The Book of Knots - Jags

didn’t exist, we would have had to invent them!”
Annoying, offensive, and intrusive, commercial broadcast are
exactly the right kind of torment the Army loves to infl ict on
its targets. Their survey of the Op Zone should identify all of
the electronic receiver devices, and they’ll work to ensure each
one is fi tted with a commercial bug.
A commercial bug is a fat, blue cockroach with long,
disgusting, feathery antennae and RF sockets. They’re
fi t between the antennae and the receiver, and they can
expertly insert the most irritating, fi ngernails-on-chalkboard
commercials into any broadcast.
When the installation is done, no one is safe from their
maddening corrupted electronic devices.
Special Treatment
The vanguard will also begin a campaign of harassment and
terror against the Shadows they fi nd especially dangerous––
anyone with joy in life. Anyone with passion.
While everyone’s Shadow will be having a hard time (people
are getting harassed by the Vanguard soldiers) special targets
are identifi ed for special treatment. Exquisitiors will devise
special torments for these special targets and work hard to
infl uence Chessboard Zero. They can attach special machines
to the target’s bed that prevent sleep. They will kidnap the
Shadow and perform special dental operations that wire
the jaw shut. They might replace the shadow’s blood with
40 weight motor oil. These torments are not designed to be
lethal to the shadow but subtly damaging to the human on
Chessboard Zero.
A well-run operation can cause despair and misery even before
it offi cially starts.
Stage II
When Stage I is complete, the Army can start real operations.
They usually try to increase both anarchy and authority
in the area under assault. While these might seem like a
contradiction, it is part of how the Army fundamentally views
reality and the human race.
Specifi cally, they will instigate anti-authority acts (vandalism,
mild crimes, rebellious disobedience) in order to provoke an
over-reaction and crack-down from the authorities.
This will be carefully planned. The Exquisitors will have
identifi ed who the most likely miscreants are and which
The Scrucifi xes: Machines created by the
Army of No are used to empower those
whom they wish to aid. On the lower levels
they look like gruesome vertical wracks with
electrical devices wired into the subjects
and a massive metal screw that winds into
the head at the base of the neck. Generators
spark, dynamos hum, and jacks and wires
penetrate the skin while the Shadows
strapped to the devices smile their gruesome
rictus grins.
The people whose Shadows are in these
devices are suffering—but they’re getting
something too. These devices require a sort
of agreement with the Army of No to work:
the subject, on Chessboard Zero, may not,
indeed, usually does not, know what they
are agreeing to exactly—but they are “down
with the program” and work can begin.
For one thing, people whose Shadow is
attached to a Scrucifi x, can be more clearly
communicated with by the arm. They can
hear voices in their heads. They can see
images. They can be told what to do.
They can be tortured. If they displease the
Army (or don’t please them enough) they
will be. Headaches, physiological symptoms,
sickness, and worse are all possible. Even
death may be caused.
They can also be given power. They may
be made stronger, tougher, more perceptive,
run through “training cycles,” and given
psychological defects to better suit the
Army’s needs.
Those hooked up are usually not Infected—
and if they become Infected, when they
have an Episode they may either wind up in
the machine (in which case they may well
stop working for the Army) or may appear
elsewhere and their shadow will be freed—
so the Army isn’t interested in Infecting its
human factor—just controlling and using
them.
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Book of Knots - The Symposium