RPPR Illustrated: Labyrinth of Lost Futures - Treasure

EXCERPT FROM A BOOK FOUND ON A CORPSE AT [REDACTED]

People explore [REDACTED] for a lot of reasons, but money's a big one. People do get rich from the treasure they've found down there. Suitcases filled with cash, gold bars, jewelry, lost art, you name it. Those kind of finds are very rare. An entire economy has sprung up around unique artifacts and resources that can only be found in [REDACTED]. Merchants in the Town buy them from explorers and sell them to select clients on Earth. The five most commonly found artifacts have become unofficial trading currencies for explorers and merchants:

Old Company Coins: metal coins made by Standard Exploration, a company that owned and ran the Town in the late 19th and early 20th century as a company town. The coins were a company scrip that only worked at an entirely automated metal ‘store’ in the town. Employees used it like a giant vending machine, but the strange automated store never received supplies or materials. It seemingly manufactured all manners of goods out of nothing. The store still exists, an entirely automated metal building, virtually indestructible. You can still buy things from the store but people use them for their own trade. Most people believe that something terrible happens when the store gets all the coins, so some of the town’s business owners hoard them. If a coin is destroyed, it reappears somewhere on the surface level of [REDACTED]. Each is worth about $100.

Silicon Utopia Stocks: Bearer stock certificates issued by Silicon Labyrinth Inc, a corporate arcology formed back in the 1980s deep in the depths of [REDACTED]. Each certificate is magically created so it cannot be counterfeited - each glows with a unique fractal circuit pattern and when two are touched together, a pulse of energy flows between them. Stockholders can access the Silicon Labyrinth level and potentially gain dividends, although the company has never paid them so far. There are tens of millions of certificates floating around, but retain some value, so each one is worth a cup of coffee at the diner, or about $1.

Eternal Grade Rations: Back in the cold war days, a food science lab in the Bunker section created the perfect military ration. Each is good until the heat death of the universe. Each is perfectly healthy and delicious food. Rumors abound that the rations can be used to bribe some of the undead horrors roaming the Bunker or heal injuries or extend the lifespan of a person. They are rare now. It is believed that the lab that made them was abandoned and the formula lost. Each is worth about $1,000 or the cost of a town library card.

Bleak Skulls: The Bleak normally disappear when they are destroyed, but sometimes one of them dies from an accident or unknown causes. When such an event happens, they leave behind a monstrous skull. These skulls are extremely valuable. They can be used for some rituals but are valued as art objects by some collectors on Earth. The prices vary more but for the last year, one skull has been worth about $10,000 or the cost of a recent survey surface level map.

Symbols of Hermes: One of the great mysteries of [REDACTED] is the reoccurring motif of Hermes, the Greek god. Explorers have found statues, murals, frescoes, and countless artworks depicting or referencing Hermes. Finding a piece of artwork themed around Hermes is considered lucky. The Order of The Invisible Road pays well for symbols of Hermes, but only ones found in [REDACTED]. Their dealers somehow always know forgeries from authentic works. They are worth $1,000 to $100,000 depending on size and condition.

EXCERPT FROM DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE INTEL BRIEFING

Multiple investigations from various federal law enforcement agencies have found evidence of a massive international black market for smuggled artifacts from [REDACTED]. Many organizations and wealthy individuals want artifacts for myriad reasons. Corporations want artifacts to research their properties to develop new technology and products. Cults and extremist groups want artifacts to use as worship objects or for occult rituals. The wealthy desire the artifacts as status symbols or for more eccentric reasons. There is a widespread belief among those operating in this black market that the artifacts contain some kind of unspecified power or ‘luck’ that benefits the owners. Despite multiple attempts to trace smuggling paths, i.e. how the artifacts get from [REDACTED] to Earth, we have no idea how that crucial transition happens. We have seized caches of artifacts from several buyers, but analysis of the objects, especially the so-called ‘bleak skulls’ have revealed little insight into their creation or uses. They baffle conventional scientific analysis. Symbols of Hermes, in particular, have demonstrated highly anomalous properties, to the point that they have to be stored in specially designed facilities far from any other facility of importance. They are extremely dangerous objects. See report [REDACTED] for more details.