comStar Firewall alert - PhaseThrough

sprites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
160
credit
A sprite with the Credit power can generate electronic cred
linked to a black account. It is not clear whether the sprite actually
creates this wealth as fake electronic nuyen (or any other currency
including corpscript) or if it diverts very small sums (rounding
sums) from all over the world. Every month, the sprite may make a
Rating + Edge Test. Every hit generates 10,000 nuyen of electronic
cash in an arbitrary account. These sums are permanent, but carry
the sprite’s Matrix signature.
The sprite can produce a similar amount of cred every day,
but this money counts as counterfeit currency (The Forger’s Art, p.
84) with a rating equal to the sprite’s rating ÷ 2 (round up). When
this money is to be transferred, make an Opposed Test between the
rating of the counterfeit nuyen and the rating of the verification
system. In any case, the generated or transferred money vanishes
electronically after 8 hours of existence.
denial
For purposes of decompiling (Decompiling, p. 236, SR4),
treat the sprite as if it has a number of tasks equal to its Edge that
refresh every 8 hours. These are cumulative with any task that the
sprite may actually owe a technomancer.
doorstop
This power enables the free sprite to jam open the connection
of a Matrix user (similar to Black IC) even when the user is not unconscious,
literally trapping the user online. To do so, the sprite must
succeed in an Opposed Test of its Rating + Response vs. the user’s
Willpower + Resonance (if available). If the free sprite achieves
more hits, the targeted user remains online as long as the sprite
sustains the power. If the user is disconnected from the Matrix from
the outside (for instance, by shutting down the commlink) while
trapped, she will immediately suffer dumpshock (p. 231, SR4).
resonance Bond
The free sprite gains the ability to enter into one or more
resonance bonds (p. 160). The gamemaster has final say about
which bonds a sprite can enter into.
resonance rift
Free sprites with this power have the ability to create their
own resonance rifts (see p. 172), allowing them to transport others
to the resonance realms.
reSonance Bond
Sprites with the resonance bond power can establish a connection
to the icon of a voluntary sapient, normally a technomancer
or other metahuman, although AIs and e-ghosts are also possible
(albeit rare). Usually the resonance bond is contracted because of
the mutual interest of both parties. The technomancer often wants
to achieve something with the help of a free sprite, learning or improving
his complex forms by the abilities of the sprite. The motives
of free sprites are equally self-serving, since they are dependent on
technomancers for reassembling. However, free sprites, especially
simulacrums, sometimes join into a resonance bond just out of
curiosity, or because they want to learn more about metahumanity,
which they can better understand through the resonance link of a
technomancer (giving them data they can process).
Anytime a character and a sprite are bonded, either party may
be used as a resonance link (p. 238, SR4) and datatrail to track the
other in the Matrix.
possible resonance Bonds
The gamemaster should consider game balance carefully
before introducing resonance bonds into her game or allowing
a character to take the Resonance Bond quality (p. 160). The
following are some examples of resonance bonds; gamemasters
should also feel free to create their own.
Allocation Bond: The sprite ties its own Resonance to the
technomancer, allowing him to use Resonance less stressfully.
For as long as the bond is maintained, the technomancer gains a
positive dice pool modifier on all Fading Tests equal to half the
sprite’s Resonance.
Echo Bond: The sprite links its Resonance powers to the
technomancer. She may use one of the sprite’s powers and it may
use one of the technomancer’s complex forms, echoes, or widgets.
These abilities are still retained by the sharer while sharing.
Networking Bond: The free sprite links its complex forms to
the technomancer. He may use one of the sprite’s complex forms
and it may use one of his complex forms.
wiLd SpriteS
Similar to wild spirits of the Awakened World, wild sprites,
native code-beings, are rumored to roam the infinite spaces of
the Matrix. Since the knowledge about “normal” sprites was only
very recently acquired and made public during the emergence of
AIs and the unveiling of the technomancer phenomenon (see the
Emergence campaign), wild sprites are often mistaken for normal
or free sprites when encountered.
Although they can indeed rise and assemble spontaneously from
the ever-present noise of the digital world, wild sprites do not conform
to metahuman thinking or technomancer streams. Nobody knows
for sure why and how they form in certain nodes, although they tend
to assume a form based on their environment or the data that led to
their creation. Sprites formed from so-called cruft (programmer speak
for redundant or unnecessary code) seems more chaotic and formless,
similar in many ways to protosapient AIs (p. 167), for example, while
wild sprites born from archives appear ordered in iconography and
behavior, resembling xenosapient AIs (p. 168).
What motivates wild sprites remains elusive. Some seem
to focus on tasks that involve creating, acquiring, protecting, or
destroying data or virtual spots (such as UV hosts) in the Matrix,
but beyond that, their motivations seem to be beyond the grasp
even of technomancers. On very rare occasions, wild sprites have
shown interest in personas, icons, programs, and environments
programmed by metahumans, interacting with them curiously.
For game purposes, wild sprites are handled as free sprites
(p. 157), though their unique statistics, abilities, and personalities
are left to the gamemaster. Though all have a rating and various
powers, wild sprites can possess any form or any combination of
powers the gamemaster deems appropriate and balanced.
Wild sprites are always uncontrolled and exhibit a remarkable
resistance to decompiling. All possess the Denial power (p.
160). A wild sprite may not be compiled and controlled unless
the compiler possesses its source code … assuming that wild sprites
even have source code, which is an open question.
Unwired
Simon Wentworth (order #1132857) 9