Wednesday, January 27, 2021

MOSH WIZARDS: THE SONG OF DUST

 

A little bit of the Doomguard from Planescape and the serious bits of the Goblin Filthomancer. This is a less orthodox wizard with some abilities that are very, very useful in a modern setting.  


THE SONG OF DUST

How much information is there on a sheet of printed paper?

There's the printed words, and all of their coded and uncoded meanings.  Perhaps the choice of font and ink can tell you about the era and region of origin.  The paper can tell stories, too, of trees and glue and grinding metal.

Now, tear the paper up.  Has the information increased or decreased?

A clever mind can match the edges, and a steady hand can reassemble them.  All of the original information is still there--and a great deal more.  What was the shape of the hand that tore the paper?  Fingers, claws, or blades?  Was the force strong or subtle?  Was the paper gnawed upon as if by vermin, or was it carefully folded before its trauma?

-Arnold K,  Goblin Punch 

Information lives forever.  Even as entropy marches ever onwards it is possible to trace its path.  Jumbling the pieces up is futile.  Practitioners of the Song of Dust are a singularly secretive group because their magical abilities present a fundamental threat to the cryptographical systems that underpin civilization in Known Space.  Most people don't know they exist at all.  Song of Dust ANIs are never available on the open market.  Unless you are a closely-watched corporate asset, the only way to get an ANI is to cut it out of somebody else's head.  Others will surely do the same to you if they learn of your secret.


PERK

Theories of Dust -- as goblin filthomancer.  No method of destruction can obscure the information contained in an object if all the pieces are there.  You can read a pile of dust that was once a book and see a pile of bones as they were in life (sometimes distressing).  Without using other magic, you can't interface with electronically stored data; you can just see the hard drive.


DRAWBACK

You carry priceless hardware in your head.  Many people would kill for it.  Keep your secret close to your chest.  


SPELLS

  1. DECREPITATE -- as filthomancer.
  2. DUST INTERFACE -- you may read computer data directly using with your mind, including with Theories of Dust.  Because the human mind was not designed for this sort of thing, take 8 - [SUM] stress.  More dice must be spent for particularly tricky data.  You can also spend an extra dice (which does not reduce your stress cost) to transfer this information to another storage medium
  3. SONGS OF ENTROPY -- provided you are connected to a functioning computer, you can break any encryption in hours (1d), minutes (2d), or immediately (3d).  You can't crack passwords in this way but if you have access to a part of a system where encrypted passwords are stored, you can discover them that way.  This ability may impose an additional stress cost and cannot defeat a substitution cipher.
  4. SCRAMBLE DATA -- render a computer unusable or force a fear save at disadvantage from an android or AI
  5. MAXWELL'S DEMON -- spontaneously self-organize molecules to change the energy state in an area.  1d creates minor changes (as air conditioner or heater), 2d creates moderate hazard, 3d creates major hazard.  Spending an extra dice extends duration from [DICE] minutes to [DICE] hours. 
  6. ENTROPIUM -- as filthomancer.
  7. MEND -- as filthomancer.
  8. TOUCH OF DUST -- disintegrate a circle on any inanimate object.  May deal [DICE] MDMG if use on a sensitive part of a ship or vehicle. Circle is 25cm in diameter and 2cm deep per dice.
  9. DISPLACEMENT FIELD -- + [SUM] to armor rolls as projectiles rapidly lose energy and claws and fists wither.  [DICE - 1]d10 damage to melee attackers.
  10. PSYCHOMETRY -- as filthomancer.
EMBLEM SPELLS TBD -- maybe won't be used in the final incarnation of the magic system


MISHAPS



DOOMS
  1. Visions of people in and things in earlier states and loss of casting for 1d10 hours.  Panic roll.
  2. Lose casting for 1d10 days, at least one panic roll per day and extreme difficulty distinguishing present from past.
  3. Dust-to-dust -- you die


 

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