Faction—The Nemesis Team

Astronomers should leave to astrologers the task of seeking the cause of earthly events in the stars.
—“New York Times” editorial against the Nemesis Theory, 1985

Introduction

The most difficult thing to manage in Bible Black is the player characters’ ongoing relationship with the active Nemesis Team—Gerald Neal, Carl Tecumseh Guest, Harlan Bennett, Diane Mancini, Mason Dauterive, Jackie Bernard-Wu, and Jenny Hooper. (Jay Osman is nominally part of this team, but remains homebound for the duration of the scenario.) This document helps the Keeper manage these complex relationships across a variety of shifting situations. For the sake of convenience, the members of the Nemesis Team are collectively referred to as the “scientists.”

Relationship Status
A good way for the Keeper to track the relationship status between the player characters and the scientists is to assign each NPC a “relationship status.” An individual scientist starts the scenario as “Indifferent.” As the scenario develops and social relationships are formed and tested, individual scientists may warm up to player characters or become increasingly unfriendly.

This system is meant as a guideline only. Nuanced roleplaying is obviously required. Situations may shift drastically, player characters and NPCs alike may change their minds, and certain scientists may respond differently to particular player characters. (The “Relationship Status Table” in “Bible Black Tables” can be used to summarize the relationships between members of the Nemesis Team and the player characters.)

Background: Conflicting Interests

The scientists of the Nemesis Team are caught between two conflicting alien influences: the Song of Ghroth, which drives them to amplify and disseminate the so-called Nemesis signal, and Mi-Go conditioning, which compels them to isolation and secrecy.

The Song of Ghroth
As Ghroth approaches and the Nemesis signal intensifies, the scientists in the control room are increasingly attuned to the Song of Ghroth. Each night when they can spare or steal pointing time, they refine and develop the signal. The reinforced signal is then subjected to Jenny Hooper’s sonification process and transformed into audible music. Every Thursday night the team gathers in the observatory to listen to the latest iteration of the Song, an act that draws them further down the spiral towards Imminence and Apostolus. (See “Song of Ghroth” for details.)

Mi-Go Conditioning
Countering this drive to amplify and disseminate the signal is Mi-Go conditioning. Each member of the Nemesis Team has been implanted with a Mi-Go colophon, a quasi-organic device that grafts itself to the cranial nerves and exerts a constant influence over the scientist’s thoughts, moods, and behaviors. (See “Faction—Mi-Go Technology” for details.) Although the Song of Ghroth is too powerful to be completely negated by the colophon, its conditioning has thus far prevented the scientists from sharing information about the brown dwarf by instilling a collective belief that the data must be refined, perfected, and jealously guarded before publication. So far only Leo Sawyer and Ruth Swann have overcome their conditioning. As a result of her actions, Dr. Swann was abducted, transformed into a meat puppet, and tossed over a cliff. Leo managed to physically remove his colophon, but since he’s never heard the Song of Ghroth, the Mi-Go are content to keep him under passive observation at the Toadstools badlands.

The Shifting Balance
Unfortunately for the Mi-Go, the Song of Ghroth has been increasing in intensity. For over a year the Nemesis Team has managed to keep the balance, their sanity dwindling as they unconsciously struggle between the opposing pressures. Each time a member of the Nemesis Team hears a new Stanza of the Song, the power of Ghroth increases. It’s getting harder and harder to obey their Mi-Go conditioning and keep the existence of Nemesis to themselves. This unresolvable tension has pushed the team to the brink of collapse. Already dehumanized, they’ve become increasingly unstable and unpredictable. The rationalizations they’ve created to justify their bizarre, cult-like behavior are beginning to crumble. The Mi-Go have been observing this shift, and are becoming more desperate to maintain control over the situation. If all seems lost, they’ll have no choice but to purge the region with nuclear fire.

The Scenario
Bible Black takes place during the final week of this crisis. Dr. Neal is about to reach zero Sanity and hear the Fifth Stanza of the Song. Once he achieves Apostolus, he’ll broadcast the signal to everyone in the world. At that point the Mi-Go can no longer protect the Earth from Ghroth’s terrible regard, and the Culling becomes an inevitability.

Starting Relationships
The scenario begins with an “Indifferent” relationship status between the player characters and the Nemesis Team. (Keep in mind, this is still a cordial relationship—some of the scientists may be flawed, but under normal circumstances they’d be essentially friendly.) The mental state of each scientist may be indexed by three factors—their innate Power characteristic, their current Sanity, and which Stanza of the Song they’re currently hearing.

A few scientists deserve special note:

Gerald Neal
Dr. Neal begins the scenario as “Resistant” to the player characters. (Not only does Neal have the lowest current Sanity on the Nemesis Team, he’s the farthest along the Song of Ghroth and has been under Mi-Go conditioning for the longest time.) Already an irritable man with little patience for fools, Neal’s become snappish and emotionally detached. He possesses the authority to restrict the player characters from the GPCA facility, an action that would have the full support of the NRAO and the (nominal) support of the local constabulary. This means the player characters must be very careful around Neal. If they push Neal or his team too hard, they’ll find themselves banned from the facility altogether.

Jay Osman
Array operator Jay Osman begins the scenario at home in North Platte. After struggling to tell his girlfriend Bridgett what’s been going on at the GPCA, Jay suffered a nervous breakdown on March 15. Concerned for his mental health, Brigette reported him as “sick with COVID,” hoping to buy a few days to deal with the situation. (See “Asynchronous Encounter 5—Visiting Jay Osman.”) Because of his unique condition, Jay is not considered an “active” member of the Nemesis Team.

Freddie Pike
The oldest array operator and the one with the most experience, Freddie Pike has been here longer than any scientist at the facility. Fortunately for Freddie, he only works 9 to 5 from Monday to Friday, a leisurely shift that isolates him from the Nemesis Team. Freddie knows that his coworkers’ mood has shifted, but thinks it’s a general reaction to the recent political situation and impending budget cuts.

Persuasion Mechanics

As the scenario unfolds, player characters may attempt to Persuade various members of the Nemesis Team that they are not acting “reasonably.” At the Keeper’s discretion, other skills or characteristics may also be used, such as Astrophysics, Charm, Fast Talk, Intimidate, Law, Operate Radio Telescope, Power, Psychology, or Psychoanalysis. The Keeper should roleplay such attempts in real time, but the following four mechanics may guide her overall response:

Sanity Roll
The easiest way to prompt an NPCs response to reason is through an old-fashioned Sanity roll. Because the scientists are laboring under incredible duress, successful Sanity rolls may even restore lost Sanity, bolstering their resistance to alien influences.

Persuade vs. Mi-Go Conditioning
If a player character attempts to break through the Mi-Go Conditioning, she may need to win an opposed roll pitting her Persuade skill against the colophon’s Power (normally POW 60, but subject to change). Bonus dice and penalty dice may be applied depending on the strength of the player character’s argument, the relationship status between the characters, the mental state of the characters involved, and other such mitigating factors. A successful roll temporarily breaks through the conditioning and encourages the scientist to reconsider his actions or beliefs. A Hard success may permanently lower the Power of the implant by 5! A failed roll results in the scientist “blanking out” and/or experiencing physical symptoms such as headaches, pain, and nausea. A 0/1D4 Sanity roll may also be required. A failed attempt may degrade the relationship status between the player character and the scientist.

Persuade vs. Ghroth POW
If a player character attempts to reason with a scientist about a subject related to Ghroth, he may need to win an opposed roll pitting his Persuade skill against the scientist’s current Stanza Power. Bonus dice and penalty dice may be applied depending on the strength of the player character’s argument, the relationship status between the characters, the mental state of the characters involved, and other such mitigating factors. A successful roll “wins” the argument and encourages the scientist to reconsider her position. A Hard success may even restore lost Sanity points to the scientist. A failed rolls drives the scientist deeper into her delusion and may trigger a Ghroth-related episode. A failed attempt may degrade the relationship status between the player character and the scientist.

POW vs. POW
At times the Keeper may find it useful to check whether a scientist can independently break free from either nefarious influence. Such attempts may be measured by opposing the scientist’s Power against the Power of the current influence aligned against him. (The Keeper may require the scientist to first pass a Sanity roll to earn such an attempt.) A successful roll may result in a breakthrough. A failed roll may lead to Sanity loss or trigger a Ghroth-related episode.

Possible Actions
The player characters may attempt to persuade a scientist to take a variety of actions. Here are a few possibilities:

Resist the Implant
Resisting one’s colophon requires a Mi-Go Conditioning roll. This roll may be bolstered by certain medications like anti-psychotics. If the colophon is lowered to 30 Power or less, it becomes inert, allowing it to be removed. See “Faction—Mi-Go Technology” for details.

Disobey Dr. Neal
If a scientist can be convinced that Dr. Neal is dangerous, deranged, or working under an alien influence, she can be moved to act against the director. Note that Dr. Neal is not afraid to restrict his opponents from the facility, and if push comes to shove, he’ll defend himself with his SIG Sauer P230.

Commit Sabotage
Cooperative scientists may be convinced to enact various forms of sabotage—destroying Jenny’s sonification equipment, erasing data, damaging computers or control room equipment, or even harming the antennas themselves. The Keeper must weigh the inherent difficulty and possible consequences of such actions and decide on an appropriate game mechanic to measure success. Actions counter to Mi-Go interests are resisted by the Mi-Go colophons, while actions counter to Ghroth’s interests are resisted by the Power of the Song. The Keeper must also determine what works best for the overall narrative. Having Dr. Mancini destroy the server room and declare victory is a pretty lame ending! However, having Mancini be caught red-handed with a sledgehammer, or having her help the player characters assassinate her colleagues—that’s more like it!

Commit Murder or Suicide
One solution to disrupt the Harbinger requires the death of every scientist who’s heard the Fourth Stanza of the Song or higher. Definitely one of the more extreme “we’ve lost all hope” solutions, if enough people truly understand the magnitude of what’s happening, some scientists might be convinced to kill themselves or their fellow colleagues! Obviously this is a tragic ending, and would require heroic amounts of persuasion. (Or SAN loss.) See the “Silencing the Song” Ending Scenario in “Asynchronous Encounter 10—The Point of No Return.”

Undeniable Proof
Once the Mi-Go become more actively involved, the player characters may obtain undeniable proof of alien interference. This might change the conversation, leading to more Persuade vs. Ghroth POW or Persuade vs. Mi-Go Conditioning rolls.

Reactions to Hyades Valentine and Swann Report

During the first few days of Bible Black, the relationship between the player characters and the scientists of the Nemesis Team are largely governed by two important factors—the Hyades Valentine and the Swann Report.

The Hyades Valentine

Received by Leo Sawyer on 14 February 2023, the Hyades Valentine is a message sent from the Mi-Go of the Hyades Cluster to their comrades in the Solar System. The transmission instructs the Mi-Go to abandon Earth and to collapse the “Solar Horocycle,” the part of the Mi-Go’s Apeirogon that allows “teragonic travel” to the Solar System. The only active member of the Nemesis Team to have seen this transmission is Gerald Neal, and the Mi-Go have erased it from his memory.

Acquiring the Hyades Valentine
The player characters may acquire a “rough draft” of the Hyades Valentine by copying it from room 207 in the Close Encounters Motor Lodge. Once they have visited Leo Sawyer and experienced The Message, they’ll have a clearer picture of what the transmission actually means. However, a “clearer picture” is not the same thing as “hard data,” and players characters attempting to convince the Nemesis Team of the Hyades Valentine must struggle against three hinderances: (1) there’s no record of the initial transmission, (2) pointing the array at RA 04h 25m 22.377s, Dec +22° 17’ 34.42” reveals nothing unusual, and (3) the characters probably sound as deranged as Leo himself! In other words, it’s going to be a hard sell to get any GPCA scientist to believe in alien transmissions, abductions, or implanted conditioning.

The GPCA Records
Obviously having hard data to back up the Haydes Valentine would be useful. The GPCA should have a record of this transmission, right? The player characters may gain access to the GPCA data for 14 February 2023 in three ways. They may ask to see the records, they may call them up from the control room with an Operate Radio Telescope roll, or they may access them surreptitiously from the mainframe with a Hard Computer Use roll. It takes an hour of reading and an Astrophysics or Operate Radio Telescope roll to establish that there’s no correlation between the recorded data and Leo’s alleged transcription.

The character may follow a successful comparison with another Operate Radio Telescope roll or a Computer Use roll. A Regular success produces the feeling that something is “off.” A Hard success doubles down on this feeling, and speculates that the data has been tampered with. An Extreme success pinpoints the issue: from 9:10 to 9:50 PM, the data has been fudged by inserting tailored results from an earlier run. This realization costs 1/1D3 Sanity points. What does it mean? Why was this powerful evidence of alien contact expunged from the system?

Attempts to recover the “original data” may be resolved with a Computer Use roll. A success confirms that it was a remarkably clean hack, and it’s probably difficult to recover the original data. A Hard success marvels at the cleanliness of the hack, and confirms that the data is irretrievable. (It was the Mi-Go, after all!) An Extreme success is rewarded with the intuition that “no human operator could have made this happen!” Was it AI? Something…else? If the Keeper wishes, a critical success pinpoints that the records were expunged the evening of February 15. Station logs show only Leo Sawyer and Dr. Neal on duty that night. (Or maybe…Dr. William Snow?)

Direct Evidence of the Mi-Go
If the player characters manage to produce incontrovertible evidence of the Mi-Go, the Keeper may reward one or two bonus dice to any roll against Mi-Go conditioning. Once a colophon has been diminished to a POW 30, it begins to malfunction. (See “Faction—Mi-Go Technology” for details.) Note that Mi-Go conditioning and the Song of Ghroth are two separate influences. Even if a scientist becomes convinced she’s being manipulated by aliens, it doesn’t mean she’s ready to accept her role as a cultist summoning an Outer God! However, the question remains: why are “aliens” interfering with the GPCA? If the player characters make a compelling case that addresses this question, the Keeper may reward them with a +1D10 bonus die for pushing non-hostile scientists against the Song of Ghroth.

The Mi-Go Response
If the Mi-Go conditioning of a scientist is disrupted, it nudges the Mi-Go to more active involvement. See “Asynchronous Encounter 7—Mi-Go Negotiations” for details.

The Swann Report

The Swann Report is a rough draft of a preliminary paper on CASS 21162066+68152480 authored by Ruth Swann. It confirms the existence of a brown dwarf located shockingly close to the solar system, offers speculation on whether the object is Neal’s “Nemesis star,” and discusses its potential nature as a SETI candidate.

As this report would publicize the existence and location of Ghroth, the Mi-Go are dedicated to its suppression. All evidence of the Swann Report has been expunged from the GPCA records, and any memories connected to the report have been wiped from the scientists’ brains by their implants. As a result, the scientists have become wildly secretive about the Nemesis Project. All research and analysis pertaining to Ghroth is performed on a dedicated workstation isolated from the mainframe.

Why Can’t the Mi-Go Just Erase Everything?
If the Mi-Go torched the GPCA computers or destroyed the array, it would attract the attention of the NRAO, the NSF, and even the United States government. Such drastic actions would risk exposing the Mi-Go, and even worse, place a direct spotlight on Ghroth. Of course, as the week progresses and Dr. Neal reaches Apostolus, the Mi-Go gravely reconsider their previous restraint!

The Nemesis Workstation
The Nemesis Team uses an allegedly “out of order” workstation in the control room to manage all matters pertaining to Ghroth. This Nemesis workstation is protected by a password (currently “S@LtP3t3r000237!”) and a selective firewall that allows the computer to freely access the mainframe, but restricts transmission of its own data to the GPCA records. Devised by Harlan Bennett after the death of Ruth Swann, this system ensures the GPCA public records do not include any Nemesis data. (Dr. Bennett also scrubbed the old data from the system, and has devised a way to fill the missing gaps with plausible “noise.”) Only three other computers are allowed to access the Nemesis data—those belonging to Gerald Neal, Harlan Bennett, and Jenny Hooper.

Swann Report I: Carrie’s Excerpt
The Swann Report makes its scenario entrance as a one-page excerpt mailed to Nick Castro from Carrie Osbourne. (See “Handout—Email from Carrie Osbourne to Nick Castro, 13 January 2025.”) Although an Astrophysics roll confirms that the page seems genuine, it doesn’t give the player characters much to go on. Nevertheless, they may wish to confront the Nemesis team with the excerpt.

B) Swann Report II: Draft 2.6
The complete Swann Report is located in the cryptex locked in Carrie Osbourne’s firesafe. (See “Location—Carrie and Stan’s House.”) Although the report is an unfinished rough draft, it’s significantly more compelling than Carrie’s email.

C) Swann Report III: Evidence
It’s clear that more evidence is required to crack this united façade of sham ignorance and force the scientists to admit what’s going on. There are several ways of obtaining this evidence:

1. Demanding Pointing Time
If the player characters demand to see what happens if the radio telescopes are pointed at CASS 21162066+68152480, they’re met with stiff resistance—“We’re on a tight schedule, you can’t just hijack the telescopes,” etc. There are two ways to get results. The player characters may convince a scientist, or they may coerce a scientist. Convincing a scientist requires a positive relationship status backed by some compelling reasoning and a Persuade vs. Mi-Go Conditioning roll.

Coercing a scientist requires threatening actions or blackmail, and automatically degrades the relationship status between the affected scientist and the player characters by one or more degrees. At first, a coerced scientists attempts to deceive the player character by pointing the array a few seconds off target—“See? Nothing there. Just the Ghost Nebula. Ooooh, spooky.” It requires an Operate Radio Telescope roll to detect the misdirection; if this is successful, the coercion must be repeated with intent to act—perhaps cocking a revolver at Mason’s head, or hovering one’s thumb over the “submit” button to an email explaining Jackie’s OnlyFans spending to his parents!

Once the telescopes are targeting the correct coordinates (RA 21h 16m 20.66s, Dec. +68° 15’ 24.80”), the data starts flowing. An Operate Radio Telescope roll determines this data matches the Swann Report. Obviously such a breakthrough may be negated by the means with which it was achieved—holding someone at gunpoint is against the law, after all! It should also be noted that the Nemesis data is only available at night, when the constellation of Cepheus is in the Nebraska sky. Once CASS 21162066+68152480 has been “discovered,” the team confesses their deception and reluctantly explains the Nemesis Project. See “The Nemesis Delusion” below.

2. Accessing the Records
If the player characters demand to see records pertaining to CASS 21162066+68152480, they’re shown whatever they’d like on the mainframe. No record exists for the coordinates given in the Swann Report, and there’s no evidence that any data was collected, reduced, or analyzed for a brown dwarf matching Swann’s description. Given an hour of unsupervised access, a Hard Operate Radio Telescope roll finds several inconsistencies across the last year—missing logs, telescope time that seems unaccounted for, innocuous runs that have been needlessly repeated.

If a scientist is confronted with these anomalies, a Persuade vs. Mi-Go Conditioning roll breaks through the colophon. A success opens the door for additional communication, possibly leading to an explanation of the Nemesis Project. A failure increases the scientist’s resistance, degrades the relationship status between the player character and the scientist, and may trigger a Ghroth-related Episode. Pushing too aggressively or making pointed accusations only enrages Neal, who may—wait for it!—bar the character from the facility.

3. Accessing the Nemesis Workstation
If the “out of order” workstation is examined, an Electrical Repair or Electronics roll notices that the computer is plugged into a small power strip that has the remainder of its sockets empty. The “defunct” computer can be quite easily “repaired” by plugging it directly into an operational wall socket! This earns a glare from the scientists, followed by the excuse, “Oh it powers up, sure, but the system is fried, and no one knows the password. Leo fucked it up for us.” There are several ways to access the workstation.

Convince a Scientist
If the player characters can convince a scientist to access the data through Persuade vs. Mi-Go Conditioning rolls, the scientist might be willing to give them the password or call up the Nemesis data. This requires nuanced roleplaying, and the Keeper should remain responsive to changing situations and the ticking game-clock. It’s also not as fun as using subterfuge!

Coerce a Scientist
The password may be coerced from a scientist as described in “Demanding Pointing Time” above, with similar consequences to relationship status.

Steal the Code from Jackie
Jackie Bernard-Wu has a terrible memory, and uses flash cards to help him memorize important dates, phone numbers, passwords, and other such data. One of these flashcards contains the password to the Nemesis workstation. See “Location—GPCA Dormitory, Room 2” for details.

Hack the Computer
The workstation may be hacked with 1D3+1 hours of work followed by a Hard Luck roll and a Hard Computer Use roll. Obviously, nobody in the control room lets this happen willingly—except maybe Freddie Pike, who suspects that something weird is going on. A successful hack triggers an alarm in the mainframe unless an Extreme success was made on the Computer Use roll. This alarm will be noticed by Harlan Bennett in 1D6 × 10 minutes, providing he’s onsite at the time. If not, he’ll be alerted the moment he logs on to the system.

One of Us! One of Us!
If a player character has already analyzed the Swann Report and perceived the pattern, he can “earn the trust” of Neal and his companions by simply revealing what he knows. “Look, I’ve already seen the data, and I know you’ve discovered a brown dwarf you think is ether Nemesis or SETI-related or both. I’ve seen some additional patterns in the data that are very intriguing, please stop this charade, I actually want to help you!” Such an approach allows the supplicant to make a Persuade vs. Mi-Go Conditioning roll to learn about the Nemesis Project. Furthermore, if they’ve made an actual breakthrough in the data and can contribute something new, +2D10 bonus dice are added to the roll. Just don’t expect Neal to share the Nobel Prize!

The Nemesis Delusion

If the player characters convince or coerce the scientists into telling the “truth,” the resulting story is a mixture of reality and delusion. Yes, the Swann Report is true, and yes, they’ve discovered a brown dwarf in the Oort cloud! Neal and Guest thinks it’s the Nemesis star, while Mancini agrees with Swann, and believes it’s connected to intelligent life—maybe an alien “way station” established to monitor the solar system? None of the scientists—with the possible exceptions of Jenny Hooper and Mason Dauterive—truly understand what they’ve actually contacted, and the combination of the Song of Ghroth and the Mi-Go Conditioning keeps them running in circles, compelled to ignore inconsistencies, anomalies, and impossibilities in the data.

Why All the Secrecy?
So why all the secrecy? Why the clandestine pointing time and isolated workstation? Well, the Mi-Go Conditioning has an answer for that! Whether or not the team has discovered Nemesis or evidence of an ETC, both hypotheses are extremely unorthodox. As Carl Sagan famously said, “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.” Therefore Neal wants to have a “complete picture” of the data before they contact other radio telescopes to confirm the signal. If this truly is Nemesis, that discovery is going to win the team the Nobel Prize and place the GPCA on the map—think of the publicity, the funding, the fame!

On the other hand, if the signal represents proof of intelligent life, that changes everything. You remember the movie Contact? You really want Hayden flooded with black helicopters, government officials, the media, and worse of all—Freqers? It would spin out of control! The moment they go “public” with this, everything changes. And think about the current presidential administration—do we really want him in charge of this?

An Astronomy roll recognizes something fishy about these rationalizations—a year is a long time to collect and confirm data, and assistance from other radio telescopes should have been sought a long time ago! Of course the team wants to be confident before they publish, but this is going too far. And even more importantly, if this brown dwarf truly is so close to Earth, each passing day raises the chances it’s going to be discovered by another team. And if there’s one thing everyone knows about science, who publishes first is excruciatingly important.

Despite the logic of these arguments, voicing any of these concerns only irritates the scientists, and may call for a Persuade vs. Mi-Go Conditioning roll to avoid a backlash. Alternately, if a scientist has been overcoming their Mi-Go conditioning, these arguments may actually push them closer to Ghroth—Why yes! We really should wrap this up and let everyone know! Let’s bring on the next Stanza…!

The Coming of Ghroth

The Mi-Go conditioning is creating a cultish atmosphere of secrecy; but the team is also influenced by the Song of Ghroth, which wants to be heard! It’s this alien compulsion that blinds the scientists to the consequences of their actions. The Song has divorced them from their humanity, and made them willing to accept whatever fate befalls them personally and professionally. Any red flags raised by their actions are dismissed by remarkable feats of sophistry. Leo Sawyer? A crazy hoaxer. Ruth Swann? An unfortunate casualty of her mental illness. Stan and Carrie? Two members of the support staff who had a lover’s spat—wasn’t she cheating on him, and didn’t she wreck his beloved car? Stan always had a violent streak—wasn’t he pulled out of a few bar fights? You know how those blue collar guys are—hello, toxic masculinity!

OK, so what about the crazy weather? Wait, what? You think…uh, checks notes…radio signals are responsible for tornadoes and earthquakes? And last time I checked, there were no radio telescopes in Ethiopia, Easter Island, Sioux Falls, and so on. What about the birds, the deranged animals, the patterns everywhere, the humming and nervous tics, the general sense that everything is unraveling? Welcome to the world right now, buddy. Sure the birds and spiders are strange, but so what? And the space junk falling from the sky? Yeah, that’s a good question! Probably a Freqer hoax. You know they have airplanes and helicopters, right? That Cowell, he’s loaded, he’s crazy, he can do anything; and now there’s even Freqers in the government…

Basically anything a concerned character brings up is countered with a plausible, non-paranormal explanation. And as usual, the more a player character pushes the issue, the more irritable Neal becomes, and the more likely they’ll be banned from the facility.

Pushing Against the Song
Making a member of the Nemesis Team accept a more paranormal explanation for events is difficult, and requires a few conditions to be met: (1) The scientist cannot be insane or hearing the Fifth Stanza, (2) the player character must have a positive relationship status with the scientist, and (3) the scientist must resist the Song of Ghroth long enough to take decisive actions. Additionally, the scientist may be struggling with Mi-Go Conditioning; however that only kicks in if the player characters are trying to get them to act against the Mi-Go’s interests. After all, if the scientist comes to the realization that Ghroth must be stopped, that’s just fine with the Mi-Go! Because the Nemesis Team is made up of very distinct individuals, each NPC profile contains suggestions of how that scientists might behave as the pressure increases.

Endgame
As stated at the beginning of this guide, the relationships between the various player characters and the different members of the Nemesis Team are difficult to manage, but they are some of the most rewarding aspects of Bible Black—can the player characters convince any of these unknowing cultists to resist their conditioning and help save the world? Or will they make mortal enemies potentially more dangerous than the Mi-Go? As the scenario progresses and the stakes become higher, some of these NPCs may be called to offer the ultimate sacrifice, or may devolve into murderous madmen. Each scenario will play out differently, and it’s the Keeper’s job to ensure the narrative remains both coherent and dramatic!

Sources & Notes

The image at the head of this document is Asleep, painted by Toyen in 1937.

Bible Black > Factions and Monsters
[Back to Church of Invisible Frequencies | Bible Black TOC | Forward to Mi-Go]

Author: A. Buell Ruch
Last Modified: 22 September 2026
Email: quail (at) shipwrecklibrary (dot) com
Bible Black PDF: [TBD]