Doomsday Clock
Strategic control and deterrence
The Doomsday Clock expresses the proximity of thermonuclear war. Its hands reflect tensions between the blocs and the risk that international crises will lead to irreversible escalation. The assessment is updated hourly using global data, predictive models, and geopolitical analysis.
Assessment and synchronization
The IIAS and the Atomic Academy cooperate through a neutral consortium. The Academy maintains its own Clock, synchronized with the Institute’s, and a permanent representative in Bern.
Events that intensify tensions move the hands closer to Midnight. Interventions that resolve a crisis or reduce the risk of war can halt their advance or move them backward.
One minute to Midnight
With one minute remaining, both blocs activate their intervention mechanisms to prevent nuclear war.
In the Blue Bloc, RUDOLF—a Synthetic Mind, or advanced artificial intelligence, created by the IIAS—analyzes geopolitical information, assesses crises, and identifies possible interventions to curb escalation. It sends encrypted instructions to the Second-Men, telling them where and how to act. The agents receive these orders through their RUDOLF Watches, personal devices synchronized in real time with the Doomsday Clock.
The Red Bloc’s response begins with the IIAS notifying the Atomic Academy. The Academy activates the response mechanisms of the VKKB and the Palace of Sparrows. The VKKB takes command and coordinates its own agents, the Palace, and military forces to intervene at the sources of the crisis. A psychotronic signal also activates the instructions implanted in the Ptichiki, sleeper agents unaware of their status.
Both mechanisms seek to halt or reverse the Clock’s advance through operations targeting the sources of the crisis.
Midnight
Midnight marks the launch of the FNC’s and IURR’s atomic arsenals. It is the threshold of total war and annihilation that agents of both blocs seek to prevent.
The Midnight Tower
The public clock stands on the facade of the central tower of the IIAS headquarters in Bern. When one minute remains, the city’s alarms trigger security protocols and the transfer of key individuals to private shelters.