Bunraku parlors are a great example, I hadn't thought of them. Though apparently at least some degree of cyberwere and/or willingness (or at least apathy) is involved.



It's not exactly clear to me what exactly is necessary to hijack a persons brain against there will. A persona fix chip may be enough only if the person using it isn't actively fighting against the overlayed personality. Bunraku parlor girls may accept the chips as the alternatives are savage beatings and the chips at least let them partialy blank out what is going on.

But simply as a GM tool I have no problem with some sort of BBG developing some sort of supper resonance enabled virus that can infect anyone with a direct neural interface.

I still think the concept of zombie dom that is transmitted electronically fascinating. Heh, what an awesome (and appropriate) twist on the typical zombie Apocalypse genre. A zombie virus that infects you via a DNI. If it had a delayed effect, it could potentialy infect a huge portion of the 6th world, as likely most everyone uses a DNI (even if its just trodes) at some point. Only those who are 'matrix virgins' as it were would remain un-infected.

Hah. I love it...

of DOOM!

Well, FAB is a different story, since you can see it astrally, and physically when it glows. And an optical microscope would work. Of course, manabolt is single-target, and there's probably thousands of bacteria floating there... so, yeah, I'd allow it. It wouldn't do much good, but it might be entertaining.

With a drain code identical to manaball, Sterilize could be a useful replacement if you know you'll be facing FAB anytime soon.

Just cause it seems like you didn't check, SM, 127, "FAB III can be killed according to the standard rules in astral combat as well as by the Sterilize spell. The Cure Disease spell can also destroy it; treat FAB III as a disease with Power equal to its Force. If it is reduced to 0, the cloud is destroyed."

FAB 1 can be seen physically when it glows after dieing from contacting an astral form.

FAB 2 lives in a nutrient solution like a fancy wall. So no glowing there (but you might recognize the type of wall.

FAB 3 Does not glow, but does attach to awakened characters and feed on them when they're astrally active.

That's only FAB III, though. Sterilize should get all versions of them, but AFAIK FAB III is the only one that can be manabolted as a colony.

To get even more bizarrely technical, Sterilize is a physical spell seeming to indicate that microorganisms cannot be targeted with mana spells. Though I suppose it could be that only viruses are immune, and the spell is physical to handle both. Though admittedly the sterilize spell does more then just kill microorganisms, so its physical nature may account for that.

OTOH it may be that microorganisms are just plain immune in most situations, as the mage does not have LOS to them (in most cases). Indeed if this were not the case, the 'sterilize' spell would not be as necessary as a simple mana-ball would sterilize a large area by default (though sterilize does have other utility). I suppose you could target something if looking at it through an optical microscope, but umm... overkill much? (I mana-bolt the paramecium!)

----

In any case I would deny the use of Sterilize against undead viraly animated zombies anyways. I could justify it by saying that the material is tied up with other organic material making it impossible. Or by saying that the sum of an infected zombie is greater then its component parts, changing the exact nature of the collective micro-organisim group into something that can't be targeted by it (while yes, still retaining its dead and thus mana-immune nature).

But mainly it would be just be GM fiat (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

As a general rule, if you can't see it you can't target it. Sterilize doesn't work by targeting microorganisms but rather by creating an environment that they cannot survive in.