Conveniently Unverifiable Cover Story: Difference between revisions

'''Boomer:''' The mining settlement? The accident.

'''Baltar:''' The explosion, right. That was tragic. Your family, uh...

 

Designing a good cover story is one of the most difficult and crucial parts of going undercover for [[The Mole]]. [[No True Scotsman|Lack]] of [[Did Not Do the Research|research]] into the details and customs of the identity they're assuming can be a [[Cross Cultural Kerfluffle|dead giveaway]] in casual dealings, and even the best falsified documents backed up with hacked databases and bribed records keepers can eventually be cracked with enough research and cross referencing. What a lot of moles end up doing is sacrificing authenticity for security by creating a [[Contrived Coincidence|conveniently]] unverifiable cover story. This cover story creates or [[Dead Person Impersonation|assumes]] an identity whose background can't be verified or disproved, by claiming to come from a place or period with no personal records or witnesses. Commonly, it's a [[Doomed Hometown|burned down]] [[Parental Abandonment|orphanage]], though being the "lone survivor" of an accident, or coming from a place that suffered a natural disaster or been in a civil war are also common. Potentially non-tragic unverifiable cover stories are coming from communities that shun modern things like hospitals and birth certificates, or where the hall of records has been destroyed.

 

== Live Action TV ==

** If you haven't seen the season three finale yet, don't highlight: {{spoiler|Tory, Anders, Ellen, Tigh, and the Chief all have their own [[Fake Memories]], though none have mentioned Troy-like accidents. It's likely they've all had their parents "die young" in order to explain their absence. Although strange in the case of Sam Anders. Even orphans have to grow up somewhere and sports stars' old acquaintances are frequently interviewed in the real world.}}

** {{spoiler|It's also likely that something unfortunate happened to everyone Tigh was supposed to have served with in the first war. Before you say it, he didn't serve with Adama in the first war. That's a common misconception}}.