Look it up in the grimoire. All the rasputin cards talk about abhorrent portocols to preserve human life in the face of extinction. (Carrahae white, etc) Midnight exigent is the protocol to ensure rasputin lives, as well as every human under his protection. He did it by crippling the traveler and forcing it to stay and fight. Rasputin put out the ikelos protocol items as a means to arm the populace to fight what was coming. And the traveler and darkness cards tell you about the darkness and how it constantly chases the traveler.