Furio Cabrini/Paradigm

Magick: The Code

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xxxxxSince their days in the Technocratic Union, when they were known as Difference Engineers, the Virtual Adepts have understood a most important truth about the universe. All things are composed of information. The human mind, as the vehicle of the Genius, has the unique ability to interact with this fundamental Code. Quantum observation creates reality. Conception + Perception = Form is a simplification of the process that all mages have understood since the dawn of time. Within the last century, the Masses have begun to grasp the same principles through the study of quantum physics. One of the first concepts of quantum physics is that of the Observer Phenomenon--the idea that the mere act of observing a thing can change it. This is key to the way Virtual Adepts like Furio make their magick. The Awakening brings with it new means of perceiving the universe. The Awakened mind can make observations that can make changes far more profound than one that is not Awake. Furio refers to these acts of magick as 'accessing the Code'--utilizing his Awakened observations to change the universe.

Quintessence and Paradox: Currency and Bad Debt

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xxxxxAs a banker and financier, Furio sees each access of the Code as a transaction. Quintessence is the Currency of the universe, the metaphysical cashflow with which reality 'buys' its realness. The metaphor is a useful one, considering the Awakened have used Quintessence, Tass, and Nodes as renewable resources and currency for millenia. Currency can be Hard Currency or Cash, in the form of Tass. It can be Liquid Credit, held in Trust by the Genius. Nodes are Vaults, where Currency is deposited and renewed by the natural motion of the universe. Access to Prime Code allows a mage to manpulate Currency in fundamental ways. However, when one touches the universe, one is touched in return. The Masses remain blissfully unaware of their countless observations shaping reality all around them. The Awakened do not have the luxury of ignorance. Every time they access the Code, they run the risk of Paradox. In Furio's mind, Paradox is Bad Debt, a metaphysical negation that can invalidate Currency. When allowed to accumulate, Bad Debt can become a Rebound. Lesser Rebounds smooth themselves out on their own. Larger ones can have serious complications. The worst can manifest as physical injuries as Furio's own body is strained to right the metaphysical imbalance that led to the Default. Bad Debt can be avoided by preventing conflicts between Awakened and unAwakened observations. The more plausible and acceptable a piece of Code is, the less likely it is to accumulate Bad Debt. Conversely, performing the seemingly impossible is almost sure to guarantee a Rebound.

Avatar: The Genius

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xxxxxThe Virtual Adepts are the newest Tradition, having defected from the Technocratic Union just over sixty years ago. As such, they still retain much of their Technocratic understanding, particularly when it comes to matters of the human soul. Though newer Virtual Adepts are beginning to accept the concept of the Avatar, there are many who still refer to it by its Technocratic term--the Genius. Furio in particular subscribes to this method. He has never actually seen his Avatar. For him, his higher self has taken the form of an enlightened intuition. A means of seeing the universe not with his eyes, but with his mind. When he undergoes Seekings to advance his Arete, he does not enter a dreamscape. Rather, he solves puzzles and riddles in the waking world. It is there, in the world he shares with every other human in the world, that he finds the answers to all his questions.

The Spheres: Codebase

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xxxxxLike all mages, Furio recognizes nine fundamental ways in which the universe can be changed by application of Awakened will. These Spheres form the Nine Codebases from which he draws his magickal power. As former Technocrats, Virtual Adepts require tools and foci to access the Code, and Furio is no exception. Unlike other more mystick Traditions, Furio will not be able to surpass his need for foci until he reaches the ultimate enlightenment, when he will transcend human experience and become part of the Code himself.

Correspondence The speciality Sphere of the Virtual Adepts, and the first one that Furio has Mastered. His focus is a smartphone modified with a penta-core trinary array. This device allows him to work the highly complex hypermathematical computations necessary to control space, dimension, and geometry. Like anything else in the universe, location is a matter of information. All points in space have a value relative to one another, which is equal to one. This is the Correspondence Point, the rational constant that enables a willworker with understanding of Correspondence to view other places, manipulate things at distance, change their own location, and modify the parameters of geometry. Entropy This Codebase grants a willworker access to powers over chaos, order, random chance, and statistical inevitability. Furio has gained access to Entropic Code, discerning the pattern that lies behind probabilites and connecting the dots that link seemingly random occurances. He makes use of random number generator program to help him crystallize variables into the patterns he requires. By locking the appropriate variables into place within his mind, Furio becomes able to assert those variables upon the universe, granting himself fortune, cursing others with bad luck, reinforcing order, or promoting chaos. He can assert control over repeatable systems of motion, allowing him to maintain machinery or stop it dead in its tracks. As his skill with Entropy grows, he will learn how to apply these variables to living systems, and eventually cognitive patterns themselves. Forces Energy in all its forms is the purview of this Codebase. At its most fundamental, the universe is composed of varying quantities of energy in numerous superquantum states. Having gained advanced access to Forces, Furio is now able to detect and control discrete quantities of energy. He is able to exercise enough precision to remap a given energy state's superquantum state. Light can become sound, gamma rays can become electricity, and so forth. By adding subroutines from other Codebases, Furio can even metamorphose living tissue, inorganic matter, or even pure Quintessence into quantities of energy. To access Forces, he utilizes visible light as a baseline. A hypertech holographic emitter allows him to make use of various wavelengths of visible light to control and transform energy. With greater access, he will be able to expand the scope of his control, affecting larger energetic systems.

Life Study and manipulation of living organics is covered by this highly esoteric Codebase. To focus on Life Code, Furio utilizes a breed of nanomech that he designed himself. These machines, each one no larger than a cell's nucleus, form a reactive network within a living organism. Given direction through trinary computer instructions, a nanomech field can make edits to a living organism at the subgenetic level, literally rewriting physiology on the fly. Having attained Mastery of Life, Furio is able to make radical alterations to both his own physical form as well as any other living creature. He can heal, harm, augment, metamorphose, and otherwise alter any type of living creature, without regard for species or physical limitation. Matter Nonorganic material is expressed through Matter Code. Furio makes use of a holographic data prism to scan, study, and project alterations to material substances. Paired with a trinary device, he is able to sample a substance's atomic structure and make changes to it via quantum induction. Having mastered this Codebase, the world of inorganic substance is completely opened to Furio's control. He can create or destroy materials at will, and can reshape existing material into any configuration he desires. Combined with other Codebases, he can seamlessly integrate substances together, without contaminating any of the individual components. He is even capable of creating substances that do not exist in nature, and is able to create wholly new elements beyond those on the periodic table. Mind Conscious thought and emotion are governed by the Mind Codebase. Furio utilizes parallexin, a tailored smart drug, to unlock higher forms of thought. When inhaled in its vapor state, parallexin increases neural conductivity and accelerates active cognition, allowing thoughts to be formed in ways that mimic psychic phenomena. Furio's access to Mind Code has grown advanced, allowing him to maximize his cognitive capabilities and form sophisticated defenses against mental intrusion. He is capable of perfect emotional control and true telepathic contact, as well as linguistic interchange at the root concept level. He has learned to exert subtle control over other thinking minds, altering memory or taking complete control of their processes. True masters of Mind Code are capable of forging entirely new consciousness, the source of true AI, and existing as entities of pure thought.

Prime This Codebase gives access to Currency itself--the Quintessence of the universe, the metaphysical essence that forms all things. It is the fundamental Fifth Force, simultaneously representing potential change and concrete existence. All things are composed of this Quintessence. Solid matter, living organics, all forms of energy, abstract concepts--all are expressions of this fundamental subquantum force. Furio utilizes physical currency to help him focus his mind on perceiving and directing Quintessence. Quintessence can fuel Code access directly, or it can be used in the creation of Devices--objects invested with Code of their own. Having mastered this Codebase, Furio is now capable of drawing upon the subquantum layer of the universe itself, arranging its patterns and charging himself without need for the superabundant Quintessence found in Nodes. He can dissipate the Quintessence forming the Patterns of things, effectively redacting them from existence. Dimension One of the more esoteric Codebases, Dimension Code grants access to the Nearband beyond the Divide that separates the Gaiasphere from the rest of the universe. It also allows interaction with the xenophorm entities that are native to those myriad subdimensions. Furio makes use of a exodimensional oscillation device to access Dimension Code. This hypertech unit, based on a modified smart ring, accepts trinary instructions to manipulate the Divide in a variety of ways. Having Mastered this Codebase, he is capable of a number of exodimensional feats. He is able to manipulate the thickness of the Divide, communicate with xenophorm entities, and even breech the wall between worlds to travel beyond. With time and preparation, he can open free-standing gates in the Divide, allowing passage from either side. He can also interlace a xenophorm into a physical object to create a fetish. At the uppermost limit of his skill, he is capable of traveling to and surviving in the Deep Umbra, as well as metamorphosing ephemeral matter at its most fundamental. Time This demanding Codebase gives a willworker command over time itself. Just as all points in observable space coexist simultaneously, so too do all moments in time coexist simultaneously. This being the case, knowledge of Time Code allows a willworker to view other moments in time, either past or future, and to alter the way the motion of time is experienced. To access Time Code, Furio has designed a smartwatch with an isolinear tachyhedron, a crystalline structure that accumulates and emits tachyon particles, which can be used to manipulate individual points in time.