ANDERS MAGE PAGE 2.0

Surge Monitors are spirit allies of the Technocracy recruited long ago by the Void Engineers. They are of a sub-class known as Digital Monitors, which are largely restricted to the Digital Web. Surges are the most violent of the common Digital Monitors. Their ultimate origins can be traced back to naturalistic lightning spirits, but centuries of adaptation have shaped them into electrical techno-spirits. They have been shaped to act as Black I.C.E. and assassins on the Digital Web, but spend most of their time in a resting state online. They only become active when disturbed by the passage of unauthorized activity or when tracking an icon on a Void Engineer's orders.

In their resting state, they disperse into a form that is difficult to detect, called a surge-net. The techno-turf of the Digital Web is often girded with several surge-nets. Those using Forces 1 and Spirit 1 while in the net will see the surge-net as a large, decentralized network of spiritually charged electrical current so low in power it blends into the natural environment of the Web. Those using Prime 1 as well will notice a point of quintessence-heavy charge moving through the net rapidly.

A surge-net responds whenever it is crossed by an icon that does not, according to its files, have access to the area it guards. When such an icon enters the net, the net's current pervades the icon. The net collapses as the prime-charged core of the spirit enters the icon in a manner that is superficially similar to the entry of a virus. The Surge Monitor lurks within the Icon until it sees an opportunity to attack, preferring when the victim is alone.

When a Surge Monitor decides to attack, it has two options. It can "step out" of any icon it inhabits, forming its own icon with which to attack, or it can trace back to the cybernaut's body and attack it directly.

With the first option, the icon formed and the icon it comes from are initially visually identical. As time passes, the Surge Monitor icon becomes more fractal and shifts to a neon red/green/blue color pattern. In five minutes it resembles a fairly standard humanoid Technocracy icon. Research on having the Surge Monitors retain the image of their victim continues. When the Surge Monitor attacks, its physical blows are weak, but carry powerful electrical charges.

The Surge Monitor also has the option of flowing along the power systems back to its victim's body. There, it can cause equipment overloads. This not only destroys hardware, it can damage the victim's body with intense sound, intense light or sometimes even kill by electroshock.

If a Surge Monitor is itself killed, its quintessence can be gathered by a fast-acting mage. This takes the form of electrical tass. This Tass is prized by Virtual Adepts, as it is resonant with the Digital Web itself and can be used to enhance almost any magick in the Web more efficiently than normal Tass. This Tass is rarely worth the trouble of collecting it, though.

STR 2, DEX 4, STA 4
CHA 2, MAN 2, APP 0/By icon
PER 2, INT 2, WIT 4
Abilities: Brawl 3, Computer 3, Computer Hacking 3, Stealth 5
Spheres: Corr. 2, Forces 3, Mind 3, Prime 2, Spirit 3, Time 2
Willpower 7, Rage 7, Arete 4, Quint 5
Health Levels: As human

Electrical Touch

The touch of a Surge Monitor can cause four dice of electrical damage, over and above any physical attack. A surge who does not attack can use this on any being striking its body.

Magick

Monitor Web (Forces 1, Mind 1, Prime 1)

This effect is used to monitor the Icons that pass through the spirit in Surge-Net form. It indexes them against an internal list of icons allowed access. Because of the Prime components, re-shaping an icon to look like an authorized one is ineffective.

Surge Net (Forces 2, Prime 2, Spirit 3)

This is the effect Surge Monitors use to switch between their icon and surge-net forms.

Infiltrate Icon (Forces 2, Mind 3)

With this, a Surge can enter an icon. It gains no control over the icon, but receives the same sensory information the icon does and remains within it until it decides to exit.

Trace Icon (Corr. 2, Prime 1, Time 2)

This allows the Surge Monitor to track any icon that has passed it, determine the previous movements of any icon it enters and track down any icon about which it is given a complete enough file.

Equipment Surge (Forces 3, Prime 3, Spirit 3)

As electricity, a Surge Monitor can enter most electrical devices. It can then cause its own spiritually charged current to overload almost any such device. This causes short circuits and burnouts, and erases the RAM of most computers. Several successes can even physically destroy a computer's ROM.

The most feared ability of the Surge Monitor is when it uses this on active VR equipment. It can emmit radiation powerful enough to damage a cybernaught's hearing and vision permanently. If the equipment is the most recent type the Virtual Adepts use, the kind that uses electrodes to simulate tactile senses, the Surge Monitor can make a full-strength Forces 3 electrical attack on the mage's body. The terrible part of these attacks is that unless the Cybernaut is using a Correspondence 3, co-locate perceptions to watch over his body, the damage goes unnoticed until he exits the Digital Web.

Note: Conventional surge protector devices will not protect from one of these spirits. However, the main reason for the Virtual Adepts introducing the various power boards to computers was to make warding Talismans against Surge Monitors a coincidental device. Still, many people on the Web have never hear of the Surges.