Magic in space

OK so I was wondering what the problem is with performing magic in space. Does it not work at all? Does some of it work but not others? Is it possible but just really hard with a high chance of failure or personal damage?

What about enchanted items? Do they lose their enchanment in space?

What about Adepts? Do they cease being super-cool ninjas in space?

I was just randomly curious. It's not like I or a friend of mine is actually going to go into space sometime soon.

Mana as far we know is generated by life and living things. The manasphere of Earth, and covers the Earth, well... only reaches so far into the atmosphere. Outside the atmosphere is a vaccuum for magic as well as for air. Space is a natural "mana-warp" which is usually any area with a background count of 5 or more. The background count interferes with magical workings, but in addition, mana warps can cause varying levels of magic loss. At the worst leveles a mage cannot cast spells, an adept cannot use powers spirits die and astral forms take continual damage and eventually the projecting mage goes insane. Generally not a good thing.

To be specific: the Earth's aura is known as the "Gaiasphere" to magical theorists, and extends to the edge of the atmosphere (about 80 kilometers up). At about 71 kilometers the so-called "background count" becomes "1" and increases by one for every addistional kilometer of altitude up to a known maximum of "10" at 81 kilometers of altitude. At this height the atmosphere becomes a "total mana warp." No magic is possible in a total mana warp.

Ah... but there are some exceptions. The number of people onboard a large orbital facility, such as Ares' Daedelus space station, or Zurich Orbital actually reduces the background count enough that magic is possible. Also, there is plenty of magical research that happens in Earth's orbit BECAUSE of the lack of mana. The magic vaccuum allows dangerous magical theories to be tested in a relatively safe environment and the magical energies that ARE produced are easily contained.

It should also be noted that astral forms projecting beyond the manasphere tend to go through hallucinations, and confusion; making it difficult to return to one's body. And those that DO make it back usually come back minus a few marbles. Or, y'know come back completely insane. Others simply die out in the void. Fair warning chummers.

As fascinating as all that is.... how relevant is it all this space stuff anyway? I mean as much fun as a Space run sounds, how many space stations up their are even run worthy let alone run possible?

There is quite a large chunk of business in space. Where there is business, there is money. Where there is money there are jobs for Shadowrunners. The megacorps still have secret projects to hide, their top level techs to extract, and their industrial espionage needs met. In addition, there are a number of independent corps that are grabbing their own pieces of the orbital pie. Some megas even lease space on their orbital stations or platforms to those who do not have the means to get into space. Others sell their launch capabilities to shuttle goods and manpower up the gravitywell. Where such elements exist, smuggling and data-theft are highly prized.

There are actually plenty of hunks-a-junk floating in orbit that would count as a fair-sized space station. Zurich Orbital is the one most people know, and is of course the scariest kid on the block, but the Z-O is also one of the oldest, seeing as how it used to be the Freedom station that was sold off to Ares by the old United States and then later sold BY Ares to the corporate court.

I’ve warmed up my search engine and will give the kiddies a list of cool sites in orbit and beyond!

Low Earth Orbit (LEO) we got: Apollo Station, operated by Ares; Camelot Research Platform, owned by Fuchi Orbital; Himmelsschmiede (Sky forge) Orbital Factory, the largest of Saeder-Krupp's orbital factories; The Spindle, Aztechnology's half-hearted attempt at a presence in space.

In geosynchronous orbit (GEO): Icarus station, Ares’ largest toroidal-wheel station. Meaning it’s got some gravity of its own. It’s also where Ares keeps its’ Thor Shot capability; Echo Station was once Halo station before the crash of ’29 after it was written off as unsalvageable. Later in 2054 a bunch of freelancers reactivated it and made it their own. It is now an independent station and haven for freelancers, smugglers and other shadowy figures in orbit; The Obelisk, owned by Hisato-Turner Broadcasting Corp, this station maintains the corp’s broadcasting satellite constellations; Silver Pinnacle, owned by Transys Orbital, sells its’ services to corps that have no launch capability.

The Lagrange Points (L1-L5) are points where space is gravity neutral due to opposing pulls of Earth, Moon and whatever, and are prime space real estate.

L1: Treffpunkt Raumhafen is a station owned by Proteus corp.
L2: Darkside Junction: Located on the darkside of the moon, this station is Fuchi’s deep space outpost.
L3: Nerva: formerly owned by Harris-3M… until the Crash which fragged over computers all over the world which not surprisingly also fragged over the space stations connected to the internet at the time. Nerva was written off and still a lifeless husk today.
L4: Daedelus: This is Ares’ primary research habitat in outer space. Said to be bigger than “several hundred-thousand super-carriers combined together.
L5: Junkyard: was the site of Harris-3M’s other space station (Angel Station). Like Nerva, it has been abandonded, and seems to attract a lot of space junk, hence the name.

The Moon

Artemis Lunar Colony, is Ares’ lunar base; Fernseit Lunar Station, is a Saeder-Krupp subsidiary; Olympia Lunar Base, is still under construction by Fuchi Orbital.

Deep Space

Helios, is owned by Ares and is the only known manned space station beyond lunar orbit. Helios sits in a solar Lagrange Point located directly opposite the Earth in its’ solar orbit.

How’s THAT for some out of this world running opportunity?

Wow. Knocks out adepts too. that's pretty rough. But the largests spacestations have enough life to drop the background count again. Good to know.

So is anyone working on a sealed suit of super alge that has enough life energy to support a single mage wearing it in space?

On a more personal note: Suppose one managed to smuggle oneself aboard one of these places. What typically happens to them if they're discovered? i.e. What's the justice system like away from Earth. Is deportation common or is it handled more locally?

I don't see anything to stop them from shoving you out the door for trespassing (especially if it belongs to a AAA as they have extraterritorial privileged)

if you broke in there may not be any record of your arriving so who will cry if there is no record of you returning?

You would be just another missing person... and as i understand it's rather cold and would be a long walk home.

Sure that's possible. But is that typical spaceship behavor? I mean what if you forgot your wallet in your pod or sumthin. Would they just "sorry you're not suppose to be here out the air lock" you?

As you know, megacorps are extraterratorial. They are nations unto themselves. They govern themselves by their own laws, and defend their own borders. The same goes with their space stations. On an Ares station, you are in Ares jurisdiction. It gets murkier when one corp leases space to another. Some of the bigger stations can be a crazy quilt of territories within one station, be it module by module or room by room.

As I understand it, break-ins will be dealt with to the full extent of the law. Often a station will go into lockdown to await a crisis team's arrival to extradite the intruders.

Drifter wrote:So is anyone working on a sealed suit of super alge that has enough life energy to support a single mage wearing it in space?

Unfortunately, a space suit just can't be filled with enough algae to create its own manasphere. It takes ALOT of life force. If someone discovers algae that creates life-pockets in space, give me a ring, I want to know!

Chromed Accountant wrote:Often a station will go into lockdown to await a crisis team's arrival to extradite the intruders.

So that's like the next shuttle down? Or is that like "we eject you from our boarders it's not our fault if it's unfriendly outside them"?

all this talk about magic in space makes me want to attempt to create a spell that creates its own mana sphere