"Nulls" in Technomancer

David Johnston2 · 12-09-2019, 01:04 PM

One complaint I've heard about Technomancer is that Detect Truth is used in courts, and resisting it is a crime. Attempted perjury or some such. So what about the people who have Magic Resistance who don't have a choice about resisting? Well assuming that it's a recognized condition, then obviously they'd just be exempt/disallowed from testifying in court.

Which strikes me as the seed of a social stigma. Large corporations are going to be using truthsayers as well so that will limit employment opportunities. Nulls are going to have a reputation as untrustworthy that won't be helped by the nulls being well suited to crime by their resistance to divination spells used by law enforcement in general. And limited employment opportunities combined with an aptitude for crime...

Well you can see where that's going.

LoneWolf23k · 12-09-2019, 01:32 PM

On the other hand, Nulls would be highly sought after by industries or other agencies that require confidentiality from their employees. Someone who can't easily be scryed or have their thoughts intruded is someone who can be guaranteed to keep a secret.

David Johnston2 · 12-09-2019, 01:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LoneWolf23k

On the other hand, Nulls would be highly sought after by industries or other agencies that require confidentiality from their employees. Someone who can't easily be scryed or have their thoughts intruded is someone who can be guaranteed to keep a secret.

I doubt it. Such places would be financially set to provide their high security employees with protective items or bodyguards who can detect magic use, thus still reserving the option of magically enhanced interrogation versus their employees as required.

ericthered · 12-09-2019, 02:15 PM

If you've got true nulls, it seems to be the natural place to use them is magical hazmat. If you're just resisting the spell naturally, then you just have an expensive condition.

Varyon · 12-09-2019, 02:29 PM

One of the major characters in Dominic Deegan was a null (called Resistants in the setting). He was hired for a while as sheriff for a small town, partially because his near-immunity to magic meant that anyone getting into magical hijinks in his town would be unable to directly affect him with their spells. He was later dismissed because his position was causing the kingdom to withhold needed financial aid to the town - the kingdom's official stance was that a Resistant in a position of power was inviting abuse of said power. So, it can kind of go either way.

I do like the idea of a sort of "null underground," with downtrodden nulls banding together into something like a criminal organization, probably getting a lot of their funds from doing crimes on commission. With heavy reliance on magic for detection and the like, such would have a natural leg up in being sneaky. A setting idea I had a while back had something like this, where a minority of people were incapable of using magic, but were also invisible to magic senses (the common superstition was that such people lacked souls). As most people used magic subconsciously to navigate their day-to-day lives, these "soulless" had natural stealth abilities. Being this way wasn't something one was born into, however - it's what happened if you killed somebody (animals, monsters, and soulless didn't count). They tended to work as killers for hire (mercenaries, executioners, assassins, etc) a good deal of the time, and as they were obvious (being invisible to your sixth sense but visible to your eyes makes it clear someone is soulless; the setting was actually intended for a video game, and the visual cue for players would be such characters being grayscale).

David Johnston2 · 12-09-2019, 03:45 PM

Note incidentally that being barred from testifying and having a reputation for being untrustworthy means a huge disadvantage for null victims of crimes.

Fred Brackin · 12-09-2019, 09:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Note incidentally that being barred from testifying and having a reputation for being untrustworthy means a huge disadvantage for null victims of crimes.

Nulls are going to be an underclass generally. No magical healing in a world where magic may well of sidetracked non-magical healing is a huge disadvantage.

In fact, you might have to give up the fiction that Magic Resistance is an Advantage worth paying points for.

12-09-2019, 01:04 PM	#1
David Johnston2 Join Date: Dec 2007	"Nulls" in Technomancer One complaint I've heard about Technomancer is that Detect Truth is used in courts, and resisting it is a crime. Attempted perjury or some such. So what about the people who have Magic Resistance who don't have a choice about resisting? Well assuming that it's a recognized condition, then obviously they'd just be exempt/disallowed from testifying in court. Which strikes me as the seed of a social stigma. Large corporations are going to be using truthsayers as well so that will limit employment opportunities. Nulls are going to have a reputation as untrustworthy that won't be helped by the nulls being well suited to crime by their resistance to divination spells used by law enforcement in general. And limited employment opportunities combined with an aptitude for crime... Well you can see where that's going.

12-09-2019, 01:32 PM	#2
LoneWolf23k Join Date: Sep 2004	Re: "Nulls" in Technomancer On the other hand, Nulls would be highly sought after by industries or other agencies that require confidentiality from their employees. Someone who can't easily be scryed or have their thoughts intruded is someone who can be guaranteed to keep a secret.

12-09-2019, 02:15 PM	#4
ericthered Hero of Democracy Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: far from the ocean	Re: "Nulls" in Technomancer If you've got true nulls, it seems to be the natural place to use them is magical hazmat. If you're just resisting the spell naturally, then you just have an expensive condition. __________________ Be helpful, not pedantic Worlds Beyond Earth -- my blog Check out the PbP forum! If you don't see a game you'd like, ask me about making one!

12-09-2019, 02:29 PM	#5
Varyon Join Date: Jun 2013	Re: "Nulls" in Technomancer One of the major characters in Dominic Deegan was a null (called Resistants in the setting). He was hired for a while as sheriff for a small town, partially because his near-immunity to magic meant that anyone getting into magical hijinks in his town would be unable to directly affect him with their spells. He was later dismissed because his position was causing the kingdom to withhold needed financial aid to the town - the kingdom's official stance was that a Resistant in a position of power was inviting abuse of said power. So, it can kind of go either way. I do like the idea of a sort of "null underground," with downtrodden nulls banding together into something like a criminal organization, probably getting a lot of their funds from doing crimes on commission. With heavy reliance on magic for detection and the like, such would have a natural leg up in being sneaky. A setting idea I had a while back had something like this, where a minority of people were incapable of using magic, but were also invisible to magic senses (the common superstition was that such people lacked souls). As most people used magic subconsciously to navigate their day-to-day lives, these "soulless" had natural stealth abilities. Being this way wasn't something one was born into, however - it's what happened if you killed somebody (animals, monsters, and soulless didn't count). They tended to work as killers for hire (mercenaries, executioners, assassins, etc) a good deal of the time, and as they were obvious (being invisible to your sixth sense but visible to your eyes makes it clear someone is soulless; the setting was actually intended for a video game, and the visual cue for players would be such characters being grayscale). __________________ GURPS Overhaul

12-09-2019, 03:45 PM	#6
David Johnston2 Join Date: Dec 2007	Re: "Nulls" in Technomancer Note incidentally that being barred from testifying and having a reputation for being untrustworthy means a huge disadvantage for null victims of crimes.

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