I'm writing up a plotline that deals heavily with an NPC Technomancer, and as part of this plotline, it would help if I knew exactly what a technomancer was in game terms. I assume it's obvious to everyone that they seem to work in a way similar to magic, but that obviously doesn't mean they are any particular kind of magic.

The SR4 book doesn't give any real information about what technomancers really are. Are there any other resources I'm not aware of that might give some hints? Have they mentioned any plans for releasing a Technomancer sourcebook? I may have to invent things, and if I'm doing so I'd kind of rather not conflict with the near-future universe, but that may be inevitable.

One of my players has made a "magic researcher" character, who's very interested in technology and magic for the sake of improving humanity's position in life. He mentioned "three zones", the physical world, the magical world, and the Matrix - I think, barring any official stance on the matter, I'm going to go with "technomancers are the first people that seriously exist in all three zones in some way", even though they're clearly weighted towards Matrix.

Any commentary? Even if you just tell me how your GM is treating this unexplored area of Shadowrun it might be helpful.

Well you'll want to pick up "emergence" which you can buy right now as a pdf.

Still doesn't really clear things up. They're deliberatly playing coy with us. But what it means is that your researcher isn't going to be able to figure it out either, the big book explicitly mentions mages haven't figured out how TMs work.

He is welcome to his theories however.

essentially, what a technomancer is is a metahuman whose nervous system has been modified by parties unknown into essentially a living commlink; the bioelectric field around their bodies has been modified into being able to receive and send wi-fi signals, while the brain has been modified to be able to process raw digital input. The reason that they're so sensitive to cyber and bioware is because they upset the finely-tuned bioelectric field. They are not magical in nature; someone or something has fiddled with their physiology to make them into living commlinks, as opposed to magicians, who can tap into the mana field.

More rules for TMs will be coming out in the Unwired book which will be released sometime next year, and as for why their mechanic is so similar to that of magicians, it's quite simple--so the GM can stay sane.

I agree with the previous two posters. True enough.

Add to that: TM's are summoners of matrix entities drawn from the Deep Resonance. What they summon are called 'sprites' and are the basis for their influence on the matrix and their methods of affecting the matrix.

The third realm shouldn't be Matrix any more than it should be Shopping Malls... the third realm should be Resonance.

I like the theory that technomancers are metahumans evolved from electric fish.

the High Evolutionary's always pulling crazy pranks like that.

Technomancers are the result of a Mass Illusion Ritual spell engineered by the awakened to get revenge on all those hackers.

My fave Technomancer is an Orc who wants to "Bring teh walls down, man!" and is all NeoAnarchist. Rocker turned Technomancer, I guess.

The best I have in a cultural sense is in Philly, where there's a small group called "The Null Set" who live in a massive junkyard and have a community that hides from corporations and the public. The "Nulls" keep to themselves and don't hurt anybody, so get a pass, since they blend with squatters and homeless, save a "Holy symbol" that they wear. (A round "Nuts and bolts" bolt on a cord, representing a zero.)

It's a zero with a diagonal slash through it, so as not to be confused with an O.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slashed_zero

Wasn't it decided that they were magic.

Not magical.

Magically active <---> Mundane <---> Technomancers

You must pick only one!