| From: | Erik Jameson <erikj@****.COM> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: Cyberware and Regeneration |
| Date: | Tue, 12 May 1998 16:17:35 -0400 |
As several individuals have noted (David comes to mind), it should be
theoretically possible to implant cyberware into a regenerating individual.
You should be able to keep the body open long enough, using various means,
for invasive procedures and most, if not all cyberware is certainly
hypo-allergenic.
Using purely this argument, it is possible for regenerating individuals to
have cybernetics.
But we forget that SR is an Awakened world. There is something to be said
about the integrity and pattern of the aura.
Some have argued, even recently with the "Can shapeshifter's have heart
attacks/cancer?" debate a few weeks ago, that shapeshifters and
regeneration has something to do with the aura's pattern. That big magical
sign that says "Hi, I'm Bob and this is me."
Cyberware disrupts or alters that pattern. Cybernetics creates a fuzziness
or darkening in extreme cases to the aura (I believe these descriptions are
found in Awakenings). So the aura pattern is not the same as the original.
The big magical sign now reads "Hi Im Bob an ths is me." It means the
same thing, enough so that it is clear they are nearly the same. But they
are also clearly *different.*
Now if the aura pattern is the "guide" on how to regenerate properly, or
how to change from one form to the next for shapeshifters, what happens
when that aura is disrupted or altered in some way?
It is possible that the regeneration/shape shifting power goes on the blink
and no longer works anymore because of the aura's disruption. A shifter in
human form would be trapped that way. This flesh-hurling ninja loses his
regeneration ability.
It is possible that regeneration becomes more difficult and less effective
the greater the disruption of the aura (to a certain extent, this works for
me, but I think Essence loss of greater than 1 would shut down the power
entirely, or systemic cyberware like Wired Reflexes). In this scenario the
flesh hurling physadept would still regenerate, but at a much slower pace
and would probably leave scarring and pitting and wouldn't be able to
regenerate the entire mass of flesh scooped out (without saying anything
about the effectiveness of the insane weapon in the first place).
It is also possible that the aura disruption has no ill effects on
regeneration, but this seems to run contrary to what FASA says about the
effects of cybernetics on things magical.
To recap: it is possible, even probable, that 205X surgical techniques
would allow the implantation of cybernetics. But it is highly probably
that because of the damage/alteration to the aura, the regeneration power
would be negatively impacted in some way.
That's my take on the topic anyway.
Erik J.
"Ladies & Gentleman, the newest member of the band, the one and only Spice
Boy, GRUMPY SPICE!!!" <and the crowd goes wild!!!>
