Wireless and Magical Networks

Wireless and Magical Networks, what a cool idea!

Ophis View Member Profile	Aug 10 2006, 01:22 PM Post #101
Mystery Archaeologist Group: Members Posts: 2,906 Joined: 19-September 05 From: The apple tree Member No.: 7,760	A guess originally, now backing up with theory (as i think about it) 1 - The dragon most mentioned in Cara Fahd. 2 - Krathis Gron got trained somewhere in the orient - tibet perchance? 3 - Dvilgaynon was a key in the dragon ritual to seal of Vivane city which was a big magical barrier, a bit like the one over Tibet. She also seemed the most prepared for oddity from that little trick, which suggests somesort of experience. This is from memory mostly. You mentioned Cara Fahd and my brain popped up the idea. It's been a while since I played the crossover hunting game in ernest.

Demonseed Elite View Member Profile	Aug 10 2006, 01:26 PM Post #102
Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,078 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 67	I'd say you're onto something. Someone could definitely take that start and roll with it.

Ophis View Member Profile	Aug 10 2006, 01:28 PM Post #103
Mystery Archaeologist Group: Members Posts: 2,906 Joined: 19-September 05 From: The apple tree Member No.: 7,760	Does this suggest I have the canon idea or that canon hasn't decided and that this may fit? Maybe I should get my writing arse in gear...

Witness

Aug 10 2006, 02:02 PM

Post #104

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QUOTE (Ophis)

Does this suggest I have the canon idea or that canon hasn't decided and that this may fit?

Maybe I should get my writing arse in gear...

Tell me more!

Demonseed Elite

Aug 10 2006, 02:09 PM

Post #105

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QUOTE (Ophis)

Does this suggest I have the canon idea or that canon hasn't decided and that this may fit?

There is a pretty canon idea what is going on there, though since it's not in print, it's always malleable until that point.

But really, all I'm saying there is that there are more clues that back or refute your theory.

Ophis View Member Profile	Aug 10 2006, 02:12 PM Post #106
Mystery Archaeologist Group: Members Posts: 2,906 Joined: 19-September 05 From: The apple tree Member No.: 7,760	Hey don't ask, I'm just creating theories.... I just hope I get a namecheck if Demonseed Elite stea.. err works with my ideas. I need to reread my old ED stuff again! that and work on my ideas of Lancaster in SR4, though soem clues to the Uks status would be nice for that. Wait a mo. The uk is one of the other place with a powerline network. Also home to Transys Neuronet (now part of NeoNET) one of the minds behind the wireless matrix initiative, which seems to have altered the way Otaku now work. Damn i'm going bto have to by the patchy Theran source book...(if I can find it).

Grinder View Member Profile	Aug 10 2006, 02:29 PM Post #107
Great, I'm a Dragon... Group: Retired Admins Posts: 6,699 Joined: 8-October 03 From: North Germany Member No.: 5,698	Wonder if Krathis Gron is still alive...

Witness View Member Profile	Aug 10 2006, 02:30 PM Post #108
Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 681 Joined: 28-February 06 From: UK Member No.: 8,319	Funnily enough I decided about a week ago that she is (or might be) alive in my campaign. Wish I knew a bit more about her now.

Ophis View Member Profile	Aug 10 2006, 02:30 PM Post #109
Mystery Archaeologist Group: Members Posts: 2,906 Joined: 19-September 05 From: The apple tree Member No.: 7,760	I doubt it, my suspicions about immortal orks rests elsewhere...

Demonseed Elite

Aug 10 2006, 02:34 PM

Post #110

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QUOTE (Ophis)

I just hope I get a namecheck if Demonseed Elite stea.. err works with my ideas.

Haha, will do.

But as far as Tibet goes, I already have some pretty clear ideas behind it, that were all pitched back when I pitched Tibet for Shadows of Asia. Not as much on any magical wireless network (I just like to point out correlations between the idea and ED info), but definitely on the who's who of Tibet.

As folks like SL James and mfb know (as well as anyone from my Shadowland days), I've been working on SR's Tibet for a long time. Long before SoA, and I only got to put a small bit of my notes into the SoA wordcount.

mallet View Member Profile	Aug 12 2006, 04:18 AM Post #111
Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 199 Joined: 22-March 05 From: vancouver Member No.: 7,215	Well, to first state, I haven't read any Shadowrun 4 yet (I'm not even sure what a technomancer technically is...) and I haven't read SoA, but I am finding this thread really interesting. So I thought I'd offer up some thoughts on the whole Magical matrix concept (I assume they have been voiced before (and in a more articulate way) but I haven't noticed those posts yet...) If we assume that magic is created/channeled by a users belief then we can assume that if enough people believe in something it has the power to take shape or be created. So, if you have enough people connected to the matrix and believing in it as a unique location in and of itself, could that not over time give it "substance" and in fact make it into a "metaplane" where some people who are mystically talented would be able to manipulate it and affect it, like working the threads of magic? Could this in fact be how some of the metaplanes and totems were first created? Born out of the beliefs of primitive man? And maybe the Deep Resonance is in fact the birth of a new metaplane and perhaps soon we will see the birth of new "techno-totems" for shamans to follow. Who would want to play a Wolf Shaman when you could play a CPU Shaman... And, could these mystical/cyber monks, be trying to activily cause this new metaplane to form? For what purpose I do not know, but I'd guess it would be to somehow fight the Horde. Or now that I think about it, maybe it would not be a new Metaplane, maybe the Matrix would just become world covering "lay line", linking the magical essence of everyone connect to it. The book American Gods by Neil Gaiman, has a simular theme about the clash between the gods of old (Odin, Thor, etc... vs. the "new" gods live televison, electricity, etc...) it's a good read.

Samaels Ghost View Member Profile	Aug 12 2006, 04:24 AM Post #112
Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 984 Joined: 15-June 06 Member No.: 8,717	Mass hysteria would be a VERY dangerous event in the 6th world, then. Imagine if America's fervor over WMDs resulted in their manifestation in enemy territory. I like your ideas, man!

Samaels Ghost

Aug 12 2006, 05:55 AM

Post #113

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Now this is interesting

QUOTE ("Street Magic @ pg. 124")

On the astral plane, the
Maya Cloud is a swirling miasma of mana that totally
obscures astral sight and carries an emotional signature
heavy with feelings of betrayal, loneliness, and
fear.

What happened here that would cause such a powerful storm full of those emotions? A great tradgedy or war? The death of a Great Dragon or group of powerful magicians? It sounds as if the Maya Cloud may even be holding something in. Perhaps the emotions are that of it's captive. I would feel all of those things If I were cut off from the rest of the world. :(

Witness

Aug 12 2006, 11:05 AM

Post #114

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QUOTE (ED Dragons book)

Now then, our magical nature is born into us as surely as our knowledge of Naming. Dragons are in touch with the primal forces of what you call astral space, the wellspring of all magic in this world. We can see the astral patterns of things around us, the astral imprints of living things, and the ebb and flow of astral energies around us.

Magic is to us like air is to you: it is our natural environment, our very essence. While your people have learned to understand and control a tiny amount of magic, they have only brushed the surface of an ocean deeper and more mysterious than the Selestrean Sea itself. Like our own Names, we know the depths of these mysteries, know the powers of magic, from the very time we are born. Astral space is the pool from which we draw our magic and our very life.

Our knowledge of the currents of astral energies allows us to affect the outcome of events, to tip the balance of Fate towards a desired end. For most dragons, this ability is an expression of will and magical power, affecting only their own actions. For the more advanced and capable (such as myself) we can work our wills to change the fates of other creatures as well as ourselves.

//

The young dragon enters the realm of astral space like a bird returning to the forest where it is born. There it uses magic to weave a cocoon of astral threads around itself where it will sleep and undergo the transformation. These cocoons exist only in astral space, and cannot be seen or detected from the physical world. It is during this time that the dragon's True Pattern changes and its body changes as well, taking on the adult form that is familiar to the Young Races of Barsaive.

//

Dragonspeech allows us to communicate with each other with more than simple words. We can also speak in thoughts, images, and ideas. Spoken language is crude and imprecise by comparison. You can place multiple meanings in words, and your poets and artists amuse themselves with double entendres and word-games, but we can describe multiple layers of thought and meaning in an instant through our own form of communication. Combining movement and dragonspeech allows us to describe an entire experience or concept quickly, clearly and easily.

The power of dragonspeech is used from a very young age to begin educating our hatchlings, and is another important role of the guardian. Great dragons are the experienced elders of dragonkind. Using dragonspeech, it is possible for us to pass on our wisdom and knowledge directly without needing to try and express the customs and traditions of millenia in words. It would take more volumes than your entire Great Library to hold such knowledge. I often think this vastness of our own language is the reason why dragons are so adept with Names. We see the deeper meaning of a Name all at once, understanding, experiencing the whole of it rather than breaking it into word, sound, and meaning.

//

Normally, dragonspeech is only the projection of thought; one mind sending its ideas into another. However, many of us learn to listen as well as speak with our minds. Yes, this allows us to see into the minds of others, Tiabdjin, and know their thoughts and memories. What? No, I didn't do it just then.

//

To record important knowledge, we dragons use magically prepared pieces of living crystal we call memory crystals. The crystalline structure of living crystal serves to capture and hold the thoughts, memories, images and ideas projected into it, freezing them like an insect caught in a piece of amber, maintained as they are, unchanging with the passage of time. Once such information has been placed within a memory crystal, dragonspeech can be used to retrieve the wisdom placed within the crystal. In this way we preserve important knowledge so it is not lost.

//

We spend most, in fact nearly all, of our time in our lairs in a state we call shal-mora. It has no translation in any other Name-giver language, but it has some similarities (albeit vague) to the state the obsidimen call "the Dreaming" among their own kind. It is a trance-state somewhere between sleep and deep thought, nearly indistinguishable from sleep to non-dragons. A dragon in shal-mora is at rest, usually curled up on the floor of its lair, and to most onlookers appears to be slumbering. In truth, dragons do not sleep or dream nearly as often as the Young Races do, perhaps only once a month or so. The rest of our time, our minds are active in shal-mora.

While in shal-mora we think and contemplate things- many, many things. Our long lives give us more memories than I suspect could even fit into the minds of the Young Races, so we always have something to think about or consider. The shal-mora shuts out minor distractions and worldly concerns, allowing us to focus inward and make the most use of our considerable mental faculties. It is not a complete ignorance of the outside world, however- quite the opposite. Shal-mora has the effect of opening up our consciousness and putting our minds in a state of hyper-awareness, so that thoughts and sensory input flow with increased speed.

//

Dragonsight gives all dragons the ability to see the patterns of things. From the very earliest times, we understood the importance of Names and patterns and learned how to use them to our advantage. Weaving connections to the True Patterns of other things and beings is an ancient art among my kind.

QUOTE (Dunkelzahn: The Mass-Media Dragon)

The resort's technology is operated by VisionQuest, the former Ares Macrotechnology VR lab purchased by Dunklezahn in 2037. Today, the continually advancing technology of the VisionQuest hardware is considered state-of-the-art for a direct-feed VR experience. The dragon himself seems fascinated by the concept of virtual reality, its applications and implications. Dragons, he is quoted as saying, have a unique understanding of reality, and anything that claims to create or define reality is of great interest to him.

Samaels Ghost View Member Profile	Aug 12 2006, 06:04 PM Post #115
Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 984 Joined: 15-June 06 Member No.: 8,717	sounds a lot like VR submersion and hot-sim.

Ophis View Member Profile	Aug 13 2006, 12:04 AM Post #116
Mystery Archaeologist Group: Members Posts: 2,906 Joined: 19-September 05 From: The apple tree Member No.: 7,760	Indeed, thank you witness I'd forgotten that. Too long since I read dragons.i have it as a print out of the pdf FASA gave out for free years ago. I suspect that the matrix is not creating a new metaplane but due to the law of similarity it is gaining "magical" features akin to a network that had existed thats form it(the matrix) mirrors.

Samaels Ghost View Member Profile	Aug 13 2006, 12:08 AM Post #117
Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 984 Joined: 15-June 06 Member No.: 8,717	So it is evolving like the old dragon/magic networks did in their infancy?

Ophis View Member Profile	Aug 13 2006, 12:11 AM Post #118
Mystery Archaeologist Group: Members Posts: 2,906 Joined: 19-September 05 From: The apple tree Member No.: 7,760	One question I do have. Is the new matrix(wireless) a creation of the resonance as it is freer than before or the dissonance as every thing in compartmentalised down to the individual?

Witness

Aug 13 2006, 12:05 PM

Post #119

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QUOTE (Samaels Ghost @ Aug 12 2006, 01:04 PM)

sounds a lot like VR submersion and hot-sim.

It does, doesn't it! ;)

QUOTE (Ophis)

I suspect that the matrix is not creating a new metaplane but due to the law of similarity it is gaining "magical" features akin to a network that had existed thats form it(the matrix) mirrors.

That's my guess as well. I like the idea that 'resonance' might be a more apt term than previously assumed.

QUOTE (Ophis)

One question I do have. Is the new matrix(wireless) a creation of the resonance as it is freer than before or the dissonance as every thing in compartmentalised down to the individual?

Pax definitely seemed to get her vision of the new matrix, and perhaps got some help in creating Jormungand, from the dissonance. But quite what that is, or what that means, is not entirely clear. It's Lochost in my campaign (looking to 'free' the matrix) but I don't suppose that's what the devs had in mind.

Ophis View Member Profile	Aug 14 2006, 01:13 AM Post #120
Mystery Archaeologist Group: Members Posts: 2,906 Joined: 19-September 05 From: The apple tree Member No.: 7,760	Pax doesn't seem the Lochost type, she seemed less about freedom than about everyone having their own personal cell... This gets me wondering add in the lack of privacy(a level of freedom) allowed by wireless and all the requirement for sunscriptions etc between nodes(more paperwork) maybe what the DISsonance is has been staring us in the face, maybe slavery has realised that freedom sells so has dressed it self up to please the eye and trap the mind. Lets face it everyones responce to the dangers of the new freer matrix is to shut themselves off.

Samaels Ghost View Member Profile	Aug 14 2006, 01:34 AM Post #121
Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 984 Joined: 15-June 06 Member No.: 8,717	I assumed that "Resonance" was created by the resonating of the old magical network and the new wireless one. The consciousness represented there is the memories recorded by dragons or the sathalunta or something else. If radiation interacts with the astral plane, then there's a chance that wireless radio does the same. And there is precedent for mana flowing into the physical. That's my take.

Ophis View Member Profile	Aug 14 2006, 01:48 AM Post #122
Mystery Archaeologist Group: Members Posts: 2,906 Joined: 19-September 05 From: The apple tree Member No.: 7,760	Part of me suspects that the resonance has a "personality" purely because humanity expects any mysterious force to do with computers to have a personality. Or hell humanity just likes suscribing personality to that which we find mysterious. "Religion is just man's way of trying to talk to the weather."

Samaels Ghost View Member Profile	Aug 14 2006, 01:52 AM Post #123
Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 984 Joined: 15-June 06 Member No.: 8,717	I like that quote

Ophis View Member Profile	Aug 14 2006, 01:55 AM Post #124
Mystery Archaeologist Group: Members Posts: 2,906 Joined: 19-September 05 From: The apple tree Member No.: 7,760	A friend has it on a badge.

SL James

Aug 14 2006, 03:10 AM

Post #125

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QUOTE (Ophis)

Pax doesn't seem the Lochost type, she seemed less about freedom than about everyone having their own personal cell...

Pax is about as freedom-loving as Mussolini.

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