So dragons didn't awaken until the mana levels rose again suggesting that they need minimums of mana to operate so my question is this, what would the effect of space be on a dragon (in a ship)? We are talking manavoid here.
Oh and on a similar note, what about someone possessed or Inhabited? Can you disrupt a big nasty by shooting it's ass into space ala Aliens?

Depends. If they don't try to tap into magic or go Astral, a normal Magicians's fine.

A dual-natured critter, such as a Ghoul, Dragon, or Possessed human, however, is boned. Being in space inflicts pretty hefty damage on them every turn until either they die or leave it.

Not a place that you want to be.

Well how did dragon bones end up on Mars? Yeah still waiting for an explination on that one!

From Street Magic, you reduce a magicians Magic Attribute by the level of the Mana Void (Deep Space is -12, rendering even Great Dragons powerless) and if they Astrally Project, Astrally Perceive, or are Dual Natured, they take damage of teh void, physical (So, Deep Space would be 12P damage) resisted by body (dual natured) (Or Willpower is you're projecting/sensing) dealt every turn of exposure.

It ain't a fun ride.

In populated areas (Moon Base, for example), you might only face a void of 9 or 10, the shuttle flying you there an 11, but, space proper ain't a place to be for teh Awakened.

So, yeah, if you can get a baddie *up* there somehow, the void will pretty much take care of it. Heck, there was at least one group that got past Bottled Demon that way, by sticking the thing in as cargo and taking an Orbital ride. *pop* ... no more bottle.

Well, the other possibility is that Mars was once inhabitable and had its own gaeasphere. But that would open up a much larger can o' worms.

Eben--you've touched on my main hypotheses...but I've always like my Cyberpunk to have a heavy spice of Sci-Fi.

All I'll say is that ED stuff mentions the first dargon leaving it's "family" which were cruel and viscious creatures, and taking a long journey thru astral space, and coming to find a beautiful world to call home, not one of blood coloured dust. However the relations found a way to follow it and came thru, the first dragon sacrificed herself to protect her new home, by starting the mana levels fluctuating and thus denying it's reletives access except when the mana level peaks.

That's how i remember the Verjigorm section of Horrors... I wonder what sort of bones they could be...

Another possibility: if a comet can spike mana levels and induce SURGE (shudder), then a smart dragon could always just fly in the tail of the comet or [other appropriate magically active celestial body].

We'll just assume the comet went straight from Earth to Mars.

What?

Shut up!

The Mars once had life and supported its own mana flow is the obvious answer.

Mars may still have a mana flow.
No mage has gone to Mars, so no easy way to tell yet.

Also remember that great dragons, unlike most dual natured beings, have a hefty amount of Astral Armor.

So then have any of the dragons sent space expeditions to receive the bones? if so Loffy is my prime suspect. I remeber reading something in SR about launching a trip to mars and getting there. I think it was sometime in the 50's? I could be wrong I skimmed target wastelands.

With a Stargate of course! The device will let you go from one place to another in a blink of an eye and... uh... what? Quit looking at me like that!

Let me guess, this Stargate is ring shaped, just large enough for the largest GD to fly thru.
But instead of high tech making it work, it's "magic", hmmm, or magnets?

...dragons in space..?

Please, no. We don't neeed them mucking things up out there too.

Metaplanar Shortcuts work over any distances. Even 1.5 AUs if it comes to that.

-Frank

IIRC there was a blurb in the original BBB speculating that dragons and other six limbed vertabrates can from off planet due to the idea that terrestrial vertabrates only went up to four limbs.

How would a dragon with a magic rating of 12 and a power foci that raises his actual magic rating by another 6 fare?

He should then have a magic of 6 in space right?

KAGE, that's the name, yes. Friend of mine has I *think* the full run. Won't give 'em up, tho. *shakes fist*

As for teh Magic 12 Dragon with a Focus 6, teh Focus would get shut down (Destroyed?) seperately from teh Dragon's own magic, so, no, wouldn't have a Magic of 6 out there.

Pretty much, Deep Space = Boned Magi.

Umm, the 12 limit on magic thing don't exist, as long as you keep increasing your magic you can get more initiate grades and more magic... infinite loop agogo. Plus 12 appears to be great dragons NATURAL magic before initiation.

Unsure. I'd always thought that Magic was capped at 9 for Metahumans and 12 for Dragons, which assumed that they'd Initiated pretty heavily (Circa 6 ranks).

Then again, when I hear that some IEs and GDs have double-digit Initiation, I think level 10-12 while I see other people talk of *80* or so, which ... man. I can't even *begin* to imagine that.

Be nice to hear an unofficial 'Suggestion' from one of teh Powers That Be, tho. Like, "Dragons are suually Initiates of grades 1-3, while becoming a Great Dragon requires them to be Initiate Grade of 7+."

Heck, the leader of the Black Lodge is, IIRC, the only human being to ever hit Initiate 10.

huh? just because elves in D&D are late starters doesn't mean that all long-lived creatures in every fantasy game are.

I understand your point about the need for caution and the need to stay on top of your game when you are an immortal in a world of immortal threats.

However, it has been my experience that even the most vigilant immortals in RPGs will receive less karma/XP/character points/BPs/whathaveyou per year than any active PC would. It's a recurring trend in the games I've played that PCs improve at a drastically magnified rate compared to the world around them.

In Exalted there are rules for glossing over several hundred years of an Exalt's life and travels, and it involves awarding them experience at the rate of 5 xp/year. Roughly the amount they'd receive for a regular session. Also, as the Exalt gets older (in terms of centuries lived), this amount drops from 5 gradually down to 2/year.

Since most other games don't really deal in such scales of time, this is the one I refer to when dealing with immortals and their gains in power. Simply put, I don't believe that an immortal, no matter how hard they work, will ever match the frenetic pace of a mortal in the way they live their life.

All of this is of course IMO, except for the Exalted part, which I'm reciting from memory.

i tend to look at SR with an eye towards realism, or at least realistic projection. realistically, i don't see how an immortal could live long as long as the current crop has without access to the kind of power that mortals simply can't live long enough to achieve.