Control Group
An eclectic collective of paranormal researchers, psionic explorers, and occult operatives, no one really knows what to make of this oddball organization. Their self-described “Controllers,” or psychic agents, have been involved in investigating several documented cases of unusual aberrant phenomena in the Patomic region. Sometimes these Controllers work alone, keeping their particular interest in a given phenomenon close to the chest, while at other times Controllers have brought on assistance from local freelancers or offered aid when a settlement has found itself under eldritch threat. The group also maintains a research and development arm,
which funds the operation by manufacturing sought after psionic gizmos and equipment
Control Group is often cagey about their larger goals beyond surveying and mapping the mindscape. Whatever it is, the group’s investigations have recently seemed to take a toll on their numbers, with reports of death, disappearance, and madness widespread among their Controllers. While they do not openly discuss the extent of this damage, their sudden need of manpower and resources is sufficient that the Control Group has slowly and reluctantly begun opening its files, seeking out new recruits from local settlements and petitioning the Senate for official support.While even their own agents don’t know the full extent of Control Group codes and insignia, the following designations seem to be generally agreed upon:
KRAKEN refers to the organization’s forward echelon and paramilitary division, veterans of the psychic wars whose job is to respond to emergent unearthly threats. KRAKEN has borne the brunt of Control Group’s recent losses and has openly laid the blame on SPHINX for failing to anticipate these disasters, creating a rift in their ranks. At the same time rumors have circulated that KRAKEN may in fact have been infiltrated by their adversaries, deepening the department’s already dire morale crisis.
SPHINX is used to indicate Control Group’s analysis wing, housing the cogitators and crypticians that examine recovered artifacts, read omens in intelligence reports, and test radical new tools for the organization. SPHINX is acutely aware of how blindsided they were by the rapid succession of calamities that decimated their personnel. They suffered fewer casualties than either of their partner divisions but significantly more psychological fractures among their surviving cadre of analysts.
UNICORN covers those Controllers who operate in the field but act in support roles. They are frequently responsible for gathering extra-sensory information about the environment, delving headfirst into the esoteric terrain of the local mindscape as scouts and navigators. UNICORN is frequently forced into the part of mediator between their cerebral SPHINX counterparts and bellicose KRAKEN allies, placing them at an awkward fulcrum amidst the organization’s current tensions and uncertain future.
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