By: Alondra Reyes, Lead Device Architect
Scientific R&D Division
The first generation of aggression detection methods used in field ops was completely arcane. You scratched some runes into a board, threw salt at it, and waited to see if it caught fire. That was the level of precision we had. It was intuitive, unstable, and more dependent on the mood of the summoner than any repeatable science. Some called it tradition, but in reality it was more of a coin toss.
Then came the Salzburg Rift in the late 1980s. Seven agents entered a site with active aggression signatures. Five failed to detect anything using traditional glyph sense casting. Four of them did not leave the site. The other was pulled out in two separate bags. That operation is what finally forced Netherwatch to rethink its approach.
The Psycho-Kinetic Aggression Detector – or P.K.A.D. for those of us who like to breathe between syllables – is the result of that rethink. Scientific R&D pulled in field engineers, arcanists, and a couple of the less unhinged glyph theorists from Ritual Oversight. Together, they built something that was neither purely mechanical nor purely occult. The result is a hybrid instrument designed to detect Behavioral Traits in Demons, especially Aggressive and Stalker types.
Calling a P.K.A.D a radar is a crude yet effective term, in that it analyzes ambient and unseen information, replicating it in a visual form for us less arcanically inclined. What it does is interpret ambient kinetic agitation and psycho-emotional residue. Think of it like reading the turbulence left in water after something large and angry has moved through it. Except the water is reality, and the thing was trying to bite your lungs out.
Internally, the P.K.A.D. uses a motion telemetry array bound to a glyphic matrix. This matrix draws from a library of known resonance patterns tied to hostile intent. If a Demon with predatory instincts passed through the space recently, the glyphs begin to configure themselves. As the symbols stabilize, they can be matched to Netherwatch’s archived catalog of known behavioral marks. If one of those symbols corresponds with an Aggressive or Stalker tag, the trait is confirmed.
The glyphs themselves are not aesthetic. They are precise metaphysical data points. Some operatives still like to think they “feel” a Demon’s presence better than a calibrated sensor can read it. I have a shelf full of melted bracelets and snapped pendants from those agents. Most are labeled.
The device works best in areas of recent Demonic activity, especially during or shortly after Manifestation. Environmental Traits like Cold Spots or Darkness Manipulation do not interfere with it, although mentally compromised operators may experience slight distortions. Do not rely on your gut. Rely on the glyphs. They do not lie, even if the thing that left them does.
If you want historical context on why the old methods failed so frequently, I suggest Armitage’s field notes on pre-digital arcane diagnostics in Applications of Symbolic Instability (Armitage 1957). For more recent analysis of hybrid arcano-technological interfaces, Erickson’s treatise on infernal echo theory remains a must-read (Erickson 1963).
While there are other methods of determining the behavioral state of a demonic entity, the P.K.A.D. remains the most reliable and practical to date. As always, however, equipment is only as effective as the one operating it. Relying on your equipment AND your instincts is what will bring you home from the field.
—Alondra Reyes
Lead Device Architect
Scientific R&D Division
References
Armitage, Felix. Applications of Symbolic Instability: Field Failures and the Glyphic Reflex. London: Watchtower Press, 1957.
Erickson, M. L. Echoes in the Veil: Mapping Infernal Presence through Kinetic Residue. Prague: Hexline Research Cooperative, 1963.