This file was locked in 2014 and is no longer considered "ACTIVE"
Described Item classified as "DISASTROUS", DO NOT REACTIVATE ANOMALY
| Item: | Paper Colleague |
| Type: | Special Operative |
| Living: | Yes |
| Sentient: | Yes (multiple) |
| Potential/Current Hazards | rogue/parallel Insurgency Cells, counterintelligence |
| Location: | Worldwide |
| Reported Anomaly: | independent, multi-personality, incorporeal Intelligence |
Usage
The phenomenon is currently used by several branches of the Chaos Insurgency. If the use of this Item is requested a request may be filed with the Department for Internal Affairs.
To perpetually keep the Item in a desirable state every base employing the Item must have at least one staff member designated as Overseer. All classified Overseers may not be reassigned or terminated. Overseers are required to attend face to face meetings with designated contact persons at least once a week to confirm there continued efforts in item deployment. The item can be activated by interacting regularly with one of its personalities. For quick deployment one or more cardboard cutouts may be installed. This usually shortens activation from weeks to hours and in extreme cases seconds.
Workforce
Several bases are almost exclusively staffed by the phenomenon. This has enabled the rapid expansion of several smaller operations. Work provided by the item is adequate to exceptional. All physical research conducted by the item must be overseen by a member of Overseer Staff, before it is to be filed in Insurgency servers.
Recruitment
Several small to middling organizations may be infected with the item, to ease an Insurgency takeover of the organization. A "Cardboard Cutout" of one of several "Recruiter" fictional Insurgents are sent to such companies. Once the cutout has left the post and is installed the phenomenon will take hold within the organization even if the cutout is torn down again. "Recruiters" are special in the regard that they will call back their superior and act as a normal Insurgency Infiltration agent, even impersonating other employees. Some "Recruiters" are even able to begin the infiltration as soon as the package is opened, without the need for the cutout to actually be installed.
Backup
Several Backups of important Insurgency Personnel were made using the Phenomenon. These Backups take the form of cardboard cutouts of selected Beta and Alpha staff members as well as several experienced field operatives (for training purposes). Packages containing these cutouts are stored in several locations and some were shipped with explicit instructions to be delivered at a specific future date to several locations that would put up cardboard cutouts of unknown persons, such as schools, art institutions and Insurgency safe houses. These packages will be delivered until 2025. Than a new set of packages will need to be set in motion as to update the Backups. Several Backups were also sealed in time capsules that are not scheduled to be opened.
Report
The item consists of a phenomenon in which several positions within an infected organizations appear filled and active, but are in fact empty. This is usually the case where jobs can be done via messages, reports and filings. A paper trail consistent with the expected work will be found in the appropriate places. Depending on the grade of infection an entire company can be fully empty, but have a paper trail consistent with the employment of well over 200 employees. This includes sticky-notes, receipt for purchases in the cafeteria1 and apparently scrapped drafts in wastebaskets. The phenomenon seems able to simulate multiple independent persons and their associated paper trails. It was discovered that only 21% of simulated staff had a paper trail outside of there respective company, with 79% first appearing as a job application within known records. Investigations into persons with a paper trail outside of the organization showed that they had either quit the company, had been fired or died.
The phenomenon seemingly drives out real members of the infected organizations and runs the company/community fully independent as a result.
This happens in several distinct stages (as reconstructed by the paper trail):
Stage One (First Contact)
A part of the anomaly comes into contact with a real organization. This either happens by the anomaly being contracted to work for the new organization, a persona of an infected company is invited to some function or an organization receives first contact by the anomaly, ether via inquiry, legal threat or job application.
Stage Two (Cardboard Cutouts)
The real organization receives packages containing cardboard cutouts of various persons, that may or may not already work within the real organization. Should these cardboard cutouts be ignored a takeover is slowed down significantly. As soon as the cutouts are assembled the next phase begins.
Stage Three (Unseen Help)
Several workers that have their own likeness on a cardboard cutout start to find there paperwork done by someone else, that apparently signs and writes in their handwriting. This is usually explained away by the upper management after an investigation would find no signs of foul play. While this "help" usually starts from persons that have a cardboard counterpart
this phenomena will soon spread. In cases where the initial cardboard cutout, does not resemble an already employed member of the organization the cutout will provide "help" as the person depicted would define it, to the real organization (or to the originating organization).
Stage Four (Silence Severance)
As work for several employees is no longer done by them some people no longer show up to work or quit. The resulting resignation letters are filed but then ignored. As more and more real members quit this phenomenon seems to drive out actual management and take there place by infecting other departments, such as legal and accounting. In this stage the item may also try to infect unions and investigating police.
Stage Five (Closing Shop)
The anomaly quits all current obligations with other healthy organizations and only simulates these connections within internal papers from then on. In a final move the phenomena discharges the last remaining real persons within the organization or withholds payments to make these persons quit.
Stage Six (Running Silent)
Now fully operated by the phenomenon the company starts to hire its own creations into the company. These creations consist of fully fictional persons with more and more bizarre personalities and character defects. It establishes a history of these fictional characters within the company before moving on to the next stage. The anomaly seems to lose cohesion with reality in this stage.
Stage Seven (Reaching out to the outside)
The phenomenon sends applications, legal threats and inquiries constructed in the name of these new fictional workers to seemingly random contacts.
Stage Eight (Death of a Ghost)
As an outside company is brought in to interact with the infected company most of the time the untenable state of the company is discovered and the infected company is closed down as a fraud operation. The Foundation in cooperation with local law enforcement has been reliable in burning the paper-trail and remaining cardboard cutouts.
The Insurgency is currently profiting from keeping the item perpetually in stage three. As the Chaos Insurgency is uniquely qualified to move human assets as soon as it is confirmed that a simulation of a person exists within one location, the usual complaints can be explained away with the use of amnesics, no persons actually need to quit.
This has enabled the expansion of Insurgency operation, with one employee being able to work at several locations. The only prerequisite seems to be to keep at least a staff population of more than one at any given base to keep the item to move towards phase five. The item may become delusional anyway if there work is not actually observed for inconsistency and plausibility.
Several Cardboard Cutouts of highly relevant Insurgency staff as well as several fictional Insurgents with desirable traits were moved into long term storage in Base Post-Center 1 and other relevant Bases secret storage. These cutouts are kept inactive by technically still being in the post. Open packages and deploy as necessary. Letter communications with "Paper Admins" show that they have the full memories of the original and act as the original would. Only when left in stage six would the memories degrade and the original personality be damaged.
NOTE: It has come to the attention of Senior Administration that several one staff operations have gone silent. It appears the Cells of the Insurgency fully staffed by the phenomenon have started to hire hit-man to kill the last remaining members of staff or have moved offices without notifying there overseers. These cells seem to still be operative as Insurgency Cells, but do no longer respond to outside commands. These rogue Cells are to be exterminated. If possible a GOI is to be tipped of about their locations as to possibly infect these organizations. Cells that have been kept at the edge to stage six usually descend into delusion very quickly. Information a GOI might gain from such a delusional cell can be considered counterintelligence. Usually the cell loses all ties to reality within 48 hours of fully separating from the Insurgency. Such cells seem to follow one or several of Insurgency protocols that are in place in case of memetic infection, traitors within the organizations or out of control admin staff. These protocols usually scramble their paper trail very thoroughly. Several items must be considered lost do to these rogue Insurgency Cells. The security measures of the Item for workforce deployment are currently under review.
NOTE 2: It appears that the Foundation having been tipped of to so many "Paper Colleague" Insurgency Cells has classified the Insurgency as inactive. As our agents inside the Foundation confirm the Insurgency has been reclassified from a GOI to a Keter Class3 anomaly. We encourage the wrong conclusion the Foundation has drawn. We will cease outward operation to further confirm to the behavior the Foundation suspects of us. In accordance with this new strategy we regret to inform that we will be closing down several operations for the foreseeable future. This includes the deployment of this item.
File Closed and Locked, 21 August 2014
