From nv91-asa@nada.kth.se Sat Apr 26 00:39:19 1995 Status: RO X-Status: Received: from shrsys.hslc.org (SHRSYS.HSLC.ORG [192.100.94.3]) by mail.nada.kth.se (8.6.10/8.6.10) with SMTP id AAA18569 for ; Wed, 26 Apr 1995 00:39:15 +0200 From: moolick@shrsys.hslc.org Received: by shrsys.hslc.org (MX V4.1 AXP) id 12; Tue, 25 Apr 1995 18:38:49 EST Date: Tue, 25 Apr 1995 18:38:48 EST To: nv91-asa@nada.kth.se Message-ID: <0098F6C4.44A25F6F.12@shrsys.hslc.org> Subject: Monitors - Surge Monitors - Surge Surge Monitors are Digital Monitors, spirit allies of the technocracy recruited long ago by the Void Engineers. They are of a sub-class known as Digital Monitors, which are largely restricted to the Digital Web. surges are the most violent of the common Digital Monitors. Their ultimate origins can be traced back to naturalistic lightning spirits, but centuries of adaptation have shaped them into electrical techno-spirits They have been shaped to act as Black I.C.E. and Assasins on the Digital Web, but spend most of their time in a resting state online. They only become active when disturbed by the passage of an "unauthorized" or being sent tracking an incon oid Engineer's orders. In their resting state, they disperse into a form that is difficult to detect, called a Surge-Net. The techno-turf of the Digital Web is often girded with several surg-nets. Those using Forces 1 and Spirit 1 while in the net will see the surge-net as a large, decentralized network of spiritually charged electrical current, so low in power it blends into the natural environment of the web otherwise. Those using prime one as well will notice a point of quintessense-heavy charge moving through the net rapidly. A Surge-Net responds whenever it is crossed by an icon that does not, according to it's files, have access to the area it guards. When such an icon enters the net, the net's current pervades the icon. The net collapses as the prime-charged core of the spirit enters the icon in a manner that is superfically similar to the entry of a virus. The Surge Monitor lurks withint the Icon until it sees an oppertunity to attack, preferring to attack when the victim is alone. When a Surge Monitor decides to attack, it has two options. It can "step out" of any icon it inhabits, forming it's own icon to attack with, or can trace back to the cybernaut's body and attack it directly. With the first option, the icon formed and the icon it comes from are initially visually identical. As time passes, the Surge Monitor icon becomes more fractal and shifts to a neon red/green/blue technocratic color pattern. In five minutes it resembles a fairly standard humanoid technocracy icon. Research on having the Surge Monitors retain the image of their victim continues. When the Surge Monitor attacks, it's physical blows are weak, but carry powerful electical charges. The Surge Monitor also has the option of flowing along the power systems back to it's victim's body. There, it can cause equipment overloads. This not only destoys hardware, it can damage the victim's body with intense sound, intense light, or sometimes even kill by electroshock. If a Surge Monitor is itself killed, it's quintessence can be gathered by a fast-acting mage. This takes the form of an electrical tass. This Tass is prozed by Virtual Adepts, because it is resonant with the Digital Web itself and can be used to enhance almost any magick in the web more efficently than normal Tass. This Tass is rarely worth the trouble of collecting it though. Attributes: Str: 2, Dex: 4, Sta: 4, Cha: 2, Man: 2, App: 0/By icon, Per: 2, Int: 2, Wits: 4. Abilities: Brawl 3, Computer 3, Computer Hacking 3, Stealth 5. Spheres: Correspondence: 2, Forces 3, Mind 3, Prime 2, Spirit 3, Time 2. Willpower: 7 Rage: 7 Arete: 4 Quintessence: 5 Paradox: 0 Health Levels: As Human Attacks: Electrical Touch: The touch of a Surge Monitor can cause four dice of electrical damage, over and above any physical attack. A surge who does not attack can use this on any being striking it's body. Magick: - Monitor Web ( * Forces, * Mind, * Prime ): This effect is used to monitor the Icons that pass through the spirit in Surge-Net form. It indexes them against an internal list of icons allowed access. Because of the Prime components, re-shaping an icon to look like an authorized one is ineffective. - Surge Net ( ** Forces, ** Prime, *** Spirit ): This is the effect Surge Monitors use to switch between their iconic and surge-net forms. - Infiltrate Icon ( ** Forces, *** Mind ): With this, a Surge can enter an icon. It gains no control over the icon, but receives the same sensory information the icon does, and remains within it until it decides to exit. - Trace Icon ( ** Correspondence, * Prime, ** Time ): This allows the Surge Monitor to track any icon that has passed it, determine the previous movements of any icon it enters, and track down any icon it is given a conplete enough file about. - Equipment Surge ( *** Forces, *** Prime, *** Spirit ): As electricity, a Surge Monitor can enter most electrical devices, it can then cause it's own spiritually charged current to overload almost any such device. This causes short circuts and burnouts, and erases the RAM of most computers. Several successes can even physically destroy a computer's ROM. The most feared ability of the Surge Monitor is when it uses this on active VR equipment. It can emmit radiation powerful enough to damage a cybernaughts hearing and vision permanently. If the equipment is the most recent type the Virtual Adepts use, the kind that uses electtrodes to simulate tactile senses, the Surge Monitor can make a full-strength Forces 3 electrical attack on the mage's body. The terrible part of these attacks is that unless the Cybernaut is using a Correspondence 3, co-locate perceptions to watch over his body, the damge goes unnoticed until he exits the Digital Web. Note - conventional surge protector devices will not protect from one of these spirits. However, the main reason for the Virtual Adpets introducing the various power boards to computers was to make Warding Talismans against Surge Monitors a coincidental device. Still, many people on the web have never hear of the Surges. Mike M.