comStar Firewall alert - PhaseThrough

Matrix phenoMena . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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rUMored Uv nodeS
A UV node’s existence is often a tightly-kept secret,
but several rumors of such places permeate the shadows.
Here are a few examples:
ares firewatch combat Simulator
Recognizing the potential of programmed VR worlds
for combat training, Ares has ramped up the capabilities
of their elite Firewatch units’ training simulator to provide
an experience that is just as frightening, chaotic,
painful, and dangerous as real life combat. Firewatch
personnel are trained in a wide variety of environments
and situations, from bug hunts and conflicts with dragons
to desert warfare and zero-g space scenarios.
cataclysm generator
This secret project, operated by the megacorp
Proteus, researches the behaviour of metahumans
when they are confronted with massive disasters and
apocalyptic scenarios. To achieve realistic results, test
subjects are kidnapped or lured in under the pretext of
other projects and inserted unwittingly into the system
without preparation. After the test series, the subjects
are administered a chemical cocktail that erases their
memories of the experiments and released.
flesh trade
This illegal node, rumoured to be operated by a
consortium of Triad groups, sells itself as an out-ofthis-world
sex experience. Part brothel and part sex
party, the Trade also offers an assortment of BTL
feeds, and for a premium sells customized experiences,
where you can bring any sort of deviant fantasy to
life. Aside from the desire to hook their customers on
BTL, the real business of the node lies in secret psychotropic
subroutines they also run on their clients.
the nexus
The world’s premier data haven, the Nexus serves
as a mirror site for numerous shadow Matrix nodes,
social networks, and archives. Hidden away in Denver,
this site managed to survive the Crash 2.0 almost
unscathed, and remains a crucial resource for shadowrunners
and info brokers. Its data depositories have
grown so massive that its core nexi now require massive
levels of processing power just to manage all of
the data, even in an era where data storage is cheap.
reSonance weLLS
Resonance wells are nodes within the Matrix that hum in
Resonance. While these places are often unremarkable to normal
Matrix users, technomancers experience them as hyper-real
nodes—similar to UV nodes (p. 171)—that almost feel alive, resonating
with the energy of the Matrix. It is unclear how resonance
wells are created, and no technomancer has yet found a way to
create a resonance well, even with any kind of digital feng shui or
geomancing … although many have tried. Some have speculated
that these places are actually wormholes or gates into the resonance
realms from which excess Resonance leaks into the Matrix.
Others hold wild sprites (or sprites in general) responsible. The
truth is, nobody knows.
A number of resonance wells that were known before
Crash 2.0 and used by the otaku to achieve submersion were
destroyed, dried up, or shifted location. The appearance of
a new resonance well does not follow a certain scheme; they
could potentially form anywhere, though there have been
no reports of a resonance well in a major public node—they
seem to manifest only in the quiet and unvisited corners of
the Matrix. Resonance wells are mostly permanent (albeit exceptionally
rare) and stable as long as the node does not shut
down—crashing the node kills the resonance well in most
cases. They can also, rarely, appear temporarily (a phenomenon
known as a resonance flash) or migrate through different nodes
in repeating cycles (resonance undulations).
Due to their positive effects on Resonance abilities, resonance
wells are sought out by technomancers, guilds, and free sprites
alike, and are heavily contested (comparable to power sites and
mana nexi in the Awakened world).
In game terms, a resonance well has a rating that represents
its power. This rating acts as a positive dice pool modifier for all
tests that involve Resonance, whether made by a technomancer
or sprite: Fading Tests, Compiling and Registering Tests, uses of
complex forms, and so on.
Dissonant technomancers (see p. 175) suffer the opposite
effect of regular technomancers when they encounter a resonance
well: they suffer a negative dice pool modifier equal to the well’s
rating. Dissonance variants of resonance wells, called dissonance
pools, also exist. These pools have the same impairing effects on
technomancers as resonance wells have on dissonants.
resonance rifts
A few resonance wells are known to inexplicably act as gateways
to the resonance realms (usually a specific resonance realm),
transporting unwary users against their will. These rifts are uncommon,
tend to occur without warning, and do not last for long. If
stable rifts exist, they are not talked about openly, and are likely
cherished and protected.
Such rifts provide an open passage for non-submerged
technomancers to access the resonance realms, even allowing
the travellers to bypass the Event Horizon (see p. 174). In fact,
rifts may pull in unwary or unwilling Matrix denizens who have
the misfortune of coming across one—a successful Willpower +
Charisma (3) Test is necessary to avoid being sucked in.
While most resonance wells are invisible to non-technomancers,
resonance rifts tend to (but not always) take more
visible forms, usually demarked with iconography such as swirling
vortices, tornadoes of data, or ugly pixelation and de-rezzed stains
bleeding across a system’s sculpted environment.
reSonance reaLMS
There is a certain feeling that every technomancer knows
when diving through the Matrix. It’s more than the constant
buzz of data traffic in the background, it’s the feeling that there
Unwired
Simon Wentworth (order #1132857) 9