PLAYING TIME
Plays in 1 hour
NUMBER OF PLAYERS
Up to 4 players
GAME MAT
Compact 16" × 16" playing area
MOVEMENT TEMPLATES
Move your miniatures easily
A FUTURE IN SUSPENSION
The twilight world of NOC is set on Earth, in an undefined future, most likely centuries after the arrival of the Artifact.
The world is suspended in an atmosphere reminiscent of the first half of the twentieth century, where the major cities we know today still endure, isolated and standing stoically in the night against the unknown. Kept in convenient ignorance by the Administration, the population lives in a state of tension between the hazy memory of a bygone age and the prospect of an uncertain way out.
ignorance commode par l’Administration, la population vit dans un état de tension entre le souvenir confus d’une époque révolue et la perspective d’une issue hypothétique.
Existence is defined by sacrifice and devotion to the common good, while the passage of time beneath the Artifact has lost all meaning. Men and women organize their survival locally, living under a permanent, institutionalized sense of urgency and preparing for a rebirth that never seems to come. Their daily lives are governed by the sirens of the Black Guard, the
tectonic rumblings and Bile rains of the Artifact, orders blared from factory loudspeakers, journeys aboard overcrowded urban trains, and endless queues at Commissary branches, ration coupons
in hand.
In an atmosphere of paranoid occupation, society has reshaped itself to cope with the constraints of a world without electricity, severely affected by crippling shortages of vital resources, yet still under the protection of the mysterious Artifact.
protection du mystérieux Artefact.
THE ADMINISTRATION
The globalized, technological world collapsed with the arrival of the Artifact, and humanity’s pathetic attempts at resistance led the God-Object to deprive mankind of the use of electricity. A simple message. The fall of the earthly garden.
Torn apart by epidemics, wars, looting, and environmental disasters, nations vanished, giving way to zones of influence dominated by those powerful enough to control the resources and populations within their reach. A dark age.
Then, from the depths of the Earth, the Administration emerged—fully formed, determined, knowledgeable, and ready to restore order. From the primitive Hypogea came the solution chosen by the Artifact to lead humanity toward the light. Men and women shaped for power, keepers of preserved knowledge, alternative technologies, and systems of government suited to the appalling urgency of the situation. They asserted their authority and offered civilization
a way out. On their terms.
The Administration is a shadowy global organization whose vast network remains beyond the reach of ordinary citizens, blinded by local concerns and the limited horizon of the walls surrounding the Bloc, their city-state. Strict obedience to its rules is the sine qua non of survival. Freedom carries no weight in the face of certain death.
Authoritarian, productivist, and rationalist to the point of inhumanity, the Administration is dominated by an elite selected for its conformity to the system. Yet it is more than a faceless dictatorship. The Administration is the intermediary
between humanity and the Artifact, the interface between flesh and metal, dispensing the answers the population needs to maintain faith in the future. It is the voice of a greater design in which it is complicit, and it alone claims to understand the intentions of the God-Object.
Its mysterious Ministries manage and direct every aspect of human existence, yet citizens have no idea who ultimately presides over their fate. If this world government exists somewhere, they see only its local incarnations within each Bloc, in the form of the Directorates.
THE ARTEFACT
The Artefact is a titanic artificial object that emerged from space, approached Earth, and enclosed the planet within its structure, cutting it off from all contact with the outside world. The sky has vanished, obliterated by a shifting wall of metal 15 km
above sea level. The stars and the Sun are gone, and humanity is isolated from the rest of the universe.
The arrival of the Artefact shattered every scientific and philosophical conception mankind had ever held, confronting humanity with the undeniable reality of its existence and plunging it into an abyss of questions about Its purpose and Its intentions.
Indestructible, it sank its fangs—the Axes—into the Earth and anchored itself firmly to the planet like a parasite.
At times, it releases its vapors: the Mists, said to be haunted. At others, it spews clouds of Bile, a black, greasy substance that affects both body and mind, dragging the weak into abysses of darkness. Corrupted beings
emerge from it, slaughtering soldiers of the Black Guard or insidiously infiltrating the population.
And yet, the surface of the Artifact is streaked with glimmers of light that spare the Earth from total darkness. It warms, stabilizes, and soothes. Brilliant shafts of light known as the Beams sometimes sweep across the ground and seem capable of sustaining life wherever they pass. Thus, the machine does not seek the planet’s death.
Once an apocalyptic scourge, the Artifact has become the God-Object, an ambiguous and inscrutable instrument of a higher will to which humanity must submit—with gratitude. It is the embodiment of order, a shield against the chaos beyond.
A necessary evil.
LES MINISTÈRES
COORDINATION
The Ministry of Coordination, or Diktat, defines society’s objectives in the Age of the Artifact. It is a relentless bureaucratic machine that catalogs, assesses, verifies, lists, identifies, weighs, assigns, judges, punishes, and rewards. Within the Bloc, the Directorate of Coordination centralizes all the data produced by the other Directorates and issues unquestionable directives capable of turning the lives of thousands of people upside down overnight.
It is a world of monolithic offices, massive labyrinthine towers, and solemn, brutalist façades.
Its ranks include decision-makers, analysts, bureaucrats, archivists, judges, experts, inspectors, agents…
HARMONY
The Ministry of Harmony, or the Way,acts as an intermediary between the Artifact and humanity. It is tasked with studying and understanding the Artifact in order to enforce its mysterious precepts on Earth. It oversees education and information and ensures that citizens remain compliant. Within the Bloc, the Way keeps hope alive and gives meaning to each individual’s existence by reminding them that the God-Object is a benevolent power guided by a plan for all. Demonstrations, intensely positive messages, and the cultivation of deference toward the Artifact’s inscrutable will lie at the heart of the Way’s propaganda mission. This Directorate is also deeply engaged in analysing the cryptic signs and messages emitted by the God-Object.
It is a world of scholarly colleges, secretive observatories, monumental statues, majestic courtyards, and intimidating ceremonies.
Its ranks include tutors, rhetoricians, spies, mystics, theorists…
EDIFICATION
The Ministry of Edification, or ConUrb,is responsible for housing, infrastructure, and the development of the Bloc. Its Directorates are behind urban-planning and architectural choices that can sometimes seem absurd, but they also provide access to housing, water and compressed-air networks, light, and heat. Edification lays roads, raises fortifications, and enables the population to travel and live in an environment ranging from shameless luxury to the worst decay.
It is a world of engineering offices, endless construction sites, chaotic networks of pneumatic trams, and underground passages crammed with pipes and conduits.
Its ranks include optimization architects, visionary artists, engineers, workers, repairers, demolition crews, recyclers, heavy-machinery operators…
EFFORT
The Ministry of Effort, or the Econome,is responsible for resource extraction and the production of the goods required to ensure the Bloc’s self-sufficiency. The Commissariat employs or oversees a very large proportion of the population caught up in the industrial machine and manages the redistribution of the goods produced through their labor.
It is a world of sprawling, noisy, and dangerous factories, working-class districts, heavily guarded warehouses, cramped workshops, and dark Hypogea.
Its ranks include factory workers, handlers, foremen, technicians, merchants, directors, statisticians, craftspeople, logisticians…
PROGRESS
The Ministry of Progress, or the Centre,provides the scientific solutions essential to life within the Bloc and pursues its research programs. The Center is the technological memory of humanity, forced into ingenuity by the lack of resources and electricity. Its two foremost disciplines are the physics of quantum energy, which the Artifact is said to have bestowed upon mankind, and bioengineering. Though discreet, the Centre permeates every aspect of life within the Bloc, as its discoveries—and rediscoveries—can mean the difference between life and death. It is responsible for the complex recycling and energy-production systems that keep the Bloc functioning.
It is a world of underground laboratories, questionable experiments, incomprehensible machinery, exclusion zones, and formal scientific conferences.
Its ranks include chemists, physicists, mathematicians, technicians, professors, naturalists, field agents…
INTEGRITY
The Ministry of Integrity, or Census,ensures that citizens’ physical and mental health is maintained at an acceptable level. Well-being is not its primary concern, but it provides the services and infrastructure that come closest to a healthcare and social welfare system, albeit one strongly influenced by hygienist principles. Within the Bloc, Census works to eradicate epidemics, detects health anomalies—whether internal or caused by external intrusion—manages and studies the mentally ill, and provides emergency assistance in the event of disasters.
It is a world of hospitals, field clinics, and decontamination units.
Its ranks include starched doctors, overworked nurses, ever-vigilant census agents…
TRADE UNIONS
In a society without democratic representation or elections, Trade Unions are one of the few significant countervailing powers capable of making the voice of the people heard. They often step in for the Administration’s failing or indifferent services, supporting the citizens of the Bloc with protection, healthcare, education, housing, and administrative procedures.
It is a world of neighbourhood cooperatives, smoke-filled canteens, tense negotiations, and bloody demonstrations.
Their ranks include outspoken workers, educated theorists, dedicated instructors, and all those citizens who believe their voices can make a difference.
SECRET POLICE
The Secret Police, or PoliSec,is the watchful eye and invisible hand of the Administration. It monitors, observes, and hunts for signs of dissent and abnormality. PoliSec detects suspicious behaviour, investigates, spies, and searches for unusual phenomena as well as physical and ideological anomalies. Within the Bloc, it is everywhere and nowhere, and the sudden appearance of its black sedans is always an ominous sign. Sometimes, a district is sealed off without explanation, a family disappears, or a building is condemned. PoliSec agents seem to enjoy almost unlimited powers and authorisations, justified by the greater importance of their mission. Whatever that mission may be.