definitely a house rule, yes, but also very definitely in keeping with the existing rules.

that's not how cyberware works. cyberware is connected to the body. if it's not connected, it costs no essence. for instance, that's how nanites work.

However that isn't an exhastive list of how you can lose essense. EDIT: Page 61.

soaking in a nutrient bath under a doctor's care doesn't strike me as chemical abuse or toxin damage. you might be able to get away with negligence... but i dunno. lopping off an arm isn't negligence, apparently.

i'm going back to the game rule that losing a limb doesn't cost you any essence.

there aren't any rules at all in SR4 relating to limb loss. it's not unreasonable to assume that the rules for it should be the same as in SR3--though, of course, it wouldn't be unexpected if they're different.

I had a *thought*- Pardon if someone covered this already, but there seemed to be an awful lot of you suck/no YOU suck going on, and I skipped ahead. I was debating a theory that could sort of explain the Technomancer theory, but would, naturally, have to be fleshed out.

Now, part of my understanding is, in sourcebooks of the last ten or so years, there are references to the "resonance" in the matrix-a force, that influences the matrix in a quasi-mystical way. They may have cleared this up at some point, which would invalidate this whole theory,but if so, it is in one of the many, many sourcebooks I haven't read. Bear that in mind. Could it be assumed that the powers of Technomancers work more on a matrix-side way of doing things? They aren't "shooting radio waves" at devices, but rather, this resonance is reacting to their immediate brain waves and actions-with a wireless matrix in place, I could assume that the "regions" of AR are reacting to the Technomancer's actions/brain activity. Where goes an AR network, so goes the resonance/matrix (which would explain why Technomancers 'freak out' in regions with no matrix). A technmancer perceives these things because he's being hit with the same signals as a commlink would be, but the Signal/range of the device doesn't apply-it could, insofar as how distant/powerful the Technomancer's connection is with the Resonance.

I'll stop now, and move on for clarification later in case I've missed some critical point, but does that come across as slightly more plausible than someone shooting high range radio signals out of their eyes?

Yeah, FiveVenoms - this is similar to what I'm leaning towards as well.

It simply isn't plausible to influence light in that manner. Radio, like other forms of light, isn't like water... you can't muck about in it and expect to make meaningful ripples. In order to influence wireless devices, you have to be able to send a wireless signal, and one that can encode information relevant to the wireless matrix. Their ability to manipulate the Matrix isn't in question (as it's one of the key assumptions you have to make about otaku as well, even though they happen to do it using an ASIST converter and a DNI interface)... it's the ability for a human body to send out meaningful radio waves to act upon the Wireless Matrix. I'd buy it if they provided SOME form of reasonable explanation (a "relay" Sprite, magic, a new organ, being able to relay their abilities through a skin-linked commlink, etc.), but they don't.

I realize that. My "jump" here was assuming that in the event of a making the matrix wireless, we were no longer talking about radio waves, etc, as it applies to Technomancers. That seems to be the major stumbling block of most of these theories that could explain a Technomancer's powers. Instead I make an assumption about the "resonance" of the Matrix, and that is in fact, what the Technomancer is interacting with, in accordance with their personal abilities (Resonance is the Technomancer attribute, right? higher attribute=more influence with the Resonance/Matrix). Since the radio waves, data streams, etc., are flowing in the space around the character, interacting with commlinks, thusly so is the "resonance" of the matrix. So technomancers interact with that directly, instead of light/radio waves. I'll admit it's a bit of a leap of faith, but it works for me as an adequate personal explanation-unlike "radio brains".

Again, light/radio doesn't work like that. There aren't "streams" of data or a "pool" of radio (both of which are simple metaphors for far more complex phenomena) that you are "resonating" with (thus, my statement "Light is not like water"). To be able to influence light in that manner would take even more suspension of disbelief than to assume that technomancers have the ability to emit radio (through magical or mundane means).

Hmm. Maybe I'm not being clear about my theory; I'm not talking about light or radio, since I'm aware (although definitely not acutely) of the physics phenomena you're talking about. The only aspect of the Matrix (and the accompanying signals) that I'm referencing is the "Resonance". Problem of course being, that I really couldn't tell you (other than the ways in which SR sourcebooks and such cite it) what it is. However, I'm assuming it is similar to neither radio signals or particles/frequencies/etc. of light. One would have to assume in my theory (and this is part of why I said it was half thought out: I was hoping that with discussions like this one, we could find a quasi plausible way of figuring out Technomancers), that the Resonance doesn't operate like the signals that carry to comlinks and other wireless devices. It would have to be translateable as a 3-D "space" accompanying AR, or at least that's how the brain perceives it. In fact, now that I think about it, maybe that would be the answer; the resonance translates as a signal that the brain could interpret, and your personal resonance, serving the same purpose as a magical rating (essentially), but being inherently non-magical, determines the extent to which these resonance "signals" are influenced. I could see some apprehensions on the "mystic" aspect of this theory, but again, it seems like you almost have to go that route for any explanation.

Or, you could just say it's Magic!

Yeah, but then what would I do with my spare time?

So you are thinking of "subspace" or some other technobabble (not disparaging the idea, but that's the most appropriate term)... basically, all devices on the new Wireless Matrix are part of the Deep Resonance, and the communication between a technomancer and Deep Resonance operates on an unmeasurable level (akin to "subspace frequencies" on Star Trek).

*shrugs* Might as well say it's "Magic" (edit: Probably more akin to "the Force"), but only because the idea simply reiterates that mystic forces beyond our ken are involved (i.e. Deep Resonance). Don't get me wrong, I think the idea is a good one as an explanation, and if FanPro came out and said it, I'd consider it a hard pill to swallow, but I'd buy it. I think, in my mind, it conveniently discards years of fiction in the SR universe that focused on the mind-machine interface, specifically with children. The implication over the years was that otaku, while special, were also entirely mundane, more related to the Autism Spectrum Disorders than the Magus Factor. The Technomancer concept throws that out the window. I'm not sure that I (and my gaming group) like it, and our house rules regarding technomancers reflect this.

The other issue is "what happened to all the cyberware"? If there are otaku out there that survived (as implied by the fiction about technomancers in SR4, although I will note that System Failure states that many of them die during the Matrix Crash 2.0) and there were technomancers born out of the Matrix Crash (from being jacked in during the Crash, as stated in the technomancer piece in System Failure), then what happened to all of that cyberware? Or are there whole generations of technomancers that lose Resonance for simply having a little datajack?

Honestly, it reminds me of Dan Simmons Hyperion Cantos, the second half of the series, Rise and Fall of Endymion. One character had access to what was referred to as Planck Space and could communicate, travel, perceive across the universe at a whim.I wonder if that is the direction of technomancers in the later fiction waiting to be written.

Honestly i loved Endymion. not afraid to admit the ending made me weep, no mean feat for a sci-fi book. But the wireless world definitely had that feel to me.

Why do I suddenly see Technomancers being the bridge for spreading a computer virus into a biological form among the population?

@FireVenom:

If Technomancers are communicating with the Matrix via other means than radiowaves, why don't their powers work when there is a wired matrix node nearby but no wireless access? I think we should "investigate" in the direction of Transys-Erika. After all the whole thing runs on their protocols. We need an extraction of one of their eggheads.

You could lay off the "but..." with ellipses at the end. That's the second time on this page.

Here's a historical question: What game-year was the first rumors about the otaku introduced? The earliest reference that I've found is in the Denver sourcebook (circa 2055), but they did a full-blown reveal of them shortly afterwards in Virtual Realities 2.0 (also 2055).

I'm going to post some of the stuff from the other thread we were discussing this in.

from halabis