Message no. 1

From:	HUTH@***.EDU
Subject:	Tech Essence Detection and still more ("I'm sorry) Dikote lacing
Date:	Fri, 19 Feb 93 20:48:25 CET

I'm coming in late on these debates so forgive me if I repeat arguments
stated earlier.
To Minotaur: I think it might be possible to detect the metal portions
of cyberware at a distance, maybe through some sort of miniaturized
Magnetic Anomaly Detector. Unfortunately this still leaves two problems:
First, many pieces of cyberware are plastic or semi-organic, and thus
need to be detected (if possible) in a different manner. Second, this
would only report the amount of metal in a person's body, not the essence lost.
For example, Wired Reflexes are made of conducting wire, with a huge essence
cost, but there is not actually much metal involved. By comparison,
retracted cyberspurs have a relatively low essence cost, but a huge metal
count. Thus, any information obtained by technology could be very misleading
in terms of essence lost.

To Claymore: I really do not think it would be possible to Dikote Bone Lacing.
Dikote is applied by superheating the chemicals involved into a plasma which]
then coats a solid object (Shadowtech, pg 91). Even if you Dikoted the lacing
before it was inserted into the body then reduced the entire lacing structure
to its component molecules so they can be installed via nanotech procedures
the protection (at best) would be wildly uneven. Even if that hurdle is
overcome Dikote, remember, does more than harden substances, it sharpens them.
Putting Dikote on your bones would be the general equivalent of lining
your bones with sandpaper and rubbing it against your skin and internal
organs (ugh-though it strikes me that this would be a wonderful torture
method--sick GM mind wheels turning-I should be locked up). One thing we do
allow in our game, however, is Dikoted retractable spurs-the blades can be
removed and replaced for the Dikote process, and the sheaths they retract in
and out of can be periodically replaced.
--Spectre <02.19.54/11.02.33>

"If you have to do something, you might as well do it with the maximum
possible gratuitous violence."