 Graciously donated by:Phoenix Technologies |
|---|
Of Interest:device, donation, ongoing programme, portable, radar, search aid, user-friendly, WARTIME USAGE Safety Concerns:So that individuals handling the device can properly fulfill its intended function, all of its users must be tested to ensure they are not suffering from pathological empathism. Asset Summary:
Example reading taken near Jelenia Góra. Item is a set of 30 paratechnological radar devices developed by Phoenix Technologies that, when activated, scan a 40-kilometer-radius area and cross-reference its ambient Akiva radiation, Elan-Vital Energy (EVE), and Aura outputs against those of baseline human readings. Through this, they are capable of guiding the user towards the nearest clusters of "desperation," i.e. point to areas wherein individuals present have most recently and most strongly felt desperate or the need for help. Maintenance and Operation:To ensure all devices remain in-tune for as long as possible, when not in use, they are to be kept in environments as close to the spiritual null as possible, i.e. far away from the locations/clusters which the devices would pick up as their intended target. Security Restrictions:Operation is restricted to trained volunteers; technical maintenance is restricted to paratech specialists familiar with the documentation provided by Phoenix Technologies. All individuals with a history of wartime service or those involved with ongoing cooperative humanitarian efforts with or within any paramililitary/mililitary organizations — particularly the Global Occult Coalition, the ZM "Witch Slayer" Division, and A.R.G.U.S. Inc. — are formally and irrevocably forbidden from handling the devices in any capacity. Assigned To:Donated to the Manna Charitable Foundation emergency humanitarian response to the ongoing crisis in southern Poland. Emergency Programme Silesia (Poland), for the Handling of the Silesia Uprising. [UNDER-WAY] Relief efforts to combat the drastic humanitarian crisis in southwestern Poland caused as a collateral consequence on the civilian population and infrastructure by the ongoing military effort of the Global Occult Coalition against the Chaos Insurgency separatists in the region. On-site Mission Work Groups currently utilize the donated apparatus to provide vital medical aid to civilian victims and refugees as well as to ensure the operation of critical public services in the area. |
Entry Ref: 001/02/20-Context and Donor's Comment
Upon his company's donation, Simón Torres — CEO of Phoenix Technologies — submitted the following statement to the Manna Charitable Foundation Mission Watch:
Respectable members of the Manna Charitable Foundation,
It is little secret that I am a cynic. Certainly a lot has been said about my character over the years — not always without merit — and even more about my motives. But I am not a fool; I understand that this donation, an act that may to many look like the first ever action of mine not guided by an idealistic, seemingly self-centered pursuit of progress, may look strange. For why would a soulless businessman like me ever do something not meant to raise his own splendor? Why would he give up his own invention — his own product — for a cause where there's no gain to be made? Why, if we know his heart is ten times frozen over?
It may indeed be true that my heart is cold; but in the same heart I am also still the nine year old boy from Arauca, forced to witness his world and his family torn apart by a war that wasn't theirs. Torn apart by a war that wasn't his. This world is a ladder, that much is true, but above all else it ought to be a ladder the ascent of which we all start from the same step. Just because we at Phoenix could rise from the ruin to build that which we are now does not mean that anyone else should have to endure that fate; that anyone else should be forced to rise from the ashes or their home.
I will not permit it.
War is the ultimate failure of progress. Take this and try to save what little remains — for without it, none of this matters a damned thing.
Attached alongside the comment were technical documentation concerning the operation, maintenance, and repair of the equipment.
unVeiled » Politics
Desperation Amidst Chaos: The Drastic Situation of the Innocent Civilians of Silesia
By Alice Sharp (⁂ASharp)
Published 15/06/2039, 23:48
Wrocław's Nadodrze district in the immediate aftermath of a Coalition bombing of Insurgent positions.
Over the last few weeks of the UNGOC military intervention inside Silesia — of its "peacekeeping campaign," or whatever else the euphemism is these days — the situation of its civilian populace has turned from drastic to desperate. Amidst the Chaos Insurgency's terrorist rule — focused solely on maintaining its military strongholds — the relentless airstrikes by the Coalition forces, and widespread thaumic civil unrest across the region, the circumstances are dire.
As of writing, more than 5,000 people have lost their lives as collateral consequence to the ongoing Coalition-Insurgency skirmishes; 1,200 more have died due to starvation, sickness, and damaged critical infrastructure. If nothing changes, both of these numbers will only increase in the days to come. In accordance with the provisions of the intervention resolution, the Coalition still officially prohibits all exit and entry in the entirety of Silesia (with the exception of the few, small-size humanitarian aid groups it has allowed in at the beginning of the conflict). To only add onto that pyre, with its next efforts aimed at "liberating" the three major cities still remaining under Insurgent Control — Bielsko-Biała, Jastrzębie Zdrój, and the most densely populated Polish city, Katowice — being publicly announced as operations meant to put the swiftest-possible end to the operation, things are not looking good.
Dear reader, I will cut to the chase here: we need your help to stop more Silesians from dying. Only your actions outside can stop the Coalition's reckless advance from claiming more lives in the cities it has already "liberated." We here at unVeiled alongside the Manna Charitable Foundation members that were let in are doing all we can in the immediate aftermaths of the military confrontations, but we cannot do it without the supplies that the Coalition blocks at the border. We cannot do it without support in the outside cities that have suffered losses months prior. We simply do not have enough resources. We simply do not have enough people.
So please, for the sake of the people that we can still save — go to the nearest humanitarian aid organization permitted by the Coalition, such as Vanguard which operates in nearly every country in the planet — and try to see what help you can afford. Without your support…
UPDATE BULLETIN
ARRIVED: 27.06.2039 10:11 AM, SOSNOWIEC, POLAND
I've been here in the rubble for more than a week now, but I can't really say that I've seen much. The job is mostly just setting up the radar, looking at the readings, and getting other people to go and take care of whoever shows up.
Watching the people that get rescued because of me fills me with hope. When I see the faintest of smiles forming on their faces I am reminded that what we do matters. That it works. It's the thing that really matters, in the end.
Some would argue that I just sit on my ass all day and tell others what to do, but I don't enjoy this. Not at all. Being aware of the fact that every single blob I see on my screen, all of those ever-changing shapes of mostly red hues, mean something measurable and very much real is excruciating.
But I still watch. Even on breaks, even when I eat I glance back at the screens.
Is it morbid curiosity? Probably not. The fact is there's nothing else to really look at over here. If not the screen, then what? The destroyed buildings? The still-burning purple fireworks left on the streets? The bodies?
The rescued come and go, and I move places to where I'm needed. There is just one constant thing worth looking at, and it's the blobs on my screen.
I hope I'll get to see them go away, one day.
— Karol Edelman, Radar Operator
Work Group Onyx-1
Emergency Vanguard Silesia Situation Report
[…] The Coalition's uncompromising approach — coupled with the Polish government's hostility — has effectively blocked any possibility of reaching a stable consensus in the region that would be satisfactory to the local population. Even in spite of several diplomatic teams led by Dr. Jay Everwood being sent to negotiate with both parties, all Vanguard attempts at obtaining further operational rights within the region — or at being able to act as a diplomatic middleman between the Insurgents and the Coalition — were unanimously rejected.
Following the failure of the Coalition's initial "push," its Strike Teams have shifted to a more methodical campaign focused on securing territory sector by sector in an effort to dismantle enemy defensive capabilities. The densely populated urban nature of these strongholds poses a significant risk to the local civilian population and creates a serious threat of widespread collateral casualties. Below are exemplary recordings retrieved from social media:
| RECOVERED VIDEO TRANSCRIPT SILESIA/11 |
|---|
|
«BEGIN LOG» The feed opens on a street view recorded from inside an apartment. A social media overlay in the right corner pinpoints its location as Bielsko-Biała. Outside a street can be seen. On one of its sides stand makeshift defenses made from sand bags. Stationed around them are heavily-armored Valravn Corporation vehicles, but no actual Valravn employees are present nearby. The defences are manned by Chaos Insurgency militiamen — half of them are carrying guns and the rest are empty handed, with thaumic sparks running around the ends of their fingertips. On the other side of the road, a Global Occult Coalition convoy — consisting of three tanks and thirty soldiers — exchanges fire with them. One of the tanks suddenly stops moving as it fires a shot towards the Insurgency. There is an explosion of bright fluorescent light as three of the Insurgents fall to the ground. To the sound of thunder, a bright lightning ripples from the sky onto the pavement next to one of the Insurgent vehicles. From the lighting stumbles forward a Coalition battlemage — an older, long-haired man wearing dark, flowing military clothing and a wide hat. Lightning crackles between his fingertips as he himself starts to flicker, and then yet another lighting appears, connecting his location to the heart of the Insurgent space. Thunder sounds again as the mage appears between the Insurgents. The aftershock of the spell ripples throughout the area, killing five Insurgents and damaging two buildings in the distance. One of the spell's sparks falls towards the camera, ending the feed. «END LOG» |
| RECOVERED VIDEO TRANSCRIPT SILESIA/17 |
|
«BEGIN LOG» The feed opens to reveal several apartments' worth of space, combined together in absence of their ruined walls. Lining the room's floor are makeshift beds made from dirty rags and torn clothes. Upon them sleep people, mostly children, their breathing uneven and faces pale. Adults are walking above them, carrying half-empty bottles and trays, their faces drawn with exhaustion. Others are sitting next to the lying people, their hands on the foreheads of the wounded and their eyes closed in deep focus. There are dim lights coming from under the palms of some of them. The camera zooms closer to one of the sitting figures, revealing it to be a Fae man in work overalls, wearing a mustache. He looks into the camera and takes a deep breath, groping his overalls in search of cigarettes. When he finds none, he sighs again. A sudden tremor ripples through the building as rubble falls off the ceiling in the distance. People start shouting, and outside the room's walls heavy footsteps can be heard. The doors leading outside the room suddenly get breached as two blue-helmeted, armed figures barge through. Everyone freezes as the two Coalition soldiers rush in and scan the area. One of them turns around, opening his mouth and raising his arm; the other shoots him a determined glance and grabs him by the shoulder. They exchange a long look. The second figure looks at the gathered once more, eyeing the damage done to the building, then the standing adults, then the lying wounded. Her gaze falls on the mustached man. For a second, they just stand there, their hands tight on their arms and their eyes cold. Then, she turns around. Coalition Soldier 2: Section clear. Move! «END LOG» |
| RECOVERED VIDEO TRANSCRIPT SILESIA/29 |
|
«BEGIN LOG» The camera is located on what can be presumed to be a balcony, connected via stairs to other balconies and buildings around it. The feed is stationed low, as if the person recording was sitting — or was a child. Near the alley's end a group of five people are standing. Two are adults — one man and one woman. The remaining three are kids; only two of them is a human, and the other one is Fae. The older man is holding their hands regardless. Right next to them — almost outside the camera's view — stand three people wearing heavy leather jackets and red armbands. Some of them are slightly wounded, with a bandage wrapped around the leg of one of them. They are armed — two guns and one knife — and one of them is aiming with his weapon directly at the older woman. The other two — their faces dirty with a mixture of grime, dust, and blood — are visibly shouting at her, but the exact words escape the camera's reach. Hesitantly, the scared woman hands the men some sort of bag of unclear contents. They look inside, laugh, then continue gesticulating towards her. She puts her face in her hands, shaking, and one of the children hugs her. The men shout again, one of them firing in the air, and — flinching — the woman takes off her backpack. The men laugh again, then shoot the older man a sneering look. Suddenly, one of the men shouts something inaudible and points in the camera's direction. The camera starts shaking as the user starts to run. Gunshots can be heard in the background; it is unclear whether any of them actually hit a target. «END LOG» |
Currently, Vanguard continues to lobby at the international level for a change in strategy and approach by the Coalition Mission in Silesia. However, these diplomatic efforts have so far produced no tangible results. Vanguard's regional resources — via Research and Preservation Site-120 — have successfully established contact with grassroot opposition networks operating under the umbrella organization "Silesia United." In coordination with these groups, Vanguard is supporting a campaign aimed at de-escalating the conflict and advocating for regional autonomy as a solution for lasting stability. […]
UPDATE BULLETIN
ARRIVED: 26.07.2039 11:53 PM, SOSNOWIEC, POLAND
Me and my team are on the outskirts now. The part of the city closest to Katowice has been attacked by Insurgency forces, and from what I know they're advancing towards us. The Coalition seems to be holding them back for the time being.
I honestly don't know anymore. I thought the number of people needing us would dwindle down eventually, and it actually seemed like that was the case not that long ago. But with how things are going, it looks like the conflict will not end for a while still.
The GOC is using new weapons to fight off the Insurgents; something thaumaturgic, from what I've heard people say. It's a flash of light, and buildings are just gone. The people become motionless, like life was sucked out of them. Many of my coworkers here started cracking jokes about that, trying to cope, saying that a nuclear weapon would've been more humane; that it at least gets rid of bodies, too.
I tried to tune it out to a degree, but around an hour ago one of these went off within the device's range. A brilliant, radiant flower, blooming right on the horizon. I looked away, as if on instinct, but everyone else saw it. I was the only one not blinded for the next few minutes.
The first thing I saw looking back at the device was:
And silence followed.
— Karol Edelman, Radar Operator
Work Group Onyx-1
Marshall, Carter & Dark
⁂mc&dofficial
In these #hardtimes, we at Marshall, Carter & Dark stand where we have always stood: with peace, order, and international law. In accordence with our core values, we remain a proud partner and ally of the ⁂UNGOC. (1/2)
- ECHOES 938
- HUMS 42,174
7:54 PM · Aug 14, 2039
Marshall, Carter & Dark
⁂mc&dofficial
Going forward, for as long as the #silesiananarchy lasts, 10% of all our sales will be directed towards the valiant freedom fighters of the Coalition, for a better and safer world for all. #savesilesia #freepoland 🧑⚖️⚖️ (2/2)
- ECHOES 521
- HUMS 29,912
7:55 PM · Aug 14, 2039
To: marmaj_eu@manna.int
From: eriherr_eu@manna.int
Subject: Re: Re: Re: is torres being a bastard again
Marcus,
I've looked into the scanners like you requested, and I'm afraid I don't really see what's wrong? I tested them in baseline expected environments inside my own city, then again in an EVE-Aura simulation I was able to render with help from a few friends from Eurtec, and I even asked a friend inside Phoenix itself — and don't log that, that's off record, so you owe me one — to look at them, and everything seems to be fine? They're all exactly like the old product Torres advertised, cataloged, and later took off the shelves some five years ago. They sure as hell aren't defective or worn down from use, either. They do their job just as expected.
Now, the way I see it — and obviously I'm not saying I couldn't have maybe been wrong in my previous analysis, but I trust Fumiko with my life, so — there's three ways you can go trying to find the cause/solution to the whole mess:
- 1. Try to see if whatever thaumic garbage the Coalition puts in their bombs doesn't affect the scanning mechanism. It shouldn't, because magic is not how the mechanism actually works, but you know how it is with UN weaponry — god knows that if it could affect the respiratory systems of all those poor souls like you said, it could have just as well messed something up here. Especially with how the Silesia-wide ritual the Insurgency performed only further polluted the region (magic cross-reactions are a bitch);
- 2. Look into the storage units you guys use to store these things (or backpacks, you know it's been years since I've been meaningfully in the field). Normally, all the anchors these things have got should be more than enough for them to stay good even after being thrown into space, but, again, so far the UN has rejected all requests for non-GOC scientific research into the composure of the latent Silesian environment remaining after their interventions;
- 3. Try to change the crews of Work Groups operating the scanners. I realize how this sounds, but are you sure that the scanners aren't having trouble picking up anything far away because, ah, this long into the whole operation your guys are the far closer target?
Let me know if any of these fixes work — or if you need anything else.
Best,
Erica Herring-Lister
Manna Charitable Foundation European Board, Member
IT and Paratechnology Specialist
Manna Charitable Foundation
Relief, Where It Belongs
Programme Report Silesia-1-009
As of writing, the situation in the region of Silesia continues to develop, but there are no clear signs of improvement in terms of the ongoing humanitarian crisis. Critical infrastructure and essential services remain severely compromised, with transport networks, medical facilities, and water supply systems suffering increasing damage. The shortages of basic necessities — including shelter, clean water, and access to emergency healthcare — similarly grow in numbers.
To make matters worse, on 02/09/2039 a refugee camp near Legnica was attacked by Insurgency forces. Work Group Onyx-3 was able to successfully evacuate the camp's civilian population in time; however, a substantial portion of its supplies — including medical kits, food rations, and sanitation equipment — was either destroyed or rendered unusable. In response, a temporary replacement site was established in Lublin. It currently lacks the full capacity and infrastructure of the original camp. The request for logistical and defenses support from the Coalition was rejected, citing conflicting "strategic objectives" and developments elaborated upon below.
On 07/09/2039 , Mission Watch received a letter from the Office of Assistant Director Celesta on behalf of the Coalition Mission in Silesia, regarding the revised authorization protocols for humanitarian operations in the region. The following are some notable excerpts:
[…] The dedication to your work over the last weeks has been commendable — but there is time and place for said work, and it is not now. You might have worked valiantly, but through that short-sighted zeal of yours you have done more harm than good. I have entertained you interfering on the outskirts of my military campaign when you engaged the poor and the decrepit, but I cannot permit you walking into my frontlines. Were I a different person, I should interpret bringing food and medicine where our enemies dwell, just waiting to steal yet another one of your deliveries to fuel their campaign of terror, as bordering on being collateral complicit with said campaign.
This is not a game of cards, and you are not children. This is war — a war against the likes of suffering and chaos that prey on naivety. Your relief efforts are only possible thanks to our goodwill, and therefore we require absolute compliance on your part. Stabilizing and pacifying the region remains our — as should it yours — outmost priority, and so we must ruthlessly cut off all unnecessary risks if we wish to succeed. […]
The new protocol significantly limits the operational capabilities of deployed Work Groups tasked with providing humanitarian relief to the local population. The updated directives impose the following constraints:
- Restricted access to operational zones, confining all direct relief efforts exclusively to Coalition-designated "Safe Areas," rendering more than 85% of the region inaccessible;
- Withdrawal of all Work Groups from non-designated areas, along with the transfer of their logistical and material assets to Coalition forces. These resources are to be redirected into ongoing military operations and Coalition-controlled "aid programs," the structure and reach of which still remain unclear;
- Unconditional transfer of all Abnormal Assets currently deployed in the region — including the Phoenix Technology donations, which have been essential in previous operations — directly to Coalition forces;
- Full compliance with Coalition-appointed liaisons, who are now the sole authorities for coordinating all further relief operations.
The Coalition has also reserved its right to unilaterally amend these regulations at any time without prior notice and to impose further restrictions should they deem the situation requires it.
[…] The previous need to protect your resources unnecessarily weakened my operational capabilities in exchange for no real strategic advantages. Therefore I cannot permit you to operate in any of the major cities that we currently are or soon will be in the process of liberating from under Insurgent occupation. Stay clear of Jelenia Góra and Wrocław until we can set up appropriate channels for aid distribution within. And stay clear of Katowice until it can be liberated — this is my only warning.
Failure to comply with these conditions will inevitably result in permanent exclusion from all future activities in the region.
Assistant Director "Celesta"
United Nations Global Occult Coalition
These new Coalition-mandated regulations will require the withdrawal of most of the current initiatives and operations from the region except for a few small zones, rendering it impossible to provide most of the previous critical services and leaving them without any functioning replacement. The humanitarian cost of this decision has not yet been estimated but is expected to be significant.
Note: Last updated by MISSIONWATCHADMIN, 8 Sept 2039, 17:39 UTC (1 hour ago)
