The Incident (Night's Black Agents)

I’m working on some pieces for Pelgrane’s Page XX and in one of them I posit a potential inciting incident that happens offstage, for plot purposes. 

Let’s bring that inciting incident onstage and explore it a little. 

The Incident takes place at Vostochny Cosmodrome, which I’ve discussed before. It involves a member of Russia’s Space Force and a meteor strike at Vostochny.  

Russia’s had a Space Force since 1992, roughly speaking, but it’s been through some reorganization initiatives since its founding. As of time of writing, it’s a new beast, courtesy of a merger between the Russian Air Force and the Russian Aerospace Defence Forces in 2015. Its big thing is missile attacks; in the event of a missile attack, when everyone else is putting heads between legs and kissing things goodbye, its role is to keep leadership informed of the attacks’ progress.  

My fictional member of the Space Force was put in charge of an investigation into a meteor strike at Vostochny while it was still under construction, which was at the time believed to be a potential missile attack. Fortunately for everyone the Russians decided it wasn’t a missile strike, but the damage put Vostochny’s schedule back by several months.  

At least, meteor strike was the publicly announced reason for the explosion at Vostochny. Whether that story has any factual basis is, at best, murky. It’s not as if there are many journalists at the closed town of Tsiolkovsky, which is the only urban development nearby. 

Soon after the investigation my fictional member of the Space Force defected to the West, where he became part of a different story. 

This is the story of The Incident. 

25 May 2014 

In the early hours of the morning of the 25th a small explosion damaged part of Vostochny. While accidents, explosive or otherwise, are not uncommon at Vostochny, this incident caused great concern at the highest level of government. Not only did it mean delays for Vostochny’s construction schedule, it also brought something called Operation Eternity to an abrupt end.  

Western intelligence agencies do not know what Operation Eternity is. The explosion was the first indication that there was such an operation. The only reason anyone outside Russia knows about it now is because of the defection of the Space Force officer in charge of the investigation, and that person’s abrupt disappearance from the public stage created more questions than answers.  

The only narrative available is that being pushed by the Russians, which is that a meteor strike at Vostochny caused damage to the Cosmodrome but was not, ultimately, significant enough to cause anything more than a delay to the planned construction schedule. 

The miraculous coincidence of a meteor strike happening to hit a Cosmodrome has not been remarked on. What little evidence is available suggests the meteor was no more than 2-4 m diameter. 

The only thing known about Operation Eternity is that it was being backed by tech billionaire Mikhail Mordashov, who was understandably upset that Eternity was blown up. At the time of the incident Mordashov was living in Monaco; since those carefree pre-Ukraine days are over, Mordashov's current location is a closely guarded secret.

The exact nature of the Incident will depend on the kind of campaign you're running, which can be divided up into Damned, Supernatural, Mutant and Alien.

Damned. Their markers are holy symbols and spiritualism, their emphasis is seduction.

Eternity was trying to create the perfect human, by infusing embryos with angelic properties. The Cosmodrome was used because it was secure and had special equipment for examining biological specimens. This equipment was installed at Mordashov's direction and involved special materials sourced by Mordashov. Wouldn't you know it; some of those materials were demonically tainted, hence the explosion. Nobody's sure what happened to the experimental subject. Unless the Space Force investigating officer knows - but they dropped off the radar shortly after defecting ...

Supernatural. Their markers are strange superstitions, their emphasis hunger. 

Eternity was trying to use ley lines and direct magical power to improve the capacity of the Cosmodrome's launches. Mordashov had a particular interest in some of the satellite payloads meant to be launched from Vostochny and wanted an absolute guarantee of success. Except the so-called experts he brought on board to achieve this flubbed the incantations, attracting a heavenly body - the meteor - to earth, rather than guarantee successful spaceflight. Nobody knows what that heavenly body really is, except possibly the Space Force investigating officer ... 

Mutant. Their markers are medical symptoms; their emphasis is infection. 

Eternity was meant to improve the human condition through technological advancement, using material sourced from space - first hinted at through specimens retrieved from orbit in the 1970s - to supercharge the human embryo. Specifically Mordashov's embryos; the billionare has 100 kids and counting. He's still hoping for the superchild, but whatever it was Eternity was working on is out of reach. Unless the Space Force investigating officer knows where it is ... 

Alien. Their markers are various uncanny effects; their emphasis is invasion.

Mordashov knows there are aliens out there. He's seen them. They inspired Eternity, which was meant to establish contact. Except something went very wrong with Mordashov's attempts, hence the explosion at Vostochny. That earned Mordashov a very black mark in the Kremlin's book of naughty billionaires, and if anyone knows why Mordashov is still alive it's that pesky Space Force investigating officer, but nobody knows where they are ...

That's it for this week. Enjoy!

Hidden Libraries (Bookhounds)

This week’s post is inspired by recent announcements concerning a hidden medieval library discovered it Romania.  

Briefly: the library was discovered in a tower of the Church of St. Margaret in Mediaș, a 15th-century Gothic structure built by the Transylvanian Saxons. It includes hundreds of documents, books and registers, some of which go back as far as the 13th century. It was probably deliberately hidden during a time of upheaval and is remarkably well-preserved.  

There’s all kinds of articles about it but, if you want more information, it can be had here.  

OK, let’s turn this into a Bookhounds seed.  

What are the basic elements? A lost library, meticulously catalogued by its long-forgotten owner, which has recently been discovered. It was hidden during a time of upheaval, possibly religious, to preserve it. 

The events that best fit that pattern in an English timeline are the English Reformation and the Civil War 1642-51. 

The Reformation destroys the Catholic Church in England, replacing it with Protestantism and in the process scattering Church holdings far and wide. It inspires, among other things, many a tale of priest’s holes and other hiding places for Catholics and their goods. It used to be you couldn’t have a decent ghost story in English literature, or a murder mystery in a stately home, without someone mentioning the long-forgotten priest’s hole hidden somewhere in the walls of the family manor.  

Sourced from Harvington Hall

Sometimes these treasures are protected. E.G. Swain’s ghost tales set in East Anglia feature at least two tales of spectral figures guarding Church relics, who go to some trouble to move those same relics when it looks as if Swain’s Protestant Vicar, Mr. Batchel, is about to get too close to the secret. M.R. James features several similar tales, one of the best of which is probably O Whistle! In which a Templar secret is unwittingly discovered by an academic on holiday. However, for my money the best of all is Canon Alberic’s Scrap-Book, in which an academic discovers ‘a large folio, bound, perhaps, late in the seventeenth century,’ filled with collected scraps and illuminated manuscript pages from other books. This is probably the closest to the Romanian story, though the Canon’s Scrap-Book is considerably smaller than the Romanian hoard.  

The Civil War has the added historical bonus of providing romance and a definite termination point to the ownership of this fictional library. Point being that many old Catholic families were scattered or destroyed during the War, which means that you, as Keeper, can trace a definite timeline for the history of this hidden treasure. First kept by the Catholic Church, then moved in a hurry to the family manor of [whoever it may be] to preserve it from Protestant hands, then lost to memory when the last living [whoever] gets killed in the war or dies in exile waiting for the restoration of Charles II. The secret then lies dormant for several hundred years before being rediscovered in the modern era. 

Why rediscovered, though? Could be all kinds of reasons, but let’s say for the sake of the narrative that the manor’s been bought by a new, foreign owner, who has all sorts of modern views about plumbing, electrics and so forth. They wanted to redo the place so it was a bit less like an ivy-clad shithole .. beg pardon, so it was less authentic.  

That’s the kind of owner who could be conveniently off-site when the library is rediscovered. Allowing the Hounds access. 

From all that we get:

The Howling Library

The Buckinghamshire manor Dorney Hall was, at one time, owned by the de la Roche family, but the last of that name died at Chalgrove Field and the Hall has been in the hands of an increasingly impoverished cadet branch of the family ever since. The Rochedales finally decided to offload their white elephant and sold it to an American, Norwell Cupman, who made his fortune in automobiles. The Cupman Comet is an up-and-comer in the racing world and the Cupman Coupe is a solid, commercial brand. 

Cupman wanted Dorney Hall but he wants it to be a little less drafty and damp, so he brought on board an architect, Ernest Brenchley, to do the place up. Brenchley is well known to the Hounds; he's a buyer of Italian incunabula and, depending on your plotline, might have Arabesque, Sordid, or Technicolor flaws.

Cupman is in New York this month so what he doesn't know won't hurt him.  However, he's due to visit the works in a few weeks so time is of the essence. All the more so when Brenchley finds the old priest's hole in a forgotten corner of Dorney Hall.

This, the Hounds can discover after some research, may well be the infamous Howling Library of Dorney Hall. Allegedly salted away by the de la Roche, whose Catholic connections are well known. Rumor has inflated the size of the collection over the years, and its contents, but it could include almost anything from a Necronomicon to an incomplete version of Monstres and Their Kynde, with particular attention paid to something called the de la Roche Changeling. Or perhaps that's just an old wives tale, but there's definitely papers up there and if Cupman ever finds out about them he'll probably give them to Cambridge or some rot. Denying hard-working Hounds a profit.

Option One: Rival Shenanigans. This is actually a scheme cooked up by the Hounds' rivals, who suborned Brenchley with a promise of incunabula. The idea is to get the Hounds to swallow this hook and take on board some cunningly faked-up manuscripts, and then reveal the fraud just as the Hounds are about to make a profitable sale. This will cause a Reversal. Anything supernatural about the Library is a fiction put about by the rivals, who have some magickal skills and use them to fake up a haunting.

Option Two: Mutton Dressed as Lamb. Well, it looked promising. It could still be promising, with a little help from a forger. But the best stuff has gone to the worms; insects got into the Library and snaffled the manuscripts, over the years. Peculiar little things, too, all legs and plump white bodies. Brenchley's looking a little ill, but that may be because he had to make promises to Elihort to keep body and soul together ...

Option Three: The Changeling. Apparently, there's one de la Roche still living, technically speaking, and the Changeling's been standing guard over the Howling Library these many centuries. Hence the name Howling Library; the Changeling's peculiar cry in stormy weather chills the blood. However, there's a near-complete copy of Monstres at stake, with illuminated pages. If the Hounds can figure out a way of keeping the Changeling off their backs, the prize is there for the taking. 

That's it for this week! Enjoy!  

Toronto Book Haul (Plus Charity)

Yes, I love Toronto.  

I now have a new hotel standard. If your hotel sells me ice cream in waffle cones right as I walk in the door, five stars, no notes, better than the Ritz. If it does not, I do not wish to know you, sir. Good Behavior on Queen West, for all your Dragon Poop needs! 

Separate but related: the UK gets on its knees and prays every night for a train service that’s half as good as Canada’s. Oddly, being a comedy club nut, I heard a lot of complaints from the comedians about this same service. You people are spoilt. Spoilt! Trains that leave on time! Clean trains! Announcements that can be understood! Enough staff to keep the service running smoothly! No squabbling with other passengers about the assigned seating! Subways that aren’t packed like sardines in a tin and smell just exactly like sardines in a tin! LUXURIES. God alone knows how Canada manages it when the UK, not even a fifth the size, falls on its face every ten seconds and then complains that its face hurts. One of the great mysteries of the universe. 

In other news, Toronto sells books! Boy howdy, does it ever. SO MANY. 

Special shout out to Little Ghost Books out on Dundas. If you love horror and you are in Toronto, make this your first stop. Possibly your only stop. Don’t wait till you’re dead to enjoy this indie store! The living are welcome! Plus, they publish their own stuff. Who does that, in this day and age? When monsters beyond reckoning roam the wastelands, seeking prey? Truly, a bookstore to be relished, supported, loved! 

Now … 

Technically this one's not Toronto so I'll deal with it first. I saw friends of mine in Kingston (hi Max! hi Tasch!) and we spent some time at Nexus. I dunno how often any of you are going down to Kingston, but when you do, drop in to Nexus. Well worth a gamer's time. This one's a 5E reprint of a lot of scenarios I already have (Barrier Peaks. Tsojcanth, Star Falls, Pharaoh) and some I didn't have. Plus, the central conceit of the Staircase is a lot of fun! 

Toronto from here on out.

Fearful Passages is one of the few holes in my CoC collection. Filled! Plus, WoD Tokyo added to my Wraith collection. Both bought at Sword and Board up on Bloor. A lot of places lurk on Bloor. Like trolls under a bridge. Scheming.  

OK, if you’ve been paying any kind of attention you know by now that Lafcadio Hearn is my weak spot and I couldn’t resist these two. You may be wondering about the Ghost Stories For Christmas. I didn’t know about this, but apparently there’s a Canadian company that puts one of these out every year and the store had a stack of ‘em. Disappearance and Reappearance is one of my all-time favorite James stories, and I picked up the Blackwood on a whim because, well, Blackwood. Bought at David Mason Books, which I highly recommend to antiquarian bookstore lovers but! Be Warned! They don’t open on the weekend. Also, they have a cat. Big fat floof, friendly. Answers to Henry, unless my memory fails me. 

Another haul from Bloor Street, this time Monkey’s Paw. Not as big or as fun-filled as David Mason, but it does have one spectacular gimmick: the Random Book Machine, aka BiblioMat. For one small token you too can get a random book on any topic. In my case this was the My Language Is Me, which may or may not last long on my bookshelf, but I’m not sorry I got it.  

Video sourced from Dezi

The G-String Murders is a lot of fun to read.  Gypsy Rose Lee, for those not familiar, was a burlesque artist of great fame, way back in the day, and the reason for picking up books like this is, she knows what she’s talking about when it comes to burlesque theatre. Plotting murders, not so much, but then I didn’t care about the murders. I cared about the way theatres were run, about the showbusiness angle, and that I got, in spades. Great for those of you working on 1930s period pieces. 

You know who you are … 

Randalls Round! Highly recommended Jamesian collection of short horror, from the British Library’s capacious vaults. Bought at Indigo in the Mall on Queen. 

Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths, an impulse purchase from AnimeXtreme, which I only know exists because I wanted pork buns from Mother’s Dumplings. The buns were great! As is the book. If you’re ever in the area, Kensington Market is also worth a look.  

A Real Emergency, another impulse purchase, this time from Peter Pan which is five seconds’ walk from my hotel. [Ordinarily I'd link but I'm honestly not sure which link to use and one of them seems to be hors de combat.] I dunno that I’d recommend Peter Pan, honestly. It felt a bit gimmicky, the kind of place you take a date but not the kind of place you go to every week. But the book is fun. If you want to know about a thing, ask the person who’s been there and done it. Not a million miles away from the G-String Murders, honestly. The subject matter’s miles apart, but the idea was to find out about a subject from someone who knows it inside and out. Mission accomplished. 

Finally, the haul from Little Ghost! Some of these were bought for nieces, but Alley, Julie Chan Is Dead, Birthday and Your Flight Has Been Cancelled are all mine, mine! Shopping here was a great experience. I even went back for a second run! Either I’m insane or they are. Highly recommended stop for book lovers of all ages. The coffee’s not bad either! 

Now, I mentioned Storm Crow last post, and a certain Cthulhu Tiki. Yes, I did go to the Crow. What I did not realize, because not Canadian nor from Toronto, is that the Pride celebrations were kicking off right next door. Literally. As in the street was shut and there was a vendor’s market. On account of this, Storm Crow cut down on its menu options, to ensure that the crowd rush didn’t cause a problem. One of the casualties was the Cthulhu Tiki. Weeping, lamentations, rending of garments.  

No Tiki for me. [In hindsight, I ought to have asked if I could buy the Tiki mug, which I see you can do for $10.] No random dice roll for meals either. That said, I’d highly recommend the Crow to visitors. Not just because of the theme – though the theme is fun – but because the food and drink are actually good. You go round Toronto for a while, and you notice the pub grub menu options are broadly the same across the board. There is always Mac and Cheese. It’s a Toronto Law. But there’s a difference between Mac & Cheese done right and served with style, and Mac & Cheese plopped on a plate for consumption. The Crow does it right.  

In short: yes, fun, would do again, probably will do again, not sure when.  

That’s it for this week! Enjoy. 

EXCEPT NOT QUITE!!!

OK, I'm doing a thing. A charity thing. I help out Big Brothers Big Sisters Bermuda - it's a kid's charity, if you're not familiar. I'm their secretary. 

This coming Sunday I shall be doing a challenge for charity, How Much Will You Pay To See Me Do ... and the goal is to raise at least $1500. 

Pics and videos will be posted here when available!

So, if you're feeling generous, please donate via the link below. How much would you pay to see me ...

Link here!