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Revolutionary (?) Magic Theory

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Longshot23

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« on: <02-06-12/0900:26> »
I don't know if this has been suggested before, either by player/GM or as 'fluff' . . .

What do you think of the theory that Earth (etc) is [just another] metaplane?  What effect do you think such a theory would have on the SR world/setting?

Mason

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« Reply #1 on: <02-06-12/2355:24> »
That is essentially how I view the planes, honestly. Look at the "Deep" metaplanes. Critters from those planes all suffer from Evanescence. Why? Because of the metaphysical "distance" from this plane. Well, what would happen if we went there-our bodies, through a rift, not astrally?

Other planes supposedly have working technology, and you can even set up wireless networks. why?

Because each plane is it's own world, and it's own astral plane, and is a big part of the nature of the multiverse or whatever you want to call it.

CanRay

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« Reply #2 on: <02-06-12/2357:13> »
Also, the Norse Tradition already has this in effect.  ;D
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WellSpokenRunner

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« Reply #3 on: <02-07-12/2007:21> »
So we could have an Earth/Metaplane where the civilizations from Earthdawn may have gone and continued to evolve....

CanRay

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« Reply #4 on: <02-08-12/0233:56> »
So we could have an Earth/Metaplane where the civilizations from Earthdawn may have gone and continued to evolve....
Yep.  Or Ancient Rome never fell.  Or the cycle of magic doesn't work.  Or a world where... 

...

I'll be good.   :-[
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Mirikon

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« Reply #5 on: <02-08-12/0540:35> »
So we could have an Earth/Metaplane where the civilizations from Earthdawn may have gone and continued to evolve....
Yep.  Or Ancient Rome never fell.  Or the cycle of magic doesn't work.  Or a world where... 
... CanRay actually gets to play in a game.

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Red

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« Reply #6 on: <02-12-12/0215:59> »
I don't think I saw this above, but spirits from the Deep Metaplanes (Insects, Shedim, etc) suffer evanescence unless they can find a host. To support your theory of the Earth being a plane of it's own, those who project to the Hive and other such places begin to suffer evanescence the same way. And there are the persistent rumors that some Firewatch mages become bugs, themselves, to continue to stay and fight. Perhaps they are investing the bugs with humans?

In a sense, the term for "Material Plane" suggests that this is, itself, a plane. There is certainly no reason to believe other creatures from other planes are not working on their own techniques and technology to bridge the gap. The evolving bug spirits in Chicago, and the literal "bridges" Harlequin and other major players have spent the early years of SR destroying, only serve to back this theory.
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All4BigGuns

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« Reply #7 on: <02-12-12/1422:46> »
So, I wonder how high the mana levels will have to get to see portal construction and stuff. Curious on this because I'm sure teleportation would come at lower mana levels than portals to metaplanes.
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Parker

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« Reply #8 on: <02-12-12/1606:58> »
  I could easily see this being incorporated into future SR material.  After all, remember what the great sage, Arthur C. Clarke, said; 'To a primitive enough culture...any advanced enough technology would appear to be magic'  Besides, I'm a fan of Richard K. Morgan and Alan Dean Foster...so I can see 'star-gate' like portals or devices using mana energy to be possible. :D  Heck, remember; you could easily incorporate magical technology from the 4th World or even from another plane of existence entirely.  Remember, the dragons came from somewhere...after all. ;)
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Red

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« Reply #9 on: <02-12-12/1825:44> »
I can't recall where, but I do remember that some new tech is derived from archaeological finds...

I think the Astral Rifts or Gateways should be considered easier, as they rarely take a physical form to the Astral, only the astral form. Point-to-point portal magic is more complicated, as it must guarantee travel through at least the astral. I'm imagining it going through much worse places (Event Horizon and Doom3 both cover this possibility...).

From a purely game-play perspective, teleportals open a severely dangerous precedent. Insertion into locations would become, at best, much harder, and T-bird jammers would be out of a job. I imagine the only mitigating factor would be expense and availability of tech. Even then, the only two HUGE rules for magic in SR is that it cannot bend/break the space/time continuum, and that it cannot bring the dead back to life (just two more of the mistakes the poorly-linked 360 game made..). I know the 4th Age had resurrection magic, but only at the very HEIGHT of their mana cycle, which is a good 2000 years away, and it was almost impossible even THEN. And by that time, the magic was so rich there were much, MUCH scarier things taking place. I think portal tech would be about the same. If we DO see portals, they'll be more technological than magical, by my guess.
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All4BigGuns

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« Reply #10 on: <02-12-12/2017:57> »
I can't recall where, but I do remember that some new tech is derived from archaeological finds...

I think the Astral Rifts or Gateways should be considered easier, as they rarely take a physical form to the Astral, only the astral form. Point-to-point portal magic is more complicated, as it must guarantee travel through at least the astral. I'm imagining it going through much worse places (Event Horizon and Doom3 both cover this possibility...).

From a purely game-play perspective, teleportals open a severely dangerous precedent. Insertion into locations would become, at best, much harder, and T-bird jammers would be out of a job. I imagine the only mitigating factor would be expense and availability of tech. Even then, the only two HUGE rules for magic in SR is that it cannot bend/break the space/time continuum, and that it cannot bring the dead back to life (just two more of the mistakes the poorly-linked 360 game made..). I know the 4th Age had resurrection magic, but only at the very HEIGHT of their mana cycle, which is a good 2000 years away, and it was almost impossible even THEN. And by that time, the magic was so rich there were much, MUCH scarier things taking place. I think portal tech would be about the same. If we DO see portals, they'll be more technological than magical, by my guess.

I wasn't talking about portals from point to point in the "meat" world. I was more talking portals kind of like the rift that opened where Dunk died, but that could take someone's physical form to a metaplane (since someone brought up the theory about some metaplanes possibly being like Earth with technology and stuff that is native to that metaplane.

  I could easily see this being incorporated into future SR material.  After all, remember what the great sage, Arthur C. Clarke, said; 'To a primitive enough culture...any advanced enough technology would appear to be magic'  Besides, I'm a fan of Richard K. Morgan and Alan Dean Foster...so I can see 'star-gate' like portals or devices using mana energy to be possible. :D  Heck, remember; you could easily incorporate magical technology from the 4th World or even from another plane of existence entirely.  Remember, the dragons came from somewhere...after all. ;)

With the use of magical artifacts from the 4th world, I'm not certain if the mana is high enough yet for a lot of that stuff to function or not. The other plane of existence tech, well that is kind of a reason for building a portal to take your physical form to a metaplane--to bring back goodies, especially if they're more technologically advanced there.
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