Web
Web, as befits the signature Discipline of the Lynx, is the power of human networks. The individual nodes that make up a network are a secondary concern to the practitioners of this Discipline. It’s the connections and flow between nodes that is essential to understand. A Kindred who masters this ability might know more about what your friends and allies think of you than you do, even if she has just met you.
For the purposes of the Discipline, a network is any social construct made up of nodes and the information that moves through the relationships between them. The pattern and type of connections, and the flow of information along the connections, is an important feature of the system. For example, a physical net, as used for fishing, is not a good metaphor for a Web network, because nothing moves along the connections between the nodes. The Internet is a network because information moves between the nodes. The Internet is a Web-compatible network only when that information moves between human nodes according to the whims and wishes of human participants in the network. Thus, any two websites may not be a part of the same network, for purposes of this Discipline, unless their creators and modifiers are specifically interacting with other human participants that they know.
This is an intuitive ability, not a science. A Lynx may be most fascinated with the information between nodes, but the nodes are most often where she gets her telemetry. A Lynx cannot use Web to instinctually understand any change that is not wrought by human motives, but she can intuit (and eventually anticipate) the flow of passion and information between even distant and unknown human nodes. It is a difficult concept to grasp, even for most Lynx. As a result, many Lynx struggle to quantify their experiences with this Discipline and couch the sensations of its use in dry, scientific or technical terms.
The Internet is only the most obvious and plain example of a network. In fact, for the Lynx, it’s not truly a kind of network at all. It’s really just a medium through which other human networks can be observed. For the purposes of Web, it’s an environment, like a highway or a bar.
Networks rarely have well-defined edges. As a rule of thumb, one large network connected to a second large network by only a few nodes is evidence of two different networks. Similarly, the description of some networks gives an idea of its effective boundaries. The roads of Chicago, for example, connect to the expressways that lead to Detroit, but the expressways are not part of the Chicago road network any more than Detroit is.
It is harder to intuitively understand a larger network, so Kindred with this Discipline tend to interact with smaller networks they believe that they can become intimately familiar with.
For the purposes of this Discipline, there are the following three types of networks:
Formal social networks are of great interest to most Lynx. These networks are made up of the people in an area who do business with one another. These links are primarily financial: who buys from whom, who borrows money from whom, who delivers to whom. These are also links of competition, determined by who competes with whom. Individual final consumers are generally not part of the network; rather, groups of consumers are considered together, as target markets. The substance that flows around the network is, typically, money. This is a cold network, informed by habit and practiced behavior rather than emotional ties. Even for the living, this is a vague, instinctual thing. Formal social networks exist between commuters on the train and regular customers at the store — they are the surface of human networks. In general, this can also be seen as the network of Mental Traits, though Social and Physical factors certainly contribute to the activity of and between nodes.
Personal social networks are composed of nodes of friends, lovers, sexual partners and enemies. In this case, the links are human relationships, and information, conversation, sex, favors, feelings and personal rivalries are the packets of data that flow around the network. This is a deeper, more private network than a formal social network — this is the heart of human networks. Generally speaking, this is the Social network, though Mental and Physical factors certain play a large part in social dynamics.
Spatial networks, such as road, rail and sewage networks, can also be interfaced with by a Lynx. These networks are typically more static and evidentiary than social networks, but that’s not always the case. Though a Lynx attuned to spatial networks may be able to infer the function and meaning of buildings, roads and pipes constructed by human agents, she is better able to mingle with the movement within those systems, slipping into crowds, influencing the flow of traffic and predicting where a human or car will change direction. This is the most Physical network of the lot, as it casts the actual human body as the information that travels between man-made nodes.
A Lynx can only use the powers of Web in the types of networks with which she is attuned. Every Lynx attunes to one of the three network types automatically upon developing the first dot of Web. Attunement to an additional network types can be acquired by spending five experience points. A Lynx cannot be attuned to more types of networks than she has dots in Web.
Most of these powers work with any creature who participates in human relationships, from ghouls to vampires to mages. As a general guideline, creatures with a Morality or similar Trait rated two or less cannot be affected by this Discipline. Spatial networks may contest eligible powers with a Resistance Trait value that reflects the average traffic through the space, as determined by the Storyteller.
For the purposes of the Discipline, a network is any social construct made up of nodes and the information that moves through the relationships between them. The pattern and type of connections, and the flow of information along the connections, is an important feature of the system. For example, a physical net, as used for fishing, is not a good metaphor for a Web network, because nothing moves along the connections between the nodes. The Internet is a network because information moves between the nodes. The Internet is a Web-compatible network only when that information moves between human nodes according to the whims and wishes of human participants in the network. Thus, any two websites may not be a part of the same network, for purposes of this Discipline, unless their creators and modifiers are specifically interacting with other human participants that they know.
This is an intuitive ability, not a science. A Lynx may be most fascinated with the information between nodes, but the nodes are most often where she gets her telemetry. A Lynx cannot use Web to instinctually understand any change that is not wrought by human motives, but she can intuit (and eventually anticipate) the flow of passion and information between even distant and unknown human nodes. It is a difficult concept to grasp, even for most Lynx. As a result, many Lynx struggle to quantify their experiences with this Discipline and couch the sensations of its use in dry, scientific or technical terms.
The Internet is only the most obvious and plain example of a network. In fact, for the Lynx, it’s not truly a kind of network at all. It’s really just a medium through which other human networks can be observed. For the purposes of Web, it’s an environment, like a highway or a bar.
Networks rarely have well-defined edges. As a rule of thumb, one large network connected to a second large network by only a few nodes is evidence of two different networks. Similarly, the description of some networks gives an idea of its effective boundaries. The roads of Chicago, for example, connect to the expressways that lead to Detroit, but the expressways are not part of the Chicago road network any more than Detroit is.
It is harder to intuitively understand a larger network, so Kindred with this Discipline tend to interact with smaller networks they believe that they can become intimately familiar with.
For the purposes of this Discipline, there are the following three types of networks:
Formal social networks are of great interest to most Lynx. These networks are made up of the people in an area who do business with one another. These links are primarily financial: who buys from whom, who borrows money from whom, who delivers to whom. These are also links of competition, determined by who competes with whom. Individual final consumers are generally not part of the network; rather, groups of consumers are considered together, as target markets. The substance that flows around the network is, typically, money. This is a cold network, informed by habit and practiced behavior rather than emotional ties. Even for the living, this is a vague, instinctual thing. Formal social networks exist between commuters on the train and regular customers at the store — they are the surface of human networks. In general, this can also be seen as the network of Mental Traits, though Social and Physical factors certainly contribute to the activity of and between nodes.
Personal social networks are composed of nodes of friends, lovers, sexual partners and enemies. In this case, the links are human relationships, and information, conversation, sex, favors, feelings and personal rivalries are the packets of data that flow around the network. This is a deeper, more private network than a formal social network — this is the heart of human networks. Generally speaking, this is the Social network, though Mental and Physical factors certain play a large part in social dynamics.
Spatial networks, such as road, rail and sewage networks, can also be interfaced with by a Lynx. These networks are typically more static and evidentiary than social networks, but that’s not always the case. Though a Lynx attuned to spatial networks may be able to infer the function and meaning of buildings, roads and pipes constructed by human agents, she is better able to mingle with the movement within those systems, slipping into crowds, influencing the flow of traffic and predicting where a human or car will change direction. This is the most Physical network of the lot, as it casts the actual human body as the information that travels between man-made nodes.
A Lynx can only use the powers of Web in the types of networks with which she is attuned. Every Lynx attunes to one of the three network types automatically upon developing the first dot of Web. Attunement to an additional network types can be acquired by spending five experience points. A Lynx cannot be attuned to more types of networks than she has dots in Web.
Most of these powers work with any creature who participates in human relationships, from ghouls to vampires to mages. As a general guideline, creatures with a Morality or similar Trait rated two or less cannot be affected by this Discipline. Spatial networks may contest eligible powers with a Resistance Trait value that reflects the average traffic through the space, as determined by the Storyteller.
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