Shibboleth. N. a custom, principle, or belief distinguishing a particular class or group of people, especially a long-standing one regarded as outmoded or no longer important.

En Route Briefing: The agents are briefed on the strange towers in West Virginia and the failed 1972 cowboy operation (see timeline). They are asked to recover the "Key" mentioned in after action reports, and warned that it might have hypergeometrical properties. It is believed to still be somewhere in TOWNNAME, but they are not sure exactly where.

What Happened: The mi-go experimented with several means of communicating with humans before settling on the greys. One such aborted attempt now sits in West Virginia, an array of Transmitters that can Project images into human minds. One mi-go engineer has remained behind to oversee the mothballed system, existing below ground as spores and sensory organs monitoring the remaining towers.

When Bixley discovered the Key and began exposing townfolk to the unnatural telepathic projections, the mi-go considered it nothing more than a datapoint. Nothing to panic about, just an opportunity to test the old systems again. Still, the alien engineer was forced to activate some greys - the new models, with the suits - to make sure things didn't get out of hand. For now the mi-go merely monitors and waits, not understanding or particularly concerned about Bixley's little cult, but ready to step in once the experiment needs to be aborted, once and for all.

The Alien Menace, Explained

The Projection is powered by two different components: the Transmitters and the Shibboleth. The Transmitters are a series of antenna-like statues, clustered in three locations throughout the mountainside. The Shibboleth is an alien procedure word that completes a "circuit" within the human mind, priming them to perceive the Projection. The Shibboleth spread to the community through the actions of Henry H. Bixley, who discovered it via an aborted 1972 Delta Green investigation and the Key.

The Projection

The Projection was a sort of prototype Grey, a construct meant to interface with humanity without needing to invest in physical matter. Anyone who has both learned the Shibboleth and seen the Transmitter (even in a photograph) will be able to perceive the Projection.

The Projection is a hypergeometric hologram, the source of the "dancing Italian men" reported in the wake of early West Virginia UFO sightings. Currently the Projection is running in a sort "sleep mode' or "test mode," projecting only odd lights amd twitching ("dancing") humanoid shapes. Sometimes the Projection's holograms appear to speak, or the Projection independently creates auditory hallucinations of piercing shrieks or thrumming alien tones. Coming into physical contact with the Projection exposes its immaterial nature, but also creates an intensely unpleasant vibrating sensation, like a cold shock.

Experiencing the Projection is always unnerving experience of surreal terror and sensory overload, causing 1 SAN loss per day due to the stress. This can be avoided if the victim completely avoids seeing the Projection for 24-hours. Attempting to sleep while witnessing the Projection requires a SAN test, as well as a Luck +20% chance. If the Luck roll fails, you need to re-attempt the SAN test as the Projection mindlessly bumped into you in the night, waking you up with a painful shock, and you will need to attempt SAN to get back to sleep.

The Projection normally only appears at night, though it can appear during the daytime to a lone individual, or to a group of Shibboleth-infected individuals if all assembled fail a POW test. The only place completely free from the Projection is the small safe zone established around the Transmitters.


The Transmitters
The Transmitters, also called the "obelisks" by Delta Green or the "towers" by locals, are a series of slim, antenna-like structures constructed by numerous artists. They range from nine to twenty feet tall, and are built mainly from pig iron with some trace elements sourced from the 1946 meteor strike. The radio waves they emit are faint and barely noticeable, detected only by the most sensitive equipment or in extreme proximity to the towers themselves.

Transmitter locations are:

- 9 in the town square of TOWNNAME
- 4 at the Dean farmstead. A former cluster of 9 similar to those in TOWNNAME, 5 of the 9 were destroyed in the failed 1972 operation
- 2 isolated deep in the woods of the Allegheny Mountains

The Transmitters by themselves are fairly harmless. They are big, tough structures built from iron, however, and it can be dangerous to try and tear them down. Ramming one with a vehicle may be enough to destroy it, but it will also likely destroy the vehicle and any agent still behind the wheel. Explosives work, but Demolitions is required to actually bring the tower down and not just make a big, dangerous, impotent bang. If agents pull strings to bring in construction equipment or demolitions experts, they can be torn down safely. There are no unusual or hidden elements to their construction beyond incorporating rare earth elements from the meteorite, and agents attempting to study how the towers created their radio signal lose 0/1 SAN for their troubles.

Due to the hypergeometrical nature of mi-go tech, the Projection paradoxically becomes stronger, not weaker, as the Transmitters are torn down. This trend continues until the last tower falls, at which point the hypergeometrical construct collapses entirely and the Projection is banished forever.

- 15/20 Towers (state at start of operation): The Projection functions normally, as described above.
- 14/20 Towers : The first time a Transmitter is felled, the Projection flickers in the field of view of any Shibboleth-speakers in any Transmitter's "safe" area. 0/1 SAN the first time this happens, and it happens with each subsequent tower fall.
- 13/20 Towers: As above, but the Projection becomes temporarily visible to anyone in the Transmitter's "safe" area. This is the only way the Projection can be perceived by humans not infected by the Shibboleth - it inflicts on them 0/1 SAN loss.
- 10/20 Towers: The Projection saps 1 WP per day as well, instead of just SAN. A victim can voluntarily lose 1d2 permanent POW to become inured WP loss from the Projection.
- 5/20 Towers: The uninfected no longer safeguard against the Projection. The Projection will appear even in the day time to any group of Shibboleth-infected individuals who failed a POW test. Those who fail their POW test will hallucinate the Projection throughout the day. Only a Transmitter's safe zone provides relief.
- 2/20 Towers: The Projection intensifies further, becoming a mind-rending cacophony. Anyone experiencing it at this level takes 1/1d6 SAN the first time, and takes -10% penalty to all actions for as long as they can perceive the Projection.
1 Tower remaining: The mi-go engineer considers the project unsalvageable, and arrives to destroy the last remaining tower with a gravity-weapon. If the last remaining Transmitter is in TOWNNAME, it will restrict the explosion to just the immediate area around the tower. This will still result in some pretty serious SAN loss to civilian witnesses. If the final tower is at the Dean farmstead or in the wilderness, it will take significantly less care and inflict great collateral damage (ie. escape scene for any agents unlucky enough to be nearby).


The Shibboleth

Treat the Shibboleth as a spell:



Actually seeing the Shibboleth used is deeply strange, causing 0/1 SAN loss from unnatural:



Despite this, the residents of TOWN are largely inured to it. It's entirely possible that the agents might be exposed to the shibboleth while exploring the town by:

- Someone stubbing their toe and muttering it without thinking
- A young child babbling it, inappropriately, because they just learned it, before collapsing to the ground, exhausted
- A townsperson intentionally exposing them to it out of anger or spite

The townspeople are smart enough to know that knowledge of the shibboleth needs to be kept from outsiders. They are also smart enough to know that killing federal agents is a really stupid way to achieve that. Fortunately, the shibboleth can only be transmitted by speaking to someone in person. Recordings of the word glitch out inexplicably. The Key cannot be replicated, and attempts to copy its characters or express the shibboleth in human language fail. Despite this, the community of TOWN have invented an ASCII rendering to try and capture its spirit in text ( 0---[ ! ] ), which can be spotted on the Facebook pages of townsfolk and scrawled in public restrooms.


The Key

The Key is the only true "written" instance of the Shibboleth. It appears to be a six inch ellipsoid-shaped piece of bronze. There are raised characters on one side, and the other side is flat. Anything more than a cursory glance at the characters imparts knowledge of the Shibboleth.

The Key is an infohazard, but the players' mission is technically to retrieve it. Most case officers would be willing to change these mission parameters if updated, but the NQZ makes that difficult. The agents may decide to destroy the Key, but that is not something the mi-go will permit, at least while the Transmitters are still standing. The mi-go will send MIBs after individuals who attempt to destroy the Key, and violate causality to restore it if successfully destroyed. The mi-go won't intervene if it's dropped into a lake or chasm or stored away in a safe in a green box, however. It won't permit its destruction, but it's fine with the humans putting its tools away.

Beyond all this, the object is quite unremarkable. Beyond its alien characters its just a hunk of terrene metal. The Key does have one fringe benefit: the bearer can roll the higher of their CHA or POW to avoid repeating the Shibboleth.

SCIGUY'S Notebook

In English. Requires Science (Mathematics), Science (Physics), SIGINT or Computer Science. Study time: days. Unnatural +2%, SAN loss 1D4

A mathematics textbook with the notes hidden in the spine, SCIGUY recorded his theories here while he stayed on the case of his failed 1972 operation. Most of the notes are dense mathematical formulae, requiring Science (Mathematics) 10% or higher. Associated skills like Science (Physics), SIGINT, or Computer Science can be assumed to have sufficient mathematical understanding to also parse its contents.

SCIGUY explains (fairly accurately) how the Transmitters, the Shibboleth and the Projection interact. He puzzles (or agonizes) over whether or not destroying the Transmitters will stop the Projection, or make it worse. He hypothesizes on the existence of an "Architect" who designed or built the Transmitters, describing the human artisans who built them as mere tools. Later portions of the text are obsessed with means to contact this Architect, and what the ramifications of its work might be.

Spells: PHONETIC BREAKDOWN OF 'SHIBBOLETH' PROCEDURE PHRASE (Pronounce Shibboleth), CONTACT PROCEDURES (Meditation Upon the Favored Ones), NOTES ON PARTIAL REPEATING SEQUENCE (a flawed version of Consciousness Expansion, requiring 1000 hours of study)

The notebook is currently sitting in Bixley's basement, with the Key in it as a bookmark. Picking up the notebook requires a DEX roll or else the Key slips out and clatters to the floor.
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:11, Wed 05 Aug 2020.

The Factions

Bixley's Cabal
Bixley is a narcissist, wielding the power of the Shibboleth for his own aggrandizement and to punish the town that (in his mind) stole his successful academic career away from him. Bixley still has a great love of history and folklore, and operates a "museum" filled with perfectly mundane artifacts and bric-a-brac in the first floor of his home. He has personally exposed many of the townsfolk to the Shibboleth and has active criminal ties with:

- MINER GUY - An engineer that Bixley "convinced" to stay in Shibboleth. He operates a coal mine that, he claims, uses a patented method he invented to sift rare earth elements from coal sludge. His device is just an empty metal box filled with wires - really he's just digging where Bixley tells him to dig, and pulling up the unearthly ores that composed the 1945 meteorite and grinding them to powder. The deception is making him rich, but he hates living a lie and would rather escape TOWNNAME.
- SLUM LORD - Operating a trailer park within the "safe zone" of the cluster of Transmitters in TOWNNAME, his fortunes have risen as part of Bixley's gambit. He's very interested in maintaining the new status qo.
- DRUG DEALER - Boredom and despair are this guy's bread and butter. The Shibboleth creates a captive market.
- FAKE COP - A retired cop who still drives around in his cruiser, players with Law will be easily able to recognize him as a fake.
- Henry H. Bixley, Jr. - Bixley's son is actually the most likely of the cabal to flip on his father, as he deeply resents his old man for using the Shibboleth on him.

This is about it for actual organized resistance against the agents, but the townsfolk overall are not too thrilled about the federal government poking around. They prefer to deal with the Projection on their own, by doggedly not talking about and ignoring that it is happening. Almost everyone is unfriendly, armed, and jumpy around FBI agents due to recent MIB sightings.

The Cowboys
A small cowboy operation is in town, not aligned with players or their orders. They are also aware of 1972 operation and intend to finish what they started - tearing down all those Transmitters. They will not be dissuaded from their goal, but may accept the agents' help if genuine.

I won't bother fleshing this out in detail, since I have an NPC in mind for Sunday's game, but I will need to write generic NPCs for the scenario later...

The Mi-Go and the MIBS
The mi-go engineer overseeing the Projection system is the wild card, but it won't act except in extreme circumstances. It will prefer to send MIB proxies, essentially greys dressed up in a suit and following all the standard Men in Black folklore. They seem to get quickly exhausted by human interaction, so the mi-go usually sends them in teams of two or four, cycling them out as needed. The mi-go has 8 MIB bodies in its possession, overall.

The mi-go is roughly interested in:

- Maintaining the integrity of the remaining towers, unless only one remains, in which case the mi-go's orders switch to destroying it.
- Preventing anyone from destroying the Key and moving it a significant distance from the site of the meteor strike.
- Preventing humans from studying the Transmitters or the Key too closely.

MIBs always attempt intimidation before resorting to violence. They will likely, at some point, show up to the agents and try to convince them to leave the Transmitters alone.

MIBS will use grey stat blocks, but will also gain a gun attack: 40%, 1d8. Agents with firearms of 50% or higher who see the gun drawn will see that it is not a standard service weapon at all. Agents with firearms of 70% or higher will see that it is a completely unique custom weapon, matching no known make or model. The MIB can decide whether or not its gunshots are fatal; anyone felled by a MIB bullet only dies if the MIB wishes them to, otherwise they simply fall unconscious. If disarmed, these guns are revealed to be part of the MIB's body - tearing it from its grip inflicts 1d4 damage on the MIB, and the gun seems to "slither" and "skitter" rapidly away, inflicting 1/1d4 SAN on all who witness it.
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:51, Wed 05 Aug 2020.

1945 - A small meteorite of unusual composition strikes a remote portion of the Allegheny Mountains. Sporadic reports of strange lights in the sky make brief headlines.

1947 - Roswell incident. MJ-12  created. Delta Green reinstated.

1952 - Faint but unusual radio signals are detected near the 1946 meteorite impact site. Reports about local farmers being accosted by "tiny dancing Italian men" at night rouse the interest of Delta Green. A joint MJ-12 and Delta Green operation investigates, finding that local artists have constructed twenty slim, obelisk-like towers from pig iron and small fragments of the 1946 meteorite. The towers are clustered in groups of 9, 9, and 2, spread throughout the mountainside. These obelisks seem to be the source of the radio signal, but are not discernibly dangerous in any way.

1953 - The above investigation is closed as Delta Green is dismissed from all UFO-related activity.

1958 - The United States National Quiet Zone is established. Pressure from MJ-12 ensures that the twenty obelisks are included in the zone, to allow for further study.

1959 - A post office is established less than a mile away from a cluster of nine of the obelisks, as the strange structures have since become a local landmark.

1965 - The village of TOWNNAME is incorporated.

1970 - Delta Green "officially" disbanded, but continues operations. Cowboy Era begins.

1972 - Delta Green assets, suspicious of MJ-12 of aware of the 1952 investigation, send a team of cryptographers, engineers and military veterans to TOWNNAME to conduct a follow-up. The follow-up operation is a disaster. In the aftermath, five of the twenty obelisks are destroyed, two civilians and one Delta Green operative are killed, and SCIGUY discovers the Key and is exposed to the Shibboleth. No longer fit for active duty due to the Projection, SCIGUY retires in TOWNNAME to oversee the cover-up from the failed operation.

1977 - SCIGUY studies the Key, the obelisks (which he terms Transmitters) and the Shibboleth, compiling his insights in his notebook. Locals report his behavior during this period is increasingly erratic, punctuated by week long hikes in the mountains. During the summer of 1977, SCIGUY embarks one of these jaunts and does not return.

1985 - Historian Henry H. Bixley, studying West Virginian folk lore and folk art, comes to TOWNNAME to observe the obelisks. Learning about stories of alien activity and the mysterious disappearance of SCIGUY through conversations with the locals, Bixley finds SCIGUY's notebook and the Key secreted in the wall of his former residence. Bixley is exposed to the Shibboleth via the Key, and is forced to stay in TOWNNAME by the Projection.

1986 - As Bixley's book becomes increasingly, obsessively focused on alien folklore and alien folklore alone, and Henry H. Bixley himself becomes increasingly unpleasant to work with, his publisher pulls all funding.

1987 - The product of a brief marriage to a local woman, Bixley's son (Henry H. Bixley, Jr.) is born.

1994 - Delta Green is reorganized, begins actively investigating and sabotaging MAJESTIC.

2010 - Henry H. Bixley, Sr. uses the Shibboleth on his son to prevent him from going to college out of state. Bixley continues using the Shibboleth for his own ends. A small cabal forms, with Bixley at the center, using the Shibboleth or the threat of it to control and extort individuals in TOWNNAME.

Present Day - MAJESTIC records from the Green Bank Observatory renew Program interest in the obelisks' mysterious signal, and reveal the existence of the Key. Operation BRASS MOON is launched to recover the Key if possible and assess if the obelisks or its signal are a threat. Agents arrive in TOWNNAME under the cover of a 72-hour assessment, following up on a DEA report about methamphetamine production in the region.