Kyle Teller ... Options

[PiXeL01]

Kyle Teller was the main character in the novel "Burning Bright". He pops up again in Bug City but aside from that, do anyone know if he is featured in any other book?
He and Seeks-the-Moon have always been my favorate Shadowrun Characters along with Dirk Mongomery(sp?)

[shadd4d]

Not really. I don't think he appears again, although I haven't read T:UCAS. I think it addresses the end of Bug City and has what happened to the havens and those there.

Don

[Skeptical Clown]

He was a Dowd character. Doubt you'll ever hear from him again, or any of the other Burning Bright players. Their stats are in Bug City, write your own resolution I guess!

[Snow_Fox]

"was a Dowd" Tom's never oging to write anythnig again?

[Paul]

It seems unlikely to me he will write anything for SR in the immediate future. Isn't he really busy making computer games and stuff?

As for Kyle Teller and his former Ally, here is an intresting question-how did StrainIII affect them?

[Guest_Crimsondude 2.0_*]

Was Teller a Sioux born in the UCAS or a Sioux native?

[FlakJacket]

He was half Anglo from his mothers side and native on his fathers. Born in the Sioux Nation, but thanks to mom probably had joint Sioux/UCAS citizenship which explains the FBI thing and living there. At least as I remember it.

[shadd4d]

Also consider that he and the captain (Ravenheart, IIRC) both studied abroad, in Chicago, I believe. I find it a tad odd that the Souix would send mages abroad, i.e. allow others to practice brain drain on their mages, based solely on their magical tradition. Most students abroad who gain degrees in foreign countries tend to end up staying there for extended periods of time. Another reason governments try to invite promising foreigners to be degree-seeking students within their countries.

Don

[FlakJacket]

Well he was a mage in NAN which is mostly shaman country- there's a mention in the book of this being really embarassing to his dad. And since he seems to take a much more scientific approach to magic rather than mystical, I figure they wouldn't really miss him.

[shadd4d]

Yeah, but look at Ravenheart, also a mage went to school abroad on a military scholarship(!?!). Somehow, I can see the Souix asking themselves at some point whether they should teach both traditions, especially if the two (Teller and Ravenheart) being educated abroad in relation to the Souix results in them leaving the Souix for greener pastures, so to speak.

Look at modern education markets. It's really competitive dealing with brain drain, especially if the mages in question also have side skills that might be useful, such as doctors or anything commercial. Last time I checked, magic in and of itself didn't pay the bills, it depends what you do with it, and even the elves can't just magically whistle up lots of cred for their state.

Don

[booklord]

[shadd4d]

Somehow I can just see this biting the NAN in the butt eventually, if they are allowing maybe 1/3 of their magical potential to just skip out on them. Great Ghost Dance aside, is there any other country that seems to be okay with letting magicians go regardless of tradition, barring perhaps Westfalen.

Don

[booklord]

[Guest_Crimsondude 2.0_*]

So, an illogical contrivance serving as a plot device. Gotcha.

[Synner]

As you'd be learning soon enough - that is if you're still buying sourcebooks - not that illogical a contrivance when you look at the realities of the hermetic scene.

No matter how inexplicably common they seem to be in people's games, the truth is that in the canon Sixth World magicians are still a rare commodity, hermetic mages are a fraction of that number and the number of schools and universities (especially independent non-corp affiliated ones) capable of offering higher education in the magical arts are rarer still (the population wouldn't allow anything else).

In North Am, MIT&T happens to be the leading institution and if you want the cutting-edge magical know-how that's where you send your best mages (making sure an OMI agent keeps close tabs on them). Shamanism has it easier since you can dodge the academic approach completely.

[BitBasher]

[tjn]

[Ol' Scratch]

Magic being common fits the themes and presentation of magic in the Sixth World just fine. It's still rare enough to be envious and largely an enigma to the majority of the world's population (you know, that 99% of the population that isn't Awakened in any way... with 99% being a rather big number in the grand sceme of things), yet common enough to fit the fact that they're still seen everywhere, including the shadows where they're a dime a dozen.

[BitBasher]

I dramatically preferred the earlier stance of "the average man will not during his natural lifetime see a real mage unless he deliberately goes out of his way to do so" instead of "statistically you went to high school with a few dozen mages."

I dislike that magic is neither rare nor special, but that's just me.

[Ol' Scratch]

The only change is that the numbers were altered to be more believable with the presentation of magic in the game. It was the earlier editions that were flawed in that regard, not 3rd Edition. They're still far rarer than metahumans by quite a huuuuuge margin. For every 1 magician you knew in high school, you knew 13 elves, 16 orks, 2 dwarves, 2 trolls, AND (not or, but and) 1 miscellaneous freak. That's still pretty rare.

[hyzmarca]

Statistics are meaningless. There may be 60million mages in the world, but they're not spread out evenly across the globe. Since awakening is both based on genetics and exposure to mana, it is probable that some regions have a large percentages of magicaly active people while some have less than 1% Someone who grew up in NAN probably went to school wth several Shaman. Someone spent his entire life in Maine probably has never met a mage. People who live near mana spikes are more likely to become mages than people who live in mana-starved regions, as well. This also means the Metroplex will have lower relaitive population of mages than areas that are rich in plant and animal life like Amazonia or NAN .

[Synner]

[kevyn668]

[BitBasher]

I don't disagree with your breakdown by tradition, ect.. I kind of commented not directly on what you were talking about... I was commenting on magical activity as a whole...

And as a note to that I agree with your percentages, I just don't consider that "rare" I consider that uncommon. Depending on your job you come into contact with hundreds of people a day.

As a side note, since what determines magical activity does not discriminate, and does not manifest until puberty typically, there are a pile of asshat wasteoid magicians that you don't WANT working for corps, ect. Just think of Jerry Springer and that 1 of 100 of his guests will be magically active. :D

[kevyn668]

Okay, the Jerry Springer thing almost made me spew milk outta my nose from laughing...

No offense if this is just a nit pick but to use your "depending on your job, you may come in contact with hundreds of people a day.." example, just b/c you come in contact with that magicaly active person, doesn't mean you see him or her "do" magic. So, you wouldn't really know that they were magicaly active. If you look it at like that, than the whole "a person could go his whole life w/o seeing real magic..," statement would actually make sense.