Spetsnaz 5

The initial roots for Spetsnaz 5 date all the way back to May 1945 when Berlin finally fell to the Allied and Russian forces. Being the first into Hitler's main headquarters the Soviets discovered his treasure trove of supernatural artifacts and magical tomes. All of it was hurriedly smuggled back to Moscow, the Allies having been delayed by a deliberate massacre of civilian Germans by a Russian unit. Stalin immediately wanted to begin using the captured items to take over the war tired world and all the items transferred to the newly created Star City. This would lead to disaster.

One of the items captured was the Necronomicon. Russia's experiments with it resulted in the complete destruction of Star City. There was no explosion, no crater. The entire city was just gone, like it had never existed. For the first time Stalin felt truly afraid and all information of the project expunged. And so it remained for over 50 years.

Following the death of some 130 hostages in Crimson Storm's rescue operation during the 2002 Moscow theatre hostage crisis Gelbsin was removed as head and his future looked grim. Until the original Star City returned.

Acting on a peasant's report of a city appearing out of nowhere the local army division investigated with only one survivour returning.

Gelbsin was told to choose his own people and essentially go on a suicide mission to investigate the mysterious city. Despite suffering horrendous losses his team was successful in destroying the city by burning it to the ground. In his report to Putin and the senior generals Gelbsin provided video footage of the monstrous horrors they encountered within.

In pure panic the Kremlin decided it needed a force dedicated to specialising in combating the supernatural. Spetsnaz 5 was formed.

Gelbsin was then offered the position as its head, charged with protecting mother Russia from the occult, paranormal and supernatural.

Spetsnaz 5 would draw personnel and resources from Direktsiya Magiya (spell and mana research), Direktsiya Runa (artifact research) and Direktsiya Tajnyj (supernatural races research).

In 2003 a special forces assassin Major Andrei Ramius was sent to kill a Russian mobster in the Ukraine but was unaware of the target's links to a Kali cult. Ramius succeeded but the cult caught him in the act, forcing him to flee. Gelbsin heard of this through various underworld contacts and offered Ramius sanctuary in his organisation.

Spetsnaz 5 had several supernatural encounters over the next few years but truly proved themselves in 2005. On March 19th all contact was lost with a research base in Siberia. Shortly after a nearby army base also went quiet. Major Andrei Ramius and a Spetsnaz 5 team was sent in to recon. A few hours later he and his team's wounded survivours made contact and reported a dimensional rip over the Siberian lab which was unleashing other planar horrors. Several 'daisy cutter' style bombs were dropped on the lab and army base, cleansing the entire area. Several Arcanists on loan from Crimson Storm then sealed the rip. Spetsnaz 5's funding would never be questioned again.

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