The Book of Knots - Jags

Book of Knots - The Symposium
76
Agents, on the other hand, are people who’ve been “inducted.” The
process of recruitment involves psychological conditioning, drugs,
and Wonderland Infection (which is very well managed). They seem
human. They can act human for a good long time. They’re not: they
have personality re-format overlays and they are essentially complicated
biological machines. If you somehow got to speak candidly with one
(something they are essentially incapable of doing) you would find them
dramatically insane. Their minds exist only on a per-mission basis. They
partake of strange disturbing behavior when they are not “on the job”
(i.e. in private they may eat insects, mutilate themselves, paint hotel
walls in intricate, repeating patterns, etc.)
Some of them have families (their families think they are workaholics
… at best). Most of them live alone and have a façade of a normal life.
Agents can be very dangerous, exhibit very complicated behavior, and
are very well trained. All of them will, programmatically, commit suicide
rather than be captured.
The Army of No. (Johnny Comes
Marching Home)
For many Caretakers, Big Pharma was judged insufficient. Humanity
was not just disgusting––its existence was an insult. The Caretakers who
would not compromise created their own solution––one designed not just
to eliminate humanity, but to punish it: to inflict the maximum misery
and pain along the road from subjugation to annihilation. They created
the Army of No.
Abstract
The Army of No is both a force and an ideology. Physically, it is a
mechanized fighting force supplied by an independent neo-national
“homeland” deep within Wonderland (although not on Chessboard
Five––the Caretakers do not want the Army of No next to them).
Philosophically, it follows a brutal, fascist philosophy that calls for
absolute obedience to the leader and enslavement and ultimately
destruction of all outsiders through a program of total and continuous
war.
Ideally, the Army of No would directly invade Chessboard Zero, but
since this remains well beyond their capabilities, their current plan is to
wage war on Chessboard One, enslaving Shadows and exerting control
over their casters.
The current plan as it now stands, calls for the development of interment
camps on Chessboard One from which the Army will develop operations
for Infecting Chessboard Zero humans and collecting them when they
Descend. The Army is also conducting cutting-edge research into finding
ways to spread Wonderland Infection and influencing Chessboard Zero