8. The Secret Society: The Fan Club - Marty Rank

Originally published at: The Fan Club - Marty Rank - Ackerly Green

Hey Mounties. I just got an interesting email from my Low 2.0 source. It’s a snippet from your fanclub’s forum. They, and I, thought you’d want to see what they’ve been up to…

> I hate to burst all the bubbles but the Secret Society thing is a game. Just like “The Monarch Papers” and the book of Briars. They’re just selling merch and saying it’s magic. I wouldn’t get my hopes up about ghosts and lost memories… I mean, come on… has anybody but “The Mountaineers” been able to open a door to Neithernor? I rest my case. It’s all pretend.

> You think there’s one person pretending to be hundreds of people? I love you @KellarTheGreat but come on…

> I don’t think they’re all fake, I mean a bunch of them definitely are, but I think the rest of them are either suckered into the whole “magiq” thing or they’re pretending for the hell of it.

> You’re such a Thornmouth. Hahahahahaha

> Oh God, she’s been drinking the Kool-Aid.

> Please. Who here hasn’t taken the assessment? I think it’s the one confirmed thing they found. But I know the rules about interaction… I helped draft the new ones for sobbing out loud. But I mean, we know magic/q is real. Or was. Or could be, whatever…

> I’m with @SpiritSeer. This “calling fake” stuff keeps coming up because no one here has actually seen or done anything The Mountaineers have. If I’m wrong, speak up. When’s the last time anybody saw or did magic? We’re supposed to be the big mystical dark web and we’re all disconnected and cordoned off. Which is how the whole thing was built, by MM. I believe that. They wanted to separate us. Use us. We got played. Hell, The Mountaineers might be more real than any of this.

> The Athenaeum is gone. The Magic Contraption. Ricker’s 17 Spirits. Meanwhile The Mounties are thriving. It’s a kick in the tenders.

> Well, while we’re on the topic…

> Oh God, what has she been up to…

> I think they were onto something with the Vashon Island Bike Tree. Why do I think that? Well, whether it’s a game or not, ( I mean, a mystery is a kind of game, with a problem and a solution, right?) it plays into the whole “Two Worlds Rebound” theme… How you say? Well… There are two stories about how that bike got caught in the tree. In one, a kid left his bike in the woods in 1954. It had been donated after his family home burned down. He didn’t really like it, the bike was meant for a younger kid, so he forget about it. That guy still lives on Vashon Island. BUT… there’s a (rightfully disputed) local legend that the bike was left by a young man heading off to World War II (some sites even say WWI), but he never came home to retrieve it. The record of the dual legend on Lunar’s Alt Histories (yes, I was granted access, relax) says the young man might’ve been a part of the final push that liberated Dachau. Just food for thought, huh? Nothing more? Well… the clue that led The Mounties to the bike in the first place has changed. On the blog not the forum. Two sets of clues, two sets of histories… Is this weirdo timeline “Book of the Wild” stuff?

> Now who’s the Thornmouth?

> Wait, which guild is made of up crackpot conspiracy theorists?

> I think that’s the one thing they all have in common. : cjtea :

> I don’t think you’re using that right.

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Well I feel validated about suggesting the bike at least.

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Thanks for keeping us in the loop Marty! I needed a good laugh this afternoon :joy::joy::joy:

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So here is the changed poem

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Also, to answer the question “Which guild is made up of crackpot conspiracy theorists?” That would be all of us. We need to get them tin foil hats.

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A memento Mori and a sinister shear! Well, this is getting interesting…

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Yeah, they got us… Neithernor is just a shared illusion we’ve all had :ascendershrug:?? And spell sickness? Never happened :joy:
I love these guys, can we keep them???

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I’m really tempted to mess with them :joy:

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Hey guys, idea.
Maybe we should write them an open letter? Address their concerns, and let them know we aren’t messing around?
This is a new world, a new book, and I think it should be one in faith in unity rather than the exclusion that ultimately killed MM.

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Can we say hi? Or are they reading about us getting excited about them?

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I choose to believe they’re reading about us reading abotu them reading about us, and I love it. o/ fan club!

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So it’s a bit of an Inception moment? Awesome. Hello fan club! ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ

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Also I honestly thought someone had set up a Marty Fan Club page but I was sadly disappointed!

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Ok so we have “A memento mori” and “a sinister shear” now. Potentially monument to the dead? I’m messing around on OED rn looking for potential connotations of shear

shear(ith)?

Potential??? It’s on atlasobscura
Don’t know how it would be sinister though but I oddly like being in cemeteries.

Memento mori is the reminder that all must die, so a cemetery could definitely serve for that. The shear part is what’s getting me.

TIN FOIL
possible meanings of shear: shear a sheep, cut (n or v), reap, frame for hoisting heavy weights, machine for cutting, can refer to divination.
potential meaning of sinister: bad, evil, threatening, left (direction), [of heraldry] noting the side of an escutcheon or achievement of arms that is to the left of the bearer (opposed to dexter).

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Shear could also be related to a geological formation.

I don’t know if a sinkhole counts as a type of shear zone, but if it does, that could apply to me. Devil’s Millhopper could be considered sinister. I’ll have to see when I can get to that side of town, and hopefully I’ll be able to get close enough (the stairs down into it are still out of order from the storm last year).

I’d check for more geological shears with named related to the devil/other sinister things.

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Shear could also be this definition:
Break off or cause to break off, owing to a structural strain

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So the Aethaneum isnt working for them either. It’s not just us. Not sure whether to be releived or disturbed by that.
Two Worlds Rebound… is that something we’ve heard before or is it new? I only got here in phase 3 so has anyone who’s been here longer got some info on that?

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Ive been doing a little digging into the metioned usernames just to see if they lead me anywhere. :tinfoilhat: The most active @SpiritSeer online has identical profiles on 3 different dating sites. Whether or not this is the same peson, I am reluctant to dig much further when I have no way of knowing if this is even the correct person.

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@KellarTheGreat appears to be a fan of magic, naming themselves after this famous stage magician. No other leads. Harry Kellar - Wikipedia

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Oh I do love a good reference! Especially to magicians and escape artists (third to fourth grade me became very fond of Harry Houdini)!

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