The Black and White

Names: Men of Black and White, The Prussian Boys, The Agents, The Secret Police, The Ghostapo, Ear Pieces, Sunglasses, The Hollow Soldiers

Classification: Archetype- Locust Touched- True Believer

Power Class: Supporting Antagonist

Lair: The City of Glass

Common Habitats: The City of Glass, The Ring

Associated Stories: Flight from Glass Tower

Personality Traits: Robotic, Relentless

Sub-Types:

• The Knights of Purity
• The Knights of Unity
• Inquisitors
• Hunters
• Purifiers

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Synopsis: Ivan the Terrible had his Black Monks, The Persian Empire had the Immortals, Conspiracy Theorist have the Men in Black. Real dictators and rulers have relied upon secret police or death squads throughout history- the human reimagined and dehumanized as boogeyman. The Men of Black and White show the cultural repeated affectation of impersonal abuse of power. The ability to make people disappear, the person without an identity, the anonymous limb of the state or the lord. This is the worker bee of the hierarchical idea of a human colony collective, a being with no individual identity attempting to enforce conformity upon a populace clinging to a sense of self.

The Men of Black and White are faceless soldiers and secret police, knights and SWAT teams, Special Forces and Inquisitors. The Psychonauts are most likely to encounter Men of Black and White either in a form resembling a Crusader Knight or a Government Agent in a dark suit with dark glasses.

 

Excerpt:

The Men of black and white, clad in suits and sunglasses despite the washed out grey light of the false dawn arrived at the house in a small convoy of white unmarked vans. They filed out like tin soldiers in a line and quickly surrounded the house, positioning themselves next to all window and doors. Fingers pressed earpieces into place and voices whispered coordinating verbal chatter that mimicked the sounds of the crickets. They swarmed around the building with a quiet insectile hum.

As the suited figures finished moving, a pair of men of black and white stepped out of the van nearest to the basement door with a large two person hand held battering ram. Warm lights glowed throw orange curtains from within the basement as the two agents positioned themselves in front of the door to the basement suite.

The chatter quieted in the same way the forest goes quiet prior to a predator attack, the world froze as though waiting for the mountain lion to strike. The men of black and white drew their firearms, nondescript pistols of indeterminate make and model. The air tightened like a violence string, the wind tasting of cold gun metal.

The two agents at the door swung the battering ram back and up. The giant steel beam hung in the air momentarily like a suspended judgement. And almost as though time had frozen and then slowly begun to thaw, the battering ram began to swing down. Speeding up as it dropped, the metal pole hurtled towards the unsuspected door.

And then the door burst inwards, buckling under the battering ram, and agents rushed in and noise and violence rushed around like a landslide. Agents charged into the entryway of the basement suite and pointed guns a the empty kitchen table. The moved quickly into the deserted living room, noting clothing and linens scattered across the floor. One agent stopped to examine the computer, it’s casing opened and the hard drive removed. Three more agents entered the single bedroom and noted the empty closet and the dresser drawers sitting empty on the naked bedroom mattress. Upstairs Mrs. Critchwood screeched like an angry bird and her own door was knocked inwards and agents stormed her home.

“targets have fled. No contact with targets. Advise immediate search of the area. Spread out. Question all possible targets. Highest priority.”

– Firebird Nested in Darkness VOL 1. CHP 2. VERSE 8.