White-capped waves and broken water.

The year is 1995.

Germany has unified. Russia is in a flux after the fall of Communism.

People continue to be flawed creations stretching their hopes and ambitions to heaven

The estimated human population of earth is under 5 billion. What a person is, how well they can perform, their origin and how much of a threat they are is called their profile. Normal human beings have Conventional Profiles.

There are just over 32 million technologically augmented human beings on earth. Most are concentrated in the developed nations;  many of them are veterans and soldiers. They are officially classified as having Augmented Profiles, most are called "Vets".

There are people who are born with innate abilities outside of the conventional range, they are classified as originating from Special Profiles. Special Profiles have their own abilities, behaviors, performance capabilities and weaknesses. There are many Special Profiles, and each has many names, socially, politically and scientifically. These people are individually and collectively called Special Profile Beings, SPB's

Over the course of the 20th century, the number of SPBs active on earth has increased. Governments used to think of SPB's as "people with powers". Eventually the understanding that the unique abilities of SPBs were only one part of their Special Profiles was known to a few.There are more than an estimated half million Special Profile Beings on earth

Human history includes the presence of psychics, mages, "gods and monsters". Some of that history is known, much of it has been kept secret.Thaumaturgy, the science of the arcane, is a public secret.  "The Black Arts" are outlawed in the United States.  "Thaumaturgy" is a nationalized and controlled field of study for the rest of the world.Thaumaturgic effects in the Pacific, Africa and Eurasia have become erratic, this is known as the "Weirding".

There have been evidenced episodes where the barrier between dimensions has been thinning, documented since well into the previous century, resulting in "Hot Spots" where other Earths' and their physics bleed through.

Some accidentally... others intentionally.

Dimensional hot spots and their effect on the world was once a secret held in the highest confidence internationally, at one point. That point is now past.

Despite many "apocalyptic" moments in the eyes of the people, if there is in fact a supreme will, it has not yet played it's final hand.