Cistrons

"The eyes and ears of a Cistron are deadlier than any weapon they carry."
–Magos De Jeffari, to his disciples.
On the Lathes, beyond the ancient and dark workshops and
manufactorums, there sit hidden laboratories full of aged
and decrepit cogitators, whose function is to create the dark
functionaries. Here, candidates are brought to go through a
series of technotic engram-branding and implant procedures
that transform an apostle of the Machine God into a sleeper
agent for the Lords Dragon—a Cistron.
The process for doing so is laborious and the chances for
success are very low; more often than not, the candidate is found
to be mentally incapable handling the transformation of their
skills and personality into someone totally unlike themselves.
Of those who might be able to handle the conditioning,
the psychic readjustment of the candidate’s personality and
memory may crush the candidate’s psyche, and they become
no more than another flesh source for servitors. Those who
do survive, and even thrive, under the process, are then made
ready for a new personality and skill set.
Cistrons are then loaded with a new identity, a series of
false memories, and the skills and talents necessary to become
another anonymous person in some part of the Sector. They
quickly become another cog in the world of which they are
to be located. The candidates understand that while their
original persona is in torpor, they unknowingly work hard to
foster a sense of well being and complacency in those whose
lives they will touch. They want to be seen as trustworthy and
valued wherever they are, thereby making it easier for them
to gather the necessary intelligence for their assignment.
Once a Cistron is ready, both physiologically and
psychologically, he is then placed into stasis. Then the
agent is taken clandestinely to a location somewhere in
the Calixis Sector (and rumors abound that Cistrons are
also sometimes sent into the lawless Koronus Expanse)
and released into the general population. The Cistron is
also given the proper documentation, work permits, and a
false identity trail, enough to establish the persona in this
new setting. Once on site, the Cistron seeks out a position
allowing him to accomplish its programmed task. This can
take days, weeks or even years. The agent is not consciously
aware of his assignment, which may even change over time
as circumstances dictate. In that case, another hidden agent,
the Minder who watches over flocks of Cistrons in a region,
conducts subconscious upgrade-cants to the Cistron. The
patience of the Mechanicus can know no bounds if the
knowledge they wish to uncover is important enough, and
most agents spend years carefully embedding themselves
into readiness. Once a Cistron has accomplished his
mission, the agent returns to his Minder, guided through
more layers of engram-branding.
Occasionally, a Cistron’s programming never takes complete
hold or becomes eroded, or his Minder may perish before
he can implement the agent’s activation protocols. Often the
Cistron is simply forgotten, his existence lost in accidental
Lathe data-purges or datastack failures, living an entire life
without activation unless unlikely events somehow trigger
their primary persona. A Cistron might wander throughout
the Sector with the knowledge he has gained, never knowing
why the urge to wander has become so powerful.
==Anyone, Anywhere, and Waiting to Awaken==
Cistrons are the hidden Mechanicum agents who are rumored
to be seeded all throughout the Calixis Sector. These agents of
the Lords Dragon are in place for a number of reasons. Some
are believed to be there to record and bring back information
about the other factions of the Imperium who may not want
the Mechanicus to further its pursuits. Others are thought to
exist to execute intricate plans to remove stubborn obstacles
to the Quest for Knowledge and the increased glory of the
Lathes, in the name of the Omnissiah. Some Cistrons are
in place as insurance against outside attacks, watching and
waiting for the correct activation cant-protocol to send them
out against those who would threaten the Lathes.
While this shadowy world of intrigue and espionage
is dangerous, there are things in the Cistron’s own psyche
that are even more frightening. While the technotic
conditioning and other engram implants are usually
foolproof, occasionally one of these extremely well trained
and talented individuals finds their true self fighting against
their false past to gain dominance again. A Cistron’s Minder
is drilled to recognize the signs of an unplanned awakening
and to bring the agent in for retraining, or neutralize the
agent outright. Occasionally though, a Minder misses the
signs, or the Cistron has lost his Minder, and the agent is
now awakening without knowledge of what is true about
the Cistron’s past, or what the Cistron should do next.
Once the awakening has begun, the Cistron is now
fighting a war on two fronts. The Cistron’s very identity is
being torn in different directions, and only time will tell
which persona will prove dominant. Another worry to those
who may be in the vicinity of a rogue Cistron is that some
agents were conditioned against their will. Now this trained
and conditioned operative, who may or may not believe in
the path that was laid out in the his indoctrination, is looking
for closure, or maybe revenge.
==Cistron Elite Advance==
In taking this advance, the character’s background and origin
are literally recreated. The past the character knows is revealed
to be no more than technophasic engrams that have been
branded into the character’s mind. While the character still
remembers them, they are no more real than simple fictions.
The real history of the character is now breaking through the
false memories, and coming to the fore.
Career: Any career can take this Elite Advance, but it may be
the most rewarding for Adepts, Arbitrators, and Clerics.
Advance Cost: 300xp
Effects
Skills and Talents: The character gains either the Nerves of
Steel or Talented (Any Skill) Talent, as well as the Forbidden
Lore (Adeptus Mechanicus), and the Secret Tongue (Tech)
Skills. Additionally, the character now uses TABLE 2–9
TECH–PRIEST CHARACTERISTIC ADVANCES on page 89 of the
DARK HERESY Core Rulebook. The character also has the
ability to spend XP on the Cistron Advances shown in Table
2–3: Cistron Advances.
Insanity Points: For each Advance purchase taken from
the Cistron Advances chart, the character gains 1d5 Insanity
Points, as the psyche of the character battles between the two
minds lodged within it.
Hunted: The character must take Hatred (Adeptus
Mechanicus) or Hatred (Other Organisation) depending on
how the character proceeds with this new knowledge. Is
the Mechanicus hunting the character for betraying them,
or is some other Imperial organization, such as the Adeptus
Ministorum or the Navis Noblite, hunting the Cistron for
spying on them?
Easy to Control: The Cistron’s mind has been realigned to
make him more susceptible to reprogramming, so he suffers
a –10 Penalty on Willpower Tests to resist mind control or
interrogation.