The Investors

It was a vision, though in the truest sense of the word as I did not hear, smell or feel a thing, or at least at first. Started by waking up, already standing and kind of disconnected from my body. All around me there was a kind of open space, buildings or maybe something like a mountain range in the far distance. My arms and legs were still there, I could move and as I did so the weight of my own body returned. The ground, well it was solid, smooth and I think some kind of metal, polished, but with impurities. I began scanning the horizon, turning round until I saw it and then the singing started.

What

The Investors are the nearest thing The Sworn have to an ally against the contagion present in the city. They, or it, is an extra-dimensional presence existing in a non-localized space inaccessible to those from our dimension, yet inextricably linked to the city. Though those practiced in the occult have tried, no means of tracing this link or how it reaches out to minds is known to the Sworn.   Both mortal and supernatural persons that come into contact with the Investors simultaneously become conscious of the contagion, though whether this is due to something the Investors impart to the individual or merely the Investors awareness of those who are on the verge of this terrible revelation is not known.   Accounts of the Investors vary, but some consistencies have been gleaned through patient discussion and use of oneiromancy. Some depict it as a structure suspended in midair on a plane of infinite horizons. Others, as a mass of roots, each one alive and actively growing out, entangling all they find. Whatever they truly are the Investors clearly want to keep everyone else guessing.

Why

Most important of all questions about the Investors is simply why they, or it, is seemingly helping the Sworn and others resist the contagion. Depending upon the amount of information available to any Sworn member at a given point in time they may be aware of the intelligence called Erebus. This intelligence, whilst not diametrically opposed to the Investors provides an opportunity for something like a power grab. The Investors know the importance in individuals and whilst advice is freely given, if acted upon there is a debt accrued which the Investors may call upon at any time.

Accounts

The Tower

When I sleep it is there. A towering monolith of cast-iron hexagons holding opaque crystal panes. It is like something a really high architecture might think up when creating a new office building. Yet, it moves, ever so slightly. No matter where I am in the dream, what I am doing it is always facing me from the same side, almost like they were not windows but bug eyes tracking me.   One night I had enough. I don't really know how, but when I saw the tower next I knew what I needed to do. I had to go there, running, driving, flying. The more I took control of the dream the more I could do, the faster I could go to it. Once there though, I... I don't want to remember what it said when I got there.

The Prism

It sings you know that? Not like a person, but like... like when you hear something with a rhythm, harmony in nature. Maybe it's a bird call, I don't know. What I do know is that it sings to you. Calling you closer and as you get closer it changes pitch. Sometimes when I look at it I can see the prism vibrating. It has a resonance, I think, that must be how it sings.   Then it grows animated and changes how it looks. It's like shards of glass, levitating and sliding into different configurations. Sometimes it looked as though one shard slipped away into someplace else, somewhere adjacent to where I was standing. I don't think it's euclidean, I know it's not normal.

The Wastes

Sometimes it shows me something else. I don't know if it's their home, or a no man's land. A lambent sun casts a pale green light over everything. But, there is not much to see. The horizon stretches out, but the only thing to break it up are half-buried ruins. They are always too far away to see clearly, but I do not think they are anything made for humans.   The second time I was there I asked what this place was. It was not The Mirror that it had taken me so many times before. But it was not very forthcoming. I have a hunch though, I think it was showing me... the last one.

Speech Pattern

When the Investors "talk" they do so in dualities. Often pairing one word with another, sometimes stressing one or the other. Examples of this follow:

• You have been selected/cursed for this assignment/duty. If you refuse/resist it will be noted in your record/sentence.
• Do not mistake the outsider/interloper for a friend/ally against your god/master.