tuberculosis-lover-69 - Tumblr blog

tuberculosis-lover-69 · 4 months ago

Text

Signals from Somewhere Else

After episode 22 of Protocol, there’s one thing (okay, maybe two things) that everyone is going to be talking about. But I don’t want to talk about that thing (yet. Okay, I lied, it might come up). Instead, I want to dive into some of the implications of this week’s case and how they might relate FR3-D1 [Error], and even Isaac Newton.

Spoilers for TMAGP episodes 21 and 22 below the cut. CW: we’re gonna talk about the brain stuff; probably overuse of the words “fleshy” and “wet” by I blame AJN for that.

Our case in this episode, graciously recounted by Peepaw Augustus, focuses on real-life German psychiatrist and neurologist Hans Berger, whose work led to the invention of the EEG and furthered our understanding of how brainwaves work. The experiment described in the case mirrors actual experiments that Berger completed while working at the University of Jena, including experimentation on a subject with a deformity that allowed easy access to the brain and the placement of silver wires under the scalp to measure electrical activity. Even Berger’s disappointing initial results seem to be in line with history.

Like in real life, the cosmic horrors of this case begin when Berger takes a little depression nap.

The description of “an ocean, deep and unforgiving… full of dark secrets” creates a striking image to be sure, but what’s more interesting to me here is what he recalls next: the “radio signals, invisible and unknowable.” Berger laments that it’s a “shame these two things would never meet,” and then proceeds to enable such a thing to happen, whether he realizes it or not.

He wakes up and is immediately “inspired” to alter the setup he is using to record Herr Schmidt’s brain activity. While Berger is unable to explain how he came up with the idea (we could tell him: it was The Horrors, bud), he transforms his recording device (an early version of an EEG) into a two-way wireless telegraph, using poor Herr Schmidt’s brain as the receiver for the very radio waves that, perhaps, were never meant to make contact with the world below. Berger sent a politely phrased request into the void, and the void screamed back.

Who or what was on the other side can only be guessed at. Was it John/Martin/Jonah, individually or Frankensteined into some horrid chimerical conscience (please read this great post and have your heart broken like me)? Was it The Fears of the Archives-verse, recombined and tossed about like naughty pears in a pear wiggler? Or was it something or someone else entirely? I’m leaning towards JMJ, in parts or as a whole, specifically because I suspect that Hans Berger’s strange (and wetly explosive, thanks Alexander J. Newell) discovery provides a clue to how [Error] and possibly FR3-D1 operate.

Let’s start with [Error]. Here’s what we know about them so far:

They were locked up in tunnels or a basement space under the Archivist’s office at the Manchester Magnus Institute

Something about them causes people, dead and alive, to recount their fears or horrible things that have happened to them (I am not using the word compel here, even though it is used in the transcript for episode 21, and that is on purpose)

They seem very invested in getting the entire story out (this is, admittedly, speculation, as it’s unclear as to whether “THERE IS MORE” is in reference to more victims or more of Gwen’s story)

They have some really weird dogs

I’ve seen a lot of folks speculate that [Error] is or was the Head Archivist in the Protocol universe, and I’ve also seen a lot of folks speculate that [Error] is or was John (and therefore also The Archivist). I think either of these could be true, but more than anything, I think [Error] is a high-powered antenna with the ability to turn the people around them into speakers. Or maybe Speakers? I do love a good capitalization.

What if the “esteemed brethren” of The Magnus Institute were all too aware of the unusual results of Berger’s experimentation, and hoped to tap into the unusual consciousness(es) floating around in the radio waves and ether of the universe by creating their own version? Perhaps they thought they could create a direct conduit (think almost like a psychic medium) through a person, someone who might be able to communicate with whatever is out there and be able to relay its/their esoteric knowledge to help further the Institute’s goals of “Universal Transmutation.” We know already that the Institute was interested in doppelgangers and perhaps alternate universes and that they had a lot of irons in the fire (the Millenium Dome, the gifted child programme, Welling’s Mutare Materia research program, the various outreach centres), so it would hardly be surprising if they were also experimenting in communicating with “the beyond” to try and gain more knowledge.

And maybe it worked. Maybe they were able to create or transmute someone into an antenna, capable of receiving these strange signals, except these mixed signals were too powerful and ultimately took over. Perhaps [Error] is the natural consequence of who or whatever was speaking to Berger finally getting “OUT.” And if who or whatever was speaking to Berger happened to include the fractured consciousness of a hungry Archivist, well then, we have an interesting case for [Error]. [Error], whether or not they were an/The Archivist in this universe, could now be directed by the desires of The Archivist, channeling The Archivist’s thoughts and abilities but with a power greater than that we ever saw in John (or, perhaps, the same power but completely unrestrained by his remaining humanity). Or [Error] could be channeling The Fears themselves, bringing parts of them through not unlike they were brought through in The Magnus Archives.

Either way, I doubt that creating a connection between whatever was out there and the physical world led to the results the Institute was hoping for.

[Error] is receiving the signal to feed, but the signal coming through is so loud and so powerful that instead of politely asking to snack on some horror stories, coming into contact with them instead allows them to pick up on a person’s horrible experience and forces them to broadcast it to the world. It’s possible that, upon creating [Error] or losing control of [Error], those at The Magnus Institute locked them up and cut them off from the dangerous signal they were receiving… Sam accidentally poking a big hole in the floor (and the alchemical signals inscribed in it) could have reestablished the connection between [Error] and the force guiding them.

Now let’s talk about FR3-D1. We know that FR3-D1so far is that it

Is a “bespoke” internet software developed sometime in the mid-90s, apparently designed to search the internet for spooky stuff

Has German source code

Crashes, constantly, much to Colin’s dismay (? Or maybe he’s helping those crashes along to stop it from listening in… but that’s a theory for another time)

Has, within the last year or so of Sam joining the O.I.A.R., started running a text-to-speech program that reads certain cases out in one of three voices, two of which are familiar to anyone who has listened to The Magnus Archives

Occasionally has some unusual .JMJ errors

Seems to be “targeting” Sam with specific cases related to The Magnus Institute

Is believed to be “listening in” by Colin, Alice, and Sam (which is supported by what we know as the audience)

Has been working “better” since Colin has been on mandatory mental health leave

May have some connection to the Stasi, the secret police force of Communist East Germany before the fall of the USSR

Is assumed (by us as the audience) to have some kind of sentience

There are some other items (notably the spreadsheets found in the ARG that appear to be from or connected to FR3-D1and the emails Sam and Gwen have received) that could be connected to FR3-D1 but have not yet been confirmed. Yet aspects of FR3-D1 do seem to share some commonality with [Error], namely a level of sentience and the ability to locate the stories of people who have had horrifying supernatural encounters.

My speculation here is that FR3-D1 and [Error] were both constructed using the same premise or with the same goal in mind: to receive and channel the signals of entities or consciousnesses existing in or coming from “Somewhere Else”: FR3-D1 through a supernaturally or alchemically conceived software program, and [Error] through a supernaturally or alchemically conceived transmutation on a living human.

If this proves to be the case, then the results seem… distinct, albeit with the potential to be equally dangerous. FR3-D1 is more “controllable” and could potentially be better able to separate out the signals being received, manifesting as “Augustus,” “Chester,” and “Norris.” Now these “three” could still be part of homunculus-esque JohnMartinJonah consciousness, but perhaps the computer program is a little more stable and delineated than the fleshy wet mess of the human brain, and therefore what remains of each individual consciousness is able to act more distinctly and independently. In contrast, [Error] (and their fleshy wet mess of human brain) is receiving the signals all mixed and jumbled together, with no failsafes to keep them from “overloading” or being entirely taken over by The Horrors or JMJ or The JMJ Horrors. Given their spectral descriptions, it’s possible that fleshy human brain and body couldn’t take it anymore and, pun intended, gave up the ghost.

[Error] could be, in some ways, a bodiless, mindless soul acting on a confused mess of instinct and hunger; FR3-D1 is then, perhaps, the elevated mind, in (more) control but disconnected from a body and perhaps from a soul. Given the heavy influence of alchemy in The Magnus Protocol and the importance in alchemy of the number three, the Tria Prima, and the balance of mind, body, and soul, there may be a third entity we have yet to meet who, like FR3-D1 and [Error], are tuned into these signals from beyond and is eager to reunite with the rest… or perhaps FR3-D1 and [Error] are looking for a body of their own to inhabit and find balance (Sam, anyone?).

I feel like I myself am beginning to mix the signals I started with, but before I attempt to wrap this up, I do briefly want to throw one more piece of spaghetti on the wall, because I think it’ll wind up being something: the mention, specifically, of the silver wire the Berger used in his experiment.

It was Dr. Caton who recommended that Berger use the silver wire, as silver is known for being an effective conductor of electricity. Silver also holds importance as one of the seven metals of alchemy and as a possible base metal in the creation of a Philosopher’s Stone. Perhaps equally important here is that the Diana’s Tree, also known as the Arbor Philosophorum, is created using a solution including silver (or more accurately, silver nitrate) and mercury (one of the elements in the Tria Prima)… yep, the (sort of) same spooky tree created by Newton in TMAGP 19, where Newton gave his dog an existential crisis and Robert Hooke was like “burn it all down.” The conclusion we could draw here is that silver is used in both TMAGP 19 and TMAGP 22 to connect organic life to the unseeable Knowledge of some other plane… with potentially disastrous effects.

Whether it ends up being the case that FR3-D1 and [Error] are big antennas wirelessly receiving The Horrors or I’m totally off base, it seems pretty clear that Hans Berger “tuned in” to an unusual—and dangerous—signal, and what’s more, enabled that signal to connect with the Protocol world in a way that likely never should have happened.

88 notes · View notes

tuberculosis-lover-69 · 5 months ago

Text

tmagp 21 relisten notes

happy end of hiatus! beware of tmagp 21 and light tma spoilers below the cut!!

scene:

this is a continuation of the night of episode 20! so all of the events occurring in this episode are happening directly after the events of episode 20 with very little skipping forward

celia:

- we open with her trying to cheer sam up after their intervention of sorts in ep 20. shes concerned that hes upset over her and alice not wanting to be involved with his investigations and reacting poorly to him bringing up quitting

- she suggests that sam can stay at the OIAR while trying to make change from the inside

- when sam asks her about whats been bothering her, she says she has a "complicated immigration status" and this would stop her from taking jack with her.

- ive taken it as canon that celia is from the tma universe, but this is another clue towards that conclusion. this also implies that shes discovered a way to take her back to her original dimension, or at least knows enough about that process to decide she cant take jack back with her. but staying with him (in this universe) means she has some complicated decisions to make (im assuming this is partially about her struggles with teleporting)

sam:

- hes worried that alice is right about the morality of them working for the OIAR -> he can accept that the organization is evil, but he cant let himself go on knowingly administering evil

- his main motivation to stay instead of seeking out a different (less prestigious) job is his desire to not disappoint his parents (i think a lot of sam's motivations will be centered around him meeting expectations, getting attention, and proving people wrong)

- he maintains that he will quit once/if he gets enough information to convince him to leave. this is a pretty interesting thing for him to say, considering hes only been drug deeper into the job the more info he gets.

- sam volunteers to help celia and jack with "anything" -> im willing to bet this will come back to bite him on the ass in the future, and i wonder what favor celia will be asking him to complete. i wonder if shes willing to take him up on the offer even if it puts him in danger

alice:

- though the incident is read from sam's desk, alice is the one who found it and started it up. im betting that she was poking around his cases to see if there were any corresponding to TMI or their conversations

- "You bastard. You wanted him to read this, didn’t you? Just slipped it into his caseload, all subtle like and waited for him to hear it. Well not this time [...] Colin was right about you. What do you want? Hmmm? Who’s in there?" this is a huge reveal in terms of what alice believes in. in ep 20, she shoots down sam and colin trying to explain that the computers are listening and communicating with them, but now it sounds like she fully believes in it after all

- i think that she either pretended to not believe in it to encourage sam and colin to drop it, or that she really did think they were crazy and took to investigating sam's workload to see if he was right. either way, she seems fully convinced now, and has gone so far as to attribute this behavior to fully sentient people, seeing as how she asked who was in there.

lena:

- she's suspicious of alice using sam's computer, and doesn't believe that theres been more technology issues. according to her, the system has worked better in colin's absence, so he was likely trying to sabotage jmj

- she's worried about gwen being late from her assignment, but pretends to not be concerned around alice

gwen:

- right as ink5oul traps her, she is compelled to begin a statement (which sounds to be corruption-aligned). she was claimed by error and ink5oul allowed her to run away. we can assume gwen was able to escape them both, but i wonder if her attachment to error will cause problems with future externals (will it stop her from interacting with them or will this provide her with the protection shes been wanting?)

ink5oul:

- not only can they tattoo people with ink created by their own skin/blood, they can also manipulate the tattoos of others! very cool character/monster design

- once interrupted by error, they originally try to fight over who is 'claiming' gwen, but they back off and let error take her. the way they interact with error implies that theyve seen other avatars before

error:

- the tape recorder click seems to be an indication of them entering the scene, and of things shifting to follow tma world building conventions

- they compel gwen to begin a statement, and warn ink5oul from touching her, claiming her as theirs

- "they are all mine", i think this is referring to the OIAR as a whole, especially considering alice has already had an encounter with one of error's potential victims

incident:

narrated by chester at sam's terminal, about the magnus institute (TMI)

- the incident is in the form of a letter/email sent from the co-treasurer of TMI to other members of the institute.

- TMI was planning on having an exhibit at a dome built to instigate a grand ritual in the year 2000. this ritual was based in the hopes of using the transmutative powers of the dome to harness the power of the turn of the millennium.

- mr. leonardo argues that the date (2000) and location of the dome and ritual are ineffective. he believes that the date shouldn't be decided based on cultural significance, it needs to be decided based on astrological significance. since the concept of the new year and turning of the millennium depends on the calendar used, its subjective and less stable than using a date determined by the movement of the stars, which every culture holds as a constant.

- he also believes that the dome will not be a secure location to bring about this ritual for universal transmutation because it will not have a balance between optimism and fear. he thinks that the dome would sponsor more energy for fear than optimism, due to socio-political changes and public interpretation of the dome.

- on top of the dome not supporting balance, mr. leonardo also proposes that the ground its built on is impure. he found the site to have a horrible smell and the workers to be uninterested, dirty, and ill (much of this part of the incident lends itself to the corruption)

- the foreman of the site said he wasnt sure how long the structure was expected to stay up, that it could stand the test of time or fall apart within a year.

- during his investigation of the site, mr. leonardo also witnessed a man's doppelgänger be pushed from the earth of the construction site. the new man was older (symbolizing the future), and looked sickly. the younger man tried to scream, but was taken into the earth by his copy.

- this case as a whole is interesting because mr. leonardo is not supporting the dome for its power leaning toward fear over optimism. he seems to genuinely want balance between these powers, so the purpose of the TMI ritual was not to pull through one power. the focus is on successfully attainting a universal transmutation

glitches/lies:

- "yeah/yes" alice, lying about sam consenting to her using his computer

- "ill let him know when he gets back" alice

- "only about your caseload" lena, lying about not being worried about gwen

extra comments:

- im unsure if this is just a personal interpretation or maybe unintentional from the sound editors, but it really did sound like chester was significantly less robotic in tone as that incident ended

- the water sound effects as gwen was chased by ink5oul were really well done, all of the sound design done this episode was just so incredible!! the chase scene was so clear and i loved the added background music/instrumentals

- once gwen drops her phone into the water, our next audio-on is the tape recorder click!

- the tape recorder physically biting ink5oul was very funny, i think its fun to introduce them as kinda sentient/physical beings, but it also rides the line to comedy a bit too much to be scary here

- im unsure of when the police report from episode 18 took place, and that will be a major decider in this theory being relevant, but i think error is the entity that has been influencing corpses to talk. it's victims are compelled to share stories in tma's statement format, and the elements of their stories are pretty aligned with the tma fears as well. it seems to be targeting the OIAR staff, since one of its statements has been in their caseloads, alice met one of the victims, and now its stopped gwen from getting ink5ouled. Im unsure why or how it knows the OIAR is important if its from the tma universe. it could be sensing celia, whos also from its dimension, or maybe it still holds a connection to jmj (who are definitely sentient)

- this incident also explains why the protocol was used against TMI! the fire that destroyed the institute happened right before they would have been able to execute the ritual for transmutation

25 notes · View notes