Cetiah's Identity Rules, Social Engineering, Part I Options

[cetiah]

Introduction

Judas Samson lived a quiet, unassuming life. He had a clean, well-kept apartment in a middle-class neighborhood. He worked as a sales associate for a small shipping firm that required him to travel frequently. His neighbors rarely saw much of him, but when they did, he was polite and kind, though a little detached. He didn't really know anybody so he stayed in his apartment when he was in town. His work kept him very busy. The place was well-kept; Mr. Samson had a maid that came in once a week to clean the place up and water the plants. He was, in all ways, a nearly perfect UCAS citizen.

There was just one problem: Mr. Samson didn't exist.

Mr Samson, you see, was little more than a network of information, cleverly disguised to look like a person. He had a registered SIN, a decent credit score, bank accounts, earned a regular wage from what looked like a legitimate business, paid his taxes, and even subscribed to various Matrix services that logged regular usage. A physical investigation revealed that Mr Samson had his own apartment, neighbors that vouced for him - although they thought him somewhat aloof. His apartment and car were regularly used, though not by Mr Samson but by a hired proxy assigned to come in every few weeks and spend a couple days pretending to be Mr Samson.

On 3/11/2070, this proxie was arrested and interrogated by Lone Star security services, but no information was forthcoming. The man didn't know the identity of his employer. He had a regular SIN with no criminal record and "housekeeping" an apartment really isn't a crime. The apartment and everything in it was confiscated by Lone Star security, but to this day, no one knows how much of Mr Samson's previous activity (and there's an extensive datatrail of activity) was fictitiously maintained and how much was actually used illegally by someone pretending to be this other person, Mr Samson. Even SeaSide Shipping - a legitimate Long Beach-based shipping firm - didn't know that their field sales representative was nothing more than information - information that did its job quite well, though not well enough to stand out among their other employees.

Unknown to most people, an entire underground sub-culture exists specifically for the creation, enhancement, and maintenence of "Alternate Identities", unassuming disguises brokered out as networks of information ready for purchase. Sold and maintained by "Fabricators" who traffic in illegal information, these alternate identities conisist of fake SINs, database registries, Matrix subscriptions, and many other sources of records used in indentity verification that have either been illegally brokered, stolen, or fraudulantly created. In addition to the extensive datatrail supporting them, these Alternate Identities have their own physical assets such as apartments, appliances, cars, and often, even cash. An Alternate Identity can buy goods as effectively as a real person, allowing whoever owns, controls, or manages the Alternate Identity to get active use out of these items without any restrictions beyond the possibility of accidently exposing the Alternate Identity's fradulant nature.



Inherent Identity (ID)

All people everywhere have an Inherent Identity. In the case of registered citizens, that Inherent Identity is cataloged with a System Identitification Number (SIN) that allows citizens to interact with the political, economic, and demographic systems of modern society. There are some people who exist as "shadows", people whose identity is largely unknown except by whisper and rumor and who have no SIN to record their existence.

Each Inherent Identity has an associated Lifestyle, representing the quality of life that person is living at any given time. Since "Shadows" can not have a lifestyle without a SIN, they are limited to having only a Street Lifestyle. However, the use of Alternate Identities allows them to bypass this restriction.

In addition to a Lifestyle, an inherent identity also owns certain property, has certain assets, knows certain people, has a certain reputation, subscribes to certain services, and has certain legal registrations and licenses. A person's inherent identity (ID) must be protected thoroughly with all possible prejudice, because an expert identity thief can take all of this away. There have been rumors of people that have become SINless after suffering from such an attack while a Shadow identity thief assimiliates the victim's identity to maintain a profile of Alternate Identities to further his Shadowrunning career. However, even if this were to happen, an Inherent Identity (ID) can never be assumed; but its contents and the things it owns (even its SIN) can be stolen by an Alternate Identity. The thief retains his old Inherent Identity in addition to any Alternate Identity he has, and the SINless victim retains his Inherent Identity, however worthless it might be now.

An Inherent Identity is permanent, but the records, property, and reputation belonging to is not. In some cases, they may not even be real, but represent benefits being supplied by the real assets of Alternate Identities.

An Inherent Identity has 6 inherent qualities under limited control of its owner: credentials, lifestyle, rep, assets, property, and contacts. In addition, it also has a "heat" attribute measuring how likely it is at any given time that authorities have tracked his activities and are seeking him out.

Fake Identities (FID)

A fake identity can be created through the clever manipulation of public and private records for the purposes of bypassing electronic identity-verification checks, which is the most common form of identity-verification used by all civilian, military, corporate, and government identity inspections. The first step in any criminal investigation is the Matrix-based investigation of someone's identity, including any information to speculate about their recent activities, associates, and whereabouts.

A fake ID is the first line of defense against such an investigation. A good fake ID will not only appear to be ligitimate, but it will enhance that facade by the use of numerous reinforcement techniques to make the ID appear as a legal and actively used ID, with its own SIN, it's own history, monetary transactions, data records, and even "clean bill of health" inspection certificates from previous Matrix investigations conducted on that Fake ID by various inspection services. Some Fake IDs won't even sell unless the buyer has proof that the Fake ID has gone through and passed at least one Lone Star, Knight Errant, Wolverine Security inspection.

A Fake ID has numerous other benefits, too, because along with manipulating the data, a Fabricator can manipulate its credentials. Want electronic verification to prove that you work for Evo Engineering? No problem. A permit to carry a firearm? Need to convince someone that you're a Lone Star officer? With a little tweaking, a Fake ID can be made to actually show electronic verification of Lone Star employment information. Obviously, unless someone can get access to various Lone Star databases, this Fake ID won't pass a thorough inspection. Fake IDs have a rating to measure their quality, the amount of effort and resources spent setting them up, and their likelihood to pass any kind of inspection or verification process. These ratings range from 1-6.

A Fake Identity (Fake ID) has 2 inherent qualities under limited control of its owner: credentials and assets. In addition, it has 1 assumed qualities that are not under its owner's control: heat.



Alternate Identities (AID)

While Fake IDs are immensely useful, Alternate Identities are becoming more popular among "Shadows", and thus, among the Fabricators that cater to them. But it's not just "Shadows" that need Alternate Identities. For many people trying to cheat the system, Alternate Identities represent the easiest and best way to hide from authority while crossing social and legal boundaries, either on a temporary or permanent basis.

An Alternate Identity includes a Fake ID, but includes real property attached to it. Not only can you make it appear that Judas Sampson bought a car in 2068, but there actually *is* a car registered under his ownership. Usually these Alternate Identities are under management by employees of the Fabricator (whether they know it or not), and usually consists of adolescents paid minimal fees to live in an apartment a few days a month, or to drive the car around for awhile, or to subscribe to Matrix services, and for all intents and purposes, to be you. A decent Fabricator will provide these services for minimal charge, and use his network of cheap (and legal) labor to maintain hundreds of Alternate IDs at once. At anytime, for any reason, the owner of the Alternate Identity can assume responsibility for maintaining it, so many Alternate Identities are used as "safehouses", ensuring the owner always has somewhere to go that's well stocked, clean, and completely anonymous. Many "Shadows" involved in criminal enterprises choose to adopt a new Alternate Identity every month or after every criminal activity, ensuring that they can always "start fresh".

An Alternate Identity has the same 6 inherent qualities of an Inherent Identity, under limited control of its owner: credentials, lifestyle, rep, assets, property, and contacts. In addition, it also has a "heat" attribute associated with it that its owner does not directly control. In every way that matters, the Alternate Identity can function to completely replace your inherent identity whenever needed. If the owner needs to, he can only assume part of the identity when needed, and only on a temporary basis, if desired. For example, if someone owns an Alternate Identity that owns a car, they can choose to make use of that car whenever needed. If pulled over and asked for credentials by authorities, they will use the credentials of the Alternate Identity. Each Alternate Identity also comes with a library of information about that Alternate Identity that is uploaded to the owner's comlink. Just in case.

Heat
All identities have a "Heat" value assigned to it by the GM. Hopefully, these Heat values are 0 when you purchase/establish the identity. If the Identity has a Rep score higher than 0, the Heat value can never fall below the Rep score. The Heat value represents the amount of attention, suspicion, investigation, problems, or risks associated with using or maintaining the identity. If the Heat value gets high enough, the Identity becomes "tagged". A Tagged Identity can be hard to get rid of, and as long as you have it, you can expect nothing but trouble unless you immediately "Go To Ground" (see Social Engineering Part III for "Going To Ground" rules).

Heat is bad. Tagged is worse. Heat gets you tags. Got it? Keep your identities clean.


Credentials

The most important credential of all is the "SIN", a System Identification Number that registers the identity as a legal entity and permits many every-day activities that the SINless don't have access to. Pretty much anything that ever requires getting an account anywhere, storing or verifying confidential information, or involving any need for security, involve a SIN. This includes such things as opening a bank account, subscribing to Matrix services, purchasing an expensive item (legally), or getting into a restricted or high-publicity area (legally). Without a SIN, a person can not do these things. Your credentials include your SIN, your name, and any licenses and permits registered to it.



Asset
When we talk about the assets belonging to different Identities, we're basically talking about money. Nuyen. Each identity with a SIN can have a registered bank account to store your money and conduct secure transactions. In fact, a certain amount of money must sit in this bank account to represent the accumulated savings and checking funds of the identity. The amount of money that should sit in these funds is based on lifestyle. A good Fabricator will automatically make regular withdrawals and deposits with this fund (usually with a program made to do so), representing regular activity for different affairs for the purposes of leaving a datatrail that enhances the legitimacy of the identity. Every day (or partial day) that the savings associated with the identity fall below its minimum requirement or rise above its maximum limit, the identity will gain 1 point of Heat. The minimum requirements and maximum limits are associated with the identity's Lifestyle.


Lifestyle
Each identity has a lifestyle associated with it.

If it's a FAKE ID, the lifestyle itself is falsified and can contain any information you want. If you want it to read that you're broke and in debt, than that's what it will say. If you want it to say that you live a life of amazing luxery, that's what it'll have. But this isn't really a lifestyle, this is just the credentials that verify (falsely) that the identity has that lifestyle.

Alternate Identities truly have a lifestyle. They have rented apartments and cars, people that introduce themselves to your neighbors, sometimes bribed neighbors, utility bills with regular usage, food, trash, sometimes plants and pets, local payments to gangs "for protection". You name it. They've got a lifestyle, and the owner of the identity can borrow it whenever he wants to, for as long as he wants. Anytime he wants to, he can replace his current Inherent Identity Lifestyle with one of his Alternate Identity Lifestyles with no problem. Effectively, the two identities then share this lifestyle. When he wants to switch, he just assumes another lifestyle from another Alternate Identity.

A minimum rating is required for each level of lifestyle. In addition, for each level of lifestyle, certain minimum requirements and maxmimum limits are sent for nuyen savings for that lifestyle. In addition, the level of lifestyle determines the identity's credit value (discussed under Property, below).

Street Lifestyle
Minimum ID Rating: ---
Minimum Savings: 0
Maximum Savings: 0
Credit Value: 0

Squatter Lifestyle
Minimum ID Rating: 1
Minimum Savings: 800
Maximum Savings: 1,800
Credit Value: 2,000

Low Lifestyle
Minimum ID Rating: 2
Minimum Savings: 3,200
Maximum Savings: 7,200
Credit Value: 8,000

Middle Lifestyle
Minimum ID Rating: 4
Minimum Savings: 8,000
Maximum Savings: 18,000
Credit Value: 20,000

High Lifestyle
Minimum ID Rating: 6
Minimum Savings: 16,000
Maximum Savings: 36,000
Credit Value: 40,000

Luxury Lifestyle
Minimum ID Rating: 8
Minimum Savings: 160,000
Maximum Savings: 300,000
Credit Value: 400,000



Property

Legitimate identities (or identities that appear to be legitimate) can access sources of funds far beyond the owner's capabilities. Various social systems allow for this, but regardless of how we go about it, the ability to legally purchase items without paying for them is measured in this game by an identity's Credit Value, which is determined by his lifestyle.

An identity's credit value can be especially useful when attempting to perform such activities as buying a car or house. Whenever a character wants to buy an item using his identity's credit value,

A character must have a SIN to possess a credit score, and any items bought with that identity can only transfer ownership to other identities that have SINs. Remember that if you transfer equipment from a "tagged" identity, the equipment is still "tagged" and the identity recieving the item will likewise be "tagged" immediately upon receiving it. (See Tagging an Identity, below)

When a character attempts to purchase property, he rolls a Charisma + Con test against the Verification Rating. The Verification Rating is the price of the item he wants to buy, divided by the identity's Credit Value, rounded up. Add the identity's Heat value to the Verification Rating. If the Verification Rating scored any net hits, the player may roll a number of dice equal to his Alternate Identity rating, subtracting his hits from the Verification's net hits. Any net hits the verification rating scores is added to the identity's Heat value, and the item can not be purchased as property. (At least not at the same place and using the same identity.)

Rep
This function replaces "Street Cred". Anytime a character would normally gain 1 point of "Street Cred", assign 1 point to his Inherent Identity's Rep and 1 point to the Rep of any one Alternate Identity he has.

The Rep of the Inherent Identity can be used just like "Street Cred" from SR4.
The Rep of the Alternate Identity serves as a minimum rating for the identity's Heat value. Generally speaking, high Rep scores are good for the Inherent Identity but really bad for the Alternate Identity. An Alternate Identity's Rep score can not be used as "Street Cred"; use the Inherent Identity's Rep for this.
When a character loses an Alternate Identity, he loses a number of points from his Inherent Identity's Rep score equal to the Alternate Identity's Rep.


Contacts
"Shadows" tend to keep a list of contacts that associate with their different identities. Most contacts won't know their associating with Alternate Identities, of course, and in this way a Shadow can keep multiple sub-networks of contacts within his overall Network.

Each contact is registered to an Inherent or Alternate Identity. If an Alternate Identity is lost (or tagged), so is all of its contacts. Whenever a character gains a contact, it is registered to the identity he was using at the time.