Author's Foreword: This is one of a series of posts intended to show what various mage groups believe, how they think, and why they think the Sleepers ought to prefer their vision of reality. It is not intended as a complete picture of each group, or a 'fair' portrait. It's written as propaganda by each group, but honest propaganda. They won't lie, but they won't list their own flaws in detail either :) Naturally, these posts represent my own idiosyncratic views which I believe to be reasonably compatible with canon, but given my memory is at times rather sieve like, I may forget stuff. If you see a contradiction between this or the appropriate Trad/Conv book, it may or may not be deliberate. If you have suggestions for more questions that should be covered, please let me know. Virtual Adepts and a bunch o' other stuff is all copyright of White Wolf, of course. You can find the ones done so far at: http://www.maison-otaku.net/~rhea/WW/index.html Enjoy! Ascension 2000 Campaign Pamphlets: Virtual Adepts So, like, you guys are the hackers and internet addicts, right? Living online and breaking into stuff to cause havoc? Isn't that kind of childish? And 'online' life only pales in comparison to the real thing. Are you all afraid of the real world? YOUR INQUIRIES INTO THE VIRTUAL ADEPTS HAVE BEEN RECORDED BY THIS OBSERVATION STATION. PLEASE REMAIN IN YOUR CURRENT LOCATION WHILE RETRIEVAL UNITS CONTACT YOU, IN ORDER TO PURGE YOU OF THIS UNHEALTHY CURIOSITY. WE ARE ITERATION BORG. YOU WILL BE ASSIMILATED. Ack...Maybe I should...um...come back later? Just yanking your chain, kid. I see you've been infected by some bad information, but luckily for you, I'm just the doctor you need to cure you of those pesky memes. Yes, we are hackers, but we're a lot more than just that. While some us devote their lives to liberating information (or downloading pornography), we also build and maintain a variety of useful electronics and software, explore the Digital Web, disseminate information through music, print, electronic media, teaching, and social interaction, and hack reality. The phone you call your friends with? We invented it. The TV, radio, and movies you use for entertainment? We invented them. The audio tapes, VCR tapes, computer disks, optical drives, compact disks, hard drives, and everything else electronic you use to store information? That was us too. About the only forms of transmission of information we can't claim as our own are books, hearing, and listening. And we're working on the last two. And don't tell us we're hiding from reality just because we don't hang around in bars, drinking our lives away. I know people on every continent. I've seen things you probably never will, and had experiences you couldn't possibly understand. Plus, a large portion of the end-users are complete lamers, so why should I waste my limited run-time dealing with them, when I can go online and hang out with the elite? In addition, this reality you think we're hiding from is heading for a systems crash, and we know it. Our job is to create a new one, a virtual reality, to which humanity will be able to move to, when it's ready. Then we'll be able to leave this defective Reality 1.0 behind. Makes me wonder if Microsoft created the universe; they certainly seem to bang everything else out in only six days with no bug checking. So what IS a virtual reality, anyway? I thought it was just a way of tricking the body and mind into thinking they're somewhere that's just an electronically produced illusion. And that's why you're an end-user instead of one of the elite. The basic idea of virtual reality is that, since you can only interact with reality through your senses, then by changing what you sense, you can create or enter a new reality. Once you embrace that, all things are possible. In the Digital Web, or as some of us call it, Reality 2.0, we can mold an ideal reality, starting from the ground up. In the Web, everything is malleable by will and skill--your body, the environment, the weather, the taste of a bagel, everything. We can start over, without all the screwups caused by the fact that reality is like a network with six billion admins who are mostly still trying to find the 'any' key. Reality 1.0 was like that, once, but its been patched and hacked and crashed and restored from backups a few too many times. There just comes a time when you have to throw out a heavily corrupted file and start over. So how does your magick work? I mean, how can you use a computer to do anything besides hack into other computers or run stuff directly connected to and designed to work with computers? It's very simple. Everything is information. Everything. And what do computers do? They store and manipulate information. Reality is simply one giant network of interlinked systems. Once you know the codes, you can access it, and by changing the information, change the world. You see, the roots of some of our philosophy goes all the way back to ancient Asia. And I bet you thought only the Verbena claimed to be older than dirt. Get it? Anyway, long ago, the Chinese and other Asian civilizations invented binary code. What, you didn't think the ancient Chinese had computers? Well, they didn't, but they invented the core concept necessary to invent them, the idea of representing information through a sequence of binary bits. They called this concept Yin and Yang. Yang was positive, Yin was negative. Everything contained various amounts of it, and the mixture of the two determined everything's nature. The next step was the I Ching. The I Ching records what are known as 'hexagams' which are drawn in the form of solid or broken lines. You got it. A binary code. One did an I Ching reading by casting coins, then using the head/tails pattern to find the hexagram which corresponded to it. The hexagram denoted various items, events, and proverbs, which you then had to interpret in relation to your question to get the answer you needed. There you have it: what could have been the first step in the development of Virtual Reality. However, they never got past this to find a way to manipulate the information, as well as finding it, or of nailing it down to a sufficiently clear data set to be useful. If I use my computer to scan for incoming HIT-Marks, I don't want it to reply, 'Fish. Conformity. Surrender. Serenity. Flow with the current and you will go far'. That's what we've learned to do. Get our information precisely, or at least in the form of quantified probabilities. To do that, we had to develop Trinary computers, capable of accounting for the fact that not all questions can be answered 'yes/no'. Some have to be answered 'maybe'. A trinary system can hold more data in the same space and operates faster than a binary computer. This alone would give us an edge. The really important thing, though, was realizing that everything is information. We interact with the world through information. Our senses, each of them a source of information, is the only way we have of knowing where we are, what we are doing, or how we are doing it. And everything that exists is simply a discrete bundle of information: what it is, where it is, how it is moving, etc. Now, for living, thinking beings with a soul, that's a pretty BIG bundle, but it's still discrete. And since everything is information, it can be changed, stored, or moved about with a computer. This has consequences. Information has no location; it simply is. All apparent differences of location are themselves simply a form of information, which can be changed by anyone who knows how the OS of Reality works (Correspondence). Everything solid, liquid, gaseous, fleshy, plasmic (energy), or spiritual is simply a bundle of information, subject to change and control (Matter, Life, Forces, and Spirit). Every computer needs a power supply, so does reality, which is powered by Quintessence (Prime). Like any good computer, reality has a clock to keep track of what happened, what is happening when, and what is supposed to happen at some future time (Time). And unfortunately, reality also has bugs and crashes periodically in small and large ways (Entropy). We are best at controlling machines, though; a lot of us get somewhat uncomfortable with some of the things that Reality Hackers do. I think the power gets to their heads at time, doing crazy stuff like turning people's sleeping minds into chat rooms or causing people's BODIES to get infected with the Good Times virus or Rembrandt. On the other hand, sometimes they pick up viruses from the people they mess with which make them sick and delete their harddrives, so I guess it balances out. You all sound fairly omnipotent. I mean, if Reality is just information, and information can always be altered...why don't you just type 'rm Technocracy.mag' and erase them from reality? Or fix this one instead of creating a Virtual One? There are several reasons. First of all, what we do takes time. The more complex the activity, the more time it takes for us to write the program to do the job and the longer it takes the program to run. It also takes a lot more Juice (Quintessence) to carry out large scale operations than small ones, and we don't have enough Juice to pull off something that big yet. Especially since the Technocracy is full of people who are capable of noticing what we're doing and taking countermeasures, and they've got a ton of Juice. Further complicating matters is what is called Paradox. Once we're done with the Web, it won't have Paradox...for us. However, Reality 1.0 has it. Individual sleepers are bound by the OS of Reality 1.0, and they can't consciously alter how Reality works. But collectively, the end-users WRITE the OS of Reality 1.0 They've done a lousy job of it, which is one reason we can slide in and hack reality. But they've created sentinel programs called Paradox Spirits, or as we call them, 'Watchdogs'. Hack reality too often or on too large a scale, and they come spank you. If you're really bad, they call out the PS in Black, who come and take you away to your personal punishment zone. This is very NOT FUN. We're also bound by how Elite we are and how much skill we have. Until you can actually figure out the right passcodes and procedures for doing something, it doesn't matter if one is theoretically omnipotent. Computers can't guess what we want, we have to be explicit and exactly correct. GIGO, you know. Basically, we're smart enough to know that Reality 1.0 is simply too hard to fix. If it cost 50,000 dollars to fix your car, and only 25,000 to buy a new one that is better than the original, you'd buy the new one, right? Same thing with reality. The Web is better in every way, and will take a lot less time to prepare for humanity to move into it. It seems like running away to me. If your house was on fire, would you stick around and burn to death? But reality isn't on fire. Yet. If you knew the penguin on top of your TV set was going to explode in nuclear fire at 5:45, and it was 5:30, and you needed half an hour to disarm it, would you start trying to disarm it, or would you get out of the blast radius? How do you know reality is in trouble? Our Chaoticians have been studying potential futures, and there's a 75% chance that humanity will obliterate itself within the next ten years. The Technocracy has come to the same conclusion, independently of our research. The werewolves and vampires agree as well. And if vamps and wolfboys actually agree on ANYTHING, it's worth listening to. The other mages didn't say anything about this! They aren't doing anything about it, and they won't listen when we try to tell them. Or if they do listen, they get the idea they can turn the Apocalypse to their advantage, and make it their big chance to Ascend. We'd rather build an ark than assume the Flood is gonna only smite our enemies. Like God said in that Bill Cosby skit: "Noah, how well do you tread water?" Me, I tread water pretty badly, so I'd rather build a boat to ride it out. There's going to be another Flood? You're joking, right? Not a literal flood. But if we don't get the Web ready in time and ways to get humanity there, we're all gonna be screwed when Reality 1.0 suddenly bluescreens and the words 'General Protection Fault' come up. But how are you going to get the rest of us there? We're trying to get Virtual Reality equipment accepted into the end-users' paradigm so that we can get as many humans as possible used to the Web. That way, when we announce ourselves during the Last Days, they'll be ready for it. And if it turns out the Last Days were cancelled, then we'll just gradually ease people into using VR more and more, until they're ready to abandon Reality 1.0 entirely. But can it survive the destruction of Reality 1.0? As far as we can tell, yes, as long as we close the doors before 1.0 goes blort. If it can't, well, then we're all screwed. But I'd rather take the optimistic approach. Unlike the Umbra, it doesn't just mirror Reality 1.0, so I think it's independent of our reality. So what would life be like in Reality 2.0? You'd finally have complete control over your own life. You could change your appearance at will, rebuild your house as easily as programming a VCR, choose the weather as you like it, and no more boring work. Travel near-instantaneously, create whatever you needed out of raw Juice, be completely self-sufficient. That way you'd have time to read, make art, play games, engage in gladiatorial combat, or whatever turns you on. Every man living the life of an aristocrat. Sounds to me like it would be a world of self-centered couch potatoes. Why would you ever want to leave your house? Hey, we're as social as anyone. You'd still have bars and clubs, you could do sports, go to a concert, or take a walk in a VR park. You wouldn't NEED anyone in a material goods sense, but humans are social animals, and people would still do social stuff. But we'd all be equals: no rich, no poor, no bosses, no workers. And with no responsibilities and travel nigh-instantaneous, it would make social type stuff a lot easier. After all, most of us would go meet our friends in say, Europe or Africa, face to face if we had the time and could afford the trip. We all hang out together on the 'Net because assembling people from eight different cities on three continents is kinda difficult in Reality 1.0, ya know? Yeah, some people might stay home and diddle themselves or stage their own little private perverse axe-murderer fantasies, but humans find a way to abuse any societial setup and any reality. There's only so much you can do for the lamers. So, in Reality 2.0, if I had Lung Cancer, I'd just edit my file to get rid of it. Right. What about here in Reality 1.0? We'd send you to the Sons of Ether. While the Reality Hacker Legion does get into that sort of thing, we're really a lot better at effecting machines, perceptions, and virtual reality than we are at being doctors. Can you give me an example of how you do your magick? Let's say I wanted to go visit Flaming Carrot, Jr. in Lyon, France. We'll say, just for the purpose of this example, that I'm in Lawrence, Kansas. First thing I would do would be to load my Global Atlas CD-Rom, which has coordinates for everything on Earth worth visiting, and most of everything else too. Once I got a set of coordinates, I would put on my VR goggles and gloves and set my sensory reality to match my physical location. Using the various satellites our friends in the Technocracy have so conveniently put in orbit, I would aim one of them's viewing equipment at my destination and observe the location. Having gathered enough data to simulate the environment in conjunction with my coordinate data, I would reprogram my sensory reality to match my target destination. Since what you sense with your senses is all you can know about reality, I would then know what I should sense when I take off the goggles. Continuing my perceptions when I removed them would ensure that the sensory impressions caused by being in Lyons would continue, and therefore, I would now be in Lyons in Reality 1.0 *Blink* Sounds like you're basically tricking yourself into thinking you're in Lyons. I already was, since all points are the same point. It's merely a matter of what we perceive, rather than where we are. I never actually moved, I simply altered my own perceptions and those of whatever might be percieving me. That's what makes Correspondence so easy for us; with VR equipment, we can do just about anything to our perceptions. Effects that require changing large quantities of information, like Life effects, are a lot harder. Now you know why I didn't want to cure your lung cancer; it's too easy to delete someone's liver or colon by mistake. Hmm. This interview seems to be going quickly. In conclusion, what do you think about your fellow mages, both friendly and hostile? The Marauders are kinda like Bugs Bunny. They put on masks. They play tricks on people. They 'shoulda taken the right turn at Albequerque'. They put dynamite in people's shorts. The problem is that the rest of us aren't Elmer Fudd, and we won't just turn black and crispy when the bomb goes off, then get better later. They also just can't comprehend when they stop being funny. Best to dump them in the middle of some Techno or Marauder base and let them throw exploding cream pies at people who deserve it. The Nephandi are what happens when you rot-13 someone's soul, basically. They're a bunch of completely lame losers who didn't have any eliteness so they sold themselves to some demon in the hopes his eliteness would rub off on them. Instead, they simply guaranteed they'd be eternally lame. They're a big factor in why Reality 1.0 is screwed. We're fighting hard to make sure they don't get included in Reality 2.0, and we're always happy to arrange for them to take vacations inside the sun or a black hole, here in Reality 1.0. The Technocracy used to mean well, but now they've kinda lost their way, too obsessed with trying to control what can't be controlled, like information, instead of helping people. They know the end is coming, but they chose not to believe it. Iteration X, who are whacked enough to want to be Darth Vader or the Terminator, are our especial rivals, since they have delusions of knowing how to use computers for something besides playing minesweeper. They're so proud about their artificial intelligence in Alpha Complex^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^HAutocthonia that they named themselves after it and now serve it. Every played Paranoia? Exactly. It's just as whacked as Friend Computer, but only about 1/20th as smart. We'd tell them that we've built artificial intelligences twenty times better than theirs, but then they would cry and their joints would rust. If you ever want to piss one off, call him the 'Tin Woodsman'. Pretty similar, eh? Except he got a heart. The Sons of Ether are our closest allies among the Traditions. They're a bit crazy, but full of fun ideas and great gadgets. And if you can get one to take you to the Gernsback Continuum, borrow a few Phaetons and go racing on the highways. Air cars rock. The Dreamspeakers hate us, but they just make us laugh. While they're talking to rocks, we're building the future. And it wasn't us who trashed their homelands, so they ought to let go of their grudges. Oh well, we'll let them format some forest sectors in the Web when the time comes to go, and we can all be happy. Although they'll probably refuse to go, but nothing we can do about that. The Verbena don't exactly love us either, although they do have a Technopagan fringe we can hang out with. They're way too obsessed with their meat, and not their minds, so they'll probably hate Reality 2.0. Well, if they choose to go down with the ship, there's not much we can do for them either. The Cult of Ecstasy are party boys. Good for having fun, not much use for doing real work. Still, they make good friends, if you can find them when you need them, and they'll ensure Reality 2.0 never gets dull. Just make sure you avoid the handful of technophobes among them like the Maenads. The Order of Hermes are a bunch of stuffed shirts who haven't figured out that they've become obsolete features, even in Reality 1.0. Still, if you need something to explode, they're your boys, and their House Thig does have some interesting ideas, even if they're mainly just blatantly copying us. Thig's already got its fingers in the Web, so it looks like they'll be sticking around for 2.0, hopefully after a THOROUGH upgrade. Like the Order of Hermes, the Celestial Chorus hasn't quite caught on that we're not living in the Middle Ages. Unlike the Order, they've got a massive body of end-user support that agrees with them. Churches aren't my thing, but I guess everyone's gotta believe in something. I will admit that the one Cyber-Cathedral I've been to was IMPRESSIVE. The guy who built it claimed he was Michaelangelo reborn. I can believe it. Still, best to give them a fair berth. A lot of them still think of us as Technocracy, which means they want to splat us. It's not like we ever did anything to them. Where would the Televangelists be without us? The Euthanatos bug the hell out of me. Things break quickly enough without someone helping. And when those somethings are human beings, it REALLY annoys me. Puts me in a mind to send them to the trash can and see how they like it. Still, they might make good garbagemen for Reality 2.0. The Akashic Brotherhood is kinda cool; I like a good martial arts movie. But they're basically incapable of communicating clearly, and they spend their time hiding in temples contemplating their navels too much. If they notice the Cosmic Systems Crash in time to do anything, we've got some sectors saved for them to set up their temples and contemplate whirled peas for as long as they like. Reality 1.0 is about to crash. Time is running out. We're doing our damnedest to prepare Reality 2.0 while everyone else runs around rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Some may call us cowards, but I say we are realists. We have a vision of a better world, free of the flesh where our minds will be free to create. Will you join us on the road to Ascension, or are you just a lamer?