ADVENT | History
The Gauntlet
"Many of you will begin this trial, but few of you will finish it."
- Arnold Venator, Architect of the Gauntlet
The stories of the Gauntlet were not a secret to any of us. All of us knew someone who'd taken it, or tried to take it. I had friends who'd taken it, both my parents attempted, and it was difficult to find someone who did not at least consider it. To complete the Gauntlet was to demonstrate your fortitude, both mentally and physically.
Some of the other families believed the Gauntlet was only meant for soldiers. For sure I know that was the original intention, but to imply there is no value in one whose duty is not combat is false. They say challenge changes people, and makes them realize just how far they can push themselves. I wondered at a point how true this was. The Gauntlet was an experience that proved the validity of that assertion.
One thing I was told over and over was that it didn't matter how much you know about the Gauntlet. It wouldn't prepare you for the experience. Nonetheless, I distinctly remembered my own personal training, basing it off of the stories. What else was I to do? At the same time, I can only repeat the advice, though not for the same reasons.
There is nothing that you can do to prepare yourself for the trials ahead, and that is because it requires putting yourself in danger. Working out in gyms or even treks in the frozen tundra ultimately do not challenge in the way the Gauntlet demands, because of our inherent instinct of self-preservation. We will not put ourselves in a situation where we can die or be seriously hurt.
Such are the demands of the Gauntlet.
I have yet to figure out if we were ever truly in danger of the Gauntlet, or if it was an illusion by the trainers. While deaths are not unheard of, they are usually clear accidents, and they are very few. At the same time, perhaps the Gauntlet is a revelation about ourselves, that we are capable of surviving in situations where we think we shouldn't. The purpose of the Gauntlet is to show us that we are capable of realizing that sense of hopelessness and defeat is an illusion, and we can push through it.
Real or not, perhaps it does not matter. Years it has been since I completed the Gauntlet, and I still think about the experience. It has stuck with me in ways that little else has. The rest of the world has seemed less threatening, as it likely should when one is repeatedly on the verge of death and yet survives.
Fear and uncertainty should be reserved for only the extraordinary. The Gauntlet strips the fear of the mundane from us, piece by piece. I wonder if that has shaped EXALT in some way, as many of our leaders completed portions of the Gauntlet, and we act with boldness and ambition that others would scoff at. Yet we do so anyway, so confident are we in adapting.
Arrogance, or assurance? Considering our success, I'm inclined to believe the latter.
- Memoir | Saudia Vyandar | Pre-Director
To: Saudia Vyandar
From: Zara Venator
Subject: The Gauntlet
Director,
Feels odd knowing this will be one of the last times I'll be addressing you by that. Regardless, we're continuing to decommission and move over operations and personnel to the new ADVENT Army (or whatever we'll be calling it) or XCOM for some of us. There is one matter that I haven't seen addressed – the Gauntlet.
I'm uncertain if this has been brought up by anyone else, but considering the state of our decommissioning, the Gauntlet is one that could be decommissioned with relatively little effort. At the same time, we may wish to transfer operations to ADVENT control to use for themselves.
Need guidance on this before I make any authorizations.
- Zara Venator
-x-
To: Zara Venator
From: Saudia Vyandar
RE: Subject: The Gauntlet
Zara,
You'll get used to my new title soon enough, if you bother to use it outside of official correspondences. I'm glad to hear decommissioning is continuing on schedule, as we are on a tight schedule and there is a window that we need to hit, otherwise there are going to be questions and issues from certain individuals who are unaware of EXALT.
Regarding the Gauntlet, there has been no current decision made on its fate. I dislike the idea of decommissioning it outright, I would argue that it can still serve ADVENT. However, as it has been under control of the Venator family for decades, I will leave the final decision up to you.
- Saudia Vyandar
-x-
To: Saudia Vyandar
From: Zara Venator
RE: Subject: The Gauntlet
"Chancellor", ok let's try this.
A bit overdramatic, don't you think? Anyway-
My personal opinion is the same as yours. There is nothing gained by decommissioning the Gauntlet outside of erasing something that could link back to us, which, honestly, if the Gauntlet ends up being the smoking gun of all things, then we deserve whatever comes next.
With your approval, I'll have my people begin making preparations for turning it over to whoever the authorities will be. They may have questions as to why they are suddenly in control of a few worldwide training environments, but considering the aliens, I really doubt they're going to ask too many questions.
-x-
- Zara Venator
To: Zara Venator
From: Saudia Vyandar
RE: Subject: The Gauntlet
Don't blame me for the title; any melodrama comes from the Commander. I will say that on a personal level, "Chancellor" sounds a bit more appealing than "Director".
Excellent, I'm glad we'll preserve it. I expect that ADVENT special forces, whatever they end up being, will find it useful. It will be interesting to see the consensus from non-EXALT personnel of the Gauntlet. Concerning questions, I concur that it is unlikely to be an issue. I suspect that most questions and uncertainty will come from the world government that will seemingly come from nowhere.
But I digress. I have no doubt that there will be questions, but these will die when the work actually begins. If there are any concerns, they will be appropriately handled. Please keep me updated when the Gauntlet is prepared, and I will direct the appropriate personnel to approve the transfer.
- Saudia Vyandar
The Gauntlet was a concept which was the ultimate culmination of several existing military programs that had their roots from the time of the Venatores of the Catholic Church. The then-Illuminati primarily preferred to exert their influence through money and connections, though as the world became more connected, they turned to military operatives, primarily used for assassination and protection.
Of course, the Illuminati would not be satisfied with mere bodyguards or assassins. They wanted such agents to be elite, and leveraged their connections to learn the most modern training methods and equipment. They learned from the finest in their craft, and combined this knowledge into training camps where small teams of elite operatives protected the illuminated ones, and occasionally carried out their will. These camps existed up to the reformation of the Illuminati into the current incarnation – EXALT.
Arnold Venator took advantage of the reorganization to do something that had been much debated over the years – reform the camps into something unique and specialized. He was one of the last of the Venator aristocrats, before they became a family of soldiers and warriors. He had been a critic of the camps, believing they were unfocused and incapable of producing the operatives needed.
While not a soldier himself, he was a notable pioneer of psychology, and very ahead of his time in understanding the minds of soldiers. He was quite interested in such mindsets, largely because he disdained the concept of war, and considered it a barbaric solution and an ultimate failure of better minds. One thing that I remember quite vividly is when he said that EXALT would have won when war was a thing of the past, and humanity had moved into a higher era.
He was successful in his intentions of reforming the camps. The largest change he made was separating the objectives, and having the dedicated soldiers and bodyguards participate in one trial, with covert operatives and agents participating in another. Previously they had both been trained the same.
Focusing on the soldiers, he established the Gauntlet deep within Siberia. He was of the firm opinion that one's choice of weapon had no bearing on how effective a soldier would be. All of those were trained skills, and he rejected the idea of natural affinity, believing that anyone could be taught to perform the skills.
In his mind, the ultimate determination of who was the superior soldier was if they could mentally withstand the rigors of hardship. The mind to him was the ultimate roadblock, and the Gauntlet was built to test the minds of soldiers. It would test their ability to be put into hard and hopeless situations where death hovered over them.
They would be pushed to the point of exhaustion, be isolated in the wilderness, or have to rely on others without complaint. They would be in a constant state of discomfort, but aware enough to react to the world, else they would suffer consequences. Admittedly, Arnold Venator was not especially sympathetic to the deaths of those who participated in the early Gauntlet, and considered it proof of their inferiority.
He was a quite unique individual, and while he disdained the need for soldiers, he was quite open-minded in other respects. He openly fought with several families at his insistence that women be allowed to participate in the Gauntlet, as he successfully argued that women could have equal mental fortitude to men, and physical prowess was largely irrelevant (not quite correct, but his heart was in the right place).
While the years have resulted in changes to the Gauntlet, as well as its expansion across the world, the spirit of what Arnold Venator created was largely maintained. It never became a place of training for weapons, martial arts, or the other academic aspects of war, but an almost spiritual and personal journey of overcoming the barriers in one's mind.
EXALT has of course made it slightly less lethal, which Arnold would likely be displeased by, but in such a way as to maintain the illusion of isolation and abandonment. It has produced some of the best soldiers in the world, and it can be assured that had it not existed, EXALT would be in a significantly worse place.
- Chronicler's Notations | The Origin of the Gauntlet
ADVENT Military Report 0122
Recipient: Commander Laura Christiaens
Subject: Acquisition of Special Forces Development Sites
Commander Christiaens,
I am unsure if news of this has reached you, or if you were aware of it previously, but recently we have been appraised of what was described as a series of 'training sites' that were being turned over to ADVENT control. As we are currently in the process of consolidating all known and classified sites from member nation militaries, we initially assumed this to be another one of these sites.
However, a tour of the main site, and it explicitly being stated that this was NOT under the control of a specific country, this is not the case. We would normally dismiss this as an elaborate (and not tasteful) prank, but the issue with that is that this is a clearly professional site with state of the art facilities, extensive layouts, and other elements that showed there was significant resources poured into it.
Neither the United States, Russia, or Germany have claimed it as their own, and we considered that it could be a private army or mercenary site. However, cross-checking with major groups has shown that all of them have denied it. Nonetheless, we have been given possession of it, and are in the uncomfortable position of not knowing who was behind the site.
Our most plausible explanation is that it is a classified black operations training area, though this is at odds with the relative transparency that countries have demonstrated as ADVENT is formalized. That these sites were omitted seems atypical, and we have no reason to suspect that any member nations are lying.
We have performed full sweeps of the sites in question, and can confirm they are relatively safe and not trapped in any way. It appears we are in possession of a number of extremely advanced and extensive training sites – which we should prepare to utilize.
OVERVIEW: First – we were informed that this was a series of training sites which were intended to train elite operatives to survive in harsh conditions, and harden soldiers mentally and physically. Documents we have recovered from the computers classify these sites as the "Gauntlet".
There are eight sites in total, half of which are within our sphere of influence, and four which are not. This report will cover both. The documents do not say who this extensive network served, but it does explain that each site served a specific training purpose and that completion of each site was known as 'Completing the Gauntlet'.
PURPOSE: The purpose itself seems to be clear – to act as a training site or boot camp for elite soldiers. Each site focused on a specific element, usually climate-related, though this is not the case for all of them. We do not know what these soldiers were trained for, or the circumstances that were behind these sites being constructed in the first place.
Each site seems to test a number of variables, and in many ways is comparable to the training that American Rangers, SEALs, and other special forces go through – but according to the documents, in a far longer timespan and apparently more intense. The variables we have been able to identify are roughly:
Mental Fortitude: The Gauntlet is a significant psychological test. The documents were clearly written by professional psychologists, which we cross-checked with our own doctors. They are unsigned, but this is another sign it was a professional organization. Completing each stage of the Gauntlet is apparently supposed to be a persistently stressful event, and the intent is to slowly force a psychological breakdown of the participant. Those who succumb fail, and those who pass succeed. Normally it is recommended that there is a three-month break between the completion of each successful stage, which means that it would take close to two years to fully complete the Gauntlet.
Physical Fortitude: This is not outright said so much as implied. It would be impossible to successfully complete a stage of the Gauntlet if one is not extremely physically fit. However, it curiously does not seem to be a primary factor in the design.
Adaptability: Throughout each stage of the Gauntlet, trainers will interfere with participants and overtly and subtly influence their experience. This could range from sniper fire, the release of dogs, stealing food, or providing a specific objective. Most of these make the experience of the participants harder, but rarely there will be a positive provision, usually during the middle stages of the trial.
The creators of the Gauntlet also employed more traditional methods of training, including simulated capture and interrogation resistance, exhaustion training, sleep deprivation and task completion, and other training methods which are routinely employed by military units worldwide. The Gauntlet appears to be, hard as it is to believe, an extreme version of these methods.
The following are the known sites, and it is worth noting that according to the documents we have, after the Siberia site, participants could choose in what order they wanted to complete the Gauntlet.
SITE 1 | SIBERIA: This is designated as the "main" site of the Gauntlet. This appears to have been the starting site of the Gauntlet, and one that each participant was expected to complete. It is nestled deep within Siberia, and it appears to be a mixture of more traditional controlled training and mentally-breaking exercises, but a large portion is devoted to wilderness survival in the frigid parts of Siberia. This is noted as the "introductory" stage, and appears to take two to three weeks to complete.
SITE 2 | BRAZIL: This small site is a controlled part of the Amazon, meant to test participants' strength to survive. They are given only a machete, before being sprayed with a chemical that attracts insects and animals, and are then knocked out. They must find their way back to the site or civilization without any prior knowledge of their location.
For obvious reasons, this appears to have been considered one of the most difficult stages. Each individual had a GPS chip installed, presumably to recover them in the event of failure. It was noted as having a 90% failure rate, though for returning participants, this then dropped to a surprising 76% failure rate.
Times vary wildly, based on participants. The fastest has been one week, while the longest has been six weeks.
SITE 3 | TEXAS: This appears to be what can be described as a more 'traditional' training site, and appears to be based off of the infamous Hell Week, though instead of ice-cold waters, it is instead desert and the scorching sun. Participants are forced into an intense boot camp, intermixed with wilderness expeditions, mock interrogations, and extremely menial tasks.
Participants are given minimal food and water, and are kept in a constant state of delirium, with their overall goal being to not reveal a code phrase that was provided to them at the beginning of the stage. The course length is set at exactly two weeks with no breaks. Participants are estimated to only receive three hours of sleep, not unbroken.
SITE 4 | COLORADO: This is an interesting stage, according to the description. Unsurprisingly, this one is based deep in the Rockies, and to our surprise, it is not a mountain-based training. Instead, small groups of participants receive supplies, and are told to reach what is designated as 'The End'. They are given a series of landmarks to follow, which will lead them to it.
What they are not told is that there are snipers that are hidden throughout the path, which will shoot and eliminate them if they are not careful. The snipers are the primary obstacle they have to face, in addition to reaching the correct location. The teams either have to work together or split up, as well as contend with the snipers. They are given weapons, and do have the option of firing back, which some teams have done successfully. This is in addition to surviving the wilderness.
The length of the stage varies depending on team, but the average is two weeks for successful runs, though one apparently took nearly two months as one participant was forced to single-handedly deal with each of the snipers, by avoiding or returning fire. It was a quite impressive achievement, assuming it is true.
DEFUNCT OR INACCESSIBLE SITES: These are sites that we do not have access to for one or more reasons, which will be listed. These will also not have as much detail, as we are unable to access the sites, and are forced to go off assumption and limited information provided by the Siberian site.
NEPAL: We believe that this site was one which would test the mountaineering skills and survival of participants, with the potential for outside harassment and interference. As Nepal is not part of ADVENT, we do not have jurisdiction in the country, and have not as of yet received permission to approach them about the training site within their country.
ANTARCTICA: We can only assume that this is harsh winter survival training, though it appears odd there would be a site in Antarctica of all places. Nonetheless, this appears to exist, and it is technically a place we could go, even if it is not under ADVENT jurisdiction. If requested, we could send an expeditionary force to the region, as we have the location.
IRAN: We believe this to be a more standard desert survival training site, as opposed to Texas, which was far more controlled. It could also relate to cave survival or utilization. As Iran is not part of ADVENT, and is in fact at war with ADVENT member states, we are not able to investigate for ourselves. Should we be successful in the war, we will secure the site as soon as possible.
AUSTRALIA: Considering the infamous nature of Australia, what this stage could have focused on is extremely varied. It could be simple survival to a controlled environment or mission distribution. It is unlikely we will be able to secure this site, as it is currently under alien control, and the continent is overrun. We cannot justify an expedition to locate it, nor would it be of any practical use to resistance forces in the country.
PROPOSED UTILIZATION: Regardless of who built the Gauntlet or for what purpose, the fact is that we have been given access to a number of high-quality and maintained training sites that are equivalent or superior to existing military training sites. We have confirmed they are not trapped or otherwise sabotaged, and as a result, it is proposed that we utilize them ourselves.
We do not propose that we adopt what this organization did wholesale, but we also work to adapt the objectives to our needs, as well as the regimes proposed. There is a fair amount of evidence left detailing the effectiveness of these sites (verified by our own experts), so replicating them is not an unreasonable approach.
The exact details we will leave up to you and ADVENT High Command. Nonetheless, we have a tool here, and we should employ it as soon as possible.