Back to the main page

Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: david lowe <dlowe@****.COM>
Subject: Re: Armless Auras -A trick question
Date: Fri, 14 Mar 1997 09:44:14 -0800
>Droopy wrote:
>
>> > >I had a situation last night where an astral mage was looking for an
>>individual
>> > >who's only identification was a missing limb or two. Should this be
>>immediately
>> > >visible, even if the suspected limb is obscured by a desk or something?
>

>>I'd play it much as the others have suggested, that the arm is in fact
there, but faded, or shows trauma at the site of the amputation, if the
amputation was violent, but not so if the amputation was actually a
birth defect.
>>

I have a friend who's right hand basically has no fingers. He was born that
way. When he does things with that hand it's totally natural, different,
but natural. I would argue that someone born that way would never actualize
that part of his/her aura and it would be missing in the aura.

Now, if you accept that, for someone who was born without a limb, but had a
cyberlimb attached, what would their aura look like?

D. hoping to open a whole can of worms.
Message no. 2
From: "Mark A. Imbriaco" <mark@******.NET>
Subject: Re: Armless Auras -A trick question
Date: Fri, 14 Mar 1997 13:09:02 -0500
> >>I'd play it much as the others have suggested, that the arm is in fact
> there, but faded, or shows trauma at the site of the amputation, if the
> amputation was violent, but not so if the amputation was actually a
> birth defect.
> >>
>
> I have a friend who's right hand basically has no fingers. He was born that
> way. When he does things with that hand it's totally natural, different,
> but natural. I would argue that someone born that way would never actualize
> that part of his/her aura and it would be missing in the aura.
>
> Now, if you accept that, for someone who was born without a limb, but had a
> cyberlimb attached, what would their aura look like?

There's a couple of views on this. On one hand, cyberlimbs do not
integrate into your aura .. hence essence loss for adding them.
On the other hand, I can see a cyberlimb becoming a 'natural'
part of you and an extension of your being. It's hard to say,
and really would probably have to be a judgement call by the
individual GM.

Now, if that cyberlimb were Orichalcum, and bonded as a Foci, that'd
be different. :-)

-Mark
Message no. 3
From: David Buehrer <dbuehrer@****.ORG>
Subject: Re: Armless Auras -A trick question
Date: Fri, 14 Mar 1997 14:09:49 -0700
Mark A. Imbriaco wrote:
|
| There's a couple of views on this. On one hand, cyberlimbs do not
| integrate into your aura .. hence essence loss for adding them.
| On the other hand, I can see a cyberlimb becoming a 'natural'
| part of you and an extension of your being. It's hard to say,
| and really would probably have to be a judgement call by the
| individual GM.

Er.. if cybereyes become part of a mage so that he can
still cast spells using the cybereye's bells and whistles
(i.e., integrating with his aura), then why wouldn't that
be true for cyberlimbs also? (integrating with the aura)

-David-who's-wondering-if-he-missed-something...again
--
/^\/^\/^\/^\/^\/^\/^\ dbuehrer@****.org /^\/^\/^\/^\/^\/^\/^\
"His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking
alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free."
~~~http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1068/homepage.htm~~~~
Message no. 4
From: "Mark A. Imbriaco" <mark@******.NET>
Subject: Re: Armless Auras -A trick question
Date: Mon, 17 Mar 1997 11:19:47 -0500
On Mar 14, 2:09pm, David Buehrer wrote:
> Subject: Re: Armless Auras -A trick question
> Mark A. Imbriaco wrote:
> |
> | There's a couple of views on this. On one hand, cyberlimbs do not
> | integrate into your aura .. hence essence loss for adding them.
> | On the other hand, I can see a cyberlimb becoming a 'natural'
> | part of you and an extension of your being. It's hard to say,
> | and really would probably have to be a judgement call by the
> | individual GM.
>
> Er.. if cybereyes become part of a mage so that he can
> still cast spells using the cybereye's bells and whistles
> (i.e., integrating with his aura), then why wouldn't that
> be true for cyberlimbs also? (integrating with the aura)

That's a good point .. one I hadn't considered. There are so many
possible interpretations on this one that I think we're going to have
to stick with it being a judgement call. Unless FASAMike wants to
enlighten us with FASA's views that is.. :-)

-Mark
Message no. 5
From: "Fisher, Victor" <Victor-Fisher@******.COM>
Subject: Re: Armless Auras -A trick question
Date: Mon, 17 Mar 1997 12:20:33 -0500
Mark A. Imbriaco wrote:

>...On one hand, cyberlimbs do not integrate into your aura..hence >essence
loss for adding them.
>On the other hand, I can see a cyberlimb becoming 'natural' part of >you and
an extension of your being.


When a pair of cybereyes integrates into a mage's aura, allowing him

to cast spells, they are still a seperate part of him. The same for any

cybernetic prothesis [think of the land and the sea analog. Two

different things, but together, parts of the same whole. The
'artificial'

and 'natural' parts of the aura intergrate to function as a whole, but
are

still essentially separate. The aura is a 'discrete' bundle of energy.

When it is diminished, this manifests as 'essence loss'. A person who

sacrifices a portion of themselves for a cybernetic replacement, say an

arm; the faint resonance of the arm removed is still there, abeit

almost indestinguishable, as the 'inorganic' aura of the cyberarm is

overlapping it.

The aura is a universal template for a being, which is why so many

mage's astral forms are idealized images of themselves. The physical

body tries to emulate this 'blueprint', but is distorted by a variety of

factors [genetics, enviroment, etc.]

A mage's aural is almost nearly in perfect sync with his astral

template [NOT exactly, but close enough for government work:-].

Because of this, he becomes a 'window' able to channel the energies of

the astral dimension into the 'real' world and create feats of magick.

The addition of cyberware, either for replacement or augmentation,

distorts the meat pattern further from it's idealized template, sort of

like two transparencies overlaid atop the other. Alter the one on top,

on an overhead projector, and you change the amount of light that

eventually hits the screen.[sorry for the obscure example] Alter it too

much [for all you borg happy runners out there] and you can block out

the light passing thru the first transparency completely.

Cybereyes [and any other 'minor' modification, even bioware, which

distorts the meat pattern even less, but is still too much for a mage's,

whose templates MUST be crystal clear perfect to not lose any magical

rating] don't distort a mage's aura too much, alowing him to still

function.

There, now it's probably clear as mud, but I gave it a shot.

Kohl, the Physad Ork Gunslinger, graduate of M.I.T.& M on a

Shadowrun grant:-]
Message no. 6
From: David Buehrer <dbuehrer@****.ORG>
Subject: Re: Armless Auras -A trick question
Date: Mon, 17 Mar 1997 14:54:51 -0700
Fisher, Victor wrote:
|
| When a pair of cybereyes integrates into a mage's aura, allowing him
|
| to cast spells, they are still a seperate part of him. The same for any
|
| cybernetic prothesis [think of the land and the sea analog. Two
|
| different things, but together, parts of the same whole. The
| 'artificial'
|
| and 'natural' parts of the aura intergrate to function as a whole, but
| are

[snip]

Now your posts are showing up as double-spaced. IMO this
is worse than before.

Also (hey, as long as I'm complaining :) some of your lines
are longer than 80 columns, which causes some pretty nasty
wrapping when I try to read them.

-David
--
/^\/^\/^\/^\/^\/^\/^\ dbuehrer@****.org /^\/^\/^\/^\/^\/^\/^\
"His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking
alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free."
~~~http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1068/homepage.htm~~~~

Further Reading

If you enjoyed reading about Armless Auras -A trick question, 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.

Thwap!