Nordhaven: Conspiracy Seeds

Eight investigation starters designed to touch multiple networks and create branching paths for one-shot sessions. Each seed provides an inciting incident, key network connections, and potential complications that emerge as investigators dig deeper.

Seed 1: The Pension File

Inciting Incident: Risto Ojala (pension clerk) is found dead in his locked office, apparently from a heart attack. His desk is unusually tidy, and several client files are missing from the cabinet.

Network Entry Points:

• Survival: Missing pension files affect elderly clients who depend on monthly payments
• Ministry: Death occurred in government building, requires official investigation
• Underground: Some missing clients were receiving "supplemental assistance" from unofficial sources

Investigation Threads:

• Missing files belong to elderly residents who've been selling their pension documentation to refugees needing false identities
• Risto discovered the scheme and was deciding whether to report it or demand a cut
• Dr. Kosonen (underground medic) has been providing fake medical certificates to justify pension claims
• Father Aleksandr (Orthodox priest) coordinated the identity sales through his refugee assistance network

Escalation Potential: Investigation reveals Border Network officials have been selling deportation schedules to the Underground Network, allowing targeted refugees to "disappear" into false pension identities before enforcement actions.

Personal Stakes: Dmitri's own family documents might be part of the false identity network. Aino's clients face losing crucial financial support. Maja discovers police pension fund irregularities in her own benefits.

Seed 2: Container 27

Inciting Incident: A shipping container at the harbor explodes during routine unloading, killing two dock workers. Customs documents show it contained "electronics components" from a legitimate Danish company.

Network Entry Points:

• Harbor: Dock workers and customs officials demand answers about safety protocols
• Consumer: Electronics shop orders don't match manifested quantities
• Ministry: International shipping requires diplomatic coordination and investigation

Investigation Threads:

• Container held smuggled electronics (VCRs, computers) destined for black market sale through Consumer Network contacts
• Explosion was sabotage—competing smuggling operation eliminated business rivals
• Harbor Master Einar approved irregular shipping schedules to accommodate smuggling timing
• Electronics shop owner has been laundering smuggling profits through legitimate sales

Escalation Potential: Smuggling operation connects to Ministry officials who've been trading technology access for favorable import licenses, potentially compromising national security.

Personal Stakes: Erik must investigate his father's potential involvement. Maja's former police colleagues had financial relationships with the electronics smugglers. Lars (mall security) has been taking bribes to ignore suspicious electronics sales.

Seed 3: The Foster Placement

Inciting Incident: A refugee child in Aino's caseload disappears from their foster placement. The foster family claims they sent the child to visit relatives, but no relatives exist in official records.

Network Entry Points:

• Survival: Child welfare services and foster family network activation
• Border: Immigration status and documentation investigation
• Underground: Unofficial child placement and protection networks

Investigation Threads:

• Foster family has been "rehoming" refugee children to families willing to pay for adoption-like arrangements
• Some children are being moved to avoid deportation when their asylum claims fail
• Border officials have been alerting foster networks to upcoming deportation orders
• Underground Network provides safe houses for children whose official placements become dangerous

Escalation Potential: Investigation uncovers systematic exploitation where some "adopted" children are being used for labor or worse, protected by corruption reaching into Ministry oversight agencies.

Personal Stakes: Aino realizes she's been unknowingly facilitating some questionable placements. Dmitri faces pressure to ignore violations to protect vulnerable children. Erik's customs authority could help track child movements but requires cooperation with officials he suspects of corruption.

Seed 4: The Radio Signal

Inciting Incident: Multiple network radio communications have been intercepted and broadcast publicly, revealing embarrassing secrets about various network members. The broadcasts stop abruptly when the transmission source goes silent.

Network Entry Points:

• Underground: Radio monitoring equipment and broadcast capabilities
• Harbor: Maritime radio communications compromised
• Ministry: Government communications security breach

Investigation Threads:

• Someone has been recording radio traffic from a high-power listening post
• Broadcasting was revenge against multiple networks by someone with comprehensive intelligence access
• The silence occurred because the broadcaster was murdered, kidnapped, or fled
• Recorded communications reveal planned crimes, past cover-ups, and ongoing corruption

Escalation Potential: The intercepted communications include evidence of a planned major crime (smuggling operation, political assassination, economic sabotage) that hasn't happened yet.

Personal Stakes: Each investigator's private communications may have been recorded, threatening personal relationships and professional standing. Someone knows everyone's secrets and has weaponized that knowledge.

Seed 5: The Mall Incident

Inciting Incident: During a busy Saturday afternoon, shoppers in Northpoint Mall begin experiencing sudden illness—nausea, dizziness, respiratory problems. Emergency services respond to what appears to be a gas leak or chemical spill.

Network Entry Points:

• Consumer: Mall operations, security footage, and shopper patterns
• Underground: Emergency medical response outside official channels
• Ministry: Environmental hazard investigation and public safety response

Investigation Threads:

• No gas leak or chemical spill—illness was caused by contaminated ventilation system
• Contamination was deliberate sabotage targeting specific individuals who frequent the mall
• Mall's underground maintenance areas have been used for storing illegal substances
• Security system has been compromised, allowing saboteurs access to building infrastructure

Escalation Potential: The incident was a test run for a larger attack on government buildings, using the mall as a lower-risk target to test delivery methods and emergency response timing.

Personal Stakes: Lars (mall security) faces responsibility for security failures. Maja's daughter Elsa was shopping during the incident. Several investigators' family members were affected by the contamination.

Seed 6: The Documentation Chain

Inciting Incident: Astrid (Ministry clerk) discovers that official documents she processed months ago have been altered in the filing system. Changes affect immigration status, property ownership, and criminal records.

Network Entry Points:

• Ministry: Document security and administrative procedures
• Border: Immigration documentation and status verification
• Survival: Property ownership affects housing assistance and community services

Investigation Threads:

• Someone with archival access has been systematically altering records to benefit specific individuals
• Changes create false legal statuses that enable fraud, smuggling, or identity theft
• Document alterations follow patterns suggesting coordination between multiple networks
• Some changes were made to cover up past crimes by creating false alibis or eliminating evidence

Escalation Potential: The document alterations were preparation for a major fraud scheme involving property transfers, immigration status changes, or electoral manipulation.

Personal Stakes: Maja's corruption investigation may have been compromised by altered evidence. Dmitri's immigration cases were affected by fraudulent documentation. Erik's customs enforcement actions were based on falsified records.

Seed 7: The Night Shift

Inciting Incident: Multiple businesses throughout Nordhaven report break-ins that occurred on the same night. Nothing valuable was stolen, but file cabinets, safes, and record storage areas were accessed.

Network Entry Points:

• Consumer: Business security and commercial surveillance systems
• Harbor: Shipping and customs documentation targeted
• Ministry: Government contractor offices and liaison services affected

Investigation Threads:

• Break-ins targeted specific information rather than valuables—someone needed intelligence about multiple network operations
• Inside knowledge was required to know which locations held valuable information and how to access it
• Timing suggests coordination to overwhelm investigative response and prevent pattern recognition
• Information gathered was preparation for blackmail, sabotage, or competitive elimination

Escalation Potential: The intelligence gathering was preparation for a network war where one group plans to systematically eliminate or absorb competitors by exploiting gathered secrets.

Personal Stakes: Each investigator's workplace or associated locations were targeted. Personal information about investigators and their families may have been compromised. Someone is building comprehensive intelligence files on everyone.

Seed 8: The Quiet Departure

Inciting Incident: Several respected community members—the librarian Helena Virtanen, union rep Paavo Koskinen, and immigration clerk Tatiana Petrov—have all taken sudden "extended leave" or "family emergencies" within the same week.

Network Entry Points:

• Survival: Community leadership vacuum affects social services and support systems
• Harbor: Union leadership absence creates labor uncertainty
• Border: Immigration processing delays and procedural confusion

Investigation Threads:

• The departed individuals discovered something that made them targets for elimination or intimidation
• They were all involved in a coordinated operation that has been compromised
• Someone is systematically removing network leaders to create chaos and opportunity
• The departures were voluntary coordination—they're planning something that requires their absence

Escalation Potential: The absent leaders are either victims of a conspiracy or conspirators themselves, planning to return simultaneously to implement major changes to network power structures.

Personal Stakes: Each investigator loses important contacts and institutional knowledge. Replacement personnel may be less trustworthy or cooperative. Community stability depends on understanding why these departures really happened.

Using Conspiracy Seeds

Combination Potential: Seeds can be combined—the Radio Signal incident might be connected to the Documentation Chain alterations, or the Night Shift break-ins could be gathering intelligence for the Quiet Departure conspiracy.

Network Stress: Each seed creates pressure on multiple networks simultaneously, ensuring investigations naturally expand beyond their starting point.

Time Pressure: For one-shot sessions, select complications that can be resolved within available play time while leaving larger questions unanswered for potential future sessions.

Personal Connection: Link each seed to the specific investigators' backgrounds and relationships to ensure emotional investment alongside procedural investigation.

Next installment: Investigation Decision Trees