Chaos Insurgency Documents

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A New Manifesto (May 1924)

Addressed to The Members of The Foundation
1 May 1924

PERHAPS the sentiments contained in the following pages, are not yet sufficiently fashionable to procure them general favor; a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defence of custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason.

Ten years ago, the human civilization was plunged into the Great War, wherein our global society was threatened not by threats External or Preternatural, but Internal and Mundane. The War, in which martial slaughter was industrialized on a scale never before seen, devastated the civilized world. The Foundation, possessing numerous bizarre and unnatural entities which might have ended the conflict in mere moments, sat quietly in the shadows, watching the brightest and best of Humanity’s future spill each other’s blood on Europe's fields. We watched, and we did nothing. We, who have sworn to secure and contain threats to Human Civilization, protecting the world from devastation, destruction, and despair, we sat and watched as humanity inflicted ruin upon itself. How dare we? The world called this the Great War, the War to End All Wars, but how can War be Great, and why should so warlike a creature as Man be so inclined as to cease merrily butchering his fellows? How soon will come the next war after the War That Was Supposed To End All Wars? History has a cyclical inertia; unless an outside force brings the conflict to a stop, humanity will be its own undoing. The Foundation, an organization which has stared into the abyss and spat in the face of abominations ancient and eldritch, must save mankind from its greatest enemy: itself.

In the decades since the Foundation's inception, the O5 Council has argued that we must remain aloof and detached from the daily affairs of international society. It is not our business to fight the petty wars of the ignorant masses, they tell us. And yet, they are not above meddling in those very affairs when one Overseer or another feels it expedient, toppling governments and starting wars of convenience. We, the soldiers in the trenches, who fight their battles, and we, the scientists in the labs, who do their research, do we have any say in when we fight or what we study? The Council claims to act in the best interests of the Foundation, of Humanity. How can this be when the Council does not answer to the rank and file of this organization, much less Mankind at large? We, the individuals facing the threats on every day, are the ones who are best suited to determining our organization’s course, not faceless administrators, and it is we, not they, who should lead.

It would be foolish, of course, to reveal the existence of entities that defy all explanation to the world at large. After all, it is our duty to stand at the boundary of Darkness and Light, protecting the world in its ignorance of the monsters that threaten it. But darkness itself is not evil: Science is amoral, and Knowledge is Power. Power, Science, and modern Industry are all capable of vast and near total destruction, as the Great War has shown, but proper application of these forces can create wonders. Fire, if misunderstood and improperly handled, is as destructive as any force known to mankind, capable of laying waste to cities and farmland. Yet, when harnessed and treated with caution and respect, we use it to heat, light, and power our cities, and cleanse our farms so that we may plant new and more fertile crops. We, the elite, who have studied countless bizarre and powerful anomalies, have the knowledge to usher in a new Golden Age of Enlightenment. Out of the ashes of the past can rise monuments to the dominance of Mankind over the Natural and the Unearthly.

The universe can at once appear welcoming and hostile, teeming with secrets and threats, full of knowledge and riches to be had but harsh and unforgiving. As always, Humanity is and will be tested. As always, Humanity must meet the challenges before it as we have met every other. We must be the Vanguard, holding the torch of illumination and leading the masses forward. We, Mankind and the Foundation, will face the challenges and succeed, because to do anything else would be inhuman. The Foundation shall watch the dark places, and it is our right and our duty illuminate them for society, so that Mankind may enjoy the riches without fearing the threats. We shall not only secure and contain the absurd and the dangerous, but we shall master their secrets and transform them into tools and technology. We, the Foundation and Mankind, not only can do this, but must, if we are to survive, and not just survive, but better ourselves and flourish, that Humanity can claim its rightful place as Master over Nature and Extraordinary.

Signed,
A Thinker