#hyperfixation mode go brrr

[csmithman]

every time I think about starting a new season of d20 my brain just goes "what if we rewatched starstruck instead" can the hyperfixation mode please chill out a little

[masochist-marmot]

What's up with the OIAR?

Disclaimer/spoiler warning: Written after TMAGP ep. 34. Spoilers for all of the Magnus Protocol until this point. Minor spoilers for the Magnus Archives.

These are some theories I've cooked up in the alchemy lab of my mind. They are wild, incomplete and probably contradictory, so take them for what they are. I base all of this on the tria prima theory I explained in an earlier post, so go read that for context.

I decided to only focus on the OIAR in this post. I'll make another post on my Magnus Institute theories later and link to them eventually.

What's the purpose of the OIAR?

Here's what we know:

The OIAR monitors and assesses incidents and (at least in the past) responds to them if necessary

Based on the ARG and Colin's ramblings, it used to be under DDR, probably run by their secret police. Fr3-d1's source code is in German, so that makes sense. The operation was probably moved to the UK after the DDR disbanded.

It employs and (according to Lena) manages "externals". Lena considers this work vital, and Colin blames the OIAR for only caring about the "balance", specifically mentioning mercury and sulphur.

I will start by quoting the German physician and alchemist Paracelsus who first proposed the tria prima as the integral principles and used them in his practice of medicine.

If you have a bone and can say whether it is mostly Sulphur, Mercury, or Salt, you know why it is diseased or what is the matter with it.  The peasant can see the externals, but the physician's task is to see the inner and secret matter. (Paracelsus, Opus Paramirum)

(Translation by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke. I compared it against another translation and the original German, and it's more or less accurate but much easier to understand.)

This may sound far-fetched, but I think the OIAR are practicing Paracelsian medicine on a macrocosmic level. That is, they are monitoring the universal levels of Sulphur, Mercury, and Salt, the imbalance of which is causing these weird supernatural occurrences. Except they can't address every incident individually, so they can only concern themselves with the overall effect (surely a mercury poisoning somewhere balances a salt poisoning somewhere else) and only step in if there is a universal excess of one principle over others. At that point they arrange for their carefully curated externals to go out and do whatever they do to spread their diseased influence. (As an interesting side note, Paracelsus also likes to use the word external (das Eussere), although he mostly uses it to denote the macrocosmos (the nature/universe) which is reflected in the microcosmos (ie. the human body). Occasionally, like in the quote above, he uses it in the sense of "the human body as viewed from the outside".)

If this is the case, then the OIAR employees would function kind of like diagnosticians who assess the nature and severity of the incidents. I also imagine the responses used to be a bit more aggressive until the response unit mysteriously ceased to be. Could have something to do with their associates at Starkwell burning down the Magnus Institute right before they were about to undertake their Magnum Opus (more on that in a later post). A good call, but probably bad for optics. I also think it's a very bad sign that there is currently no one in charge who knows what their actual purpose is.

What's up with Fr3-d1?

I have tried and tried to figure out Fredi's classification system (or as I now see it, the diagnosis), to no avail. I'm fairly certain that the category CAT simply denotes whether the case concerns 1. an individual/living creature, 2. a location or 3. an object or non-living creature. I imagine the rank has to do with the severity or urgency of addressing it. But the DPHW eludes me. I somehow want to link it to the elemental properties (dry, cold, hot, wet) that (according to Paracelsus) are the usual cause for changes in the principles, but the acronym doesn't mesh. I can't help but feel that the answer is somewhere in Paracelsus's writings, as he appropriately wrote in German and could easily provide direct equivalents in TSHU. Or I could be wasting my time and it's something entirely unrelated. I definitely shouldn't go any deeper into that particular rabbit hole. And yet...

I do think that Fredi was originally just a soulless machine created for a purpose, but it's recently been possessed by a consciousness (anima). Unfortunately, I'm not quite ready to buy the John/Martin/Jonah theory, because it feels too much like a red herring. They gave it to us very early on, so clearly that's a conclusion they wanted us to jump to. No mystery writer does that unless it's for misdirection. Though I could potentially buy a version where they ended up in there in mind (mercury) alone. If you read my previous post (and this probably didn't make much sense unless you did), I explained that the mercurial qualities and associations are reminiscent of the Eye, especially the associations to thought, knowledge, universal essence of existence, the fluctuating boundary between corprorality and non-corporality, and the idea of connecting heaven and earth (and possibly other worlds?). What I'm saying is, the three of them, in the eye of the panopticon, were already in a pretty mercurial state. So while I'm not banking on it, I'm also not saying it's impossible.

Whatever the case, I think we can all agree that Fredi (or whoever's in there) is manipulating everyone to their own goals.

[lifesver]

𝘒𝘕𝘖𝘞𝘐𝘕𝘎  𝘠𝘖𝘜𝘙  𝘗𝘈𝘙𝘛𝘕𝘌𝘙  𝘞𝘌𝘓𝘓  𝘊𝘈𝘕  𝘗𝘖𝘛𝘌𝘕𝘛𝘐𝘈𝘓𝘓𝘠  𝘔𝘈𝘒𝘌  𝘞𝘙𝘐𝘛𝘐𝘕𝘎  𝘛𝘖𝘎𝘌𝘛𝘏𝘌𝘙  𝘈  𝘓𝘖𝘛  𝘌𝘈𝘚𝘐𝘌𝘙.

NAME :  kels

PRONOUNS :  she/they/he

PREFERENCE  OF  COMMUNICATION : ims on here are fine, im kind of bad at discord until i know people better, but i prefer to talk to my pals on discord obvi

NAME  OF  MUSE(S) : leland mckinney, tommy jarvis, jake park are most recent. but we were also out here for a long while w richie tozier and five hargreeves.

EXPERIENCE  /  HOW  LONG  (  MONTHS  /  YEARS? ) : oh god uh........... it really goes back to something like 2013? like i started in oc rp groups on and off mostly, i think i didn't get into actual tumblr rpc until maybe 2018? and w leland well we have been out here since last may agjsdk

BEST  EXPERIENCE : honestly like... as much as i sometimes still get embarrassed trying to explain [scare chord] Tumblr Roleplay to people outside of this particular circle, it's been such a large part of my enjoyment online for years and years. i've met some really close friends here, i've done some of my best writing here. and a lot of it is just the ability to bounce off my friends and their huge brain ideas. collaborative writing, to me, is just so much more fun than doing it alone. i really like taking one character and getting just way too deep into who they are, i like learning and picking things up from the variety of other writers on here. improving my writing from reading what my super talented friends do... and in particular this last year has been probably??? one of my most positive rpc experiences in a long while. having people jump into the tcsm rpc, making new friends, and putting together just completely off the shits wild aus and whatever. idk! my creative brain loves to go stupid mode in the paint. and besties we have written some good fucking horror narrative on this stupid website.

and also i'm cringe and i'm free (:

RP  PET  PEEVES  /  DEALBREAKERS :  i'm kind of just chilling like i really am very much non-confrontational in this space because it's... for fun. it's just imaginary internet collaborative writing hobby. mainly i just don't need passive aggression of any kind. i believe that you kind of get back what you put in on this kind of space, so make it comfortable for yourself, be kind to others, and understanding as often as you can be. if people aren't hurting anyone, let them vibe in their own space. not everyone has endless time anymore for rp, so don't make it weird or take it personally when people take time to get back to you about plots, or if they never get time. soft and hardblock as you need to to make your space chill for You it's just never that deep

MUSE  PREFERENCES  FLUFF,   ANGST  OR  SMUT : we like a bit of everything in this house (except anything remotely usfw goes to usfw shadow realm blog). like be serious i am always in the horror rpc for the angst and suffering and exploration of trauma but that needs to be balanced out by fluff and gentle vibes. [loudly into the megaphone] its about LOVE and HORROR-

PLOTS  OR  MEMES :  i like both! i think it's easiest to get things rolling with just whatever memes thrown my way and vice versa. i love plotting stuff out, but sometimes that takes a bit of existing in each others rpc space for a while. so i can be sort of slow w building dynamics, but i do like to!

LONG  OR  SHORT  REPLIES : i don't mind either, it's kind of refreshing to switch between the two, more rapid fire stuff is nice esp to start with, though i am known to be insane in the reply lengths for some prompts once stuff is plotted out.

BEST TIME TO WRITE :  i'm a morning person it's very cringe

ARE  YOU  LIKE  YOUR  MUSE(S) : idk if much really? but i do bring a sort of idiot jock(joth) energy to the function at times. i def project on him on the emotions side i think. and truly whoever i write at a given time reflects a bit on me bc hyperfixation go brrr

TAGGED  BY  :   did steal this from tsari thank u legend TAGGING  :  hands u it

[buraibanzai]

need to be real with y’all

the reason i haven’t been posting at all is because

i’ve been playing way too much Yakuza 0