#technomancy toys

[technomancytoys]

Making a little ghost V-pet!

[yuurei20]

Malleus Facts Part 61: Roaring Drago

Roaring Drago is a tamagotchi-like toy that Lilia bought for Malleus as a souvenir from an unnamed country “back when Silver finally started standing up on his own.”

Lilia says the first time the Roaring Drago pet reached the end of its lifespan Malleus fled the castle to his house, asking what to do.

Malleus says that he had never imagined a toy would be given a finite life span, no matter how fastidiously he cares for it. When the pet disappear in Book 7, leaving an egg in its wake, Silver says that Malleus must be feeling lonely.

Malleus responds that there is nothing to grieve over, as it “simply continues to live out its fictional life inside its miniature garden.”

This gives him an idea.

Lilia says that Malleus’ magic and lightning tend to break precision tech like smartphones, but Drago has remained as it is a cheap toy with parts that are easy to replace.

Malleus says that it has stopped working a few times, and he always gets it fixed.

We see an example of this in a vignette where Malleus accidentally gets soaked in the botanical gardens along with Roaring Drago, which stops working as a result. Cater says that it’s ‘the kind thing you can’t just replace when it breaks,” and he has never seen one in stores.

Malleus explains that as it is completely mechanical, not technomancy, he cannot repair it because he does not understand machinery and cannot fix what he doesn’t understand (the same limitation seems to apply to other things Malleus does not understand, such as loneliness). Malleus gets Deuce to fix it, describing it as a treasure.

He rewards Deuce with a “super-rare ore," saying that he could always arrange for something more if it is not enough, as it is the least he can offer for Deuce fixing something that is very important to him.

Malleus’ wish for the Starsending is “for Roaring Drago to make a friend,” as he recently learned that wireless communication can be used to let it befriend others, but he does not know anyone else who has one. Malleus reflects, “I suppose simply wishing for Dragon to make a friend won’t actually give him one,” and Idia grants his wish by ordering a second tamagotchi online via Ortho.

[mechs-headcanons]

I’m feeling inspired, so woe, assorted headcanons be upon ye.

Brian and Tim can see shrimp colours (yes I know the shrimp thing was debunked but it’s still fun to think about). They’re both able to see in the dark (which Tim does in canon in “Ever After”).

Brian can have extra parts attached to him or his regular parts swapped out for variants, like how both he and Tim can choose different eye colours. Brian can also be equipped with literally whatever accessory someone comes up with and creates, such as various animal parts (ie, horns, antlers, hooves, etc), weird teeth such as fangs, and so on. (In theory, any of the mechs could do this, it’s just easiest with Brian because he’s almost fully metal. That said, Raph sometimes alters or decorates her wings for fun).

Despite being “Space Jesus,” Brian is actually a pantheist.

Marius hates mushrooms

All the Mechs are slightly magical, it’s just only obvious with Brian. In fact, more people have powers, and it’s a relatively normal thing in the mechs universe, with characters like Lyf, Rose, Galahad, and likely many others also having some level of magical ability in one way or another. Marius is able to summon objects, though this only manifests with his violin. Ashes has pyromancy abilities, though their natural aptitude towards arson makes this less obvious. TS is just straight up a magical being in a toy’s body. Jonny, like his TMA counterpart, can compel people to share stories and can occasionally just know stories that he shouldn’t be aware of otherwise. Tim, like several characters in the Suicide Squad franchise, has supernaturally good aim. Ivy has some level of ability to use dream magic. Nastya can use technomancy/technopathy to communicate and understand even non sentient machines. Raph can use aeromancy to some degree and this largely shows up while she’s working on experiments, such as how if she has to boil a liquid, it never boils over even if she doesn’t check on it because her magic is enough to reduce any bubbles in the liquid. This is also part of how she can fly, as she can manipulate the air around her somewhat.

In universe, Stranger is not only inspired by a Japanese folktale, but is also about a relationship Brian had once after being mechanised.

Tim and Brian have bonded at times over the fact they both have space related trauma (moon related for Tim, void and sun for Brian).

Ivy secretly calls TS “Amelia Bedelia” sometimes due to how it follows exact instructions.

Sorry this is so long lol, I got a little excited ☀️

ooooh yes. i like the idea of them being magic

[panthera-dei]

Technomancy 101

Hi, friends! I'm back with another witchy FAQ from the past couple weeks. This time from the world of tech magic!

Here are some quick TL;DR technomancy tips for those who may not want to read the long FAQs post beneath the cut:

1. Chest spells (like a jar spell but with a chest filled with in game items that match the intent)

2. Poppet spells using the game characters by giving them items or altering their names/appearances

3. Similar to a chest spell but not necessarily magic per se - using chests or sheds with in-game items as altars and/or offerings

4. Build a shrine / altar / temple with offerings, or leave an item such as a torch in the game world as an offering

5. Burn/bury/destroy ingredients to activate a spell with the desired effect

6. Write an affirmation or a spell on a sign or other in-game item and destroy it to activate as a sigil

7. Build a golem or animal pen or something as a servitor for protection

8. Use some form of sympathetic magic connecting in-game items to IRL items

9. Light sticks, flashlights, plastic lightsabers, and toy sonic screwdrivers make *awesome* wands, especially if they light up and make noise.

10. The possibilities are limited to your imagination!!

(I am choosing Wittgenstein from The Brave Little Toaster movies as my mascot for tech magic, simply because I like him and because I can. Image credit - Fandom Wiki.)

What is technomancy?: Technomancy, techno magic, and tech magic are all terms for a form of magic that utilizes common modern technology, such as smartphones and video games. Technically, “technomancy” could refer specifically to divination with technology; however, in my experience, the term usually has a broader meaning in common usage. I personally tend to use these terms interchangeably, with perhaps a slight preference for technomancy, since I learned that name first.

What are some forms of technomancy?: Common forms of technomancy include digital sigils, emoji spells, shufflemancy, video game spells, and video game altars.

How do I create a digital sigil?: The ways are about as unlimited as creating a physical sigil on paper. You can use a drawing app on a smartphone or tablet, find a digital sigil generator online, use a photo editor on a picture, or even add a string of charged letters to an email signature (just make sure they blend in!).

OK, and what's the deal with emoji spells?: Yes, this is an actual thing (though not a thing that I'm particularly experienced with). They're pretty straightforward. They can be done like a sigil - string emojis together and charge them. Or like an actual spell - put them together and send to cast, or like to charge and send/reblog to cast.

What kind of games can you use for technomancy?: Any of them. Minecraft is a very popular one. So is Stardew Valley. Skyrim and other RPGs are other common choices. As with other forms of magic, the only real limit is your imagination.

What kind of spells can you cast in a game?:

Chest spells - like digital jar spells - are very common.

Poppet spells are another common choice. In games that allow you to create a character, or in games where you can give items to an NPC, you can turn the character into a poppet of someone and give them an item to cast the spell. For example, if I wanted emotional strength, I could create a Skyrim character as a poppet for myself, and have the character drink a strength potion to cast a spell of strength for myself in the real world.

Burying or burning items in games like Minecraft can be done to cast spells that are similar to physical spells that require burning a paper, bay leaf, or other ingredient.

Enchanting! Use the enchanting function in a video game like Skyrim or Minecraft to enchant a physical object. For example, you might choose to connect a physical scarf to a shield in Skyrim, and when you enchant the in-game shield with a damage resistance effect, voila! You now have a fancy enchanted scarf to protect yourself from spiritual attacks.

Customize your avatar to your advantage! In games such as Sky: Children Of The Light, where you can accessorize your character, you can equip different items to cast a different spell on yourself. For example, you might use the Saluting Captain's staff as a cosmetic to cast a spell of protection on yourself, or you could use a particular cape as a spiritual veil.

For deity work & spirit work, consider creating a space in your game (e.g. a chest, shed, home, biome, character, etc.) dedicated to the entities you work with. For example, temples and altars in Minecraft are common. Devotional sheds and chests are popular in Stardew Valley. I’ve named some appropriate Pokemon after an entity or dedicated the critter to them. You can even place a torch or candle in the game world as an offering.

There are lots more out there, too! This list is a starting point, not a limitation. Use your imagination and swap ideas with others, too!

How exactly does all of this work?? How is it possible?!: OK, so the principle behind tech magic is that you're harnessing the energy of multiple sources.

First, the device itself (and if you're using something like a Switch, the cartridge or other physical media). Each of these items has its own materials - electricity, glass and metal, etc. And each of those materials has a magical property that you can use... Glass and metal come from the Earth and have their own correspondences, while electricity is pure energy in itself.

Second, you have the energy of symbolism, or as I like to think of it with a butchered sociology term, symbolic interactionism - i.e., the idea that we create our own reality (or our *perception* of reality) via symbols. In other words, the power of correspondences! A candle is still a candle whether it's physical or digital. Lapis lazuli has the same qualities in this world that it does in a pixelated version. And so forth. So when you use the correspondences in digital spell work, provided that you raise the energy, it can and does have real world consequences. Similar to doing magic in the astral as opposed to the physical world... you are making a conscious decision to connect a digital item to an effect either in the astral and/or physical worlds.

Finally, you're also harnessing the power of belief and the energy of attention, which is where the chaos magic concepts start to come in. The digital worlds are real because you believe they are and you pour parts of your energy and personality into them - and so do *millions* of other people, in many cases. All of that energy is sort of like a reservoir in these games and it's just waiting to be harvested for spell work!

So… This is another subset of chaos magic, then.: Pretty much, yes. I haven't seen it categorized as anything else yet, except for in those cases where technomancy is given its own category.

And what did you mean by “energy of symbolism” again?: Correspondences. Both traditional ones and your own. For example, obsidian corresponds with protection IRL. So if you were making a chest spell in Minecraft for protection, you'd want to consider adding an obsidian block to your spell. Some of this is also stuff that you can brainstorm on your own and explore! Like for example, in the Elder Scrolls series, there are several plants and items that don't exist IRL, such as the corkbulb root - but in the game, that item can be used to make a potion of healing, so for me, it has a healing correspondence. Also, if the game you’re playing has spells already, you can consider how to adapt those spells to affect the real world in a logical, realistic way! Many pop culture magicians have done a great job of turning Pokemon moves into real spells, for example. So feel free to play around (pun intended) and see what works best for you!

How come you only mentioned shufflemancy once in this whole entire post??: That, my friend, needs to be a post for a later date. I assure you, I absolutely can (and probably already have, and probably eventually will) write an entire post about shufflemancy.

How come your formatting is crap?: Because I wrote all of this on a smartphone and pieced it into a post with the mobile app. Bear with me. XD

Where do I learn more and fact check you, smarty-pants?: Tumblr. The answer is usually Tumblr for this kind of thing. Or sometimes Discord. Like pop culture magic, techno magic is simply very new. Some tags to search include tech magic, techno magic, technomancy, video game magic, etc.

[diodellet]

extra thoughts and headcanons i had while writing stress (relief):

nsfw under the cut, minors do not interact

the excessive handholding is there because jamil doesn't like letting people touch his hair (maybeeee for a special someone on a special day for a special occasion, but with his relationship to reader at that moment in the fic, ain't gonna happen oops)

i had the briefest thought that reader's vibrator is obv a twisted wonderland-brand sex toy = can be powered by magic

(ofc, this would also imply feelings as magic, extra signaling to those building feelings of affection on jamil's end etc etc. mans does his hair with magic and resorts to fire magic at first sight of a bug++i dont think his sense of control extends to pleasant feelings the way that he can easily bottle up his negative emotions)

but then i realized that it would work better in a scenario with idia? or malleus? sebek??? (dont know if anyone else in the twst cast is good at technomancy/how That branch of magic works exactly but,,, the idea's there now, to be used another day)

but ig that could be an angle for another smutshot,,, just reader gettin a whole new ensemble of magical sex toys for rest and recreation with jamil 🤔 who knows

[360homesecurity]

So up early this morning to basically carry out a couple of CAT cable runs for internet hardwire access points for a client home in Stevenage that having a major refurbishment.

I thought today I'll give my NEW TOY, a #dewalt wall chaser a test run...

The results well I'm not saying nothing other than it was easy to setup and to use, gave me a quick way of chasing cables into a wall, all done neat and tidy.

2 done, 2 more left.

Secure | Protect | Monitor

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[akhenaten-imhotep]

"Now that you mention it, I do indeed believe there is something tying them to this place. It probably is the device depicted in the drawings. Shit happens during times of mass death."

He carefully studied the drawings which showed the city's decline and descent into anarchy. Things weren't any different from what happened in other places during the Age of Strife, judging from the sources he had found during his expeditions.

His mind went to those who died.Having sympathy for them like was like looking for a needle in a haystack. The eye of terror was a dog eat dog world, in which the weak existed to be the toys of the strong. If they could not protect themselves, then they should get out of the way of those who can.

Those thoughts felt seductive, for they were familiar. Showing vulnerability, asking for help and admitting his own flaws were things he struggled with; even after having spent centuries not living the life of a chaos marine. He looked back, for looking forward scared him.

"Why would someone want a broken shell of a man unable to connect to others? The Geists should have left me to the tender mercies of the necromancers who brought me back from the dead."

He was so caught up in his own dissapointment in himself, that he did not notice he had spoken out loud. The marine turned around after hearing Ana's voice and noticed the train cars. Scans revealed they were sturdy enough to support him and Jenny.

"I just have to see if I can put them back in order." Normally, he would have used technological scans. But the train cars being so old made him feel it would be better to use his passive technomancy to get a better perception of things. He walked towards the vehicles until he was standing right in front of them.

The temperature dropped as he removed the gauntlet covering his organic hand and laid it on top of the train car closer to him. He lost track of time as he analyzed it in search of any flaws. His mind took note of any he could find before he moved on the next car to repeat the same process.

Once he was done, he put his glove back on and approached the generator wagon. Despite looking battered, the train was still functional. It took around 45 minutes, but eventually he was able to get the generator going. "Jenny, Ana, I managed to put the train back in order. Now, follow me inside the driver's train car. It will be easier to be safe if we are in one place."

The moment he was inside he immediately went to the control panel. The astartes recited the ritual incantations as he brought the train back to life. Slowly, the machine awakened with a groan, as if it had been caught in a deep sleep. For some reason Achilles felt energized. Maybe it was the fact he was succesful in awakening such an ancient machine.

☢️ (Achilles, he, Ana and Jenny are exploring dark age of technology ruins.)

The long dead hive soared high into the clouds before them. The colossal arcology’s geometric structure looked nothing like the titanic gothic edifices of Imperial hive cities but its design instead hinted at something far older, to a time long before even the Age of Strife.

Even from here Ana could see the vast gaping holes that now marred what must have once been a sleek exterior.

Wind and dust battered her form and she wrapped the scarf around her nose and mouth tighter. The glassy dust attempting entry into her eyes and lungs made her glad that she and Jenny had both worn goggles and face scarves among other things. Her duster jacket flapped in the wind behind her, revealing flak armor.

Jenny wore a weather-worn and Ogryn-sized jacket beneath heavy body armor. Over her shoulder was slung an intimidating looking Thunderstrike claw hammer instead of her usual ripper gun.

[stagkingswife]

Clickity Clack, Please Chat Back

Using Recycled Computer Keyboards for Spirit Communication Divination

I’ve been offering this new reading over in the Archives discord server, and have been having some pretty good results, or at least I think so - reviews have been thin on the ground. I had been toying with the idea of using recycled keyboard keys for divination for awhile and this specific style of reading came to me like all great ideas, in the shower. Instead of trying to use the keys for predictive divination what if I used it for communicative divination. Let a spirit communicate through the keys picked! It toes the line on my “no mediumship” rules for my readings, but if I offer minimal interpretation, leave identification up to the querent, and emphasis that it’s then up to them to do any additional introspection, divination, or research they need to reach back out to this entity to continue the conversation - hence the “Please chat back” part of the title.

There are two sections for this reading: Letter Keys and Symbol Keys. For the former I pick about a dozen or so letter keys without repeats and arrange them into a few words. These words are the messages being conveyed to the querent by whatever entity presents itself for communication during the reading. The Symbol Keys are any keys from the keyboard that don't have a letter on them. These keys give querent some insight into what type of entity it is that is sending the above messages. These keys give clues to the entity’s personality, type, disposition, and perhaps how they relate to the querent.

This started as a silly little technomancy experiment and has turned into one of my favorite readings/styles of divination that I have created! I just wanted to share the success that I’ve had with this little experiment to encourage others who have been toying with an idea to go ahead and try it!

[f001onthehill]

unusual OC associations

tagged by @chevvy-yates thanks!!!

tagging: @miss--river @katsigian @wanderingaldecaldo @wraithsoutlaws @a-pirate @sammysilverdyne @spicyraeman @rindemption @jaymber @noirapocalypto ... and (in case you haven't been tagged yet and this looks like something you'd like to do) *you*!

° Vasily

seasoning: sichuan pepper weather: cool, sunny and breezy colour: black (& bright-coloured accents) sky: deep blue sky & white clouds rushing across magic power: does technomancy count? house plant: bamboo weapon: squeaky toy hammer subject: IT but also English/Literature social media: community webs, discussion boards make-up product: graphic eyeliner (black or jewel-toned) candy: ICE CREAM fear: death (both in literal and metaphorical sense) ice cube shape: nugget method of long distance travel: off-road bike; train art style: grunge mythological creature: phoenix piece of stationery: sharpie three emojis: 🥺🍨🥳 celestial body: Mercury

° Vitaly

seasoning: cloves weather: rain/fog at night colour: black or white, gold or red accents sky: neon-tinted storm clouds magic power: shapeshifting and/or blood magic house plant: hibiscus weapon: so basically, Vitaly has two settings: a sniper rifle - or a meat cleaver subject: Art, P.E. social media: none make-up product: luxury dark eye-shadow, black mascara candy: high-quality chocolate fear: God ice cube shape: standard size cube method of long distance travel: Herrera Outlaw GTS art style: tenebrism mythological creature: revenant piece of stationery: paint palette & a set of brushes three emojis: ✨💋🗡️ celestial body: Venus

[danetobelieve]

Fairy Lights || Orion and Winston

Note: This happened before the eye chatzy

It was time. It was the day that they had both been waiting for. Winston and Orion had been prepping for this for days now and they finally both had a free day to fully set up the electronics, internet, cable and anything else that Rio wanted in there room. “I’m honestly beyond excited,” Winston said pulling their tool box down from the shelf in the workshop and making their way up the stairs towards Rio’s room, which was now opposite their room and beneath the massive attic that was Ricky’s room, “once we’ve got your room set up then we should definitely start thinking about how you want your corner of the workshop to look, obviously you’re gonna need a tonne of light for all the reading.” 

Orion still wasn’t completely convinced that this hadn’t all been some kind of idealistic day dream. He was almost afraid that at any moment he was going to wake up in his bed, back at the Quinn household being yelled at to get to the guest house for training. But instead, he got to wake up in a bedroom and be greeted by friends and most of the time, breakfast. It all seemed too good to be true sometimes. “I can’t believe this is real,” Rio found himself admitting to Winston, thankful that the resident tech expert was around to help make sure that things were hooked up correctly. For the most part, Rio was decent with technology. He was a computer science major so he hoped that he could function around the stuff. But it was nice to have some that knew for sure what they were doing. Plus it was just a good excuse to hang out with Winston. “I get a corner of the workshop? Woah.” What the heck was he supposed to do there? “Actually, never mind I’ll stress about that after we figure this room out.” 

“You know, living with us really isn’t that great that you’ve got to pretend that you’re in a state of disbelief about it,” Winston teased with a bright smile. Reaching up to their glasses, Winston shifted them for a moment before walking into Rio’s room backwards with their arms full of cables, a monitor and a keyboard. “Yes, you get a corner of the workshop, even if you don’t want to do anything with it I think that Ricky is insisting that we all have a space that we feel is our own. Which is super nice of him.” They had to admit that Ricky had been nothing short of saintlike, for the both of them. “Don’t worry, you don’t need to stress about it, you could even just turn it into the place that you do your college work. I only really use the workshop for college work and working on the technomancy.” They set the box down on Orion’s bed and looked around the sizeable room that had once been a library for Ricky. “So, what do you want to start with?”

 Orion rolled his eyes at Winston’s comment, clearly joking but downplaying how great the two of them had been since Rio has shown up at their door. They had gone way out of their way to make him feel welcome in the home. “I want to get my whole screen area set up first.” He waved in the direction of his desk, hoping to figure all of that out first and foremost. It was the most important part of his room by far. “This laptop basically has my entire life on it, so.” He smiled and waved the thing around for show. “After that I had some ideas... like Bluetooth maybe. Some colorful lights to go around the room. Okay admittedly that’s the end of my creativity. But it’ll be fun regardless! We can figure more things out as we go along.” Rio explained, digging into a bag that he had bought from the store with a few of the supplies and ideas that he had in mind. “My game system is already downstairs so I’m not worried about that I guess. Pretty much as long as the internet works that’s all I need. Ooh and a bookshelf obviously. But let’s start with the desk.”

“Yeah, that was obvious, I should’ve guessed screens first,” Winston replied with a smirk as they started to pull the brackets and mounts that they would need. “So you want like just the one monitor? Two? I think I have a third somewhere and you could always buy a fourth? Like basically we can set this up so that it works however you want.” They understood loving a computer more then yourself, Winston would literally kill someone if they lost their harddrive. It had everything, their research, their magical notes and less importantly their college stuff. “Well, bluetooth and mood lighting are things that we can make happen, and we can definitely hook it all up to the AI system that I am going to write to replace Alexa because I don’t trust Jeff Bezzos as far as I can’t throw him.” They pulled an extension chord from the box and plugged it in. “Can you pass me all of those metal things, I gotta stick the brackets to the wall so that you can adjust your screen height and shit.” They grabbed a screw driver and began rummaging along beneath the desk. “So, how are you settling in?”  

“I- uh, I don’t know” Orion stumbled through, “I’ve never had anything but my laptop screen I guess. I thought I was lucky to get a single monitor I’ve never even thought about getting even more screens.” What could he possibly use that much screen space for? He supposed it would be helpful for research purposes and cross checking. Though he would need to get farther into his project of translating the text before he could ever think about actually using it for research. “I can’t believe you can just build an AI. That’s so cool. And I could totally throw Jeff pretty far, but same.” He laughed and shrugged, tossing the requested metal objects over to Winston and standing off to the side as Winston grabbed a drill and explained that they could hang his monitor. Like on the wall. Winston was way too cool. “You’re joking right?” Rio has strayed away from the desk to take in the room and try to plan how he could hang the lights. He wondered how many lights were too many or if that number existed. “I don’t think I had much of a choice besides settling in. You guys forced me to a burden.” He was joking of course, he was overly gracious for all they had done, “You’re both like the best roommates anyone could ask for. Besides the fact that I’ve been thrown through a window and almost drowned now following you places. Which for the record, I totally did because you went there.”

“Cool so we’ll start with two and then you can decide if you need more, I personally think three is perfect but everyone is different.” Winston worked quickly, it wasn’t that hard really, most ot the work was done for them, all they had to do was mount the struts and attach everything securely to the wall. “I have never actually built an AI before, but I don’t think it should be that much hardwork, plus I’ve got a few side projects going on that mean that it might be easier, I’m kind of toying with a few ideas on incorporating magic into things further, we’ll see I guess.” Winston smirked gently at Orion’s joke, it was a cute joke. Frowning gently, Winston shook their head. “Not joking at all, you’ve seen some of the shit that Ricky makes, drilling holes in walls is nothing.” They laughed gently and shrugged. “Yeah, I think we’re now kind of duty bound to be extra nice to you because we keep putting you in dangerous situations, although, we got some good information from the lake and the mime place, the killer mimes weren’t exactly our fault either, so, it could be worse. We had Skylar over for a dinner party and almost got turned into dinner by the giant crabs that attacked.” 

“Yeah, for sure. It’s a good start.” Orion agreed, staring up at the walls of the ceiling. It wasn’t that the ceilings were unfathomably tall, but Rio was only 5’8. He would need a ladder or some kind of step stool if he had any hope of hanging those lights. “Oh right. Building an AI sounds so easy. Just a day’s work.” Rio stated nonchalantly just as Winston had made it sound. Magic or not, it was impressive. He rested his chin into the palm of his hand, pondering a plan of action. “You’re not duty bound to do anything for my technically speaking, but considering your mime fireballed me…” Rio shrugged watching as Winston worked their magic. Or well, considering Winston really could work magic, Rio supposed Winston was just plain old working right now. But Rio enjoyed watching Winston work. He pretty much enjoyed any time he got to spend with Winston. “Yikes. I can’t say I’m especially heartbroken that I never had to deal much with the creepy karkinoid things. But I’m glad you all weren’t hurt.” He fell back on the bed and continued watching Winston, realizing maybe a bit too late that Winston was working to put Rio’s monitor together for his own room. “I’m literally not doing anything. I should probably lend a hand. Considering it’s my room and all.” He face palmed himself and then jumped off of the bed, “Do you need me to hold something in place or do anything while you drill? Not sure if you heard or not, but I am pretty strong despite the lack of muscles.”

“I mean, the majority of the coding that it would require is probably accessible through open source software libraries, the majority of the other stuff that I would need it to uniquely coded to the home would be difficult, but I can’t see it being completely impossible, plus I really enjoy it so it isn’t like it’s work or anything like that.” Winston shrugged. They’d always found tech so much easier then anything. It just worked for them and they understood how to make it do what they wanted. “Yeah, I feel like if your mime had fireballed me then I would also be pretty pissed, and … sorry that I didn’t tell you about the magic and you had to find out that way. I’m … well believe it or not I am really new to all of this and I don’t really like telling people about the magic because there is a vampire that hunts spellcasters and it’s dangerous…” they swallowed gently and turned back to their work. “But she just thinks I’m good with tech so we’re safe for now.” They paused and sighed. “Thanks, I’m glad that I wasn’t hurt too, and I’m very glad that you got to avoid dealing with them.” Pausing for a second longer, Winston took a long breath and realised they needed something from their kit. “Pass me the pencil in the top of the tool and then can you hold the monitor in place whilst I make sure that it’s all lined up so it isn’t crooked.” Winston marked the various spots on the wall and positioned the drill before beginning on the holes. “Is that because you’re a hunter? Like genetically?” Winston asked curiously. 

“Oh right. Super easy. I think I’ll just do it, since you explained it and everything.” Orion laughed, not even sure where he would possibly begin to try to do something like that, and he had the basics of coding down. He wasn’t great at it, but he understood how it worked. “Don’t sell yourself short. I think you’re super impressive.” Rio assured, his face turning red immediately and trying to backtrack, “it’s. I think it’s super impressive. Like your tech skills is what I meant. Not that you’re not impressive. But like I was talking about it specifically. You know? Okay.” He needed to shut himself up immediately. He welcomed the opportunity to talk about secrets instead. “Please, don’t apologize to me about that. It’s not like I offered up my secret or anything either. You’re not obligated to tell me anything you don’t want to.” Rio was curious by nature, but he didn’t consider himself especially nosey. He liked learning but liked to keep that separate from learning about others private lives. He had learned from his mistake with Skylar. It was their story to tell, not his to seek out. “Right, well make sure to keep your distance. And let me know if she does anything sketchy. Not that I can really do much, but I want to make sure you stay safe.” He didn’t know anything about the witch hunter in town, but knew enough. A hunter was a hunter, no matter what it was that they targeted. They couldn’t be trusted. Rio jumped at the opportunity to help, picking up the monitor in one hand and reaching to grab the pencil with his free hand. He held the monitor up, balancing it against the wall and passed the pencil off. “Yeah. Being born a hunter comes with some perks. Or I guess you could call them perks. Enhanced strength, heightened senses. Night vision. All stuff I can’t really complain about, but wish I never had.”

“I’m sure you would work it out eventually and I could help, it could definitely be a group project.” Winston really liked Orion. He made them laugh. He was kind. He cared about helping other people, so much so that he had rejected a family of hunters because he knew that what they were doing was not right. Winston felt a warm glow over take them and gave Rio a bright smile. “Thanks dude, I’m glad that I impress you so much.” They weren’t sure that they had been called super impressive by anyone. But they knew that they liked it. “Either way, I think you’re trying to compliment me and I’m just going to take it.” Winston paused and nodded. “Okay, thanks, I just, I wanted to explain myself because I would really love to show off to more people but I can’t and I didn’t want you to think that it was because I didn’t trust you, because I cannot express to you how glad I am that I met you watching anime and then I sleep walked in on you and you know, this is awesome. I’m glad you’re here.” Winston was worried that they might have said too much in that moment, but they really enjoyed Orion living with them and they weren’t about to apologise for it. This definitely was not a mistake. “I’ll be fine, I’ve got it under control and Nell wouldn’t let her hurt me and you know then there's everyone else who might help.” Winston paused to consider Rio’s reply. “Just because you were born with gifts that has been used one way, doesn’t mean you can’t use those gifts to help others.”

“Well I definitely wouldn’t say no to a group project. I love helping you with stuff. But I definitely think I’ll let you take charge on the AI thing. I can help clean up coding along the way or something where I’m more involved like in a support role. I can keep the coffee flowing for you.” Orion felt himself blushing, and he was exactly sure why. Of course Winston impressed Rio, he shouldn’t be embarrassed by that. And yet the idea that Rio had something wrong or suggestive was mortifying to him. “I’m definitely complimenting you. Just not like weirdly complimenting you. If that makes sense. I don’t think it does. Let’s ignore that comment.” Oh boy. Now Winston was complimenting Rio. And Rio really didn’t know how to handle that. He couldn’t imagine how red his face must be at the moment. “I- uh feel the same way. Seriously, I just am really bad at expressing it apparently. But like... you sorta changed my entire life, when you accidentally strolled into the Scribe building, so I can’t thank you enough for your friendship and stuff.” His mouth felt dry as he tried to express his gratitude to Winston. Winston was a majority of the reason that Rio had finally gotten the courage to leave, and was certainly part of the reason he had made the progress he had with the Scribe building. It felt weird expressing feelings like this, but Rio didn’t mind it. “Good. I think you’re pretty capable by yourself, but it makes me feel better that Nell knows about it too. She’s awesome.” Winston made the same argument that others had made for Rio’s abilities, and of course they were right. Rio wished he could separate the powers from the family, to make himself hate the gifts a little less. “It just doesn’t seem fair. This... I don’t know what to call it. Curse? That doesn’t sound right either. But I just wish I was a normal human sometimes.”

“Cool, well, I’ll see what needs doing around here and if we think of something else we can work on that too.” Winston wasn’t going to say no to help, nor a chance to hang with Rio. They listened carefully, patiently to everything that Orion had to say. They were maybe the only person that they had ever met who stumbled over their own words as much as Winston did. “I get it, you’re complimenting me.” They smiled. Rio didn’t make them feel nervous or uncomfortable. Not like so many other people in this supernatural world. Miriam, Deirdre, hell even Athena. Not to mention all the other weirdos that were out there. Hunters, Slayers, Wardens, they were all just a piece of the puzzle but none of that seemed to factor into it with Rio. “Don’t worry, sometimes explaining things is easier … well I was going to say said then done but that’s not helpful,” they laughed and shrugged, “I get it. We’re both happier now we’re doing this shit. It’s cool.” They smiled and turned back to their drilling, placing the wall bracket and beginning to mount the monitors. “Curse seems dramatic, but I think you’re looking at it in the wrong light. You’re not a weapon or a tool, you’re a person. Sure, you’re not /entirely/ human but these days who is? I know i’m not, you now know for sure that Ricky is also … not. Some of my best friends are barely even a little human. The world sucks, and you’ve got super strength and regeneration? I don’t think that’s a curse at all. Sounds a lot more like a blessing to me. Not just for you, but everyone else that you decide to help with it. 

Despite the way Orion seemed to specialize at stuffing his foot in his mouth, seemed to understand what Rio was trying to say. Rio enjoyed how much the two had in common. He had made a good amount of friends the last few months, and they were all the kind of people that Rio never thought he would actually have made friends with. Winston was one of the few that Rio seemed to have a lot in common with. But for fear of embarrassing himself again, Rio decided that they two had already had their heart to heart. So instead of trying to form some sappy response, Rio laughed and nodded at Winston and focus on the human topic instead. “I don’t know what you mean, when have I ever been dramatic?” Rio asked innocently. He would reign a halo if one of his hands wasn’t be used to hold a monitor in place. “But yeah, I get your point. It’s weird. I want everyone that’s not human to embrace themselves and understand that they’re not a monster or evil like the narrative tells them. And then I can’t do it for myself.” For some reason, when Winston said it Rio actually wanted to believe the words. “Thank you, seriously. I really want to help. And I know you do too. I don’t really know much about your world. Magic and all. I’d love to learn more about it. Like your experience with it, I mean.”

“Well, there was the time that someone threw a fireball at you, there was the time that we were running from that mime spider, there was the time that you arrived at our house drenched from the rain because you’d been too dramatic to ask us to pick you up…” Winston scratched their chin in faux confusion, “need I go on?” They smirked gently, hoping that Rio would take the teasing in the good natured manner that it had been given. They finished placing the monitor on the wall and settled on the desk for a moment, drawing their knees up under their chin and drumming their long fingers against the wooden top. “Sometimes the hardest advice to accept is your own, believe me, I learned that one the hard way.” They pulled themselves to their feet and wandered over to the bed to take a good look at it from a distance. “That looks straight? Right?” Winston should probably get a spirit level, but if Rio couldn’t notice then they wouldn’t have to. “I mean, dude, I don’t know what to say, there isn’t that much to tell, I’ve been doing it for just more then five months now and for the first three months I was stumbling along uselessly in the dark. The last two months, well we’re getting there but I’ve still got a very long way left to go.” Winston shrugged gently and began hooking up the LAN cable that they’d need to hardwire Orion’s computer into the internet. “You probably have more experience then me.” 

“Ha ha. Very funny.” Rio faked a laugh in Winston’s direction and tried to go for a fake pouting face. “I don’t see how the fireball thing was my fault. Okay well I guess I was the one that actually dove through the window, but that was the only way I could think to get away from it.” He defended himself, though he was grinning the whole time. “Yeah, so I’ve heard. Not sure I’ve ever taken my own advice to find out for myself.” He shrugged. He meant it as a joke to keep the mood light, but his tone felt flatter than it had before. Self esteem issues were no fun, especially when he was trying to tone them down. He knew how Ricky got around self deprecation and he was trying to avoid anymore compliment battles with him in the kitchen. When Winston got everything screwed in they both took a step away and tried to figure out if everything was hanging properly, “I don’t know. I feel like we covered that I don’t really understand straight very well.” Rio tried to remain serious for effect, but was giggling by the end of the sentence. He needed to brighten the mood a bit. “Got it. So this world is all pretty much new to you then?” Rio asked them, absentmindedly pushing at the mounted monitor to see just how easy it was to adjust it. That was way cool. “I’ve known about the supernatural for as long as I can remember. I never knew much about witches aside from the existing. There were a few that helped out hunters sometimes but besides that all I know is how strong they can be. I’m glad you’re getting a better handle on it though.”

“In your defense, if someone threw a fireball at me then I would also probably leap through a giant pane of glass in an attempt to get away from it.” Winston smirked gently, Rio was cute. That grin was very cute, even if it was shit eating. “Well, maybe you should break that bad habit and for the first time in your life you should take your own advice, I know that seems like a novel thought but who knows what you would be able to do if you took some advice better then my own for once?” It was Winston’s turn to grin now. Rio was actually really funny when you let him get out of his shell. He was smart too. “Ha, you kill me dude,” Winston adjusted their glasses and shook their head as they laughed. “Literally dude, I found out that werewolves were real less then five months ago, maybe slightly more at this point but fuck, yeah, all super new, all super terrifying.” They were still wrapping their head around their new reality and there were many days where Winston simply sat there wondering what the hell had gone on to make all of this happen. “I’m starting to learn a lot more and there are lots of paths to take, like a coven asked if I wanted to join, I said know, but you know that’s always an option.” Winston perched on the end of the bed. “It’s pretty scary sometimes, this, whole deal, but then people like you are always here to help and … that really helps.” 

“You know, sometimes I take Ricky’s advice too. Works about as well as yours.” Orion seemed to be making some progress, as far as his anxiety went. He felt more comfortable around Ricky and Winston daily. He was able to joke around with them, hang out with them while feeling relatively at ease. He was even able to play some of his games around them, which he had never been comfortable enough with before. He had always enjoyed watching them play games, but had always talked himself out of playing any himself while they were there. “Yeah… that’s a lot to take in all at once.” Rio couldn’t imagine the culture shock. Once it began, it all poured in at once too it seemed. That must have been a pretty stressful time. “I think you’ve handled it all really well though. Considering everything.” And he wasn’t lying about that, Rio wouldn’t have known that Winston had just learned about the supernatural without Winston telling him just now. He really seemed like a natural. “But uh, you know I’ll always help however I can… Can I ask why you said no to the coven?”

“Ricky’s advice is usually better then mine,” Winston replied with a smirk, “he usually knows when something is a bad idea, I just don’t usually do anything that will probably get me killed. Usually. Ok, maybe it is the other way around.” Winston was glad that they were beginning to see Rio come out of his shell a little bit more, of all of the people who were new to their life Winston was beyond glad that Rio was among them. He was important. “Yeah, I won’t lie, it was a bit of a change, but some of it has been really cool. Like, I find it difficult to really find a good reason to complain about being given the ability to cast magic spells, there are much worse things that someone could have to deal with let’s be real.” Winston smirked gently and shrugged. “Thanks dude, it is what it is, can’t change any of it now, just got to keep going you know.” They considered it for a second. “The person who invited me, it’s their coven, like they’ve always been part of it and we’re really good friends, I just, I want this journey to be mine. I worry that joining a coven would get political and plus coven’s have rules and no offense, I kind of don’t want to be restricted by more rules.”

“Well we’ve lived through everything. So I think that’s all that matters.” Orion shrugged. Putting himself in danger wasn’t exactly Rio’s favorite thing to do. Nor did it make any of his top ten lists. But for Winston? Rio supposed he could make an exception or two. Rio was pretty sure he’d do just about anything for his roommates at this point. Especially because someone needed to be the levelheaded one. “The supernatural world can be really cool. Besides all the, like horrors and dangers of it.” Rio found his fascination with the subject was hard to explain. On one hand, he loved learning about the supernatural and their cultures. On the other hand, he knew that they had to live in fear. Of people exactly like Rio. “But it’s awesome learning about what others can do and what makes them unique.” And that was all he really wanted, and it seemed like his beliefs lined up pretty well with Winston’s too which was nice. “I’ve never thought of it that way, but I get it. You deserve that time to grow for yourself.” Rio wished there was a way that he could help Winston more. Maybe they could find some more information on magic at the Scribe building to share. Something that could help them learn about magic without the need for a coven. “Besides, a coven is just like a… family you know? And you already have that.” Wow that was corny. Rio sighed at himself, rubbing at his temples and now digging through the bag to pull out the lights he had bought. “I need a step stool if I’m supposed to be tall enough to hang these.”

Swallowing, Winston shrugged and looked to the rest of the room. They still had work ahead of them, but it wasn’t as if this was difficult. “I just wish it was less violent, maybe that’s naive of me but I just don’t see why everyone is so insistent on killing each other all of the time. Like, we get it, you don’t like each other. Chill out please.” Fiddling with their glasses, Winston straightened them on their face once more and shrugged. “Exactly, I’ve got my own coven; though most of them aren’t witches. It’s not even just the whole family thing though, I don’t know. There feels something different or difficult about it, I’m not ready for that step yet.” Winston bit their lip as they tried to think of how to explain it. Nell’s coven just left a bad feeling in their stomach. Winston looked up at the ceiling and tried to think of the best way that they would be able to do this. “Can you like lay out on the floor how you want your fairy lights because I’ve got a cool idea that I want to try out, but I need to know how you want it to look first?” 

“You and me both. But it won’t stop. Or well… they won’t stop.” Orion wished that it would of course, but he knew that it was just wishful thinking. The hunters would never give up on their quest.  They were too sanctimonious. Convinced that they had some right above others to extinguish life from this planet. It wasn’t fair or right, but they couldn’t be convinced of that. Of course, Rio wasn’t completely blind. They knew that the supernatural could be dangerous too. It was all a messed up situation. “I get it. And sorry… to bring it up and all. I support whatever you want to do.” At Winston’s suggestion, Rio knelt down, arranging the lights along in a row. “Maybe some kind of strings like this? I thought it might be cool to have a single wall of them that I could hang pictures or something on. I don’t know. I can obviously get the lower stuff but the top of the wall won’t be easy.

“It won’t stop if people take that attitude to it,” Winston replied with a shrug, “but it does suck, no one needs to be dealing with someone hunting and hating them just because of what they are.” Winston paused for a second and wondered how they would actually ever be able to effect real change on such a dangerous and difficult world. “Thanks, that means a lot. I don’t think I will do anything, at least not yet.” There was still too much for them to learn. There were so many points of view in the supernatural world and Winston didn’t want to become biased. “Cool, okay, let me try something new.” They smiled and grabbed the end of the fairy lights, plugging them into the wall, they flicked the switch on. Pausing for a moment before reaching out carefully, Winston extended their presence and will. Feeling the flow of energy surging through the wires and illuminating the tiny bulbs, Winston began to move the wire. It wiggled a little as they got used to the motion before carefully beginning to snake it’s way up the side of the wall before settling in place. “Like that?” 

“I don’t mean to be a buzzkill,” Orion started. He didn’t know how to explain it to Winston without sounding even more pessimistic. That people like his family wouldn’t stop until they were stopped. And Rio hadn’t figured out how to do that yet. “I just- I don’t know. Sorry. I don’t really want to be the kind of person that thinks that way. It’s just hard, I guess.” He didn’t really know what he was saying anymore. Rio was happy to focus instead on the lights, which Winston was putting up… like with their mind. “Holy woah.” Rio held his hand up towards the wall but stopped himself before getting in the way of Winston’s magic. “This is perfect. I can’t believe that you can just… do this y’know? That’s so cool!”

“It’s cool, I get it. The stuff you’ve experienced has tinegd your perception and I would probably feel the same. But I’ve got to believe that we can change things. Otherwise I have to live in a world I don’t like.” Winston wasn’t about to sit idly anymore. They could affect real change. “I get it though.” Winston felt a bead of sweat trickle down the side of their temple. They could feel the exhaustion in them. A shortness in their breath. They were still getting used to magic and show off had taken it’s slight toll. “Thanks, I’m still fucking around with the tech magic, but I think there’s some real potential outside of wire hanging.” Winston couldn’t help but grin. It felt good to impress Orion. 

“No, you’re right. And I want things to be like that too. I just haven’t figured out how that’s possible.” Orion wanted to be like Winston, positive thinking and not willing to withstand any less than. How did Rio get himself to be like that? “Yet, at least.” Maybe the trick was to just stick around with Winston. That was assuming Winston didn’t get them killed first. Rio was staring at the wall, watching as the lights snaked across the wall. But he heard the change in Winston’s breath. He turned around, noticing the swear pooling on their face. “Are you okay?” Rio moved back over towards Winston to get a better look. “Is that what using the magic does to you?” Rio questioned. It made sense, thinking about it. The energy for the spells had to come from somewhere. But was it dangerous? It had to be, if overused. “You need water or something?”

“I don’t know either, but we’ll work something out and see if we can change things, but I know that’s not super likely.” Winston shrugged gently and smiled, it was a hard road but it was nice that they had friends along with them to help them along the way. Winston just hoped that it all worked out in the end. Though they weren’t sure how they would. “Yeah, I’m okay, I kind of need to keep trying to flex the magical muscles as much as I can so that I can develop more and keep the stuff going, I don’t know if that makes sense.” Winston shrugged and looked at their shoes. “Magic requires energy, I have a theory about using electricity to power magic but right now that isn’t the point, when I use magic, the energy comes from me which is exhausting. But this was worth it.” 

“I think if anybody can do it, it’s probably you. Or well, us I mean. Like us working together.” Orion shrugged. He still wasn’t incredibly optimistic. But he knew that if he thought there was a world that could change. It started with people like Winston and Blanche, others that were excited to learn about the supernatural and embrace the differences instead of fearing and condemning it. “And by us I mean like… all of us. Blanche and Ricky and Nell and others too.” Rio listened to Winston explain about the magic using up energy. He wasn’t going to pretend to understand how it would work to use technology to power magic, but Winston didn’t seem to have all the answers yet either. Rio would just let Winston work on that. “Do you exercise a lot?” Rio found himself asking. “Uh- Well having the enhanced strength and senses that hunters have, we expend a lot of energy when we do stuff. So we tend to have big appetites and get tired out quickly. So one of the big things that we are taught is training up endurance. So that you can go longer when the time comes. Maybe we could… try something like that? The more physical endurance and energy you have, I bet the same goes for your magical ability potential.”

“Well it isn’t like that is a lot of pressure to put on one guy, so let’s go with working together. But yeah, I think we can make a change. Winston bit their lip for a second and gazed at Rio thoughtfully, they were a good friend and maybe a better person. Winston paused for a moment and nodded. “I get it, we all have to pull our weight if this is going to work.” They shrugged gently and shook their head. “I know it looks like I’m super unfit but I’m also slightly asthmatic which makes exercise … interesting, so, you know I try and work out, but yeah, it would probably be a good idea to do it more…”

Orion still had doubts, for sure. He was skeptical that there was any chance he could convince the hunters that things could change. But he knew hunters that had already started to doubt the way of life. Maybe it wasn’t as far off as Rio thought it was. “It sounds really cheesy right? But whatever. Someone has to do it, I guess.” He wanted to stay positive for Winston and for Blanche and others that actually wanted the change. “I don’t think you look unfit” Rio mumbled, hoping that didn’t sound weird to say to them. “But uh- swimming! We could try swimming? Swimming is specifically recommended to those who have asthma. Sometimes chlorinated swimming pools can though so we would want to be careful with that.” Rio trailed off, thinking of places that they could try out. “I guess the ocean, but the place doesn’t seem like the safest right now.”

“I’m sure we can think of something, but usually I’m fine around pools. Besides it’s not like I’m going to die of an asthma attack any day now, it’s just something I have to manage. Usually it’s not even a huge problem at all, but yeah, it would be cool to do something like that with you.” Winston smiled gently and nodded, swimming was something that they could manage. Although the last time that they had been in water it hadn’t ended well, they were sure that wasn’t going to happen everytime.

[technomancytoys]

About a month ago I decided to learn programming so I could level up my electronics journey, and am currently enjoying the roller coaster ride of learning to program microcontrollers. Although I have many ideas that I wish to develop, I first chose to co-create a magic mirror device with a witch named Eryk.

This is a small handheld electronic device that looks like a little scrying mirror, but when powered up, the mirror reveals a face that talks to you. You can ask it a yes or no question, which it will answer, and it has a divination mode, where you can ask a more specific question or obtain a general fortune.

I am still troubleshooting the hardware, which includes an ESP32, an OLED display and a DFPlayer mini. I started with an Arduino and a small OLED and everything was working well until I hit the memory limit of the Arduino. I upgraded to an ESP32, which I had to adjust my code to, and then decided to upgrade again to a slightly larger OLED. Along the way I somehow acquired almost as many electronic components as there are trees in my forest.

[yuurei20]

Malleus Info Compilation part 7: Malleus, Technology and Music

Malleus has an infamously difficult time with mechanical devices, and we learn that in Briar Valley they “rarely ever see fully mechanically things”, as most of what they use is “technomancy”.

When the electronic toy from Lilia that Malleus carries with him gets wet and breaks, Cater comments “Good thing magic exists—and that you’re good at it! Should be a snap for you to fix, yeah?”.

Malleus explains, “It’s completely mechanical. It’s not technomancy. I don’t understand machinery, and I can’t repair what I don’t understand.”

Ortho help Malleus look up information on various monsters for Halloween costume inspiration and, while grateful, Malleus admits he has “no idea how he did what he did”.

He also cannot figure out how to work a shaved ice maker that Ortho gifts him for his birthday. In the Firelit Sky event, we learn that Malleus does not know what GPS is.

Malleus says, "Don't ask me about modern gadgets. Even I have blind spots in my knowledge."

In his birthday vignette Malleus explains that he is quite confidence in his ability to play string instruments, as he had been forbidden from going outside when he was younger and had had a lot of free time as a result.

Lilia taught him to play a variety of string instruments, and he says he is particularly adept at playing violins and cellos. We learn in the Firelit Sky event that he can also play the kamancheh. Cater describes the song he plays as "kinda forlorn".

Malleus says that Lilia did invite him to join the Pop Music Club with Cater and Kalim, but when he visited he made an attempt on an electric violin, and everyone who heard it fainted (with the exception of Lilia himself, who "found it all most amusing").

Malleus says he never went back to the Pop Music Club again. In Spectral Soiree, we see that he can also play the pipe organ.

[thecreaturecodex]

Daemon, Eurekadaemon

“Vault Skirge Promo” © Wizards of the Coast, by Lars Grant-West. Accessed at the artist’s page here

[Commissioned by @wannabedemonlord, loosely based on the Falls City Flyer. This one has a lot of moving parts, with references to summoners, firearms, technology and my original daemons. I usually try to limit non-Core Rulebook material to one book, but I figure, it’s the post-edition era. If someone really wants to play PFRPG 1e, they probably are planning on looking some stuff up.]

Daemon, Eurekadaemon CR 11 NE Outsider This blocky metallic giant resembles a humanoid insect standing half again the height of a man, with visible joints on its limbs and wings. Its maw opens vertically, revealing a jagged mass of whirling teeth. Its eyes shine like searchlights.

A eurekadaemon represents death through technological failure, and they are among the most inventive and mechanically minded of the daemons. Although they are gifted artisans of their own right, they much prefer to ruin the devices of others, especially in dramatic and deadly fashion. They make for excellent saboteurs and sappers. Some more powerful daemons put them to work devising weapons of war and torture, but eurekadaemons usually get bored with making the same thing over and over again, and make better innovators than engineers.  A eurekadaemon’s obsession with tinkering extends to its own body. No two eurekadaemons look the same, although all blend a humanoid frame with powerful wings, claws and fangs, and all bear luminous eyes. A eurekadaemon can even shift configurations on the fly, changing its body to meet its tactical needs or aesthetic preferences.

In combat, a eurekadaemon seeks out enemies it thinks will pose an interesting challenge. Those armed with technological tools, from siege engines to firearms to nanotechnology, are favored foes, as the daemon’s glitching aura makes such weapons unreliable. Eurekadaemons attack with powerful melee strikes, augmented by whatever modifications they have made to their own bodies. If a eurekadaemon feels it is in a position of strength, it will often disarm a foe of some technological toy and experiment with it in combat, or simply smash it out of spite.

The average eurekadaemon stands nine feet tall and has a wingspan of fifteen feet.

Eurekadaemon                 CR 11 XP 12,800 NE Large outsider (daemon, evil, extraplanar) Init +8; Senses darkvision 60 ft., Perception +14 Aura glitching (30 ft.)Defense AC 26, touch 13, flat-footed 22 (-1 size, +4 Dex, +13 natural) hp 138 (12d10+72) Fort +10, Ref +12, Will +9; +4 vs. necromancy effects, paralysis, sleep and stunning DR 10/good; Immune acid, bleed, death effects, disease, poison; Resist cold 10, electricity 10, fire 10; SR 22 Defensive Abilities fortification (50%), mechanized Offense Speed 40 ft., fly 60 ft. (average) Melee bite +19 (2d8+8 plus 1d6 electricity), 2 claws +19 (1d6+8 plus 1d6 electricity) Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft. Special Attacks breath weapon (1d4 rounds, 30 ft. cone, 12d6 fire, Reflex DC 22) Spell-like Abilities CL 12th, concentration +16 At will—dispel magic, greater teleport (self plus 50 lbs. objects only), technomancy 3/day—quickened heat metal (DC 16), magic circle vs. technology (DC 17), rusting grasp, unholy blight (DC 18) 1/day—major creation, summon (1 bagodaemon, 40%, level 6th), transmute metal to wood (DC 21) Statistics Str 26, Dex 18, Con 22, Int 17, Wis 13, Cha 19 Base Atk +12; CMB +21 (+23 disarm or sunder); CMD 35 (37 vs. disarm or sunder) Feats Combat Expertise, Improved Disarm, Improved Initiative, Improved Sunder, Power Attack, Quicken SLA (heat metal), Technologist (B) Skills Craft (any one) +22, Disable Device +22, Fly +17, Knowledge (arcana) +18, Knowledge (engineering) +18, Knowledge (planes) +18, Perception +14, Spellcraft +15, Stealth +15; Racial Modifiers +4 Craft, +4 Disable Device Languages Abyssal, Draconic, Infernal, telepathy 100 ft. SQ illuminating gaze, reconfigure (breath weapon, energy attacks), trapfinding Ecology Environment any land or underground (Abaddon) Organization solitary, pair or design (3-8) Treasure standard Special Abilities Glitching Aura (Su) Technological devices behave erratically within 30 feet of a eurekadaemon. Firearms have their misfire chance increased by 2, and a firearm without a misfire chance misfires on a roll of 1. Technological items that are not timeworn are subject to glitches as if they were timeworn, and timeworn items have a flat 20% chance of glitching every time they are used. Devices held by a creature with the evil descriptor are not affected by the glitching aura of a eurekadaemon. Illuminating Gaze (Su) A eurekadaemon emits a 60 foot cone of bright light from its eyes. All creatures in that area are affected as if by a faerie fire spell for as long as they remain in the area and for 1d4 rounds thereafter. A eurekadaemon can suppress or resume this effect as a move action. Mechanized (Ex) A eurekadaemon has replaced much of its own anatomy with mechanical parts. It gains a +4 racial bonus on all saves against necromancy effects, paralysis, sleep and stunning effects, and is immune to bleed damage. Reconfigure (Su) Three times per day as a standard action, a eurekadaemon can rebuild its body to suit its needs. It grants itself abilities as per the greater evolution surge spell, except that these changes have a duration of instantaneous and last until the eurekadaemon reconfigures itself again. This eurekadaemon has used its reconfigure to give itself a breath weapon and energy attacks, as reflected in its statistics above. Trapfinding (Ex) A eurekadaemon can detect and disable magical traps as a rogue.

[kalis-scribbles]

Solomon Practice: Technomancy

“The age of old magic is at an end, silicon has eclipsed steel, and data has replaced books. Magic must change or perish with the olden days.”

The world is changing and fast. In living memory computers have changed from building sized monstrosities to being small enough to fit in one’s pockets. Humans have walked on the moon, learned to communicate at a distance, and predict the weather. 

Technology has brought the miracles magic promised but with little of the dangers and uncertainty. The future lies not with ancient wisdoms and superstition but with technology, and practitioners could learn about it.

This is what technomancy is about, technomancy digs into the benefits and potential of technology while mixing in the practical elements of magic. 

Practice

Technomancy is ever changing, but in the New tens, computers have become one of the practice’s central tool. Computers can think, they remember better than people and they can communicate across the globe within a moment.

Ancient mystical methods meet modernity in a technomancer’s labs, virtual runes and sigils are empowered and distributed over Wifi. Entire libraries worth of grimoires downloaded into one’s phone. Entities can be bound into magical hard drives and channeled through gadgets.

Many technomancers also dabble into shamanism, but rejecting the naturalistic focus of the practice. The world of technology is just as divine and alive as the one of nature; devices are born, they evolve and they die just as all things do. Within each machine is a spirit, it can be awakened and placated. 

Who are Technomancers

Technomancy is a young and rapidly evolving practices, the masters of only a few years ago have become outdated as new technology replace their fields of focus. Wires are out, bulky desktops are out, fossil fuel is on the way out.

Technomancers are very young, generally tech savvy kids for whom the old ways of doing things are simply too far at odds with the reality of the modern age. Who even still have cows to sacrifice? Who has time to draw sigils and protective circles.

Technomancers are well known for being anarchistic and respecting one thing and one thing only; innovation. Among technomancer cliques, there are no hierarchies or leaders, only those with the street cred to get people to collaborate with their vision.

Entities and Technomancers

Above all others, Technomancers deal with spirits, particularly elementals (often favoring modern elements such as glass, silicon or metal) and machine-spirits. Still some  technomancers who dabble in conjuration have found many uses in creating unusual fetish out of gizmos, toys or machines. 

Technomancers and Other Practices

Technomancy is a rather anarchistic practice that embrace change and its adherent often rebel against authorities, making many orderly practices such as Conjurers, and Law Mages despise them.

Although heavily focused on technology, Technomancers often care little about its origin and store bought is fine, which puts them at diametrical opposition of the Craftsmith whose art while it may deal in technology, is all about the act of creation. 

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[the-roanoke-society]

Hey, love you and your tags so much! But uh, what did Drake do? The media room? The four televisions? Morgan I gotta know. Please? (Take your time again I love you so much xoxo)

sigh.

oh this idiot right here…

it was discussed once, that drake formerly had a–let’s call it an infatuation, with seraphim. this was a good chunk of time before annabelle came into the picture, who is, obviously, a much better fit.

and while he has moved on romantically, he sort of held on the feelings of admiration of her abilities. he’d seen enough field footage both this side of the gate and on others to know that she was good at her job. he looks up to her as an agent.

on an off day, drake found himself wandering around the archives, eyes roving over assorted book spines. he, wyvern, longma, and a few other officers who worked with the gate had been called into a meeting with lilith and, to their surprise, technical officer dohbar, of the borley council. dohbar is the lead officer over the robin gate, borley’s equivalent of the washington avenue project.

and dohbar and his team, they’d–found a wall.

i don’t mean that entirely metaphorically. while our gate is built more for say, depth, the robin crew focused solely on how far outward they had access to (more than one dick joke has been made about this). how long did the road go, exactly? apparently, long enough for them to encounter what they surmised was some kind of psychic barrier (”wait, are you serious? this isn’t a marvel movie, shit like that doesn’t happen.” “wyvern, we have no other way of defining what it is, at present. just roll with it. this is the closest terminology we have.”)

so lilith had tasked them with aiding borley, seeing if we had anything on-hand that could help–whatever that looked like. even lilith wasn’t sure. if you couldn’t even tell what a wall was made of, how do you destroy it?

unfortunately for us, a large, blue book caught drake’s eye, and he reached for it. the essentials of technomancy. he frowned, and opened it.

he was elated. this was a perfect blend of technological science and summoning circles, just like the ones he’d seen seraphim and succubus do on occasion. never mind that he’d never cast a circle before, and look, there was even a list of entities right here, it’s probably just like calling a neighbor, he’d just ask one of them for help…

he then like a complete novice decided to just pick out a deity at random. his finger landed on a name: emem. the notes about them were vague, only really mentioning that they were very old, very powerful, and to be avoided unless circumstances were dire enough.

drake bit his lip, glancing at the circles on the opposite page. dire circumstances? not really. but if anyone could help them get past a literal barrier in the fabric of space-time through the use of technology, he thought–it’d be this guy.

he brought it up to wyvern first, who laughed at his face, and then more seriously told him to drop it. “we can figure this out ourselves. plus, the demons this talks about–they’re tricky. technology can sometimes be loosely defined. so can these things’ intentions. leave it alone.”

drake tried seraphim next. “absolutely fucking not.” he tried not to smile too hard when he realized that she’d had a slight scottish lilt to her voice. he wondered how many times she’d heard merlin say it.

of course, drake’s the kind of man who, when told to not do something, or that he can’t do something… well.

guess who decided to try it anyway.

now, fun fact, drake actually has a knack for circlework. whether that’s an inborn talent that was just never explored or something he’d learned enough from watching other agents remains unknown. but the point is–and also the terrible news–is that it worked.

drake was sitting cross-legged before a chalk circle, candles in their places, and an old motherboard in the center, looking into the eyes of something that sort of resembled hexxus, but made entirely of a metallic mesh that never seemed to stop moving.

“mister, uh, emem. hi.” smooth. it just blinked. “you’re probably wondering why i called you here today, y’see my name’s dr–”

there was a ear-splitting crack as this thing, realizing that drake didn’t have a fucking clue what he was doing and that no, he wasn’t going to listen to anything he had to say, thinned into nothing and shot through the wall behind him.

“… okay. may have fucked up.”

the results were immediate and disastrous. it got into the wires, it got into everything, acting as the most malevolent virus our basement crews had seen. they had to scramble to save archived files, and wyvern sprinted as soon as he realized what was happening to straight up unhook the physical gate from everything it was attached to.

too late.

as soon as it got into the gate, the machinery pulsed, and sent wyvern flying a good seven feet backwards. he stared in horror, as the big, metal circle seemed to–rot. like flesh.

he looked behind him in time to see drake, standing in the doorway, looking scared shitless.

“… what did you do?” wyvern coughed, roughly, fuck, he’d landed right on his bad shoulder–”what did you do?!”

“i was trying to help–”

“go get morgan. now. before we lose our equipment. … drake, move!”

and he found her already downstairs, standing in the artifacts room where those four monitors were.

four monitors that had been lifted from a warehouse where a much, much worse summoning than this had happened. monitors not even connected to anything anymore.

and now all four were on, all on different frequencies, one of which was whispering things that seraphim had to fight to not listen to, which led to the dialogue in the tags.

now, long story short, they did get this all sorted. seraphim and succubus essentially had to–well, exorcise the gate. driving dark spirits out of inanimate objects was infinitely harder than getting them out of living beings, because living beings could fight back. something weird gets into your aunt’s old plymouth, chances are it’s better to just let it stay inside there and move it to a junkyard.

but this was our gate. rebuilding it from scratch would be a project the likes of which we didn’t want to see. so. seraphim and succubus decided to make the executive decision that it was worth the effort, despite it being exceptionally high-risk for a multitude of factors. (”you call harry?” “yeah. told him i loved him. he and eggsy were about to head out for a mission themselves.” “well then i guess we better not die so he can tell you all about it when they get back.”)

it took them an hour and a half to draw out a circle. they had to make parts up as they went, making it equal parts purifying and warding, to keep it from getting out (”you can’t just–do like you do with people?” “… i’m sorry, did you just suggest i put my hands on that fucking thing?” “right, right, uh, sorry.”)

the ritual itself lasted over two hours. this thing would not fucking let go. seraphim went through so many psalms that she tasked drake with bringing her every single book of faith they possessed. if she had to read all of them aloud, she would. so be it. “fuck you, we don’t share our toys will bullies,” she once hissed, when a gargled sort of retching sound echoed from nowhere.

seraphim got what she described as a torrential nosebleed that stained the front of her shirt. succubus had a nasty split lip by the time they were over halfway through, swollen, red, angry.

and with just as loud a noise as it’d made slipping through the wall before–it was gone. finally fed up with holiness and magic. our tech rapidly went back to some sort of status normal, but the damage cleanup would prove to be extensive.

and after lilith found out what happened–what, you thought we’d be able to keep this from her forever?–she named drake as the head of all of it. “you are going to pay your penance for as long as it takes. and you are never, ever to attempt this again, or you will be fired. do i make myself clear?”

“yes, ma’am.”

“good. all of you are dismissed.”

but between you and i, i think what hurt him even more than the numerous sleepless nights that followed was how angry annabelle was with him when he finally told her what he’d done.

[silverwhisp]

Gabriela Angela for RWBY is next

RWBY OC Team Member #3 Name: Gabriela Angela A.K.A The Robotic Angel Age: 17 Race: Human Team: Is On Team C.A.G.E. it's composed of Cecada Arodon, Altus Du Froid, Gabriela Angela, and Emily Baile. Gabriela is the tactician and strategist for the team. Semblance: Known as "Technomancy" It allows her to mentally control a great variety of mechanical, electric, and other types of machines and technology. This includes weapons that have targeting systems. She once downed a bull head with just her mind. She can even cause smaller devices, such as scrolls, to overheat and explode. Looks: Has bright blonde hair. It almost looks white but there is enough yellow to know that it is not. It goes down to the lower part of her shoulders. She as a UFC fighter build and stands at an impressive six feet two inches tall. Some have nicknamed her ‘The Angel’ due to her looking very gorgeous. She has several scars on her back due to her past at Signal. She has one thing in common with Yang that she dares you to stare at. Her skin tone is comparable to Ruby's. She also has dark pink irises in her eyes. Outfit: Wears white thigh high boots that leave a very small amount of space between them and her white shorts. Her boots have some angelic designs colored in a bright yellow. The white becomes more and more yellow as the reach her feet and do not start this transition until just below her knee cap. Her shorts have three long attachments on them that reach just above her ankles. Their length is slightly shoter than Altus’ coat for reference. One on her back and one on each side. They are see through and white much like her shorts. She wears long fingerless gloves that go all the way to her elbows and much like her boots they are white with bright yellow angelic designs. She wears what looks like a corset but in reality is a custom vest she made for herself. It’s the same color as the bright yellow designs on her boots and gloves. In contrast however she has a set of wings in the back that are colored white much like her boots and gloves. It exposes a bit of her midriff and you can see some of teh muscle she has along with her belly button. She dares you to stare at her. She is also seen wearing a necklace with a crescent moon design and a small tiara that is colored bright yellow and has three jewels lined up by one another. She also wears this to class. It is much smaller than Phyrra’s crown. Weapons: One would not be blamed for mistaking her weapons for a children’s toy. Her bladed Yo-Yos she calls “Crescent” are used much like the children’s toy. The line that attaches them to her hands are made of a strong thin steel cable. She uses them as an effective crowd control weapon and the blades can actually due good damage to opponents since the blades spin independently from the main part of the said weapon, thus increasing the cutting speed by two times. When she pulls them in she can change them into duel revolvers that fire armor piercing rounds. She reserves this for armored opponents only. Her yo-yos are white with bright yellow centers and dark grey blades. White Fang Bingo Entry: Entry 102: Gabriela Angela A.K.A The Robotic Angel. Wanted Level 7. Be warned that getting close to the cold woman is damn near impossible due to her odd weapon choice. They appear to be Yo-Yos yet they are bladed and can transform into a gun of some kind that easily shot through one of our Brute's armor. Her semblance is a strange and new ability never seen before. She can control technology with her mind. She can cause scrolls to explode, bring down bull heads, and even cause weapons to jam if they are electric or gas powered. If you must engage, be careful. Her power doesn't seem to have a restriction short of clock work devices. Likes: Reading, the quiet, meditating (No matter the circumstance), Getting her work done, Being around Lie Ren and Fox since they are much like herself, Cookies, swimming and her secret crush Arslan Altan. Dislikes: Racism, Pointless classes such as Port’s, Weiss’ attitude, being dragged into things, parties, crowds,, Ironwood and his subordinates. Personality: She is quite cold and calculated. It’s not that she feels no emotion, she feels to many. Despite her stoic and cold exterior, she very empathetic. It’s to the point that her brain has to ‘process’ all the emotions around her she can feel thus making her seem cold. She’s actually a caring person who will help you should you ask. But don’t expect her to smile unless it’s a certain situation. Doesn’t discriminate against faunus because in her mind it does not make sense. Short of the ears and occasional tail Faunus are the same as humans. She hates wasting her time and feels Port’s class is just that since they learn nothing from his stories. Quite likes Ren and Fox due to them understanding her nature more than her other friends. She likes them to mind you she just gravitates to those two far more. May or may not have a crush on Arslan Altan. Story: She had a pretty normal child hood. That was until her big sister had a severe illness that nearly killed her. After her big sister recovered she developed many issues that their parents had to watch constantly, such as seizures. Her big sister also gained a tendency to catch allot of colds and viruses. Thanks to this Gabriela’s parents had to leave her alone to tend to her sister. Gabriela understood and does not resent them or her sister for this but she will not lie that there were times when she was sick or scared that her parents could have been there for her to. She ended up training to become a hunter out of a want. A want to feel like she had a home once more. She loves her family but can’t help but feel distant to them due to them having to watch her bigger sister. Once she got through Signal Academy without much help from anyone other than the onsite counselor with all A’s and B’s she was almost immediately accepted into Beacon. She arrived to find many interesting people and she knew that this place may be where she finds the family she wish she had through her child hood.