Technomancy

Technomancy is the art of utilizing mixed magic and technology to accomplish the impossible. Someone who specializes in the intersection of technologies and magic are known as Technomancers.<ref name=wbP>Technomancy
Technomancers use computers and other forms of technology to lay out the strict and carefully constructed systems of practice they employ. Most effective in urban and modern areas, they can use computers to reprogram reality and surveil things they shouldn’t otherwise be able to, or they use practice to gain access and do things with computers that should be impossible. They rely heavily on the tools and systems they use to write and enact code; uncommon even as recently as the turn of the millennium, they’ve seen a surge after the introduction of smart phones. - Pact Dice: The Practices - Wbow Version</ref> They have some overlap with Astrologers.<ref>Astrology
With some overlap with technomancers, astrologists are arguably the technomancers of yesteryear. Relying on careful placement of rituals and signs over large areas, they form great diagrams and tap them for power, and they set up rituals on strict clocks, time bombs set to go off in three full moons. Very capable of scaling up their work by adding to the time restraints or the spaces involved, they remain fragile if that work is disrupted. - Pact Dice: The Practices - Wbow Version</ref>

Methodology

Work with the material world and realms. They are usually best in civilization, surrounded by the technological element. Generally dependent on their technology.<ref name=wbP/> They often struggle to stay modern as technology advances.<ref name=":0">:Q: With technology becoming more and more pivotal in warfare, did we begin to see the true birth of technomancy as a respected practice?
A: Technomancy always existed, it's just tended to perch on the cusp of new technology, with waves and reinventions of families sort of capitalizing on each new age or forward advancement.

The astrologer would've been a 'last generation' practitioner. The practitioners of today will be 'last generation' in a couple dozen years. Some families are better than others at riding the wave.

The technomancers of the WWI/WWII era would be more industrial than computer. They wouldn't likely capitalize on 'computers' becoming a thing until computers entered the public awareness. - Wildbow on Reddit</ref>

One near-universal beginning Practice for a technomancer is to craft a "jammer" from a button that survived a technological disaster, capable of jamming technology from computers to guns.<ref>Jammer

Any beginner technomancer is going to be making one of these. My teacher had me on the task in my first week. It’s the kind of thing you use when the ghost in the machine starts howling a little too loud or the gremlins flip a positive charge to a negative. If there’s moving parts and a power source, it should jam it up some.

I keep mine around because it’s useful in a pinch, as you saw with the gunman last night.

I don’t want to be a pain about this, but even though this is my spare, if you break it or lose it, I’m going to want you to find a replacement, a nice big button that survived a crashed elevator or plane when little else did. Not so easy, trust me. - Excerpt from Confiscated Items</ref>

You can create things easily and quickly using technomancy but the results are often either fragile or have less power.<ref>Adrian explained, “Technomancy simplifies. Usually at a cost to establishment. Because tech is new, the patterns and grooves for the practice aren’t worn in. So you can do stuff fast and easy, but also… it can break easy, or doesn’t last long, or you don’t get much power out.”- Excerpt from Crossed with Silver 19.8</ref>

More advanced practices can include using computers for impossible feats (like surveilling places without cameras or "hacking reality"),<ref name="wbP" /> conjuring ghosts trapped in recorded songs (which can be copied, although the copies & ghosts will be increasingly degraded),<ref>This is a copy of the original, so expect some corruption. He should buy you time or give your enemies a few solid punches

[...]

It’s a song recording off a tape so the quality’s not all there, but Bessie Lee is quality enough to make up for it. Most ghosts are miserable, but she’ll cheer you on and help you with your cardio.

[...]

This is the original, so it’d be swell if you didn’t lose it. When you hit that yellow button, you might think it’s broken. It’s not. It takes a little while to start, but when it does, all hell breaks loose. The band struggled so hard to record this track. Blood, sweat, tears, and even fratricide. Never did

figure out why it when that way. Left a whole bunch of ghosts behind and no explanations. We looked for the complete set of ghosts and didn’t find ’em. Did find the music though. - Excerpt from Confiscated Items </ref> supernatural computer viruses,<ref>Computer Bug

If you get to a computer, and it’s an old fashioned one with a disk drive or cd drive then stick this in. Ignore the ick factor.

If you can find a computer or something that’s related to the devouring song, then this might get us in. It will do the work for you, dredging stuff up.

- Excerpt from Confiscated Items

</ref> conjuring Gremlins,<ref>Grungy Keyboard

Another big red ‘escape button’. When dealing with some magic stuff, sometimes you need ugly to deal with ugly. We know there are goblins in town, so when those little blighters show up, grab this nasty piece of work and smash the most expensive thing you can get to before the goblins can get to you.

there’s also a chance that if the devouring song kids show up, the gremlins that this thing will bring running can deal with them. A small chance. They’ve got some techy know-how to how they’re put together, if they’re using the internet, and gremlins wreck tech.

The gremlines will give you a hard time, but not so hard as our Kennet foes will. - Excerpt from Confiscated Items</ref><ref>False Moves 12.9</ref> traveling along wires via "the digital landscapes",<ref>Enter Key

A failed project. Was a way to open doors and passages, but I got greedy and tried to tune it to the digital landscapes. The good? It’ll

carry you to somplace distant. The bad? There’s a lot of bad. You 

use it by sticking it in a light socket. It will do pretty much exactly

what you expect if

you stick something metal in a light socket. Then technology will sorta fritz around you for the next week or so, you’ll have electric spirits sparking through your head, yadda yadda. If you aren’t dead from the whole electro-cuton thing.

Also works as a crummy tazer. Wear the gloves I gave you while using.

- Excerpt from Confiscated Items

</ref><ref> - Excerpt from In Absentia 21.9</ref> using computer-guided lasers to draw out huge Astrology diagrams,<ref>“This is niche, unperfected, pretty out there by practitioner standards.”

[...]

“Like I said, grandfathered technology and sentimental attachments,” Diana said.  “On to explanations.  It’s about math, at the most basic level.  Space, not the out-there space, but space in general.  Proportions, lines, and really big diagrams.  With this computer, I program the lasers…” - excerpt from Void 7.10 </ref><ref>“She does summon things.  Those things are more manufactured than produced.  Drawing spirits from the area, then cobbling them together under an impression.  If a ghost is a psychic imprint on the fabric of the world, then the Astrologer makes the imprints and then fills them in with the available resources. [...] The candle that burns twice as hot burns half as long.  Her summonings burn bright, and they don’t last for very long.”

I nodded.

“Power has a price.  She and her predecessors have paid a literal

price for their power.  To make her impressions, she uses machines at 

the outer rim of the city.  Lights, lasers, and properties she controls throughout Toronto.  Not as organized as you might imagine.  They’re points of light on a dark canvas, and she uses them to draw pictures.”

“Constellations?” Rose asked.

“Essentially.  Nobody in Toronto has a firm grounding on what the exact rules are.  Those of us who do have books on astrology are working with ideas that are often a hundred years old, if not older.  What she’s doing is larger in scale than what the books propose, but it’s also limited to certain things appearing in certain places, after certain preparations are made.”

I frowned.  “I want to say we don’t have to worry about her unless she lures us to a specific location, but that’s no guarantee, is it?  We could wander right into an ideal spot for her.”

“Or she could find our location, use a computer to turn certain lights on and off, and align her metaphorical ‘stars’ to drop something minor in our midst,” Fell said. - excerpt from Subordination 6.9  </ref> binding and using Nex Machinae,<ref>Beastiary: Nex Machina</ref> etc.

Notable Technomancers

• Doug
  • Diana Thompson
• Rad Ray Sunshine
  • Zed
• Freeman Boyd

History

Technomancers have always existed, but the field is constantly reinvented as new technologies arise. For example, technomancers during WWI and WWII exploited the new potential of industrial machinery.<ref name=":0" /> Many historical technomancers were what would now be termed Astrologers<ref name="wbP" /> or Historians.<ref>False Moves 12.9</ref>

Technomancers have seen a surge in in numbers over the last decade or two with the introduction of smartphones.<ref name="wbP" />

It's not an established practice with a lot of structure often on the cutting edge or bleeding edge of various technology.<ref>“Not from a Family, no ties to any key Other. That means he stumbled onto practice, kind of like I did. He might’ve found a power reserve and started from there. It’s kind of a wild west out there for technomancers. Sometimes we’re friends, sometimes we’re enemies. Depends on the situation. Freeman has never had a lot of friends. Never good enough or nice enough for things to happen that way.” - In Absentia 21.9</ref>

References

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