NEWS

Jackpoint application article1: Free Spirits

  • 9 Replies
  • 5790 Views

Charybdis

  • *
  • Ace Runner
  • ****
  • Posts: 1506
  • If it's last name is Dragon, first name Great: RUN
« on: <02-10-11/1923:19> »
As per the JackPoint access thread (here) my current SR4 PC is a free spirit. Furthermore on his quest to learn everything, he's heard of JackPoint and wants in  8)

So while he builds his street cred accordingly, he's also typing up blog articles to try and get noticed by the man himself. Here's attempt #1 (along with possible comments from known JP members).

Please Enjoy. Comments welcome  :D

Note: FastJack, if I'm on the right track, I'd love to hear it ;)
'Too much is never enough'

Current PC: Free Spirit (Norse Shamanic)
'Names are irrelevant. Which fake ID do you want me to quote from?'

Phreak Commandment V:
If Thou Be In School, Strive To Get Thine Self Good Grades, For The Authorities Well Know That Scholars Never Break The Law

Charybdis

  • *
  • Ace Runner
  • ****
  • Posts: 1506
  • If it's last name is Dragon, first name Great: RUN
« Reply #1 on: <02-10-11/1923:42> »
    Connecting Jackpoint VPN …
    … Matrix Access ID Spoofed.
    … Encryption Keys Generated.
    … Connected to Onion Routers.
    > Login
    ****************************
    > Enter Passcode
    ****************************
    … Biometric Scan Confi rmed.
    Connected to <ERROR: NODE UNKNOWN>
    “Forget hackers, I have my buddies Smith&Wesson: innovators of the point-and-click interface.”


    ‘OK peeps, scan this. I received the following file in HARDCOPY, actual goddamned paper! Twenty-six neatly typed sheets of A4 spat out from some antique keyboard which used actual ink! Why you ask? Well, the author (who has so far remained nameless) can’t handle tech and isn’t a member of JackPoint. However, they have a vested interest in the shadows and as such, thought it a benevolent act to send the attached. You ask me, though, this file gives me more questions than answers…you be the judge.’
    -   Fastjack


    Free spirits.

    My name is unimportant and unpronounceable anyway. What is important in this conversation is that I am a Free Spirit (or anima, if you prefer the more recent thaumaturgical term).
    • o.0   …  OK, You have my attention
             - Ethernaut
    Don’t bother looking for me. My particular skills are specialised in stealth and deception. Even if you somehow find and assense me you’ll see exactly what I want you to see (except perhaps, if your last name is ‘Dragon’, and your first name is ‘Great’).
    • That’s a big boast. Who the frag is this guy?
             - Haze
    Personally I want the shadows at least to understand some of the differences, and similarities, that we share in our lives. I’m continuously disappointed at erroneous reporting in both mainstream media and magical studies,  that purport to be telling the ‘truth’.

    As a minority and part-time runner, I believe the shadows are the best place for this little manifesto to begin.
         Believe it or don’t.
         Question it at length, I insist.
         But don’t discount my words.
    •    I’m sorry, did he say ‘…part-time runner….’as in Shadowrunner?!
             - Winterhawk
    A good journalist I once met said, ‘Every good story has to ask the questions Why, What, Where, and How?’
    I’m not here to tell a story, but as far as free spirits go, even we don’t know Why. The other three queries however, can have at least some facts attached.

    [/list]
    « Last Edit: <02-15-11/1747:16> by Charybdis »
    'Too much is never enough'

    Current PC: Free Spirit (Norse Shamanic)
    'Names are irrelevant. Which fake ID do you want me to quote from?'

    Phreak Commandment V:
    If Thou Be In School, Strive To Get Thine Self Good Grades, For The Authorities Well Know That Scholars Never Break The Law

    Charybdis

    • *
    • Ace Runner
    • ****
    • Posts: 1506
    • If it's last name is Dragon, first name Great: RUN
    « Reply #2 on: <02-10-11/1924:17> »
    What?
    Free spirits are pure magic.
     We are pure astral energy with all the possibilities, potential and limitations that entails. Now, while this seems like a simple statement to make given the vast multitudes of academic input on the nature of spirits, let me clarify this a bit further.

    A summoned spirit is an astral manifestation called into being by specific circumstances, be they ritual (eg conjuration) or paranatural (eg violent death or prime wilderness manifestation). These spirits require ongoing attention in order to maintain their existence on the astral plane, else they are wrenched back to the demi-plane from which they formed
    A free spirit may have been created or born through these same circumstances, but there has been an additional, as yet inexplicable addition of both sapience and a living connection to the astral plane. This means that the spirit is essentially ageless, gaining permanent sustenance from the astral to maintain its form. Also, with sapience it now understands that there is a larger world at play.
    • Great. Immortal astral entities… and why don’t they rule the world yet?
             - Haze
    • I’m guessing it’s something to do with: ‘… if your last name is ‘Dragon’, with the first name of ‘Great’…’
             - Frosty
    Just as a metahuman child will inherit some features from its parents, a free spirit inherits some features from the circumstances of its ‘birth’.
    • A free spirit who was once an ally to a paranoid and temperamental mage could quite easily retain those tendancies, with magical powers like Fear or Accident commonly manifesting
    • A free nature spirit who was once part of a natural grove may retain a particular love of the wilderness, with powers such as Animal Control or Personal Domain being top of the list
    • Personally, I was born in a storm and particularly enjoy the Lightning Bolt spell

    Anthropomorphic metaphors aside, free spirits are now a natural part of the awakened world, and we are as diverse as metahumans. Some proud, some angry, some mad, some ambitious, some lazy, some fast, some slow, some strong, some weak, some vicious, some kind, some social, some spiteful.

    All are pure magic.

    As to what ‘magic’ is, that’s a definition I’m not yet able to answer. Thaumaturgical debate continues…
    « Last Edit: <02-15-11/1815:41> by Charybdis »
    'Too much is never enough'

    Current PC: Free Spirit (Norse Shamanic)
    'Names are irrelevant. Which fake ID do you want me to quote from?'

    Phreak Commandment V:
    If Thou Be In School, Strive To Get Thine Self Good Grades, For The Authorities Well Know That Scholars Never Break The Law

    Charybdis

    • *
    • Ace Runner
    • ****
    • Posts: 1506
    • If it's last name is Dragon, first name Great: RUN
    « Reply #3 on: <02-10-11/1924:34> »
    Where?
    In a word, everywhere.
    • Lotus Blossom is a corporate director in one (or more) of the Big 10.
    • Several are high-ranking assistants to great dragons.
    • One particular cheery anima I met spent most of its time frolicking with dolphins in the Carribean.
    • Several free spirits abide in the Manitou region, and are well respected (sometimes also feared) by the locals
    • Of amusing interest is a free Spirit of Man who was once ally to a now deceased NAN lawyer. The spirit’s name is ‘Man-with-Summons
    • Another was acting as godparent to a silverback gorilla family in an African location I refuse to disclose.
    • One particularly loathsome creature was working with Aztech during the Yucatan pacification (and receiving great helpings of bloody karma for his troubles).
    • Karma?
             - Slamm-O
    • Keep reading
             - Ethernaut
    Also, free spirits have fantastic travel abilities. As purely astral entities with no physical body to maintain, we can circle the Earth in a number of hours. I’ve stood on the tip of the Eiffel Tower at sunset, watched the sunrise from the Pyramids at Giza, and one day just for fun, I traversed the North-pole/South-Pole/Equatorial  lines just like spinning a globe.
    • OK, I’m jealous…
             - Traveller Jones

    How?
    Magic.

    Free Spirits are not only made of magic, they can grow from it, learn from it, channel it and in some cases, feed from it.

    As a natural state, any free spirit can cast and resist spells just as a practised shaman, with a spell set to complement their heritage.
    Note: Beware any free spirit born in a war zone. The plethora of combat devastation I have witnessed at such hands is simply terrible.

    Now, any decent mage, shaman, psychic, wu’jen, houdoun, gypsy or other various magic-user is familiar with the concept of Karma, but it has many different names: Chi, Life Energy, Mana, the Pulse, the Nexus. It’s all the same, especially to spirits. It’s just manipulated differently by the various traditions of magic.

         o   I beg to differ!
                - Jimmy No


    As fun as it is to be an immortal creature, free spirits do not learn as they age. A free spirit’s body of magic is a static thing and requires a combination of conscious attention and magical power to alter, well, anything. This means that in order to grow (either body, mind or both) we need something more

    As a static creature of magic, it’s like having all the information of everything we see and experience stored in a million little boxes in our body.  We can store this information and even recall facts, some of us with perfect, eidetic clarity. However to actually make sense of the information, to comprehend the meaning, to link the boxes to one another to form skills, learn spells or increase our strength, we need Karma to ‘lock in’ the links. Without karma, even the oldest spirit would be, at best, a wealth of useless trivia.

    Now, every spirit, no matter how kind, greedy, angry or benevolent, will bargain for karma. All free spirits have one or more capabilities to fulfil this bargain known as Spirit Pacts. These pacts can be benevolent, fair or disabling depending on your point of view, so I’ll let you in on some of the ones I know and you can be judge:

    •   Friendship pact
    Not my favourite as it relies too heavily on ‘allies’ which can be a relative term. The spirit weaves some of its mana into some other sapient, biological creatures, which binds its own essence closer to the physical plane. The spirit gains karma on a regular basis with this pact, however there are drastic consequences if an ally dies.

    For the allies, nothing changes, except a free spirit now has a vested interest in keeping you alive…

    •   Dream Pact:
    The spirit forms a lasting link allowing it to take over the host’s body during a sleep phase.  As a trade-off for the Karma, the spirit normally promises to use it’s time to benefit the host in some way, normally via an incentive of wealth.

    For the allies, this requires a lot of trust, as the ally is responsible for anything the spirit does while in the host body. The legal excuse of ‘It wasn’t me, I was possessed!’ only goes so far if you’re a willing host…

    •   Life Pact
    My personal favourite, this links the ally with a measure of astral energy it can use to heal itself. The ally (even a non-Magic user) gains the ability to channel Karma directly into the link to heal some physical damage to their body. The spirit gets the Karma and the ally gets healed. What a great pact!

    However, even this power can be used or abused. Common abuses surround the option of linking an ally, then using spirit powers or other manipulation to regularly keep them in painful or dangerous situations, requiring them to use Karma on the link. Not very sportsmanlike...

    I prefer to give this pact to people already in dangerous professions:  Defence personnel, police, firemen, shadowrunners etc.  It costs nothing for the ally, but may save their life. Everybody wins.

    •   Magic pact:
    A spirit links itself to a magic-user, who can call on spirit energy to fuel spells. This makes higher order spells much easier to cast, but the extra power is addictive.

    The spirit may withdraw the link at anytime, and bargaining for Karma is continuous.

    There are others pacts around, but this should give you an idea. Please note that it’s very rare that a spirit will tell you everything you’re getting into with a spirit pact. What’s the old saying? If it sounds too good to be true….?

         o   So, does this whole file sound too good to be true to anyone besides me? A free spirit giving us the inside scoop out of the goodness of its heart?
                - Snopes

         o   What scares me is that I already know some of this to be true due to my own experience with spirits (including a couple of anima). There are definitely things that the author isn’t saying… but what has been said rings true. I’m both enticed and scared….
                - Ethernaut


    Another thing of interest: some spirits will also bargain for knowledge, especially spells. A spirit doesn’t use formula of any sort, but if you let it thoroughly assense you while casting a particular spell, the spirit can learn from there (especially if you add some Karma into the bargain).

         o   Aha, case in point! I tried this bargaining with a spirit once, but while ‘thoroughly assensing’ me, it saw something it didn’t like and called off the deal, but not before flinging a few choice spells and other  mojo at me. Never found out what the problem was, but damned if I’m trying that again. I know I got off lightly.
                - Ethernaut


    So, bargaining with a spirit is a mixed blessing. Depending on who you’re dealing with, it can be a blessing or a curse. But isn’t that the way with all contacts in the shadows?

         o   Touché.
                - Snopes


    « Last Edit: <02-15-11/1816:05> by Charybdis »
    'Too much is never enough'

    Current PC: Free Spirit (Norse Shamanic)
    'Names are irrelevant. Which fake ID do you want me to quote from?'

    Phreak Commandment V:
    If Thou Be In School, Strive To Get Thine Self Good Grades, For The Authorities Well Know That Scholars Never Break The Law

    Charybdis

    • *
    • Ace Runner
    • ****
    • Posts: 1506
    • If it's last name is Dragon, first name Great: RUN
    « Reply #4 on: <02-10-11/1924:48> »
    Now what?
    Entirely up to you.

    This little manifesto is just a guide as to some of the things that are possible with Free Spirits running around the world.

    Some of us are trying to register and be legitimate citizens (especially with assistance from the Draco Foundation), some wish to remain entirely untethered and anonymous, and some are negotiating the fine line in between the two.

    We are out there, and like all sapient residents in the world, we are capable of anything.

    Hopefully this little guide will give you some insight so that any future meetings between our kinds can be mutually beneficial (did I mention Karma enough?  Karma is good).

    So, can’t we all just, get along?
    « Last Edit: <02-10-11/1956:16> by Charybdis »
    'Too much is never enough'

    Current PC: Free Spirit (Norse Shamanic)
    'Names are irrelevant. Which fake ID do you want me to quote from?'

    Phreak Commandment V:
    If Thou Be In School, Strive To Get Thine Self Good Grades, For The Authorities Well Know That Scholars Never Break The Law

    FastJack

    • *
    • Administrator
    • Prime Runner
    • *****
    • Posts: 6364
    • Kids these days...
    « Reply #5 on: <02-10-11/1939:01> »
    As per the JackPoint access thread (here) my current SR4 PC is a free spirit. Furthermore on his quest to learn everything, he's heard of JackPoint and wants in  8)

    So while he builds his street cred accordingly, he's also typing up blog articles to try and get noticed by the man himself. Here's attempt #1 (along with possible comments from known JP members).

    Please Enjoy. Comments welcome  :D

    Note: FastJack, if I'm on the right track, I'd love to hear it ;)
    Heh... I like the idea, but I'm not the "official" FastJack, just a lucky SoB that grabbed the handle and was tapped to help moderate the boards. Post Away!

    Charybdis

    • *
    • Ace Runner
    • ****
    • Posts: 1506
    • If it's last name is Dragon, first name Great: RUN
    « Reply #6 on: <02-10-11/1946:16> »
    Note: FastJack, if I'm on the right track, I'd love to hear it ;)
    Heh... I like the idea, but I'm not the "official" FastJack, just a lucky SoB that grabbed the handle and was tapped to help moderate the boards. Post Away!
    Ah well, shucks :P
    Still, runner-handles from older boards and fan-fic have found their way into official canon. May as well try for the same effect here ;)
    'Too much is never enough'

    Current PC: Free Spirit (Norse Shamanic)
    'Names are irrelevant. Which fake ID do you want me to quote from?'

    Phreak Commandment V:
    If Thou Be In School, Strive To Get Thine Self Good Grades, For The Authorities Well Know That Scholars Never Break The Law

    Wolfboy

    • *
    • Omae
    • ***
    • Posts: 381
    • life sucks, deal with it
    « Reply #7 on: <02-15-11/1021:46> »
    As per the JackPoint access thread (here) my current SR4 PC is a free spirit. Furthermore on his quest to learn everything, he's heard of JackPoint and wants in  8)

    So while he builds his street cred accordingly, he's also typing up blog articles to try and get noticed by the man himself. Here's attempt #1 (along with possible comments from known JP members).

    Please Enjoy. Comments welcome  :D

    Note: FastJack, if I'm on the right track, I'd love to hear it ;)
    Heh... I like the idea, but I'm not the "official" FastJack, just a lucky SoB that grabbed the handle and was tapped to help moderate the boards. Post Away!

    FJ, that may be the case, but i can speak for DDH. Charybdis, would you like a position on our staff because i wants this, i needs this......

    seriously, theres only 5 of us submitting for DDH issue 2 right now, i need more people
    May god grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, to change the things I can, and the firepower to make the difference.

    Suicide is never the answer, now homicide on the other hand, that has posibilities.

    7.62 Russian, when it absolutely has to be done under budget

    Charybdis

    • *
    • Ace Runner
    • ****
    • Posts: 1506
    • If it's last name is Dragon, first name Great: RUN
    « Reply #8 on: <02-15-11/1806:36> »
    FJ, that may be the case, but i can speak for DDH. Charybdis, would you like a position on our staff because i wants this, i needs this......

    seriously, theres only 5 of us submitting for DDH issue 2 right now, i need more people
    Happy to submit to the Dumpshock Data Haven  8)

    Have been a big Dumpshock fan for long, long time, but only recently got back into SR (through 4th Ed).

    PM me, and we'll sort out a properly formatted attachment (Tried to look at some DDH links, but the Joomla was wiggy  :-\ ... )
    'Too much is never enough'

    Current PC: Free Spirit (Norse Shamanic)
    'Names are irrelevant. Which fake ID do you want me to quote from?'

    Phreak Commandment V:
    If Thou Be In School, Strive To Get Thine Self Good Grades, For The Authorities Well Know That Scholars Never Break The Law

    Charybdis

    • *
    • Ace Runner
    • ****
    • Posts: 1506
    • If it's last name is Dragon, first name Great: RUN
    « Reply #9 on: <02-15-11/1818:02> »
    Oh, and +1 Kudos to Kot for some very helpful feedback  ;D
    'Too much is never enough'

    Current PC: Free Spirit (Norse Shamanic)
    'Names are irrelevant. Which fake ID do you want me to quote from?'

    Phreak Commandment V:
    If Thou Be In School, Strive To Get Thine Self Good Grades, For The Authorities Well Know That Scholars Never Break The Law