ANDERS MAGE PAGE 2.0

Entropy is a sphere that tends to be neglected or avoided by the Technocracy, with their desire for order and perfection in all things. Many of those who do learn Entropy use it only to deflect randomness and waste from their works, making the processes more efficient. This is particularly true of Iteration X, who like to play with frictionless surfaces, perfect conductors, etc.

Masters of Entropy are rare in the Technocracy but they exist. Chaos theory, macroeconomics and psychohistory are all attempts to understand, predict and ultimately control the random elements of large systems. In the hands of Conventions like the New World Order and the Syndicate, Entropy has been used to great effect in the Pogrom.

Drowning in Paperwork (Entropy 4)

The NWO uses this rote to literally smother their enemies in the products of bureaucracy. Any loose paper in the area (and if there wasn't any, there is now) is blown towards the victim by a coincidental breeze, where it clings, resisting any attempts short of countermagic to remove it. Within moments, the victim is covered in newspaper(s), forms, loose files, PostIt notes, bills, junk mail, etc. Damage (from suffocation) is the usual successes × 4.

After the victim is dead, the paper quietly blows away. At the Storyteller's option, there may not even be a body left behind.

This rote was inspired by a scene from the movie BRAZIL, a dystopian comedy with a distinctly British twist on the Technocracy.

Unperson (Corr. 2, Entropy 5) (Mind 4)

This rote seeks out and erases all official evidence of a single subject's existence: birth certificates, driver's licenses, bank accounts and credit balances, property deeds, tax and Social Security records, fingerprints on file, even photographs and video. Most records simply vanish, while newspapers and the like no longer mention the subject. The "idea" of that person has been destroyed.

Any Resources not in the subject's personal possession are lost. They are homeless, bankrupt and will find it hard to find a normal job or get medical treatment without the usual documents. The subject must either obtain a new identity or find a way to live outside society.

The optional Mind component causes memories of the subject to be erased as well. No one, not even family or friends, will recognize them. Mages and other Awakened beings can resist this effect with countermagic.

While this is primarily a NWO rote, the Syndicate has used it on occasion and the Virtual Adepts took it with them when they defected, applying it to computers. The NWO usually employs the rote to destroy lives or cover the tracks of failed operatives, while others have found it helpful when a complete change of identity is needed.

Is Mind necessary? The examples for Entropy 5 seem to overlap with it already.