Aletheskia

A world in the shadow of greater truth, where mankind clings to one false tenet: There's no such thing as monsters.

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Latest World Events

Frances Doubua made a Move (Devils_Theatre GMed) 11 hours, 41 minutes ago. View Move

Sci-fi Author's Fans Get New Content in Interactive Community Program!

After fan outcries seemed to fall on deaf ears until recently, when sci-fi author Alan Cole created a new community content program in which fans can create their characters in the universe. Fans can join the website and create their characters that live within the universe and partake in adventures with other fan's characters. The website has an adjoining social media communication server in which characters are approved and adventures are played out online. Even the author has taken part in the fun, creating his character in which to play with his fans. Alan Cole has declined to comment, and the site is currently seeing only a small amount of play, but fans are enthusiastic after years of inactivity and hopeful that this means new books may be in the future.

 

 

Posted by PascalsAngel, 2 weeks, 5 days ago. Permalink

CEO on Extended Vacation?

"Chad Thunder, controversial CEO of TITAN Dynamics, has been missing for over a month now, and the stock price has been suffering. The board has elected Elizabeth Boom to assume the position of CEO in his absence. This is what she had to say."

A well dressed, hard looking woman in a dress suit sits behind a massive wooden desk. In the corner, a couch made of exotic furs and a weight rack can be seen. She speaks without preamble.

"I have agreed to assume this position with great reluctance. I have a deep respect for what Chad has done for the company, and once this situation has resolved, I will step down and return the position.
Until then, I will not lead how he may have led, but I will employ what I have learned from him, and do right by both TITAN Dynamics and its Employees."

The video has mixed reviews, and the comments on the story are full of speculation.

"Only time will tell how Chad's absence, and Ms. Boom's elevation, will impact the market."

Latest Journals

1 week, 1 day ago: Sarah "Bunny" Brok wrote a Downtime Journal for 404 Error - Data Not Found

Being Sneaky for Money

More social media and content creator sites, and learning more vocabulary about the internet and animal trivia. Between dad and Penny we're getting more traffic from putting up stuff on the different big social media, with dad legally supervising Penny but usually really busy making stuff. The bird site, the sky site, the picture sharing site, all that.

 

We're also adding a fun thing for people on the coffee site, not just fun stickers. They can hire me to talk to their pets now. So far the first time they usually think it's just something fun and silly, but lots of them come back for help after. I told one of them about their dog's toothache, another about their cat's abdominal pain, and talked a parrot into behaving better, and so on. Them telling people about it gets more people interested, and nobody can objectively prove that I did anything beyond coincidence. (yes, I get help thinking of the right big words sometimes)

 

I almost forgot, we're also going to put up video of me cleverly using other abilities too, and letting people believe I'm just really good at various things, like that I'm a top tier free climber and swimmer. Once I finish resting up from recent adventures.

 

Without having to pay for things like rent and food, the money coming in is really starting to add up! I'd better bring Penny to that video game place soon, as thanks. She understands that, at least for now, I need to save up as much as we can for emergency use on missions.

1 week, 4 days ago: Sarah "Bunny" Brok wrote a Downtime Journal for Maikendo

Nature show time!

I got annoyed at trying to get something interesting enough for people to pay for online, so of course Penny took care of it. She's tricky, in a good way. I thought I'd bring back video for her, from exploring as different animals. Bird, fish, bat, cuttlefish, rabbit of course, and I was trying to think of more. So when I was showing these to Penny I got excited and started rambling all about everything. She was recording it.

 

She edited what I said to take out references to me *being* the animals and made it seem like a nature documentary. Then she added text and stuff to the video, so people could follow what I'd pointed out while we were watching. When I finally saw it, she convinced me that people online would love it. After trickling out one video after another the third one went viral. We have an audience. We're going to make more animal POV stuff, and explore places that are legal to go.

 

Penny and dad have been figuring out how to get word of mouth traffic through social media. They figured out that I could put videos on Patreon first, and add little themed items on ko-fi, and I think we're off to a great start. Another viral video or two, or at least the YouTube audience going to the other places too, and I should finally be able to pay for my own food and travel expenses! Oh, and I need to get lots of footage everywhere I end up!

2 weeks ago: Floyd Tarlton wrote a Downtime Journal for Echos Below

The Tongueless, the Divine, and the Damned

Okiyama Odi's new tongue works almost too well. Ever since the Blue Flame regenerated what that Boise horror vaporized, he's developed a habit of narrating his meals like a food critic - including my terrible coffee. ("Burnt despair with notes of existential dread.") We meet in diner booths where he coordinates his underground transport network between bites of pie.

Chad Thunder still hasn't recovered from our last negotiation. When I demanded 10% of ThunderCorp's profits for homeless housing instead of healing his yacht injuries, his face did something truly spectacular. The security team's escort left me with nothing but a Floyd-shaped hole in his ego. Worth it.

Sam Cassius meets me in motel parking lots, always leaning against that '67 Impala like he's in some noir film. The jiangshi venom in his ribs still flares up, but the man would rather chew glass than admit weakness. Our latest deal: his cursed athame for my healing.

1 month, 1 week ago: Brandy Reed wrote a Downtime Journal for Shadows of St. Blythe

Step 2...

So Tabatha Elisabeta Charlotte Von Sterling II turned out to be a little bit of a disappointment... and I don't know any full-blooded vampires, because Tabby's only a dhampir like me. I didn't end up moving in, she agreed, but after the dhampir/vampire reveal... I moved back out not long after. She was up front about it, and I stayed there for a month. She enjoyed all the extra room inside, I wonder if she's disappointed that I left.

So now I have to figure out what to do next. I'm thinking about becoming an influencer. I have become much more captivating since unlocking the vampiric blood that flows within my veins... I think I can use that. I can get into any party now, people love people like that, and I can lie like no other now... also very useful. I think I will start documenting my journey from trailer trash goth to high class goth, that'll definitely get some views!

1 month, 3 weeks ago: M.E.R.C. wrote a Downtime Journal for The Hand That Leads You

Post mission 1 entry

I had hoped to vacate in Jamaica after the mission's completion, but instead I ended up in Haiti. I had hoped to return the rowboat to the newlywed couple, instead, I was hundreds of miles away. The mission could have been, should have been, a zero casualty mission.

Nothing went as planned.

Technically, a success, and I walked away unharmed. So by military standards, it was a "good" mission. Shared contact information on that long boat ride, still not sure about two of them. Frances feels like a civilian in a combat zone. Sam feels like a soldier, a skilled soldier no less, but overzealous, like Hodge. Momo, though, good head, prepared, versatile, and experienced in these contracts. I think she could be a useful ally.

Now I just got to get back home, thank god I still have $750. With Haiti's economy and my military background, the consulate should be able to easily get me back stateside.

2 months ago: Dearil Allani wrote a Downtime Journal for Shadows of St. Blythe

An untitled Journal

I spoke with man in the bucket hat. Cell phones are too useful, and the distance was no real obstacle. He had been injured, and I offered him the medicine I received from Jason. He wanted promises, favors in the future, and so negotiations took some time to conclude. But conclude they did, and so I travelled to meet him in secret. For the means to cure what ailed him, he labored for 16 hours. It feels unnatural, but I could not miss the opportunity.

My guts are not my own, not entirely. There is a space there now. A place to secret away tools, to hold that which is precious. I keep the bones of an old sister there now. Her supplication in death, something in her manner spoke to me. The dead, I can feel them more clearly now. Watching. Supporting. I can feel, they would safeguard my passage, along the way.

2 months, 3 weeks ago: Alan Samuel Cole wrote a Downtime Journal for Stairway to Nowhere

Paper

Paper dolls.  Shadow puppets. 

Why do I care?

I'm alone in a sea of chatbots.  Feels real but it's all a lie. Everyone I will meet here is just a drawing, a caricature of the person I should be meeting. 

And it's working its way into me. 

People are people. Everyone deserves to make it home.

But not everyone does. I know that better than most. Sometimes home isn't even a place to make it back to. Any port in a storm, till the storm's closing in, and the shadow men are all you've got. 

Why these people?  Why these jobs? is there some lesson to be learned here? Here in the ocean of false friends.  

I got so angry at Gideon when I thought he was throwing himself away. He mentioned another world. I need to know how he came here, and if he's just another shadow on the wall, cast by the fire I dare not turn my face to...

 

 

Stop being dramatic.

 

2 months, 4 weeks ago: Valentin Reznik wrote a Downtime Journal for It's Cleanup Day!

Who is this in the mirror?

The first Slasher’s blood felt like justice. The Contract’s payouts just feel like… numbers. Have I stopped caring? The Contract’s Harbingers upgraded me greatly since it began. My fists crack concrete. My skin stops bullets. But last night, I woke up and my teeth were bleeding black. Is this what she went through before she disappeared? Or is this unique to me? Maybe this is why she sought her grandfather's medical company and his aid? I found her old coat in a pawn shop. Left it there. She’d hate what I’ve become. Sure, it wasn't literally hers, somehow I could smell the difference, but it was the same style, same brand, even the same size. I know I'm nowhere near Darien Connecticut where she lives now, if she exists in this new world at all, but the resemblance was otherwise uncanny. That last Contract, it's left me wondering just who I've become, and how far it will go...

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The Nescience

Humanity thinks itself both wise and powerful. They are only half right.

Mankind's great civilizations, built of metal and glass and plastics, exist on the notion that they are the top of the food chain. That nothing hunts them in the shadows. Those who know better know how fragile society could be in the face of panic, and encourage the notion that there are no monsters but their own.

En masse, mankind could perhaps threaten the hunts and machinations in the shadows, but isolated and unknowing, they make excellent pawns and prey.

Which is exactly how the monsters like it.

Now powerfully driven individuals are tested, and when found worthy rewarded with power, that they may use for their own purposes.

What are yours?

House Rules

Contractors from Aletheskia Are portable, and may play in Contracts in other Playgroups.
Aletheskia grants 6 Experience points to GMs who achieve the Golden Ratio.
  • Citizenship: Active Players are expected to GM Contracts from time to time. If you have played as a Contractor in your most recent six Contracts, you are barred from playing in The Illumination again until you GM
  • Artifact Visibility: legendary and crafted artifacts need not necessarily be obviously alien when providing passive or concealed benefits.  When using active obvious effects they are obviously alien, but others may be determined by flavor.

Full Setting Description

There's no such thing as monsters...

 

The Nescience is an alternate version of modern-day Earth that is mostly the same as the world we live in. However, in The Nescience, unexplainable phenomena are not relegated to myths and legends. Werewolves actually exist, miracles sometimes happen, and something really did land in Roswell (and it wasn't a weather balloon).

 

Phenomena that science cannot—or has not yet—explained are commonly referred to as "supernatural." These incidents are exceedingly rare; most people go their entire lives without witnessing a supernatural event firsthand, and most that survive one dismiss it, eventually. Everyone knows that monsters aren't real, and people who disagree often end up institutionalized, or worse.

 

With the invention of the internet and smartphones, whispered and unspoken agreements between the enlightened hold firmer than ever. Hoaxes abound, and on the global scale tragedy is so common that the numbers cease to matter. The public wont believe a crackpot conspiracy theorist, but the things in the dark might. The masses won't notice if they suddenly go missing.

 

The genuine, the true, the Verum. The things in the dark like to stay in the dark, and the most powerful organizations of both worlds benefit from the status quo, it is their nature.

World Events

Frances Doubua made a Move (Devils_Theatre GMed) 11 hours, 41 minutes ago. View Move

Sci-fi Author's Fans Get New Content in Interactive Community Program!

After fan outcries seemed to fall on deaf ears until recently, when sci-fi author Alan Cole created a new community content program in which fans can create their characters in the universe. Fans can join the website and create their characters that live within the universe and partake in adventures with other fan's characters. The website has an adjoining social media communication server in which characters are approved and adventures are played out online. Even the author has taken part in the fun, creating his character in which to play with his fans. Alan Cole has declined to comment, and the site is currently seeing only a small amount of play, but fans are enthusiastic after years of inactivity and hopeful that this means new books may be in the future.

 

 

Posted by PascalsAngel, 2 weeks, 5 days ago. Permalink

CEO on Extended Vacation?

"Chad Thunder, controversial CEO of TITAN Dynamics, has been missing for over a month now, and the stock price has been suffering. The board has elected Elizabeth Boom to assume the position of CEO in his absence. This is what she had to say."

A well dressed, hard looking woman in a dress suit sits behind a massive wooden desk. In the corner, a couch made of exotic furs and a weight rack can be seen. She speaks without preamble.

"I have agreed to assume this position with great reluctance. I have a deep respect for what Chad has done for the company, and once this situation has resolved, I will step down and return the position.
Until then, I will not lead how he may have led, but I will employ what I have learned from him, and do right by both TITAN Dynamics and its Employees."

The video has mixed reviews, and the comments on the story are full of speculation.

"Only time will tell how Chad's absence, and Ms. Boom's elevation, will impact the market."

Okiyama Oda made a Move (EvilRicktator GMed) 3 weeks, 1 day ago. View Move

Affordable Auto Repair

 

Looking for excellent service and maintenance on your car, truck, or SUV, but short on cash?  Oki Oda has the touch!  No one will show it the loving care that Oki will!

Engine, Electrical, drivetrain, brakes, and body work, Oki is always ready to service your machine! Whatever gremlins plague your car, he can soothe it's woes and set things right!
Go get your car treated right! Call 213-###-####

Testimonials form satisfied Customers: 

★★★★★ - Fast, friendly service!  Oki is the best!

★★★★★ - Thought my truck was a goner, but Oki got him riding smooth!

★★★★☆ - Fast and professional.  A little showy, but it's Hollywood, what're you gonna do?

Sam Cassius made a Move (PascalsAngel GMed) 3 weeks, 1 day ago. View Move

Wardens Shoot, Sheriffs do too

Independent Ellsworth

Reporter County

The Kansas Game Wardens and Ellsworth County Sheriff’s Office are still tight-lipped about the men and women they shot these last two days in Kanopolis State Park. We still know little about the first man, but eyewitness reports back claims that they had no choice: the naked man they shot was pursuing another man through Rockin’ K Horse Campground and attacking anyone that approached. He refused to follow orders from the Sheriffs or Game Wardens, and while being electrocuted with a stun gun attempted to attack a Game Warden. Later that same day, the woman was found trying to eat an unconscious man, and also refused to follow orders to stop or surrender. Once source claims that, in addition to muscle and flesh from the chest and arms, she ate one of the man’s eyeballs and gums.

The details of the case bare striking similarities to the Miami Zombie Attack in 2012, and bath salts seem likely to be the cause.

Aiden Mercer made a Move (PascalsAngel GMed) 3 weeks, 1 day ago. View Move

RTX Graphics Cards Replaced with Junk

“-the latest, greatest, and most powerful graphics card on the market. Computer enthusiasts have to fight for their chance to buy as AI related business interests clean out the markets, but making the purchase is only the first hurdle. Thefts from the manufacturer Zotac’s Chinese factory have resulted in at least 30 Dummy GPUs going out on the market, replaced with ‘crossbody backpacks.’

”The factory has checks in place to detect errors and tampering, so it’s assumed the three cheap backpacks one Reddit use found after a trip to MicroCenter must closely resemble the graphics cards in weight and volume. Even if only 30 GPUs were stolen, low supply makes their value on secondary markets extraordinary, and the theft’s approximate value would exceed $90,000.”

A Contractor made a Move (Happy_Mutant GMed) 2 months ago. View Move

Strangers in a Strange Time

An excerpt from a fringe conspiracy theory news source:

A WEEKLY WORLD NEWS REPORT:

For weeks now, our dedicated investigative journalists have been following leads all across the globe, reporting strange lights in the skies and connecting them to eyewitness testimonials that the local, state and provincial, even national and international authorities, and the media resources they control have had locked up in various farcical mental health facilities or otherwise silence through uses of intimidation and coercion! Less determined reporters wouldn't have noticed that every single one of these reports matches the other testimonials of these strange lights, or the fact that at the scene of every instance is someone the authorities silenced who claimed to be from a similar but clearly different world entirely...

Posted by JHoneyz, 2 months ago. Permalink

Massacre In Monaco!

BREAKING: MASSACRE AT NOBU NIGHTCLUB


Anchor (V.O.)

Good evening, I’m Cassandra Duval, and you’re watching Monte Carlo International News. Our top story tonight: an unprecedented massacre that has shaken the very heart of Monaco’s elite district.


Anchor (On-Camera):
At approximately 11:23  PM local time last night, two on-duty bodyguards, assigned to a visiting dignitary, erupted in a frenzied attack within the famed Nobu Nightclub. Eyewitnesses report that the guards, later determined to be heavily dosed on an experimental psychoactive compound, unleashed lethal assault upon patrons and staff, leaving an estimated 70 civilians dead and dozens more critically injured before Monaco’s Special Intervention Unit engaged. Both assailants were neutralized in a coordinated take down at 11:39 PM. Photos show no bullet wounds, but simply murder with hands and knives.


Cut To Correspondent (Live, Nightclub Entrance):
“Thank you, Cassandra. I’m standing just outside the main entrance of Nobu, where scenes of devastation remain frozen in time. Witnesses describe the attackers moving with inhuman speed and precision; executing crowd-control techniques they’d no doubt practiced in training, but without restraint. Security cameras indicate a 16-minute rampage: the first bodies hit the floor, and by the time authorities breached the perimeter, the guards had advanced to the balcony level, throwing civilians below. I spoke moments ago with Monaco’s Chief of Police, Commissioner Laurent Giraud.”

Audio Clip (Commissioner Giraud):

“This is a day of profound sorrow for Monaco. We have lost innocent lives in an act of violence we never imagined possible here. An immediate inquiry has been launched into how these individuals obtained such a potent substance, and how they bypassed security protocols designed to protect our citizens.”


Anchor (On-Camera):
Investigators confirm both bodyguards were clandestinely supplied with “Neurox-23,” an unlicensed designer drug originally developed for enhanced combat performance. Early toxicology reports suggest they were exposed to doses several times higher than previously recorded in any field test.

Graphic On Screen: “Neurox-23: KEY FACTS”

  • Developer: Undisclosed private contractor

  • Primary Effect: Heightened aggression & reduced pain sensitivity

  • Status: Illegal; undergoing black-market proliferation

Authorities have cordoned off the casino and adjacent harbor district, conducting door-to-door checks for further accomplices. The ruling Prince’s office has issued a statement expressing “deepest condolences” and vowing to “bring all responsible parties to justice.”


Anchor (V.O.):
Monaco’s close-knit community is reeling. Vigils are being held across Monte Carlo tonight, as residents and visitors alike grapple with the loss of friends and family. We’ll continue our coverage as more details emerge and bring you the latest developments from the Palace and France’s financial regulators, who are now probing potential links between illicit drug networks and high-profile security firms.

From Monte Carlo, I’m Cassandra Duval. Stay with us for continuing coverage on MCIN.

[Closing Graphic and Music]

A Contractor made a Move (PascalsAngel GMed) 2 months ago. View Move

Bloody Tides at Ocean Beach

ABC7 News
Fall of Saigon | Remembering Pope Francis | Warriors in Playoffs | Live Weather Conditions

"-aren't the first deaths at Ocean Beach. Following the death of Jeremy Henrickson one month ago, Officer Wesley Stewart and an unidentified elderly man have been found dead along the Ocean Beach seawall. Footage from a nearby camera shows Officer Wesley arrive at the beach just after 10 pm and exit his cruiser to approach a muscle car, parked along the seawall. He engages the man in an apparently polite exchange, and things proceed as normal." 

A grainy embedded video shows the interaction proceed as described, fast forwarding through several minutes of inactivity. The man next to the muscle car looks out over the seawall while the officer sits in his cruiser.

The officer gets out to hand something to the man and turns to leave, but as he reaches his cruiser again the image pixelates, stutters, and goes black.

"All copies of the footage beyond this point are corrupted, and the SFPD reports Officer Wesley's bodycam and dashcam both were damaged at the scene, and that their backups failed. 29 years old, SFPD reports his cause of death as severe blunt force trauma, and multiple incised wounds to the neck and chest. The unidentified-"

A Contractor made a Move (JHoneyz GMed) 2 months, 1 week ago. View Move

Breakthrough in Cancer Care: FDA Approves Oncoguard-XL to Protect Patients During Chemotherapy

Breakthrough in Cancer Care: FDA Approves Oncoguard-XL to Protect Patients During Chemotherapy

[Opening shot: News studio, anchor seated at the desk.]

ANCHOR
"Good evening. In what doctors are calling a major leap forward in cancer care, the FDA has officially approved a new drug that could make chemotherapy safer and more tolerable for patients across the country."

[Cut to side screen: 'ONCOGUARD-XL APPROVED' with a soft graphic of a DNA helix and hospital imagery.]

ANCHOR
"The drug, called Oncoguard-XL, acts like a shield for healthy cells, dramatically reducing some of the most painful and dangerous side effects of chemotherapy without weakening its cancer-fighting power."

"For many patients, that could mean fewer infections, fewer hospital stays... and a lot less time spent recovering from the treatment itself."

[Footage rolls: clips of patients walking in hospital hallways, doctors reviewing charts, smiling families.]

ANCHOR
"Developed by Artemis Therapeutics, Oncoguard-XL uses a specially designed iron-glutamate compound to protect healthy tissues from the toxic effects of chemo drugs. Clinical trials showed promising results; patients saw up to a forty percent drop in serious complications like severe mouth sores and life-threatening infections."

"And perhaps most importantly: Oncoguard-XL didn’t interfere with the chemotherapy’s ability to destroy cancer cells."

[Cut back to Anchor at the desk.]

ANCHOR
"For survivors like Elena Ramirez, the drug has been life-changing."

[Roll clip: Elena, smiling softly, speaking.]

ELENA (clip):
"Before Oncoguard, I spent more time in the hospital than at home. After starting it, I could actually live through my treatment — not just survive it."

[Back to Anchor.]

ANCHOR
"The FDA says side effects from Oncoguard-XL were mild for most patients — things like nausea, dizziness, or a metallic taste. Doctors believe the benefits far outweigh the risks."

"Starting this June, the drug will be available nationwide for adult patients undergoing chemotherapy, with pediatric studies already underway."

[Screen shows a hotline number and website for patient assistance programs.]

ANCHOR
"And in a welcome move, Artemis Therapeutics is launching a financial assistance program to help patients afford the medication, especially those without full insurance coverage."

[Pause, warm smile.]

ANCHOR
"Tonight, for thousands of patients and families, this approval marks something more than just a new drug. It’s a new chapter of hope."

[Anchor transitions to the next segment.]

"Still ahead: how local communities are rallying to help veterans access critical mental health care. Stay with us."

Sam Cassius made a Move (PascalsAngel GMed) 3 months, 1 week ago. View Move

Missing and Dead

ABC7 News

"-of this year, 1,400 San Francisco residents are missing, 20,000 in California at large. Many of the case details are sealed to the public, and the odds are likely that most won't be found alive. Our local SFPD has a homicide clearance rate of more than 90%, well above the national average, but lags behind in almost all other departments, including missing persons cases. In 2021, agencies involved in public health, women and family services, law enforcement and legal services reported 165 cases of human trafficking. The numbers are down from the 673 cases reported in 2017, but COVID-19 created barriers to entry for many agencies seeking to uncover, limit, and prosecute cases. Our-"

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