“Gaeson.”
“Once, just once, can you use my title?”
“Gaeson the Grim?”
“This is why I don’t like you.”
“And everyone else loves you? You are alone in a dark office. Put the pieces together.”

Brian sat down in front of the desk of the man he knew as Grim Gaeson, but was actually Director Gaeson Machievello. This type of talk was what would have passed as friendly banter between them if there was any way to consider their relationship anything more than professional. As if the desk was not a canyon separating the two of them in more ways than most could begin to comprehend. This was not the first time that day that Brian and Gaeson had met, this would be the third time. But as always this was Gaeson’s favorite meeting to have, even if it was with the arrogant hunter. The one time he was allowed to have a second-hand taste of the adventure and action of the field. An excitement he knew to hide and to make Brian think it was as boring for him as it was for the storyteller. That this was another waste of his corporate job to take down the entire encounter and details, to then redact the parts which would not be considered viable to share with the larger company.

“Just tell me what happened, so we can get this done and you can leave my office.”
“No offer of coffee or tea? No, how are you? Are you safe?”
“No, not for you.”
“Jackass”
“Start already.”

CASE 070823R-L061123

Target: Raum of Magoth
Association: Legion of Magoth - Hindrance of Magick and King of Necromancers
Rating: Serious

Assigned : Agent McChulainn

Upon an anonymous tip that one of the sub-princes of hell has released a general onto our plane through an unspecified portal to later be discovered and closed, an agent was sent out to confirm the tip and handle the situation as they determine best procedures. The tip included that the being who we should be looking for is currently hiding amongst the lower East fish market. Agent deployed.

-When I got there, all I could sense was the high level of oni around all the corners, which while I feel we should be dealing with to some degree, as letting them wander freely seems like we are messing up, but anyway. I couldn't sense any demon or demon general nor could Biorach. At first I was sure that whoever or whatever had provided the tip had been misinformed or was unaware that we do not deal with the oni. As for both my senses and the sword, to not register anything would mean that either there is nothing there or whatever is there is cloaked. It was only then that I noticed a small pure white cat at the foot of one of the stands. It was a normal cat, no horns or anything. What pulled me to this animal was its color. I was in the middle of a muddy and fish scented alley of workers trying to sell, how could anything remain that white and be in the same conditions. Its paws, which I could assume may be the only part which had to have been on the ground, showed no sign of dirt, mud, or being grounded in the alleyway. When it noticed my gaze and the intense focus I had on it, a look I can only describe as fear shot across its face and it dashed under the table of a man selling fresh octopi and squids. Not totally abnormal, I mean I am not one to buy my seafood off the street, but hey. 

I know, no tangents. I know its recording! Why only my voice? So whatever I say is being taken down? I see. Gaeson, you are so right I deserve a week vacation. You insist it be somewhere tropical, thank you so much sir. Are you even willing to pay for it? You are way too nice sir, but of course I accept.

The octopus man was what made me know that this tip was something we were right to take seriously and something I knew would require some space for whatever was to happen and whatever I was going to have to do. As if he knew I was gonna pull him to the side, when he met my eyes he took off. And I mean took off. Table flip and all. After chasing him down through the tight and complex alleyways with the cat in toe, and finally reaching a dead-end we were finally able to face off with this being who was able to remain unnoticed until it made the mistake of running. Once we were alone however, the cloak or concealment which the being had been using to remain unseen was finally dropped and both myself and Biorach went off the charts.
What we had walked into was not some lesser soldier demon who had used an unspecified portal to reach the surface but this was a lesser general who had obviously been sent by his prince. As we all know the princes of hell and their generals are rare to see on our plane as they hold no need to risk themselves when they are in command of legions.

We would like this noted for that reason. A lesser general was able to not only enter our plane without detection, but also remain amongst us for an indeterminate amount of time without any of the multiple alarms in place being set off. This issue needs to be addressed, as it means there could be others who have been able to assimilate into our society without notice. This alone can mean a regalia could be being built under our noses and while we may stand a chance if all members of local satellites were called in; we cannot guarantee we would have the time to do that before whatever their move could be completed.

After being seen and dropping its cloaking enchantment I was able to see the being in its true demonic form. It was a gaunt and lanky being with tentacles of red and black as if burnt coming out of it, its face deformed into a squid's beak sharp enough to puncture most armor we have. I cannot guarantee that fact, but given the strength of this demon, I am willing to state we are more than likely not going to be able to stop something of its make and strength again now that it is aware of who we sent, aka me. Each of its long and strong tentacles sported a spear tip which looked to be of some metal but also growing from the beast and not a separate element which can be disarmed. It was also well trained and understanding of how to best use these against an opponent. As I was preparing and drawing Biorach it moved with its increased inhuman speed with all of the spear tips angled inward at me as if to ensure if one punctured it would hold me in place long enough without me being able to directly pull back. I expect this is and was its first attack to weaken the foe or end it quickly. With Biorach drawn, I was able to hold it back long enough to reach my departmental weapon and not simply my ancestral one, aim and fire 2 enthium shots with the holy water infused explosive into the being pushing it backwards and leaving it unable to heal. With Biorach I was then able to sever 3 of its multiple tentacles and watch as they dug themselves into the ground in a separate retreat. From this I can state that once parts of this being were cut from the main body they immediately returned underground aware of their weakness. With each slash it was able to cease all bleeding or release of essential fluids after seconds, in which time an unorthodox amount of it was able to escape and coat myself. The amount of which seemed far more than could be contained in the stature of the being, leading to the thought that it may be larger in reality and what I was fighting against was a reduced aspect of it. If this is true, we will need to find the true body and end its existence. I would recommend death and not banishment as it holds a greater risk if we allow it to return to its domain and its prince.

Unlike other beings faced, when these tentacles were removed, it was unable to regenerate them or add additional in their place as we have seen in hydra-esque beings. This may be beyond its power or due to the previous shots which halted its ability. With another shot aimed for its head, it was able to deflect both the bullet and the holy water blast with its beak, leading further to my assessment that this part of the being would pose a high threat which we currently cannot combat. While missing its face, it did allow for the explosive charge to coat its back with the water and give a moment of dropped guard as it released an unholy scream in either pain or anger. With this I was given the opportunity to bury the blade of Biorach into the beings upper abdomen and allow for the blessing imbued in the blade to take hold and allow the blessing course through the body of the entity and remove its infernal spark leaving it weak and vulnerable before causing instantaneous explosion and incineration of it. This, while a success of a mission, is still an incomplete removal due to the remaining fact that the being is likely located somewhere else and sending a semi-sentient piece of itself to scout and do recon for the larger beast and master

End of Agent Description

Assignment - Completed / Incomplete
Location - Alley of Park and Wing behind Little Chicken. Containment and clean up team sent to retrieve ash and any remaining fluids. Clothing of the agent has been collected and swabbed for samples then incinerated.

​

Many will tell you that it was Edison who first invented the lightbulb, but I am here to tell you the truth. How the lightbulb and the capturing of light as days drew to a close actually came to be.

It was not Edison himself who invented the light bulb and the idea of illuminating the world. Instead it was a traveler name Arthur Carrey, an explorer and scientist who was fascinated with the differing conditions and life which are to be found at the poles of the world. His curiosity would be what would be the spark which would ignite the creation of the bulb.

In his expedition to the Artic, in hopes of coming to the conclusion of the concept that the northern pole caused a higher level of snow to occur then what would be found in Antarctica it would be what he had not come looking for that would be his greatest discovery. It was a single night when he awoke to see the sky illuminated in blues, greens, and purples which gave him the thought of lighting up his own world. As he looked around at the time when the world should be shroud in darkness instead he was able to clearly see for a distance due to what he believed at the time to be the reflection of the sun's remaining light off the snow after being captured all day. He had so often heard of snow-blindness due to the refracted light. So it only made sense that it was collecting it during the day and releasing it at night.

As he left his scientific expedition to once more return to Kalamazoo MI, he was still in constant thought of how to capture the sun and its light in a location where the snow would not be able to hold it. Still set that the way the Northern Lights were occurring was from the release and expulsion of stored light. It was not until 1892 that he would once more return to the pole in hopes of discovering the light's secret. To capture the lights for his own usage.

Upon returning with his small crew they were quickly overtaken by a roaming gang of polar bears who had heard them hit land (well ice) and had come to inspect what had happened and likely collect food / sustenance. Being white and blending with the snow, the bears were able to get far closer then Arthur and his crew would have liked.

It was only when they made themselves known that the true feat of what was occurring would happen and would forever change the world around us.

"Who are you?" spoke one of the larger bears in the direction of the recently departed scientists.

"Who is speaking? Where are you?" shouted Arthur as he spun around looking for the being whose voice he had heard and had spoken out of nowhere. Knowing that the bears were close and this person would be in immediate danger.

"I am Pox the White, Archduke of the Northern Hills," the bear spoke once more now moving closer to the crew, "I shall ask once more of who you all are and why you have come to invade."

"Sir, I am still unsure where you..." He stumbled off as he came to the realization that the being who was speaking was the overly larger bear which was approaching. "I am Sir Arthur Carrey, and I have come not to invade but to try and capture the lights which come from the snow."

This would begin the discussion which would soon last hours as the talk of what the lights were, how they were created, the plan to capture them, and how it was that Pox was able to speak the language of Arthur while not being human and in no way having ongoing contact with the world of the English.

It was then that Arthur and Pox would travel to the Eastern Hills, outside the archduke's rule to speak with the world's most important and yet unknown scientist and inventor. Professor Cloudpaws of the Cottonball line. A polar inventor who had only recently been working on a way to convert the snow into a highly renewable resource. Converting the moisture into a steam which upon release would condense once more and would re-enter the system. A loss-less energy source. But one of his side projects was the capture of light into spheres of ice which would be hung around the Eastern Hill and illuminate the village carved out.

It was here that Arthur would spend 15 years with the Professor and learn the ways of ice lighting, only to be just as soon rescued by a savor vessel sent to search for the now thought to be ling dead scientist. 

Once back in his home state, although now joined by the Professor at his request to see the world beyond his Artic, both went to see a man who Carrey thought may be able to reproduce the effects which Professor Cloudpaws had performed in his home.

The man named Thomas Edison who had only recently found a way to send surges of energy through wire was taken back as his long thought-to-be dead friend entered his small warehouse accompanied by a polar bear who seemed to be speaking to the man.

"Arthur, I thought you had died"

"I have not, and I have come hoping your mind may aid me and my acquaintance"

Now I am not going to say I know everything there is to know about design, about the professional world, or about much of what adult life is. But what I am going to say and expand upon is that the small individual spaces we are shown in college and throughout academia are falsehoods. They are not bad, presa, but they do little to actually prepare us for what the world is. 

Since first entering the professional world and handling an entire department on my own, I quickly realized that the limited scope which was placed in front of me in a Fine Arts Degree Program was very much a pinhole where I should have been the larger picture. The work of design (and obviously this is the only professional environment I can speak on) there are much more interactions and intersections with different fields and skills then are actually known as a new graduate. The ability to program, understand programming, and to deconstruct / reconstruct previously created codes is something which is becoming more apparent to me as I go through the world. That while there are programs and applications which allow us to completely create emails, websites, and interfaces without a drop of knowledge; there are many workplaces who are still in need of someone who can code to the most basic levels. That being fluent in not just a spoken language but the basics of computing language are more then simply optional for many. Learn HTML and CSS, and if you feel smart Javascript.

Understand business. Broad statement, yet still heavily true. The world of design and marketing are the same coin. The only change is how the metrics are measures. Return on investment versus return on interaction. Audience acceptance versus A/B Testing. One cannot function to it highest level without the other, and to know both is going into battle not armed with a sword OR shield, but with all weapons on hand. To understand not just who the design or demographic is, but why it is happening this way, why the avenue it is being funneled through was chosen, and how that can lend itself to more expressive and interactive pieces. It is not the most exciting thing, but to know the language and terms of the marketing world as a designer is akin to being able to speak Latin when conversing with any romance language. You will not know it all, but you will be able to fill in the gaps. 

No one knows what they are doing. Imposter Syndrome is real. Being a designer (or in my opinion, an adult) is more of a dart throw in the dark then any planning. Not to say you can wing it 24/7. Learn to save, understand bills and APR rates, invest in the future while paying for the present. But know that no matter how old someone is and no matter how good at being a designer, a professional, a CEO, or an adult someone appears, no one has all the answers and more then likely they are winging the bigger things. There are no sure bets. There are no completely encompassing answers.

It has been said, and I am one to agree, that design is cyclical. That we are not truly making any new innovations to the field, but simply rebuilding the historical layouts and styles. Now I want to make it known that this is not to say that if you can look at design history, you can be the most successful designer by simple duplications. What I am trying to say is that to be successful you have to not only know design history, but understand the basis of why it was created, how to make the same emotions and techniques occur in modern day, and why it evolved in this way.

Currently, many would say we are in a repeat of the 70's and 80's design. Where freeform letterforms, loose illustrations, and the human aspect is a major feature of what for this, we can call mainstream design. We have been moving from the much more flat and super clean design one would expect from the early 2000's where all companies and entities were moving to a simply icon and a preselected san-serif. This was a time where identity meant less then being individual. It was about being a part of the machine, a cog, and not the squeaky wheel. But as the field and media became flooded with tasteless, bland, and repetitive layouts and feelings, the change occurred. Many were pulled back to the time of free love, expression, and the human aspect. Where premade hard and clean san-serifs were removed and in their stead hand-made and human type was brought in. Ones which filled spaces like water in a container, conforming and deforming to be a part of the larger image. Long gone were the days of grids, flat colors, and shades/hues. Back where bright and vibrant colors, gradients and mixing, and imperfection embraced. With this, the next move seems to be that of the 90's. To return to the Xeroxed zines, multi-typeface designs, a corporate dispute between a rebellious movement and the need to speak the truth to the larger population. Raygun's return. Will this be the true next movement, I cannot say, nor am I willing to say that I in anyway am completely the expert in this field. But what I will leave with is, where ever design goes, it will be fueled by ideas and techniques of the past brought up to date to connect times and generations under one idea.