From:	"Ojaste,James [NCR]" <James.Ojaste@**.GC.CA>
Subject:	Re: Teleporation
Date:	Thu, 21 May 1998 15:31:44 -0400

Erik Jameson wrote:
>>I have a feeling that the blood magic in the GGD was a little more pure than
>>the Aztlan blood magic, due to the voluntary nature of the sacrifice.
>
>Define "pure." If I recall my ED, there are those (including Lightbearers
>I'm pretty sure) that strongly believe that Life Magic is just a prettier
>name for Blood Magic.

As I recall, Blood Magic in ED isn't a bad thing. Sure, it can offend
those who are a bit squeamish, but everybody acknowledges that
involuntary sacrifices are a bad thing. Voluntary sacrifices are quite
common - it's the most popular method of artifact creation, the ED
equivalent of cyberware (you can get toys powered by your blood).

As with everything else, people tend to get upset when it's taken to
its extremes, though (can you say "Blood Wood"? :-).

>I think in SR terms we could say that the background count from those two
>actions would be different in "taste" only. The raw power levels would be
>similar, but Blood Magic would taste very, very bad, while Life Magic would
>only taste bad (since the Essence was taken voluntarily).

Well, the BC goes up anywhere a lot of emotions have been concentrated
(the more emotion at a time, the bigger the count). One example was
a church.

>I think in Awakenings there's a debate on this same topic if I recall
>correctly. I guess I'm with the crew that sees Life Magic as a pretty name
>for Blood Magic. But your opinions may vary of course.

I don't think that "blood magic" should have negative connotations -
it's just drawing from life energy. What you do with your blood is
your business. The problem lies when somebody else decides that it's
time for you to make a donation...

James Ojaste