- Majestic 12's Wonderful Toys
- Setting Information for
Call of Cthulhu/Delta Green
From: Morrigan (aj_hide11@hotmail.com)
Date: Sunday, December 28th , 2003
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- "A number of psychoactive substances,
ranging from outright drugs to chemical agents and even tailored
viruses have been yielded to Majestic-12's efforts from a number
of sources: derivatives of the MK-ULTRA experiments, "gifts"
from the Greys, and even mundane substances used in novel ways.
Majestic-12, makes use of these substances when it wishes to
engage in social engineering. It has often proved highly useful
to Majestic-12 for people, usually in large numbers, to think
or feel a certain way. Social engineering via drug therapy is
the way they prefer to do this, although other means exist. Some
of the more interesting of the substances they use include include:
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- YAL-44E ("Happy Worker" pills): Popular among those without full knowledge of what
YAL-44E does or how it does it. If YAL-44E is taken a short time
before a task where being more focused, enthusiastic, and motivated
would matter, YAL-44E produces an almost euphoria while the individual
is working (and a +15% increased chance of succes to relevant
skill rolls), and symptoms akin to drug withdrawal when the subject
can no longer perform the task in question (the subject must
match its CON against YAL-44E's 17 POT on the resistance table;
failing the contest costs the subject 1 point of SAN and a Hit
Point). YAL-44E is very popular amongst employers whose work
sites include assembly lines or a lot of repetitive activity,
and is a key source of funding for Majestic-12 from the auto
industry. It is popular in the cafeterias and snack food dispensers
of large corporations, with popularity growing on university
campuses, where Majestic-12 is actively conducting social engineering
to emphasize analytical thinking over synthesis (which helps
keep the Secret Masters secret). YAL-44E is addictive, and has
detrimental effects on the mind of a person taking it over prolonged
periods. Persons who use Happy Worker pills for a long time become
focused and super-talented at a single task or group of tasks,
and a drooling, docile idiot outside that one beloved function.
Both Majestic-12 and those who buy YAL-44E from it see little
wrong with this effect.
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- After a number of doses equal to the subject's
CON, and every time the subject has taken this number of doses,
the subject must make a resistance table check pitting it's CON
against YAL-44E's POT 17. Failure means addiction. If the subject
cannot get at least one dose of YAL-44E in a number of days equal
to its CON score, the subject enters painful withdrawal: the
subject must make a SAN check before performing any activity
which requires any effort or concentration (this means any action
for which dice must be rolled). Once a subject is addicted to
YAL-44E, every time the subject has taken a number of doses equal
to its CON score, the subject loses 1d6 SAN, 1 point of INT,
or 1 point of EDU, at the Keeper's discretion.
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- AAG-732 ("Neophobia"): The effects of a single dose of Neophobia last approximately
2 days. During that time, anything novel or new to the subject's
experience produces a highly uncomfortable panic reaction, which
can range from simple vague unease to outright heart palpitations
(a SAN check is required every time the character encounters
something new or different; failure costs 1d6 SAN). New types
of food seem repulsive, travel unthinkable, and strangers harbingers
of doom. The subject's reactions to a whole host of stimuli seem
paranoid, as AAG-732 creates feelings of loathing towards change
and difference. Any attempt to break out of the drug's programming
produces a highly uncomfortable physical reaction, once more
similar to drug withdrawal (any action which requires a dice
roll can only be attempted if a SAN check has first been passed).
When the new and different makes you retch, homogeneity and blandness
become comfort.
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- Homo Tintus:
This is a tailored virus that plays havoc with the skin pigmentation
centers of the subject's body. There are a whole host of formulations
of Homo Tintus, but they all have the effect of altering the
skin color of a person of one ethnic group to match the skin
color of a member of another. Hair and broad features are unaffected,
so additional means are required to make the deception 100% effective,
but to cursory examination, and especially if the subject has
his or her capacity for reasoning diminished for the duration
of the drug's effect (which is about two days), the effect is
substantial enough. Homo Tintus causes no damage, and is not
addictive, but finding your skin color abruptly changed could
cost you 1d3 SAN if you fail your check.
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- "I Hate You Drops": Actually not a single drug, but a family of failed
aphrodisiacs, all the various types of "I Hate You Drops"
decrease comfort and increase feelings of fear and isolation.
Some are used on large numbers of people at a time, while the
most potent "I Hate You Drop", PLT-4, totally eradicates
the capacity of the subject for love, and is usually administered
to one or two individuals at a time. PLT-4 finds a lot of use
in swinging liberal politicians to a more satisfying right instance.
Those who have been dosed with PLT-4 become ruthless and uncaring,
almost sociopathic (they can never lose SAN as a result of an
action they have taken, or from witnessing something bad happen
to someone else). PLT-4 does not remove the capacity for loyalty,
just for caring and sympathy. It can give someone the mental
disorder sociopathy.
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- Fnord, or the Fear and Loathing Drug:
Majestic-12 goes to great lengths
to keep as much of the entire world's water supply topped up
with Fnord (this makes countries with large reserves of fresh
water, like Canada and Finland, strategic enemies because dosing
their entire water supply with Fnord would be prohibitively expensive).
Anyone dosed with Fnord will find their levels of stress and
anxiety growing exponentially (a SAN roll must be made daily,
losing 1d6 SAN if failed, just to get on with life). In particular,
media buzz words like "infomercial", "information
superhighway", "Generation X", and "gridlock"
for example, cause shudders of panic and revulsion (at the Keeper's
discretion, hearing any such buzz word or encountering some novel
item could require a SAN check to prevent the loss of 1d3 points).
The subject becomes more isolated, more paranoid, and ultimately,
more willing to support, or fail to object to the decrees of
authority. Fnord will play a major role in facilitating world
conquest Majestic-12 - it is a world conquest facilitator, because
it conditions those dosed with it to seek authority figures.
Fnord is a chemical triumph over the concept of the individual,
with incidental side effects on digestion (Fnord created the
antacid industry) and social confidence.
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- Deadhead: Like
Fnord, Majestic-12 tries mightily to keep as many people doped
up on Deadhead as they can. Deadhead isn't just one drug but
two: a powerful tailored enzyme that seeks out and starves the
portions of the brain responsible for psychic ability of glucose,
keeping all but the most powerful psychics unable to use their
higher mind powers. The other part of Deadhead is an alchemical
drug that reduces the subject's ability to sense and employ the
natural energies which constitute magic. Further, Deadhead programs
those dosed with it to doubt the existence of psychic ability
and magic, to the point where a Deadhead victim will go to illogical
lengths to explain away magic and psychic ability as something
perfectly ordinary (Fnord making sure that the subject is almost
violently ill until said explanation is formulated).
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- Every day that a person is dosed up on Deadhead,
they regenerate 1 less Magic Point normally, during sleep, until
no Magic Points are regenerated at all, and the afflicted individual
has 0 Magic Points.
- These persons are awake, conscious, and able
to function in their daily lives, but they feel run down, perpetually
tired, and have no Magic Points to use on spells or psychic talents.
When and if a person goes off Deadhead, they will regenerate
1 additional Magic Point normally, during sleep each night, until
the character is regenerating Magic Points normally once more.
Thus, it takes just as long for the effects of Deadhead to wear
off as it did for them to appear in the first place.
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- FLU-BE: Or Deskeleton: This compound finds calcium deposits within the subject's
body and converts them into a sort of super-tough, highly flexible
gelatin. After about 2 hours (which is how long it takes for
FLU-BE to have complete effect), the subject is essentially boneless
- and immobile. This state is non-fatal, if a little hard on
the heart and lungs, and a person can persist in this state for
ages. Suitably amorphous, someone dosed with FLU-BE can be mailed
in standard containers, confined to a drawer or bottle, and thousands
of other grotty fates. The effects are permanent. Once a person
is dosed with FLU-BE, they must match their CON against FLU-BE's
POT 50 on the resistance table (success is highly unlikely).
Once FLU-BE has taken full effect, the victim becomes something
like "liquid human" with no rigidity at all. The character
has an effective STR, DEX, Damage Bonus and Move of 0. Hit points
and armor points are unaffected, so a character could conceivably
be a very tough organic puddle. A character dosed up with FLU-BE
cannot take damage from kinetic energy, but does take damage
normally from heat, cold, electricity, and spells. Liquified
humans cannot communicate or do anything more than breathe and
respire. A human being takes up about 1 cubic foot of volume
per SIZ point, and someone liquified with FLU-BE can be packed
into any suitable container.
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- However there is an anti-dote, which takes
about 20 minutes to work. The antidote is highly addictive and
slightly poisonous - lethally poisonous if taken without FLU-BE
in the system. Thus, secondary addictions have appeared, which
will continue until an alternative to the antidote is developed.
Majestic-12 hasn't bothered.
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- The antidote also has a POT of 50, which
must be tested against each time the antidote is administered
to resist addiction. If a person becomes addicted to FLU-BE antidote,
they will seek out liqification, so they can be rehardened again.
This is better role played than done with game rules. Inevitably
a mistake will bemade, resulting in physical trauma (see below).
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- By the way, administering the antidote to
a person in a suitably confined or otherwise "not human
shaped" container is NASTY. Bones try to return to their
original shape and stiffness. If you're inside a toilet tank,
for example, when this happens, SNAP, CRACKLE, POP.
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- Unless someone receiving FLU-BE antidote
is a puddle on the floor or the like, they will encounter the
confines of their present container as they reharden. This will
never be fatal damage, but the Keeper is free to assign any damage
value short of fatality he or she likes to reflect the...discomfort
of this experience.
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- Another amusing way to turn human bodies
into something more interesting is the drug Popcorn, extracted
from the insulating material of a UFO and injected into unsuspecting
test subject "volunteers" for fun on a slow Sunday
afternoon. Any living thing injected with Popcorn quickly breaks
down into thousands of tiny, hibernating globules very much like
Styrofoam packing materials. A second chemical sprayed onto this
possibly organic stuff causes them to start popping, messily
reforming the original subject, healthy and unharmed, if a little
groggy. Unharmed, that is, if all the original popcorn is present
when the antidote is administered. This compound is still highly
experimental, since Majestic-12's chemists didn't develop it
themselves. It is only used for emergencies and occasional sordid
amusement.
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- Popcorn has a POT 50: Failure to resist results in becoming something like
Styrofoam packing peanuts. The character is essentially invulnerable
to kinetic energy in this state, since impact just makes more,
smaller, globules. Heat, cold, and electricity cause damage normally.
The subject is not conscious, and can take no actions, having
no need to eat or breathe. Provided all the necessary globules
are present, the subject can be safely returned to normal with
the countra-spray. However, if you do not have all the globules,
potentially substantial damage - including fatal damage - can
be inflicted. It is the Keeper's discretion how much damage is
done, but 1 SIZ point of missing globules should work out to
1d6 HP of damage."
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