Consider some important events of the 21st century. The year is 2036, and the battle for metahuman rights is in full swing. Though gains have been made, there have been setbacks, especially Grumman vs. Tulsa Board of Education, record-setting levels of violence in the UCAS, and the election of "Vic the Quick" Allenson, whose poor opinion of Orks and Trolls is well-known. The summer has started, and it's hot—hottest of the past two decades across most of the former United States. Hot weather breeds violence, and violence spells trouble for the metahuman population.

Until June 23. A burning church, a bombs-eye view of an Ork baby in a cradle, a poorly-spelled message of hate dropped into every major North American news service's mailbox. It was an atrocity, to be sure—even the leaders of several national anti-Metahuman organizations denounced the act. The video feeds from the bombs have found their way into every documentary and news item on anti-metahuman violence, and just the mention of the name New Visions is enough to elicit sympathy from many. Clearly, the attack backfired spectacularly.

Or did it?

Consider. The act was not merely heinous, but obviously so—only the most ignorant of hatemongers would fail to see that this was no path to public support. The bombing itself could have won support, but the videos took it all too far—few could watch them and remain unmoved. Clearly, these were madmen.

The camera systems, though. The video feeds were impeccable. Light balance. Contrast. The conveyance was smooth as silk. The angles were perfect. It could have been a movie—indeed, until the remains were displayed on national trideo, many expressed the opinion that the shots were faked. Clearly, these were intelligent individuals capable of excruciatingly precise work.

The messages. They arrived, neatly packaged with all video files, at nearly two hundred news organizations simultaneously. Clearly, these were calculating and patient individuals capable of the work required in gathering so many often-hidden press mailboxes.

The message itself. Poorly-spelled, poorly-punctuated. Clearly, these were barbarians without the presence of mind to proofread.



Ladies and gentlemen, this does not add up. There is one more thing to consider, one final piece to make it fall into place.

Throughout it all, the New Visions attack shows a distinctly split personality. In every public-facing aspect of the attack, the perpetrator is clearly deranged and of dubious intelligence. In every private aspect, however, they were impeccably sophisticated.

There is only one reasonable explanation. The public personality of Alamos 20,000 in the New Visions attack is a careful and deliberate front.

If we take that, we are then left with determining the purpose of Alamos 20,000. Their anti-metahuman stance is an aspect of their public persona, which we have determined to be a front.

The obvious next question is "who gains?" The answer is bonechilling.

The only party standing to gain from the mindless brutality of Alamos 20,000's public front is the metahumans. Since the New Visions attack, metahuman rights organizations have always had a specter to point to—the specter of Alamos 20,000. They have wielded this political tool with ruthless efficiency, both to ends that could be considered good and those that, no two ways about it, grant them unfair advantages over humanity—homo sapiens sapiens. In many cities, even the implication of association with Alamos 20,000 is a death sentence for a human politician's career. It would be lunacy to imply that every metahuman is complicit in this conspiracy, but it is clearly both large and powerful, and exposing it should be a primary concern of all free beings.

The longer the truth is buried, the more we, homo sapiens sapiens, will lose.

~J

Come to think of it... Was the Sears Tower attack even mentioned in the Alamos 20,000 chapter of Threats?

Search for "Sears" in Threats.pdf: 0 results, and the only hits for "Tower" are in Darke's piece.

~J

Curious. One would think that it might come up, being as massive an attack as it was.

DATA DAMAGED: 17.62 Mp CORRUPTED

~J

Well, I meant in the shadowtalk. But duly noted.

Humans. You'll never know the truth of it all.

It took you this long to notice.

Theory on the Tower: it really was metahuman extremists, but damage done to popular opinion from that necessitated a quick pin on a convenient other target—Alamos 20,000. The question of whether or not the metahuman extremists were knowingly connected to the conspiracy is a more cloudy one…

~J

It was Dunkie. He planned it, he hired the bombers, and he was responsible for the spin.

But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong.

IT'S NOT TRUE!

The metas couldn't have been responsible for the destruction of my downtown! I live with three of them in my apartment complex! We make dinner for each other sometimes! I... I can't believe you'd even consider that they'd kill their own people to advance a cause!

Man, if ever a thread was begging to be Godwin'd....

Godwin'd?

Shut up, intarwebs nazi !!

Holocaust? What a preposterous concept!

Now you just have to make a forty five minute video and post it on the interweb going through all available video footage and witness accounts.

Truthfully though... Yeah, it makes sense. A little too MUCH sense. Now if only someone could explain the strange eucalyptus scent that hung around the bombed out building...

There's a special place in Hell for people like you.

Please...

Yes, that special Hell. Nice catch.

I still can't believe they killed off Shepherd Book in Serenity. That sucks balls.

Yeah, well, those who haven't are heathens, so their opinions don't matter!

Meh, I wasn't big on Book (in part because in the extras DVD, he said how he was worried Firefly would include 'dorky aspects of sci-fi' like 'robotic limbs'. BAAAHHH.)

The thing that bugs me is that they offed him before revealing any of the mystery behind his real identity.

Its widely rumored that Book was a retired 'Operative', the chief bad guy of the movie.

Book knew enough about the Operative's modus operandi that i'd find any other explanation hard to palate.

Were there ever any additional canon hints as to the identity of The Loon?

~J

How can you say that? The movie was awesome...

And Yes, Book was an Operative in Retirement... It was indeed sad that the Buddhist (Actor) Christian (Character) had to die...

Keep the Faith

Daniel Howling Coyote fits pretty well.

Yeah, not so much. You are of course entitled to your opinion, but if your going to throw something out like that, at least give something for your reasoning.

Not actually, mind you. I like this thread without it turning into a Serenity arguement. However in the future, see above.

I liked the movie but hated the fact that it was supposed to be connected to the series in any way shape manner or form, it just wasn't Firefly "in feel".

Wow-talk about thread necromancy!!!

And rekindling a flame war!!

Here let me help--


BTW-Serenity/firefly was pretty good. I felt they did a good job of making it accessible to fans of the show and general auidiences. The battle at the end was FRAGGING AWSOME!!

A great way to end the series and a movie.

While simultaneously not ending either and leaving it wide open for all the browncoats to salivate for a sequal.

When I performed the ritual, I naively thought that the Firefly references would be ignored.

(It serves me right, I just wanted to put this back in front of people. Having to listen to people talk about mediocre television is a fitting punishment.)

~J

Groups are made up of individuals, some of which are smarter than others. I don't see any contradictions in a group like Alamos 20k being highly organized yet having its poorly educated fanatical members being the ones to get their hands dirty on-site. And there are plenty of people with exceptional technical skills who can't spell or punctuate (one only has to browse through these forums for examples...).

Also, consider that this kind of hate is irrational, and by definition shows a lack of empathy - when surrounded by similar-minded individuals, it can be difficult to grasp that the reactions of others who don't share the same points of view won't be as imagined or predicted.



You have a curious definition of reasonable. Never reach for malice as an explanation when stupidity will do. (By the way, your new conspiracy theory missed the 100 year anniversary of the "faked" moon landings by a little bit )

I disagree, a group that has enough memembers to pull off the attacks with the perfect trid to go along with it is going to have someone who is savvy enough to proof-read the message. I can buy the idea that they might make a mistake about the public reaction but not that they would release a message that sounds like it came from Deliverance.

Drop bears did it?

Great, now I have to use that in my next shadowrun game...

I have no idea how I missed this thread the first time around, but this thesis is fascinating, Kagetenshi. I may have to use this.

Really? I always though it felt like Firefly myself... a little grander than previous episodes perhaps, but Firefly still the Same...

Keep the Faith