SCHRECKNET VLA-7 // OPERATOR'S FIELD MANUAL classification: nodes-only provenance: consolidated node doctrine, multiple contributors ------------------------------------------------------------ FILE: NODE CONTACT PROTOCOLS how to reach a name in the registry without becoming a name in someone else's registry. ------------------------------------------------------------ RULE 0 — YOU DO NOT CONTACT. YOU ARRANGE CIRCUMSTANCES. ------------------------------------------------------------ Kindred do not take calls. They notice patterns. The only safe introduction is one where the contact concludes you were ALREADY in their world — a courier they almost hired, a rat line they almost used, a correction to a chart they trust. If a first contact reads as a request, close the channel. ------------------------------------------------------------ RULE 1 — MATCH THE CHANNEL TO THE CREATURE ------------------------------------------------------------ - PIRATE RADIO / BROADCAST: Sadie LaRue (New Orleans, SIGNAL-30). Leave requests inside song requests read on-air two nights later. Fee history: corrections, not favors. Do not dedicate a song. She reads dedications as debts. - THE WIRE ITSELF: Mitnick (Los Angeles). Route a data artifact where it will be found — never attach a note. Receipt arrives as a one-line file you did not send yourself. - OPEN-LEDGER COOPERATORS: Bram Verhoeven (Rotterdam) and Padre Huesos (Lima) work WITH this node. Protocol: written queries only, one question per message, no follow-ups faster than nine days. They cooperate because we are quiet. Loudness ends cooperation. - THE SILENT BARTERS: Octavia Rehn (Vienna) answers in silence — count what she does NOT sing about. The Lender of Last Resorts (ROOM-12) answers in paperwork: request forms appear pre-filled where you last filed your own. Never sign what ROOM-12 returns. Review it in a mirror first; if the mirror lags, burn it. - COURT FIGURES (princes, primogen, harpies): approach via boon-broker only, and only when YOU hold the boon. A court visit you did not pay for is a summons. - ANTIQUARIANS AND ARCHIVISTS (Ankla, al-Ashrad, the Sommer-cache dealers): never open with a request for the item. Open with a correction to something they already published. Scholars forgive fees; they do not forgive sloppiness. - THE META FILES (The Census Taker, The Blind Scale, The Encore, The Unasked Question): there is no protocol. There is a survey. If one approaches you, you are already the data. File everything, answer nothing, move. ------------------------------------------------------------ RULE 2 — FEES (what things actually cost) ------------------------------------------------------------ Standard currency, in rising order of price: a correction > a silence > a name of the dead > a map that does not exist yet > a first cry > vitae > your standing to accuse > your name in someone else's ledger. Never pay vitae to an information broker. It converts a client into a holding. Fees are quoted ONCE. Re-negotiating a fee re-opens the contract at the other party's choice of terms. ------------------------------------------------------------ RULE 3 — TIMING ------------------------------------------------------------ First response window on this network: 3 to 9 nights. Faster than 3 = a copy of them, or a trap. Slower than 9 = the message was read by someone who is not them. Log the delay; delays are signatures. ------------------------------------------------------------ RULE 4 — DENIABILITY LADDER ------------------------------------------------------------ Every channel has three grades: grade 1 (burnable): dead drops, song requests, public corrections. Use freely, assume read. grade 2 (costly): intermediaries, ghouls, boon-brokers. Each use is a name given away. Spend like ammunition. grade 3 (unrecoverable): direct meeting. Only for contracts you would stake your name on, and only on ground the OTHER party does not control. ------------------------------------------------------------ RULE 5 — WHEN A CONTACT REACHES FOR YOU ------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Verify the approach against the registry. Unlisted names offering listed knowledge = two problems, not one. 2. Reply only with information you are prepared to lose. 3. Never confirm your node, your city, or your transmits — even to confirm them false. 4. If the approach cites a debt you do not remember owing, the debt is real and already old (see Ventrue antitribu file). Report to VLA-7 before sundown. ------------------------------------------------------------ STANDING DIRECTIVE ------------------------------------------------------------ The registry tells you who exists. These protocols tell you how to knock. Every knock is logged on both sides of the door. Knock accordingly.