“You don’t jack in. You drift. And when you drift, the Hollow decides what you are.”
In the Echelon System, hacking is no longer done through keyboards or terminals. It is done by drifting—diving directly into the Mnemoscape using a Neural Deck, a modular implant system housed within a Synaptic Anchor.
Operators (those who drift) don’t see code. They experience it. The Mnemoscape reshapes data into shifting bio-organic landscapes, subconscious symbols, and living architecture. Corporate networks appear as sterile palisades. The Hollow is chaos incarnate.
Ghost or Operator? Operators include all those who actively drift, operating in the Mnemoscape, including corporate stiffs and rebel ghosts. The term “ghost” originated due to the ethereal quality of an operator’s presence depicted in the Mnemoscape.
Traditionally, only ghosts hack the systems, but the corporations deploy active operators to repel ghosts—and they often use ghost-like protocols to defend corporate interests.
To Drift, a character must have:
Drifting into a Mnemoscape node requires proximity or a stable network link. Online systems can be accessed wirelessly via Synaptic Anchor. Isolated nodes must be bypassed through the Hollow or first approached physically to gain hardline access to the protected neural access point.
Once at the node, the operator visualizes the system as a construct—an immersive space filled with miasmic code, shifting symbols, and mirrored shadows of the real world. All living beings appear as ghostly apparitions of themselves, but they are distinct from the inhabitants of the Hollow—wraiths and wraith-like creatures.
Now we get to the Hacking. To breach a secure node, the ghost must infiltrate and defeat the system’s security. Treat the breach as a Dramatic Task using Hacking, with the listed penalty applied to each roll. (See Dramatic Task in Core Rules, pp. 122-123).
| Defense Level | Modifier | Task Type |
|---|---|---|
| Light | –2 | Challenging (4 Tokens in 3 rounds) |
| Medium | –4 | Difficult (6 Tokens in 4 rounds) |
| Heavy | –4 | Complex (8 Tokens in 5 rounds) |
| Ultra | –6 | Complex (8 Tokens in 5 rounds) |
The ghost’s Action Card each round represents both their initiative and the security response deployed by the system. Failing to gain at least one Task Token during a round results in the system deploying Intrusion Countermeasures. The suit of the ghost’s Action Card determines the response:
| Suit | Intrusion Countermeasure |
|---|---|
| Spades (Trace) | Your location is triangulated. Security is inbound. |
| Hearts (Overload) | The Anchor surges. Suffer 2d6 damage (only your Aegis and Glyphs protect). |
| Diamonds (Corruption) | A corrupted stream erases d6 Task Tokens. |
| Clubs (The Wail) | You are force-ejected from the Mnemoscape. You are Stunned, and the attempt fails. |
If disconnected involuntarily (i.e., dumped), the operator experiences Mnemonic Whiplash—a psychic backlash in which they suffer Fatigue and Disorientation (–2 to Smarts and Hacking rolls for 10 minutes).
The Glyph Cache stores up to four Neuroglyphs—bio-coded programs operators can utilize during a drift. Each Glyph is activated as a limited free action. The standard Glyph Cache only permits one instance of any Glyph, and are usable once per drift. These limited-use Glyphs recharge after the operator exits the Mnemoscape and recharge within the Neural Stack over a period of 10 minutes. Refer to the Glyphs in the New Gear page.
Sample Glyphs:
Anyone equipped with a Synaptic Anchor and a complete Neural Stack may drift alongside an operator. These users are called Auras—passive observers who appear as spectral shadows within the Mnemoscape, tethered to the operator’s consciousness.
Auras:
If an Aura has Glyph of Haunting in their own Glyph Cache, they may Support the operator during a drift. This works like a normal Support action (rolling an appropriate skill), but the action appears within the Mnemoscape as a surreal manifestation—memories, echoes, protective fragments of will.
"I felt your fear… and I used it."
Haunting Support rolls may use Smarts or Spirit—depending on how the Aura reaches across the neural link. Like any other Glyph, the Glyph of Haunting may only be used once per drift.
Characters can upgrade their Neural Decks over time. Modules, Glyphs, and Aegis types can be acquired through corporate work, black market dealings, or Mnemoscape crafting rituals.
But beware:
The First Ghostwalker
No one remembers their name—not because it was forgotten, but because it was unwritable. Every attempt to log it in the Mnemoscape ends in glyph collapse. Every file tied to them corrupts at the header.
They were the first to drift without tether. To cross into the Hollow voluntarily and return bearing something else.
Their pod remains—sealed, humming, and empty.
Some say every Ghostwalker Pod carries an imprint of the first ghost’s neural pattern. A shadow of a shadow. Others claim to hear breathing not their own when they drift in the pod.
All operators can tap into the Mnemoscape with just a Neural Deck. But to go deeper—to hold form in the Hollow, to resist Wraiths, to breach systems—you need either hardline access or Immersion Gear (or both).
These tools are worn, entered, or wired to the body. They provide bonuses or story effects, but they also shape how the operator experiences the Mnemoscape. Refer to these items in the Adventuring Gear table.
| Immersion Device | Type | Flavor |
|---|---|---|
| Ghost Mantle | Cloak/hood | Worn by Hollow cultists, believed to “muffle” your presence in the deep drift. |
| Mnemonic Skinsuit | Bodysuit | Thin biotech mesh that pulses with each neural spike. Common among field ghosts. |
| Wired Spindle | Body harness | Illegal in most corporate sectors. Leaves psychic scratches. |
| LUX™ Spindle | Deluxe harness | Fully integrated neurohaptic harness grown from resonance-reactive fiberbone, wrapped in programmable silk-biofilm. |
| Oblivion Hood | Void cultist helm | Used to commune with Wraiths. May “misfire” into corrupted Mnemoscape zones. |
| Whisper Chair | Crude open pod | A remnant of data jack days, used to ground Spindles on the cheap. |
| Ghostwalker Pod | Full-body pod | A sealed drift sarcophagus. The rich and unhinged get reborn in these. |
| Drift Cradle | Submersion pod | A Ghostwalker Pod modified with bioplasmic suspension fluid. Inside, you drift like falling into a dream. |
“For a true drift, the body must be forgotten.”
A good drift isn’t just about access—it’s about separation. The deeper the ghost wants to go, the more they must cut ties with the waking world.
When a Spindle is physically attached to a Pod, it’s not just a connection—it’s a sacrament. It grounds the ghost into the drift, not the body. The physical body becomes irrelevant. The drift becomes more real than the waking world.
“The signal is cleanest when the body is gone.”
When a Spindle is connected to a drift device (i.e., chair, cradle, pod, etc.):
Dangers of Grounding:
“Reality’s for people who failed the login sequence.”