Embeds

An Embed is a rule or natural law already hard-coded into the workings of the world that a demon can tap for a specific effect. For a mundane example, consider a child who knows of a loose board in a neighbor’s fence. He can move the board, take a shortcut through the neighbor’s yard, and save himself the time of running around the block. Anyone could do that, provided they have the same knowledge the child does (that is, that the board is loose) and that they can fit through the opening thus created.

Embeds work much the same way. Any demon can learn any Embed. The demon simply has to remember that the groundwork is there. As angels, all servants of the God Machine are aware of these pathways, but they make use of them differently. Angels do not make conscious effort to use Embeds, they are able to do so simply as part of their missions. Going back to the example of the loose board in the fence, consider a dog or a cat that simply noses the board aside to get through. The animal doesn’t think of the fence as a barrier or the loose board as an anomaly; for all it knows, that loose board was put there specifically to allow it passage. When a demon falls, she loses this instinctive, subconscious understanding of the world and must relearn these supernatural secrets. When she does, she is able to use Embeds in specific ways.

Embeds are not spells. They do not require ritual, sacrifice, or even specific knowledge or skill to use. A demon might justifiably liken remembering an Embed to a stroke victim relearning how to walk or ride a bicycle. The neural pathways are already in place and the muscle memory is there, it’s just a matter of training the body to reactivate these things.

Angels have different capabilities based on their missions. An angel doesn’t normally think to question whether it can make use of mystical subroutines that it hasn’t specifically been instructed to use, both because most angels don’t question their missions and because, again, these subroutines aren’t something that angels generally think about. That said, an angel that does start to consider these subroutines — thinking about the framework of reality, rather than just using it — might be getting close to falling. Once an angel does fall, she finds that certain types of Embeds are easier to remember than others, depending on her Incarnation.

Systems
Embeds fall into one of four categories, roughly corresponding to branches of the musica universalis, also called the “music of the spheres.” This Medieval concept referred to the movements of celestial bodies through space.

It wasn’t thought to refer to actual, audible music, but rather to the mathematical or philosophical implications of those movements. The “music,” then, was the imperceptible system that guided the cosmos. Some demons with a bent for Medieval or Classical philosophy refer to the God-Machine’s mystical subroutines as the “music of the spheres.”

Embeds have two basic applications. They function on a literal level and a conceptual one. That is, a Mundane Embed might enable a demon to remain unremarked (the literal application), while a different Embed might enable the demon to remove focus on a topic of discussion (conceptual). The four categories of Embeds are:

Mundane: These Embeds help a demon stay unnoticed and incognito. Conceptually, they deal with the notions of concealing, obfuscation and forgetting. Psychopomps find these powers easier to learn.

Instrumental: These Embeds allow the demon to affect material objects and machines. On a conceptual level, they deal with timing, precision and utility. Guardians have an affinity for them.

Vocal: Demons use these Embeds to exert influence over people and other thinking beings. Conceptually, they relate to communication, revelation and realization. Messengers make easiest use of Vocal Embeds.

Cacophony: The Embeds of chaos, violence and disharmony. Their concepts are destruction, renewal and entropy. Obviously, they are the purview of the Destroyers. 

Resisting Embeds
Most Embeds list a trait to subtract from the players roll, while a few are contested actions (Embeds that do not target a specific person do not apply resistance traits, obviously). These resistance traits are optional, however. Whether or not to use them is a Storyteller’s decision, and that decision should be based on how challenging the action is, what the circumstances are, and who the target is.

For example, a ring of demons infiltrates a hospital to find a woman currently incarcerated in the psychiatric ward. One of them decides to use the Authorized Embed (p. 140) to get past the nurse at the door to the ward. The roll for this Embed is Manipulation + Intimidation – Intelligence. The Storyteller needs to consider whether to bother having the player subtract the nurse’s Intelligence from the roll. In making this decision, the Storyteller considers:

• How important is it that this roll succeeds? The characters need to get into this ward, but they possess multiple other avenues of approach if this fails. If it were critical that the characters get in right now, the Storyteller should just forego the roll and inform the player that the Embed works.
• Who is the target? That is, is the target an important character? Is she likely to show up later? Does the Storyteller have plans for her? Does she have a particular reason to suspect the characters?
• What does the scene gain by a greater chance of failure? Failing an Embed can lead to discovery. It can also lead to a player choosing a dramatic failure, which is generally more exciting and gives the player a Beat. On the other hand, if the Embed is just a means to an end, a way to get to a more interesting scene, don’t bother with the resistance roll.
• How much would a resistance trait hurt the character’s chances? Embed rolls are Attributes + Skills. That means a starting character could have as much as 10 dice in a pool or as few as two. Subtracting an average person’s resistance Attribute (two dice) won’t cripple a character with a six dice, but if she only has four, she is now forced to spend a Willpower point or suffer a very real chance of failure. If that chance makes things more interesting, include the resistance trait. If not, skip it.

In this case, the Storyteller decides that this nurse is no one in particular and not likely to have an ongoing effect on the chronicle. The player’s dice pool is seven without modifiers, meaning even with a modifier it won’t hurt the character’s chances much. The Storyteller is more interested in moving the scene into the psych ward (where an angel is waiting to pounce), so she just has the player roll his unmodified dice pool.

The point to all this is not to be slavishly devoted to a notion of “balance” or “realism.” Instead, consider what the action means in terms of the story. Don’t worry about being “fair” to the Storyteller characters — they aren’t the important ones. The challenges the players’ characters face should be real challenges. If a security guard or a lone cultist is just there as a reminder that the situation is serious, don’t worry so much about representing his traits. Put another way, if Jason Bourne or James Bond wouldn’t expend more than one punch or one bullet on the guy, don’t bother with a resistance trait.

The reverse of this, of course, is that characters with names, important roles to play in the story, defined traits, or a supernatural pedigree should always have resistance traits included. If an enemy demon uses an Embed on a player’s demon, that roll should be penalized or contested. Or, if it’s very important to the story that a power work on the player’s demon, consider offering a Beat to forego the roll entirely.

Consider what resistance means, too. For a power like Eavesdrop (p. 149), “resisting” the power probably means that the person or group being targeted notices the demon. But the power itself relies on the demon reading body language and lip movements to determine meaning, not literally to hear words. So is a resistance trait really appropriate? Eavesdrop doesn’t include one, but if you as Storyteller feel that the targets of the power could reasonably notice the demon and it’s in the interests of the story that they do so, make a Perception roll for the targets. If that roll succeeds, the targets see the demon and probably get a sense that their being spied on. This approach works well across the board and is in-theme with Demon’s themes of techgnostic espionage: You can realize that someone is spying on you, but you’ll never reliably prevent it.