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WARNING: HIGHLY CLASSIFIED DATA ACCESS RESTRICTED TO AUTHORIZED AGENTS ONLY
The following contains major plot details and/or spoilers of Control and its expanded media.
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| “ | There is a curious correlation with the yet unknowable forces intruding upon our world in the form of Altered World Events. These forces gravitate toward archetypal objects: a gun, a television, a supposedly haunted house. So clearly, humanity affects this process. Our collective unconscious is a map of sorts. We hold the key but we don't know how to use it. | ” |
Altered World Events (AWEs), formerly known as Paradimensional Occurrences,[1] are events in which paranatural forces intrude upon perceived reality, resulting in reality being altered. AWEs are responsible for the existence of Altered Items and Objects of Power. The term is also used to broadly refer to other paranatural occurences investigated by the Federal Bureau of Control.
The Investigations Sector in the Oldest House is dedicated to the study of AWEs. Other areas devoted to AWE research include portions of the Research and Containment Sectors.
Nature[edit | edit source]
Altered World Events occur when paranatural forces intrude upon perceived reality. When this occurs, reality is altered, often in unpreditable and dangerous ways. These forces originate from other dimensions or planes of existence, and often manifest in the form of unknown energies and resonance. The Federal Bureau of Control is responsible for investigating and containing AWE instances on a national and global scale, and devotes significant research to understanding their nature.
AWEs appear to be affected by the human collective unconscious; paranatural forces often gravitate to archetypes created by human culture and psychology. This results in the creation of Altered Items or Objects of Power, ordinary objects infused with paranatural energies, which gives them special properties and abilities. The nature of this connection between the collective unconscious and paranatural forces is not fully understood, and has been described on multiple occasions as "unknowable."
While they often result in the creation of Altered Items or Objects of Power, the FBC may also classify other types of events as AWEs. Because of the vagueness of the term and the unpredictability of paranatural forces, AWEs are very diverse in nature. Known AWEs vary significantly in the severity of their alteration to perceived reality, ranging from mysterious and unexplained noises (Kyiv, AWE-37) to reality being completely rewritten to make fictional stories come true (Bright Falls, AWE-35). There are no known limits on what AWEs may manifest as, or what impact they may have on reality.
Certain AWEs may be influenced or caused by paranatural entities such as Polaris or Fra.
List of known AWEs[edit | edit source]
| ID | Event Location | Event Date |
|---|---|---|
| AWE-3 | Sawyer County, Wisconsin | 06/23/1958 |
| AWE-X | Bright Falls, Washington | 1970 |
| AWE-7 | Fra Mauro Formation, Luna | 01/31/1971 - 02/09/1971 |
| AWE-10 | Bright Falls, Washington | 09/17/1976 |
| AWE-XX | Bright Falls, Washington | 1978 |
| AWE-17 | Butte, Montana | 09/23/1992 |
| AWE-18 | n/a (suspected California) | 06/17/1993 |
| AWE-24 | Ordinary, Maine | 08/30/2002 - 09/14/2002 |
| AWE-29 | Albany, New York | 02/08/2006 |
| AWE-35 | Bright Falls, Washington | 09/01/2010 - 09/14/2010 (recurring) |
| AWE-37 | Kyiv, Ukraine | 08/13/2011 |
| AWE-44 | Bloomington, Illinois | 05/25/2015 |
| AWE-46 | Sterling, Colorado | 05/04/2016 |
| AWE-48 | Havana, Cuba | 09/23/2017 |
| Cincinnati AWE | Cincinnati, Ohio | Unknown |
| Keystone AWE | Keystone | Unknown |
| Willow AWE | Willow, Alaska | Unknown |
References in other media[edit | edit source]
AWEs are alluded to multiple times in Quantum Break, a title by Remedy Entertainment
Remedy Entertainment, the developer of Control, has alluded to Altered World Events on multiple occasions in previous games.
- In the Alan Wake blog "This House of Dreams" (2012), there is a scene in which a federal agent appears wearing a badge that reads "AWE."[2]
- In Quantum Break (2016), one Quantum Ripple event will cause numerous conspiracies to arise on the Internet regarding a "Bureau of Altered World Events," affiliated with the organization Monarch Solutions.[3]
- Additionally, a chalkboard in Quantum Break mentions the acronym AWE as standing for either "Altered World Event" or "Alan Wake Experience."[4] Graffiti reading "AWE" can be found throughout Quantum Break.
