Orientation for newly transferred personnel
Version 4.5 (August 1995)
Human Resources Directorate
Dear Sir/Madam/Other,
As a newly transferred employee, it is necessary for you to acquaint yourself with the structure and operational methods of this organization as soon as possible. Your supervisor will provide you with the documentation pertinent to your position; this general orientation is intended for the consumption of all employees. As a reminder, this and all other documentation is classified under Title XIII, section 27b of the State Espionage Act (1917) and hence is bound under the terms of your service.
You now work for a branch of civil service known as the Paranormal Regulatory Agency tasked with monitoring and containing entities and phenomena that would be termed 'supernatural' by the general population. This is a misnomer; all phenomena are natural to this or another universe. Reality is a considerably more porous medium than is commonly suspected.
You are required to observe security and safety precautions at all times. Keep your warrant card and employee badge on your person at all times. Use of your legal or true name is to be kept to a minimum; use your assigned soubriquet for all non-essential forms, records, oaths and social interactions. Report all significant unusual phenomenon, blood spills or bleeding, unusual temperature shifts, electrical or computer faults to a supervisor immediately. Do not enter any secure areas without permission. Do not repeat any unusual phrases three times. Do not summon up anything you cannot put down. Review the Basic Health, Safety and Security Protocols document at least once per month.
In the course of your duties, you may be called upon to serve in the field. Such duties include, but are not limited to, investigating illegal or dangerous use of magic, containment and/or banishing of supernatural entities, testing or investigation of new magical phenomenon, providing occult support for other civilian (police, counter-terrorism, customs, home/foreign offices) or military organizations, enacting or participating in rituals (ensure you have signed Form CF/432 before doing so) and protecting the sanity and stability of Reality As We Know It in general and the United States of America in particular.
Secrecy is paramount in the field. Never discuss the nature of your work or the existence of the Paranormal Regulatory Agency without permission. Your warrant card is enchanted to deflect suspicion and ensure your authority - use of the warrant card outside of official Paranormal Regulatory Agency business is not permitted and suspected abuses will be Audited.
Before any field operation, a budget plan must be approved by your superior and on file with Financial Control. Expenditures outside of the approved operational budget allocation are the responsibility of the department and/or the individual. Similarly, use of any assets or office equipment (including wards, cellular phones, charms, tablet computers, storage devices, stationary including pens, pencils and so forth) for non-standard purposes without prior approval is not permitted and costs will be extracted from the relevant department. Repeated offenses may be Audited.
The Paranormal Regulatory Agency is an ISO9001-certified organization, emphasizing quality record keeping and formalized management and problem-solving procedures. Maintaining this level of certification should be a high priority for every employee.
The near future promises exciting challenges for the Paranormal Regulatory Agency. With hard work, diligence, attention to detail and a modicum of luck, we are confident that the majority of you may survive in some form.
Welcome to the Paranormal Regulatory Agency!
In Esoterrorism, players will be taking up the roles of agents in the PRA. Their goal will be to investigate incidents that fall outside the realm of what the majority of the world see as normal.
The PCs of the game will be junior agents with a few months of service under their belts. Usually this means they've had just enough experience to get them into about as much trouble as it gets them out of and they have possibly even survived a paperwork audit or two(or more depending on how bad they are at filing their forms and reports on time). Most PCs will have been drawn in due to an incident involving something Man Without Proper Security Clearance Was Not Meant To Know. This can easily range from the antiquarian coming across a copy of The King in Yellow to an artist's latest surrealist piece causing all who see it to be reduced to gibbering, drooling idiots(There are those in the Media Relations department that argue against the legalities of Reality TV for this very reason).
Years ago the PRA figured out that it was, in the long run, cheaper to give an individual a job after encountering something they shouldn't have than to just keep killing them. One, it was less paperwork and two it kept having to hide the bodies to a minimum(plus there were arguments that more able, capable bodies in the event of OMEGA GREEN DELTA wasn't an entirely bad thing). You got a job that you couldn't be fired from(sometimes even after death) for 30 years and after that you retired with a pension in exchange for your silence. Overall, it wasn't a bad deal. However, this meant that a lot of people took the simple easy route of shuffling piles of paper around until they could collect their retirement. The agents in this game, however, have chosen to volunteer for field service. Thanks to the wonders of Matrix Management, this means most of the time the characters are operating in their normal department, whether that be IT, accounting, records, P.R., security or what have you(the majority of which takes place off scene, so to speak). When called up for field duty the characters get to experience the joy of answering to a whole other set of managers and supervisors for a whole completely seperate job. And no, you do not get two paychecks for it.
If anyone might be interested in playing such a game, post here and if there's enough interest I'll post up more and get character sheets rolling.
