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[i]The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.[/i]
[b]H.P. Lovecraft[/b], "The Call of Cthulhu"

[img]http://i1366.photobucket.com/albums/r777/patrick_harkin/innsmouth_fish_packers_inc__by_malakh7_zpsfdbitvrc.jpg[/img]

The year is 1928. As Europe enjoys the fruits of its post-War restoration, America's side of the Roaring Twenties is tempered by Prohibition and the subsequent rise of organised crime, neither side quite ready for the coming Depression. New technologies - the motor car, the radio, motion pictures - have redefined modern life. As mankind fills the air with light and noise, they inch unknowingly closer to their terrible fates. For the world they prance through is not theirs, not wholly. There are things older than man, older than thought, that lurk in the dark places of the world and in the darkness between the stars. There are cults and secret societies plotting in high rooms and low cellars; there are quiet places in which the blasphemy festers. There are things man was never meant to know, and he was never at greater risk of learning them. 

In the Misktanonic river valley of upstate Massachusetts lie the city of Arkham, home to the notable Miskatonic University. The ancient,
mouldering, and subtly fearsome town in which we live – witch-cursed, legend-haunted Arkham, whose huddled, sagging gambrel roofs and crumbling Georgian balustrades brood out the centuries beside the darkly muttering Miskatonic. 

Shortly following the death of Dr. Henry Armitage, the head librarian at Miskatonic University's famed Orne Library, a fire broke out in the library and destroyed many valuable books. Once the fire was contained, it became clear that the fire was more than mere arson, but theft; many books from the University's special collection had been taken, including the Necronomicon. Two of Dr. Armitage's fellows at the University - Dr. Francis Morgan and Professor Warren Rice - seem especially concerned with the theft of the rare books. This is where you come in. As an associate of the University, perhaps a former student, or even a police detective or PI, you have been contacted to locate the missing books for the Orne Library. 
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[hider=CS Template]
[b]Name:[/b]
[b]Age:[/b]
[b]Gender:[/b] (Remember, it's the 20's. Gender equality hasn't quite kicked in yet!)
[b]Nationality:[/b]
[b]Appearance:[/b] (Can include a picture, but some text at minimum. No anime pics)
[b]Profession:[/b] (How does your character survive? Why do Morgan and Rice contact you to look for missing books?)
[b]Psychological Profile:[/b] (The "personality" section. Also covers any mental issues.)
[b]Mythos:[/b] (Numerical value, starts at 0*. Represents insight into the secret truths of the world. Will go up in play.)
[b]Sanity[/b] (Think of it as "mental HP". Starts at 10**, will go down in play.)
[b]Personal Effects[/b]: (Inventory, equipment, etc. Remember, 1920's. No cellphones or rayguns.)
[b]Correspondence[/b]: (Write a character or journal entry as your character about how you came to the attention of Rice and Morgan. Doubles as a writing demo***.)

*If you want to start with Mythos at 1, PM me with a justification of HOW your character comes to learn some hidden awful truth of the world. Not the truth itself, but how you got there. What near-miss with a cosmic abortion, what horrific dream-visitations, what long studies into books bound into human skin got you there?
**If you want to start at Sanity under 10, that represents some major traumatic event or psychotic your character has had above and beyond a manageable mental illness such as minor depression. Again, PM to explain.
***Also introduces a backup character in the recipient of the letter or the reader of the journal - if something bad happens to character A, character B can arrive following the letter.[/hider]