The Redgrave Cassette

This former 60-minute orientation film for Marshall’s retreat at the Mission in Sonoma, was warped by the temblor zone at the St. Francis Hotel at Westercon ‘73. The Sony U-Matic cassette survived its 10-story fall to Geary Street due to its new status as a reality shard.

The cassette-as-reality shard is designed, just as the Mission promotional film it was born from, to be shown to an audience (“the viewer”) at the behest of a programmer or programmers. On the cassette, the narration begins in English but slowly over the first couple of minutes Sumerian terms begin to slip into Dr. Redgrave's narration. Anyone viewing the contiguous first few minutes of the Redgrave Videocassette must roll Will to avoid obtaining a Sense of Duty up to Small Group to whomever the programmer dictates (5 points - 20% = 4 points). The viewer must also roll Will at this point to avoid wanting to see the rest of the video; obviously, the viewer can be forced to view the tape thus obviating the necessity of waiting for the viewer to fall victim to the cassette’s uncanny appeal.

If the viewer watches past 10 minutes, they will notice Redgrave's narration, both VO and on-screen, slips entirely into Sumerian. Also, during the tour of the Mission, more and more History B features will slide into view: the Mediterranean architecture of the Mission buildings replaced with Sumerian tower blocks, the Mission's horses fitted with ancient reins and bridles, Mission employees eschewing Nehru jackets and flowing hippie robes for ancient Mesopotamian ritual wear, occasional Irruptors viewable in the far background, etc. During this portion of the video, the viewer is highly suggestible to any Brainwashing, Brain Hacking, Hypnotism, or other Skills used to either change people's minds or plumb their memories: assess a +4 bonus to the programmer using any of these Skills. (15 points - 30% = 11 points). If the viewer is still watching without being forced to, they must make a second Will check, this time at -4, to avoid wanting to watch to the end. Using the Cassette to warp minds at either of these preceding two levels will incur the Corruption cost of a significant Reality Shard (1d Corruption).

Finally, if the viewer watches to the end of the tape, Dr. Redgrave and the Mission will eventually be subsumed entirely by visions of History B; Dr. Redgrave and his celebrity testimonials are entirely replaced by shouting humans and Irruptors in Sumerian, all shouting hosannahs of joy and praise to Those Who Provide (the Anunnakku). If a programmer lets the viewer view to the end of the tape, the programmer can program the viewer with Extreme Fanaticism for a cause or cluster of tightly-related causes of his choice. This Extreme Fanaticism will last until the goal or task is fulfilled. (15 points - 40% = 9 points). If the programmer imbues a viewer with this Fanaticism, the programmer will roll Corruption for using a major Reality Shard (2d instead of 1d).

Limitations

• Can Be Stolen (easily snatched/requires special equipment): -40%, Unique: -25%: 24 - 16 = 8

Disadvantages

• Double Corruption if used entirely: 3 points

• Sadism (12) for 1d6 days after being the programmer (even using this tape for a minute will imbue the programmer with this Disadvantage!): 5 points

Specific Study (both this and the Redgrave-Ningishzida-Caduceus Statue): First, the cassette. Charley first analyzes this mysterious object from the St. Francis with her ordinary Shard Study and gets all the information on its ability to "program" the victim who watches the tape. The images on the tape, which Charley sorts through with her Data Retrieval ability so as not to fall victim to the videocasette's hypnotic power, allows her to see how the promotional film for the Mission slowly turns into a horrific display of mind-controlled loyalty to the Anunnaki. Charley delves deep into the origins of the images on the tape and the tape itself using Specific Study, curious as to what series of circumstances led to the St. Francis reality temblor creating this weird object.

Charley never got a chance to see the Special Ones' room at the St. Francis in situ (she was busy speaking with the dead and being flung back to her past life as Léontine), but she knows this tape and the Redgrave-Ningishzida-Caduceus Statue were created there. The Specific Study seems to indicate it was the Special Ones' intense memetic devotion to Marshall that created these, well, cult objects of devotion. But there's also an explicit History B tinge to both these objects. An opportunistic warping of this belief energy by the Enemy? Sure, but why there specifically in the Special Ones' suite, and why around Marshall? The Specific Study gives some vague clues to this puzzle. Yes, the belief energy around Marshall was intense; yes, the Enemy found an opportunity to twist that belief energy on the part of the Special Ones. But it wasn't the Special Ones who were memetically infected with belief in the Enemy, and it doesn't seem like it's Marshall per se who was favored by the Enemy for this ploy; the appearance of Marshall on both the tape and in the person of the statue seems incidental to the objects themselves under further Specific Study.

What Charley's Specific Study suggests to her is that the Enemy is interested in the Mission itself.

Take the images on the videotape, showing the grounds of the Mission being turned into a place of worship of the Kings. And the function of the Redgrave-Ningishzida-Caduceus Statue; to create a healing temenos that would heal people and bring them together in a specific, Sumerian temple-sized space, just like the common areas at the Mission. It's almost as if someone designed these objects to be used at the Mission, by someone with few moral scruples, and thus to eventually concentrate belief in History B there, to trigger a subduction there specifically.