Logs for ShadowRN and Associated Mailing Lists

From:	"Hackers 'R Us" <Flake@***.nl>
Subject:	Astral Questions
Date:	Sat, 25 Nov 1995 04:41:07 +-100

Message no. 1 Gurth and damion wrote :

>> If a brick wall has an aura (dim one, albeit), and you can pass =
through
>> it, what happens to the rule about no two auras occupying the same =
space?
>
>I think that ruling only pertains to _living_ auras. And walls tend to =
be
>particularily dead in my experience.

Walls don't have aura's, the only reason they can be seen on the astral =
plane is because of the energy that reflects of it.
Every living being radiates a form of energy on the astral plane, it's =
aura. Just like normal light this reflects of any object that happens to =
be near enough.
In real life we can see a wall because light bounces of it, not becuse =
it's a source of light itself, idem dito on the astral side.

The thing gets a bit more tricky with personal objects, like clothing, a =
car that some one loves a lot, etc. That works a bit like that paint =
they've got nowadays, if you hold it under a light long enough it starts =
to shed light itself. If something has had a long enough exposure to any =
strong emotions (the stuff that aura's are made of) it loads itself and =
starts to produce energy of it's own.

The more it's loaded, the more dense it becomes, and the harder it =
becomes to move through it. Most normal everyday objects will never =
become strong enough to be inpassable.
A friend of mine who has a lot of experience in this field, also claims =
that some humans that lack real emotional intensity become kinda blurry =
and translucent on the astral. Comatose patients that are near braindead =
are an example of this.

Flake

From:	Luke Kendall <luke@********.canon.oz.au>
Subject:	Re: Astral Questions
Date:	Mon, 27 Nov 95 09:48:00 +1100

Message no. 2 Gurth and damion wrote :

>> If a brick wall has an aura (dim one, albeit), and you can pass through
>> it, what happens to the rule about no two auras occupying the same space?
>
>I think that ruling only pertains to _living_ auras. And walls tend to be
>particularily dead in my experience.

That's the first I've heard of a rule that says two auras can't inter-
penetrate. However, there is a rule that says, in effect, that living
bodies present an impenetrable barrier to spirits in astral space.

Ever wondered just what an active spell is, when it's working in the
real world? Clearly, things like Physical Barrier must be detectable
in many ways with various measuring instruments - but what about spells
that affect intangibles like willpower or the mind? What _is_ it that
crosses the physical space between a magician and her target when she
casts Mind Probe? (Maybe if you were roleplaying a physicist you'd
get some mileage out of this; otherwise, I admit, it's probably wisest
to shrug and answer `Magic.')

"Hackers 'R Us" wrote:

> Walls don't have aura's, the only reason they can be seen on the astral
> plane is because of the energy that reflects of it.

I don't think that line of argument is sufficiently precise to invest
effort in, myself. I've seen too many long arguments on this list that
started off with trying to map normal physics into astral space.

> [...] If something has had a long enough exposure to any
> strong emotions (the stuff that aura's are made of) it loads itself and
> starts to produce energy of it's own.
>
> The more it's loaded, the more dense it becomes, and the harder it
> becomes to move through it.

Sounds like an interesting house rule, and well within the spirit of
the game.

luke

From:	"Damion Milliken" <adm82@***.edu.au>
Subject:	Re: Astral Questions
Date:	Mon, 27 Nov 1995 18:11:48 +1100 (EST)

Message no. 3 Hackers 'R Us writes:

> Walls don't have aura's, the only reason they can be seen on the astral
> plane is because of the energy that reflects of it.

I'm afraid that's wrong. Walls, like _everything_ else in SR, do have a
presence on the etheric plane, also known as an aura. In the case of walls
that presence is extremely minimal (similarly with other inanimate
objects). This is so logically, and it is also stated in the rules.
Logically all things must have an aura. For a spell to affect something,
the magician must synchronise his aura with the aura of the target (read the
section on spells and astral space in SRII). There is a spell known as
"Ram" in SR. This affects inanimate objects (specifically walls and
doors). Therefore, walls and doors _must_ have an aura, else the magician
could not synchronise his aura with the walls/doors and thus could not affect
the wall/door with a spell. Also, from page 87 of the Grimything II:

"Most things, living or non-living, have at least an etheric body,
an astral body present on the etheric plane. The more alive
something is, the more solid is its etheric body will be."

Now, granted, it does say "most" (however, about the only exception I could
think of is cold vaccuum). However, I am sure there are other quotes that
can be taken from the main book to also back up the point (unfortunately I
have been foolish and lent out my SRII book to one of my friends). I think
the section in the combat chapter about vehicles and spells would be
appropriate reading, as would the introductory bit on astral space.

> Every living being radiates a form of energy on the astral plane, it's
> aura. Just like normal light this reflects of any object that happens to
> be near enough.

Yes, fair enough. But the ability to radiate astral light does not equate
to an aura. Everything has an aura, but only the auras of living beings are
strong enough to radiate the astral equivalent of light.

> In real life we can see a wall because light bounces of it, not becuse
> it's a source of light itself, idem dito on the astral side.

However, just becuase it doesn't radiate light does not indicate that it
does not have a physical presence. Similarly on the astral, just because it
it does not radiate the astral equivalent of light does not mean it does not
have an astral presence (ie an aura). It in fact does. However, it is an
extremely weak one, so weak in fact that it radiates minimal or no astral
light, and is easily passed through by an astral being.

> The thing gets a bit more tricky with personal objects, like clothing, a
> car that some one loves a lot, etc. That works a bit like that paint
> they've got nowadays, if you hold it under a light long enough it starts
> to shed light itself. If something has had a long enough exposure to any
> strong emotions (the stuff that aura's are made of) it loads itself and
> starts to produce energy of it's own.
>
> The more it's loaded, the more dense it becomes, and the harder it
> becomes to move through it. Most normal everyday objects will never
> become strong enough to be inpassable.
> A friend of mine who has a lot of experience in this field, also claims
> that some humans that lack real emotional intensity become kinda blurry
> and translucent on the astral. Comatose patients that are near braindead
> are an example of this.

I don't think this is correct. No matter how much background count you pump
into a wall, it will never be able to block astral movement. It might glow
like a fun park at night, but it will still be perfectly possible to move
through it. All that emotion/spiritual energy will do to a place is leave a
trace of itself on the astral nearby. An astral magician can still pass
through the Auschwitz barracks (if he can stomach it), even though this has
an extremely high background count due to the aforementioned emotional
energies. Of course this is SRII, not RL, so things may be slightly
different.

--
Damion Milliken University of Wollongong E-mail: adm82@***.edu.au
-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.1
GE d- s++:-- a19 C++ US++>+++ P+ L E W(+) N o(@) K? w(+) O(@) M- V? PS+ PE(@)
Y+ PGP@>+ t+ 5 X+(++) R+(++) tv--- b++(+++) DI? D+@ G++(+) e h(*) !r y--
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------

Mailing List Logs for

Further Reading

Disclaimer