Sorcery
When you cast a spell, what you're doing is forming a temporary astral construct, channelling the astral energy from the ambient mana surrounding you through your body. The difficulty in forming the construct depends on any number of factors, including where the magician is and where the construct is to form (i.e. the target of the spell).

If any condition exists which makes it more difficult to channel or manipulate mana (a background count, magical barriers, mental exhuastion, etc) at either location, then the difficulty of the spell increases.

Note that this does not require a "stream of mana" towards the target! The temporary astral construct, or "spell engine," is a fourth dimensional construct. The casting magician must access the astral plane (channel mana through their body) in order to form the construct (a three-dimensional shadow of the fourth-dimensional spell engine exists, of course, but without access to astral energy it is no more than a complicated thought-shape.) It is unknown how magicians ground astral energy through their bodies in order to do this (one theory is that the elusive Magus Factor is an astral shadow within the magician's genetic code, allowing astral energy to cross in much the same manner as metagenes are activated, but giving the subject awareness of the energy, which can then be learned to be applied).

Consider Ritual Sorcery. Because the magician(s) cannot sense the target directly, they must create or possess a link to the target. When the ritual is complete, the spell engine manifests at the target's location, but /does not pass through the intervening space between the caster(s) and the ragets/. Rather, the spell engine executes at the spot, as well as it can given whatever barriers or conditions exist which impeded the ability of the casters to manipulate mana.

The spell engine is a very flexible and complicated object, which can be modified each time it is used by the caster. This is, in part, why spell forumlae for the same spells at different levels of compelxity do not aid the magician in learning the spell: a more complex spell engine can be easily simplified, but a more complicated spell engine may be of an entirely different shape than the one famiar to the magician! It is good in this case that the magician can modify spell engines to accept more mana for increased effect.

The pivotal abilities of the sorceror are the skill of consciously manipulating astral energy, and the innate gift to channel such energy through their own bodies to realize such a skill. The body of skills and techniques known as Sorcery are, in fact, mental devices to better facilitate the impression of the magician's Will on the psycho-sensitive mana around him.

Consider the metamagical technique of Centering. The Centering skill of the magician, be it a mantra or ritual action, focuses the concentration of the magician, allowing astral energy to be manipulated with greater ease (this even allows the magician to manipulate the energy as it channels through their body, thus lessening the physical and mental fatigue associated with channelling such energy).

Essence, Aura, and Drain
A complicated subject, the aura is a function of the Law of Similarity and the fourth-dimensional nature of astral space. Metagenes manifest because they are three-dimensional shadows of specific fourth-dimensional objects. When the ambient mana level rises to allow these objects to exist, mana grounds itself through these astral shadows, activating the metagenes. In a similiar fashion, all beings possess genes which, while astral shadows, do not do anything unusual in the presence of magical energy. The fourth-dimensional component of these astral shadows, however, form the basis of the aura. As the aura is a component of any being in which consists (and interacts with) psychosenstive mana, the aura becomes, by the Law of Similarity, a mirror of the being in the physical world, reflecting the emotions of the being. Changes in the physical being are reflected on the astral, as the Law of Similarity reflects the difference of the subject from the "Aural Template" supplied by the fourth-dimensional aspects of the genetic code. Because a magician presumably grounds ambient mana through the aura and into the physical body in order to manipulate astral forms and energies, and dissociation of the aura can impede this ability.

<finish later>

*Scribble scribble scribble*

~J

So, by this we could extrapolate that with a link of some kind a spell caster might not need LOS in a combat situation?

Example:
Sec. Guard A gets finger blown off (don't ask), and guard A runs away with buddies to regroup at the security office. Mage picks up finger and tosses a power ball at the previous owner of said digit. Does this count as ritual or normal sorcery?

LoS to component to hit the whole is the basis of ritual sorcery.

Whenever this conversation comes up, I wonder why the spell is called ManaBOLT. If nothing...bolt-ish happens, shouldn't it just be called "Hurt Person?"

That's what happens when you play a game that originally started off as a thinly-veiled conversion of D&D. Mana Bolt = Magic Missile.

Well, not quite. But the main thing is, why haven't they changed it? The name, I mean?

The same reason that the rules for an Ares Viper Slivergun have changes from 2M3 to 9S(f) while the name has remain unchanged. Names are as critical a part of the story continuity as the continental shapes (actually, moreso). Spells were dropped (turn to goo), spells were added, but something that was not dropped would not be given a new name because the system rules have been adjusted.

Besides, the naming is as much IC as OOC, and if the first mage to come up with a good LoS single target mana damage combat spell called it "Manabolt" that is probably the name that would stick even when magical researchers prove that there is no "bolt" effect in the spell.

A lot of the wacky thought on how the "bolt" spells do what they do comes from the wacky wording in the BBB. In the street grimoire, it states, under Manabolt:

"channel destructive power into the target" is different than "channel destructive power that comes from the caster into the target". i see it as manipulating the mana that surrounds the target, causing magic in the target's vicinity to hurt the target.

Hmm... ok, genetech has been changed with some renaming.

Ok, this is off topic, but I've always been really curious, and have never been able to read a copy of first edition rules:

How did firearm damage work orginally? I've seen codes like 2M3 listed elsewhere, and I've been so curious to know what that MEANS.. I don't need ten pages of rules, just a quick explination from someone in the know? Please?

Combat in 1st edition was a bit different.
1st: armor didn't decrease the power, it counted as free successe on your resistance test. If you had 4 armor, that was 4 successes before you even rolled body.

2nd: the damage codes were in the form of (TN to resist)(base damage lewel)(scaling rate)

I can't remember if both sides of the damage scaling used that number, I think they did. That made some weapons extremely consistant and other extremely variable in how much damage they could do. 2M10 would take 10 successes to change the damage either way, while 4L1 would scale with every success.

Thank you! That's an itch I've been wanting to scratch for a while!

About Mana bolt, my take on it:
there's an actual bolt, but only in astral space, and this bolt is actually the mana around the target that suddenly strikes it like a natural lightning bolt would strike a tree. Except maybe that the source of the "bolt" is more spread around the target in the case of the mana bolt whicle clearly far above it in the case of the (natural, not the spell) lighning bolt.

Let me take a shot at the line of sight issue. (get it?)

To target a spell, you need to somehow 'relate' to the target; to create some sort of sense of its identity. Line of sight (ie: my natural senses perceive the target) would be the easiest way to relate to it in the short term. Whereas ritual sorcery involves spending a lot of time to develop a visualization or an 'internal sense' of the target (like broadening your sense of the world through meditation, but on a higher scale).
In other words, I don't need line of sight for anything to travel, I need it so I can know that there's a real target for my spell.
If a magician got 'good enough' at this remote sensing, they could cast LOS spells without, but so far, no magician has developed that ability and it is currently outside the realm of the game.
This could explain a few other things, such as object resistance tests (harder to develop empathy for car than a dog.), drain differences for touch spells (hands on sensing).
Go easy on me, I was just typing this as I was thinking it up.

The Somatic Way

All magicians possess the ability to channel and manipulate astral energy. The extant of skill in these abilities is determined by two things: what the magician believes is possible, and knowledge of certain metaphysical laws and properties.

The Adept does not, save in rare cases, focus on the direct and conscious manipulation of astral energy. Rather, the adept slowly builds up lasting astral forms within their own physical forms (the astral segment becoming a part of the aura). Unlike when a Sorceror anchors or sustains a spell, the astral forms of the Adept are bound and hidden within his aura, and maintained unconsciously (although the Adept may exercise conscious control over their powers should they choose to).

A peculiar side effect of the Adept's unconscious development of personal astral forms (which, though a conscious process, is not necessairilly an intellectual one requiring the complex theory and experience of other magicians.) is a relative unattunement to astral space. Because the Adept's astral forms are so closely tied to their physical form, it is almost impossible for an Adept to seperate their spirit from their physical form.

<finish later>

Great thread, good read.

Want more Sensei!!

Magical theory is something you shouldn't think about too hard unless you've done some serious reading/thinking on the issue just because it's something that doesn't exist in the real world, yet has centuries of historical background and "laws" governing it.

BTW, you can call your spells whatever you want. Your shaman may not have studied with anyone to learn it's called "manabolt" and thus calls it "Snake's Fangs" or whatever. It can also take almost any form you want it to take. I've made sorcerer adepts that duplicated DBZ characters before without designing a single new spell. It's all about how your character visuallizes it. Like AH said, a lot of it has to do with what your character believes.

The Abstruse One

Yeah.. A Bull Shaman PC of mine called his Power Ball spell 'Bull's Wrath'..

We even had a PC whose magical group was a bunch of his friends (all awakened) who played D&D every weekend. He called his Mana Bolt spell 'Magic Missile'.

Why is a manabolt called a 'bolt'? That's sort of like asking why quarks have 'colors' and 'flavors'. It's a bad metaphor describing a property. Why do we use it? Tradition.

Truth and Beauty!

~J

Okay, let me rephrase. Abtruse was wrong. Mmkay?

EDIT: And the idea that facts are subject to proof isn't held by everyone...particularly those fans of subjective reality. I'm not one of them, but I know a lot of them.

The Randi Prize hasn't been claimed yet. I win.

The Abstruse One

The problem with providing evidence for something like that is that (almost) nobody believes you. Actually, the best I can do is this: of all the people I've ever known who didn't believe in the supernatural or ghosts or whatever, they'd never experienced anything of that sort...of all the people who had experienced it, they all believed in it. I guess I could draw this analogy: a member of some lost tribe deep in the Amazon would never believe in a computer, until they saw one. After seeing one, they'd definitely believe it existed, although they'd probably think it was powered by demons. Which is actually rather ironic.

Heh.

Then become a media spectacle, and/or get assassinated, et cetera.

Let me make this clear: I'm not the type of person who runs around writing runes on shit. I know several wiccans, druids, et cetera, and most of them are fairly...well, just...ignorant. However, I've still seen things, and experienced things, freaky enough to make me believe in "supernatural oddities." So, let me put it this way: I have my beliefs, and I don't really freaking care if you don't agree with them, because it really isn't hurting anyone.

We already had this discussion. Or as much of this discussion as will be tolerated on this forum. It got closed for a reason. No need bringing it up again. The important points were already brought up: It's a fate thing, and there is no scientific proof of the existence of magic. Go ahead and believe in it, people believe in god(s) too. But this is a Shadowrun forum, and magic discussions should stick to magic in SR.

Lantzer:

It *is* factual in that it *can* be disproved by providing evidence of such a thing. If someone provided scientifically rigorous evidence of those unicorns that did not come in the form of me taking a hallucinogen, I would be willing to accept that evidence.

Kakkaraun: I respect that.

Ok. Here's a question.

In SR history, who's up for nomination for claiming Randi's prize?

I somehow doubt everyone's favorite Coyote shaman got around to it.

Thanks for insulting me Kakkaraun. I appreciate the wonderful level of ad hominem you bring to these forums.

Conjuring
It is difficult indeed to define the practice of conjuring. The central question, of course, is tha nature of spirits. Spirits are wholly creatures of the astral plane, and beyond that creatures of the metaplanes or netherworlds that may be accessed through it.

A spirit is an astral form or construct, little different from any other astral object or spell engine. The difference is that spirits possess intellect and will, and so may impose their intellect and will on mana to sustain themselves.

Those spirits known as Watchers are astral constructs, formed in a manner akin to sorcery, but unlike spells are self-sustaining for some period of time and possess some cognizance. Akin to these may be zombies, dead bodies that, once properly prepared (to more easily channel astral energy, perhaps, or to reinforce the law of Similarity to encourage the form to movement) are possessed by rather simplistic spirits.

The primary question is the use of the summoning ritual: some may use the ritual to focus their mind until it is tune with the Plane that the desired spirit dwells on, and that the magician may then craft a spell to draw forth and bind the spirit. Others believe that the connection to the Plane is nearly instantaneous, working through their connection to the astral plane, and that the long periods are required to bind the spirit with some spell and then commanding its appearence. Finally, there are those who believe the ritual slowly crafts the astral form that will be the spirit, then establishes a link to the correct plane, crafts the spirit's intellect according to their beliefs and releases the spell.

The strain of a conjuring is twofold: the intense concentration required to adapt a frame of mind capable of conversing or tuning in with such an alien entity as a spirit, and drawing forth the mana required to either transport the spirit from its plane and/or constructing the astral form.

Binding a spirit requires a contest wherein the summoner attempts to impose their will on the nature of the spirit, and the spirit, as a sentient being, attempts to resist. In this manner, magicians literally browbeat their spirits into helping them, which is in part a reason why an uncontrolled spirit is such a danger.

Elementals are those spirits summoned by hermetic magicians, and reflect that ancient philosophy's adherence to the principle of four elements. The difference between hermetics and other magicians are their access to elementals, and the lengthy rituals required to call them. It is possible, perhaps even likely, ritual magic is required becuase the magician must apply the Law of Similiarity to establish a link to the ritual, using a sufficient sample of the element on the physical plane as a ritual link. The ritual materials, as with other ritual magic supplies, are required to focus the power of the spell.

Nature spirits, summoned by shamanic practicy, idoltry and other systems, are personifications of place. As mana is sensitive to even the smallest presence of life, the astral plane grows to reflect the physical plane, both in appearence and atmosphere. Natural places thus develop spirits which reflect the nature of that place. Shamanic practitioners, who revere such unspoilt areas, may summon these spirits. No matter which theory one prefers when considering how the spirit is summoned, it is a fact that the magician needs no lengthy hermetic ritual, as the magician's physical link to the locale of the spirit exists simply by being in the requisite environ. Similarly, Spirits of the Elements are quicker to summon than elementals because the magician must be in the presence of the element, and summons the spirit of that sample rather than a representative. The difference between the hermetic and non-hermetic elemental planes is, it is thought, a reflection of the different attitudes, theories and philosophies of the magicians.

Spirits of Man are often like spirits of Nature, but differ in that they only inhabit artificial places. Beyond this, Spirits of Man possess some sympathetic link to metahumanity, as non-metahuman spellcasters patently cannot summon spirits of Man.

Loa spirits and ancestor spirits are a special subset of Spirits of Man, summoned as they are directly from Metaplanes rather than from a physical location (the Isle Beneath the Sea and the Plane of the Dead, respectively); these spirits are reflections of the beliefs of metahumanity rather than the nature of a place where man dwells. Ancestor spirits may be more easily summoned by crafting sympathetic links to them.

Ally spirits, unlike the other spirits here, are crafted to last forever. They are more powerful, flexible and intelligent than lesser spirits (save for Free spirits, who are a special case), and the binding between ally and master is much stronger. Moreover, the magician animates the spirit with a fraction of his own self, and knows intimately the formula that defines the Ally.

Insect spirits require access to a very alien mindset, the sanity-shattering metaplane(s) where those spirits dwell. Perhaps as a consequence of their alien nature, the Invae (as they are known to some) require a particularly strong connection to the physical plane, a living vessel which allows them entry to this plane. Or perhaps it is only a peculiar property of the invae that they must be summoned by such a ritual, displacing the resident spirit of the host and altering (or shedding) the physical form.

Blood spirits are a dark form of spirit of man, ones which require the sacrifice of a living, sentient being for the ritual. Whether this sacrifice is needed to establish a link, as with Spirits of the Elements, to blood and human lifeforce; or if the impact of the murder on the astral is required to summon the spirit, is not known. Perhaps both, or neither are true. But the murder is still required.

As astral constructs, albeit of a different level of compelxity than spell engines, and because they are connected to a given metaplane, spirits may be disrupted or banished using Conjuring. Although the exact nature of the process varies from one magician to the next, essentially the magician is attempting to impose their will and all the mana they can summon to disrupt the spirit's form, causing it to withdraw to its plane (indeed, some may claim to disrupt this linkage, which causes the collapse of the astral form and the spirit's intellect is withdrawn to the Plane in question), or else disrupting the part of the spirit which concentrates on maintaining its own existence.

Sometimes, a magician loses control of the spirit, but the spirit is able to maintain its own existence, at least for a moment. At that moment, the spirit is defined by its own will and the prevailing astral conditions, at which point it becomes a Free Spirit. The formula that defines the spirit becomes its True Name, which the spirit literally is. The true name is a series of fourth-dimensional standing waves that the spirit literally resonates with, which corresponds to a three-dimensional sound. Any being voicing this series of sounds alerts the spirit, and if the same voice speaks the True Name three times in a row, the resonance is such that the spirit spontaneously appears (likely by taking an involuntary shortcut through their home metaplane). Anyone with the True Name may attempt to bind the spirit after invoking it.

<finish later>

Joy, a flamewar. You believe in magic. Booey for you. I've researched magical theory for many years along with other mythologies and have been along on all sorts of paranormal investigations including a dozen or so ghost hunts. Not once single solitary bit of solid evidence for anything. The "spirit photos" were someone leaving the shutter open, the "ghosts" that were just lense flares, and I don't know how many times I've "ruined" spells or rituals with my "negative energy" and that's why whatever didn't happen. Until I see it, it doesn't exist. Just like you don't believe in underpants gnomes until you see them. Or invisible pink unicorns.

You're not going to change my mind until you show me evidence, and I'm not going to convence you because you have "faith". Let's get back to Shadowrun please? You're going to scare AH-sensei away.

The Abstruse One

only fools deny the existence of underpants gnomes. the gn0mz are in your drawerz!

No one's commented on it because it makes sense. People tend to focus on stuff they either don't understand (asking for clarification) or don't agree with (explaining why they don't agree or just throwing insults).

It is, of course, the best explanation I've seen anywhere. Even better than Nigel Findley trying to explain WR in 2XS...

The Abstruse One

Blood Magic

Normally, when a magician casts a spell or conjures a spirit, he has to work to absorb mana from the astral plane around him. Magicians with higher Magic are able to do so more easily than magicians with low Magic, and are therefore less subject to drain.

Blood magic circumvents the need to absorb mana. Living beings constantly give off a very low amound of mana for the same reason that a furnace gives off heat: they possess a comparatively astronomical amount of it. When a blood magician wounds a victim, he absorbs the mana without difficulty straight from the victim and does not need to bother absorbing it from the manasphere. One would be hard-pressed to assume that damaging a person's aura would help with the controlling of the mana; therefore, the existence of blood magic proves that drain is in the collection of mana rather than its usage.

Magical Traditions

Much of the mana present in the manasphere can be used by any active magician. Why, then, is there such diversity in magical traditions?

Any magician can tell you that they must devote the whole of their being to the usage of magic. Focus, willpower, belief, all of one's mind, both conscious and unconscious, must be turned towards magic usage. This includes one's subconscious mind. What one has been taught from birth, what one believes in their heart to be true. Tradition is completely within the mind, but then again, so's 80% of magic use.