History TabletopGame / JAGSWonderland

[[spoiler: They really, really [[CassandraTruth should.]]]]

[[spoiler:In reality, CPD is not a mental illness.]] In reality, there are seven lower [[LayeredWorld layers of reality (called "Chessboards" individually and "Wonderland" collectively by those who know about them) beneath the one we inhabit]], and once in a while someone [[DownTheRabbitHole accidentally falls through the cracks]] becoming Infected (or ''Unsane'', because [[spoiler: they are not losing hold of reality, '''reality''' is losing hold of '''them''']]), and periodically being returned to Wonderland against their will. While on one of the lower chessboards, they throw a [[ADarkerMe ''Reflection'' (an irrational copy of themselves) up onto our world]] (''Chessboard Zero'') that tries to imitate their actions on the lower levels to the best of its ability. If it can't copy them, it freaks '''out''' (''Dissassociation''). Worse yet, once one finally makes it back up to reality (usually taking a few hours and finding their Reflection has done something embarrassing or illegal) the native creatures of Wonderland can follow them back up (''Notice''). While in Wonderland, one can be mutated (''Twisted'' or ''Damaged''). Most people who are Infected die or vanish into thin air within a year.

[[spoiler:What they don't know is the very lowest level, full of machines that keep the other levels working, could render them [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence obsolete if humans ever understood what the machines were for.]] Which they will. Soon.]]

* [[spoiler: AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: What will happen to humanity once (''not if, once'') they deactivate the Department of Works, the universe sized machine in Chessboard Seven that keeps reality going.]]

* [[spoiler:BrainInAJar: One of the formerly-human heads of Project Pagan. It's getting impatient with Pagan's slow progress, and is contemplating just wiping the unconverted mass of humanity out with nuclear weapons.]]

* [[spoiler:TheGreys]]: [[spoiler:The result of Project Pagan's attempts to turn humanity into Rational Actors.]]

* [[spoiler:LittleGreenMen]]: [[spoiler:The original "aliens" produced by Project Pagan. Very few humans were intelligent or megalomaniacal enough to be converted, thus the focus was shifted to turning people into TheGreys.]]

* [[spoiler:NiceJobFixingItVillain]]: At some point in the distant past, the Caretakers managed to damage the machines. This caused the breaching between Chessboard Zero and lower layers. [[spoiler:Unknown to them, it all went according to the Department of Works's plan. Now it's only a matter of time before humans discover the machines.]]

* [[spoiler: ScaryDogmaticAliens: Subverted by the fact that they're humans.]]

* WorldOfPun: Wonderland seems to run on puns almost as much as it does the RuleOfDrama. General Ledger of the Army of No constantly demands '''more reports!''', the Army itself has long divisions instead of regular divisions and field martians (who aren't from Mars), [[spoiler:the Liebrarian]] presides over a library filled with untruth, [[spoiler:the Typeist]] is constantly infuriated by humanity's inability to stick to her categories...

* DarkerAndEdgier: Than the [[AliceInWonderland source material]] to be sure.

* WorldOfPun: Wonderland seems to run on puns almost as much as it does the RuleOfDrama. General Ledger of the Army of No constantly demands '''more reports!''', the Army itself has long divisions instead of regular divisions, [[spoiler:the Liebrarian]] presides over a library filled with untruth, [[spoiler:the Typeist]] is constantly infuriated by humanity's inability to stick to her categories...

-->--''Literature/AlicesAdventuresIn Wonderland''

-->--[[Literature/AliceInWonderland Alice's Adventures In Wonderland]]''

On [[DarkWorld Chessboard Two]], there are still shadows, but only a fraction as many. The parts that aren't directly used by shadows tend to be nearly-deserted, twisted places that look like they came from [[SilentHill a certain little resort town]]. The deserted areas are home to monstrous manifestations of the dominant impression of the area on Chessboard Zero, known as [[WhereTheWildThingsAre Wild Things]], that have no direct analogue above.

* AttackOfThe50FootWhatever/ IncredibleShrinkingMan: A gameplay mechanic. It just wouldn't be Wonderland without it. PC's and NPC's can be anywhere from an inch to a hundred feet tall, made that way by various sources. [[spoiler:Specifically, the Typeist can [[EnforcedTrope enforce]] this on others.]]

* BreakingTheFourthWall: ''Wonderland'' start with Alice introduce the game to you. In MindScrew way.

* [[spoiler: AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: What will happen to humanity once (''not if, once'') they deactivate the Department of Works, the universe sized machine in Chessboard Seven that keeps reality going)]]

->''"I suppose you think you’re reading about me while I think I’m dreaming of you, but we can’t really be sure who is dreaming of whom and who is reading of whose dreaming…''

* AWorldwidePunomenon: Wonderland seems to run on puns almost as much as it does the RuleOfDrama. General Ledger of the Army of No constantly demands '''more reports!''', the Army itself has long divisions instead of regular divisions, [[spoiler:the Liebrarian]] presides over a library filled with untruth, [[spoiler:the Typeist]] is constantly infuriated by humanity's inability to stick to her categories...

Imagine Lewis Caroll meeting HPLovecraft.

At the [[EldritchLocation very lowest layers]] live the [[EldritchAbomination Caretakers]], some of whom Alice and Lewis Carroll met, others who they had the good fortune never to. The Caretakers really don't care for reality, because it operates on mathematical principles and they operate on literary ones. [[OmnicidalManiac They especially hate (or love, for certain values of the term) mankind]], the one thing that can actually understand the rules. In the 1960s, after extended [[FirstContact contact]] with a shadowy organization in the US Government, the Caretakers decided something needed to be done. They ultimately decided that the [[DriventoSuicide most effective way would be to simply tear apart humanity's will to live]]. This they accomplished by creating a series of projects that could go up to the levels just beneath Chessboard Zero and bedevil any shadows they find. Foremost among these are [[GovernmentDrugEnforcement Big Pharma]], the official initiative supported by most Caretakers, which seeks to pervert psychiatric medicine to [[DespairEventHorizon eradicate all hope and free will]], and [[TheMenInBlack Project Pagan]], a Caretaker-controlled [[GovernmentConspiracy conspiracy within the U.S. Government]] to twist humankind so thoroughly that they will become [[TheGreys something the Caretakers can work with.]] A few others try to make [[DealWiththeDevil Faustian bargains with the Infected]] [[TheMole in exchange for exposing]] [[ZombieInfectee more people, with the goal of infecting the entire world.]]

* AWorldwidePunomenon: Wonderland seems to run on puns almost as much as it does the RuleOfDrama. General Ledger of the Army of No constantly demands '''more reports!''', the Army itself has long divisions instead of regular divisions, [[spoiler:the Liebrarian]] presides over a library filled with untruth, [[spoiler:the Typeist]] is constantly infuriated by humanity's inability to stick to her categories...
* BedlamHouse: Just a few [=InNetwork=] Physicians can turn any mental hospital into this.

* BrownNote: The Llamed strain.
* DeadlyDoctor: The [=InNetwork=] Physicians. They're created when the need to mentally dominate a patient takes over a psychiatrist from one of the lower levels of reality. They enjoy tormenting their charges a little too much.

* PuttingOnTheReich: The Army of No, intentionally.

* SexySecretary: Andrea, the Secretary of the Army of No. She uses a poisoned stiletto to clean her nails, so it might not be a good idea to hit on her too much, unless it takes the form of a humiliating bribe to get an appointment with her boss.

At the [[EldritchLocation very lowest layers]] live the [[EldritchAbomination Caretakers]], some of whom Alice and Lewis Caroll met, others who they had the good fortune never to. The Caretakers really don't care for reality, because it operates on mathematical principles and they operate on literary ones. [[OmnicidalManiac They especially hate (or love, for certain values of the term) mankind]], the one thing that can actually understand the rules. In the 1960s, after extended [[FirstContact contact]] with a shadowy organization in the US Government, the Caretakers decided something needed to be done. They ultimately decided that the [[DriventoSuicide most effective way would be to simply tear apart humanity's will to live]]. This they accomplished by creating a series of projects that could go up to the levels just beneath Chessboard Zero and bedevil any shadows they find. Foremost among these are [[GovernmentDrugEnforcement Big Pharma]], the official initiative supported by most Caretakers, which seeks to pervert psychiatric medicine to [[DespairEventHorizon eradicate all hope and free will]], and [[TheMenInBlack Project Pagan]], a Caretaker-controlled [[GovernmentConspiracy conspiracy within the U.S. Government]] to twist humankind so thoroughly that they will become [[TheGreys something the Caretakers can work with.]] A few others try to make [[DealWiththeDevil Faustian bargains with the Infected]] [[TheMole in exchange for exposing]] [[ZombieInfectee more people, with the goal of infecting the entire world.]]

At the [[EldritchLocation very lowest layers]] live the [[EldritchAbomination Caretakers]], some of whom Alice and Lewis Caroll met, others who they had the good fortune never to. The Caretakers really don't care for reality, because it operates on mathematical principles and they operate on literary ones. [[OmnicidalManiac They especially hate (or love, for certain values of the term) mankind]], the one thing that can actually understand the rules. In the 1960s, after extended [[FirstContact contact]] with a shadowy organization in the US Government, the Caretakers decided something needed to be done. They ultimately decided that the [[DriventoSuicide most effective way would be to simply tear apart humanity's will to live]]. This they accomplished by creating a series of projects that could go up to the levels just beneath Chessboard Zero and bedevil any shadows they find. Foremost among these are [[GovernmentDrugEnforcement Big Pharma]], the official initiative supported by most Caretakers, which seeks to pervert psychiatric medicine to [[DespairEventHorizon eradicate all hope and free will]], and [[{{MIB}} Project Pagan]], a Caretaker-controlled [[GovernmentConspiracy conspiracy within the U.S. Government]] to twist humankind so thoroughly that they will become [[TheGreys something the Caretakers can work with.]] A few others try to make [[DealWiththeDevil Faustian bargains with the Infected]] [[TheMole in exchange for exposing]] [[ZombieInfectee more people, with the goal of infecting the entire world.]]

-->--[[AliceInWonderland Alice's Adventures In Wonderland]]''

* {{Expy}}: [[spoiler: The aliens are logical beings that only feel hatred and want to destroy all of humanity. They're basically [[DoctorWho Daleks]].]]

-->--[[Literature/AliceInWonderland Alice's Adventures In Wonderland]]''

-->--[[AliceInWonderland Alice's Adventures In Wonderland]]''

* TheHeartless: Whirls, Shadows who were spliced off from the people who cast them in the grip of strong, usually negative emotion. The [[PsychoPsychologist InNetwork Physicians]] are the [[GoddamnOrks variety that is usually the most antagonistic]], but the others aren't nice either.