or

As has also been a suspicion kicking around in my brain for the past two days, NC could be a very hip, intensely clever recruitment strategy for an esoteric order along the lines of the Masons or the Golden Dawn. I know membership in the Masons has been flagging in past years. What better way to generate new interest than to get back to the roots of "hidden knowledge" upon which these orders were founded?

Which also relates to my earlier pondering about Tript and Graham. Namely: I believe they (and others) started out as blind initiates, in the same way that those of us who are just now sending off emails to NC are starting. And I believe they have since risen in the ranks of this mysterious organization. But most importantly, I believe even they are in the dark about much of what lurks above them. This theory works even if NC is a game, or an experiment.

Then again, they could know everything. Or nothing. They just seem awfully lax about researching the boatloads of clues that are thrown at them.