Luckily, a savvy bureau can fake it. It’s one thing to flash some forged credentials and bark orders, but sometimes you need to take direct control. There isn’t time for a demon to establish a Cover and infiltrate, or for a werewolf to find the right spirit to give them guidance. You just need the people around you to understand that you know what’s best for everyone, so they should shut the hell up and do their damn jobs.
If everyone knew their place, things would be so much easier all around. The Deviant picks at his deformity, reinforcing his inhumanity so he can say what needs to be said. The hunter carefully pulls on her suit, imagining herself as the ruler she wants to emulate. The Sin-Eater adjusts a tarnished sheriff’s badge, taken from a lawman who ordered a bandit camp burned to the ground.
System: The cryptocrat can infiltrate and gain control over a mundane group, organization, or society on a local, immediate level. Success gives the user the Connected Condition for the vector’s duration (Chronicles of Darkness, p. 288), with the Condition resolving for the +3 bonus or fading for a Beat, when the vector ends. In addition, each success on the dice roll counts as one dot of the Status Merit, capped at five dots, within the local organization (Chronicles of Darkness, p. 54). If the cryptocrat needs or desires a particular level of Status, she can spend additional Willpower to add more successes to the roll on a one-for-one basis.
Upon a successful roll, characters in the immediate area believe the cryptocrat is an appropriately-ranked member of the organization in question. Any credentials are assumed to be in order, and even computers and security systems show the character as authorized. No physical elements (such as a security badge) are created, but the cryptocrat can request replacements for such “misplaced” items.
Once the effects of the power end, affected characters are confused and misremember the events that transpired. Manufactured access is revoked, and likely chalked up to computer error or equipment failure. Policies and demands the user put in place may slowly be reversed, depending on the efficiency and interests of the true leadership.
Cost: 1 Willpower, plus additional Willpower as needed.
Requirement: The user must be able to speak and must at least somewhat look the part of a leader. An unshaven man in shorts and flip-flops can take control over a San Francisco start-up, but not an Irish military base.
Dice Pool: Presence + Intimidation or Persuasion (de- pending on tactics)
Action: Instant Duration: One scene
Edges
Beasts, Changelings, Deviants, Prometheans: Sometimes, it’s better to know someone on the inside instead of being someone on the inside. These cryptocrats prefer lurking in the shadows. As such, users with this edge may choose to use their successes as phantom dots in the Contacts Merit (Chronicles of Darkness, p. 50) instead of Status. They can spend additional Willpower to increase successes, as with Status.
Demons: Infiltrating and taking on Cover identities are a demon’s bread and butter. Demonic cryptocrats with this edge can maintain their manufactured leadership for a whole story with the expenditure of an additional Willpower point.
Hunters, Sin-Eaters, Werewolves: Sometimes, a cryptocrat knows how important it is to keep close to a tight-knit group. As long as the group is not actively antagonistic to the cryptocrat, the Connected Condition persists after the vector duration expires.
Mages, Mummies, Vampires: Some cryptocrats naturally acquire lackeys, entourages, and cults. Humans are drawn to such creatures, even after the thrill and chaos of sudden leadership has come and gone. Once the story has concluded, users with this edge can purchase two dots in the Contacts or Allies Merits for only one Experience. Once the next story starts, this cost reduction is lost. Other Merits may be acquired instead at Storyteller discretion.
Specializations
Cephalists: These psychic Remade are skilled at picking up on personality tells possessed by the individual they’re imitating. If the cryptocrat is taking on someone else’s persona, they gain +2 dice to all rolls involved in impersonating that individual. This specialization doesn’t work if they have created a new persona from nothing or an amalgamation of identities.
The Cheiron Group: The Cheiron Group understands acquisitions, mergers, and other long-term power grabs. Members of this conspiracy know how to leverage even the faintest whiff of authority into something concrete. With the expenditure of an additional Willpower, cryptocrats with this specialization can maintain their ephemeral Status for an entire story. In addition, once the story has concluded, they can immediately spend Experience to purchase Status in that organization, up to the amount granted through the use of The Boss Is In.