the Amp hunters

[madd0ct0r]

It was the best of times, it was the end of times.

By the year 2020, it was estimated more than 1 million simulations where running on Earth. From biologist's evolutionary experiments, to hobbyists playing pokemon sims to the 700 registered sexbot AI planes, every aspect of existence was duplicated at 50 shades of abstraction. Put it another way, if you woke up not sure where reality was, you had a one in a million chance of picking the right one. It shouldn't really have been a surprise that our universe, in turn, turned out to be a simulation running on some geek's computer. And it really shouldn't have been a surprise when, in an attempt to get the Andromeda galaxy to spell out a cute message, the geek cross-fertilised a bunch of registries, triggering the end times on Earth. The four horseman rode out, but they weren't alone.

See, for the Four Horsemen were Anthropomorphic Personifications,AMPs for short. War, Famine, Pestilence and Death were abstract concepts, emergent structures, recurring patterns somehow thrown up by the movement of billions of atoms on the banks of the river Hydaspes, the long drought of the Sahara plains, the twin smallpox continents, and Death itself, as old as Winter. The end times experiment overlaid those structures on our reality like a face emerging from 1000 almost transpatrent photos laid on top of each other. And that was the second cockup in the script. Winter turned up too; and Summer; and the Rains, and, on last count, approximately 600 million other AMPs, of varying natures and powers, popping or congealing into existence as humanity's interest wandered. There was a lot of shouting for the first few weeks.

Humanity has two great protective traits, boredom and collectors. Between the two of them you got cavemen who would try the funny looking mushroom and others who would remember whether or to eat those again. These files form a similar function. Good hunting friends!


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141219 - Old Man Trouble.
Contracted. Coherence 7, Fate 3,

I live my life now you see
Ole man trouble
Please stay away from me, now

The specimen was captured in a bar in Liverpool. Eighteen police officers were required to subdue the subject, although it is noted the wider brawl in the bar at the time was confounding factor. Follow up checks on the officers over the next six months showed one suspended for coming to work with alcohol on breath, another divorced and two more requesting leave for unspecified reasons. The three officers who had received broken limbs during the brawl did not appear to further affected.

The specimen has shown willingness to work on teams, especially in the capture or correction of other AMPS. As a tough bare knuckle brawler, the subject has proven useful in situations where non-lethal response or minimal collateral damage is required. As a surly alcoholic who enjoys dragging others down to its level, the subject has proven less useful where diplomacy or a peaceful resolution is required. Tranquillisers are ineffective, restraint is best affected by hemp rope tied restraints. In a pinch a bar can be used as a temporary holding location, but the subject will follow the last drinker home.

Notable cases: "The one with the bulldozer"; "Cruisin' for a boozin''";"General Ming's daughter";"Angel of the north"

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020405 - Black Dog (Eire)
Coherence 3, Aura 2, Conflux 3

I saw it then, huge and black and silent. Murphy shot himself the next day

The specimen was destroyed in the "Donegal Bay" incident. It entered the training manual as a good example of both a non-human personification and of the conflux effect. Black Dog is a metaphor for depression with a number of personifications reported. In rural Ireland, black dogs are one shape that family banshees are said to take. As a result, in this locality, the manifestation was unusually potent with mutually reinforcing abilities. The third suicide in a week triggered an anomaly check by the mortician. The first civilian team sent to check the area reported finding nothing. After a second, longer, spate of suicides, the Garda Síochána dispatched Cigire Yvonne of the Biúró Theicniúil to the area. Inspector Yvonne had an established reputation in these matters following the unexpected results of a training exercise with other AMP recruits in Scotland (case ref:"The weremoon estate"). In 48 hours the charnel hound had been discovered in a barn with the remains of a more recent victim. In her report the Inspector noted "it was a classic, large hound, approximately two meters to the shoulder. Thin to the point of skeletal, with tufted black hair. when I entered the barn, it stopped feeding and looked up. I offered it The Contract. It tilted its head, swallowed, then opened its jaws to show a second, human mouth deeper inside its throat. I have successfully forgotten what it said. As in my earlier experience, it was immune to violence, reforming around a metal crowbar. Unlike my previous experience it was not violently allergic to living wood. It also proved resistant to alcohol, petrol and fire. The AMP subsequently proved capable of keeping up with a motorbike. Following a fifteen mile chase the black dog appeared to no longer be in pursuit. Fearing it had diverted to a farmhouse to feed, I retraced the route slowly. Even so, I was unprepared when it surged out of a roadside ditch, in a long dragged weed shape. It bonded instantly to the motorbike and I was thrown off. Its head reformed around the front of the bike. It snarled and the engine revved. I was able to avoid the first charge. It spoke to me again. I will not remember its words. I was unable to avoid the next charge. It rammed me into an electrified cattle fence. The fence pulsed through me before shutting off, enough to discourage a cow, not enough to kill a walker. The black dog leapt and pinned me against the fence. I could smell dark earth in its breath. It bonded to me. I closed my eyes. The second pulse of the fence kicked through my body. It growled and shrank. A third pulse and it tried to recoil. A fourth and I was holding it to the fence. A fifth and the bike frame fell from it, my arms were starting to shake. Another two pulses were enough to reduce it to black slime and wet fur slowly cooking on the fence. I watched until sunrise and than walked to the nearest farm to request a lift."

Cigire Yvonne is on leave.

(note)-Limited camera footage suggests during the chase it was 'shadow-stepping' rather than covering the full distance. This ability has been noted in 3 other black dog AMP incidents. The attack from the ditch suggests an additional conflux with the Kelpie AMP. Five of the suicides later associated with this AMP were drowning. "Electroshock therapy" is suggested here only as a tertiary approach in Black Dog incidents. (end note)
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