I was recently inspired by a jackass on /r/Shadowrun to make another crack at building scenarios that require a "mirrorshades" approach - layered, rational, professional security that demands careful planning and cunning to get around. ( Emphasis on "get around", because trying to go toe-to-toe...well, they gotta feed the Hellhounds *something*. ) I'm pretty confident in my physical security. I'm not as great with Matrix and Social layers, but at least I understand the principles - mostly redundancy and compartmentalization, in both cases.
Where my cunning plans fall apart is in dealing with mages, astral and in person. This is only partly a rules issue; I have trouble *writing* competent magical security. I'd like to read back to you what I understand, and if you could do me a favor and help me harden it to a competent level then I would be most grateful.
In Astral Space, it seems like a good security perimeter is a combination of Watchers, Wards, Spirits, and patrolling mages. It seems like you would build something analogous to a physical security setup, with Watchers taking the place of drone cameras, Wards acting as walls, and Spirits taking the place of armed guards. If any of those layers are defeated or an alarm is raised, a call goes out to an Astral Heavy Response Team - three to five trained mages ready for Astral combat and possibly with weapon foci. If a "boss" is justified, then the site might have a greater spirit (Force 8+) defending it.
My problem with that layout is that it implies every site with competent magical security will also have mid to high power spirits available, and that dramatically reduces the survivability of a Shadow team. I honestly prefer having them duke it out with SWAT rather than getting murdered by an Air spirit, but I can't figure out how to secure Astral without combat spirits.
In the Physical plane, mages represent a threat more dangerous than a gun and more subversive than a crate of drugs. It makes sense that any checkpoint that would scan for weapons and contraband would want to identify active talents. However, doing this requires either a dedicated manifested spirit, someone astrally sensitive working a guardpost, or some magitech gimmick to tip off the guards. More importantly, what do you do once you've identified a mage? If a Magic-8 dude tried to get in with a janitor ID, I can see dropping the hammer, but what if they're legit? Wagemages are incredibly valuable, and it makes sense that there would have to be a policy that allows them to be welcome where they belong but still gives a reasonable chance at stopping intruders from rolling in with Flesh to Goo and Erase Memory. How would a sane facility handle internal magical security?
Thanks in advance, I look forward to some insight on this subject.