[Ennui]

Since DS is down I'll ask here.  When you say free resources including SINs lifestyles and possibly even a yacht.  Does that include other vehicles or any equipment?  I was thinking of living on a yacht with a vehicle on board that I can get around ports easily,  Do I need to pay for these out of the karma or would they be considered free?  What about decks and RCC's we need to pay for those out of karma?

[Aria]

I would like to be an archaeologist, but there does not seem to be a skill for that.  Perhaps a Day Job quality and some knowledge skills?

How about artisan for the actual pain staking work on a dig backed up by an impressive knowledge skill???

[Aria]

Since DS is down I'll ask here.  When you say free resources including SINs lifestyles and possibly even a yacht.  Does that include other vehicles or any equipment?  I was thinking of living on a yacht with a vehicle on board that I can get around ports easily,  Do I need to pay for these out of the karma or would they be considered free?  What about decks and RCC's we need to pay for those out of karma?

If it could conceivably be used in combat then pay for it with karma!  That said I can probably be persuaded that a simple launch would be ok!

Saw your DS post, can't remember all the details but the first thing that struck me was that no gnome is going to be able to hide in the 5th world...fully grown and the size of my four year old?  I don't think so!  Dwarf on the other hand would be fine, although expect to have a rough time in the Middle Ages!

[Ennui]

Oh, I was thinking more along the lines that she would have UGEd when magic returned, but okay I can play around with another race.  The gnome thing just seemed an interesting possibility.

[Mercy Merchant]

Thanks, Aria.  I was thinking Artisan aided by a lot of knowledge as well.  perhaps some extra knowledge in related studies.  Is there something I could use for appraising things?

[Mercy Merchant]

I am not sure how far to take Robyn and her mark.  I think I am about at waking up the next morning and the rest of the team is still on the previous night.  I think I am going to wait and see what happens with the rest of the team.

[Aria]

Oh, I was thinking more along the lines that she would have UGEd when magic returned, but okay I can play around with another race.  The gnome thing just seemed an interesting possibility.

As far as I know UGE only affects orcs and trolls, other meta types are born...and as an immortal you've been you for a very very very long time!

[Aria]

Thanks, Aria.  I was thinking Artisan aided by a lot of knowledge as well.  perhaps some extra knowledge in related studies.  Is there something I could use for appraising things?

Sounds like a knowledge skill to me!

[Beta]

Sounds like a knowledge skill to me!

I'd say that this is exactly the sort of thing that "professional" knowledge skills are there for :-).

I find it interesting how different  a feel you get from, say, Archaeology when it is professional,  academic, or interest  (or street, but I don't  think that variant makes sense for archaeology?)

[Ennui]

Maybe if you  grew up on the mean streets of Egypt or Istanbul etc.

[adamu]

@SFW - who decides how much we pay Wernstrom?

And do we then split the cost among ourselves?

[Mercy Merchant]

Either you or Jack decide, but I think we should all pay.  We will need to get together in the morning and decide if we want to use the HR guy to get us in or if we want to look at another way. 

[Jack_Spade]

I left the bribe/fee vague on purpose since it's
a) technically it's still Aria's decision
b) technically a business expense that's folded into our payment, which we also never clearly define.
fact is, our team has the money to pay it without being inconvenienced very much. No need to dwell on the details to much 

As for the HR guy: I'd say yes, get him to bring us down. We still need to secure our way back to the surface, but maybe HR guy can help with that too.

[Aria]

Don't worry about the bribe cost! Unless you want to offer a significant sum I guess...

Quick note: new version of my excel cha generator is up, link in my sig!

[Aria]

re: the proposed Song of Patterns game, a background question since I'm not familiar with earthdawn and wasn't a SR player during that time that the links were being made.  The intro contained this passage:

All of you were alive during the peak of the last mana surge. You need to decide how you survived the horrors:
-   In a kaer (underground massive cave systems warded by magic)
-   In the elven wooden kaers, which became the blood woods. This means you lived around 500 years in agony
-   In a secret dragon lair as a dragon servitor (need relationship 4+ with that dragon)
-   Some other way that you think is credible

Just before magic left the world, you all took part in a ritual of hiding. You vaguely remember something went wrong with the ritual, but it was so long ago, you cannot quite remember what. Elves and drakes morph into human appearance (duration: until magic returns).

There's a document 'written' by Ehran the Scribe talking about the cycles of magic, good starting point to understanding the 'ages' of magic http://shadowrun.wikia.com/wiki/Humans_and_the_Cycle_of_Magic
& check out the Ancient Files for all sorts of goodies:  http://danvolodar.ru/ancientfiles/index.html

- were all the elves and drakes back them potentially immortal, but most died?  Or would these characters have been unusual even 'back then'?  And was that specialness something that was known widely (this caste of elves was immortal, but that one wasn't), or more random?

Immortals are rare, and always have been!  Elves are long lived, but only descendants of those that the Great Dragons tinkered with (in the Second Age!) are immortals.  Those elves rebelled against their draconic masters and there is a general taboo amongst the dragons about creating any more.  Drakes equally are not immortal by definition and only very special servants of the dragons got the longevity perks

- Are there meanings or associations presumed from having been in a stone or wood cair?  Were these more like isolated habitats (where people lived and interacted), or more like suspended animation?  And what is the story with wooden cairs becoming blood woods?

Stone kaers were vast underground caverns warded by magic to hide from the horrors, entire cities lived in them for generations (and some were breached by the horrors and everyone died horribly!).  Wooden kaers were the elven alternative but they failed so Queen Alachia ordered a ritual that caused thorns to grow out of the skin keeping the 'blood' elves in constant pain and thus not appealing to the horrors

- What was the standing of dragons back then?  As in, were they generally regarded as foes of the elves, or just particularly powerful beings that were part of the wider structure of society? (i.e. was an elf serving a dragon betrayal of elf kind, was a drake staying in a cair a betrayal of dragons?  Or was that all business as usual?)

Pretty much the same as in SR I think...not precisely foes, but hardly allies...

- how many people/beings were in these cairs, and are they still largely (or at least potentially) around, or were most more mortal, or was there disastrous kill-off of them at the end?
- magic left the wold after the time in the cairs/blood-woods, or before?
 

The entire world population (that survived the horrors) were in the kaers or the Blood wood or somewhere equivalently hidden from the predations of the horrors.  Immortals are so rare they are statistically insignificant (don't tell them that!)...as noted in the opening post there are only a few hundred in the world.  Magic dwindled and the people came out of the kaers just prior to the dawn of the fifth age...

Hope that helps, feel free to ask more questions any time!