Items

One of Magadon’s most popular cosmetic ranges, the UltraSheen line comprises foundation, eye shadow, lip-gloss, and mascara. Unlike many things made by Pentex, people using UltraSheen don’t show up as tainted. Instead, it’s a powerful tool for some of Magadon’s executives to spy on rivals and werewolves alike.

Imported to the physical world from Malfeas, the factories make the entire UltraSheen line from the re­ mains of weakened Banes. These Banes create a spiritual link, allowing viewing stations in Magadon offices to connect to the makeup. Magadon employees can look through the eyes of anyone wearing UltraSheen mascara or eye shadow. Most offices employ temps and interns to watch for anything interesting coming from thousands of people wearing UltraSheen. The lip-gloss is slightly different: an operator can use the spiritual link to force

the wearer to utter a short phrase of no more than five words without her knowledge. Doing so more than once a week overloads the spiritual link, breaking it until the victim next applies UltraSheen cosmetics.

A canny Garou looking in the Umbra can see a faint glow around the eyes and mouth of anyone wearing UltraSheen with a Perception + Enigmas roll (difficulty 7). UltraSheen foundation raises the difficulty of that roll to 9. Though a wearer does not show up to Sense Wyrm, a Rite of Cleansing (difficulty 5) can break the sympathetic link.

Pentex acquired the tiny NikNak Computing elec­ tronics company to create a direct competitor to Sun­ burst Computers. With Pentex’s massive cash injection, NikNak rapidly expanded its market share by introduc­ ing proprietary operating systems, games consoles and samrtphones that replicate, but are incompatible with, Sunburst’s systems and other non-Pentex brands.

These alternative devices led to aggressive market­ ing campaigns, industrial espionage and sabotage from the two subsidiaries vying for market monopoly. Pentex encourages this rivalry as the competitors squeeze out all rivals and realise greater market share than Sunburst alone. Each manufacturer ensures software developers commit to delivering products to only one operating system. This forces consumers to purchase duplicate, incompatible equipment to enjoy the full range of games, applications, and advertised features.

Only the senior executives of each company know Pentex owns both. Employees who delve too deep into ownership details tend to disappear, or suffer unfortunate accidents.