History
On March, 3rd 1999 the Egyptian government was finally convinced by noted archeologist Dr. Gregory Cornhillto excavate the chamber shown to exist between the paws of the Sphinx. The chamber had no entry way and seemedto be made of smooth continuous rock. Eventually an entryway had to be drilled into the surface of the chamber.The inside of the chamber was completely engraved in an obscure writing. No scholar has been able to decipher thewriting or even determine what language or family of languages the text is written. It seems to have distant relationsto just about every language in use today but nowhere is the correlation strong enough to useful. Carbon datingindicates that the chamber is over 12,000 years old, a time when no known culture flourished on the Gaza plateau.The chamber itself was empty except for between eight and fifteen containers. These containers were cylinders about30 inches tall with an 18 inche diameter, they were covered with the same unknown writing and were completely sealed.
The containers were extracted from the chamber and on October 16th were loaded upon trucks and sent to CairoUniversity. The containers never arrived in Cairo. The entire shipping convoy disappeared without a trace. An investigationwas mounted by Egyptian authorities but no leads were found. What was discovered was the day of the disappearancea full half of the excavation crew also disappeared. By the end of the year anyone who had personal knowledge ofwhat happened at the excavation, as well as investigators were dead or missing. On Jan, 1st 2000 all electronicand paper records were destroyed by fire. Continuing research of the site has created new documentation, but itis unclear if anything was different before January 1st.
On December 4th 1999 a Sphinx canister was retrieved from the sight of a double murder. The night before a oneof the missing workmen broke into a hotel room in Alexandria and shot the occupant, but not before being fatallyshot himself. The victim also worked on the excavation site. The canister was sent to Cairo University where itarrived and was kept under constant security.
December, 31/January, 1 was a night of wild partying and also wild fears. After years of Y2K fear and propagandamany people were frothing at the mouth on he actual night. In Los Angeles and New York the partying and fear crossedthe line to looting and rioting. The rioting lasted several days and in the the end the national guard had to becalled out to restore order.
On January 12th a second canister was seized by the DEA with a shipment of crack cocaine on its way to Floridafrom South America. After lounging in an evidence warehouse for six months, the canister was sent to the Smithsonianin Washington, DC. The third canister was picked up on February 6th from a smuggler trying to get it into the UKfrom France. The canister was sent to Oxford for study. In both incidences at least one member of the crew becameviolent and fired on authorities before being killed by return fire. Hindsight suggests that there were at leastanother two incidents during this time period where the authorities lost the shootout.
On February, 26th 2000 the Cairo canister was opened by Dr. Osod Nazier, the new head researcher. The canistersthemselves seemed to be an unknown biological entity made from a chitinous shell-like material that has been stumpingbiologists since they first got a look at one in 2001. Most believe that there is no way such an organism couldnaturally evolve and artificially producing one is beyond human biotech technology. One of the two most famousvideo tapes of Nazier is of him opening the Cairo canister. The top was fairly easy to pry loose. Nazier peeredinto the canister and a large pseudo pod reached up and wrapped around Nazier’s head. The pseudo pod was a vaguelygreenish and of a slime like consistency. It pulled itself up and began extending trails along Nazier’s body. Nazierbegan screaming and shaking like an epileptic fit. Within a minute he fell unconscious and the slime seemed tomerge with his body. Nazier fell into a coma which lasted over a week.
A bio-containment unit was set up around the whole lab. The Smithsonian canister was moved to Ft. Detrick andthe Oxford canister was sent to the CDC in Atlanta. The second famous video clip of Nazier was taken on March,5th when he suddenly sat up, ripped through the containment unit and jumped out the window. On his way down hespouted gliding wings and gently landed 8 floors below and began running. He hasn’t been seen since.
Al Gore managed to shake his android image and was elected president.
Doug Lenat, an AI researcher, founded Virtual Intelligence. Venture Capitalists were impressed by the technicalanalysis of his natural language/etymological algorithms.
Much more controlled research was undertaken at Ft. Detrick and CDC over the next five years. One of the firstthings the scientists learned to do was to bud or split off part of the biomass into two identical biomasses. Otherthan that all they managed to do was chart the physical properties of the biomass until a rat was exposed to oneof the masses. A reaction similar to Nazier’s occurred on a rat scale. After the incubation the rat was going tobe dissected to see what changes the biomass had created. However when the scientist was about to make his firstcut the rat became covered with a thick chitinous armor that the scalpel could not cut through. Eventually thedissection was made, but it had to be done with more powerful less precise tools and little was learned.
It was learned that the biomass was a biological symbiote of a previously unknown type. It could integrate withanything with a reasonably advanced nervous system. The animals exhibited greatly enhanced physical and mentalcapabilities as well as truly bizarre physics bending abilities. The animals exhibited the above mentioned armoringas well as the ability to generate spikes, spines and other non-natural weapons. In early 2003 human experimentationbegan, the humans also had their physical and mental capabilities boosted. At an almost instinctual level the hostslearned how to protect themselves with armor. They also healed at greatly accelerated rate, and showed a markedresistance to diseases, poisons, and radiation. With practice and experimentation subjects learned to do everythingfrom generate energy bolts to change their appearance.
It was during this heady time that it was discovered that the strength of the symbiotes varied by generation.The original two alphas (designated Smithsonian Alpha and Oxford Alpha), although never bonded to a person showedthe greatest potential. The first generation children, known as betas, showed less power. Beta children, knownas gammas, are even less powerful, and deltas are the least powerful symbiotes that have any effect on human performance.Epsilons provide some health benefits but don’t provide most of the abilities normally associated with symbiotes.
It was also during this time that it was noted that there were five types of symbiotes. The names that havestuck are Anima, Elemental, Fairie, Flux, and Ley. They are categorized by the type of abilities that were manifested.See the symbiote section for details.
2002 saw the collapse of an overvalued stock market. Over a three month period of time, the stock market lostalmost half of its value. Since then it has flattened out and begun to rise again. Most casual middle class investorstook a beating, those with foreign investment had an effective buffer. Many small companies, or entrepreneurialopportunities collapsed. Virtual Intelligence was hurt by this, but managed to survive.
Human subject 63, Isaac Harrison, was implanted with a beta in July of 2003. When he awoke from his coma, hewas quite insane. He awoke with near complete control of the symbiote’s abilities, demonstrating abilities notyet conceived possible. He ordered the scientists to bow before him, when they were to slow, he slew them. Beforeany heavy weapons could be brought up, Harrison escaped the CDC. Over the years this sort of megalomania appearedin two out of every 100 betas bonded. It was also discovered that one percent of gammas, half of a percent of deltas,and one thent of one percent of epsilon bonding turn out ot be fatal.
As more and more information about the symbiote research began to leak, several groups of UFO, strange phenomena,and ancient astronaut enthusiasts came together and used the symbiotes as catalyst to a form an umbrella groupknown as Children of the Ancient Astronaut. The symbiote was used to give credence to many of their otherwise unsupportedarguments. The CAA first tagged the insane ones as Incarnates. They had an unsupported theory about returned soulsof the ancient Egyptian gods (who were really aliens). The scientific community doesn’t give much credence to theCAA and they are still considered a fringe group, but since the symbiote discovery they have been growing moremainstream.
In 2002, Virtual Intelligence produced the first commercial Lenat PseudoPerson. The first LPP was the virtualsecretary. The VS mk1 was fairly limited but convincingly seemed like a real person on the other end of the intercom.The VS worked efficiently and adapted over time to seem more capable. Virtual Intelligence did not make money onthe VS mk1 but the publicity propelled them into the commercial market.
With a depressed economy Gore was replaced with George Bush in the 2004 election. Bush began pushing a heavilyreligious right agenda but before much could come to fruition his term ended.
Access to strong encryption is finally allowed without mandatory key recovery or other security compromises.This is a token concession as all strong encryption has been imported since early 2000. The uneven playing fieldcaused most U.S. makers of corporate level information security to seek greener fields. Most quality encryptioncompanies are based in Germany and Finland.
Sometime, in march of 2005, Marcus Kelly, a beta, went insane and attempted to stride into the oval office and”reclaim” his rightful position as emperor. Kelly was eventually taken down after heavy fighting involvingassault rifles and grenades. Twelve marines were killed, 20 civilians, police, and marines were injured. Kellywas the first example of a post-bond incarnate. Later projections would suggest that 1% of all beta who survivebonding without becoming incarnates, will eventually become incarnates at some point during their lives. If theiris a causal link it hasn’t been found yet.
The power of personal computers advanced sufficiently, the the footprint of the Lenat PseudoPerson was shrunksufficiently to be put on an average home computer. Virtual Intelligence turned around and began making money onthe virtual secretary Mk 3. At this point most communication is visual, in response VI creates a visual representationfor the VS. It’s jerky but due to the underlying etymological algorithms it soon picks up body language. VI beginsto release versions of other assistants: Virtual Accountant, Virtual Home, etc.
On July, 9th 2006 a terrorist group, later identified as Red Jihad, assaulted the CDC and stole the Oxford Alpha.During the fire fight some of the equipment used to contain the various diseases and ensure that no contaminatedair flows to the outside was badly damaged and some of the most virulent diseases ever seen or created began seepingout into Atlanta. Within hours it became clear that the CDC had been breached. President Bush invoked the fail-safeplan known as the Andromeda Contingency. A 500Kt nuclear device was detonated with the CDC as ground zero. Thisvaporized the CDC, and the escaping diseases. It also completely destroyed everything inside the rt. 285 beltwayNorth of rt. 20. The destruction also spread in all directions from this kill zone.
Accusations of murder were leveled at president Bush. A special prosecutor was assigned and impeachment wasbeing discussed. However the president had his defenders, who mourned the loss of Atlanta, but saw it as a smallprice to pay to save the country and likely the world. The debate consumed national attention until Bush steppeddown as president taking full responsibility for the action. V.P. Quayle took the office with the resignation ofBush and pardoned him for any crime which may have come from the Andromeda Contingency. With reduced politicalcapital, Quayle was forced into a more centrist policy.
CIA and special forces agents ran roughshod over the Middle East, hunting down members of Red Jihad and seekingthe Oxford Alpha. The Red Jihad, despite their name, was a mercenary group working for the highest bidder, despiteone of the most thorough (and bloody) investigations in history, little evidence existed to who hired Red Jihador where the missing Oxford Alpha was located. According the the CIA and international civil rights organizationsnone of the Red Jihad survived the investigation.
The FDA, bowing to pressure from the biotech industry and patient advocacy groups, okayed the use of epsilonsymbiotes for the treatment of a variety of diseases, including AIDS and cancer. This action was protested by manyreligious groups.
In early 2007, the joint chiefs of staff created the Special Forces Symbiote Command (SFSCOM) which was responsiblefor forming all symb special forces commando units.
Michael McKubre and Edmund Storms were awarded sufficient funds to test their cold fusion theories.
Deltas were acquired by several biotech/drug companies for the purpose of epsilon production. Within 3 months,several firms begin selling epsilons for medical purposes.
On July, 9th 2007, the anniversary of the Andromeda Contingency, Bush was giving a speech before GOP supporterswhen several bolts of energy leaped from the crowd and struck the ex-president. The secret service returned firebut the assassin was a strong beta and managed to kill enough secret service to escape. In the end one ex-president,twelve secret service, and five civilians lay dead. James O’brey, the assassin and one of the original test subjects,was killed trying to make it out of the city. He was associated with several militia groups, who bore the bruntof a retributive crackdown.
After the Andromeda Contingency, the idea that anyone in the current administration would politically surviveto the next election seemed a laughable matter, but Quayle managed to turn the assassination to a national issueand resurrected his political career.
During the congress session of 2008 (115th ?), several important things were done. Money was made availableto the FBI to create a Symbiote Crimes Division to take primary responsibility for policing symbiote hosts. CarteBlanche was given to the FBI and other law enforcement organizations to monitor hosts. Congress also passed theSymbiote Control Act of 2008 which required registration and elevated violent crimes if they were committed bysomeone bonded to a symbiote.
Members of the Space Transportation Association begin building fifteen “spaceports” and a small fleetof space planes. These spaceports and planes aren’t true orbital launch facilities but instead launch extremelyhigh altitude planes that can get almost any where on Earth in under two hours. Think of a passenger/cargo SR-71designed in the 21st century. The Spaceports are also hubs for normal air traffic. By 2016 the normal way of travelinginter or cross continentally is to board a plane to the nearest hub, take a spaceplane to the destination hub,and then to the final destination.
Middle East Intelligence Operatives began to report that symbiotes became available on the black market. In2008 a beta would run about $120M, while a delta could be acquired for just over $3M.
Late in 2008, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) formalized it’s research into symbiotesby establishing the permanent Symbiote Research and Training Lab (SRTLAB).
Isaac Harrison took over a small town on St. Croix. He took over the town with three or four dozen mercenarieswho quickly took a majority of the the town hostage. Harrison demanded that the island be ceded by the United Statesto himself to form his own sovereign nation. The newly formed SFSCOM were ordered to take point with a contingentof marines sent in as backup. At this point SFSCOM was made up of mostly gammas with a few inexperienced betas.They managed to quietly and quickly eliminate the mercenaries, but when it came to Isaac himself, he managed toeasily defend himself against the initial assault. Seeing his plan undone, he fled. Sixty-three people died, manycivilians as well as most of the SFSCOM team. Hundreds more were injured and the town was essentially destroyed.
In the aftermath, the first cases of legacy effects were documented. Legacy effects seem to occur at the placeof death of a bonded host. Usually it is random things: abnormal growth of vegetation or crystals, feelings ofhappiness or foreboding.
Father Keagan acquiree a delta from unknown sources and was bonded. Soon after he forms the Church of Joining.He believes the symbiotes are physical manifestations of the link between Earth and Heaven.
Rumors began of a joint CIA, NSA task force made up of symb hosts. To this date, this organization, if it exists,has never been acknowledged by government authorities. No conclusive proof exists to support the claim, but therumors persist taking on a fact like quality.
Soon after congress closed for the year, the Americans for Justice Foundation was formed by a variety of rightwing law and order political machines advocating the control of Symbs. Shortly thereafter the ACLU spun off theSymbs Civil Liberties Advocates (SCLA) to work on having the Symbiote Control Act repealed.
Using the assassination as an effective shoehorn and claiming ignorance of the Andromeda Contingency, presidentQuayle is elected.
The 2009 budget includes the creation of a new branch of the Federal Prison Authorities called the Divisionof Special Prisons. The DSP immediately built a new modern prison designed to hold hosts in the middle of nowhereTexas. The DSP would eventually add two other prisons to their responsibilities. These prisions operate by keepingthe prisoners in a perpertual sleep by keeping the host in a cryogenic sleep facility. According to the FPA rulestime spent frozen does not count towards the sentence, so at this time all prison sentences are life sentencesfor hosts.
SRTLAB documents describing the process for extracting a symbiote were released. There were two ways described,either rebonding the host to a lower generation symbiote of a different genetic family, or disolving the the hostsbody in a acid compund. This disgusted many people.
Virtual Intelligence releases the Virtual Secretary Mk 5S capable of residing in a top of the line hand helddevice (PComp). By this time VI is a fortune 500 company, all the original investors who stayed on the first fiveyears have made millions (some billions).
In 2009 Iraq deployed several symbiote enhanced companies and used them to move into Kuwait and the second Gulfwar begins. A U.N. alliance is brought to bear against Iraq, initially large inroads are made, but with the U.S.commitment to eliminate Hussein the fighting drags.
The Knights of Columbus made a statement deploring the actions of Symbiotes and banning them from their organization.Over the next 18 months most lodges and fraternal orders took similar actions. The Freemasons were the only notablegroup to abstain from taking action.
In 2010, a group made up of the early research scientists and test subjects form an organization called theOsod Nazier Society as a pro symb lobbying organization and an independent research council. Their charter is toresearch the effect of wide spread symb assimilation is likely to have on society and facilitate that assimilation.
Unconfirmed Internet rumors begin to appear of symbiote birthing camps in China and other Asian countries. Apparentlyseveral beta bonded women are kept perpetually pregnant, the beta symbiote is then extracted (fatally) from thebeta bonded child and bonded to a loyal soldier. There hasn’t been any confirmed evidence of the practice but itis largely believed. The stories often include the regular movement of the camps due to accumulated legacy effects.
Late in 2010, the International Space Station is completed. It becomes a launch point for outgoing explorationvessels. By this time there are economical re-usable vehicles. Almost all launches are conducted by the privatesector.
The Giovanni acquired several betas and quickly set up production facilities and began supplying gammas to highlevel enforcers and deltas all through their organization. A delta symb becomes a stylish right of passage forupcoming street punks and gang members.
In 2011 the NY Syndicate Turf War began. It started when a Giovanni host walked into a small Italian restaurantand killed everyone, including Don Marconi. The war has continued to the present day with more destructive attackscoming with each passing day. The police lost control of certain areas long ago and the national guard and martiallaw is the only thing keeping it survivable.
Father Keagan’s speeches and cajoling finally pay off, over several months several high profile priests andmonks joined the Church of the Joining having bought into Father Keagan’s vision of the glory the symb represents.In a speech father Keagan related the symbs to releasing God’s angels on Earth.
On November, 11 2011 the Second Gulf War came to an end. The Iraqi military was defeated and Saddam Husseinwas killed in the fighting. Terrorist and guerrilla warfare prevent the area from returning to a peaceful stateor the removal of any troops. The “duly elected” provisional government are not acknowledged by a largepercentage of the the population, it is largely believed that the CIA fixed the election. The Iraqi symbiote soldiersalong with large caches of weapons make holding the area problematic.
In 2012 SRTLAB publishes “The Survey of Symbiote Abilities” which notes a great increase in the numberand severity of reality warping abilities. This survey cemented the anima, elemental, fairie, flux, ley classificationscheme. The survey dubbed these classes as aspects. This survey was the first to document what has been knownas “out of aspect” powers for experienced hosts. It also documents that many of these experienced hostsconsider their symbiotes to be sentient.
Despite difficulties in the Middle East, the Arcadia Foundation was founded. It was funded by the Osod NazierSociety and DOD grants. Its operating charter is to seek any collaborating evidence and artifacts of the era thatthe Sphinx chamber was created.
On August, 1st 2012 Iran, Syria, Jordan, and the disposed government of Iraq form the Middle East Defense Alliance(MEDA) in protest to U.S. actions in Iraq. Days later Libya and Sudan pledge to support MEDA.
Quayle with an all time low approval rating over his handling of the Middle East situation and a weak economydoes not win his re-election bid. Instead Xavier Bacera is propelled to the highest office by the minority, especiallyHispanic, vote.
On November, 11 2012 U.S. Marine Col. Amir Balaad, 80 soldiers and a loaded amphibious utility worth of equipmentdefect to Syria. In a recorded message released to the media, Balaad indicates that he is taking this action inresponse to the U.S. treatment of the Iraqi over the last 25 years. This force formed a mercenary group known asBlack Book.
In 2013 an array of eight satellites are deployed around the Moon. These satellites provide detailed mappingas well as darkside communications.
The Church of the Joining again acquired major publicity as the Pope excommunicates Father Keagan and declaresthe order heretical. The Pope leveled charges that the Church of Joining took graven images/idols before God. Severalmonths later he declares symbiotes to be agents of Satan.
In 2014 the first manned trip to Mars departs from the Space Station.
Westinghouse, through a license with Michael McKubre and Edmund Storms, produces the first “off the shelf”fusion reactor, dubbed the McKubre-Storms Engine. Sales are slow at first but they begin to pick up as it approaches2016. At present the M/S Engine is still to bulky and expensive for household use.
U.S. economy goes through a major but temporary dip as several co-ordinated terrorist attacks threaten the Fed,Mint, Stock Exchange, etc. The attacks were time synchronized and carried out by teams of well trained Symbs. Severalof the terrorists are identified as former members Iraq’s supersoldier program. Hundreds were wounded but the contingencyplans and defenses held. FBI and SFSCOM were largely responsible for apprehension of a large number of terrorists.It is largely believed that the attack was funded and co-ordinated by MEDA, but no convincing evidence was everbrought forward.
The financial effect was minimized because most of the major financial firms systematically divested themselvesof all U.S. based securities products and stocks in the months leading up to the attack. This causes a minor recessionin and of itself. After the attack they bought back in at substantially lowered prices. An investigation was launchedby the SEC and CIA. It was discovered that theses organizations had been using Flux hosts to predict the flow ofthe market. Technically this is not insider trading but may investors who took a beating over the attacks werenot happy about the flux advantage held by the large companies.
Several months after the Wall Street fiasco a company called Nostradamus Inc. which is staffed by flux hostswith various business and technical skills began consulting for companies of all types. With a concentration onwall street and speculative businesses.
In 2014 what has come to be known as the continuing Atlanta problem showed itself for the first time. The Symbiotesbelieved destroyed by the Andromeda Contingency were not in fact destroyed. They were gravely wounded and reducedto an almost mist consistency. This mist was inhaled by those in the outlying region of Atlanta and after manyyears of healing the Symbiotes were reactivated. It is believed that as many as six million people were bondedin this way. It is believed that the massive influx of radiation maintained the generational qualities of the mistlike symbiotes. Animals within 100 mile radius of the CDC site also started exhibiting signs of being bonded. Thiszone inhabited by these superanimals was eventually confiscated by the dept of the Interior and made into a researchpark.
The Knights of the Symbiotes were formed from a contingent of men who were formerly members of the Knights ofColumbus. They found themselves or their sons ineligible with the rise of the Atlanta problem. They were joinedby banned members form other lodges and quickly became something new.
During this period several masked and caped vigilantes began showing up. The Symbiote Crimes Division quicklyferreted most of them out. In all 15 vigilantes were apprehended during 2014. They were unmasked and charged withcrimes ranging from assault to destruction of property to murder. This sort of vigilante activity pretty much disappearedby 2015.
In September of 2014 a number of symbiote hosts, primarily gammas and deltas, were lynched throughout the South.A group calling itself the Army of the Pure Human appears responsible. They are loosely organized and no centralleader or cell was ever found.
SRTLab publishes the Investigation into the Question of Symbiotic Sentience. This paper suggests that aftera certain amount of integration the belief that the symbiote is sentient and talks to the host is extremely widelyheld. This is immediately tagged as schizophrenia. However several defenders question the inherent belief thatthe symbiotes aren’t sentient.
The Virtual Secretary Mk 6S is shipped in almost all hand held devices. Competitors have begun to appear, butVI is so entrenched that it is difficult for others to get a foothold in the market.
In March of 2015 twelve people were found dead in a cabin in Texas, their bodies were twisted into bizarre caricaturesof humans. The attack was clearly committed by a powerful fairie symbiote. A note nailed to the door indicatedthat the Symbiote Liberation Army found these people guilty of being part of the Army of the Pure Human and sentencedaccordingly. They further threatened that any further attacks against Symbiotes or their hosts would be dealt within a similar manner. An FBI investigation never found the perpetrator but did confirm that the twelve men wereinvolved in the lynchings of September 2014.
The 2015 congress created the Symb Health Service under the auspices of HHS. The SHS charter gives them theresponsibility to maintain medical and mental records of all symbiote hosts. This includes annual mental stabilitychecks and semi-annual checkups and sampling of host tissue. They are also mandated with tracking all known symbiotesand providing social services to the hosts. Three months after SHS came online, their headquarters in Washingtonwere bombed. Eighteen were killed, hundreds injured. An anti-symb terrorist group calling itself In Adams Nametook credit.
Towards the end of 2015 Symbs Anonymous formed to help the Atlanta survivors and ex-gang members deal with whatthey have become. SA has been called divisive by some who feel the organization starts with the assumption thatbeing bonded is evil, but can be controlled.
First phase construction of a darkside Lunar science base set to depart.