Technomagick( a THEORY on how and why it works.)

By Reverend Kinesys:

One of the things that has bugged me since the beginning is the inescapable feeling that Technomagick was an ugly sort of kludge in order to make the game work and to give the antagonists some teeth. ( if the trads got Magick, bad guys gotta have Magick too.)

When the second Ed came out it became clearer what they were talking about but I still think that in some ways the ideas and paradigms of Technomagick are just not as thoroughly explored and thus it still wasn't really clear to me how it worked.

What is Science? what is Magick? How do they differ? How is it that Technomages can work their "procedures" and change reality and not consider it Magick? Is their such a thing as technocratic mysticism?

Granted,trying to answer these questions could take me the rest of my natural life. But while rereading the Progenitors book I stumbled across the Bee example. You know the one.It is an explanation of a Progenitor throwing his Magick at a bumblebee while trying to evade capture, and causing it to enlarge. A technocrat using a vulgar Magick to get something done. The other part of this theory comes from my game, where I have a player who has a Virtual Adept who often avoids using Magick while making a run on another computer. I once asked her why. She told me that she often doesn't think of it unless there is a serious problem. Why should she? She does have crypto and hacking scores of at least a four.

These events caused me to realize that Technomagick is not an ugly kludge at all.It's a way of life.and is in some ways both more and less than traditional Magick.

So what is Technomagick really? Well... Here's the thought.

Every act is a magickal act. That is to say, that every act is an act of will. There is a cup to the side of my desk right now. Each time I pick it up, I must send nerve impulses to my hand to pick it up. It is an act of will.(albeit an incredibly simple one.) To reach over and pick it up with my hand is simple, requires no dents in the common paradigm and doesn't require the manipulation of Quintessence at all. Let's call this simple process "Technique."

To levitate the cup to my hand is a hard process. It might require years of training, causes the local reality to squeal, and might require the conscious manipulation of Quintessential energy to achieve.( which sleepers cannot do.) This incredibly hard thing I'll call "Mystery". The whole point of Technomagick is to enable Technique to extend to the point where Mystery disappears. The fact that Technomages still have to deal with paradox means simply that their process is incomplete. The paradigm of Technomagick is structured in such a way as to allow Technique to run right up to the edge of Mystery.

So in order for the Technomages to really win they have to eliminate the possibility of Mystery or find a way to do things that are vulgar now in such a way that they become commonplace or "Technical". What separates the line between Technique and Mystery? Damned if I know...

A short time ago Cloning was the realm of science fiction not science fact to Joe Average. Sure a few of us knew about some of the mouse experiments but it wasn't common knowledge by any stretch of the imagination. All of a sudden,legislators and church leader are shitting all over themselves to stop or condemn a process that hasn't even been proved to work on humans. It is now a fact of our existence.

Conversely, Alternative healing methods and martial arts are enjoying their greatest popularity in ages and many people are discovering that this healing is valid insofar as it treats disease holistically. Granted, If I have a severed artery I'm not going to want an aroma therapist. But I have used Reiki and reflexology to cure aches and pains. Wiccan craft tricks to soothe burns and upset stomachs and yoga to keep myself flexible and to keep my weight down. The Traditions have their own forms of Technique and they work! Hell, E-mail is a Technique, 40 years ago it would have been the vulgarest of magicks.

I think we've all got an idea of what a technique is...But what is Mystery exactly? When a Mage casts a spell,he must create a mental image of the desired effect. he must construct it carefully in his mind with his imagination. He must create it as he would an apparatus of some sort. Mentally it must work,before he can make it work in the physical world. This would be true of any form of technique like building a bookshelf. Quintessence then becomes the grease that is thrown on the contraption to enable it to work.

Hmmm.... let me try it another way. Whenever something new is created it requires Quintessence to be "born" into this reality. This might imply that sleepers create nothing but this is not true. Sleeper manipulate Quintessence and can express it into a bookshelf or an e-mail document. They just don't do it consciously. (and this can really suck. There are times when I start to put an article on paper and the ability to do it just dries up.) So a group of researcher can get together and work on ways to create customized molecules without having a Mage in the batch.(of course you will have no way to know when the breakthrough is going to come. It might just come about as the result of all-night study, a flash of intuition, or the lead researcher getting laid last night and being much more relaxed.)

Mystery requires the ability to move Quintessence into something that local reality says should not be where it is. Mystery become that push to birth the effect and Paradox becomes a form of labor pains.(?)

Hmmm. Test for exceptions.

1) Technique: Building a bookshelf,Writing a bit of E-mail, Picking up a cup( hand.)

2) Edge of Technique A.K.A Coincidental Magick: Cloning, Computer viruses,breaking bricks with your bare hands, Knowing stuff you couldn't possibly know.

3) Mystery: growing a giant bee by throwing your Magick at it. Ether ships,Co-Locating,Forces Magick.

Other possibilities.

4) Hedge Magick/Thaumaturgy/Gypsy Magick/Hekau: At one time,this stuff was considered to be Technique and the lore has been preserved over the centuries. This is why Hedge Magick still exists as a hole in the otherwise static paradigm. This stuff tends to still work because humanity does still have racial memory of willworkers and their power. Be honest, If someone introduces you to someone who practices Santeria do you find yourself either weirded out or strangely attracted to them? Why? Because deep in our hearts, we KNOW that there is more to this world than Science can reveal or the eyes can see. Joe Average doesn't consciously believe but there is enough room for doubt to allow hedge magi to work unencumbered.

5) True faith: Possibly the closest thing that sleepers can have to True Magick but with one important difference. The divinity in question is the one working the Magick and channeling the quintessence. This is why you might not always get what you want. but it might turn out to be better for you in the long run.(which can really suck.)

So what does all this mean? It means that the Techno-mage is just as capable of throwing forces Magick around vulgarly as your average hermetic. Why Doesn't he?

1) Why do that when you can pull out an "experimental weapon" and do the same?

2) Damaging the paradigm has short term ill effects(paradox)

3) ...and long term effects(rendering useful technologies inert,like in the battle against Czar Vargo, Unintended awakenings, and quite possibly undermining the Technocratic paradigm altogether.

4) It would be better to pursue technocratic ends with research.

5) Make a blaster pistol a reality in the minds of the sleepers. and then we can issue them some and have them go kill the tradition Mages.

Pursuing technique all the way to the line between it and mystery, and only occasionally beyond....It's built into the ethics of the paradigm and has been since the earliest craft masons. Technomages don't get rid of their Foci until Arete 5 and some not even then. it's a survival mechanism...and it works.

So are the Trads hosed?

Well, Maybe... each tradition has it's own forms of Techniques that work for and with it.

Akashics: Not only do the have that psycho Bruce Lee shit...but they have pioneered alternative medicine for as long with acupuncture,Reiki,Chi-Gung,Herbology , reflexology, and Meditation. Breaking bricks with your bare hands and other wild feats are techniques.

Celestials: While faith and faith healing have lost a lot of their power, song still resonates with a spiritual power that has been known to heal and change lives.

Cult of Ecstasy: Possible originators of Yoga of all types and possessor of the power to cause personal awakenings.

Dreamspeakers: In certain parts of the world, Talking to the spirits is still considered a technique.

Euthanatos: Fate...probabilities...What is the difference?

Hermetics: The one with probably the most to lose from the loss of mystery. The esoteric energy of the world is accessible through vibration(song or words) and rituals but the Technocrats were very careful to strip the Hermetics of this most potent weapon. Now, Words are just words. and everybody knows that words cannot hurt you. It is because of technocratic influence that Latin is a dead language. and that there are archaic forms of current languages that nobody speaks anymore.

Hollow ones: shit out of luck.

Sons of Ether: Technomages,but branching away more and more every day.

Verbena: possibly the best example of a tradition that has rolled with the punches and has used some momentum to gain back former ground. Verbena Technique is perhaps the most pervasive and successful of the lot with the possible exception of the Akashic Brotherhood

Virtual adepts: Technomages. And pushing the envelope of Technique every single day.

So what about Technocratic Mysticism? Does it exist?

No.

Mysticism is the unknown country for Technomages(with the exception of those who have left. Etherboys tend to talk about Science like others talk about religion, and Virtuals have gotten very mystical and as inscrutable as Akashic masters.

The unknown is something to be feared, or conquered,or assimilated.(resistance IS futile.) Consequently there is no guiding spiritual principles for the Union and mystery is just that...Mystery.