Dice Year of the Spy - Bureau Files

[Grey]

In 1938, an expedition from Miskatonic University arrived in Guatemala to investigate a newly uncovered ruin.

Details get scarce from there. As near as we can tell, they were mostly seduced by a local cult and unleashed an entity of tremendous power. We know it superficially resembles a spider, and appears to weaken the border between our dimension and the one from which it came (Officially codenamed OUTWORLD it's more commonly known as The Dreamlands).

WWII prevented us from reacting in a timely fashion. The cultists dug in and the creature spawned. The Guatemalan Exclusion Zone now intersects with the Dreamland. As of the 70s, we also have the much smaller Arizona Exclusion Zone. The official line is a botched nuclear test; the truth is we had to nuke an underground portal to another world. Our outfit wasn't established until the early 50s, originally called the House Committee for Inhuman Activities. We're the Bureau of Inhuman Affairs now, and the Federal government will disavow any knowledge of our operations if the BIA is compromised.

As we understand it, the entity (Codename: BRIDGEBUILDER) has accrued a cult of so-called Jewel Priests; small in number but very potent sorcerers. Aside from trying to spread its eggs it appears to have no agenda. We think the Nazis got one, but what they did with it is unknown - Europe isn't suffering like Central and South America are.

Other groups are more problematic - we know of at least three other cults operating in the USA, and the lifeforms of the Dreamland are almost universally hostile. The 'byakhee' in particular prevent us getting any kind of aeroframe into the GEZ for a bombing run. All we can do for now is try to stamp out the cults and protect our borders until the threat can be ended. Don't worry, we're not alone in this - a number of Ally nations are behind us, and, insane as it sounds, so are the Masons and the Knights Templar.

When uncovering a cult, we have three main targets:
1. Intellectuals. Curiosity got the better of the Miskatonic team, we don't need to see it happen again.
2. Artists. Extremely susceptible to the influence of The Dreamland and the speculative entity codenamed K-THULU.
3. Immigrant Populations. Worst case scenario, they have a BRIDGEBUILDER egg. Best case, resentment and poverty are a gateway to cult initiation.

Remember that you are operating above the law. Your enemies don't respect due process. While we can get you out of most legal troubles, you will be burned to protect the integrity of the organisation if you get yourself in too deep.

Recent Events
Following the loss of the former L.A. team in the AEZ (another group are dealing with that), you've been reassigned to replace them - and in a hurry, too.

You’ve been informed that a copy of The King in Yellow was stolen from a Bureau informant in Oregon and crossed state lines into California. Bureau precogs confirm (the details of which are… unpleasant) that L.A. is under the gaze of The Unspeakable. You must find that book. If it arrives in the hands of actual cultists, or a sorcerer of any power, the results could be catastrophic.

 

[Grey]

The Dreamland
Insofar as we can understand it, the Dreamland is a parallel reality which does not abide by the laws of physics as we know them. It is populated by entities of weakly godlike power and various inhuman creatures such as the infamous night-gaunts. Crucially, it appears to be associated with both Atlach-Nacha and [REDACTED], but seems not to have anything to do with Cthulhu or other powers.
Now that the Dreamlands is closely linked with our world, it's curious effect on natural law has bled into our reality.
It often operates on a level of symbols and sympathies, where the thing and the idea of the thing are equally valid - and sometimes the latter moreso. Dream-logic, as some psychologists in the Analytics department call it. Oneironautics is considered more art than science, these days.

Godlike Entities
Shub-Niggurath: The Black Goat of the Woods With A Thousand Young.
Associated with forests, fertility, pregnancy, motherhood, gluttony, consumption, Woods That Walk.
Confirmed; Rarely encountered outside of Europe.

Cthulhu: Who Waits Dreaming.
Associated with the sea, dreams, and madness. Unconfirmed; multiple refs. In Necronomicon.

[REDACTED] - Who Waits Behind The Wall.
Reading the name of this entity is known to draw its attention (see case file: Novosibirsk Massacre). Associated with excess, hedonism, and cannibalism. Served by ghasts.

Atlach-Nacha.
Suspected to be entity BRIDGEBUILDER. A jeweled spider-like creature whose webbing links the Dreamland to our reality.

Nyarlathotep: The Crawling Chaos from Beyond The Stars
Associated with deception, kingship, the colour black. Unconfirmed; possible conflation with The Unspeakable.

The Unspeakable
Hastur, The King in Yellow.
DEPARTMENTAL WARNING: DO NOT REPEAT THE NAME
Associated with: theatre, masks, madness, fear, the colour yellow.
Other associations include a specific symbol - the Yellow Sign, a book named The King in Yellow, and a city called Carcosa.
Analytics speculate that this entity may not be corporeal, but exists as a location or state of being. In the available texts, it is served by ‘The High Priest Not To Be Described’. Speculated to parasitically bond with an environment, further details unavailable.

Sorcery: Called Metaphysics in Bureau files, this is the power to manipulate the strange energies of the Dreamlands directly. Most sorcerers are born with this dubious gift; the Bureau expressly forbids bargaining with extraplanar entities for the power. Sorcerers can warp reality to bring inanimate objects to life, or conjure fire, or electricity. The specifics vary by sorcerer.

Quantum Entanglement: By using carefully researched formulae, a person with little to no magical talent can manipulate Dreamlands energies to affect things reproduced in effigy or by correct symbolic links Voodoo dolls are the go-to example, but others exist.

Noetics: The act of attuning to the Dreamlands and discerning details about spells, and also protecting oneself from spells and psychological influence.