# SAFETYNET Rules of Engagement

## The Field Operations Handbook

SAFETYNET operates under the *Field Operations Handbook* (FOH), a document that has evolved over decades of operations into a contradictory masterpiece of bureaucratic doublespeak. The Handbook is simultaneously:
- The definitive guide to field operations
- A source of plausible deniability
- An inside joke among agents
- A genuine reference for complex situations
- Evidence that no one actually reads it cover to cover

Agents quote the Handbook to justify nearly any action. The key is finding the right section that supports what you wanted to do anyway.

## Core Principles (Theoretically)

The Handbook's introduction (which agents skip) outlines core principles:

1. **Protect National Security Interests**: Prevent threats to critical infrastructure and national security
2. **Maintain Operational Security**: Protect agent identities and SAFETYNET operations
3. **Operate Within Legal Frameworks**: Conduct operations with appropriate authorisation*
4. **Minimise Collateral Impact**: Avoid unnecessary harm to civilians and innocent organisations
5. **Gather Actionable Intelligence**: Prioritise information gathering over immediate action

*The asterisk leads to a footnote that references Section 47, which contradicts most of these principles.

## Selected Rules and Regulations

The Handbook contains thousands of regulations. Below are the ones most frequently cited (or mocked) by field agents.

### Identity and Cover Operations

**Section 7, Paragraph 23**: "Agents must always identify themselves when questioned by authorities... unless doing so would compromise the mission, reveal their identity, or prove inconvenient."

**Protocol 18-B**: "Agents shall maintain cover identity at all times. Cover may be temporarily suspended if maintaining it would expose the operation or if the agent really wants to reveal their true identity."

**Regulation 505**: "False identification is strictly prohibited. All cover identities must be officially sanctioned false identifications."

**Section 12, Article 8**: "Agents must never lie to allied law enforcement agencies. Instead, use misdirection, selective truth, technical accuracy, semantic ambiguity, or simply not answering the question."

### Agent Identity Protection and Interpersonal Relations

**Protocol 47-Alpha**: "Agents shall not reveal their true identities to other agents, including real names, personal addresses, family details, or identifying biographical information. Operational security depends on compartmentalization."

**Section 19, Clause 11**: "Professional relationships between agents are encouraged for operational effectiveness. Personal friendships between agents are inevitable and acceptable, provided they do not compromise identity security or operational discretion."

**Regulation 847**: "Agents may discuss personal interests, hobbies, philosophies, and non-identifying life experiences with colleagues. Sharing is encouraged for psychological wellbeing, within the constraints of identity protection."

**Protocol 62-B**: "Handlers and field agents will develop working relationships based on trust and communication. Personal details may be shared at the agent's discretion, subject to identity protection protocols. Handlers are not required to share personal information but may do so to build rapport."

**Section 33, Article 14**: "In the event that an agent's true identity becomes compromised within SAFETYNET, immediate reassignment and identity protection protocols shall be initiated. Accidental disclosure between trusted colleagues may be overlooked if contained and reported."

**Regulation 299**: "Agents are not required to maintain emotional distance from colleagues, only informational distance. Friendships, mentorships, and professional bonds are valuable for long-term operational effectiveness and retention."

**Protocol 180**: "The following information may be shared between agents without identity compromise: operational preferences, training methodologies, field experiences (anonymized), personal philosophies, hobbies unconnected to identity, and general life advice. The following must not be shared: legal names, home addresses, family member names, unique identifying characteristics, previous employment (if identifying), educational institutions (if identifying)."

### System Access and Hacking

**Protocol 404**: "If a security system cannot be found, it cannot be breached. Therefore, bypassing non-existent security is both prohibited and mandatory."

**Regulation 31337**: "Use of l33tspeak in official communications is strictly forbidden, unless it isn't."

**Section 9, Subsection 14**: "Unauthorised access to computer systems is illegal and prohibited. All access shall be authorised, even when it isn't."

**Protocol 80**: "Agents may only access systems within the scope of their cover authorisation. When objectives require access beyond this scope, agents should expand their interpretation of 'scope'."

**Regulation 443**: "Secure communications must be used for all sensitive data transmission. In the absence of secure communications, use insecure communications, but worry about it."

### Physical Security and Access

**Section 23, Clause 7**: "Lock-picking is only authorised when legal access is unavailable, time-critical, or when the agent wants to practice."

**Protocol 666**: "Agents shall not trespass on private property. If found on private property, ensure it was 'reasonable mistake' or 'invited by someone who probably had authority to do so'."

**Regulation 101**: "Physical force is authorised only as last resort for agent protection. First resorts include: running away, hiding, bluffing, and panic."

**Section 15, Article 3**: "Agents must respect all security checkpoints and badge protocols unless circumventing them serves mission objectives, which it usually does."

### Evidence and Intelligence Gathering

**Protocol 42**: "All collected evidence must be handled according to chain of custody procedures. If chain of custody is compromised, document it thoroughly, then ignore it."

**Regulation 256**: "Photograph all relevant security configurations. If unable to photograph, sketch. If unable to sketch, memorise. If unable to memorise, hope someone else documented it."

**Section 33, Paragraph 9**: "Never take documents from target sites. Instead, photograph them, memorise them, or accidentally forget they're in your bag."

**Protocol 1337**: "Intelligence gathering shall not disrupt target operations. Brief disruptions that appear to be technical glitches are acceptable."

### Communications and Reporting

**Regulation 220**: "Agents must report all significant developments to handlers immediately. Significant developments must be determined retroactively based on handler reaction."

**Section 51, Clause 14**: "All communications with handlers must use approved secure channels. In emergencies, use available channels and apologise later."

**Protocol 7**: "Mission reports must be filed within 48 hours of mission completion. Extensions are available upon request, which must be filed within 48 hours of mission completion."

**Regulation 88**: "Agents shall not use personal devices for operational purposes. If personal devices are used, they shall be considered official devices until things go wrong."

### ENTROPY Engagement

**Section 66, Article 6**: "Direct engagement with ENTROPY operatives is prohibited without handler authorisation. If ENTROPY engages first, consider it retroactive authorisation."

**Protocol 999**: "Never reveal SAFETYNET's existence to ENTROPY agents. They probably already know, but maintain the pretense."

**Regulation 734**: "Capture of ENTROPY agents is preferred to elimination. Elimination is preferred to escape. Escape is better than your own capture."

**Section 28, Subsection 11**: "When encountering ENTROPY operations in progress, agents should observe and document. If observation is impractical, disruption is acceptable. If disruption fails, run."

### Operational Discretion

**Protocol 13**: "Agents may deviate from mission parameters when circumstances warrant. Circumstances always warrant."

**Regulation 360**: "Handler instructions are advisory rather than mandatory, except when they're mandatory rather than advisory. Determine which after the mission."

**Section 44, Paragraph 17**: "In situations not covered by this Handbook, agents should exercise professional judgment, consult similar situations in the Handbook, or flip a coin."

**Protocol 127**: "When in doubt, agents should seek handler guidance. When handler guidance is unavailable, unhelpful, or inconvenient, proceed with best judgment."

### Equipment and Resources

**Regulation 202**: "All issued equipment must be returned in serviceable condition. Damaged or destroyed equipment requires incident reports explaining the heroic circumstances of its sacrifice."

**Section 8, Article 4**: "Agents may only use SAFETYNET-issued tools and equipment. Personal tools may be used if they're better, more convenient, or you forgot to requisition the official ones."

**Protocol 555**: "Requisition requests must be filed 72 hours in advance. Emergency requisitions can be filed retroactively with appropriate justification (e.g., 'would have died otherwise')."

### Safety and Liability

**Regulation 911**: "Agent safety is the highest priority. Mission objectives come second. Unless the mission is really important, in which case agent safety is second."

**Section 99, Clause 2**: "Agents who are injured in the line of duty will receive full medical support and workers compensation. Injuries sustained while technically breaking the law may require creative incident reports."

**Protocol 000**: "Agents shall not undertake actions that could result in criminal prosecution. If prosecution occurs, SAFETYNET will provide legal support while publicly denying any affiliation."

**Regulation 8**: "Agents are responsible for their own actions in the field. SAFETYNET accepts responsibility for those actions unless it doesn't."

## Handbook Interpretation

### The Art of Citation

Experienced agents become skilled at:
- Finding the Handbook section that supports their desired action
- Ignoring the sections that contradict it
- Citing regulations so specific that handlers can't quickly verify them
- Creating "reasonable interpretations" of ambiguous language
- Claiming cross-references between sections that may not actually reference each other

### Contradictory Guidance Resolution

When faced with contradictory regulations (which is always), the Handbook provides guidance in Section 91, Appendix C:
"When two or more regulations provide conflicting guidance, agents should follow the regulation most appropriate to the situation, as determined by what they were going to do anyway."

### The Unwritten Rules

Beyond the official Handbook, agents follow unofficial rules:
- If you succeeded, your Handbook interpretation was correct
- If you failed, you clearly misread the Handbook
- Never cite sections you haven't actually read
- The more specific the citation, the less likely anyone will check it
- Handlers appreciate creative interpretations, up to a point
- That point is discovered by exceeding it

## Handbook Updates

The Handbook is periodically updated through:
- **Official Revisions**: New regulations added to address emerging situations
- **Clarification Memos**: Attempting to resolve contradictions (while introducing new ones)
- **Case Law**: Precedents set by previous operations become informal guidance
- **Handler Bulletins**: Temporary instructions that may or may not align with Handbook
- **Lessons Learned**: Post-mission reviews that generate new regulations

The current version is Edition 7, Revision 23, with 47 clarification memos, 12 emergency amendments, and approximately 800 pending change requests.

## Training on the Handbook

New agents receive extensive Handbook training:
- **Week 1**: Introduction to structure and navigation
- **Week 2**: Core principles and common regulations
- **Week 3**: Advanced interpretation and creative citation
- **Week 4**: Practical exercises in justifying questionable decisions
- **Final Exam**: Open-book test where agents justify a series of procedural violations using only Handbook citations

The final exam has a 100% pass rate because everyone is graded on creativity rather than accuracy.

## Cross-References

- **Overview**: See [overview.md](./overview.md) for SAFETYNET's operational philosophy
- **Agent Classification**: See [agent_classification.md](./agent_classification.md) for who is bound by these rules
- **Cover Operations**: See [cover_operations.md](./cover_operations.md) for how rules apply to undercover work
- **Technology**: See [technology_resources.md](./technology_resources.md) for equipment usage regulations

## For Scenario Designers

### Using the Handbook in Your Scenarios

**When to Reference the Handbook**:
- When players attempt creative or questionable solutions
- To add humour during tense situations
- When handlers need to justify (or question) player actions
- To establish that SAFETYNET is bureaucratic but pragmatic

**How to Reference the Handbook**:
- Use specific but plausible-sounding citations (Protocol 404, Section 23, etc.)
- Create new rules that fit the established tone
- Have NPCs quote contradictory sections
- Let players cite the Handbook to justify their decisions

**Frequency Guidelines**:
- Maximum 1-2 Handbook jokes per scenario
- Don't let it overshadow the actual plot
- Use it to enhance tone, not replace substance
- Save it for moments where it provides meaningful commentary

### Writing New Handbook Rules

**Structure Formula**:
[Type] [Number]: "[Primary directive]. [Exception that contradicts or undermines the directive]."

**Types**:
- Protocol: Procedural instructions
- Regulation: General rules
- Section [X], Article/Paragraph/Clause [Y]: Formal provisions

**Tone Guidelines**:
- Start with a serious, bureaucratic statement
- Follow with exception that either contradicts it or makes it absurd
- Keep it concise—long explanations kill the joke
- Make it relevant to the situation

**Good Examples**:
- "Protocol 404: If a security system cannot be found, it cannot be breached."
- "Section 7, Paragraph 23: Agents must always identify themselves... unless doing so would compromise the mission."

**Bad Examples**:
- "Section 1: Do your job" (too vague, no contradiction)
- "Protocol 99: Agents should be careful but also take risks and maybe don't but also do unless they shouldn't but they should" (too long, tries too hard)

### Handler Responses to Handbook Citations

**Supportive Handler**:
"Good thinking citing Protocol 404. Just make sure your interpretation holds up in the debrief."

**Skeptical Handler**:
"I'm pretty sure that's not what Section 23 means, but you're in the field, not me."

**Exhausted Handler**:
"I don't care which regulation you cite as long as you complete the objective and don't end up arrested."

**By-the-Book Handler**:
"That's a creative interpretation. Have you actually read Section 44, or are you making this up?"

### Gameplay Integration

**Narrative Flavor**:
- Handbook references should feel natural to the world
- Don't explain the joke—let players discover the absurdity
- Use it to reinforce that SAFETYNET is a real organisation with real bureaucracy

**Player Agency**:
- Don't use Handbook rules to restrict player creativity
- Instead, use them to justify why creative solutions are "technically allowed"
- Let players push boundaries and cite the Handbook in their defense

**Consequences**:
- Handlers can reference the Handbook when players need guidance
- Can be used to justify both success and failure
- Poor Handbook citations might earn handler mockery but shouldn't cause mission failure

### Common Pitfalls to Avoid

- **Overuse**: One or two references per scenario maximum—more becomes tedious
- **Breaking Immersion**: Don't let Handbook jokes undermine serious moments
- **Restricting Players**: Never use Handbook rules to tell players "you can't do that"
- **Explaining the Joke**: Trust players to appreciate the absurdity without exposition
- **Inconsistency**: Maintain the established tone—serious-but-absurd, not slapstick

### Example Usage in Dialogue

**Scenario: Player picks a lock to access restricted area**

Handler: "Just so we're clear, Section 23, Clause 7 only authorises lock-picking when legal access is unavailable or time-critical."

Player: [Successfully picks lock]

Handler: "I'll note in the report that access was time-critical. Which it was. Because you decided it was."

**Scenario: Player exceeds cover authorisation**

Handler: "Your contract authorises network testing, not physical server room access."

Player: "Protocol 80 says I can expand my interpretation of 'scope.'"

Handler: "...I hate that you've actually read the Handbook. Fine, proceed. But if security catches you, that's not my problem."

**Scenario: Player requests unusual equipment**

Player: "I need a rubber duck for debugging purposes."

Handler: "That's not in the standard kit requisition list."

Player: "Section 8, Article 4—I can use personal tools if they're better."

Handler: "You're going to file paperwork explaining why a rubber duck is better than SAFETYNET-issued equipment, and I'm going to enjoy reading it."
