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Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: Daniel Sauve <josha@*********.com>
Subject: Angel Wings
Date: Sat, 08 Jun 1996 07:03:18 -0400
Sorry guys, setting up my new e-mail account took longer then I thought.
What was the verdict on Desolation Angels' Wings? Can he have them? Can
he fly, or just glide?
thanx,
Daniel "Desolation Angel- Dexter- Josha- Forcer- Melvin- Hunter- Gee I
have alot of nicks" Sauve (oh, and you say my name SO-vay)
Message no. 2
From: Jeffrey Jacob Mach <mach@****.caltech.edu>
Subject: Re: Angel Wings
Date: Thu, 8 Aug 1996 11:03:25 -0700 (PDT)
I think this is pretty much the general sentiment, plus my 2yen:

On Sat, 8 Jun 1996, Daniel Sauve wrote:

> Sorry guys, setting up my new e-mail account took longer then I thought.
> What was the verdict on Desolation Angels' Wings? Can he have them? Can
> he fly, or just glide?

Last question first:

Flying is pretty much out of the question, unless you have a
really good idea as to how they would be powered, and how Desolation Angel
could be light enough to have a Thrust-to-weight ratio high enough to get
off the ground. So in general this is a no-go. As for gliding, this is
still very difficult. If the wings are articulated enough to move on
their own (i.e. they don't have little grips in them that your hands grab
on to in order to power and direct them and are themselves unpowered, if
articulated) then you need some rather essence-unfriendly cyberware in
order to install, anchor, and control them, on the _order_ of a
specialized Vehicle Control Rig which is modified so it doesn't override
your meat body (no mean feat) + essence loss for bolting (or at least
being able to bolt) wings onto your body. In other words, if you plan on
this guy to be cybered heavily in any other way, Wired Reflexes or VCR,
the wings are out. If they can flap in any way, there needs to be a way
to power them--either cyber, which needs a power pack of some sort, or
arm/muscle power which would prohibit using said muscles from doing
anything else, at least while flying.

An additional side issue is whether or not these things are
detachable, or concealable. Marvel's Archangel gets away with huge
technorganic wings by Writer/Artist fiat and an image transducer
(hologram), but Shadowrun is usually a much less forgiving environment.
Besides, "Gee mommie...why does the nice man ahead of us in line have big
wings?" is probably not what he wants to hear when picking up some donuts
at the corner store. =)

Remember to even be viable, the wingspan will have to be on the
order of that of a hang-glider - some if you only want him to be able to
land from height without crashing + compensation for a non-optimal
materials and shape, since I assume you actually want these things to look
like wings. Revelation's seraphim got away with flight by six wings (a
CNS nightmare) and the power of the BIG "G". 0=) The realistic aspects of
Shadowrun force us to be more pragmatic. One idea brought up would be for
them to be removeable, with some sort of encompasing harness, power
system, and control rig jacks built into the unit with the wings. This
will be expensive as hell, but it allows him to sneak into places where he
couldn't fit, or at least couldn't "fit in" with them on. If they are a
permanent graft, then the troubles are quite a bit more sticky. Even if
they could fold nicely, their bulk would still be hard to conceal, and
there aren't many shadowrunners who would like to make a run on a place
with a fellow who has huge wings comming off of his back unless they
thought possibly it would be better for that fellow to draw fire. :( One
other thing, remember that if Desolation Angel attempts to do anything
other than fly, he will be doing so at considerable penalty, since flying
requires a great deal of concentration as well as being awkward to move
your center of gravity around while flying.

To sum up, the general verdict didn't seem to be: Wings BAD. But
it wasn't a "sure, go right ahead" either. The main idea is balance. If
it is going to work, you are going to have to pay a price one way or
another respecting the system.

Further Reading

If you enjoyed reading about Angel Wings, you may also be interested in:

Disclaimer

These messages were posted a long time ago on a mailing list far, far away. The copyright to their contents probably lies with the original authors of the individual messages, but since they were published in an electronic forum that anyone could subscribe to, and the logs were available to subscribers and most likely non-subscribers as well, it's felt that re-publishing them here is a kind of public service.