Rotes & Procedures

(•• or ••• Mind/ • Forces/ • Matter; possibly with ••• Forces added)

The ugly fallout from Reality Deviant insurgencies (and the necessary containments thereof) requires Procedures that keep the Masses and their mundane law-enforcement agencies in the often-literal dark. And so, when drastic operations or Consensus-shattering events pose a threat to the security of essential illusions, wise Technocracy operatives invoke the Secure Scene Protocols, sealing up the area while scanning for evidence that must, for obvious reasons, be purged.

A few hazard signs or strips of police tape activate a Psychodynamics Procedure that warns people away from the area. Usual security measures simply broadcast a subtle Stay away impulse, whereas high-intensity measures keep all but the most determined trespassers at a distance.

Meanwhile, the agents on the scene operate scanning gear that detects evidence and damage. Forces 1 and Matter 1 perception Effects pick up traces of blood, gunpowder, and other residue that might not be visible to the naked eye, allowing the agents to record and then eliminate the messy aftermath of those events.

System

In order to Secure the Scene, a Technocrat needs to score at least three successes on a coincidental magick roll. Large areas might need five successes or more.

As noted above, Mind Sphere Effects discourage trespassers from entering the secured area; the Mind 2 variation suggests avoidance, and the Mind 3 version actively drives people away. In order to enter the scene, a character needs to make a Willpower roll that scores more successes than the operative who established the Effect.

The scanning element, meanwhile, reduce by -1 the difficulties for all of the Perception + Alertness rolls the agents make to detect evidence of the recent events. Thanks to those enhanced perceptions, the agent(s) can see into the infrared and ultraviolet spectrums, might spot fingerprints, and could note hairline cracks and other traces of evidence or damage. Given time, the Technocrats can catalog and then purge that evidence, often with the Sanitize Evidence Procedure described above.

Generally, this Procedure does not conceal the area from outside observation – it drives people away, but the space itself remains visible. By bringing in the appropriate cloaking-field projectors, however, the Technocrat(s) can add

a Forces 3 blackout component that warps light and sound around the secured area, essentially rendering it dark and silent to casual observation. This additional protocol doesn’t project an actual illusion – that’s an entirely different Effect. The blackout field, though, shrouds the location in darkness while baffling sound waves to muffle the acoustics within that space. A sufficiently skilled and equipped operative can set up all three components – the Mind field, the scanners, and the light/ sound baffling effects – in a single burst of activity. The blackout field, however, adds another three successes to the overall total required, which also adds another layer of time and complication to the Effect. It’s also a vulgar Procedure unless it’s activated in near or total darkness.

Nasty things wait on the other side of the Dimensional Gauntlet. And so, Technocrats who understand the weird physics of Dimensional Science can send surprises into that realm to deal with said nasty things before they can pass through and disrupt our material home.

Generally, the Dimension Bomb Procedure involves calibrating a specially designed grenade or other sort of explosive, then phasing it through the Gauntlet to explode harmlessly on the other end. Although this sort of attack has lost favor somewhat since the Dimensional Anomaly occurred (rumors suggest that the Anomaly originated with a large Dimension Bomb that was somewhat more… efficient than expected), it’s still a useful tactic when dimension-hopping were-things start popping into or out of Consensus space.

System

With a successful roll, the operative can push a small explosive device through a hole in the Gauntlet and phase-shift it into the weird matter of the Otherworlds. Once there, it has the usual effects for such a device. Failed rolls or botches, however, have a nasty tendency to hold the object between worlds, inflicting the damage on both sides of the Gauntlet.

The Forces 3/ Prime 2 variation uses the bomb as a focus for a Forces-based explosion. Higher Ranks of Forces can be used for larger explosions. Each success that isn’t spent getting the bomb through the Gauntlet acts as Forces-based damage, described on the Base Damage or Duration chart. (If it takes three successes to get through the Gauntlet, for instance, and the player rolls six successes, then the bomb inflicts six health levels of damage.) In either case, the roll’s difficulty is the Gauntlet rating, which makes this Procedure far more effective in low-Gauntlet areas than in high-Gauntlet ones.

All versions of this Procedure are vulgar, and Paradox damage typically involves blowback damage from the blast. For details about Explosions, see the section of that name in Chapter Nine.