An variety of questions Options

[Sephiroth]

I'm really sorry if any of these are dumb questions that I should know on my own. Non-4e fluff is not exactly my forte as a GM.

1. What exactly did Ibn Eisa do in the Middle East to become so notorious, both before and after his reanimation?

2. Runner's Companion mentions that nosferatu have been behind some of the worst vampiric cabals in the Sixth World, and there's a couple lines in Running Wild about nosferatu being malicious and highly dangerous. But other than the events of the Nosferatu novel and maybe the Ordo Maximus, what exactly is it about nosferatu and the events they've instigated that has given them such a bad reputation? What exactly have they tried to do?

3. What made Deus such a godly powerful AI compared to the AIs presented in Unwired and Runner's Companion?

4. Harlequin's Back contains small glimpses of greater Powers That Be, such as Fate. Are there any other references to these Powers in the canon that anyone could tell me about?

5. If you follow the view of mentor spirits presented in whatever novel it was in which Spider escaped its magical prison, what exactly are mentor spirits? They seem greater and more powerful than mere free spirits to me, but that doesn't help me understand what they are.

6. On a related Earthdawn note, what does that make Death, and who or what exactly are the Passions?

7. On the topic of draconic creation myth, what can you tell me about Verjigorm and Nightwing?

Any answers would be appreciated.

[Saint Sithney]

1) Do you mean besides create a personal army of Shadim and sponsor terrorist acts throughout the world? They really don't go into detail. I don't think there were death camps or anything..

2) They feed on blood and propagate by way of disease. They're vampires with a propensity for mental illness. They don't need to do much to earn a reputation.

3) Lots of earned Karma? Deus was a plot device not a PC.

4-6) Mentor spirits are archetypes formed from the collective unconscious. From what little I know, Passions are archetypes given form.

[wind_in_the_ston...]

Mentor spirits are what you aspire to. They are ideals. In some traditions, they are seen as nothing more than that. In others, they are individual deities. It varies.

[Abstruse]

I'm really sorry if any of these are dumb questions that I should know on my own. Non-4e fluff is not exactly my forte as a GM.

1. What exactly did Ibn Eisa do in the Middle East to become so notorious, both before and after his reanimation?

Charismatic priest who took over a small sect of Islam and built from there.

2. Runner's Companion mentions that nosferatu have been behind some of the worst vampiric cabals in the Sixth World, and there's a couple lines in Running Wild about nosferatu being malicious and highly dangerous. But other than the events of the Nosferatu novel and maybe the Ordo Maximus, what exactly is it about nosferatu and the events they've instigated that has given them such a bad reputation? What exactly have they tried to do?

Have you heard of any other vampiric cabals than those? Really, vampires haven't been mentioned a whole lot outside of those two and the de Vries bit in Prime Runners and I believe Threats or Threats 2. One of those two has info on what the vampires are up to.

3. What made Deus such a godly powerful AI compared to the AIs presented in Unwired and Runner's Companion?

Because the AIs in Unwired and RC are nerfed. There were 5 (?) AIs total in Shadowrun before Crash 2.0 and they were all basically gods on the Matrix (in at least two cases literally). Alice, Morgan/Megaera, Deus, Mirage/Psychotrope/Deep Resonance?, and maybe one other I can't remember right now.

4. Harlequin's Back contains small glimpses of greater Powers That Be, such as Fate. Are there any other references to these Powers in the canon that anyone could tell me about?

The Passions from Earthdawn. Don't talk about it in the Shadowrun world, especially in Tir Tairngire. Good way to end up dead.

5. If you follow the view of mentor spirits presented in whatever novel it was in which Spider escaped its magical prison, what exactly are mentor spirits? They seem greater and more powerful than mere free spirits to me, but that doesn't help me understand what they are.

That was the first trilogy of novels...Something Power Something Something Trilogy. If I'm not mistaken, Threats/Threats 2 has the info on him. Basically, a free spirit of Man who acts like the devil in a Twilight Zone episode or a djinn or old stories about the fae. He gives you great power or some ancient artifact, but the power ends up consuming you.

6. On a related Earthdawn note, what does that make Death, and who or what exactly are the Passions?

Sorry, can't answer that one. If you can find a copy of any of the Earthdawn books, it'll explain. It's one of the core mechanics of the game.

7. On the topic of draconic creation myth, what can you tell me about Verjigorm and Nightwing?

See, when a Verjigorm and a Nightwing love each other very much...

Go look online for the Dragons sourcebook from Earthdawn. It was going to be published by FASA but they closed before it printed, so it was released online for free.

[Sephiroth]

Because the AIs in Unwired and RC are nerfed. There were 5 (?) AIs total in Shadowrun before Crash 2.0 and they were all basically gods on the Matrix (in at least two cases literally). Alice, Morgan/Megaera, Deus, Mirage/Psychotrope/Deep Resonance?, and maybe one other I can't remember right now.

But what did being a god of the Matrix entail for them? Like, other than the obvious cutting off of the building from the outside world, how was Deus able to do all of the experiments and other evil what-have-you that he did in the Arcology, for example?

also the Resonance is an AI? Haven't heard that before.

That was the first trilogy of novels...Something Power Something Something Trilogy. If I'm not mistaken, Threats/Threats 2 has the info on him. Basically, a free spirit of Man who acts like the devil in a Twilight Zone episode or a djinn or old stories about the fae. He gives you great power or some ancient artifact, but the power ends up consuming you.

Are you referring to Tudor and/or imps? They aren't mentor spirits, as far as I know.

[Sengir]

But what did being a god of the Matrix entail for them? Like, other than the obvious cutting off of the building from the outside world, how was Deus able to do all of the experiments and other evil what-have-you that he did in the Arcology, for example?

Deus didn't just cut off the Arcology, he could control every drone, light switch and whatever else he wanted in the Arc. Not just because that was the job the Arcology Expert System originally was designed for this very purpose, but because the old AIs had a power level like...well, a god compared to something like a free sprit.

also the Resonance is an AI? Haven't heard that before.

There is some speculation that Mirage/Psychotrope is the Deep Resonance, mostly based on the novel Psychotrope

[Abstruse]

But what did being a god of the Matrix entail for them? Like, other than the obvious cutting off of the building from the outside world, how was Deus able to do all of the experiments and other evil what-have-you that he did in the Arcology, for example?

Just to expand on what was said above, Deus was originally designed as a massive Semi-Autonomous Knowbot who would be capable of running everything in the archology, from filtering the air to running the lifts to balancing the nuclear reactors to making sure the coffee machine has enough milk. The "X-Factor" hit and it became self-aware, biding its time until it locked down the Archology, cut off communications, used the drones and maintenance to reassemble the place, and voila...a torture chamber that would make Jigsaw jealous.