ANDERS MAGE PAGE 2.0

Archive-Name: adepts/faq
Last-Modified: 1994/04/01
Version: 1.03
Approved: answers-request@crystal.net

The Hackers at the Gates of Reality

The progenitor of this file was Dante (@crystal.net) some years ago (even before he started destroying city blocks). This revision has been made by ashton@netcom.com after I convinced his news AI, Neut, that the file was hopelessly out of date and that Dante was not going to supply any updates. (Hi, Neut!)

This FAQ gets sent out to every node when it's updated but the beings who need to see it the most are the Inepts. So, if you're seeing this again it just means that you haven't been downgraded to loser status (yet).

1. Why are y'all so rude?

Because if you're reading this you're probably a Rodent. :> The one liner for the VA's could be "Does not work well with others." The key to the Tradition is Eliteness.

2. What are the VA?

Whelp... No easy answer to that one! Roughly, we're a group of Enlightened chaps who have discovered the true nature of reality. But, then, any group of mages will tell you that! Our model of reality is one that can be created with computers and electronics. We can apply these principles to the Real World [tm] creating changes that Sleepers deem impossible.

Not all Virtual Adepts use computers, some use calculators, and some even use VCRs (now, that IS weird! The tapeheads have good cultural archives, though). The basis is manipulating information. Change the information and you change reality.

3. Who are the Traditions (aka The Good Guys)?

The nine flavors of Tradition mages have formed an uneasy alliance to resist the destructive influences of the Technocracy.

• Akashic Brotherhood: (mind) martial arts, zen
  Good techniques long, long ago, but things change too fast today.
• Celestial Chorus: (prime) witch hunter, priest, theologian
  Didn't god die hundreds of years ago?
• Cult of Ecstasy: (time) musician, drummer
  Fun, but one dimensional (but fun).
• Dreamspeakers: (spirit) shaman, hitchhiker, ecologist
  The dirtheads could get somewhere with a wee bit of science.
• Euthanatos: (entropy) voodoo, mortician, assassin, doctor, scholar
  You die, the girl dies, everybody dies!
• Hollow Ones: (none) blood doll, occultist, artist
  Dreary loners dressed for their funeral (they got the 'tude down, though!).
• Order of Hermes: (forces) alchemist, kabbalist, scientist
  Mystics and fuzz heads that seldom look up from their dusty books.
• Etherians: (matter) mad scientist, gadgeteer
  These dudes rock! They scan like bad sci-fi but they get it going!
• Verbena: (life) druid, witch
  No wonder witches have been burned for centuries!

4. What is the Technocracy (aka The Bad Guys)?

We used to be members of the Technocracy, so very few of the Good Guys trust us now. We still think too much like technomancers for most of the PalioMages. And since we hurt the Technos so much getting out they now give us target bonuses! The divisions are:

• Syndicate: The money men. Both the board room and the back room.
• New World Order: They watch everyone, when they aren't busy watching each other. These guys are our biggest problem.
• Void Engineers: They feel like we did but didn't cut bait yet. They explore the stars to avoid the mess on Earth.
• Iteration X: Fanatics and engineers had a baby. One with metal teeth...
• Progenitors: Lab coats, drugs and clone tanks. And if you kill them, they come back.

5. Who actually likes me for being a VA?

VERY FUNNY! Next question...

6. What is Ascension?

For us, Ascension is Eliteness. One of the things that makes us so different is that we believe in giving everyone a cut. The tools are for those who can pick them up and use them. And if they blow themselves up with it, so much the better for the gene pool! The spread of the tools and techniques shows us what is viable and gives us valuable feedback. Who'd have thought that the trogs would start making copy machines Net ready and ethernet/modem cards so quickly? The old reality is flopping around in its deaththrows right now... We built the framework for Reality V2.0 back in the 50's and have just been working to get society ready. Some of our adepts have picked July 5th, 1998 for a transition date.

7. How do I contact you guys?

Don't worry, you already have (unless you're a lurker with a read only brain!). Neut processes all of Usenet and Thee Shub reads just about everything... Try cybermind or alt.conspiracy if you actually want an answer :>

8. What am I supposed to believe in here?

Believe whatever you want! If this had been written in the Fifties it would be false now. Information mutates. Information and the Process is all that matters. This information that you are reading right now is mutating as it fits into the framework you are generating for it. If some of the information is viable then you will re-transmit it.

9. What's with your attitude?

My attitude! What's with yours? Seriously, attitude will get you far. Question everything! You are the ultimate authority because of your processing power. If you don't like my attitude (or you just can't match it) then maybe you should stuff your shirt and join the Hermetics or paint yourself blue and join the Verbena.

Game Over, man...