The Charter

The Charter is an organization that is focused on maintaining order from House of Eternal Return. They control the Anomaly and keep the Multiverse from collapsing into chaos. They reside in a cosmic facility called the Pyramid, where they administer multiverse laws including gravity, time, space, and entropy. Charter agents are considered imposing, yet nebbish and bossy. Their symbol is a pyramid, representing order, crowned by a burst of light, representing chaos. They aren't considered "good" or "bad" but instead a binary force that needs the Anomaly to sustain itself. Without the Anomaly, the Charter would "bring inert oppression."

## History

In the beginning, everything existed as a single, perfect tone. It was eventually no longer satisfied with perfection; It became curious and longed for the unknown. The tone faltered and the Anomaly was born, bringing chaos along the multiverse. This also gave birth to the Shadow Beings. As the Anomaly grew, a war seemed likely. Instead, the Shadow Beings proposed a truce, forming the Charter. The Charter controlled the Anomaly through laws of physics. The Anomaly was allowed to freely create because it weakens her power, agreeing to inevitably return back to order.

The Anomaly sent her essence to humans on Earth, causing the Charter to respond by asserting control over humanity rather than fighting her directly. On March 17, 2016, the Anomaly was let through by the portal that the Seligs opened. The Charter removed the portal-strewn house from its location in Mendocino, California and sealed it away for safekeeping in Santa Fe, New Mexico. (New Mexico had previously been used as a dumping ground by the Charter.)

The Charter is also mentioned in The Real Unreal, however nothing new. It seems that after their initial run-in with Lucius Selig, they simply allowed the family to wander the fogspace.

## Charter Agreement

This can be read on the Charter website, or heard in the Charter Office.

*"Whereas, The Anomaly (or the Creative Force) may express its right to freely create as long as the following stipulations are met:*

1. *The Anomaly’s creations shall be governed by orderly laws of physics that stabilize form and maintain controlled fragmentation;*
2. *The Anomaly shall create within a linear sequencing called Time that will allow for its creations to be experienced in fragmented moments;*
3. *The Anomaly shall submit itself to guidance from an administration formed to enforce this Charter;*
4. *The Anomaly shall be instigated to rapidly and exponentially create until it inevitably destroys the same structures that maintain these fragmentations;*
5. *Through this Charter, The Anomaly agrees to return to Oneness."*

## The Charter.org

The Charter keeps a Multiverse Surveillance Portal, also known as thecharter.org. The page will show a fake login screen with the username "charter86" and a hidden password. Logging in used to to require a special link, but this was removed at an unknown date.

The main page shows randomized stats and graphics. Much of the site is only for cosmetics and will either link back to the main page or a 503 error page when clicked on, except for The Charter Archives tab. The Charter Archives contains files and biographies on the Selig/Pastore family. This section also contains the Charter agreement, intercepted Charter messages, and Agent 35's assignment.

There used to be a Live Surveillance Feed where users could ask questions, but this was also removed at an unknown date. In the Meowwolf discord, a Meowwolf writer claims that it was removed due to a shortage of who could work on the Feed; all charter agents were real people actually replying, mostly the story and tech teams.

## Appearance

As Shadow Beings, they resembled humanoids in black spacesuits with glowing eyes and accents. On Earth, the Charter agents currently appear as humans in suits. They're described as being "stone-faced" and talking into radios on their wrists.

However, it has not been stated whether or not a Charter agent must be a Shadow Being. In certain instances, it seems humans have been brought into the Charter to work under them, such as Christian Garcia being described to have been "turned" to the Charter, as well as statements as "He starts work tomorrow". Another Charter staff member that could be a human is Mrs. Marshawn, a 2nd grade teacher. They describe 2nd grade teachers to be good operatives, which implies that they must first be coerced into joining. This could be one of the many story-holes purposefully left open by the Meowwolf writers for visitors to interperate, as stated in their reddit AMA.

## Trivia

* The Charter's Suppression Division is responsible for inducing sleep paralysis, in contrast to the Omega Mart storyline where Nula are responsible.
* The Charter has attended Dramcorp meetings and is interested in working together, but they haven't due to Walter being suspicious.
* Their motto is "Order perfects creation."
* Charter Code 1910.37 (b)(1) requires signs to be displayed in a well-lit, prominent place.
* Despite having the buddy system in place, a Charter technician was lost in the Pyramid's lower levels for several days before being founded by security. He built a campsite and slept next to a server bank for warmth.
* Early on in the animal surveillance experiments, Charter engineers accidentally activated the surveillance signal to every single rat underneath a subway tunnel in Manhattan.
* The Charter has its own publishing company.
* The Suppression and Discipline Division aims to control disruptive humans without directly confronting them.
* Nightmare Duty is one of the most sought-after and popular tasks in the Suppression Division. The goal is to menace and threaten a paralyzed target until their waking and sleeping hours are consumed by fear, making them more unlikely to use their powers from the Anomaly. Some workers have separated themselves into teams and host competitions. The Night Hags frequently win.
* The Charter measures time by "cycles." It's unknown how long a cycle is.
* It's hinted that the Charter has a very large number of agents; Each document shows a Charter Agent's name consisting of 3 random numbers/letters. This would mean that there is at least 17,576,000 Charter agents.
* The Charter agents used to place bets at the back of the Pyramid on whether or not Piper would leave Nicolae.
* They layer a signal under all radio stations, to keep people "complacent" while driving.
* The Charter is Piper's most frequent customer. They buy her paintings to take them out of circulation, and to study the correlation between a person's former Anomaly abilities and their creative output.
* Jean is considered a legend at the Charter's office. They suspect that she is not gone completely. Other agents would debate whether she was a Charter agent, or a representative of the Anomaly.  It was proposed to investigate all agents, to find the alleged traitor.
* They have access to shriekers, a sonic bomb with the ability to ruin hearing. The last time a shrieker was used on Earth, several hundred Anomaly-sensitive humans quit their jobs to become music producers. An administer denied use of the shrieker on Nicolae due to this.
* A crystal village in the Selig children's closet is only visible to Charter Agents.
* In a reddit AMA, the MeowWolf story team claimed that the Charter was certainly based off of Secure Contain Protect, and that in-universe, the SCPs exist. Anything that is not already contained within SCP is contained by the Charter.

## References

1. ↑ "The Pyramid and the Anomaly: Chaos and Order in the House of Eternal Return"
2. ↑ https://meowwolf.com/blob/charter-chaotic-developments-underway-selig-house
3. ↑ "The Words of the Charter"
4. ↑ "Meow Wolf Vocabulary! The Charter Homepage EXPLAINED!" by Meow Wolf Fan 1
5. ↑ Piper's Diary
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Intercepted Msg No.3: "Suppression Protocols Vol. 92"
7. ↑ "Shadow Nula Home Page"
8. ↑ Human Resources and Reception Bots
9. ↑ "Charter Origins - Part 2"
10. ↑ "Charter Agent 35: Your Assignment"
11. ↑ Intercepted Msg. No.5: "Ode to Exit Signs" By Charter Poet Laureate No1.
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Intercepted Msg. No.1 :"Surveillance Report/ Concerns"
13. ↑ Intercepted Msg. No. 4
14. ↑ https://thecharter.org/narrative/biography-piper-pastore/
15. ↑ https://thecharter.org/narrative/nicolae-potentially-useful-information/
16. ↑ https://thecharter.org/narrative/pipers-art/
17. ↑ https://thecharter.org/narrative/jean-selig-biography-dangerous-muse/
18. ↑ https://thecharter.org/narrative/who-was-jean-selig/
19. ↑ https://thecharter.org/narrative/suggested-actions-cleaning-jean-selig/
20. ↑ https://thecharter.org/narrative/suggested-corrective-actions-nicolae/
21. ↑ https://thecharter.org/narrative/potentially-useful-information-lex-pastore/