So, lets say some well-connected and informed mage with more hubris than sense (lets say a Black Lodge member or Aztlan board member) found out about immortal elves and said "well that ain't fair, I want to be immortal too". What sort of ways are available to achieve this, especially for someone with more power than morals (which I guess is your average corpo exec)?

I'm guessing one option is becoming a vampire, though the drawbacks are rather significant, and iirc free spirit pacts can make you immortal too (not sure if the spirit can break the pact later though). But are any other options available? Perhaps a blood magic ritual to absorb life force, or even steal immortality from an existing immortal? Similarly, could a Great Dragon make you immortal, if you could somehow convince/blackmail/threaten one into it?

So, especially with the sales going on right now I've been trying to improve my collection of books, especially older editions, and got interested in Dragons of the Sixth World. However, for some reason I can't seem to find it anywhere on Drivethrurpg, and google only gives me pdfs I'm pretty sure are more Kane's side of the block.

Is this book actually available for sale as pdf, or am I just really bad at searching?

So, reading through 5e's augments, I noticed datajacks didn't have a capacity rating, unlike decks or commlinks, meaning you can't slot them into cyberlimbs and need to eat the essence cost instead. It made a degree of sense to me, since you need a full DNI setup for it, but then I checked 4e (since I saw people online discussing putting the jack in a cyberlimb), and noticed it did have a capacity rating there.

So is this something that got deliberately changed for 5e? If so, why? Were they considered valuable enough that it was needed for balance purposes? Or is it just another one of 5e's editing misses I've heard about?

So, we've all heard about Johnsons double-crossing runners, to the point the source books tend to make a continuous point about it, but how often do you feel this actually happens, especially with mirrorshade-style runners who are actually professional? Since to me it feels like it's something that should really only happen relatively rarely, given the reputation impact. And if it does happen, often because either the team screwed up and now evidence needs to be hidden, or they pulled a job so big that the corp needs them gone to avoid a PR nightmare.

Beyond that, I always have the idea that the more common way things go is that the Johnson doesn't mention important stuff because of things like corporate secrets or just not knowing it was important.

On that note, how often does it happen in your campaigns? At the end of every run? Or only if the crew didn't prepare for it beforehand? Or only rarely, either when dealing with a clearly unstable Johnson or corp situation or when you created a big mess, like accidentally offing a Shiawase clan member?

So, something I've often come across in posts discussing the Traditions is that the Etherites are normally portrayed as essentially pseudo-scientists, people who keep believing outdated theories and are mad the Technocracy suppressed them. However, at least since Revised, this is not the case, at least not fully, and a good case can be made that instead of being pseudo-scientists, they are in fact the only true scientists in MtA.

What is science

Putting it simply, science is the pursuit of knowledge and understanding of the universe through application of observation and reason. It is to see a phenomenon, and see if it can be explained through current theories. If it can't, this is great, since it means you'll now have an opportunity to adjust your theories, creating a more complex, useful theory, which can explain more.

Technocrats, as most people will know, do not do this! The response of technocrats to something which does not match their understanding of reality is to destroy and suppress it. Their goal is not to understand reality, but to dictate it, to ensure all elements they do not like are excised. Technocrats are, by definition, not scientists, since they're unwilling to alter their theories to match observations.

As soon as you label someone or something a reality deviant you stop being a scientist, because reality is as reality is. It is not possible for something to defy reality. It's only possible for something to defy your reality. And a true scientist, when faced with that, will not try to alter global reality to fit their's, but to alter their reality to fit the world's.

A true technocrat is just as hostile to science as the preacher trying to convince the world to ignore evidence of evolution in favor of an old text they decide claims the world is 4000 years old.

Etherite Science

Etherites, generally, view science as opposite to the Technocratic stance. To them, all phenomena observed are, evidently, true. All that is needed is to explain them. More importantly, they shouldn't be explained just through their existing science, but also through their own theories, since to assume one's own theories are the only correct ones is folly. When an Etherite encounters acupuncture, they shouldn't try to see how it fits within western medicine, but how it functions from the perspective of Chinese medicine.

Now, here we also see the divergence with irl science. Etherite science generally does not seek a single theory of everything (though having one would be nice). If a theory allows for interacting with a phenomenon, it's functional, even if it directly contradicts a different theory. Eventually you'll hopefully be able to unite them into a single theory (the united magical theorem is a common interest of many Etherites), but it's not necessary.

Finally, unlike irl (or Technocratic) science, Etherite science does not deny the role of the self, the observer, in their experiments. Whereas irl science assumes a clockwork universe, with specific rules which always function the same, Etherite science assumes that observation, opinions and will can alter reality. In fact, some claim that Quantum Mechanics came not from the Technocracy, but the Etherites.

All this is also why Etherites often use theories that are considered outdated, or pseudo-science. Because to them, they aren't. They are theories which explain a phenomenon they encountered, and do it well. So why would they discard them. These theories don't necessarily match with regular science, but as noted before, the Technocratic science does not incorporate inconvenient phenomena, it erases them. These theories are born to explain this modern science can not, or are theories that explain specific phenomena, even if they cannot explain other things. So when working with these phenomena, these theories are as useful and valid as any "modern" science.

Conclusions

As can be seen, Etherite Science is in a lot of ways far closer in principles to modern-day science that what Technocrats do. It's not fully the same, of course, but in some ways it's probably a far better adaption to the truths of Consensus and the metaphysics of mage.

This is also why I generally consider the Etherites the true scientists of WoD, whereas the Technocracy is unwilling to actually pursue science and the relevant understandings, instead treating it as simply a tool for control, and a framework to ensure the rejection from consensus of anything they do not agree with.

A true Scientist, when encountering magic, would not seek to kill the mages for violating the laws of reality. They would realize their laws of reality are incomplete, and instead create new laws incorporating magic, and leaving all of reality grander than before.

So, I've come across a bunch of fragments of this storyline in various books, like the Euthanatoi tradition books and the Chantry book, but is there any book around which provides a proper, full timeline of events? I imagine there probably is, since this reads like something an ST is meant to run for players, but I'm not sure where to find it.

So, for those here who have played Sidereals, how do you approach martial arts as one? Given the complexities with form weapons, dealing with both regular MA, SMA and the native tree SMA compatibility.

The issue I'm dealing with is that you seem to have multiple options:

1. You can focus on their general combat trees and simply pick up SMA for the weapon you've been using later. This honestly doesn't seem like a great move though, given that the Sid combat trees seem to be largely designed for combining with MA, given how many of the charms are versatile.
2. Combine MA with a specific form weapon and grab the associated general combat tree, and then add SMA with that weapon through the tree. The issue there is that you're largely abandoning the MA you learned up until that point, or at least have to choose which of the charm groups you're using every time. Not necessarily a bad move though, given that SMA can be pretty expensive, and you'll probably won't be combining SMA and MA on most attacks/defenses.
3. Look at which SMA you want in the future, and primarily focus on MAs which match the form weapon you're planning to use, maybe picking up some useful versatile charms too. This seems like a good option, since it allows you to use MA and SMA freely, but it can also be highly restrictive when it comes to which MA you'll pick, since currently the only SMA weapons which are relatively widely supported are knives, staffs and seven-section-staffs.
4. Just don't bother with weapons and go unarmed. This feels like it provides the best flexibility, but your damage will suffer. PAoC helps a lot here later on with the materials form, but that will take a while.

So, which of those do you all prefer? (On that note, really hoping the companion will include some SMA styles which use different weapon setups, like a claw or chakram style.)