They all tried to look away from the door as she steeped out of the boss's office, smoothing her too-short too-tight skirt and hoping that none of them could see the stain on her underwear as her garment rode up above it when she walked. She knew that they knew. They couldn't not know. The walls were thin. The screams, moans, and grunts must have carried to every corner of the floor, and the floors above and below. It didn't bother her that they knew. It would have before, but not now. Now it actually makes her happy. She wonders if any of them were aroused by the sounds.
Sitting back at her cubicle, she sees Lina, her only friend in the office. She blushes, knowing what her friend must have overhead. Lina tried to act casual, handing her co-worker a stack of old manila file folders, full of paper backups of data that had been deleted in the last Crash. But Lina couldn't just pretend that nothing was wrong. As she handed the folders to her friend she asked, incredulously, "how can you do that with...", she searches in vain to find a word that accurately describes the disgusting and perverse pseudo-masculine blob of oily human fat and hair that accurately describes their boss "...him".
"Psychotropic therapy", the happy sexpot replied. "I used to be so scared of sex that I couldn't even touch myself down there. Even wiping after going to the restroom felt dirty and wrong. I couldn't date anyone. I couldn't even hug my family. Then I went to see a licensed psychotropic therapist. Five sessions later and I can have sex with anyone anywhere at any time. I love it, and it's been great for my career. "
"Wow", exclaimed Lina, "do you think your therapist can help me with my problems?"
"Of course!", her sexy friend replied," Psychotropic therapy can treat all psychological addictions, phobias, compulsions, obsessions, sexual dysfunctions; it can even change you tastes and preferences".
"Wow, I'll go make an appointment with a Licensed Psychotropic Therapist right now."
The previous program has been brought to you by the NeoNET Psychochair. Change your mind today.
New Skill
Psychological Programing.
(Specializations:Crafting Psychotropic Programs; Hypnosis; Psychotropic Manipulation)
Psychological Programing is the art of making permanent alterations to the human mind using both the time-honored traditions of hypnotic false memory implantation and the relatively new discipline of HOT ASIST induced mental programing, mote commonly known as Psychotropic Programing.
Psychotropic Manipulation is the art of using a combination of HOT ASIST to directly alter the metahuman mind.
Hypnosis is a psychological manipulation technique which requires the cooperation of the victim, unlike the magical hypnosis seen on television. It is most often used to implant false memories of abuse or alien abduction, though it can be used to interrogate in conjunction with certain drugs.
Crafting Psychotropic Programs is the art of creating psychotropic ASIST protocols that can be inserted into a matrix program (usually a Black Attack Program) to manipulate the mind of anyone using the program or (in the case of Attack Programs) struck with the program.
Psychotropic Manipulation requires a Hot Sim Module and a Psychotropic Therapy Program. It is an Extended Psychological Programing + Program test (Interval and Threshold varies) and can resisted with Willpower. A willing target roll his willpower as part of a teamwork test instead of resisting. Specialized equipment such as the NeoNet Psychochair adds its rating as a dice pool modifier.
When using Psychotropic Attack Programs such as Psychotropic Black Hammer simply make an attack roll as normal. The attack is resisted as normal and is then resisted again by willpower. If any net hits remain, apply those towards the threshold after this second resistance test. Only one attack can be applied toward the threshold per interval this way.
While a Psychotropic Therapist using a therapy program can produce any of these effects, psychotropic attack programs are limited to 1 effect per attack program.
Effects, Thresholds, and intervals are as follows.
Mood Swing (1, 1 Combat Turn)
Mood Swing temporarily alters the brain to produce a specific emotion for (Net Hits) minutes (minimum 1 minute). Treat the effect as if it were a Control Emotions spell
Big Mood Swing (2, 30 seconds)
A Big Mood Swing is much more powerful than Mood Swing and lasts for (Net Hits) Hours
Mood Change (4, 1 Day) A Mood Change is a semi-permanent version of the mood swing, lasting (Net Hits) Weeks. While the latter two are commonly used by IC to induce fear and panic, Mood Change is most commonly used to treat mania and depression.
Single Suggestion (1, 1 CT) A character effected by a Single Suggestion will have a strong desire to person a single general action once (Usually something like Buy a Renraku Brand product). The suggestion is nonspecific and, if it is strange or unusual, can be detected by a Logic+Intuition (Net Nets) test and, if detected, can be further resisted with Willpower.
Continuing suggestion (3, 10 Minutes) Similar to Single Suggestion,aA Continuing Suggestion will remain in the target's mind until it is fully resisted with Willpower or removed through further psychotropic therapy.
Permanent Suggestion (6, 1 Hour) Like a Continuing Suggestion, but it be permanently resisted with willpower. Instead, a resisted Permanent Suggestion will return after (Willpower) hours.
Single Program (4, 30 Minutes) The target will perform a single set of specific actions in response to a stimulus. It is obvious to the target that the actions are not of her own free will and the target can attempt to resist with a willpower (Net Hits) test every minute.
Permanent Program (8, 2 Hours) Will always perform the pre-programed actions in response to the preprogrammed stimulus. Can be temporarily resisted but must be removed by psychotropic therapy
Change Taste (10, 12 Hours)
Permanently alters a single preference or dislike. If you hate lima beans, for example, you can use Change Taste to love Lima Beans or to simply tolerate lima beans. It can be used to cultivate a real preference for certain brands.
Change Orientation/Change Personality Trait (12, 2 days)
A less superficial version of Change Taste, Psychotropic therapy can be used to permanently alter sexual orientation, sexual paraphilias, gender identity, and fundamental personality traits.
It is popular amongst members of certain hop club scenes, who use this therapy to expand their sexual horizons.
Remove Phobia (6, 1 Day +karma)
Removes a single phobia. If the phobia is a negative quality then the karma cost must be paid.
Remove Addiction (6, 1 Day +karma) removes a single addiction.
Remove Compulsion (6, 1 Day) Removes a single compulsion (cannot be used to remove Mentor Spirit compulsions).
Remove Psychotropic Suggestion (3, 1 hour)
Remove Psychotropic Program (6, 1 Day)
Remove Memory (6, 10 minutes)
Removes a single specific memory
Create False Memory (4, 10 minutes)
Creates a single False Memory
Create/Remove False Identity 15 (4 Days)
Creates or removes an incomplete false personality that will surface in response to a specific stimulus. This personality does not have a complete past and used the original's skills.
Change Identity (60, 2 Weeks)
Completely replaces the original personality with an engineered personality, complete with perfect memories of its past
The old personality can never be recovered.
Hypnosis the old fashioned way.
Old Fashioned hypnosis can be used to implant false memories, commonly of alien abduction or satanic abuse, but any false memory is possible. Targets must cooperate with the hyponotist to "recover" this memory. It requires a Psychotropic Programing + Charisma (8, 1 Day) and the target assists by adding Charisma+Willpower as a teamwork test.