THE PHENOMENA DEPARTMENT

PART 5:
THE SUPERNATURAL

Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you mad.
Aldous Huxley

THE ENEMY

The Phenomena Department deals with all sorts of supernatural (a.k.a. preternatural) entities. The following is a short list of commonly encountered beings.

Nightwalkers
A &quotnightwalker" is characterized by nocturnal habits and a willingness to eat people. Nightwalkers are one of the most common foes the Phenomena Department faces, as well as one of the most hazardous.

Ghouls - A ghoul is a man-sized humanoid with rubbery, moldy skin, and a foul stench. They are very strong, armed with sharp teeth and claws, and burrow through dirt quite well. Usually found dwelling near graveyards, a ghoul normally eats fresh corpses but will gladly devour a living human if given the chance. Rumor has it that ghouls don't breed, but capture humans to transform them into new ghouls.

Ghouls are unnaturally resistant to firearms, and are very dangerous to combat hand-to-hand. It has been found that flame-throwers work more than adequately against these creatures.

Lycanthropes - The ability for a human to transform themselves into an animal form is a fairly old and well-known phenomena. Through the use of certain rituals or salves, a human can turn himself into any number of animals, including wolves, bears, boars, tigers, rats, snakes, and even sharks. In general a human transformed to animal form is no more powerful than a normal animal. The exception is that the transformed animal is usually larger and retains the human's original intelligence.

Normal weapons work quite well on transformed lycanthropes. The main problem is finding the lycanthrope in the first place. Note that a transformed wolf, bear or tiger, backed with human intelligence and cunning can be a very dangerous foe.

Wights - Also known as revenants, a wight is a self-willed form of walking dead They are usually corpses that rise to correct some wrong or to avenge a slight or insult. It is not known what causes a wight to rise, but most often it is fairly angry and destructive. Wights are immensely strong, very tough, and can easily tear a human to bits. Due to the fact a wight is "dead," guns (and the like) cause little damage. As with ghouls, flame-throwers are the weapon of preference.

Vampires - Similar to wights, vampires are also walking corpses. Unlike wights, they possess greater intelligence and cunning, and often have a few supernatural powers to add to the mix. The typical vampire is a bloated human corpse stinking of blood. They dwell in their graves, coming out at night to drain the blood of others. Vampires are not harmed by sunlight to any great degree, but can be killed with most normal weapons.

It should be noted that vampires, unless staked in place, have a nasty tendency to rise after "death" to continue to hunt. The standard tactic of the Phenomena Department is to take a suspected vampire, place it face down in its coffin, stake it through the chest (with an ash stake), sever the head from the body, and finally place a length of wild rose atop the body. If possible, burning the body is preferred, but that is not always an option.

There has been some talk of "Chinese" or "hopping" vampires, a type of vampire from the Far East. These creatures are said to be very strong, very fast, and nearly invulnerable to conventional weapons. They are considered to be far more dangerous than the "normal" vampire.

Other Entities

Aliens - Government research has shown no evidence of any extra-terrestrial life coming in contact with humans. The Air Force, through Project Blue Book (1952-1969), has researched over 12,000 reports, with only 700 falling into the realm of a true "unidentified flying object." The Air Force stresses that the term "unidentified" means that the Air Force could not give a positive ID to the object, not that the object was of extra-terrestrial origin.

Anyone researching within the Phenomena Department records will turn up no real evidence of alien contact with humans either. However, the material in the records will allow one to develop some interesting theories concerning The Roswell Incident, Project Sign (1948-1949), Project Grudge (1949-1951), and the mysterious (and presumed mythical) Majestic 12 committee of the Truman Administration.

Demons - A demon is any extra-dimensional being (note that "demon" is more of a classification of convenience than a real label). They are very rare, and generally are fairly unique entities, with each individual demon totally different from another demon. The Phenomena Department treats all suspected demons carefully, as they are known to be highly dangerous when angered or cornered.

Ghosts - A ghost is probably the most benevolent entity the Phenomena Department has to deal with. Most ghosts are mindless spirits that haven't yet broken their connection with the material world. They continue to act out scenes from their past lives over and over, usually at specific times and on specific days. In general, a ghost is fairly harmless, as most are virtually robotic in nature and have no real free will. Others, however, have a small degree of intelligence, and are capable of independent thought and action.

Destroying a ghost usually requires some form of magic ritual, and can take some time. Due to the time, effort, and expense involved, the Phenomena Department doesn't normally destroy a ghost, unless the ghost has proven to be hostile.

Zombies - Animated corpses, zombies are created by sorcerers from the bodies of the freshly (or not) dead. A zombie has no will of it own, and can only do what the controlling sorcerer tells it to do (this is what makes a zombie different from a wight or vampire). Because it is little more than a walking corpse, a zombie feels no pain, and is extremely difficult to destroy. On the other hand, their general composition renders them slow, both in movements and actions, and an alert agent can easily outrun one. Destroying a zombie can be accomplished in a number of ways, from burning it to death, to blasting it apart with firearms or explosives.


Return to The Phenomena Department