Some Syndicate Rotes

By Rev.K.

This Rote is often used in some sort of extended ritual which often includes going into the street and asking a few people their opinions. But can also be performed with the simple expedient of browsing over some demographical data. It enables the Syndicate Mage to know what will sell and what will not sell, what will work in the market place and what will not work in the marketplace. Basically,the Mage uses entropy to find the the opinion of the broadest sample of humanity in the least amount of time and extrapolates the response. Famous botches on this roll include the Edsel, beta video tape format and New Coke. This rote is often used by both Media Elite and the Financiers.

Market Stability( Entropy 2,Mind 2 and sometimes Time 2 or 3)

No matter how much the Financiers think they control the market ,they don't really. Admittedly they are the very best at manipulating it but they often have to contend with unforeseen difficulties far from their area of influence,Other supernatural entities who are manipulating the market for their own ends, National disagreements and competition and the hyper dynamic nature of the Market itself.(the Market is an aspect of reality that especially sensitive to the vagaries of consensual reality. Older Syndicate members with influence in Spirit speculate that the Market has a very very powerful spiritual component of possibly Incarna level, they do not know whether this entity is sentient or not. Some even suspect that it is an amalgam of all the deities of commerce and trade from the mythologies of the world. Such Syndicate Mages are usually scoffed at by their fellows as being "Bull and Bear Worshippers." but they aren't actively suppressed by their fellows on the off chance that they might be right.)

The rote is usually an extended procedure. Mind is used to soothe the minds of other investors and brokers, Entropy is used to identify trouble spots and bring subtle order to the market and Time is used to project what the Market will do. In extreme circumstances, Time 3 might be used to slow down or speed up certain Market trends but this process verges on vulgarity and is usually discouraged in all but the most serious emergencies.

Crash(Entropy 5)

In some ways, the market is like a forest. If it doesn't have a good forest fire every once in while,the underbrush starts to choke the bigger trees to death.This extended ritual is used to stabilize certain economies in relation to others, and to rip the tits off of other supernatural investors (up to and including wayward syndicate members.) The large form of this rote can only be cast with a 2/3's majority vote of the Financiers and the Pawnbrokers. The smaller form of this rote can be cast by any Syndicate Mage with Entropy 5 and can cause localized market failures,bank failures, corporate bankruptcy, and a host of other mischief. (unauthorized use of this rote can get you dead very quickly. This rote is considered an act of war when cast by one syndicate Mage on another. The inner council will move very quickly to squelch this sort of thing. You have been warned.)

Market Projection(Time 2)

Enables a Financier to chart the course of a bond,stock,mutual fund or any other piece of financial information. It is not recommended for Financiers to try to see the path of stock past 2 or 3 weeks.(because of the very dynamic nature of the Market.) it is also not recommended to try to read the whole market at once.(the shear glut of information will drive you into an incredibly deep quiet.)

Planned Obsolescence(Entropy 3)

A process that almost isn't a process anymore. Introduced at a Symposium by the Media Elite and the Financiers and adopted wholeheartedly by them and the Time- Motion Managers. Basically it involves the controlled decay of material objects so that the consumers have to go out and buy a new one. This is why shit breaks down the day after the warranty runs out. Very useful in car chases.

E.F. Hutton(Mind 2)

Sometimes overused by Financiers and Pawnbrokers, even used by Media Elite and the Enforcers. Temporarily used to increase ones Influence score by 1 for every 2 successes on the roll. Any Syndicate Mage worth his salt will realize this is being used against him.

Stay Bought(Prime 3 and Mind 2)

One of the sneakier secrets of Pawnbrokers. Often requires the Mage to give the target something which the target must accept.(often this involves attaché cases of money or pictures of senators frolicking with other nude people/children/barnyard animals.) The Mage expresses prime into the object to fuel the mental pattern that is impressed upon the object. It is in this way that the Syndicate gets and holds on to power. In other words,the target "Stays bought." The process works even if the target spends the money or burns the pictures. the act of accepting the package accepts the mental pattern.

"Networking" (Mind 2 and Entropy 2)

A Syndicate Mage goes someplace like a party or a bar and every person in the place that possibly can do something for that Mage will come out of the woodwork to give him their business card. ( Certain Tradition Mages have hinted darkly the entire game of Golf was invented for the sole purpose of using this rote.)

Corporate Loyalty (Mind 2 Correspondence 2 Prime 3)

Created by Japanese Syndicate Mages to help the Zaibatsus. This Rote involves creating an area in which sleepers are bombarded with subliminal broadcasts and corporate propaganda which erodes the ability to act in any way against the company. Each success on the roll adds +1 to the difficulty of acting against the company even if supernaturally coerced.

Kaizening ( usually Matter 4 or 5)

This is a process developed by Japanese Syndicate Mages which enables them to do incredibly small scale improvements over many generations of the same product. Thus a boom box becomes better and better with each new model that is put out. It become lighter and more durable and eventually beats everything on the market in terms of sound quality. In so doing, products and technological foci become more and more advanced and push the envelope of consensual technology. ( where Americans always look for the next quantum leap forward, Japanese tend to hone current technology to a fine razor keen edge. Of course,no matter how good these products become, they are still going to be treated with the Planned Obsolescence rote. Please note that this is one of those procedures that almost isn't magickal at all.

Financial Meltdown(Entropy 2 and Mind 2)

One of the few procedures that each and every Syndicate Mage knows. This attack rote enables the Syndicate Mage to endow a target with Arcane. The Mage in question needs access to some computer network for this rote to be coincidental. For each success on the Arete roll, the target gains a dot of Arcane that he or she cannot control. (the Mage can always turn it off at will making it easier to lay hands on the target.) This usually manifests itself as a localized catastrophic Financial failure.( the I.R.S. want to know what happened to their records on you, Your bank declares your account invalid because you are "dead." Financial deals fall through because of dumb luck, The practical upshot of this rote is almost always a freeze on the targets monetary resources. ( countermagick,allies and contacts can mitigate this somewhat.) Syndicate Mages often use this rote in an extended ritual to break the finances of Political groups, eco-activists, and unions.

Bread and Circuses ( Mind 3)

Because the Syndicate has worked so hard to put Televisions in every home they are able to reap the benefit of it's effects. Not everybody knows this, and this is absolutely *true*, but watching television can alter your brainwave patterns. Most people go from Beta waves (ordinary everyday problem solving mind) to Alpha waves(passive,imaging ,suggestible mind) in the space of ten seconds.

A Syndicate Media Elite Mage can use a portable Alpha generator to dolorize the minds of his targets. Such generators can be concealed in wristwatches or in extremis the Media Mage may use a television or V.R. rig as a focus for the Magick. The rote adds +1 to the difficulty of any willpower roll or any roll that requires concentration (including Magick) for each success on the Arete roll. (note that the Concentration modifier on a Magick roll cannot go higher than +3 but everything else can exceed that. The Concentrate Merit and Iron Will can mitigate or nullify these effects.

Ad campaign (Entropy 2 and Mind 2)

This rote is used by Media Elite to create public knowledge of some person or thing. Some of it requires placing ads to announce it's existence but this rote goes far beyond that. Using this procedure causes the information to find it's way into the right ears. This is the way it works.

1) The Syndicate wants to push a particular Movie.

2) A blurb appears in a particular magazine about the filming, Say,Cosmo or Details or G.Q. or Starlog or whatever...

3) Maybe a month later, Some magazine has an article that interviews one of the stars of the movie for some completely different reason and he mentions the flick.

4) An artificial scandal is created that creates buzz in all the movie trade magazines which eventually filters out into the wider media (Entertainment Tonight, People.)

5) As filming is beginning to wrap, Media begins to swarm in to get the buzz on the flick.

6) Trailers for the film are created with subliminal come-ons.

7) They put up a lame-ass website.

8) T.V. commercials for the movie expose the thing to people who are really not followers of the industry or who just haven't managed to get the message yet.

9) Movie opens, is a typical piece of Hollywood shit,makes 70 million dollars in three weekends before the Magick wears off.

Often, the Syndicate can make entire careers for people who have no discernible talent by touting them as the next Big thing.(Jenny Mccarthy and Pauly Shore leap to mind .)

Trapdoor (Entropy 2 and Mind 4)

At times, it becomes necessary to get rid of a show. or actor ( either because their art is not profitable enough,they pissed the wrong people off,they have awkward political beliefs, or they are trying to actually educate the public, something the Syndicate always frowns on.) This Procedure make it much harder for the target in question to get work or sponsors.(Good shows get canceled all the time, they go on hiatus, the writers who made the show what it is get fired or hired away, Sponsors pull out for a number of reasons and the show or the actor in question sinks into the dusky cobwebs of obscurity....or worse, finds themselves hawking psychic on T.V., working overseas, or sticking up a video store.

"I will find you." (Corr 2, Mind 3,Entropy 2 )

Used by the Enforcers to make hunting easier. The Enforcer must manage to touch the target in some familiar way. thereafter, the Enforcer will have insanely good luck in finding the target whenever he wants to lay his hands on him. This Procedure is one of the basis for the Mafia vaunted ability to find anybody who has crossed them. It is also one of the reasons that family men are very familiar with one another(as a sign of respect and trust.) You will notice that Asian organized criminals refuse to go in for this kind of thing and they perceive it as an insult.

"You ever hear what happened to Big Sal?"(Entropy 2,Mind 2)

An Enforcer can create a name for himself as a tough customer simply by the expedient of killing somebody and making sure that no one sees it. Through the use of this procedure, the story of what happened to the guy gets more and more grisly as it is retold. This has the effect of giving the Enforcer an additional die for any sort of Interrogation roll or intimidation roll for each success on the Arete roll. When creating this procedure, the Mage must accumulate at least 5 successes for the Magick to work for an appreciable duration. The additional dice pool is taken from the first Magick roll.

Talkaround(mind 2)

Enforcers of all ethnic persuasions have one thing in common, they are constantly monitored by law enforcement types. as such, they have developed a method of speaking to one another without saying anything about what they are really saying. In this way, a group of mobsters talking about Giancarlo's funeral, can plan their strikes against the Vampire scumbags who did it without tipping of the feds(and incidentally, the N.W.O.) who are definitely listening. the Foci for this is merely and elaborate form of Code that each member understands and can intuitively add to.

"Buckwheats"(entropy 4,time 3)

a Mafia term for a type of contract killing that is done in such a way as to be agonizingly painful for the victim. Most contract killing are hardly that, but Buckwheats, is usually reserved for traitors,informers,whelchers, and other people who need to serve as an object lesson. Entropy 4 is used to degrade the victims life pattern while Time 3 is used to slow the process to a crawl and make it more painful. This process is rarely used against enemy Mages(who can countermagick) or against those with natural regeneration. The look on the victims face is usually good for a nightmare or two.a Rote for sadists.

Commodities( Varying levels of Spirit and Matter)

One of the reasons that Syndicate Mages seem to be on good terms with a number of spiritual entities is the very simple fact that they cheat. Special projects(in collusion with the Void engineers Research and Execution) has developed Dimensional science to a phenomenal degree. Special Projects Mages cut deals with spirits of many different power levels in exchange for certain Material objects that they manufacture and transform into ephemera or by creating objects directly into the umbra that cannot exist in consensual reality. Favor brokering is very very key to Syndicate survival. And the Syndicate knows that when,(not if...when) Iteration X comes after them, they had better have that ace in the hole ready.

Summon Netspider(Spirit 2 and Mind 3)

Lets face it. The Syndicate Mages are never going to be as good at manipulating the web as the Virtuals are and they are even having a tough time with the Pentex I.C.S. but they do have have an advantage in certain types of things. Syndicate Mages have taken the times to cultivate a very good relationship with Net spiders. By spreading a bit of Quintessence around and taking some time to learn their bizarre language. the Syndicate has managed to garner a small army of indefatigable little spies that can move in the web as a fish moves through water. They are useful for trashing enemy systems, guarding the home database, and keeping an eye on people that an eye needs to be kept on. They eat encryption schemes like they were gingerbread and the N.W.O. and Iterators almost never thinks about them.

Snafu(Entropy2)

One of the most closely guarded secrets of the Enforcer branch of the Syndicate is this effective little rote which usually causes bad luck to those attacking the Mage who is protected by it. The Mage using this rote rolls Arete and for each success he collects on the first roll he can add +1 to the snafu. although he must collect 5 successes to cause the rote to have any meaningful duration.

Thereafter, any person attempting violent or aggressive action against the Mage so protected must add the modifier to the difficulty of his first attack roll. This only affects the first roll from any given opponent and only goes up to a difficulty of 10 of course.

Mafia history is literally rife with botched assassination attempts and screw-ups on the part of the shooters. This rote usually allows the Mage in question an opportunity to defend himself. Because of the nature of this rote it is nearly impossible to tell if it is in operation but conversely it is also damn near impossible for the Mage using it to tell if it has worn off.

Omerta(mind 4)

Italian for silence, this rote makes sure that you didn't see nothing,and you don't know nothing. Basically the procedure entails the Enforcer talking the target into forgetting everything and the target being willing to edit his own memory. Might require an intimidation roll.