Unexplained Phenomena Unit lore: Welcome to UPU

UPUs Mission Statement:

The Unexplained Phenomena Unit strives to leave as little of a public impression as possible, but when we do need to make our existence known to attempt to ensure cooperation with certain groups such as law enforcement, we call ourselves “a government organisation that specialises in finding the rational, truthful answers to the mysteries that stump other organisations.”

The real story is this - our list of priorities, in order, are to:

1. Destroy what doesn’t belong in our world.

2. Save human life (killing witnesses is forbidden to all groups except FALSE HYDRA, and even then, it is a last resort).

3. Cover up the existence of the otherworldly.

4. Understand the supernatural.

We provide all members with multiple cover identities, masking of online presence, an archive of research material and intel. We are currently in a transitional period of expanding our operation, so our resources are spread somewhat thin.

Divisions of UPU:

• SASQUATCH (Investigation Taskforce, named for an ape-like cryptid that cannot be proven to exist) The first responders to a situation that shows signs of being linked to the supernatural. There are currently 20 SASQUATCH teams deployed worldwide.

• CHIMERA (Internal Affairs, named for a beast of mythology constructed of many different animal parts) A division founded by Alexander Demonaco (among other veteran members of UPU) to supervise, train, and hold UPU operatives accountable to the organisation's standards.

• FALSE HYDRA (Clean-up Taskforce, named for a beast of mythology that cannot be seen and makes everyone forget about anything it consumes) Upon a report of confirmed supernatural activity, FALSE HYDRA will go in, assess who knows about it, and will find ways to convince people of a natural explanation. There are as many FALSE HYDRA teams as there are SASQUATCH teams.

• MOTHMAN (Supernatural Sciences Division, named for the cryptid that has been said to forecast danger) The scientists, researchers and archivists of UPU - their mission is to understand, safely store or repurpose whatever evidence of the supernatural SASQUATCH finds.

• SPHINX (Management, named for a beast of mythology that is said to be a powerful and ferocious guardian) The secretive higher-ups that keep tabs on the big picture.

Timeline of UPU:

• 1956 - The Sphinx Society - Portals to other realms briefly open up around the world, strange entities threaten the unchecked edges of humanity. A group of seven monster hunters is formed, folks bonding over shared encounters, calling themselves The Sphinx Society. The details of their early exploits and their identities are classified (although two of them were Alexander Demonacos parents).

• 1973 - Supernatural Defence Unit - The government catches on to the existence of the supernatural and creates a small taskforce called the Supernatural Defence Unit to control it. The Sphinx Society, now with 20+ members, are all incarcerated for vigilantism.

• 1974 - Unexplained Phenomena Unit - The Supernatural Defence Unit is mysteriously wiped out. Having learned their lesson, the government releases and employs The Sphinx Society to create UPU.

• 1984 - SASQUATCH & FALSE HYDRA - The surviving members of the original Sphinx Society take a step back into a managerial position, training the SASQUATCH division to take over field work and creating FALSE HYDRA to clean up after them.

• 2002 - MOTHMAN - Portals open up across the world once more. An influx of entities, stranger than ever before, prompt an overhaul of the way UPU deals with understanding its enemy. The new science division, MOTHMAN, takes over a number of mobile research facilities and old war bunkers to store and study the supernatural. UPU jumps from 20+ members to 50+.

• 2017 - CHIMERA - Alexander Demonaco starts the internal affairs program, CHIMERA, in response to certain internal disasters.

• 2020 - The Present - Portals open up across the world, bigger and more obvious than ever before. It is a chaotic transitional period for UPU, as this sudden spike in cases of supernatural activity prompt a desperate push for rapid expansion of operation, staff and resources. UPU now has 200+ members.

Final Words:

Those that have been with the organisation for a long time may have heard rumour of why UPU was founded to cover up the supernatural, why it's so important that nobody knows the truth - the organisations ultimate goal - to keep at bay entities that can be thou ght _into e x i s t e n c e.