Technomancers
Dec 20, 2010 21:26:13 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2010 21:26:13 GMT -5
Technomancers: To the very great majority of the world, technomancers are a myth. These people, able to manipulate the raw data of the net and control the robotic drones so common in the cities without any sort of interface, are viewed as a modern-day boogeyman/Bigfoot by human and avatar alike. Rumors of encounters with these untrackable 'magi if the machine' are whispered in almost every quiet place in the net, often blending their abilities with those of independent avatars.
They have no idea what they're talking about.
Technomancers are people who, by fluke of genetics or by being plugged into the net via VR at the wrong time, have developed a biological terminal inside their body. They live in an almost-constant state of augmented reality, their minds full of the hum of data and their sight filled with the news bulletins, AR advertisements, and pop-up information bubbles so ubiquitous to the city. Just by touching a data port of a machine they can access the data of it and, with the right form, hack it without raising an alarm.
This, however, pales compared to their abilities when in an immersion state. A technomancer in immersion is almost indistinguishable from an avatar or someone accessing the net via VR. Leaving his seemingly-unconscious body behind, a technomancer can wander the terminals and servers of the world, hack any place he can find a connection to, and compile the strange digital beings known as sprites to work for him.
Sprites: Sprites are a form of digital life, more complex than a virus but not as complex as an avatar. They are often formed to fulfil a purpose, whether that purpose is to observe, hack into a company database and spy on them, control a drone, cause rampant destruction, or simply provide a companion for a lonely technomancer. While often semi-specialized for a given task, they are nothing if not versatile.
There have also been reports of independent sprites rising from raw data with a sparse but startling frequency. Many technomancers, along with those few who study sprites, speculate that these creatures are the beginnings of a new biosphere within the net
Forms and Threading: Technomancers usually interact with the digital world by manipulating raw data into semi-programs called forms. The process of creating a form spontaneously, called threading, is tiring for a technomancer. Many of these rare individuals instead choose to master certain forms, rendering them into permanent parts of their bio-processor's data.
Resonance: Despite being a creation of mankind, there is surprisingly little knowledge of how the net operates beyond the surface. Even the independent avatars, born of the 'primordial soup' that is the data of the net, have only the slightest understanding of its true nature. The technomancers are, perhaps, the only beings on the planet who have at least a half-decent understanding of what exists beneath the surface of the net, apart from the inhabitants of that realm.
Beneath the towers of data and the thronging masses of avatars, undetectable to almost everyone, is the humming, pulsing force of raw data. It is this force that technomancers manipulate to create and use their forms, and it is from this force that both sprites and independent avatars arise. The name technomancers have given this force is Resonance. Noone is entirely sure what Resonance is, whether or not it is intelligent in some way, or when exactly it came into being. The best guess that technomancers have is that it came into being once a certain level of wireless communication was achieved and simply grew from there, a sort of subtle and hidden 'big bang'. Noone knows what sort of beings lurk within the depths of Resonance, but those few technomancers that immerse themselves deep enough in Resonance often return with stories of strange, digital realms inhabited by equally strange sprites and AIs ranging from animal intelligence to hyperintelligence. These technomancers often return changed in some way, somehow able to perform feats of Resonance that are almost unbelieveable. These gifts from Resonance are known as echoes.
((Alright, quick heads-up. I'd appreciate it if technomancer characters are kept to a great minimum. These guys are supposed to be as rare as hen's teeth, so don't start making large groups of them, capiche? Also, run the characters past me so I can tell you if there's anything that needs to change.))
They have no idea what they're talking about.
Technomancers are people who, by fluke of genetics or by being plugged into the net via VR at the wrong time, have developed a biological terminal inside their body. They live in an almost-constant state of augmented reality, their minds full of the hum of data and their sight filled with the news bulletins, AR advertisements, and pop-up information bubbles so ubiquitous to the city. Just by touching a data port of a machine they can access the data of it and, with the right form, hack it without raising an alarm.
This, however, pales compared to their abilities when in an immersion state. A technomancer in immersion is almost indistinguishable from an avatar or someone accessing the net via VR. Leaving his seemingly-unconscious body behind, a technomancer can wander the terminals and servers of the world, hack any place he can find a connection to, and compile the strange digital beings known as sprites to work for him.
Sprites: Sprites are a form of digital life, more complex than a virus but not as complex as an avatar. They are often formed to fulfil a purpose, whether that purpose is to observe, hack into a company database and spy on them, control a drone, cause rampant destruction, or simply provide a companion for a lonely technomancer. While often semi-specialized for a given task, they are nothing if not versatile.
There have also been reports of independent sprites rising from raw data with a sparse but startling frequency. Many technomancers, along with those few who study sprites, speculate that these creatures are the beginnings of a new biosphere within the net
Forms and Threading: Technomancers usually interact with the digital world by manipulating raw data into semi-programs called forms. The process of creating a form spontaneously, called threading, is tiring for a technomancer. Many of these rare individuals instead choose to master certain forms, rendering them into permanent parts of their bio-processor's data.
Resonance: Despite being a creation of mankind, there is surprisingly little knowledge of how the net operates beyond the surface. Even the independent avatars, born of the 'primordial soup' that is the data of the net, have only the slightest understanding of its true nature. The technomancers are, perhaps, the only beings on the planet who have at least a half-decent understanding of what exists beneath the surface of the net, apart from the inhabitants of that realm.
Beneath the towers of data and the thronging masses of avatars, undetectable to almost everyone, is the humming, pulsing force of raw data. It is this force that technomancers manipulate to create and use their forms, and it is from this force that both sprites and independent avatars arise. The name technomancers have given this force is Resonance. Noone is entirely sure what Resonance is, whether or not it is intelligent in some way, or when exactly it came into being. The best guess that technomancers have is that it came into being once a certain level of wireless communication was achieved and simply grew from there, a sort of subtle and hidden 'big bang'. Noone knows what sort of beings lurk within the depths of Resonance, but those few technomancers that immerse themselves deep enough in Resonance often return with stories of strange, digital realms inhabited by equally strange sprites and AIs ranging from animal intelligence to hyperintelligence. These technomancers often return changed in some way, somehow able to perform feats of Resonance that are almost unbelieveable. These gifts from Resonance are known as echoes.
((Alright, quick heads-up. I'd appreciate it if technomancer characters are kept to a great minimum. These guys are supposed to be as rare as hen's teeth, so don't start making large groups of them, capiche? Also, run the characters past me so I can tell you if there's anything that needs to change.))