After millenia of attempting and failing, someone had finally caught the first mermaid.

It happened just like the stories said it would. A fishing boat off the coast of Brazil realized, as it pulled a net full of fish up from the water, that the net was swinging and shaking rather violently. Imagine their surprise when a genuine half-lady half-fish spilled out with the catch!

Before word could spread, the mermaid was taken into custody by the United States government and sent to the Ausflucht Research Facility in Germany. The discovery was kept strictly confidential. Very few humans were given knowledge of the mermaid's existence; they make up the International Metascience Committee.

Almost immediately, the world's leading scientists were contacted and recruited to study the creature and theorize everything her existence implied. Currently, there is a team of geneticists studying her DNA for similarities to the human genome and other species. A team of biologists and doctors study samples of her blood, various organ tissues, bone marrow and put her through MRIs. Behavioral analysts monitored her for hours upon hours a day.

The Mermaid Project is currently being kept secret from the students at Ausflucht, and the Staff are alerted strictly on a need-to-know basis. The most information students and staff start with is that a new species of fish has been caught and is being studied. But it can only be a matter of time before the rumors spread and someone lets something slip...

You didn't honestly think the mermaids would let the humans get away with this, did you? As soon as on of their kin was caught, word spread quickly through the ocean, and then on to the land. The mermaids gave the news to their cousins the sirens, as well as mild acquaintances such as the selkies and kelpies. The nymphs told the dryads and were overheard by the leprechauns and goblins who shared with the pixies. Dutifully, the news was reported to the King and Queen of the Fae and diplomatic meetings were held with the vampires, elves and the were-creatures of every kind. Soon, every sentient magical or supposedly mythological species knew of the capture and a plan for just such an occasion was set into motion.

It was decided that the surest course of action, without attracting too much human attention to the supernatural species, would be a steady covert infiltration of the Ausflucht Research Facility and the school that housed it, Germany's Ausflucht University. This way, it was possible to keep an eye on the mermaid and the humans without giving anything away. Currently the Dean of school, at least two scientists on the research team, and countless other professors and students are nonhuman.

The Council, while sometimes choosing to visit the University in person, keep a careful eye on the activities of the supernatural beings involved in the infiltration, who must all report to the Council regularly. If the supernatural are ever discovered walking among the humans, the Council may be forced to take drastic measures. How far the supernatural beings can get before being discovered is up to the players, of course.