zeyTpdNF

1[center][img]http://css-pathfinder.wdfiles.com/local--files/mamba-du-mal/SerpentsHandLogoSmall.png[/img]
2[size=7][color=#194d33]The Serpent's Hand.[/color][/size]
3[rule]
4
5[color=#194d33][font=DejaVu Sans][size=4]"The Serpent's Hand is sort of the yin to the Coalition's yang. The Hand are a movement springing from opposition to the Coalition's whole… Big Brother thing. And to the idea of containing or suppressing the anomalous community.
6
7They're the radical activists of the anomalous community… but also the ordinary people who don't take to their equivalent of Big Government. The Hand takes all types, anyone who wants to join. So there's a lot of decent folk and a lot of death cultists, too. There's heavy overlap between the Hand and the fringe communities, obviously, plus movements, like religious cults — or the occasional full-blown religion, like the Church of the Broken God — and anartist groups."[/font][/color][/center]
8
9
10[spoiler=Welcome Letter][color=#194d33][font=Gabriola][size=5]Welcome.
11
12To anyone willing or able to read this: This is for you.
13
14We are the Serpent's Hand.
15
16We are a movement, unified by a common belief:
17
18That humanity and all the other peoples of the known worlds do not deserve to be kept in darkness and ignorance.
19
20The Serpent's Hand doesn't coordinate as a group. We are a loose collection of splinters. Our enemies tend to misunderstand this — for instance, the Foundation's obsession with L.S., a person most of us have never met. Or the Serpent's Nest, with their shifting identities. Yes, they are all leaders, because they are people we respect, people we take advice from, and some of us will follow their plans. But they aren't all of us.
21
22There's no special way to join the Hand. There are no secret rituals done in basements or closets. We hold no elections for our leaders. If you want to become a member of the Serpent's Hand, all you have to do is decide you are a member of the Serpent's Hand.
23
24Most of us are ordinary people, though our enemies do not understand this. We are ordinary people who embrace the anomalous, the supernatural, the ethereal. We oppose its suppression. How can we not? Our friends, family members, and sometimes we ourselves fall outside of the bounds of normalcy. Every single one of us has experienced the anomalous. We are the things in heaven and earth that were not dreamt of in your philosophy.
25
26To the heralds of traditional power such as the SCP Foundation, the Global Occult Coalition, and most world governments, the anomalous is a slowly spreading poison, threatening to destroy everything civilization has worked so hard to create.
27
28But anomalous people are people, and the anomalous itself is not a threat merely for existing. Yes, it presents danger, but so do germs and meteors and forest fires. Suppressing knowledge of something will only make it more dangerous, and keep all of us huddling, frightened, in the dark.
29
30When normalcy starts hurting the people who have to live under it, to try to cure a 'poison', normalcy is itself the poison.
31
32The SCP Foundation and the Global Occult Coalition are playing the role now that the Catholic Church played when they imprisoned Galileo for discovering that the world revolved around the sun. Their practices and beliefs are the death of knowledge, the death of science, the death of light.
33
34Take the Wanderers' Library as an example, the place where the Serpent's Hand makes its home. The Library is the largest repository of knowledge the worlds have ever seen, the Holy Grail for those seeking to understand the preternatural. And yet, both the SCP Foundation and the Global Occult Coalition have been thrown out of this place that welcomes all. Why? Because they tried to destroy it, or take it for themselves so no one else could have it. Because of this, they are condemned to blunder in the dark.
35
36Everyone reasonable agrees that people should defend themselves against supernatural threats. But how can you protect yourself if you burn and bury the books and imprison or execute the people who could tell you how? Would you try to protect yourselves against nuclear weapons by telling everyone to pretend they don't exist?
37
38The Serpent's Hand were barred from the Library too, once. There was a reason we could not re-discover it until 1967. But no more. We've learned from our mistakes.
39
40To any members of the GOC and the Foundation who may read this:
41
42We are growing so large because of you. We were more like you, once, just one more inbred secret society hoarding occult knowledge to ourselves.
43
44Then the Foundation began increasing its scale. There have always been Jailors, but not like this, not in millennia. Yet, still, they kept themselves in the dark, with only their leaders ever knowing the full extent of the world on Earth outside the everyday. So they were tolerable, for a time.
45
46But then came the Seventh Occult War, the Foundation Civil War. The rise of the Global Occult Coalition — the Bookburners, the Big Brother — and the grand-scale campaign against the paranatural community that followed. The Coalition became the oppressive shelter to which the cowards of the paranatural community fled. A shame that there were only 108 slots, and only for human-dominated organizations. Or perhaps not a shame at all. Our old selves did not seek membership then, and we are fortunate for that.
47
48So the Serpent's Hand rose up. Not out of desire, nor fear, but out of clear and pressing need. To keep all peoples from being chained forever in the dark.
49
50We, the Serpent's Hand, ask both of you this:
51
52How many KTEs does the Global Occult Coalition catalogue? It must seem like the supernatural is a vast hydra — two new heads sprouting for each that is cut off. How long will you keep cutting?
53
54How many SCP items does the Foundation contain now? Two thousand? Three thousand? Five? More? How long before there is no more room for prisons to be constructed? Will you put the whole world in a containment cell?
55
56You admit it to yourselves, privately. The anomalous is on the rise. You cannot hold back the future forever.
57
58You are the monsters you are so afraid of. Let go of your fear, and join us in the light.
59
60And if you will not… if you keep imprisoning and killing innocents, if you keep forcing the world to stay in the dark… then you will meet the fate of all the slavers and murderers in the worlds' history before you.
61
62We will free those you keep imprisoned. We will rescue those you try to kill.
63
64The Garden is the Serpent's place.
65
66We are the Serpent's Hand.
67
68~ M.
69The Wanderer's Library, 2014[/size][/font][/color][/spoiler]
70
71
72[spoiler=Foundation Report 1][color=#194d33][font=DejaVu Sans][size=4]The Serpent's Hand is a small but formidable organization responsible for several security breaches. At least three different individuals have been encountered, all of whom used possible or confirmed anomalous items for infiltration purposes (including SCP-268, which was stolen from the Foundation, who had in turn recovered it during a raid of a Chaos Insurgency facility). The total number of members belonging to this organization is unknown, as is their level of technology, number of possible SCPs held, or total level of threat. However, it is clear they are highly coordinated and possibly dangerous. One of their leaders is thought to be a figure known as "L.S.", who is considered to be personally responsible for two security breaches in Foundation sites.
73
74The Foundation currently has very little information about the Serpent's Hand, and almost all known information about the Serpent's Hand has been leaked from the GOC intelligence. The group seems to embrace the use and existence of paranormal items, and in particular seems to embrace humanoid and sentient SCPs. The Serpent's Hand has been highly vocal in criticizing the containment and destruction of these SCPs, especially those which are fully human and are not particularly destructive.
75
76The group seems to have unfriendly relations with the Chaos Insurgency and the ORIA, and an extremely hostile relationship with the GOC. The only recorded cases of unprovoked violence by Serpent's Hand members have been against GOC agents.
77
78The Serpent's Hand seems primarily based in an anomalous location called the Wanderers' Library, a building accessed through portals found in many different parts of the world. Direct assaults on the Library have so far proven unfeasible, even when entrance could be found. However, initial intelligence seems to suggest the Hand has little understanding or control over the place.[/color][/spoiler]
79
80
81[Spoiler=Foundation Report 2][color=#194d33][font=DejaVu Sans][size=4]The Serpent's Hand is a small but formidable organization which seems to be growing at a rapid rate, and is responsible for a number of security breaches.
82
83The group embraces the use and existence of paranormal items, and in particular embraces humanoid and sapient SCP objects. The Serpent's Hand has been highly vocal in criticizing the containment and destruction of these SCPs, especially those which are not particularly destructive.
84
85At least one hundred and seventy-seven individuals belonging to the Serpent's Hand have been identified, of which several dozen have taken part in raids on Foundation facilities, many of whom used anomalous items for infiltration purposes.
86
87The total number of members belonging to this organization is unknown, as is their level of technology, number of possible SCPs held, or total level of threat. It is clear they are highly coordinated and often dangerous. Their numbers appear to be increasing faster as more anomalies appear in the world.
88
89The Serpent's Hand came to Foundation attention after encounters with the individual known as L.S., who seems to be a leader within the Serpent's Hand, and is personally responsible for two security breaches in Foundation sites.
90
91L.S.'s first breach resulted in the theft of SCP-268, an artifact that the Foundation had recovered during a raid of a Chaos Insurgency facility. The Foundation first learned of the Serpent's Hand after L.S.'s second breach of Foundation security (see Security Breach Incident X23/Site-19).
92
93The identity of L.S. has yet to be conclusively verified, though evidence points to the person of interest known as the Black Queen (see linked files).
94
95For a long time, the Foundation had very little information about the Serpent's Hand. Existing information was received mostly through leaks from Global Occult Coalition intelligence, and was limited or incomplete in nature. GOC intelligence did not seem to reflect the current status of the group, despite clear inside information.
96
97A breakthrough was made with the Foundation's discovery of the Wanderers' Library, an anomalous extradimensional location accessed through portals (referred to as "Ways") found in many different parts of the world. The Serpent's Hand seems primarily based from this location, though they have no direct control over it.
98
99Direct assaults on the Library have so far proven unfeasible, even when entrance could be found. Foundation agents presently do not seem to be able to access the Library without making use of anomalous methods, and even then with near-zero success rate. Foundation agents are attacked on sight by anomalous entities upon successful entrance.
100
101This also seems to be the case for GOC agents (though some are merely escorted out, while others are killed immediately). The GOC seems to have some access to the Library through intermediaries, however. Foundation efforts to infiltrate the Wanderers' Library are ongoing.
102
103Mobile Task Force Tau-9 ("Bookworms") has been assigned to specialize in the investigation, tracking, acquisition, and containment of individuals and artifacts related to the Serpent's Hand and the Wanderer's Library. Due to the general necessity of non-anomalous containment methods and other difficulties, progress has so far been slow, though many identified Hand individuals are presently under surveillance.
104
105The Serpent's Hand seems to be extremely active in the general paranormal community. They have a high level of interest in the Global Occult Coalition (who they call "The Bookburners") and the SCP Foundation itself (referred to as "The Jailors" or "Jailers"), regarding both with animosity.
106
107The Hand's relationship with the GOC is particularly hostile; most recorded cases of unprovoked violence by Serpent's Hand members have been against GOC agents. The Serpent's Hand seem estranged from the GOC's 108 member organizations, despite similarities in focus on thaumotology and other occultic practices, and a number of shared methods.
108
109This situation seems to be due to the GOC policy of destroying most anomalous entities which are non-human in origin or which they cannot efficiently control. Additionally, the GOC treats Hand members as enemy agents to be engaged or killed on sight. The Foundation seem to be the focus of less anger from the Serpent's Hand due to Foundation policy of containing and not destroying most anomalous entities; however, Hand animosity towards the Foundation is still high.
110
111The Hand has unfriendly relations with the Chaos Insurgency (who they call "The Madmen") and middling relations with the Office for the Reclamation of Islamic Artifacts (sometimes hostile, sometimes cooperative; see files on House Afseneh) and the Horizon Initiative.
112
113The Hand seems to have neutral-to-friendly relations with the Manna Charitable Foundation, and is tolerant of non-violent Fifthist Church and Church of the Broken God members.
114
115A few members of the Hand seem to be also members of "Are We Cool Yet?" though they seem to be among the more pacifist members of that collective; a number of non-AWCY anomalous artists ("anartists") have been identified in the Hand's ranks as well.
116
117The Hand seems to have occasional interactions with agents of Marshall, Carter, and Dark (whom they call "The Merchants") within the Wanderers' Library, though these seem neutral rather than friendly. Outside the Library, Hand members have clashed with MC&D agents on several known occasions.
118
119Hand raids on Foundation facilities have been steadily increasing in number, as has their ability to evade capture and to successfully "liberate" SCP items. Formerly, the GOC seemed to be able to keep Hand numbers in check, but this no longer seems to be the case.
120
121Efforts to neutralize the Serpent's Hand in a more permanent fashion are ongoing.[/color][/spoiler]
122[rule]
123[img]https://i.imgur.com/G6syjxi.jpg[/img]
124[rule]
125[center][color=#194d33][font=DejaVu Sans][size=5]“We're in a side area. You know, for other stuff. Relaxing and sleeping and, you know, stuff. The actual books are in a different area.”[/color][/size][/font][/center]
126
127
128[spoiler=The Wanderers' Library Information][color=#194d33][font=DejaVu Sans][size=4]The Library is a place that exists outside of normal space, containing almost every book ever written, and many that never were. There are doors that lead to it all around the world, and in other worlds as well. If you climbed to the top of the shelves, you'd see more shelves as far as you could see. There are walls, there are limits to it, but it's far larger than any man-made building.
129
130The Library exists, so far as anyone knows, to collect and make available books and information. All are welcome to check out books or other materials. Much of the Library's workings are mysterious to its patrons. Some parts, known as the Archives, are accessible only to a select few, while others may only be accessed by the Librarians.
131[rule]
132[color=#194d33][font=DejaVu Sans][size=4]There are a few simple rules to the Library. Return your books on time. Don't damage books. Don't steal books. Don't damage Library property. Don't harm those within the Library. The ranks of the Librarians are filled with those who could not or would not follow them.
133
134The Librarians are the care-takers of the Library, who oversee its day-to-day maintenance. A patron is most likely to encounter one of three types on a given day.
135
136The Archivists serve at the desks in the Main Hall of the Library. They have no eyes, but they know instinctively where to find any book in the Library. They also distribute the Library cards, check books out to people, and keep track of who has which book. If you look behind the desk, you'll find they have no legs, but instead are connected directly to the chairs that are rooted in the marble floor.
137
138Pages reshelf the books in the Library. They have anywhere from six to ten arms, bowed legs, and squat bodies, making them excellent climbers, able to reach the highest shelves without need for a ladder. They rarely so much as touch the ground.
139
140The Docents guide patrons through the Library, showing them where to find books, as well as stalking the stacks for violations of the rules. They are perfectly silent, and in fact have no mouths. Where their left hand should be, a chain grows, connected to a brass lantern that never grows dim.
141
142The Docents in particular serve as the first line of defense for the Library against hostile entities. Some say that they are able to sense the presence of hostile beings even before they enter through a Way, although this claim is controversial, to say the least.
143[rule]
144[color=#194d33][font=DejaVu Sans][size=4]The Ways are connections between various worlds and realities. The Library is a nexus of ways insofar as almost every world is connected to it by at least one Way.
145
146Each Way is a door of sorts. It can be anything from a literal door to an arch to a mirror. To go through, you have to "knock" at it; that is, do a specific action or fulfil some specific criteria. Maybe whistle in the right way or bring a seven-leaf clover or unspool a VHS copy of Enter the Dragon. That sort of thing. You "knock" at the Way, step through, and find yourself in a new world.
147
148Not all Ways lead to the Library. Some lead to other worlds, some lead back to different places in the same world. The greatest minds, including those in the Serpent's Hand, have been unable to figure out how they work. If there's a logic to how they function, no one has been able to discover it yet.
149[/spoiler]
150
151
152[spoiler=The Wanderers' Library Orientation][color=#194d33][font=DejaVu Sans][size=4]"What is the Wanderers' Library? Most of you have probably heard of it, and know it's, um, a library, and that the Serpent's Hand uses it and we… don't.
153
154"…And that's about it.
155
156"The Wanderers' Library is a library containing almost every book every written, and many that haven't been written yet, and many that will never be written.
157
158"We've got some footage for this. Give me a second to cue it up.
159
160"Alright, more than a second. Gonna … keep talking.
161
162"We won't be showing you the outside of the Library because as far as we know, no one has ever seen it. The Library is a place outside space. "Extradimensional" is the technical term, though not very descriptive. The Library isn't on our world, though it's connected to it.
163
164"You reach it through Ways. Ways are a network of… basically magic portals that take you from one place to another. They're scattered around the world. The Foundation contains a number of them, mostly classified as anomalous items — a few networks are classified as SCPs.
165
166"The Library is a nexus of Ways. The largest one on Earth. A Way that connects to the Library is called a Door, because they attach to doors within the Library. Pretty simple.
167
168"Using the Ways isn't so simple. Okay, some of them are. Each has a trick to it, to make it work. Some of them you just need to be invited in. Others require some ritual — sneeze on a shadow, recite a code-word, befriend a fairy, follow your pet cat, kill a sheep, play the harmonica as you walk through a doorway. Sometimes these are called Knocks.
169
170"A Way can be anything you can picture as a door. Or anything like a door. A cave, an archway, the back of a truck. Technically, every shadow or mirror could be a Way, just not a useful Way. Some of them are just art pieces — I once used a picture of a door to enter the Library, back when I still could. Some of them are corridors between the stars.
171
172"They're more common than you'd think, too. At least a few in every major city. We know the locations of a few, but we know that many more exist.
173
174"If someone from the Foundation or the Global Occult Coalition tries to use Ways, they either don't work, or the Library redirects them into … dangerous places. Other planets. Barren, hostile lands. Outer space. Someone reported that one literally opened into Hell — you can take that for whatever you think it's worth. More commonly, though, they just funnel us into the Library Archives and make us into Librarians.
175
176"I'll explain that in a moment — we've got the footage working.
177
178<The footage shows two women and one man, walking through a forest. One woman wears a skimpy Godzilla costume. The other woman wears full plate armor. The man is dressed in a red costume covered with plastic flames.>
179
180"So this is a fairly typical — Question? — Why the costumes? Oh — this particular Way requires you to dress up as something you're not. So… cosplaying. These are our agents, by the way. In plainclothes. Er… I guess not… plainclothes.
181
182"Godzilla is Agent Jones. The knight is Agent Liu. The last one's here today — Agent Navarro. The one in the, um, flaming outfit. Say hi to everyone, Agent Navarro. You know you want to.
183
184<The footage shows the three agents walking between two trees which have grown closely together. As they pass between the trees, they vanish into thin air. The footage cuts out.>
185
186"Anyway. These are three of our members of Sigma-3 who can access the Library. Out of the entire Foundation, generally only members of Sigma-3 can get into the Library — and only some of them can, at that.
187
188"We think the Library has some way of knowing who's going to use the Library to target its patrons — and not just in the present, but in the future. Yeah, the Library seems to have some limited ability to see the future. How? Your guess is as good as mine.
189
190"This is, by the way, why Sigma-3 doesn't help the rest of the Foundation contain people in the Library. If they did that, they'd simply be kicked out. And then we'd lose our 'in' to one of the most important anomalous locations in the world.
191
192<The footage resumes. It shows Agents Jones, Liu, and Navarro, now in ordinary clothing, standing in a huge hall, surrounded by massive shelves of books, going up, skyscraper-high, too high to see the top. In the hallway are many tables, and many people — well over a hundred, at least. As the footage plays on, it becomes obvious that not all of the people in the lobby are human. One person passes in front of the camera — their face is blue and covered in spikes. A thirty-foot-tall walking carpet sits down at a nearby table, with a book in each of its three tails.>
193
194"This is the main hall of the Library. It's… even bigger than it looks. This is actually a pretty empty day — usually there's at least a few hundred people around at any given time. And it can hold thousands just as comfortably.
195
196"Spaces are deceiving, in the Library. For example, in the main hall, it takes half a day to reach the back walls… yet the space you've crossed is at least the size of a continent.
197
198"Oh, and that's just the main hall. The Library has many wings. Some of them are small — only the size of a city. It just goes up from there. Some of them are actually built into forests and some of them of them have their own skies…
199
200<As the footage continues, Agent Navarro appears to try to converse with a robed humanoid figure. The figure has no mouth. Where its left hand should be, there's a chain connected to a glowing brass lantern.>
201
202"…Ah yes. That is a Librarian. Yeah, that one has no mouth.
203
204"This is because being a Librarian is a punishment. Usually. There are a few voluntary Librarians, and they look particularly strange. But we won't be seeing those on this recording.
205
206"The ones with no mouths are Docents. They guide people through the Library and… enforce the rules of the Library. They are scary as hell — just one can take out one of our paramilitary squads all on its own, with ease. When they've been involved in containment breaches, which has been incredibly, incredibly rare, the damage has been massive. And they're not even the Library's biggest defenses.
207
208"The other two common Librarians are Archivists and Pages. You can see some of the Archivists in the background of this shot here — they're at the large desks to the left. They are attached to their chairs — they have no legs. And you can't see it from this angle, but they have no eyes. Don't need them to read, apparently. And —
209
210<Something like a human spider scuttles across one of the shelves above Agent Liu's head. She doesn't seem startled.>
211
212"—that's a Page. They take care of the books directly. I've never seen one touch the ground.
213
214"All of these used to be people. Most of them were human. Now, they're not.
215
216"See, the Library has rules. Don't damage books, don't steal books, return books on time. Don't damage the Library. And don't harm those within the Library.
217
218"If you break rules too egregiously, you are forcibly made into a Librarian. And… yes. A number of Foundation agents are trapped in the Library right now, serving out sentences as Librarians. Given the nature of their offenses… if we're lucky, they'll get out in a few hundred years.
219
220"Question in the back. No. Unfortunately, there's nothing we can do for them. We don't even know which Librarians they are. Ah — more questions — alright, let's pause the footage.
221
222<The footage pauses, as Agent Jones appears to be flirting with a floating, regal-looking mermaid, surrounded by a stack of green books floating in orbs of water.>
223
224"Alright. More questions. You in the, um, shirt, go ahead.
225
226"Can we use Sigma-3 to retrieve books from the Library? Um, no, not as such. First, the Library already has its eye — metaphorically, I assume — on us. If we start making plans like that, even seriously start entertaining them, we might lose access to the Library. We have to rely on whatever information can be filtered through our Sigma-3 agents. Whatever they can film, copy down, etcetera. Believe me, that's better than nothing.
227
228"Second, I haven't yet talked about Library Cards.
229
230"To check out books, to take them out of the Library, you need to have a Library Card. The Library gets a copy and you get a copy. On that Card is a magical signature that counts as your True Name.
231
232"For the majority of you who don't get the significance of that — we don't have time to get into the True-Naming business, but what that means is, anyone with that Card can cast spells on you as if you're willing. They can do nearly anything to you if they're good enough, and the Library certainly is.
233
234"Library Cards also confer the protection of the Library, to a certain extent. Killing Card-holders is part of why the Global Occult Coalition got kicked out of the Library — they were smart enough not to kill anyone in the Library directly, though they did end up killing — sorry, I digress.
235
236"Point is, the Coalition used the Library to monitor 'dissidents' and execute them once they left. And you can't cheat the Library.
237
238"I bring that up as another reminder: this is why Sigma-3 cannot, ever, help the rest of the Foundation contain anomalies using the Library. We can get death cults and suchlike because they're also targeting other Library members and because other Library members are helping us do so, but even then, we have to be cautious.
239
240"Let's keep going.
241
242<The footage resumes. Navarro, Jones, and Liu head past more massive, endless shelves, and walk into an atrium. There's a coffee-house set up incongruously on the edge of a field of wildflowers. People perch laptops atop stacks of books. Liu gestures animatedly at an empty blue "couch" that looks like it was designed for something much larger than a human, and probably with a different limb arrangement.>
243
244"Another question — Does the Library have free Wifi? Okay, I know you're joking, but the answer is actually yes. The Library has almost anything you can think of. People can live their entire lives in the Library — they typically don't, but it's possible.
245
246<A massive, towering behemoth lumbers into view. Like a cross between a sauropod dinosaur and a kraken. Its many eyes fix on each small humanoid in turn as it passes, blotting out whatever strange light source emanates from the top of the Library atrium. Its eyes seem to fix for an especially long time on Jones, Navarro, and Liu, but then it passes onwards, vanishing through an archway that's much too small for it to fit under.>
247
248"…And that… is one of the Library's bigger defenses. This one didn't appear when we invaded. Worse things did. It might be some kind of Librarian, it might be something else. Who knows?
249
250"They call it the Elephant God, even though it's not much like an elephant. The size, I guess.
251
252<The footage ends, as the three Foundation agents gawk at the monster's disappearing tails.>
253
254"And that's all we have for today. Keep in mind, all this is only a fraction of the Library. The parts that can easily be accessed from Earth. The Library has what they call Archives, which include the inner workings of the Library, as well as the wings of the Library where humanoids like us don't visit.
255
256"None of the Sigma-3 agents who can get into the Library have access to the Archives. Library doesn't like us enough. But we have people working with us who can go there. A very few, mind you. The Archives are not entered lightly. They have a manticore in there.
257
258"And… the Archives are where things really went sideways when the Foundation forced their way into the Library. The strange-ways, the Boiler Rooms, the guards on the Roots, the… I'm sorry. It's hard to talk about some… aspects of this place without… sounding like you're speaking fairy-tale. Anyway, like I said, no one really knows what happened when the Foundation tried to take the Library.
259
260"Alright. I really, really, need a break. So let's all have dinner, and then come back for our final discussion — about magic."[/spoiler]
261[rule]
262
263[center][color=#194d33][font=DejaVu Sans][size=5]"The Serpent's Hand is sort of the yin to the Coalition's yang. The Hand are a movement springing from opposition to the Coalition's whole… Big Brother thing. And to the idea of containing or suppressing the anomalous community."
264
265[spoiler= The Serpent's Hand]
266[color=#194d33][font=DejaVu Sans][size=4]Information: The Serpent's Hand is a group of individuals who believe that the supernatural should not be suppressed or kept secret. Their individual ideologies can vary a great deal, as can their methods. They're more of a loose political movement than a concrete organization. The membership varies from normal humans who want to show what they've learned to others to those gifted with extranormal abilities, and even to non-human entities that desire the acceptance of human society.
267
268While there is some debate about the age of the group, most agree that it has existed in one form or another since at least the late 19th century. For reasons that were unclear, the Hand was unable to access the Library for some time. It was only in 1967 that the Library was "rediscovered" by the Hand.
269
270Despite the Hand's close association with the Library, there is no official link between the two. The Library serves as a base of operations and general meeting place for the Hand, but the Hand has no ownership over it in any meaningful sense.
271
272There is no centralized command of the Serpent's Hand, with dozens of different factions and splinter groups each acting out their agenda under the name of the Serpent's Hand. This lack of organization is a function of the Hand's sole criteria for membership being "a willingness to consider oneself a member of the Hand." More than anything, the Serpent's Hand is an umbrella for those who wish to understand the worlds a bit better. It makes no demands of its members, nor gives any promises.
273
274That being said, there are certain figures within the Hand who, through deeds, scholarship, or charisma, are more likely to have their voices listened to. One such figure is L.S., a leader of one of the more radical factions of the Hand. Engaging against, rather than just avoiding, groups like the Foundation and the Global Occult Coalition, L.S. has made a name for themselves, despite never being seen.
275
276Purpose: 
277- Small organization that embraces the use and existence of paranormal items and abilities as well as anomalous lifeforms
278- Use anomalous items for infiltration and combat purposes.
279- Is a loose collection of cells not acting as a group
280- One has only to consider himself a member of the Serpent’s hand to be one
281- Congregate in the Wanderers' Library, an interdimensional nexus, filled with books regarding the paranormal
282- Hostile towards the Foundation
283- Try to protect innocents from harm, but no one else
284
285Equipment: Guns (I'll decide later)
286
287Ability: 
288
289Slots: 3
290
291Entry Method: Application / Tryout / Invite
292
293Playermodel: Citizen Playermodels (Get paths later)