Page 176 - Chronicles of Darkness

Once the occult matrix is achieved, the angel arrives to • Mortal Politics: The God-Machine has subverted a
carry out the God-Machine’s will. The God-Machine prob- politician’s pork project in order to construct a massive
ably has no immediate need to bring more such angels, so it stone edifice. Officially, this is a war monument, but
has no further use for the six obelisks. At this point it sends it’s actually the focal point of an occult matrix that is
in scrubbing Infrastructure. If it does not foresee ever us- the goal of the God-Machine’s project. If funding for
ing the obelisks again, these scrubbers destroy the obelisks, the construction were to be suddenly cut off, however,
eliminate witnesses, and reassign the God-Machine’s servants the God-Machine would have to find some other way
to new projects. If it calculates a future use for the obelisks, to finish the project or give it up for lost.
the scrubbers leave them in place but eliminate those who
know about the sacrifices to prevent any investigators from • Communications Disruption: The God-Machine
learning about the obelisks’ function in the occult matrix. has set up a communications hub in a post office in
Oregon. Its gears type thousands of letters per week
Linchpin and mail them to most of the God-Machine’s mor-
tal pawns on the West Coast. These letters contain
Mortal and supernatural infrastructure alike has weak instructions to coordinate activity on dozens of the
points that can be attacked to shut the whole thing down. God-Machine’s projects. None of the postal employees
A house has lights, internet access, air conditioning, and know the gears are there, but someone who intercepts
every other modern convenience, but cut just one wire that enough of these communiques could notice that all
leads to the electrical grid, and all that stops working. The the envelopes are coming from the same origin city.
Infrastructure of each of the God-Machine’s projects also has Stop those letters, and many of the God-Machine’s
vulnerabilities called Linchpins. projects could collapse.
A linchpin is the little pin that prevents the wheel from
sliding off the axle or, more generally, something that holds • The Man at the Top: The God-Machine appoints
everything together. A Linchpin is a point in the God- an angel to take charge of a project disguised as a
Machine’s Infrastructure that is weakest in some way. It corporation. The company’s CEO never gives press
may be a spot where the gears are poorly hidden or loosely conferences in person and strictly forbids any cameras
guarded, a particularly-exact occult matrix that can easily be on the same floor as his office. On those occasions
disrupted, or Infrastructure that requires constant mainte- when he leaves his office, all security cameras in his
nance or input. path are turned off. Why? Because while the angel
• Suspicious Front: The front the God-Machine uses to can hide its nature from the human eye, it looks like
conceal its project is particularly flimsy. For example, an angel in any photography.
a gas station near a lonely highway hasn’t updated • Breeding Project: The God-Machine intends for a
its prices in many years, so that it has the cheapest particular boy to fall in love with a certain girl because
gasoline this side of 1990, all the newspapers and it projects that their offspring will have a trait it needs
magazines in the convenience store are 20 years old, for a future project. Coincidences abound to drive
and the snack food has long since expired. The average the pair together, and it is probably only a matter of
passerby may take advantage of the cheap fill-up with- time, now. Of course, if one of them were to die, be
out noticing the low rumble in the ground below, but kidnapped, or simply fall in love with someone else,
chances are he won’t come that way again. Someone the God-Machine’s project will fail.
looking for signs of God-Machine Infrastructure,
however, is more likely to investigate further. • The Occupation: A large group of seemingly-invulner-
able monsters occupies a small town and imprisons its
• Unfaithful Servant: Someone working on one the entire population. Even an investigator 10 miles away
God-Machine’s projects turns traitor or just shoots can tell that something is definitely going on down there
off his mouth at the wrong time. This living piece of just by looking through a pair of binoculars — circles of
Infrastructure probably doesn’t know a tenth of what standing stones, daily human sacrifices, and even more
he thinks he does, but he knows enough to jeopardize chilling sights. Rescue attempts seem hopeless. The
the completion of the occult matrix.
creatures are too tough to fight and not quite stupid
• Lazy Scrubbers: The creatures the God-Machine enough to trick. However, they are incredibly vulnerable
sends to scrub a piece of obsolete Infrastructure do to a commonly-available substance. Can enough of it
a half-assed job or get interrupted in the middle of be brought into play to defeat these monsters before
their work, and they leave behind some clue to the the God-Machine brings in reinforcements?
truth that investigators may discover. This may include • Seraphim: Once brought forth by an occult matrix,
hints about the purpose of the angel summoned by most angels have ways to stay in this world until the
the scrubbed Infrastructure — maybe even enough for God-Machine no longer needs them, but the angel
someone to stop it.
directing the God-Machine’s current project is not
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