Nine Thousand Lives & The Witchcraft of the Angra Mainyu, Who Is All Death

This page is an archive for a contest entry that was hosted at a special URL. The article has since been ported to the main site as RPC-590.

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Registered Phenomena Code: RPC-009

Object Class: Beta-White Gamma-Orange

Hazard Types: Organic, Thaumoactive¹ [04/06/2021:] Aggression, Sentient

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Containment Protocols: Textual instructions for known RPC-009 variants are to be stored on Site-232 under purview of the Congregance (Theistic Department). No activations of RPC-009 are to be attempted, under risk of manifesting a second instance of RPC-009-A. In the event that an activation of RPC-009 is required for emergency purposes, a specialized advisory team may be assembled from Groves Radiation specialists and Site-232 Congregance personnel.

Were an instance of RPC-009-A to be identified, Site-232 personnel are prepared for deployment and ritual containment. Instructions for such a ritual are included in Appendix 009-2.

Investigations regarding the properties of Groves Radiation on corpses are underway.

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BLANKET TEST BAN: 04/06/2021–PRESENT
Issuing Authority: Theistic Department Head, Kaveh Ghorbani, Site-232
Reasoning: The functioning and collateral effects of RPC-009 are poorly understood, and activation may result in the generation of threats that are difficult or impossible to address.

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Description: RPC-009 refers to a theogonic² ritual method through which the duplication of a single instance of Felis silvestris catus (housecat) is possible via the sacrifice and consumption of another instance or the remains thereof. The produced cat will be in every way identical to the original instance: age, genotype, and memories are preserved.

Numerations are used to differentiate unique variants of the ritual, whether discovered by a third party or developed by members of the Prometheus Primogenitus (Department of Occult Concerns). The oldest known instructions, termed RPC-009-0, were discovered during a sting operation on north-eastern Libya, targeting a minor unnamed Group of Interest with occult interests.

⚪ Open GoI File

GoI Designation: N/A

Threat Code: UNAWARE NEUTRALIZED (ALL MEMBERS APPREHENDED)

Description: Domestic GoI based in the outskirts of Tobruk, Libya. Composed of four members, ages 16–24. Leading member Salih al-Aguri employed Lesser Anomalous Item ███ (since declared non-anomalous; reclassified as Acquired Item 467) to execute a number of anomalous ritual practices within her home in the absence of her mother.

LO-███ is inscribed with numerous ritual methods, of which four have been correctly executed and classified (RPC-009, RPC-███, RPC-███ and RPC-███) and thirty-six remain unconfirmed or untested. LO-███ narrates the experiences of Salig al-Aguri's late grandfather, Khalil Abdallah,³ with an unidentified group of Zoroastrian cultists during the Iranian Revolution of 1979, but is primarily devoted to describing the rituals they employed to remotely combat ("curse") pro-Pahlavi Dynasty forces.

The extent to which each ritual is described varies between several pages to hasty scribbles detailing its components, often skipping over vital details and instructions for successful execution. This has rendered a great number of rituals impossible to execute.

LO-███ is currently under possession of Site-121's Prometheus Primogenitus representatives.

⚪ Open RPC-009-0 (Original Text, Excerpts)

(Excerpted from Acquired Item 467.)

Location: Burial place, somewhere South of the city of Yazd. Akin to the "Towers of Silence" further to the East.

Materials: Cat's body, burial place, sacred fire, earth bowl, water, ephedra

Ghazi guided me from my hotel room to the ritual place near midnight. He took many deviating paths and needless turns — whether out of ignorance or motivated by fear, I could not tell. His face was as plain as ever, and responded to me only with English monosyllables.

After an endless series of turns upon turns and misdirection, he took me inside a discrete cavernous pathway between the mountains. It was cramped and damp, with cold air breathing down our backs the entire way. There was light at the end of the path: fire, flickering, never fading but never approaching.

It seemed like it had been ages when we finally reached the ritual place: a wide sloped circumference, reaching into a shallow pit full of bones. The place smelled faintly of something corpse-like, barely hidden by the stench of burning sandalwood.

It took me some minutes to recognize that it was a hidden Tower of Silence, one of the open burial-air places of the Zarthost devout,⁴ ubiquitous to Iran. It was, however, empty: no body had been set upon its slope in some time.

Mysteriously buried under a mountain, the construction defied my shallow understanding of the ancient religion: they believed corpses to be all-defiling to the four Sacred Elements, which they sought to protect from the malignant influence of the Angra Mainyu, yet the Tower dug deep within the vulnerable Earth, as if its builder was intently mocking the efforts of the devout for purification.

The ceremony that took place inside defied my comprehension no less: my eight companions, soon joined by Ghazi, were clad in indistinct black robes (again in opposition to Zarthost: their priests wore pure white), and set a feeble flame on an earthen bowl over the pile of bones. They kept it insistently on the brink of fading, presumably while preparing for the ritual to take place, while murmuring in what sounded like nervous concern.

The nine then stood around the fire, four carrying a bundle of plants (which I now know to be healing Ephedra branches) and four empty-handed. The ninth (whom he was, I could not see) stood right outside the faint circle of light, cradling something of significant size.

The first four extended their arms over the fire, and the other four stepped forward, taking the branches and wildly ripping them apart, then dancing together in a disjointed frenzy. They kicked the bowl with the fire over, and emptied cups of water over it. The flame grew feebler even but refused to die, even when the bowl was crushed by the violent dance.

The outsider stepped forward as the dancers separated, and extended his arms to reveal what he had been cradling: the withering carcass of a black cat, nearly snapped in half by what I presume to be the passing of a vehicle. He set it over the fire, like one lays sleeping youth over a cradle.

It sputtered and raged against the rotting flesh of the animal, which I knew the followers of Zarthost considered a devious xrafstra⁵ of the Ahriman, before finally smothering in a puff of smoke that invoked coughing and gagging from the hooded group. Indeed it smelled indescribably foul, and I had to turn away to resist the urge to regurgitate over the ritual place.

When I turned back, I was met with soft, quiet mewling. The group had rapidly ditched their hoods and ignited a pair of torches, and I recognized Hormuzd quickly retrieving the black cat — perfectly healthy and apathetic — from the cave, evidently against its desires.

My friend Ashkan quickly approached, and explained that what I had just witnessed was indeed not part of the blessed arts of the Ahura Mazda that they fervently practiced: they had reached to the Evil Spirit and opened the path for its daemons in exchange for the life of the feline, in what he called a repaying of favours to an old lady that lived nearby.

I still wonder on the nature of the favour that was then dispensed. What possible debt could have driven such men of faith to betray their God?

[…]

For the following five days, the group did nothing but tirelessly cleanse the underground tomb, day and night chanting and rubbing wet cloth against its walls to banish the resilient black stains that had taken hold. Indeed some daemonic presence had taken root over the cave, made evident by the distortion of the air that flowed inside (in a manner akin to that of hot air escaping fire, but more pronounced).

The most effective of the many cleansing rituals they attempted was the Sagdid, a funerary ceremony that called for the presence of a four-eyed dog (which the wise scholars of the religion had interpreted as referring to two spots over the eyes, like those of the German Rottweiler) to repeatedly verify death and drive away the daemon that seeks to defile the deceased.

As there was no available dog to fulfill the requirements for the Sagdid, Hormuzd resorted to a humorous looking fellow that he lured away from the home of vacationing Europeans, about twice as tall as my shoes. Indeed, the stare of the white dog appeared to cleanse the walls by itself, even while being an inferior choice. […]

[…]

While RPC-009 is grounded on Zoroastrian principles, it is unusually malleable for rituals of similar origin: deviations from its original instructions are possible without rendering the ritual nonfunctional, instead producing a variety of unique results. A few examples have been listed below.

• RPC-009-17 is a variation capable of producing a 21-month old housecat of the Arabian Mau breed, regardless of the characteristics of the original instance employed. This is achieved by cutting the hair of the original housecat short, as well as replacing Zoroastrian symbolic content with equivalents of Islamic origin.⁶
• RPC-009-25 will produce a housecat of identical age to the original instance, transmuting it to a seemingly random breed of European origin (i.e. Chartreux, European Shorthair, Oriental Bicolor). Removing all religious symbolic content from RPC-009-0 produces this variation.⁷
• RPC-009-66 results from attempting any variation of RPC-009 that uses an animal that is not a housecat. All resources employed for the ritual immediately undergo liquefaction via mass lysis⁸ of bodily cells. The resulting lysate coalesces together while its components decay, becoming a uniform dark purple substance with a strong odor reminiscent of cat urine. This substance is known to spontaneously meow, but has no further anomalous properties.

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» Appendix 009-1 « Research Fair, 4 Jun 2021

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During the 31st Decennial Research World's Fair hosted at Site-248, a Site-121 Prometheus Primogenitus team was granted an exposition slot at Sector-13B (Wing D). Their project, presented under the name "Thaumic Energy & Perpetual Generation" made primary use of RPC-009-98, positing its potential exploitation as a renewable and possibly limitless source of energy.

Significant adjustments had to be done to the allowed space and the anomaly in order to permit visitors inside Sector-13B while successfully executing RPC-009-98 on a loop, including:

• Usage of Sector-13B's basement for execution, lined with soundproof material
• An oil pipette over the image of a team member's spouse, containing shredded Ephedra⁹
• Placement of the former inside a hermetically sealed, reinforced glass container
• Constant flow of a potent anesthetic agent (GPA "WIND", courtesy of OAS Chemistry Dpt.), mixed with rapid-dissipation neurotoxin (TA-X-867, courtesy of MST Echo-8) to rapidly dispose of generated housecats and trigger RPC-009-98 again
• Container connects to Sector-13B, obscuring the less tasteful aspects from a potential crowd
• The upper side of the container has an Almagro-Variant Groves Counter inside for exhibition purposes

A recording of the conference given at 14:00 during the 6th day of the Research Fair regarding this project is attached below.

⚪ Open Recording

» BEGIN LOG «

[A formally dressed Prometheus Primogenitus team member, Anika Voss, is standing beside the glass container while a small crowd enters Sector-13B and sits on a group of plastic chairs a few meters away from the container. The security door behind them is sealed, and they carry diminutive gas masks in case the container breaches. Voss is nervously adjusting her tie as the last members of the crowd take their seats.]

[Visitors from the Office of Analysis and Science and the Bureau of Acquisitions are visible: Cultural Affairs, Viderics, Prometheus Primogenitus and even some Congregance researchers among them.]

VOSS: Hello and welcome to our exhibit! We'll start in just a bit, but I need to ask something first. How many of you are familiar with the concept of Groves Radiation? I recognize some of you from the Primogenitus and Theistic, but I assume not all of you work with thaumic anomalies, and it's a relatively modern rediscovery.

[Few hands are raised.]

VOSS: All-right. allow me to give a brief introduction — a-hem! While the common name for Groves Radiation most easily evokes concepts such as electromagnetic and particle radiation, it is kind of a misnomer. Rather than emanating from an object or source, it is created in limited amounts after the execution of certain kinds of rituals — primarily theogonic… I mean, faith-based ones — which makes it a unique form of thaumic, or magic, energy.

It is, however, unique in certain regards. It spreads neither through waves or particles, or any perceivable medium. In fact, it rarely interacts with anything unless present in certain amounts, at which point its effects become unpredictable: visual distortions, transmutation, tychokinetic degeneration, material density and malleability changes… Because of this, our department has taken to calling it Capricu— ehm, "Capricious", perhaps a more fitting name.

[Voss touches the glass container, and points to the Groves Counter inside. It is a metal cube inlaid with silver and glass panels, 25cm x 25cm x 25cm, three-quarters full of sulphur powder. A thermometer is attached to the outside of the cube, displaying 20°C.]

VOSS: It does however, show preference for a few materials, among them certain kinds of wood, precious metals, particularly rare rocks, among others. The ones that are important for this exhibition are silver and sulphur, which we use to build Groves Counters. Like this one!

[Voss attempts to flick a switch on the side of the container. She fails once, and fumbles briefly before succeeding. This signals to the team below that RPC-009-98 can begin the loop. A few seconds pass, and the silver inlays in the Groves Counter begin to glow faintly.]

VOSS: Below this room, my team is executing a simple, benign ritual loop to flood the inside of this container with Capricious. The silver parts of the counter [Voss points to the silver inlays] are starting to shine, signifying a minimal amount of it has entered the container.

[The sulphur powder inside the counter begins combusting, with minuscule flames at first. These flames quickly grow in size and temperature, but the sulphur is consumed at an abnormally slow pace. The thermometer communicates that temperature is quickly rising above 80°C, markedly below the combustion point of sulphur. It stabilizes at 110°C.]

VOSS: When in higher amounts, Capricious causes sulphur to combust, independently of oxygen and temperature. We measure how much of it there is by how quickly it runs through a supply of sulphur… One uh, gram per second equals one Viotto, represented as Vi, or vee-eye, with the V capitalized.

So uh… This is when we get to the point of this exposition. My apologies to the colleagues I have bored with these explanations. Any questions?

[Voss waits for five seconds. No hands are raised.]

VOSS: A-All-right then! I'll now loop back to the benign ritual I explained just a few minutes ago. Its nature is simple — with shredded Ephedra, feline matter, an emotional valuable and a little oil, an infinite supply of Capricious can be produced… The ritual we use for this is a variation of RPC-009, which generates uh… Feline matter, that is then consumed and generated again. Functionally, it's a perpetual-motion machine.¹⁰

[Upon the mention of a perpetual-motion machine, a few audience members express apparent skepticism: some tilt their heads, while others cross their arms.]

So, what can be done with an infinite amount of Capricious? Like you heard, it can combust sulphur at any temperature. Heaters using both are very convenient — given you can stand the smell, haha — and simple steam engines can also be constructed, allowing for very cheap energy generation. We uh, we have an example on the courtyard of the Site, because it didn't fit inside this Sector.

It can also be used with gold to enchant it, which in turn can be used to make structural reinforcements, certain energy projectors, special magic blades, ritual containment devices… It can also be used in place of certain requirements or materials for some rituals. But that's enough with examples. I'll show you some of it in action in a second. Meanwhile… Any questions?

[A few hands are raised.]

VOSS: Uh… You first. [Voss points to a raised hand to her right.]

█████: Can this Capricious be transported, and how effectively?

VOSS: Ah, well… It's a little difficult to keep inside a container, since it goes right through most metals. Glass is one of the few materials that can do the trick, but a lot of it is needed to make a decently resistant container, and we can't really store it in high amounts — it could suddenly provoke an explosion, turn its container into liquid, punch it full of holes, turn it into an animal… It's most conveniently produced and consumed on the spot.

Now… You next.

████████: I'd like to know some more examples of materials this radiation can interact with.

VOSS: Most of these are quite rare. Ultramafic rocks expand and develop into fractal structures while leaking lava, cristoballite samples in obsidian coalesce and merge into an eye-like structure, diamonds emanate electromagnetic radiation…

But ah, you're probably interested in uh, non-ritual applications. Platinum contracts and becomes incredibly dense, iodine-135 can be made into xenon-135, which in turn transmutes into a form of non-oxidising magnesium. This can offset the worst kinds of reactor poisoning… I'll offer you a more detailed overview after we're done. Last one?

[Next speaker is a Theistic Department representative Farhang Dabiri.]

DABIRI: My apologies, miss. I caught mention of "feline mass" as something required and generated by the ritual. This is a distressingly ambiguous term that deserves some more explanation. Care to elaborate?

VOSS: Well… Uhm- We just use parts of a housecat to fuel the ritual.

DABIRI: The Zoroastrian branch of Theistic has worked with RPC-009 in the past. I know how it works, and that's not precisely sincere, is it?

[Voss pauses and breathes in deep.]

VOSS: I would've liked to avoid some of the grittier details… But functionally it involves repeated sa-sacrifice of a feline, which is regenerated right after i-if the ritual works.

[Numerous members of the crowd react in disapproval: some shake their head, others turn a worried face to Voss.]

DABIRI: Right. Did your department get approval from the Ears¹¹ for this? Because I'm certain Theistic didn't like the proposition. Then again, the Primogenitus isn't exactly known for asking nicely.

VOSS: The proposal was approved, and l-let's avoid this sort of discussion in the middle of an exposition, shall we?

DABIRI: Sure. Let us ignore the unpredictability of black magic rituals that is known to everyone in our field. Avoid some of the grittier details of feedback loops and containment failures for the crowd, eh? I'm sure nothing merits telling them their safety is at risk by being here.

[Dabiri gets up from his chair and leaves. The rest of the crowd quickly follows: some wait for Voss to direct them to the following part of the exposition, some walk toward the sealed door and await for it to open.]

» END LOG «

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Requests from the "Thaumic Energy & Perpetual Generation" team for greater funding allocations on the closing days of the Research World's Fair would be rejected. A summary of the analysis by the Office of Financial Affairs is attached below.

Office Of Financial Affairs - Applicability Analysis

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Asset: RPC-009-98

Economic Value: Limited

Details: While usage of RPC-009-98 initially appears optimal in terms of energy generation, particularly when taking into account the engineering ingenuity of Site-121's Department of Occult Concerns team, practical applications for the anomaly remain scant. This is primarily owed to three causes;

1. The resources and safety measures required to maintain a ritual loop are exceedingly expensive. This is exacerbated by the ethical restrictions placed by the Office of Ethics & Review. Maintenance costs range from 50,000 to 70,000 USD, primarily owing to the chemical agents required to humanely terminate and anesthetize felines: such costs are unacceptable when considering recent budgetary constraints.
2. Groves Radiation is highly unstable, forcing production, storage and transportation at lower quantities. Even in supposedly safe conditions, accidents are statistically more likely to occur and produce higher collateral damage than with non-anomalous fuels.
3. The final energetic output of sulphur combustion is low compared to coal combustion. Sulphur releases around 9 megajoules per kilogram (MJ/Kg) combusted, while anthracite coal releases 32 MJ/Kg.

These issues are explored in-depth in the OFA Extraordinary Advancements Report, 2021 Edition (Section V "Research World's Fair", pp. 57-78)

Nevertheless, Groves Radiation and RPC-009-98 should remain in consideration as potential assets of situational utility. In particular, non-fuel usage of Groves Radiation is attractive for engineering and containment purposes, as will be discussed in Section XI.

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» Appendix 009-2 « RPC-009-A

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During the 8th day of the 31st Decennial Research World's Fair, Site-248's Wing D had to be evacuated following a substantive leakage of Groves Radiation.

Although the Fair was on its closing days and Wing D was in the process of being vacated from exposition materials, four minor conferences were still to take place, resulting in the evacuation of approximately 78 people. A timeline of the incident is attached below.

⚪ Open Timeline

[10:14(AM):] Personnel assisting to "Low ACS Compounds 101" in Sector-13D notice the Sector's Smithson-Variant Groves Counters¹² begin to phosphoresce, signifying a non-negligible amount of Groves Radiation permeates the area.¹³

[10:18:] Evacuation is underway. Two ASF personnel detach one Smithson-Variant Counter from the wall of Sector-13D and patrol the area in search of the leakage.

[10:23:] Sector-13B ascertained to be the origin point of the leakage. Two members of MST Uniform-7 ("Crowley's Follies") approach the location with a minimized Almagro-Variant Groves Counter, while both ASF personnel wait. The following video log is obtained.

RAMÍREZ (ASF): Well, look who's there! Chalkies¹⁴ finally decided to show up.

MELTON (MST): Shh, Rami. Take out your pacifier, nothing's gone spooky just yet.

DASHWOOD (ASF): Didn't some of you guys hold a conference in there a few days ago?

ASHBEE (MST): Don't blame us, we're only technically chalkies. Hand me the rope, [MELTON].

[Ashbee ties a rope around the Groves Counter. Once he finishes, he places the Counter on the floor and motions to Melton, who opens the door to Sector-13B. Ashbee then kicks the Counter inside the Sector, holding on to the rope. Melton closes the door.]

MELTON: Five, four, three, two, one…

[Melton opens the door again, and Ashbee pulls the Counter outside Sector-13B. The silver inlays are phosphorescing and the powdered sulphur is on fire. Ashbee grabs the Counter, looking for the thermometer display.]

ASHBEE: 160 Celsius. Twelve point seven Viottos, right?

MELTON: Yup, fairly sure.

RAMÍREZ: What's that?

ASHBEE: Means it's safe, more or less. Let's go in and figure out where's the leak.

DASHWOOD: Hang on, this conference had a toxin vat in the basement. Hand 'em a pair of masks, Rami.

[Ramírez retrieves a pair of diminutive gas masks, identical to those he and Dashwood are wearing, from his back-pack. He hands them to Ashbee and Melton, who put them on. Ashbee attaches the Counter to his belt.]

RAMÍREZ: Ten minutes in, then scramble. These filters don't last forever.

ASHBEE: Aye.

[All four enter Sector-13B. Around the middle of the room, the floor is dented upward: the central section with the glass container and the Groves Counter has collapsed. Smoke is leaking from a singular hole to the side of the indentation.]

DASHWOOD: Looks like an explosion, still on fire.

MELTON: Smoke's too thick. Something's off.

ASHBEE: It smells fucking rotten. Bad omen.

[Melton and Ashbee signal Dashwood and Ramírez to stand back. They slowly approach the indentation, before a deep, echoing meow interrupts them. All four raise their rifles toward the indentation.]

[A large, black-furred mass breaches the floor and collapses toward Melton and Ashbee. It has the superficial appearance of a feline paw. Ashbee's Groves Counter bursts in flames, and he detaches it from his belt. Other Groves Counters attached to the walls melt and flow toward the mass, partly burning it.]

DASHWOOD: Anomaly on sight!

ASHBEE: Back, back!

[Hundreds of pairs of small, shining green eyes open throughout the mass. All four personnel open fire, prompting the eyes to close. A second paw breaches from the floor, and they begin to retreat. More of the mass rises from the floor, revealing its immense size. It crawls toward the entrance of Sector-13B, but is deterred by the gunfire. It crashes through the wall opposite to the entrance, and crawls out of site.]

RAMÍREZ: Fuck.

DASHWOOD: Command, breach at Wing D!

[10:56:] The entity crawls out of Sector-13B, repeatedly meowing as it claws forward. It does not appear to have any other extremities. It constantly exudes black smoke, which both members of MST Uniform-7 describe as smelling "like a mixture of cat urine and rotting flesh." A pair of surveillance helicopters are deployed as MST Charlie-9 ("Countryside Hypocrites") begins deployment. Nighttime and cloudy climate present significant difficulties.

[11:09:] Examination of Sector-13B commences. 8 members of MST Uniform-7 deployed to secure the area and investigate.

[11:15:] The entity is determined to be moving on a straight line toward an evergreen forest near Site-248. Areas it has passed through are identified as affected by extreme amounts of Groves Radiation.

Vegetation in such areas dies and rapidly withers, then coalescing into new tree-like formations of dead matter. Large segments of earth suddenly transmute into numerous annelid organisms. Individual rocks expand, cracking in unique fractal patterns.

[11:20:] Charlie-9 detachment deployed to intercept the entity. Despite causing it to hiss, bullets do not appear to harm it, but incendiary weapons force it to disengage and change course. Ensuing fires on its fur are quickly snuffed. As it approaches the border of the forest, a unique appendage extends forward from the main mass.

It has the superficial aspect of a feline mouth, but opens to reveal numerous circular rows of canine teeth. This "mouth" is surrounded by nine feline ears of great size. This appendage, presumed to be its head, rapidly consumes numerous evergreens in order to free a path forward for the entity.

[11:25:] Charlie-9 command approves bombarding the entity with incendiary munitions. A Protectorate Fire-Fighting team is on stand-by. It is noted that a large amount of presumably feral cats of unknown provenance are approaching the entity. These cats levitate toward the entity when closer than ten meters, and merge with it: fur is noted to change color to black during merging.

[11:30:] The entity suddenly stops moving forward, instead using its appendages to produce a large circular clearing around itself within the forest. Once it concludes, all of its appendages retreat into the main mass, which appears to "curl" into itself and purr. It is presumed to be asleep: ensuing attacks have no effect on the entity. It displays no further hostility.

[12:00:] MST Uniform-7 present their findings: it is discovered that RPC-009-98 had begun activating on its own sometime in the last 24 hours. While originally believed to be a result of negligence on behalf of the Prometheus Primogenitus team, their testimony points to sabotage as a more likely cause, although the perpetrating party remains unknown.

Uniform-7 hypothesize that at some point, RPC-009-98 stopped consuming the felines it was generating, instead fueling itself via the Groves Radiation it produced. This facilitated an exponential feedback loop that produced several hundred felines, which died either by action of the neurotoxin or asphyxiation, eventually bursting out of the glass container.

The resulting mass of feline corpses interacted in an unprecedented manner with RPC-009-98 and/or the large amounts of Groves Radiation that had built up, merging into a single, animate mass. Testimony from the Prometheus Primogenitus team also revealed that the initial cat used to activate RPC-009-98 was orange in coloration, while the resulting entity had black fur.

Entity has been tentatively designated RPC-009-A.

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RPC-009-A remained immobile in its location for the following two hours, while Charlie-9 attempted numerous conventional methods of attack against it. Among these were artillery bombardments, chlorine trifluoride dousing, and rapid-dispersion neurotoxin deployment, all of which proved ineffective.

While these attempts continued, the Groves Radiation emanated by RPC-009-A progressively affected its immediate surroundings: nearby evergreens and other flora would rapidly wither and collapse, with parts of their mass transmuting into living animals.¹⁵ These animals were hostile against Charlie-9, proving numerous enough to force them to retreat from the immediate surroundings.

Among preparations to retake the area around RPC-009-A, a team of Congregance containment specialists, entirely composed of Zoroastrian Magi,¹⁶ approached Charlie-9 operatives. While this team was temporarily stationed in nearby OL-Site-███, it is unknown how they were made aware of the details of the ongoing operation and declined to comment on the matter.

The team's leader, Kaveh Ghorbani, offered assistance in the containment of RPC-009-A via ritual methods, having prepared six sacred animals for the task: four Rottweiler dogs, one Borzoi dog, and one European otter (Lutra lutra).¹⁷

Detachment leader Capt. Jameson Laidre agreed to allow for their containment plan to be attempted, offering the use of incendiary weaponry to clear the area of hostile animals, to which Ghorbani vehemently refused, insisting that other kinds of weapons be used.

A log of the containment attempt is attached below.

⚪ Open Log: Containment Operation Gavaevodata

[00:00:] Begin operation. Six magi approach RPC-009-A from 15°, 45°, 75°, 105°, 135° and 165°, and two more from 90°.

Each magus is followed by one sacred animal and holds one sacred item: respectively, a branch of Ephedra, a cup of water purified through ab-zohr, a bag of forest dirt, a reinforced bottle with molten silver, a metal bowl with burning sandalwood and a cup of bovine milk. The two central magi carry a copy of the Yasna.¹⁸

The magi are closely guarded by Charlie-9 operatives, which are equipped with nerve gas dispersers.

[00:12:] The two central magi begin chanting the Yasna. As the following lines from the introduction are spoken, hostile insects and reptiles begin to emerge from the area affected by RPC-009-A, approaching Charlie-9.

I praise good thoughts, good words, and good deeds and those that are to be thought, spoken, and done. I do accept all good thoughts, good words, and good deeds. I do renounce all evil thoughts, evil words, and evil deeds.

Nerve gas deployment is successful, repelling the animal group.

[00:36:] Wind begins to blow from the North, blowing the smoke exuded by RPC-009-A toward the approaching magi. The two central magi chant faster until they arrive at the following lines, belonging to the twelfth yasna chapter:

I curse the Daevas.
I declare myself a Mazda-worshipper, a supporter of Zarathushtra, hostile to the Daevas, fond of Ahura's teaching, a praiser of the Amesha Spentas, a worshipper of the Amesha Spentas. I ascribe all good to Ahura Mazda, 'and all the best,' Asha-endowed, splendid, xwarena-endowed, whose is the cow, whose is Asha, whose is the light, 'may whose blissful areas be filled with light'.

The smoke is deflected from the magi after they are chanted. Charlie-9 operatives take refuge behind them.

[00:42:] The smoke grows in density, making it impossible for operatives and magi to see the way forward. The central magi decide to skip three chapters of the yasna, weakening the potency of the ritual but permitting it to proceed unhindered by the smoke.

With precept, praise, and with delight produced by grace, I call upon the Amesha Spenta the good, and also therewith the beautiful by name; and I sacrifice to them with the blessing of the good ritual, with the earnest blessings of the good Mazdayasnian Faith.

As the above lines are spoken, the surroundings of the magi are lit from above by an unidentified source. The group is now standing in a desolate, rocky plain amidst a thunderstorm. Shadows move around the group. Charlie-9 switches to standard-issue rifles to fire against them.

The sacred animals are intimidated by the thunderstorm, and need to be pushed forward by Charlie-9 operatives.

[01:15:] The shadows continue approaching despite gunfire. Another two chapters are skipped to arrive at the following lines in Chapter 22:

And I desire to approach the monthly festivals, the lords of the ritual order, and the new moon and the waning moon, and the full moon which scatters night.

The brightness of the light above the magi increases. Several shadows are struck by gunfire and quickly retreat.

[01:36:] Charlie-9 operatives claim to be able to "see through" the rocky plain, seeing the evergreen forest around them. The density of the smoke visibly decreases, allowing Charlie-9 to see they are less than 100m away from RPC-009-A.

The group is assaulted by black snakes that quickly retreat once in the immediate surroundings of the sacred animals. RPC-009-A wakes up, "stretching" its frontal extremities. Several hundred eyes open throughout its body, staring at the approaching group.

[01:46:] The group arrives in front of RPC-009-A. It turns toward them, exposing its "head" appendage to growl. Although the magi suspect the ritual to have lost too much effectiveness to be capable of terminating RPC-009-A, its final lines are spoken:

Just as the Sovereign-Lord, all-powerful
So by their gathered Asha Teachers Wise;
The gifts of Vohu-Man' come as reward
For deeds done out of Love for Lord of Life;
Ahura's Xshathra surely cometh down
On him who serves with zeal his brother meek.

In response, the remaining smoke is dispelled, and the clouds above vanish, revealing a full moon in the sky. A faint beam of light shines down on the group, and the sacred animals begin to phosphoresce, approaching RPC-009-A on their own. The magi are shocked by the apparent intensity of the ritual: it is made evident that the ritual has summoned the presence of an entity much more powerful than initially planned.

RPC-009-A hisses and curves its "back" upward, in a manner reminiscent to how non-anomalous felines respond to intimidation.

[01:50:] An intense glow manifests in front of RPC-009-A, seemingly emitted by a physical source. While hard to discern, this appears to be an abnormally large bovine with fourteen eyes. Numerous plants of unidentified species sprout from its spine. RPC-009-A recoils and continues hissing.

The bovine takes one step forward, and inclines its head down before disappearing in a flash of light. As it does, all luminescence in the area returns to normality. RPC-009-A begins to dissolve into dark purple liquid. Dozens of black cats separate from the dissolving mass and flee toward the North, abruptly disintegrating as they leave the clearing.

The purple liquid evaporates over the course of one hour. All apparent effects of RPC-009-A's presence gradually disappear in the following two hours, including the presence of Groves Radiation. No further abnormalities are apparent in the affected area.

Reconstruction efforts for Sector-13 and Site-248's surroundings are underway.

Containment Protocols have been updated in light of the incident. Responsibilities regarding RPC-009 have been transferred to the Theistic Department. The Prometheus Primogenitus team responsible for the "Thaumic Energy & Perpetual Generation" conference will not be reprimanded given the ambiguous circumstances surrounding the incident.

It is suspected that previous activations of RPC-009 may have resulted in the manifestation of similar malignant entities as RPC-009-A. Investigations are ongoing.

» Footnotes «

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Footnotes

1. Thaumoactive Hazard refers to the capability of the anomaly to produce unsafe amounts of thaumic energy, including Groves Radiation. Exposure to thaumoactive anomalies can induce a great number of hazardous effects, among them hemorrhage, emotional instability, malignant bodily mutations and complete bodily transformation.

2. Referring to anomalies exerted or fueled by mass belief

3. Deceased 12 Nov 2014 during a car bomb attack in Tobruk

4. Zoroastrians

5. "Noxious creature"

6. "Zoroastrian symbolic content" is defined as the sacred fire, water, bowl and Tower of Silence referred to in RPC-009-0. In order for successful performance, ritual defilement of equally valuable symbols is required.

7. This has led certain researchers to believe RPC-009-25 to be the original variation of RPC-009, from which RPC-009-0 descended. While insubstantiated, it would potentially explain the unusual malleability of the ritual.

8. Breaking down of cell membranes

9. For the purposes of RPC-009-98, desecration of an item with high emotional value is required.

10. The obfuscation of RPC-009's nature was not planned by the Prometheus Primogenitus team: Anika Voss has confessed to being afraid of divulging that the ritual loop involved repeated creation and killing of a housecat.

11. Office of Ethics and Review

12. Installed beforehand as part of safety protocols regarding the "Thaumic Energy & Perpetual Generation" exhibition in the same sector.

13. Smithson-Variant Counters are typically round sheets of ¹⁰⁵Ag, the isotope of silver most sensible to Groves Radiation.

14. In reference to the Prometheus Primogenitus

15. While most were identified as currently existing insects or reptiles (ants, wasps, snakes, etc.), at least one unique species of abnormally large (approx. 2m long) spider was observed preparing webs between standing evergreens.

16. Priests

17. In Zoroastrianism, otters are interpreted to be the reincarnation of one thousand dogs.

18. Liturgical collection of texts belonging to the Avesta, the sum of all Zoroastrian religious texts.