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Message no. 1
From: Scott Wheelock iscottw@*****.nb.ca
Subject: Doing Magical Time (was: 2nd Question...)
Date: Wed, 24 Mar 1999 07:56:09 -0400
"And now, a Channel 6 editorial reply to Gurth."
] > I'd think Lone Star magicians would be waaaay too valuable to waste
] > on babysitting duty. My guess is they have their hands full already,
] > and the corp can't afford to have them inactive for the day(s) it takes
] > to process a suspect.
]
] OTOH do you _really_ want an arrested suspect to go wander off astrally to
] find his or her friends who can then come and assault the police station
] to break out this suspect?

Well, there's other ways to stop the astrally roving mage, as you so
kindly point out below :)

] I guess the best option would be a very strongly-constructed cell (to stop
] those nasty Force whatever physical combat spells), one-way glass to
] prevent spells being cast at the guards by anyone inside, and with wards
] around it to stop astral travel.

And maybe an elemental, commanded to whomp the magician if she/he
goes astral.

] Probably best to also add in some kind of
] gas system to knock out anyone in the cell when they start to cause
] trouble.

I'd think magicians would be kept at a level of high stun anyway...
just to keep them from tossing off too many spells. Perhaps they'd
have to put on a mage mask before their cell could be opened, perhaps
their food and hygiene products would be brought in by a drone,
perhaps they'd be contained in a separate 'hole' while their stuff was
brought in by guards. One thing's for sure...being a magically active
prisoner would mean you were very, very lonely.

] Another option would be to order a spirit to call for reinforcements at
] the first sign of magical activity (of any kind) in the cell. A flock of
] watchers might be best for this, if only because they're cheap and easy to
] conjure.

A darned good idea. And maybe watchers to talk to the prisoner,
to keep them sane. Or a trideo screen to interact with others.
Or maybe Lone Star doesn't really care.

-Murder of One
Message no. 2
From: GMPax@***.com GMPax@***.com
Subject: Doing Magical Time (was: 2nd Question...)
Date: Wed, 24 Mar 1999 08:45:36 EST
In a message dated 3/24/99 7:10:45 AM Eastern Standard Time,
iscottw@*****.nb.ca writes:

> A darned good idea. And maybe watchers to talk to the prisoner,
> to keep them sane. Or a trideo screen to interact with others.
> Or maybe Lone Star doesn't really care.
>
> -Murder of One

Well, one doesn't _truly_ need to completely segregate the mage from th
general population. One only needs to prevent adverse magic use.

Would it be possible to "voluntarily" take a geas, "just because" ...
? I can
see a location geas ("not while within the prison grounds") or time-duration
geasa ("not before X day of X month in X year, when my sentence is finished")
or condition geasa ("not until I am paroled") to prevent use of magic on an
INTERNAL level.

If this is possible, or better if there is some means of _forcing_ the mage to
comply, this would make things much less expensive.

I suppose a month or three of solitary confinement could help to convince the
mage to "volunteer" for such a program. <EG>

And on subsequent runs, God (or whomever) HELP the runner, if that "not while
in prison" geasa is less picky about WHICH prison (or what KIND of prison)
counts. <G> Gonna run on some setup that's inside the old Alcatraz? "Don't
bring Sparky, he got one 'a them No-Mage geasa from Lone Star three years
back, he'll be _useless_ ... !"

Unless, of course, Sparky blows the Karma to initiate and rid hisself of that
pesky Geas. :-)

Sean
GM Pax
Message no. 3
From: Gurth gurth@******.nl
Subject: Doing Magical Time (was: 2nd Question...)
Date: Wed, 24 Mar 1999 20:21:56 +0100
According to Scott Wheelock, at 7:56 on 24 Mar 99, the word on
the street was...

> ] I guess the best option would be a very strongly-constructed cell (to stop
> ] those nasty Force whatever physical combat spells), one-way glass to
> ] prevent spells being cast at the guards by anyone inside, and with wards
> ] around it to stop astral travel.
>
> And maybe an elemental, commanded to whomp the magician if she/he
> goes astral.

I thought about that, but I figured I myself would go for some watchers,
or if something stronger is desired a hearth spirit; my main reason is
that they're all much cheaper to summon. Watchers do have the drawback of
being so very flimsy and stupid, but if given good instructions ("Go to
that room and scream loudly whenever anyone in this room uses magic" for
instance) the latter should be easy enough to get around, while the former
is why I suggested a flock of them -- that makes it harder to kill them
all at once (except with an area-effect spell, of course) and they can be
given different orders if they're really stupid :) Some could be ordered
to watch for spells, others for astral activity, and so on.

> I'd think magicians would be kept at a level of high stun anyway...
> just to keep them from tossing off too many spells. Perhaps they'd
> have to put on a mage mask before their cell could be opened

That would make sense, yes. The gas system I suggested was mainly as a
last defense kind of thing.

> perhaps their food and hygiene products would be brought in by a drone,

Why make it that complicated? A simple airlock-type thing, like the one in
Silence of the Lambs, would work just as well for passing items into and
out of the cell. If constructed right, this will block LOS to anyone
outside, so no danger there.

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
What in the wide wide world of sports is going on here?!
-> NERPS Project Leader * ShadowRN GridSec * Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
->The Plastic Warriors Page: http://shadowrun.html.com/plasticwarriors/<-
-> The New Character Mortuary: http://www.electricferret.com/mortuary/ <-

GC3.1: GAT/! d-(dpu) s:- !a>? C+(++)@ U P L E? W(++) N o? K- w+ O V? PS+
PE Y PGP- t(+) 5++ X++ R+++>$ tv+(++) b++@ DI? D+ G(++) e h! !r(---) y?
Incubated into the First Church of the Sqooshy Ball, 21-05-1998
Message no. 4
From: Scott Wheelock iscottw@*****.nb.ca
Subject: Doing Magical Time (was: 2nd Question...)
Date: Thu, 25 Mar 1999 06:49:50 -0400
"And now, a Channel 6 editorial reply to Gurth."
] I thought about that, but I figured I myself would go for some watchers,
] or if something stronger is desired a hearth spirit; my main reason is
] that they're all much cheaper to summon.

But how many mages do you get in prison? Might be considered
worth the expense, might not.

] Watchers do have the drawback of
] being so very flimsy and stupid, but if given good instructions ("Go to
] that room and scream loudly whenever anyone in this room uses magic" for
] instance) the latter should be easy enough to get around, while the former
] is why I suggested a flock of them -- that makes it harder to kill them
] all at once (except with an area-effect spell, of course) and they can be
] given different orders if they're really stupid :) Some could be ordered
] to watch for spells, others for astral activity, and so on.
]
] That would make sense, yes. The gas system I suggested was mainly as a
] last defense kind of thing.

And a good one. I suspect they have that for mundanes as well.

] > perhaps their food and hygiene products would be brought in by a drone,
]
] Why make it that complicated? A simple airlock-type thing, like the one in
] Silence of the Lambs, would work just as well for passing items into and
] out of the cell. If constructed right, this will block LOS to anyone
] outside, so no danger there.

Erm...well...you're right. Airlock thingy it is.

-Murder of One
Message no. 5
From: Gurth gurth@******.nl
Subject: Doing Magical Time (was: 2nd Question...)
Date: Thu, 25 Mar 1999 19:48:29 +0100
According to Scott Wheelock, at 6:49 on 25 Mar 99, the word on
the street was...

> ] I thought about that, but I figured I myself would go for some watchers,
> ] or if something stronger is desired a hearth spirit; my main reason is
> ] that they're all much cheaper to summon.
>
> But how many mages do you get in prison? Might be considered
> worth the expense, might not.

Do you mean mage-guards, or mage-inmates? Of course with an elemental it's
a one-time cost of X-thousand nuyen per attempt at trouble per inmate,
whereas a watcher would need to be renewed every couple of hours, or every
couple of days... I guess it'll be mostly a matter of preference by the
magical staff in the jail or prison.

> ] That would make sense, yes. The gas system I suggested was mainly as a
> ] last defense kind of thing.
>
> And a good one. I suspect they have that for mundanes as well.

Likely, yeah. I mean, if you stand a fair chance of being gassed when you
go out to get a soyburger, I doubt people will care about such systems
installed in a cell.

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
What in the wide wide world of sports is going on here?!
-> NERPS Project Leader * ShadowRN GridSec * Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
->The Plastic Warriors Page: http://shadowrun.html.com/plasticwarriors/<-
-> The New Character Mortuary: http://www.electricferret.com/mortuary/ <-

GC3.1: GAT/! d-(dpu) s:- !a>? C+(++)@ U P L E? W(++) N o? K- w+ O V? PS+
PE Y PGP- t(+) 5++ X++ R+++>$ tv+(++) b++@ DI? D+ G(++) e h! !r(---) y?
Incubated into the First Church of the Sqooshy Ball, 21-05-1998

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