Mandate & Approach

The Meridian Commission exists to prevent exposure of the hidden world, protect the public, and keep mortal institutions functioning. Meridian prefers partnership and paperwork to raids and headlines. Its credo is simple: “No spectacle. Minimal force. Clean story.”

• Prevent Exposure: monitor anomalies, defuse public risks, and repair the Veil quietly.
• Coordinate Neighbours: liaise with local police, hospitals, utilities, and — off the record — Baltimore’s Accord Table.
• Contain Artefacts: secure, catalogue, and quarantine items/events that distort reality or biology.
• Safeguard Persons: protect mortals and late-bloomers; avoid carceral solutions where a compact will do.

Organisation (Head Office)

• Directorate: strategy, appropriations, interagency compacts; rotates regional priorities each quarter.
• Field Operations Bureau (FOB): case officers, incident commanders, logistics teams; runs field offices.
• Science & Analysis (S&A): labs, pattern analytics, toxicology, anomalous materials; red-tag custody chain.
• Legal & Treaties (L&T): warrants, MOUs, sanctuary paperwork, compact law with city councils.
• Compliance & Oversight (C&O): ethics, civilian review board, use-of-force audits, whistleblower line.
• Veil Integrity Office (VIO): doctrine, media countermeasures, narrative repair kits, training for partner agencies.

Baltimore Field Office (BFO)

The BFO is a lean, senior-heavy shop that prefers phones, favours, and timing to sirens. It coordinates closely with BPD’s Confidential Liaison Cell and keeps a standing seat as observer at the Accord Table.

• Address (cover): leased floors in a downtown office block shared with “Emergency Planning”.
• Ops Room: wall calendar for faction timetables (salons, drills, feeding windows, crossings); red phone to BPD CLC.
• Evidence Suite: negative-pressure lockers for red-tag items; chain-of-custody printer; Faraday cabinets.
• Interview Rooms: consent-forward design; no restraints unless risk assessed; recording secured off-grid.
• Quiet Clinic: nurse practitioner, salts, blankets; civilian aftercare vendors on retainer.

Authorities & Limits

• Legal Tools: administrative subpoenas, sealed warrants (federal judge), emergency scene authority via public-safety statutes.
• What Meridian Isn’t: not a standing SWAT; not a prison service; not a religious or magical order.
• Red Lines: no human experimentation; no compelled oaths; no indefinite detention without charge.
• Documentation: everything that moves gets a number; chain-of-custody survives FOIA even when details are redacted.

Policy & Protocol (Field)

At a Veil-Risk Scene

• Stabilise: lights down, crowds out, first aid first. No heroics on camera.
• Record Quietly: body-worn on partners stays on; Meridian records on shielded kits; mirrors & bright panes draped.
• Red Tagging: items that are dry/cold/wrong bagged twice, labelled with time, odour notes, handler initials.
• Storywork: designate a single, boring explanation (gas fault, rehearsal, faulty lighting); push it consistently.
• Handovers: if a faction is best-placed to resolve, appoint a Meridian witness and write it down.

People First

• Late-Bloomers: 72-hour sanctuary window; offered escorts to suitable houses via the Accord Table.
• Mortals Affected: medical care, informed minimisation (no lies that endanger treatment), privacy preserved.
• Accountability: any force report auto-flows to C&O for review by a civilian on call.

Kits & Capabilities

• Veil Mesh: deployable drapes that dampen attention, sound, and flash without obvious tech.
• Pane Covers: blackout gels & flags for mirrors/cameras; Glasswright-approved.
• Spectro-Go: handheld spectrometer & thermal; flags “metallic gold” artefacts and cold-signatures for red-tagging.
• Consent Packs: forms & interpreters (human & magical) for safe compacts and releases.
• Narrative Kit: signage, tape, boiler-plate press cards, and “maintenance/installation” covers.

With the Accord Table

Meridian attends as a non-voting observer. Practice is pragmatic: ask neighbours to fix their own problems quietly, step in only when public risk rises.

• Calendars: receives posted timetables (salons, drills, crossings, fogs) to deconflict public events.
• Emergency Veil Orders: accepts joint, time-limited measures when three seats call exposure risk.
• Sanctuary Protocol: recognises 72-hour safe-conduct where two seats sponsor a person.

House View: “Cooperate, contain, and leave egos at the door.”

With Baltimore Police (BPD)

• Trigger Code: BPD’s Code 87 pings the BFO duty phone.
• Cordon Model: BPD holds the outside; Meridian handles inside storywork and red tags.
• Paper Clean: reports get boring phrasing; sensitive evidence logged as hazardous without myth language.

Current Anomaly: “Aurum” Reports

Multiple partners have logged brief overperformance events accompanied by a faint metallic scent and chill. Meridian tracks these as Project AURUM until laboratory proof exists.

• Handling: no field trials; seize & store suspect ampoules; test only at S&A with oversight.
• Messaging: call it a contaminant until proven otherwise; avoid mythic names that inflame demand.
• Risk: predatory “fixers” offering “tonics” to daemonkin, ghouls, and others; escalate recruitment attempts.

Relations (Baltimore)

• Crimson Harbour: formal; parlour audits & dawn safety; no raids without cause.
• Free Court: courteous; mask repairs defer to Jaya; Meridian handles cameras & press.
• Iron Belt: practical; moon drill notices shared; no chases over park cameras.
• Lodge: rescue-first doctrine; fog by permit; tourism managed.
• Glasswrights: pane audits on request; no door work without them.
• Highland Concord: clause reviews; consent language harmonised.
• Coven of Seven Ways: ritual containment; consent-forward bindings; no spectacle.
• Thresh Collective: welfare liaison; de-escalation hotline cross-trained.
• Gloam Families: records access under seal; chain-of-custody gold standard.

Meridian Law (Internal)

1. No Spectacle. Cameras change tactics. If it reads on camera, it didn’t happen — yet.
2. Consent or Warrant. Compacts where possible; lawful orders where necessary.
3. Least Force. De-escalation beats deterrence beats damage.
4. Chain Lives Forever. Evidence and decisions must survive scrutiny.
5. Protect the Mortal Frame. Don’t break people to fix a problem.

Hooks & Episode Seeds

• Red Locker Light: A seized cooler pings the sensor after hours. Is it faulty kit — or waking?
• Two Warrants, One Night: Legal arrives with a sealed order as the Accord Table opens an Emergency Veil Order. Which path keeps cameras blind?
• Clinic Overflow: Three late-bloomers invoke sanctuary at once; which house takes whom without a turf war?
• Press Leak: A reporter has the right questions. Steer them to the right answers without lying dangerously.
• AURUM Bait: A fixer offers to trade an ampoule for amnesty. Venue, witnesses, and exit — or sting and singe?

GM Notes

• Tone: competent bureaucracy; ethics under pressure; victory is “nothing happened”.
• Pressure Dials: Exposure □□□ • Public Scrutiny □□ • Inter-faction Politics □□
• Escalation Path: anomaly → quiet coordination → legal friction → on-camera risk → clean narrative or crisis.
• Fail State: spectacle (viral clip, siren pile-up); forced raids; broken compacts.
• Win State: dull headline, safe people, signed minutes, sealed locker.