I could not find any information on the effect of outerspace on the 6th world and magic. I did find that it does not work since Magic/mana needs life I guess.

What is the story with Mars if there is any (as it relates to the SR).

Can dragons fly in space and wreck things?

Are there any SR books that specifically have plots and environments in one of the habitats?

Why did corporations put so many habitats in space? My only guess is for security which makes sense.

Have a look at Street Grimoire and the section on Background count, specifically voids which is what space is and the effects it will have on magic and magical things/beasties.

Short answer is space is very unhealthy for anything accessing the astral, be it perceiving, projecting or just being dual natured.

The only larger-scale module that (partly) takes place in one of the Habitats is Schockwellen and, unfortunatly, German-only. I think there are short plot seeds in Target: Wastelands, Hazard Pay and one of the corporate-themed plot seed books.

I believe Lofwyr's plan is to relocate his people there during the Scourge and have them wait it out safely off-world. Not sure if he's planning on trying to join them there (could be a tricky proposition for a dual-natured creature).

IIRC, Evo has a base there now.

Space was, at least as of SR3, a -12 Mana Void.
I think that got upped to -24 in either SR4 or 5.
So, you will need a BASE MAGIC ATTRIBUTE 25.
And Force 25 Spells as well.
And then the drain +25.

Had. Monads (AI inhabiting nanites) took it over.

I'm not sure about SR5, but in SR4 space is a -12 Mana Void. See SR4 Street Magic, p. 119.

Ugh. Sounds like some SR5 junk I'm glad we're skipping over.

All part of the "making plots from editing fuckups and untalented writers" plan. Well, actually I'm not so sad to see Gagarin go. I have a serious dislike for "hard" colonist fantasy SciFi.

How so? If anything, the interaction of magic and technology has always fascinated me as a concept. GURPS Technomancer has mana-powered space habitats, which I loved reading about.

I know War! gets a very bad rap, but it introduced one very important spell, that nearly everyone seems to overlook - Recharge. This spell actually changes the world. This is controlled mana-to-electricity conversion. Not only can you live off the grid with no power source (if you're a mage, or have one in your group), but if you Quicken it, you have a permanent power source. This would rock the world, if any of the SR writers would remember it exists, and has uses beyond recharging commlinks in the field.

1. Heinlein, Weber et all.
2. There is no need for outer-Space or even just outer-planet colonization. If you really, desperatly want to build a settlement in a place where, should containment break, the settlement dies pretty much instantly, buold an underwater settlement. Much cheaper and the same Frontier Spirit. We'Re not even settling 30% of our home planet. What do we need another planet for?
3. No, humanity does not have an in-born drive to colonize other places. Humanity works like all other species - massive migratory expansion happens under population stress or environmental stress. It's annoying to see this nonsense being brought up again and again.


It also violates a core principle of what magic can and cannot do, which is why it thankfully was erased from the German translation, together with a few other spells such as the immunity to bullets "levitation" spell. I suppose the US team has decided to never speak of it again, too.

Actually, I've just now reviewed "The Limits of Sorcery" in SR4 Street Magic, pp. 159 - 160, and I don't see how this spell violates them. I think it makes a fine addition to the game world. Magic can already throw lightning bolts around, so why not utilize a more controlled version of that?

Uh, it hacks a device with a spell to power it up. That's a mix of magic and computers that is not supposed to be possible. But I see your point, I guess you could go for a variation of food generation, I guess (not a particular fan of that spell either). Still, it breaks the setting. That's just shitty writing in a collaborative writing effort in my book, so good riddance.

I don't see how you're getting the idea that this spell breaks the setting. I'll post in the rules from The Limits of Sorcery here:

Sorcery Cannot Affect Anything to which the User Does Not Have a Magical Link
If you can hold the item, or at least see it, you're good.

Sorcery Cannot Alter the Fabric of the Space/Time Continuum
Not an issue in this situation.

Sorcery Cannot Divine the Future with any Certainty
Not an issue in this situation.

Sorcery Cannot Summon or Banish Spirits
Not an issue in this situation.

Sorcery Cannot Raise the Dead
Not an issue in this situation.

Sorcery Cannot Create Magical Items
The item already exists, and is purely physical.

Sorcery Cannot Bridge the Gap between the Astral and Physical Planes
Not an issue in this situation.

Sorcery Cannot Create Complex Things
Just electricity, not all that complex (and we already know it can create lightning bolts).

Magic Is Not Intelligent
No worries, this is a pretty straightforward concept - channellng electricity.

So, I conclude that the rules of magic say nothing about prohibiting the function of supplying a controlled flow of electricity into the battery of a device you're holding in your hand (or least within sight of). And with Quickening, a permanent magical power source is completely possible. Ditch those remaining fossil fuel plants and replace them with mana fuel plants instead.

Are not Monads folks who are possesed by nanites? Cant we just run these folks thru a strong magnetic field to purge/kill the nanites?

Also is Mars Magcially active and can dragons fly/life in space?

I read some about the coming scourge and the 'horrrors' personally that entire line of story is lame and really boxes itself in. If we had such a horrible thing happen how in the hell did humanity survive?

Which leads me back to the entire space thing. If you have a hardened habitat that is not part of the wireless network say on the moon (which one of the megas is building) wouldn't it be safe from 'magical creatures? Fill that place up with Mundanes and keep the entire computer system triple back upped and off any wireless connection...

Unless....

You are going tell me the 'mystical magical Technomancer' can access it which again is bullshit but its their game. The entire technomancer idea just screws to hell any real reason to run a mundane person at all in the SR universe. Dumb dumb dumb..

Ok rant off.

Thanks very much for the replies to this thread!

I consider it highly unlikely that strong magnetic fields will kill off nanobots. To a considerable extent, think of them as “smart viruses.” But it doesn’t matter, if you ditch that whole SR5 plotline, which is pretty much trash anyway IMHO.

I don’t believe Mars has much of a manasphere. It’s probably about as nearly dead as the moon (a -9 mana void, as opposed to the full -12 mana void of outer space). So dragons getting off-planet sounds rather unlikely, as they’re dual-natured creatures. BUT, their Magic ratings typically exceed 12, so it might be possible (though I can’t imagine they’d enjoy the experience).

I personally enjoy the Earthdawn crossover with the Shadowrun setting, but I know some people do not. In Earthdawn, humanity survived the Scourge by hiding in magically warded underground shelters/cities called Kaers; not all of them survived the Scourge intact.

And there’s no real reason I can see that going off-world wouldn’t keep you pretty safe from the Horrors. Earth orbit is probably far enough away, but the moon would be safer, and Mars probably the safest option.

Dragons could probably survive off-world. They wouldn't enjoy it, but it has its advantages; in space, they'd be greatly diminished, magically speaking, but everyone else would be diminished to nothingness.

Of course, that would render them rather more vulnerable to perfectly mundane means of attack. But if they have a choice between Horrors crawling all up in their butts to lay Horroreggs, or risking hot kinetic death in some orbital war, I'd take my chances with the railguns.

Well, dragons would still have to deal with things like breathing, thermal issues, radiation ... and all that while the Void was slurping their magical essence like a vacuum cleaner that was duct-taped to your naughtybits.

NOT a party.

As for stuff introduced in War? That was a dark time. The book is just ... not really something to bring up in polite company. Just move on.

Certainly not, but if their Magic rating exceeds the mana void rating of outer space (-12), then how is it not possible at least (assuming they're in a spacecraft, and can thus breathe, be protected from radiation, etc.)?


This does not refute any of my points above about the Recharge spell not contradicting The Limits of Sorcery.

On the one hand, true. On the other, you're best off thinking that none of the things introduced in there are real.

It will save you a LOT of pain.

Presumably, the dragon in question is aboard a spacecraft, space-station, or pressurized habitat, so all of those primary problems go away.

Secondarily, with the kind of mojo a wizwyrm can throw around, even in a mighty-12 mana void, I wouldn't actually be surprised if they Quickened spells to leave them immune to radiation, allow for thermal regulation and breathing, and keep themselves pressurized, even in hard vacuum.

Or just have the wyrms invest in some power armor

Course the problem is when the Horrors do the same thing.

And when looking at what magic can do, there are multiple spells operating in the same ballpark. Lightning-based spells are the obvious ones, but there are also spells creating acids, oxygenating blood (which is slightly more complicated than just creating a few gas bubbles in the blood stream), interacting with various toxins, or even directly increasing the thermal energy of a body without heat transfer (Ignite). But messing with the chemistry of a battery is suddenly impossible? Sorry, I'm not convinced.
Also note that all those spells appear in either the 1st Ed BBB or the original Grimoire and are not later additions by authors who had no idea of Paul Hume's vision for the magic system.

On the other hand, these examples also show how free electricity from magic isn't something added to the setting in That Book. All you ever needed was something to convert the various forms of energy magic can generate to electricity, which is an area humanity has been quite creative in...


Anyway, back to space: It is actually possible to create a manasphere in space, you just need enough living things (plants suffice). Ares has done it on their Daedalus station (see Street Magic) and uses the resulting self-contained manaphere for astral quests to the Invae home plane, in Augmentation there also is this tidbit on Mars:

Strong enough magnetic fields kill people, though.


Maybe and no.


Basically, Fallout-style Vaults with Magic and less 60s retrofuture flair.


Yes, they could do that. Yes, it is dumb. I ranted for years and deciuded to move on from that. Technomancers are a thing now, can't get rid of them anymore. Just houserule or otherwise limit their setting-destructive capabilities.


That is quite an interesting point.

Nope, EMP only stuns them temporarily.


And has it actually ever been established that killing the nanites would heal a full-blown headcase? It the nanites have rewired enough of the victim's brain to transfer the new personality, there might not even be a need for nanites aymore...

Do the rules say how big of a habitat you need in order to support a comfortable manasphere?

MitS says that a suborbital is not sufficient, it needs to be the size of Daedalus or Z-O. And even the manaphere there is described as "anemic" (Street Magic), YMMV on how much that qualifies as "comfortable".