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[Dataweaver]

That's not without precedent. C20 is out; Wr20 isn't.

[Dataweaver]

Kinda. Bear in mind, though, that one of the forms of Quiet is all about taking Confirmation Bias to an extreme. “Denial” is a better name for it than “Clarity”; but it still doesn't quite capture it's essence: someone in Denial has something that he believes in so much that he literally can't see things that contradict it. “Denial” puts the emphasis on what you're rejecting, where the emphasis really ought to be on what you're rejecting it for: what's sacred to you, what's beyond questioning? That's where confirmation bias really comes into its own. Technocrats as soulless agents of conformity...

[Dataweaver]

Lost Paths includes an entire chapter on the Djinn. It allows them as Familiars, but notes that you can only get that level of friendship and cooperation from a Djinn if you get it to willingly agree to the bargain. As well, the Djinn are described as having Charms, not Arete or Spheres (although the wish-granting Charm has versatility reminiscent of Spheres). As far as I can tell, the business about the Djinn being Awakened is a bit of fanon, with no published support....

[Dataweaver]

I find myself thinking about Hunter when I read this. No coincidence, either, because that's the gameline that's geared towards humans opposing monsters. It's worth noting, though, that in ChroD hunters are the exceptions to the mass of humanity we react to the monsters by emulating ostriches. It's also worth noting Dave Brookshaw's stated opinion about mages vs. hunters (short form: hunters would get trounced). Basically, regular humans have their own weakness in the ChroD; and it's a doozy.

EDIT: of course, a case could be made that the designers gave humanity that handicap because...

[Dataweaver]

Besides, “Real Life Intervenes” isn't metaplot....

[Dataweaver]

If you need to use instruments to confirm the existence of something (such as electrons), it's possible that that thing is merely a figment of your Focus....

[Dataweaver]

Maybe. The “no Spirit Worlds” thing might conflate the Dreaming with the Umbra; it depends on whether allowing free access to the entire Dreaming would undermine the significance of the Jade Key. If it doesn't, then by all means let the Hsien have free run of the Dreaming.

[Dataweaver]

Nitpick: the Dreaming is not the Umbra. Not sure how relevant that is; but there you go.

(The closest we get to a connection between the Dreaming and the Umbra is that the various books on the Umbra speak of a Zone called the Maya, which many identify with the Dreaming. But bear in mind that the Digital Web is also described as a Zone; and as Mage fans know, the Digital Web is definitely not in the Umbra. “Zones” are best thought of as places that aren't spirit worlds, but which have connections to the Spirit Worlds — much like the material world isn't a Spirit world, but has...

[Dataweaver]

To the extent that Climate Change exists because people believe that it exists, promoting Denial of Climate Change should be effective in combatting it. But if you go with the notion that Climate Change is an unintended consequence of modern human activity — that it came about as a result of the Consensus, but not deliberately so — then refusing to believe in it will not make it go away.

That's what I was getting at when I suggested that you might think of it as a sort of Paradox backlash against the Consensus: Paradox means that not everything brought about by the Consensus...

[Dataweaver]

Well… believing that there are objective foundations doesn't mean that you believe that what's bit on those foundations is necessarily objective. My interpretation of the Technocracy is that they believe in One Reality as an ideal to work toward, and their belief in objective foundations gives credence to their view that theirs is the right vision of what that one reality should be. However, they don't always agree, even among themselves, what that end goal should be.

Funny you should mention that. It was the Choristers' view of the One that l was thinking of when I mentioned my...

[Dataweaver]

No; DaveB mentioned at one point that he was hoping that Cheiron Group ought to be an option. This is consistent with the idea that roles for creating your own organization is the main option, in that you can use such rules to define Cheiron Group if you wish.

[Dataweaver]

FWIW, my main objection to the Technocracy as it was portrayed in Guide to the Technocracy was that they were divided into two groups: those who knew that their objective reality propaganda was a lie, and those who didn't. With the latter almost entirely being victims of Conditioning by the former. What you describe is closer to how I like to handle the Union: they don't deny that there are subjective elements of reality; but they argue that there are rules by which people influence reality, that there's a “natural state of reality” that the Awakened can either warp or reinforce, and that...

[Dataweaver]

My understanding is that Deviant orgs are going to be user-defined; that is, part of designing your Deviant will involve designing the organization that made you what you are....

[Dataweaver]

Speak for yourself. Or are you “No True Scotsman”ing me, in that I'm not really a fan of Ascension because I have my doubts about purely subjective reality?

My own view on subjective reality is a bit like the old joke about statistics: 97% of all statistics, including this one, are totally worthless. In a similar way, there's no such thing as 100% subjective reality; because if everything is subjective, so is the statement that everything's subjective.

This isn't just word-play: in order for the Technocracy not to be objectively wrong, there needs to be the possibility...

[Dataweaver]

Who are the enemies that they're hiding from?

[Dataweaver]

How important is it that the hotei and want forms be one-at-a-time? That is, what would break if they worked exactly like a Kithain's two forms with the hotei form being the one that mortals normally see while the wani form is the one seen by those who can see Chimerical Reality? (My thoughts on why Lo8MD did it the way they did later; I've been summoned by work, and must go for now.)

[Dataweaver]

If that's what they do, so be it.

I never said that you wouldn't be able to tell stories centered around social ramifications; that would be stupid. I just don't see how they could be Scars, as Scars are (as I understand them) intimately linked to how pretty your Variations are: your Variation becomes more potent, and your Scar automatically becomes more intense; your Variation weakens, and your Scar automatically subsides. That's what sets Scars apart from regular Complications: they are harmful manifestations of the same cracked soul of which your Variations are helpful manifestations....

[Dataweaver]

Likewise. What I've liked about Hsienfan's suggestions, starting with his(?) first post here, is that they've brought the Hsien into the fold instead of replacing them with something else; and If much rather she(?) continue that premise rather than scrapping the Hsien.

[Dataweaver]

I wouldn't count social ramifications as Scars. But Cyclops does have the “can't open his eyes without destroying what he's looking at” problem, just like Rogue can't touch anyone without traumatizing them (and herself). Jean Gray originally had a similar problem, where she didn't do well in crowds because it took effort to not read a mind, and a crowd would quickly overwhelm her. Storm was a claustrophobe. In other cases you have to dig to find the Scars (Iceman, for instance).

Frankly, I think that a group of Deviants would have it worse than the X-Men, whose primary problem ...

[Dataweaver]

To clarify one point, my default assumption is that “Consensus” is what humans believe: if you have an Avatar, even a Slumbering one, you contribute to the Consensus; and other than those who have had their Avatars destroyed (e.g., Gilgul or the Embrace), all humans have Avatars. Meanwhile, if you're not human, you probably don't have an Avatar — though the Chorister notion of the Pure Ones and the One suggests the possibility that the higher ranks of the spirit hierarchy might effectively be Avatars.

Which gives a “subjective reality loophole” by implying that what Constants...