The last of the #Abaddon Anomalies are almost here, so I wanted to talk about where we stand today.

The last of the #Abaddon Anomalies are almost here, so I wanted to talk about where we stand today.

I figured I would try to tell the story of #Abaddon from the beginning. Kind of a challenge, but I'm up for it...

Most folks know about the Niantic Project: A group of artists and scientists thrown together in a high-intensity think tank sponsored by the NIA in order to study the effects of Exotic Matter. Most folks also know that Ezekiel Calvin, an NIA Field Operative, was largely responsible for its creation. 

During the course of the Project, the Ingress Scanner app was developed, as well as many of the primary XM objects in use today like Resonators and XMPs. We also learned about Shaper Glyphs, Chaotic Matter and the mind-enhancing/mind-altering power of XM. The project ended after things spun out of control: the Ingress Scanner app leaked to the public, one of Lynton-Wolfe's Power Cube tests ended in disaster, Devra and Jarvis tried to escape the facility and Jarvis was shot by two NIA operatives. In short, a royal mess.

That understanding of the Niantic Project is true, but now we've learned that there was something deeper, and darker, at play as well. That's the secret that has only come out during #Abaddon.

So it turns out the Ezekiel Calvin knew a hell of a lot more about XM before the Niantic Project began. He knew about 13MAGNUS and Anti-Magnus: ancient forces that had been preserving the ritual knowledge of XM for millennia and trying to use it to influence history and enhance the power of the Shapers or the N'zeer (respectively). He knew about Simulacra -- XM-based 'replicas' of people that can functionally live forever. He knew about Prime Artifacts, ancient objects that contain hidden XM technology of a sophistication we are only beginning to fathom. And he knew about Magnus-Nests, the places where those Artifacts can be activated (like the 13MAGNUS cave in Afghanistan, or the ruins beneath Persepolis).

It turns out, what Calvin was really trying to do during the Niantic Project was study and exploit the power of Simulacra and create his own Magnus-Nest. It's looking pretty likely at this point that each of the researchers at Niantic was, at some point in the Project, forcibly turned into a Simulacrum without them even knowing. 

Why did he do this? Probably to shift the balance of power back to Anti-Magnus and the N'zeer and to bring to an end what (in his point of view) had been a dark-ages that had haunted mankind for thousands of years -- to start an era of fast technological progress and enhanced awareness of the universe.

Or maybe he did it because he wanted to consolidate a tremendous amount of power all to himself. Honestly, I don't know. 

So, after Niantic, all the researchers were Simulacra -- XM beings connected to the Portal Network. We probably wouldn't have found out if Jahan hadn't gone to the 13MAGNUS cave in Afghanistan with Hank Johnson and Azmati as her prisoners. 

Hank and Azmati made a move against Jahan there, and during the course of the fight, a piece of technology called the Shōnin Stone was activated. A massive XM explosion took place and reverberated around the world.

And the next thing we knew, all the researchers were Shards of consciousness trapped in the Portal Network. 

Agents around the world have been fighting to control and unify those XM Shards -- rebuilding the minds of the Researchers (and influencing them along the way) for almost a year now, and that struggle is about to come to an end.

Nine have been fought and won: 

Devra Bogdanovich- Resistance
Stein Lightman - Resistance
Misty Hannah - Resistance
Yuri Alaric Nagassa - Enlightened
Enoch Dalby - Resistance
Carrie Campbell - Resistance
Oliver Lynton-Wolfe - Enlightened
Victor Kureze - Resistance
Martin Schubert - Resistance

Three remain:

ADA
Roland Jarvis
Ezekiel Calvin himself.

On December 12th, the fate of the those last 3 will be decided, but the story doesn't end there.

Right now, if intel reports are to be believed, Hank Johnson and Jahan (enemies thrown together by circumstance) are working to recover a Prime Artifact that they think will lead them to -- and unlock -- #Abaddon. 

My best guess is that #Abaddon is a secret place (a Magnus-Nest) where Calvin performed the ritual that turned the Niantic researchers into Simulacra -- and it's where the real bodies of the Niantic Researchers are probably being stored.

Together, Hank and Jahan hope to bring these researchers back into our reality -- maybe as humans, if the Enlightened prevail in #Abaddon -- maybe as simulacra, if the Resistance prevail -- but physical and walking the earth either way.

That's the challenge they've set for themselves, and personally I hope they succeed. Returned, and changed by the actions of the Agents over the last year, these researchers will have a major impact on the research that will take place (and the balance of power) in the future.

So. Any questions? Let me know and I'll try and answer them for you, or maybe one of the Operation Essex investigators can step in and help you out.

P. A. Chapeau