[Mage: The Awakening 2nd Ed] Legacy: Imagineers

Out of Character (OOC):

Chronicle: Mage 2: The Dethroned Queen
Venue: Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition
Chronicle Storyteller: Jerad Sayler

Assistant Storytellers: Hannah Nyland & Alex Van Belkum

THRICE-GREAT

The stars dispose, they do not command.  That's our Department

Imagineers
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Name: Imagineer
Nicknames: Dreamsmiths
Path: Thyrsus
Order: Free Council
Arcana: Spirit
The Imagineers are a Legacy that is dedicated to the study of the astral realm of the Tenemos in order to discover lost secrets and ideas. They are known to clash with Atlantean dogma more than once for their liberal thinking.

MindsetEdit
The imagineers see Magic as the power to imagine something that didn't exist before and make it real. The Awakened can do so directly, but Sleepers have to do it the hard way, and some Imagineers wonder who gets the better part of that deal; they admire fine craftsmanship, after all, and there's a great deal to be said for having to work for something rather than having it given to you. Still, the mages of this Legacy believe in using what you are given to its fullest extent, and in the magic of creation and imagination. Although there have always been crafters with a touch of the arcane to them, the Imagineers trace their origins to the development of the science of psychology and the study of the mind.

In particular, they owe many of their ideas to theories about dreaming, imagination, and the universal unconscious. Young willworkers in the 19th century studied these ideas, and placed the mind at the summit of the mystic hierarchy. The Temenos, they claimed, was the source of all things that could be imagined, thus the entire contents of the mind was born there, and all creations of the mind had their roots deep in that realm. If all things of the mind ultimately came from the Temenos, they reasoned, then that realm was a treasure trove of all that could ever possibly be imagined. It was simply a matter of exploring deeply enough to find what the dream consciousness of Creation had to offer, and to bring those nuggets of inspiration back and manifest them in the Fallen World, like divers plumbing the ocean depths for pearls and sunken treasure. The Imagineers swore not only to explore hitherto unknown realms of thought, but to bring them to the people. Imagineer lore speaks of great masters of their Legacy who became so at home in the Temenos and the deepest parts of the Astral Realm they were able to transcend their physical being altogether. Some believe these masters -- great scholars and artists all -- became beings of pure thought and imagination after their physical deaths.


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Origins

Parentage: Mastigos or Free Council

Background: Most Coders are those individuals that always have more questions for why it works, always pushing to find the truth, be they hackers, science students or psychologists. Even musicians find room within this Legacy since they too have a respect for the beauty of code, even though it is musical notes.

Appearance: Generally they tend to be lithe looking and pale with dark rings around the eyes after viewing code for hours on end. They tend to dress for purpose though are not adverse to adopting striking looks as they are all too aware of the first impressions they make in the circles of the hacker elite. In general this approach to attire stems from their method of magic; bold and to the point, a factor that seems to come up in their conversations as they show a disdain for how others seem to ramble.

Doctrine

Prerequisites:  Forces 1, Space 1, Computer 2 Science 2

Initiation: Finding source code signature of a given polymorphic malware.

Organization: [JS1] Reputation-based leadership. Meetings are held online, all are welcome to participate in group discussions, and everyone is encouraged to up-vote or down-vote other comments. Those who have the most up-votes tend to be the leaders.

Magic

Ruling Ar­canum: Forces

Yantras: Casting a spell over a network (+1), verbally describing the effect of the spell using what sounds like techno-babble (+1), Writing a unique program to help execute the spell — 5 successes needed/10 minutes per roll (+2), and using a CGI holographic representation of the spell as it is being cast (+ 1)

Oblations: solving a puzzle, LAN party, Coding through the night, Posting on forums, soldering electronics

Attainments

First: Touch the Virtual

Prerequisites: Initiation

Listen to free-floating data trans­missions, such as those broadcast by radios, cell phones, wireless modems, and more. The magic translates this electromagnetic noise into something she can understand, although it preserves the original transmission language.  The mage needs no receiver to listen or even see signals. Transmitting ca­bles glow before her eyes with streams of data, while she might see a shimmer or even fleeting glimpses of images in the air. Satellite internet and TV programming, closed walkie-talkies, CB broadcasts, and radio transmissions all become open to her senses, as well as wireless communications.

Optional: Space 1

Can see and hear in all directions and from all points within her sensory range simultaneously. She can see what’s happening behind her, on the far side of a door, or beneath her feet. She cannot perceive things farther away than her normal perceptions might allow, nor can she see through darkness. In essence, it’s as though everything happening around her were spread out on a flat plain, bereft of obstruction. This allows her to cast sensory-range spells on subjects she might not ordinarily be able to perceive.

The subject is also nearly impossible to ambush or surprise — bar­ring exceptional camouflage or a tremendous distraction to draw her attention, all such attempts are reduced to a chance die. Finally, the subject may reduce any penalties due to range, cover, or concealment (but not darkness or similar poor visibility) by 1.

Second: Grasp the Virtual

Prerequisites: Forces 2 Computer 3

The mage can hijack existing signals and change the transmitted data or its destination. She can shorten or lengthen the transmission, and even change frequency, such as turning a Wi-Fi broadcast into a television signal. At this level, she must still work with a signal already present. Mimicking specific sounds or information requires a Skill roll or access to the data to be transmitted.[JS2] 

Optional: Matter 2

            The mage can control any computerized device. She can perform any task while controlling the object, including extended actions or maintaining continuous control of the object for up to one scene before needing to reestablish control.[JS3] 

Third: Cradle of the Virtual

Prerequisites: Forces 3 Science 3

            Using the practice of perfecting, the mage is able to strengthen signals within sensory range. [JS4] This allows a simple cell signal to connect to the satellite communication network. Internalizing the previous concepts, means that mage is able to connect anywhere on earth.

Optional: Space 3

            By fully grasping how the data connects us all, she is able to switch her perception to any device connected to a network she can access. This works with the first optional attainment to all unrestricted vision as if she were physically standing in the new location. Any with active mage sight can perceive this scrying sensor. This perception does not enable physical interaction at the new location, but does allow sensory spells to be cast from there. This perception lasts for one scene or can be ended early as an instant action. [JS5] 

Fourth: House the Virtual

Prerequisites: Forces 4 Computer 4

The mage can project the subject’s consciousness into an astral state. This astral state is akin to the Temenos, but is a representation of the internet. The mental projection uses the rules for Dream Forms in Chapter Six (p. 249). It has no ephemeral body, but is instead an incorporeal, intangible mental image. [JS6] While mentally projected, her body lies in a comatose state, and she has no way of knowing its health or state without returning or the use of other magic. If her projection dies, she returns to her body with the Soul Shocked Condition.

Optional: Space 4

            Teleport via the internet without sympathy to any point a data signal can reach.

Fifth: Virtual Life

Prerequisites: Forces 5

            The mage is able to create new data in a computer system. This data propagates into all connected databases with supporting data. The most common use of this is to create an alternate identity at 5 dots. But could be used to acquire resources through employment records or a multitude of other merits. These merits can be reassigned, but no more than 5 dots of benefit at any time.[JS7] 

Optional: Space 5 Science 4

            The mage is able to take up to 5 others with him on a virtual journey. See House the Virtual.

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 [JS1]Have you considered a mentor for The Gamer to teach the legacy to him?  I am thinking a mage from the Cabal Edge would make perfect sense.  Are you familiar?

 [JS2]Most data transmissions are encrypted nowadays, but magic seems to automatically decrypt most basic stuff.  I always felt like mage should explain that, perhaps you’d like to add a little flavor to that effect?  Then with this attainment you also get the power to transmit within the signal profile perfectly.  You are either identified as an authenticated node on the network or aren’t detected at all but have no issue reading data passing through these nodes.

The level of complexity a mage can just ignore with both receiving and transmitting has never been defined anywhere.  I am thinking maybe they would equate to dots in the Arcana in question.  In this case your Forces dots automatically ignore the Security Rating of a Signal.  All food for thought.

 [JS3]Touch or line of sight?

 [JS4]Sensory range gets really funky when you consider radio signals from space and such.  I suppose when we mean sensory range here it would be within line of sight (or hearing in this case too) of a transmitter.  Being near a receiver wouldn’t make a signal louder.

Trouble is, that is another way you usually see powers like this work.  If I can see the receiver you are allowed to see/hear what it is picking up.  I suppose you could pull what data it is picking up as it is carried through the transmitter for digitizing and passing/recording along…

So… if you are on the other side of a brick wall of a house, do you still hear the wifi from inside the house when you can’t see the router?  The siginal is strong enough for your phone or laptop… are you hearing it because your devices can picking them up or because Forces powers dealing with the RMF spectrum are really funky when you start really thinking about range and signal strength?

 [JS5]Essentially allowing you to “own” perfect knowledge of everything the device is doing and all data it is interacting with.  While just allowing perception “inside” a device’s electronic  pathways you effectively “hack” the device.  Frankly I am fine with that, Reaper’s Familiar Widget could possess any hardware with an Essence and STARK could use spells from his server to arc electricity around hardware barriers to exploit systems.  Cyber stuff and magic are broken as hell in very cool and unique ways, and I am completely good with those ways.

 [JS6]Mental projections are technically in Twilight but they are not detectable or interactable with other beings in Twilight, they don’t have ephemera and are not “compatable” with other similar beings in Twilight state.  They are only detectable with Mind magic and other very specific powers.

So, is this creating a Temenic or Onerios projection of the complex workings of “cyberspace” into an analog the mage can better interact with it? Are they the master of this microworld they are creating to interface with technology?

Or is the mage actually going into this luminal space of data?  I have long hinted that such a place exists already, frequented by information spirits, spirits of hardware, geotic entities, smart viruses and other supernatural lifeforms.  I’ve been planning on doing more stuff in cyberspace for years but we’ve just never had the plot before.  Part of that was only Alanna and Zac were interested and not enough to motivate me for a full-blown plot.  The Gamer on the other hand… now my wheels are turning again.

Either option is possible, I like the non-astral latter choice myself.  It could be like the Tenemos but not actually be in astral space at all, it’s a completely different place we’ve barely explored in our chronicle yet.

 [JS7]This is an extremely cool idea.  By creating new data that is somehow sympathetically infectious to all applicable computer systems, its like the opposite of the Space spell that basically forces you out of existence.  Except this is digital existence.  I’d love more of a break down of what other such things would theoretically be possible.