Secure Archives

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RESTRICTED ACCESS BEYOND THIS POINT

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WARNING: This is a restricted area. Attempted access beyond this point without clearance is grounds for immediate discipline, up to and including neurosurgical intervention. See HR-Direct-Memo. 69/04/17 No. 103. By accessing this restricted area, you understand and acknowledge that you may be exposed to objects of unknown or unstable ontological provenance which may cause fatal, debilitating, or life-altering conditions. The unauthorized photographing, mimeographing, copying, transcribing, sketching, graphing, plotting, or committing to memory of anything beyond this point is strictly prohibited and will result in immediate discipline, up to and including mandatory psychological correction and termination. See HR-Direct-Memo. 71/11/20 No. 17.

▨ MISSIONS

❍ EQUIPMENT + RESOURCES

Drugs (pp. 45-47)

Mopers: SANDMAN only developed mopers officially after MK-ULTRA was disbanded in 1973; however it is likely that past collaboration between SANDMAN and MK-ULTRA means that most if not all of the mopers detailed on page MD46 already exist in 1973.
Combat Amphetamines: Are you kidding, of course these are (widely) available, probably already in the "blues/greens/reds/yellows" schema seen on page MD46. Modafinil was discovered in the late '70s as a metabolite of the earlier drug Adrafinil (discovered in France in 1974); most likely SANDMAN and/or MK-ULTRA developed Adrafinil in its secret labs in the mid-to-late '60s and released it to the public through the French laboratory. Regardless, Adrafinil is functionally equivalent to Modafinil as it appears in the MD sourcebook.)

Psychotechnology (pp. 47-50)

Agent 17: The US Army has been experimenting with aerosolized incapacitants since the early '50s: while Agent 17 itself does not exist in 1973, plenty of BZ-derived chemicals with practically identical profiles to Agent 17 do.
EMF Detector: Likely heavier, bulkier, and funkier-looking/more solid state than contemporary handheld "PK meter" style detectors, but absolutely available in '73.
Field Wetware Kit: Again, given our campaign's Tech Level of TL7+1, the 1973-era Wetware Kit is likely much bulkier, given the state of microelectronics, even in the advanced labs of SANDMAN. Fewer laptop screens, more oscilloscopes. Functionally the same, though.
Hypnagogic Flash: Likely fine as-is, although I'd make it a tiny bit bigger and it probably looks like a bigger version of an old-school '70s Polaroid flash cube. I used to be fascinated by those as a kid.
Ikoter: Bulkier and funkier again. Functionally this means that only "pistol" and "rifle" sized ikoters exist in 1973: no holdout models. Resistance roll is Will-2 for the pistol model, Will-3 for the rifle. No experimental fear/rage models either.
- Pistol: Damage Will-2 Aff, Acc 3, Range 10/30, Weight 1.8, RoF 1, Shots 5(3), ST 4, Bulk -2, Rcl 1, LC 1
- Rifle: Damage Will-3 Aff, Acc 6, Range 23/70, Weight 10, RoF 1, Shots 16(3), ST 8, Bulk -6, Rcl 1, LC 1
Implant Chips: The microprocessor was introduced to the public in 1970-1971, right here in Silicon Valley (and in LA and in Texas). It's likely that SANDMAN research facilities helped seed this technology to the tech industry. Brain Hacking is a big part of contemporary Madness Dossier games but in 1973 it's a fair bit dicier, despite real-world experimentation into putting electrodes into people's brains. I'm willing to play a lot of this by ear but basically I would imagine that effects of 1973 SANDMAN personality chips are radically simpler (the choice of Disadvantages will likely be limited to very basic fight-fuck-flee type emotions), much more time-consuming and difficult to implement (double all penalties and Brain Hacking times for the Wetware Hacker/halve all penalties for the poor patient to resist), and no passive surveillance possible.
Irruptor Disruptor: "Experimental" in the 2010s means it does not exist in 1973. Sorry.
MAEser: Same.
Mental Carrier Tone Generator: Probably a goofy-looking pair of headphones/microphone in 1973 and not a slick unobtrusive Bluetooth headset.
Subdermal Injector: 1970s microchips are too big to be inserted this way. SANDMAN drugs are probably injected using tiny needles on the tips of umbrellas and hollow rings, the typical CIA playbook.
Tachist 3.0: Let's say Tachist 1.0 exists in 1973, using microfiche and monochrome computer monitors. You must have the Renshaw Method as an Advantage to use it.
Anti-Anunnaku Shield: The 1973 version looks like a giant helmet with all kinds of wiring and electronics. Not subtle.
Broakleys: Not available in 1973; too high-tech even for TL7+1.
Noise-Canceling Earpieces: Includes the two-way radio and microphone, does not include GPS (obviously).
Brain Hacking: While the 1973 Project does not have "terabyte drives preloaded with screen memories," most of the Brain Hacking activities in this section are available to SANDMAN. Again, I'll likely be doubling times, penalties, and bonuses to resist to reflect the more primitive technology. The Cheval program is just getting underway in the early '70s, with a certain URIEL driver/operative one of its earliest test subjects/prototypes...

⏧ Vehicles

Jocasta Menos drives a 1972 AMC Javelin with custom Pierre Cardin interior. With its sleek design, adjustable steering wheel, and a roomy interior, the Javelin is a reimagined sports car for modern urban living.

Roger Martin drives a 1971 Chevrolet Chevelle SS with an LS6 engine. Regarding by car enthusiasts as the "ultimate muscle car," Hot Rod magazine described the Chevelle as "one of the brutes."

Archie Ransom drives a 1971 Dodge Monaco station wagon – luxurious but sensible, bold but tasteful, elegant but dependable, a family vehicle for a family man with a bit of a ... wild streak.

Genevieve Abeille drives a 1970 Toyota 2000GT, a car built for a classy lady, but not someone afraid to show vulnerability, display a tough front just for its own sake, or shy away from the unconventional.

⑇ Tech

ORACLE

ORACLE is a highly sophisticated computer system developed by Operation GRAIL TABLE that is capable of generating "simulated futures." By the time it came to URIEL's attention, GRAIL TABLE had been running ORACLE for approximately two months and had predictively simulated roughly 38 years of human history, placing its internal clock at about the year 2020.

Even operating at full power, ORACLE was not capable of simulating the lives of every person in the world. Instead, using esmology, demography, and statistics, ORACLE created "simulated options" of human lives based on a representative spread of "lives" across the world. A software module could be appended to the simulation to make sure multiple people who go into the simulation together end up close to each other personally or geographically — co-workers, friends, family, etc.

ORACLE's databanks, computers, and support equipment were originally located in Brougham Castle. In order to "enter" the simulated future generated by ORACLE, participants were required to wear psychotronic interface headsets and immerse themselves in sensory deprivation tanks located in the Castle's chapel, partially restored by GRAIL TABLE. High-fidelity audio equipment located throughout the chapel would then blast prophetic chant sonics to reverberate off the acoustically tuned plastic roof, plunging the participants into a receptive hypnotic state.

SANDMAN dismantled ORACLE upon URIEL's discovery that the system had been tainted by the šēdu Morgan le Fay. However, Charley Helix was able to salvage ORACLE's central program and database, which she took with her back to URIEL's offices at Livermore.

CCRME

The Controlled Cognitive Reformatting Multi-Sensory Environment, or CCRME, is a soundproofed room with adjoining office located in the basement of the Mission. It is not easy to find, concealed, as it is, down an out-of-the-way set of stairs and behind an unmarked door. Three walls of the room are covered with color TV sets; the fourth contains the entry door and a blackened one-way mirror that faces into the office. In the center of the room is a chair resembling something out of a dentist's office, with stirrups at the feet and restraints on the arm and headrests. Above the chair dangle a terrifying array of light fixtures, speakers, audio headsets, electrodes, and other devices. An IV drip stands menacingly in one corner.

The CCRME is the brainchild of Marshall Redgrave, who designed the chamber with assistance from others at Project SANDMAN. On a rudimentary level, it can operate as an interrogation space for especially difficult subjects — but that is not its intended purpose. As designed, the CCRME functions as a sort of early '70s version of a SANDMAN "brain hacking" center, a place where Marshall can experiment with deconstructing and reconstructing a subject's identity, erase and implant memories, alter goals or insert specific objectives, and ameliorate or create harmful psychological tendencies.

❏ PRAGMACLASTS + REALITY SHARDS

"I came across these jingling rhymes in a newspaper, a little while ago, and read them a couple of times. They took instant and entire possession of me. All through breakfast they went waltzing through my brain; and when, at last, I rolled up my napkin, I could not tell whether I had eaten anything or not."

Mark Twain, Punch, Brothers, Punch

☣︎ ☣︎ ☣︎

MEMETICS

WARNING. Access to the following concepts and perspectives without appropriate neurological safeguards may result in destabilized thinking, radical shifts in world-views, and infection by as-yet uncategorized ontologies. EXTREME CAUTION IS ADVISED.

☣︎ ☣︎ ☣︎

"Most present-day images -- be they video images, paintings, products of the plastic arts, or audiovisual or synthesized images- - are literally images in which there is nothing to see. They leave no trace, cast no shadow, and have no consequences. The only feeling one gets from such images is that behind each one there is something that has disappeared."

Jean Baudrillard, "After the Orgy"

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