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Tharkold's high Magical axiom dropped precipitously during the Spasm. Until the Spasm magical research on Tharkold was analogous to that on Aysle. Spell development and research developed along similar lines, although Tharkold's world laws have always colored Tharkoldu magic. The Spasm forced demon researchers to look for ways to sustain magic against the inexorable decline of the Magical axiom. Most research failed.
Two avenues of research proved fruitful. Occultech bent technology to the service of magic, and Tharkoldu managed to create spells and other magics that were tied to and drew power from Tharkold's world laws.
The development of occultech was a crucial turning point in Tharkold history. Before the advent of occultech the Tharkoldu were demons. After occultech, Tharkoldu became technodemons, creatures identified by their fusion of technology to magic. Occultech was a development born of desperation during the Spasm.
Occultech depends on the world laws of Tharkold. Ancient demon scholars believed the Law of Domination should apply at a metaphysical as well as social level. As demons were creatures that required magic to exist, and the Race were not, then magic must come to dominate the cosm of Tharkold if the demons were to triumph.
The demons quested for a way to have the Magical axiom dominate the other axioms. Occultech is the way in which magic dominates technology; it is technology that has been bent to the service of magic. Occultech allows magical effects to be created through technological means: technomagic. Through occultech, magical effects requiring axiom levels greater than Tharkold's could be achieved through technomagical equipment. The Magical axiom was "boosted" by its dominance over the Technological axiom. The greater the difference between the Magical axiom and the Technological axiom, the greater the possible boost. The Magical axiom is literally buoyed up on the back of its dominance of the Technological axiom, rising part of the way to the Technological axiom level. With a Magic axiom of 12 and a Technological axiom of 26, occultech has been able to create magical effects requiring a Magical axiom of 17, a five-point boost. Tharkoldu research has been unable to push the boost any farther, and the techno-demons now suspect their research has slammed into a metaphysical ceiling.
The Race has taken consolation that Tharkoldu cannot find ways to have magic dominate the other axioms. Tharkoldu deem those other avenues of research as impossible or, given the disparity between the Technological axiom and the Spiritual and Social axioms, a gargantuan waste of time.
Occultech is peculiar to Tharkold, and its use in any other cosm causes at least a one-case contradiction. Occultech requires a Technological axiom of 26 and a Magical axiom of 12.
Technomagical implants change the way Tharkoldu use magic. For example, with the right cyberware, Tharkoldu can use virtual components to cast an altered fireball rather than a burning ball of pitch. See Chapter Nine for technomagical equipment and cyberware.
Spells bound to world laws are usually impossible to manipulate. If such a spell cannot be manipulated upon creation, it can never be manipulated. No number of theory adds is sufficient to manipulate one of these spells.
Spells bound to Tharkold's world laws are peculiar to Tharkold. Use of any such spell in a different cosm causes at least a one-case contradiction.
Nile and Cyberpapal magic works normally in Tharkold. Ayslish magic works normally as long as the spell has axiom level of 12 or less. Orrorsh spells work normally as long as their axiom level is 12 or less. Use of the Orrorshan occult causes a one- or four- case contradiction, depending on where the easter is from.
Tharkoldu can learn Ayslish spells as long as they have the requisite skill and arcane knowledge.
Technomagical implants and natural skills in magic can be used in any combination. For example, a magician might use an alteration Enabler and her natural skill in an arcane knowledge to cast a fireball using either a SpellChip, a learned spell, a grimoire, or casting on the fly. A magician with natural adds in a magical skill could use an Arcane Knowledge ExChip or natural knowledge to use a SpellChip, if she was fitted with a ChipHolder to hold the chip. Any combination of natural knowledge and technomagical enhancement is allowed.
Technomagical Enablers grant skill adds in the four basic skills of magic: alteration, apportation, divination, and conjuration.
All Technomagical enablers are wired directly into the brain. They grant skill adds of +1 to +4 in the magical skills. Their cyber rating is the add + 3. Thus, a divination Enabler+3 would have a cyber rating of +6.
The adds from these implants are not cumulative with real skill adds and they lock the mental and neural patterns into their own configuration. A character cannot increase her normal skill level above the level granted by an implant. That is, a character with alteration magic +3 from an implant cannot improve her own skill level to more than +3. She would have to upgrade the implant or have it removed in order to increase her skill. She can either use the implant's add, or her own, but not both at the same time.
Arcane Knowledges are availabie on ExChips (see above). Arcane Knowledge ExChips provide the skill needed to permit spell casting, as specified on page 115 of the Torg Rulebook. They may not be used to design a spell. Arcane Knowledge ExChips are plugged into a normal ChipHolder, just like any other ExChip. They do not require chipping in.
SpellChips: SpellChips are the high-tech equivalent of the ornate scrolls and grimoires of Aysle. They must be plugged directly into a Nervejack, not a ChipHolder. Swapping chips is a simple action but dedicated technomages usually have atleast two or three Nervejacks installed so they can have several SpellChips at the ready.
When a technomage acquires a SpellChip, he should attune it. This costs a possibility. Using an attuned SpellChip is the same as using a learned grimoire spell. Per the rules on page 113 of the Torg Rulebook, the magician resists backlash using the spell skill total or Mind attribute, whichever is higher.
Attunement is specific to the chip, not to the spell. If a spell chip burns out or is taken from the technomage, a replacement chip would have to be reattuned, costing another possibility.
A technomage can use an unattuned SpellChip. It is cast with the same penalties as an unlearned grimoire spell, so the spell skill total resists the backlash, even if it is lower than the caster's Mind.
SpellChips also contain a sophisticated VX simulation system that allows the technomage to perform mimicry or use any props that the spell may require under the Theorems of Similarity or Contagion. For example, a magician casting Altered Fireball using a SpellChip does not need the traditional ball of burning pitch physically, since he is experiencing the somatic component of the spell virtually, through the VX circuits of the SpellChip. The Law of Domination is again at work, allowing technology to substitute for integraI parts of the spell casting process.
However, if a spell uses Specific Contagion, then either the usual sample of material from the target is needed, or else the SpellChip must be programmed with the target's DNA pattern or molecular structure using occultech skill. This requires a the same sample of material that the spell itself would use.
SpellChips can be used to cast impressed spells without contradiction in Tharkold, even though the Magic axiom is 12. The mage casts the spell with the chip on-line. If successful the chip stores the impressed spell. A Tharkoldu or Race mage who casts an impressed spell without the SpellChip causes a four-case contradiction, as the spell has a higher axiom level than Tharkold or the easter.
Backlash Buffers are systems that bolster the user against spell backlash. The magician's resistance value is increased by the rating of the buffer (+1 to +3). This applies even if the spell skill total is a failure. It will not turn that failure into a success, but it may make the cost of failure survivable.
Backlash Buffers have a cyber rating of a for every bonus point they confer. If the user suffers a wound as a result of backlash, check the buffers for systems failure.
Technomagical Systems Failure is possible, under the same rules as less exotic cyberware. In the event that systems failure occurs due to a poor roll when casting a spell, check each technomagical system involved for failure. For example, Shemosh is using a divination magic +4 implant, his own arcane knowledge of magic, and a SpellChip to cast detect magic, when he rolls a 1. The gamemaster generates two bonuses: one for the divination magic implant and one for the SpellChip, to see if they suffer damage.
Backlash and Technomagic: Besides the special considerations for systems failures and cyberware, technomages are vulnerable to temporary systems failures in their implants when backlash damage would normally cost a mage her powers for a time.
Mental damage from spell backlash (page 113 of the Torg Rulebook) that KOs a magician temporarily damages the arcane knowledge used t cast the spell. In the case of technomagic, this sets up circuit hysteresis in the ExChip that renders it useless for 24 hours, or until it is repaired using occultech, or until the cybermiracle of refreshment is performed (see Chapter 7).
When mental damage raises a technomage's wound level to heavily wounded or greater, both the Arcane Knowledge ExChip and the appropriate Technomagical Enabler suffer this penalty. The temporary damage to the cyberware does not prevent the character from improving her wound status, whether the skill implants are restored or not.
LifeCyber: When magic reached its lowest ebb on Tharkold it was too weak to sustain the life of magical beings. The demons developed early forms of implant technology to preserve their existence during this period. Artificial organs and bulky lifesupport units were the earliest forms of LifeCyber. Though the Magic axiom has been raised, the demons have continued to refine LifeCyber. It allows them to function, at least for a time, in even the most unmagical of cosms.
LifeCyber implants can sustain a demon's occult metabolism. Tharkoldu can live in cosms with a Magic axiom lower than 9 as long as the Life Cyber works. Otherwise, they suffer an affliction called lightblight as soon as they disconnect. The magical energy osmoses out of the demon, forming a glowing pox on its skin. Tharkoldu takes one shock point per day. These shock points may not be recovered through medicine, first aid, miracles, spells, or the expenditure of Possibilities. When the amount of shock damage taken equals the demon's Toughness it dies. The shock damage is recovered at a rate of one shock point per day, once the Tharkoldu is in an area with Magic axiom 9 or more, or is reattached to working LifeCyber.
LifeCyber is a Tech 26 implant, and its user must fear disconnection in cosms with a lower Tech axiom. The level of the Magic axiom has no effect on disconnection. The net effect of LifeCyber is that the demon's very existence in a low-magic cosm does not create a contradiction. LifeCyber uses a power cell and requires recharging weekly when in a cosm with a Magic axiom lower than 9.
LifeCyber works through occultech processes, creating a limited reality effect similar to a talisman. As long as the LifeCyber remains charged, it provides the demon with enough magical energy to simulate elements of Magic axiom level 9, just enough to keep the demon alive. The implant does not provide enough energy to cast spells. The implant provides a Tech 26, Magic 12 field for itself. This field does not encompass the demon, just the implant. If the demon disconnects, the LifeCyber keeps working.
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