Can someone give me the scan on otaku?

They're essentially kids or teenagers (less than 21 years old) of any race who have the ability to see the matrix without a deck. This means that they simply plug the datacord from their datajack in and they're online.

Their online persona -- called the living persona -- is based on their mental attributes. They have 5 skills called Access, Control, Index, Files, and Slave that correspond to the systems operations performed against said subsystems. Their complex forms are the approximation of offensive, defensive, and special utilities.

All otaku have a +1 to detection factor simply for being an otaku. they also are either technoshamans who get a -1 to TN for using their channels (mentioned above) or cyberadepts who get modifications when using complex forms. Actually -- someone confirm that for me, please.

Their matrix initiative is always their intelligence + 4d6 which makes them super speedy, too.

I think that's the basics .... anything else?

Otaku -- basically kids who have a supernatural connection with the Matrix. They have the ability to warp it to their particular needs, far exceeding standard decker capability.

Think of that little bald kid from Matrix and you get the idea.

-Siege

Edit: Yeah, what Dai said.

Otaku don't need programs or decks or anything other than a datajack and a simsense interpreter to play inthe matrix.

They are also almost all under 21 as they begint o lose the ability at the age of 21.

And they can have higher than normal mental attributes at the cost of lower than normal phyical ones.

One other thing -- they're always less than 21 years old because at 21 they begin the Fading which is the slow degredation of their otaku skills. Eventually they're just like everyone else except they have awesome programming capabilities.

Wow -- three responses all came in at almost exactly the same time.

All three responses are also not entirely correct. That is what Otaku usually refers to, but in the earlier books, especially the Denver Boxed Set, it's made clear that not all Otaku can deck naked. An Otaku is a member of an urban technofetishist tribe made up primarily of young kids, a significant number of which can deck the matrix sans deck. Others, however, just happen to be really good child deckers. Also, you can find older Otaku, they just tend no longer to have their powers. I'd also say that most Faded Otaku would probably have moved on, with only a few remaining with the Tribe.

And you can have a 90-year-old Otaku with all powers intact, it's just insanely unlikely. You'll still find Otaku with significant portions of their powers in their mid-20s, though.

~J

Otaku who are still using decks have yet to experience the Deep Resonance, which turns them into real Otaku.

Older Otaku who lose their skills are still awesome deckers and deckmeisters.

That's also not entirely true. Some Otaku never do hear the Deep Resonance, but deck alongside their Resonance-hearing brothers.

~J

So what happens when you try Leonization on an Otaku?

Their physical body is rejuvenated. It won't do much, as the body doesn't really start deteriorating that much until afterwards, and it wouldn't affect the basic problem anyway.

~J

Are you so sure it wouldn't let them keep going?

I don't have Matrix or SOTA: 2063 so I'm really in the dark about this stuff. I think it'd be cool, though. I bet their powers would start getting twisted or weird, what with them cheating the natural way of things and all.

I'm pretty sure, as the basic problem is the so-called "hardening of the thought arteries" with age. They lose the flexibility that allowed them to communicate with the Matrix without an intermediary, unless an AI steps in and forcibly rearranges their grey matter.

~J

yeah. my view is that it's related to neural pathways--trails of brain cells, basically, that the brain gets used to using. in kids, those pathways aren't imprinted very deeply; it doesn't take a lot of work to undo one and make another. as you start to age, however, those pathways become more and more set in their ways; this is related to why adults have a harder time learning new things than kids.

Ok, I guess I can buy that.

You missed the old guy that did not seem to have Faded and isn't insane(much).

The earliest mention of the otaku appears to be in Prime Runners. It doesn't use the word otaku, but it's there. The entry to do with a young decker has it in.

The first mention of Otaku as Otaku was in the Denver sourcebook. That may or may not predate Prime Runners, I'm not sure.

~J

my question here is why do some otaku believe that Deus is the resonance &nd why others don't...

Some Otaku believe that Deus is the Resonance is because AI's in general have some kind of ability to convert deckers into Otaku, and those that are created this way are led to believe that the AI that created them must be the Resonance. Basically any Otaku that believes Deus or any other AI is the resonance, is being manipulated by the AI. Resonance following Otaku IIRC hate and are at war with AI generated Otaku.

AFAIK AI created Otaku also don't have their power away from the AI systems, so are a severly handicapped breed.

Yeah. I'd say that Deus is Resonance poser.
You know, like Elf posers

Well, he needs a flaw somewhere to make up for all the attributes and skills he has...

~J