File-Entry #1 - by C.P. Basket,
Last Staff-Member at Safe House '14' Elm Hill
Ever since our ‘Creator’ has handed me the pen to write my very own story, not only have I arrived at the epilogue of my career as an investigator, but have also surpassed the chances of returning to a state of ignorance about the horrors I had been destined to encounter, hoping that they were simply just tall tales on a piece of paper, for they are not.
As I now rummage through half scorched Can Society files at the nearly forgotten ‘Fabula Institute’, it is my pleasure, no, even more so, my responsibility, to share what little I know of the paranormal mysteries that slumber inside the ‘Crawling Chaos’. Or as we, the members of our secret Society call it, the ‘Chaos-Sphere’ - a term coined by our very first grandmaster, Sir Theobald Ashton in 1672, to describe this horrific dimension in a more scientific manner. To understand not only his, but the motives of all society members that followed, you shan’t proceed any further without knowing about what or who the honourable Can Society really is. For it is not only a secret organisation of questionable reputation, with a wide spectrum of different ethics and morals, but also an entity of ancient scope, that provides as much protection as it deploys manipulation. For despite following a truly noble path that is guided by kindness, corruption and miss-use of power are never far behind. - So, my dear readers, what is this organisation that I’m trying to present to you here in my writings?
For nearly three centuries the Can Society has been a very secretive and hidden entity. While protecting mankind from whatever horrors would dare to enter our lands, meaning the world of the living, this organisation has always been lead by powerful men and women, who surround themselves with all kinds of intriguing and sophisticated characters. So it is to no surprise, that adventurers, inventors, historians, archeologists, detectives, sailors, hunters, soldiers, as well as thieves, tricksters and even more so, politicians and entrepreneurs, were magically drawn to such an organisation, and thereby forming a broad diverse circle of members.
Founded in the autumn of the 17th century by collector-explorer Sir Theobald Ashton & engineer-inventor Viktor Straussman as a secret society to explore the paranormal mysteries of this world, the Can Society’s influence and power has always been built on the secretive knowledge first mentioned in the ‘Codex de Terrore’. An occult spell book once owned by the sisters Mary & Hester Young in the early 17th century, who, as rumour has it, succeeded in opening up a portal into the ‘Crawling Chaos’ to welcome all kinds of Horrors into our world.
Eventually, only a decade later, said Codex found its way into the hands of Sir Ashton, to become the very foundation of Can Society wisdom. Cleansed of all evil and the prohibited occult rites, the more useful contents of this Codex were reinterpreted by ‘The Three Great Ones’, the Society’s leading scientists, Straussman, Jacobsen and Ruskovic, and then further reassembled into the fundamental ‘Fabula Manual’. Where Religions follow the Holy Bible, the Talmut or the Quran, the Can Society applies the Fabula Manual as its compass, when dealing with all kinds of paranormal and supernatural matters.
Apart from our more common members, one can make out a significant divide in midst the ranks of the Can Society. While the scientists and engineers at the Fabula Institute wander the corners of the ‘Straussman Circus’ - a paranormal apparatus to dismantle ‘Chaos Matter’, the more bold and physically driven members take on their duties inside ‘Division 8’, serving as the Society’s paranormal investigators on the field, who face the horrors hands on. - While I consider myself being both, a man of science and a boy of war, it was the latter that provided the playground for my career as an honourable member. Even though I was eventually destined to follow the path of science in my later years as a senior.
While the adventurous work of an investigator certainly provides you with countless opportunities to explore the wonders and horrors of our world, it is the scientific effort of paranormal engineering that strengthens the Society’s objective. Over centuries, a wide range of paranormal inventions, machineries and tools were thought up - not only by the Three Great Ones, but also by members quite known to the eyes of the public. I don’t know of a single investigator, who could have done without Edison’s paranormal Phono Cylinders or the Lumière’s optical Chaos Filters, when facing the unknown horrors that got spit out from the Chaos-Sphere.
Needless to say, it comes with our members’ craft, that a certain degree of eccentric behaviour can be observed in all of us. And I’m not writing here about the mind boggling disruption of a member’s aging process, meaning the suspension of it, by not growing any older once being exposed to a significant amount of Chaos-Matter. No, I’m writing about another reason for our Society’s eccentric mannerisms. About the fact, that members of the Can Society know far more about what threatens our world on a daily basis, than the public ever will. To cope with such burden and responsibility, members may detach themselves from common folk, who can consider themselves lucky, not knowing what horrors sure slumber inside the Chaos-Sphere, waiting to invade our little world in an instant, should a breach ever occur that allows one of the ‘Great Terrors’ to enter our lands.
Yet, after centuries of serving this secretive and ominous Society, and having survived the countless horrors while following orders of questionable kind, I can truly say, that the biggest threat for our noble cause is not be found inside the Chaos-Sphere. Neither does it spread from sinister creeds such as the Cultists and the Acolytes of ARGUS, who strive to bring said horrors into our world. No! By far, the biggest threat that our Society has ever faced, has been growing from the insides of our very organisation, starting not long after its founding days. It is mankind’s ignorance and its greed for power, that has infected the leaders of our Society, and which spreads like a disease to corrupt our doing, by violating our cause for the greater good. And for I don’t know much, but this I know for certain. It will be our Society’s downfall. As once this last stronghold of mankind falls, the arrival of the Great Terrors and the rule of the Crawling Chaos will follow.
C.P. Basket,
Last Staff-Member at Safe House '14' Elm Hill, signing off.
Entry Date: undeterminable
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