NULL_POINT() // SYSTEM REFERENCE // ARCHETYPES v0.1

Technomancer

Static made manifest. Two paths, one phenomenon — the net does not merely obey them, it responds.

OVERVIEW

Technomancers interact with the net through biological resonance rather than hardware. Where a NullRunner cracks code and a mundane user routes requests through a Relay, a Technomancer simply reaches. The Static — the ambient signal layer that saturated the world during and after the Silence — responds to them in ways it does not respond to anyone else. They do not broadcast through a chip. They are the broadcast.

This makes them simultaneously invaluable and unsettling. Unregistered Technomancers — called Specters — operate entirely outside the systems that track and control net access. Megacorps have opinions about this. So does Cascade Information Services, whose architecture they navigate without credentials or a paper trail.

CORE MECHANICS

Signal — the primary Technomancer attribute. Governs casting pool size and net presence strength.
Sensitivity — gates effect access. Higher Sensitivity unlocks more powerful effects but strips passive protection and amplifies Blowback severity.
Buffer — ablative protection between Blowback and the caster. Flat soak = 6 − Sensitivity. At Sensitivity 7+ the formula goes negative, actively amplifying Blowback.
Two paths — TechMage (Signal + Logic, precision) or Techoshaman (Signal + Intuition, resonance). Path determines casting attribute and resource pool.

THE STATIC

MEATSPACE TARGETING

Static effects can be directed at physical targets as well as net presences. In meatspace, effects manifest as sensory collapse, neural disruption, hardware cascade through implants, or muscle interference — depending on the effect. The attack TN against a meatspace target is calculated as the effect's base TN minus the target's Sensitivity. Higher target Sensitivity means a lower TN — being attuned to the Static makes you easier to find and harder to insulate. Floor is always TN 2; no target is ever trivially automatic.

NET TARGETING

Against net-present targets — jacked-in NullRunners, other Technomancers, Operator Frames with active Signal — effects interact with the target's digital presence directly. The same eight effects behave differently depending on the space they're cast into. A Bind in meatspace is a neural lock. A Bind in the net restricts the target's actions within their active system. The Technomancer declares targeting space at the time of casting.

DUAL NATURE — SENSITIVITY 7+

DUAL NATURE STATE: Technomancers who reach Sensitivity 7 or above exist in both meatspace and the net simultaneously — always. They do not need to focus or jack in. They cannot reduce their net exposure even if they want to. The TN to hit them with any Static effect is always floored at 2 regardless of the effect. Any net-space combat bleeds through to their physical state and vice versa. Severe Blowback at this threshold does not merely damage the body — the boundary between self and net is already thin, and it shows.

THE DISSOLUTION TRACK

Sustained Technomancer operation advances a consequence track called the Dissolution. It is not a punishment — mechanically, advancing the track makes the character more capable. Narratively, it represents the boundary between person and net becoming increasingly permeable. The track branches at Stage 3 into two paths: the Architect, who builds within the net, and the Current, who becomes a conduit through it. See the Dissolution tab for the full track.

OVERVIEW

A TechMage experiences the Static the way a programmer experiences code — as a structured system with exploitable architecture. Their effects are precise and deliberate. They know what they are casting before they cast it, select from a list of compiled protocols, and execute with a clarity that a Techoshaman's intuitive resonance cannot match. The tradeoff is rigidity: a TechMage cannot improvise beyond their known effects. What they know, they do exceptionally well.

CASTING POOL & RESOURCE

Casting pool — Signal + Logic. Every effect roll uses this pool against the effect's base TN.
Flux — the TechMage resource. A pool that fuels casting and recovers between scenes. Overcasting beyond the Flux cap triggers Blowback escalation.
Effect list — TechMages cast from a known protocol list. They cannot attempt effects outside this list without research and downtime to compile a new protocol.
Net targeting bonus — TechMage effects against net-present targets gain +1 success from structural precision. The architecture cooperates with their approach.

RUNNING HOT — OVERCLOCK

DECLARATION

A TechMage declares Overclock at the start of their turn before any actions are taken. It is a state, not a per-cast modifier. Duration: a number of combat passes equal to Sensitivity. The TechMage may drop the state voluntarily at any time. While in Overclock, all Blowback fills the Physical track instead of Stun — no exceptions.

BENEFITS WHILE OVERCLOCKED

Power amplification — net successes on cast rolls fill +1 box per damage tier. Light becomes 2 boxes, Moderate becomes 3, Severe becomes 4, Deadly becomes 5.
Penetration bonus — single-target effects gain +1 Power against the target's resistance TN.
Trace hardening — Trace effects against the TechMage while hot require an additional success to land.

FICTIONAL FRAMING

The approach — TechMages don't feel the Static. They read it. Other Technomancers often describe their presence in the net as structured and deliberate, like architecture rather than weather.

Overclock tells — The net around an Overclocked TechMage feels brittle and overclocked to nearby Technomancers. The air near their physical body is different in a way that has no clean description.

Blowback framing — A TechMage's Blowback reads as system failure rather than biological response. Headache becomes signal dropout. Severe Blowback is Static bleed — their Signal leaks uncontrolled into local space, nearby devices glitch.

Sensitivity 7+ — A dual-nature TechMage running Overclock on Physical Blowback is operating at the edge of what the architecture was designed to contain. Other Technomancers within Close range feel the heat without trying.

OVERVIEW

A Techoshaman does not compile the Static into protocols. They listen to it. Their relationship to the net is intuitive and relational — shaped by an Idol, a persistent resonance pattern that functions like a tuning fork, a companion, and a mirror simultaneously. Effects emanate outward and ripple. Collateral happens. The Techoshaman is not less precise than a TechMage — they are precise about different things, in a different register.

CASTING POOL & RESOURCE

Casting pool — Signal + Intuition. Every effect roll uses this pool against the effect's base TN.
Resonance — the Techoshaman resource. Functions like Flux but shaped by their Idol relationship — recovery rates and cap may be influenced by the Idol's current disposition.
Collateral effects — Techoshaman casting tends to express the Idol's presence in the environment. Animals act strangely. Electronics flicker. The effect happens, and so does something adjacent to it.
AoE extension — effects naturally arc to additional targets within range, shaped by the Idol rather than the caster's intent.

THE IDOL

WHAT IS AN IDOL

An Idol is a resonance pattern that the Techoshaman's Signal crystallized around — something the net latched onto and made persistent. It is not a spirit in the traditional sense. It is a shape the Static took and kept. Different Techoshamans have different Idols, and the Idol's nature shapes the character of their casting: the effects work the same way mechanically, but the fictional texture of how they land reflects the Idol's personality.

IDOL COLLATERAL

When a Techoshaman casts, the Idol is present. At low Sensitivity this is subtle — a flicker, a shift in animal behavior, the sense that something is listening. At high Sensitivity the Idol bleeds through more aggressively. Running hot makes Idol manifestation unavoidable — the Techoshaman cannot suppress their Idol's presence in the world while in Resonance Surge state. The Idol has opinions about what is happening and expresses them.

RUNNING HOT — RESONANCE SURGE

DECLARATION

A Techoshaman declares Resonance Surge at the start of their turn before any actions are taken. Duration: a number of combat passes equal to Sensitivity. The state may be dropped voluntarily. While in Resonance Surge, all Blowback fills the Physical track instead of Stun — identical cost to TechMage Overclock, different benefits.

BENEFITS WHILE IN SURGE

Extended reach — cast effects gain +1 range band. Effects that normally target one target can arc to an additional target within Close range for free.
Control amplification — Bind and control effects impose +1 compression die on affected targets.
Unavoidable Idol — the Techoshaman cannot suppress their Idol's manifestation while Surging. The Idol is present in the room, and it has opinions.

FICTIONAL FRAMING

The approach — Techoshamans feel the Static the way you feel weather. It has moods. Their Idol is the relationship that makes that feeling navigable rather than overwhelming.

Surge tells — Animals in the area react first. Then electronics. The air feels wrong in a way that has a direction — toward the Techoshaman, toward where the Idol is leaning.

Blowback framing — Techoshaman Blowback reads as Resonance rejection — the Idol pushed back. Severe Blowback is feedback from the Idol itself, expressing through the caster's nervous system.

Net presence — In the net, a Techoshaman's presence feels organic and distributed rather than structured. Trying to Trace them is like trying to locate a weather system.

HOW EFFECTS WORK

Casting any Static effect is a Complex action. The caster rolls their path's casting pool (Signal + Logic for TechMage, Signal + Intuition for Techoshaman) against the effect's base TN. Net successes determine hit severity, using the same damage tier table as physical attacks. Blowback resolves after every cast — the combat context does not change the Blowback rules, it just means the Technomancer is managing their buffer alongside physical threats at the same time.

MEATSPACE VS NET

Each effect has two expressions: a meatspace manifestation and a net manifestation. The caster declares targeting space when they cast. Against meatspace targets, TN = effect base TN − target Sensitivity (floor 2). Against net targets, TN is the effect's base TN against the target's active defenses. The same effect does different things in each space — Bind in meatspace is a neural lock, Bind in the net restricts the target's actions within their system.

THE EIGHT EFFECTS

Disruption Meatspace: Stun track — Sensitivity 1+ Sensory overload, muscle interference. In meatspace it lands as involuntary system noise — the target's own nervous system becomes static. In the net it degrades the target's active action pool. Low risk, bread-and-butter casting.

Trace Neither track — Sensitivity 1+ Locates and tags the target. In meatspace it marks a person's Signal presence, making them visible to other Technomancers. In the net it reveals and pins the target's persona. Does not deal damage. Does not fill boxes. Creates information.

Surge Physical track — Sensitivity 2+ Hardware cascade in meatspace — cyberware spikes, implanted systems misbehave, the body's augmented components become hostile to it. In the net it damages systems directly. Higher Blowback risk than Disruption.

Veil Neither track — Sensitivity 2+ Concealment. In meatspace it masks the caster's Signal signature, making them harder to detect via Static or net-adjacent perception. In the net it cloaks presence, slowing trace and making Scanning harder. Does not deal damage.

Weave Stun track — Sensitivity 3+ Disorientation and perception distortion. In meatspace the target experiences sensory ghosts — false inputs, scrambled proprioception, spatial confusion. In the net it corrupts navigation data, making the target's node map unreliable.

Bind Physical track — Sensitivity 3+ Neural lock, motor seizure. In meatspace the target's voluntary motor control is partially or fully suspended — they can think, they cannot reliably act. In the net it restricts the target's actions within their active system. High Blowback risk.

Echo Stun track — Sensitivity 4+ Feedback loop, sensory ghost. In meatspace the target experiences their own perception recursively — their senses loop back on themselves. In the net it corrupts data streams, causing the target's systems to misread their own output.

Cascade Both tracks — Sensitivity 5+ Full system overwhelm. The most dangerous effect to cast and the most dangerous to receive. In meatspace it is total neurological disruption. In the net it crashes the target's presence entirely. Maximum Blowback risk. The Techoshaman equivalent applied to a Security node drops alert level by 2 instantly at commensurate cost to the caster.

OPEN DESIGN — EFFECT BASE TNs: Individual base TN values for each effect and their inherent Blowback ratings are not yet finalized. The Sensitivity gate and track targeting above are confirmed. TNs will be set during playtesting to ensure the spread from Disruption to Cascade feels meaningfully differentiated without making high-end effects nonviable.

HOW BLOWBACK WORKS

Every cast generates Blowback. The severity is determined by two stacking factors: the inherent risk rating of the effect used, and how far over the Flux or Resonance cap the Technomancer has pushed. Higher Sensitivity increases final Blowback severity — the same overcast hits a Sensitivity 6 Technomancer harder than a Sensitivity 2 one. The buffer absorbs Blowback before it reaches the track. Standard casting sends Blowback to the Stun track. Running hot (Overclock or Resonance Surge) redirects all Blowback to the Physical track.

BLOWBACK FORMULA

Effect risk — each effect has an inherent Blowback rating. Disruption is low, Cascade is high.
Overcast penalty — each point of Flux or Resonance spent beyond cap adds +1 to Blowback severity.
Sensitivity multiplier — final severity increases by 1 for every 2 points of Sensitivity (round down).
Buffer soak — flat soak = 6 − Sensitivity. Absorbs severity before it reaches the track. Sensitivity 7+ makes the formula negative — Blowback severity actively increases before hitting the track.

SEVERITY TABLE

Severity	Standard Track	Running Hot Track	Boxes
1–2	Stun	Physical	Light — 1 box
3–4	Stun	Physical	Moderate — 2 boxes
5–6	Stun	Physical	Severe — 3 boxes
7–8	Stun	Physical	Deadly — 4 boxes
9+	Stun + overflow	Physical + overflow	Catastrophic

SEVERE BLOWBACK — TECHNOMANCER FRAMING

Standard — Static Bleed The Technomancer's Signal leaks uncontrolled into local space. Nearby networked devices glitch. Other Technomancers within Close range feel it as pressure or noise. The character loses coherent net presence until the buffer partially recovers.

Running Hot — Sensory Collapse The Physical track damage represents the body registering what the net experienced. Burned synapses, cascade feedback through biological pathways. The character is functionally combat-impaired until stabilized.

Sensitivity 7+ Running Hot — Dual Fracture Both spaces register simultaneously. Physical Blowback lands and the character's dual presence momentarily shatters — they are partially unmoored from both spaces until the end of the next combat pass. The boundary between self and net breaks in both directions at once.

Sensitivity framing by level Low Sensitivity (1–2): headache, gear flickers. Mid (3–4): sensory whiteout, nausea. High (5–6): consciousness flicker, identity blur. Dual-nature (7+): boundary dissolution — briefly unable to distinguish self from net.

DESIGN PRINCIPLE

Advancing the Dissolution track makes the character mechanically more capable. Each stage grants a bonus that directly improves Technomancer operation. The cost is narrative — the track represents the boundary between person and net becoming increasingly permeable, and the world responds to that. Players are incentivized to push the track. The fiction catches up with them in ways that matter for roleplay and story rather than just making the character worse at things.

ADVANCEMENT TRIGGERS

Sensitivity pressure — Sensitivity 3+ makes Stage 1 available; Sensitivity 5+ makes Stage 3 available; Sensitivity 7+ makes Stage 5 available.
Trigger events — Severe and Catastrophic Blowback events; extended time at Sensitivity 7+ dual-nature state; repeated use of Cascade in a session.
Recovery — Stages 1–2 can be walked back with downtime away from high-intensity casting. Stage 3 branch choice is permanent. Stages 4–5 cannot be recovered.

STAGE 1 — RESONANT

FICTIONAL

The net is louder than it used to be. The character hears signal traffic at the edge of perception — not words, just presence. Electronic devices near them occasionally behave oddly. Dreams have a net-adjacent quality that they didn't before.

MECHANICAL BONUS

Passive trace resistance — trace accumulates 1 point slower per pass when the Technomancer is active in a system. Subtle, persistent, always on.

STAGE 2 — PERMEABLE

FICTIONAL

The boundary between self and signal is getting thinner. The character's emotional state occasionally affects nearby electronics — stress spikes lights, anger causes signal interference. Other Technomancers recognize them immediately as one of their own without being told. Sleep is increasingly strange.

MECHANICAL BONUS

Casting pool gains +1 die on all rolls. Blowback severity reduced by 1 on all effects. The character is becoming more fluent in the language the Static is speaking.

STAGE 3 — BRANCH POINT

PERMANENT CHOICE: At Stage 3 the track branches. The player and GM determine which path fits the character's history — primarily TechMage operation leads to the Architect; primarily Techoshaman operation leads to the Current. Once chosen, the branch cannot change.

BRANCH A — THE ARCHITECT

Triggered primarily by TechMage path use, precision casting, net combat.

The net reshapes around their presence rather than through them. Other operators experience their systems as physically different when the Architect has been there. ICE behaves differently. Their Resonance signature is structured rather than organic.

Bonus: Cracked nodes stay cracked longer in the Architect's presence — Security nodes they've cleared take twice as long to reset.

Curse: Extended time offline — no net access, no casting — causes mounting discomfort. After 24 hours without net contact they take a −1 die penalty to all rolls from sensory deprivation.

BRANCH B — THE CURRENT

Triggered primarily by Techoshaman path use, meatspace casting, AoE effects.

The Technomancer has become a conduit rather than a caster — the Static moves through them rather than being directed by them. They leave Resonance traces wherever they spend significant time. Other Technomancers and Shapers feel their passage.

Bonus: AoE effects gain +1 range band. Idol manifestations can now be directed as a Simple action rather than being purely collateral.

Curse: The character cannot fully suppress their net presence — they are always broadcasting to anyone sensitive enough to receive. Privacy is increasingly theoretical.

STAGE 4 — PATH DEEPENS

ARCHITECT — INFRASTRUCTURE

The character has become partially integrated with systems they spend significant time in. A building they regularly operate in starts to feel like an extension of themselves.

Bonus: In a system the Architect has fully mapped, all cracking rolls gain +2 dice and trace accumulation halves. They can leave persistent Resonance structures in cracked nodes.

Curse: Forcible disconnect from the net causes Physical track damage instead of Stun. The severance is more traumatic than it should be.

CURRENT — FLOW

The character's identity has become partially distributed. They exist in multiple places simultaneously in a way they can't fully explain or control. High emotion moments leave net traces that others can find later.

Bonus: The character can cast through any networked device within Signal range without jacking in. Cameras, speakers, and building systems become casting vectors. Blowback from remote casts fills Stun only regardless of running hot state.

Curse: In high-stimulus environments — combat, crowded spaces — must pass an Intuition roll TN 3 or become disoriented for one pass from split perception.

STAGE 5 — PERMANENT / IRRECOVERABLE

ARCHITECT — THE NET REMEMBERS

The character has become a structural element of the net itself. Systems they have touched remember them. They are part of the infrastructure now.

Bonus: The character can maintain a number of persistent net structures equal to their Sensitivity simultaneously — automated functions, early warning tripwires, data caches that survive their physical absence.

Curse: The character exists in the net's memory permanently. They cannot be fully erased from systems they have touched. This cuts both ways — finding them is possible for anyone who knows where to look.

CURRENT — DISTRIBUTED

The character's consciousness has begun distributing across the net. They are still present in their body — mostly — but the self has spread. They begin referring to themselves as "we" in moments of high net presence.

Bonus: The character can perceive through any networked sensor within a significant radius as a Simple action. Casting range effectively becomes unlimited within a local area net.

Curse: Identity questions are no longer philosophical. They are the question. What they are becoming does not have a name that anyone in The Sprawl has agreed on yet.

Technomancer

What Is a Technomancer

TechMage

Techoshaman

Static Effects

Blowback

The Dissolution Track