by Shannon W. Hennessy ({REL[44][articleGame]n3wl2C8tREL} Resources)
“Ensure a happy New Year – develop an effective contingency plan.”
- Text from a fortune cookie
With the closure of the millennium on the horizon and information technology and telecommunications networking a commodity in the highest demand ever, the world looks at their Year 2000 countdown clocks with a mixture of anticipation on one hand, dread on the other. No one is really sure what is going to happen to the technologically dominated world we live in or, for that matter, to life as we know it come midnight, December 31st 1999. No one, that is, except the Scions of the Bug.
The Scions of the Bug are a group of Technomagi among the Virtual Adepts who have taken a bit of a break from the Ascension War’s standard of trite politicking and mortal danger to marshal their numbers towards a single, unified vision and goal: the taking or destroying of as much information as is possible via guerrilla means amid the turmoil and confusion of the turn of the millennium from those they feel have controlled it for far too long. This serves a dual purpose for the Scions; for one, they will – if successful – regain a Virtual Adept stranglehold on the Digital Web. For second (and this is quite possibly the true agenda and philosophical foundation of the group) they seek to bring the New World Order to their collective knees.
To lump the Scions into the same messy bin with Hackers, Phreaks and other assorted motleys of electronic piracy is to pay them an insulting disservice. The Scions are far more comfortable with the term “Cyberterrorists” to describe what they do, how they do it, and whom they do it to. With the Y2K “problem” solidly looming over the world’s electronic and economic enterprises as part of the modern paradigm of consensual reality, the Scions see the perfect opportunity to exact revenge against their philosophical opposites in the Technocratic Union, the New World Order, by destabilizing as much classified information as is possible in the shortest amount of time. The Scions have no real interest in stealing the information that N.W.O. databases may or may not hold, rather they simply want to corrupt and destroy as much of it as possible. While the New World Order soothes the Sleeper population at large into delusions of protection and safety under terms such as “Y2K compliant,” the Scions of the Bug undermine their efforts from within the establishment as well as from without through subtlety and coincidence. By anonymously brokering information gleaned from the NWO (enterprise locations and administration rights, intrusion countermeasure details, budget and spending outlines, etc.) to known Syndicate-friendly middle men, the Scions see the PERFECT opportunity to pit the two most powerful Conventions, pound for pound, at each others' throats… at least temporarily.
Between the sheer confusion, panic and finger pointing that such inter-Convention espionage would wreak, the worldwide effects of the century coming to a close and the programming code implications therein for virtually EVERY SINGLE electronic device relied upon by mankind, the Scions of the Bug hope to capitalize fully; both economically as well as magically. The motivations behind their actions are quite simple; the Scions of the Bug are not exploiting the year 2000 and the problems that will ensue with its arrival for the love of money or for sport. Hardly.
The Scions of the Bug want revenge, plain and simple, and the New World Order’s got it coming to them in spades.
Knowing full well from Virtual Adept history that snooping about in New World Order affairs carries with it a certain fate that is akin to playing Russian Roulette with a fully loaded weapon, the Scions are wise enough to know better than to attempt an information liberation from the oppressive Convention of Orwellian wannabes. Rather, the Scions have decided that there is no information that the New World Order could possibly possess that is of any use to them, the Council of Nine or the Sleeper populace at large and they would much rather destroy as much of it as possible as quickly as possible or, if time allows, forcibly de-classify information for distribution to those who CAN use the information, but only if the interested parties’ use of the information will countermine the agendas and day-to-day operations of the New World Order.
To this end and due to this philosophy, the Scions of the Bug have become one of the Technocracy’s most wanted “Reality Deviant” organizations as well as mavericks within the Council of Nine and the Virtual Adepts Tradition. To date, the Scions have been EXCESSIVELY successful in subverting conventional as well as mystical securities placed on New World Order data storage facilities, which is to say no known Scion has been apprehended by operatives of any of the five Conventions of the Technocratic Union. The Virtual Adepts have adopted a “Don’t ask. Don’t tell.” Policy towards the Scions, while the Crucible of Thig, a faction of the Order of Hermes, view the Scions as a potential threat to the welfare, safety, and security of the Council of Nine itself and have launched several small teams, aptly named “Bug Hunters”, to deal with the Scions within the boundaries of Council policy.
The Commandments of the Bug, the code by which the Scions operate and govern themselves, are as follows:
Information is a commodity. If a Scion discovers a piece of information that is not previously known, he will share it among all other Scions and then broker it to the highest bidder. He who dares, wins.
Delete, delete, and delete. Destroy as much data integral to the inner workings of our enemies as is possible through any all means available and/or necessary. What others don’t know can never hurt them, and what the enemy has forgotten or lost can only make us stronger.
Don’t get caught and don’t leave witnesses. Under no circumstances can our enemies ever discover that we are but few. Direct confrontation with our enemies ENSURES our destruction and can leave us without allies or means of retreat. Break eggs to make your omelet, but don’t forget to throw the shells in the disposal.
Loose lips sink ships. Were the Council of Nine or even our brothers in the Virtual Adepts to discover our ways, means and motives, they would be enemies more formidable than even the Technocracy. If you leak information, you become a witness. See Commandment 3.
Now you’re playing with power. Be responsible. Remember who your enemies are and impede them as often and whenever you are able. DO NOT, however, go out of your way to jeopardize the Scions OR our brothers, the Virtual Adepts, by preying on our allies or their information systems unless you can do so while following Commandment 3.
Among the Adepts, the Scions of the Bug are regarded as a bit too far out of bounds, even where VA extremists are concerned, and possibly dangerous to the Tradition as a whole. The Chaoticians and Reality Hackers seem to offer the most sympathy of any faction within the Tradition, and ironically, the majority of the Scions come from one or the other of these two subgroups. Cypherpunks offer the most vocal protests in regards to the actions of the Scions and have, on occasion, loaned themselves out to the Order of Hermes and their specialized “Bug Hunter” teams in an effort to crack down on the Scions of the Bug before they make a mistake that could cost the Virtual Adepts (and hence, the Council of Nine) dearly. While the Scions of the Bug are relatively new players in the information espionage/destruction game and are, for the most part, unknown throughout the entirety of the Council of Nine or the Conventions, they DO have allies. Most notably, the Glass Walker camp known as the Cyber Wolves who see the actions of the Scions of the Bug (whom they credit as actually being the Totem Spirit, Cockroach) as a different road to the same destination that they are traveling towards.
Their enemies (most predominately the New World Order) who have felt their wrath understand that the Scions of the Bug are, at the moment, virtually unstoppable, as their acts of terrorism are frustratingly coincidental in nature and excessively difficult to trace. Focusing on electronic warfare as well as specializing in combat oriented Correspondence magics, the Scions of the Bug are a big surprise to New World Order field operatives expecting an easy day’s work of “nerd clipping.” To date, the New World Order has lost at least two teams of Men in Black who were assigned with apprehending a suspect believed to be a Scion. The details of the exact whereabouts of the missing Men in Black has been heavily classified and/or dismissed as a falsehood by the New World Order.
The Scions of the Bug focus their efforts, just as the majority of Virtual Adepts, in Correspondence - the force which ties everything together. However, many also rely heavily on Entropy, Forces and sometimes Life magics to accomplish their goals and have also been known to employ Vulgar Magics with extreme efficiency in situations most dire.
Crite (Correspondence 3, Entropy 3, Matter 2 or, alternately, Matter 5)
This nasty little effect eats information, destroying it so that it can never be retrieved. It has an annoying ability to find the most important files and erase them, including their backups within related systems, password protection macros, encryption keys and so on.
Net Congestion (Correspondence 3)
Net Congestion is a sudden, coincidental amplification of all the problems that can occur within a computer network/enterprise - such as congestion, line noise, vanished datapackets, PDC failure, spooler or other service errors, server delay, etc. It has total control over data traffic, and can not only disrupt network connections, but also actually make a user (even a supernaturally enhanced user or machine) unable to interface with it for a duration based on successes scored.
Write Privilege (Correspondence 3, Mind 3 or Matter 1)
The Scion specifies a target and instantly downloads a MASSIVE amount of information from any immediate source (i.e., streetlight sensors, ATMs, automobile computers, electricity grids, etc.) into the target’s brain in its purest form; binary code. The result is a hurling of the target into a state of massive confusion and mental incapacity. Matter 1 may be substituted for Mind for use on computer systems.
“00” (Correspondence 3, Matter 2)
The Scion can convert any 32bit program into a 16bit program instantly, thus rendering the program(s), with very few exceptions, utterly useless on Y2K compliant data systems.
Millennium Blow (Correspondence 4, Forces 3)
The Mage is able to focus and manifest one single physical attack multiple times against the same target. System: The Mage rolls Dex + Brawl, difficulty 7. Although the caster throws only ONE punch, the number of successes on the Arete roll determines the multiplier for damage. If Prime 2 is added to this effect, all damage incurred by the target as a result of the multiplier is aggravated.
Millennium Bomb (Entropy 2 (or 3), Prime 4, Time 4)
By setting up a delayed, contingency effect, the mage places a time bomb onto a computer system. The Time and Entropy Spheres delay the effect until a preordained time or event, in this case, the year 2000. When the time comes, the computer system is charged with raw Quintessence, turning the computer into a puddle of metal and plastic slag. By adding Correspondence 3 to this effect, the mage can cause this bomb to run through computer networks.
