God the Father, God the Son
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« Incident Log: 166-67 »
Staff Participants:
- Cpt. Fields/ Containment [ANV Wintersheimer]
- Dr. Risa/ Containment [Resident Medical Lisaon]
- Dr. Taggart/ Research [Department of Occult Concerns]
Mission Task: Locate further remnants of RPC-931’s emergence and ascertain additional clues to the anomaly's whereabouts.
Forward: An atypical male was rescued approx. ten knots off the southern shore of Pabbay Island. The unidentified subject - or John Doe - was recovered, displaying signs of acute hypothermia and respiratory trauma due to water inhalation. The subject is noted to be unusually large, more than two meters in height, with no other notable identifiers or defects.
The subject is scheduled for interrogation following their transfer to Site-007 two days post retrieval en-route to Pabbay proper. Due to the recent emergence incident on Cair Aisling, all Authority personnel within the vicinity of the Island have been placed on heightened awareness as per protocol. Dealing with Mr. Doe through either amnestication or permanent containment is of the utmost importance.
[Susurration settles as Dr. Taggart takes the seat across from Mr. Doe, placing his pages down carefully.]
Dr. Taggart: Quite the surprise seeing you up and awake - your heart was barely beating when we found you. You were all blue.
[Mr. Doe does not respond.]
Dr. Taggart: I believe the exact words Risa told me ‘bout your recovery was that it was: “nothing short of a miracle.”
[Mr. Doe continues not to reply.]
Dr. Taggart: Perhaps we can start off with your name?
[Silence.]
Dr. Taggart: You'll have to talk to me at some point. You know, it’s not every day we find a giant such as yourself near drowned while— trawling. Yes, trawling. Is there anyone we can try and contact? A ship you were on, maybe? You know the waters we found you in are restric—
[Mr. Doe mutters something inaudible under his breath.]
Dr. Taggart: What was that?
Mr. Doe: My son… my…
Dr. Taggart: Sir?
Mr. Doe: My son. A ‘ave to— need to find him. He's… hurt, A think.
Dr. Taggart: Your son…?
Mr. Doe: Listen… Och! Me whole body hurts. You said you found me? Where?
Dr. Taggart: At sea, leagues from the mainland. Can’t say exactly, but too far out for a leisurely swim. What’s the last thing you remember?
Mr. Doe: Oggin? A… A would never. What about now, where are we?
Dr. Taggart: We’re more or less in Scotland waiting for your medical reports to come in.
Mr. Doe: Scotland…The Isles? I’m home.
Dr. Taggart: Ah, now we’re getting somewhere. So you’re from here? Scotland, I mean.
Mr. Doe: A need to find ‘im, maybe he’s close too. He was hurt; A know A saw it with me own eyes. A’ve already lost one son, A can’t lose another. A—
Dr. Taggart: Calm down, Sir. We can help, but we can’t do much unless you work with us. Make this go quicker.
Mr. Doe: Aye, right. Yer’ right.
[Mr. Doe remains silent.]
Dr. Taggart: Are you a man of faith, Mr. Doe?
[Mr. Doe chuckles.]
Mr. Doe: Strange question for an interrogation.
Dr. Taggart: Not an interrogation, just some questions. Aimed to help jog that jumbled memory of yours a bit. If you’re a local I can only assume the faith may have touched you at one point or another.
[Mr. Doe chuckles.]
Mr. Doe: Aye. Been one me whole life. A… A think, anyway.
Dr. Taggart: You think?
Mr. Doe: It’s ‘ard, all a bit floaty.
Dr. Taggart: But you remember your boy. He must be important, then. I can promise you that we’ll find—
Mr. Doe: Don’t think you are, though.
Dr. Taggart: What?
Mr. Doe: A man of faith. You aren’t.
Dr. Taggart: Baptised under the Church of England as a boy. Harder to hold on to these days - especially with my love of the literary critics and applying them to scripture - but it’s enough. We’ve more in common than you think, Sir. Besides, doesn't change the fact I can see you’re troubled and more than a little lost. A found belief helps in times like these.
Mr. Doe: But yer eyes. You don’t believe in it. Not really.
Dr. Taggart: Does that bother you?
Mr. Doe: They say a clear eye is a sign of a holy soul. What a soul you must see in me… [Mr. Doe coughs.] Faith. A pretty word. Bah. I've had me fill o’ it, enough to last lifetimes. A set my whole world upon it even, but A’m suppose’n that wasn't enough if what you say is true…
Dr. Taggart: Pardon? What I said?
[Silence.]
Dr. Taggart: What did I say, Sir?
[Mr. Doe sighs.]
Mr. Doe: Liam. Ye asked for me name. It’s Liam.
Registered Phenomena Code: 931
Object Class: Gamma-Purple
Hazard Types: Pending Further Classification
Containment Protocols:
While containment of RPC-931 is currently observed through paranatural means via Cair Aisling’s anomalous border,1 grove fluctuations in recent years have led to mounting fears that its autonomous containment there may no longer be viable. [See Sighting 931-04] While direct armed conflict with RPC-931 has proven futile, alternative ritualistic means aimed to prevent the entity from targeting Authority assets2 have been developed by Prometheus Primogenitus personnel.3 These beliefs are based upon localised folkloristic dogmas sourced from various communities partnered with the Authority mediators in Cair Aisling. See below:
- Temporary-party Authority personnel deployed to Cair Aisling are to be issued Jannes wards upon their arrival. Jannes wards [See Fig. 1] are protective talismans crafted from woven Punica granatum leaves. More advanced versions of Jannes wards, complete with inscribed protection prayers from the Gauttist-ót and other relevant sources, are to be disseminated among permanent-party personnel.
- Whenever possible, personnel must attempt to make pilgrimage to the Sickly Marshes and lustrate themselves within the Drowning Well.4 Synchronous reports have confirmed that those christened in its waters no longer arouse RPC-931’s agitated state.
Currently, no colloquially sourced incantation, ward, or ritual has proven successful in wholly deterring RPC-931 from its unidentified goal. All Authority personnel should be prepared for a possible “Emergence Incident” in the event that RPC-931 attempts to breach containment.
Description:
Fig.1: Believed to be an image of Presbyttir Jannes and his wards recovered from a mosaic in the ruined city of Elenhall.
RPC-931 is a beatific draconian entity of unknown size and ability. It is referenced within Gowering's writings as a purely deific being, and as such is known by multiple names and titles among the endemic peoples of Cair Aisling, including but not limited to: Solasta, the Rhapsodist of Reverence, the King-that-Was, the Empty Crown, Creator, Cleric of the Cosmos, the Horned Prophet, and most predominately A'lim the Gleaming. RPC-931 never officially appears in Gowering's novels, although echoes of his5 actions are pervasive in most narrative threads in the stories themselves - despite he himself being physically absent for their entirety. It is currently believed that RPC-931 came into being at irregular intervals following a hypothesised inception point believed to have occurred sometime after a four-year period succeeding Cair Aisling's initial manifestation in the summer of 2020. The exact nature of its dilatorious entry in the later half of 2025 remains a matter of debate among researchers - although - the most common belief based on the reexamination of formerly disregarded reports of aberrative circumstances and ‘partial’ sightings6 is that RPC-931's arrival was hindered due to its possible imperfect transference within a point of extreme incoherency during its initial manifestation.
Descriptions of RPC-931 vary from culture to culture, but comparative analysis by field researchers and historians stationed at Camp Crannóc have identified several key characteristics concordant throughout all relevant sources. RPC-931 is consistently depicted as the largest dragon to have ever existed or will ever exist with wings ‘boundless as the night sky.’ Earlier epic songs and other long-form poetry retrieved from various strains of Elfish tradition, such as the lay of Presbyttir Jannes,7 make frequent mention of his thick blue iron scales, which ‘weighed a talent each' and his spiraled horns ‘akin to that of a ram.’ These later became the standard interpretation, though subsequent other non-canonical and more non-conventional features have been recorded from reports post-manifestation of the Cair Aisling anomaly, including eyes on the underside of the wings, the mane of a lion, and - in the unpublished incomplete Epics of Parousia - as a man.
Due to RPC-931's assigned aseitic nature, its anomalous capabilities are immeasurable. It is, for all intents and purposes within the boundaries of the Cair Aisling anomaly, a God. Moreover, even with our limited observation of the entity, we've seen it rearrange chronological events, demanifest objects and itself at will, and display complete autonomy over matter manipulation. [See Addendum 931.01] Members of the AET8 assigned with the observation, experimentation, and examination of the properties of Cair Aisling's anomalous border have begun to suspect that RPC-931 may pose a significant threat to the stability of the 'pocket's semi-permeable dimensional barrier.
Dr. Taggart: And your surname?
Liam: MacDonald.
Dr. Taggart: [Hushed to his assistant] Risa, can you look that name up? See if we have anything on file. [Back to Liam] Any other relations?
Liam: A cannae recall.
Dr. Taggart: You… can’t recall?
Liam: A don’t ken, A just - Are ye just gonna keep dancin’ round like this?
Dr. Taggart: No dancing. Just questions - I promise they’re important.
Liam: Thought ye were gonna help me find my boy? Stop act'n sweer with me.
Dr. Taggart: We will, we will. There are already people looking. We will find him, Sir. I swear it.
Liam: Bold of you to lie so blatantly, havering about. You should find ‘im. It won’t make sense if you don’t.
Dr. Taggart: Make sense?
Liam: Bugger it. Doesn’t matter.
Dr. Taggart: Right… [Taggart clears his throat loudly, grabbing a sheet of paper from the nearby drawer.]
Dr. Taggart: So. A son, you said? You’ve only mentioned one child, no wife or other kids?
Liam: My wife? Did A ‘ave a wife…?
Dr. Taggart: I’m sure yo—
Liam: Nae, A had… two bairns: boys. Aye, aye. Two. Brian and Maitiú.
Dr. Taggart: Had?
Liam: Brian’s— he— he’s not around anymore.
Dr. Taggart: Family qualms? Or something more serious?
Liam: A cannae say. A… don’ remember. A don’ want to.
Dr. Taggart: So then, Maitiú? He’s who you’re looking for, yes? Can you describe him for me?
Liam: He’s like me. Jus’ wee. He’s still a lad, red hair, brightest bluest eyes ye’d ever seen. Always smiled. He liked to sing and draw a lot, see? Jus’ like me when A was a lad. Would always make stories that escaped him - could never quite finish'em either. A used to tease‘im for it.
[Liam chuckles to himself before sombrely trailing off.]
Dr. Taggart: You speak as though you haven’t seen him in years.
Liam: Aye, feels like it. A see him still - when A close me eyes - sitting at ‘is auld desk above me sohmwhere. Toiling away, hiding his drawings while he was supposed to be nose'n the Good Book. But when A go to him, he’s auld and grey. Eyes like the void.
[Liam audibly shudders.]
Liam: Don’ suppose A could ‘ave some paper to sketch a bit. Me minds full o’ places and things A can’t make out. More dreams.
Dr. Taggart: Of course, of course. [Dr. Taggart removes a small notebook from under the desk, sliding it across the table to Liam along with a black fountain pen.] Is this alright?
Liam: Aye. It’s- it’s good. Aye.
Dr. Taggart: Alright, let’s try this again. Tell me, Mr. MacDonald - and try your hardest this time. What even is the last thing you remember?
[Liam takes a long breath. After several minutes of silence, he speaks.]
Liam: That one’s easy, Sir. Fire.
Addendum 931.01: Informational Excerpt
Transcribed below are several abridged choruses and verses from The Iaspisoíche. They have been selected for reference here for their relevance to RPC-931. Original texts sourced from Gowering’s notes and in-world religious scriptures displayed on the left, Authority abridged sections on the right. [Sic throughout]
The Canticle of Tosaighasúir
— As Sung by Presbyttir Jannes —
🜂
| 1Ere the sundering of the six sons, ere the world was confined in immutable firmament, ere even the first elves were born in their starry jewel-nets beyond the Veil of Night, there was only Nothing. This Nothing was quiet, formless; empty. This Nothing was the place of the low, deep waters, those dusty stagnant realms where things lay formless, and dreams were trapped in the hanging dark. But Nothing cannot last. It gorged upon itself. 2The foam of the endless sea took shape as a toothy maw. Swallowed whole at once, became the Dragon, for he had consumed all that is, was, and will be, and felt that it was good. 3Birthed through the gates of his teeth and the fire of his gullet as song. The first notes, inchoate, were as the undigested waters separating land. Their gentle lapping added to the pursuance. Raucously it rang; the hymn of creation. The verse took deeper shape as the second sagacious notes became the sky. The chorus was as the rising and setting of the Son. And it was good. 4The totality of heaven burned beyond his eyes, as his crownless kingdom formed. He, who gave himself saghas, had harmonized all its contents. 5The fire of his stomach set first - the sun who was fleeting. The wild waters ameliorated in his image - given purpose and direction. The earth and air, so lofty forgotten, all came to be under his avoirdupois ardor, and he felt that it was good. |
According to Authority scholars, fire and water’s equivoques meanings throughout The Iaspisoíche allowed both the elves and humans to claim racial superiority as A’lim’s firstborn. Water, according to human historians, represents the early Elves before they extinguished the primordial flame and were “broken against their ancestors as the river.” Dwarves and lesser dragons portray earth and air respectively. Although racial and class warfare were common themes throughout most of Gowering’s work, these specific chauvinistic beliefs are suspected to have developed independently. |
Dr. Taggart: Fire? In the middle of the sea?
Liam: Nae, A was some dusty Jollie10 far from 'ome. We were good as gash then, sent to act stag for some black water… or er, petrol.
Dr. Taggart: You're a Jollie, ey? That explains the physique, I gather. So you’re on leave from Afghanistan or Iraq and then what?
Liam: What? Nae, Oman was the last place A 'member. Sometimes, A felt like that sandbox was more me home than the Isles: Egypt, Syria, Lebanon year after year after year. A saw fire rain from the sky in Benghazi, beasted and yogged to Alexandria over and over again. Nae, it’s just bones; A shan't be prone to dits now.
Dr. Taggart: Oman? Alexandria? Why would you be there? There hasn—
[Dr. Taggart is interrupted by a knock at the door.]
Dr. Taggart: Pardon me for a moment.
Addendum 931.02: Discovery
Reports of RPC-931's possible emergence first came to the Authority's attention in October 13, 2025, following an investigation of the seeming destruction relocation of Brionath Lir, a Spire Elf observatory whose residents - mostly Spire Elves and their servantry - had been in a tenuous 2-year treaty at that point with the Authority11 for research and reconnaissance purposes. Intercepted calls for help12 sent by Maintenance Union personnel stationed at the Observatory aiding in its repairs following the manifestation are brief at best and frantically written at worst, as transcribed below:
The reports we viewed as mere superstition a year ago were not wrong. They were not wrong. Rocks rain from the sky. Something has raised the seas. Ships turn into trees. The roof became a monster; the roof took Persilas's head. Help. A serpent haunts the clouds. Harald13 believes God has woken up, and is passing over the waters. Superstition, I thought it at first.
I cannot say he is wrong. I cannot say He isn't wrong. Send any able-bodied MST from Camp Crannoc as soon as you can muster. We need help. We need help. None of them were wrong. He says we're not right. He says he wants to fix us.
Everything's blue. Why is it all blue?
Subsequent investigation of Brionath Lir revealed the entire observatory to have disappeared from its former location overnight, with no evidence of it having been there in the first place. Scouting nearby using ex-situ chartered Axton-Hornsby personnel revealed it to have been moved seven miles down the coast. Observable distortions - believed to be from ACS14 fluctuations - temporarily manifested in the spaces between the juxtaposed positions and across the entirety of the nearby coastline and to the nearby ruined city of Elenhall.15 Roughly 2/3rds of the body of the ruins remained suspended upside down in the air, housed within a fluctuating tempest, furthermore remaining stationary by unknown means.
Most of the Observatory's former inhabitants were found with no memory of the events reported in the plea, even going so far as failing to remember the Authority's existence in its entirety. The building itself appears to be completely restored to the same state it was described as having existed within Gowering's novels prior to Cair Aisling's manifestation event; all evidence of Authority extensions have been scrubbed by an unknown actor.
None of the Maintenance Union personnel stationed at Brionath Lir were ever recovered among those convened within the building's new location. They have since been presumed dead.
Dr. Taggart: What did you find out?
Dr. Risa: You’re not gonna believe this…he’s one of ours.
Dr. Taggart: What division? Why didn’t anyone report him missing?
Dr. Risa: No, you don’t understand. He’s RAVAAF: unaware supplemental support, Royal Marines. Look at the file, Major Liam MacDonald served during Operation Battleaxe, Brevity, even during the Levant crisis. Went MIA in the sixties.
Dr. Taggart: Must be a mistake. He’s barely a day over fifty at most.
Dr. Risa: He’s bigger than his records say - and he’s younger in his photo too - but it’s him. No wife on record, but two sons just like he said, Brian and Maitiú.
Dr. Taggart: Hm. And what happened to them?
Dr. Risa: Let me see… Brian is the younger one, he…oh. It’s like he said.
Dr. Taggart: Spit it out Risa.
Dr. Risa: Drowned when he was two.
Dr. Taggart: So young… What of the other, the one he’s looking for?
Dr. Risa: Maitiú? He went into the foster system then up and vanished right when he turned eighteen.
[Dr. Taggart pauses.]
Dr. Risa: Sam?
Dr. Taggart: That doesn’t make this mystery any simpler. Right, back on it then. Find out what you can on Maitiú and get those medical tests done; I’ll get back to working on our subject.
Dr. Risa: On it.
RPC-931’s second sighting didn’t occur until March 20, 2026, five months after the October incidents. Camp Crannóc long-range scouts - formerly tasked with patrolling the outer southwest perimeter of the corrupted woods - had failed to return to their forward operating bases within the allotted mission parameters. A heavy cavalry chevalier unit was thereby dispatched to the scouts’ last known position in the hopes of ascertaining the exact nature of their disappearance.
Immediately upon reaching the Eastern border of the corrupted lands, the knights were bypassed by a considerable force of magical beasts fleeing the area. Immense pillars of golden and black smoke were seen rising from the general direction of the Castle of Dreams. They were observed first by personnel at Watcher’s Rest, and within seconds, the smoke was visible throughout the entirety of Authority-influenced zones. As suddenly as the smoke appeared, it seemingly demanifested. As it went, a small earthquake shook Camp Crannóc, and a single member of the cavalry team manifested in his barracks. His debrief is transcribed below:
We had barely ridden past the old Moldering Spire as they call it, when we saw what looked like some dark cloud moving towards us at an impressive speed. But it wasn’t just a cloud though, not at all - in it there were rather things of all sorts: birds, fairies, minor winged creatures. Things I’d of course all seen before on prior rangings, but it was different this time. Normally they avoid humans. We barely had time to process the strangeness of it all before the rest of the beasts from the woods nearly trampled us. They were all hotfooted as they shot past, all malignant and the sort. Then— we saw why.
A deafening roar echoed consistently for nearly twenty minutes across the grounds. A path had been cleared through the brush, the whole of it burning unnaturally fast: when the blackness of the smoke had receded for a moment there was nothing left but a field of fire. As far as we could see the valley was ablaze. It came upon us so quickly that Bakis and Turcbolt couldn't reign their horses in time, barely getting two shouts out before their lives were snuffed. The flame took them like a flash-flood. The flames moved like water. They couldn’t even scream when they died. Got all of them but me.
I don’t remember much from what happened in the thick of the firefight; that was nothing but fire and fear and death. But I do know what happened when the smoke overhead parted one final time, when I looked up at last from my cowering under the burning bush after the roaring stopped. Above me over the Castle to my right loomed a large blue dragon, bigger than anything I’ve ever encountered here, even those wyverns the ashfolk ride— goddamn bigger than the bones strewn about the desert that’s for sure. God not even hanging, leaning against it. The ruins looked like a toy compared to it.
Before I had even realized it, everything was ash, even my horse. My eyes were fixed on the monster before me. It roared so strongly I felt the pressure in my eyes. The woods reformed almost instantly and I felt myself pulled back here. I blinked and here I was.
The hopeful part of me thinks it’s the fact I was last in our ranks that I lived, a trick of fate; the other part knows the truth.
I don’t know how I know, or why, but I just do - that thing in the black skies somehow knew I was there. It had probably known the whole time.
And yet it passed me by.
Fig. 2: Sketch titled "An Chéad agus Seo Caite" found among Gowering's papers on The Iaspisoíche. This artistic depiction shares several stylistic similarities with Proto-Germanic Lindwurm motifs. Gowering took heavy inspiration from the 19th-century tale "Prince Lindwurm” and other ATU 433B16 like stories.
Following these incidents, which confirmed the existence and allotted the classification of RPC-931, further occurrences have been condensed for the sake of brevity. All Authority efforts at this point are to be towards either ascertaining what RPC-931’s intentions are and gauging its weaknesses. It is well worth noting that smaller incidents and minor sightings are far more numerous than this subsequent listing; but, due to their extreme concision and lack of suitable confirmation by multiple observers, they have not been listed here.
Sighting: RPC-931-03
Location: Shadefell Grove
Date: 04/09/2026
Casualties/Deaths: 40/unknown
Report: A hurried message was received from one of the conroi17 emissaries tasked with the diplomatic relations with mixed-race orc and human insurgency groups18 colonising the vast incoherency pockets by the Shadefell Grove to the north of Bris.19 They warned of strange happenings in both the native landscape and the movements of the aforementioned insurgency groups nearby in the preceding weeks. Additional reinforcements arrived after a three-day journey impeded by rough weather, only to find the incoherent zones effectively leveled, with no sign of the previous colonies or any of the protectorate conrois that had been stationed in the area. Sightings of RPC-931 flying in the air up to four days post-incident are corroborated by the remaining two teams, who had evacuated to Bris just before the onset of what they called ‘the blip,’ saying the grove had glowed so brightly ‘it was like the sun was rising in the north.’
Additional Observations: Nothing new has changed since the first two sightings. RPC-931’s motives remain unknown, though its threat level to Authority/ Cair Aisling operations continues to climb. The two surviving teams claimed that RPC-931 had reacted negatively to attempted direct armed confrontation, which corroborates with its reported demeanor in the RPC-931-02 report. While no bodies have been found in the area - unlike in the RPC-931-01 report - none of the native cast were recovered.
Sighting: RPC-931-04
Location: Mistwood, five leagues east of Thievesport
Date: 19/02/2027
Casualties/Deaths: null
Report: Authority personnel stationed at the newly reestablished Brionath Lir observatory witnessed RPC-931 displaying unusual behavior high above the Mistwood forest area and the adjacent corrupted zones. Most conspicuously, he was seen stopping at distinctly discordant nebulous spaces within the night sky and seemingly relocating them to their correct spots. How he was able to achieve this, which was obfuscated by the altitude it was observed at, appeared to be by wrapping his horns through the sections of incongruous sky and ripping them from their previous positions: all the while leaving various aurorae in their wake. Additionally, once these sections of the sky were correlated correctly, RPC-931 placed new portions of celestial space in their previous designates. These new sections appear to have been manifested purely by RPC-931.
Additional Observations: Cair Aisling's night sky remains one of the most incoherent corrupted spaces, moreover the island's entirety. Written sections of Gowering's drawings of constellations populate its visage. These intermix with baseline reality’s celestial picture, both of which change each evening as Cair Aisling’s stellar rotation is circumpolar in nature as opposed to Pabbay Island’s more southern orientation.20 Due to this, it is unclear what RPC-931’s goal was during this sighting - as by the following evening - the sky returned to its incessantly incoherent state. However, the aurorae generated during this incident were observed passing through Cair Aisling's border; the first time any abnormality of this nature was detected doing so.21
Sighting: RPC-931-05
Location: The Nightmare Road on the northwest side of the Corrupted Lands
Date: 29/04/2027
Casualties/Deaths: 157/523
Report: Over an eight-day period, several notable members of the Orcish Dominarchy, Underguild of the Dwarves, and Ashenfolk military commands with their varied corps vanished in a manner similar to 'blips' observed within sighting RPC-931-04. On the evening of the 29th, RPC-931 was observed flying above The Nightmare Road, remanifesting the various combatants. All three armies converged and, despite all Authority garnered truces, immediately engaged in an all-out war against one another resulting in a decisive Ashenfolk victory.
Additional Observations: All belligerents were noted to be those that participated in The Battle of Brittle Boynes in Volume 3: The Sword of Prophecy. Upon further examination, it was revealed that while the main Cair Aisling plot had carried on past this point canonically inline with the books, the battle itself had not taken place.22 It was also noted that as each soldier fell, their children, specifically those born sometime chronologically after Volume 3, ostensibly ceased to exist. Further study into chronologically altered events has been deemed non-feasible as all parties involved are unable to recall said previous knowledge or actions after the altercation. It is not currently known if these occurrences can affect Authority personnel.
Sighting: RPC-931-06
Location: The Deep Refuge
Date: 29/07/2027
Casualties/Deaths: 0/-1
Report: An Authority research expedition team, studying the Lord of Ash's thaumaturgical geothermic properties, witnessed RPC-931 flying towards the Glass-ruby Gate of The Deep Refuge. Once there, the entity was met with a heavily armed Ashenfolk defense force. As it shrugged off the blows of wrought iron anti-siege weapons and the most powerful spells available to the Elven Archmages, it breached the gate and welled up, seemingly preparing to unleash its famous fiery breath. However, RPC-931 instead whistled a single plaintive and sonorous tone for several seconds into the cavern's opening, then flew away without further incident.
Additional Observations: Post-Incident observation remained inconclusive for some time as no greater purpose to RPC-931's actions could be easily discerned. The only notable reaction produced by the entity, his brief airy melody, appeared to have a minor memetic effect on the indigenous Cair Aisling occupants within an unidentified proximity of the event. As he sang, the song transformed for each individual into a variant of their amhrán breithes.23
Update: Four days after the event, a disturbance was reported inside the tomb of Hasan Mazza. The tomb's stone door - erected by the late Sebelet Vivath - appeared to have been opened from the inside by its now risen sole occupant. Hasan's miraculous recovery from death has since been kept a secret by both the Ashenfolk aristocracy, who fear this miracle would set in motion another uprising and the Authority to the same extent. Hasan has refused to communicate with any representatives from either party and has only expressed heavy chagrin since his revival. His only statement post reincarnation - allegedly made as he was seen departing his former grave - is as follows: "I was brought back not once but twice, and this time you were dead— not even there for me. Should not even my failings be my own?"
Hasan has since escaped his interment - turned holding-cell - following a lapse of security by Ashenfolk personnel. When reprimanded, each member of the Ashenfolk guard stated that Hasan was a holy figure now beyond their right to hold. All Authority conrois have been ordered to attempt to detain Hasan in the event they locate him.
Dr. Taggart: I’m sorry about that. I was jus—
Liam: Did ye find me boy?
Dr. Taggart: No, not directly at least. We’re looking into it, even making headway.
[Liam audibly scoffs.]
Dr. Taggart: How old are you Liam?
Liam: What? Yer bein a real nyaff now, bletherin’ on.
Dr. Taggart: Can you just answer the question.
Liam: A… A cannae remember.
Dr. Taggart: You - can’t remember?
Liam: A feel auld, though. Auld enough to make the dirt feel like a lad again. A feel like a regular Methuselah.
Dr. Taggart: Well. [Dr. Taggart sighs.] You don’t look that old, but according to what we have you should be dead, Liam.
Liam: Dead?
Dr. Taggart: Yes.
Liam: Who said that…? A don’t-
Dr. Taggart: It’s not important, Sir.
Liam: Hmph Suppose it’s like the Good Book says. Eve’ to yer auld age and grey 'airs A am He, A am He who will sustain you. A ‘ave made you and A will carry you; A will sustain you and A will rescue you.
Dr. Taggart: Isaiah?
Liam: Chapter forty-eight.
Dr. Taggart: That’s all well and good, Sir; but it doesn’t really answer my question.
[Liam says nothing.]
[Shuffling is heard as Dr. Taggart looks at the file Risa brought him.]
Dr. Taggart: Right. Maybe this will get us there. Were you born in nineteen twenty-one?
Liam: Aye, A cannae recall exactly, but it sounds spot on.
Dr. Taggart: Well, going off of Biblical parallels I’d say you’re more Moses than Methusala. By the numbers you’re nearly one hundred and six years old.
Liam: Nae…
Dr. Taggart: What year do you think it is?
Liam: Come off it, it’s only been a decade or two since the big’n.
Dr. Taggart: The big one? You mean the Second World War?
Liam: Aye.
Dr. Taggart: That was over eighty years ago. Liam, let’s go back to the last thing you remember, alright? The fire, you said?
Liam: A was guarding a lorry, it was full'o petrol. We ‘ere all chin-strapped, then those gommy rebels started lobbin’ shots at us. A big’n hit the truck then fire…then water.
Dr. Taggart: When we found you?
Liam: Nae, A was… it was like a memory, or a dream A thought… lookin’ up at Maitiú at ‘is desk. It was all dreich and weary about, like some loathsome nothin’. A ‘eard ‘im mumblin’ up there - like when he was a lad recitin’ the scriptures. It was my boy, A ken it was ‘im - a father knows ‘is boy, always - but ‘is voice was auld and strong like mine. He was saying sometin like: …woven together in the depths, yer eyes saw me unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in yer book before one of them came to be…
Dr. Taggart: I don’t understand. Liam I—
[Dr. Risa knocks at the door.]
Observation Conclusion: All appearances of RPC-931 were thus observed to involve two consistently recurring trends:
- Disappearance, death, or reincarnation of individuals within the Cair Aisling story Matrix.
- Some kind of modification, or alteration, of various events and locations - though the permanence of said modification varies from sighting to sighting.
Additionally, it is now evident that every alteration made by RPC-931 appears to be correlated directly with some degree of explicit deviation to the novels. These are believed to be caused by Authority modification, defunct transfer between Gowering’s works and the Cair Aisling anomaly manifestation, or the hypothesised influence of other external actors yet unknown to us.
While initially assumed to be entirely random, analyses of newer sightings of RPC-931 juxtaposed against the aforementioned myths and supposed earlier sightings’ locations brought to light information that effectuated several new hypotheses. Data recorded from installed AECR centres integrated into the non-anomalous outer section of the Cair Aisling barrier were introduced to measure approximate coherencies in Cair Aisling proper with conflicting findings- but not too divergent to lend a dearth of conclusion. A new trend has been revealed, beyond initial observation - though it still uses incomplete data to make its assertions:
- RPC-931 is drawn exclusively to locations with either high or low coherency, approximately ranging from differences of 2.5 or greater on the coherency scale. While most of Cair Aisling fulfills such a descriptor, RPC-931 explicitly avoids areas that match its baseline frequency of ~3.65.
- Sites impacted by RPC-931 all initially have coherency readings that far surpass normal quanta, only to display anti-entropic qualities in the months following at a level roughly equivalent to levels within Cair Aisling’s baseline. Put simply: things intrinsically become ‘normal.’
RPC-931’s movements are therefore, theoretically, not unpredictable at all. They can be tracked and possibly also even something we had previously thought impossible: containable inside an area of perpetually fluctuating coherency.
As such, Page’s End has been proposed as the perfect containment site for RPC-931 as its entropic qualities have as of yet remained immeasurable. The most daunting course of action now is leading RPC-931 there via the use of several theorized destabilization methods, based on the recommendations of Philologist and thaumaturgical experts, approved for application. Containment protocols have been hereby updated to reflect this.
Dr. Taggart: [To Liam] I’ll give you a moment to process. [To Dr. Risa] What have you got?
Dr. Risa: Tests came back. All of them errored out.
Dr. Taggart: What?
Dr. Risa: I was confused too, so I went down to that lab to look for myself. Blood, DNA, all his biometrics read null.
Dr. Taggart: What do you mean?
Dr. Risa: He’s not organic, Sam.
Dr. Taggart: But we drew blood, I can hear him breathing while we’ve been talking. What—
Dr. Risa: All his samples were the same. A complex medium of various acids and iron sulfate.
Dr. Taggart: That’s not my department, Risa. In English please.
Dr. Risa: He’s ink.
Dr. Taggart: No… you don't think?
Dr. Risa: I do. He's from the anomaly. He has to be.
Dr. Taggart: No. No, I mean do you suppose he's our big bad?
Dr. Risa: The Dragon? I'm afraid you're speaking outside my department now, care to elaborate?
Dr. Taggart: He who wrote the old magic broke his horns and took the form of his people. From thence he extended the silver branch to the blissful dead. It's not far off from the Apostles' Creed… Jesus.
Dr. Risa: What? I don—
Dr. Taggart: The father and his prodigal son, or maybe the other way around this time. It's Locke's transference theory.
[Dr. Taggart takes a deep breath and collects himself momentarily.]
Dr. Taggart: Let me guess, you couldn't find Maitiú in the system, because he changed his name.
Dr. Risa: How did you know that? My people have only just put that together, and we haven't even figured out what he changed it to.
Dr. Taggart: Don't bother, I already know bits of this old sob story from the interviews. I was a fan you see, of Maitiú's. Or if I’m right - of Gowering’s.
Dr. Risa: Wait - Gowering…
Dr. Taggart: I don’t mince words, Risa.
Dr. Risa: You mean… ?
Dr. Taggart: Yes. I think that one of Liam’s boys is none other than the man himself: Gowering…
Containment Attempt: RPC-931
 |
|
| Dept: Containment | Authorization: 3/CA |
| Subject: RPC-931 | Date: 21/09/2028 |
| Staff: Dr. Locke, Dr. Asharru, Knight-Captain Vaughn | |
Forward: A task force comprised of Knight-Captain Vaughn’s Conroi, armed with Automatic Mk. V Crossbows with runic explosive bolts, supplemented with an Ashenfolk battlemage brigade, have been tasked with protecting a mobile destabilization unit en route towards Page’s End. Each knight has been baptised and displays a Jannes Ward embossed on their breastplate in line with current containment protocols.
Once RPC-931 has taken the bait, the task force must attempt to lead the entity towards their destination. It is currently believed that Page’s End’s coherency fluctuations will relatively quickly trigger the Dragon’s instinctual desire to fix its surroundings and shift its focus off of the task force. Due to the aforementioned indelible fluctuations, the time in which the group must attempt to distract RPC-931 is unknown. This operation is dependent on a variable of luck; however, as RPC-931’s effects continue to escalate in unforeseen ways, we are faced with no other option.
Operation Status: Failure. RPC-931 is believed to have broken containment. Reports remained inconclusive post-op, but according to AECR automatic alarm systems along the northern section of Pabbay Island, RPC-931 appears to have broken through the barrier and entered baseline reality. These findings are also supported by a series of sudden salvos of Grovian radiation from the excursion point: 35.1 VI. Additionally, one of RPC-931’s horns was located in the North Sea three days post-incident. Object class escalation to Omega is currently pending approval.
As modern recording technology is not available to us within Cair Aisling, the explicit details of the operation’s failings are unknown. However due to the abundance of eyewitnesses from the subsequent recovery of every Authority member taken by RPC-931, the general order of events is quite clear. Knight-Captain Vaughn’s testimony of the event remains the most revealing and concise. His debrief is transcribed below:
Debrief Interview 93101-01
Interviewed: Knight-Captain Vaughn, Kilo-05 Officer
Interviewer: Dr. Locke, Chief Cair Aisling Researcher
[Begin Log: 14:35 Oct 31, 2028]
Dr. Locke: You know the rigmarole, what happened out there?
Knight-Captain Vaughn: Yeah, I'm not going to lie— that was a mess. We knew this was a crapshoot from the start, but it really went ass up.
Dr. Locke: Doomed from the start, hmm?
Knight-Captain Vaughn: Hardly! We couldn't have asked for a smoother OP. Everything went according to plan, we set up on the ridge above while I had the pointy ears guard the destabilizer; they handle the shifts better. What was that thing anyway?
Dr. Locke: The device?
Knight-Captain Vaughn: Yeah.
Dr. Locke: Classified.
Knight-Captain Vaughn: Hmph Regular rigamarole— anyways…we got it running and sure enough, the Dragon took the bait. We'd step up as close as we could to the edge, but it's so ass-backwards out there you can't really judge distance.
Dr. Locke: Did you notice anything unusual about its behavior?
Knight-Captain Vaughn: You're kidding right? It's a Dragon— I mean, the wards and everything seemed to work if that's what you're on about, he barely noticed us. Between our fire support and the spells from the pointy ears, it was quite the show. I say fire support like we were doing anything, but it was more like jangling keys in front of a baby as we carried on. God, the size of it though— gave me vertigo just being near it as it followed us all the way to the edge.
Dr. Locke: I don't understand, you suffered no casualties and it sounds like it all went perfectly. You even managed to locate and rescue the missing personnel taken by the entity. Where were they? Were they in Page’s End?
Knight-Captain Vaughn: Hold on, I'm getting to that. I knew this debrief was coming and I still don’t know how to describe— well I don’t even know what. You see, It was all fine and good until he switched focus and went for— it. As I said, it was perfect but there was something else there.
Dr. Locke: Something else?
Knight-Captain Vaughn: You've seen it right? Page’s End, I mean. It's wild, land becoming sky with rips in the foreground like it's made of paper, black inky rain shooting every direction, and those are the bits we can even make sense of. There was something else inside it, too. It almost looked like another dragon: malformed and scaleless. It was— fleshy looking, but the sound it made was something like screeching metal. The Ashies froze at the sight of it; they called it the Eidolon Wyrm.
Dr. Locke: Wait— you saw the Eidolon Wyrm?
Knight-Captain Vaughn: Not for long, our boy didn't take too kindly to it. I think it's what pissed him off. The second this worm popped up, well, that's when he stopped caring about us.
Dr. Locke: That would match our intel on both entities.
Knight-Captain Vaughn: Well nine three one ripped its head off.
Dr. Locke: Pardon?
Knight-Captain Vaughn: It b-lined right for it. Jesus, the sounds those two made when they hit. They easily outclassed the explosions from our bolts just by smashing into each other. Then, in what felt like an instant— there was nothing. Their bodies started almost phasing in and out: blinking. One moment you’d see the two beasts going at it; the next, they’re gone, or static like a painting, or like ink bleeding off a piece of paper. Static— yeah that’s it. It was like one of the old TVs, when the signal was on the fritz and the picture waved about or inverted at random. Even felt like other channels filtered through as they shot about. It really was just like— warming up the old tubes in the TV— it’s like the whole place was coming alive. The worm was outside his weight class though. Nine three one pinned it down and before I realized what was happening bit its whole head off.
Dr. Locke: We had no idea the Wyrm was there, just on the edge. If we knew—
Knight-Captain Vaughn: Doesn't matter, because the second nine three one took that bite something happened. It was like it burned him, or maybe he choked on it? He started thrashing about even worse than that headless monster. Coughing up insane amounts of water, and when it hit the ground it immediately evaporated into a heavy misty fog. Here's the crazy part, though— that's where we found our missing people.
Dr. Locke: In the worm?
Knight-Captain Vaughn: In the mist! They just wandered out of the thickest parts in tens and twenties, just where you couldn't see clearly. Not just our guys either— everyone taken by nine three one. All the while the worm was spewing this oily black blood from its neck. I say blood, but it was more like ink. It intermixed with what was already there and started coming down hard now, like the sky - or ground for that matter since all aspects of what was normal just lost themselves in that kaleidoscope - ripped open. It was an absolute hellstorm— some of it looked like it was forming words as it fell. I recognized some of the letters but I couldn't read them.
Dr. Locke: Possibly due to low ACS interactions with left-brain functions. It gives off that dreamlike impression of indecipherable text. Remember, when we did that OP outside of Site-014 recontaining one nine three?
Knight-Captain Vaughn: I remember, but this was something else entirely. All of it— it felt biblical— I was frozen in awe.
Dr. Locke: But what made the Dragon try to breach containment?
Knight-Captain Vaughn: Between the chaos of the blood rain, the mists, and the hordes of people fleeing in terror after just being…revived I guess? It's hard to say what happened. It must have been like sharks in the water for whatever else calls that shithole home because the whole place seemed to shimmer with excitement.
Dr. Locke: Shim—
Knight-Captain Vaughn: Yeah I know, it's an odd turn of phrase, but the air felt electric. The deepest holes in that torn foreground woke up. Eyes waking to see the commotion, and in them I traced the black lines from the coagulated rain to the worlds within. Starting from the blood of the Eidolon Worm, five rivers bled into the tears of those mirrored spaces; at their basins, the literal ichor boiled. From the waters and the formless tears: they came.
[Captain Vaughn pauses momentarily to catch his breath.]
Knight-Captain Vaughn: It was obvious they must have been creatures from Cair once. Ones that you usually see close to the edge, maybe fairies or those fish-people we encountered when scouting the Sunken Isle three years back - but whatever they’d been, they sure as hell weren’t that anymore. I saw smoky hydras with shitloads of eyes instead of scales, lizards with bird heads covered with slimy feathers, elves with webbed wings instead of arms and legs. Humans too, but they had no faces. They didn’t feel real; they felt dreamlike compared to the elves next to me, compared to nine three one, compared to what came next.
Dr. Locke: Hmm Sounds to me like mild symptomatic Wanderer's Syndrome; it's not particularly common for that severity to hit Cair Aisling staff. Perha—
Knight-Captain Vaughn: No! You— ugh you could be right. I remember all of it so vividly, though: a shifting city that felt like a hungry lie. A sea of doubtless corpses so old existence itself grew around them. An ocean of husks and ash with their grand tunnelers that rivaled the dragons before me. A bastard world of brazen wings and whispering snakes, supping on bloody ecstasy. A void, so black and featureless that I couldn't fathom its…erhm…anything really. The younger Vivath24 commented sombrely at it: "The eyes of the Father rest in his quiet tomb." I still don’t know what he meant by that exactly, and honestly, I don’t think he does either.
Dr. Locke: You couldn’t make the last one out but Vivath could? That’s possible evidence of innatist ideological transference.
Knight-Captain Vaughn: What?
Dr. Locke: Nevermind, it’s just a theory. So what happened next?
Knight-Captain Vaughn: He up and left. I cannot say why, whether it was from the Eidolon worm leaving some final malediction or some wound sustained from Page’s End’s eternal bullshit. Personally, I think he saw something in those worlds that hurt him in some other way. That’s what I felt then, something just deeply painful. He sped off with purpose, and when he hit that barrier, well the show wasn’t over. It was like a goddamn nuke, an explosion with every color of the spectrum shooting out.
Dr. Locke: Interesting, it didn’t quite look like that on our end. So what did you do?
Knight-Captain Vaughn: Honestly? I thought he was dead after all that, so we rounded up everyone we could manage and marched back.
[End Log: 15:27 Oct 31, 2028]
Dr. Risa: Christ. How did he know?
Dr. Taggart: Pardon?
Dr. Risa: How did he know something happened? To his son? He knew, you could hear it in his voice.
Dr. Taggart: There's so much we don't know about that place: Cair Aisling. What Gowering meant, what did he think? Did he intend for this to happen? Was it Gowering's thoughts as a boy who saw his father as invincible? Or was it that father's desire to be with his son in any way he could? Maybe it was us, when we saw greater meaning or purpose when there was none. My colleague Lancel believes it was simply Gowering - the author - tieing literary themes of "God the Father'' to a literal base.
[Dr. Taggart pauses.]
Dr. Risa: And you?
Dr. Taggart: I’m a well-read man, Risa, as I’m sure you’ve guessed. Even for my field - as filled with crackpots and hellions as it is. One of my favourite literary critics once wrote something similar to all this mess. Claimed that: "Writing is that neutral, composite, oblique space where our subject slips away, the negative where all identity is lost, starting with the very identity of the body writing." I’ve always loved that bit - even committed it to memory - but I don’t think I ever understood it. Not until now. [Dr. Taggart laughs.] It's all so literal.25
Dr. Risa: Very pretty, doctor - but enough waxing poetic. What do we do with him?
Dr. Taggart: Prep a permanent containment cell. Get Dr. Locke on the phone, he'll love to rack his brain on this.
Dr. Risa: Are you going back in there?
Dr. Taggart: No. I can't. How do I tell him both his sons are dead? How do I tell him that he is too? Beyond that - how do I tell him that he is - in all likelihood - nothing more than any of the other characters from his boy’s stories? Go print out those reports, Risa. Dr. Locke will want to see them.
[Risa nods, leaving the room.]
[Dr. Taggart sighs.]
Dr. Taggart: [Quietly, to himself.] Besides — by the look on his face, I think he already knows.
« END LOG »
Registered Phenomena Code: 931
Object Class: Beta-White
Hazard Types: Sapient, Possibly Animated
Containment Protocols:
RPC-931 is to be held in a standard furnished humanoid containment cell at Site-007. The subject, which is now believed to be non-anomalous outside of the aspects of its composition and creation, is innocuous and subsequently housed within the Site’s low-security wing. Items recovered relating to RPC-931 are to be housed within various alpha-level secure lockers within the Site’s subsections. To date, The Authority has recovered RPC-931’s left horn, several hundred scales, and five sizable claw fragments.
RPC-931 is cordial and displays extensive knowledge of the Cair Aisling anomaly. As such, he has been given Class-0/CA affiliate clearance in regards to pertinent matters on the subject in exchange for additional amenities. Per contra, RPC-931 is to be explicitly denied access to information pertaining to religion or thaumaturgic studies. Staff members at Site-007, per their overwhelming requests, may visit RPC-931 when approved by either Dr. Locke or Dr. Taggart.
Warning: Under no circumstances is RPC-931 to be permitted in or near the Cair Aisling anomaly. As the stability of the dimensional barrier has normalized in the months following the emergence incident, further destabilizations of this nature could lead to a cascading coherency collapse.
Description:
As RPC-931’s delineatious descriptors are currently being debated by members of the Research division, it has been designated, simply, as a lesser extra-dimensional entity. However, as an extra-dimensional anomaly of this specific nature has never been observed prior, skeptics among the staff have voiced concerns about the entity’s affable nature.
RPC-931 resembles a Caucasian male weighing ~200kg and standing at 229cm. Despite having manifested within the Cair Aisling anomaly sometime between 2020 and 2025, the entity claims to be one Liam MacDonald. Liam MacDonald (1921-1965) was a Scottish-born Royal Marine who went MIA, presumed dead, during the Dhofar Rebellion. He was survived only by his son Maitiú MacDonald who later changed his name to Randolph Gowering in 1978 after leaving the foster care program and before releasing Spelltaker in the later half of the same year.
Due to the poorly understood nature of the Cair Aisling manifestation event, the precise parameters surrounding the ideological merging of Liam Macdonald and A’lim have been theorized to be based on the subconscious transference of Gowering’s inspirations and personal feelings towards his father.26 Although this thesis was initially dismissed - as all Cair Aisling manifestations have to appear intext at some point throughout Gowering's shared story matrix - Authority personnel later discovered an unreleased book dedication27 featuring RPC-931 set to be on the jacket cover of Volume 6: Castle of Dreams.
It reads as follows:
It may come as a shock to those of you who never put two and two together. That not once have I ever dedicated my work to anyone. I always thought it was such a silly premise; to attribute one's pursuits like some gift outside of the logical confines of their perseverance and dedication to the craft. That is until I reached this point, the accumulation of thirty-six books and with this the thirty-seventh. Now, the folly of my prideful youth has faded.
I dedicate this series to you, my late father, to whom I owe more inspiration than I can rationally fathom at such an emotional peak. You taught me to be a man and fear God. I know you left to protect me, I know you left because of what happened, and I know you loved me, even if you were unable to say it at the end.
A toast of Adam’s Wine in your honor and may the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face; the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand.
To the God-fearing Major Liam MacDonald.
