Techgnosis

Part of a series about Citadel Rules

• Combat
  • Safety
• Calls
• Skills
• Psionics
• Techgnosis
• Mutations
  • Basic Mutations
• Downtime
• Equipment
• Resources and Income
• Wounds

Part of a series about the Technology of the Outlook.

• Literacy
• Artificial Intelligence
  • Basic AIs
  • Sample Advanced AIs
• Techgnosis
• Equipment

All characters who perform techgnosis must have a medium - a prop that contains the machinery that allows them to perform rituals and interact with AIs. This can be any shape or size - see here for more advice.

Techgnostic abilities come in the form of rituals which require appropriate role-playing.

Rituals

The list of available rituals can be found here

These are techgnostic ceremonies that have to be lead by a skilled technopath with the knowledge of the ritual wielding a medium. Otherwise, anyone may contribute to rituals, increasing the favour, naturally with technopath contributors being more effective than others. Each participant may choose to spend scrap, tokens or other inorganic resource to further increase the favour of the ritual. When a participant does so, they count as two extra contributors.

Rituals last at least a minute, often longer. Usually rituals are limited by use, an AI will likely not respond to repeated performance of a ritual.

Ritual performance must be overseen by a deadlocked AI.

Obfuscation

All participants of the ritual will intuitively know the intent of the ritual from the moment it starts. The participants are however not automatically privy to the details of the ritual unless the lead technopath decides to share them. For example, the lead technopath does not need to inform other participants of the specific AI they are requesting but all participants will know that they are requesting an AI.

The target of a ritual will intuitively know both the intent and the details of the ritual that targets them and they will obtain this knowledge at the start of the ritual performance.

Target and Movement

To perform a ritual on a target, all participants must start while in touch range of the target. Once the ritual starts, the participants may not move from the site of the ritual but the target is free to move away.

Lead technopaths may always target themselves or one of the participants.

A successfully completed ritual will take full effect regardless of how far the target has moved.

Calling and Housing AIs

The most common techgnosis skills are used to interact with AIs. Calling an AI will usually require a payment in the form of tokens, most basic AIs will be happy with a single token. Housing an AI will also usually require a token unless the AI is compensated in other ways.

If the AI is asked to performed a single service such as a combat call, then the payment will likely consist of a lump sum and the AI will leave afterwards. If the service is recurring, the cost is likely to also recur. The AI will likely waive the cost if the combat call is to be performed at the AIs discretion instead of when the character wants.

Shared Ambition

The goal of techgnostic rituals is to manipulate and affect AIs. This is much easier when the AI is aligned with the technopath's goals and when the AI is favourably disposed towards the technopath. It is well known that additional petitioners taking part in the ritual increase the ritual favour, presumably because the AI is pleased by the attention of so many humans. Should every single person participate in a techgnostic ritual, the ritual favour will increase significantly as the AI sees that all of humanity rests on this request.

Improvised Rituals

Skilled Technopaths need not be constrained by the travails of those who came before them. New and unique ways of interacting with the AI and the technology might result in prompt eviction of the brain from the cranium, but for those brave souls who master the fundamentals of techgnosis and dare, only sky is the limit.

Any technopath may try and improvise a ritual. The endeavour is very tricky, it is recommended that many contributors are used during the ritual to improve the odds of it working. It is quite common for both the ritual leads and other participants to be wounded in the process. Trying to improvise a ritual that is close to an existing ritual that the ritual lead does not know will likely backfire.

AI Roleplaying Effects

All AIs invariably give a role playing effect when bound to a person's Ka. This is a fundamental part of their nature and cannot be prevented but the effect can be suppressed by other means.