Name: William Devoux, aka #3229571
Player: Kevin Schultz
E-mail Address: kmschultz@juno.com
Chronicle: Santa Cruz/Mage
Essence: Pattern
Nature: Bon Vivant (intellectual pleasure)
Demeanor: Judge
Tradition: Rogue (ex-Iteration X)
Concept: Renunciate Iteration X
Mentor: None
Cabal: None

ATTRIBUTES:
Physical: Strength-2, Dexterity-1, Stamina-3
Social: Charisma-2, Manipulation-4, Appearance-2
Mental: Perception-5, Intelligence-4, Wits-1

ABILITIES:
Talents: Alertness-3, Awareness-3, Expression-3
Skills: Research-3, Technology-2
Knowledge: Computers-1, Enigmas-3, Lore (Tradition)-1, Lore (Technocracy)-1, Lore (Vampire)-1, Lore (Garou)-1, Lore (Wraith)-1, Lore (Faire)-1, Lore (Immortal)-1, Occult-2

SPHERES:
Correspondence-2, Entropy-1, Mind-1, Time-2

Background: Arcane-5, Avatar-3, Node-1, Sanctum-1, Talisman-3
Merits & Flaws: Compulsion: Plan ahead (-1), Dark Secret (-1), Inept: Firearms (-1), Intolerance: Vampires (-1), Shyness (-1), Strangeness (-1), Under Age (-1)

Arete-3
Willpower-10
Quintessence-0
Paradox-0

Humanity-?
Banality-7

Note on flaws:
Under Age is a reduced disadvantage of Child. It means he is effectively under 18, and as such is subject to various annoyances that it entails. While not as annoying as being, say, under 12, it does limit his actions somewhat. (actually he isn't under 18, but the persona he lives as is.)
Inept: Firearms is a reversal of the various aptitudes. All rolls using firearms are increased by one. This does not include working or building them, but only firing them.

Magical Style and Foci
Time, Correspondence and Entropy: While he does know advanced temporal resonancing Techniques and geographical scanning Procedures, he prefers to work in a more subtle manner. For the most part, he uses research and probability models. If he needs information quickly, it manifests itself as HUD displays and dedicated computer printouts.
Mind: uses an implanted biochip to control his own thought processes. This is also the primary foci through which he uses his perception magicks (there is another section dealing with the biochip at the end of this article).
Other foci include a set of advanced contact lenses (with LCDs and an organic polymer for extra bonding) and a small hearing aid (with nano-tentacles to access his cerebral cortex and a data jack for external interface). He also can use normal computers and telephone systems, but these take extra time and effort.

"The report doesn't identify the subject."
They were sitting in a control booth. Byond them, a waist-high cylinder strecthed the length of the room.. One of the scientists was sitting in a collapsible chair, reading information from a terminal. The other was leaning on the tube, peering at the conveyor of decomposing bodies inside.
"For all intelligence was aware of, he was simply a grog who was apprehended in the altercation. Not important enough to justify a dossier."
"With a trinary chip in its brain."
"Yes."
The elder of the two was still staring at the bodies. The younger one took a sip of his coffee, brushed his hair out of his face, and started reading again.
"With massive amounts of bio-energy reserves."
"Yes."
"With trace amounts of DNA variance."
"Correct."
They had been at this for some time: one reading reports, the other staring at various corpses as they went by. Post-mortem target identification was necessary, but somewhat unrewarding unless one enjoyed mindlessly boring repetition. Even members from Iteration X avoided it. But interesting tidbits sometimes arose.
"And none of this showed up on the scanners until the victim died."
"Correct again."
"And they're sure he wasn't a mage."
"Once more, you are correct."
"Yah, right."
Finally, the elder turned and faced his protégé. "Sound odd?"
"Damn straight it does. Sounds like the Boys in Black screwed up the intelligence reports, and they want us to do their grunt work."
"Yes, there is that possibility as well. But I was referring to the chip specifications."
"Oh. Well," he muttered into his coffee, "If it's trinary, the original manufacturer was obviously a Son. No one else makes those kind of chips, do they?"
"Actually, the original design was VA. But you are correct. The Etheric versions have a distinct resonance, as this one does. However..."
"Never trust the reports if you can do it yourself."
"Quite. I imagine whoever wrote that performed a functional examination rather than detailing the chip itself. Observe." With that, he concentrated for a moment. Surgical waldoes extended inside the cylinder, inserting themselves through the victim's nose. After a while, they retreated, bearing a greyish piece of metal in their claws.
"You're right. That's not any trinary chip I've seen. It's the wrong color."
"Biorganic. I imagine they cloned it out of their own gray matter. What say take a closer look, eh?" He concentrated again. This time, a hologram of the chip appeared, along with a listing of computer code.
"Activate the model, if you will, please."
The younger typed in several key strokes, linking the biochip into a sophisticated simulation program. Instantly, an image of a standard human male appeared next to the biochip hologram. They often did this to examine unknown equipment; as reputable scientists, self-tests were strictly prohibited.
"Try accessing the memory buffer. There should be enough residue to trigger the last-used pattern."
The younger complied, and they both watched as the simulation altered in shape and size. Where it was originally a blank human image was now a virtual copy of the corpse lying near them: a small, oriental man with wiry build and large hands.
The younger scanned the code and accompanying diagram. "It has to be the Adepts. I mean, it reprograms the body, for Christ's sake!"
"That is their particular paradigm, yes."
"But there's nothing in here about cloaking or system transparency. How'd they hide a computer in this guy's head without us knowing about it?"
The elder pointed to a particular section of the schematic. "What does this circuitry tell us?"
"It's one of the tertiary data buses. It's usually a reallocatable resource, depending on how much information flows through the primary and secondary."
"Forgive me. I was referring to the flow of data itself."
"Oh. Oh, my." In the screen, he saw the pattern emerging. It reminded him of a three-dimensional picture he had once seen in the local mall. Only this time, the picture was something more ominous than a shark or the Statue of Liberty.
"Similar patterns appear in the input/output buffers, secondary CPU, and memory modules. Since I am not familiar with Endochin, I may be missing some of the more subtle metaphysics of the piece."
"You mean it's Hermtic? I didn't think they went for this kind of stuff!"
"I am tentatively guessing this piece was an amalgamation, if you'll pardon the pun. What does the report say as to the purpose of the Chantry?"
"Well, there were several groups-."
"They are called cabals, I believe."
"Right, cabals. Anyway, I think the one the target came from was a... oh, here it is. Oh, it was a college chantry. Final project?"
"More like sabbatical work. No apprentice made this. Regardless, what are the purposes of the symbols we know?"
"Well, pentagrams are used in summoning. Spiritual protection?"
"General magickal protection, rather. Extra-dimensional entities being a subset thereof. The surrounding glyphs suggest the protection was to fend off overt information gathering. Ingenious, really."
"Increasing the power by narrowing the focus?"
"Exactly."
"But how does the chip get into the body? Oh, right. Probably just programs itself right in."
"Quite. If you know what to look for, you can find the DNA sequence that provides a slight pocket in the hippocampus.
"Well, that would explain why the target didn't show up any different on the psychic- or bio-scans. How did the HIT-Marks know he was different than the others?"
"I believe he was caught in a general dragnet."
"Tough luck for him."
"Quite."
With that, they shut the system down, and the conveyer belt moved on. While body #3948 was intriguing, they had nineteen more to identify.

Talisman/3: Hide the True Form (Life 3/Spirit 3/Prime 2): Life 3 works as per Better Body: it alters the user's appearance and/or physical attributes. Spirit 3 alters the mage's aura to match up with the Life pattern provided. This is usually that of an unAwakened individual, but that is not necessary. The justification for this is that Spirit works like Life on spiritual beings. Life 3 can change the physical appearance of a mage, so Spirit 3 should be able to alter a mage's spiritual appearance. The final effect dampens out any extraneous magickal "radiation" coming off the caster that seems inappropriate, as determined by the Life and Spirit patterns defined above (Prime 2 variant of Alter Flow).
Game mechanics: In addition to the Better Body enhancements, each success subtracts one success from any attempt to perceive anything directly magickal about the subject: this includes quintessence or paradox pools, auras, if the individual just cast a rote, or the talisman itself. Other indirect aspects of magick can be observed as normal, of course; anyone screaming Latin or having lightning bolts fly from their hands will be stared at as per the usual. It also has the same duration and pattern leakage problems as Better Body.
William has only used this effect once, in order to make it permanent (5+ successes on an extended action.). He now acts as a thaumavore, as outlined under Better Body. He will be proactive in that respect, and let the rote feed off his internal quintessence supply, thus delaying the time in which he HAS to feed on magickal energies in order to survive. He has done this because he doesn't know how to recharge the darn thing.
As a trinary chip, the talisman itself can be used as a foci for low-level perception magicks. Since it is linked directly to his brain, it can offer its processing power for mathematical modeling and data interpretation. (i.e., Entropy 1, Time 1 and 2, Correspondence 1 and Mind 1 perception effects.) It can also be used to assist in the reorganization of the secondary data array (Mind 1 Empower Self variations). However, the user needs to have access to a telephone or other means of communication in order to properly access long-range Procedures (Correspondence 2).

Appearance:

(to be added).

Prelude:

(to be added)

Return to Mage Page

Return to World of Darkness Page

Return to Main Page