Registered Phenomena Code: 123
Object Class: Alpha-White
Hazardous Properties: Sentient Hazard
Reality Hazards: Extra-Dimensional Hazard
Cognitive Hazards: Mind Control Hazard, Mind Regression Hazard (Temporary)
Containment Protocols: RPC-123 is to be kept inside a standard low-hazard anomaly containment locker inside of Site-XXX. Aside from a regular weekly check for possible signs of property manifestations or possible burglary, the anomaly is to remain locked. All necessary methods of containment are to be conducted through this file which is accessible to any RPC Authority member, regardless of clearance or position.
Description: RPC-123 is a memotic pseudo-ground that manifests itself as a single “HELLO My name is” sticker.
The sticker is physically identical to any non-anomalous instance, meaning staff should exercise care when handling it due to the possibility of damage. The only notable physical property of RPC-123 is the inability to be drawn on. Pens, pencils, markers, brushes and similar items leave behind no trace (including dents in the paper itself). It should be noted that the material used for writing will be spent despite not appearing on RPC-123. It is uncertain whether the anomaly absorbs the writing material, automatically destroys it before it touches its surface, or iin some other way disposes of it.
RPC-123’s main property manifests itself at an irregular rate, with pauses lasting from half a week to three months between events. During the event, over a single day, the name and surname of an Authority employee will appear within the blank space of the sticker. The handwriting of the letters will initially be the same for each name but will morph throughout the day into the targeted subject’s. Once the text is completed, the subject will enter a mentally regressive state.
The subject will appear partially sentient, showing an extremely limited knowledge of the world around him. He will be confused and disoriented, remaining in that state for the duration of the event. He will be unable to speak, find difficulty in locomotion and show no basic understanding of the purposes of objects around him. The subject also shows a loss of possessing object permanence, immediately forgetting any item that it is not able to see. It is confirmed that subjects remain somewhat conscious during this period, describing the period as a lucid dream. Once the event is over, subjects will remain in a confused, at times alarmed state, for a period between fifteen minutes to two hours. Afterwards, they will show complete recollection of everything that transpired as described above. There have been no signs of any lasting effects.
At the time of writing, RPC-123 is defined as a pseudo-ground that acts as a result from the formation of an infoplanar theoretical singularity. In other words, RPC-123 theoretically acts as a minor conduit for the influence of the infoplane. The reason for labeling it as theoretical, despite its properties, is due to there currently being a single confirmed singularity in the entirety of the solar system, as well as the dangers of the implications of labeling it as such. Within the infoplane, Memotic Singularities are infinitely dense vectors which attract smaller vectors (independent thoughts and memories within the infoplane) and inject them through the pseudo-ground into our reality. With RPC-123 acting as such pseudo-ground, it allows the manifestation of the concentrated independent vectors within specific Memotic Grounds in the Physical. An issue arises due to the current belief that such a process is always catastrophic in its nature, which contrasts with the admittedly benign nature of RPC-123. If this anomaly is officially classified as a manifestation of a singularity that is different to the currently known one, then it would automatically confirm the possibility of the existence of similar anomalies with comparable properties – along raising the question whether the claim of singularities being incapable of expansion or fusion is truthful. RPC-123 has been confirmed as a pseudo-ground, but it is not confirmable whether there is a singularity behind it or another, yet undefined phenomenon.
The reason behind RPC-123’s properties is attributed due to the nature of its physical appearance and the human perception of it. In the general populace, a "HELLO My name is" sticker is a method of identification and physical storage of memory and data, or more specifically someone’s identity. When manifested, vectors will attempt to utilize the data RPC-123 gathered. But, due to this being nothing more than the name and surname of a single subject the vectors will become unable to fully form, becoming stuck within a “tabula rasa”, a completely empty personality that will overtake the consciousness of the targeted subject.
The only method of breaking the mental state is for the targeted subject to find the anomaly irritating or feel any form of negativity towards it. This includes, but is not limited to boredom, anger, frustration, sadness and disgust. The negative emotion needs to be directed at either RPC-123 or through the idea of an individual being responsible for the “possession” for the state to be rendered completely ineffective. Once the subject has a negative thought about the anomaly, he will be rendered completely immune to its properties for the foreseeable future. Multiple subjects were able to end their states due to becoming bored with or frustrated at the anomaly they perceived was controlling them.
It should be noted the negative thought does not need to be aimed directly at either RPC-123 or RPC-123-1. It can be directed through any form of informative proxy, such as an image of the anomaly, an oral description of it or its properties, or even a written description of it. It should be noted that the description does not need to be completely accurate or truthful – if whoever is attaining the knowledge of the anomaly is aware that the piece of information is somehow related to it, any negative thought will render him immune. If the event is halted, the name on the sticker will immediately disappear and the anomaly will enter an inert state.
Negative emotion being the trigger for the release of the state caused by RPC-123 is believed to be connected to it physical appearance. With regular stickers, subjects are capable of easily disposing the “identity” written on it when they feel it has been used to its fullest – in other words, they “reject” that specific identity that is written on the card but are still able to keep their name due to the low level of value and influence the sticker has over their names.
To whom it may concern,
On January 22nd 2021, an announcement was made regarding the financial stability of the Authority, or to be more precise, the financial stability of two of the three divisions it consists of.
To cut a long (and by this point widely known) story short, each Division was tasked with showing their capabilities as proof for being excluded from the rapidly approaching budget cuts. The good men and women of Research threw themselves into mountains of data and information to prove their worth and the meat grinder that is Protection went into overdrive with tying up loose ends and leading valiant charges against our rivals and enemies. Which left my own Division to sit on its thumbs and just continue doing its job.
To many, Containment is at times the most overlooked division of the three, due to two reasons. When we do our job right, there are no problems to talk about. The anomalies stay put, not a problem to anyone but themselves. They are locked, sealed, banished, deconstructed, purged, put in a loop, anything you can think of but in the end they don’t get anyone’s attention. It is the state of normalcy: No one spends small talk commenting on the quality of the room’s foundation their colleague from another site eats in. What they do talk is when the foundation caves in because a Researcher managed to screw up the number of milliliters of virgin’s blood needed in a ritual and an invasion of interdimensional hornet-spiders comes gushing out of the hole that somehow managed to perfectly break in the shape of a summoning circle. This, out of risk of creating rumors, should be noted as not describing any actual incident that involved hornet-spiders.
I’m getting sidetracked.
Our job is to keep that state of normalcy and make sure we, and the anomalies, keep out of the others’ hair. They can do their jobs, the anomalies are not causing problems, and we all get to keep our jobs. The issue, or to be more specific, the second issue is what happens when containment fails and what that has to do with budget cuts. Think of all the stories you have heard about breaches or other incidents: A Researcher’s head gets ripped off because he didn’t bother reading the sentence long warning of the dangerous area of effect and stands too close to the anomaly, or an ACI agent has his brain flushed through his tear ducts due to insisting that there actually isn’t any memetic hazard in the file and that we are just unnecessarily stalling the process, or even an Administration employee slipping and getting his arm broken because he ignored the wet floor sign. Containment every time gets their punishment behind the scenes but is always pushed to the side when it comes to talking about the incident itself.
In other words, people don’t talk about Containment. There just aren’t any stories or interesting happenings that involve us in some way – something great for our organization’s goal, but not for us when there are discussions brewing who deserves to receive an exemption from a cut in budget. Research needs their money to continue finding new ways to create loopholes in the containment protocols so they can excuse experiments where they come to the astounding discovery that the anomaly is somehow STILL dangerous despite warnings, while Protection must get the means to equip their soldiers with enough ammo, weapons and biotics to continue the pissing contest with the other leatherheads trying to make the world worse than it already is, but what does Containment need? “Containment’s already doing their job to their fullest”, you’d say. “At worst, the other two Divisions can do their job for them if they need to. Research’s got the reins on seeing what makes the anomalies tick, and Protection’s got the means of making them stop ticking.” The issue is, it's the other way around.
If Containment fails, then it’s all of us who get the short end of the stick. If we have the means to do it, we can keep all the monsters under lock and key for as long as we need to. If you don’t think that Protection’s fuse won’t run out with a particularly limb-tearing-proficient anomaly or that Research might “overlook” the limits of a subject that promises to shed light on some answers, then you haven’t been part of Containment long enough yet. Anomalies outside of our jurisdiction will come and go, but those we managed to contain, those that are currently throwing themselves at the doors and clawing at the locks need to stay with us, protected from the outside as well as the inside. Simply put, we need the money to continue working behind the scenes and preserving the everyday normalcy. But, how do we prove that to someone who probably didn’t even know we have a Union?
We create a small contest among ourselves, the lads from Containment. We needed something that would kill two birds with one stone, something that showed our worth to the Authority as well as showcase our ability for, ironically enough, thinking outside the box. And then, someone brought up this anomaly. It was a simple – a sticker that possesses you unless you have a single negative thought about it in your entire life. I remembered it due to the fact we used to contain it by just notifying Protection who was getting possessed and them sticking the poor guy into a cell until he would ride it out. So, we made the new protocol. The protocol that killed both birds. Anyone who would read it would almost surely be rendered immune, either from becoming enraged by the inappropriate tone, constant grammatic errors, or even a narrative mistake. The fact that it would be the most efficient if it was spread in the form of a chain letter was just the cherry on top of the abominable protocol we came up with.
The most important thing was that it would be memorable.
People don’t remember or notice states of normalcy, they talk about errors, mistakes, things that make them mad and upset. They don’t talk about how an anomaly has not broken out in years, how the Protection barracks have managed to endure the onslaught of an invading gaggle of Malthusians or how the information gathered by Research was efficiently used. When everything is contained, no one needs Containment.
So, even if we lose the budget cuts, we will still have this article as a reminder to ourselves and our colleagues. A reminder of who is constantly in the background making sure that everyone around them can still do their jobs and stay safe while doing so. Someone who allows everyone to think about less important things and be able to think isolated cases are worth gossiping about. That there are those keeping a safety net under the narrow rope of antics the other divisions get up to, people who know what will happen if they let their grip on the situation slip for a fraction of a second.
People who think outside the box, for your own safety. Whether you know it or not.
All the best,
- GD-ARCH, “Forge”
