The Book of Knots - Jags

They thought they could
control their contact in a
safe fashion.
They were wrong about
that too.
If the original conspiracy
had a name or the present
one does, it isn’t known.
It’s referred to, by those
who do know it exists,
as Project Pagan. It is a
name to conjure with:
Project Pagan exists
behind multiple veils of
government secrecy. It has
members both infected
and subverted at multiple
levels of national and state government. It has its hooks deep
within the armed forces.
Its motive, what can be gleaned from it, is the complete
reformation of life on earth into its vision: its vision of alienation.
The Wheel’s Vision of Man
The Wheel views man as work of art wherein the genius is
obscured and damaged by the unnecessary work that the artist has
done—unnecessary additions to the piece. When it made contact
with the agents of what would later be called “Project Pagan” it
enticed them with a new vision of humankind—a clean vision.
Whether they were already disposed to be taken in by its madness
or it warped their minds to its vision is unclear but the results are
obvious. Pagan has become an alienation factory.
The ideal man is a human who has been stripped of the fi lth that
is emotion. They are beings of pure
logic and perfect hate (not an emotion
by the Wheel’s defi nition, but rather an
expression of a universal force). These
beings, the “perfect men,” are Whirls
who are created on Chessboard One by
horiffi c psychological processes and
then reunited with their host-bodies by
technological procedures on Chessboard
Zero. Their fi nal unifi cation comes when
they consume their hosts from within.
The Rational Actors are created by
Mind Stunners: When an abduction is taking place (at fi rst) it is taking place with the subject’s
Shadow on Chessboard One (the real person is asleep in bed or something). The creation of
a “contact fi eld” means that the real person, however, experiences the abduction as though it
were real. Since it is terrifying, Mind Stunners are used to make people compliant. They are a
Resisted attack against WIL with a Power of 14-. They can only be used once. They look like
remote controls and never miss.
Result Effect
Minor Effect Victim feels calm and dream-like. There is no effect on performance
but the essential horror of the situation is mitigated. If this is the best
the Aliens get they may simply make contact and try to come back
later.
Standard Effect The subject is lethargic and feels like he or she is “stuck in a dream.”
All rolls are at -2 and the victim loses 3 REA. If this lowers the
character’s REA to 7 they are “stuck.”
Major Effect The character has two seconds of being Dazed before they are
paralyzed. The character’s recollection is very good at the beginning
but will get vague after about 30 minutes.
Critical Effect The character is instantly paralyzed. Memories of some parts will be
clear and some will be murky.
Catastrophic Effect Character is instantly paralyzed and will have a hazy memory of
what happened.
Grabbers
When a human isn’t cooperating and the Mind Stunner hasn’t
taken them down (or only partially worked) they’ll use grabbers.
These are harness-mounted extendable robotic arms that can be
use to catch and immobilize targets. They have a reach of 20 yards
(telescoping out in a bizarre fashion and growing joints as they
go) and they terminate in a large padded claw with a camera lens
and a syringe needle mounted on it (so the alien can reach around
corners and see). It has a 21 Offensive Grapple. It can squeeze
for 5pts of damage per turn (but once a person is held they’ll
administer a sedative through the syringe).
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Book of Knots - The Symposium