WHERE MAGIC AND TECH WORK AND MOVING THROUGH SHADOW

Tech and magic work, one way or another, most places. The more complex the
item/spell, the fewer places it will work. Complexity applies to the
operation of the thing, not its means of manufacture. Hang gliders made by
factories or by a spell work everywhere that has the right laws of
aerodynamics. While it is theoretically possible to find a shadow where
sharp things don't cut, such a shadow would be weird enough that many
important mechanical functions of life as we know it would not work.

Magic and technology are not opposed to each other. If you had the materials
handy (creating materials is _hard_) you could turn them into a pistol and
bullets.

Random's hang glider worked without him paying attention to anything but
shadowshifting and the wind currents across a fairly long shadow journey.
With a powered ultralight, left to itself, the engine would have crapped out
a few shadows away from the point of origin. Given the leisure to
concentrate on it an experienced Amberite can shift his vehicle to confirm
to the local laws of nature. So with Corwin driving Random was able to keep
their vehicle going well into Arden. It was a good trick getting it that far
and Random was really pleased with himself. Had he been driving himself he
would not have got so far.

The same trick would work for an experienced Pattern Initiate sorcerer using
spells to propel a vehicle. Without a vehicle, the spells are far more
complicated and hard to adapt. Lift and the mechanics of rolling don't
change all that much from shadow to shadow (unless you're trying for that)
but antigravity and telekinesis do.

With firearms and cannon, the mechanics work most places. A 19th C
Winchester will work more places than an M-16, which will work a lot more
places than an electronic in-line gun. What chemical mix works for gunpowder
varies a lot. Again, given gradual shifts and leisure to concentrate Random
kept two pistols functional from Earth to Arden.

Keeping it together on a hellride would be tremendously difficult. Fiona, if
she's still alive, would shed some sweat to pull it off.

Pulling off an instant shift through a Trump move... If you're quite
familiar with the destination (in terms of using tech or magic there),
maybe. With total concentration. It would help to have a high Psyche, be a
Trump Artist, and/or have a Pattern initiate on the other end helping.

For non-Patterner (**which is all of you at the moment**) sorcerers moving
through shadow is a much bigger hassle. Magic tends to work about the same
in a given region, so they can gradually adapt. (A few minutes tweaking
their hung spells and cast enchantments.) If they've been to a given shadow
before, they already know what to do. Moving to a new-to-you region means
spending a couple of days figuring out the new parameters. (This is where 1
or 2 points spent on Knowledge of the Shadow Path Network come in handy.
You've been there, done that.) Similarly, machines will tend to run within a
given region. It will be necessary to adjust the engines from time to time
and computers will get glitchy with distance from their world of origin.
(Microsoft products fail utterly within two shadow veils of Earth.) Move to
a new region and you'll need a new engine, new ammo. Optics work almost
everywhere.


PROBABILITY, BROKEN PATTERN AND LOGRUS ATTACKS ON MAGIC AND TECH

First, using any of those takes a lot of concentration and some effort. Not
a good idea while engaged in personal combat.

Second, they work best on active, complex spells, enchantments and
machinery. A Tiger tank's engine, turned off, is safe from most anything but
careless smokers. Idling, it's vulnerable. Running full out, it's more
vulnerable. A modern field gun at rest is safe from blowing itself up. It's
vulnerable while shooting. The shell, once it's in the air, might have a
timer malfunction or be a dud. Spells being cast are very vulnerable. If a
fireball is already flying towards you though, you'd be better off dodging.
If the Pattern initiate or BP hexer has time, she can lay the bad luck on
the machine or sorcerer beforehand.

Third, probability tricks are blatantly obvious to Pattern and BP initiates,
who can oppose the effects.

Fourth, doing anything really clever, like turning a spell against the
caster, requires that you be a sorcerer yourself. Clever tricks with
machinery or electronics require you be familiar with how they work.

Fifth, Logrus works differently, by sticking tendrils into the machinery or
spell and doing damage.


HEALING AND TRANSFORMATION

Pattern and Broken Pattern remake you towards a certain ideal. They also
give you some inherent resistance to intrusive magic. So surface healing
magics and tech  --- first aid at the late 20th century level -- work fine.
More intrusive healing works if it isn't too complex, since it supports the
return of the initiate to the ideal state. So a bonesetting spell will work
unless the patient is actively resisting it. Surgery, simple cutting and
stitching, works fine. (Rewiring things, like bypass surgery, will correct
itself.) Nutrition spells work fine. Spells (if cooperated with) and drugs
that kill pathogens work.  Radiation therapy would work better -- initiates
are tougher -- but they don't get cancers. Skin grafts will work to a
point -- but the initiate's body will quickly consume and replace the alien
tissue. Bigger grafts, like limbs, get rejected. Cybernetic implants get
rejected. (The arm Oberon got for Benedict was a special case.) Nanobots
fail and get rejected but it takes some hours, so it's possible for them to
do some good. Cosmetic surgery doesn't last. Shape Change spells have to be
terribly strong and cooperated-with to work.


TELEPORTS
Teleports are space-warping spells. They're difficult (like 2 Major spells)
and complex and easy to block with much easier spells. In high magic shadows
permanent teleport blocks (and nastier defenses) for security are
commonplace. All of that applies to tech teleport devices.


SHADOW MOVEMENT
Spells, enchantments and high tech devices can be made to detect Shadow
Paths, Trails and natural breaks. It's also possible to make Gates to nearby
shadows (create a Pathway) with magic or tech devices, but it's a big
fucking deal. (Like, massed sorcerers assembled on Walpurgis Night  and
powering up with human sacrifices, or a dedicated nuke plant and giant
machine.)


SPELL RACKS
Really good spell racks, like a shadow sorcerer needs for traversing shadow
without frying all his hung spells, are made from rare woods from Shadow X
or rare metals cast into ring shapes from Shadow Y. Both shadows' locations
are commercial secrets of the Amber and Rebman merchant houses,
respectively. All the major trans-shadow wizard societies have stocks of
them for their members. That's one reason the dues are high.