Drowning in Paperwork (Entropy ****)
The NWO uses this rote to literally smother their enemies in
the products of bureacracy. Any loose paper in the area (and if
there wasn't any, there is now) is blown towards the victim by a
coincidental breeze, where it clings, resisting any attempts short
of countermagic to remove it. Within moments, the victim is
covered in newspaper(s), forms, loose files, PostIt notes, bills,
junk mail, etc. Damage (from suffocation) is the usual successes
x 4.
After the victim is dead, the paper quietly blows away. At
the Storyteller's option, there may not even be a body left
behind...
Unperson (Entropy *****, Correspondence **, Mind ****)
This rote seeks out and erases all official evidence of a
single subject's existence: birth certificates, driver's licenses,
bank accounts and credit balances, property deeds, tax and Social
Security records, fingerprints on file, even photographs and video.
Most records simply vanish, while newspapers and the like no longer
mention the subject. The "idea" of that person has been destroyed.
Any Resources not in the subject's personal possession are
lost. They are homeless, bankrupt, and will find it hard to find a
normal job or get medical treatment without the usual documents.
The subject must either obtain a new identity or find a way to live
outside society.
The optional Mind component causes memories of the subject to
be erased as well. No one, not even family or friends, will
recognize them. Mages and other Awakened beings can resist this
effect with countermagic.
While this is primarily a NWO rote, the Syndicate has used it
on occasion and the Virtual Adepts took it with them when they
defected, applying it to computers. The NWO usually employs the
rote to destroy lives or cover the tracks of failed operatives,
while others have found it helpful when a complete change of
identity is needed.
Supress Popularity ( ***** Entropy or ** Mind, ** Correspondence )
Every once and a while, something gets into the Paradigm which
the technocracy wants to supress. This is done through eliminating the
evidence of it and using this rote. Correspondence two allows the general
populus, dispersed as it is to be effected. Either Mind is used to plant
ideas about how dumb/dangerous/ridiculus the idea or produce is or Entropy
is used to errode people's good memories and thoughts about the probelm and
crystalize their problems with it.
For example, a Virtual Adept arranges a new video game which the
technocracy deems unsuitable. Using this rote, kids who thought the game was
cool three weeks ago now compain how it costs too much, has bad graphics, and
doesn't have enough combination moves.
Spy Beam (Correspondence ** Time ** any other spheres you want)
This allows spies to monitor targets, ignoring barriers
coincidentally (the old laser on the window trick, or the infinity
transmitter hooked up to the phone, or "good thing they picked the suite
with the bug in it!") and even allowing them to scroll forward and
backward in time to monitor events that have happened (It's already in
the CD-ROM, we've been taping this room for nine months) or events that
might happen (statistical probability projection complete with spiffy
graphics). Other spheres make the read-outs more complete (Life, Matter,
and Forces are particularly useful).
Foci for this effect: Rifle microphone, infinity transmitter,
laser-scope microphone, little sophisticated bugs, a van chock-full of
complicated electronics and spies dressed up like waiters, or even a
camcorder hidden in the closet.
Data/Subject Compression (Forces *** Matter *** Life **** Prime **
Correspondence ****)
This sophisticated effect is useful for transmitting objects from
one place to another. You can either transform existing patterns into
patterns of electronic information and store it on disks, or actually
transmit it to other locations. This is simply a sloppier, dirtier, and
more annoyingly complex method of teleporting through a portal, but it
also serves to make unwilling participants into readily transportable
forms. A reverse-type scenario allows you to travel to places through
phone lines, modem hook-ups, and satellite dish reception.
[Three successes are required to transform an existing pattern
into data, and the amount of successes needed to transmit them somewhere
are based on distance.]
Foci for this Effect: Super-sophisticated laser-scanner with
molecular disassembly feature and telepod link-up (see the re-make of the
Fly for an idea of this), supercomputer, an unsual looking phonebooth.
Unified Thinking (Mind **** Correspondence **)
Using this effect, large groups of operatives can be linked
together. In fact, they can even receive and transmit sensory data to
and from one another, thus allowing individuals to receive advice from
the group.
[Mind 4 is necessary to forge a semi-overriding link to several
different subjects, though complete control is taken. Correspondence 2
allows sensations to be colocated so that perceptions for each team
member can be stacked. The ST should allow groups operating in this
fashion something along the lines of a +2 dice to all alertness tests
(provided at least one of the group can see it), +1 die on initiative,
and the ability to pool suggestions and knowledge to quickly overcome
simple problems. It may be necessary for every member of the group to
have Mind 1 in order to improve their ability to deal with multiple
perceptions, but STs may rule that an implant like those of Iteration X's
mages helps handle the effect.]
Foci For this Effect: Headsets with audio-video linked to a
command station, walkie-talkies, expert-system AI controller giving
advice based on data from helmet cameras.
Crowd Control (Mind **)
This effect can be used to pacify large groups of people and make
them effectively ignore the activities of official looking people. They
go about their business and do their best not to notice what is going on
elsewhere. It is, in effect, Somebody Else's Problem.
[Enough successes must be garnered to effect everyone in the
vicinity, otherwise gawkers may still be attracted. If enough successes
are received, magickal effects can be considered to have no witnesses,
and no one will be able to accurately describe anything that just
happened. Correspondance may be required to affect truly large areas.]
Foci For this Effect: A crowd of men in black trenchcoats
ordering people to go about their business, a subsonic aversion signal
generator, big guys with guns, lots of yellow tape marked "Government
Crime Scene: DO NOT CROSS".
Marauder/Nephandi Early Warning Scan (Correspondence ** Time **
Entropy *)
This program scans data from thousands of sources, analyzing
discrepencies typical of paradox generated by marauders, nephandi, or
carless tradition magi. This allows strike teams and squads of men with
large weapons to be rapidly deployed for maximum effect.
[Essentially, this is a justification for the Technocracy
arriving quickly on the scene, fully-equipped to deal with any sort of
problem. Note that their information is frequently false, and they get a
lot of false alarms, which may serve as hooks to get characters of any
kind interested in what's going on.]
Foci For This Effect: A supercomputer hooked into a vast network,
lots of sweaty informants in phonebooths, entropy sensors scattered
throughout a big city, someone watching the evening news.
Deprogramming/Reprogramming (Mind 4, Entropy 5)
This is an extensive process of torture, drug therapy, and VR
indoctrination designed to strip away a victim's belief system and
restructure it according to a more correct way of thinking. The process
takes days or weeks and is quite brutal.
[This is an extended contest between the subject and his
reprogrammers. Each day of reprogramming, the subject rolls a willpower
test (difficulty 8) and the brainscrubbing crew rolls their Arete with a
difficulty of 8. Each week of captivity subtracts one cumulative die
from the subject's tests. A botch on a test by either side blows all
their accumulated successes and they must start over. The first ones to
twenty-five successes win. If the subject loses, his mind is shattered
and can then be manipulated easily into accepting new things (There are
five lights!). If the subject wins, he is deemed too strong to be
effectively deprogrammed and is probably just killed instead.]
Foci for this Effect: Guys in white coats with rubber gloves and
lots of needles and/or helmets full of rats, VR torture/information
station, a big muscular guy with the rubber hoses, hot irons, textbooks
on tax laws.
Advanced Information Gathering (Forces ** Entropy * Mind *
Correspondence **)
This effect allows people to monitor a vast amount of information
and sift it quickly and thoroughly for relevant data. Newspapers can be
fed into scanning machines that dump the data into a computer, circuits
can listen in on radio and telephone conversations, informants supply
information, etc. The search parameters are proscribed, and the effect
begins.
[Correspondence allows the search to be virtually worldwide,
Entropy shifts you towards more relevant stuff, Mind allows quick search
of multiple documents, and forces lets you listen to just about any kind
of communication. With Mind 3, this can include people's thoughts. Each
success on the test should be considered like a research roll, evaluating
trends, triangulating on victims, etc.]
Foci For the Effect: Newspaper clipping service, a trip to the
local library, a CD-ROM network, a supercomputer hooked into
telecommunications relays, bugs on communication satellites, sweaty guys in
phone booths.