Magic and Nanobots and Psionics and Technojackers

[Tor]

Out of interest in the Megaversal impact of this setting, was reading a lot about the conversion notes...

Apparently when you go to other settings, natives of Splicers bring nanobots with them (inside their body) so that machines they touch will still animate and attack them...

This is presumably of a 'stupid' nature though since the machines could not, even if they became robots, actually connect to a central AI due to distance problems...

Do you think this occurs if visitors from other dimensions visit Splicers for a while? Would they also eventually have their bodies infected and suffer this problem when they leave the dimension? Or do you have to be born in Splicers Earth to have this nanobot incubation problem?

Do you think that the nanobots are why natives of Skraypers do not possess psionics? Could they qualify as cybernetic/bionic implants and negate those kinds of abilities? If so, would the possible eventual infection of nanobots wipe out immigrants' abilities as well? This isn't mentioned though...

If the normal nanobot infection qualified as bionic/cybernetic do you think this would prevent the gaining or using of psionic or magic abilities if natives of Splicers went to other dimensions? Like for example if they signed a Witch pact, which could give either of those.

Do you think if a Cosmo-Knight came to Splicers that the nanobots could hijack cosmic weapons and armor and leave the Knights naked to those attacks?

Do you think Technojackers might qualify as 'more techno' due to their benevolent nanobots and suffer magic/psionic impediments beyond that which normal malicious-nanobot victims would?

If Splicers natives went to other dimensions could there be some way of destroying or turning off the nanobots infecting them so that they could eventually use technology like a normal person without it becoming infected and animating?

Also... if Splicers natives carry nanobots to other dimensions... yet the nanobots are not able to replicate on their own... wouldn't that mean that by leaving the human host to infect things that the human host touches that eventually, the amount of bots within the human would reduce and reach 0 after disseminating to metal the human makes contact with, eventually cleaning them out and making them able to use tech?

[Shark_Force]

lots of stuff that doesn't make sense. I figure it's mostly for balance reasons.

personally, I don't think nanobots count as cybernetics. there's no connection to the person's nervous system. cosmo-knights weapons and armour are basically part of their body, so I'd say they can't be infested. they may not even be actual metal.

[Slight001]

Out of interest in the Megaversal impact of this setting, was reading a lot about the conversion notes...

Finally decided to get the main book?

Apparently when you go to other settings, natives of Splicers bring nanobots with them (inside their body) so that machines they touch will still animate and attack them...

This is presumably of a 'stupid' nature though since the machines could not, even if they became robots, actually connect to a central AI due to distance problems...

Do you think this occurs if visitors from other dimensions visit Splicers for a while? Would they also eventually have their bodies infected and suffer this problem when they leave the dimension? Or do you have to be born in Splicers Earth to have this nanobot incubation problem?

You don't actually have the book do you?

Do you think that the nanobots are why natives of Skraypers do not possess psionics? Could they qualify as cybernetic/bionic implants and negate those kinds of abilities? If so, would the possible eventual infection of nanobots wipe out immigrants' abilities as well? This isn't mentioned though...

From the way it's written up it sounds like the Splicers don't naturally have psionic potential.

If the normal nanobot infection qualified as bionic/cybernetic do you think this would prevent the gaining or using of psionic or magic abilities if natives of Splicers went to other dimensions? Like for example if they signed a Witch pact, which could give either of those.

There is no mention of the nano effecting magic or psionics, rather the people are psionicly dead and the world is magically dead.

Do you think if a Cosmo-Knight came to Splicers that the nanobots could hijack cosmic weapons and armor and leave the Knights naked to those attacks?

Who said cosmic weapons and armor are made of metal? Even if they are metal who said the nano could recognise it as metal? Perhaps cosmic weaponry and armor is composed of a pure metal? nano, iirc, ignores pure metals.

Do you think Technojackers might qualify as 'more techno' due to their benevolent nanobots and suffer magic/psionic impediments beyond that which normal malicious-nanobot victims would?

I have no idea what you are trying to get at with this. As a native of Splicer World the TJ can't develop psionics as they lack the genetic potential. As for magic... Splicer World, as already stated, is a magically dead world with no active practitioners.

If Splicers natives went to other dimensions could there be some way of destroying or turning off the nanobots infecting them so that they could eventually use technology like a normal person without it becoming infected and animating?

Also... if Splicers natives carry nanobots to other dimensions... yet the nanobots are not able to replicate on their own... wouldn't that mean that by leaving the human host to infect things that the human host touches that eventually, the amount of bots within the human would reduce and reach 0 after disseminating to metal the human makes contact with, eventually cleaning them out and making them able to use tech?

as covered in the main book the nano can't self replicate. However, I recall no mention of what happens to the nano when it causes a transformation. Presumably it is used up or destroyed however there is no mention of this that I recall.

[Tor]

Not really sure what cosmic weapons are made of, just figured it might be metal in some cases. I just like the idea of CKs not being able to do as much here.

Not having psionics isn't exactly the same as lacking the potential to get psionics. Even races without psionics can still get them if it's from an external source (like the Azlum rift)

I'd say every time you transform stuff in other dimensions your nanobots reduce a bit. Maybe how many times it happens depends on your size? Like a 200lb guy runs out of nanobots after transforming 200 spoons but 100lb woman runs out of nanobots after transforming 100 spoons.

[Slight001]

Not really sure what cosmic weapons are made of, just figured it might be metal in some cases. I just like the idea of CKs not being able to do as much here.

Are they really that scary? It's been a long time since I ever bothered even looking at the dimension books. Muchless the O.C.C.'s. I remember the Phase world O.C.C.'s being unimpressive and my memory of the Cosmo-Knight being what felt to me like a technological demigod... all in all I wasn't impressed.

Not having psionics isn't exactly the same as lacking the potential to get psionics. Even races without psionics can still get them if it's from an external source (like the Azlum rift)

According to the book the only psionics that the natives can get are induced. It even suggests biotic experiments as a possible future material. I've experimented with a few concept designs, but nothing solid. It is interesting to note that Mystics are actually Master Psionics.

[Shark_Force]

if you're trying to figure out how the nanobot plague would realistically work, rather than how it officially works (which is that the splicers character somehow carries a personalized colony of nanobots that will perpetually infest any metal he touches but only for himself and without diminishing the number of nanobots he carries), then here's a more realistic outcome:

after a few weeks, whether you touch metal or not, they're all destroyed and expelled from your body. your immune system is a natural master at nanowarfare, and the nanobots are invaders that have no ability to replicate on their own. sooner or later, your body will destroy them, and expel their smashed microscopic bits in the usual way it expels other garbage from itself.

any nanoplague triggered response will hasten the process, most likely by a significant margin, and effects will be somewhat limited (it could arguably create a drone, but for obvious reasons the drone cannot become a part of the NEXUS network of robots).

and frankly, cosmo-knights aren't that impressive compared to splicers classes. they're pretty powerful in a brute force sort of way, but to put it bluntly, it takes a lot to stand out as overpowered in a setting where your bonus to strike with ranged and melee weapons and automatic dodge can fairly easily reach the mid-teens or even the twenties.

[Tor]

Cosmo-Knights aren't the biggest fish in the Megaverse when it comes to damage, regeneration or armor, although they are giants in that.

The biggest advantage they have over the fast majority of things though, is their tactical adaptability.

They are mobility masters, they fly faster than most things, so they can easily get away to heal when they are in danger. Combined with long range attacks means that unless you also have long range attacks, a Cosmo-Knight can just whittle you down from a distance (including a vertical one) without being much threatened in return.

Of the few weapons that can match their blast range (which is ridiculous when amplified by a weapon) those are often energy weapons, which won't work, or they have payload/ammo issues which would allow a CK to just run off and come back, and exhaust your supplies.