Memory Alteration
The memory alteration procedure is a voluntary procedure for members of Civil Protection between the ranks of 04 to 01. All members of Field Command, excluding GHOST, will be sought after and mandated to undergo the procedure.

This procedure is done to ease units into their new lives and roles, and to make them more understanding and susceptible towards the Combine's strict rules and overall regime. The intent is to clear any doubt as to why the Universal Union are a necessity for humanity's future.

Memory alteration effectively alters the way the unit remembers the 7 Hour War, forced integration into Combine society, and other events that may reflect poorly on the Universal Union and its reign over humanity. The purpose is to influence the unit into believing that the acts conducted by the Combine were necessary actions done to better sway humanity towards the path of enlightenment; with humanity set on a path of inevitable self-destruction following the Portal Storms, units who undergo this procedure are led to believe that they truly understand why the Combine are necessity for humanity's ascension to a higher plane, once they are deemed worthy by the Benefactors.

Memory alteration does as it states, altering the unit's memories in order to tweak the unit's perception towards certain events.

Some topics that would be affected and made to be seen in a positive light:
The 7 Hour War.
Mass migration of citizen populaces from their initial territories to newly created city centers around the Citadels.
Separation of families.
Gradual induction of the youth into the Graduate indoctrination programs.
Constant shifting of citizenry between cities.
Harsh and sometimes inhuman actions towards citizens.
Subjugation of the Xen species known as Servitors/Vortigaunts.
The unit would take each memory and event as a reasonable action by the Combine, rather than as something that should cause ire or distress. They would possibly even feel emotions of annoyance or frustration when non-altered individuals question your unit's acceptance of these events or attempts to sway the unit towards a different conclusion.

Some topics that would be affect and made to be seen in a negative light:
The appearance of Vortigaunts following the Portal Storms.
Supposed benevolent acts by the resistance such as tampered ration handouts.
Attempts by the resistance to ferry citizenry outside the city wall and to the wasteland and outlands.
As an example, a unit may perceive Vortigaunts more negatively following the procedure because their memory has been altered to give the impression that Vortigaunts' arrival to Earth included more savage and hostile acts towards humanity, or they may perceive the resistance's attempts to "free" citizens as an act to take them out of the safe confines of the city walls, where they are free from Xenian invasion and other potential harm that they are readily exposed to outside the barriers that surround the city.

The procedure itself is rather quick and painless. The unit might feel some slight discomfort immediately after the procedure is done, but even that should fade within a day or so. It is non-intrusive, thus does not require any type of surgery to be performed on your unit, and is the procedure most often referred to as "brainwashing" or "mind wiping" (although it's more closely related to the former).

Mind Alteration
The mind alteration procedure is not something pleasant, neither is it a voluntarily undertaken procedure. It is a procedure forced unto a unit if they somehow botched up majorly, but not enough to warrant a crackdown. The procedure can only be authorized by: High Command, each squad's Squad Leaders, or ECHO Field Command if they deem a unit too unfit to be reinstated or kept in the ranks of the CCA in their current state. When appropriate, GHOST Field Command may also utilize this procedure for anti-citizens and individuals outside the CCA.

Upon undergoing the mind alteration procedure, the unit should act less like the individual they once were and more akin to an indoctrinated soldier following the Union's everlasting will.

Some topics that should be considered after undergoing the procedure:
Character becomes more calculative.
Character doesn't find the need to commit to any "fun" or recreational activities. Socializing without a purpose seems more of a distraction from what they could or should be doing.
Curiosity and interests are pacified.
Uncontrollable chemical reactions leading to a sort of a rush in their body in the presence of leadership. The same goes for disobedience and malignancy, however the opposite effects. Uncontrollable hatred.
"You are forced to sit down. The fabric of the chair is hard, uncomfortable. You hear the buzz of electrical currents in the room. A needle is inserted in your wrist. The sedative flows into your bloodstream. You become relaxed, tired. Your vision becomes blurry, voices are heard but they're distorted. You know it's too late to go back, your body has been pacified yet your mind becomes full of fear and regret. The last thing you sense is cold metal clamping around your skull. Then, everything is black.

It's loud. But not painful. It feels like you're in a box concealed away from what is outside. There's voices and different distorted sounds. You feel anger and hatred, as if you were born with just that emotion implanted in you. You hate it, the voice, it sounds wrong, it sounds like something that is the manifestation of everything disgusting and evil. Then it calms. Pride, enthusiasm. The need to improve, to display your prowess to that voice. The voice outside the box. It speaks to you. It sounds like something you have to follow. The voice wants what is best for you, it cares for you. You do not understand what it is saying, but you agree, you listen, you obey.

You awaken. The light that shines is as bright as ever and your eyes struggle to focus at first. There's no more regret or fear. The cold metal clamps come off and you stand to your feet. You don't need to be told what to do, you leave."

Each bullet point for both procedures are both guidelines and soft suggestions, and while the depth of how each is affected is up to the player, there is a degree of creativity and imagination to be allowed. Through repeated exposure, the actual effects could be more detrimental than beneficiary, such as a unit lashing out at others in their squad for minor grievances, or believing that even minor indiscretions deserve unnecessarily harsh judgement that lead to punishments that cripple the victim.

Breaking the effect of either procedure is difficult without repeated attempts, the latter especially. It could be likened to erecting walls around memories and emotions, separating reality and one's perception of it. It would be impossible to bombard an affected unit with repeated, blatant yells that what they're thinking is wrong, as that would likely only reinforce the damage. Removing the effects of both procedure requires a committed effort over a sustained period, with multiple events necessary to supplant the memory and mind altering effects to even a minor degree. Certain acts that are completely unjustifiable, where no amount of logic or mental hoops could ever justify outright, like the execution of a known innocent or group of innocence, are ones that could potentially shake the foundations of these procedures, but these are exceptions that likely won't be seen in public or by those with weak wills.

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If you have any comments, say so. This will remain exclusively here in FC Private, with the full details being hidden from the CCA for the time being. I worked on this with Abni last year and it's been floating around inboxes for some time now. The current CMOs both are aware of the two procedures (although I've tweaked it a bit for this placement). Panda can update Eqhuinox as necessary as this goes updated.

While I would like to notify the members of the CCA that this has been 'worked out' a bit more concretely, I don't want them to have such a fully described path, since that tends to lead to stifled creativity.