Everything

Data (Correspondence)

Accessing Reality Metacode

Specialties: Co-location, Encryption, Fabrication, Firewalling, Surveillance/ Sousveillance

Data is reality. Anyone who thinks otherwise is fooling themselves. Although this reality extends only about as far as electronic data or media, that reach is damned near worldwide these days. And through that connection, Data Sphere specialists can find, contact, and reach out to anyone on the grid. All it takes is time and a little bit of information, plus the knowledge and the Will to work it properly.

A Technocratic refinement of the Correspondence Sphere, Data remains the province of the Virtual Adepts, the New World Order, and the various allies they choose to share it with. Like all Spheres, its properties are meta-physical, extending beyond the realms of conventional reality. Although the Data specialist is, theoretically, just using the tools at his disposal, the greater reaches of this Sphere extend beyond the bounds of what should be possible, according to the Masses. It’s not “magick,” of course – stop thinking such unmutual thoughts! It does, however, pull the strands of Information-Age technology in some pretty impressive ways.

In most regards, Data functions like Correspondence with regards to the powers at its disposal. The primary differences come through the elements of connection (see the chart below) and the methods of its employment. To use Data-based Effects, the technomancer must collate data about the person or location he’s trying to reach, and then have gear in place that can reach the subject of his attention. The more expertise that specialist brings to bear on the situation (that is, the more dots he has in this Sphere), the easier it is for him to establish a connection with minimal amounts of data.

For this Sphere’s associated paradigm, see Everything is

Data, (p. 570).

Because Data depends upon technological methods of information and connection, a target who’s not on the grid cannot be affected by this Sphere. Given the current (and growing) extent of information technology, however, the Data can reach most people within the industrialized world… especially if they participate in social media, modern banking, or government processes.

A Data specialist knows his way around the technology of our age. Though he might not be the humorless grunt so often associated with number-crunching disciplines, he’s certainly got intense focus, an eye for detail, and a ruthless capacity for exploiting the bounds and bindings of information technologies.

● On the Ones and Zeros

Through a haze of code, the Data initiate begins to see the interconnectedness of all things. Bringing that esoteric level of comprehension to the world beyond his keyboard, the specialist can determine the exact distance between points or the connections between visible objects. His understanding allows him to work on base-level projects without instruments, thanks to a growing familiarity with relationship information.

●● The Reach and the View

With a few quick calculations, the specialist can assess theoretical and practical space – assessments that allow him to perceive what’s happening elsewhere. Expanding the metaphysical elements of this discipline, this understanding allows the agent to see and touch places in other areas of the world, so long as he has instruments that allow him access to distant locations.

Combining Data with other Spheres, the specialist can extend the practical range of Technocratic Effects. Matter allows him to modify Union tech from a distance; Mind lets him communicate with agents or targets worldwide; Forces lets him attack distant targets; and Entropy allows him to predict and alter probability patterns and spot flaws in objects that he can perceive. As with regular Correspondence, the operator’s Data Rank must be equal to, or higher than, the highest Rank in a connected Effect.

●●● Quantum Teleportation/ Firewalling/ Surveillance Hub

Advanced Data transfer techniques allow the specialist to more or less sidestep conventional physics of spatial dimensions. In practical terms, this allows him to download himself into quantum teleportation mode; erect firewalls of particle physics that effectively ward objects, places, or people; and divide his perceptions across a multilocational surveillance hub. Combined with other Spheres, this expertise helps the agent move things, forces, and living beings through intervening space.

Again, however, these Procedures demand the appropriate gear on either side of the Effect. Such violations of conventional physics demand the proper technology.

●●●● Between Space/ Dimensional Cohabitation/ Multilocation Access

With such technology in place, the expert specialist can open quantum gateways between locations, create pocket dimensions between conventional space-time continuums, and disperse holographic manifestations of himself into several concurrent locations. With the appropriate Life, Mind, and Primal Force Procedures, those manifestations can even become as solid as the agent himself and perform different tasks in the finest Agent Smith tradition.

●●●●● Redistribute Physical Properties/ Fold Space/ Hyperdispersed Perceptions

Data Mastery merges conventional physics with sophisticated hypermath. The few specialists at this level can stack physical locations into the same space, alter the spatial dimensions and properties of a target, or disperse their perceptions into so many concurrent locations that a specialist may truthfully be said to have eyes and ears everywhere.

Again, however, these Procedures demand the appropriate gear on either side of the Effect. Such violations of conventional physics demand the proper technology.