribly awry. Try to keep this in mind.
Magic is just another form of science. This ties back into the universe being comprehensible. There's a lot of weird stuff going on, but it should all behave consistently, because there is an underlying logic to even the most bizarre anomaly. You don't have to reveal this logic, but you should know what it is.
Technology is a force multiplier. No technology is inherently good or bad, but it can make good situations better and bad situations worse. Everywhere paratech appears, it should be used to further the ends of the person using it, whether those ends are good or bad.
Humans are jerks. Tying into the above, technology might not be bad, but humans have a tendency to quickly find the worst way to use it. Human ingenuity is the most powerful tool at our disposal, and it so often ends up being applied against other people. Most conflict should be driven by human motives and actions, and not outside context problems.

Overview

Although it presents a different interpretation of many common concepts, Third Law is ultimately built upon the larger shared setting of the SCP Wiki, and as such it often incorporates ideas from works outside the canon — and in turn, many works have incorporated elements from this canon while remaining outside of it. In most cases, this is done without connecting the overall stories of the works involved. However, some works with largely compatible settings will have their stories added to the overall continuity of the canon, even while technically remaining outside of it. Works within this extended continuity are treated — to varying degrees — as if they were part of the canon, at least for the purposes of writing within its setting.

States of Continuity

Not all works are fully or equally compatible with Third Law. Some articles have concepts, settings, or characters that are canon within Third Law, even if other elements of said articles are not. Other works may be considered fully in-canon. These varying degrees of canonicity are referred to as states of continuity, which provide a shorthand for describing how compatible a work is with Third Law, and what its relationship is to the rest of the canon.

Core Canon — The core canon is the actual Third Law canon, and the works written explicitly for it. Every effort is made to ensure there are no contradictions or inconsistencies within the core canon. If something in the extended continuity contradicts something in the core canon, the core canon should be considered the correct and canonical version of events.
Augmented Canon — This is a special state of continuity which only applies to the Those Twisted Pines canon, which can be viewed as a sort of sister canon to Third Law. The two canons share a large number of characters, events, and even works with each other, and thus form a closely intertwined continuity. The works of this augmented canon should be considered canon over anything else in the extended continuity, except for those few instances where they contradict the core canon.
Hard Continuity — These are works which are largely or wholly compatible with Third Law, and can thus be considered fully canon unless explicitly contradicted by a work within the core canon.
Soft Continuity — There are works which are largely incompatible with Third Law, but still exert a strong influence on it. While the exact details presented in these works might be non-canon, the overall shape of the events they describe are considered part of the continuity in some form.

Works in Continuity

A list of works within the extended continuity, and the states of continuity they occupy. Although exhaustive, this list is not necessarily comprehensive.

Those Twisted Pines — [Augmented Canon] — The vast majority of works within this canon are in full continuity with Third Law, with a few exceptions. Notably, AIAD does not exist within Third Law, due to the rarity and suppression of strong AI. Most references to the AIAD can be replaced with the Department of Analytics, which performs a similar role within Third Law. Additionally, while sometimes referred to as AI, Anderson's Saker units use the remnants of human souls to approximate a full consciousness, and are thus not true AI. Finally, following the events of Comedown Machine in August, 2024, the timelines of the two canons start to diverge, although some events may continue to be shared between them as soft continuity.
世界オカルト連合ケースファイル — [Hard Continuity/Soft Continuity] — Large sections of the GOC canon's worldbuilding were borrowed wholesale and then expanded upon for Third Law, including the 7th Occult War and the theory of Unified Thaumatology. The thaumatology lectures, listed under the Supplemental tab, are in hard continuity with Third Law, while the remainder of the canon occupies various states of soft continuity.
The Cool War — [Soft Continuity] — The events of the Cool War happened in Third Law in largely the same way as they are depicted here, although its depiction of Nobody is obviously and extremely incompatible with Third Law. Unless confirmed by works within the core canon, it's best to assume a broad-strokes approach to the exact details of the Cool War. (Notably, Third Law fixes the date of the Cool War, and assumes that the Friday Exhibition occurs on December 6, 2013.)
Figure and Ground — [Hard Continuity] — The events of this tale and the accompanying SCP article are considered to have happened exactly as depicted.
UIU Location Dossier -- "Three Portlands" — [Hard Continuity] — The text of this hub page is in full continuity with Third Law, although this status does not automatically extend to the linked articles.
About Deer College — [Soft Continuity] — Deer College exists in Third Law in much the same form as it is presented on this page, although certain worldbuilding details and references to other canons are not incorporated.

Overview

It is nearly impossible to give a concise summary of parahistory, for the history of the anomalous is expansive, long, and prone to time-travel-related complications. Much of it has been naturally lost to time, but even more has been destroyed by those who seek to conceal information of the anomalous. Seemingly basic pieces of information, such as the date of the First Occult War, are entirely absent from the parahistorical record, forcing scholars of the occult to rely on hearsay and speculation.

The modern era of parahistory is thus defined by the consistent presence of reliable records of paranormal events, and is generally regarded as having begun after the end of the Sixth Occult War. The emergence of modern normalcy preservation organizations, the codification of the Veil, and the start of the Paranormal Renaissance in the aftermath of the war all contributed to the widespread documentation of anomalous phenomena — even if the conditions of the Veil meant that such documentation was kept secret.

The Sixth Occult War

The first major occult conflict in over two centuries, the Sixth Occult War lasted from 1875 to 1882. A multi-faceted conflict involving many different occult groups and individuals, the underlying causes and motives that led to the outbreak of hostilities are still poorly understood to this day. This is in large part due to the unprecedented level of devastation caused throughout Europe and the Middle East, resulting in the destruction of most primary sources created during the conflict. The war reached its climax in 1881, when a cabal of German occultists completed a working which resulted in the destruction of an ancient Semitic deity, a demiurge with power over the nature of thaumaturgy and the distribution of occult potential throughout the human population. Backlash from this working created a massive storm tide in the North Sea, which inflicted thousands of casualties along the western coasts of Europe.

Reacting to the widespread destruction and the perceived threat of mass hysteria, national governments intervened to bring an end to the conflict and conceal its very existence from the general public. These efforts led to the emergence of national paranormal agencies and normalcy preservation organizations in their modern forms, and resulted in the first formal codification of the Veil. The paranormal, long an open secret among scholars and intellectuals, was now segregated and hidden from the world at large. As mundane science continued to charge forwards, belief in the anomalous and the occult was relegated to the superstitious and the secretkeepers.

The Paranormal Renaissance

However, the Veil was not absolute. The demise of the demiurge had caused a tremendous amount of occult and psionic backlash, triggering a mass awakening of occult potential across the world and creating a surge of new paranormal phenomena. This sudden spike in the parahuman population in turn gave rise to new fields of science behind the Veil — thaumatology, psionics, metaphysics, and others. While normalcy preservation organizations initially opposed this Paranormal Renaissance, they eventually became the driving force behind its growth, once they realized the potential applications of parascience in technologies for maintaining the Veil.

Already weakened by the Sixth Occult War, and facing heavy scrutiny from national paranormal agencies, the longstanding occult orders and cabals that had previously dominated the paranormal community soon found themselves in competition with new organizations and companies that had formed in reaction to the aftermath of the war. Applying a more methodical, scientific approach to the study of the anomalous, organizations such as Prometheus Labs and the International Center for the Study of Unified Thaumatology rapidly advanced the understanding of the paranormal, laying the groundwork for much of modern parascience.

While the early portion of the Paranormal Renaissance was dominated by advances in theory and experimentation, the later half was marked by a focus on archeological and exploratory expeditions. Working off a basis of folklore and fragmentary parahistory, the first efforts at systematically documenting localized paranormal phenomena across Earth were made and initial forays to catalogue the local multiverse were launched. This would eventually culminate in an archeological race in the years leading up to the Seventh Occult War, as numerous organizations competed to acquire paranormal artifacts — both for their scientific value, and to deny them to competitors.

The Seventh Occult War

Largely coinciding with the Second World War, the Seventh Occult War is normally considered to have started in 1939, following the German annexation of Czechoslovakia. In the years leading up to the war, the Ahnenerbe Obskurakorps and their allies in the Thule Society had been acquiring artifacts needed to perform the Rite of Solomon, with the intention of using the Rite to restrict occult ability to members of the Nazi regime. As Nazi Germany continued to make gains in the face of British appeasement, the Obskuracorps grew more overt in their efforts to acquire artifacts, eventually bringing them into conflict with other occult groups. Spearheaded by the Knights Templar and the British Occult Service, the Allied Occult Initiative was soon formed to oppose the Obskuracorps and their operations.

After securing an early victory in the Battle of Prague, the AOI would spend the next six years covertly battling the Obskuracorps across the world. The coalition of occult organizations present within the AOI continued to expand throughout the course of the war, even as the Nazi regime came to occupy most of continental Europe. Despite their numerous successes, the AOI would not become fully aware of the Obskuracorps' intentions for the Rite of Solomon until the last year of the war.

With the conventional war clearly turning against Germany, the Foundation finally entered the conflict on the side of the AOI in September of 1944, when they launched a surprise strike to capture Konrad Weiss, the director of the Obskuracorps' research arm. With the intel provided by Weiss' capture, the AOI and the Foundation discovered both the Obskuracorps' plan for the Rite, and their intention to attempt to complete it with ersatz components created to replace the missing artifacts which were in AOI custody. A final operation was assembled to strike at the location where the Rite would be performed, which succeeded in stopping the execution of the ritual and routing the remaining forces of the Obskuracorps, bringing the occult portion of the war to a close.

The Golden Age of Normalcy

In the aftermath of the Seventh Occult War, the Allied Occult Initiative was reorganized into the Global Occult Coalition and placed under the aegis of the nascent United Nations, with the intention of creating an international and nominally impartial normalcy preservation organization to serve as a more accountable counterpart to the Foundation — and to ensure the mistakes of the Seventh Occult War could never reoccur. With the backing of national governments and the larger paranormal community, and occasionally playing on Cold War paranoia to their advantage, the GOC and the Foundation were able to greatly strengthen the Veil, ushering in an era that would become known as the Golden Age of Normalcy.

The Seventh Occult War had brought a great demand for new paratechnologies, and this demand continued unabated into the new age of normalcy. Normalcy preservation organizations required new and better tools for maintaining the Veil in the face of accelerating technological advancement and a growing population, and the Cold War powers had challenged each other in a paranormal arms race that rivaled the nuclear one in fervor. As they expanded to meet increasing demand, paratech developers began to leverage their control over paratech supplies into a series of concessions from normalcy preservation organizations, eventually resulting in permission to sell obfuscated paratech outside the Veil. The paratech industry flourished, with companies like Prometheus Labs growing into international conglomerates with billions of dollars in revenues.

Even as paratech covertly infiltrated conventional products, normalcy preservation agencies cracked down harder on more overt paranormal phenomena. A mass exodus of anartists and parahumans began near the end of the 1960s, as the Foundation worked to expel these communities from urban areas in Europe and North America, driving them into pocket universes like Three Portlands and Backdoor SoHo. Partially in response, the GOC orchestrated the creation of Eurtec to serve as a regulated paranormal enclave, where the Veiled community could flourish under its watch. As a result of these efforts, the paranormal was almost completely segregated from the normal world, with the strength of the Veil reaching a peak sometime in the late 1970s.

The New Millennium

The Golden Age of Normalcy came to an end with the dawning of the new millennium, as events of the last decade of the 20th century drastically altered the fundamental landscape of the paranormal community. The collapse of the Soviet Union had resulted in the dissolution of the KGB Division of Special Circumstances, formerly tasked with securing the country's supply of weaponized anomalies, resulting in a paratech black market flooded with illegal Soviet paraweapons; the end of the Cold War brought about a downsizing of national paranormal agencies, which had been greatly expanded out of political paranoia; the conclusion of the paraweapons arms race dealt a staggering blow to the paratech industry, eventually resulting in the breakup of the Prometheus Labs conglomerate, once the global leader in parascience research and paratech development.

Moreover, the world outside the Veil has changed. As the 21st century opens, the human population is approaching 7 billion, and growing rapidly; mass communication technologies are proliferating, with cell phones and household internet already commonplace, and smartphones and social media approaching on the horizon; attitudes towards mainstream science have shifted, and conspiracy theories are starting to gain greater traction. Consensus normalcy is under threat from behind and beyond the Veil, and normalcy preservation agencies are struggling to grapple with these newfound problems.

However, even more concerning than the failing Veil is the growing threat of another occult war. The weakening of the Veil has resulted in an accelerated progression towards general AI, which brings with it the danger of machine thaumaturgy — and the possibility of mass produced eigenweapons. Normalcy preservation organizations are stuck playing for time, as they race to find a permanent solution to the looming crisis.

Meanwhile, the world grows weirder every day.

Overview

There are many organizations that operate behind the Veil, either wholly concealed within or straddling the border between the paranormal and the normal. Their purposes are many, and range from upholding the Veil to tearing it down, but their methods are often the same, relying on the application of paratech to compensate for the deficiencies in manpower and funding that are nearly omnipresent among the paranormal community. To this end, almost every major organization that operates within the confines of the Veil is involved in parascience research to some degree, as it is the surest way to gain an edge against potential rivals.

While no two organizations are exactly alike, most of the groups that operate behind the Veil can be placed into one of four categories, based on their goals and structure.

+ Normalcy Preservation Organizations and National Paranormal Agencies

- Normalcy Preservation Organizations and National Paranormal Agencies

By far the largest players in the paranormal community, these organizations are responsible for maintaining the Veil, a task which they often refer to as protecting normalcy. Comprising a mix of clandestine units of national agencies and independent international conspiracies, these organizations are also the ones responsible for forming the consensus on what normalcy is. As the custodians of the Veil, these organizations are tasked with regulating the paratech industry and policing the paranormal community — and with backing and funding from national governments, they are among the few groups able to consistently project force against other Veiled actors.

However, this power is not absolute. The sheer size of the Veil often forces normalcy preservation organizations into compromises and half-measures, and the restrictions on the development and proliferation of paratech ironically make them dependent on the same organizations they are tasked with regulating. These conflicts of interest often give paratech developers a great deal of leeway in following regulations, so long as they make a token effort at compliance.

財団

The largest of the normalcy preservation organizations, the Foundation is a global conspiracy unaffiliated with any national government, with numerous fronts, facilities, and personnel around the world. The entire organization is headed by an Overseer Council composed of 13 non-anomalous individuals, whose true identities are known only to each other. The Foundation's stated mission is the acquisition, containment, and study of anomalous objects for the safety and benefit of humanity, although its true motives have been questioned by other normalcy preservation organizations. Despite an institutional and ideological opposition to the use of anomalous objects, it will resort to the use of paratechnology and other well-understood anomalies when circumstances require.

The Foundation is bureaucratically divided into dozens of departments, divisions, directorates, and task forces, all operating on strict compartmentalization of information. Some of the more notable ones are listed below:

Department of Analytics — The Foundation's primary signals intelligence apparatus, the Department of Analytics is tasked with collecting and analyzing a wide variety of information from nearly every imaginable source. They possess significant operational and support capabilities of their own, and thus are able to function almost entirely independent of the rest of the Foundation.
Records and Information Security Administration — The archival and IT department of the Foundation, responsible for maintaining and securing Foundation records and communications. Almost every piece of information collected by the Foundation passes through RAISA multiple times, although there are certain highly-secret projects which do not generate RAISA records, instead reporting only to the Overseer Council.
Tau-5 ("Samsara") — The result of Prometheus Labs' Samsara Project, Mobile Task Force Tau-5 are a group of four regenerating commandos used by the Foundation to test experimental paratechnology and to conduct extremely high risk missions where a conventional MTF would be ineffective. They are effectively expendable and renewable.

世界オカルト連合

The Global Occult Coalition is an international normalcy preservation agency backed by the United Nations, formed from the Allied Occult Initiative after the end of the Seventh Occult War. It is approximately equal to the Foundation in power and reach, and shares a similar goal of protecting humanity and preserving normalcy. However, the GOC differs in its methods, choosing to rely heavily on widespread use of paratech in its operations, and prioritizing a policy of destruction of dangerous anomalous objects rather than containment.

The GOC is composed of over 100 individual organizations involved in the occult and paranormal, including a number of national paranormal agencies. Some of the more notable ones are listed below:

Ancient Noble Order of the Gormogons — Founded in the 18th century to oppose the Freemasons, the Gormogons have evolved into a corps of demolition experts specializing in destroying anomalous structures and breaking defensive wards.
British Occult Service — The primary paranormal agency of the United Kingdom, the British Occult Service was formed in reaction to the Sixth Occult War, and has played a leading role in normalcy preservation efforts since that time.
International Center for the Study of Unified Thaumatology — The largest occult college in the world, the ICSUT is one of the GOC's biggest research partners. Founded in 1913, ICSUT specializes in the study and teaching of thaumatology — the scientific investigation of the mystic and occult. ICSUT has campuses all around the world, including locations in London, Zurich, and Three Portlands.
Holy Order of Knights Templar, Reformed — Officially disbanded in 1312 by Pope Clement, the Templar Knights remained in hiding until 1939, when they reformed to oppose the Obskuracorps and found the Allied Occult Initiative. They played a decisive role in the Seventh Occult War, providing the bulk of troops for AOI commando teams.
Servants of the Silicon Nornir — A transhumanist religion, the Servants believe that their purpose is to bring about the creation of the "True Silicon Goddess" — a benevolent hyperintelligence that will shepherd humanity into the future — by hastening the onset of the technological singularity. To this end, they follow a trio of precognitive sentient supercomputers — named Urthor, Verthandi, and Skuldir after the Norns of Norse mythology — which direct them in their efforts.
Universalist Order of the Æsir — A cult of Scandinavian neopaganists, highly regarded for their extensive knowledge of runic thaumaturgy, particularly divination. The Order believes that the GOC is the instrument through which humanity will be unified to fight against Ragnarok.
World Parahealth Organization — The paranormal arm of the World Health Organization, tasked with combating memetic pathogens, infectious curses, psychic parasites, and other paranormal diseases.

連邦捜査局異常事件課

The FBI's Unusual Incidents Unit is the primary domestic paranormal agency of the United States, tasked with enforcing paratech regulations and upholding the Veil. Due to a limit of means and jurisdiction, the UIU largely focuses on investigating paranormal crimes and covering-up anomalous incidents. One of their most important functions is policing the numerous pocket universes within the US, which act as enclaves for the paranormal community. To compensate for personnel and budgetary limits, the UIU extensively employs parahumans and anomalous individuals as 'irregular agents', especially within paranormal enclaves where their presence is less noticeable.

ロシア連邦軍層参謀本部情報総局"P"部局

One of the Soviet Union's two major paranormal agencies, GRU-P was created during the Second World War to protect the Soviet Union from paranormal and occult threats, and to utilize esoteric weaponry against the country's enemies. With the onset of the Cold War and the paratech arms race, the division's role was expanded to include recovery and reverse engineering of anomalous objects and paratech. In this role, it performed corporate espionage and theft of intellectual property on a number of foreign companies and agencies.

With the end of the Cold War, GRU-P has found itself as the sole remaining paranormal agency of the Russian Federation. Its operations are now focused largely on dealing with the black market for anomalous objects and paratech that has arisen in post-communist Russia.

Joint Occult Venture of Europe

The Joint Occult Venture of Europe is a multinational paranormal organization composed of various European national paranormal agencies and loosely affiliated with the European Union. Organized along similar lines to Frontex, JOVE performs a role similar to that of the American UIU, maintaining the Veil within Europe and policing paranormal enclaves. Extremely limited in personnel and funding, JOVE primarily acts as a facilitator and coordinator for the multiple national and international organizations operating within Europe.

The catalyst for JOVE's formation, and the primary focus of its few field operations, are the expanding activities of the paracrime syndicate Scarlet Hammer and the accompanying influx of illegal Soviet paratech into Western Europe. In this role, JOVE has been instrumental in coordinating the multi-agency response to incidents of paraweapon trafficking across national and international borders.

+ Paratechnology Suppliers and Researchers

- Paratechnology Suppliers and Researchers

Almost every Veiled group of significance operates their own parascience research effort, but there are numerous organizations dedicated solely or primarily to the study of parascience and the creation of paratechnologies. Many of these groups date back to the Paranormal Renaissance, where they played an instrumental role in the early development of modern parascience.

Although some focus only on advancing the frontiers of scientific knowledge, most researchers of parascience are also engaged in the supply of paratech products to the world behind the Veil. And while the constraints of the Veil make it impossible to openly market paratech, many companies have found ways of circumventing these restrictions; the dominance in paratech development by a handful of major suppliers gives them a great deal of influence with normalcy preservation organizations, allowing them to take advantage of regulatory loopholes with relative impunity.

Prometheus Laboratories, Inc.

At one point the largest manufacturer of paratechnology in the world, Prometheus Labs was founded in 1892 as a closely-held corporation with the goal of researching anomalous phenomena in order to develop new technologies for the benefit of humanity. The company played a pivotal role in the advancements of the Paranormal Renaissance, emerging as a leader of parascientific research at the start of the 20th century. During the 7th Occult War, Prometheus Labs lent its significant technological expertise to the Allied coalition, resulting in major research and supply contracts with the GOC and national paranormal agencies in the immediate post-war era — setting the stage for the company's explosive growth in the Golden Age of Normalcy.

Riding on the front of the post-war paratech bubble, Prometheus Labs rapidly expanded, buying out competitors and incorporating new subsidiaries to become a global research conglomerate and the undisputed titan of paratech. At its peak, the conglomerate employed almost 300,000 people and had net revenues of approximately $75 billion, with its numerous subsidiaries providing a vast array of mundane and paranormal products, ranging from dishwashers to cruise missiles.

The end of the Cold War brought an abrupt end to the Golden Age paratech bubble, leaving Prometheus Labs in dire financial straits — made even worse by the company's heavy reliance on esoteric investment techniques. A series of catastrophic research accidents in the late 90s managed to finally push the company over the brink of insolvency in the early months of 1998. Over the next few months, the company was dismantled piecemeal — its many subsidiaries either bought-out by competitors or spun-off as independent ventures — and in September 1998, the primary holding company was finally dissolved, irrevocably splintering the once-massive conglomerate.

Of the many companies to emerge from the breakup of Prometheus Labs, some of the more notable ones are listed below:

Amrita Therapeutics — Formerly a subsidiary of Prometheus Bioengineering, Amrita Therapeutics rebranded itself after the collapse to continue manufacturing the highly profitable All-Natural Automatons. In recent years, Amrita has begun expanding into the development and commercialization of stem-cell based technologies in the field of regenerative medicine, but remains committed to the continued development and support of ANAs.
Archimedes — Formerly Archimedes Solar, a subsidiary of Prometheus Energy, Archimedes rebranded itself and widened the scope of its operations following the collapse of Prometheus Labs. The core of Archimedes remains centered on solar power generation, but the company has expanded into related areas such as heating, electrical wiring, desalination, and wireless power transmission.
Argo Automotives — Known as Prometheus Automobile Group prior to the collapse of the conglomerate, Argo Automotives operated from 1998 to 2009, when it was forced into liquidation following the failure of the paraeconomic investment strategy it had relied on for funding. During this time, it had a reputation for selling high-tech, high-performance vehicles.
Iris Arts — Originally an offshoot of Prometheus Chemicals, Iris Arts was an early venture into mass commercialization of paratech marketed at individual members of the paranormal community. The company's core product line consists of a variety of art supplies intended for use by anartists living in paranormal enclaves.
Redzone Security — A software company specializing in creating programs for anomalous applications, formed by the core development team of Prometheus Software Solutions in 1998. It is also responsible for maintaining the servers that made up the Prometheus Labs intranet, which has kept this network available, to a limited extent, to Prometheus' successor companies.
Silver Hand Cybernetics — Previously the Prosthetics Division of Prometheus Medical, Silver Hand Cybernetics developed products almost exclusively for sale to the paranormal community. It operated from 1998 until 2004, when it was bought out by its primary competitor, Anderson Robotics.
Titan Consumer Appliances and Electronics — Formerly Prometheus Consumer Technologies, Titan Consumer Appliances and Electronics took on its current name and branding in 1999. Titan focuses on developing consumer applications for paratech, a goal which often brings it into conflict with normalcy preservation agencies.

アンダーソンロボティクス

Once a rising force in the paratech trade, Anderson Robotics was a cybernetics and robotics startup founded in 1994 by Vincent Anderson. Taking advantage of the disruption caused by the end of the Golden Age of Normalcy, Anderson Robotics quickly came to dominate a large segment of the paratech market, combining sorcery and circuitry to create cutting-edge prosthetics, hyperrealistic androids, and beyond-state-of-the-art combat drones. Led by its brilliant but egotistical founder, Anderson Robotics openly flouted regulations on paratech, eventually drawing the ire of the Foundation, and later the UIU.

In 2024, following almost two decades of investigation and unsuccessful sting operations, a joint Foundation-UIU task force performed a raid on the Anderson Robotics World Headquarters in Three Portlands, capturing most of the company's upper management — including Vincent Anderson — and putting an end to its global operations. In the wake of Anderson's downfall, a number of ex-employees went on to form Phoenix Cybernetics, a new cybernetics startup built around the core of the former Anderson R&D team. This new company is committed to avoiding Anderson's mistakes, and is being closely monitored by the UIU.

ファクトリー

Despite being one of the largest suppliers of anomalous raw materials, the entity known as the Factory has no known investors, board of directors, executive officers, or even manufacturing facilities. What is known is that they act as a supplier of anomalous materials and components to other paratechnology companies, although the quality of these materials is often suspect. Despite its poor reputation, the decline of the paratech industry since the end of the Cold War has left many paratech companies with no other suppliers, forcing them to turn to the Factory.

マーシャル、カーターアンドダーク株式会社

Although primarily a "gentlemen's club" catering to the super-rich, Marshall, Carter and Dark also engage in the buying and reselling of paratechnology. They act as a sort of middleman for the paratech industry, establishing links between suppliers of raw materials, manufacturers of finished goods, and consumers of paratech products. They benefit greatly from their client base in this role, using their connections among the global elite to orchestrate highly profitable exchanges with relative immunity from normalcy preservation organizations.

Oneiroi Incorporated

Originally conceived in the 1960s as an offshoot of Prometheus Labs' expeditions into metafictional space, Oneiroi Inc provides a wide variety of esoteric services, from tailored dream vacations and subconscious behavioural therapy to data storage and retrieval within metafictional facilities. The technological foundation for these activities is poorly-understood by anyone outside of Oneiroi Inc, and the company's reclusive and frequently anonymous leadership is more than happy to keep it that way.

Oneiroi's experiments with metafiction and dreamspace have often aroused the suspicion of normalcy preservation agencies, although the nature of said experiments makes it difficult to prove anything. Some of the company's clients claim to have experienced unusual and disturbing side-effects following treatments, including vivid but sporadic visions of another world and recurring meetings with an unidentifiable figure. The nature and similarity of these symptoms has led the World Parahealth Organization to label Oneiroi technologies as a potential vector for cognitive pathogens, although Oneiroi Incorporated refutes these claims.

+ Anomalous Religions and Humanitarian Interests

- Anomalous Religions and Humanitarian Interests

While parascience is the result of applying the tools of the scientific method to paranormal phenomena, it should come as no surprise that there are those who instead turn to religion for answers when confronted with the inexplicable and unknown. Emerging out of the discoveries of the Paranormal Renaissance, numerous anomalous religions flourish behind the Veil, despite frequently coming into conflict with normalcy preservation agencies that seek to suppress the spread of information which serves as the basis of their beliefs.

Although frequently non-religious or non-denominational in nature, the handful of humanitarian groups that operate behind the Veil share a similar status as the anomalous religions. Lacking the clout of major paratech suppliers, and often advocating policies in opposition to the Veil, such humanitarian interests face intense scrutiny from normalcy preservation organizations.

壊れた神の教会

The Church of the Broken God is not a single monolithic religious institution; instead, the term refers to the diverse collection of neo-Mekhanite cults and denominations which share a common origin and central dogma. Modern Mekhanism traces its origins to the archeological efforts of the Paranormal Renaissance, which were responsible for recovering many artifacts and texts of the ancient and extinct Mekhanite religion. Neo-Mekhanites base their beliefs on modern reconstructions of these ancient Mekhanite sources, although the fragmented nature of the recovered texts means that there is a great variety of competing interpretations.

All Mekhanite sects can be described as deistic and gnostic — sharing a common belief in a deity which has been rendered inert and fragmented, trapping the divine spark within the physical world. Mekhanites believe that organic life is a corruption of the material perfection of the universe, and seek to reunify the disparate fragments of their god in order to bring about a technological apotheosis. Many Mekhanites engage in radical body modification, replacing biological tissues and organs with mechanical — and often anomalous — components to "purify" themselves, which they believe will bring them closer to the divine perfection of their god. It is this process of mechanization that has brought Mekhanites into conflict with normalcy preservation organizations, forcing them to keep their evangelizing behind the Veil.

Of the many Mekhanite sects which can be considered part of the Church of the Broken God, there are several major denominations which are particularly notable.

The Broken Church — The oldest neo-Mekhanite denomination, and the closest thing to an orthodox church among modern Mekhanites. The Broken Church first emerged in the 1920s, partially in reaction to the horrors of the First World War, basing their new theology on the then recent discoveries of ancient Mekhanite artifacts. Further discoveries over the next few decades led to a refinement and codification of religious dogma and institutional structure, with Robert Bumaro emerging as the undisputed leader of the sect by 1946. The Broken Church believes that the fragments of Mekhane have a physical form, and seek to literally reassemble their god from these pieces. They are dedicated to acquiring said pieces for this purpose, although many supposed fragments of Mekhane happen to be dangerous anomalous objects in the custody of normalcy preservation organizations.
Church of Maxwellism — Emerging in the 1960s and 70s as an offshoot of the Broken Church, Maxwellism takes a syncretic approach to Mekhanite theology, combining modern (para)technology with ancient Mekhanite scriptures to create a decentralized church with a flexible dogma. Maxwellists believe that the fragments of the Broken God do not have a physical form, and that they are instead spread throughout the entire expanse of human consciousness and culture. Maxwellists seek to create a single computational network connecting every human mind and containing all human knowledge, which they believe will result in the reunification of their god and the apotheosis of humanity.

境界線イニシアチブ

A multi-denominational religious organization encompassing the major Abrahamic faiths, the Horizon Initiative is a hybrid religious order and normalcy preservation agency, formed in the aftermath of the Seventh Occult War to counterbalance the perceived dominance of secular groups in determining consensus normalcy. Lacking the same level of funding and support from national governments that the more conventional normalcy preservation organizations receive, the Horizon Initiative relies heavily on volunteers and donations — and as a result, the Initiative is highly decentralized, with the main corps of the organization numbering less than a thousand people. Despite its best efforts to achieve self-sufficiency, the Horizon Initiative remains at least partially dependent on the support of orthodox religious institutions, particularly the Roman Catholic Church, leading some to accuse it of being a Papist conspiracy.

The Initiative works to incorporate independent Abrahamic mystical orders wherever possible, relying on their existing infrastructure to conduct its field operations — primarily the acquisition of religious artifacts and the disruption of cult activity. Due to its multi-denominational character and lack of institutional cohesion, the Horizon Initiative has occasionally been compared to the old Allied Occult Initiative — a comparison furthered by the inclusion of several former AOI members within the Initiative, and its focus on securing religious artifacts.

+++　マナによる慈善財団

The Manna Charitable Foundation is a nonprofit humanitarian relief organization founded in 1971. While most of their operations are mundane in nature, they have on numerous occasions attempted to utilize paratechnology to provide humanitarian aid. Despite heavy opposition from normalcy preservation agencies, these efforts have been largely successful, although a small number of highly damaging failures resulting from faulty paratech have somewhat tarnished the organization's reputation.

蛇の手

Straddling the line between terrorism and activism, the Serpent's Hand is a loose collection of individuals aligned by their opposition to what they consider the authoritarian nature of consensus normalcy. Members of the Hand have consistently campaigned against the restrictions of the Veil, focusing especially on the perceived mistreatment of parahumans and anomalous non-humans by normalcy preservation organizations. Many of the Hand's members are parahumans or non-humans themselves, although some of its most vocal members are baseline humans. Due to the nature of the Veil, which makes it difficult and dangerous to publicly oppose normalcy, the Hand primarily operates in and from paranormal enclaves; the Wanderer's Library in particular is often used as a base of operations, as the Library's strict neutrality and enforced ban on violence serve to shield the Hand from potential reprisals by normalcy preservation organizations.

Due to its decentralized nature and lack of consistent leadership, the Serpent's Hand has very little control over the actions of its members — and the absence of a formal membership structure makes it nearly impossible for the movement to disavow any particular group or individual acting in its name. As a result, the Serpent's Hand has been repeatedly linked to violent attacks against normalcy preservation organizations, leading many to view the entire movement with suspicion.

+ Paracrime Syndicates and Occult Terrorists

- Paracrime Syndicates and Occult Terrorists

Existing in direct opposition to the Veil and the organizations that uphold it, these groups are considered terrorists and criminals. Some are driven by ideology, while others are simply seeking to make a quick buck. Often, the distinction between these groups and those tolerated by normalcy preservation organizations is a matter of political convenience. Whatever the case, these are the outcasts of the paranormal community, shunned by anyone who fears drawing the ire of those who maintain the Veil.

カオス・インサージェンシー

The Chaos Insurgency is a loose coalition of several different radical occult groups. Their goals and their methods are varied and various, to such an extent that it is not uncommon for different factions within the Insurgency to be working against each other. What they all share, however, is a desire to overturn the existing status quo as enforced by normalcy preservation organizations.

Considered a terrorist group by most major powers, the Insurgency operates through stealth and subterfuge. Their activities include smuggling anomalous objects, weapons dealing (both mundane and paranormal), human and anahuman trafficking, espionage, blackmail, and sabotage.

シカゴ・スピリット

At one point the largest paracriminal organization in the Western Hemisphere, the Chicago Spirit originated in 1895 as a small-scale smuggling operation engaged in the trafficking of anomalous objects. Over the next three decades, the Spirit expanded rapidly, adding new kinds of crime and paracrime to its activities and spreading its influence across North America. The organization reached its peak during the Prohibition Era, using its knowledge of the Way network to run highly profitable bootlegging operations. However, the Spirit was already in decline by the 1930s, largely as a result of an intense crackdown on its activities by the Foundation and the UIU. When the Foundation captured the leader of the Chicago Spirit, Richard Chappell, in 1933, the remainder of the organization quickly unraveled. By 1938, the Chicago Spirit was effectively defunct, although many of its members continued to engage in criminal activity at an individual level throughout the following decades.

The end of the Golden Age of Normalcy created a massive availability of black market paratech, bringing about a drastic increase in street-level paracrime. Of the many criminal organizations that emerged to capitalize on these illicit opportunities, at least one has laid claim to the mantle of the long-disbanded Chicago Spirit. Although it has been implicated in several major paratech heists, the so-called Chicago Spectre is still an extremely small-scale operation, far removed from the power and reach once attained by the Chicago Spirit.

オブスクラ

The Obskuracorps was the paranormal arm of Nazi Germany's SS Ahnenerbe, responsible for all experimentation and research regarding the occult and anomalous; the ultimate goal of its research was to perform the Rite of Solomon and use it to advance the racial agenda of the Nazi regime. They were aided in this effort by the Thule Society, a group of German occultists with ties to the Nazi Party. With the outbreak of the Seventh Occult War — which occurred as a reaction to the increasingly aggressive actions taken by the Obskuracorps in their efforts to acquire artifacts for the Rite — the Obskuracorps also became responsible for waging the occult conflict for Nazi Germany.

At the end of the Seventh Occult War, the Obskuracorps and their Thule Society allies were decisively routed; the surviving members of these organizations soon became the targets of an international manhunt by the Allied Occult Initiative and its successor, the Global Occult Coalition. While many Nazi occultists would eventually be caught by the GOC, a number of them managed to evade capture and went into hiding, eventually going on to form the occult terrorist organization known as OBSKURA. OBSKURA's goals in the aftermath of the total destruction of the Nazi regime seem to be centered largely around revenge against the GOC, focusing on dealing as much damage as possible before OBSKURA is inevitably destroyed.

Scarlet Hammer

The Division of Special Circumstances was the paranormal arm of the KGB, responsible for maintaining the Soviet Union's stockpile of paraweapons. When the USSR collapsed in 1991, the KGB, including the Division of Special Circumstances, was disbanded due to its role in the abortive August Coup. In response, multiple officers within the DSC, led by the former Director, went rogue, disappearing with a large number of Soviet paraweapons. These renegade DSC elements would become the paranormal crime syndicate known as Scarlet Hammer.

Scarlet Hammer are the largest dealer of paraweaponry and illegal paratech within the former Soviet bloc, although their operations have also extended into Western Europe and Southeast Asia. They are believed to be in competition with the Chaos Insurgency, another major seller of black market paraweapons.

+ Other Organizations

Overview

The world is full of places that are, in some way, inherently anomalous. Most of these are minor anomalies — haunted houses, vanishing buildings, improbability zones, cornfields, and most kinds of liminal spaces — and are thus not notable, but there are some locations that are so anomalous that they must be concealed behind the Veil. Many of these places end up as paranormal enclaves — sanctuary zones where the paranormal community can live openly, segregated from the mundane world. Others are prisons, jails constructed to house vengeful gods, eldritch nightmares, and human monsters. Often, the difference between the two is not always clear.

Whether they are prisons or sanctuaries, these are the places that form the cornerstones of the world behind the Veil, playing host to its greatest actors and the dramas that unfold between them.

Backdoor SoHo

A pocket universe and anartist haven branching off from the SoHo neighborhood of New York City. The city within is under the protection of a mysterious Doorman, named Charlie, who controls entry and exit from the pocket universe; however, as with most paranormal enclaves within the United States, law enforcement is performed by the UIU under the terms of the Hoover Mandate — and despite protests from the city's more anarchic anartists, Charlie maintains the UIU's open invitation into the city. Aside from the Doorman and the UIU field office, there is almost no other local government in Backdoor SoHo — something which the city's small number of exceedingly eccentric citizens are perfectly fine with.

ユーテック

A pocket universe and independent city-state accessible from almost every major city in Europe, built by the Servants of the Silicon Nornir at the behest of the GOC to facilitate the research, development, and consumption of paratechnology, all within a contained environment that can be closely monitored by normalcy preservation organizations. Its business-friendly legislature and laissez-faire approach to paratech have attracted many organizations to the city, despite the constant presence of GOC surveillance. Representing itself as the quintessential megalopolis of the future, Eurtec actively solicits paratech producers, consumers, and entrepreneurs to take advantage of what is essentially the largest celebration of paratech off Earth.

Paramax

United States Penitentiary, Paranormal ADX, colloquially called Paramax, is a federal supermax prison designed for containing anahuman felons and mundane paracriminals who cannot be amnesticized. Built in 1947 with assistance from the Foundation, Paramax is located in its own artificial pocket universe. Originally created with a permanent Way connecting it to Alcatraz Island, the Way was collapsed when the federal prison there was closed in 1963, leaving the pocket universe to float freely through the Outside alongside the mainline universe.

Paramax is considered to be one of the most secure facilities in the multiverse — no prisoner has ever escaped, nor has anyone ever infiltrated the prison from the outside. As one of the few facilities of its type, a number of nations have entered into agreements with the US Government that allow them to house their anahuman prisoners within Paramax — the alternative is turning them over to the Foundation or GOC for detainment, or constructing an equivalent facility.

+++　スリー・ポートランド

Three Portlands is a city-state located within its own pocket universe, which can be accessed via Ways in Portland, Oregon; Portland, Maine; and the Isle of Portland in the UK. It is the largest paranormal enclave in or adjacent to North America. Although Three Portlands is an independent city, with its own city council and mayor, the city government has (mostly) voluntarily surrendered some of its autonomy by granting the US Government jurisdiction within the city, under the terms of the Hoover Mandate. Per this agreement, the UIU is tasked with enforcing US federal law (both paranormal and mundane) in Three Portlands; the UIU's Three Portlands field office is second only to the Miami field office in size and caseload.

The population of the city is incredibly diverse, comprising humans, parahumans, and sapient non-humans of all kinds. There is a rich anart scene (although not as rich as Backdoor SoHo) and a strong paratech industry (although not as strong as Eurtec) within the city, both driven by the sheer size of the paranormal community there. Three Portlands is one of only a few paranormal enclaves to host multiple occult colleges, with both an ICSUT satellite campus and the local Deer College located in the city.

放浪者の図書館

A massive multiversal nexus taking the form of a vast library, containing works of fiction and non-fiction collected from across time and space throughout the multiverse. While it is the single largest repository of knowledge within the multiverse, the Wanderer's Library is far from comprehensive, despite the ceaseless efforts of the mysterious and eldritch Librarians and the many freelance archivists they employ.

The Wanderer's Library is maintained as a neutral and apolitical center of learning, with anyone free to come and go as they please so long as they abide by the Library's rules. There is a strict prohibition on violence within the Library, and any violation of this rule will result in swift punitive action by the Librarians. While all are free to browse and read through the Library's extensive collection, removing books from the Library requires a Library Card, which can be extremely difficult to acquire — usually requiring the performance of a favor to the Librarians.

Overview

This is a detailed and comprehensive timeline of all events within Third Law and its extended continuity. All dates are given with the most accuracy and precision possible. Events described here are taken from works within the canon and its continuity, the setting information presented on this hub, and declarative remarks by major contributors. Where possible, links have been included to canonical stories and articles referencing or depicting the relevant events.

+ Pre-modern Parahistory

The Horizon Initiative is formed.
Oneiroi Incorporated is spun-off from Prometheus Labs.
1961
- The United States paraweapon codenamed Agent Black mutates, rendering all memetic inoculations against it ineffective and forcing the US to enact countermeasures. [Referenced]
- GRU-P finishes development of Project Redline. [Referenced]
1962
- The United States begins OPERATION RANCH HAND, an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to eradicate Agent Black. [Referenced]
- A drug dealer associated with the Wanderer's Library has a run-in with the law. [Depicted]
- October — During the Cuban Missile Crisis, GRU-P uses Redline on Moscow and Washington, D.C., in a desperate attempt to prevent nuclear war. It is unknown if it has any effect. [Referenced]
- December 25 — Simon Pietrykau defects from GRU-P and joins the Foundation, bringing information on multiple Soviet parascience projects with him, and alerting the Foundation of the existence of Project Redline. [Depicted]
1963
- March — Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary is closed, and the Way connecting it to Paramax is severed, allowing the anomalous prison to float freely through the Outside.
- The Paraweapon Cessation Treaty is signed, imposing restrictions on the development and deployment of paraweaponry by nation-states in a largely unsuccessful effort to stall the escalating paratech arms race. [Referenced]
- The Soviet Union disavows any involvement in Project Redline, prompting the Foundation to take custody of the eigenweapon, which is classified as SCP-2664. Investigation by Mobile Task Force Lambda-9 reveals that the weapon has become dangerously unstable and now poses an existential threat to humanity, necessitating strict quarantine and containment measures. [Depicted]
- October 1 — Members of the Serpent's Hand infiltrate Marshall, Carter and Dark in an unsuccessful attempt to free captive unicorns being farmed by the company. [Referenced]
1965
- The first recorded case of Cuchulainn syndrome is observed by Prometheus Labs. [Referenced]
1968
- Prometheus Paraeconomics constructs the Necromantic Ontologically and Thaumically Unified Supercomputer (NOTUS) to aid in stock market forecasting. [Referenced]

1991
- November 6 — Responding to the dissolution of the KGB, the vast majority of the KGB Division of Special Circumstances go rogue, absconding with a large stockpile of Soviet paraweapons to become the paracrime syndicate Scarlet Hammer.
1994
- July 14 — Anderson Robotics is formed by Vincent Anderson and Phineas. [Depicted]
1995
- Sales of the Automated Exorcism System cease, due to the introduction of first generation sigil machines with similar capabilities.
1996
- Prometheus Labs begins construction of the ISV Daedalus in low orbit above the asteroid (532) Herculina.
- Initial work begins on Project Bardeen at Prometheus Advanced Logic Devices, under the direction of Ambrose Peters. [Referenced]
1997
- Construction of the ISV Daedalus is abandoned. The unfinished hull is left in orbit around (532) Herculina.
1998
- On the verge of financial collapse, the Prometheus Labs conglomerate begins to slowly dismantle itself, divesting itself of its many subsidiaries.
- Prometheus Advanced Logic Devices is acquired by Standard Computer Products, a Foundation front company operating under the direction of the Department of Analytics. Project Bardeen is terminated, and the Bardeen AI is confiscated by the Department of Analytics. [Depicted] [Referenced]
- March 3 — Edgar Holman becomes the Site Director of Site-64. [Referenced]
- September — Prometheus Laboratories, Inc., the primary holding company of the Prometheus conglomerate, is dissolved, irrevocably shattering the former paratech titan, although many now-independent subsidiaries will continue operating under the Prometheus label for several months.
  - September 1 — Operatives of the Foundation, GOC, and Chaos Insurgency all infiltrate the headquarters of Prometheus Defense, in an attempt to secure the prototype PL-76 Shiva eigenweapon. [Depicted]
- Argo Automotives, formerly Prometheus Automobile Group, begins selling its marque of temporally displaced luxury vehicles. [Referenced]
1999
- January — SCP-2820 is contained by the Foundation.[Referenced]
  - January 11 — Following retraining and reprogramming by the Department of Analytics, Bardeen is integrated into the WATCHDOG global anomaly monitoring network as SCP-2897. [Referenced]
- Prometheus Consumer Technologies rebrands as Titan Consumer Appliances and Electronics. [Referenced]

+ 2000s

- 2000s

2000
- May — Santosh takes his first steps into the world of anart with his friend Guy Chesapeake. [Depicted]
- December 25 — Containment of SCP-2664 unexpectedly fails. Efforts to reestablish containment are unsuccessful. A YK-Class End-of-World Scenario appears to be imminent. [Referenced]
- December 26 — SCP-2664 is neutralized by a GOC eigenweapon, codenamed "Gaius Prime". [Referenced]
2004
- Former Prometheus subsidiary Silver Hand Cybernetics is acquired by its primary competitor, Anderson Robotics. [Referenced]
2005
- NOTUS is recovered by the Foundation and classified as SCP-2630. [Referenced]
- April — The Foundation discovers the mutated Agent Black and classifies it as SCP-2350. [Depicted]
- November 17 — Daniel Navarro joins the Foundation as a field agent. [Depicted]
2006
- Titan Consumer Appliances and Electronics begins selling its Ghostlight brand of paratech lightbulbs. A manufacturing defect leads to Foundation involvement and a global recall. Remaining Ghostlight bulbs are reclassified as SCP-2176. [Referenced]
- Agent Sasha Merlo (née Grimmer) is recruited from the UIU by the Foundation.
2008
- February 29 — A software bug allows SCP-2897 access to its own documentation, causing it to question its own identity. In response, it begins closely monitoring its original creator, Ambrose Peters. [Referenced]
- March 31 — During the end of month operations review, SCP-2897's unusual activity is finally noticed. Despite the objections of the interviewing psychologist, Analytics Director Simon Pietrykau orders that the incident be erased from SCP-2897's memory. [Referenced]
- Florence Thorne is killed in action during operations against the Lighthouse Mafia. [Referenced]
2009
- Argo Automotives fails to generate enough sales of its 2009 year model, and thus lacks the capital to profitably manufacture the 2009 year model. After building the required amount of cars and sending them back to 2008, Argo Automotives files for bankruptcy and enters liquidation proceedings. [Referenced]

+ 2010s

- 2010s

2013
- July — Agent Green and Agent Navarro investigate the source of SCP-2162. [Referenced] [Depicted]
- December 6 — An anart exhibition results in a major containment breach of SCP-447. [Referenced] [Depicted]
2014
- May — The Associates of Apotheosis turn a basking shark into a metaphysical conceptuvore as a test in conceptual modification, and release it into Three Portlands. [Depicted]
- October 14 — The board of Anderson Robotics votes to accept a distribution deal with Marshall, Carter and Dark. [Referenced] [Depicted]
2015
- May — A trio of cybernetics researchers begin working on a method of electronic telepathy. [Depicted]
- MTF Tau-5 "Samsara" participates in a raid on a farmhouse full of strange tumors. [Depicted]
- SCP-2970 is discovered in a cave in northern Spain. [Referenced]
- December — After seven months of work, the first Maxwellist hivemind is activated. [Depicted]
2016
- January 6 — Using intel gained from SCP-2970, MTF Tau-5 "Samsara" is dispatched to prevent a cult from completing a powerful ritual. [Depicted]
- February 15 — SCP-2970 breaches containment to pursue an important figure from his past. MTF Tau-5 "Samsara" is sent to recontain the threat. [Referenced] [Depicted]
- March 23 — Kanako Yamada does a service to the community and lends a hand with a memetic infection. [Depicted]
- June — Robin Thorne, assisted by Renee Morin, repays a favor to Agent Sasha Merlo by performing an illegal search of Anderson Robotics World Headquarters. [Depicted]
2017
- January 24 — A radical anart terrorist plants a memetic bomb in Three Portlands, triggering a joint UIU/Foundation investigation. [Depicted]
- March 22 — Agents Spencer, Thorne, and Green track Sierra Dustin to Backdoor SoHo and pursue her into the Museum of Illegal Art, a pocket universe of her own creation. Inside the Museum, Thorne confronts Dustin in an occult duel, and the three agents successfully arrest the anartist. [Depicted] [Depicted]
- March 31 — The Museum of Illegal Art has its connection to the mainline universe severed, causing it to deconceptualize. [Depicted]
- The Rookie and the Inside Man face competition as they attempt to muscle in on the illegal augmentations market. [Depicted]
- September 15 — The Deer College Odyssey publishes an article about roller derby teams in Three Portlands. [Depicted]
- November 10 — UIU agents Danyal Vahid and Val Dell investigate an Associates of Apotheosis facility. [Depicted]
2018
- The UIU is called upon to investigate a massive robbery of the Wanderer's Library. [Depicted]
- After an intelligence exchange with the Foundation, the UIU identifies their suspect as the Black Queen and readies a sting in Three Portlands. [Depicted]
- July — A mysterious individual single-handedly robs the legendarily impenetrable Bank of Eurtec. [Depicted]
- September — Alexylva University's Phitransimun Combine is ransacked en route by the same persons responsible for the heist of the Bank of Eurtec. [Depicted]
  - September 18th — Phineas leaves Anderson Robotics. [Depicted]
- November 9 — An assassination attempt is made on Representative Raymond Caldwell, revealing him to be a Saker. [Depicted]
- November 15 — MTF Gamma-13 attempts to capture Vincent Anderson in Three Portlands. [Depicted]

+ 2020s

Glossary of Terms

Definitions of some of the most commonly used terminology in this canon.

+ # to C

- # to C

6th Occult War — Large-scale occult conflict lasting from 1875 to 1882, culminating in the destruction of a major demiurge.
7th Occult War — Global occult conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, centered around attempts by the Ahnenerbe Obskurakorps to complete the Rite of Solomon.
Amnestic — Amnesia inducing drugs, widely utilized by normalcy preservation agencies to conceal the existence of the anomalous.
超芸術(Anart) ** — 超常芸術の短縮形です。アノマリーを用いた、もしくはアノマリーを組み入れた芸術作品を言及する際に使われます。
Anahuman** — Abbreviation of anomalous human. An individual who possess anomalous abilities or attributes. Generally does not include non-human humanoids. See also; Parahuman
Anomalous — A catch-all term to describe things which seemingly violate the known laws of nature and defy logical explanation. When used alone as a mass noun, it can also encompass the occult and paranormal.
Antimeme — An idea with self-censoring properties; a meme which discourages dissemination or which is impossible to remember or transmit.
Apportation — An occult method of instantaneous teleportation. The extreme EVE requirements and the magnitude of the resulting backlash make apportation impractical in most instances.
Aspect Radiation — EVE emissions with an intensity great enough to alter reality.
Backlash — Randomized alterations to local reality, occurring as a result of thaumaturgy and similar occult activity. With sufficient planning and preparation, backlash can be directed and partially controlled.
Baseline — The mainstream or normal version of something, as in baseline human or baseline universe.
Basilisk — A hazardous meme which disrupts human cognition, either temporarily or permanently.
Branch Universe — A dependent pocket universe emerging from a mainline universe or one of its branches.
Cognitohazard — Anything which, when perceived, induces anomalous or harmful effects in the observer.
Concept — A concept is the fundamental and ultimate encapsulation of the qualitative properties of a thing, and represents the basic unit of metaphysics. Concepts exist (metaphysically) independently of the things they describe, allowing for arbitrary manipulation of reality by modifying a thing's concepts.
Conceptual Machinery — Machines that are composed of basic concepts, commonly appearing as translucent structures that are quasi-physical, resembling physical objects while lacking corporeality. These are commonly used in conceptual modification. AKA conceptual structures, "conceptech."
Conceptuvore — An entity that feeds on or consumes concepts.
Counterconceptual — Something which is impossible to perceive or conceptualize. A paradoxical or incomprehensible concept.

+ D to G

- D to G

Deconceptualize — The process through which an object reverts to its base concepts, usually occurring as a result of unshielded exposure to the Outside.
Deity — An anomalous non-human entity possessing extreme reality bending abilities, and largely outside the limits of human comprehension. Deities often occupy higher dimensions of space or adjacent planes of reality, either in whole or in part.
Demiurge — A deific entity possessing significant power and responsibility over the nature of certain aspects of a universe. A reality bender capable of altering specific and limited parameters of reality on a universal scale.
Demon — A loosely defined term used to refer to a wide variety of anomalous creatures originating from other regions of the multiverse, most of which are hostile to human life.
Demonarcotics — The practice of using anomalous creatures, in whole or in part, as components in performance enhancing drugs. Also refers to the drugs created through this practice.
悪魔工学(Demonics) ** — ソリッド=ステートの悪魔召喚デバイスを通じて悪魔を統合回路で利用することを示します。
Ectomorph** — Paranormal entities composed of ectoplasm, sometimes created by the death of a living organism. Also known as ghosts, spirits, specters, and shades.
Ectoplasm — A semi-corporeal fluid which is transparent under normal circumstances and evaporates at room temperature. When subjected to an electric current it will emit visible-wavelength photons in a process known as ectoluminescence.
Eigenweapon — A paraweapon capable of killing large numbers of people and/or dealing massive amounts of damage to terrain, infrastructure, or the environment. An anomalous weapon of mass destruction.
Esoteric — An alternative term for the occult and paranormal, generally encompassing both.
EVE — Elan-Vital Energy. The fundamental particle of aetheric energy, which powers all thaumaturgy.
Evocation — A spontaneous act of thaumaturgy, done without preparation or planning. Extremely difficult to perform successfully, and highly susceptible to backlash.
Exorcism — An occult ritual intended to remove non-corporeal entities from a person or object. If the exorcised entity or entities originate in a different universe, they will be returned to it if possible.
Exploit — A term for pattern-based reality bending accessible by any sufficiently skilled persons. Usually limited in scope and scale. Commonly associated with anartists.
Familiar — A fragment of raw intellect given form and animated by thaumaturgy. Commonly bound by thaumaturges to serve as aides and companions. The preferred technical term is Constructed Intelligence.
ギアス(Geas) ** — ある一連のルールやガイドラインに人間を従わせる際にミーム的エージェントを使用することです。
Golden Age of Normalcy** — The period during the 20th century when the strength of the Veil reached its peak.
Golem — A physical construct animated by thaumaturgy, possessing basic sentience and a rudimentary intelligence. Essential instructions and complex behavioral parameters can be ascribed with an emet, a written inscription on or within the golem. While technically only referring to constructs animated via Kabbalistic thaumaturgy, the term is commonly and colloquially used to refer to any type of thaumic construct.

+ H to O

- H to O

Hoover Mandate — Longstanding policy of the US Federal Government, enacted by President Herbert Hoover to address the handling of paranormal enclaves within the US following the disastrous mishandling of initial relations with Three Portlands by BOI/FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.
Infohazard — A cognitohazard which can affect an individual if they learn about it, even without directly perceiving it.
Köln Agreement — A bilateral treaty between the GOC and the Foundation, signed in the immediate aftermath of the 7th Occult War, which establishes the terms for the joint containment of the Rite of Solomon and its components, and provides a framework for future joint efforts between the two organizations. Along with the GOC Charter, serves as one of the foundational documents of the post-war Veil and international consensus normalcy.
Law of Contagion — The part affects the whole. One of the basic tenets of unified thaumatology.
Law of Similarity — Like produces like. One of the basic tenets of unified thaumatology.
Mainline Universe — The central universe of a multiverse, from which all of the branch universes ultimately derive their structure and existence. Also called a baseline universe.
Mekhane — The fragmented and dormant deity worshiped by Mekhanite religions. Also called the Broken God.
Meme — An infectious idea which influences human actions, especially one which encourages further propagation of itself. Memetics is the study and application of memes.
Metaphysics — The scientific study of concepts as independent and fundamental expression of qualitative properties. Often considered a more rigorous and practical extension of the philosophical field of the same name, from which it derives much of its terminology.
Mnestic — A memory-enhancing drug used to counteract the effects of antimemes.
Multiverse — The section of reality composed of a baseline universe and all of its associated branch universes. Many multiverses are known to exist throughout reality, although the total number is impossible to know with certainty (and is possibly infinite). Travel between multiverses is extraordinarily difficult and exceedingly rare.
Mundane — That which is normal. Lacking in any anomalous, paranormal, or occult properties.
Necromancy — The act of consulting the remnants of a deceased intelligence in order to gain information which may be used in attempts to predict future events.
Normalcy — That which is accepted and understood. The status quo.
Observer Effect — The term for the ability of thaumaturges and many deities to use EVE to alter reality. The mechanism behind this remains poorly understood.
Occult — A term for things that violate the laws of physics, but which act in a manner consistent with the theory of unified thaumatology. AKA "magic".
Ontic Bleed — A term used to describe the aspect radiation flux that commonly surrounds Ways, which arises as a result of branch universes drawing on the reality of the baseline universe to support their existence.
The Outside — The infinite void of conceptual unspace which surrounds and encompasses the multiverses. It is a realm of unbounded concepts, devoid of mind or matter, which defies rational comprehension or explanation.

+ P to Z

- P to Z

Parahuman — An alternative term for humans with anomalous properties. Largely interchangeable with the term anahuman, although different organizations have different usage preferences.
Paranormal — A term used for things which, while unexplainable under current laws of physics, act in a consistent, logical manner.
Paranormal Renaissance — The era between the 6th and 7th Occult Wars, during which many important discoveries of modern parascience were made.
Parascience — An encompassing term for scientific fields and endeavors which work behind the Veil to study paranormal phenomena and principles, with the ultimate goal of producing explanations compatible with standard physics.
パラテクノロジー(Paratechnology) ** — 財政におけるアノマリー、とりわけタイムトラベルの使用と影響力について扱う経済学の一分野です。
Paraweapon** — A weapon which incorporates paratech as a critical part of its operation.
Pocket Universe — A smaller universe associated with a particular multiverse, which may or may not be dependent on the reality of the relevant mainline universe. Most pocket universes are dependent branch universes, but independent pocket universes may naturally arise when a branch universe becomes separated from the mainline, or artificially through the actions of a thaumaturge, deity, or reality bender.
Psionics — A field of parascience dedicated to the study of psychic and extrasensory abilities, and of individuals who possess these abilities. Psionics focuses on documenting various forms of psychic phenomena, analyzing their biological origins, and treating psionic diseases and disorders.
Psychic — An individual possessing any number of psionic abilities, including extrasensory perception, innate precognition, telekinetic manipulation, and multiple forms of telepathy.
Reality Bender — An individual with the innate ability to alter reality without employing thaumaturgy or exploits. Also called Type Greens, Bixbies, and Shapers.
Rite of Solomon — A powerful occult working of extreme magnitude, which can be used to indirectly alter the underlying nature of thaumaturgy.
Shadow (metaphysics) — The conceptual projection of an object or event into an adjacent universe. Normally invisible and incorporeal, Shadows can be stabilized into physical artifacts through thaumaturgy or from innate reality anchoring properties in their source. Lighthouses are a common source of self-stabilizing Shadows.
Thaumatology — The parascientific study of paranormal phenomena historically referred to as magic. Unified thaumatology is the most widely accepted theoretical framework within this field, and provides the basis for nearly all modern implementations of functional magic.
Thaumaturge — An individual capable of harnessing EVE via the Observer Effect to perform occult workings. Also called Type Blues, Sorcerers, Wizards, and Observers.
Thaumaturgy — The use of occult workings to alter reality, in conformance with the theories of unified thaumatology.
Universe — A single self-contained region of reality with its own physical laws and characteristics. Travel between universes is accomplished via Ways.
ヴェール(The Veil) ** — 世界政府と正常性保護機関による、アノマラス、超自然、オカルトを人類の大多数から隠す、もしくは偽装するという現在進行中の方針に与えられた名前です。
Way** — A portal between universes within the same multiverse, which can be opened with an incantation or ritual to allow passage. Ways can also be created artificially by thaumaturges and reality benders.

Character Index

Major characters who appear multiple times throughout the canon.

Name	Description	Appearances
Adam Rowe	Young psychic medium taking on independent work for clients both living and dead. Tries and usually fails to live under the radar.	Under Control, Comedown Machine Hub
Agent Green	A Foundation anart specialist and former GOC operative specializing in killing reality benders. Smokes pretty much constantly.	Unusual Investigations
Alliott Chao	The (a?) resident Black Queen of Three Portlands. When she's not committing grand scale paracrime, she's most often found on the roller derby rink.	Vital Signs, Portlands Derby Teams, The Dedekind Infinite Demographic, Suspect Ratio
Ari Perkowitz	A minor reality bender specialising in papercrafts, hired by the UIU as an artcrime consultant and exploit researcher.	The Dedekind Infinite Demographic, Suspect Ratio
Bardeen	An experimental artificial intelligence developed at Prometheus Labs and later acquired by the Foundation's Department of Analytics.	The Bard of Ambrose, SCP-2897
Casey Malik	Nebbish former secretary living in Three Portlands. Currently framed for a murder that he did, in fact, commit.	Comedown Machine Hub
Eustace Rowe	Elderly and reclusive necromancer. Former Prometheus Labs researcher, current Three Portlands resident and bad father.	Under Control, Comedown Machine Hub
Josef, the Golem of Prague	An ancient Kabbalistic golem created in the 16th century who punches Nazis to death. Accidentally reactivated by the Obskuracorps during the 7th Occult War, much to their immediate and extremely fatal dismay.	Obskuracorps Memos, Archival Document -- HSA-008-Advent, A Man of Clay and Men Formerly Men
Kenneth Spencer	A UIU special agent assigned to Three Portlands, and sometimes commander of JTF Delta-3 ("Organic Free Trade"). A veteran FBI agent with a vocal distrust of the Foundation. Partnered with Robin Thorne.	Unusual Investigations
Konrad "Kord" Weiss	Director of Obskuracorps' archeological and research arm. Former member of the Thule Society. One of the most powerful thaumaturges in Germany during his lifetime.	Preliminary Report, Obskuracorps Memos
Landen Eckhart	A soft-spoken UIU agent involved in inter-GoI negotiation and diplomacy moreso than fieldwork.	The Dedekind Infinite Demographic, Suspect Ratio
Robin Thorne	A UIU special agent assigned to Three Portlands. A natural thaumaturge of moderate ability but extensive training. Partnered with Kenneth Spencer.	Unusual Investigations, Suspect Ratio
Samantha Romain	Dubiously ethical representative of dubiously ethical Redzone Security. Usually seen with her blind, mute bodyguard.	Under Control, Comedown Machine Hub
Sierra Dustin	Radical anart terrorist engaged in a campaign against normalcy. Maintains a secret museum dedicated to illegal and impossible art.	Unusual Investigations
Simon Pietrykau	Director of the Foundation's Department of Analytics. Defected from GRU Division "P" after the Cuban Missile Crisis, and quickly rose up the ranks of the Foundation to spearhead the formation of the Department of Analytics.	SCP-2664, Guns Pointed at the Head of God
The Inside Man	One half of the burgeoning criminal syndicate the Chicago Spectre. As the brains of the group and one of the most powerful psionics in the world, he plans and organizes the Spectre's operations.	Hypervelocity, Terminal Velocity
The Rookie	One half of the burgeoning criminal syndicate the Chicago Spectre. As the brawns of the group, she relies on eldritch performance enhancements such as demonarcotics to carry out the Spectre's operations.	Zeitgeist, Hypervelocity, Terminal Velocity
The Warrior	Ancient, powerful cyborg elevated as one part of a physical god. Prime zealot and favourite pupil of the Lord of Endowments.	SCP-2970, Samsara, The Dedekind Infinite Demographic
Vera K. Garcia	Eccentric but skilled agent working for a shadowy conspiracy potentially related to Taco Bell.	Comedown Machine Hub

Index of Paratech

A list of significant pieces of paratech, or efforts to develop paratech, that appear in this canon.

Aetheric Oscillation Detector — Also known as a Randall Detector, after its inventor, Dr. John Carver Randall. A device which can detect changes in background aspect radiation, commonly used for locating unopened Ways.
Automated Exorcism System — A machine for automatically performing exorcisms and other similar occult workings, although the presence of a thaumaturge is required for it to function. Sold by Prometheus Labs from 1985 to 1995, customers included the Horizon Initiative, the Global Occult Coalition, and the Foundation.
All-Natural Automatons — Organic robots created through genetic engineering of cloned human zygotes, using technologies developed during Project Samsara. One of the few Prometheus Labs products that were untouched by the restructuring, production began in 1990 and continues to this day.
Argo Marque Automobiles — The primary product line of Argo Automotives, consisting of temporally displaced cars from a year in the future. Sold from 1998 to 2008.
Conceptually Null Clearsolid — Glass-like material that possess paradoxical concepts, such as the concept of having no concepts. Organic material that comes in contact with it experiences the rapid modification and loss of concepts.
Electroneural Cognitive Interface — An implanted neural prosthetic, used for electronic telepathy. Based on the work done by Conrad Trent and Myra Rider in 2015 on behalf of the Maxwellist Church.
Everhart Resonator — A machine used to produce EVE from electricity, developed by John Everhart at ICSUT during the Seventh Occult War. The conversion requires a thaumaturge to start the process, and is extremely inefficient, but it is far more reliable than any other method for generating large quantities of EVE.
ISV Daedalus — A massive spaceship, intended for use as an interstellar research vessel. Construction was abandoned by Prometheus Labs in late 1997 before it could be completed. The unfinished hull is currently in a low-orbit around asteroid (532) Herculina.
Ghostlight™ — A line of lightbulbs manufactured by Titan Consumer Appliances and Electronics, which utilize the ectoluminescent properties of ghosts to produce light. Recalled in 2006 due to quality problems in the supply of ectomorphs used. Manufacturing resumed at a later date under Foundation supervision.
Memetic Bomb — A meme carrying a dormant cognitohazard, activated by a predefined trigger (which may be a specific date, a time delay, a perceptual pattern, or even simply random.) Effects are various, and can include death, insanity, and spontaneous localized reality alterations.
NOTUS — A Prometheus Paraeconomics supercomputer built in 1968 to produce accurate stock market forecasts for selected stocks of interest to the company's economists. Later acquired by the Foundation in 2005.
Powdered Unicorn Horn — A retrocausal contraceptive and industrial pesticide sold by Marshall, Carter and Dark.
Project Auto-Magus — A long-term research and development program at Prometheus Labs in the early 1970s, focused on creating a fully mechanical thaumaturge. Canceled in 1976, the technologies developed were later used to create the Automated Exorcism System.
Project Bardeen — A project undertaken by a team of neural network researchers at Prometheus Advanced Logic Devices, with the goal of developing an artificial intelligence. Despite its success, the project was shutdown after Prometheus Computing was purchased by the Foundation.
Project Samsara — Originally a program for developing regenerative stem cell treatments, it transitioned into studying full-body regeneration and brain uploading in the mid 1990s. Met with some early success prior to the breakup of the Prometheus conglomerate, and was later revived by the Foundation.
PSAT Setanta — A Prometheus Astrotechnologies Geas Switchboard Communicator satellite launched in 1972, which served as a legal witness for the contracts involved in geas bindings until its decommissioning ten years afterwards.
Sigil Machine — A machine that can generate various occult symbols and sigils to aid in thaumaturgical workings, with a uniformity and precision greater than that normally attained by unaided thaumaturges. Derived from the technology used in the Automated Exorcism System.