Has anyone else noticed that the Domain 4 created by a Cyberzombie overrides any other ambient Mana effect in the few meters radius of the Cyberzombie?

If I'm going to have any chance of using Magic in the -12 Mana Void of space, I'm going to need to strap a quadrapeligic gnome Cyberzombie onto my back and be a walking +4 Domain instead. Add Filtering Metamagic and I think I've got drain under control as well.

Only remaining problem is that once the spell leaves the few meters radius of my "little friend" it's Force is reduced by another -8 to a total of -12.

I'll just have to over-cast my spells at force 14 to still have a force of 2 when levitating objects more than a few meters away.

8P drain (assuming I Filter successfully) ought to be worth the looks on their faces when they see their immunity to magic isn't actually true...


- Umbra

Do you need to levitate anything "in space"? Don't it float by itself?

Your ideas intrigue me, and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

and i thought a troll with a dwarf + shotgun in his backpack was bad...

Actually what is worse is if you surround the space ship with cyberzombie gnomes and then....

*head explodes*

This is actually a lie perpetrated by the <POLITICALLY_ACCEPTABLE_TARGET /> media.

The "voids" of space are contain a large number of extremely massy objects. If you are particularly near (relative to the size of the universe) any given massy object you require particular large velocities to maintain your fall towards it at a fixed distance from the object. Things do not "float", they are moving fast enough that they "miss" the object they are falling towards by a wide enough margin that they don't become closer to it.

Levitation allows one to move objects at a distance, or oneself, without needing some kind of momentum transfer, which is highly useful due to the limited payloads that can be put into orbit. Not to mention the entire "saving your life" aspect.

Levitate in space is after all, free acceleration with no fuel cost.

Invisibility in space is nice too, but you'd need to cast it a second time to turn your Cyberzombie Backpack invisible too.

Now I just need to figure out if Levitate in space can actually create genuine freefall acceleration. On Earth Levitate has a speed rating, but no acceleration rating. But then again, if you were on a train going west at 100kph and cast a force 5 Levitate with 5 Hits you would be able to move towards the front of the train at 25m/t. (Or at least I'm almost certain you wouldn't be flung to the back of the train due to not having a levitate spell with a sufficient speed.)

...And if Levitate can create genuine freefall acceleration, does it's weight limit convert into a mass limit, or would it just reduce the acceleration by a fraction of it's weight capacity. Would a force 2 Levitate move 800kg at only 2m/t (compared to 4m/t for a 400kg) or not be able to move it at all?

The poor PC sod that takes Astral Hazing as a negative quality could actually be useful on a run now...

- Umbra

*stares* Wow...this is almost as bad as Worktroll's "Ballad of Stacy Church" on the CBT forums....and that is saying something.

i just say that levitation works in relativity to your actual frame of reference . . if you're in the train, you're moving relative to the train . . if you were outside the train, you would be too slow to levitate in front of the train without being hit. but if you're inside, you levitate just the same as if you were outside . .

Sorta like throwing a baseball while inside the train. It moves at the thrown speed PLUS the speed of the train. But if your target is also on the same train then it only hits with the thrown speed because the target is moving at the same speed as the thrower. Now my head hurts.

There is no such thing as absute velocity, only relative velocity. The velocity imparted by Levitate must be defined in relation to another object, and that object is arbitrary.

How about "That object is the one exerting the greatest influence on the caster"?

No going 4m/second compared to Haley's Comet while on Earth.

levitate is designed to work while on or near the surface of earth, so...

as for head hurting from this kind of physics, then try quantum physics. thats really going to get ones head spinning...

The closest thing to quantum physics that I would want to come to is watching reruns of Quantum Leam. Ain't that right Sam.

Quantum physics?
I tried that stuff once, i'll stick with less mindfucking drugs, thanks.

Actually, the astral hazing negative quality is what you want.

Actually, the astral hazing negative quality is what you want.

Actually, it's always been my assumption that the reference object for a levitate spell is whatever the casting mage has intuitively anchored as 'ground' in his mind. So if he's sitting on a train, and his brain perceives that the background is whizzing by while the train is stationary, then he's hovering inside the train. If, on the other hand, he manages to make the 'Necker Cube'-like-swap that the train is moving while the ground is standing still, he just splatted against the back of the train. A good deal of magical training probably involves avoiding making precisely these kinds of mistakes.

Now for something completely different but somewhat important...
If Levitate is cast inside a Spaceship blasting off, does the recipient negate the force pulling him back to the ground and therefore have a relatively pleasant trip up, or does Gravity + Rocket win and slam him against the floor nonetheless?
(Mind you once they clear the earth the mage sustaining the spell would be assaulted by the sudden background count >.>)

Edit: It's important vis-a-vis getting the more squeamish travelers up there more comfortably, not much else I suppose.

hmm, that makes me wonder about payload weight and levitation...

Payload weight is exactly what first got me onto this idea.

If you are on said westbound train... well lets make it a van for this mental experiment, and you levitate someone forcibly from the back of the van into the front windshield, did you exert any transfered forward momentum into the vehicle itself even though it weighs more than the maximum weight limit of your Levitate spell? I.e. Can you impart velocity onto a spacecraft from the inside, using the shuttle's frame of reference as "holding still" but effectively increasing it's relative velocity by a minor amount?

If I'm ever going to get back and forth from Echo Station and Earthside I'm going to need more money, or a damn good magical trick...

for that, try a spirit with movement power

to give an example:

levitation: ww1 prop plane

movement power: saturn 5 rocket

Within the Gaiasphere I regularly use Spirits and their Movement power, but in the manavoid of space with a Domain 4 bubble of only a few meters diameter, I can't see a spirit being able to affect anything outside of that tiny bubble. I can see using Levitate to push on something within the bubble and having it's momentum transfer onto the spacecraft as a whole.

Also I've come to understand that the Movement power of spirits can be described more of a "shortening of distance" kind of thing rather than a "accelerate faster" kind of thing. You may move 5 times or so farther in the same period of time, but you don't suffer the whiplash of pulling mach 8 in a Cessna.
With that in mind, I interpret the Movement power of spirits to increase speed only during the time it is performing that task, but at the end of it's task your relative velocity reverts to it's "un-Movemented" value.

I'm looking for a permanent change in relative velocity even if it is very minor. There is a lot of valuable space debris that is financially unfeasible to retrieve once fuel costs are factored in. Perhaps a nudge with a Levitate spell could pull those objects into a different orbit and allow for an easier pickup once our two orbits intersect.

Currently my best model for free acceleration in space is limited to a spacesuit with the Magician inside. Having a (preferably lightweight) passenger with Astral Hazing in an attached spacesuit , and a powerful Spirit using it's Movement power while keeping within the confines of the bubble. This is assuming that the weight limitation on Levitate becomes a mass limitation instead. If you can affect a larger mass by a fraction of the normal speed Levitation is limited to, you could effectively move a 20 ton module from low earth orbit to a lunar orbit in something like 30 to 60 days. Not having to launch that much fuel into low earth orbit could save you millions of Nuyen in operating costs.


- Umbra