Background Count, What exactly is it? Options

[Cool Mirage]

I keep reading about it in various places, but I can't seem to get a definition of what it is and what it does exactly. Can anyone point me in the right direction? I've searched about everywhere...

[fatal2ty]

my understanding is when a Cyberzombie with a negative essence value is in range of an awakened charactor that its Magic or resonance drops by that many negative points

ie.

CZ -6 essence
Mage -6 magic

[Ancient History]

It's detailed in Street Magic, but it's essentially a rough measure amount of mana or magical energy around you in the astral-think of it in terms of radiation, if that helps. Normally, this mana doesn't help or hinder-you've got plenty of juice to cast spells with and you're very comfortable with it. But in some places, the background count is unusually high or low, it can affect how you use magic-too little juice to draw on, or too much and it gets in your way.

Some places of power, ley lines and the like have a lot of mana, but magicians who share the site's aspect can actually draw on the extra energy to cast really powerful spells or summon honkin' big spirits or lay powerful enchantments. An aspect is generally tied to a specific tradition (though there are other criterion) and can be influenced by an art known as geomancy.

[Crusher Bob]

Background count is a warping of astral space.

In general, there are two types of background counts:

Dead zones (called, erm, foevae, iirc)

You tend to find dead zones in places where there is not life at all (space, very heavy pollution zones, deep in the ocean, stuff like that). You can also get dead zones where generally senseless stuff happen: many die in industrial accident, guy tortures to several homeless guys to death in his basement specifically to create a background count, etc.

and aspected background counts.

These are where astral space if more favourable towards a certain type of magic (and thus, other types of magic tend to be more difficult). They typically occur where mages with the geomancy initiate ability arrange matters that way or where a lot of people gather for a certain objective.

For example most large/old/well attended churches, most sports stadia, national monuments, etc.

So, a shaman who follows the Captain America totem within the bounds of Arlington Cemetery can kick your ass seven ways to Sunday, while a bog standard hermetic mage in the same place has trouble getting his mojo on.

Temporary background counts may also occur during large gathering of people, such as concerts, mass demonstrations, riots, etc.

In general, the more people feel the same way, the quicker the background count forms.

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In general, people dying is the best at creating background counts, so most battlefields, extermination camp sites, areas where ritual murder/sacrifice takes place and so on all tend to have large background counts. Whether these counts are aspected counts or simply voids is up to the GM.

[fatal2ty]

ok, well can someone explain to me why I thought it had something to do with Cyberzombies?

[Cool Mirage]

Apparently the negative essense of cyber zombies create a background count around them like a magical dead zone

[Crusher Bob]

A cyberzombie, being a ritually murdered guy who is still walking around carries around a background count with him. I don't remember if the background count they carry around with them is a void or aspected toward blood magic, but since PCs are not typically blood mages, it dosen't really matter much.

[Matsci]

ok, well can someone explain to me why I thought it had something to do with Cyberzombies?

Cuz CZs suffering, and the blood magic that goes into them gives them a background count.

Edit: Beaten to the post

[fatal2ty]

ah, ok, I knew there was a reason, thx

I should probably spend more time with Street Magic, I need to reread some things

[Synner]

As Ancient History has explained background count is the term used to describe the scale with which you can measure the level of ambient mana in an area (astral and physical). Typically ambient mana levels are stable and background count is 0. But, a number of mystical, man-made, natural, and unnatural phenomena can cause that level to increase or decrease. When mana pools in an area the background count is said to rise (gaining a positive rating of 1>). In SR4 such areas are called "domains," and the problem is that normally whatever phenomena caused the background count to rise also tainted or "aspected," as we call it, the mana now concentrated there. You could say the extra mana can be impressed with a certain emotional charge or mystic vibration. This means that while there is more mana to use, unless the magician has the same "aspecting" as the background count, the "aspected" ambient mana is harder for him to channel into a spell effect than normal. When ambient mana reaches particularly high concentrations/high background counts it becomes warped and wild and even harder to control by the metahuman mind - possibly triggering such thankfully rare occurences as "mana storms."

Meanwhile various natural and unnatural phenomena can also lead to a decrease in ambient mana levels/background count. This is what we call a "mana ebb" and it means there is a less than normal amount of ambient mana to use in spellcasting and conjuring. At an extreme point where there amount of mana is minute or inexistant the phenomenon is called a "mana void."

The final thing to realize is that mana is not static, it is in constant flux, flowing to astrological and geomantic rhythms. This means it sometimes fluctuates even in stable environments. These rises and falls are called "mana surges" or "mana ebbs" respectively and are generally minute but can be quite significant in special circumstances.

How all these interact mechanically with spellcasting and conjuring is described in the Astral Space chapter of Street Magic.

[ToreadorVampire]

A cyberzombie, being a ritually murdered guy who is still walking around carries around a background count with him. I don't remember if the background count they carry around with them is a void or aspected toward blood magic, but since PCs are not typically blood mages, it dosen't really matter much.

It's a domain thus it's an "aspected" background count, but the rules don't say exactly what it's aspected towards. As I would run it (reading the fluff, that anybody assensing the CZ would call its aura 'totally alien') I would call it a background count aspected towards that cyberzombie's dead spirit only.

IE: Nobody can benefit from it, except for the most warped crazy rituals involving death/unlife, mutilation and other alien/scary stuff. So, maybe a zombie-raising tradition might be able to use it for one or two spells (does Loa still do that? Not re-read them in SM yet). Maybe a "descent into madness" spell might benefit from it. Otherwise, I'd just call it "bad mojo" and leave it at that.

This is of course all opinion/personal interpretation though.