Mission Operatives

A world where videos of the supernatural go viral every day.

Latest Journals

2 weeks ago: Normal Cop wrote a Downtime Journal for The Imbuement

An untitled Journal

Police are individuals. Some cops are good-hearted, others are power-tripping bastards. But every uniformed officer is on the front lines of the policing culture war. 

As an institution, the police endeavor to maintain the status quo. They prefer to arrest troublemakers instead of killing them (usually), and they avoid violent conflict when possible (usually). 

Police in The Illumination do not arrest or confiscate supernatural beings or artifacts just by nature of them being supernatural. Their job is to keep the peace so that capitalism can peacefully take its course.

In the USA, police are well-armed and trained to be paranoid. Anyone could be hiding a gun or a knife, and any encounter could turn deadly at any moment. As such, they’re often trigger-happy. They are trained not to take their eyes off of suspects until they’re cuffed and secured. They have radios, GPS that reports their location, regular check-ins with HQ, and backup is only a call away. 

Contractors often get into conflict with the police. Their objectives are rarely aligned with maintaining the status quo, and even if they are, they’re unlikely to trust the cops to do a suitable job. 

Police aren’t always accessible. The nearest cop car could be hours away in extremely rural areas. Calling 911 in a crowded city could involve waiting on hold for 10 minutes before even talking to a dispatcher. If the police are accessible, they generally take 5-10 minutes to arrive at a high-priority call like a shooting.

2 weeks, 2 days ago: Tin wrote a Contract Journal for Smell no Evil

Screw that, I'm going swimming!

So that sucked, but at least the one person who caught me doing anything let me off. I really was willing to help her take care of things, but in my condition I wouldn't have been much help. If any.

 

I hate having to spend as much money as I did, but I was right that it helped in the long run. Now to go through the obnoxious process of letting my body recover while I rest my brain. I don't have a lot of money left, and need to afford a way home, so I guess I have to do that on the streets. At least they're nice streets.

 

In the meantime, I plan to do a lot of swimming and keeping an eye out for other dragons.

 

I need to ask the right starting questions next time, I didn't have nearly the right preparations and not enough time to do anything if I'd known.

 

I also need to get better at talking to people, I have plenty of time to practice while I recover! What do normal people talk about anyway? Do I need a crash course in how to be normal? Except I'm not normal. At least I realize normal people don't want to kill me on sight, that'll help, but I don't know what to say if they prod me about my "GenWyld mods" that aren't mods. Do they even make actual moving wings?

 

Most of this would be easier if I could look human, but I'm not getting surgery to do it! I don't care if GenWyld can remove things too, I like who I am!

2 weeks, 3 days ago: Tin wrote a Downtime Journal for The Imbuement

Faeries make swimwear??

So, Frank's trust in me has been increasing, and now I know that he's keeping more secrets and has good reason for keeping them. I also know he has reasons for helping me learn things, though I'm surprised at how much he knows about how humans fight unarmed. I'm less surprised at his ability to explain scientific ideas I've never properly understood.

 

The other big thing? It's magic and all that comes with it. Apparently we're naturals at it, but we need to exercise caution around other supernatural beings. Especially faeries.

 

Frank knows some of those, and they deal back and forth for different things. It took him literal decades to get on such good terms with them, and telling me that gave away two of his secrets. One, he's older than me but not ancient, which also tells me the other secret. He's not the sleeping dragon.

 

I confronted him about that and he admitted that the big dragon is female, and manifested both of our eggs in ways he doesn't understand. What he does understand is that she does it every 63 years, and each of us has traits from an assortment of local mammals. We both have a little bit of bat and armadillo, I have some otter, he has some raccoon, and so on. I was given a lot of human while Frank only got the ability to think and talk like them. Apparently we have (had?) an older sibling that's part pronghorn, but Frank hasn't spotted them since before I was born.

 

Anyway, after spending so much time with Frank he decided it was time to give me a gift, something he asked for from his fae friends. It's a replacement for my swimsuit. I started wearing one to make space for my wings and tail, but it tears and I can't wash it as often as I want to. So, this new one is made of some kind of special silk, I think it's at least partially spider silk from magic spiders. It's really tough to tear and puncture, and easy to fix with just a little bit of thread. Normal thread turns into whatever the suit is made of when you're done sewing. Also it kinda self cleans by repelling anything that would stain it or make it dirty. Just shake it out really good, leave it out in moonlight, and it's fine!

 

He said it does more, but he wasn't told what. It was made for me so I need to figure that out myself.

Latest Completed Contracts

5 Contracts have been run in this Playgroup

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Illuminated Earth

Illuminated Earth is a twisted reflection of the modern world where the advent of smartphones and the internet confirmed the existence of the supernatural instead of disproving it. Here, witch hunts have merit. Billionaires and Senators employ paranormal advisors and bodyguards, and everyone knows. Charlatans become pop culture icons, and each revelation inspires a new cult. The world is changing. The secret societies that pull humanity's strings scramble to adapt.

Now's a good time to move up, but you may be on your own...

House Rules

Contractors from Mission Operatives Are portable, and may play in Contracts in other Playgroups.
Mission Operatives 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.
  • Supernatural Powers: All non-mastery, non-concealed Powers must be obviously supernatural when activated or grant a mutation that marks the wielder as supernatural or bizarre if discovered.
  • Missions: Contracts in this playgroup are called Missions, and are only to involve one, or occasionally two Contractors (who are called Operatives.)
    • Professional Missions: Once an Operative reaches Professional rank they are not called to go on Missions with a partner. They can call upon a partner, but may have to incentivize them to join the Mission since their partner won't receive a Victory or a Gift for the Mission.
    • Veteran Missions: Once an Operative reaches Veteran rank they cannot have a partner at all.
    • Specialized Missions: The Missions in this Playgroup are meant to be for individuals, occasionally with a partner, nothing more. As such Missions should be balanced for, possibly even tailored to the individual Operative (with their partner if one is involved.)

Full Setting Description

They named that time The Illumination, and it was by the flash of a camera phone.

 

The year was 2004. Until that point the Earth was as we had always known her. We filled her cruel vastness with legends, superstitions, and rumors. Warlocks, monsters, and gods lurked on the edge of the collective consciousness, always a possibility but never more. We lacked evidence. That evidence came as humanity filled its pockets with technology equipped to capture and transmit.

 

An iPhone found on High School senior Nate Klienman’s mangled corpse held a video of his girlfriend’s bone-snapping transformation into a monstrous wolf creature. A Brazilian widow documented a series of conversations with the misty figure of her late husband. A Chinese fishing boat caught a mermaid in a net and put it on display in the Beijing aquarium.

 

Each week brought a new revelation that we were not alone. Superstitions reversed their slow death overnight. Salem held their first witch trial in a century. The jury rendered a verdict of “guilty on all charges” and sentenced Maxibelle Horux to death. A week after her lethal injection, half the jury died from a tainted batch of flu vaccine. A fearful, populist movement arose to rid humanity of the creatures lurking in its ranks. Suspects are forcibly subjected to bizarre tests of their humanity, and the results are often open to interpretation. A mob’s justice is swift.

 

Yet the paranormal is not merely relegated to a persecuted class. Where some see monsters, some see sentience, and others see opportunity. If a vampire can sustain themselves on cloned blood and work the graveyard shift, why not legalize and tax? Politicians and Aristocrats employ odd-looking individuals as "advisors" or "protection." Entertainment magazines publish revelations every week about which celebrities shed their human skins at home. Charlatans of all stripes, from palmistry mediums to televangelists, have flourished despite the risks. The treatment of the paranormal varies from place to place, person to person.

 

Long have cabals, cults, and secret societies thrived in the shadows. Their roots run deeply through humanity’s oldest systems of power. Machinations are challenged, and sleeping dangers awaken. The world is changing, forcing long-dormant powers into desperate action. And it is in the midst of this great period of change that The Powers That Be have once again turned their attention to the blue marble. For the first time in two hundred years, Harbingers approach worthy individuals with an offer they won't refuse.

 

But sometimes the Harbingers call for only one, maybe two Contractors, instead of three, four or even five. Sometimes the Contract calls for subtlety, sometimes it requires only one and cannot be done by more, sometimes the client can only afford one. When they do, their called Operatives, and their Contracts are called Missions.

 

The Games have returned, and a new generation of Contractors are being forged.