A collection of artifacts

We find things.

[theartifactvault-blog]

*Daily Artifact (backlog): CS82K(Z?)--The Quarter-Trint Piece

Code: CS82K(Z?) Name: The Quarter-Trint Piece Tracker(s): The Compiler Category: Object--myth-inducing Initial Observation Date: 2/1/15 Initial Location: Ex Libris Cafe

Description: Piece of currency that certain cafes have accepted without question or explanation. It has the appearance of a nickel, with a small hole in the center and unidentified symbols around the edges. Has a different value each time, but it always seems to be equal to 60-80% of the total price of whatever I’m buying. One barista referred to it as “a quarter-trint piece” and seemed annoyed about it. So far, it’s only appeared when I’m on campus.

The quarter-trint piece appeared in my wallet for the first time when I was trying to buy coffee at Ex Libris. When I paid, I thought it was a nickel and didn’t notice it; it was only when the barista informed me that I’d paid too much that I realized it was something different.

Note: It seems that the quarter-trint piece is participating in some kind of practice of establishing an environment. The Compiler (and maybe all of us who notice artifacts) live in an environment where the quarter-trint piece is a valid form of currency, just like we all live in an environment where our status as “trackers” is marked by green bandannas. The currency, like the bandannas, appears to help define the environment.

[lifeandtimesofhb]

The Self-Telling Story

Code: 8H72A Name: The Self-Telling Story Tracker(s): hb Category: Occurrance Initial Observation Date: 2/17/15 Initial Location: Harper Cafe, 3rd Floor Description: It started when I was writing a paper for one of my Gender Studies classes. My computer has never been the best or the fastest, but it has always gotten the job done and never once failed me. The keys were working normally, but I had noticed that what I was typing was taking longer and longer to appear on-screen. Eventually it stopped all together. I rebooted my computer, and it seemed to go away. I thought nothing of it until the next day, when it happened again. I was in a different part of Harper, the ground floor, but it did the same thing, coming all the way to a complete halt. 

In different parts of Harper, and only Harper I soon found, my laptop keys slowed responding until they came to a complete halt. Each time, the halt happened sooner and sooner.

When I tried to work in the cafe again a few days later, on the 26, the halt was almost immediate. But, this time, the keys began to respond, just not what I was typing. No matter what I typed, the story continued.

"im sorry, carla. i tried to be fair. i tried to stay. you must know, there was no other way out. you waited and all i leave you with is this note. i would have bought you coffee. but you know i had to go. we couldnt last. no one can last."

Immediately after, my keys began to respond normally. All I could do was save the text and work on my paper. I did get a coffee. Whoever left Carla, I know coffee is only some sort of a comfort, but it can be enough.

[theartifactvault-blog]

*Daily Artifact: VJ87S(Z)--Harper Cafe Armchair

Our final Daily Artifact is one that appeared in some of our pregame flavor: the Harper Cafe Armchair. We offer two versions of it today--the Composer’s new version (the human version) and the Compiler’s new version (the zombie version.) Code: VJ87S Name: Harper Cafe Armchair

Tracker(s): The Composer Category: Object: Memory-inducing Initial Observation Date: New effects observed 3/3/14 Initial Location: Harper Cafe--in front of the northern half of the radiator Description: -An armchair that gives the user access to a particularly vivid memory. The memory is the same each time. Prior to about a week ago, the memory would disappear as soon as the user left the armchair, but it appears that the memory now remains once the user stands up--not as a memory, but as a vivid story told to them by somebody else. The memory so far is as such: the user stands in a small hallway in a building (which appears to be the Facade Building, the artifact of last Wednesday) It is notably warmer in this hallway than it is outside. They are waiting for somebody to come talk to them--the identity is never made explicit, but it appears to be someone who the user has been romantically affiliated with at one point or another. It now seems to be universal that the user has to wait for the other person; they walk up the hall and stare at the walls in order to distract themselves. The feelings that occur once the other person arrives are quite vivid--the user feels anger, and confusion, as well as a tinge of desperation that the user seems to manage to keep under control. The user also feels a swelling of romantic love, which, contrary to my expectations, is not a wash over everything else, but something that is the foundation of it. It is hard and unmovable and the user stands on it during this memory, and as they do they realize that it is there and what it means for it to be there. The two talk for a long time, and then--yet again--the details grow hazy, but this seems to be a quality of the memory. It is almost as if the user censored this part of the memory themselves, in order to keep it private. But there is a sense of real emotional intimacy that occurs, and possible physical intimacy, as well. So far everyone I’ve talked to has corroborated this story; more data would be great.

Code: VJ87SZ Name: Harper Cafe Armchair

Tracker(s): The Compiler Category: Object: Mundane (maybe?) Initial Observation Date: it’s always the same whether you’re here or not Initial Location: Harper Cafe--in front of the northern half of the radiator Description: -An armchair that gives the user access to a particularly vivid memory. The memory is the same each time because it cannot be changed watch it is always the same if you walk away or shove it underwater it always floats back up again, always follows back after you. why is this what you remember it is there above all else. every time you think you’re close to getting something new out of it but it is the same. you don’t know why this is your own you don’t know why this is yours. they are so far away from you do you remember that. the only thing you know in a place incomprehensible. but you cannot reach them. how do you do it you just have to--

[theartifactvault-blog]

*((OOC: BIG DAMN REVEAL))

Hi, artifact trackers,

Tomorrow, the Composer is planning something big. So is the Compiler. Only one of them can win, and what happens will change everything.

Why, you ask? Well, on this lovely final mission eve, I am here to provide you with A Big Reveal.

-Artifacts are trapped memories. But they are all memories that are generated by a particular type of environment--a heightened one, a separate one. An environment that is real, but where things that are impossible in our own world are able to happen. It isn’t real, but once we acknowledge that it’s fictitious, we are able to take the things that happen there seriously, on their own terms--we can enter that environment. Artifacts are memories generated when we enter the environment and live there.

-That environment is HvZ.

-Without HvZ, artifacts become memories--they become scattered, altered, malformed. The way we experience artifacts is sort of like how we experience folklore, or even myth. The same kernels of story are told and retold and rethought; the same pieces of stories are recombined with new glue to make something different. So this type of malformation isn’t necessarily bad.

-Every artifact is generated by somebody’s memory--sometimes an artifact is from one individual memory (a personal artifact), and sometimes an artifact is formed by a few different people’s understanding of something (Hyperborea.) An individual artifact is something of deep personal importance to you.

-The Compiler’s personal artifact, The Blue Hat Girl, forced her to emotionally engage with the project to an extent she wasn’t really willing to do--she’d previously been in it for the thrill, but the Blue Hat Girl forced her to think about things in a way that deeply disturbed her. She decided to disengage from the project, but she was unable to forget about the Blue Hat Girl; such is the nature of a personal artifact. So she set out to destroy, or “sever” her from the environment, so she’d no longer mean the same thing--she would lack the environment’s context.

-But, in doing this, (and here is where the big reveal starts), the Compiler created the very environment that artifacts need to thrive: HvZ. This is why the Composer has noticed that non-severed artifacts have grown clearer and clearer, and that they seem less malevolent and strange. The fear that the environment generates pushes humans to survive, and to prove themselves as heroes--it gives the environment a purpose, and it drives it. So the Compiler has created the very thing she sought to destroy.

-But there’s more, too. The zombie artifacts--both severed artifacts and new ones intended to scare humans--change, because they are a product of this new, separate zombie environment, too, not just of the one individual person who made them. A new, zombie-artifact world is being created. -SO, TOMORROW. The environment is coming to a close; the game is over. The Compiler will attempt to finish severing all artifacts, and the Composer will attempt to preserve some artifacts before then. → IF HUMANS WIN: -Artifacts stop being terrifying/broken, and find where they belong in the environment. → IF ZOMBIES WIN: Zombie artifacts become the only artifacts, because only zombies exist. Therefore, a new world is created from the destruction of the old one. Zeds have created an apocalypse, but they can live in it.

Whew.

Email me with questions; I assume there will be some. Or lots. Or maybe not questions, but pitchforks.

Good luck tomorrow, all.

[theartifactvault-blog]

The Severed Vault

[katlikesweirdshit]

Bae is dead

Ok here’s a thing that is really weird. My boyfriend is a mod of the hvz game and like I really really love it so much so like last game I had this elaborate plan to kill him (thank u based Peter) but it didn’t actually work and now this game he has a plan to kill me and aaaaaaah I’m so scared. He said he was severed, which like, there’s a lot of weird overlap between the game and the artifact thing. I’m so scared because I have actual seperation from the world impending but like I also have a boyfriend to worry about.

In other news I might know what my artifact is. It’s kinda poetic in a way, since there seems to be some link between all the various things happening all a once. Not gonna say more in case the compilers minions are lurking here or even the compiler herself. Hopefully I live through the hvz mission tonight and hopefully I don’t run into them severed people. Peace Kat

[theartifactvault-blog]

*Today's Daily Artifacts (3)

Today’s artifact is actually threefold. These three artifacts have proved to be particularly potent; they seem to have a larger-than-normal effect on the environment of our world, and these effects are generally positive for humans. Why these artifacts are helpful for humans is not quite clear yet, and the Composer is attempting to come up with a reasonable hypothesis for it. If you have any ideas, please let her know. The Compiler is, of course, attempting to find a way to sever these three artifacts. A more detailed description of each will be posted here soon.

1. Code: KB51L Name: The Deliverator Description: The Compiler’s favorite childhood Nerf gun. Was found at the scene of the Compiler’s initial severing last Sunday, and was assumed to be a severed artifact. However, the artifact has proven to be intact, and, indeed, has inspired and strengthened every human who’s come into contact with it. It appears to provide a sense of heroism and gravity. 

2. Code: TU93X Name: The Thursday Mitten Description: The Composer has managed to keep the mitten manifested today--it did not disappear at 12 AM on Friday, as it typically does. This seems to suggest that the artifacts are growing stronger, and finding where they belong--which, in turn, seems to suggest that something about the current situation is actually healthy for the artifacts. 3. Code: PF67W-J Name: Dr. Lawrence Brothwilde’s Journal, January-July 1976 Description: The journal of Dr. Lawrence Brothwilde, which provides in great detail the story of his car trip from Hyde Park, Chicago, IL, to Belleville, New Jersey, which took place from 2/27/76 to 2/28/76. More details on this journal will be provided soon.

[theartifactvault-blog]

**ZOMBIE ARTIFACTS**

Hello hello hello, my fellow severed champions,

So you already know that when we’ve been severed, we can see human artifacts. And there’s a nice little perk to that. Seems like humans are a little scared of us, in case you haven’t noticed. When they get scared, their artifacts broadcast more intensely. They’re way easier to find. Which is hilarious, if you think about it, and I enjoy thinking about it.

We’ve escaped our artifacts, but that means we can control human artifacts. We can manipulate their environment. We can make them run screaming into our hands.

So I’d like to start a little project. I’d like to call it The Severed Vault. If you’re Severed, you can make artifacts of your very own. Put them around on campus. Make humans more terrified than they knew they could be. Baby Doll’s been doing a pretty good job so far, don’t you think?

I’ll be sending out a new artifact theme each day, for a little bit of inspiration. When you make an artifact and set it up on campus, email me ([email protected]) with its name, location, and a short description. Also please include a code in the following format: LL##LZ (letter, letter, number, number, letter, “Z”.) The artifacts should be physical things, so all humans can see them. When you send them to me, I’ll put them up on our Vault and email you the password to it. Feel free to share it with our friends.

Friday’s theme is MEMORIALS. Go make some artifacts!

Striking fear into the hearts of men,

Your very own Compiler

[theartifactvault-blog]

*IMPORTANT UPDATE FROM THE COMPOSER

Hey everyone! :D Thanks for collecting all the facade building data. I spent most of last night analyzing it, which ended up being worth the lack of sleep in the end, because I actually found an entrance to the building. It still doesn’t appear as one coherent building from the outside, but I found a way in and spent most of the day walking through it. It has two or three other entrances that correspond to the locations of some of the data points yesterday. So basically, even though it’s still physically impossible externally, the building is a real place. You can enter it and it’s internally consistent.

...and one of the hallways I found corresponds to one of my logs from the armchair. Which frustratingly, as you know is hard to prove. But if anyone could check out the armchair again and write down a detailed description of the hallway it would help me out a lot.

The hallway is kind of short, with two doors on either side--it’s a vestibule thing between two different sections of the building. It’s pretty hot in there, and the walls are white. Dark blue floors, with oddly fancy purple carpets. Railings on the sides. Do any of your memories look like this? I’ll check tomorrow and report back.

All this leads me to a conclusion that I think is pretty significant. The artifacts seem to be...settling, if that’s the right word. Like they’re finding a home. Before I mentioned how there seemed to be a gap in the artifacts, like it was unclear what was causing them. But this resonance between the Facade Building and the Armchair, plus how I’m feeling about my artifact, is making me think that maybe what the Compiler’s created is actually...good for the artifacts. It seems that, for some reason, her making us afraid and concerned about artifacts is actually somehow the thing that allowed the artifacts to make sense. Like they’re a product of this very environment somehow, this new environment that’s just been created.

This is a pretty heavy idea, I know. What do you all think about this?

Please stay safe,

The Composer

[theartifactvault-blog]

DAILY ARTIFACT--THURSDAY

Code: TU93X Name: The Thursday Mitten Tracker(s): The Compiler and The Composer Category: Object--Mundane Initial Observation Date: 10/23/14 (Initial) Initial Location: Bush outside of Cobb

Description: A left-handed mitten that appears to be the right size for a large child or small adult [it fits The Composer]. Hand-knitted with a few obvious mistakes. Stripes of contrasting purple and orange, with a particularly exciting green thumb. IOD was Thursday, 10/23/14, by the Compiler; observation on the next day confirmed that the mitten was gone. Mitten was observed on a different bush outside of Cobb on Thursday, 10/30/14. Mitten has since been observed every Thursday from 10/30/14 to 12/11/14, and then again every Thursday of Winter 2015. Mitten appears to retain state of existence when observed past changing of the clock; once the observer sufficiently breaks interaction with mitten (sometimes by blinking, sometimes by walking away from Cobb), the mitten is able to disappear. On Thursday, 1/9/14, mitten was isolated from Initial Location. Mitten duly disappeared according to pattern and reappeared on 1/15/14 on Cobb bush. Mitten is very fuzzy and warm, and would be convenient for Thursday-based inclement weather. Attempts to find a matching right mitten via Facebook, UChicago Marketplace, and Craigslist have been unsuccessful. This is also the Vault's avatar, in case you weren't aware!

If you see the Composer today, ask her to observe the mitten! She will be trying to see if she can capture it beyond this Thursday.

[theartifactvault-blog]

[[FLAVOR RESUMING TOMORROW EVENING]]

Hey, everyone! SIZABLE, TASTY, MUNCHY, AND OVERALL SUPER-EXCITING flavor reveals will be coming tomorrow evening (probably around 9:30 PM) from both our NPCs. GET EXCITED IT WILL BE PRETTY COOL (for both humans and zombies). Feel free to submit artifacts in the meantime. We will still have a daily artifact tomorrow. It will be... ahem. Warm and fuzzy. It may be my favorite artifact. As always, if you have questions about flavor, or want to get involved, please email [email protected] or [email protected]. <3333, Phoebe 

[theartifactvault-blog]

Today's new song. Come sing along with me! --Your very own Compiler

[theartifactvault-blog]

*DAILY ARTIFACT: UD86T: The Facade Building

Code: UD86T 

Name: The Facade Building Tracker(s): The Composer (and the Compiler) Category: Impossible: Building Initial Observation Date: June 2014 Initial Location: Outside of a Haskell window

Description: A building that you can only see through the windows of other buildings. Views of the building are limited to small slivers through windows, which make it impossible to gather any real sense of how big the building is or what the whole thing looks like. So far, views of this building have been recorded from Haskell, Cobb, Goodspeed, Wieboldt, Classics, and Harper. Gates-Blake and Swift are possible, but need to be checked again.

-Memory-inducing artifacts often involve the interior of one unidentified building, one that is clearly a campus building but one that no one seems quite able to pin down. I hypothesize that it might be this building. -I’m going to attempt to get an idea of where this building might be, and where the memory comes from. When the Compiler was working on this project with me, she identified some places where the facade building might appear. I’d like to collect those flags and analyze them. Please give me the codes that she’s written on the flags so I can verify their location.

[theartifactvault-blog]

*FLAVOR SUMMARY (all you need to know to get started)

We would like to briefly interrupt the artifact hunt for a short message on How Flavor Works.  How to interact with the flavor:

There are two main parts to the flavor. 1. A number of artifacts, or pieces of this strange world, with unusual properties generally connected in some way to memory.

2. The story of two individuals who are trying to understand and categorize the artifacts.

You have the option of either following any number of artifacts (they're one-shot stories) in any order and as sporadically as you want, or following the main storyline, or both. The storyline will be furthered during in-game missions and over the zombies listhost. The artifacts will be sent out over the zombies listhost and on theartifactvault.tumblr.com (right here).

We also encourage interested players to make artifacts themselves and send them to [email protected] or [email protected], so they can join the vault. Basics about artifacts:

Artifacts are all trapped memories of some kind or another.

Artifacts can be objects, locations, disembodied memories, or even, apparently, people. 

Creating a community of people interested in artifacts seems to have increased the strength and power of the artifacts.

It is, as of yet, unclear why these particular artifacts appear, and are related to each other. But this may be a question answered sooner rather than later...

Some artifacts seem to be collectively induced--multiple people can interact with them with similar experiences.

Each person also has an individual artifact, which ties them uniquely to the world.

The plotline so far

We have met two mysterious individuals named "The Composer" and "The Compiler" who have been working to further the understanding of artifacts. The Compiler is generally snarkier and more excited by the thrill of the project than data collection; The Composer is more meticulous and private, but also a warmer person.

A few days ago, The Compiler began an intensive investigation of her individual artifact, The Blue Hat Girl. 

In doing so, The Compiler began to fear that The Blue Hat Girl, and artifacts in general, were evil and would create problems if they were left unchecked. She “severed” herself from the Blue Hat Girl by killing her. This caused an odd destabilization of the world and multiple artifacts were found in Cobb on Sunday, along with ravings from The Compiler that she would have to show people the “way out” of their current existence.

The Compiler released an angry email admitting to killing the Blue Hat Girl and claiming that artifacts hinder people by “latching them to the world” among other negative side effects. She also declared that tonight, Tuesday night, she would begin destroying people’s personal artifacts, setting them free.

A “tutorial artifact round,” in the form of a short text-based RPG game, exists here: https://www.uchicagohvz.org/composer/. Playing this RPG is by no means necessary, but it is a good place to get started.

[pekasairroc]

HvZ Log #1 - The First Night

The Compiler was Carlie all along.  She sent us this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsrGn347iI8  (Nice job with the makeup!)

People are freaking out since The Compiler is out to break our individual artifacts and show us the “way out” of our current existence.  These artifacts tie us to this world and if ours are broken we’re severed from it and…. I’m not really sure what exactly is going on but considering how The Compiler is acting I don’t think that being latched to this world is such a “negative side effect” as she says it is.  Having yours broken seems like a negative side effect.  I’m still trying to figure out what my individual artifact is so I can protect it from her.  She’s out there now roaming around and has already broken a few.  I got home safely in a group.  Here’s hoping we’ll get through this and The Compiler can be stopped.

Hey Composer.  Care to give us any hints on how to find our artifacts?  Shit did in fact hit the fan and now’s the time to tell us everything you know about artifacts if we’re gonna fix this.

Thanks Phoebe for the awesome bite code.  Sorry about the lack of Greg.  Here we all are though!  Including Greg!  In our unsafe apartment!

[theartifactvault-blog]

"Hey Composer.  Care to give us any hints on how to find our artifacts?  Shit did in fact hit the fan and now’s the time to tell us everything you know about artifacts if we’re gonna fix this." The best way to do it is to keep on the lookout for them. Like just be aware of everything. Another suggestion is to return to places that hold significant meaning for you or to listen to music/eat food that brings back potent memories, etc.  Since The Compiler started her rampage I've realized that my artifact has started to feel a bit...stronger. Not in a bad way, either. Like I've been remembering more about it, understanding it more, feeling more connected to it. It feels like an important thing worth thinking about even though it is also kind of emotionally painful. I have an idea about why this is all happening, and if I'm right, all this will make sense. But that will have to wait until tomorrow to be verified. So until then please stay safe out there. I don't know what The Compiler is planning.

--The Composer

[theartifactvault-blog]

Hello, everyone. Glad to meet you.

--Your very own Compiler

[theartifactvault-blog]

From me, The Compiler, that is

Well, hello, all y’all.

Can you hear me laughing? It’s pretty loud. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed this hard in my life, honestly. Really. You should take your show on tour, guys. You’d make millions. Just make sure I get my commission. Anyway. I got rid of The Blue Hat Girl, because she would’ve killed me otherwise. Maybe not immediately, maybe not with blood and gore and a tragic news story. But she would’ve killed me, because I would’ve been hers. She could take everything about me and fit it into her hand. She could’ve smeared me on the wall or swallowed me without chewing once, without a thought, without meaning. Everything about my world would’ve been attached to her, what she meant, where she came from, and nothing else. Nothing else. When she turned around I recognized her. I remembered who she was. But she didn’t know me, because in this world she isn’t a part of me. I’m part of her. And you’re insane if you think that isn’t true for you, too. You all have your own artifacts. I can see them now. They glow where they hook onto the world, like strings, like gleaming metal. So, I’m sure you understand why I had to get out of this fucking place. The artifacts latch us here. They’re things we need to escape, and if we let them live, we’ll become theirs. They’ll define everything.

If I’d actually killed her, I wouldn’t exist. I got close. I lost some part of me and it’ll never come back, but that’s a sacrifice you have to make to save the rest of yourself, isn’t it? We have to sever ourselves from them, make them powerless, and then crawl away, dirty, spent, and starving. It hurts, at first, but then you realize how good it tastes, the sinews of an artifact where they meet your skin. I’ll show you how to rip them out. I’ll even do it for you, if you want. And, hey, Composer? I’m glad you think you’re doing the right thing. That’s really what matters in the end, you know? I’m really excited for that day when everything that matters is utterly destroyed, when you’ve allowed the things you think you love to corrupt us entirely, when we’re just slaves to these things that you’ve let grow around us like tumors. I can’t wait to hear someone turn to you, dying, and say “thank you, Composer. Thank you for the goodness that’s always lived in your heart. I know you didn’t mean it.” But I’ll be free. You all can be free, too. Come find me tomorrow night. I’ll be waiting for you.

Yours with my truest sincerity and gratitude, Your Very Own Compiler