CBPA

### Description:

The CBPA, or Central Bureau of Paranormal Affairs, previously known as the Unusual Incidents Unit (UIU) branch of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, is the most recent addition to the United States's list of federal agencies and is tasked by the United States of America with enforcing all legislation regarding Magic and its many uses and applications. The CBPA operates under the motto of "Freedom, Temperance, Sensibility," said to reflect the organization's mission regarding the management and regulation of Magic across the United States as one of guardianship towards the American public, who are likely to misuse Magic if left unattended.

Unlike many government agencies operating under the United States, the CBPA is one of the most mysterious and most powerful; while the CBPA appears to most as a transparent organization that operates entirely in the "daylight" of society, many of the organization's large scale operations and projects are conducted in secret. The organization is, in many ways, designed to combat secrecy both inside and outside the federal government through its mission to root out the abuse of Magic, the prevention of disasters brought about through Magic, and the management of relations with those of the magical races, organizations, and nations.

### Organization:

The CBPA operates under a similar structure as the FBI or CIA, and is overseen by a Director, operating from the headquarters of the organization that is, as of the time of writing, at a location unknown to the JPCU. The Director hands down orders and directs the operations of the various Branches scattered across the United States, each maintained by what is estimated to be hundreds of federal employees. The CBPA operates an unknown number of Facilities and Sites that serve an unknown range of possible purposes. The common Agents are sent across the country and occasionally beyond to do their jobs, rooting out cults and other illegal magical organizations, retrieving powerful objects, monitoring magical schools and colleges, and managing diplomatic relations with the many supernatural organizations.

According to the few scant records obtained by JPCU scouts and researchers, the CBPA is known to recruit its Agents from communities with a particularly high concentration of magical anomalies, magically-attuned individuals, or places of special supernatural and/or anomalous meaning. Through unknown means, the CBPA introduces these individuals of interest to their organization and recruits them. The CBPA is also known to recruit members of its ranks from those of magical races, including powerful entities like the Amazons; the CBPA does recruit solely from residents of the Material Realm, and does not mettle with those residents of other Realms due to the ban on Planar Magic.

The CBPA operates under a similar trend to the ATF and FBI, conducting secret operations to infiltrate illegal operations, following up on tips from anonymous sources and contacts, retrieving magical objects and people, and ensuring positive relations with as many magical races as possible. The CBPA operates only in the United States, but is known to have operations that extend beyond those boundaries when necessary, operating under the same rules as other mundane intelligence agencies.

The CBPA is considered to be the federal managing body for the JPCU and similar organizations, although this is only a ruse to ensure the legal existence of the JPCU and similar organizations under American law. Legislation for magic was needed to protect the public from itself, and from entities beyond a normal person's wildest imagination; the CBPA was created to enforce that protection, whether the public desired it or not. As such, the CBPA is considered to be an ally of the JPCU, operating parallel to the JPCU in a similar, smaller-scale manner. The JPCU and CBPA have come into conflict with one another in the past, but such occasions are rare, localized, and rarely publicized.

#### Departments/Divisions:

1. [Monument Management Division]
2. Majestic 12
3. Fletching Project

### Equipment:

The CBPA's level of technological capability is mostly unknown, but is believed to be influenced and aided by groups such as the Foundation and GOC, who are believed to grant the CBPA with additional resources unavailable to any other market or legal organization, save for the JPCU. CBPA Agents are known to make use of specialized anti-magic tools and weaponry created through advanced technology to protect and aid Agents in the field. The online capability of the CBPA is unknown, but assumed to be equivalent to that of the Foundation. The CBPA is known to employ advanced and even automated security measures to protect its Agents and Facilities.

The CBPA's magical capabilities greatly outmatch its technological developments. The CBPA employs magic of all kinds in its operations ranging from all fields of magic to ensure the optimal combinations and applications of magical energies to accomplish their goals. Runes, scrolls, enchanted armor and weapons, magical items of all kinds, and more are all used by the CBPA, provided partially by the JPCU and partially by unknown sources. The CBPA has proven willing to use the powerful artifacts in the organization's possession to combat its foes, including the JPCU, and should not be underestimated (*Note: The full magical potential of the CBPA and its members is not known*).

Individual instances of magical/anomalous artifacts are not known, but are confirmed to exist in an extensive capacity worthy of JPCU attention. Should the CBPA be backed into a corner, their actions may prove unpredictable and highly dangerous to the JPCU and similar organizations. Foundation oversight of the CBPA occurs in an unknown capacity; more study is required to determine the specific instances of powerful artifacts and individuals, although it is known that the CBPA's Director possesses extensive magical talent and capabilities, to an extent unknown to the JPCU as of the time of writing.

The CBPA employs both technological and magical solutions to most conflict, often in combination, to ensure their victory. The details of their strategies include extensive and lengthy reconnaissance, followed by rapid and precise strikes of often excessive measure to ensure victory.

### History:

The CBPA was founded in 1941 CE following rumors of Nazi involvement with paranormal or anomalous substances, locations, and entities. The organization operated in secret until the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990's, at which point the organization was dissolved. The division was reformed in 2021 following the Fracture, this time as a public law enforcement agency, to manage to day-to-day magic crimes and supernatural events across the United States.

After its reformation, the CBPA accomplished its job and either unified, confederated, or allied the United States with the other groups and organizations that sprung up in 2020. After completing its mission, Congress voted almost unanimously to extend the organization's charter and grant it power over the continued endorsement of magical laws and regulation, affirming the CBPA's place in in the federal government and ensuring the safety of its position as a federal agency.

Due to the temporal anomalies suffered during the Fracture, the JPCU was actually founded before the CBPA, in 1974. The JPCU's early encounters with the CBPA were one of strict regulation that the JPCU then opted to ignore, knowing its prime position and superiority over the new CBPA. Sure enough, the JPCU was able to win the legal battle and maintain its level of power despite the legislation passed against similar organizations.

The CBPA continues to aid the JPCU as a fellow paranormal investigation and containment organization, and the two have frequent positive interactions with one another. With the CBPA being the federal oversight for the JPCU, the CBPA feigns power over the JPCU to maintain the status quo and better legitimize the CBPA in the eyes of the public, although no actual oversight can take place.

Early in the CBPA's history, the organization did conduct a number of armed hostile operations against the JPCU in an attempt to forcibly regulate the JPCU and bring it under the CBPA's umbrella of influence. This included several months of armed conflict between the two organizations, and the eventual use of a Bomb of Annihilation by the CBPA against the JPCU's original headquarters in Moscow, Russia. Following the end of the hostilities ad the beginning of the peace discussions, the JPCU agreed to move its headquarters to the United States, where it now exists in New Orleans, Louisiana.