The First Interbellum (1918-1939)

[Johnny1A.2]

LATER.

Still, the reactions of the Rhaemyi were complex. Though they most certainly did
remember, as an organization, what the Unity was, that remembrance was
in the form of ancient records handed down through many thousands of years and
close to one hundred generations, even with the long lifespan some Rhaemyi
managed to achieve (those who did not die violently, that is). To discover that
this ancient legend, this threat spoken of in history lessons and old stories, was an
extant reality in the modern world, came as a profound shock to many of the order.

For Zadatharion and Aradel (and a few of their compatriots), the Unity was an old
enemy unexpectedly returned. The Avatars could remember the Unity, from
the Antediluvian Age. Though that time was long passed, the fear and horror that
the return of the Unity produced in the Avatars was based on personal experience.
For the later generations of the Rhaemyi, it was the fear of an old legend suddenly
made real and immediate. This was a different kind of fear and a different horror.

Still, the Rhaemyi, by the fifteenth century A.D. had come to see themselves as the
guardians of the human race, rose to the challenge as best they could, and as time
passed that ‘best’ became quite impressive. Old records were removed from their
ancient libraries and closely studied for clues about their returned enemy. They
compared notes with Zadatharion and Aradel. Their agents around the world were
warned to be on the watch, and information began to accumulate in the hidden
bases and safe houses from which the Invisible Order operated. [1]

Ironically, because the Unity had forgotten much of what it had once known, due
to the nature of its survival of the Downfall, the Rhaemyi retained some knowledge
about the ancient Unity that the Unity itself no longer possessed. The Rhaemyi
libraries contained texts and records that were carefully preserved down the ages,
and now they were exhumed and studied again.

Over the course of the passing centuries, the Rhaemyi became a problem for the
Unity, ranging in severity from serious nuisance to major threat as time passed.
The Unity fought back, of course, on ongoing secret war in which neither side
was able to pin down and destroy the other. Like two men fighting in total
darkness, each side was forced to strike without clear knowledge of what they
struck against or where the enemy was even to be found.

By the time of the Great War, the Rhaemyi had generations of experience in the
fight against the modern incarnation of the Unity. The Rhaemyi worked behind
the scenes during the Great War to hinder the Unity as they could, which meant
that they were usually working toward the same general interests as the Entente
powers. Usually meant just that, there were exceptions, just as the Unity itself
did not always act in the interest of the Central Powers within which it primarily
hid itself. Neither side dominated the Great War, however, the shadow war did
determine the open war, it remained in the shadow.

One person the Rhaemyi were always especially interested in capturing (ideally)
or killing (if they could manage it) was Karl Jurgensen. They did not know that
this was his name until decades after he became the chief of the agents of the
Unity, but even once they had his name, cornering him was quite another matter.
Rhaemyi operatives came close to killing him on several occasions, but in each
case Jurgensen succeeded in either escaping or turning the tables. He had proven
to be a particularly troublesome enemy. [2]

By the time the events in Chicago in 1925 began to come to a head, the Rhaemyi
were already aware that Jurgensen was in Chicago. Their own intelligence
sources were good enough that they had been able to track their enemy that far,
though belatedly. Jurgensen had already been in Chicago for over six weeks by
the time the Rhaemyi worked out that he was there. Still, once they tracked him
there, they activated their assets stationed in the Windy City and sent in others,
and quickly began to realize that whatever Jurgensen was doing, it was complex.

They found that Jurgensen had brought in many more people of his own than they
initially expected, including some they knew to be high level operatives. As their
own personnel probed and observed, they realized that Jurgensen was also now
spending money at a high rate, making purchases that seemed rather strange, such
as a cabin cruiser, a very expensive Chris-Kraft runabout, hundreds of meters of
pipe, and numerous other items that seemed strange.

The priority this entire business was assigned by the Rhaemyi rose further when
they learned that Zadatharion had taken a personal interest as well.

MORE LATER.


[1] The Rhaemyi were known by many names and monikers to those who
were aware of their existence over the millennia. They sometimes referred to
themselves as the Invisible Order after the Fifteenth Century A.D.

[2] The preference for capture was not because the Rhaemyi were averse
to killing as such. They were quite ruthless when they felt it necessary, but they
were also aware that live prisoners tended to provide better information when
interrogated, and Jurgensen would have been an intelligence ‘gold mine’.

[Johnny1A.2]

LATER.

Zadatharion was deeply interested because he had sensed, precognitively, that
something important was brewing in Chicago. At first he had no concept of
what, but when he compared notes with the Rhaemyi and discovered that
Jurgensen and the Unity seemed unusually interested in something happening in
the city in that year, that seemed suggestive. Zadatharion and Aradel (and a
few other Avatars and their associates) all arrived in Chicago in January of 1925.

The immortals arrived in the city in secret, seeking to avoid giving any alarm
to Jurgensen and his people, and to avoid disrupting the flow of events until
they had some idea of what it was that Zadatharion had detected with his own
psionic senses. Even for Avatars, precognition could be maddeningly vague
and hard to understand, but it definitely had its uses.

Unfortunately for the Avatars and the Rhaemyi, the sheer power possessed by
the Avatars made them ‘noticeable’ to other psychics who know what they
needed to ‘watch’ and ‘listen’ for, and Jurgensen and his associates sensed
the presence of the Avatars within days of their arrival.

Once it became clear to both sides that the other side knew they were there, a
series of encounters began, often lethal ones. Attempts were made by each
side to capture prisoners for interrogation, to discover what the other side was
intending in Chicago, and how much they knew about their own activities.
The events we previously observed in the library at the University of Chicago
was just one of several such incidents.

As it happened, the man reading the old book and making notes had been one
of the Rhaemyi, a scholar-fighter who had been following a lead. The Rhaemyi
had learned that some of them men with Jurgensen had been reading the book,
which led them to want to read it themselves. The team working for the Unity
had learned that this was the case, and tried to capture the Rhaem. [1]

Intending to put a bullet in a non-lethal place to facilitate the capture, the man
from the Unity had enormously underestimated his quarry, and ended up being
captured himself, as we saw. Under interrogation, he revealed a great deal of
information before his death, but not enough that the Rhaemyi could discern
exactly what Jurgensen was trying to do in Chicago. Even heavy and none
too gentle telepathic probing by Zadatharion revealed little, because the man did
not know the information they sought.

Though both sides sought to keep their hidden struggle in the shadows, there was
no way they could prevent some ripples from appearing on the surface. Witnesses
sometimes saw or heard things that were inconvenient, the police discovered dead
bodies when circumstances prevented their quiet disposal, a myriad signs pointed
to something going on in the shadows. Had this been happening in most American
cities of the time, notice might have been taken sooner, but this was Chicago.

Chicago in the third decade of the Twentieth Century was a very corrupt city. It
was notorious for gang warfare, fueled by immense amounts of money generated
by black market alcohol and more traditional vices. The criminals preyed on the
innocent and the guilty alike, the vast sums of money corrupted politics even by
the standards of Chicago and the State of Illinois. All too many of the police and
judicial officials of the city and State were either actively engaged in criminal
activity or in the pay of criminal organizations. Even those who were ‘clean’
often had to step carefully out of recognition of the power held by the criminals.

Thus it took much longer than it should have for the pattern to become visible.

MORE LATER.


[1] ‘Rhaem’ is the singular of ‘Rhaemyi’ in the old, old language from
which the words derive.

[D10]

Excelent! Can update on my nightly reading of OU ^^

Did you post a character sheet for Jurgensen somewhere ? I seem to have memory of it, but cant find it

[Johnny1A.2]

Originally Posted by D10

Excelent! Can update on my nightly reading of OU ^^

Did you post a character sheet for Jurgensen somewhere ? I seem to have memory of it, but cant find it

Not an up-to-date one. There is an old, way, way outdated and inaccurate one over on rec.games.frp.gurps, though.

[D10]

Originally Posted by Johnny1A.2

Not an up-to-date one. There is an old, way, way outdated and inaccurate one over on rec.games.frp.gurps, though.

Oh ok, nvm then ^^

PS: What is the best bet for someone with access to paraphysical knowledge to achieve some sort of immortality ? what akhrinor did?

[Johnny1A.2]

Originally Posted by D10

Oh ok, nvm then ^^

PS: What is the best bet for someone with access to paraphysical knowledge to achieve some sort of immortality ? what akhrinor did?

That depends on who it is and what price they're willing to pay. Ahkrinor in effect died and rose as a sort of undead monster. That isn't what most people mean by 'immortal'.

The psionic skill of lift extension is the best option for most psions, at least in the 20th century, if they have the Power and skill to use it. It costs least, and can be very effective...but it's not immortality, it delays the inevitable but does not stop it forever (as Jurgensen knows all too well!)

There will be more to come on this precise point in the not too distant future.

[D10]

Originally Posted by Johnny1A.2

That depends on who it is and what price they're willing to pay. Ahkrinor in effect died and rose as a sort of undead monster. That isn't what most people mean by 'immortal'.

The psionic skill of lift extension is the best option for most psions, at least in the 20th century, if they have the Power and skill to use it. It costs least, and can be very effective...but it's not immortality, it delays the inevitable but does not stop it forever (as Jurgensen knows all too well!)

There will be more to come on this precise point in the not too distant future.

Understood

Also from what you aluded that when the avatars arrived the ones "watching" and "listening" could see them coming, is that due to intelligence or psi, and if more like a combination of (what im thinking) both, does it takes some special psi detection techniques ?

PS: Got an answer for that Gestalt coordination question ?

[Johnny1A.2]

Originally Posted by D10

Understood

Also from what you aluded that when the avatars arrived the ones "watching" and "listening" could see them coming, is that due to intelligence or psi, and if more like a combination of (what im thinking) both, does it takes some special psi detection techniques ?

In this case, mostly psi. Avatars have so much raw psionic power, they're so overflowing with energy compared to normal mortals, that they 'stand out' against the psychic background. Espers can sense that presence with a refinement of normal ESP skills.

PS: Got an answer for that Gestalt coordination question ?

Which one was that?

[D10]

Originally Posted by Johnny1A.2

In this case, mostly psi. Avatars have so much raw psionic power, they're so overflowing with energy compared to normal mortals, that they 'stand out' against the psychic background. Espers can sense that presence with a refinement of normal ESP skills.



Which one was that?

If the coordinator can withhold information from the supporting cast

[Johnny1A.2]

Originally Posted by D10

If the coordinator can withhold information from the supporting cast

The answer is 'yes, sometimes', but I'm still working out the details of how that would work. It's definitely possible but it wouldn't be easy (since all the minds in the gestalt are tightly connected by definition).