Rotes & Procedures

Story-wise, Social Conditioning involves isolation from outside contact, followed by intensive psychological indoctrination. A willing Sleeper or eager technomancer might simply receive a subtle but pervasive orientation program that introduces him to the wonders of the Union and its hypertechnology. Unwilling Sleepers, Reality Deviants, and agents who appear to have broken their initial Conditioning all receive a drastic program: PsychOps place such people into complete isolation within a heavily controlled environment, then begin performing elaborate psychological treatment, invasive Mind Procedures, and perhaps worse. (See the Chapter Five entry regarding Room 101.)

• Teaming Up: In most cases, Social Conditioning is a group effort. For details, see Acting in Concert, p. 542.

• Sleeper Cults: A dedicated group of unEnlightened Sleepers could also try to instill a weaker version of Social Conditioning. In this case, the dice pool comes from the cult leader’s Charisma + an appropriate Ability (Belief Systems, Esoterica, Expression, Politics, Seduction, etc.), and the difficulty for the roll is the target’s Willpower + 5. Other rolls, however, can lower the initial difficulty – see Enhanced Conditioning, below. If that first attempt fails, however, then the dice pool for subsequent attempts at Conditioning may come only from additional enhanced conditioning attempts… and those put the cult at risk for kidnapping charges, and possibly worse.

• Initial Processing: System-wise, Social Conditioning involves a Mind 3/ Prime 2 Effect. The agent(s) behind the Conditioning use their Enlightenment (Arete) against a difficulty of target’s Willpower + 3. Each success eliminates one point of the subject’s temporary Willpower. If the roll fails, then the Processing may continue, but at +1 difficulty for each subsequent attempt. A botch foils the Processing forever.

• Reinforcing the Programming: From there, the Conditioning agents continue the program, often with Mind 4 instead of Mind 3. For Technocratic PsychOps, each roll reflects one day of that process. For non- Technocrat Nephandi, each roll reflects two days; for other groups, each roll reflects a week.

Once the subject’s Willpower has been temporarily eliminated, he reaches the first level of Conditioning. For a willing character, that’s the end of the story. Initial Processing wins him over to the cause. If he’s not willing, however, or if the PsychOps want to instill major Conditioning, then the process continues…

Each level of Conditioning beyond the first requires one success on an extended and resisted roll, difficulty 6; the PsychOps agents continue to use their Enlightenment, and the player under Conditioning rolls his permanent Willpower. The contest reflects the struggle between the target’s subconscious will and the PsychOps’ skill at breaking through such obstacles.