Shadow War - WoD Mage-Only (Revised)

[silentsophia]

I kind of hope I can bring back my space van techno. Without a stick up her bum.

[Cobalt]

I have been asked to ask will void engineers be allowed as PC characters?

[silentsophia]

@Cobaltasaurus

[EmmahSue]

@Cobaltasaurus
Q: I have been asked to ask will void engineers be allowed as PC characters?

A: Absolutely. Technos, Trads and the multi-flavor Hermetics will all be available. Nephandi and Maurauders are not, though I'm willing to discuss end-stories that involve becoming a Maurauder NPC with limited player input, when the time comes.

[Arkandel]

What are you thinking regarding alt policies?

And do you have a plan about handling progression in terms of allowing newbies to catch up faster to oldbies in power, XP transfers in case of IC death, etc?

[EmmahSue]

Where do I need to drop more information in the following? I'm expanding on quite a few pieces, but the ones that are specific to the setting are the most nebulous in terms of 'what's in ES' head' versus 'what a player needs to know'.

Who is Control?
Is Control sentient? The Mages on Avalon have made sure that it is not, and run regular checks to make sure it remains that way. They don't want a true AI handling the business of keeping the proverbial trains running. All of them know the horror stories and have no interest in something self-aware deciding what is or is not necessary. Could Control become sentient? It's possible, and certainly there are those who feel it's so close as no nevermind. This is a point of minor contention between factions, and between Mages within those factions. Whether or not Control should be allowed or encouraged to become self-aware is moot, since the Council currently does not agree, and it's one of the few points on which all of them remain firm. It could change, but would require active and broad movement by multiple factions throughout Avalon and San Diego.

What is Control?
A computer system of steadily increasing complexity, designed by a team of tech-minded Mages. The initial creation was the Technos, but the Trads and Hermetics assisted with the re-programming needed when everything went to shit on Earth. It handles all of the day-to-day details of maintaining the Dream for the Sleepers: they are on Earth, in San Diego, and all is well with the world around them. It does not handle larger transgressions against that illusion (this is a task for individual Mages and Cabals to handle) but may, on request and Council approval, assist with small clean-ups in the form of reinforcing a story told.

How does Control work?
In many ways, the answer to this is ‘handwavium behind the OOC curtain’. The additional components that are the Council (3 separate voices) and the current, rotating Integrator (1 Council member plugged into Control at all times) provide a humanizing element to how Control goes about its daily tasks. As stories are told in-game about Control and its occasional mistakes, the limits of that handwavium will be documented and established.

Control does not make active decisions about whether to act, on its own. It takes these orders from the Council and enacts them through the Integrator-as-filter. Its first and foremost mandate is the smooth running of the Dream for the Sleepers. Any other functions are significantly further down the priority list. This fact allows an enterprising and clever Mage to attempt sly, coincidental interference using Control, but does not allow for overt or wide-spread changes.

What’s this about an Integrator?
The Council of 4 rotates 1 member every 3 months (this is an arbitrary timeframe, chosen based on Fate Magick of old determining what would be the best long-term) as Integrator. The Integrator’s job is to plug into Control and remain that way, body stabilized through Life magicks, for the 3 month span. Her mind joins with Control; the Integrator does not command or order or have any true authority when this is happening. Rather, she provides the human morality and sense of scale that would be so easily lost if a computer handled these things on its own. This displays itself in more realistic fake-vacations for those who go outside San Diego’s bounds, for instance, or in the slight variations in which foods are available to a restaurant when it places an order.

[Coin]

Any chance PCs could play ex-Integrators?

[EmmahSue]

Integrators are one of the Council. The Council is chosen according to the faction, plus 1 representative chosen by popular Mage vote to be the Sleeper-rep. So if you wanted to play someone who was on Council once upon a time, we can work out details and bg, I dunnit see why not.

ES

[tragedyjones]

So Control is the God-Machine? Got it.

[EmmahSue]

I will admit the comparison did come to mind while I was typing it up, TJ.

ES

[tragedyjones]

Doublepost: Is it a Trinary computer?

[Misadventure]

~ Maybe.

[Glitch]

@tragedyjones Quantum.

[Thenomain]

@Glitch Of Solace?