An Introduction to APRA
The Jims say we've been approved to onboard new hires, welcome to APRA! Remember, what we do here is confidential— if you see anything in one of these files? Do not share it with the public. We're not supposed to exist. Leaking information tells us that you'd like to volunteer as a human test subject. Anyway, protocol says you're in for mandatory brainwashing before you come in for work. Don't worry, it's not mind altering or anything of the sort, we just scoop out your brain and scrub it of any infohazards. Safety precaution. Don't worry, we use soft soap. Usually. Suds may leak from your head for a week or two after.Somehow you've managed to join the ranks of the clandestine APRA organization, you've heard rumors that the spread of strange parks and attractions in the past few decades were their doing. You may have looked into the matter on your laptop in a cold bathtub while wearing a tinfoil hat— forgetting to use a VPN. That might have been how they found you. The next day, biting into a sandwich from your local deli, you found a letter bundled with a coupon for a fast food franchise inside. After spitting out and smoothing the partially chewed portion of the letter— the coupon was lost to the fiendish amount of barbecue sauce you had demanded— you realized it was an invitation. An invitation you couldn't ignore. The vague threats made sure of that. (Which noted something about being left in the Wyoming wilderness near a den of man-eating jackalope.)
Hungry after your brainwashing? APRA personnel get a 10% discount at all Agnew Sr.'s!
What is APRA?
Where Do I Start?
The ACF
The ACF is an international clandestine organization dedicated to finding and containing anomalies— things that disrupt or disobey the natural laws of the world. This allows the average global citizen to live their life as usual. Unfortunately, doing so is obscenely expensive— and the ACF has had to take a number of cost-saving and money-making measures. This includes taking on corporate sponsorships, the APRA initiative, and usage of cheap equipment. Here you may find information on the foundation's operations, personnel, and sponsors. On top of this, the occasional non-APRA anomaly may receive an article.Attractions
Over the years, the APRA initiative has managed to create myriad attractions. Some still stand, many have been closed off; yet the memories (and occasional deaths) live on. APRA attractions include (super)natural parks, museums, theme parks, stadiums, and everything in-between.I feel like there are a lot of weird places to go these days. My kids begged me to take them to see the zombified remains of past US presidents play football— but we'd just been to The Mimic Menagerie last summer...
Stories
Themes
Inspirations
Beyond the obvious two mentioned in the origins section— Mystery Flesh Pit and the SCP Wiki— there is another, key set of inspiration for APRA's tone and humor. The work of Jay Pinkerton and Erik Wolpaw, such as Team Fortress 2 and Portal 2. Especially the TF2 comics— I cannot understate their influence on me, I love those things so much. There's a sort of elegant ridiculousness to it all, a mix of clever and stupid that boils down to a tasty goof stew. Team Fortress 2 also influenced the aesthetic of APRA, most notably the music. Some of the CSS and artwork as well, but to a lesser extent.Thanks to...
Jake, forOrigins
There are two primary inspirations for me creating this. First, and what got the ball rolling— was the first infographic piece for Trevor Roberts' Mystery Flesh Pit. This combined a mysterious eldritch horror with rampant tourism and capitalism, while keeping a happy tone. I thought, well, of course they must be doing an entire series of similar attractions— that idea is too golden to not do, right? Nope. Their focus is entirely on worldbuilding the Flesh Pit. My imagination was sparked, however. A flood of potential strange and dangerous parks of this nature came to my mind, and these could combine really nicely with my second inspiration— the SCP wiki. I've wanted to write an SCP-inspired world for a while now, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to do just that. I felt like this was too derivative though, despite it quickly becoming one of those ideas I found myself waking up in the middle of the night to write down new concepts for. When talking with my friend Jake about this idea, he immediately clicked with it, and got excited too— we talked back and forth about the potential of it and this got my engines going too far to turn back. And here we are. Whoops.Support APRA
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You were right, this is some of the prettiest CSS I've seen. I love the concept of mixing this dark organization with the feel of a national parks association. Friggen well done.
Come check out some of my SummerCamp work if you need some inspiration ;)
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A Monolithic Animal Specialist, capable of keeping even a Sazakraht calm.
Thank you!