From:	Matb <mbreton@**.NETCOM.COM>
Subject:	Re: Magic and the Matrix
Date:	Thu, 17 Apr 1997 04:56:19 -0700

MC23 wrote:
>
> Matb once dared to write,
>
> >If, if, *if* the mage were dual-natured I could buy this. But a mage
> >deals just fine with the mundane world; he has to actively *choose* to
> >perceive. All this means is that amage who jacks in can't (well,
> >shouldn't) switch to Astral perception -- but switching back to normal
> >has its own penalty for deckers already, and that, really, is the only
> >penalty that should apply.
>
> Nope. You misunderstand the mage and the mundane world. Read the Way
> of the Burnout in Awakenings for more insight into mages and their
> senses. And don't forget that the matrix is everything but the mundane
> world.

You misunderstand your sourcebooks (grin) - there's no 'Way of the
Burnout' in Awakenings, though the subtitle does show in Grim II.
Neither really touches on the point: mages do *not* have 'astral
senses' unless they *choose* to perceive.

Now, if you want to argue that a mage takes a penalty whenever he's not
astrally perceiving, you go there.

> >And the information from the jack is handled marvlously well by the
> >other ninety percent of the population; what makes the mage's brain so
> >mysteriously unable to hack it?
>
> What makes a mundane unable to see astral? Mages are a special case,
> Get used to it. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

It's not having cake and eating it; it's paying a hideously outrageous
cost to gain an ability (in this case, decking) and then having to
suffer a hideously outrageous penalty that's not supported by the rules.

> - MC23, who feels like he's at the start of another longwinded debate -

Hey, it;s the "magic in the matrix" thread. It *has* to be
longwinded... (gr)

-M