Flash Patch

Showing an agent's departmental logo, the flash patch can be found on any agent's uniform&mdash;usually on a sleeve, but not necessarily. In fact, since the "uniform" varies so much from agent to agent, the presence of a flash patch is often the only thing at all uniform about it. The appearance of the flash patch varies from department to department.

Each flash patch contains an identifier chip that provides the disguise generator with a target and allows Upstairs to track agents in the field. The patch also supplements the canon cloaking effect in concealing a field agent from view. This is due to a weak Somebody Else's Problem field that the patch (or perhaps a device sewn into it, or something even more esoteric) generates.

List of Flash Patches
A list of logos was compiled for Volume Three of the PPC Manual: Second Edition c. 2006, but it's a bit out of date now.

This list shows only departments and divisions with known flash patch emblems. (For a complete listing of departments, see List of Departments.) Following the style of heraldry, adjectives and nouns in the emblem descriptions are capitalized. All emblems are on a field of black unless otherwise specified. Any item with a question mark next to it indicates a suggested image which is not yet official.

Action Departments

 * All-Purpose Department - A Rubber Swiss Army Knife
 * Bad Role-play Department - A Black Swift
 * Bad Quizzes Division - A Pencil-in-the-Eye
 * Department of Angst - A Pink Balloon-animal Poodle
 * Department of Bad Parody - A Headless Rubber Chicken
 * Troll Division - The DBP Rubber Chicken surmounted by "T-D" in Bright Red
 * Department of Bad Slash - A Three-Eyed Rubber Duck
 * Division of Bad Het - An Upside-Down Three-Eyed Rubber Duck
 * Division of Mpreg - A Mandrake Root
 * Department of Character Protective Services - A Golden Shield
 * Department of Floaters - A Waterlily
 * Division of Cool and Unusual Punishment - A Bladderwrack Frond
 * Eclectic Subdivision of Advanced Species - A Star above a Waterlily
 * Special Interdepartmental Elven Languages Unit - Sindarin Text for Wisdom
 * Special Operations Division - The DF Patch surmounted by a Fancy Ampersand in Dark Red
 * Department of Geographical Aberrations - A Stylised Flame
 * Department of Implausible Crossovers - A Flying Pig
 * Department of Improbable AUs - A Rubin Vase
 * Department of Improbabilities - A Dead Parakeet on its Back
 * Department of Mary Sues - A Potted Cactus
 * Division of Multiple Offenses - A Dish with a Spoon in it
 * Department of Misplaced Flora and Fauna - An Urple Sheep
 * Department of Redundancy Department - A White Staff bearing the Note E
 * Department of Technical Errors - A Red Pen
 * Department of Temporal Offenses - A Battered Alarm Clock with the Springs sticking out
 * Department of WhatThe - A Stylised Mountain with Red Peak
 * Despatch - A Lightning Bolt
 * Repetitive Department of Repetition - A White Staff bearing the Note F-flat

Infrastructure Departments

 * Department of Analytical Science - A Watermelon Burdened Ant
 * Alternate and Wrecked Archaeology Younit - A Weaver Ant
 * Division of Applied-and-theoretical Multiversal Physics - A Ghost Ant
 * Division Entirely Full of Stars(E) - A Flying Ant
 * Division of Irrational Geology - A Desert Ant
 * Materials Assessment Division - An Army Ant
 * Squishy Experiments and Evidence Division - A Leafcutter Ant
 * Suvian and Wraith Experiments and Research - A Honeypot Ant
 * Volatile Organics/Inorganics Division - A Fire Ant
 * Department of Dead Author Electricity Generation - On Silver, an Inverted Tombstone
 * Department of Fictional Psychology - On White, Five Exclamation Marks
 * Department of Finance - An Evermind Flower
 * Department of Intelligence - A Purple Sage Frond
 * Department of Operations - A Quail
 * Building Maintenance - The Operations Quail surmounted by a Claw Hammer with a Red Handle
 * Cafeteria services - An Orange Pore Fungus
 * Janitorial Division - The Operations Quail surmounted by a Flaming Broomstick
 * Department of Personnel - A Flaming Stick Figure wearing a Bowler Hat
 * Department of Sufficiently Advanced Technology - A Smoking Swivel Chair
 * A/V Division - The DoSAT Chair surmounted by "AV" in Red
 * Testing & Applications Division - A Stylized Explosion
 * Legal Department - The Legal Chao
 * Medical Department - A Green Armband
 * Medical Research Division - A Brown Guinea Pig
 * Postal Department - A Smoking Parcel
 * Non-Propaganda Communications Division - A Tea Stain

Security Departments

 * Department of External Security - An Ivy-Coated White Fence
 * Department of Internal Affairs - None

Defunct Departments

 * Department for Elf Protection - An Alfirin Flower
 * The alfirin is probably the golden variety described by Legolas in RotK.
 * Department of Author Correspondence - An Elm Tree
 * Department of Clichéd Humor - Among others: White Text saying "[Insert Badge Here]"; White Text saying "404 Error, Badge Not Found"; Very Small White Text saying "I joined the Protectors of the Plot Continuum and all I got was this lousy flash patch."
 * Department of Emergencies - A Red Bell
 * Department of Godplayers - A Cat's Head(?)
 * Department of Internal Operations - A Cactus, being Stabbed by a Knife
 * Department of Internal Security - On a Silver Sash, a Crouching Black Cat (also a shoulder badge)
 * Department of Mary Sue Experiments and Research - A Test Tube holding a Smoking Green Liquid
 * Department of Rampant Sexism - A Broken Heart
 * Department of Wilful Ignorance - A Sadistic Bow-Tie
 * Wrecked Music Department - A Fibonacci Spiral

Mirror Multiverse
These departments exist in the Enforcers of the Plot Continuum in the mirror multiverse.


 * Department of Arrests - On White, a Sword-Wielding Potted Cactus
 * Department of Internal Security - On Black, a Crouching White Cat