Choose Influence Trait

Influence reflects a mage's ability to affect the Sleeper community through channels of communication within the society. A mage character starts with 1 influence trait. .

Bureaucracy Church Finance Health High Society
Industry Legal Media Occult Police
Politics Street Transportation Underworld University

Bureaucracy

Back to Top

The organizational aspects of logical, state or even federal government fall within the character's shpere of control. He/ She can bend and twist the tangle of rules and regulations that seem necessary to run our society as he/ she sees fit. The character may have contacts or allies among government clerks, supervisors, utility workers, road crews, surveyors and numerous other civil servants.

Cost Desired Effect
1 Trace utility bills.
2 Fake a birth certificate or driver's licence. Disconect a small residence's utilities. Close a small road or park. Get public aid ($250)
3 Fake a death certificate, passport or green card. Close a public school for a single day. Turn a single utility on a block on or off. Shut down a minor business on a violation.
4 Initiate a phone tap. Fake land deeds. Initiate a department-wide investigation.
5 Start, stop or alter a city-wide program or policy. Shut down a big business on a violation. Rezone areas. Obliterate records of a person on a city and county level.
6 Arrange a fixed audit of a person or business.

Church

Back to Top

Even churches are not without politics and intrigue upon which an opportunistic Mage may capitalize. Church Influence usually only applies to mainstream faiths, such as Christianity, Judaism, Buddism, and the Islamic faith. Sometimes other practices fall under the Occult Influence. Contacts and allies affected by Church Influence include ministers, bishops, priests, activists, evangelists, whitch-hunters, nuns, and various church attendees and assistants.

Cost Desired Effect
1 Identify most secular members of a given faith in the local area. Pass a member of the clergy. Peruse general church records (baptism, marriage, burial, etc.)
2 Identify higher church members. Track regular congregation members. Suspend lay members.
3 Open or close a single church. Dip into the collection ($250) Find the average church-associated hunter. Access to private information and archives of church.
4 Discredit or suspend higher-level members. Manipulate regional branches.
5 Organize major protests. Access anciant church lore.
6 Borrow or access church relics or sacred items.
7 Use the resources of a Diocese.

Finance

Back to Top

The world teems with the trappings of affluence and the stories of the rich and famous. Mages with the Finance Influence speak this language of money and know where to find capital. They have a degree of access to banks, megacorporations and the truly wealthy citizens of the world. Such characters also have a wide variety of servants to draw upon, such as CEOs, bankers, corporate yes-men, financers, bank tellers, stock brokers and loan agents.

Cost Desired Effect
1 Earn money. Learn about major transactions and financial events. Raise capital ($1000) Learn about general economic trends. Learn real motivations for many financial actions of others.
2 Trace an unsecured small account. Raise capital to purchase a small business.
3 Purchase a arge business.
4 Manipulate local banking (delay deposits, credit alterations) Ruin a small business.
5 Control an aspect of citywide banking (shut off ATMs) Ruin a large business. Purchase a major company.
6 Spark an economic trend.

Health

Back to Top

In our modern world, a myriad of organizations and resources exists to deal with every mortal ache and ill, at least in theory. The network of health agencies, hospitals, asylums and medical groups is subject to exploitation by a Mage with Health Influence. Nurses, doctors, specialists, lab workers, therapists, counsellors and pharmacisits are just a few of the workers within the health field.

Cost Desired Effect
1 Access a person's health records. Use public functions of health centers at your leisure. Fake vaccination records and the like. Get a blood Trait.
2 Access to some medical research records. Have minor lab work done. Get a copy of coroner's report.
3 Instigate minor quarantines. Corrupt results of tests or inspections. Alter medical records.
4 Aquire a body. Completely rewrite medical records. Abuse grants for personal use ($250) Institute large scale quarantines. Shut down business for "health code violations"
5 Have special research projects performed. Have people institutionalized or released.

High Society

Back to Top

An elite clique of mortals exists that, by virtue of birth, possessions, talent or quirks of fate, hold themselves above the great unwashed masses. Hogh Society allows the character to direct and use the energies and actions of this exceptional mass of mortals. Among their ranks, one can find dilettantes, the old rich, movie and rock stars, artists of all sorts, wannabes, fashion models and trendsetters.

Cost

Desired Effect
1 Learn what is trendy. Learn about concerts, shows or plays well before the public. Obtain hard-to-get tickets for shows
2 Track most celebrities and luminaries. Be a local voice in the entertainment field. "Borrow" $1000 as idle cash from rich friends.
3 Crush promising careers. Hobnob well above your station.
4 Minor celebrity status.
5 Appear on a tlak show that's not about to be canceled. Ruin a new club, gallery, festival or other high society gathering.

Industry

Back to Top

The dark world of the Gothic-Punk milieu is built by pumping and grinding machinary and the toil of endless laborers. A characterwith the Industry Influence has his/ her fingers in this pie. Industry is composed of union workers, foremen, engineers, contractors, construction workers and manual laborers.

Cost Desired Effect
1 Learn about industrial projects and movements.
2 Have minor projects performed; Arrange small "accidents" Dip into union funds or embezzle petty cash ($500).
3 Organize minor strikes. Appropriate machinery for a short time.
4 Close down a small plant.
5 Manipulate large local industry.
6 Cut off production of a single resource in a small region.

Legal

Back to Top

The Mage presence is even present in the hallowed halls of justice and the courts, law schools, law firms, and justice bureaus within them. Inhabiting these halls are lawyers, judges, bailiffs, clerks, DAs, and attorneys.

Cost Desired Effect
1 Get free representation for small cases.
2 Avoid bail for some charges. Have minor charges droped.
3 Manipulate legal procedures (small wills, minor contracts, court dates) Access public or court funds ($250). Get good representation.
4 Issue subpoenas. Tie up court cases. Have most legal charges dropped. Cancel or arrange parole.
5 Close down all but the most serious investigations. Have deportation proceedings held against someone.

Media

Back to Top

The media serves as the eyes and ears of the world. While few in this day and age doubt that the news is not corrupted, many would be surprised at who closes these eyes and covers these ears from time to time. The media entity is composed of station directions, editors, reporters, anchors, camerapeople, photographers, and radio personalities.

Cost Desired Effect
1 Learn about breaking stories early. Submit small articles (within reason)
2 Suppress (but not stop) small articles or reports Get ahold of investigative reporting information.
3 Initiate news investigations and reports. Get project funding and waste it. ($250) Access media production resources. Ground stories and projects.
4 Broadcast fake stories (local only)

Occult

Back to Top

Most people are curious about the supernatural world and the various groups and beliefs that make up the occult world, but few consider it anything but a hoax, a diversion or a curiosity. They could not be farther from the truth. This Influence more than any other hits the Mage close to home and could very well bring humanity to its senses about just who and what shares this world with them. Among the occult community are cult leaders, alternative religious groups. charlatans, would-be-occultists and New Agers.

Cost Desired Effect
1 Contact and use common occult groups, practices. Know some of the more visible occult figures.
2 Know and contact some of the more obscure occult figures. Access resources for most rituals and rites.
3 Know the general vicinity of certain supernatural entities and possible contact them. Can access vital or very rare material components. Milk impressionable wannabes for bucks ($250). Access occult tomes and writings (part of alleged Book of Nod). Research a Basic Ritual.
4 Research an Intermediate Ritual.
5 Access minor magic items. Unearth an Advanced Ritual.
6 Research a new or unheard of ritual or rite from tomes or mentors.

Police

Back to Top

"To protect and serve" is a popular motto among the chosen enforcers of the law. But these days, even those ignorant of Mages have reason to coubt the law's ability to enact justice. Perhaps they should wonder whom the law defends, whom it serves and why. The Police Influence encompases the likes of beat cops, desk jockeys, prison guards, special divisions (such as SWAT and homicide), detectives and various clerical positions.

Cost Desired Effect
1 Learn police procedures. Police information and rumors. Avoid traffic tickets.
2 Have license plates checked. Avoid minor violations. Get "inside" information.
3 Find bureau secrets. Get copies of an investigation report. Have police hassle, detain or harass someone.
4 Access confiscated weapons or contraband. Start an investigation. Get money, either from evidence room or as an appropriation. ($1000) Have some serious charges dropped.
5 Institute major investigations. Arrange setups. Instigate bureau investigations. Have officers fired.
6 Paralyze departments for a time. Close down an investigation.

Politics

Back to Top

It is said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. If this is so, the movers and shakers among the Mages should be quite taken by the artful and cut-throat antics of their sleeper counterparts in the field of politics. Some of these individuals include statesmen, pollsters, activists, party menbers, lobbyists, candidates and the politicians themselves.

Cost Desired Effect
1 Minor lobbying. Identify real platforms of politicians and parties. Be in the know.
2 Meet small time politicians. Have a forwarning of processes and laws. Use a sluch fund or fund raiser ($1000).
3 Sway or alter political projects (local parks, renovations)
4 Enact minor legislation. Dash careers of minor politcians
5 Get your candidate in a minor office. Enact more encompassing legislature.
6 Block the passage of major bills. Suspend major laws temporarily Use state bureaus or subcommities.
7 Usurp countrywide politics. Subvert, to amoderate degree, statewide powers.
8 Call out a local division of the National Guard. Declare a state of emergency in a region.

Street

Back to Top

Disenchanted, disenfranchised and ignored by their "betters", an undercurrent of humanity has made its own culture and lifestyle to deal with the harsh lot life has dealt them. In the dark alleys and slums reside gang members, the homeless, street performers, petty criminals, prostitutes and the forgotten.

Cost Desired Effect
1 Has an ear open for the word on the street. Identify most gangs and know their turfs and habits.
2 Live moslty without fear on the underside of society. Keep a contact or two in most aspects of street life. Access small time contraband.
3 Often gets insight on ther areas of influence. Arrange some services from street people or gangs. Get pistols or uncommon melee weapons.
4 Mobilize groups of homeless. Panhandle ($250) Can have a word in almost all aspects of gang operations. Get hold of a shotgun, rifle or SMG
5 Control a single medium-size gang

Transportation

Back to Top

The world is in constant motion, its prosperity relying heavily on the fact that peole and productions fly, float or roll to and from every corner of the planet. Without the means to perform this monumental task, our "small" world quickly returns to a daunting orb with large, isolated stretches. The forces thatkeep theis circulation in motion include: cab and bus drivers, pilots, air traffic controllers, travel firms, sea captains, conductors, border guards and untold others.

Cost Desired Effect
1 A wizard at what goes where, when and why Can travel locally quickly and freely
2 Can track an unwary target if they use public transportation. Arrange passage safe from mundane threats (sunlight, etc.)
3 Seriously hamper an individual's ability to travel. Avoid most supernatural dangers when traveling
4 Temporarily shut down one form of mass transit. Route money your way ($500)
5 Reroute major modes of travel. Smuggle with impunity
6 Extend control to nerby areas
7 Isolate small or remote regions for a short period.

Underworld

Back to Top

Even in the most cosmopolitan of ages, society has found certain needs and services too questionable to accept, and in every age, some organized effort has stepped in to provide for this demand regardless of the risks. Among this often ruthless and dangerous crowd are the likes of hitmen, Mafia, Yazuka, bookies, fencers and launderers.

Cost Desired Effect
1 Locate minor contriband (knives, small-time drugs, etc.)
2 Obtain pistols, serious drugs, stolen cars, etc. Hire a muscle to rough someone up. Fence minor loot. Prove that crime pays (and score $1000)
3 Obtain rifle, shotgun or SMG Arrange a minor boost
4 White-collar crime connections
5 Arrange gangland assassinations. Hire a hitman or firebug Supply local drug needs

University

Back to Top

In an age where the quest for learning and knowledge begins in schools, colleges and universities, information becomes currency. University Influence represents a certain degree of control and perhaps involvement in these institutions. Within this shpere of Influence, one will find the teachers, professors, deans, students of all ages and levels, Greek orders and many young and impressionable minds.

Cost Desired Effect
1 Know layout and plicy of local schools Access to low level university resources. Get records up to the high school lovel
2 Know a contact or two with useful knowlege or skills Minor access to facilities Fake high school records Obtain college records
3 Faculty favors. Cancel a class. Fix grades. Discredit a student.
4 Organize student protests and rallies. Discredit faculty members. Aquire money through a grant ($1000)
5 Falsify and undergraduate degree
6 Arange major projects Alter curriculum institution-wide Free run of facilities.