S/31

S/31 is the intelligence service of the Scandian League, created by Travin Rumanski in the wake of the Leviathan War in response to Scande’s need to interact more with the rest of the Web. Although it does not have the same magical and technological capacity as some of its rivals, it does have a brutal (very Scandian) pragmatism to it. It is headed by Ivan Gletkin.

And it doesn’t actually stand for anything. A whole full-time analyst at the RFIA was hired to figure out what S/31 stood for; the best theory he came up with was that it stood for Travin Rumanski’s 31 favorite flavors of ice cream.

Deep Cover Agents

S/31 makes large use of ‘deep cover agents’, that is, an agent permanently assigned to assume an identity as a foreigner. They are surgically modified in their new identity. Being assigned to Deep Cover is usually a lifetime assignment. In the event they are exposed most Deep Cover agents will kill themselves rather than be captured. (No S/31 agent has ever been captured alive). Deep Cover agents, as part of their surgical modification, will usually have some way of doing this implanted. A cyanide capsule in a tooth compartment was an early way of doing this; now it is common for the poison to be implanted inside the body itself and released with a mental command. Deep Cover agents know four other S/31 agents, often merely as names or addresses. Three are agents they get information from, one is the agent they pass information to. In the unlikely event an agent is compromised he can therefore only reveal four other agents. At a certain points in this hierarchy, the agent becomes responsible for getting the information to Scande. Often, this is as simple as a quick meeting with a short-term Scandian agent visiting the country (with an assumed non-Scandian identity). Deep Cover agents are infiltration experts who spend years perfecting local mannerisms and accent.

Placement

S/31 is mainly concerned about placing agents in areas with access to information or powerful influence. The ideal S/31 Deep Cover agent placement in terms of access is a low-level job whose function nonetheless gives it high-level access. Janitors and secretaries fit this profile perfectly. S/31 has also sought (whenever possible) to place its agents in areas of significant political or economic influence. Their agents can then use their positions of power to exert Scande’s goals, such as furthering the communist revolution. No one is sure how many highly placed S/31 Deep Cover operatives are in the Web today. S/31, of course, is careful to use these agents very carefully and subtly; a too-obvious pro-Scande slant would be an unacceptable risk of compromise. Agents in this position often facilitate other S/31 operations, often by helping people into and out of the country and creating forged IDs. The media serves S/31’s desire for both access to information and influence; as a reporter for an armaments industry newspaper Tommy Freimensch receives “first look” at many new weapons developments.

Insertion

There are two main ways to insert a new deep cover agent. The first method, often used in unstable or corrupt governments, is to create a new identity out of whole cloth. Since the deep cover agent now has an official existence in the country being infiltrated, passing any tests or records is easy. The preferred method for placing S/31 Deep Cover agents into areas of influence is to assassinate the original person and assume his identity. S/31 agents chosen for this mission often study their marks extensively; before killing the original copious amounts of information are gathered to insure that the infiltrator can pass muster.

Spetsnaz

Spetsnaz (Scandish for ‘special purpose’) is the term used to describe more combat-oriented agents often used for more short-term missions. Typically they operate alone. Assignments are of shorter duration, rarely lasting over a month. Existing deep cover agents will often help facilitate Spetsnaz operations. Typical jobs for this branch of SLCM include assassinations, blowing things up, and stealing weapons technology, especially mecha technology (Scande wants to keep its mecha edge). They are often inserted and extracted through the use of SLCM – Sea submarines. Some, such as Sonya Hellcova, are trained in Merge League-style magic.

Local groups

S/31 often works with local communist parties. Another specialized S/31 operative, an ‘internationalist’ specializes in building party organizations and fomenting revolution; they are similar to the Seeder of the Merge League. S/31 often uses non-communist local groups as fronts to achieve their goals, as well. (Gletkin reportedly once commented that using the local communist party as a front was ‘fucking imaginative. Might as well have our agents wear uniforms and shout “your children will grow up communist!” to every passer-by.’) In one famous case, an S/31 deep cover operative was actually the chair of the Esperian Anti-Communists Alliance.

Cross-training

S/31 does its best to leverage the capabilities and expertise of its allies. They have been loan to get agents from the Collective on occasion, and return the favor. The FTSR’s expertise in computer technology is often invaluable for S/31. The Merge League assists with magical training and support. Ichiro Mitsuhama, before he was captured, even trained some S/31 agents in ninjitsu.

Deception

The Dragon Dimension has a long history of trickery in strategy; a saying in Draggoneth is that “the way of war is the way of deception.” Halder Skalice often uses several tricky maneuvers to win battles. S/31 under Gletkin has expanded deception to a whole new strategic level; disseminating false information is almost as important to S/31 as gathering information. Deep Cover agents often plant fake stories and information about Scande. When S/31 becomes aware of enemy agents, they will often have a ‘source’ ‘make contact’ and feed them false information. The most elaborate S/31 deception, in collaboration with SLCM, was a massive ploy to inflate SLCM military strength, particularly SLCM-Space. Mock-up tanks and armored vehicles were built out of aluminum and deployed in fake camps to appear in satellite photos. Garbage scows and transport ships received external modifications to appear as warships. Kel Hothead, of SLCM-Air, defected to the Tasnica Republic and gave an extensive account of Scandian military strength that backed up the inflated strength. (It is not known if he was ‘in’ on the operation or if he was known to be about to defect and simply provided incorrect information.) Unfortunately, the deception (at least in the case of SLCM-Space) was uncovered and Guardia chose to go to war anyway.