Concealing Auras, How can a mundane hide his/her aura from mages Options

[Dakka Dakka]

I doubt that "Twilight" will ever become a classic book. Whether it is literature I cannot judge as I have not read it.

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

I doubt that "Twilight" will ever become a classic book. Whether it is literature I cannot judge as I have not read it.

Highly doubtful, but you never know. I certainly would not put it in the same company as Tolstoy, Steinbeck, or Shakespeare. Even my wife, who loves Vampire Fiction, absolutely hates these books. Quite Funny, actually. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Dakka Dakka]

Vampire Fiction? AFAIK it was about fairies. Vampires don't sparkle. Period. And for that matter SR mages don't either, no matter what SR4A tells us.

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

Vampire Fiction? AFAIK it was about fairies. Vampires don't sparkle. Period. And for that matter SR mages don't either, no matter what SR4A tells us.

Heheh... Can't argue that one... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[HunterHerne]

I'm sure some sparkle. If there can be a shamanic mask that appears as gouts of flame, I'm sure another sparkle's like Tinkerbell's fairy dust.

Besides, think of the revenue you could get for a glitterdust-like spell...

[Ghost_in_the_Sys...]

Perhaps classic wasn't quite the right word, it just sounded better than 'really old book'. Is there a term for that besides classic? I don't think ancient or antique quite fits either.

Edit: Nor dated, as that generally implies that it is outdated as opposed to simply old.

[HunterHerne]

Perhaps classic wasn't quite the right word, it just sounded better than 'really old book'. Is there a term for that besides classic? I don't think ancient or antique quite fits either.

Edit: Nor dated, as that generally implies that it is outdated as opposed to simply old.

Hmmm. I think the phrase you are looking look for is "old crap"

[Ghost_in_the_Sys...]

Hmmm. I think the phrase you are looking look for is "old crap"

While accurate, it wasn't quite what I was looking for.

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

Hmmm. I think the phrase you are looking look for is "old crap"

*Ding Ding Ding*... We have a winner... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Dakka Dakka]

I'm sure some sparkle. If there can be a shamanic mask that appears as gouts of flame, I'm sure another sparkle's like Tinkerbell's fairy dust.

Sorry to derail the thread but not only magic users with a shamanic mask can sparkle as of SR4A. Contrary to SR4 the mana becomes visible during casting, no matter how invisible the effect of the spell is. In previous editions the mundanes could only see marks of strain/concentration on the magician during casting.

More powerful magic is easier to spot with the gathered mana normally appearing as a disturbance or glowing aura in the air around the
caster.

This sentence was added in SR4A, it is not in SR4.

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

This sentence was added in SR4A, it is not in SR4.

And yet, it is an OR statement. I tend towards the disturbance in the Air. Hair begins to float, or the hairs on your arms and neck stand up, or a tingling sensation all over your skin as the mana converges (Kind of like the effects surrounding Charlie in the movie Firestarter). You know, that sort of thing. Can the effect be glowy and visible, sure, but that is the easy way out. I would leave it up to the caster as to how their magic appears when they cast. My wife had tiny tinkerbell-like sound effects that manifested when her magic was used. I tend to like the flavor that that generates MUCH more than just the generic Sparkly Glowies effect...

[Dakka Dakka]

The point is not whether it is sparkles or some other visible mundanely detectable sign. My point is the mana itself should not be visible. Sure you can see that the mana forces sweat on the magicians brow or that the mage has to gasp for air as he casts a powerful spell, but mana was never visible perceivable before in SR and I like it that way.

Making it visible makes it easier to justify the ridiculously low perception threshold though.

[Edit]Made it clearer that may statement was not limited to the visusal sense[/Edit]

[HunterHerne]

I agree. Mana shouldn't be visible, other then the affect it's causing (and potential secondary effects on the caster or minor manipulations as the caster weaves the spell, unless they usually have a mask) The Fluff, even in SR4 tend to support this, and the low perception threshold can be justified by a growing familiarity to magic in the world, too.

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

The point is not whether it is sparkles or some other visible mundanely detectable sign. My point is the mana itself should not be visible. Sure you can see that the mana forces sweat on the magicians brow or that the mage has to gasp for air as he casts a powerful spell, but mana was never visible perceivable before in SR and I like it that way.

Making it visible makes it easier to justify the ridiculously low perception threshold though.

[Edit]Made it clearer that may statement was not limited to the visusal sense[/Edit]

I get it... I always understood the effect to be a Result of the gathering Mana, not the Mana itself. No worries though. Thresholds are what they are.

[redwulf25]

Well, in 60 Years, it may be a classic, but it will never be Literature... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

According to a local store it's Teen Self Help.

[HunterHerne]

According to a local store it's Teen Self Help.

... Suuurrrreeee

[redwulf25]

I doubt that "Twilight" will ever become a classic book. Whether it is literature I cannot judge as I have not read it.

A classic book is a book accepted as being exemplary or noteworthy, either through an imprimatur such as being listed in any of the Western canons or through a reader's own personal opinion.

Does "It's noteworthy how awful this is." count?

[redwulf25]

... Suuurrrreeee

Well, I'm sure a lot of them read about Edward then spend some time "self helping".

[HunterHerne]

Well, I'm sure a lot of them read about Edward then spend some time "self helping".

Fair enough...

[Irion]

Well, they do. And I have to say I do like the rule. It is easy to use and it puts an end to the question: Does the guy realise if I am raping the the mind of his boss.

[longbowrocks]

You could buy a Rover 2068 for 25k nuyen, equip a ram plate, and flatten him. The difficult suddenly becomes easy when you can dish out a 26 DV attack while only having to absorb 6 DV with body + armor.

[Cain]

As far as seeing mana itself, I think of it like when there's a lot of electricity in the air: hair will stand on end, things will smell and feel funny, etc. But at no point are you actually seeing the electricity.

But we're derailing the thread. What's wrong is that there's essentially two questions we're trying to answer: how to disguise a person's aura, and how to protect a person from ritual sorcery. The OP didn't specify if Aztechnology had a ritual link to the mundane in question, so I'm going to focus on auras.

AFAIK, there's no way for a mundane's aura to change naturally. There are ways to make your aura less visible on the astral plane, like using stealth and hiding in crowds. But the aura itself doesn't change, it's just harder to spot it. The trick here is, an aura is like someone's face: you can't find someone if all you have on them is a description of their face. At best, you can describe it to others, but there's no guarantee they'll get it right. Assuming they didn't get a Kirilian photograph of the aura (highly unlikely), and since there's no equivalent of a police sketch artist for auras, only the person who saw the aura will recognize it.

So, the best thing to do in the situation described is stay away from the mage. I gather that the mundane in question lives in a big city, so he should be fairly safe-- accidentally encountering the mage isn't likely to happen. Even if he does run across the mage, it's like spotting a familiar face in a crowd. It's possible, just not extremely likely or easy. On top of that, if the mundane's in public, it's highly unlikely that the mage will actually do anything: how often do you approach a stranger just because they look familiar? Let alone attack them on sight?

[Yerameyahu]

There might well be a police sketch artist for auras. But it doesn't really change the scenario. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[TheOOB]

You know, if you hide for a few weeks/months, the mage is unlikely to continue looking, especially if he's a corp mage. Looking for a runner is not exact ally profitable. After the mage stops actively looking, it's much the same as hiding from someone who knows your face.

[Cain]

Exactly. You can't ritually track someone from seeing their aura, is the basic point. Knowing someone's aura won't help you track down someone, it'll just help you identify them when you narrow your search through other means.