Sleeper Agent

Of the 8 Career Skills, choose 4 to get a free rank. Of the 4 Specialization Skills, choose 2 to get a free rank.

Spy Career Skills: Computers, Cool, Coordination, Deception, Knowledge (Warfare), Perception, Skulduggery and Stealth

Sleeper Agent Specialization Skills: Charm, Cool, Discipline and Knowledge (Education)

Spies must be able to tell convincing lies. Often, a lie only needs to hold up for a few seconds—just long enough for the agent to complete a crime. In some cases, the lie must be more convincing and survive much more detailed scrutiny. Sleeper Agents must be able to operate in isolation from their support network for months or even years at a time. During such missions, operatives should blend seamlessly into their host environments, never arousing even the slightest suspicion. Sustaining believable lies for this much time requires dedication so that no hint of their real identity ever emerges. For some Sleeper Agents, their artificial guises are so ingrained that it takes effort to emerge from them once a lengthy mission is finally over.

On a mission, the vast majority of Sleeper Agents’ time involves working a mundane job that may seem unrelated to their objective. In a few cases, the job is a military one, but those assignments require extensive security checks. More often, the Sleeper Agent works a civilian job that may have military connections. The agent may even serve as a member of a criminal organization. Whichever is the case, the Sleeper Agent’s duties offer peripheral access to a resource that is of great interest to the Rebellion. It is vitally important that agents remain constantly discreet about their true intentions.

All Sleeper Agents must be proficient in some profession that is not inherently related to uncovering military intelligence for the Rebellion. They might not need to be experts, but they must be able to convincingly assume an unremarkable civilian or military career. This act must be sustained for an extended period of time while the operatives wait to have their missions activated. Some missions focus entirely upon placing agents in critical places so that they can be activated to avert a currently unknown crisis. In these cases, the agents might pursue their cover career for years. Other missions have established timeframes or discrete objectives that the operative must pursue without raising suspicion.

Critically, Sleeper Agents must remain unflinchingly loyal to their cause. At the same time, they must be able to maintain the illusion that they are loyal to the enemy. In the case of extended assignments, they must build friendships and working relationships with their foes—relationships that they know they will eventually betray. Few individuals are capable of maintaining this level of duplicity without developing some level of emotional attachment. Such attachment incurs terrible risk, as it could lead to hesitation at a critical juncture.

Potential Backgrounds

  • Freerunner: Sleeper Agent freerunners prioritize stealth over speed. The need to maintain their cover means secrecy is all-important. These characters rely on unusual routes to move undetected within tightly controlled Imperial cities and other locations.
  • Law Enforcement Agent: Sleeper Agents benefit from a law officer’s working knowledge of Imperial bureaucracy and attitudes. They might take deep-cover missions in Imperial facilities and operations, serving as officers and working as an inside source for their new allies.
  • Makeup Artist: Sleeper Agent makeup artists can establish and maintain false faces for themselves and their cell members. Makeup artists and holographic techs might continue to work and train in renowned entertainment venues, gaining useful information from workplace gossip.
  • Performer: Sleeper Agent actors can play a part for extended periods of time and are skilled at maintaining deep-cover roles. Other performers might gain access to different levels of society through performances, fans, or acquaintances.
  • Psychologist: Sleeper Agent psychologists can maintain or reinforce the mental state of hidden agents under tremendous stress. They can also be effective propagandists, helping the Rebel Alliance in improving public appeals for support and designing provocative messages to induce desired Imperial responses.
  • Repo Specialist: Sleeper Agent missions allow repo specialists to continue in their profession and still travel extensively throughout the galaxy. Repo specialists are also used to working under false identities due to concealing their names from their targets.