# Core Premise

## Who You Are

**You are Agent 0x00** (also known as Agent Zero, Agent Null, or by your custom handle).

### Your Background

- **Recently recruited** to SAFETYNET's field operations division
- **Specialized training** in cyber security and digital forensics
- **Rookie status** but exceptional potential identified during recruitment
- **Fresh perspective** that senior agents may have lost
- **Adaptable** to various undercover roles

### Your Designation

**0x00** is a hexadecimal designation meaning:
- Part of the entry-level field analyst program
- **0x00-0x0F**: Current rookie cohort
- **0x10-0x8F**: Standard field operatives
- **0x90-0xFF**: Senior agents and specialists

The designation is both practical (operational security) and symbolic (you start at zero, like an array index, with room to grow).

### Your Handle

While your designation is 0x00, you also have an **agent handle**—your chosen codename:
- Used in less formal communications
- Reflects your personality or skills
- Can be l33tspeak, puns, or references
- Helps build your identity within SAFETYNET

Examples:
- **Agent Zero**: Clean and simple
- **Null Pointer**: Programming reference
- **Root**: Aiming for the top access
- **CipherSix**: Cryptography specialist
- **Byte**: Small but mighty

---

## What You Do

You've recently joined **SAFETYNET**, a covert counter-espionage organisation dedicated to protecting digital infrastructure and national security.

### Primary Mission

Counter the operations of **ENTROPY**, an underground criminal organisation bent on world domination through:
- Cyber-physical attacks
- Data manipulation
- Corporate espionage
- Infrastructure sabotage
- Societal destabilization
- [REDACTED] experimental programs

### Your Role

As a **rookie agent specializing in cyber security**, you're thrust into the field to:

**Conduct Operations:**
- Infiltrate suspect facilities
- Investigate security breaches
- Prevent planned attacks
- Gather intelligence on ENTROPY cells
- Neutralize threats before they materialize

**Apply Skills:**
- Real cyber security techniques
- Physical security assessment
- Social engineering
- Digital forensics
- Incident response
- Penetration testing

**Work Undercover:**
You rarely operate openly as a SAFETYNET agent. Instead, you adopt cover identities:
- Security consultant hired for penetration testing
- New employee at company under investigation
- Incident responder called after a breach
- Compliance auditor performing assessment
- Freelance researcher at a conference

**Piece Together Intelligence:**
ENTROPY operates in cells with compartmentalized information. Your job is to:
- Find evidence of ENTROPY operations
- Identify cell members
- Uncover planned attacks
- Build cases against operatives
- Connect dots between cells

---

## Your Handler: Agent 0x99 "Haxolottle"

You don't work alone. **Agent 0x99** is your primary handler, providing:
- Mission briefings
- Real-time support (via secure comms)
- Technical assistance
- Field guidance
- Extraction if things go wrong

Haxolottle is a veteran agent who's seen it all and has a peculiar fondness for axolotl metaphors. They believe in you, even when missions get complicated.

---

## Your Resources

### SAFETYNET Provides

**Standard Field Kit:**
- Lockpicks for physical access
- Fingerprint dusting kit
- Bluetooth scanner for device discovery
- USB rubber ducky for quick exploits
- Multi-tool for hardware access

**Digital Tools:**
- **CyberChef** - Encoding/encryption workstation
- **Kali Linux VM** - Penetration testing tools
- **Network analyzers** - Traffic inspection
- **Password crackers** - Authentication bypass
- **Custom exploits** - For specific scenarios

**Intelligence Access:**
- SAFETYNET database on known ENTROPY cells
- Threat intelligence feeds
- Historical operation records
- Technical documentation
- Handler support line

**Cover Support:**
- Fake credentials and backgrounds
- Cover company employment records
- Authorization letters for "security audits"
- Legal framework for operations (mostly)
- Extraction teams on standby

### What You DON'T Have (Usually)

- Weapons (SAFETYNET prefers non-lethal operations)
- Unlimited resources (budget constraints exist)
- Full information (intelligence is incomplete)
- Backup on-site (you're often alone)
- Clear guidance on every decision (field choices are yours)

---

## Your Adversary: ENTROPY

### What You're Up Against

**ENTROPY** is not a single organization but a network of semi-autonomous cells, each with:
- Specialized focus (infrastructure, espionage, disinformation, etc.)
- Distinct membership and leadership
- Unique operational methods
- Varying levels of competence
- Shared philosophical goal: accelerate societal entropy

### ENTROPY's Advantages

**Initiative:**
- They choose when and where to strike
- Can operate without legal constraints
- Don't need authorization for aggressive actions
- Recruit ruthlessly from vulnerable populations

**Secrecy:**
- Cell-based structure limits exposure
- Compartmentalized operations
- Multiple layers of cover
- Willing to sacrifice cells to protect leadership

**Resources:**
- Funding from criminal enterprises
- Access to zero-day exploits
- Corrupted insiders at target organizations
- Advanced technical capabilities

### Your Advantages

**Legitimacy:**
- Legal cover for operations (mostly)
- Can request legitimate access
- Authority to investigate
- Cooperation from some targets

**Resources:**
- SAFETYNET's accumulated intelligence
- Technical support and tools
- Handler guidance
- Organizational backing

**Training:**
- Structured education in cyber security
- Field operations training
- Access to expert advisors
- Continuous skill development

**Purpose:**
- You're protecting people
- Preventing real harm
- Building a better world
- Clear moral framework (usually)

---

## Your Missions

### Mission Types

As Agent 0x00, you'll be assigned various operation types:

**Infiltration:**
- Go undercover at suspect organization
- Gather evidence from inside
- Identify ENTROPY operatives
- Map out cell structure
- Sabotage operations from within

**Investigation:**
- Respond to suspected breach
- Analyze compromised systems
- Identify attack vectors
- Attribute attack to ENTROPY cell
- Prevent further damage

**Prevention:**
- Intelligence suggests planned attack
- Infiltrate before execution
- Disrupt attack preparations
- Neutralize threat
- Capture or expose operatives

**Recovery:**
- Attack already occurred
- Minimize damage
- Identify perpetrators
- Recover stolen data
- Prevent escalation

### Mission Structure

Most operations follow this pattern:

**1. Briefing**
- Handler explains situation
- Provides known intelligence
- Assigns objectives
- Establishes cover story
- Answers questions

**2. Infiltration**
- Arrive at location under cover
- Initial reconnaissance
- Identify entry points
- Assess security measures
- Begin operation

**3. Investigation**
- Explore environment
- Collect evidence
- Hack systems
- Interview NPCs (if undercover)
- Piece together ENTROPY's plan

**4. Climax**
- Confront key challenge
- Make critical choices
- Complete primary objective
- Potentially expose cover
- Escape or complete cover mission

**5. Debrief**
- Report findings to handler
- Submit collected evidence
- Receive analysis
- Update SAFETYNET intelligence
- Learn about broader implications

### Success and Failure

**Missions can be partially successful:**
- Prevented attack but operatives escaped
- Captured some members but cell leader fled
- Stopped current operation but missed broader plot
- Exposed but completed critical objectives
- Compromised but prevented worst outcome

**Failure is possible:**
- Exposed before gathering enough evidence
- Attack succeeds before you stop it
- Your cover is blown with incomplete intelligence
- Critical evidence is destroyed
- Cell members escape completely

**Growth through experience:**
- Failed missions teach valuable lessons
- Success builds reputation and trust
- Each operation reveals more about ENTROPY
- Your skills develop through practical application
- The shadow war continues regardless

---

## Your Character Arc

### Rookie to Expert

Your journey across scenarios:

**Early Missions (Agent 0x00):**
- Learning field operations
- Basic cyber security techniques
- Following handler guidance closely
- Straightforward infiltrations
- Clear objectives

**Mid-Career (Agent 0x[Hexadecimal increases]):**
- More complex operations
- Multi-phase investigations
- Some autonomy in methods
- Harder choices
- Deeper ENTROPY conspiracies

**Veteran Status (Agent 0x???):**
- Lead operations
- Mentor newer agents
- Tackle highest-priority threats
- Significant autonomy
- Shape SAFETYNET strategy

### Specialization Paths

As you progress, you develop expertise in specific CyBOK knowledge areas:
- **Network Security**: Traffic analysis, protocol expertise
- **Cryptography**: Encryption breaking, secure communications
- **Human Factors**: Social engineering, insider threats
- **Malware Analysis**: Reverse engineering, threat hunting
- **Web Security**: Application testing, API exploitation
- **Forensics**: Evidence collection, incident response

Your specializations affect:
- Mission types offered to you
- Dialog options with technical NPCs
- Alternative solutions available
- Handler comments on your approach
- Reputation within SAFETYNET

---

## Your Moral Framework

### The Gray Areas

While SAFETYNET represents "the good guys," field operations involve ethical complexity:

**You will:**
- Lie (undercover identities)
- Break into systems (penetration testing without real authorization)
- Deceive innocents (cover stories to employees)
- Violate privacy (surveillance and data access)
- Potentially put people at risk (if cover is blown)

**Justifications:**
- Greater good (preventing attacks)
- Legal framework (mostly legitimate authorization)
- Minimizing harm (non-lethal methods preferred)
- Legitimate targets (ENTROPY, not innocents)
- Oversight (SAFETYNET command approval)

**Questions you'll face:**
- Is this infiltration justified?
- Should I expose the innocent employee unwittingly helping ENTROPY?
- Do I follow orders or my instincts?
- Is SAFETYNET always right?
- Where's the line between security and privacy?

### Player Agency

Your choices matter:
- How you approach missions (aggressive vs. stealthy)
- Who you trust (NPCs may have hidden agendas)
- What evidence you prioritize (some objectives conflict)
- Whether to follow orders exactly (handler suggests, you decide)
- How you treat captured adversaries (mercy vs. ruthlessness)

Different choices lead to different outcomes, but the world continues. ENTROPY won't be defeated in a single mission. This is a shadow war, and you're one agent in a larger conflict.

---

## Why You Matter

Despite being a rookie in a vast shadow war:

**Individual Impact:**
- Your missions stop real attacks
- Your investigations expose ENTROPY cells
- Your skills protect innocent people
- Your choices shape outcomes
- Your growth inspires others

**Part of Something Larger:**
- SAFETYNET is a team effort
- Other agents run parallel operations
- Your intelligence helps future missions
- Every prevented attack saves lives
- The shadow war continues because people like you fight it

**Educational Mission:**
- You're learning real cyber security skills
- Each scenario teaches practical concepts
- Your knowledge makes the real world safer
- Security awareness begins with understanding
- The best defense is an educated defender

---

## For Scenario Designers

When writing for Agent 0x00:

**✓ Remember:**
- They're a rookie (competent but still learning)
- They follow handler guidance (but can improvise)
- They specialize in cyber security (not a soldier)
- They work undercover (not openly as a spy)
- They have agency (player choices matter)
- They're relatable (not a superhero)

**✗ Avoid:**
- Making them incompetent (rookies still have skills)
- Removing all agency (they're the protagonist)
- Making them perfect (failure is possible)
- Breaking cover without consequences
- Ignoring established SAFETYNET procedures
- Forgetting the educational mission

---

## Further Reading

- **[Setting](setting.md)** - The world you operate in
- **[Tone & Atmosphere](tone_and_atmosphere.md)** - How the narrative feels
- **[Agent 0x00 Character Profile](../04_characters/safetynet/agent_0x00.md)** - Detailed character information
- **[SAFETYNET Overview](../02_organisations/safetynet/overview.md)** - Your organization
- **[ENTROPY Overview](../02_organisations/entropy/overview.md)** - Your adversary

---

*"Welcome to SAFETYNET, Agent 0x00. You're about to discover that the most dangerous vulnerabilities aren't in code—they're in people, systems, and the thin line between order and chaos. But don't worry, you've got this. Probably."*
— Agent 0x99 "Haxolottle", Your Handler
