Field Manual

Information provided on the need-to-know basis.

Introduction

You were not meant to find this.
But you did. And now you must understand.

This manual was compiled by agents long gone.
Add to it. Obey it. Burn it if necessary.

What is Unit 7-B?

Unit 7-B is an unofficial branch of wilderness ministry support, operating in tandem with—but never within—known ecclesial structures. We are the listeners. The watchers in the smoke.

We do not lead the songs.
We observe their resonance.
We guard what echoes after the chorus ends.

We are charged with:

• Protecting sacred caches hidden in plain sight
• Monitoring spiritual anomalies (song, silence, storm)
• Resisting misinformation campaigns from The Raccoon Syndicate
• Reporting signs of ████████ activity
• Remaining undetected by civilians, tourists, and squirrels

We serve not for reward but for alignment—
with the Flame, the Word, and the Echo.

Historical Record

The first known reference to Unit 7-B appears in a charred fragment of a field report dated ████████1957, recovered from a thermal runoff channel near ████████Geyser Basin. The log—Report 034–Ash—mentions a failed containment, anomalous thermal patterns, and the phrase:
“They sang a Psalm at sunrise. The water responded.”

Since then, agents have operated in silence, leaving traces only in:

• forgotten drawers
• unlabeled envelopes
• the worn margins of borrowed ████████

Many of our logs have been lost.
Some were burned on purpose.
A few are waiting, buried beneath stones, unread but not unfaithful.

Records suggest Unit 7-B was active during:

• The Great Silence of '73 (Yellowstone Lake)
• The Incident at Slough Creek (‘88)
• The Elkfast (2004) – no further info available

Core Protocols

• Protocol ██████████████: If unnatural flame behavior is observed (color shifts, sound, reverse ignition), agents are to document and withdraw without comment. These events are not to be mimicked.
• Lantern Slip Protocol: ████████ may appear torn, weather-warped, or only partially legible. Their arrival is rarely accidental. If discovered, seal the slip in wax and deliver it to a confirmed fire ring site. Some slips carry encoded instructions. Others serve as quiet warnings.

  “The flame speaks softly. Listen between the lines.” — Directive 7B-Field

• Raccoon Misinformation Defense: They plant signs. They mimic your voice. They will leave you a message in a marshmallow. Do not respond. Do not feed. Do not follow.
• Cache Engagement Directive: Touch nothing until the Mark appears. Those who opened caches unmarked reported vivid dreams, lost time, or a change in how the trees looked at them.
• Protocol 6C – Vision Fast: Any dream involving fire, feathers, or a chapel submerged must result in a three-day ████████. Report via drop log. Do not speak of the dream aloud.
• Protocol 9R – Counter-Chatter: If any intercepted message repeats more than three times—cease transmission. Switch to cipher deck. ████████. The chatter may not be coming from them.

Rules of Engagement

• Trust only your own team. Not even them, some days.
• Speak nothing of Unit 7-B to civilians. Not. Even. Jokingly.
• All clues must be reported to HQ via approved drop point or encrypted channel.
• If you find something not meant for you, return it. The Cache remembers what it did not offer.
• Raccoons cannot be reasoned with. We've tried.
• No snacks during rituals. It draws the ███.

Field Agent Responsibilities

• Observe worship environments for spiritual anomalies
• Record wilderness irregularities/phenomena (circles of █████, repeating sounds, dreams told to you by animals)
• Encourage team unity, but watch for compromise
• Memorize Psalms—especially 118, 23, 139, and those whose numbers appear unbidden. You’ll know why later.
• Be ready when the Mark appears
• Engage only when prompted by symbols, weather, or echo
• Never ask who leads Unit 7-B. You won’t like the answer.

Clearance Levels

• Marmot Level – Only for those with eyes. Entry-level clearance for agents just waking to the mission. Observation is encouraged, interference is not.
• Elk Level – Quiet movers. Authorized to witness, to remember, but not to speak.Quiet movers. Authorized to witness, to remember, but not to speak.
• Bison Level – Trusted weight bearers. Responsible for sacred transport and the documentation of flame patterns.
• Raven Level – Those who have seen the Ember. You now hear the songs before they are sung.
• Ember Level – Marked by choice or by accident. Allowed access to partial Cache systems and Lantern Intercepts.
• ████ Council – Director Pines. Unknown location. They are never announced. Only revealed.

UNIT 7-B: Origins and Mysteries

In the summer of 1951, a young seminarian entered Yellowstone with little more than a sleeping bag and a dream: to offer worship among the trees. Over the years, the ministry grew. They called themselves “██ ████████████ ██████████████ ██ ████ ██████████ ██████” They were not looking for glory—only a place to sing, to pray, to be still beneath the pines. That summer, they held their first worship service in a campground clearing now overgrown near the edge of ████████████ Geyser Basin.

But something else happened.

A fire ring appeared overnight. No one claimed it. It was perfectly round, ringed with twelve stones. In the ash, a feather. Under one of the rocks, a verse from Psalm 66, burned at the edges:

Come and see what God has done, his awesome deeds for mankind!

Those who noticed it didn’t speak of it directly. But in journals passed down and half-burned manuals, a name began to surface: Unit 7-B.

No one ever confirmed what Unit 7-B stood for. Some say the “7” refers to the seventh Psalm sung that summer. Others claim it’s a reference to the number of original fire rings found in the years that followed. The “B” may stand for “Basin,” “████████████,” or simply “Bearer.” What matters is this:

The name was not chosen. It was found.

And it has remained ever since.

The Emberlight Phenomenon

The term Emberlight first appeared in a charcoal-scrawled note in 1973, slipped between the pages of a chapel Bible in Mammoth. The message read:

“We saw the flicker again. But it gave no heat.
Only memory."

Emberlight refers to a ██████████ residue that lingers in places of deep worship, longing, and silence. It is not fire. It is not quite light. But those who serve in the parks often report strange flickering out of the corners of their eyes, moments of insight too fast to grasp, or warmth that lingers long after the flame has died.

To protect the Flame is to protect these places. Sacred stillness. Gospel echoes. The shimmer of Spirit.

Some believe Emberlight is drawn to harmony—a team singing with unity, a campfire ██████████ that breaks through spiritual dryness. Others think it responds to suffering: homesickness, doubt, surrender in the quiet hours of a night hike.

Unit 7-B does not claim to control the Emberlight. Only to notice it. And preserve it when it appears.

The Flame and the Cache

Throughout ██ ████████████ ██████████████ ██ ████ ██████████ ██████’s long history, over 30,000 worshipers gather in the parks each summer. But only a few have ever noticed the Cache: a collection of memory, artifact, story, and Spirit that flickers just below the surface of reality.

Caches are not always physical. Sometimes they are buried under moss. Sometimes they arrive in a whisper. Sometimes they are nothing more than a folded napkin, a misplaced verse, or a rock that wasn’t there yesterday.

But Unit 7-B watches them.

The Flame is what burns behind it all. Not literal fire, but a ██████████ force—perhaps the same breath that hovered over the waters. It must be guarded, not because it is weak, but because it is alive. And living things can be wounded.

“We serve the Flame, not to preserve it, but to learn from it.
We guard it, so others may be warmed.” —Field Note, Agent █████

Each summer, the team returns. Officially to lead worship. But also to observe. To protect what the squirrels might ██████, what the tourists walk past, and what the raccoons seek to mislead.

The Council and the Raccoons

No origin story is complete without opposition.

Unit 7-B has long known of an unnamed force that disturbs caches, scatters sigils, and replaces sacred clues with graham crackers. It has no single face. Only paw prints. Only mischief. We call them the Raccoon Syndicate.

Their tactics include:

• Whispered disinformation
• False trail signs
• Midnight marshmallow theft
• Rewriting worship lyrics with subtle ████████

But the Flame still holds. And with every passing year, those who watch it grow stronger.

There are rumors of a ██████ Council, an inner circle of agents who have seen all the Caches, heard the final █████, and entered the Ember fully. Whether they exist is uncertain. But if you are reading this, you may already be walking their path.

Final Words

This manual has no final page.
Only those who live it will complete it.

Go quietly. Trust the fire. Watch the ravens.

— Director Pines, Final Ember Cycle