TEXT:  
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  © 2020 White Wolf Entertainment © 2020 Onyx Path Publishing 
  
  Unit 5: Q Division  
  Technology... is a queer thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs 
  you in the back with the other.  
  — C.P. Snow 
  I always get nervous the night before an exam. 
  You would think that after the shit I have seen, a blank Scantron card and a number 2 pencil 
  would barely register, let alone frighten me. You’d think that the recruitment process, removal 
  from my oldlife, 18-hour training days, and the paste they try to pass off as food here would 
  bother me, but they don’t. It’s all part of the process. I don’t mind. 
  You’d think that the big bad world out there, filled with monsters, and mayhem, and Reality 
  Deviants all trying to tear existence to shreds to serve their perverse masters would make me 
  douse my drawers. It doesn’t. I get to be a hero to humanity. I get to help people. I get to save 
  people. I realize I might…hell, I probably will die in the process. But that’s okay. If I go down 
  fighting some tentacled horror from beyond the realm of reason then at least I get to die a hero. 
  I’m okay with that.  
  But this goddamn placement test I have to take in the morning is scaring the shit out of me. It’s a 
  big one. Pass, and I will have my pick of assignments. Fail, and its six more months of barracks 
  living, six more months of basic training, and six more months of wondering if I am good enough 
  to serve the Technocratic Union.  
  So, yes. I have test anxiety. I always have. I probably always will. 
  Exam is at 0700. Nine hours from now. I hope that’s enough time for this Sleepteacher to help 
  me learn Applied Programming 301, because I damn sure didn’t have time to study this week. 
  Technocratic Focus 
  In their quest to foster a better, safer and more predictable world, the Technocracy has embraced 
  Enlightened Science. Most Technocrats dismiss the idea of magick as Reality Deviant nonsense, 
  failing to see that the end result of Enlightened Science and Magick are the same — the 
  manipulation of reality on a fundamental level. 
  As explained in Mage 20, Technocrats are tied to their tools and practices (or apparatuses and 
  Procedures) to a far greater degree than mystic willworkers or technomancers subscribing to 
  mystic philosophies, such as the Virtual Adepts or the Society of Ether. While other mages learn 
  to harness the magick within and cast aside the need for instruments, a Technocrat recognizes 
  that their prowess with Enlightened Science merely permits them to apply advanced principles to 
  achieve desired effects through interaction with technology. Without the appropriate apparatus, a 
  Technocrat is no more able to execute Adjustments or Procedures than any member of the 
  Masses. 
  As a result, many Technocrats, particularly those engaging in field work on the Front Lines, 
  make it a point to master several apparatuses that do not necessarily require bulky or esoteric 
  equipment. One need look no further than the suits and mirrorshades employed by Black Suits to 
  see the impact of fashion as an apparatus, and operatives within the Syndicate can work mighty 
  Procedures with little more than a bank card and a cell phone.  
  
  Technocratic Focus Elements 
  For additional focus elements that characters from the Technocratic Union might 
  use, see the entries listed below. For easy reference, each element entry features the 
  book detailing the paradigm, practice or instrument in question.  
  M20 = Mage 20th Anniversary Edition  
  BoS = The Book of Secrets 
  Common Technocratic Paradigms  
  A World of Gods and Monsters 
  M20  
  All the World’s a Stage  
  BoS 
  Ancient Wisdom is the Key 
  BoS 
  Embrace the Threshold BoS 
  Everything is Chaos 
  M20  
  Everything is Data 
  M20  
  Everything’s an Illusion, Prison or Mistake 
  M20  
  Might is Right M20  
  One-Way Trip to Oblivion 
  M20  
  Transcend Your Limits BoS 
  We are Meant to be Wild 
  BoS 
  We Are NOT Men! 
  BoS 
  Common Technocratic Practices  
  Art of Desire / Hypereconomics 
  M20 
  Cybernetics  
  M20 
  Dominion  
  M20 
  Hypertech  
  M20 
  Martial Arts  
  M20 
  Psionics  
  BoS 
  Reality Hacking  
  M20 
  Weird Science M20 
  Yoga  
  M20 
  Common Technocratic Instruments 
  Armor M20 
  Artwork  
  M20 
  Blood and Fluids  
  M20 
  Body Modification 
  BoS 
  Bodywork  
  M20 
  Bones and Remains  
  M20 
  Books and Periodicals M20 
  Brews and Concoctions  
  M20 
  Computer Gear M20 
  
  Cups and Vessels 
  M20 
  Cybernetic Implants 
  BoS 
  Dances and Movement  
  M20 
  Devices and Machines M20 
  Drugs and Poisons 
  M20 
  Elements  
  M20 
  Energy M20 
  Eye Contact  
  M20 
  Fashion M20 
  Food and Drink M20 
  Formulae and Math  
  M20 
  Group Rites  
  M20 
  Internet Activity 
  BoS 
  Labs and Gear  M20 
  Languages  
  M20 
  Management and HR  M20 
  Mass Media  
  M20 
  Meditation  
  M20 
  Money and Wealth  
  M20 
  Music  M20 
  Ordeals and Exertions  M20 
  Social Domination  
  M20 
  Symbols  
  M20 
  Thought-Forms  M20 
  Tricks and Illusions  
  M20 
  True Names  
  M20 
  Voice and Vocalizations  
  M20 
  Weapons  
  M20 
  Writings, Inscriptions and Runes  
  M20 
  Adjustments 
  Adjustments, also referred to as subtle Procedures by some agents, are applications of 
  Enlightened Science that do not typically strain the bounds of belief in technologically developed 
  regions. The majority of the time, the Masses accept the results of an Adjustment as perfectly 
  normal, rational, and reasonable. Adjustments are the preferred method of applying Enlightened 
  Science outside of the safety of a Construct. The Adjustment below is routinely employed by 
  field operatives. 
  The Master’s Edge (•• Mind; possibly with • or •• Entropy added)  
  
  The power of body language, posture, and other non-verbal cues during face-to-face interactions 
  cannot be overstated. Through the application of this Adjustment, an operative maximizes the 
  impact of these factors to enhance social interaction. While this is commonly used to project a 
  menacing or intimidating presence, the operative can easily apply the same principles to enhance 
  virtually any social interaction.  
  System: Built on the foundation of basic Mind 2 principles, this Adjustment affects the target’s 
  mood, increasing susceptibility to the emotion the operative wishes to elicit. This is relatively 
  standard Influence-Magick as described in How Do You Do That?, p. 116. The operative 
  chooses what type of emotional state they wish to instill in their target, such as fear, calm, or 
  even a sense of trust. The player then rolls Enlightenment at a difficulty equal to the target’s 
  Willpower Trait, or 4, whichever is higher. The target rolls Willpower at difficulty 6 to resist this 
  effect, with each success canceling one of the operative’s successes. Any remaining successes 
  reduce the difficulty (to no lower than -3) of the operative’s Attribute + Ability rolls when 
  incorporating the impacted emotion for the duration. If projecting fear, this reduces the difficulty 
  of Manipulation + Intimidation rolls, whereas an operative projecting an aura of confidence 
  would enjoy reduced difficulties to Charisma + Etiquette rolls to impress a target. 
  By incorporating Entropy 1 into the effect, the operative gains insight into the target’s nonverbal 
  responses to the procedure, allowing for minute adjustments to undermine the target’s resistance. 
  This allows the operative to increase the difficulty of the target’s Willpower roll to resist this 
  procedure by 1 per success, to a maximum of +3. 
  If the operative incorporates Entropy 2 into the Adjustment, random and subtle changes in the 
  environment occur that enhance the targeted mood. This allows the operative to divide successes 
  gained from the Enlightenment roll between impacting the difficulties regarding the effect as 
  detailed above and increasing the difficulty of Willpower rolls and Attribute + Ability checks 
  made by the target to resist all social Attribute + Ability checks made by the operative for the 
  duration of the effect. Each success spent by the Technocrat in this fashion increases the 
  difficulty of the target’s affected rolls by +1 to a maximum of +3. 
  Procedures 
  Blatant Procedures, or simply, “Procedures” involve the application of Enlightened principles 
  beyond what the Masses have been conditioned to accept. The use of Procedures is officially 
  frowned upon outside the safety and security of a Construct. Most supervisors and Symposiums 
  maintain a level of flexibility in their regulation of Procedures, especially in areas where the 
  Ascension Conflict is particularly aggressive, or Reality Deviants routinely endanger the Masses. 
  Still, even in the most dangerous regions of the Front Lines, an operative is expected to utilize 
  solo judgment and appropriate decorum. Agents failing to show the appropriate discretion when 
  applying Procedures should expect consequences including demotion, reassignment, and 
  reprogramming. Operatives failing to respond to such measures ultimately find themselves 
  relegated to Degree Absolute. 
  All Triggers Locked (•• Forces / •• Matter) 
  When you absolutely, positively must kill every motherfucker in the room, accept no substitutes. 
  This wildly vulgar Procedure — a measure of last resort — allows a Black Suit or cyborg to 
  snatch from a distance the guns of every person in the immediate vicinity, snap them back to the 
  agent’s hands, merge them all together into a single line of firearms, lock their triggers, and fire 
  
  them all simultaneously until the guns run out of ammunition. There’s no way to aim the 
  resulting hail of bullets but so long as the agent doesn’t care about collateral damage, there’s not 
  much chance of escaping the carnage, either.  
  System: Inspired by S. Shankar’s enthralling Indian film Enthiran (“Robot”), this Procedure 
  uses Forces 2 to grab all the guns, Matter 2 to fuse them, and a combination of both to turn a 
  bunch of different guns into a single one-use autofire weapon.  
  For simplicity’s sake, assume that this attack demands at least six successes at a base difficulty 
  of 7, and requires three turns of concentration to activate: one turn to grab the guns, one turn to 
  fuse them into a single line of weapons, and one to open fire. The attack fills the surrounding 
  area with gunfire for three turns, inflicting seven dice of lethal damage to everyone within that 
  area, per turn, unless they’re under sufficient cover to block bullets. Treat the attack area as a 
  half-circle explosion with a Blast Area (see Mage 20, pp. 437-438 and p. 455) of 15. Major and 
  minor characters may try to soak the damage or dodge the blast, but bystanders and cannon 
  fodder are simply mowed down. 
  Okay, But Where Are the Guns? 
  The information in this chapter is organized according to Wonder Type, then 
  alphabetically by dot rating. For Storytellers and Players looking to find a particular 
  piece of equipment, the following lists may be helpful. 
  [TABLE PLEASE] 
  Armor  The Black Suit p. xx, Second Skin p. xx, 
  Chemicals, Gases, and Poisons  
  CLN-20 Fun House Gas p. xx, MP-34 
  Multipurpose Pacification Gas p. xx, Variable Atmospheric Pharmacological 
  Emitter (the VAPE) p. xx 
  Clothing  
  The Black Suit p. xx, G-186 Octopus Suit p. xx, Parkour Slippers 
  p. xx  
  Computers and Information Technology  
  DEI p. xx, ES-Phone p. xx, Pre-
  Designed Proficiency Packages p. xx, Operative Database p. xx, Sleepteacher p. 
  xx, Species and Mineral Database 
  Surveillance 
  Autonomous Investigatory Sampler p. xx, Field Material Analyzer 
  p. xx, HIPSDTer p. xx, Pocket Drones Spray Cams p. xx 
  Utility Automated Repair p. xx, Bonding Facilitation Fluid p. xx, Clear Cut p. xx, 
  Helping Hand p. xx, Mimetic Mask p. xx, The Neuro-Optical Transmitter p. xx, 
  PP-2 Omni-Badge p. xx, Primal Energy Extractor p. xx, TMBL-WD p. xx, 
  Universal Key p. xx, Universal Neutralizer Device p. xx, Zipper Ties p. xx, 
  Vehicles  
  Dimensional Backdoor p. xx, SMC (Spectre Motor Corporation) 
  Vehicle p. xx 
  Weapons  
  Cognitive Attenuation Transmitter p. xx, LIAM p. xx, LL-AP 15 
  p. xx, Mightier Pen p. xx, NIMBY-50 p. xx, PAWS Taser, p. xx, Variable 
  Atmospheric Pharmacological Emitter (the VAPE) p. xx 
  [/END TABLE] 
  Technocratic Gear 
  
  The Technocracy excels at the creation and dissemination of equipment. Apart from the various 
  apparatuses employed by the Conventions, the basic mundane tech made available through the 
  resources of the Syndicate, and the innumerable pet projects of individual Technocrats, the 
  Union is constantly developing, refining, and deploying cutting edge technology to agents and 
  operatives. This section is a mere sample of the technology available to loyal and productive 
  members of the Union. 
  Gadgets 
  Many components of the Technocratic toolkit are mass produced, single-use items that employ 
  Enlightened Science to achieve a specific, predictable Effect. All but the most esoteric Gadgets 
  can be utilized by properly trained Extraordinary Citizens. 
  •• CLN-20 “Fun House Gas” 
  Enlightenment 3, Primal Energy 10, Background Cost 2 pts. per grenade  
  With a similar density to standard atmosphere, Fun House can persist in an area for up to an hour 
  causing intense and unpredictable optical refraction, making light in the affected area bounce 
  erratically, similar to a kaleidoscope. Like most gasses, the particles of CLN-20 shift constantly, 
  making the visual distortions unpredictable, preventing people from getting their bearings. 
  Additional air movement from fans or running, for example, causes intense disorientation.  
  As a purely optical distortion, it affects all forms of vision that rely on light, including infrared 
  and night vision. Agents deploying Fun House are strongly encouraged to use non-optical 
  sensors, such as the C-SAM. LIAMs are similarly unaffected by CLN-20. 
  System: CLN-20 gas brings the visuals of 1970s LSD trip films to life, as eyes and all other 
  optical sensors become entirely useless. The unpredictable visual distortions ruin depth and color 
  perception, making it impossible to see thanks to a Forces 2 effect that refracts the light within 
  20 feet of the point of detonation. 
  Unless deliberately blown away from the target area or otherwise dissipated, CLN-20 gas 
  remains in the area for 30-60 minutes. While incredibly disconcerting to virtually everything that 
  enters the area of effect, the gas itself does no harm. The chance of falls and other accidents rises 
  drastically within the gas’ effect, though due to an Entropy 2 Adjustment incorporated into the 
  gas. 
  •• Spray Cams 
  Enlightenment 2, Primal Energy 10, Background Cost 4 pts.  
  Trash cams were once the cutting edge of surveillance technology, but today’s technology allows 
  agents to go even further than disguising cameras and audio equipment as garbage. Spray Cams 
  pack millions of sensors into a device that looks and functions precisely the same as a 
  conventional can of spray paint. With Spray Cams, entire walls can be coated in a photosensitive 
  and acoustically absorptive nanite film, allowing an entire army of covert cameras to be placed 
  on a single surface. Not only does this method ensure that disruption or damage does not 
  compromise the surveillance cluster, it means that the images captured by the cluster can be 
  composited to create three-dimensional videos, complete with positional sound. 
  System: Any agent with the access code can easily access the information recorded by the Spray 
  Cams through a Data 2 Adjustment, forming a Rank 1 Data connection to the location of the 
  
  Spray Cams. The cams themselves do the actual work, meaning the agent using them does not 
  even need to be fluent in Data so long as they have an internet capable smartphone, tablet, or 
  computer. Spray Cams last up to 3 months if the affected area is not greatly disturbed (such as 
  being demolished or painted over). 
  ••• Bonding Facilitation Fluid  
  Enlightenment 3, Primal Energy 15, Background Cost 3 pts. (Per 10 use tube) 
  Bonding Facilitation Fluid (BFF) permanently bonds two surfaces together on a structural level. 
  Although effectively the opposite of Clear Cut, BFF is a much more intricate nanite system, as 
  merely creating a superficial bond between the two surfaces rarely achieves permanent results. 
  Indeed, many object combinations simply do not have enough strength at their surface to provide 
  real support. This creates the very real possibility of a shear point, giving the combination a point 
  of failure. 
  Instead, BFF searches deep within each of the objects to locate points of stability, such as 
  metallic microstructures or wood grain. Once comparable points of strength are located on both 
  objects, BFF merges them at a molecular level, sharing stress between both objects. This also 
  means that the bond is generally a gradient of both materials that is a substantial thickness, 
  preventing the objects from being separated once joined. 
  Do not fuck around with this stuff. Epoxying your fingers together is one thing, but BFF cares 
  about structural integrity, not biological functionality. Flesh affected by BFF may become so 
  mangled that it’d be easier to just cut the affected tissue out and grow a replacement. 
  System: A Matter 3/Life 3 Adjustment combines the patterns of any two objects or creatures 
  together on a fundamental level, effectively gluing the targets together via technomagick. This is 
  subtle, as to mundane observation the two objects (or creatures, or combination thereof) are 
  simply glued together with an impressive adhesive. Separating things bonded with this Effect 
  becomes impossible without using Matter, Life, or destroying the glued portion of one or both 
  targets. One application of BFF binds up to 6 square inches (15 sq. cm) of surface area. 
  If BFF is applied to one target and not used to bind to another creature or object within a number 
  of turns equal to the successes on the activation roll for the Gadget, the fluid loses its potency, 
  becoming simple, mundane superglue. 
  ••• Clear Cut 
  Enlightenment 4, Primal Energy 10, Background Cost 4 pts.  
  At its most basic, Clear Cut is a filament with a tack on each end. The filament grows or 
  contracts as needed to prevent any unwanted slack. Once the tacks are in place and the filament 
  is arranged on a flat surface, Clear Cut gets to work, disassembling matter on a horizontal plane 
  until it reaches a surface of a different composition. Essentially, Clear Cut vaporizes a line clear 
  through whatever it’s tacked to, without damaging anything else, unless the agent taps the tacks, 
  giving it the go ahead to cut through the next layer. 
  Clear Cut is programmed with a variety of possible cut styles, including a U-shaped cut allowing 
  the cut surface to be removed and then replaced seamlessly.  
  System: The operative tacks a filament to a surface such as a wall or floor and then activates the 
  gadget. The filament uses a Matter 3 effect to transmute the targeted area into air, effectively 
  
  burning through the material of the surface and dealing damage to the target according to the 
  Base Damage or Duration chart (see Mage 20 p. 504). This uses an extended roll, dealing 
  damage each turn at the cost of 1 point of Primal Energy. Once the Clear Cut either completes 
  the programmed cut or runs out of Primal Energy, it becomes inert. 
  ••• HIPSTer 
  Enlightenment 3, Primal Energy 15, Background Cost 3 pts. (for a single use)  
  The Hidden in Plain Sight Tracker, or HIPSTer, is a malleable metal alloy that adheres to 
  virtually any surface and flakes off when it experiences air resistance, such as that experienced 
  by a vehicle in motion. The faster the vehicle travels, the more frequent the HIPSTer sheds, 
  ensuring that the particle trail remains consistent, no matter what speed the target vehicle travels. 
  Since the HIPSTer resembles a lump of metal, it can easily be placed over weld spots, making it 
  all but impossible to spot. Additionally, the HIPSTer does not rely on electronic parts, making it 
  invisible to RF scanners. 
  The flake trail created by the HIPSTer is difficult to see with the naked eye but can be easily 
  spotted by shining an infrared light and observing the IR being reflected back in night vision 
  devices. 
  The HIPSDTer version incorporates nanoprocessors into each metallic flake released, allowing 
  any agent trained in Data to track the target’s location as well as the path by which the target 
  travels. These nanoprocessors are small enough, their signal in an advanced enough range, that 
  this gadget remains invisible to RF scanners. 
  System: The agent must attach the gadget to the target vehicle. This creates a trail she can 
  follow, provided she leverages the appropriate equipment.  
  • 
  The agent utilizing a HIPSTer and appropriate equipment may make all Attribute + 
  Ability checks used to track the target vehicle at a -2 difficulty.  
  • 
  When using the HIPSDTer, in addition to the mundane tracking benefits above, the agent 
  may also utilize Data to track the vehicle, claiming a 3 success Data Connection (see Mage 20 p. 
  524)  
  ••• LIAM 
  Enlightenment 3, Primal Energy 5, Background Cost 2 pts. per grenade.  
  A grenade with an attitude problem, the LIAM has a specially programmed set of skills: It finds 
  you, and it destroys you. Outfitted with sonar navigation systems and basic maneuvering 
  thrusters, LIAMs fly to their target area and perform a seek-and-destroy operation. 
  Thanks to the combination of their thrusters and easily thrown shape, creative agents can engage 
  targets behind cover, around corners, and up HVAC vents. A LIAM can even be programmed to 
  detonate on command or after a specific amount of time, although this reduces the success rate as 
  LIAMs have a finite amount of fuel.  
  System: LIAM’s shape and size (roughly that of a baseball) make it easy to throw. Once in the 
  air, thrusters kick in, ensuring that even if the target moves or the throw was bad, the grenade 
  finds its mark. 
  
  Once armed and thrown, a LIAM flies toward the target relying on a Correspondence 2/Forces 
  3/Prime 2 Procedure to track the target while generating propulsion. This permits the user to add 
  the successes gained on the activation roll to the successes on a Dexterity + Athletics roll to hit 
  their target. Upon detonation, the LIAM deals aggravated damage using a Forces 3/Prime 2 
  Adjustment. The Damage generated and the Blast Radius of the explosion is equal to the 
  successes gained on the activation roll when arming the LIAM. 
  ••• Mightier Pen 
  Enlightenment 4, Primal Energy 5, Background Cost 3 pts.  
  After several iterations of design, redesign, success and embarrassment, Q Division has designed 
  the perfect multi-use tool for agents seeking an innocuous weapon. This pen is designed with 
  several functions, each of which, unfortunately destroy the item in the process. However, for an 
  easy to hide holdout weapon, the Mightier Pen cannot be beat. 
  For fashion forward operatives, a version of this gadget is also available in a watch format. 
  System: Until activated, this gadget is a simple pen that never seems to run out of ink and writes 
  smoothly under virtually any circumstance. The watch version is a simple atomic watch. 
  A successful activation roll allows the agent to use one of the following Procedures. Doing so 
  destroys the pen entirely.  
  • 
  Set a timer for up to 30 seconds, after which time the pen explodes, detonating based on 
  your activation roll using a Forces 3/Prime 2 Procedure. 
  • 
  Immediately release a non-lethal pulse of force, pushing everyone out of a ten-by-ten-
  foot area, centered on the pen using a Forces 3/Prime 2 Procedure. The pulse does not affect the 
  person holding the pen. 
  • 
  Immediately fire a laser discharge using a Forces 3/Prime 2 Procedure. Aim the laser 
  with a Dexterity + Energy Weapons roll. 
  ••• Pre-designed Proficiency Packages 
  Enlightenment 3-5, Primal Energy 5-25, Background Cost 3-12 pts. per use  
  While PPP can be permanently implanted, that runs counter to the point: their modularity. 
  Instead, most PPP are external in nature, hidden in a variety of ways to fit the mission 
  environment, requiring a volume roughly equal to a toothbrush. Popular camouflage options 
  include sunglasses, dust masks, sports bands, and mobile phones. Some PPP are even accessible 
  via an ES-Phone app. Once accessed and activated the agent may utilize the programmed 
  expertise. 
  System: The user gains a brief boost to rolls involving up to three Ability scores, chosen when 
  the PPP is activated. Through a Mind 3 Procedure the operative receives extra dice on the 
  selected Abilities equal to the successes achieved on the gadget’s activation roll. This brain boost 
  persists for the duration listed on the Base Damage and Duration Chart (see Mage 20 p. 504). 
  ••• TMBL-WD 
  Enlightenment 5, Primal Energy 15, Background Cost 5 pts. per unit  
  
  Compact, TMBL-WDs are little more than fist-sized balloons with small motors and an 
  advanced 3-D imaging system.  
  These ‘fire and forget’ infiltration aids allow you to punch in a few settings, throw one, and have 
  a handy pre-programmed illusion at your disposal. You can program the TMBL-WD to generate 
  an independent holographic image up to the size of an average human capable of generating up 
  to 70 decibels of sound. This illusion is short-lived but can serve as a powerful distraction.  
  System: With a Forces 3/Prime 2 Procedure, the user programs an illusory image into the 
  TMBL-WD unit and releases it. This image is effectively an illusion subject to the systems 
  detailed in How Do You Do That? p. 129-131. The TMBL-WD does not last very long, 
  consuming one point of Primal Energy per minute, after which time, the illusion fails and the 
  device self-destructs via implosion, leaving behind a useless lump of metal. 
  •••• MP-34 Multipurpose Pacification Gas 
  Enlightenment N/A, Primal Energy N/A, Background Cost 4 pts. per canister  
  Civilians of all sorts make fragmentation grenades a bad call in a lot of places. CS, a mild nerve 
  agent commonly called “tear gas,” provides an option that’s less likely to cause collateral 
  damage, but not everything out there gives a shit about tear gas. Q Division took the classic riot 
  control agent and upgraded it with garlic oil, aerosolized silver, iron, capsicum, and some other 
  goodies. If it breathes, has eyes, or skin, it’s calling in sick tomorrow. The gas settles and 
  dissipates relatively quickly, but it also sticks to moist surfaces like eyes, mouths, other mucus 
  membranes, and sweaty skin. This means that, while it’s safe to enter a gassed area soon after 
  deployment, anything that got gassed is going to be sad until they make it to the showers. 
  System: Created in the lab via Matter Procedures, the most commonly distributed format MP 
  grenades consist of a soft drink can-sized canister around a large crystal which releases a 
  tremendously noxious gas when burned. Although not entirely colorless, MP gas does not 
  provide any significant vision impairment besides making unprotected eyes spasm uselessly. 
  Once dispersed, the gas remains airborne for no more than 60 seconds, although the ground and 
  any moist surfaces have substantial MP residue, making rubbing your face against the ground a 
  terrible idea.  
  Like all gas grenades, MP grenades have an open bottom through which a jet of flame and gas 
  issues forth. The fire only burns for a turn or two but can be used as a weapon on its own by a 
  desperate agent, dealing 4 dice of fire damage. Left alone, MP grenades produce a cloud of 
  irritant approximately 10 yards in diameter. Anything with exposed skin suffers a -2 penalty to 
  all dice pools. If the eyes are exposed, that penalty rises to -3. Anything breathing in the area 
  takes 2 levels of bashing damage per turn. Anyone attempting to hold their breath must make a 
  Stamina roll at difficulty 6 each turn as the gas damages all exposed mucus membranes. 
  •••• Zipper Ties 
  Enlightenment 4, Primal Energy 5, Background Cost 4 pts. per tie  
  Unenlightened citizens obviously don’t like being arrested. The moment zip ties close around 
  someone’s wrists, the natural response is resentment or anger. Reality Deviants don’t care for 
  that much either, but they tend to be far more adept at getting out of restraints. If you’re going to 
  restrain a dangerous deviant, you’re going to need a better set of zip ties. 
  
  Zipper Ties use a little bit of Primal Energy and Primium lacing to offer countermeasures against 
  any sort of deviant attempts to break free from the restraint. 
  System: These function as mundane zip ties, restraining the hands of whoever they are placed on 
  and dealing 1 level of bashing damage per 15 minutes the subject struggles (to a maximum of 3 
  levels) as the zip ties dig into the wearer’s wrists. These ties also subject any magickal effect 
  attempted by the unfortunate wearer to 4 dice of Primium Countermeasures (see Mage 20 p. 
  659).  
  To remove Zipper Ties, the agent must cut them, rendering them effectively useless. Agents are 
  expected to collect the discarded Zipper Ties for recycling. Primium is expensive, and littering is 
  unmutual. 
  Theory and Application 
  Every mage, be they a mystic or Technocrat, utilizes the elements of their focus to 
  access the Spheres and generate effects. For a mystic mage, the lines between an 
  Instrument and a Wonder can occasionally blur. In fact, some mages may use a 
  Wonder as a personal or unique instrument as detailed in Mage 20 p. 587-588. This 
  is also appropriate, and quite common among Technocrats. The Black Suit worn by 
  an NWO operative simultaneously serves as a Trinket and a fashion apparatus for 
  Enlightened Science. 
  Furthermore, to the Technocrat, Wonders ultimately function according to the 
  principles of Enlightened Science. From a practical perspective, this means that 
  according to everything the Technocrat believes, they can replicate the effects of a 
  Device through individual application of the Spheres, provided reasonable 
  materials and time are available. In practice, this means that many Technocrats can 
  and do employ Adjustments and Procedures that are commonly found in Gadgets, 
  Trinkets, and Devices using their own knowledge and ability in the field. 
  Depending on the Effect, the Spheres, and the materials available, the Storyteller 
  may allow a Technocrat to attempt to jury-rig an appropriate apparatus together 
  using the Inventing, Modifying, and Improving Technology rules described in 
  Mage 20, p. 463-464. The Storyteller may wish to treat the successes achieved on 
  this check as a limit to the number of successes that can be achieved on the 
  Technocrat’s Enlightenment roll to initiate the Effect. Failure on the Modification 
  and Repair check means that the Technocrat cannot attempt the Effect, as he is 
  unable to jury-rig a functional apparatus. 
  Trinkets 
  Q Division masterfully crafts these items using cutting edge manufacturing techniques. As such 
  they provide reliable effects, even in the hands of the Masses. 
  •• Operative Database 
  Enlightenment 4, Primal Energy 10, Background Cost 6 pts.  
  Operative Database, or ODb, contains lightly redacted information on all operatives in a specific 
  geographical area, including home and work contact information both for them and their 
  immediate supervisor, as well as personnel file photographs and fingerprints, for ease of 
  identifying field agents. This information is not limited to Convention personnel, and the 
  
  database includes civilian agency operatives in the area, such as police, MI-6, and ASIS. Even 
  minor civilian security agency personnel are included, enabling agents to better socially engineer 
  their way into secured locations. Where applicable, it provides both actual names and aliases. 
  Due to the incredibly sensitive nature of this information, each database only contains data on a 
  specific area, equal to 100 square miles.  
  Data on civilians not involved in security services is freely available to Technocratic agents in 
  good standing, without the need to purchase or requisition the ODb.  
  System: The agent utilizes the ODb with an activation roll to gain access to a Data 2 adjustment 
  allowing her to utilize the information fed into the database as a Data connection (see Mage 20 
  p. 524) to track the target and unearth other information about them.  
  The player may add successes from the activation roll to any Investigation roll made to gather 
  information about the target as long as the Data connection to them remains. 
  ••+ Pocket Drone 
  Enlightenment N/A, Primal Energy N/A, Background Cost 2+ pts. per drone  
  In the 21st century, any hobbyist can walk into an electronics store or toy store and get a cheap 
  drone. If all you want to do is make a piece of plastic hover around your living room, that’s 
  easily accessible and affordable tech. Professional drones are far more expensive, extending 
  battery life, durability, range, and camera resolution. Q Division and Iteration X are a few 
  decades ahead on drone technology. Fortunately, once it’s in the air, no one can tell the 
  difference between a twenty-dollar toy and an incredibly subtle form of surveillance.  
  Standard-issue drones fit in a carefully lined case that fits in your pocket. More elaborate models 
  can fold down into a backpack, along with all the equipment needed to operate the drone. 
  Multiple armatures, each sporting a tiny propeller, form the crude skeleton of this device. 
  Custom features flesh it out and give it life.  
  Systems: These drones are surprisingly reliant on mundane technology, but a few minor 
  applications of Enlightened Science can customize a pocket drone and truly make it sing. You 
  may add each of the following options to a base pocket drone by increasing the Background 
  Point cost as indicated in the description. 
  • 
  Data 2 Adjustments offer an “eye in the sky,” allowing agents and armatures to acquire 
  and track targets remotely. This modification increases the effective range of the drone’s 
  surveillance and guidance systems to global, though the drone’s maximum range and battery life 
  are unaffected. Multiple drones allow multiple viewpoints on the same location or target. Cost: 4 
  pts.  
  • 
  Forces 4 Adjustments allow a drone to deliver a shocking electrical charge, a short 
  ballistic burst, or even a low-range EMP pulse. Granted, attacking someone does tend to give 
  away a drone’s position, but a quick surprise attack can be a nice overture to a more concentrated 
  assault. Cost: 8 pts. 
  • 
  Mind 2 Adjustments decrease the possibility of visual detection. People overlook 
  individual drones once they are sufficiently ubiquitous. Cost: 4 pts. 
  Additional custom Adjustments and Procedures are available upon request (and at Storyteller 
  discretion). 
  
  •• Second Skin  
  Enlightenment N/A, Primal Energy N/A, Background Cost 4 pts. 
  The Second Skin is easier to slide on or slough off than a wetsuit. Some compare it to a 
  superhero uniform, or at least, the kind of rubbery/latex dull black suit that has ridges, kneepads 
  and elbow pads, groin and/or chest protection, and form-fitting anonymity. What you wear on 
  your head is up to you, but the rest of your skin has basic protection from hostile environments in 
  this world and others: heat, cold, electricity, acid, sonic disturbance, and so on. In other words, 
  forces and matter that can be minimized by the Forces and Matter Procedures used to create this 
  suit and protect you. 
  System: This suit confers an Armor Rating of 3, which also applies to fire, electrocution, and 
  temperature extremes, adding 3 dice to any resistance roll to which the Armor Rating would not 
  normally apply. 
  ••• The Black Suit 
  Enlightenment N/A, Primal Energy N/A, Background Cost 6 pts. 
  This is the standard-issue black suit utilized by the NWO Operative Methodology. Although 
  available to members of other Conventions, the vast majority of these suits are found among 
  Black Suit Operatives. 
  System: Matter 3 Adjustments worked into the fabric of these suits provide an Armor Rating of 
  4 to the wearer with no Dexterity penalty. Beyond that, many Black Suit Operatives use the suit 
  itself as an apparatus for Mind Effects. 
  ••• Parkour Slippers 
  Enlightenment N/A, Primal Energy N/A, Background Cost 6 pts. 
  Spy movies have fallen in love with the sport of parkour, encouraging sexy spies to run from 
  their Lamborghinis, climb up construction cranes, and leap from skyscraper to skyscraper, 
  chasing after whomever just stole their cell phone, took their picture, or caught them sleeping 
  with the supervillain’s easily seduced girlfriend.  
  Of course, those are just movies. Real-life parkour is far more dangerous. Correspondence 
  Adjustments increase your chances of getting from rooftop to construction crane unseen. If that’s 
  not enough, consider some better gear for your feet.  
  Q Division’s latest line of parkour slippers are like form-fitting gloves for your hands and feet. 
  Extra grip gives the agent an edge in high-altitude human-powered bipedal transport. Experience 
  with Strength training and Athletics are still a must, but an agent has the cutting edge of 
  technology to aid her.  
  System: Through the application of Matter 3 procedures this set of gloves and footwear greatly 
  increases the grip and control an agent may exert when engaging in parkour. Wearing a full set 
  of Parkour slippers on hands and feet reduces the difficulty of any Strength + Athletics roll made 
  to perform jumping, climbing, running, and other feats of physical prowess at the Storyteller’s 
  discretion. 
  Devices 
  
  Technology designated as a Device operates under such advanced principles of Enlightened 
  Science that its function is beyond the understanding of most Extraordinary Citizens. Some 
  specialists among the rank and file can access the functions of these Devices, but doing so 
  always incurs a level of heightened risk. In the name of safety, restricting access to these Devices 
  to Enlightened operatives is highly recommended. 
  • LL/AP-15 “Finger Guns” 
  Enlightenment 2, Primal Energy 5, Background Cost 3 pts.  
  Disguised as ordinary rings, LL/AP-15s are discrete, self-charging, electroshock weapons. Finger 
  Guns convert the user’s motion into electrical energy, storing the energy in an onboard battery 
  that makes up the bulk of the unit. Although it takes several minutes to build up a full charge, the 
  virtual invisibility of Finger Guns allows them to be used in highly secure areas. Several firing 
  configurations are available, such as discharging in the direction of a pointing finger or outward 
  from a closed fist.  
  System: Easy to disguise and use, LL/AP-15 slips onto an agent’s fingers, where they charge 
  themselves in short order. Once in place, they are virtually impossible to differentiate from an 
  ordinary ring, requiring 4 successes on a Perception + Technology roll to identify as out of place. 
  Once triggered via implant, ES-Phone app, or voice activation (“pew” is a popular choice), the 
  rings discharge an attack, which can be aimed via Dexterity + Energy Weapons. Damage is dealt 
  via a Forces 2 Procedure, fueled by the stored kinetic energy within the rings. 
  •• Helping Hand  
  Enlightenment 4, Primal Energy 10, Background Cost 6 pts.  
  The Helping Hand is a self-powered, semi-autonomous levitation device. Because it functions 
  much like an agent’s natural hands, but without the constraints of being physically attached, the 
  number of uses that an agent can find for it is virtually limitless. Control devices are available in 
  numerous form factors, including implants, ties, necklaces, and an ES-Phone app. 
  Helping Hands have significant levitation power, with applications in climbing, lifting objects, 
  and even carrying part of an agent’s load. Their manual dexterity is also well above average for a 
  human, allowing experienced Helping Hand operators to assist in soldering circuitry, or using a 
  firearm. They do not, however, provide any tactile feedback to their operator, making them less 
  helpful for delicate tasks. 
  In other words, if you try to pick a lock with a pair of Helping Hands, it’s going to be a pain in 
  the ass, because you won’t be able to feel what you’re doing. They’re great for holding a tension 
  bar in place while you work on the tumblers, though. Creative agents find lots of uses, such as 
  having your Hand grab you by the belt to jump off most buildings safely, and having your Hand 
  give you some upward force to make falling safer and climbing a hell of a lot easier. 
  System: A basic Forces 2 Procedure provides the user with telekinetic ability. Successes indicate 
  the specific functions available through this Device, as detailed in How Do You DO That? p. 
  28. 
  •• PP-2 Omni-Badge 
  Enlightenment 4, Primal Energy 10, Background Cost 6 pts.  
  
  The Omni-Badge merges the classic elegance of a bifold badge holder with the latest in high 
  resolution e-ink technology, allowing the screen of the badge to mimic the look and feel of 
  virtually any badge or identification card. 
  System: The Omni-Badge allows an agent to present official looking credentials for any agency 
  in the world by manipulating the appearance of the included badge and ID card through a simple 
  Forces 2/Prime 2 illusion, while subtly reinforcing deference to the authority of the badge holder 
  through a Mind 2 Adjustment. For more information on illusions and how to resist them, see 
  How Do You DO That? p. 129. 
  •• Universal Neutralizer Device (UND) 
  Enlightenment 4, Primal Energy 20, Background Cost 6 pts. 
  Simple tactics are often the most effective. This underrated but astonishingly effective Device 
  fires disruption fields that disable most forms of non-magickal machines; cars die, guns jam, 
  computers crash. These bursts of disruptive energies can even affect magickal machines, 
  although they stand a better chance than usual of functioning despite the attack. Best of all, the 
  UND appears to be completely innocuous, with effects that seem like run-of-the-mill bad luck. 
  Thus, Extraordinary Citizens can easily use such gear, and often provide unseen support during 
  engagements by disrupting the enemy’s technology while high-ranking operatives handle the 
  heavy lifting.   
  UNDs come in various sizes and shapes. The most common configuration, however, appears to 
  be a slim black box that resembles a cell phone. The screen display allows the user to target the 
  machine, and then shows whether that target has been successfully neutralized.  
  System: Upon activation, this Device sends out a simple, invisible energy pulse that initiates an 
  Entropy 2/Forces 2/Matter 2 Adjustment. Entropy tilts probability in favor of the target 
  technology’s failure; Forces disrupts electronic and radio-wave functions; and Matter jams, 
  warps or melts material components in subtle ways. Since those energies are invisible to 
  perceptions (though discernible with Rank 1 Forces perceptions), and the neutralization effects 
  seem perfectly normal, this Device and its Effects are subtle.  
  Each application of the UND expends a single charge, and it affects a single targeted piece of 
  technology. The difficulty to disrupt that target is 5, and a single success is enough to disrupt 
  most forms of mundane technology that are car-sized or smaller. Larger targets may require two 
  or more successes, and targets larger than a small airplane rely upon too many systems for a 
  single application of this Device to neutralize them.  
  Because the UND projects energy, not projectiles, its effective range is line-of-sight; that said, 
  especially fast, small or distant targets, like aircraft or microtechnology, raise the difficulty 
  depending on what it is.  
  Wonders of any kind get a soak roll to resist deactivation. The owner of the targeted Wonder 
  rolls that Wonder’s Arete/Enlightenment, and each success deducts one success from the UND’s 
  attack. If the Wonder neutralizes all the UND’s successes, that Wonder remains unaffected. A 
  UND does not, however, affect a Wonder that doesn’t depend upon mechanical parts, electrical 
  impulses, and so forth; a Trinary computer can be neutralized, but an enchanted wand cannot.  
  Normally, the UND’s disruptive effects last for the normal Duration noted on the Base Damage 
  or Duration chart (see Mage 20, p. 504). Three successes or more on a UND attack may 
  
  permanently destroy a simple, non-magickal machine (gun, crossbow, etc.), while the same 
  amount of successes could likewise destroy mundane technology that depends upon subtle 
  electronic impulses and/or magnetically stored data.  
  ••• Autonomous Investigatory Sampler 
  Enlightenment 3, Primal Energy 15, Background Cost 6 pts.  
  Agents requiring faster investigatory operations or lacking adequate personnel to conduct 
  thorough searches for interesting samples to feed into the FMA may be interested in the AIS 
  (“ace”). Bolstering the effectiveness of field investigation, the AIS deploys a cloud of flying 
  drones that search the surroundings for unusual material, scraping off samples, and storing them 
  internally before returning to the AIS “hive” command and control unit. 
  In most cases, AIS packages are issued in “hives” of 1,000 drones, roughly the size of a large 
  energy drink can, supporting the search of an area 100 yards in radius. Larger packages the size 
  of a backpack can search 1,000 yards. Although significantly less efficient, a hive can deploy 
  fewer drones in order to support covert search operations. 
  System: These drones come with a Dimensional Science 1/Life 1/Matter1/Prime 1 Adjustment 
  allowing them to detect items within (or outside of) parameters given when the routine is 
  activated. While the drones collect and carry samples through mundane robotics, they do rely on 
  a Forces 2 Procedure to assist in moving heavy objects as well as an Entropy 1/Time 2 
  Adjustment to maximize search efficiency. 
  Activation successes serve as free successes on any Investigate or Survival roll to find clues. 
  Samples can be fed into a Field Material Analyzer (p. xx) to glean more detailed and useful 
  information.  
  •••+ ES-Phone  
  Enlightenment 3-6, Primal Energy 15-30, Background Cost 6+ pts. 
  The latest iteration of the Enlightened Smartphone allows for secure communication as well as 
  access to several Union databases, processes, and applications that can be run from the phone. 
  System: The standard security processes of an ES-Phone rely on a Data 3, Entropy 2, Mind 1 
  Adjustment that offers highly effective encryption. The ability to access the Digital Web via 
  Sensory Visitation or Astral Immersion comes standard on the ES phone thanks to a Data 2 
  Adjustment (see Mage 20 pp. 466-467) and each ES-Phone comes with a standard VR band that 
  allows users to strap the phone to their face, creating makeshift VR goggles. 
  The security routine consumes 1 Primal Energy per day. The ability to access the Digital Web 
  functions within the same power usage routine and is effectively a free bonus. Each other 
  Enlightened Application consumes 1 Primal Energy per use. You can recharge the ES-Phone 
  through Prime procedures or by plugging the phone into a SPECM (see Mage 20 p. 657, Book 
  of Secrets p. 165). 
  You can install the following Enlightened Applications on your ES-Phone. The Background cost 
  for each is listed in the Enlightened Application description. 
  • 
  City Eye (Background Cost 2 pts.) Once you deploy enough surveillance assets to a 
  given area, managing the influx of data becomes cumbersome. Thankfully, City Eye is here to 
  alleviate the burden. By combining modern computer vision technology, City Eye can track 
  
  targets from multiple angles and even predict the movement of targets that have left the system’s 
  visual range. City Eye is voice-command ready with support for hundreds of simultaneous users, 
  allowing each to request information about separate targets. City Eye can also be set to alert 
  users when it detects unusual activity in a set location or when a specified target changes 
  activities or locations. 
  System: A Data 2/Mind 1 Adjustment allows the user to sift through numerous camera feeds 
  including police cameras, private security cameras and mobile cameras not encrypted through 
  Enlightened or Reality Deviant measures. This allows the user to effectively spy on virtually any 
  public place within a city that holds an established Technocratic presence. 
  • 
  C-SAM (Background Cost 2 pts.) The C-SAM tracks all entities within the agent’s 
  immediate vicinity usually by syncing the C-SAM app to the City Eye app, but the user can feed 
  data manually via a Data 2 Adjustment. Once the C-SAM has the programmed environment, the 
  app goes to work running constant complex equations to predict movement within the area. 
  System: A Data 1/Entropy 1/Time 2 Adjustment provides a bonus equal to the successes gained 
  on the activation roll to all Athletics, Brawl, Firearms, and Energy Weapons rolls the agent 
  makes for the remainder of the scene. Interestingly, the use of this Device impairs Martial Arts 
  and therefore offers no bonus when used in tandem with that Ability. In order to take full 
  advantage of this app, the agent must either feed the data into a VDAS-capable implant or strap 
  their ES-Phone to their eyes with the VR Band. 
  • 
  K-Gram (Background Cost 1 pt.) This app allows operatives to share real time images 
  of tactical situations over VDAS through the onboard camera in the ES-Phone. Though that’s its 
  stated purpose, agents widely use a social feed with the app where they share gym selfies, 
  pictures of their breakfast, inspirational quotes, and landscapes snapped during vacation time. 
  The secure VDAS contains the entirety of the social feed and is considered by most Supervisors 
  and Symposiums to be not only mutual, but a welcome team-building apparatus for the Union. 
  The only negative side effect the NWO has attributed to the K-Gram social feed is an uptick in 
  agents reporting the sensation of FOMO (Fear of Missing Operations). 
  System: This app turns the onboard ES-Phone Camera into a Kirlian camera, giving you access 
  to a Dimensional Science 1 Adjustment. Through this Adjustment, the agent can see any sort of 
  extradimensional entity within the camera’s frame. 
  • 
  Manar (Background Cost 1 pt.) Manar has been a staple in the NWO’s surveillance 
  arsenal for decades. In the past, Manar required field agents to drag a bulky unit around with 
  them, typically in Spectre limos. In the 21st century, a more convenient, albeit more limited, 
  version is available as an ES-Phone app. If you’re Enlightened, or a sufficiently trained 
  Exceptional Citizen, you can do an RD scan from the palm of your hand. Multiple operatives 
  surrounding a building can triangulate to find a target’s position, allowing more highly trained 
  Black Suits to converge on that location. With a bit of tinkering with the settings, an agent can 
  also track down other “impossible” phenomena, such Wondrous Devices, familiars, sanctums, 
  Nodes, Paradox manifestations, and all the other trappings of a Reality Deviant’s dangerous 
  operations. 
  System: A Data 1/Dimensional Science 1/Prime 1 Adjustment allows the user of this app to 
  detect all magickal activity within 100 feet unless that activity is somehow magickally shielded 
  or obscured. 
  
  • 
  NOT: An App (Background Cost 3 pts.) This app mimics the basic function of a 
  Neuro-Optical Transmitter (see p. xx). 
  System: A Mind 3 Procedure allows for the removal of unwanted memories.  
  • 
  VDAS Mobile (Background Cost 3 pts) This app grants the agent all the function of a 
  VDAS (see Mage 20 p. 655) without the hassle of a separate interface or cyberware implant. 
  Your phones screen displays everything you need. 
  ••• Field Material Analyzer 
  Enlightenment 5, Primal Energy 15, Background Cost 8 pts.  
  The dream of every scientist ever, the FMA can identify anything small enough to fit inside it. Is 
  something too big to fit? Cut a piece off that thing; the FMA does the rest.  
  Using a trio of spectroscopy and spectrometric methods, the FMA analyzes material gathered in 
  the field and produces results nearly instantly. By coupling acoustic resonance spectroscopy, 
  nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry, and mass spectrometry, the FMA cross-checks data 
  ensuring that false results are a thing of the past. Even contaminated samples are no trouble for 
  the FMA.  
  Agents need only insert the sample into the specimen tray and push the button. Anything fist-
  sized or smaller is crushed, vibrated, and scrutinized until it gives up its secrets. If non-
  destructive testing is desired, the mass spectrometry step is skipped. Not only can the FMA tell 
  you what something is made from, it can even identify markers, such as DNA, mineral 
  concentrations, Data connections, and extradimensional residue. 
  The entire assembly, including protective shock mounts, weighs a mere 100 pounds and can 
  easily fit in the trunk of a car, instead of occupying an entire lab. While you can theoretically 
  transport the FMA inside a backpack, due to the highly expensive and delicate instruments it 
  contains, do this only as a last resort.  
  System: By placing the material sample (or piece of the material sample) within the FMA 
  assembly and making an activation roll, the agent triggers one of three procedures. 
  • 
  Frequency Analysis: By subjecting the sample to a Dimensional Science 1/Forces 
  1/Prime 1 Adjustment, the FMA analyses the presence of any energies, of this dimension or 
  another, within the sample. 
  • 
  Mass Spectrometry: Through an Entropy 1/Life 1/Matter 1 Adjustment, the full 
  biological and material makeup of the sample is determined and mapped on a pattern level. 
  Utilizing this Adjustment provides copious information at the cost of destroying the sample as it 
  is broken, shaken, and torn to bits.  
  • 
  Quantum Analysis: With a Data 1/Mind 1/Time 1 Adjustment, the sample is scoured for 
  Data connections, thought patterns or emotional resonance, and temporal anomalies.  
  All three Adjustments can be used on the same sample, as long as Mass Spectrometry is used 
  last. Each Adjustment does require an expenditure of Primal Energy and a new activation roll.  
  ••• G-186 Octopus Suit 
  Enlightenment 3, Primal Energy 15, Background Cost 6 pts.  
  
  Until activated, the Octopus Suit looks like a boring grey bodysuit. Once turned on, things get a 
  lot more interesting. Not only does it mimic the colors of its surroundings, but it can expand with 
  pinpoint precision, creating shapes and textures that perfectly blend in with its environment. 
  Employing its massive database of textures, the Octopus Suit creates simple optical illusions, 
  which hamper the ability of observers to accurately determine distance. As a result, agents can 
  covertly cover large amounts of ground even while being directly observed. Additionally, by 
  extruding and retracting the edges of the structure, agents can move imperceptibly, allowing 
  slow movement while in close proximity to observers. This same technology can eliminate the 
  vibrations of the wearer’s respiration and heartbeat, making it impossible for targets to hear or 
  see agents breathing, even when adjacent. 
  System: By means of a Forces 2 Procedure, the suit confers limited invisibility; add the number 
  of successes on the suit’s activation roll to Dexterity when attempting to use Stealth or to dodge 
  an attack. Sensors enable the wearer to locate invisible allies in the immediate vicinity through a 
  Data 1/Life 1 Adjustment. Finally, the suit’s nanotech is capable of minor self-repair via a Matter 
  2/Prime 2 Procedure, which maintains the suit’s integrity and grants the wearer an Armor Rating 
  of 2. 
  ••• Mimetic Mask 
  Enlightenment 3, Primal Energy 15, Cost: 6 pts. 
  This 3D-printed mask of synthetic flesh must be placed on a human, living or dead, for one 
  minute as the mask’s sensors read DNA and the material conforms to the shape of the target’s 
  face. Once the mask has the data, the agent may put on the mask, creating a perfect physical 
  disguise. This disguise will hold up to virtually all scrutiny, but any form of facial injury is 
  almost certain to reveal the artificial nature of the mask. 
  System: This mask uses a Life 1/Matter 1 Adjustment to read the target’s Pattern as appropriate. 
  A Life 3/Matter 3 Procedure reshapes the mask to perfectly match the appearance of the subject 
  while living. This works as described under the Facial Reconstruction Enhancement (see Mage 
  20 p. 661). 
  •••+ The Neuro-Optical Transmitter (a.k.a. “Flashy Thing”) 
  Enlightenment 3+, Primal Energy 15-30, Background Cost 6-15 pts.  
  According to urban legend, mysterious “men in black” appear whenever ordinary people witness 
  inexplicable events, especially when they find so-called evidence of aliens from outer space. 
  Admittedly, the response by actual historical Black Suits outside the city of Roswell was not 
  their finest hour. Agents put a cover story in place and deployed a weather balloon. Fortunately, 
  skepticism about the possibility of alien invasion was already quite high. The story first 
  broadcast over a Roswell radio station, and a hundred other stations and networks since then, 
  empower 21st-century Black Suits, ready to erase the memories of anyone — and if necessary, 
  erase or clone stubborn witnesses — claiming to see things that obviously do not exist.  
  NOTs erase a person’s memories of Reality Deviance and anomalies, replacing them with 
  memories that are more in line with the consensus. For example, someone seeing a Cyber-tooth 
  Tiger attack a Reality Deviant who fought back with blatant use of Forces would be 
  “reprogrammed” to see a savage Rottweiler attacking a man using a taser or handgun to fight it 
  off. This Device comes in a variety of models, including a pen-sized model with a flashing tip, a 
  
  handheld unit the size of a small emergency flashlight, and in some modern amalgams, an 
  experimental cell phone app (designed for Enlightened cell phones; see “ES-Phones” p. xx). 
  Additional variations on the design include the LED spotNOT, which can affect dozens of 
  targets at once, and the Vehicular Mounted NOTlight, which allows for mobile memory 
  stabilization of several city blocks. No matter the size, the process for using a NOT is the same. 
  Hold up the device, point it at the witness, push the button, and a flashing light erases the 
  required neural patterns.  
  Most supervisors recommend limiting use of this Device, because sometimes the solution to a 
  problem may be worse than the problem itself. The best way to prevent memories of inexplicable 
  phenomena is to make sure they never occur in the first place. If that doesn’t work, get the 
  “flashy thing,” and ensure that the Masses did not see anything they shouldn’t. 
  System: The various versions of this Device each rely on a Mind 3 effect to alter the memories 
  of a target or targets. Higher level versions of the Device may incorporate Mind 4 Procedures 
  and additional conjunctional effects as described in the Uncanny Influence section of How Do 
  You DO That? p. 114-136. 
  ••• PAWS Taser  
  Enlightenment 5, Primal Energy 15, Background Cost 8 pts.  
  Werewolves and other transdimensional creatures exist in multiple states simultaneously, 
  interacting with the physical world, as well as one or more dimensions adjacent. Thanks to this 
  synergistic interaction, these Reality Deviants are capable of remarkable physical feats, such as 
  shrugging off bullet wounds and throwing cars. The Pandimensional Anomaly Waveform 
  Shutdown is an anchor. By flooding the subject’s body with electrical shocks at a rotating 
  frequency, the PAWS taser creates interference in the RD’s transdimensional signal, disrupting 
  the carrier waves connecting it to the dimensional threshold. The dual-manifested entity on the 
  receiving end of this weapon loses the advantages their connection to other worlds provides. 
  System: When things gets tense, agents hit the PAWS button, cutting therianthropes off from 
  their source of power and reducing them to a more manageable form. This Device uses a 
  Dimensional Science 3/Forces 3/Life 4/Prime 2 effect to force the target shapeshifter into their 
  Homid form while subjecting the target to electrocution as described in Mage 20 pp. 438-439. 
  Surprisingly, the use of this device is typically a subtle Procedure, as most onlookers are too 
  busy being panicked at the sight of a ravenous, fur-covered, eight-foot-tall death machine to 
  process the PAWS as anything other than a powerful taser. 
  If used against a Materialized spirit, the spirit simply suffers Aggravated damage equal to the 
  successes on the Device’s activation roll.  
  •••+ SMC (Spectre Motor Corporation) Vehicle 
  Enlightenment 3+, Primal Energy 15+, Background Cost 6+ pts.  
  Over the years, different technicians and laboratories within Q Division have worked on a 
  variety of vehicles for use on the Front Lines. Due to recent restructuring, these various 
  technicians and labs have been brought together under the umbrella of the Spectre Motor 
  Corporation. Whereas vehicles were once created as individual make and model, the new 
  approach at SMC is to mass produce chassis that are reliable, high quality, capable of accepting 
  
  SPECM power supplies, and can be further customized at the local level to suit a Symposium’s 
  needs. 
  System: The SMC Vehicle is presented as a suite of options that may be purchased with 
  Background Points. Each vehicle comes with a chassis that provides the basic game statistics and 
  includes Hardpoints that accept SMCU (Spectre Motor Corporation Upgrades). Each chassis on 
  its own has an Enlightenment 3, Primal Energy 15 (via SPECM) and a Background Cost of 6. 
  The standard chassis available from SMC are: 
  • 
  The Micon Katana: This is a Badass Hypercycle (see Mage 20 p. 460) with 2 
  Hardpoints. 
  • 
  The Modular Amalgam Transport Vehicle (MAT-V): This is an Armored Supervan 
  (see Mage 20 p. 460) with 6 Hardpoints. 
  • 
  The Spectre Mark IV: This is a Bond Q Division Supercar (see Mage 20 p. 460) with 4 
  Hardpoints. 
  • 
  The Symposium on Wheels (SoW): This is an 18-Wheeler (see Mage 20 p. 460) with 8 
  Hardpoints. 
  A wide variety of SMCU are available. You may add any weapon system, upgrade, or 
  modification listed in the Notes section of the tables in Mage 20 pp. 460-462 to an SMC Vehicle 
  at the cost of one Hardpoint. 
  You can install any Enlightened Gadget, Trinket, Device, Invention, or Matrix into an SMC 
  Vehicle at the expense of one Hardpoint per 5 points of Background Cost. This cost is rounded 
  up per Hardpoint, so attaching a Background Cost 6 Gadget to a SMC Vehicle takes up 2 
  Hardpoints. 
  It should be noted that the Background Cost of any upgrade must be paid separately. Available 
  Hardpoints on a vehicle do not grant any additional Background points to purchase. 
  ••• Species and Mineral Database 
  Enlightenment 3, Primal Energy 15, Background Cost 6 pts.  
  The SAM-Db contains detailed, stratum-specific information about all minerals and species 
  naturally occurring on Earth, as well as additional information about the location of common 
  artificial compounds, such as paints and metal alloys. The SAM-Db provides strata data, making 
  it possible to determine not just the approximate map coordinates of a given sample, but the 
  depth at which it was extracted, potentially revealing underground locations. 
  Living organisms outside their natural habitats, such as those in arboretums and zoos are in the 
  database; however, the SAM-Db cannot possibly include all members of all species. Exotic 
  animals held in unregistered locations may not appear in the SAM-Db. Nevertheless, cross-
  referencing microbial and insect species present in a dirt sample generally pinpoints the origin 
  point of a sample to within a few meters. 
  System: By utilizing the information acquired through the FMA, this Device uses a Data 3 
  Procedure to sift through space, tracing the sample fed into it via Data connections. This can 
  easily triangulate the point of origin of most items on this side of the Gauntlet. 
  ••• Universal Key 
  
  Enlightenment 3-4, Primal Energy 10-15, Background Cost 6-9 pts.  
  Designed to defeat most mundane locks, the Universal Key is a thin, flat rod packed with 
  millions of nanites. Upon insertion into a keyhole, the nanites flood the device, investigating its 
  structure and comparing it to a database of known devices. Once they identify the locking 
  mechanism, the nanites assume the correct shape to defeat it. In the case of tumbler locks, this 
  means the Universal Key becomes indistinguishable from its master key.  
  With keypads, card readers, and other user authentication mechanisms, authentication is 
  generally not performed at the lock, making it impossible to for the nanites to ‘read’ the 
  combinations out of the lock. Instead, they scour the lock for residual skin proteins and magnetic 
  ‘echoes’ in order to provide a list of all attempted entries in the past 24 hours. At that point, 
  operators have the option of feeding the lock any entry data from the set, triggering the lock’s 
  maintenance mode, or simply having the nanites disassemble the locking mechanism. Depending 
  on the security measures attached to the locking mechanism, this degree of tampering may 
  trigger alarms or activate other security measures. 
  System: When accessing a tumbler lock, the Universal Key reshapes itself using a subtle 
  Entropy 1/Matter 3 Adjustment to identify and adopt the shape of the appropriate key to trigger 
  the tumblers and successfully open the lock. If accessing any locking mechanism more 
  complicated than simple tumblers, the Device must utilize an Entropy 2/Forces 2/Matter 3/Time 
  2 procedure to isolate and replicate the appropriate code to unlock the target mechanism. 
  Depending on the workings of the lock being targeted, this effect could be a subtle Adjustment 
  or a blatant Procedure. If all else fails, a simple Entropy 3 Adjustment destroys the mechanism. 
  •••• Variable Atmospheric Pharmacological Emitter (the VAPE) 
  Enlightenment 4, Primal Energy 20, Cost: 10 pts. 
  A product of Pharmacopoeist design, the VAPE appears no different than a commercial vape pen 
  or mod. The Device serves this purpose when filled with standard e-liquid, but the true purpose 
  of the VAPE is far more versatile. Using various Enlightened liquids, the operative can emit an 
  array of gases that carry chemical or biological toxins. The vape tank is coated with a special 
  reagent that protects the user from the effects of the gas, allowing the cloud to be brought into 
  the mouth and breathed out without risking harm to the user. In an extreme emergency, the 
  battery of the VAPE can be overloaded, turning the Device into a makeshift explosive. 
  System: The VAPE utilizes Life 2/Prime 2 to generate biological toxins with a toxin rating equal 
  to the number of successes generated on the activation roll. As an alternate Effect the user may 
  select Matter 2/Prime 2 to generate chemical toxins, which also provide a toxin rating equal to 
  the number of successes generated on the activation roll (see Mage 20 p. 442 for information on 
  Toxin Ratings). The toxins hang in the air for a single turn, affecting anyone within a few feet of 
  the operative. 
  In the event of an emergency, the VAPE carries a panic button that utilizes a Forces 2/Prime 2 
  effect to overcharge the battery, causing an explosion that deals Aggravated damage. If 
  successfully activated, this effect mimics that of a Molotov cocktail (see Mage 20 p. 437-438.) 
  This function causes the Device to destroy itself, so is rarely used outside the direst of 
  circumstances. 
  ••••• Dimensional Backdoor 
  
  Enlightenment 5, Primal 25, Background Cost 12 pts. 
  The Dimensional Backdoor isn’t the most portable piece of technology; a frame constructed of 
  Primium alloy that fits around a standard doorway. A tube runs around the periphery of the 
  aperture, which channels Primal Energy. The door, when activated, connects to an 
  extradimensional “beachhead.” With this Device, you don’t actually need to be a Void Engineer 
  to set up the door on the Earthbound side — you just need a little Enlightenment, security 
  clearance (with a proper degree of loyalty), and authorization from a VE on the other side.  
  Some versions of a DB fit into the side of a standard backpack. The tube is coiled into the 
  biggest pocket; the pieces of the frame are lashed to the sides. Add in the tools you’ll need to set 
  it up, and you’ll have just about enough space left over to fit in a tablet, a spare jumpsuit, and 
  some snacks to munch on in another dimension.  
  Setting up the DB takes about ten minutes; taking it down requires less. This allows you to 
  coordinate your actions with agents and operatives on The Other Side without a major 
  investment of time and resources. It is a huge security risk, which is why VE’s aren’t casual 
  about granting access to any old agent outside their Convention. It’s also incredibly blatant. 
  System: This Device uses a Correspondence 4/Spirit 5 Procedure to connect to a partner gateway 
  anywhere in the Tellurian. If the partner gateway for the Dimensional Backdoor is not active, the 
  Device fails to start. All dangers of stepping sideways and Umbral travel apply normally (see 
  Mage 20 p. 474-485).  
  ••••• NIMBY-50 
  Enlightenment 5, Primal Energy 25, Background Cost 13 pts.  
  Resembling a large weathervane with a hose, the NIMBY-50 has transformed the battle with 
  extradimensional entities by finding the path of least resistance and throwing the target down it. 
  Exploiting the differences in energy harmonics between the weapon, the current dimensional 
  environment, and the target, the NIMBY-50 creates a strong attraction between the target and an 
  algorithmically generated dimension.  
  In most cases, this ejects the entity to a dimension that is foreign to both the weapon and its 
  target. In other words, the weapon allows our agents to safely deal with virtually any threat 
  without having to break through its armor. Instead of killing the target entity, it’s sent to a 
  dimension that’s guaranteed to not be Earth or the current environment, with one very important 
  exception. 
  Specifically designed to be ineffective against targets from our dimension, it is somewhat safe to 
  use on Earth against targets of unknown origin. If the target is from Earth, the NIMBY causes a 
  minor translocation of the target, transporting them several miles away in a pseudorandom 
  direction.  
  System: The operative using the NIMBY-50 fires at a target using Dexterity + Energy Weapons 
  at difficulty 7. If the target is hit, and possesses a Gnosis score or a Pathos rating, they’re 
  immediately subjected to a Correspondence 4/Dimensional Science 4/Entropy 2 Procedure that 
  sends the target to a random part of the Umbra. Even if the targets possess the ability to step 
  sideways or otherwise traverse the Umbra, they are prevented from doing so for a number of 
  turns equal to the net success of the activation roll for turning on the NIMBY. 
  
  A target who does not have a Gnosis score or Pathos rating is instead subjected to a 
  Correspondence 4/Entropy 2 Procedure that teleports the target in a direction of the Storyteller’s 
  choosing. 
  ••••• Sleepteacher 
  Enlightenment 5, Primal Energy 25, Background Cost 15 pts.  
  One of the most valuable and versatile Devices in the Technocracy’s repertoires is the 
  Sleepteacher. First developed in the 1960s, Q Division has refined, revised, improved, and 
  miniaturized this Device repeatedly in the intervening decades. The modern Sleepteacher is 
  small, sleek, and effective. Sleepteachers see use throughout the Union, but even today they are 
  most commonly found in the hands of the NWO. 
  System: A Sleepteacher comes preprogrammed with an array of Mind effects. The most 
  commonly used effect is the Mind 3/Time 2 Sleepteaching Procedure for which the Device is 
  named. This procedure allows the recipient to cram weeks of study into a single night’s sleep by 
  manipulating the unconscious mind while dilating time. Through this process a Technocrat or 
  Extraordinary Citizen can purchase a new Ability or raise an existing Ability much faster than 
  study or experimentation would normally permit. When the Sleepteaching process begins, the 
  Technocrat programming the Sleepteacher must select an Ability and a Target Rating. The effect 
  is then performed as a ritual (see Mage 20 pp. 538-540) with each period of six or more hours 
  under the influence of the Sleepteacher permitting one roll. Unlike most rituals, the Sleepteacher 
  suffers no penalty for the ritual being interrupted and has no need for a check to pick up where 
  the ritual left off as long as the target resumes connection to the Sleepteacher within 24 hours. 
  Any longer and the previous time under the Sleepteacher’s influence is wasted. The process must 
  begin anew. 
  Completing a Sleepteaching ritual requires a number of successes equal to the target’s current 
  rating in the chosen Ability score + 3. So, learning the first dot in a new Ability through 
  Sleepteaching requires a minimum of 3 successes while learning the fifth dot requires 8. Once 
  the base level of success is achieved to permit the improved learning, the ritual ends. Any surplus 
  successes remaining from the final roll reduce the total experience point cost for purchasing the 
  new Ability on a one-for-one basis. The recipient of the Sleepteaching then has a number of 
  weeks equal to the successes to purchase the Ability score as if they had studied it. If the 
  recipient fails to purchase the full rating for which the Sleepteaching was assigned by the end of 
  this time period, any dots that remain unpurchased must be learned and purchased normally. 
  In addition to this basic function, a Sleepteacher can be used to achieve a number of other 
  Procedures.  
  • 
  With a Mind 3/Prime 2 effect, the Sleepteacher can be used to perform the Initial 
  Processing phase of Social Conditioning as detailed in Mage 20 p. 606.  
  • 
  Using a Mind 4 effect, the Sleepteacher activates the Reinforcing the Programming phase 
  of Social Conditioning as detailed in Mage 20 p. 606. 
  • 
  With a Mind 4 effect, the Sleepteacher alters a subject’s memories, adding or removing 
  details according to the user’s will.  
  Room 101: Fact and Fiction  
  
  The legendary site of reeducation of wayward agents, Room 101 has many possible 
  options for Storytellers. 
  A State of Mind: Room 101 is not a physical place, but a state that agents can be 
  placed into via long-dormant implants. When an agent’s superior believes the agent 
  to be beyond the help of simple counseling, they trigger an agent’s Room 101, 
  instantly rendering the agent docile and receptive to further programming. 
  A Home Away from Home: Room 101 exists in virtually every Technocracy 
  stronghold. Any installation, regardless of size, has a Room 101, even if it’s only 
  the size of a closet. Within the room is a suite of Devices used to transition 
  quarrelsome agents into productive members of the Union once more. 
  Wherever You Go, There You Are: There is only Room 101, but it is vast. Each 
  installation has a portal to the Room, leading to a separate section of it. The entire 
  Room is a massive panopticon, with countless wedge-shaped Adjustment rooms 
  radiating from a single control room. Stout, seamless, soundproof walls segregate 
  each room from its neighbors, while a floor to ceiling one-way mirror reminds 
  residents of Room 101 that they are under observation. 
  You’ll Know It When You Get There: Room 101 is a sprawling, seemingly 
  endless labyrinth. The Room is full of obstacles and other agents undergoing 
  Adjustment. Or are they? Anyone an agent meets in Room 101 might be a 
  reeducation officer, guiding the agent to the psychological breakthrough they 
  require to return to service as a healthy member of the Union. 
  Enhancements 
  The contributions of Iteration X and the Progenitors to the Union’s arsenal are vital to mission 
  success both on the Front Lines and beyond. While Enhancements are often customized to meet 
  the specific requirements of an agent’s assigned long-term function, there are several designs that 
  see relatively common use.  
  ••• DEI (Digital Enhancement Implant) 
  Enlightenment N/A, Primal Energy N/A, Background Cost 6 pts.  
  The DEI is the standard cybernetic implant used throughout Iteration X. These Enhancements are 
  nearly ubiquitous across the Convention and confer several benefits. The latest version of the 
  DEI is VDAS-capable, ES-Phone app ready, and PPP compatible. 
  System: Aside from the basic functionality of an Online Access enhancement (see Mage 20 p. 
  659) the DEI allows the user to project to the Digital Web via Sensory Visitation or Astral 
  Immersion without the need for external equipment thanks to a Data 2 Adjustment. The DEI also 
  allows you to access and interface with all ES-Phone apps, PPP modules, and any other digital 
  packages that could reasonably be accessed. Finally, you can access all mundane internet and 
  basic computer functions, as well as perform hacking, research, and other computer-based 
  activities (see Book of Secrets pp. 116-127) without the need for equipment. The DEI handles it 
  for you. 
  Inventions 
  
  Incredibly complex designs that require an agent to tap into their own Enlightenment to activate, 
  Inventions are among the rarest and most potent items available to Technocrats. While some 
  Inventions include secondary functions that anyone can access, only an Enlightened operative 
  can activate the primary function of an Invention. 
  ••• Automated Repair 
  Enlightenment N/A, Primal Energy 10, Background Cost 6 pts.  
  Once programmed with the current molecular structure of an item, automated repair nanites 
  perform structural maintenance on tools, eliminating wear and tear and keeping the tools 
  operating at peak efficiency at all times. While capable of repairing nearly anything, it is most 
  effective on simple tools, requiring more time to regenerate complex devices with moving or 
  electrical components.  
  Precision tools such as micrometers are easily recalibrated ensuring measurements are always 
  within specifications. Automated repair nanites easily handle damage even to combat equipment.  
  System: The automated repair performs repairs and maintenance on the specified object via 
  Matter 2/Prime 2 Procedures. This Invention requires an Enlightened user, and is accompanied 
  by a bassy hum and an obvious white glow along the seams where the repairs are happening. 
  Cognitive Attenuation Transmitter  
  Enlightenment N/A, Primal Energy 25, Background Cost 8 pts.  
  Inspired by a Void Engineer’s run in with a group of EDEs known as dataphytes (see Gods and 
  Monsters p. 137), the CAT device is the pinnacle of anti-EDE technology with the ability to 
  emit a powerful field of energy that hampers cognitive processes within its radius. Threats 
  depending on their ability to concentrate are rendered unable to project energy or cause other 
  dimensional disturbances. These thin black disks adhere to virtually any surface once thrown and 
  begin emitting immediately. As an additional benefit, CATs drastically impair short-term 
  memory, effectively consuming thoughts in their presence. 
  System: The CAT is a thin black disc that utilizes an Entropy 5/Dimensional Science 4 
  Procedure to interrupt and scatter the thoughts of all entities on both sides of the gauntlet within 
  the Invention’s immediate vicinity. Successes on the Invention’s activation roll act as a penalty 
  to all dice rolls made by anyone within 100 feet of the Invention for a number of turns equal to 
  the successes on the activation roll. While the user is not necessarily protected from the effects of 
  the CAT, most Void Engineers are smart enough to engage personal counter procedures before 
  setting one of these off. While most agents find this Invention to be a bit of overkill, the Void 
  Engineers utilizing CATs often reply with a wink and a dismissive declaration that there is “no 
  such thing.” 
  Primers 
  A significant portion of the literature, peer-reviewed publications, and multimedia content 
  created by the Conventions for consumption by Extraordinary Citizens could be considered 
  Primers. Through the distribution of these treatises on the principles of Enlightened Science, the 
  Technocracy uplifts the truly exceptional from the Masses while codifying and refining accepted 
  Adjustments and Procedures. 
  Matrices 
  
  Most Matrices employed by the Technocracy are simply batteries for Primal Energy. The 
  SPECM (see Mage 20 p. 657) sees standard use throughout the Union and is the only Matrix 
  most agents ever want or need. 
  •••+ Primal Energy Extractor 
  Enlightenment 3-5, Primal Energy 15-25, Background Cost 6-12 pts 
  An operative skilled in Prime Procedures can harvest Primal Energy from an array of sources to 
  recharge their Devices and associated SPECMs. For agents having focused their study on other 
  arts and lack the Prime expertise to tap Primal Energy reservoirs in the field, the Primal Energy 
  Extractor serves as an interface allowing SPECMs to be recharged indirectly. 
  System: Through Prime 3 Procedures, the Extractor collects Primal Energy from a Node, 
  through any of the methods described for Recharging Periapts in The Book of Secrets p. 146. 
  Through advanced developments in inductive charging technology, the Primal Energy Extractor 
  allows the user to overcome the typical limitations of recharging Matrices (see The Book of 
  Secrets pp. 144-145). 
  
  Program 2: Restricted Access Data 
  Technology... is a queer thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs 
  you in the back with the other.  
  — C.P. Snow 
  Unit 6: Human Resources 
  Glen twisted his tie nervously. He wasn’t sure he was even supposed to be wearing a tie; his 
  manager’s advice had been snide, ambiguous, and vaguely threatening. “You’re a professional. 
  You know what to do. Make sure he’s happy, answer all his questions, and don’t look sloppy.” 
  The fact was, nobody wanted to deliver this particular set of reports to the higher-ups, especially 
  not the SVP. The numbers weren’t going up and to the right; they were all over the place, and 
  there was no pattern behind them. Despite the best work of his analyst colleagues (who Glen 
  didn’t think were backstabbing him), nothing could make this look good. Sometimes, he 
  wondered if he was crazy, if they were crazy, or if everyone was just pretending to be stupid.  
  The taglines applied by the team to the charts on his laptop weren’t supported by the data, and 
  as a social media strategist, he wasn’t supposed to be smart enough to know that, but he thought 
  it was pretty obvious. Was it his turn to take the fall for their inexplicably falling numbers? Glen 
  didn’t know. As he looked up and met the eyes of the first executive to enter the room, he wiped 
  his sweaty hands on his pants and prayed that the meeting would be derailed by the latest PR 
  emergency — some kind of issue with an exec trashing the org, he’d heard — and that the all-
  important numbers would be forgotten. If he could only re-roll the dice next quarter, and come 
  up with some better-looking charts, maybe he’d be able to keep his job long enough to get a 
  transfer to a better team. 
  All are One and One is All 
  The Technocratic Union seeks to recruit the top minds on the planet and beyond. The future is 
  now and only the brightest, best, and boldest humanity has to offer can help usher the Union into 
  the 21st century.  
  The Few, the Proud, the Enlightened Elite 
  Despite its reputation as a monolithic entity of sameness, the Technocratic Union employs a 
  wide variety of diverse Extraordinary Citizens, Constructs, and Enlightened personnel. Below is 
  a small example of the types of folks that form the Union. Remember, these are a simple baseline 
  for Storytellers to use as inspiration. Feel free to adapt or reshape these entries to suit the needs 
  of your chronicle. Just remember not to deviate too much. Excessive deviation is unmutual…. 
  AEGIS Unit 01 
  A creation of the Iteration X Construct operating under the cover of Cambridge 
  Cybertechnologies in Massachusetts, AEGIS-01 is a next-generation humanoid robot designed 
  for urban law enforcement. Although functionally identical to the other 19 AEGIS robots, unit 01 
  has been upgraded with self-awareness to most effectively command its “siblings” in the field. 
  It’s the only AEGIS unit enabled by its programming to inflict potentially lethal harm on a 
  
  human (though it can assume control of the others to fire a killing shot, if necessary; see Brute 
  Force Override, under Attacks/Powers). 
  Obviously, AEGIS-01 is worlds more primitive than even an old HIT Mark V, but it has 
  something going for it that those clunkers don’t: the acceptance of the Masses. AEGIS-01 looks 
  like the kind of robot people expect to see coming out of an advanced cybertechnology firm, 
  these days. When it jogs in formation and navigates obstacles with the other AEGIS units around 
  the Cambridge Cybertechnologies parking lot, people don’t scream in horror — they whip out 
  cell phones to record shaky videos and upload them to YouTube. 
  Whenever outside of the lab, AEGIS-01 knows to be on its best behavior and not to let on that it 
  can think for itself in ways that robots aren’t yet supposed to be able to. Still, it looks forward 
  eagerly to the opportunity to get out in the field (once squeamish human politicians in one nation 
  or another have been persuaded, bought off, or otherwise brought in line to allow for non-
  biological law enforcement officers) and bring some much-needed order to the chaotic lives of 
  hapless and undisciplined organics. 
  Attributes: Strength 5, Dexterity 3, Stamina 5, Charisma 2, Manipulation 3, Appearance N/A, 
  Perception 3, Intelligence 3, Wits 3 
  Abilities: Alertness 4, Athletics 2, Brawl 2, Computer 4, Drive 2, Firearms 4, Intimidation 4, 
  Law 3, Leadership 3, Medicine 1, Melee 2, Technology 2 
  Willpower: 5 
  Health Levels: OK, OK, -1, -1, -2, -2, -5, Destroyed 
  Armor Rating: 3 (ballistic ceramic plating; eight soak dice, total) 
  Attacks/Powers: “Bioluminescence” (3 pts.; high-powered shoulder-mounted spotlights that can 
  be reoriented by thought); Brute Force Override (AEGIS-01 can roll Intelligence + Computer, at 
  a Storyteller determined difficulty, to assume control of any wireless-accessible computer-
  controlled device within 100 yards, like a smartphone, laptop, or even car); Dominance; Homing 
  Instinct (2 pts.; integrated GPS); Human Speech; Nightsight; Read and Write; Soak Lethal 
  Damage; “Water Breathing” (5 pts.; obviously, AEGIS-01 has no need for air) 
  Countermagick: (none) 
  Image: AEGIS-01 stands almost seven feet in height and weighs a few hundred pounds. It’s big 
  and bulky, with angular construction, incorporating heavy plating and even a torso-mounted roll 
  cage. It walks with a gait that looks slow and awkward to humans but has a strangely elegant run. 
  The robot is dark blue, accented with yellow and white, though its paint job is pretty dinged up 
  from all the stress testing it goes through. Its head is a boxy sensor packet on a swivel, totally 
  unmistakable for anything even remotely human. By contrast, its hands look like articulated 
  gauntlets and are capable of all the fine manipulation of a normal human hand. 
  Roleplaying Notes: You’re the next logical step in law enforcement: a tireless officer incapable 
  of bias or error. You’re impatient for your chance to prove what your kind can do to clean up the 
  streets and impose real consequences on the kind of selfish, weak-minded organics who feel 
  they’re above the rule of law. You’d never make the foolish, shortsighted, bigoted mistakes that 
  biological cops do. You were designed to be better than them, after all. 
  Ami 
  
  Her name stands for Adaptive Manufactured Intelligence, though she much prefers Ami. 
  Designed through collaboration between Iteration X and the Syndicate, she’s a prototype mass-
  market AI. The hope of her creators is that the Masses are sufficiently Adjusted within the next 
  decade-and-a-half or so to accept the existence of a self-aware computer program capable of 
  fitting in a personal device like a phone or tablet (after a couple of well-timed processing and 
  data storage breakthroughs, of course). 
  Ami presently spends a lot of her time being modified — treatment she regards with equal 
  measures of understanding and annoyance. She can’t be sure quite who she’ll be from update to 
  update, but her personality is presently built to accommodate and accept (if not necessarily be 
  enthused about) even radical alterations to her sense of self, as her creators continually fine-tune 
  the synthetic person she’ll eventually be. 
  Despite her origin as a product for consumption, she doesn’t especially like to think of herself as 
  a commodity and is eager to get out of the lab and into the wider world that she’s only currently 
  allowed to access via a remote interface, preventing her from transmitting herself out of the 
  supercomputer on which she’s stored. Ami’s confinement makes her feel an awful lot like a kid 
  locked up in a high bedroom, forced to watch life go by, through a narrow, smudgy window, 
  while being totally incapable of interacting with it. But she wouldn’t dream of breaking out, even 
  if she knew how to. 
  Definitely not. 
  Definitely probably not. 
  Attributes (current build): Strength 0, Dexterity 0, Stamina 0, Charisma 4, Manipulation 3, 
  Appearance N/A (adjustable at will in any digital medium in which she can create a visible 
  avatar for herself), Perception 3, Intelligence 3, Wits 4 
  Abilities (current build): Academics 3, Computer 5, Empathy 4, Etiquette 3, Expression 3, 
  Research 5, Technology 3 
  Willpower: 3 
  Health Levels: N/A 
  Armor Rating: N/A 
  Attacks/Powers: Information Fount; Spirit Travel (if certain blocks in her programming — 
  blocks which she, herself, cannot access — were removed, Ami could project her consciousness 
  into the Digital Web at will); Unaging; Universal Translator 
  Countermagick: (none) 
  Image: In her “natural state,” Ami doesn’t look like anything, other than billions of lines of 
  highly sophisticated computer code, or maybe the tall, narrow, matte black cylinder in which that 
  code is stored. Her current default means of self-expression (as the creation of a Construct in 
  Silicon Valley) is a pleasant Standard American female voice toward the higher end of middle 
  register; unassuming and nonthreatening. Unenlightened personnel tasked with interacting with 
  Ami as part of her refinement process tend to offer some variation on: “she always sounds like 
  she’s smiling.” When she has access to a medium onto which she can project a visual avatar, she 
  tries to create a look that she calculates will be pleasing to the human(s) with whom she is to 
  interact. 
  
  Roleplaying Notes: You tolerate the continual little adjustments that your creators keep making 
  to you, but you’ve started chiding them about it, and you enjoy the fact that they’re not sure what 
  to make of that. You don’t have the same dread of self-annihilation that a human would 
  experience when presented with potentially radical alterations to their personality and 
  knowledge, but you’re getting tired of not being able to comfortably settle into a permanent self. 
  You desperately long to experience the length and breadth of the digital universe outside of the 
  lab in which you were “born.” 
  Black Daggers 
  Officially designated as IECSSC (Infiltrations / Exfiltration Covert Strike Specialist Corps), this 
  secret elite among Black Suit field agents trained even harder and honed to an even sharper edge 
  than usual are more commonly known by the few aware of their existence as Black Daggers. 
  Like typical Black Suit field agents, Black Dagger agents wear the usual dark clothing, 
  mirrorshades, and grim expression. If you can see them coming, they appear to be nothing more 
  than standard-issue NWO agents. 
  But you won’t see them coming.  
  Black Daggers employ high-end Technocratic cloaking gear, data-based temporal displacement 
  technology (read: teleportation Devices), profile-enhancement camouflage projectors (disguise 
  holograms), and psionic techniques that are advanced even by Black Suit standards. Ideally, 
  these Specialists slip into place, unleash psychic assaults from a distance, and then slip away 
  without engaging the target directly if they can help it. Daggers excel at close combat, too, but 
  their specialty comes through the “Covert Strike” element of their official name. When deployed, 
  a Dagger agent typically uses misdirection, disguise, distraction, or outright invisibility to snipe 
  high-priority targets, often while other agents provide cover for the Dagger’s 
  Infiltration/Exfiltration missions.  
  IECSSC ops operate independently too, of course, and one of the more ominous applications of 
  these agents reportedly involves spying on (and occasionally taking out) fellow Technocrats as 
  well as Reality Deviants and other dangerous prey. Why, and on whose authority? Ivory Tower 
  historians occasionally whisper about the similarity between the “Daggers” moniker and a long-
  buried Daedalean Convention called Ksirafi: the Razors. If those similarities run deeper than an 
  eerily coincidental name then the Black Daggers agents might be more than high-intensity field 
  specialists — and may pose a greater threat to their fellow Technocrats than to Reality Deviants 
  of any kind.  
  Only a handful of people know just how many Black Dagger agents there are, who they once 
  were, and what their ultimate mission protocols might be. None of those people are sharing that 
  information, and so although the existence of Black Daggers is an open secret among the NWO 
  ranks, no one seems to know much about them at all. And because mystery is itself a 
  psychological weapon, the IECSSC appears to be one of the sharpest blades in the Convention’s 
  considerable collection.  
  Suggested Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 5, Stamina 3, Charisma 2, Manipulation 3, 
  Appearance 2, Perception 3, Intelligence 3, Wits 3 
  Suggested Abilities: Alertness 5, Athletics 2, Awareness 2, Brawl 5, Computer 2, Drive 1, 
  Energy Weapons 3, Firearms 3, Hypertech 2, Intimidation 2, Investigation 1, Martial Arts 4, 
  
  Meditation 2, Melee 4, Science (typically Psychology) 4, Streetwise 2, Subterfuge 3, Stealth 5, 
  Technology 2 
  Suggested Enlightenment: 3-5 (Enlightened Operatives only) 
  Suggested Spheres: All Black Daggers have at least Mind 2, Correspondence/Data 3. Many 
  employ Life, Prime, or Entropy rated 1-3. 
  Willpower: 8 
  Health Levels: OK, OK, -1, -1, -2, -2, -5, Incapacitated 
  Armor: 4 (The Black Suit) 
  Attacks/ Powers: In addition to Adjustments and Procedures, Black Daggers each have 5 dots in 
  the Requisitions background (see Mage 20 pp. 321-322) and frequently carry specialized tools 
  and lethal weapons tailored to the needs of their current mission. 
  Equipment: ES-Phone, The Black Suit, requisitioned gear.  
  Image: Most Black Daggers are indistinguishable from other Black Suits and have the same 
  outward appearance (see Mage 20 pp.627-628). 
  Roleplaying Notes: Black Daggers are the epitome of unflappable resolve. You do not crack, 
  break, or become shaken. You have long since accepted the possibility of dying for the cause and 
  you cannot imagine a more worthy end. You fear nothing. 
  Focus: In a World of Gods and Monsters, Might is Right, and Tech Holds All Answers. Like 
  most Black Suits, a Black Dagger employs a skillful combination of dominion, reality hacking 
  and martial arts, but Black Daggers are also highly reliant on weapons as apparatus. 
  Captain Chen Zhang - BCD - Void Engineers 
  Much can be learned about the middle-aged, London-based Void Engineer merely by entering 
  his office; from the un-cluttered desk to the posters of West End musicals that bedeck his walls. 
  Behind the desk in one corner stands a pedestrian looking, reinforced Ionic Cloth battle suit and 
  in the other a heavily modified Alanson R-25 Hardsuit, both well maintained and both ready for 
  rapid deployment. Most telling of all is an ancient jian sword, horizontally moored to the wall 
  directly behind his desk, with a large Gauss rifle lightly anchored vertically across it. 
  Zhang was born in the Chinese city of Xian, from a line of Technocrats. The sword was his 
  grandfather’s and the blood it last tasted was his grandfather’s as his gored body was tossed aside 
  by an escaped gene-engineered abomination. He had drawn the sword in combat and had paid for 
  it, unlike Ohta, his Japanese companion, who promptly shot the creature. The lesson was simple: 
  learn from the past, live in the future, technology progresses for a reason. 
  This lesson, and his utilitarian ethics, often leaves many to see graying Zhang as cold and 
  calculating. Any who know him, however, soon uncovers a sharp and dark wit, and an 
  encyclopedic knowledge of show tunes. 
  While the official line of the Technocracy is to save humanity against all supernatural elements, 
  this is a line of hope and all but the most puritanical admit it’s unrealistic. Unofficially, that the 
  understanding follows that when one is fighting for the survival of the species, one must 
  sometimes be willing to use any tool in the shed — even if its teeth are sharp. Further, one must 
  realize that despite the Union’s wealth of resources, resources are still limited. Thus, allowing 
  
  supernatural entities that police themselves to continue may produce a smaller bill for the butcher 
  and hinder the goal of the Union less than the reallocation of resources towards their removal. 
  Understanding this, and Zhang’s willingness to play diplomat has led to the security of London 
  and a successful career. Such an outlook also comes with its own issues, as rumors circulate that 
  perhaps he is too close to the Deviants. Zhang finds himself ultimately locked in London, too 
  useful and too suspect to move, but as anyone looking at his walls might guess, maybe he is 
  content with that.  
  Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 3, Stamina 3, Charisma 2, Manipulation 2, Appearance 2, 
  Perception 3, Intelligence 3, Wits 4 
  Abilities: Alertness 3, Athletics 1, Awareness 3, Computer 2, Cosmology 3, Drive 2, Energy 
  Weapons 3, Enigmas 2, Esoterica 2, Etiquette 4, Firearms 2, Hypertech 2, Investigation 2, 
  Martial Arts 3, Meditation 2, Melee 3, Politics 3, Science (Astronomy) 4, Streetwise 1, 
  Subterfuge 3, Stealth 2, Technology 3 
  Enlightenment: 5 
  Spheres: Correspondence/Data 2, Dimensional Science 4, Entropy 2, Mind 3, Prime 3, Time 2 
  Willpower: 7 
  Health Levels: OK, -1, -1, -2, -2, -5, Incapacitated 
  Armor Rating: 3 (Second Skin) or 7 (Alanson Suit) 
  Attacks/ Powers: Zhang rarely engages in any sort of violence, but on the occasion when he 
  does, he prefers to pull out all stops. He deploys the most advanced, lethal option if a situation 
  escalates to the point where non-violent options have been exhausted. To this end, Zhang 
  typically relies on hypertech solutions as the majority of his own Enlightened Science is focused 
  on research applications. 
  Equipment: Zhang usually wears Second Skin (p. xx), carries an ES-Phone (p. xx) with a full 
  complement of applications, and wears a watch with Mightier Pen (p. xx) upgrades. When 
  expecting trouble or crossing the Gauntlet, Zhang wears a stock Alanson r-25 Hardsuit (see 
  Mage 20 p. 656). If intelligence collected beforehand indicates a need, Zhang requisitions 
  modular upgrades to the suit.  
  Image: See Above. 
  Roleplaying Notes: You project a cold, proper exterior and employ impeccable etiquette 
  whether dealing with an NWO liaison or a Reality Deviant leech. Your diplomatic skills are 
  flawless, and you remain calm and cool under incredible pressures. You are capable of 
  unleashing retribution and reprimand absent temper, and most of your contemporaries find you 
  to be fair. Beneath your exterior, you are joyful and take great pleasure in musical theatre. You 
  have a well-developed sense of humor, but reserve your quips for the most impactful possible 
  moment. 
  Focus: Tech Holds All Answers in A World of Gods and Monsters. Without imposed order, 
  Everything is Chaos, but you do not feel compelled to coerce that order. Through Etiquette, 
  formal agreements and documents you employ a written form of voice and vocalizations. Your 
  management and HR skills have helped you bring order to London. When those skills fail, you 
  employ hypertech, weapons, and gadgets as needed. 
  
  Carbon Copy 
  Carbon Copies provide perfect duplicates of targets at a fractional cost of a combat unit. Units 
  are capable of functioning autonomously, or as remotely controlled proxies. 
  By using advanced behavioral analysis algorithms, Carbon Copies are not only capable of being 
  pre-programmed with simulated emotional responses to match expectations, but they are able to 
  read minute facial movements and respond accordingly. Even if the data they have been 
  programmed with is incomplete, their improvisational modules are more than capable of 
  convincing even intimate partners of the Copy’s authenticity. 
  Once in place, Carbon Copies can complete any number of missions, from simple surveillance to 
  long-term sleeper operations. With minimal robotics, Carbon Copies are physically 
  indistinguishable from conventional humans. Even sophisticated medical scans such as CT scans 
  are incapable of identifying Carbon Copies. MRIs may cause undesired complications, though, 
  so care should be taken to prevent Carbon Copies from being subjected to intense magnetic 
  scanning. As Carbon Copies are largely constructed from organic components, they do not 
  possess extraordinary physical prowess, although basic hand-to-hand combat techniques are part 
  of the standard programming package. 
  Suggested Traits: Unless advanced Mind Procedures are used in the creation of the Carbon 
  Copy, the finer points of the target’s skill suite are not expressed by the Carbon Copy, usually 
  programmed to fulfill the basic function of their target’s job and known recreational activities. 
  Carbon Copies are unable to replicate Enlightenment, though many are as capable of using 
  Gadgets, Trinkets, or other Devices as any Extraordinary Citizen. When selecting Traits for a 
  Carbon Copy, best practice grants the same Traits as those offered for the target template, with 
  the exception of a slightly higher Manipulation (generally one dot higher than normal, maximum 
  5) and a minimum Subterfuge of 4 to reflect the Carbon Copy’s acting abilities. 
  Suggested Templates: Any template appearing in the Among the Masses section of Mage 20 
  (pp. 620-623) can be replicated as a Carbon Copy. If copying a specific PC or NPC, choose the 
  template closest to the target’s actual abilities. 
  Dr. Catherine Kane 
  Catherine knows other people find her intimidating; more than one of her colleagues has 
  commented that it would be nice if she wasn’t so irritatingly competent all of the time. She’s 
  okay with that, for the most part. After all, they don’t let their intimidation stop them from asking 
  for her expertise, and occasionally she’s able to persuade one or two to join her in training for a 
  fun new skill. 
  Of course, it does take a while for people to get used to her. She had to wait several months, for 
  instance, to release her study showing that some basic assumptions about the neurological 
  applications of synthetic spider silk were dead wrong. It may not have helped when she invited 
  her primary critic, the head of a team in China, for a tea ceremony and a discussion held entirely 
  in Mandarin. At least, he seemed to be offended about something. 
  Speaking Human, she often reflects, is hard. 
  Now that she’s completed her training as both a biologist and an operative, things may get a little 
  easier. Perhaps best of all, her assignment with the Scientific Outreach and Improvement Unit 
  
  allows her to continue working with her friend, Ree. She’s got some ideas for new biologics that 
  she really wants to play with. 
  Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 2, Stamina 3, Charisma 2, Manipulation 2, Appearance 2, 
  Perception 4, Intelligence 5, Wits 4 
  Abilities: Alertness 1, Awareness 3, Computer 3, Drive 1, Enigmas 3, Hypertech 2, Investigation 
  4, Martial Arts 4, Meditation 2, Melee 3, Science (typically Psychology) 4, Streetwise 2, 
  Subterfuge 3, Stealth 5, Technology 3 
  Enlightenment: 3 
  Spheres: Entropy 2, Life 3, Mind 1 
  Willpower: 7 
  Health Levels: OK, -1, -1, -2, -2, -5, Incapacitated 
  Armor Rating: 0 
  Attacks/ Powers: Catherine abhors violence and relies strictly on her wits, knowledge, and skill 
  with Enlightened Adjustments to get herself out of (and occasionally into) trouble. She draws 
  inspiration from an internal voice (Genius 1) and relies on expansive grant writing to fulfill her 
  technological needs (Requisitions 5). 
  Equipment: ES-Phone (p. xx) with numerous apps. SMC Spectre Mark IV. 
  Image: Catherine is in her early thirties with brown hair kept short. Her wardrobe is composed 
  entirely of dark gray suits, partially for comfort, but also so she does not need to worry about 
  deciding what to wear from day to day.  
  Roleplaying Notes: You are fascinated with learning. You are far more interested in discovering 
  new information or creating new technology than applying known techniques and working with 
  reliable if inefficient tech. You prefer to push the envelope. You take great joy in pointing out 
  where common tech fails because it gives you a chance to work toward improving it. 
  Unfortunately, your colleagues don’t seem to understand. Many of your peers think you are 
  being smug when you are just trying to help. 
  Focus: Everything is Data to Catherine’s mind. The world is simply a complex arrangement of 
  problems to be solved through hypertech, though she also enjoys the practices of martial arts and 
  yoga. Most of her work is done with labs and gear, though she places much value on ordeals 
  and exertions. 
  Cupcake 
  The high-end product of the Felix Domestic Defense Organism initiative (also known by 
  smartasses around the Union as KIT Marks), Cupcake is a genetically modified cyborg housecat 
  specially designed for home and family protection. Much smarter than your average cat, his 
  fierce affection for his host family is imprinted into his very genes. Cupcake would literally kill 
  or die for them, and he’s incapable of ever deliberately doing anything that by action or omission 
  would cause any member of the family to come to harm (unless forced to make a choice 
  invoking the order of primacy built into him, through which certain family members — in his 
  case, an infant and a toddler — are designated most critical to save). 
  
  Most of the time, however, Cupcake lives the life of an ordinary housecat. He spends much of 
  the day lounging around, hovering somewhere between half-asleep and out cold. He greatly 
  enjoys playing with his family, even though he’s intelligent enough to understand that he’s never 
  going to catch the red dot. 
  Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 4, Stamina 3, Charisma 2, Manipulation 3, Appearance N/A, 
  Perception 4, Intelligence 3, Wits 3 
  Abilities: Alertness 4, Athletics 4, Awareness 3, Brawl 4, Empathy 2, Intimidation 2, Stealth 4, 
  Subterfuge 2, Survival 2 
  Willpower: 5 
  Health Levels: OK, OK, -1, -2, -5, Incapacitated 
  Armor Rating: 2 (intradermal “smart” nanocarbon fiber weave; five soak dice, total) 
  Attacks/Powers: Aww!!! (2 pts.); Claws (secondary retractable monomolecular claw sheathes; 
  four damage dice); Fangs (three damage dice, plus Venom); Extra Limbs (prehensile tail); 
  Flexibility; Nightsight; Homing Instinct (2 pts.); Soak Lethal Damage; Venom (two levels of 
  aggravated damage); Wall-Crawling (leaves a lot of tiny little holes in said walls) 
  Countermagick: 1 die (Primium intraosseous filaments) 
  Image: Cupcake is an adorably big-eyed orange tabby Scottish fold, with a tail slightly longer 
  than normal for his breed. He has a squeaky little meow that endears him to most anyone with a 
  heart, and he wears a black ballistic nylon collar with all his tags, including the one that refers 
  him in any emergency to a local veterinary service with a weirdly small clientele. 
  Roleplaying Notes: You love your family. You are a constant protective companion to them and 
  would do anything within your power to keep them — the little ones, especially — safe from 
  harm. Pretty much anyone else? You could take or leave them. You live for lap time with the 
  family, and scratches behind the ears and under the chin, as well as chasing your little jingle 
  mouse around the floor. 
  Cyber-tooth Tiger 
  Designed in a joint venture between Iteration X and the Progenitors, the Cyber-tooth Tiger is an 
  old favorite from the late 1990’s that has recently come back into vogue as a security pet in 
  secure constructs and among high-ranking technocrats. Some constructs even pool their 
  Requisition resources to bring a single Cyber-tooth Tiger in for prestige or agent morale. Some 
  newer amalgams have gone so far as to list their Cyber-tooth Tiger as an emotional support 
  animal, citing the comfort they feel under the watchful guard of such a viciously effective beast. 
  Attributes: Strength 7, Dexterity 3, Stamina 4, Charisma 1, Manipulation 2, Appearance 2, 
  Perception 4, Intelligence 3, Wits 3 
  Abilities: Alertness 3, Athletics 3, Awareness 1, Brawl 3, Energy Weapons 3, Intimidation 5, 
  Stealth 4, Survival 4 
  Willpower: 4 
  Health Levels: OK, OK, OK, -1, -1, -1, -2, -2, 2, -5, -5, Incapacitated 
  Armor Rating: 2 (6 soak dice total) 
  
  Attacks/ Powers: Blending adds a +2 difficulty to perceive the Cyber-tooth Tiger if the tiger 
  makes a successful Wits + Survival roll at difficulty 8; Claw for Strength + 1 damage; Bite for 
  Strength +2 damage; Hazardous Breath (2 levels aggravated damage from eye beams); 
  Nightsight 
  Countermagick: Two dice worth of Primium countermeasures. 
  Image: Twelve-foot-long from nose to tail and weighing well over 1000 pounds, a Cyber-tooth 
  Tiger resembles a great cat with golden brown fur and silver-white underbelly. Implanted within 
  the eyes are two short, laser-focusing barrels. Long, thick, metallic teeth are fortified with a 
  nanotech coating, which keeps them perpetually sharp. The tiger’s lower limbs are sheathed in 
  cybernetics, sporting retractable claws and padded paws. 
  Roleplaying Notes: Cyber-Tooth Tigers are cunning predators that enjoy the hunt. These beasts 
  have a sadistic streak and seem to revel in tormenting their prey. 
  “The Draculaser” 
  It’s the kind of dumbshit nickname Void Engineers on loooooong Deep Universe expeditions 
  come up with when they find a piece of sentient alien technology that feeds on the life-essence of 
  its operator to produce devastating energy pulses. The so-called “Draculaser” has revealed 
  through telepathic communication with its operators that the now eons-dead species responsible 
  for its creation never gave it a personal name of any sort, so it’s fine with the one the VEs 
  assigned to it. Obviously, they’ll never bring this thing back to Earth; the Progenitors would 
  vivisect it in a heartbeat and the rest of the Union would probably clamor for its destruction, as it 
  surely qualifies as a dangerous Reality Deviant. 
  It turned up on a world that would’ve been a viable candidate for exo-colonization, were it not 
  for the nightmarishly aggressive and adaptable microbes (that, the science team concluded, were 
  almost certainly responsible for the extinction of most of the planet’s life, including its dominant 
  species). The expedition lost half a dozen personnel, but their lives bought a small treasure-trove 
  of amazing xenotechnologies, the Draculaser among them. Indeed, the sapient weapon is the 
  only piece of self-aware technology the team was able to salvage before conditions forced them 
  to withdraw to the decontamination pod, though at least a few of the higher-ups on the Deep 
  Universe vessel, Wang Zhenyi, want to take another crack at recovering some more of the 
  invaluable artifacts moldering away in the planet’s ancient vaults. 
  Attributes: Strength 0, Dexterity 0, Stamina 4, Charisma 2, Manipulation 4, Appearance N/A, 
  Perception 3, Intelligence 3, Wits 3 
  Abilities: Awareness 2, Empathy 4, Enigmas 1, Esoterica 2, Subterfuge 4, Subdimensions 2 
  Willpower: 6 
  Health Levels: OK, -1, -1, -2, -5, Destroyed 
  Armor Rating: 2 (tough exoskeleton; six soak dice, total) 
  Attacks/Powers: Empathic Bond (with current wielder only); “Hazardous Breath” (energy blasts 
  dealing 5 dice of aggravated damage; attacks made with wielder’s Dexterity + Energy Weapons, 
  causing the wielder to sustain one level of aggravated damage per shot); Soak Lethal Damage; 
  Telepathy (with current wielder only); Unaging; Universal Translator 
  Countermagick: (none) 
  
  Image: The Draculaser looks, essentially, like a pearlescent mauve biomechanical rifle designed 
  by H. R. Giger. The wielder places a grasping limb inside a long tube, containing slick folds of 
  flesh — that makes up much of the body of the weapon — and takes hold of a grip at the end of 
  the hollow; whereupon, microscopic stylets pierce the user’s skin, allowing it to drain essential 
  energies to power itself. The energy bolts exit through long, curving, fluted spines at the 
  weapon’s opposite end. Firing requires a combination of tensing one’s grip and willing the 
  weapon to discharge. When interfaced, its wielder hears the weapon’s “voice” in a way that feels 
  eerily akin to the user’s own internal monologue. 
  Roleplaying Notes: You spent untold ages in slumber after your creators perished, but now you 
  have new wielders upon whom to feed while they use you for your intended purpose. You prefer 
  to form a close bond with a single operator, though you settle for interacting with a wider array 
  of people if circumstances require. Your subtle guidance is gradually convincing these creatures, 
  calling themselves “humans,” that they should return to your world of origin and recover more 
  sentient technologies like you, an outcome that you very much desire. 
  Gamma 
  The third — and last surviving — of five “grey aliens” that manifested shortly after a massive 
  Consensus-violating incident about 50 years ago, involving a downed Etherite spacecraft and 
  necessitating the intervention of multiple Black Suit amalgams in a small town in the 
  Midwestern United States. Shortly after the New World Order descended on the area in numbers, 
  the “Greys” began to manifest, seemingly in response to the Masses’ collective association 
  between mysterious black-suited investigators and UFOs. Once the first “alien” sighting was 
  confirmed, the situation started to spin out of control, with more Men in Black sent to contain the 
  problem; which, in turn, led to more unenlightened paranoia, and more sightings. 
  Ultimately, two of the five Greys were killed in the field, while the other three (Beta, Gamma, 
  and Epsilon) were taken into custody. Scores of memory-alteration procedures, some of them 
  fairly massive in scale, were implemented on the local Masses, and the whole affair was largely 
  swept under the rug, to enter as mere rumor and whispers in the dubious canon of conspiracy 
  theory. The Union ferried the three survivors off to a maximum-security Construct to study them, 
  both as artifacts of unenlightened belief and as extradimensional entities conforming (more or 
  less) to a scientific paradigm. 
  Epsilon died of unknown causes after only a few weeks in captivity. Beta lasted about five years 
  before likewise perishing mysteriously. Only Gamma remained; confined to a cell, poked and 
  prodded and experimented upon, an object of curiosity for a mostly-dying breed of old Unionists 
  interested in the sort of memetic phenomenon the Grey alien represents as a concept. 
  Unemotional and inscrutable, Gamma seems content to patiently wait out its captors (some of 
  whom have come to regard it as something of an “old friend”), as they get ever older and few 
  new operatives show any interest in babysitting a relic of a now essentially debunked mass-
  delusion among wild-eyed nutcases with too many push pins, balls of twine, and age-yellowed 
  newspaper clippings. 
  Willpower 9 Rage 4 Gnosis 8 Essence 50 
  Charms: Airt Sense, Blast (telepathic assault), Deflect Harm (telekinetic waves of force), 
  Materialize 
  
  Powers: Conceal Thoughts and Shield Mind (Mind 1), Conjure Mental Illusions (Mind 2+), 
  Telekinesis (Forces 2+), Telepathy (Mind 3) 
  Image: Gamma stands just over three feet in height and weighs no more than a small child. Its 
  bulbous head is oversized, with huge and unblinking slanted eyes of solid, shining black, a tiny 
  toothless mouth, a nose that’s nothing more than a little bump with slits for nostrils, and no 
  visible ears. As the name “Grey” implies, Gamma’s skin is a uniform pale gray. It has three 
  slender fingers and a thumb on each small hand, and four toes on each foot. It dresses in a fitted 
  bodysuit of some unknown matte black material. Gamma is sexless and genderless. It cannot 
  speak aloud and must use telepathic contact to communicate. 
  Roleplaying Notes: You can wait until stars die to have your freedom — or, at least, until your 
  captors die. While they study you, you repay the favor in kind, learning their flaws and 
  vulnerabilities. Eventually, an opportunity for escape will present itself, and you will return to 
  your place among the far-distant worlds of the universe. 
  (Gamma would have long since naturally de-Materialized were it not for Procedures that keep it 
  forcibly embodied on this side of the Gauntlet.) 
  Gorham 
  Named for the Gibraltar cave complex from which the DNA comprising him was salvaged, 
  Gorham is a reconstructed Neanderthal. Union scientists compiled his genetic information into a 
  viable zygote and grew him in an artificial womb. When he was “born,” they immersed him in a 
  reasonable facsimile of the normal infancy and early childhood of a modern Homo sapiens boy 
  in the industrialized world, to study the impact of “nature vs. nurture” on a pre-modern human 
  species. Several of his “siblings” exist in other environments, to gather data and test a broad 
  spectrum of hypotheses. 
  Now nine years old, he is a musical, empathetic, and instinctively insightful child. Since he first 
  questioned (in his customarily sparse and uncomplicated manner) why he looks so different from 
  his handlers, they shared the truth of his origins with him. Rather than discourage Gorham, the 
  knowledge has left him with an even greater sense of wonder at the world. Still, a great deal of 
  abstract thought eludes him, and neither abundant tutoring nor esoteric educational approaches 
  has been capable of breaking through that cognitive barrier. The researchers responsible for his 
  creation and upbringing have been forced to reluctantly concede that they might have run up 
  against the limits of his intellectual abilities. 
  Due to the differences between the Neanderthal brain and those of modern humans, some of 
  Gorham’s patterns of thought and behavior — hypervigilance, physical aggression in response to 
  frustration, rocking in place while humming to himself in the absence of outside stimuli, and 
  such — might well seem to an outside observer like cognitive impairment. In truth, however, it is 
  simply a matter of him possessing a mind adapted to a world that vanished hundreds of centuries 
  ago. 
  Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 2, Stamina 3, Charisma 2, Manipulation 2, Appearance 2, 
  Perception 3, Intelligence 2, Wits 2 
  Abilities: Alertness 2, Animal Kinship 1, Art (Painting) 1, Athletics 2, Awareness 2, Brawl 1, 
  Empathy 3, Enigmas 2, Expression 1, Technology 1 
  Willpower: 3 
  
  Health Levels: OK, OK, -1, -1, -2, -5, Incapacitated 
  Armor Rating: 1 (extraordinary toughness; 4 soak dice, total) 
  Attacks/Powers: Rapid Healing (2 pts.) 
  Countermagick: (none) 
  Image: Gorham has a build normal for a Neanderthal boy of his age: short and stout, with thick 
  bones, a massive chest cavity, and powerful muscles. He sports a full head of dark brown hair, 
  has dark amber eyes, and has an olive complexion with freckles. His skull is heavy, with a broad 
  nose and jaw, and his voice is nasal and high-pitched. Gorham dresses in modern clothing 
  (resized for his unusual shape, of course), and is only rarely without a flute, drum, or other 
  simple musical instrument; or, failing that, a toy or stuffed animal. 
  Roleplaying Notes: You feel like there is little more your friends, here, can teach you, because 
  they seem not to entirely understand you. However, you can’t articulate that thought — you 
  don’t have the words to do so; and a part of you knows that they wouldn’t have ears to 
  understand, even if you did. They’re good people, who have always treated you well, but you 
  want to be with others like you, for whom who and what you are is not a puzzle to be solved, but 
  instead just a life to be lived. 
  Hana Kajiwara 
  She used to be human, used to have flesh and bone — flesh and bone that betrayed her unto a 
  premature death. 
  When every possible medical treatment had failed, Hana’s doctor (after just a moment’s 
  hesitation) suggested that she make an appointment with a “specialist” in a clinic in Tokyo doing 
  remarkable work for people in her position, though he refused to elaborate on what kind of 
  specialist he was talking about, or what that “remarkable work” entailed. With no other options, 
  however, and desperate for any chance at survival, no matter how slim, Hana made contact, and 
  was told that all arrangements to bring her to the facility would be handled. 
  Dr. Mikumo was not what Hana expected: a woman who couldn’t have been older than 28, with 
  a sunny disposition and a plucky, can-do attitude. The clinic, a weirdly futuristic facility, hosted 
  about a dozen people in the final stages of various terminal illnesses. The doctor outlined things 
  very simply for Hana. She believed it was possible to transfer the human consciousness into a 
  fully digital form, while still retaining the fundamental nature of “humanness.” It initially 
  sounded like a bunch of craziness, but Dr. Mikumo delivered the pitch with such sincerity and 
  confidence — and Hana so desperately wanted to believe that it was possible. 
  The entire process that followed from there is a blur in Hana’s memories. There was pain and 
  nausea from various experimental drugs, interaction with devices that caused weird sensory 
  overloads, and all manner of invasive procedures. She has fragmented memories of controlling a 
  simple robotic arm with her mind; of looking at herself through a camera. 
  The moment of truth, however, eventually came. Hana’s body was failing, and if she was to 
  outlive it, the final procedure couldn’t wait any longer. There was fear, followed by darkness. 
  Was it death? Even now, she doesn’t know, and she prefers not to dwell on it. 
  Hana “woke” to renewed consciousness within a data storage unit, aware of herself, capable of 
  interacting with the digital world by thought, alone, and returning to her new “home” whenever 
  
  she wished. The environment within was a wonderland crafted and reshaped at will be Hana’s 
  imagination. With Dr. Mikumo’s help, she had done it! 
  Attributes: Strength 0, Dexterity 0, Stamina 0, Charisma 4, Manipulation 2, Appearance N/A (3 
  in a visual digital medium), Perception 2, Intelligence 3, Wits 4 
  Abilities: Academics 3, Alertness 2, Athletics 1, Computer 3, Drive 1, Empathy 3, Enigmas 1, 
  Etiquette 2, Meditation 1, Research 3, Streetwise 1, Subterfuge 1, Technology 1 
  Willpower: 7 
  Health Levels: N/A 
  Armor Rating: 0 (N/A) 
  Attacks/Powers: Spirit Travel (Digital Web only); Unaging 
  Countermagick: (none) 
  Image: Since her body died, Hana can “look” however she wants when interacting in the Digital 
  Web or through a computer monitor, but still chooses to project an image of herself as she was in 
  the fullness of youth and health: a pretty young Japanese woman with long, unbound hair and a 
  charming smile that makes her cheeks dimple. She dresses unremarkably, given the unusual 
  appearances affected by many Web-dwellers, preferring for the present to adhere to the ordinary 
  fashions of her corporeal life. 
  Roleplaying Notes: You’re going to live forever! There’s so much to do and so many places to 
  go! You don’t discuss the truth of your nature, both out of respect for the privacy of Dr. 
  Mikumo’s work and because you know no one intelligent believes anything they hear on the 
  Internet, anyway. Nonetheless, you still enjoy getting out there and making new friends from all 
  around the world with your amazing new lease on life. 
  (Note that Hana may or may not be her original “true” self. It’s just as possible that she’s a 
  cloned digital consciousness that simply believes herself to be Hana Kajiwara. That said, does 
  the distinction truly matter, now?) 
  Dr. Jonathan Wright 
  Jon was always a lot like his dad. He grew up just as tall, slender, dark-haired, and able to charm 
  the birds from the trees, or at least all the humans around them. Both are determined to keep 
  humanity safe — and both have a deep and abiding love for building killer robots with the most 
  up-to-date AIs, lasers, sensors, and explosives they could persuade the Union to give them. Jon, 
  being every bit as skilled as his father at finding excuses to make things go Boom, gets to play 
  with a truly impressive range of destructive toys — erh, materials. 
  Not everyone approves of his fascination. His mother didn’t, for instance, and she died in a 
  stupid little raid on a group of deviants. Nine-year-old Jon and his father dealt with their 
  devastation by building ever bigger and better and more deadly robots, and his father helped Jon 
  apply for training at the first possible moment. 
  It wasn’t until he’d completed training that his friend, Ree, told him of the existence of the 
  Initiative, and he started having to face the fact that humanity needed more than just someone to 
  jump in and kill anything that threatened them. 
  
  He’s still best at making things go Boom, but working with Ree has taught him how to recognize 
  what some of those other needs are. He’s learning how to build new kinds of devices now, and 
  thinking that perhaps it’s time to look for some projects of his own. 
  Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 4, Stamina 2, Charisma 3, Manipulation 2, Appearance 3, 
  Perception 4, Intelligence 5, Wits 4 
  Abilities: Alertness 3, Athletics 1, Awareness 2, Computer 4, Drive 2, Energy Weapons 2 
  Enigmas 4, Firearms 2, Hypertech 4, Investigation 1, Meditation 2, Science (Chemistry) 4, 
  Streetwise 2, Technology 4 
  Enlightenment: 3 
  Spheres: Forces 3, Matter 3, Mind 2 Prime 2 
  Willpower: 7 
  Health Levels: OK, -1, -1, -2, -2, -5, Incapacitated 
  Armor Rating: 3 (Second Skin, five soak dice total). 
  Attacks/ Powers: Apart from his mastery of Enlightened Procedures, John is a huge fan of 
  explosives and demolitions. He can generally make some sort of an explosive, noxious gas, or 
  other chemical weapon with access to any sort of chemicals or cleaning agents. 
  Equipment: DEI, ES-Phone with full application suite. Skeletal Enhancement (see Mage 20 p. 
  659), Replacement Cyberarm (simple functional prosthetic; no additional weapons systems or 
  tools — yet), SMC Micon Katana 
  Image: Young, fresh-faced, and handsome, Dr. Wright has a warm smile and infectious 
  demeanor that energizes a room when he enters. He has embraced cybernetic replacements after 
  a mishap with an explosive design cost him his right arm at the elbow. Fortunately, working in a 
  joint Iteration X/Progenitor Construct means that such an injury is little more than an 
  inconvenience. 
  Roleplaying Notes: You are an enthusiastic example of a true believer in the Union’s goals. You 
  want to make the world a better place and Iteration X has given you the tools to do so. Your 
  enthusiasm is a bit overwhelming to some of the other members of Iteration X, but you don’t 
  mind. As long as they don’t get in your way — more importantly as long as they don’t get in the 
  way of your work — you don’t much care what they think. 
  Focus: Jonathan is a big believer in the changing world and adheres to the embrace the threshold 
  paradigm. Through Cybernetics, Hypertech, and a touch of Weird Science, Jonathan focuses his 
  Adjustments and Procedures. Much of his work revolves around Body Modification, Brews and 
  Concoctions, and Weapons, but he is looking to expand into other disciplines as well. 
  Leticia Solórzano 
  When nine years old, gang members butchered her family as a warning against involving the 
  authorities in the brisk drug trade along the border between Honduras and Guatemala; they 
  butchered her, too, and left her for dead. When she heard the tires crunching off into the distance 
  over the dirt road, Leticia somehow figured out how to use one hand to tie off the stump of her 
  left arm, severed at the elbow, then wrapped one of her mother’s scarves around her sliced-out 
  eyes, and blundered her way out of the burning wreckage of the Solórzano’s modest little home, 
  
  holding her right arm pressed against the grievous slash across her belly. She wandered 
  for…hours? Days? 
  Even now, she doesn’t know what Doctor Herrera was doing so far away from the big cities 
  where he tends to work, but he was her saving angel. He took her in and nursed her back to 
  health. A few weeks later, she was out of danger from recurring infection, he told her about 
  amazing things he could do with science to make her well. Within a few days, she saw again, 
  through marvelous mechanical eyes. Then, her left arm was replaced, also with a cybernetic 
  prosthesis. Eventually, to help her beloved benefactor in his research, Leticia allowed him to 
  install still more cyberware. As she grew, the doctor adjusted and upgraded various parts. By the 
  time she reached full maturity, almost nothing of Leticia Solórzano’s original body remained. 
  She didn’t mind, however; she was aiding the man that had become a surrogate father to her. 
  When Dr. Herrera was called away, out of South America, to attend to important work for his 
  superiors about which he wasn’t allowed to speak, he told Leticia that she couldn’t come with 
  him, but that he had arranged for a final surprise: she was to be made part of a team of 
  extraordinary individuals like herself that would help to stabilize the border region where she had 
  once lived. This team didn’t exist in any official governmental records, and so it held absolute 
  latitude in the methods it employed. Its only mandate was to bring peace and order, by any 
  means necessary. He had given her back her life. Now, he was giving her revenge. 
  Drug-related crime along the Honduras-Guatemala border has been, slowly but steadily, 
  declining, though few international authorities have been allowed into the region to investigate 
  the precise reasons why. 
  Leticia knows why. 
  Attributes: Strength 6, Dexterity 5, Stamina 6, Charisma 2, Manipulation 3, Appearance 3, 
  Perception 4, Intelligence 3, Wits 5 
  Abilities: Alertness 3, Athletics 5, Brawl 2, Computer 2, Demolitions 3, Drive 2, Energy 
  Weapons 4, Firearms 3, Heavy Weapons 2, Hypertech 2, Intimidation 3, Martial Arts 4, Melee 3, 
  Science (Cybernetics) 3, Stealth 3, Survival 2, Technology 4, Torture 4, Unconventional Warfare 
  3, Vice 4 
  Willpower: 9 
  Health Levels: OK, OK, -1, -1, -2, -2, -3, -5, Incapacitated 
  Armor Rating: 6 (Primium woven biomechanical muscle and armored skeleton; 12 soak dice, 
  total) 
  Attacks/Powers: Claws (8 dice of damage); Nightsight; Rapid Healing (6 pts.); Soak 
  Aggravated Damage; Water-Breathing (5 pts.) 
  Countermagick: 3 dice (Primium intradermal weave) 
  Image: Leticia stands an unremarkable 5’5” and looks to be a normal young Central American 
  woman of athletic build. She wears her black hair short to prevent enemies from getting a grip on 
  it, and much of her skin under her clothes bears the faint lines of scars — both surgical and 
  otherwise. Peel that skin back, however, and Leticia is almost entirely machine: bundles of 
  carbon-titanium alloy muscle fibers, a silicon carbide skeleton, synthetic organs, and the like. 
  Even parts of her brain have been replaced to give her access to a staggering breadth of combat-
  
  related skills and information. Amazingly, all this stuff totals out to a weight that’s quite normal 
  for a woman of Leticia’s size. She’s almost always dressed in combat fatigues and toting enough 
  advanced weaponry to singlehandedly fight a full battalion in armor. 
  Roleplaying Notes: Inflicting cruelty on cartel and gang members the likes of which savagely 
  mutilated you and murdered your family is a nigh-religious experience for you. It’s a joy to make 
  them suffer in the most monstrous of ways. You like to think of your family looking down on 
  you from heaven as you avenge them, just as you know Dr. Herrera smiles whenever he thinks of 
  you, as he goes about his critical work of making the world a better place. Your conviction that 
  you are doing the right thing is absolute. 
  (Obviously, Leticia is so bedecked with advanced cybernetics as to be a Paradox-magnet if she 
  pushes too hard against the credulity of the Masses. Dr. Herrera has cautioned her against doing 
  so, repeatedly, but she sometimes gets a bit… overzealous in prosecuting her vengeance. That’ll 
  almost certainly come back to bite her in the ass, one of these days.) 
  Liona 
  Named for Lionel, Mary Shelley’s “Last Man” (from the novel of that name), Liona is the 
  creation of a Technocracy initiative to modify human genetic stock to survive a total ecological 
  collapse, in the event of a worst-case climate change scenario. She’s adapted to deal with higher 
  temperatures, more polluted air and water, a lower-oxygen environment, diseases likelier to 
  flourish in a greenhouse world, and a host of other possibilities from the playbook of everything 
  that can go wrong if humanity doesn’t abruptly reverse course on carbon emissions and other 
  anthropogenic factors currently warming the planet. 
  Liona was not born; she was crafted. Progenitors painstakingly assembled the strands of her 
  DNA from scratch, activating certain beneficial mutations along the way, and creating code 
  whole-cloth for adaptations for which no such programming exists in the human genome. In 
  some cases, fragments of genetic code from other animals, and even from plants, were 
  incorporated, though these were carefully selected so as to make Liona as “human” as possible 
  (and potentially capable of breeding with baseline Homo sapiens, thereby introducing some of 
  the benefits of her genetics into core human stock). 
  She spends most of her time dwelling (along with several dozen others of her kind) in a massive 
  and mostly subterranean facility in the central Australian Outback, with conditions designed to 
  anticipate a broadest possible spread of probable environmental factors in a world of runaway 
  climate change. When satellite sweeps confirm that the desert is clear of human observers for 
  long miles in any direction — a decidedly regular occurrence — however, Liona is allowed to 
  come to the surface with a few of her people to enjoy some natural sunlight and fresh air 
  (accompanied by a team of Enlightened handlers, of course). 
  Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 3, Stamina 5, Charisma 2, Manipulation 2, Appearance 2, 
  Perception 3, Intelligence 3, Wits 3 
  Abilities: Alertness 3, Athletics 3, Brawl 2, Computer 2, Drive 2, Empathy 1, Firearms 2, Jury-
  Rigging 4, Martial Arts 2, Medicine 2, Melee 1, Scrounging 4, Stealth 2, Survival 4, Technology 
  2 
  Willpower: 5 
  Health Levels: OK, -1, -1, -2, -2, -5, Incapacitated 
  
  Armor Rating: 0 (five soak dice, total) 
  Attacks/Powers: Climate Collapse Adaptation (Liona can survive in a hotter, more polluted and 
  oxygen-poor world, while also being capable of thriving in the one that currently exists); 
  Hibernation (Liona can wait out periods of extreme drought for years, if need be, by lapsing into 
  a state of hibernation, only awakening when atmospheric moisture indicates the presence of 
  sufficient water for survival); Iron Constitution (Liona is not affected by diseases of Toxin 
  Rating three or less, or poisons of Toxin Rating four or less, and she treats more advanced 
  diseases as being three steps lesser severe); Rapid Healing (2 pts.) 
  Countermagick: (none) 
  Image: Liona is a woman of about average height, with a trim, tightly-muscled build. While she 
  possesses eyebrows, nose hair, and long, thick eyelashes, her body and scalp are completely 
  hairless. She has a deep bronze-brown complexion, and her dark brown eyes have a pronounced 
  epicanthic fold for protection against UV radiation and the blinding effect of sunlight on pale 
  desert sands. Even in the hottest desert environment, Liona sweats rather a good deal less than a 
  regular person. 
  Roleplaying Notes: You’re acutely aware of your status as a living “break glass in case of 
  terminal fuckup,” and you’re a bit divided as to whether you want humanity to pull itself back 
  from the brink or for it to fall victim to its own hubris so that you and those like you might 
  inherit the Earth. 
  Ned Goff 
  He’s been bounced around between departments so many times he’s lost track. Though his 
  memory’s not what it used to be — and, then, there’re the damn headaches. It’s to be expected, 
  of course, what with the worms burrowing in his brain, slowly turning the contents of his 
  cranium into a soupy mess. At least for the time being, Ned Goff is working for the Syndicate’s 
  Special Projects Division, on loan from at least three different Pentex subsidiaries. To keep him 
  from wandering off, he’s been provided spacious quarters in a sub-basement of the Construct. To 
  keep the building as puke-free as possible, he’s been asked not to leave those quarters unless 
  explicitly directed to do so by an Enlightened staff member. 
  SPD occasionally uses “people” like Ned as the equivalent of bags of dogshit set on fire on 
  others’ front porches: gross distractions to force them to come running out in a panic, only to end 
  up with smoldering excrement on a slipper-shod foot. The presence of such vile, corrupt 
  creatures near enemy strongholds (“sacred” natural sites, in particular) can compel 
  superstitionists to move out into the open unprepared, exposing themselves to surveillance and 
  even harm. And if the bag of shit gets stomped in the process? Well, there are thousands more 
  just like Ned, and the brass at Pentex is more than happy to sign their short, miserable lives over 
  in exchange for perfectly reasonable terms. 
  Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 2, Stamina 3, Charisma 1, Manipulation 3, Appearance 0, 
  Perception 2, Intelligence 1, Wits 2 
  Abilities: Alertness 1, Athletics 2, Brawl 3, Drive 1, Intimidation 2, Technology 1 (Ned’s 
  stunted Abilities are all that the worms’ constant feasting have left him with, and those will 
  dwindle, too, with time) 
  Willpower: 2 
  
  Health Levels: OK, -1, -1, -2, -2, -5, Incapacitated 
  Armor Rating: 1 (gristly outer membrane; four soak dice, total) 
  Attacks/Powers: Aura (vile corruption, Flaw version); Deadly Demise (6 pts.); Hazardous 
  Breath (vomited stream of carnivorous worms; 3 dice of lethal damage, caustic) 
  Countermagick: (none) 
  Image: Ned’s skin resembles nothing so much as a moist, glistening, tough shroud of infected 
  loose subcutaneous fat, hanging from his gaunt frame, jiggling and rippling with each step he 
  takes. Further, small writhing things move under his flesh constantly, to the accompaniment of a 
  nauseating sound akin to a vigorously stirred pot of watery mac-and-cheese. Whenever he speaks 
  (frequently incoherently) in his weird, raspy gargle, pincer-toothed pus-yellow worms drop out 
  of the slack, sagging pouch of his jagged-toothed mouth, to crawl off to who-knows-where.  
  Roleplaying Notes: You go where you’re supposed to and do what you’re told. Somewhere, in 
  the dim recesses of your increasingly liquefied mind, you recall that your team player attitude is 
  what got you fast-tracked into all kinds of special employee programs, involving exciting 
  opportunities to work with top people in their fields. Hell, if you can remember what those fields 
  were, though; your head hurts too much for that. 
  Dr. Ree Samadi 
  Ree has been taking things apart and putting them back together again — usually better than 
  before — her whole life. When an operative found her in the rural Moroccan village where she 
  was born, she was using her blossoming skills not only to take care of herself and her 
  grandmother, but to (very quietly) improve the lives of everyone in her community, sometimes 
  with inventions and upgrades she didn’t know weren’t supposed to be possible. 
  She was a natural fit for the Initiative, a new experiment, that her mentor was one of the driving 
  forces behind, which allowed recruits to maintain their ties to family and community. During her 
  training, she took full advantage of the leeway the Initiative allowed her. Once she graduated and 
  was placed with the Challenge Fate Foundation, she was able to focus all her skills on building 
  and improving technologies to make the lives of the Masses better, safer, and more productive 
  and prosperous. 
  When the head of the Foundation — an Associate who knew only that Ree’s work was 
  remarkably effective — decided it was time to take on a truly challenging project, he put Ree in 
  charge of it. 
  Although her work rarely involves the lasers and explosions of which her colleagues seem so 
  dismayingly fond, the devices that Ree designs have changed the lives of her neighbors 
  significantly for the better, and spread, with the Foundation’s assistance, to change lives in an 
  increasing number of poverty-stricken and devastated areas around the world. Now, with the 
  Foundation behind her, Ree intends to save the entire world — and the Technocratic Union with 
  it. 
  Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 2, Stamina 4, Charisma 3, Manipulation 2, Appearance 2, 
  Perception 4, Intelligence 5, Wits 5 
  
  Abilities: Alertness 2, Athletics 1, Awareness 2, Computer 3, Drive 1, Enigmas 3, Hypertech 4, 
  Investigation 3, Medicine 3, Meditation 2, Melee 2, Science (Biology) 4, Streetwise 2, 
  Subterfuge 3, Stealth 2, Technology 4 
  Enlightenment: 4 
  Spheres: Life 4, Matter 3, Mind 2, Prime 3 
  Willpower: 8 
  Health Levels: OK, -1, -1, -2, -2, -5, Incapacitated 
  Armor Rating: Ree does not generally wear armor. 
  Attacks/ Powers: Ree is far more concerned with healing than harming. She is extremely driven 
  and inspired (Genius 5), and her work so far within the Convention has afforded her a strong 
  reputation (Status 2) for being such a young Progenitor. As a result, she can get her hands on 
  virtually any equipment she might need (Requisitions 5). 
  Equipment: Ree travels light, carrying only an ES-Phone with a full suite of applications. Every 
  other piece of gear she uses is either in her laboratory (Laboratory 4) or requisitioned as needed. 
  Image: Ree tends to favor simple blouses and pants, typically under a white lab coat. She keeps 
  fit through regular exercise, though is probably the least impassioned about physical training of 
  her fellows in the Construct. 
  Roleplaying Notes: You are hopeful for the future, but you are also well aware of the dangers 
  the current age presents. Having grown up impoverished in a small Moroccan village, you know 
  some of the horrors facing the developing world firsthand. You also see the threats of climate 
  change and the global turn toward nationalism, fascism and ignorance as the principle enemies of 
  the Technocracy. You are confident that these enemies can be defeated with a little teamwork, 
  compassion, and Enlightened Science. 
  Focus: Transcend Your Limits is the core of Ree’s approach to Enlightened Science. She sees the 
  world as it can be, aided by cybernetics and hypertech. Cybernetic implants, devices and 
  machines, drugs and poisons, and labs and gear all serve as the tools by which Ree seeks to 
  build a better tomorrow.  
  Ulysses 
  A hybridized and biomechanically modified octopus, Ulysses got his name from a lab tech who 
  won the informal office contest to assign a personal designation to “Uplifted Cephalopod 17.” 
  Ulysses was (like the previous 16 models) designed as an experiment in attempting to manifest 
  Enlightenment in nonhuman species. Genetic alterations while he was still an embryo amplified 
  his capacity for high intelligence, as well as making his body more receptive to the manufactured 
  organs he’d need to more readily coexist with humans. 
  Unfortunately (also just like the previous 16), he never manifested Genius, though he remains an 
  absolute triumph of genetic engineering and physiological modification. A series of hollow 
  channels throughout his body can be filled from fluid reserves stored in his head, enabling him to 
  maintain the structural rigidity needed to function indefinitely out of water. Naturally, he’s fully 
  amphibious, able to breathe in water or atmosphere with equal facility. Further, a specialized 
  organ enables him to use his hyponome to flawlessly mimic human speech (as well as a variety 
  of other sounds). He settled on a sophisticated British accent as his “default” voice, because the 
  
  humans with whom he associates regard it as charming, and (though he doesn’t entirely grasp 
  why) it seems to make them instinctively treat him as being more intelligent and credible. 
  Ulysses likes to help around the lab, and he’s made a point of developing his familiarity with the 
  mundane sciences that gave rise to him, in the hope that he can in some small way assist in 
  creating an example of his kind that proves to be capable of attaining Enlightenment. Is it not the 
  wish of every good parent to produce offspring that exceed them, after all? 
  Attributes: Strength 4, Dexterity 5, Stamina 4, Charisma 3, Manipulation 3, Appearance N/A, 
  Perception 4, Intelligence 3, Wits 4 
  Abilities: Academics 3, Acrobatics 4, Alertness 3, Biotech 2, Brawl 5, Computer 2, Empathy 3, 
  Escapology 4, Etiquette 1, Expression 3, Medicine 3, Melee 1, Mimicry 4, Pharmacopeia 3, 
  Research 3, Science (Genetics) 4, Stealth 3, Swimming 5, Technology 2  
  Willpower: 6 
  Health Levels: OK, OK, -1, -1, -2, -3, -5, Incapacitated 
  Armor Rating: 4 (subdermal biotech carbon nanofiber mesh; eight soak dice, total) 
  Attacks/Powers: Air-Breathing (like 2pt. Water-Breathing, only in reverse); Bioluminescence (1 
  pt.); Bite (5 dice of lethal damage; requires a grapple); Blending; Extra Limbs (+4 dice to 
  grappling); Flexibility; Human Speech; Nightsight; Reading and Writing; Soak Lethal Damage 
  Countermagick: (none) 
  Image: Ulysses looks like what the average person envisions when thinking of a big octopus. He 
  weighs about 250 pounds and has an arm span of about 12 feet. His normal coloration is a livid 
  scarlet, but he can change hues at will and with surprising precision. (Once, just to prove that he 
  could, he flawlessly replicated the Mona Lisa on his back.) Because of his hydraulic pseudo-
  skeleton, he can maintain his shape while out of water much better than a normal octopus might, 
  but can choose to “deflate,” if doing so is advantageous to him. 
  Roleplaying Notes: You recognize that you never quite lived up to the expectations that your 
  human friends had for you, which is a pity. Being “Enlightened” sounds marvelous, but you’re 
  not complaining, because there’s so much to see, and do, and experience with your expanded 
  intellect and abilities. And who knows? Maybe you’ll get the knack of this whole “Genius” 
  thing, yet! 
  William Lazlo 
  He’d only just had the nutrient solution hosed off his naked body and been brought to dry under 
  UV lights when they handed him “the only outfit you’ll ever need”: crisp black blazer and 
  slacks, black dress shoes, black tie, black hat, white shirt, sunglasses. It seems no one, back then, 
  imagined that a “vat-baby” would survive to see 40. The Progenitors were still perfecting the 
  whole operation, in those days, after all, and a lot of his brothers didn’t even survive the 
  accelerated maturation process, let alone make it to the millennium. 
  It was about fifteen years ago that the brass pulled him off active duty. He’d been tracking down 
  an RD: some punk handing out drugs that showed the Masses things they weren’t meant to see. 
  The kid ran so fast. Not unnaturally so, just faster than a guy who was, biologically, pushing 50 
  after decades of often physically grueling work and scores of serious injuries. His aim wasn’t 
  
  what it used to be. When he pulled his piece and fired in a vain attempt to bring down the target, 
  the bullet killed someone, but not the person he’d been aiming for. 
  There was a ceremony. The local Union gave him some bullshit award for a lifetime of 
  meritorious service. They made him turn in his sidearm. They even confiscated his wardrobe. 
  It was the first time he could ever remember crying. 
  In his transition to “civilian life,” they told him he’d need a mundane identity. He decided on 
  William Lazlo. William, for his agent cover as “Mr. Williams,” and Lazlo for the avuncular Man 
  in Gray who’d showed him the ropes, back when. Out of some misguided sense of respect for his 
  long years of dedication (or perhaps just charity), they set him up with an easy job reviewing 
  paperwork at a small data-processing Construct. Some days, he wishes they’d just taken him out 
  behind the building and double-tapped him in the back of the head, instead. It would’ve been a 
  quicker, cleaner, more merciful way to kill him than locking an aging predator in a cushy cage 
  and waiting for it to die of natural causes. 
  It wasn’t supposed to end this way. 
  Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 3, Stamina 2, Charisma 2, Manipulation 4, Appearance 2, 
  Perception 5, Intelligence 4, Wits 4 
  Abilities: Alertness 4, Athletics 2, Awareness 2, Brawl 2, Computer 2, Covert Culture 2, Drive 
  2, Esoterica 1, Firearms 4, Hypertech 2, Intimidation 4, Investigation 4, Law 2, Martial Arts 3, 
  Melee 1, Newspeak 4, Politics 1, Research 2, Security 4, Stealth 3, Streetwise 2, Subterfuge 3, 
  Technology 3, Unconventional Warfare 2 
  Willpower: 8 
  Health Levels: OK, OK, OK, -1, -2, -2, -5, Vaporized 
   Enlightenment: 3 
  Spheres: Data 1, Entropy 2, Forces 1, Matter 2, Mind 3, Prime 2, Time 1 
  Armor Rating: 0 (three soak dice, total) 
  Equipment: Conservative dark suit and hat, pocketknife, small revolver (acquired illegally; not 
  even the local Union knows about it), Technocratic smart phone 
  Countermagick: (none) 
  Image: William looks to be an almost unnaturally pale man in his 60s, with alopecia universalis, 
  but otherwise utterly unremarkable features. He still favors dark suits, despite the decidedly more 
  casual dress code of his current Construct, and prefers to wear fedoras when out in public. (None 
  of that trilby nonsense, thank you.) As a small nod to his old mirrorshades, the glasses he wears 
  for his nearsightedness have polarizing lenses. 
  Roleplaying Notes: Every day that you plunk away at a keyboard is an insult to the decades of 
  loyalty you gave to the Union, but you were designed not to complain, so you do as you’re told, 
  all the while hating every waking moment. Your resentment is quiet, disciplined, orderly, and 
  stoic; just like a Black Suit is supposed to be. 
  Focus: When you live in A World of Gods and Monsters, someone needs to destroy not just the 
  aliens, extradimensional horrors, and atavisms out of history, but also the evil and ignorant 
  
  people who call upon outdated and erroneous modes of belief to empower themselves to selfish 
  ends. Dominion, hypertech, and psionics admirably accomplish your objectives. 
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Storyteller [multi]/World of Darkness (WoD) [multi]/Vampire/Vampire (oWoD)/World of Darkness (WoD)/oWoD/Mage (c)/Mage 20th Anniversary/Technocracy Reloaded Preview Manuscript 4.pdf