[UA] UA, Russian style

[Max Belankov]

Hello Arseny,

AK> Date: Fri, 21 Mar 2003 08:41:36 +0300
AK> From: Arseny Kuznetsov <arseny_kuznetsov at rambler.ru>
AK> Reply-To: Arseny Kuznetsov <arseny_kuznetsov at rambler.ru>
AK> To: Max Belankov <ua at lists.uchicago.edu>
AK> Subject: Re: [UA] Re[2]: Non-U.S. UA Players
AK> <187260808122.20030321091549 at psu.ru>
AK> Reply-To: ua at lists.uchicago.edu

AK> Hello Max,
AK>>>  Currently  I'm  trying  to  write  a  scenario for it, but it's quite
AK>>>  difficult,  because  our  realities  differ greatly from those in the
AK>>>  book.
MB>> Well, I've wrote and ran one. It wasn't anything special, but went
MB>> extremely well. Interested in details?
AK>  Sure.

Okay. Right now I haven't much time at the hand, so I limit myself to
description of Russian occult underground IMUAC. It is indeed
different from the western one.

Soviet Union was magical country. Sure, *officially* it was outright
materialistic, but somewhere deep in it had to be magick. Just think
about Lenin Mausoleum: what purpose might have exhibition of
well-preserved and well-protected body of dead man, with guards changing
every hour? It's a ritual, obviously -- one of the rituals that keep
the whole country running. Of course, there were those who designed
these rituals and watched over the performance: two top-secret
Departments of KGB, 13th (Special Research) and 14th (Observers' Group).

Soviet magic wasn't postmodern -- rituals and avatars, avatars and
rituals. Probably that's why everything fell apart when the time came.
Departments, however, held enough knowledge of working magick to
survive the demise of USSR; however, they went a great lenght to erase
any memory about themselves. By now, what's left of them is called
"the Institute", and it's still one of the major players in the
Russian occult underground.

Postmodern magick is relative novelty in Russia. Soviet Union felt
itself cozy and comfy behind the iron curtain when the most of the
postmodern schools was born; western dukes just couldn't got into USSR
to teach anyone. First reliable accounts of appearance of adepts in
USSR are related to sixties, during "Khruschev's thaw", when it
temporarily stopped to be an issue. Some self-taught bibliomancers,
cliomancers or boozehounds emerged even earlier, but they were too few
in number to disturb the overall picture.
14th Department at first considered this new magick as unworthy the
attention. Later, when adepts become the recognizable force, there
were few half-hearted attempts to suppress them. At last, some sort of
consensus was reached: occult underground was allowed to exist, but
those who became too noisy would be sent to insane asylum -- like the
hotheads who created "UFO sighting" over Petrozavodsk in September,
1977. Political dissidents received same treatment, by the way. Probably it
was just coincidence, showing same thought pattern of KGB officers.
(By the way, Sleepers tried to estabilish bases in the USSR, but were
turned down. Even now their presence is very limited -- the Institute
prefers to do its work without outside help.)

This status quo held more than thirty years. It survived perestroika,
fall of Soviet Union and advent of new schools and cabals. Of course,
there were problems (especially when newcomers were finding their own
ecological niches), but in the large scale it was quiet and peaceful.

Then TNI came. In mid-90 Alex Abel decided to look if Russia has
something of interest, and in the few major cities were sent TNI
teams. Those, by orders, by accident or by stupidity acted with the
grace of elephant -- attempted to buy everything and everyone, and
shot those who refused.
Carefully sustained balance of power instantly went down the drain.
The Institute, naturally, intervened, trying to get rid of TNI. Now
it's unknown war going on, with lulls and flare-ups.

Russian occult underground now split three ways: those who swayed by TNI
money, those who opposed them, and undecided rest. The Institute got
almost all its resources tied by struggle with TNI, but blatant use of
magic still draws its attention. Perm, home city of MUAC, isn't an
exception. There is a six-man Institute cell, a C-level TNI team and
about twenty dukes of various affilations. PC, lucky people they are,
get right in the middle of all that...

Well, that's all so far. I tell you how it went a little later.

AK> And if I'll ever finish writing that stuff about the
AK>  Tataro-Norwegian War I promise to share too.

Wait-wait-wait... "Bapkutsk, 1957"? "Stray Cat"? "NOIR"?

-- 
Best regards,
 Max                            mailto:belank at psu.ru


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