RPC-413

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Registered Phenomena Code: RPC-413

Object Class: Beta-White

Hazards: Grouped, Sapient

Additional Properties: Animated, Aquatic

Containment Protocols: As per the established agreement between the Authority and instances of RPC-413, the anomaly is required to surface at a minimum of once per week at an agreed location fifteen kilometers away from the coast of the Cape Lookout National Seashore. Upon surfacing, troupe members (Designated as RPC-413-01 through -19) are to wait for the arrival of an Authority vessel for an hour.1 RPC-413 can return to its regular route after the meeting is finished, a one hour mark without any Authority ships appearing has passed or if a non-Authority vessel attempts to approach RPC-413.

The third week of each month, a group of 50 to 150 civilians will accompany the Authority staff on the vessel. The civilians are to be gathered by a front company called “The Cursed Cruise of Captain Calamari”, through the retail of tickets for a horror-themed weekend cruise. Whilst being accompanied by civilians, the vessel will use a different signal to notify RPC-413’s troupe of their presence.

Troupe members are permitted and encouraged to interact with the civilians through entertainment methods such as singing, frightening and taking pictures with them. RPC-413-01 through 19 are also allowed to board the Authority vessel should it be necessary, but are required to return to its own ship should the effort prove too exhausting or if the end of this interactive period approaches.

An interview is to be conducted the following day, as that is when instances have proven to be more cooperative and open with interviewers.

Should the troupe members prove uncooperative or even show hostility at any moment, Authority Nautical Vessels “Leslie V. Dawson” and “Victor Carmen” are to be deployed to secure it. Upon capture, the anomaly is to be dragged onto dry land as a method of preventing it from escaping into the sea, and covertly transported to Site-095.

Investigation into the origins and identity of RPC-413-Thaumiel2 is still underway.


Ghost%20ship%20before%20ghost.jpg

RPC-413, pre-anomalous event, picture received from one of the instances.

Description: RPC-413 is a heavily decayed and modified three story luxury yacht that is crewed by nineteen unique humanoid anomalies, designated as RPC-413-1 through 19.

The ship is covered in a wide variety of aquatic stationary organisms such as kelp, seaweed and barnacles. The ship, despite being of modern making, appears to have a number of extraneous pieces made of driftwood attached to the length of its hull; the most prominent of these is a large mast, positioned at the center of the vessel, the top of which holds a black and white flag. The flag itself contains a pictogram that portrays, according to the aforementioned humanoid anomalies, a “cybernetically enhanced skull with vampiric/werewolf3 fangs, holding a ritual knife in its teeth”.

These pieces hold no functional purpose to the locomotion of RPC-413, but rather serve a cosmetic one to aid in both morale and “help act out the part for the show” as admitted by RPC-413-04. Carbon dating identified the debris to vary from piece to piece, which corroborates with Instance 04’s claims of salvaging parts from various different ships they have found whilst sailing underneath the surface.

The way the vessel operates is inexplainable by both Authority researchers as well as the instances. The decay and modifications do not affect the ship's ability for locomotion in any visible way, and it is capable of easily travelling above and below the ocean’s surface. Additionally, instances claim water will not continuously flood into the interior of the ship whilst it is underwater unless a portal, such as a window or door, is left open. This results in the interior remaining dry for the majority of the time it is submerged.

Locomotion of the vessel is presumed to be attained through the collective will of the instances. The ship will surface, submerge and move whenever the humanoids concentrate on those concepts. A group of three to five instances will be periodically designated as "navigators", during which they will be in charge of directing RPC-413 whilst the other instances are occupied with different activities.

Questioning the instances on the absence of a regular ship crew has lead to further confusion. Each one claimed that a crew was picked and known by RPC-413-T before the cruise began and that they have seen its members during it. However, requesting details such as names, appearances and descriptions of their activities lead to varying, contradictory and imprecise answers. The instances seem to be unable to remember any precise detail relating to the crew and do not know whether they were victims as well to the anomalous event.

The anomalous vessel at the moment of writing has nineteen anomalous humanoids, which have been identified as members of the filk group4 “Stola’s Sonneteers” who have been reported missing as of November 1st, 2000. The group had previously departed from a public dock on the 28th of October for a 3-day holiday themed cruise, paid for by their producer, during which it is believed they were victims to an anomalous event.

The troupe members can no longer be considered to be human due to the effects of the anomalous event. The instances currently all appear to have the costumes they were wearing during the celebration incorporated to their physiology. Despite aspects of their novel physiology that would impede them from performing certain actions (i.e. speaking, walking, etc.), they remain equally capable to baseline human beings.

The only exception is RPC-413-T, who is suspected to have had a direct connection to the anomalous event5 and was not wearing a costume at the moment of it occurring. This is assumed to be the cause for its current state; the subject has partially fused to the exterior wall of the second floor, rendering him immobile and mute. It is unknown how the subject remains alive, as his lungs and vocal cords were destroyed or rendered nonfunctional as a result.

Initially presumed dead, other members of the troupe discovered that the subject remained alive and capable of moving his eyes and responding to exposure to light. Troupe members are sympathetic toward the subject, attempting to include him in group activities such as practicing songs, discussing or playing tabletop games on the floor he is situated in. Members claim that he enjoys these activities and the feeling of inclusion.

Of note should be the unorthodox reaction to their current state, which is being exhibited by the troupe members. Instead of exhibiting extreme stress, anxiety or even trauma associated with the sudden exposure to anomalous influence, passengers had shown contentedness and even enthusiasm, believing this to be a “blessing in disguise” and a way of being able to commit fully to their chosen genre of performance. The current containment procedures were built around this attitude, as a way of avoiding unnecessary costs and staying in good relations with the troupe members since they have proven to be a valuable source of clues and insight regarding RPC-413-T's practices, as well as a slowly growing profit from the front company service.

The risk of instances leaving the ship is minimal, as doing so causes increased level of fatigue and pain the longer and further affected members stay away from the ship. Instances have expressed revulsion to the feeling, preferring to stay aboard as much as they can, only leaving the vessel during weekly interviews and performances.


Discovery: On 2.10 2004, Authority web-crawlers discovered a lead on possible anomalous activity on an amateur cryptid tracker forum. A thread dedicated to cursed nautical vessels was suddenly flowing with activity after one of the forum members claimed he had filmed a ghost ship near the coast of the Cape Lookout National Seashore. The forum-goer corroborated his claims further with amateur footage of the ship sailing, as well as sinking beneath the surface. This resulted in a sudden influx of activity within the thread, which allowed for the web-crawlers to take notice and receive enough information to attempt to track the anomaly by deploying Authority Naval Vessels (ANVs) to the area of the sighting.

Soon after arriving at the approximate location of the sightings, the ANVs managed to locate the vessel through the singing of the troupe members. The vessels quickly surrounded RPC-413, with ANV "Leslie V. Dawson" soon attempting to board it. Troupe members, likely mistaking the ANV for a civilian vessel, attempted to scare it off through screeches and roars, in response of which ASF personnel opened warning fire.

After a short panic and the troupe surrendering, Containment Officers boarded RPC-413 and began investigation of the vessel. One team, accompanied by a small number of instances, entered the ship's insides to investigate it. Another conducted interviews with the remaining instances within the ANVs, the most relevant of which are available below.





« RPC-412 | RPC-413 | RPC-414 »

Footnotes

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