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Dunkelzahn's Will

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BetaCAV

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« Reply #225 on: <12-25-14/2043:17> »
I don't see where anyone definitively solved the question of "where rock meets sky", but I did stumble over this recently;

http://www.sportinggoodsoutdoor.com/p/detail/1580710506/Arches-National-Park-Where-Rock-Meets-Sky-A-10x13-Book.html

Shaidar

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« Reply #226 on: <12-26-14/0144:50> »
I thought Sam Verner released an actual Spider totot/spirit; he was trying to turn his formerly human-turned-ork-turned-wendigo back into a human, and he stole the anchor / power focus stone on the spider spirits prison to do so. Berber pretty much went up against half the possible big bad magic things out there.

And later Dog leads Twist on a Metaplanar Quest to learn the power to utilize the Ghost Dance (Sacrifice Metamagic) and a clue as to who can teach him the Ghost Dance.

psycho835

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« Reply #227 on: <12-26-14/1129:17> »
I don't think you can kill a totem spirit directly.  In fact, in Street Grimoire it's pretty specific that you cannot target a totem spirit, and often times those that don't follow a totem spirit can't even sense the spirit at all.  Which makes me wonder: how would you kill a totem spirit?  Or perhaps more precisely, what is a totem spirit?  It doesn't follow the normal rules for a spirit at all (can't be bound, can't be summoned, can't be attacked, can't be sensed, etc.) and yet it's almost universally referred to as a spirit.  People make pacts with their totem spirits, they can summon ally spirits that are aligned with a totem, and some other things that seem...  spirit-ish.

My take on it is that the totem "spirit" is a creation of astral energy that reflects ideals and concepts.  This would make them spirits in some regard, but I would argue that they can't exist without people who believe in them.  For instance, Coyote.  The coyote animal is not actually a trickster or anything special.  So the Coyote totem does not reflect the coyote animal at all - instead it reflects the ideal of trickery.  It only appears as Coyote to those that believe in Coyote.  It could just as easily appear as Clown, Raven, or just Trickery as a pure ideal.  These manifestations can take thousands of guises, but never actually enter our world.  Thus the spirit isn't a true spirit, but rather a concept given astral form and power.

Thus, I believe that a totem spirit is not a spirit at all, but it can be subject to some of the rules of a spirit.  If one wanted to "kill" a totem, they'd have to kill the ideal that the totem represents.  Some of these ideals or concepts are rather convoluted though.  Dragonslayer for instance is a hero - how does one kill the concept of heroism in the world?  It's ingrained into the very fiber of our being.
I wholeheartedly agree. The totems are concepts with animals, people, objects etc. appropriate to particular culture as their... "embodiment".

Herr Brackhaus

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« Reply #228 on: <12-26-14/1212:05> »
And if it is Canon which choices were we supposed to have made regarding the key plot points
Spoiler warnings, obviously.

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It's a fair bet that the ending where the team joins with Vauclair in his quest to kill the dragons is not canon; in this version of events, Dunkelzahn is killed before becoming president, which means he can't kill himself to prevent the Horrors from crossing over a year later. Not to mention all the other dead dragons this choice leads to.

Almost all of the the other endings are ambiguous enough to all have been possible canon endings, in my opinion.

Feuerschwinge could have lived or died and we wouldn't really know in 2075. If she lives, she essentially just goes off to sleep until the next age. If she dies, well, then she has no further impact on the world.

Panacea itself likely ended with the death of Vauclair, which is almost guaranteed (either he kills himself or Audran does). I don't think I've played through the game where Vauclair doesn't end up dead, at least.

APEX is another story; I'd say that from the purposes of canon it most likely was taken out. Otherwise, hundreds of deckers would have just up and died, as it had already begun it's rampage by the end of Dragonfall (Clockwork for sure, possibly Tolstoi as well; probably a whole hell of a lot more, including the team protagonist if they freed APEX but didn't give him control of the Panacea project).

All in all, a very few key events are (almost) impossible to include in the main storyline; the rest are pretty much all possibilities. Personally, I think this is a good thing.

DeathStrobe

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« Reply #229 on: <12-26-14/1317:19> »
It is unlikely that the Clockwork of SRR is the Hobgoblin Rigger Technomancer-hater Clockwork that we all know and hate. Dragonfall takes place in 2054. Hobgoblin Clockwork is an ork metavarient, so assumably will live as long as your average ork of 40 years. We can assume that Clockwork of SRR is a seasoned runner, so probably in his 20's. We know Clockwork is still alive in 2076, 22 years after the events of SRR Dragonfall. So that'd make Clockwork in his 40's, and getting close to his death bed.

I believe Hobgoblin Clockwork's first appearance was in 2064, in Loose Alliances. So its possible that Hobgoblin Clockwork took over the Clockwork persona at this time.

But, there are ways to explain this other than having two Clockworks. Clockwork could have goblinized into a Hobgoblin which would leave him with his normal human lifespan. Its possible that Clockwork didn't die to APEX, but went deeper into the shadows, while APEX pretended to be him. This could also help explain his hatred of Technomancers, if he links AI's with Otaku and later to Technomancers. Since TM's/Otakus are clearly servants to AI's which almost killed him, he'd naturally be untrusting of them.

psycho835

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« Reply #230 on: <12-26-14/1341:07> »
It is unlikely that the Clockwork of SRR is the Hobgoblin Rigger Technomancer-hater Clockwork that we all know and hate. Dragonfall takes place in 2054. Hobgoblin Clockwork is an ork metavarient, so assumably will live as long as your average ork of 40 years. We can assume that Clockwork of SRR is a seasoned runner, so probably in his 20's. We know Clockwork is still alive in 2076, 22 years after the events of SRR Dragonfall. So that'd make Clockwork in his 40's, and getting close to his death bed.

I believe Hobgoblin Clockwork's first appearance was in 2064, in Loose Alliances. So its possible that Hobgoblin Clockwork took over the Clockwork persona at this time.

But, there are ways to explain this other than having two Clockworks. Clockwork could have goblinized into a Hobgoblin which would leave him with his normal human lifespan. Its possible that Clockwork didn't die to APEX, but went deeper into the shadows, while APEX pretended to be him. This could also help explain his hatred of Technomancers, if he links AI's with Otaku and later to Technomancers. Since TM's/Otakus are clearly servants to AI's which almost killed him, he'd naturally be untrusting of them.

While this neatly explains CW's prejudices, I think it's more likely that there were simply two people with the same handle - it's not like "Clockwork" is all that unique and the world is big. For all we know there could be dozens of Clockworks, and all of them never heard of each other or THE Clockwork.
« Last Edit: <01-03-15/0648:31> by psycho835 »

farfromnice

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« Reply #231 on: <12-26-14/1435:25> »
does someone knows why the Big D ask for an inoculation to a series of children in (what's the year) ?

psycho835

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« Reply #232 on: <12-26-14/1530:55> »
I think it was explained in "The Forever Drug", something to do with a longevity serum?

Reaver

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« Reply #233 on: <12-26-14/1802:06> »
Can't remember. But it was covered in one of the novels. Basically a shadowrun destroyed the formula and serum before it could be delivered.

So what this serum was to actually do... no one knows for sure.
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Sendaz

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« Reply #234 on: <12-26-14/2058:12> »
For all we know there could be dozens of Clockworks, and all of them ever heard of each other or THE Clockwork.
So it's the Dread Pirate Clockwork then? :P
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psycho835

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« Reply #235 on: <12-26-14/2303:58> »
For all we know there could be dozens of Clockworks, and all of them ever heard of each other or THE Clockwork.
So it's the Dread Pirate Clockwork then? :P

Can you imagine Kane's reaction to THAT?

Sendaz

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« Reply #236 on: <12-26-14/2323:24> »
Kane: Inconceivable!!

What is strange is considering how mistrustful he is of AI/TMs, he still keeps around that feral, proto-sapient AI.

Maybe because it is basically animal level intelligence he can feel comfortable with it, but one wonders how does he actually know it isn't smarter than it lets on?












small spoiler below














And he is a bit more attached to it then he probably would ever willingly admit to anyone, as at one point in Dark Resonance it is revealed another AI is holding it by the short codes and using it as leverage over CW to ensure his cooperation. Whether out of affection or just because he considers it his 'property' would be a discussion for another day.
« Last Edit: <12-26-14/2337:49> by Sendaz »
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Reaver

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« Reply #237 on: <12-27-14/0000:25> »
Well,

He has murdered and blown entire months of legwork over that 'pet' AI...

Where am I going? And why am I in a hand basket ???

Remember: You can't fix Stupid. But you can beat on it with a 2x4 until it smartens up! Or dies.