Reading

Open fileNeed to knowMy clearance

A.Journal

Checks

558 checks

You recall the prisoner's voice, crackling into your ear.

The image forces its way back to you -- the man's unblinking, obsessive stare, while on the bed Ramses convulsed uncontrollably.

The image forces its way back to you -- Reno's unblinking, obsessive stare, while on the bed Ramses convulsed.

A pseudo-language stretching back centuries, cobbled together from imperial slang and colonial patois. You first learned of its existence after joining the Opera.

Something twitches inside your memory. You have heard of this, but its name slips by you.

You recall the faint clinking of glasses, just a few metres away.

Even you have memorised the names of their cartoon wolves.

Rustam Fatihler, the Conqueror, sought centuries ago to unite the myriad warring tribes of the peninsula under a single banner, hence, the Dream of Rustam.

And after all this time, the Protectorate of Rustam amounts to two meagre towns, devoid of resources, kept propped up by foreign funds. That, you know.

'It is a good thing yesterday was not the end of history after all.'

Timestamp: five years, three months since last contact.

The Weeping Eye's interrogator class.

You flash back to the memory of planting that cricket with Ramses, how it had trembled in his hand for a moment...

RADIAN: no mention of epilepsy found. Medical conditions: left blank.

A good deal of Ramses' equipment always consisted of improvised devices cobbled up from the cannibalised remains of consumer electronics.

It's Reno. The richest man in Portofiro here, in this dilapidated houseboat.

Ramses Tayed Al-Fatik Molloy. Plague metal worshipper. Pristine blunt roller. Rustamian refugee. Ultimate warlock of chill.

Never to be forgotten.

What happened in 77?

A far-off sense memory: the taste of your thumb, once-soothing, suddenly bitter and sour. Painted with foul-tasting polish to keep you from sucking it.

Hazy memories flick by. Among them, you see the amalgamation of bitter flesh that birthed you, sitting like a creature in her lair.

Operant CASCADE is classified ONLY CHILD. Understanding of sibling dynamics best described as 'theoretical'.

A vulnerability leaked to the Opera in 87, courtesy of a disgruntled engineer who had defected to the People's Republic.

You remember the first batches of number, at least. The right combination must be among what's left.

Numbers... Blurry... Must try everything again.

You roughly remember where you stopped last time. Whatever's left, you'll have to try all over.

Even in this spectral form you recognise him -- Sweet Nestor, Portofiro's supreme leader.

Even in this spectral form you recognise him -- Sweet Nestor, Portofiro's supreme leader from the years 28 to 80.

The title jars a memory -- HOLOCENE engrossed within its pages, maybe the only time he was oblivious to the world.

The same 'heroes' who dropped Berrion bombs on the Tenantries of St. Ulwen.

Now they remind you of her.

It wasn't actually your birthday, you just said it was.

What she means is the real account will be buried in a centre-held file for 30 years. You will never so much as glimpse the outside of its folder.

Pencil sounds disconcertingly impermanent.

The sensation will haunt you.

The words circled beneath the doctor's signature return to you.

You know the next words. You've been hearing them since you got here.

In Mircea you knew only cold and austere churches of fine stone, all consecrated to the One Indivisible God.

'YOU BUT FROM A DREAM'. The words on the red disc.

'Borders are illusions. Everything looks back.' That's their motto.

Including in gymnasiums across the former Republic of Mircea. Regular class cancelled for the occasion.

A devious species of lie: The entries are there but forbidden from circulation. Falsehoods and misperceptions enforced by phalanxes of smiling lawyers.

... more than 50 known political prisoners, a number of priceless works from the Museo Moderno...

To 'shake the Hand of Fate' is to die, in this part of the world.

Who is this man?

EMTERR, a.k.a. L'Empire sans Territoire, a.k.a. 'The Bank'. Equal parts global development fund and spy service. Linchpin of the Developed World.

La Luz. Once a powerful empire, now reconstituted as a modern techno-fascist state, the rising military and cultural power of the day.

EMTERR, a.k.a. L'Empire sans Territoire, a.k.a. 'The Bank'. Equal parts global development fund and spy service. Linchpin of the Developed World.

Just like Ignatz said.

Defector accounts confirm Buendia favours a hands-on approach to counter-intelligence. No foreign network, including yours, collapses without his say.

558 skill checks - ZERO PARADES field manual - Page 10 of 12