BoM/TWS/SB Wiki

Fane: Dark Stars

The Fane conglomerate is trying to develop their own equivalents, under the umbrella project name "Dark Stars."

Dark Stars is in operation at the time of "The Book of Masks," but it mostly appears in "The Wandering Stars," and for that reason there can be no single and solid reference guide for it, its structure, its personnel and its practices. (Those details vary according to the time frame of the story and the differing histories it has in the various timelines.) This entry, then, should be treated only as a resource and not as a guide. It reflects material that is likely to be common to all storylines involving Dark Stars, but there is plenty of room for variation and contradiction. But it also assumes that most Dark Stars storylines will feature similar casts of characters, and so assumes they will feature similar organizations and habits.

Here is the project name for each of the planets.

Arbol = Mimir
Viritrilbia = Hermod
Perelandra = Ishtar
Sulva = Diana
Malacandra = Nerio
Glundandra = Huangdi
Lurga = Erlik
Catilindria = Pazuzu
Eldibria = Yam
Kenandandra = Vulcan

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Ia. Project Diana

Project Diana is Fane's attempt to replicate the prodigies associated with Sulva, and it is the part of Dark Stars that gets the most attention.

The material in this wiki assumes the lowest possible rate of advance for Diana's research: namely, that Diana uses a "tattoo" machine on its operatives, and that these tattoos can only replicate physical appearance and cannot carry memories, habits, talents, dispositions, etc. For that reason, Diana operatives work in much the same way that spies and con artists do, and conduct operations very similar to them, since their technology only gives them a greater facility at deception and does not allow them to carry out the kind of in-depth impersonations that the "Libra" would allow. Because their operations, techniques and methods are similar to those used by espionage and criminal organizations, most of their lingo carry over from those fields.

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Ib. Diana's Ranking and Rating System

The most unique identifier for Diana is its ranking and rating system. This system is strictly meritocratic, and operatives are ranked on their success in pulling off jobs of greater or lesser difficulty. For the sake of transparency, they have developed a promotion/ranking system in which an operative's position and merit can be recognized and assessed directly from their performance rather than inferred from a simple title.

Diana operations are called "cards," and they are assigned a difficulty degree on a scale of 2 to 14. In practice, the difficulty is pegged to a card in a standard poker deck: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, and A. Suits describe a kind of job: Hearts = Blackmail; Diamonds = Theft; Clubs = Assassination; Spade = Intelligence Collection.

Upon completion of an operation, the agent is awarded the card as part of his rank, with the proviso that the supervisor may raise or lower the card based upon the degree of success shown and/or a re-evaluation of the difficulty of the job. E.g., a theft of moderate difficulty that is initially rated a 7 might prove to have been harder than assessed, and the agent may be awarded an 8 or higher instead. Alternately, an operation that is completed but in which the agent performed poorly might lead to his getting a 6 or lower.

Agents can only have five cards in their rank, and their rank is determined by the poker hands that these five cards form. Methods of promotion and advance are discussed next.

Cadets start with no rank and accumulate their initial cards by performing trial missions, one of each kind: blackmail, theft, assassination, intelligence collection. The fifth trial is a reprise of an earlier trial, the one they scored lowest on **. All tests are rated a 7, and scores can (and usually are) revised in the light of subsequent performance. E.g., if the first trial resulted in a score of 7, but the second trial went better than the first, then the second trial could get an 8 as a score; alternately, the second trial could receive a 7 as a score and the first trial could be revised down to a 6. Scores are always reweighted at the end of the trials so that the five cards do not constitute a straight, and can be further reweighted to reflect an overall assessment of the cadet's performance. A cadet with a stellar performance might end the trials with the rating A-K-Q-J-9 (highest possible score that avoids a straight), while a terrible (but passing) performance might result in the rating 7-5-4-3-2 (lowest possible score that avoids a straight).

Upon final reweighting, the cadet graduates to active agent with the rank of Singleton.

Ranks in the hierarchy are based on the ranks of poker hands. In ascending order: Singleton, Pair, Two Pair, Three of a Kind, Straight, Flush, Full House, Four of a Kind, Straight Flush. Hierarchy within a rank is based on the rating within that rank. E.g., a Singleton with an 10 High out-rates (but does not out-rank) a Singleton with a 7 High.

With subsequent missions, the agent receives a card but replaces a card in his rank with the card for the mission. Typically, the lowest card in his rank is replaced by the new card. Again, the card he receives can be re-evaluated in the light of his success or the proven difficulty of the mission. And again, the cards within his rank can be revised: this is typically done in order to give the agent a higher rating while avoiding an unmerited promotion.

Example: A Singleton with the rating A-K-7-5-3 performs a 7-rated operation. This would result in a rise of rank to Pair (7-7-A-K-5) which the supervisor judges unmerited. Either the supervisor revises the new card to a new rating that doesn't double a card in the rank, or he revises the already granted 7 to a new rating (typically by raising it). The resulting rank might be A-K-8-7-5.

A rise in rank typically occurs only when the agent has risen to the highest possible rating within a rank, but it might also occur if the agent has done especially well on a mission or series of difficult missions.

Example: A Singleton with the rating A-K-7-5-3 performs a Q-rated mission with tremendous success following on other highly performed mission. Instead of raising the rating to A-K-Q-7-5, the supervisor may lower the card rating to 3 but grant a promotion to Pair with the rating 3-3-A-K-7.

Suits cease to signify after a cadet has been promoted to Singleton, and are used mostly to create legitimate poker hands with pairs and other doubled cards. The only exception is if an agent becomes recognized and used as a high-ranking specialist. A skilled contract killer, after multiple promotions, might be awarded the rank of Flush, and the use of Clubs in the rating would signify his specialty. But the rank of Flush is not reserved for specialists, and non-specialists can attain it too. In their case, the suit used does not signify.

The terms Singleton, Pair, etc., are only used to refer to the rank, not to the title of anyone holding that rank. Slang terms are deployed there, and these shift over time. [The precise terms used may also vary from TWS branch to TWS branch.] It is the fashion that only the highest rank gets a boastful slang term as a title, while ranks below it get a derogatory title.

Example: The highest attained rank is Pair. Those holding this rank may be called Muchachos, Double Guns, etc. Singletons would have a derogatory title: Mongrels, Patches, etc. When an agent then attains the rank of Two Pair, that title gets a boastful slang: Dukes, Drakes, etc. The lower-ranked Pairs drop in estimation, losing their boastful appellation and getting a new, derogatory one: Boobies, Ball Huggers, etc.

The gambling motif is also reflected in the terminology for the operations and agents, terminology that also reflects the fact of bluffing/pretense that is their M.O. Operations are "games"; agents are "players"; to undertake an operation is to "play a game." See more in the next section.

** Fifth trial: In some branches, at least, the fifth trial is a "hazing" ritual in which the cadet is forced to assume a submissive feminine form and demeanor and to pleasure the active agents in any way they demand. This is intended to instill a willingness to engage in the unpleasant aspects of impersonation without falling out of character.

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Ic. Diana Slang/Lingo Dictionary
The following slang definitions are divided into subject-similar groups.

arena: the area in which an infiltrator is expected and prepared to work
"This is a quick op. Arena is the bank only, so don't pack a toothbrush."

asset: a clandestine source or method, usually an agent
"We have an asset inside the CIA, so we'll know if they start taking an interest in us."

backstage: the Diana offices
"I'm meeting Knotts backstage."

biff: a person who is being replaced as part of an infiltration
From "B.F.", short for "bona fide"; i.e., "authentic"
"We took the biff backstage."

big earner: a top-ranked agent known for undertaking dangerous assignments
"Kips is our big earner. He was inside MI5 undetected for two weeks."

birthday skin: the agent's original appearance
"Cox, you got the ugliest birthday skin on the floor."

bone yard: permanent storage for targets that have been replaced; morgue
"Do we need to pack a snoozegun?" "Negative, this one's for the bone yard."

card: an assignment
"Go see Dey, he's got a card for you."

corpse: to fall out of character
"She's supposed to be my sister, but I took one look at her and corpsed on the spot."

cugine: an ambitious, trouble-making rookie
"That's a bullshit card. Give it to Lamb. A cugine like him needs a rough one."

crew: a group of agents assigned to an operation
"This is a game for a two-man crew."

crow: a spy or con artist who doesn't work for Diana
"Any trouble?" "Nah. Ran into a couple of Russian crows also trying to get the memory stick. That was fun to watch."

down cards: the known unknowns of a job; aspects of the job that are not known by the agents, but which the agents are aware of
"The down card is that we don't have the combination to the safe."

drop a skin: to end an infiltration
"Two more days, then I get to drop this skin like a bad poet off a bridge."

elves: Diana support staff
"Talk to the elves, they'll fix you up with a fake passport."

face card: a high-risk/high-reward assignment
"I'm tired of my low-ass rating, Dey. Gimme a face card."

fold: to abort an operation before it is completed
"They caught me carrying the guns into the building. I had to fold."

floater: an uninvolved person manipulated to conduct aspects of an operation without their realizing it
"How'd you get into the VIP room?" "I hooked a floater at the dance club, and he got me in."

freezer: life-support storage for targets that have been replaced
"Put her in the freezer, we'll thaw her out when we're done."

game: a job or operation
"Who's up for a four-man game?"

ghoul: an agent who dislikes shedding useless or compromised IDs
"Don't be a ghoul, Stoddard, it was a one-time gag. Scrub off the Queen's skin."

jeep: a cadet in training; usually used to suggest the cadet's presence is not wanted
Cross of USAF "Junior Enlisted Expendable Personnel" (a new airman) and Popeye's Eugene the Jeep, a magical creature known for its ability to disappear
"Get out of here, you fucking jeep."

in the lobby: between assignments
"Where's Muniz?" "Dying a slow death in the lobby. Get him in a game, Knotts."

meat rack: a temporary life-support storage area for targets that have been replaced
"It's a one-day game, so we'll hang the biffs on a meat rack instead of packing them in the freezer."

pattern: unique identifiers used to validate the identity of operatives
"Lemme check your pattern. Then I'll tell you where I put the money."

pigeons: family and friends of one who has been replaced
Traditional slang for a naïve person
"Some of the pigeons were fun, but most of them were just lame."

play (v): to undertake an operation
"Ishtar's organizing a game for us. Who wants to play?"

players: the agents assigned to an operation
"White, Stoddard, you're the starting players, we'll bring in more if it gets complicated."

play for table stakes: to conduct an operation with no plan for outside assistance
"Something crashed in Antarctica and Huangdi wants us to take a look. We'll be palming a researcher who's rotating into a nearby station. So, given the location, this game is for table stakes only."

rank: position in the Diana hierarchy
"You will respect my rank, you former jeep."

rating: relative position within a rank in the Diana hierarchy
"Kips and Muniz are both Dukes [i.e., ranked as Two-Pair], but Kips has the higher rating. Jacks over Seven to Tens over Five."

raven: a male ID employed for seduction
"We need someone to play raven to the Senator's daughter."

scrub: to remove a tattoo
"As soon as I'm outta this skin, I'm scrubbing it."

the shoe: the backlog of operations assignments
Gambling term for the box out of which cards are dealt
"No downtime for you, White. Talk to Dey, he'll deal you a card from the shoe."

skin: the purported ID associated with a tattoo
"This game calls for a good-looking, college-age skin. Who's already got one?"

sleeper: a long-term infiltrator
"You're going in as a sleeper, so you won't be getting signals."

swallow: a female ID employed for seduction
"I'll use my swallow to get us in."

take the pot: to successfully end an operation
"We've taken the pot and are coming home."

up cards: known knowns; aspects of an operation that are known to the agent before it begins
"We'll be palming the guy while he's on his honeymoon." "That's a great up card." "Here's a picture of the bride." "Oops, I meant bad, that's a very bad up card."

wild cards: the unknown unknowns related to an operation; surprises (usually unpleasant) that could not have been anticipated
"It turns out the asshole hired a hit man to kill his wife. What a wild card, huh? Lucky for me, I was the better shot."

window dressing/pocket litter: ancillary materials to lend authenticity to a pretense
"Go see the elves, they'll fix you up with some pocket litter and window dressing for your new flat."

zombie: an agent whose infiltration involves the murder of the biff
"How long will I be playing him?" "Get comfortable. You're a zombie."

zampo: the non-tattooed handler in charge of an operation; officially, the "OIC" (officer in charge)
Cross between Russian "zampolit" (political officer) and the mythical Finnish cornucopia ("sampo") whose lack of obvious utility was mocked by "Mystery Science Theater 3000."
"We had to fold because our fucking zampo got made."





bang and burn: demolition and sabotage operations
"It's a bang and burn. We'll get you the skin of a janitor in the building."

big store: an artificial setting where targets can be safely handled or switched
"There's too much traffic at his work and house. We'll have to set up a big store for the palm."

the birdie: a device that flashes a light that puts a victim into a blank-minded, suggestible reverie; most often used to prep a victim for flensing or switching
"Watch the birdie, asshole." *FLASH*

black bag job: operation conducted to steal, copy, or replace materials
"It's a simple black bag job. Go in, get out, switch the diamonds for paste. Not in that order, of course."

carpet joint: an easy but highly desirable operation
Gambler terminology for luxury casino
"I'm worn out, Knotts. Get Dey to put me in a carpet joint next time. Somewhere on the Mediterranean, maybe."

clock: to keep track of someone's movements and activities
"Kips is clocking him now. We'll have his daily itinerary for you by the time we're ready for the insertion."

contract: a murder assignment
"Ishtar is offering a contract on President Nzingha."

crash a party: to infiltrate under a false identity but without conducting an imitation
"No time for finesse. We'll crash the party."

double: to infiltrate under another person's identity without making a replacement
"We'll just double the biff. While he's in London, we'll black bag his apartment in Rome."

dig out with a spoon: to exfiltrate an agent too late to save him.
"If we don't get there in an hour, we'll be digging him out with a spoon."

drop an anvil: to reintroduce a target into his life by staging an accident that would plausibly cause amnesia
"Game's over. Stoddard, get the biff out to his house and drop an anvil on him."

first act places: to return the original people to their situation with minimal disruption
"Muniz rolled the biff's Mercedes, so we can't quite return him to first act places."

flat: a temporary artificial setting for the improvised handling of a target
"We'll drop a flat in the empty office across the hall from him."

flensing: MiB-like procedure for erasing memories
"He was out for two days. How much did you flense?" "Oops. I accidentally set it for six weeks." "Fuck. We'll have to drop an anvil on him."

extract with tweezers: to exfiltrate an agent carefully with minimal disruption.
"There's celebrities in the neighborhood, so if we're gonna extract you, it'll have to be with tweezers."

honeypot: a sexual situation intended to intimidate or ensnare others
"Nice jugs, Stoddard. You on your way to a honeypot?"

insert: to enter an operation under a false identity
"We'll insert you at the DMV. No one will look for you there."

junket: a vacation taken under a temporary and highly advantageous identity
"Great job, White. I'm sending you on a junket. The elves will fit you up with a temporary tat of the Contessa di Cagliostro."

the old switcheroo: an infiltration involving M2F
"Go see your seamstress, Stoddard. Your next card calls for the old switcheroo."

palm: to replace a person with an infiltrator
"We'll palm Mrs. DeGrasse tomorrow, and palm her husband when he gets back."

push the button: to mount an all-hands rescue operation to exfiltrate an agent
Derived/modified from con artist terminology in which fake police would rescue the con man from an irate mark by staging an arrest
"No time for first act places. We need to push the button!"

rolled-up: when an operation has been discovered and neutralized by an adversary
"We were this close to palming the President, but the Secret Service rumbled to us and rolled us up."

rumble: to excite suspicions
"They rumbled me when I made a pass at a girl. Turns out my biff was gay!"

snoozegun: an injector gun filled with hyperzolpidem, the narcotic used to incapacitate a target
"Someone's coming. Anyone got an extra snoozegun?"

spook: to carry out a job against another Fane operation
"Ishtar wants us to spook Mimir." "I thought we were spooking Ishtar *for* Mimir." "We're doing that too. Some days you make money coming and going."

switch: to replace a person with an infiltrator
"We've scheduled the switch for next Tuesday."

tournament: an unofficial competition between agents to complete their jobs rapidly and successfully.
"This isn't a tournament, Kips. You don't get paid extra for beating Muniz back here."

understudy: to infiltrate under a false identity by making a replacement
"Cox, you'll be understudying for the bank president. We'll make the switch tomorrow."





brush off: to shake surveillance
"They tailed me into Bergdorf's, but I brushed them off in the changing rooms."

burn: to destroy incriminating evidence, tools, or associates
"Take the car down to the docks and burn it."

busted: known to adversaries
"They were busted just before insertion, so we had to push the button."

clean: unknown to adversaries
"Kips is still clean, he can get to the target."

filthy: compromised
"We got away, but the safe house is filthy. We'll have to burn it."

make: to identify, to spot, to bring under surveillance
"I make two cops at the end of the street." "Terrific, and they just made us."

road box: a crate used for transporting targets after they have been replaced
"I need two road boxes for a couple of biffs."





aces to nines: most excellent
From Diana's rating system for Singletons; disused as Pairs are made
"How was the movie?" "Aces to nines! You gotta see it!"

beef: a major complaint or disagreement
"My beef is that Dey keeps dealing the face cards to Muniz."

bust to deuces and sevens: break, destroy
From Diana's rating system for Singletons; never goes out of style
"My car's busted to deuces and sevens. I gotta get a new one."

deuces to sevens: extremely poor
From Diana's rating system for Singletons; never goes out of style
"How was the movie?" "Fuckin' deuces to sevens, man. We walked out."

hot spot: a location suspected of being under surveillance
"Tango's moved into a hot spot. We can't palm him till he's out again."

juice: a bonus or advantage of some kind taken by the agent during the course of an operation
"Your understudying for a sixteen-year-old girl. Isn't that juice enough for you?"

playing the rush: carelessness that follows success in a job
"How'd he get made so fast?" "He was playing the rush after nailing the insert."

"third base": a confession of ignorance borne of confusion
From Abbott and Costello: "Who's on first?" "I don't know!" "Third base!"
"How many people are in the museum now?" "Third base, man, they just dumped a bus full of school kids inside."

vig: the anticipated degree of risk against which reasonable precautions can be made.
"That's easy. We palm the Pope!" "Too much vig. Let's just palm an archbishop."

whale: a project manager in Dark Stars, or the senior executive at an equivalent-level Fane enterprise.
"A pod of whales will be in town and we're supposed to backstop Spartacus on security."





celebrity: a member of the Stellae Errantes
From "star"
"A celebrity just came in, let's get the fuck out of here."

lay a red carpet: an attack conducted by the Stellae Errantes
"I walked into the building just as they were laying a red carpet to it."

personal appearance: a encounter involving a member of the Stellae Errantes
"Greystoke was making a personal appearance, so we ducked out the back."

premiere: an operation conducted by the Stellae Errantes
"The celebrities staged a premiere up in Leeds. We were lucky to get away."

starfucker: a non-occult ally of the Stellae Errantes
"He's just a starfucker. We can take him, no problem."