Technological Numina

[Aya Tari]

I was wondering how people used Technological Numina in their games (either adapted from Hedge Wizard's Handbook or direct from Revised)? How did you square the belief in Advanced Science with some if the mystical effects that are possible with Technological Numina? How important was Technological Numina to your stories and how did you portray it?

In my campaigns, I have the majority of the government (and major corporations) of the develop world heavily invested in Technological Numina independent of the Union. They use Technological Numina for everything from creating experimental drugs (Alchemy) to forcasting weather (Divination). The use of Technological Numina became so common during the Ascension War that it is interfering with the plans of the Union, as corporations and governments are capable of reacting against undesirable elements of the Time Table before they start to manifest.

[Enginseer-42]

That's a bit odd, considering that the technocrats themselves take it as an act of war to try and run an education facility independent of them. The Manhattan Project was a one off thing that escaped notice because it was secret. People who try the same thing have a habit of disappearing and being replaced with smilier, more obedient versions of themselves.

[Aya Tari]

In my view, the Ascension War took a lot of resources to fight and, while the Union was busy with the Pogrom, the mortal corporations and governments got more and more advanced as they invested in research and development.

[Enginseer-42]

See, the Pogrom was AGAINST people who invested at all in research and development and wasn't them. If you were putting out ideas and weren't them, you were on the hitlist. Right near the tippy top. Like, I get what you're saying, but these things are exactly what got people targeted by the Pogrom. These mortal corporations and governments would be sending up the exact same red flags as the traditions.

By comparison, wizards who sat in swamps in the middle of nowhere and did nothing but be swamp wizards, were at the BOTTOM of the hit list.

[Aya Tari]

Really? And I thought the Union was concerned about Reality Deviants...

[Enginseer-42]

Really? And I thought the Union was concerned about Reality Deviants...

Reality Deviants set up research facilities themselves to try and hijack science. Car Sickness was invented and popularized by the Verbena, for example.

Every 'alternative science' thing, is potential inspiration for a Traditional attack on the technocratic paradigm.

I mean they've had the Sons of Ether around to show them how for what, a century? More?

[Aya Tari]

Is there a specific quote (book and page please) concerning the Union targeting Sorcerers practicing Technological Numina with the Pogrom or is this another piece of headcannon?

[Enginseer-42]

They don't target 'sorcerers with technological numina' they target anyone who threatens their monopoly on education.

[Ajax]

They don't target 'sorcerers with technological numina' they target anyone who threatens their monopoly on education.

I doubt it's just or even primarily "education", it would be more along the lines of "inquiry at odds with our objectives" (meaning "control of this thing of ours called 'science').

I don't disagree with Aya in principle. If it's not a monolithic Union-dominated world (one where pretty much every group is really most sincerely in control of something to some degree... Western science/industrial post-imperialist is firmly under the thumb of the Technocracy, but modern music and drug culture "belong" to the Cultists, the goth subculture "belongs" to the Hollow Ones, the neo-pagan movement "belongs" to the Verbena, and, I guess, huge chunks of academia "belong" to the Hermetics, etc.) then there is definitely space "around the edges" for some independent stabs at Advanced Science to come about. E.g., the Syndicate doesn't have a lock-down on ALL aspects of economics but is more like a symbiote/parasite that has a significant influential role and so on. And those with the most resources (governments, universities, corporations) are going to be the best places to foster such development. I don't see government agencies staffed with non-union Science Sorcerers but having such individuals as carefully cultivated and fostered resources makes some sense. (One really innovative engineer given all he needs funding and labwise. A think tank of almost Enlightened social scientists. And so on.)

And the Union probably becomes aware of them (after all they are frequenting the same spaces, even if those are LARGE spaces and contacts are going to be mostly tangential). At which point it's a cost/benefit analysis. Is destroying or co-opting the resource worth the negative consequences of same? Is there even some value in the current status quo that can be used to the Union's advantage. After all, if the situation can be handled, it can be utilized and/or cultivated for later inclusion. And if the situation is or becomes problematic enough, enough resources can be brought to bear to deal with the situaion.