Our “sequel” Hollow Earth Expedition campaign has been revolving around a new US intelligence/cryptoscience organization, the Office of Scientific Investigation. We had originally premiered this in our abortive Atomic Robo campaign, but the material was too good not to resurrect — especially after out initial HEX campaign ended with the Hollow Earth emerging from the middle of the planet (the “Ghost World” event) to become a second Earth.

So here’s a thumbnail of the group we’ve been using for our game:

Office of Scientific Intelligence

Formed in 1933 after the emergence of the Hollow Earth from the center of the world, the OSI is tasked with investigating “weird” science ideas, the remnant of races, creatures, and tech from the Hollow Earth and the ancients that had created that world. The OSI was formed by Congressional order and placed under the authority of the War Department. The director of this bureaucracy was obvious, Admiral Richard Byrd — the famed explorer and commander of the Los Angeles expedition into the interior world shortly before the emergence. The crest of OSI has the motto: Scientia est Victoria (Knowledge is Victory).

The OSI has been under congressional scrutiny from the beginning as it has been prohibitively expensive. The War Department, however, has protected certain programs as “essential to national security” and have pointed to the need for construction projects (using the PWA) and heavy industry ties as important to combatting the effects of the Great Depression. Equipment is usually borrowed from the US Navy and Marine Corps.

The headquarters of OSI are in an innocuous building in Arlington, Virginia, but the various “projects” are headquartered throughout the United States. these projects are each code named after smaller US cities.

Atlanta Project: The Atlanta Project is headquartered in Arlington and is composed mostly of field teams which investigate reports of superscience artifacts, strange creatures, and other “threats” around the world. These teams are led by an eclectic collection of scientists, adventurers, soldiers, and spies. Admiral Byrd takes a close interest in these teams and often tasks them himself.

Boston Project: Located in an underground facility on the grounds of the Goodyear Airship Factory in Huntingdon Beach, California and the nearby Muroc Army Air Field, this group is tasked with reverse engineering the flying saucer techology of the Atlanteans, as well as creating new and innovative aircraft for the military. They have close ties to the Hughes Corporation and Curtiss-Wright. The assistant director of Boston is Dr. Benjamin Leland.

Charlestown Project: Located in Baltimore, this group is tasked with pursuing the medical and biological research connected to the creatures and people of the Hollow Earth, as well as the Atlanean race and their human descendants.  The assistant director of Charlestown in Dr. Aaron Gould, a Spanish expatriate and a descendent of the Atlanteans.

Denver Project: Located in Brooklyn, this project is headed by Nikola Tesla and pursues research into high energy physics, electricity, and weapons research.

Easton Project: Tied to Boston Project is the rocketry program under the leadership of Robert Goddard. It is also based at Muroc Army Air Field in California.