SR4 and the definition of Essence, Puting right the oversights of M&M Options

[RunnerPaul]

Let's talk about the definition of Essence. When Man & Machine was released one of it's selling points was that it would spell out exactly what essence and essence loss represented.

But then we all got to read the Developers Say and it turned out that this concrete definition of essence loss was something along the lines of "Cyberware interfaces with the nervous system, and this interface forces the body to adjust itself to be out of attunement with mana; heavy trauma (including deliberate trauma such as surgery), and certain drugs can also force the nervous system to become out of attunement with mana."

I know that many people looked at that and said that it was no better than SR1's statement that Essence was "a measure of the soundness of the Central Nervous System and Spirit".

For instance, there's all sorts of cyberware implants that would have no significant ties to the nervous system: Non-retractable cyberspurs and hand razors, radio-controlled one-shot auto injectors, and bone lacing, to name a few, and yet these pieces of ware do have a listed essence cost. Then there's variable essence costs for some pieces of ware that come in variable ratings, such as the Data Compactor even though the increased rating should require no extra neural interfacing. Man & Machine's definition does little to answer these questions.

Invariably, we all know the metagame reason behind Essence loss: Game Balance. However, I still think that it should be possible to come up with an in-game definition of what Essence is that can answer all the questions. I think some of the later SR2 products were on the right track when they were talking about implants that grant abilities that deviate from a being's Astral Template. With a little refinement of that explanation, to account for Bioware and other implants that consist of living matter, I think we'd have an in game definition that dovetails neatly with the metagame reasoning of "It's to maintain game balance".

Just something I wanted to throw out there in case anyone involved with SR4 happens to be looking.