1923 (TU)

1923

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Events[]

Whitley Styles records in his journals that, as far as he can tell, Maxwell Anderson Mercer vanished into thin air last July. Michael Donighal has cabled him from the Far East, reporting no success and recommending Whit not waste any more of his time.^[2]

February 2: Several academics who had been investigating the Inquiry on behalf of Whitley Styles are framed for stock market fraud and arrested.^[3]

Whitley Styles records in his journal that he's given up the search for Max Mercer. ^[2]

May 18: Prominent financier J. Ainge Lawoys, or at least his body, is found dead in London's Bushy Park in the wake of disarrayed funds at Lawoys Security.^[4]

(probably late June): Whitley Styles reports in his journal: "Max is back." He appears to have been recovering for the last few months under the care of Dr. Primoris (who seems familiar to Whit, but whom Whit does not immediately recognize as Michael Donighal) and claims not to remember how he got into Primoris' care. They resolve to go out for a steak dinner over which Max will explain his new venture and invite Whit to join it.^[2]

Whitley Styles records in his journal that, over that steak dinner, Max Mercer explained his objective: to bring together "brave, intelligent and open-minded people...who ask why and want to find the answer."^[5]
July 4: "General" E.W. Caldwell's Manifest Destiny Army seizes Bikini Atoll, a small unremarkable Pacific island.^[6]
July 18: Max Mercer establishes the Æon Society for Gentlemen in Chicago. It serves as a worldwide coordinating office for Inspired adventurers and investigators of the paranormal, in furtherance of its larger goal -- Mercer's drive to discover humanity's true potential, and to break down any obstacles in the way. Its seven charter members are Mercer himself, Primoris, Whitley Styles, Professor Dixon, Safari Jack, Crackshot, and Danger Ace.^[2]^[7]^[8]
July 21: The Æon Society for Gentlemen holds its first official meeting.^[5]

Whitley Styles records in his journal that the Æon Society has had its first internecine strife, as Crackshot objected to the treatment she got from Danger Ace and Safari Jack on an assignment in New Orleans, and neither Stefokowski nor Tallon was pleased at having their direct orders ignored by Newfield. Styles is amazed to be able to write, factually, that "[w]hile half of us were mucking around in New Orleans, [Mercer] and that reporter [Sarah] Gettel were off in Haiti battling the undead."^[9]

September 21: An explosion rocks Wicker Park, destroying the main floor of Mercer Manor.^[9]

Whitley Styles records in his journal that Mercer and Danger Ace, back from success in Mexico City, stopped by Mercer Manor to see how the reconstruction was coming.^[9]
The Physical Review publishes an abstract by Professor Karl Holtz entitled "An Alternate Construction of Recent Probabilistic Theories in Quantum Physics." The professor refers to a field of energy which underlies normal matter and energy. He calls this field the "probability stream."^[10]

In his journals, Whitley Styles records his amazement at some of the situations he and Æon's other founders have survived in the past four months. Jake Stefokowski had just returned from the Yukon with the Furry Man still intact. Mercer has had to remind them not to take it personally. "After all, the Æon Society is not a secret government and has no intention of becoming one. We fight against secrets." At the same time, he's not so sure about Max's insistence on Æon's files being open to anyone who walks in — general knowledge of some Inspired activities could start a panic, after all — but "I think people should know what's going on....It'd be easy to forget we're doing good things if we hid from the public eye."^[9]

Whitley Styles records in his journal that Max Mercer has returned from Macao, conveniently at a time when the other six Æon founders were in Chicago, and almost the first words out of his mouth were "We're not the police, but we've got to do something with the people we stop." Jake Stefokowski wondered why these Inspired malefactors can't just be turned over to the police; Whit pointed out that most jurisdictions don't actually have laws against building "death rays". Professor Dixon suggested setting up a psychiatric facility; Jack Tallon offered some of his secluded African/Arabian holdings to the purpose. In the end, Mercer agreed to the project: "it's not enough to understand the wonders of our world; we must understand the people who experience them."^[11]