eyebeams

The elite prosper from the red harvest they reap from bottom of society. The poor sign Commercial Internment contracts with the Lamiary industry. They've got witchkind relatives hiding in the slums, hoping nobody will turn them in for a fast reward. They're the ones that fugitive vampires feed from -- and kill, to hide their tracks. But these situations aren't the worst things about being poor -- being poor is the worst thing about being poor.

In this campaign, characters live hand to mouth, balancing crushing labour with the next dangerous con or get-rich-quick scheme where they cross paths with the supernatural world. One is an up and coming rust dealer who's looking to move up the supply chain. Another's a small time enforcer, hooked to the mob for blood and v-plants. A third's taking action against the state and business interests that encourage them all to trip into an early death.

Advantages: Locally oriented, so you can flesh out a community. Wealth matters; it makes a big difference to the characters. Problems can't be solved with favours or overwhelming force because the characters don't have either. At the same time, characters can change the tone of the campaign with a few smart moves. There's plenty of room for intimate stories. A Streetwise game is about who's on the steps and in the court. You can define these NPCs and keep characters coming back to them. You can also shift from this style to another pretty easily -- there's nowhere to go but up.

Disadvantages: There's a smaller scope until you hook the local scene up to large-scale events, at which point it's not really the same campaign. There's not much room for high end style. If the characters make a wrong move, powerful people can crush them.

"Go to sleep! If your eyes are open after midnight, the knockers from the old mines will come get you."

"Come on, Mum! Everybody knows they're extinct. They've got the skeleton of the last one up at the museum!"

Asset BLACKBOX protocols must be strictly obeyed before relocation or deployment. Protocols are repeated below but this should not be construed as a substitute for TS-BB-CR-454 "BLACKBOX Operations Protocols," which should be reviewed in full before BLACKBOX maneuvers. The summary below is included to emphasize the importance of proper handling procedures. Major elements include:

* Direct handling by 6 squads (one per shift + one backup per shift) with personnel Command Resistance rated 7+, APFT ratings 270 or equivalent.
* Personnel with V-Type transplants or a history of V-product medical treatment are not permitted at the Chalk River facility or within the BLACKBOX TOO at any echelon, including JCS members.
* Preemptive psychomedication as specified in TS-BB-CR-454 and TS-BB-CR-390. Remember that personnel will be disoriented due to hallucinogenic side effects.
* Remote, encrypted radio-based handling command from a secure location.
* Do not desecure BLACKBOX until direct JCS orders. All orders to the contrary should be considered BLACKBOX-induced hallucinations/mind control and reported to the remote command officer.
* 110 litres of blood on site at all times.
* BLACKBOX to stay at least 50 meters away from strategic arms and qualified strategic arms operators/use authorizers at all times.

These standards should not be relaxed despite recent interviews with BLACKBOX that indicate an increased willingness to comply with directives. Over at least eight lifetimes of existence, BLACKBOX has learned to be highly deceptive and is able to evade the deficiencies caused by its anachronistic worldview. Nevertheless, its antique perspective is useful when dealing with the asset. We may omit modern information that it might use to subvert security and operational objectives. Therefore, contemporary technological and political information should only be disseminated on a need to know basis. BLACKBOX has demonstrated Command 6 telepathy at a range of 22 meters but may be withholding the true extent of these abilities. Briefings should be conducted from at least 50 meters away, utilizing its container's built-in radio.

Be aware, however, that the asset has been fully briefed on NBC strategic operations c. 1972 as part of its original purposing re: Project Red Spear, Gold Spear to counter and mirror projected SPETSNAZ and Brandenburg tactics. NATO NBC operations protocols have been revised since to specifically counter BLACKBOX's knowledge, but some technical protocols cannot be altered; they are part and parcel of the realities of NBC operations.

Despite the complexity of BLACKBOX deployments it remains a valuable strategic asset, even if only as a counter to similar Soviet and Reich projects. RAND estimates that under 50% ideal execution, the asset could neutralize 12 SS-20 or 9 V-30 launch sites inside likely theaters. It is assumed that the enemy has equivalent resources. Note that all parties are similarly constrained by the lack of a foolproof protocol for resecuring BLACKBOX-type assets. Once we let it out, we don't know if we can get it back.





(Special thanks to nottheterritory)

Summary: At 15:15 officers Mendez and Carson responded to complaint about loitering, possible rust trafficking at the corner of Main and 8th. Corner was deserted on drive by, so officers went around the block. At Main and 7th officers witnessed white male age 16-18 running, heard shots fired. Officers called for backup and proceeded on foot in the direction of gunfire. Two white males age 20-24 were seen, one carrying a large pack. Male suspect w. backpack fled; other male took a confrontational stance, opened hands and yelled incoherently. Carson took the lead to apprehend while Mendez followed, weapon drawn. Once within approx. 5 ft. Carson drew her service sidearm and opened fire on Mendez. All shots missed. Carson appeared to be disoriented, possible victim of M-treated implant. Carson began unarmed assault on her fellow officer and witnessed suspect jump to a fire escape approx. 15 ft. above street level. Carson subdued by responding backup. Mendez critically injured. Carson in psychiatric custody pending Novivat liason examination. Case to be referred to FBI and BDEA for federal surgical crimes, enhanced criminal blood trafficking.

Fringe historians typically argue that Novivat took the entire modern lamiary industry from the Nazis, specifically from information provided by its occult societies. This is more indicative of the fringe's interest in the occult than anything else. In the end, these bodies are nothing more than gentleman's clubs with eccentric rituals. They've proven to be powerful institutions (witness Thule GmbH), but this is a function of membership, not the principles of "magick." As anyone in the paramedical industry will tell you, popular information about the V-type is the product of thousands of years of inaccurate mythology. Novivat and its competitors have discovered far more about it in the last half century than the rest of us have learned over the rest of Western history.

The early GGR did shape Novivat's modern practice in a far more mundane and effective fashion. During the Second World War, the Nazis developed specific technologies for transporting, warehousing and exterminating intelligent beings. The modern GGR applies these methods to its slave trade, but less successfully than Novivat runs its lamiaries. While the Reich manages people that are treated inhumanly by state fiat, Novivat has the advantage of managing actual nonhumans.

-- Red Trade: The Secret History of the World's Most Powerful Corporations

Nothing is so capable of making us monsters than identifying the monsters outside and saying, "We are not them."

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

ALINE L. HINRIKSEN v. NOVIVAT INC.
certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the federal circuit

Petitioner alleges that agents of Novivat Inc. retrieved spouse Francis Hinriksen for post-mortem internment before death, arguing that as resuscitation methods have been used to revive patients in similar situations as Mr. Hinriksen, lack of heart function alone is insufficient to establish death and contractual internment. Rejecting the petitioner's claim, the Ninth Circuit accepted defendant Novivat's statements that the cessation of brain activity reduced the commercial viability of the resultant product and that the internment contract explicitly requires an honest attempt at internment while the contractor's corpse adheres to ideal conditions.

Held: In entering into an internment contract Mr. Hinriksen established the definition of his own death. This is inherent to the contract; it may not be entered into without accepting this consequence. Other citizens fall under a medical practitioner's duty of care even after heart function ceases (but before other lifesaving options have exhausted themselves) but internment contractors are property, not persons, at the moment heart function ceases. The existence of any animate process is not in itself sufficient to nullify the contractual obligation. Lugosi v. United States is a clear precedent, showing that even human bodies with more varied and vigorous animate processes are not necessarily persons.

It's not the best picture I got, but it was the only one I managed to come home with. A nice pair of Nillies with sub-machineguns took the good camera. I got this driving by, with a cheap camera I was using for holiday snaps.

NILY (I suppose it should be NIY, but nobody calls it that, apparently) did let us take plenty of pictures when they did demonstrations for the press. Here, they're showing us how they'd enter a vehicle that might be smuggling "animate parabiologicals":



What you don't see in this photo are the two guys from Novivat on the microphone, talking about how rare these incidents are and the benefits of paramed research. So on one hand you hear all kinds of things about NILY being an enforcement agency that's above interference, while on the other, you've got these guys spouting ad copy during a police demonstration.

I wonder what I could have gotten out of analyzing my *good* shots of the NILY building.