RPGaDAY2025 – Day 12 – Path – Mystic Secrets of the New Jersey PATH system

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Day 12 – Path

For this prompt, I wanted to do something unique. However, the muses failed to deliver, and I couldn’t think of anything, so I’m going go the obvious route: the secret occult history of the New Jersey PATH rapid-transit system.

The Emperor of Sorrows Vs. the United States

In the late 1900s, the Habsburg Emperor Franz Joseph, desperate to save his dying empire, and possibly restore his lost loved ones, turned to the blackest of sorceries. His sect of mystical assassins, known as Virbius Unitis (Powers United) rampaged across Europe. Their first targets were the Anarchist Chaos Magicians, but they soon expanded to attacks on rival governments. Eventually, they turned their attentions to the young republic across the Atlantic.

Despite the warnings of the mystic Helena Blavatsky, the United States was unprepared for the dark sorceries of the Emperor’s men. Their campaign of terror in the New World culminated in the destruction of the USS Maine via an ectoplasmic spirit attack.

In response, the newly formed U.S. Occult Advisory Board made up of American military and occult figures began planning the first magical defenses in the U.S. since General Washington’s “Cunning Folk Committee” disbanded after the Revolution.

The Sorcerer McAdoo

The Board decided that the best method of magical defense was to construct an artificial ley line between New Jersey and Manhattan, tapping into the mythical power of the new metropolis. It was designed to combine the power of both Left-hand and Right-hand paths of magic. Informally, the new ley line was just called “The Path”. As cover, it would also serve as a mass transit system, the H&M railroad, which extended from Newark, NJ to Manhattan.

President Teddy Roosevelt turned to a public streetcar executive, and private occultist named William Gibbs McAdoo to take charge of the construction. Teams of engineers, masons, laborers, and civil alchemists worked night and day to complete the project. The system was powered on in 1908.

A group of thaumatological engineers, intelligence officers, and psychics were assigned to run and maintain the Path as full time agents.

Early Successes

The Path succeeded in its initial purpose. The agents of the Virbius Unitis were quickly rounded up. During the First World War, the czar’s psychic Okhrana agents also had little success against the Path’s power.

In the second World War, the power of the Path system was harnessed to successfully detect U-boats, and to uncover the schemes of Nazi Völkisch wizard/saboteurs.

Path agent remote viewers also served throughout the Cold War. Supposedly their intelligence helped prevent disaster during the Cuban Missile Crisis. As a result, President Kennedy reorganized the Path group. They were now allowed to use the name Path publicly, though the public was told the name was actually the initialism PATH which stood for Port Authority Trans-Hudson.

Issues

The Path was the first artificial ley line constructed since the fall of Lemuria, so there were a good number of unexpected side effects.

First of all, the transfer of so much mystical and electrical power along the tracks of the system weakened the barrier between the spiritual and physical realms. Over the course of the 20th century, there was a noted increase in supernatural activity – hauntings, possessions, etc. Most of this was limited to the NYC metropolitan area.

Secondly, using the Path as a transit system exposed millions of unwitting commuters to unnatural levels of psychic energies. The ramifications of this are still not understood, but it supposedly has had strong cultural impacts, related to art, music, and the greater public acceptance of occult ideas.

Finally, the raw magical power of the PATH system attracts evil sorcerers, demons, and other unnatural horrors like a moth to a flame.

PATH Agents

PATH agents are charged with the following duties

• Keep the PATH system operational
• Keep the occult nature of PATH secret
• Protect the public from an supernatural or otherworldly threats
• Research occult occurrences related to PATH system

PATH agents are represented by the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen – Division 101

The Power House

Originally a power station in Jersey City that provided electricity to the rail lines. This now seemingly abandoned building now serves as a secret headquarters to the PATH agents. It contains several magical laboratories, libraries, and arsenals. It also has secret underground tunnels to most of the PATH system.

Rumors

• A secret trunk line leads to the Inner Earth
• Undead remnants of the Virbius Unitis, still exist and seek revenge for their fallen Emperor.
• There’s an abandoned PATH station at 19th Street. It’s been abandoned and sealed since there was a breach to the infernal realms, making it unsafe. A series of wards is preventing anything from exiting the breach…probably.

What system to use?

Pretty much any supernatural RPG could work here:

• Monster of the Week
• GURPS Horror
• Chill
• Call of Cthulhu
• Any Gumshoe system