Rites & Rituals

The Hacktivist coterie known as the Digital Draculas invented this ritual, and it is the backbone of their agenda for the Anarch community. For centuries, the Tremere have had a ritual called “Inscription” (see p. 150) which allows a thaumaturge to reduce a simple ritual to a written format which can then be unlocked and activated by a non-thaumaturge at a later date. The Self-Executing File ritual functions according to the same principles, but instead of allowing someone outside the Clan to cast a “borrowed” ritual at a time of her choosing, this ritual allows her to install a Technomancy-based ritual directly into a computer. To date, the Digital Draculas have carefully limited the number of techno-rituals which they have widely disseminated to two: “Fangbook” and “Bloodspot.” A third techno-ritual — FangChat — is currently being beta-tested and is exclusively available to the coterie’s closest allies.

System: To use Self-Executing File, the thaumaturge must first prepare the Technomancy ritual she wishes to disseminate into a computer file format.

The Hacktivists and the Tremere technomancers alike use a special programming code that integrates a mixture of defunct computer languages and dead written languages. Using this language, the thaumaturge codes a complete description of the ritual to be transmitted and then reduces it to a .zip file. She then emails the file to the intended recipient. When the recipient clicks on the file to open it, a text box appears that informs the recipient that he has sixty seconds to activate the program by smearing some of his blood onto his right thumb and then placing it over the white box below the text. If the recipient does so before time runs out, the blood dissipates harmlessly, and the program automatically opens and downloads itself into the computer’s hard drive. An icon for the associated program appears on the desktop that is visible only to the recipient, and the program itself is an invisible file that cannot be detected on the hard drive by any means other than Technomancy. Every success after the first allows for one additional recipient, should the thaumaturge wish to send out more than one copy of the file.