Demiurge Q&A
Pre and 8/1
1) Was an electromagnetic event actually measured at Green Bank WVA Radio Telescope, or was that data faked by OZYMANDIAS? If the event was real, what did they do to trigger it? If the event was false, how did they falsify that data?
The data was not faked; the telescopes and labs were detecting the resultant low-level subduction zones which the high-altitude CWG aircraft had electromagnetically triggered.
2) What is the "unexplained architecture" mentioned in the initial message?
This hasn't been mentioned again and mostly it's because the CWG sent URIEL members to subduction zones without early evidence of Weird Architecture but both the confirmed underwater Points (Point 8, Lake Winnebago WI and Point 12, Lake Champlain NY/VT) saw early and vague satellite and high-altitude recon evidence of underwater structures. On future sweeps over those Points after the first 24-48 hours of ALLOCHTHON, no evidence was found.
3) What is Agent 00 reporting? And Houdini?
Still no "word" from either of them, but I suppose that Roger could pour himself a martini anytime and summon up Agent 00-Prime for an old chinwag. Finding out where Houdini-Chip is could be something we try to delve into the larger, non-ALLOCHTHON CWG files for, given they were responsible for Charley's chip.
4) What did whoever hacked Sophie's brain think they were doing it for, and is that brain-hacking team a loose end that needs snipping? (This question stands, to some extent, for all the Granite Peak personnel).
Again, we could check to see if Sophie is a CWG project but if she's not, and this was an "ordinary" SANDMAN brain hack, information on that would be in the Granite Peak personnel files.
5) Are we in a good position to destroy Uri Geller yet?
I dunno, could be dangerous, the guy can bend spoons. (Kinda.) On a more serious note, this does remind me that Puharich remains at large.
6) Where is RAVEN now?
Unknown. Gottlieb has promised Marshall to deliver us RAVEN eventually (in M8S6) but was cagey as to why it would "take a long time."
Leonard Efforting
7) What does Viv think her role re URIEL and SANDMAN is, now?
Viv did not return to Livermore after Marshall's clear rejection and distrust of her in Intermission Seven. That was something like 3-4 weeks ago in game time. She's attempted contact with nobody else in URIEL during that time. Sophie has not heard from her while the team has been in the field.
8) Did we get a clear answer on whether SANDMAN started the Yom Kippur War to cover ALLOCHTHON?
They gave the existing unstable situation in the Middle East a little esmological push, let's say.
8/2 up to 8/3
9) Hey, ORACLE was moved to Huntsville, I forgot about that. Or at least Charley suggested that. Was it moved? Can we use it for anything, now?
Yup, along with everyone's cars, the salient contents of Charley's lab (ORACLE, the Uriel Frequency radio, and all of Charley's other experimental projects, including her music and sonic equipment) was brought to Huntsville for the duration.
Also, it occurs to me that a convenient retrocreated cover story for Archie and Charley's prolonged absence could be that Archie was trying to work with "the Agency" to find Charley's blood family which could end up eerily prophetic if we end up finding RAVEN this mission. Like, I don't know how Melanie Ransom would feel about having to say goodbye to her daughter but it gets Archie out of the scary "my husband is a possible child trafficker" zone he was in with Melanie back during Intermission Five.
10) What is Delta's story? And the "other handful of Indigo Children" seen in the initial all-hands SANDMAN meeting in the hangar?
In the ALLOCHTON Files, it was evident that the CWG was keeping a tight rein on them; let's say it's Delta (13-year-old girl), Oscar (10-year-old boy), and Uni (9-year-old girl) who've been assigned to ALLOCHTHON. Most of them slot into the taisher mode, with a sprinkling of technopathic powers like Charley's. All three have seen some field assignments since the outset of ALLOCHTHON, at sites not overlapping with URIEL's assignments.
11) Should we read in Hilary or Mystic Kate? Do we want to do anything with them?
Will just repeat that Mystic Kate was definitely a CWG-friendly "coat-dragger" as Archie predicted in Mission Six, assigned to find interesting mystically-aware individuals and feed them to the CWG braintrust. Not, it should be noted, on the CWG Steering Committee.
12) With what we now know, are we confident that all the subduction zones OZYMANDIAS opened were opened deliberately by them, that none of them were unexpected side-effects to planned openings?
Yes. The plans around all twelve points are thoroughly detailed in the ALLOCHTHON Files.
13) To what extent was Mitch's encounter at Zone 10 a stage-managed test of his abilities?
Tough to say on the whole, but the second day, when Mitch went in to look at the dug-up 19th century graveyards and encountered the tree glyph/soul orbs, clearly went beyond anything the CWG was expecting out of the subduction zone and in fact might have been the CWG's first real clue that things might be getting out of hand, hence the isolation chamber and the von Braun debrief.
14) Are Davids and Wofford OZYMANDIAS pawns/dupes or more sinister Mitch-minders?
Definitely more the former than the latter.
15) Is the Cairo mission essentially sideshow, then?
I would say Point 9 ended up being much more "vibes"y generally speaking but a bunch of evidence — records from the ALLOCHTHON Files, the proximity of many Indian mounds, the insular, violent social matrix of Cairo, Wilcox's role at the head of the field team — suggests that maybe the CWG was more looking for an answer to some of their more social stability-related post-Second Ontoclysm working theories at Point 9, i.e. it's a useful laboratory for understanding how to prevent social collapse in their little post-Ontoclysm boltholes.
16) To what extent is the Point 1 team Roger went in with compromised, by OZYMANDIAS or by the Enemy?
Joe was definitely a CWG minder, but again, at a low level, reporting up the chain to his superiors.
17) Assuming Point 1 was indeed created deliberately by OZYMANDIAS, did they intend for it to be so geographically vast, enough to "rattle" the brass?
There's nothing in the ALLOCHTHON Files that indicates they were necessarily more concerned about Point 1 than other points, nor was there any evidence they'd done anything differently to initially trigger that subduction zone.
18) Papa Legba's prophecy about the dead needing to aid us in closing the door that must be fully opened before it can be closed: those lost below the waters. What's that in reference to?
That is a Vodou phrase that is used when referring to the specifically innocent dead, an evocation of the Middle Passage. The Gede, and specifically Guede Nibo, is meant to act as psychopomp for those in the lower world/beneath the waters.
19) Not a question but Morris commenting on Marshall's bad-copping him to Archie and Archie waving it off because Marshall is "concerned about Israel" is a pretty good moment.
Heh.
20) Morris's observations are in line with the Enemy's operation being a sort of opportunistic infection ("Might be why the subduction zones are just sitting here, not getting any bigger, not 'coincidentally' attracting all kinds of lookie-loos who'll give Them fuel," Morris says. "There's no urgency, They're just … sittin' there, taking their time. Oh sure, there's psychic energy building, pressing against the barrier between histories. But Their usual 'signs and wonders' are muted, waiting for the right moment to appear … the right audience. They're not gonna appear to us, after all; we're trained and prepared, strong enough to deny all their pomps. It'd be a turkey shoot.") which is also not a question actually.
Morris's instincts have been decent so far under some weird conditions and circumstances, it's true.
8/3 to 8/4
21) Why did OZYMANDIAS direct attention away from the Mounds?
The mounds are part of the CWG's experiment to figure out what combination of geographical/spiritual landmarks will act as a hedge to keep subduction zones in the post-Second Ontoclysm safe from the ascendant History B. Theories in the ALLOCHTHON Files also seem to indicate they are a rich source of reality shards, which should be hoarded for the Elect of the CWG. ("But [mounds'] placement within the physical landscape and the preponderance of ritual-themed mounds found in the "history" prior to 535 AD suggests a similar function to so-called "sacred" architecture, landscape engineering, and/or geometry meant to either hedge in Anunnaki irruptions or supplant god-worship memetics directed at the Anunnaki with memes that inculcate resistance to Anunnaki worship. Pre-European-contact mounds also have historically contained a very high proportion of reality shards, indicating they were/are/will be on the extreme edge or "high tide mark" of past, present, or future subduction ripple events (see Operation URIEL, Mission Record 73.4, i.e. the RFK posters in a circle around the St. Francis.) After examining the distribution patterns of native mounds, it is the theory of the Continuity Working Group that these mounds are the remnants of psychic resistance to Anunnaki memetics and that their presence prevented a full "colonization" of the post-Ontoclysm Indian mind by Anunnaki memetics prior to European settlement. In this, at least, the long-discredited meme of "the noble savage" was right.")
22) Why aren't these subduction sites producing more dramatic irruption effects? (At the St. Francis "we had jungle vines growing.")
This is a worthwhile ongoing question, one mentioned cannily by Mr. W— in #2 above.
23) Are Charley's video surveillance working prototypes producing anything interesting at the Cario mound sites?
I could be wrong, but I thought Charley and Jo picked those up before being reassigned from Point 9; if so, we could deploy them elsewhere. During the assignment there were some suggestions of aurora-like light in the vicinity of both sets of mounds but not much more.
Jeff Yeah, this gets answered in 8/4
24) What was found in the Kincaid Mound during the prewar expedition, how did the pre-SANDMAN people with the early-model ikoters know about it, why did they take it, where is it now? (I think Jo said it was the Urim and Thummim that Tony once wore, but did she have evidence or was that inference? In "status report one" it's declared to have been a reality shard of some kind, rather than a vampire or something.)
Definitely a reality shard, but its identity and future disposition are unknown; this would be a Project archive search, or perhaps looking in mundane archeological records for this particular dig.)
25) Charley's observation of the siphoning away of the souls of the dead: is this the result of OZYMANDIAS activity or an unrelated Enemy phenomenon that overlaps with ALLOCHTHON? (I first wrote "Enemy project" but that credits too much agency/preplanning to the Enemy I think)
We now know the CWG doesn't believe in the importance of the dead. The siphoning off of the dead seems now under the preponderance of evidence to be a resolutely Enemy action, as near as 100% as you can get.
Jeff The Enemy has done it, yes, but is it something the Enemy has done within the boundaries of OZYMANDIAS's supposed perimeter of control and triggered by them? Did OZYMANDIAS supply both the powder and the match, or just the match?
I see. Earlier someone said everything that's actually irrupted so far was "opportunistic" and I think that applies to kidnapping the dead, too. The Enemy likely wouldn't have been able to do any of it without both the powder and the match supplied by the CWG.
26) Did the dead bodies taken from the White Cemetery go anywhere or have they just popped out of existence?
Unknown.
27) Was there any sense in which the whole linguistic quarantine scene wasn't just OZYMANDIAS fucking around with Mitch for funsies?
I would think at this point, Mitch might suspect that the CWG might have thought that Mitch was especially beloved of the Enemy given his repeated contact with Them, and the questions they asked during the isolation seem partially to throw him off but also to gather real actionable intel on Point 10 and what the hell the Enemy were doing there.
28) Are we going to have to do a time travel thing?
One might argue we already have, and continue to do so.
29) What's up with the broken old glasses Archie found in the field during the LSD trip? Anything special about them, any relationship to the vintage sunglasses Viv presented Mitch with?
Part of the glasses was just Archie's sudden acid- and Doctrine and Covenants-aided religious realization that under God's eye, anything could become an Urim and a Thummim (i.e., reality shards are easily made if you know how). Specifically, though, those glasses seem to have that shine on them that the Magneta Clock did at the St. Francis; primed by history to become a potential reality shard under the right circumstances. I would say any connection with the vintage sunglasses are tenuous at best.
30) Ugh, poor Marshall. What connection was he straining to make between Morris's comment re returning North America and something about URIEL being irruptors working the C Suite's will upon History-A?
Oooh, I don't remember this.
Jeff The very end of the LSD trip, Brant asked if Marshall had enough perspective to put some things together and you said no.
I will need to review this! I definitely was trying to be too subtle during the Ohio acid trip.
I found it interesting how Marshall/Brant called it a "failed acid trip" because even if the vibes were bad, we learned so much! I just don't think Marshall liked a lot of what he learned, that the world and the mission was deeper and more complicated than he'd bargained for, and that is in reference to the ontological issues, to the Indian stuff, and to OZYMANDIAS at the time playing us for fools.
"Who … who are you people? There's no way you're with the Project! No one in the Project talks or acts like this!"
There was so much LSD-aided love in that scene!! I guess Brant roleplayed a post-trip letdown kind of perfectly now that I think about it. Back into the Machine after a taste of radical freedom.
31) Is the underwater panther of the same class of entity — I find myself wanting to use the term Ainur — as the loa?
I like that, "Ainur." The post-Ontoclysm gods, and the spirits, and the angels and the saints and the loa, and the corporate mascots, all have the more or less official SANDMAN classification of memes or memeplexes; belief structures that help shore up humanity against the Red Kings. But whether any of us, or indeed the pre-Columbian Americans for whom Underwater Panther was an effective object of veneration to remind people about the dangers of diving and digging too deep, can depend on such memes in any way, given they often achieve lives and existences of their own, is an open question.
32) Jo's conversation with the underwater panther may suggest that Jo needs to bury Tony's remains at sea.
Iiiiiinteresting.
Leonard Jeff, is the implication that the panther wants Reinhardt's remains as a sacrifice for its favor? Because otherwise, Jo is inclined to think he'd want to be buried at sea and thus wouldn't do it out of spite.
Jeff That's how I read the scene with the benefit of hindsight, but reasonable minds may vary
33) Supposedly (as of status report two) the zone at Point 10 is shrinking because of defoliation preventing the continued inscribing of a glyph. To what extent is this all stage-managed by OZYMANDIAS? Mitch felt at the time like it was a little weirdly pat.
It was pat, intentionally so. I feel like I mentioned in or around the ALLOCHTHON Files that they zapped it with EM radiation to shrink it down, but the defoliation of a potential glyph certainly didn't hurt! But the Agent Orange/White was largely a cover story.
34) The Cairo investigation seems like the Canto Bight of Mission Eight: tangential from a purely plot-focused perspective, but deeply thematically vital, even central. Not a question, again. Though "what should we do with/about it?" is a question.
Why thank you, see #15 comment above.
35) To what extent is Mead's white paper an accurate summary of SANDMAN's understanding of the Ufo phenomenon (I always love seeing Ufo instead of UFO, bee tea dubs) and to what extent has it been scrubbed/approved by OZYMANDIAS high-ups eager to prevent exposure of their secret memetic programming?
I would call Mead's white paper a classic intel "limited hangout." At the time, the CWG were essentially running Mead of course, and would have been like, "Yes, of course we're aware of the potential danger of the Ufo meme, here's how it taps into human Anunnaki programming, etc. etc." And I think that most non-CWG-aligned SANDMAN memeticists would agree with Mead's thesis, even as I'm sure some of them would find the entire phenomenon a bit too "un-Mesopotamian" to be a dangerous Enemy meme.
I think you nailed it when you suspected that the paper might have been "scrubbed" by the CWG, but I think prior to the Redgrave Gambit, the CWG were eager to show that things were "under control" even as the saucers multiplied across the Eastenr United States. So let's say the CWG let Mead go on his little academic wild goose chase and let him release this paper to show they were taking it seriously, while giving Mead enough rope to look like a bit of a kook.
36) Is Mitch's crackpot theory about the Annunaki having once existed as part of History-A, rather than being solely incursions from History-B, accurate?
"Number Six: Whose side are you on?
Number Two: That would be telling."
8/4 to 8/5
37) Morris believes that the Newark Earthworks were constructed pre-Ontoclysm by humans and kullulu in collaboration, which is to say, that it has no continuity within History-A, which seems weird and kind of at odds with how we're taught to frame History-A, History-B, and the Ontoclysm. Of course "nobody really knows what they're talking about when they talk about the past, and that's doubly true for the past before AD 535" is probably the answer to any questions I might pose related to this.
Yes, that is correct about Morris's interpretation. OOC, the Newark Earthworks is now generally believed to be calendrical in nature (in 1973, interpretation among archeologists was split) like so many other ancient human monuments so the vibes that Morris got off of them was "technological" in the kulullu sense of "teaching us the useful arts and sciences" kind of way. As with other questions on this list, and as per your observation that the Whole Pre-Columbian History A/B/I Thing is still kind of muddled, that is definitely my narrative intent. The Mysteries of the Ancients (tm) is still a mystery yet to be unraveled in this mission/campaign.
38) Roger saw a UFO and the morning report declared that nobody reported any new UFO sightings anywhere in the whole ALLOCHTHON region, which seems suspect, why would there be UFO activity on the Cario-Columbus line and then that stop and instead there's Point 1 activity which only Roger sees? Presumably most of SANDMAN doesn't have Roger's motivation to keep quiet about UFO sightings, neither does the civilian population at large, is the Calvin/Charlie event we move on to investigate down at Point 1, is that the only such event? Or is it just the only one that gets media attention? Is SANDMAN missing sightings because they're too small, too minor, to make enough of a splash to detect, or for some more sinister reason? IE was OZYMANDIAS covering anything up at this time?
The ALLOCHTHON Files definitely contain more closer-to-the ground UFO sightings by CWG observers than the ones that were being released publicly at morning briefings (also recall what I said about the "unexplained architecture up top). But the thing about the Columbus-to-Cairo and eventually Pascagoula sightings was that there were too many sightings, or they were too memetically sticky to cover up from the press or SANDMAN at large.
39) Man we kind of blew off Jo's stigmata. Jo has really been a whole series of red flags all through this mission. Maybe we should get her a coupon for a spa day. Hot stone massage.
Weekend at Esalen … no, wait, maybe not
40) The underwater panther being connected to the pre-Ontoclysm American religion might contradict Morris's aforementioned beliefs but maybe not, the world is vast and diverse and Roger's History-I suggestion is one way to thread that needle. Is there a way we can follow up on this?
It does seem like pre-Columbian chronology is fast becoming a key point to this mission. If only the biological mom of one of the URIEL agents was an expert in such and not being mysteriously held up from being reunited with her daughter …
In more seriousness, Underwater Panther did emergy more as a post-535 AD memetic phenomenon and if I stated to the contrary at any point, that was a boner on my part. I think the bare research Jo did in Missouri plus our own anthropological resources could clear that up. Sorry.
41) A closely related but distinct concept: the Ghost Dance idea of Jo's, which might be another expression of a third-party action within the History-A, History-B conflict. How do we investigate this?
Maybe talk to some Indians. We haven't really talked to any of them anywhere in the Eastern US to see what they want and believe but given this is 1973, we nominally represent the white federal power structure, and what happened back during Missions 1 and 2 at Wounded Knee, that kind of makes sense.
Leonard Jocasta actually has an action plan for this (basically, go to South Dakota, find a native who took part in the occupation, get them to talk through bribery/the chance to get out of jail, and find out exactly what happened and if they think it worked, possibly even offer them SANDMAN membership if they're cooperative/skilled enough), but it feels like something we need to do after we take care of a lot of other urgent stuff.
42) Who else in SANDMAN is keyed in on the afterlife? Charley isn't the sole necromancer in the whole organization, right?
That is an excellent question! Of the more mystically woo-woo members of SANDMAN, of course, some of them are cynically or out of necessity and exigencies attached to the CWG. But let us remember: URIEL was the CWG's refuse basket for the irredeemably weird. YOU GUYS are supposed to be the experts on such stuff! But again, as mentioned in other answers of mine, this would take a simple rummage through the personnel files at the Peak and Marshall has Donna for that.
43) Are the dead gone gone, or can we restore them?
installs neon sign with big flashing lights and sirens that says THIS IS IMPORTANT
Leonard This is almost certainly something that will be variable depending on "mysterious circumstances" (what the GM wants to happen) — like, we can bring back some game-relevant person with cruel-twist results, but not, say, Jocasta's mom or Archie's kid.
“not Archie’s kid”
👀
44) Why did OZYMANDIAS pick the moment they did, to try to recruit Marshall? Why not wait until the crisis had passed? Were they ignoring the data that was warning them that their controlled subduction-zone experiment was going off the rails, or did they not yet have that information in hand, yet?
Another good question, there are reasons for it but no one has really delved into why with Sidney. It seems like it was either a Sidney or a Frank decision. Sidney (or was it Tony?) did mention their worry that Archie was finally going a little too loco with the Mormon shit … but why would the CWG be particularly worried about that? Maybe it was because of the warning signs they saw at Marshall and Archie's dinner in LA. Of course the accelerating events out of their control could also have been a factor.
45) What's von Braun up to now (from Saturday morning on, from his conversation with Mitch on)?
Another excellent question. Archie's the only one of us at Huntsville from Friday onwards, and he hasn't seen him.
46) Dang, I forgot, I wanted Mitch's dog Morgan in the 2003 alternate future to be female, hence the name.
I liked Morgan because it was a nicely ambisexual name for a dog, but female it is. :)
47) How is Jolly doing now? What's his status? What does he think is happening now, and happened?
By Sunday night, still recovering from his shock at seeing Marshall shoot himself/Tony get torched; for a master manipulator of psyches, he himself is remarkably squeamish. He can dose an elephant with LSD but can't take even a little of that "violence" he purports to want to stop. Typical.
(In all seriousness, I can assume that Archie has given the newly-loyal SANDMAN security ops orders to make sure Gottlieb, von Braun, and West don't leave Redstone until we finish this mission to URIEL's satisfaction.)
8/5 to 8/6
48) I still feel like there's a solid chance Frank Stanton will be found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound by the end of the day Monday. This is not a question, but what *is* a question is, what can URIEL do to cut the legs out from under what's left of OZYMANDIAS (Stanton, von Braun, Samuel C. Phillips "General Not-Appearing-in-this-Mission"?, etc etc)? How should we proceed with Control? Control is another big blind spot apparently.
This is a big TBD right now. I think it makes sense that URIEL's sense of things at higher levels of SANDMAN are unsettled after our cooptation of ALLOCHTHON but as the new working week unfolds, we will eventually need a plan for liaising with Control and rooting out the CWG elements outside of ALLOCHTHON. I am assuming that Archie's big talk with Stanton will be a driver of this next phase of URIEL's insurgency. Also the Air Force general is Lt. Gen Samuel C. Philips and he's in the ALLOCHTHON Files, Excerpt 3.
49) What about Jayne, is he on the board at all? Is there any other ex-URIEL whose disposition is unknown that I'm forgetting?
Jayne, Bedra, and Mulligan are Whereabouts Unknown at this time; re-reading the History of Operation URIEL will give clues as to where they might all be and the different kinds of "retirement" all three might have received.
Leonard There's zero chance Bedra is not involved in this if he's still alive, and he could be another reason all our memories are unreliable. I suspect he's dead but it's just a suspicion.
50) Why was Gottlieb so certain about the lack of life after death? We might have gotten an answer to this one later on, I don't remember, if so I'll update it. But it's an odd hole in OZYMANDIAS's, and SANDMAN's, knowledge.
I'm not sure if anyone's really gotten into it with Sidney on the afterlife quite yet.
Leonard From a practical standpoint, there's seemingly no reason why any SANDMAN higher-up isn't open to the idea of life after death or any other supernatural whatnot. But from a personal one, there's a good reason to think Gottlieb doesn't want to credit the idea that there might be some form of judgement or karma in the next world.
51) Gottlieb's version of pre-Ontoclysm history: the Annunaki controlled Europe and Asia (and Africa?) and merely colonized Australia and the Americas, and that therefore the effects of the Ontoclysm were muted/different in the New World. Another version of the story that doesn't entirely hang together inasmuch as there isn't a post-Ontoclysm Annunaki presence there.
This seems of a piece with our previous questions on pre- and post-Ontoclysm America.
52) What secrets died with Tony? What loose ends do we need to roll up there?
Jo knew him best (and continues to know him, depending on how you view her little conversations) so I think that's a question for Jo and maybe for the further investigation and dissolution of the CWG's plans. Tony definitely had multiple Projects going on out there.
Leonard I think the most urgent loose end is that he was developing a separate or possibly contiguous Indigo Child program of kids he intended to put through the ritual of Chüd and turn into soulless murder machines, and we should figure out the extent and details of that and shut it down. Luckily he created another soulless murder machine (Jo) who will kill kids without qualm.
53) We should probably look up AGATE and UBAR, the missions mentioned in the OZYMANDIAS manifesto—or have Sophie do it. NICKEL GRASS, also, maybe.
I can speak to NICKEL GRASS for sure, it's the airlift operation that's bringing materiel to Israel during the Yom Kippur War. AGATE and UBAR will need a little digging, again, in the Granite Peak/Project archives.
54) A lot of the OZYMANDIAS manifesto is basically nonsense, at least it seems like that do me, but did it really not occur to anyone in the power structure that, even if they succeeded beyond their wildest dreams and successfully created mineshaft-style hidey-holes in the post-Apocalyptic History-B-ified landscape, did they not think about how surely the Enemy wouldn't stand idly by and permit them to exist, any more than SANDMAN is content to live and let live re subduction zones? And that in this scenario the Enemy would have an entire planet's worth of resources to destroy them with, and OZYMANDIAS would have…whatever they'd successfully squirreled away in advance? I mean, God, the arrogance of the plan is so galling, even setting aside all the ways in which it simply wouldn't work and plays into the Enemy's hands to try.
Desperation breeds unlikely plans! I think the main thing to keep in mind is the psychological pressure evident in the mission statements of ALLOCHTHON; this is going to happen and we need a way to survive it! But to answer your question of won't the redoubts stick out like a sore thumb, further reading in the ALLOCHTHON Files would indicate in large part that is what the psis are for. They're needed for ontological stability, of course, but they'll also need ways to camouflage themselves in a post-second Ontoclysm scenario.
55) It seems weird that Control would approve THROWAWAY treatment for taishers who figure out that ALLOCHTHON was created by SANDMAN/OZYMANDIAS. Taishers are, after all, thin on the ground and a valuable resource. That implies that Control is more oriented with OZYMANDIAS than we (or at least I) had assumed/hoped.
The bit about taishers getting wiped or thrown away is a very good observation to make, yeah. Whether that necessarily indicates a closer CWG relationship with Control is debatable, but a decent supposition.
56) Okay, Phillips is def a loose end to snip, since he's on-board with Gottlieb et al and on site for ALLOCHTHON (though "site" is used expansively here)
The question of What Is To Be Done long-term with all of the high-profile CWG Steerers is an open one.
57) The extent to which OZYMANDIAS-aligned personnel are present at all levels of SANDMAN is unsurprising but demoralizing. How should we act to curtail these excesses (experimenting on random American civilians, for instance)?
All these CWG Steering Group guys are arguably also deep in the Defense/intel/media infrastructure of just regular old America as well, which means their disappearance/death would be highly noticed. If they were all to catch a sudden "moral conscience" and need to "retire" of course, that might go some way to halting both CWG and evil American intel domestic/foreign human experimentation, power trips, etc.
Leonard We don't know the future (either the 'actual' real-world future or the potential in-game future), but OOC, the upcoming post-Watergate collapse and curtailing of intel black budgets might do some of this heavy lifting for us. Also, there's probably at least a few people in SANDMAN who know a few things about denazification …
58) WISHING WELL is another operation to look up, the apparent source of Charley's implant, and local to the Bay Area to boot! How were we not informed? Not a serious question, but it is a little disconcerting that WISHING WELL and SCANATE and who knows what else has been going on in URIEL's back yard. There could be an entire team of URIEL-minders (Tony's people?) that we aren't aware of.
I'm sure more truth will out once we grab more of the CWG files but I think it's worth wondering how much of URIEL's existence has been tightly monitored or controlled by the CWG.
8/6 to 8/7
59) How to proceed without antagonizing our ersatz allies the loa? To what extent should we simply keep on keeping on, and to what extent do we need to be more mindful?
There is also the clear bifurcation happening in recent interactions between the "hot" Petro loa (of whom Kalfu is one) who seem to want Roger to become The Man and the Gede, the masters of the dead (of whom Maman Brigitte is one) who seem more preoccupied with justice and revenge, especially for the dead.
60) Sidney says he can supply RAVEN but it'll take some time, which implies that RAVEN is someplace remote. More remote than Granite Peak, Utah? Or wherever in Wyoming they're doing THROWAWAY? Suspicious.
Suspicious indeed.
61) Again, we should get Jo something nice, she's having a real hard time right now.
I'm going to put kidding aside for a moment and say that the falling action and ending of Mission 8 will really put the big questions of "how much longer can any or all of us do This" at the forefront of all URIEL members' minds.