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15 Sep 2019
Nexus Interaction Protocol: Due to Nx-150's size and its congruence with the Veil, containment measures are few. Beyond the careful monitoring of anomalous or antianomalous activity within its boundaries, Nx-150 is to remain in line with global Foundation policy — barring an unprecedented SK-Class "Lifted Veil" Scenario. Refer to the BIGHORN Protocol for a full outline of sanctions involving Nx-150.
Containment Facility: Area-150 is the sole dedicated Research and Containment facility inside Nx-150. Its Nexology and Administration Centers are succeedingly the highest combined authority concerning the management of the Nexus, save for O5 Command.
Description: Nx-150 is a ≈273,946 km² area, fully encompassing the state of Wyoming (United States of America) and partially intersecting several of its bordering states, namely:
- Montana,
- Colorado,
- Idaho,
- South Dakota, and
- Utah,
all contributing ≈20,350 km² to Nx-150's total surface area.
Nx-150 is one of many naturally-occurring LNAS (Local Narrative Anti-Sink) structures, defined areas wherein local narrative energy is intrinsically lower than baseline.
In spite of their commonality, Nx-150 is especially abnormal compared to other LNAS structures in that it is the largest and most potent LNAS structure discovered to date. Wyoming, the zenith of the Nexus' effects, records an average narrative potential roughly -55.391% lower than baseline, ordaining it the most expansive region of subprime narrative energy ever identified on Earth.
In essence: narrativic activity (e.g. triggers for events of high significance, chains of narratively meaningful happenings) are, on average, approximately -55% less likely to manifest within the state of Wyoming and immediately adjacent regions. This propagates a ripple-like effect on the inhabiting populations, who are discouraged from forming and/or ideating such events to any meaningful extent — events that do occur remain mundane chains of cause and effect, as opposed to undergoing crystallization into traditional Pickmanian or Campbellian narratives.
The fruit of this effect is clear: Nx-150's natural environment is largely devoid of unique formations, buildings raised in the Nexus are uninspiring and adhere to decades-long architectural tradition, local politics is "stale" and unchanging, and settlements are small, with negligible crime rates and dwindling action.
Though the effect is strong, it is less severe than one accustomed to the field of pataphysics may come to expect — it is theorized Nx-150's immense size partially dilutes the weight of its low story potential, differentiating it from any smaller region with the same properties. Nevertheless, story-structures scoring higher than a 2.1 on the PH Narrative Complexity Scale are virtually unheard of inside of the Nexus; Nx-150 is considered a locus of concentrated archetypicality. "[Archetypicality] is the particular narrativic quality of a person, object, or other entity which causally compels said entity toward their involvement in story-structures, while also affording them less influence over said story-structures. Archetypical objects and persons are slightly more 'real' than fictional, and consequently act as grounding elements in local story-structures as they are more tied to physical, than narrative, causality." — Characterism in Pataphysics, 2019 edition. , rather than one of especially-apparent genericism (e.g. an uninhabited region of the Arabian Desert, or Atlantic Ocean).
Anomalous activity in Nx-150, like any other activity, is also nonexistent, owing to the effects described above. While this allows the Foundation to conserve vast amounts of actionable resources, it was also a crucial factor attributed to the appearance of GoI-810 in the 1980s.
Addendum N150-1, Phenomenological Overview: Since the mid-1970s, the Foundation had gradually been growing aware of Nx-150's presence — reports commissioned as early as June of 1975 made prominent note of the Intermountain West's unusual lack of anomalies. No explanations were scientifically verified during this time.
Popular consensus remained that the region simply possessed some form of natural resistance to "anomalous influences"; this was a product of pre-21st century Foundation philosophy, invoking the existence of a dualistic Anomalous and Normalcy, and claiming the two were in direct opposition. Such philosophies have since been retooled, though they were still in popular use during Nx-150's identification and informed many of the actions taken therein.
By the late 1970s, Nx-150's antianomalous activity had grown noticeable enough for Foundation interference to be necessitated.
CASPER STAR-TRIBUNE
CASPER, WY | SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 10th, 1978 | WEATHER: OVERCAST | STILL 50¢! |
CHILD BORN
MIDWEST — Mr. and Mrs. Norman Tavalise of Midwest, Wyoming, would like to welcome their second child to the world. John Tavalise was born on 9/9/1978. He is a healthy newborn of 7 pounds, 6 ounces.
When asked about what drove them to have a second child, Norman Tavalise told us that it seemed like the natural thing to do. Euphemia Tavalise told us:
"God, I just— this isn't what I imagined when I moved back [here] after college. I hate it here. Norman does too, but— my doctor is going to blame this on postpartum depression, but I've always felt this way. I just wanted something to live for, God damn it, and now it feels like John is the only thing worth living for. It didn't f****** work. I damned a child to a lifetime of this?"
Anything exciting happen in your life recently? Find us at 170 Star Lane, Casper WY, 82604!
In 1979, reports of unusual broadsheet advertisements throughout Wyoming towns reached the Foundation's attention. Responsibility was handed to Site-132, based in Colorado, who collated the advertisements for investigation.
It was quickly discovered that large swathes of the advertisements were embedded with subtle memetic triggers (sometimes referred to as instances of imagomancy at the time). These triggers would instill feelings of boredom, languor, and restlessness in their recievers; such feelings would linger for a period of several days. Later analysis revealed a secondary effect: persons affected were, on average, 80% less likely to experience relapses of depressive episodes.
The advertisements, through cryptic text, consistently alluded to "The Liquidation" — whether this was a person, group, event, or other entity remained unknown. Efforts to track down the source of the advertisements universally failed.
From August 6th - 8th 1979, approximately 3,270 posters, leaflets, handbills, and flyers continually appeared on telephone poles throughout Wyoming — and a number of them were found crammed into the mailboxes of nearby homes. Though the event was not definitively anomalous, no citizens reported witnessing the papers' appearance or any persons they believed to have deployed them.
The printouts each read one to two lines of text, as well as an illegible penned autograph. Pertinent examples have been included below.
We don't like peace and quiet. And neither should you.
Contact us immediately.
Scared of ghosts?
Come be scared with us. Bring your friends!
Excitement is a choice. We're asking you to choose it.
There's a million acres of Bighorn National Forest out there.
Imagine that.
How much fun could you fit into one day?
Site-132 deemed the phenomenon a lesser priority. Developments concerning the establishment of a provisional outpost in Nx-150 quickly became the object of focus.
In lieu of a number of zoning discussions amongst Foundation North-American Command, Provisional Site-150 (then three connected sub-Sites: 150-01, 150-02, and 150-03) officially began construction in April of 1980.
It would be located in Bridger-Teton National Forest, of Teton, Wyoming, and would serve as a close-knit set of research outstations, tasked with solving emergent mysteries concerning the mechanics of Nx-150's low anomalous activity.
Recent observations had allowed the Foundation to understand an unusual operational setback: it was near-impossible to accomplish tasks of any prominence inside of the Nexus. Prior attempts to establish outposts in Nx-150 had resulted in long, drawn out "causal middling" — the cessation of a story-structure caused by narrative disinterest and/or distraction. In the Foundation and similar agencies, this manifested in the form of exceedingly slow bureaucracy, resulting in the discontinuation of any events too complex for the Nexus to uphold.
Though many advancements in the field of Applied Pataphysics were yet to emerge, a partial understanding proved enough for effective countermeasures to be devised, and to be put into place. Installed beneath Provisional Site-150 were sixty-five prototype Narrative Energy Lattices (NELs), each housing a set of experimental "pataconduit" devices: machines built to indirectly generate narrative energy through a process of selective siphoning, drawing energy from surrounding regions and exploiting microscale logical tropes to replenish them after.
The application of this technology, more than any other factor, allowed for the hastened construction of the Provisional Site, establishing a plethora of new opportunities for research into the properties of Nx-150 and its resident LNAS structure.
Morale of the Story
An Emergent Method for the Delivery of Higher Narrative Force
Miyah Irving, PhD
Rocco Wills, PhD
Dir. Norman Crane, PhD, PhD
Research & Analysis Center
SCP Foundation Intermountain Facilities for Research and Experimentation
12/05/1980
Abstract: In this paper, we have collected the results of the recent experimentation conducted between groups stationed at Provisional Site-150, Site-17, and Site-08, to serve as an introduction to what we believe to be a revolutionary new paratechnology, making use of several newly-discovered parascientific behaviors predicated on the principles of 'pataphysical and ontokinetic theory […]
During the summer of 1983, steady development of the Provisional Site was interrupted by a surge in antianomalous activity.
THE PROWL
POWELL HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT NEWS | THURSDAY, MAY 7th, 1981 | FREE! |
LOST DOG FOUND ON PORCH
John "Jack" Smith, 15, had returned from school only to realize that their beloved dog Rover had not come to greet him. He alerted his parents, and together they mobilized all three hundred residents to hunt for Rover, without luck.
After a long afternoon of searching, the Smiths returned home to discover Rover languishing on their front porch.
Said John Smith:
"I thought it would be more exciting than that. I really, really thought I could be like Tom Sawyer or Indiana Jones or Perseus. I was really worried about Rover, because I didn't want him to get eaten by a coyote or a wolf out there in the plains. But no. He was just sitting on our porch. I don't know if he was there all along or whether he went home because he got spooked when everyone was searching for him. I guess it really doesn't matter, does it? He's safe and sound, and I'm happy of that, but none of it matters in the slightest."
A happy ending for all those involved. We here at the Prowl will do our best to keep bringing Powell High feel-good stories!
Area-150
Area-150 was formally established in 198X.
Further Liquidation Activity
In 198X, there was a mass outbreak of anomalous activity in Nx-150.
Initial pataconduit theory assumed that it would concentrate the narrative energy of Wyoming to a level where 1) Foundation activity would be possible and 2) the containment of anomalous activity in Wyoming would essentially be a non-issue.
These assumptions were proven to be faulty.
By raising daumal level, the number of narrative degrees of freedom is reduced.
To draw an analogy to physics, consider a two-particle molecule in a three-dimensional space, aligned with the x-axis, at a high temperature. The molecule has six degrees of freedom: three translations i.e. movement in the x, y, or z directions; two rotations, one about the y-axis and one about the z-axis (note that a rotation about the x-axis would be functionally identical to no rotation at all); and one vibrations i.e. oscillation of the component particles along the x-axis.
Should temperature be decreased, this vibrational degree of freedom is lost.
Now, consider a two-particle molecule in a two-dimensional space at a high temperature. The molecule is reduced to having four degrees of freedom: two translations i.e. motions in the x and y directions, one rotation, and one vibration. Again, should temperature be decreased, this vibrational degree of freedom is lost.
Pataconduits function by increasing the narrative energy of their area of effect, constraining the narrative degrees of freedom available to those under their effect. This is analogous to a temperature decrease in a physical system, as opposed to projection into a lower-dimensional narrative. Those under the effect of a pataconduit will behave increasingly protagonistic compared to those do not.
As Area-150 became a genre location, Nx-150 grew increasingly literary. The population of Nx-150 grew increasingly less confined by genre expectations. There were fewer and fewer limitations on their behavior. This was a manifestation of theorized but previously unobserved "negative" narrative energy, analogous to negative temperatures in thermodynamics. A sense of general malaise spread through the population of Nx-150: that life itself lacked greater purpose and meaning. This sense of malaise became so extreme that residents of Nx-150 started taking their fate into their own hands.
This culminated in 1985 with an explosion of Liquidation-linked anomalous activity in the wake of the public revelation that Northern Utilities Inc was significantly overcharging Wyoming customers for natural gas. The following 5 years saw an increase in criminal and violent activity, that while still below the national average, was greatly increased from normal levels for Wyoming.
Liquidation-Associated Artifacts
Stuff associated with the Yellowstone Fire of 1988?
Anti-Liquidation Operations
Although direct causation between pataconduits and the boom in anomalous activity could not be proven, there was sufficient containment concern to justify determining remedial acts.
Isiah Pickman (Site-87, Pataphysics) and Philip Verhoten (Site-87, Nexology) were drawn to consult on the issue of Area-150. Verhoten believed that every Nexus was largely idiosyncratic, and that observations from one Nexus could not necessarily be transferred to another. However, he noted that the deployment of pataconduits and the subsequent elevation of narrative energy likely qualified the area for Nexus status, as opposed to being an anti-Nexus. Pickman believed that reckless Foundation deployment of pataconduits had created pockets of narrative malignancy. The two recommended that pataconduit operation be slowed or stopped. This suggestion was ignored.
(This contribution to Foundation history went largely unnoted due to Nx-150's dampening effects, relegating Site-87 to continued obscurity until the early 2010s.)
Area-150 Today
Today, Area-150 hosts one of the Foundation's premiere parascience research campuses.
While a minimal number of researchers consider Area-150 their permanent home base, there is a constant stream of research conferences and symposiums designed to bring together the Foundation's best and brightest.
Area-150 is not specialized in containment, but rather serves as a general research campus. While certain sites specialize more heavily in specific fields, notably Site-43 in Acroamatic Abatement, Site-120 in Ontokinetics, Reliquary Area-27 in Tactical Theology, Site-87 in Pataphysics, and Site-⌘ in Surrealistics, Area-150 provides an opportunity for a meeting of the minds.