The Douglas Association for Paranormal Research and Investigation

WARNING: DAPRI naturally contains lots of spoilers for The Magnus Archives!

The Douglas Association is my TMA headworld! It's set in an alternate reality where a bad ending sent the fears spilling into other dimensions - one of these dimensions being that of The Douglas Association, an organization dedicated to the investigation and archiving of paranormal encounters. They've been doing less and less real investigative work since the latest head took over... but the brand new Archivist is planning to change that!The story is focused around Head Archivist Pasha Beam and her assistants when they notice similarities between statements and begin digging into them, unravelling the truth of the entities. This unravelling involves roadtrips, frightening encounters, group dynamics, and lots and lots of paperwork.DAPRI is a for-fun personal project - I don't plan to write out the story or anything like that. However, I am excited to share its art and characters!

DAPRI is set in the mid-to-late 2010s, though the fact it's a parallel universe means that some things are different. Pasha Beam became head archivist in 2016, while Alice joined the Archives crew in 2018.

Douglas Association for Paranormal Research and Investigation
AKA: DAPRI, The Douglas Association
Founded 1922

Located in Portland, OR with an eastern branch in Chicago, IL. The main location is just outside of Portland and hosts all of DAPRI's departments. The eastern branch is within Chicago and staffed by researchers - everything important happens out west, the eastern location is just a touchstone to make investigations easier cross-country.The Association's stated intention is to investigate paranormal situations and catalog their findings. People are allowed to come view documents (typically resources from the library) under permission from the department head. Only some statements are public access with permission from the Head Archivist.DAPRI has 50-80 staff members at any one time, spread between its several departments:
Administration - Run by the Head of the Association. Offices located on the top (third) floor.
Research - Practical researchers who investigate on-site, test artifacts, etc. Offices located on the second floor. This department has shrunk since Stephen Jacobs took over.
Archives - Run by the Head Archivist. Do paperwork, organize research, compile statements with related texts, etc. Offices are downstairs in the climate-controlled basement; the actual Archives are down there as well.
Artifact Storage - Run by the Head of Storage. Storage for items recovered from investigations. Offices are located on the main floor, but artifacts are stored downstairs in a separate section of the Archives.
Library - Run by the Head Librarian. Contains resources and written work related to the paranormal, specifically things of interest to DAPRI's work. Located on the main floor.DAPRI has its own set of entities. Please see this page for more information.

The plot of DAPRI is a big work-in-progress, and is likely to be for the foreseeable future! That said... here's my ideas :]We begin with Pasha becoming Head Archivist in November 2016, succeeding Ellis Jackson. She brings on Logan and Henry as assistants (Greer stays on Archives crew after working under Jackson). This period is a more light-hearted episodic story of the Archives crew investigating things, finding threads, and starting their theories.Our first big plot point is Alice's arrival! Alice is actually non-native to this reality - she formerly worked for a Magnus Institute before falling through Hill Top Road and ending up here. She shows up at DAPRI in early 2018 and joins Archives crew as an assistant. Alice knows of the entities, but not very much... still, her knowledge throws the group into more serious investigating.
Pasha resumes the practice of recording statements onto tape! This was started in the 1990s but fell off with previous Archivist Jackson after Stephen Jacobs pressured them into stopping... strange. Pasha hides her tapes from Jacobs due to this.Eventually Jacobs discovers their research and begins taking drastic measures against the Archives' crew investigations. Whatever these measures are, they result in Alice's removal from DAPRI, an event that negatively impacts her health due to her lack of new knowledge for the Eye...It's at this point that the Archives crew embark on a trip to the UK for Alice to return to her own reality! Unfortunately, they run into an attempted Temple ritual before they reach Oxford. The ritual fails, but only after Alice sacrifices herself to stop it. It's a very difficult ordeal - Henry in particular ends up marked.This is where my notes get fuzzy!
Other things to include are specific statements, more traveling, and various avatars.We end with Pasha realizing Stephen was right: there ARE things man was not meant to know and she should've ignored all of this... but it's far too late, she's lost everybody anyway, and she's too far gone herself. Logan is with the Stuck, Henry is with the Temple, Alice is dead. Greer and Pasha make it to the end together, but Pasha is the last man standing.

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

The Powers-that-be entered this reality during the early 1500s. They began to divide to prey on different things and are still dividing today; Pasha comes to recognize ten of them, but they aren't totally stable, and often infringe on each other. They're rooted generally in issues related to control.THE GLASS BOX
Fear of an outside force limiting or changing your control; being "boxed in" with a specific set of choices and being unable to change that.
Ex. being puppeted, being drugged, manipulation, dead-end jobs, corrupt authorityTHE STUCK
AKA End-of-the-Line, the Bitter End (called the Push by Logan)
Fear of being unable to escape something, whether that's a predator, situation, place, etc.
Ex. the end of a hunt, being cornered, endless structures, enclosed spaces, inevitabilities, deadlines, intrusive thoughtsTHE SIGHT
Fear of knowledge (or lack thereof) being used against you.
Ex. the dark, being watched, being harmed due to naivete, being known (or not known), social anxiety, imposter syndrome, failed expectations, being "found out"THE RENDING
Fear of direct physical or emotional harm and of being vulnerable to it.
Ex. being chased, fire, weaponry, emotional vulnerability, trauma, hurting other peopleTHE DISPOSSESSED
Fear of losing what you have, never having what you want, and becoming distanced from what you love.
Ex. isolation, loss of possessions, grief, missing out, never having enough, isolating yourself to save othersTHE TEMPLE
Fear of losing control over your own body and living space.
Ex. infection, dysphoria, body horror, rot in your house, home invasion, being unable to trust your senses, unwanted physical changeTHE UNALIKE
Fear of people who aren't like you and of being different from others.
Ex. cultural bias, the uncanny, being unable to recognize something, conformity, identity struggles, failing to fit into society, imperfections, warTHE RUSH
Fear of things moving too fast; being unable to control yourself and having too little time.
Ex. falling, high speeds, bustling crowds, overwhelm/overstimulation, lack of physical controlTHE OVERSHADOW
AKA the Pawn
Fear of your own scale in relation to things, being too insignificant to change something, and knowing that you're only a small part in something much bigger.
Ex. big spaces, scale of society, being ignored, not being listened to, being manipulated into action, corrupt systemsTHE DROP
Fear of sudden unexpected change, being unable to go back to what you've lost, and losing control over your life & future.
Ex. disasters, societal upheaval, major life changes, change coming sooner than expected, emergency sirensPinboard for the entities can be viewed here!A very good friend of mine played a big role in creating this system! Thank you M for your help :]