Fourniér's Leviathan

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Registered Phenomena Code: 013

Object Class: Omega-Orange

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Suspected Instance of RPC-013

Containment Protocols: All ACI Operatives under DEP-0361 assignment for RPC-013 are to closely monitor heavily urbanized areas for reports and occurrences that fall within A-013 specified guidelines. Architectural instances of RPC-013 specified phenomena are to be dismantled and transported to the nearest ACI facility if possible. In situations where such instances are impossible to remove for any reason, operatives under DEP-0222 assignment are to collectively act to disseminate as much disinformation as possible regarding the nature of the instances as to provide explanations to the general public.

Humanoid instances of RPC-013 phenomena are to be avoided in any scenario when operating in the field. Extreme situations are authorized to be handled with extreme prejudice to achieve this. In a situation where humanoid instances manifest within on-site structures, the corresponding installation should be dismantled as soon as is efficiently possible to avoid metagenetic leakage. Consequently, any on-site installations for the purposes of researching RPC-013 are to be contained within installations having a large enough radius of empty space according to Fourniér's coefficient3, in order to minimize the possibility of uncontrolled architectural instances manifesting in Authority sites.

Description: RPC-013 is the collective designation for a group of localized phenomena taking place in an array of large urban areas over the course of several decades. Though it is currently unconfirmed, researchers operate under the assumption that such phenomena are inherent to said urban areas, given that they have never manifested in locations below a certain population density threshold.4 Currently only three classifications of RPC-013 instances have been observed, though it has not been ruled out that other phenomena may become observable considering the current rate of urban expansion on a global scale.

Architectural instances of RPC-013 refer to cases in which structures of an urban or otherwise artificial nature appear to spontaneously manifest within and around already urbanized areas. Currently, it is unknown how these instances form given that based on observation they can manifest within improbably short timescales. One hypothesis involves the use of humanoid instances to construct them, though humanoid instances are so comparatively rare that this is an unlikely explanation. The architectural form and style of these instances vary a nontrivial amount between manifestations, though there are commonalities. In all manifestations, instances appear in some advanced state of degradation or decay, despite the actual age of the structure in most cases not reflecting its condition. A more obvious commonality is that the structures are in nearly all cases abandoned, as they form without the knowledge of the general populace. In some exceptional instances, governments will attempt to coopt the structures for some use, keeping their spontaneous origins from the residents or consumers. Due to this it may be impossible to know with any certainty to what extent specific urban areas are actually comprised of RPC-013 instances.

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Believed to be a depiction of a humanoid instance of RPC-013

Humanoid instances are currently the least understood phenomena by the Authority. This classification refers to the appearance of previously unrecorded entities of humanoid construction in urban areas, often within architectural instances. Commonalities are difficult to determine, as these instances only become accounted for in cases where they are reported by residents. According to said reports, the instances vary in presentation; certain instances are convincingly human and others' appearances are less defined. The latter are often reported as "phantoms" or "spectres", while the former are often described via suspicious sudden appearances of unknown individuals in neighborhoods or districts. Researchers have theorized that these instances are related in some capacity to the disappearances, but it has been argued that the methods of determination for both are not reliable enough to establish any form of correlation.

Far more common than architectural instances of RPC-013 are cases involving unexplained disappearances. The nature of urban environments make it exceedingly difficult to determine what portion of disappearances are instances of RPC-013, but it is estimated anywhere from 5% to 20% of unexplained disappearances in select urban areas are in fact instances of RPC-013. Unlike other classifications of RPC-013 instances, the disappearances do not share any commonalities that assist in researching them. The demographics, scenarios, times, dates, and locations of these disappearances vary wildly between cases, which some researchers use to contest the given percentage, claiming it may be much higher. The only currently effective method of determining the nature of disappearances is to cross-reference them with the manifestations of the other two instance classifications, though given that those instances have been observed occurring in isolation this is not a reliable method of determination. There is no currently agreed upon explanation for these instances outside of the Leviathan Hypothesis.

The "Leviathan Hypothesis" refers to a proposed explanation for the anomalous effects of RPC-013 based on the research of Dr. Louis Fourniér, a former research associate at Black Lake Technical Institute. The hypothesis suggests that the phenomena of RPC-013 can be explained as the result of the abiogenesis of metabiological organisms which arise from the system of commerce within urban environments. Dr. Fourniér performed extensive analysis and experimentation in regards to his Leviathan concept, and observed results strikingly similar to the phenomena referred to as RPC-013. While this explanation is outlandish, it is the only framework available by which we can understand RPC-013. For more information regarding Dr. Fourniér's research and the concept of metabiological abiogenesis, see the References section below.


Documented Manifestations


London, Great Britain [1837-1901]

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Illustration depicting urban conditions at the time

Instances of phenomena correlating with RPC-013 have been observed in a variety of urban environments, though one location that has been abnormally affected would be the city of London during the "Victorian" era, in which not only the city itself but the nation as a whole underwent mass urbanization following the industrial revolution. Many intellectuals and spiritualists at the time lamented the state of urban London, citing it as an environment fit for no living creature to live in. From what we know now, these people may have been experiencing the evolution of a metabiological creature within the system of hypercommerce in the rapidly urbanizing London. Though few would disagree that even barring the Leviathan Hypothesis of RPC-013 the conditions of Victorian London were optimal for similar circumstances to that of RPC-013 phenomena to manifest.

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Illustration of the figure known as "White Hood"; description matches less defined humanoid instances

Cases of disappearances were extraordinarily common in the Victorian inner city, so much so that fanciful explanations began to disseminate at increasing frequency. These fantastical stories would slowly morph into the urban legends this period was famous for, and eventually be featured in the Penny Dreadful literature that would form the basis for Gothic fiction as a genre. These grim tales of serial killers, true crime, and the like were certainly a product of the environment, though researchers have asserted the possibility that such a dark zeitgeist may have been the result of a primordial meta-organism influencing the city's collective unconscious through its existence within London's local noosphere.

The city's sensationalist publications were also home to a number of odd characters, many of which are theorized to be humanoid instances of RPC-013. The stories which appeared, both in literature and in newsprint, describe figures obscured by darkness usually by way of a hood or cloak. In some iterations they are simply animate shadows themselves. The details which have been cited as evidence of correlation with RPC-013 is that these figures are often encountered in sections of the city referred to as "decrepit" or "abandoned". Architectural instances of RPC-013 often appear to be much older than they are, so if these accounts are to be taken as truthful it may be evidence that two classifications of RPC-013 were appearing in conjunction in Victorian London.


New York City, United States [1952]

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Newspaper article reporting on the discovery of RPC-013 instances in the sewer system

In early April of 1952, sewer maintenance workers in the Lower East Side of Manhattan discovered a series of seemingly man-made structures resembling basements and hallways in tunnels beneath the neighborhood. At the time the news was comparatively sensational, though it fell from relevance after a period of several days. Exploring the structures, maintenance workers found that they were severely degraded, correlating with the known properties of architectural instances of RPC-013. Reports indicate that the area had also been experiencing an increase in unexplained disappearances and strange figures, which is indicative that RPC-013 phenomena had indeed manifested.

While an otherwise trivial instance of RPC-013 manifestation, what makes this specific case important is that it notified the American Intelligence community to the group of phenomena that would become RPC-013. Following the discovery the CIA became interested in the case, codenamed "Window Shade", and conspired with the Smithsonian Institution to acquire the structures and transport them to an undisclosed location for testing. Considering that at the time, the Smithsonian had jurisdiction over anomalous phenomena, it's likely the CIA was aware of the implications of the discovery. During the Smithsonian Audit the Authority was given access to a number of classified documents in the Smithsonian Archive, below are documents related to this event.

From the contents of these documents, analysts theorize that the CIA was attempting to utilize RPC-013 as a method to covertly construct bases on foreign territory. It should be noted that the documents of this case were available to Dr. Fourniér during his tenure in New York as a research intern. It was likely the information regarding this event that became the basis for his later research.


Naruhama, Japan [1984]

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Frame of the Night Scoop footage

In the mid-eighties, a Japanese television program known as Detective Night Scoop (探偵!ナイトスクープ) began airing, the premise being TV personalities investigating viewer submitted mysteries live on air. During a 1984 episode, the hosts received a submission from a young viewer in Naruhama (a small community on the outskirts of Tokyo) regarding an odd occurrence. The viewer's letter describes an abnormal abandoned structure on the shoreline off of Motosuka Beach. He mentions uncanny figures that he has never seen before wandering around the beach and entering the building without ever seeming to exit.

The show's hosts sent their investigator Yoshito to Naruhama, where he gives a slightly comedic interview with the young viewer, before setting off to the beach. Upon finding the structure, the child becomes immediately uncomfortable, though Yoshito retains his jovial attitude. While Yoshito is approaching the building, the hosts are investigating building permits for the area and discover that none have been filed. When the hosts discover photographs of the area from two weeks prior showing an absence of any structures, the broadcast is cut off. As far as is visible in the episode, it is unknown whether or not Yoshito ever entered the structure.

It is suspected that Japanese Prime Minister Nakasone Yasuhiro’s 1984 visit to China, and the general warming of Sino-Japanese relations in 1984 may be a result of the Japanese government requesting assistance from PCAAO regarding the Night Scoop incident. The structure has not been documented anywhere following the event.


Arabian Penninsula [2009]

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One of the photos captured by a member of the Special Reconnaissance Regiment

In 2009, while on deployment to Yemen and Somalia to combat an Al-Queda insurgency, members of the British Air Service and the Special Reconnaissance Regiment came across several abandoned, half-constructed buildings in the Arabian Desert. Upon communication with their superiors, it was revealed that there was no record of them. One member of the SRR managed to take a few photographs before the group moved closer to investigate. Upon entering the perimeter of the structures, the team was attacked and an armed skirmish with several humanoid instances of RPC-013 followed. Eventually the servicemen were ousted from the area, suffering three casualties. This is the only known case in which RPC-013 instances have been outwardly hostile.

Luckily, several of the Special Reconnaissance Regiment members were deep cover Authority operatives, and notified the Authority as soon as they could. The Air Service members spread the story quickly, and so ACI disseminated a cover story in order to halt the spread in a timely fashion. This event marks the Authority's first encounter with any RPC-013 phenomena, and the area has remained relatively dormant in the subsequent years.



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