Dark Terminus
// THEATER_INTEL: The Backrooms
Campaign_Status
CONCLUDED
Timeline
START: 2024-10-29
END: 2025-01-10
Tactical_Briefing_and_Field_Notes
PHENOMENON DOSSIER: THE "OGROMNYY PUSTOY" (THE VAST EMPTY)Classification: Alternate Reality / Spatial Anomaly / Temporal Echo
Initial Breach: April 26, 1986 | 01:19:00 AM
Breach Coordinates: Sub-Reactor Unit #4, Chernobyl NPP
Operational Authority: Obsidian Security Services (OSS)
Historical Genesis & The Technical Cover-Up
The reality known as the "Ogromnyy Pustoy" (The Vast Empty) was broken into during a top-secret Cold War initiative aimed at securing total Soviet energy dominance. Operating from Site Alpha—a clandestine, state-funded laboratory constructed directly beneath Reactor #4 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant—the Soviet Institute for Nuclear Research (INR) sought to exploit "exotic phenomena" beyond conventional physics.
Led by Dr. Oleg Gusev, Site Alpha utilized heavy power siphoning from the civilian reactor above to fuel cutting-edge quantum field manipulation devices. Fragmented laboratory journals recovered post-disaster reveal three primary research vectors:
Project Zero-Point: Based on Max Planck’s 1911 quantum vacuum theorems, attempting to harvest infinite background energy from empty spatial voids.
Project Tachyon: Utilizing custom particle accelerators to generate and trap superluminal particles (where velocity is greater than the speed of light, v > c), envisioned for revolutionary propulsion and power matrices.
Project Dark Matter: Employing high-frequency gravitational manipulation to tap into the invisible mass permeating the cosmos.
The Post-Disaster Recovery & Relocation
Following the catastrophic breach on April 26, 1986, the KGB utilized the civilian liquidation and cleanup efforts as an absolute smoke screen. Elite operatives infiltrated the highly radioactive ruins of Sub-Reactor #4 to salvage Dr. Gusev's data. After a grueling nine-month recovery operation that resulted in multiple operator fatalities from acute radiation sickness, the data was secured and briefed to General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987. The KGB was ordered to restart the research without Dr. Gusev, who was blacklisted and imprisoned by the state. A heavily fortified black site was erected in a remote sector of Siberia, officially resuming gateway testing in 1989.
The Chernobyl "Accident" Timeline
Reconstructed telemetry and black-box logs confirm that the historic Chernobyl disaster was not a mere operator error, but the direct result of a violent quantum-gravitational backdraft bleeding from Site Alpha into the civilian reactor's fuel rods.
12:28 AM — The Initial Radiation Surge A sudden, localized energy spike inside the Site Alpha experiment chamber releases lethal doses of exotic radiation, instantly killing the majority of the sub-surface staff. The remaining personnel succumb over the next 20 minutes, leaving the equipment running unsupervised. 12:43 AM — Unsupervised Feedback LoopOperating on an active loop, the unsupervised quantum array begins interacting with the fissionable material directly above it. Control room operators note a subtle, unexplained increase in Reactor #4's power output.
12:54 AM — Initial Operator CountermeasuresAs the sub-surface experiment intensifies, the reactor's power continues to climb. Confused plant operators manually lower control rods, which temporarily masks and dampens the reactivity surge.
01:19 AM — The Spatial TearFuel rod reactivity climbs exponentially. Control room operators watch helplessly as power scales past five times the reactor's maximum rated output. Below them, the Site Alpha experiment hits its critical tipping point, tearing open a conduit between realities.
01:20 AM — First Visual ContactThe lone surviving research assistant from Site Alpha regains consciousness. Stumbling toward the observation chamber, they become the first human being to visually witness the Vast Empty through the unstable gateway.
01:21 AM — Physical Distortion ManifestsReactor #4 section foreman Valeriy Perevozchenko reports to the control room that the 350kg caps covering the nuclear fuel channels are physically jumping and dancing in their sockets.
01:22 AM — Site Alpha EvacuationThe surviving research assistant flees the underground laboratory through the primary subterranean access tunnel, escaping seconds before total structural collapse.
01:23:27 AM — Critical Power ExcursionShift Chief Aleksandr Akimov observes control room instruments reading a staggering 120 times the reactor's maximum rated power output.
01:23:40 AM — The AZ-5 CommandRealizing a total system emergency is underway, Akimov presses the 'AZ-5' button to trigger an emergency scram, inserting all control rods back into the core.
01:23:44 AM — Core RuptureThe hyper-reactive fuel rods instantly vaporize. The immense steam pressure generated within the reactor vessel completely ruptures the containment structure.
01:23:45 AM — The ExplosionThe 1,000-ton upper biological shield (the reactor lid) is blown into the air. Oxygen rushes into the exposed core, igniting the graphite blocks and generating a massive hydrogen gas explosion.
01:23:46 AM — Catastrophic ReleaseChernobyl Unit #4 explodes completely, breaching the roof and initiating the historic, massive release of radionuclides into the atmosphere.
Nature & Topography of the Anomaly
The Vast Empty takes its overall physical structure directly from our reality, acting as a twisted, decaying spatial mirror. Its state prior to the 1986 breach remains entirely unknown.
The sole survivor of Site Alpha described seeing an "amorphous nothingness that began to coalesce into familiar shapes and forms" upon the moment of the tear, though his testimony was initially buried as radiation-induced psychosis.
Reconnaissance Logs
In early 1992, Soviet remnants stabilized the first reliable gateway in Siberia, conducting solo expeditions using unreleased political prisoners. Return rates were less than 10%. Of the prisoners sent in, two returned, painting a stark picture of a dead world:
Subject A: Reported manifesting in a sprawling field trapped in perpetual night, completely devoid of color.
Subject B: Described an abandoned, half-collapsed farmstead under a heavy, choking brown atmospheric hue.
The Echo Protocol (Spatial Reactivity)
Large-scale expeditions later confirmed that the Vast Empty is highly reactive to contemporary events in our reality. The primary divergence is a total absence of human populations, an unnatural degradation of materials, and a pervasive, psychological phenomenon known as the "maddening quiet."
Our bustling metropolises exist there as shattered ruins. However, the space dynamically copies modern updates from our timeline in a distorted manner.
The Moscow Manifestation: Researchers sent to the coordinates of Moscow found a prominent skyscraper that was actively under construction in our world. In the Vast Empty, the building stood abandoned, surrounded by rusted tools and decaying materials scattered as if workers had vanished mid-shift.
The Belarus Shift: In the Belarusian sector, exploratory teams documented street signs caught in a state of physical transition, the lettering dynamically frozen halfway between historic Soviet names and modernized formatting.
Operational Oversight: OSS Involvement
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, management of the Siberian anomaly shifted. By 1997, after multiple regular Russian military expeditions vanished inside the gateway, the head of the FSB (Nikolai Kovalyov) quietly brought in "retired" veterans, Nikita Bodrov and Timur Gorokhov.
To manage the security, exploration, and exploitation of the asset off the books, Obsidian Security Services (OSS) was formed.
Xenological Analysis: Flora & Fauna
The plant life within the Vast Empty perfectly replicates the species found in our world, but functions under an inverted biological paradigm. Plants harvested within the anomaly provide zero nutritional value or caloric sustenance, regardless of quantity consumed. During an early tracking experiment, a prisoner left inside with no external rations for three weeks lost 52 pounds despite eating local vegetation. Conversely, toxins, poisons, and allergens have zero physical effect on human biology while inside the anomaly. Standard food brought in from our reality behaves normally.
Anomalous Fauna & Entities
The entity classifications within the anomaly represent varying stages of cognitive and physical decay.
Memories - Humanoids displaying complete cognitive disconnection from their environment. Observed wandering aimlessly, blindly colliding with terrain features (trees, walls). Benign. Devoid of tactical threat or scientific value beyond basic anatomical study. Do not engage unless necessary.
Hatefuls - Highly feral, aggressive humanoids with intensely heightened senses and physical strength far surpassing human limits. Hostile. Violently reactive to anything non-native to the Empty. Expedition 27 suffered catastrophic casualties attempting a capture protocol. Note: Expedition 31 documented a Hateful at distance sporting a degraded OSS uniform.
Unknowns - Broad classification for rare, uncataloged, or anomalous biological entities seen in low numbers. Hostile. Standard protocol dictates treating any unclassified entity as an immediate lethal threat.
Indigenous Populations: The Displaced
Expedition Survivors: Remnants of stranded pre-2014 Soviet/Russian missions or fractured OSS units. They are highly armed, profoundly paranoid, and prone to lethal defensiveness upon contact.
The Lost Prisoners: Solitary survivors from the early 1992 penal deployments. They are completely feral, intentionally avoid contact, and will fight to the death if cornered.
"Lost Souls": Human survivors actively undergoing the biological transition into Memories. They are typically oblivious to their surroundings but remain highly volatile and reactive to direct physical provocation.
Initial Breach: April 26, 1986 | 01:19:00 AM
Breach Coordinates: Sub-Reactor Unit #4, Chernobyl NPP
Operational Authority: Obsidian Security Services (OSS)
Historical Genesis & The Technical Cover-Up
The reality known as the "Ogromnyy Pustoy" (The Vast Empty) was broken into during a top-secret Cold War initiative aimed at securing total Soviet energy dominance. Operating from Site Alpha—a clandestine, state-funded laboratory constructed directly beneath Reactor #4 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant—the Soviet Institute for Nuclear Research (INR) sought to exploit "exotic phenomena" beyond conventional physics.
Led by Dr. Oleg Gusev, Site Alpha utilized heavy power siphoning from the civilian reactor above to fuel cutting-edge quantum field manipulation devices. Fragmented laboratory journals recovered post-disaster reveal three primary research vectors:
Project Zero-Point: Based on Max Planck’s 1911 quantum vacuum theorems, attempting to harvest infinite background energy from empty spatial voids.
Project Tachyon: Utilizing custom particle accelerators to generate and trap superluminal particles (where velocity is greater than the speed of light, v > c), envisioned for revolutionary propulsion and power matrices.
Project Dark Matter: Employing high-frequency gravitational manipulation to tap into the invisible mass permeating the cosmos.
The Post-Disaster Recovery & Relocation
Following the catastrophic breach on April 26, 1986, the KGB utilized the civilian liquidation and cleanup efforts as an absolute smoke screen. Elite operatives infiltrated the highly radioactive ruins of Sub-Reactor #4 to salvage Dr. Gusev's data. After a grueling nine-month recovery operation that resulted in multiple operator fatalities from acute radiation sickness, the data was secured and briefed to General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987. The KGB was ordered to restart the research without Dr. Gusev, who was blacklisted and imprisoned by the state. A heavily fortified black site was erected in a remote sector of Siberia, officially resuming gateway testing in 1989.
The Chernobyl "Accident" Timeline
Reconstructed telemetry and black-box logs confirm that the historic Chernobyl disaster was not a mere operator error, but the direct result of a violent quantum-gravitational backdraft bleeding from Site Alpha into the civilian reactor's fuel rods.
12:28 AM — The Initial Radiation Surge A sudden, localized energy spike inside the Site Alpha experiment chamber releases lethal doses of exotic radiation, instantly killing the majority of the sub-surface staff. The remaining personnel succumb over the next 20 minutes, leaving the equipment running unsupervised. 12:43 AM — Unsupervised Feedback LoopOperating on an active loop, the unsupervised quantum array begins interacting with the fissionable material directly above it. Control room operators note a subtle, unexplained increase in Reactor #4's power output.
12:54 AM — Initial Operator CountermeasuresAs the sub-surface experiment intensifies, the reactor's power continues to climb. Confused plant operators manually lower control rods, which temporarily masks and dampens the reactivity surge.
01:19 AM — The Spatial TearFuel rod reactivity climbs exponentially. Control room operators watch helplessly as power scales past five times the reactor's maximum rated output. Below them, the Site Alpha experiment hits its critical tipping point, tearing open a conduit between realities.
01:20 AM — First Visual ContactThe lone surviving research assistant from Site Alpha regains consciousness. Stumbling toward the observation chamber, they become the first human being to visually witness the Vast Empty through the unstable gateway.
01:21 AM — Physical Distortion ManifestsReactor #4 section foreman Valeriy Perevozchenko reports to the control room that the 350kg caps covering the nuclear fuel channels are physically jumping and dancing in their sockets.
01:22 AM — Site Alpha EvacuationThe surviving research assistant flees the underground laboratory through the primary subterranean access tunnel, escaping seconds before total structural collapse.
01:23:27 AM — Critical Power ExcursionShift Chief Aleksandr Akimov observes control room instruments reading a staggering 120 times the reactor's maximum rated power output.
01:23:40 AM — The AZ-5 CommandRealizing a total system emergency is underway, Akimov presses the 'AZ-5' button to trigger an emergency scram, inserting all control rods back into the core.
01:23:44 AM — Core RuptureThe hyper-reactive fuel rods instantly vaporize. The immense steam pressure generated within the reactor vessel completely ruptures the containment structure.
01:23:45 AM — The ExplosionThe 1,000-ton upper biological shield (the reactor lid) is blown into the air. Oxygen rushes into the exposed core, igniting the graphite blocks and generating a massive hydrogen gas explosion.
01:23:46 AM — Catastrophic ReleaseChernobyl Unit #4 explodes completely, breaching the roof and initiating the historic, massive release of radionuclides into the atmosphere.
Nature & Topography of the Anomaly
The Vast Empty takes its overall physical structure directly from our reality, acting as a twisted, decaying spatial mirror. Its state prior to the 1986 breach remains entirely unknown.
The sole survivor of Site Alpha described seeing an "amorphous nothingness that began to coalesce into familiar shapes and forms" upon the moment of the tear, though his testimony was initially buried as radiation-induced psychosis.
Reconnaissance Logs
In early 1992, Soviet remnants stabilized the first reliable gateway in Siberia, conducting solo expeditions using unreleased political prisoners. Return rates were less than 10%. Of the prisoners sent in, two returned, painting a stark picture of a dead world:
Subject A: Reported manifesting in a sprawling field trapped in perpetual night, completely devoid of color.
Subject B: Described an abandoned, half-collapsed farmstead under a heavy, choking brown atmospheric hue.
The Echo Protocol (Spatial Reactivity)
Large-scale expeditions later confirmed that the Vast Empty is highly reactive to contemporary events in our reality. The primary divergence is a total absence of human populations, an unnatural degradation of materials, and a pervasive, psychological phenomenon known as the "maddening quiet."
Our bustling metropolises exist there as shattered ruins. However, the space dynamically copies modern updates from our timeline in a distorted manner.
The Moscow Manifestation: Researchers sent to the coordinates of Moscow found a prominent skyscraper that was actively under construction in our world. In the Vast Empty, the building stood abandoned, surrounded by rusted tools and decaying materials scattered as if workers had vanished mid-shift.
The Belarus Shift: In the Belarusian sector, exploratory teams documented street signs caught in a state of physical transition, the lettering dynamically frozen halfway between historic Soviet names and modernized formatting.
Operational Oversight: OSS Involvement
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, management of the Siberian anomaly shifted. By 1997, after multiple regular Russian military expeditions vanished inside the gateway, the head of the FSB (Nikolai Kovalyov) quietly brought in "retired" veterans, Nikita Bodrov and Timur Gorokhov.
To manage the security, exploration, and exploitation of the asset off the books, Obsidian Security Services (OSS) was formed.
Xenological Analysis: Flora & Fauna
The plant life within the Vast Empty perfectly replicates the species found in our world, but functions under an inverted biological paradigm. Plants harvested within the anomaly provide zero nutritional value or caloric sustenance, regardless of quantity consumed. During an early tracking experiment, a prisoner left inside with no external rations for three weeks lost 52 pounds despite eating local vegetation. Conversely, toxins, poisons, and allergens have zero physical effect on human biology while inside the anomaly. Standard food brought in from our reality behaves normally.
Anomalous Fauna & Entities
The entity classifications within the anomaly represent varying stages of cognitive and physical decay.
Memories - Humanoids displaying complete cognitive disconnection from their environment. Observed wandering aimlessly, blindly colliding with terrain features (trees, walls). Benign. Devoid of tactical threat or scientific value beyond basic anatomical study. Do not engage unless necessary.
Hatefuls - Highly feral, aggressive humanoids with intensely heightened senses and physical strength far surpassing human limits. Hostile. Violently reactive to anything non-native to the Empty. Expedition 27 suffered catastrophic casualties attempting a capture protocol. Note: Expedition 31 documented a Hateful at distance sporting a degraded OSS uniform.
Unknowns - Broad classification for rare, uncataloged, or anomalous biological entities seen in low numbers. Hostile. Standard protocol dictates treating any unclassified entity as an immediate lethal threat.
Indigenous Populations: The Displaced
Expedition Survivors: Remnants of stranded pre-2014 Soviet/Russian missions or fractured OSS units. They are highly armed, profoundly paranoid, and prone to lethal defensiveness upon contact.