CORRESPONDENCE        ENTROPY        FORCES        PRIME        LIFE        MATTER        MIND        SPIRIT        TIME                         

​

MIND

Human beings perceive reality through complex interplays of consciousness. The Mind-mage, therefore, alters the realities of his fellow beings. Skillfully applied, such Arts can make a sane man mad, soothe demented minds, or even shuck the boundaries of flesh. Though limited in its physical capacities (Mind Sphere attacks inflict bashing damage unless otherwise noted), Mind is the ultimate coincidental Art. Its Effects remain essentially invisible unless they’re combined with other Spheres. And although Mind Adepts can leave their physical bodies behind, such abilities remain unseen by mortal eyes. Do remember that mind control can be resisted.  

TARGET ROLLS

COMPOSURE + RESOLVE

DIFFICULTY: 10 + Mages Arete + Highest Sphere Rank

MODIFIERS:

NIGHTFOLK (Supernatural Characters ) add + 3 to their Composure + Resolve roll.

DRASTIC ACTS OF MIND CONTROL (Suicide or "Anti Nature" ) add + 3 to victims composure + Resolve roll. (Anti Nature vs Night folk would grant the target + 6 to their composure + Resolve roll)

SUCCCESS:

Each success cancels 1 applied mage success.

​

An unwilling character can also try to oppose such Effects while they are active with a resisted composure + resolve roll each turn the effect is active((difficulty = mages applied successes + 10))  And so, though weak-willed people may be influenced easily, determined folks can shrug aside the influence of all but the most dedicated Will-workers. For attacks against multiple targets, the difficulty for a Mind-based Effect depends upon the usual coincidental, vulgar, or vulgar with witnesses situations. Such Mind-based Effects are generally coincidental, although especially flamboyant feats might be vulgar instead. Literally “thought-full,” Mind-savvy mages possess mental clarity and unnerving perceptiveness. Some appear to drift in a sea of distractions, but the majority of them view the world with laser-focus intensity that penetrates illusions to reach their deeper truth..

​

        DATA                                                                    PRIMAL UTILITY                                            DIMENSIONAL ENGINEERING        

​

​

◉         Sense Thoughts & Emotions/ Mind Shield/ Empower Self

With basic mental magick, the mage learns to sense the emotions and surface impulses of other people. Although he cannot read specific thoughts, he’s able to perceive psychic impressions about a person or (with Matter 1) a place or object. Through this perception, he can guess at the nature of weak Resonance signatures and read the stronger ones outright. Even without Resonance, that mage can scan auras, note mood shifts, discern truth from lies, or grasp someone’s overall state of mind by way of a successful Arete roll. Meanwhile, the mage also learns to shield his own mind from the thoughts and emotions of other people, constructing mental barriers around his aura, emotions, and consciousness. Each success on a coincidental Arete roll removes one success from any other character’s attempt to read those psychic elements. On a related note, he also learns how to multitask and absorb data with startling acuity. Each success he rolls allows him to either consider an additional subject or speed the processing time that a normal person might require. For a scene or two, he can even raise one of his Mental Traits by one dot per success, thanks to a Mind Empowerment Effect that concentrates his mental faculties.  

 

◉◉       Read Surface Thoughts/ Empathic Bond/ Create Impressions/ Mental Impulse

Now the mage begins to skim the contents of unshielded minds, discern emotional states, read memories that have been left behind on objects or places, and project single words or emotional impulses to other people. The simpler the emotional content, the easier it is to send or read; a flash of rage, for instance, is easy to project or receive, but the complex stew of reflective melancholy presents a challenge to inexperienced Mind-mages. (Game-wise, such complex feats demand more successes than a simple feat does.)

 

◉◉◉     Mental Link/ Project Illusions/ Dreamwalk/ Psychic Blast

With increasing skill, the  mage learns to link minds, forge telepathic communications, read or influence another person’s thoughts, craft mental illusions, enter someone’s dreams and explore dream Realms, and blast psychic assaults into an unwilling rival’s consciousness. At this stage, Mind attacks can inflict painful – though rarely fatal – damage. Combined with Correspondence, Forces, Matter, or Life, he is able to employ telekinesis, pyrokinetics, and psychophysical assault, influencing objects, elements, or people with the power of his mind. Unlike most other Effects, this sort of thing is not coincidental, although such talents do have a place within popular culture. 

 

◉◉◉◉     Control Conscious Mind/ Alter Consciousness/ Astral Projection

The fearsome power of Black Suits and psychic assailants allows the mage to command another person’s actions as well as her thoughts, alter her perceptions or mental state, and project his own mind from his physical form. At this Rank, a mage can change someone’s memories, drive her crazy (or sane), overlay her aura with a desired impression, and set up posthypnotic suggestions and commands. And by using internal rather than external powers, he can also project his astral form.

 

◉◉◉◉◉    Control Subconscious/ Forge Psyche/ Untether Consciousness

A true Mind Master commands not only his own conscious but other minds as well. He may alter someone’s mind forever, raising (or lowering) her Traits, rewriting her personality, changing her Nature Trait, or (with Life 4) switching her mind into another body. He can do the same things to his own mind as well, and he can untether that mind to explore the deeper reaches of astral space for hours or even days at a time. His greatest power, though, is the ability to fabricate entire consciousnesses, creating minds where no mind had been before.

​

​

​

​

Social Conditioning and Reprogramming

Certain forms of influence aren’t subtle. The Technocratic Union’s sophisticated practice of Social Conditioning  adjusts people for the greater levels of reality employed by the Technocracy. In its most delicate forms, this Conditioning allows an unEnlightened person to accept, and occasionally employ, the advanced technologies used by the Union. Stronger levels of Conditioning reinforce the loyalty of errant operatives or convince Reality Deviants to accept the Technocratic truth. At their ultimate extent, those processes reprogram the subject’s personality, replacing free will with obedience. Despite common misconception, the Union doesn’t use this drastic measure often. If nothing else, it’s resource-intensive, and it often leaves the recipient more or less useless for anything other than manual labor and low-priority tasks. Because Conditioning restricts a character’s free will, Social Conditioning remains an optional rule when it’s used against a player character. If the player chooses to go along with Social Conditioning, then the Storyteller can pass notes to her and give her subtle hints about what her character should be doing as a result of her programming. For extra levels of treachery, the character may be Conditioned offstage, in a process that only the player and Storyteller know about. That way, the character could begin to subvert her group, based on the implanted Conditioning. Social Conditioning implies an organized, refined, and resource-intensive program of reeducation. No individual mage or independent cabal can use these rules – they must rely upon the usual influence-based methods. Although the Technocracy employs the most effective forms of Social Conditioning, the Nephandi and other groups occasionally use similar processes on captives and converts, with the differences noted below. If the Nephandi in question also happen to be Technocratic Psych Ops, however, then that captured character – and all of her associates – could be in very serious trouble.

​

Conditioning Levels

Social Conditioning follows 10 stages, each one more intrusive than the last:

• Stage One - Indoctrination: The character becomes a willing convert.

• Stage Two - Submission: That convert allows minor magickal Effects to be used on her, without resistance.

• Stage Three - Suspicion: Following the dictates of her masters, the character regards people as allies or enemies.

• Stage Four - Ostracism: If the masters declare someone anathema, the convert will shun that person.

• Stage Five - Pacifism: The masters instill a code word that can immediately make the convert cease all violent activities. 

• Stage Six - Conspiracy: The masters can implant a code word that initiates covert activity against someone who’s been chosen as an enemy. 

• Stage Seven - Alliance: The Conditioned character trusts the masters implicitly; their allies become her friends, and their enemies become anathema. A Sleeper at this level is no longer a witness against vulgar technomagick used by the masters, and a mage becomes a total convert to the masters’ paradigm.

• Stage Eight - Rejection: If so ordered, the character will forget anyone she has been told to forget; those people literally disappear from her memory, at least for a while. 

• Stage Nine - Devotion: The convert will betray anyone or anything for the sake of her masters. 

• Stage Ten - Reverence: “He had learned to love big Brother.” For Socially-Conditioned characters, the player ought to keep a record of her character’s current level of indoctrination. If she chooses to fight it later, see Breaking Conditioning , below. 

 

Conditioning Systems

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.

​

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 x 10 .

Each success lowers one point of the subject’s  Willpower (resolve + composure) . If the roll fails, then the Processing may continue, but at +5  difficulty for each subsequent attempt. A botch foils the Processing forever.

 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…

 

• 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 other groups, each roll reflects a week.  

 Each level of Conditioning beyond the first requires one success on an extended and resisted roll, difficulty 40+; the PsychOps agents continue to use their Arete, and the player under Conditioning rolls his  Willpower. The contest reflects the struggle between the target’s subconscious will and the PsychOps’ skill at breaking through such obstacles.

 

• Enhanced Conditioning: PsychOps excel at both the carrot and the stick. To reflect the various methods of encouragement, the PsychOps can use mundane Attribute + Skill rolls to lower the difficulty of that extended roll. Social graces could involve Empathy, and other soft techniques, and brutal methods could involve intimidation, beatings, sensory deprivation, and other forms of torture.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​