Wage mages?, What do they do? Options

[nick012000]

Yes, I'm wondering how that happened. On at least one occasion, the Azzies were literally massacring innocents in the streets to power a blood magic ritual in an attempt to bring about a mana spike big enough to open the floodgates to the Horrors (in the novel Beyond the Pale). Granted, when the Dragon Heart was used to destroy the dragonheart, the result was a massive explosion that probably killed everyone presesnt, but I'm suprised that Ryan Mercury, the rest of Assets, Inc., Harlequin, or Aina didn't go and start a few rumors about the subject.

[Sicarius]

I know what you were saying Oracle. I agree with you. I was just amused.

[ Spoiler ]

Okay. In order to enable the transfer of funds please send me the account numbers for your bank, along with a photo copy of your passport.

[ShadowDragon8685]

And the whole "Gassing millions in the Yucatan and using Toxics" thing went unnoticed, how?

Why hasen't anybody gotten footage of what the Azzies have been doing, and widebanded it to every non-Azzie newsfeed in the world? Especially newsfeeds controlled by Ghostwalker and other people who'd like to rake Aztechnology and Aztlan over the coals a few times. And by the coals, I mean the radioactive "Melt your skin for being ten meters away" coals.

[Critias]

The same way the rebellion that's been going on for years inside the Tir goes unnoticed (until SoNA), the same way so many atrocities in real life, today, go unnoticed for years -- those who control the media, control the truth.

Azzies invest a lot of money in controlling the media.

[Oracle]

The Yucatan rebels themselves resorted to attack the Aztechnology peace keeping force with chemical weapons. They simply left the Azzie commanders no other choice as to attack the WMD storage facilities. The massive civil losses have been caused because the rebel commanders employed some sort of scorched earth agenda. Aztechnology immediately dispatched medical teams to the area, but unfortunately the recent spirit activities caused by toxic Yucatan shamans stopped them from doing their work.

Even the connection between Aztechnology and Aztlan isn't official and obvious for the public, by the way.

[ShadowDragon8685]

And when the footage of the azzie "Big Breath" troopers in full gas gear and wielding belching gas-blowers (As in the YotC image,) gets shown everywhere on the ten o' clock news?

There's only so much spin you can put on something before it centrifically breaks free of your control, usually coming crashing straight down into your head.

[Oracle]

It will not be shown on the ten o'clock news. That is the spin. It will possibly be shown by a hand full of anarchistic pirate stations. And of course by propaganda networks associated with the toxic shaman government of yucatan. Besides that: Everyone could fix up a fake Jaguar Guard uniform. That proves nothing. Not in the year 2064(?).

[ShadowDragon8685]

Just how stupid is the average person in 206X?

.... On second thought, don't answer that.

But the azzies can't spin everybody. They can't have their fingers in every pie. Especially the pies that are firmly dedicated to snubbing them at every turn. I'm sure Ghostwalker, say, could get anything he wanted aired, and Azzie objections just keep rolling off his scales, as per usual. And it's certainly in his best interests to do so. "Look at what those crazy Azzies are doing down south. Good thing I kicked 'em out of Denver before they decided to do that here, too."

[Oracle]

Ghostwalker commited massive acts of terrorism against the rightful property of the people of Aztlan. Who would believe him? He is possibly the leading figure behind the already mentioned toxic shaman government of Yucatan. No, serious: Even he can't afford to go into open war with the second largest megacorp in the world. They are simply one level above him. He is not Lofwyr and has no Saeder Krupp to back him up.

Just look at how the US government manages to cover and spindoctor nearly everything that happens in the war in Iraq. (In fact they tell us there is no war anymore. Just some insurgents.) And Aztechnology and Aztlan are much more proficient in that. I am pretty sure that even ten o' clock news coverage could not bring them to their knees. Aztech has a very very good public image. The don't do bad things. Big 'A' influences the public every single day to believe that drek. It is so much more convenient compared to the truth.

[nick012000]

[Fuchs]

IMC, mages are usually in security/control functions (facilities, casinos, bodyguards etc.), medicine or research posts. A few work in education, in arcane faculties and their equivalents.
A few oddballs are in the entertainment industry, for special effects and such, or as consultants, and in other fields, like archeology, high-risk transport, Detox, trying to find new economical applications for magic.

[FrankTrollman]

Remember, every corporation does things that the runners are going to think is evil. But the US tortures people to death in the sandbox, and operates the "School of the Americas" where people are trained to torture people to death. And people still make web posts about how even saying that you don't agree with actions is immoral.

nick012000 offers a blindingly clear glimpse at exactly how and why Aztlan can use poison gas on the Mayans, and Ares can hire insect shamans, and Proteus can conduct destructive testing on humans. The megacorporations are peoples' lives. If they do something that doesn't sit right with you, they must have a reason. These times are hard for everyone, and they do what must be done.

When the United States attaches car batteries to peoples' genitalia, it has a reason. People supporting social and economic systems that are not advantageous to US corporations are bad, and the US government is doing what it must to protect its people and interests. Failing to give 100% support to the government in these dark times is not illegal, it's immoral. If you don't stand behind the School of the Americas, you are a bad person, and I'm ashamed to know you.

Now, scale that up 65 years until the nation of Aztlan is owned by Aztechnology. Much better spin doctoring than the US where merely most politicians are in some way dependent upon support from FOX.

-Frank

[tisoz]

[mfb]

how many Aztechnology products do you think actually say "Aztechnology" on them? some, sure, especially the expensive stuff that is only bought by other corps, who really can't be bothered with little things like morals. but most things aren't going to have the Aztechnology logo on them. it explains this in one of the corp books--i think it even says that Aztechnology owns the Stuffer Shack franchise. the Aztechnology logo isn't being thrown in Joe Average's face, so Joe Average doesn't care.

[Edward]

There are probably no Aztec logos on the battle dress of there questionable troops, any footage will show them as a mercenary company, and there probably shooting at cameras.

I understood that the Aztec brand line was big. And stuffer shack caries it, it also caries other brand lines made buy aztechnology as dose the branded aztech shopping mall.

The average Joe dose not know of most of the allegations against aztechnology and dose not believe those he dose know about.

Every corp has a public face and a face they hide, usually owned threw shell companies, and don’t think the azies wont tred hard and publicly on those shell companies if there activities become known.

Wage mages are also sometimes working as head shrinkers (both literal and metaphorically)

Edward

[ShadowDragon8685]

[blakkie]

[FrankTrollman]

Notice how they wisely avoid using metal bullets that might permanently damage the environment, cleaving instead to environmentally conscious chemical and biologic agents that become inert after a short period of time!

---

But regardless, a Wage Mage of sufficient power can make a big name for himself in:

Transportation. A powerful magician can cut 34 days off the travel time of a container ship. What does that mean? That means that the container ship, which carries 4,500 teus of cargo gets there 34 days early. And each of those teus is worth nearly 2 thousand nuyen each quarter normally. So instead of making 2 trips each quarter, you're making 10 or more, and that means that your magician is - by himself - generating tens of millions of nuyen a year. But only a powerful mage can pull that off, a lesser magician would have to content herself sending spirits to use movement on planes.

I honestly don't know why anyone would ever make a suborbital when a 747 backed up by a force 5 spirit on remote service can make the run from SeaTac to Dulles in less than an hour. It takes longer to drive to the airport and find a parking spot than it does to cross the continent.

Research. Detection spells, alchemical identification, the whole thing. It's good times all around.

Security. Patrolling spirits, watchers, wards, mind probes, astral senses, detection spells, this is going to be a growth industry forever. Note that a lot of these tasks can (and will) be performed by weak magicians with a Magic rating of 1 or 2.

Medicine. Health Spells basically scream this application.

Entertainment. Not just phantasms, a magician with Mob Mood can literally force everyone in the room to be happy.

Material Synthesis. Low force magic only works on unprocessed things. Which means that you can actually use magical levitation as a filter to push low-yield synthesis processes to completion. Ares has doubtless put Ambergel back on the market now that they are making it in-house.

Human Resources. If the other activities simply weren't evil enough, why not simply scan applicants to see what skills they actually have?

-Frank

[TheHappyAnarchis...]

[Glyph]

The white phosphorus has been mentioned in the U.S. media, as well.

To guide this back to SR, I think that, in a nutshell, is why the megacorporations can get away with a lot. I don't find suppression of information (such as in the original Universal Brotherhood storyline) to be that realistic. Rather, I think the problem is that there is an information explosion in the Shadowrun world. Take today with cell phones that can take videos and free websites for bloggers, then multiply it exponentially.

It's not that the information about Aztechnology atrocities isn't out there; it's that it's out there mixed in with Aztechnology propoganda, propoganda from Aztechnology's many enemies, scam artists, conspiracy theorists, and millions of people logging onto the Matrix to post their opinions about it. So what's a cynical, jaded, apathetic wage slave who struggles merely to get by going to do? They will probably dismiss a lot of the far-out stuff as rubbish, including the far-out stuff that happens to be true. They will probably have a "What could I do about it, even if it was true?" attitude. So the truth is out there, but only shadowrunners and a few others will really be that aware of it. For everyone else, it gets lost in the rest of the noise.

[Deamon_Knight]

And Remember, most of these things are important to people who will be affected by them. Shadowrunners may care if they are caught and used as an Azzie Blood sacrifice, But few UCAS citizens care as long as Aztechnology keeps to themselves and keeps the stuffer shacks stocked with cheap goodies. OTOH, Renraku's Arc problems threatened alot of UCAS citizens (A Mayor Included!), and was right on the UCAS doorstep, The Big A gets the NIMBY Pass.

[nick012000]

[Critias]

Hey! I think I can almost see the topic from here! *points far off into the distance*

[Fuchs]

I think another important point is how valued are mages?

Given that only 1 to 3 (4?) % of the population is magically active, how sought-after are mages for corp work? How many positions for wage mages open up? It directly influences how a wage mage carries him or herslef, and how bribable they are.
Can they pick and choose their jobs, or are they like some academics with esoteric mayors who will have to be very lucky to find work in their field of choice after graduating?

[TheHappyAnarchis...]

I will avoid all of the things I want to say that are way over there where we were discussing. Other than that the post is perfect evidence that Aztechnology can get away with what it wants to.

Anyway, to answer the above question, Mages are vital and always in demand. They are literally picking mages up off the street!!! Untrained gangers are being recruited, having their college payed for, and set to work.

There is simply not anywhere near the amount of supply needed to fill demand.

Most of the work I imagine falls into two categories. Research and Security. Mostly research into security. Magic can't be manufactured, so magical products are rare and valuable, but there is little of magical production going on. Especially as you would not want to spend all your karma on creating foci right?