The SCP Foundation

Covertly established in 1924 with the Foundation Charter, the SCP Foundation is one of the oldest surviving Normalcy organizations on Earth, tied with the Chaos Insurgency. As of 2019, it employs approximately one million persons world-wide. Of course, it didn't get that big overnight.

The Foundation began as the pet project of Dr. Ezra Fitzwilliam, a Welsh WWI veteran whose first exposure to the anomalous occurred during the Battle of the Somme. Spurned on by the seemingly meaningless nature of both the Great War and the monstrosity it had uncovered, Dr. Fitzwilliam enlisted the help of locksmith-turned-burglar Elizabeth Maddox to ensure humanity would never have to know such horrors ever again.

The Foundation's early years were incredibly rough: in addition to its herculean goals, the Foundation grappled with politics both internal and external — all with a limited budget. Getting by was a matter of smarts, schmooze, and schemes. This especially wasn't helped when the Foundation Civil War ended with the SCPF and CIF at each-others' throats.

It was only in the 90s when things started to look up. With the dissolution of the ASCI, the absorption of GRU-P, and the increasing automation of duties, the SCP Foundation gained a substantial boost in resources and capabilities, putting them in a better position to do what they do best: Secure, Contain, and Protect.

Or, what they try to do best.

The CI Foundation

The Foundation Civil War asked the following: "Are we responsible for saving humanity from itself?"

As the Foundation neared a decade of existence, so too had it grown. Several dozen people had increased to roughly a thousand. More importantly, the world was changing. Fascism was spreading like a cancer, and only a few years ago had the world been rocked by the Great Depression. At what point did "Protect" apply to the non-anomalous?

Factionalism ran rampant, from the lowest agent to the O5s themselves. All of this culminated in October of 1936, when a heated argument between the 21 members of the O5 Council culminated in the Foundation's prolonged split.

The "Chaos Insurgency" Foundation² believes itself to be the successor to the Foundation, in the same way the SCPF does. Unlike the SCPF, however, the CIF believes that the power it wields necessitates its usage towards the betterment of humanity. Not only must it protect Normalcy, it must be the good guy. The Chaos Insurgency³ and Manna Charitable Foundation are merely two ways that's expressed.

It doesn't always work.

The American Supernatural Containment Initiative

Founded in 1801 by the Anomaly Mitigation Acts, the American Supernatural Containment Initiative is… was one of the strongest normalcy organizations in the New World. It was also, probably, one of the worst.

That's not to say they were bad at their jobs. Many modern normalcy orgs owe a fair few techniques to the ASCI, not the least of which being the usage of non-thaumic amnestic administration. Indeed, the Foundation draws its Nexus engagement tactics from the ASCI's work throughout rural America. No, the ASCI was perfectly competent at suppressing the anomalous, and had that been all they were after, everything might've stayed peachy.

But, two things:

1. The ASCI did not play well with its fellow normalcy orgs, even beyond the fact that
2. The ultimate goal of the ASCI was not normalcy: its ultimate goal was Manifest Destiny.

Initial Foundation operations in the United States were quickly set upon by the ASCI, who did everything in their power to wipe them off the face of American territories; in an ironic development, many such operations were conducted in response to anomalies created or worsened by the ASCI (and especially PENTAGRAM, its weapons program). Even the FBI (or at least the precursors to the Unusual Incidents Unit) couldn't quite rein them in.

The fall of the ASCI was prolonged, arguably beginning in 1956 after several high-profile fuck-ups hampered their task force arms. From there, bureaucratic mismanagement and plain bad luck eventually lead to the 1986 Tax Reform Act effectively gutting it.

The American Supernatural Containment Initiative is no more… though the mess it left behind can still be felt.

Office for the Reclamation of Islamic Artifacts

Foundation operation in the Middle East was… delicate, to say the least. With the ASCI doing its usual bullshit, the GOC attempt to stymie any resulting anomalous humanitarian crises, GRU-P tripping over ancient eggshells, and the decidedly non-anomalous discontent following compounded Cold War fuckery, operating anywhere in that vicinity required a steady hand and a silver tongue.

The Iranian Revolution, followed by the establishment of the Office for the Reclamation of Islamic Artifacts, was almost a blessing.

A series of strategic alliances allowed the Foundation to quickly befriend the fledgling normalcy organization. The idea was simple enough: the ORIA received training and amnestics⁴, while the Foundation got to operate safely within high-value territory. The semi-autonomous nature of the ORIA additionally enabled the Foundation to shape it into something new, something… convenient.

Something different.

Really, it should've come as no surprise that in the wake of Iran's 1988 mass political executions, the ORIA would break off from the Islamic Republic entirely.

The Old Gods

"Archons", "Qlippoth", "Voruteut", "Ontohazards"… the Old Gods have many names, and none of them quite fit right.

Little is known about the Old Gods, primarily because even the expression of their concept carries an unnatural horror. Common knowledge posits that they are among the eldest and most powerful entities in the multiverse, monstrosities whose very existence is anathema to reality. Still, that begs the question: if their very existence is harmful, where are they from? What is their purpose?

Perhaps their presence is meaningless, foreign bodies in an imperfect system. If so, those of our world have an incredibly hard time accepting that. Certain opportunistic groups such as the Daeva, Homo sapiens descensus, and Alagadda have taken to forming pacts with them in exchange for power or knowledge; it's doubtful the Old Gods even comprehend such pacts.

Particularly well-known Old Gods include Yaldabaoth, The Factory, The Scarlet King, King Worm, The Unseelie Queen, and The White Wolf. Whether any relation exists between them is unknown.

Obskurakorps and its successors

The Ahnenerbe Obskurakorps was doomed from the start. Created at the behest of Nazi Germany's elite, the Obskurakorps's purpose was two-fold:

1. To "prove" the superiority of the ancestral Germans through occult pseudoscience and pop-history.
2. To protect said "superiority" by any means necessary.

Obskurakorps was a vanity project with too much funding, even before it instigated the Seventh Occult War. In attempting to work backwards from violent, ahistorical conclusions, the Obskurakorps rubbed swamp dirt into reality's gaping wounds, spawning myriads of paranatural monstrosities and maddened war machines.

As the War raged, the Obskurakorps began to rot. The turning point was November 9th, 1943, when Vergeltungswaffen 0 fired upon four German cities, instigating mass resignations (including, infamously, the Sonderkommando for the Paranormal's defection to the Allied Occult Coalition) and drawing renewed attention from the SCPF.

Of those that fought to the bitter end, the majority were hung in a trial headed by the fledgling Global Occult Coalition. Many of those that remained were either scavenged by PENTAGRAM or hunted and killed by the CIF. Whatever remained scattered to the winds, and eventually coalesced into two successors: OBSKURA and the Fourth Reich.

OBSKURA is a shadow of the Great Idiot it once was. Primarily active in the Americas, OBSKURA is nearly indistinguishable from contemporary neo-nazi terrorist groups, desperately working to start "the Race War" before it's claimed by the dust.

The Fourth Reich is another matter entirely.

Headed by "Mr. Rass"⁵, the Fourth Reich is a culturally-fascist paramilitary force that sees itself as the rightful heir to Germany. In contrast to the Obskurakorps, 4R rejects factionalism, drawing recruits from across the far-rightist spectrum⁶. Hopefully, the Foundation can send them the way of their predecessors.

And hopefully, that happens before they break something important.

Are We Cool Yet?

Fledgling artist Xavier Dior was with Ezra Fitzwilliam during the Battle of the Somme, and saw the same things he did. Like Dr. Fitzwilliam, Dior bore witness to meaningless brutality, an ever-fluid landscape of mud and trenches trod into dust by compounded monstrosity. But where Fitzwilliam saw an opportunity to make things right, Dior saw a future of nothing.

When the war ended, Dior disappeared from the public eye, never to be seen again. Attempts to track him down to his estate yielded only a dilapidated dwelling, several malformed sculptures, and a sardonic screed that asked the following: "Sommes-Nous Devenus Magnifiques?"

Dior's manifesto quickly made its way through the disillusioned artists of Europe. From there, it began to… change. Expand. Evolve into something wholly new. What was once a cynical critique of early 20th-century modernity became a unified question.

Are We Cool Yet? is an incredibly broad movement, covering anything from organized salons to squatter communities to college art collectives to independent artists with a message. What AWCY? means differs immensely between each instance of its expression. Only one thing is certain: things need to be broken before they can be fixed.

And AWCY? delights in destruction through creation.

The Imit

The history of intelligent primates is… incredibly rocky, to say the least, but humanity can rest easy knowing it isn't 70,000 BCE.

Species of Interest-004 ("Homo postdescensus"/"The Imit") are the near-extinct offshoots of Homo sapiens idolatu, genetically manipulated by Homo sapiens descensus as part of some ancient punishment lost to time. Following the fall of Descensus (and the subsequent beginning of the Forgotten Age), the Imit scattered to the winds, living as hunter-gatherers. It wasn't until around 19500 BCE that they began to form their first proto-civilizations in the modern-day MENA region.

Imit culture drew heavily from their Descensus precursors, incorporating early fleshcraft and construct thaumaturgy. However, in the wake of the Forgotten and Nocturnal ages, context was lost. Mutative punishments became bodily decorations, war machines became protector spirits, and the cruel industrial Old God of Descensus was (generally) replaced with reverence to a serpentine spirit of wisdom and light.

The beginning of the end for the Imit roughly coincided with the Daevite expansion in the 8000s BCE, and the subsequent and brutal genocide enacted upon them in retaliation for Able of Eden's early victories. By the time of the Bronze Age, what little Imit remained had been forced into the dark corners of earth, to weather the horrors of man in solitude.

Physically, the Imit are highly variant, appearing as claylike humanoids between .5 and 3.8 meters in height. They are asexual, reproducing by fission. The Imit's diet primarily consisted of putrefied meat and root vegetables. Most importantly, however, the Imit retain an ancestral memory of Descensus's schemas, along with the urge to implement them.

On their own, however, that might not go smoothly.

Olney Ironworks

Established in 1886 by Karl Klotter and Charles Olney, Olney Ironworks was an important player in the American economy. By the 1950s it had a hand in nearly every pie: iron, wood, meatpacking, electronics, toys, etc. Olney prides itself on its all-American drive⁷. Even after its bankruptcy in 2018⁸, the spark of "can-do" shines in the heart of seemingly every member of the workforce.

Of course, Olney exists above the veil. It is a holdings company primarily invested in the industrial sector, and contributing to such. There are no plans to summon any horrors, or take over the world, or consume the sun, or even just to make money with magic. From top to bottom, the employees of Olney are a simple, straightforward folk.

… but the Ironworks have a mind of their own.

Through some inexplicable curse, force, blessing, or otherwise, Olney has a bad habit of going… wrong. It might be the means of production, those faceless iron gods with a bad habit of ignoring the foremen. Maybe it's the myriad horrors shuffling within (and occasionally without) the furnaces. Perhaps the corporate offices, shifting like silent pillars of ants, have something to do with it. In any case, one thing is clear: the workers are no longer in control.

This, of course, is all normal factory goings-ons. It's why Olney hired several consulting and maintenance firms who refuse to give you a name. The black gas they spray the machines with is an experimental anti-rust formula; ignore the fact that it seems to strip the very self from unprotected personnel, and sign this NDA would you? Those weird metal shapes taken away in unmarked trucks are art pieces Olney loves donating to the local art community. The pill is full of vitamin C, and it's good for you, so take it already.

In any case, official company policy is as follows:

• Everything is normal.
• Contact your assigned supervisor if you are under the mistaken belief that everything is not normal.
• Factory faults are normal. So is eliminating factory faults.
• The cognitive dissonance following a report to a supervisor is the result of stress, so remember to pace yourself.
• There are some things you will never understand.

The King of Hearts Collective

The King of Hearts Collective was an independent record company based in BackDoor SoHo, managed by a collective of anomalous musicians. Founded in 2005 by Deer alumni Zend Soprano and Xuegang "Brad Lee" Cameron-Long (with help from Jack of Spades, who it was partially named after), the KoHC was primarily intended as a bridge between the veil, allowing anartists to safely distribute their art… or at least their normal art.

Because the KoHC was founded to facilitate the spread of (neutralized) anart, much of its operations necessitated a tight and careful working relationship with the surrounding anomalous orgs. In combination with the heavy anticapitalist leanings of its management, the KoHC never quite made all that much in the way of profits. But it was fine with that.

At its peak, the King of Hearts Collective was one of the largest anart distributors in the anomalous world. But that was before House of Spades blew itself up.

Dr. Wondertainment

Dr. Wondertainment is:

• The pseudonym of a man named John Schuster, an African-American toymaker who quit his job at the Factory to start a business in 1854 Chicago.
• A seal on several toys developed by John "Wondertainment" Schuster, to verify them as authentic Schuster originals.
• A platonic thoughtform, created by the joy spread by Mr. Schuster's line of toys.
• The True Name of the man formally known as John Schuster, who embodied the Wondertainment ideal through word and deed.
• The company started by Dr. Wondertainment, to better facilitate the spread of Wonder and Entertainment throughout the world.
• Succeeded by Dr. Mortimer Carlyle of the former Marshall Carlyle and Darke, having been moved by the spirit of Wondertainment to rededicate his life towards spreading joy.
• The holdings company created by Dr. Wondertainment II, in an attempt to diversify the spirit of Wondertainment to better establish a market dominance.
• Agent Jubal Gollancz, a Chaos Insurgency plant meant to be a puppet leader, but wholly subsumed by the spirit of Wondertainment.
• Carmi Aharoni, a man so disgusted by increasingly corporate nature of Dr. Wondertainment™ that he broke off to continue spreading the joy of Wondertainment on his own.
• Dr. Isabel Parvati, a woman attempting to reconcile the spirit of Wondertainment with the need for capital.
• None of the above, maybe.
• All of the above, possibly.

Dr. Wondertainment is not:

• Out to hurt people.
• On good terms with the Factory.
• Liable for harm stemming from improper usage of Wondertainment-brand products.

Marshall Carter & Dark

Marshall Carter & Dark (officially MC&D) is not MC&D's clientele.

MC&D's clientele is the exceedingly wealthy, the men and women propped up by Old Money and not much else. Bored hedonists, thrill-seekers, what have you, all are attracted to the allure of something new, the exclusive, the most novel experience money can buy. MC&D offers one of the few things they do not have, which is exactly what they need.

MC&D do not care for novelty. They do not care about extravagance, or raw pleasure, or staving off the fear of a seemingly inevitable death with little trinkets.

MC&D's clientele are the NGOs of the anomalous world, those who need to launder money through secure channels in order to continue operating, those who need something distant, those who'd just really love to acquire components for just a little bit of summoned muscle. The race to kill your opponent in the dark in service of the light is brutal, after all.

MC&D does not care for violence. They do not care about bloodshed, or death, or blood that cannot be sold.

MC&D's clientele are the businesses of the anomalous world, such as Ambrose and Dr. Wondertainment™. "Normalcy" may drive demand for the anomalous, but the capital involved is just as anomalous as the products produced. Working through a middle man is a small price to pay when the alternative is not making any money in the first place.

MC&D does not care for money. They do not care about gold, or jewelry, or wealth beyond pursuit of their primary interest.

So, what do Marshall, Carter, and Dark care for? Simple:

Power.