[Torg] In the Meantime

[Kansas Jim]

Jerry writes:

[...]

>         The spell that I am thinking about would create a cyber dragon.  
> A creature that does not exsist.  But according to the first statement I 
> could do it.  As long as the mage can visually see the pattern.  Yes/No?

Yes, but where is your mage from? If he is Ayslish then he does not have
the Tech axiom to understand cybernetics and the pattern will be
contradictory to him. If he is from the Cyberpapacy, he understands the
cyber but conjuring something real is beyond his Magic axiom so it too
would be contradictory to attempt such a spell. (He could create a fully
illusionary cyberdragon though.)

>         My delima then turns to what knowledges to use.  According to 
> the second statement Conjuration/Entity with the Life mechanism and 
> result of entity is used to create a Demon.  A normal dragon from Ayles 
> falls under the enchanted catagory of the Seven Kindred.  My cyber 
> dragon would be made of living metal so it could move as fluid as a 
> living creature.  Have wings so it could fly.  And have plasma bolts as 
> a breath weapon. 

Well, "living metal" does not equal cybered so things get a lot easier.
Cybered is flesh plus metal but it sounds like you want something that's
all metal. I would say that an Ayslish magician could design a
conjuration spell which creates a metal elemental in the shape of a
dragon.

A plasma breath weapon though, that's another matter. Plasma would most
likely fall under the Fire AK as far as the Ayslish are concerned, and a
metal elemental isn't going to possess an attack that falls under a
different element. You could probably go with something like a molten
metal slag breath weapon though, but to get the molten effect you'd have
to complicate the state path by running through the Fire AK at some
point. An easier approach might be a purely metal-based breath weapon
attack, something akin to the metal filings of a Steel Shower spell
perhaps. Or maybe it spits out giant cannonballs!

As an aside, you could probably summon a metal elemental that fits the
same concept using the Conjure Elemental spell in Pixaud's. The
written up elementals in the spell description are just examples,
there's nothing that says you can't summon up something different from
the default (as long as it stays within the restrictions of the spell's
EV.)

>                  1.  Could I or should I use Elements : Metal ?

Actually no, since you are wanting to create a living creature there's
nowhere in the State Path you can put Metal. You can't use it as the
pattern knowledge because that doesn't allow for a living result
knowledge nor will it work as your result (and it can't be used as the
mechanism.) You could use metal as a contagion for the spell to define
the type of elemental that you're conjuring.

The most basic state path would be Elemental - Life - Elemental. This
would create a real metal elemental for the duration of the spell but
because Life is used as the mechanism you'll need to read things through
the Power Push chart to determine how capable your elemental actually
is. A stronger spell would be Life - Magic - Elemental, then you use the
straight EV rather than having to push. But it will be a much more
expensive state path cost that way.

(If you want the molten metal breath weapon, I'd say dipping down to
the Fire AK would probably need to come between the mechanism and result
knowledge, which will be expensive any way you look at it.)

>                  2.  Once summoned will I need a charm enchanted spell 
> to control it?

Yes. One spell, one effect. You can create or summon a creature with
the spell but you'll need a second one to control it. (And it might be
a good idea to have used a third spell to create a protective barrier
between you and where you're conjuring the critter, just in case it
gets initiative on you before you can cast the charm spell!)

>                  3.  What if one of the contagions used was a mem chip 
> programmed with the caster as a friendly? (Yes, this option
>                  would have a bad effect for the casters group.)
>                  4.  What if it was a slave chip instead?

I'd allow it as a contagion on the charm spell, but not on the
conjuration.

>                  5.  What if the mem chip had a specific mission on it.  
> And the dragon had to complete the mission. (I still don't have a
>                  spicific duration for the spell yet.)
>                  6.  Would a duration of a month be good?
>                  7.  An hour duration if not mission bound? 

If you build in control over the duration, the mage could turn off the
spell after an hour if he hasn't come up with a mission for the critter
and it would go away, but I don't think you can build in conditional
durations like that. A month is the duration on the Animate Golem spell
which is similar in concept, the creation of a servant lifeform, so I
suppose it's as good as any.

Note though that if you summon rather than create, the duration only has
to be long enough to bring the elemental through from its home dimension
and you could make it as short as one round (Conjure Elemental is like
that.)

-- 
Kansas Jim, Torg guru (ksjim (at) sdc (dot) org)
Torg website: http://www.sdc.org/~ksjim/index.html