Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Character Creation and Discussion

[USB500]

Originally Posted by ghazghkull

All Members Of OC Get Off The IRC Channel Now!

*just finished playing C&C3 when this happened* is it over?

Note: might not have anything new to post, but I have plans to rebuild Into the Dusk (FYI, this is my take on the AU possibility of the OC) if time permits.

[Wild Goose]

Gah, what the hell did we do to get DOS attacked? I'd blame the legion, but then again there are more bored asshats on the internet then just the legion.

*goes to play PDS*

Damnit and I was wanting to talk Sentai with Aaron too T__T

[ghazghkull]

Unfortunately there isn't much we can do, except place a limit of how many active users can be one at any given time

[LoweGear]

Originally Posted by Wild Goose

Gah, what the hell did we do to get DOS attacked? I'd blame the legion, but then again there are more bored asshats on the internet then just the legion.

Apparently it was a random a-hole who just found the channel and decided to ruin our lives for their entertainment

Though we can't rule out the possibility that it's someone who's been lurking in these forums for a while now

[mamott99]

Originally Posted by LoweGear

Apparently it was a random a-hole who just found the channel and decided to ruin our lives for their entertainment

Though we can't rule out the possibility that it's someone who's been lurking in these forums for a while now

Could it be an /a/sshole? As in the -chan variety?

[LoweGear]

Originally Posted by mamott99

Could it be an /a/sshole? As in the -chan variety?

Farfetched, but can't rule it out.

Still, an a-hole is an a-hole no matter where they come from. >.>

And now I can't access both #outercadia AND #mabinogi

[USB500]

Meh, what a frustrating Saturday over here.... wish I could do some hotraburabuyuritwincestnotrelatedbybloodintimatelo veaction short OC story, but as for now the lab's closed and I don't have the mood to continue my stay at cyber cafe after playing C&C3 for 2 straight hours (FOR KANE!!!!!! )

And besides, next week's going to be a very busy and packed week for me. So I don't think I'll be online as often as I am now.

Note: still trying to figure out how to do the Aggressor story, though this is what I have in mind:

Spoiler for events @ Village of Scarlet Illusion:

"So I believe we can forge ourselves a temporary alliance until the threat's over, isn't it?"

"As long as you don't meddle with our life, then it's fine."

"I see. On related note, Lady Saigyouji, would you like me to prepare the dinner? Consider it... a sign of gratitude for allowing us to stay in this exotic village."

"Cooking? Dinner? For real? Hurray! I've always wanted to taste Terran delicacy!"

"Lady Yumeko, what do you think you-"

"Bad Kagura is bad. This gentleman is offering his service. Is it wrong?"

"You always have to look for an excuse to use the kitchen, don't you Maxim?"

"Don't worry, my friend. After all, this is the way of the gourmet."

*cue Trombe!*

Originally Posted by LoweGear

Apparently it was a random a-hole who just found the channel and decided to ruin our lives for their entertainment

Though we can't rule out the possibility that it's someone who's been lurking in these forums for a while now

Kill them with fire! Burn them at stake!!! Where's my Reimu when I need her?

hey, Lowe, how's your trip?

[ghazghkull]

It is safe to log in to the channel now, so long as your nick has been registered with the NickServ. And no, I'm not talking about mibbit

[Tk3997]

If you don't know how just Google "Regsitering nick IRC" it's very simple just one simple command line really.

[panzerfan]

I had a very odd way to be reminded of things in networking and telecom course that I'd thought I would not need to think of again today. Now going back to whatever insanity with OC. (All discussion on IRC is not complete without at least one mentioning of a DDOD at least once. It was embarrassing that I really know nothing of IRC other than logging on to channel, register and identify my own nick and comment in color tags. O rainbow pony!)

[Tk3997]

Soooo who wants to read my long ass spiel about Electronic Warfare in Nanoha and my prototype character for the specialization?

*crickets can be heard*

Well screw you I'm posting it anyway prepare to be buried under an avalanche of technical and tactical jargon maggots!

First off we have an 3,000 word in character essay as a primer!

Spoiler for Tactical Babble GO!:

The Electronic Warfare Mage:
While most discussion of aerial mage combat and indeed magic combat in general focuses on the aspects directly related to battle attack, defense, and speed and oft ignored portion of the equation is intelligence and situational awareness. Part of this is due to our circumstances the TSAB has for decades after its foundation not faced serious large scale battles and at the smallest of tactical scales situational awareness and intelligence are indeed often of lesser concern, but as we continue to expand into unknown regions and are forced to deal with larger scale threats from within we need to consider such factors.

The building block of this type of warfare is the Electronic Warfare Mage an oft neglected profession in the present day, but this was hardly always the case. Indeed in the days of old such mages were vital in controlling and overseeing larger scale military operation by providing commanders intelligence and information to commanders quickly and accurately. While modern electronics can and have taken over some there former roles well used such specialists can still be of great value in combat, and as we struggle to adapt to changing and evolving threats we need ever advantage we can muster.

So what can a Electronic Warfare Mage bring to a commander in the field? At there most basic level the job of a Electronic Warfare Mage is collect intelligence about the battle space enemy positions, movements, etc and as any good battlefield commander knows timely intelligence can be a weapon as deadly as even the most powerful of spells. Some would argue that such a thing is unneeded in the modern age though with the presence of various techno-magical surveillance systems now in use. Perhaps in the most fortified and built up of areas this is so, but much battle happens away from well established surveillance nets or indeed on worlds where such nets are totally absent. Further even when in operation these systems are often off board and not directly connected to the situation on the ground while often very useful for the field commander to direct a large scale operation at the small unit level on the tip of spear such assets can often feel ponderous and poorly responsive.

What a Electronic Warfare Mage provides that small unit commander leading the way in hostile terrain is timely and organic information gather capabilities. Answers to simple questions that can make all the difference in combat what’s over the next hill, around the next corner? This is the kind of information that can save lives, but only if it’s available quickly to the people it concerns. The cruiser in orbit spotting enemy troops ahead of an advancing infantry unit dose no one any good if that information takes half and hour to find it’s way to the unit marching into an ambush.

This then is the gap and niche where this magical specialization can do there best work while they can never match the power of a warship or emplaced systems scans they have an advantage that neither of them can match either: they’re mobile, imbedded, and there intelligence is readily available to the boots on the ground. So having now determined where and why such specialists are needed we move on to how they should function and what they can do for a small unit in battle.

Electronic warfare is not some side job that one can spend a few days or weeks training in and then function effectively. As with any other specialization EW specialist require specialist and continual training and in many ways there mission is more complex then that of combat troops and the level of training required notably higher. These operations also tend to require good multi-tasking skills and a fair bit of magical power as astute reader will have noted that these are also skills that can produce a capable combat mage. Indeed for many years now the vast preponderance of potential candidates for this sort of job have been snapped up for direct combat positions. While maintaining a strong core of able fighters is certainly vital to an effective fighting force this has come at the cost, in this officer opinion, of an important supporting arm for those fighting men.

While it’s true that the intense drilling and specialist training required by these operators almost inevitably results in a loss of individual combat prowess the skills they can bring to bare can nonetheless result in a net gain for unit combat power. While this may seem paradoxical as we shall see during the course of his article a well trained Electronic Warfare Mage can improve the fighting efficiency of all members of there unit more then offsetting the decrease in there own individual skill.

This is not to say that these specialists don’t need combat skills as we’ve already noted that to be most effective they must function reasonable close to the frontline of battle. As such while it is to be avoided as much as is feasible contact with the enemy is nonetheless effectively inevitable at sometime. For this reason while there focus should always remain on there EW skills basic combat drilling is certainly still in order. On this note we should now turn to a somewhat more in depth examination of the role the Electronic Warfare Mage plays and how they can aid their unit in combat.

An Electronic Warfare Mage has three main roles on the battlefield Electronic Support, Electronic Attack and Electronic Defense all share certain aspects with each other but are nonetheless distinct missions. These missions are fairly self explanatory Electronic support unsurprisingly focuses on bolstering friendly forces, attack attempts to disrupt and deny enemy forces said same support, and defense focuses on preventing enemy efforts to do the same to your own. A somewhat in depth examination of these missions is certainly in order though and we’ll now take a brief look at each.

The main form of Electronic Support an Electronic Warfare Mage provides is to be the eyes and ears of their unit this was the first mission this type of mage started with in ancient times and while their scope has broadened with time these remain extremely important aspects of there duties. This mission is accomplished by wide and varied means that are often very situation dependent and while an in-depth examination of all these aspects and the finer tactical intricacies is beyond the scope of this document an overview is nonetheless in order.

The primary weapons of the Electronic Warfare Mage in his job of surveillance are of coruse various sorts of magical scans and these scans fall broadly into two types: Active and Passive. Active scans emit pulses or beams of various sorts of signals that actively illuminate the environment by contrasted passive scans merely collect signals being radiated naturally by the environment or the target. Both methods are important and the active/passive distinction is general is very important in many aspects of an Electronic Warfare Mages work.

Active scanning has a number advantages a greater level of detail is normally possible and at a greater range, it’s not dependent on certain types of energy or radiation being present, and when well focused it can more easily defeat attempts at stealth. It has downsides as well though the scans themselves are emitting energy which means that passive scans by the enemy can quite possibly detect them there are ways to mitigate this risk to an extent, but the fact remains that active scanning is by an large and inherently un stealthy activity. The second issue is that while it’s harder to simply avoid active scans they can be jammed while this process makes it clear someone else is out there (and possibly exposes the jammers location in turn) it can nonetheless possibly defeat the scan.

Passive scans by contrast merely collect what’s already around them this makes them much harder to detect, bordering on impossible in many cases, and harder to jam since it’s hard to jam a sensor when you don’t know you’re being watched to begin with or even if you suspect such by what sort of sensor. Passive scans can come in many forms and can be tuned to detect most sorts of radiation and magical energy. Even many combat mages find knowing a few basic passive scanning techniques helpful, but a true Electronic Warfare Mage will know many more and have much higher resolutions.

Passive scanning also often involves attempting to ease drop on enemy communications this advanced skill is almost solely in the purvey Electronic Warfare Mages and even for them it can be rather difficult if the enemy is careful. Even if they can’t read it though simply detecting it and it’s patterns can give important hints and clues to enemy positions and movements, and if they do get in… well to say the results to the enemy can be devastating is a bit of an understatement.

The downside of passive scans are unfortunately fairly numerous as well many of these scans are line of sight only this makes them of limited value in closed terrain (though this is a lesser issue in air combat). Related to this is the fact that even the air itself can be a problem and resolution tends to degrade more quickly with distance then with an active scan. Also while it’s harder to detect the scan is being done if it detect by some method countermeasures as possible many scans of these kinds can be overloaded by applying to much of the target energy or more covertly defeated by redirecting or dispersing the energy it’s searching for. Related to that last part is the fact that many cloaking or stealth spells are more effective against this type of scan as they merely need to cover there own emissions rather then figuring out someway to defeat active sources being directed at them from outside.

A third method which is not really a scan per say is a probe spell these spells are closely related to various sorts of homing shooting spells but instead of being configured to track and attack the enemy like a missile they’re used to go places remote from the mage and observe. Due to the fine control needed and the fact that what the spell is “seeing” is the main concern these are often commanded guided. That said semi-automated variation exit which will search and area and alert only when they locate some specific trigger. That said this level of programming and control is energy and time intensive and these sorts of spells tend to require great focus and can rarely be deployed more then a handful at a time. The level of intelligence the spell can be given is also fairly limited and even the smartest of them is fairly dim. Another issue is that fact that these things are hardly covert and being derived from shooting spells can be easily destroyed if spotted. Despite the drawbacks probes are incredibly valuable in many situations from checking rooms ahead of an entry team to scouting suspect objects along a road or the like.

When all is said and done passive scans are by and large the preferred method of long term surveillance with active scans and probes normally only being employed if a more detail picture or confirmation is needed. Occasionally an Electronic Warfare Mage may also be called upon to use active scans to illuminate targets for allies though most mages handle there own spell guidance.

As should be clear by now the Electronic Warfare Mage posses and array of powerful abilities to locate, isolated, and track enemy forces. As anyone with experience will tell you a located force is half way to being a destroyed force and so it follows one would want to deny this powerful asset to their enemy. The issue is that defeating these sorts of scans is normally just as involved as performing them and one tends to need to understand how they work to even attempt it. Thus it’s no surprise that nearly as soon as the first dedicated scanner mages appeared said same mages began trying to confound there enemy counterparts. Thus was born the second aspect of EW Electronic Attack and the mages went from being simple scanners to real WE Mages.

Electronic Attack is all about denying the enemy the use of his own Electronic support assets. The most common method used here is simply jamming of all kinds. Active scans work by sending out a signal and reading the returns and by deploying your own signals to foul that return at worst you can reduce its accuracy and at best nearly totally blind it. Passive scanners can be blinded too at least if you know what sort of scan you’re trying to defeat which admittedly can be difficult to determine.

Many Electronic Warfare Mages take this further and go beyond merely jamming the larger sweeping scans of there counter parts to attack the smaller scale electronics all mages rely on to fight effectively attempting to jam spell data links, telepathic communications, or even override the mages control signals to a spell. Many mages underestimate just how much they relay on various unseen signals to function and only truly appreciate them when a competent EW totally deprives them of there use. Electronic Warfare Mages can also often interfere with support type spells since these tend to involve a transfer of mana which is ultimately merely another sort of invisible energy it’s often consider fair game. Indeed this sort of specialist is quite possibly the mortal enemy of the more common support type mage.

Other forms of electronic attack can be somewhat more subtle careful and selective manipulation of incoming scans for instance can sometimes be used to mask a force or individual without necessarily giving away that counter measures are at work. Other methods include producing electronic “ghosts” and false returns to mislead an enemy as to your forces position and or numbers. In this region the discipline begins to crossover somewhat with Illusion magic and indeed the two forms have had a long and often symbiotic relationship.

Of coruse once such trickery began to become more widespread the attackers and the attacked began seeking countermeasures to the countermeasures and thus we enter the final mission of an Electronic Warfare Mage: Electronic Defense. The first aspect of this mission is detecting that an attack is taking place in some cases this is simple enough jamming is rarely very subtle, but other sorts of attack such as the above mentioned signal manipulation or commutations ease dropping can be harder to detect. Once detected though the main focus isn’t on attacking the source so much as simply ensuring that your own electronic gear continues working. Common methods to accomplish this include hopping frequencies on active scans, altering polarization on the same, switching detection modes for passive sweeps, and ordering changes in frequency or encryption if communications may have been compromised. In this sort of operation in some cases the Electronic Warfare Mages job is somewhat less about actively countering the threat himself and more about analyzing it and advising his unit on the best countermeasures to take against it.

As should be clear by now the Electronic Warfare Mages job is complex and these generalization do little justice to the true intricacies involved in it. This is not a job for everyone and indeed it takes a special sort of mage to do it well and while focused on different things the variables and details are no less demanding then those for more physical combat and indeed in some cases maybe more so. As noted toward the beginning of this article though that focus and the time needed to truly perfect those skills most almost inevitably negatively impact the practitioner’s combat prowess and yet they still must venture near the front line. This makes proper tactics and training extremely important Electronic Warfare Mages are highly trained specialists and tempting targeted for the enemy and yet to do there job they can’t be placed in total safety.

Perhaps the most important tactical factor is that the commander understand how the Electronic Warfare Mage works and what he can and can’t do. Most Electronic Warfare Mages will be loners to some extent in combat as they prefer to keep a low profile and be somewhat isolated from the group as a whole this is because focus is important in what they do not due to some lack of comradely or teamwork; indeed an Electronic Warfare Mage is nothing without a team to support. They also will not take part in combat as a matter of coruse nor should they be expected too. While they should be held to certain standards with regards to there self defense a commander must accept that an EW specialist will not be able to match even junior frontline members of the unit if in terms of combat power.

As noted the EW man is often a tempting target for the enemy so some consideration must be given to covering him in battle. While this may seem and indeed perhaps be a bit of a nuisance keeping him safe and operating efficiently nearly always yields benefits that outweigh the minor costs. Above all the simplest thing is to avoid attempting to simply use him as another shooter his talented is wasted on such things and the results will never be anything but lackluster. Even so as has been stressed repeatedly there are other ways to gain an advantage beside overwhelming firepower and well used and supported an Electronic Warfare Mage can give a unit that edge and as we continue to face new and evolving threats we’re going to need every edge we can get.

That was fun to ready wasn't it?! Now let's see how we can apply all this wonderful tactical theory can be applied to a character!

Spoiler for Rebecca Keller:

Name: Rebecca Keller
Age: 24
Birthday: June 25th
Height: 5’6”
Weight: 130 pound
Origin: Administered World27
Composite Mage Rank: AA
Magic Type: Mid
Magic Color: Pink
Element Preference: None
Affiliation: TSAB Intelligence
Position/rank in TSAB: FieldAgent

History:
Rebecca comes from a large mostly female family she has four sisters (one being a set of twins) and one brother she’s the second oldest of the pack with only one of her sisters being a year older then her. Both her parents worked for the TSAB though her mother was basiclly a secretary and her father was a staff officer and neither was ever involved in actual combat nor did they possess any real aptitude for it. Rebecca wasn’t really all that keen on joining up, but her parents salaries weren’t really up to the task of paying for college for a half dozen children and so they basiclly said if she wanted to go she was going to have to pay for most of it.

Loans and working the entire time through school didn’t much appeal to her and she decided to take the military option instead. Namely they paid for her school then she worked in the army for about five years afterwards. She majored in physics and began more as a hobby then anything dabbling in magic on the side as well. She planned much like her father to work in a staff position in the army probably as a sensor operator given that she was specializing in electromagnetism and radiation in school. Part of the program though was training and extra classes intended to prepare one for entry to the army.

That began to change though when during a field trip to a nearby training center she was spotted and caught the interest of one of the officers there when she began asking a number of rather insightful questions during a short lecture on scanning magic. Despite the fact she was dabbling more out of curiosity about how magic could be used to manipulate EM signals and such then undertaking any sort of coordinated training program she seemed to have quite a gift for it. Always eager to get at a potential recruit before some other branch grabbed her the officer encouraged her to considered attempting training as an Electronic Warfare Mage.

The idea interested her and she began to focus more heavily on magic in general and electronic warfare aspects in particular. By the time she graduated at 22 and entered actual full time training she was already quite competent in many of the basics and quickly mastered more advanced skills. Her schooling which gave her a very good understanding of the fundamental science at work certainly helped her in this.

After about a year of training she was deemed ready for field work she was recruited by the intelligence branch and put to work as a spotter and more general surveillance agent working with senior field agent Macmillan who also took over her probationary on the job training. They worked together fairly well and the partnership was an amiable one though Keller’s skills are acutally more often in demand then Macmillan’s and in practice he’s acutally become something of a bodyguard for her as she’s shipped around to where her skills are required rather then her supporting him.

Personality:
Keller is easy going and personable, but fairly quiet and often just seems to blend into the background preferring to watch and let others do most of the talking. She’s rather good at the entire watching thing though as she’s not at all above occasionally using her rather extensive powers of surveillance for mischief. Though she often expresses in difference it’s nonetheless a fact that when it comes to confirming rumors or gossip she tends to be the one to go to in order to get the truth of the matter... That said such information normally comes with a price and whenever she moves into a new post it’s not long before the vast bulk of the unit owes her in one way or another.

She tends to take most things in stride and simply rolls with them with minimal complaints and will often also attempt to buck up those around her. Overall she just seems very content with her current station and life. She’s not implacable though she has a low tolerance for many forms of violence and almost none for gore; which probably contributes to her choice of magical specialty. She also tends to be discomforted by many gross things in general and can be a bit of a girly girl at times.

Random Factoids:
-Her vision isn’t outright terrible but she normally wears contacts when on duty, but prefers glasses when off.
-An avid bird watcher she also raises pigeons in her spare time
-Has a physics degree with a specialization in Electromagnetic phenomenon
-Enjoys giving other women “make overs” often whether they think they need or indeed want one; tomboys being her favorite targets.

Magic Abilities and Combat Style:
Primary Specialization: Scanning and Electronic warfare
Flight Rank: A
Composite Offensive Rank: B-
Composite Defensive Rank: A-
Composite Support Rank: B+
Composite Electronic Warfare Rank: AAA-

Keller is not a frontline fighter or even really a combatant proper at all while she has the means to defend herself to a certain extent her main focus is on battlefield surveillance and electronic warfare. Her job is to track the enemy and keep allied forces advised of there positions as well as fouling enemy attempts to do the same and generally hinder them in any electronically based capacity she can.

For the most part she avoids combat and stays to the rear she’s reasonably mobile and combined with her extensive list of sensor and scanning spells she can normally see trouble coming and avoid it. If something dose get close her defensive spells are her second best area, though a distant second to be sure. Her offense is quite weak and mostly short ranged and defensive in nature. Overall basiclly all her skills outside of EW are meant basiclly for purely self defense.

Device(s):
Rebecca uses a pair of devices as do most of those of her specialty since the devices used for electronic warfare tend to be highly specialized and ill suited to attack or even really defense thus normally requiring they carry another one for self defense.


Name: Prowler
Type: Intelligent Device
Specialization: Electronic Warfare
Storage Form: A small PDA
Notes:
Prowler is a device solely dedicated to electronic warfare this a processing intensive task and as such it sports significant automation and intelligence unfortunately that intense specialization also renders it very weak as a more general purpose device and he’s also rather big and is worn as a medium sized back-pack and a pair of goggles (on which tactical data can be displayed without needing large and rather conspicuous holographic windows). Due to his specialization to do most generalist combat magic he needs to work in concert with the storage device Rebecca also carries. Said device is totally subordinate to Prowler and effectively brainless on its own with a processing array that really can’t even be called AI by and large.

The storage device takes the form of a small pistol since its handy form and Rebecca has no real melee skills to speak of anyway.

Barrier Jacket:
Basiclly it’s a somewhat baggy black jumpsuit with a helmet, knee and elbow pads, and an armor vest worn over it. More specifically what I envisioned was basiclly the get up used by the good guys in Rainbow 6: Vegas 2 only obviously not worn by 6 foot tall men.

Spells:
Defensive:
As noted Rebecca is reasonably proficient with defensive spells and she knows pretty much all of the standard mid versions.
Protection:
I’m not even going to bother explain this.
Protection Powered:
Or this.
Round Shield:
As if…
Reactor Purge:
Hmm…
Flash Purge:
Basiclly similar to reactor purge expect that it sacrifices the outer layers of the jacket to produce a flash bang like effect to disorient the attack at the same time and hopefully gain distance. Needs to be used carefully though as it’s unidirectional and so can affect allies too.

Attack:
Attack spells are not Rebecca forte she has only three she can really use effectively and these three are not exactly overwhelming in there striking power to begin with nor is she even an expert within there limited scope.
Shoot Barret:
Drrr it should be noted she can also manage the Variable Barret version albeit it slowly and with a significant charge time between shots
Divine Shooter:
At best she can control four shots at onceand the lack of a high grade device specialized for shooting renders there guidance fairly unimpressive, this is not helped by Rebecca’s own lack luster marksmanship.
Snipe Shot:
Longer ranged then her other two spells and slightly more power then DS, but still not exactly astounding in accuracy or power and it’s ranges is merely mediocre.

Support:
This is the area where she really excels and when it comes to electronic warfare she’s extremely effective and efficient. These spells though all broadly classed as support types EW mages tend to divided them into three sub classes Electronic support, attack, and defense measures.

Electronic Support:
Passive Area Scan:
A scanning spell that surveys an area around the caster the area it scans can be varied as can what exactly the scan is attempting to detect that said the larger radiuses and the more types of energy being scanned for the higher the mana costs. Longer ranges will also normally provide reduced resolution and it’s possible for the scan to become washed out if the type of signals it’s looking for are too prevalent. Some types of passive scans can be used without LOS, but many others require it.
Active Area Scan:
In this case rather then simply gathering some type of energy from the environment the mage pings the area around them with a signal and observes the returns. The result is normally a higher resolution return and a focused signal can “burn through” many stealth measures. Again various sorts of energy can be used in this method though most types of active scans are line of sight only though a few can penetrate some types of cover.
Active Probe(s):
Small magical projectiles or perhaps more accurately vehicles command guided these probes can be deployed to considerable range to return data back to the caster. The probes can carry various sorts of “payloads” though normally they only have one or perhaps two sorts of sensors optical and infrared being the most common. The probes are more intensive mana and control wise then normally shooting spells and even the best of casters can only control a handful at a time. Rebecca can manage four at once though for each one added the range out to which she can deploy them drops.
Signal Interception:
While somewhat a form of Passive scan signal interception deserve mention on its own all the same. Te goal here is to detect and isolated enemy signals or various sorts be it guidance and data links, electronic or telepathic commutations, or anything else they might be broadcasting. Isolating such things is the first step to either attacking them or in the case of communications for instance attempting to break into or track them.

Electronic Attack(also often called Electronic Countermeasures):
Barrage Jamming:
The most basic sort of jamming the jamming is directed across all bands liable to be in use by the enemy attempting to degrade them all simultaneously. The advantage is apparent if it works the enemies scans are liable to be rendered completely useless, but it has problems. Namely that spreading the jamming over multiple bands weakens it and thus it’s easier to “burn through”. Poorly planned barrage jamming can also degraded friendly sensors. For this to work well it normally requires that the enemies sensors be rather weaker then the jammer is.
Spot jamming:
All power is focused on a single or narrow band attempting to totally overpower it assuming the frequency can be isolated and the enemies scans are not very agile this can be extremely effective. Sadly most scans ARE rather agile so this is rarely all that practical.
Sweep Jamming:
Much like spot jamming, but the jammer rapidly cycles along a range of frequencies or bands jamming each in turn. While against a good scan this would have limited effect sometimes the effort of attempting to compensate for the rapidly shifting jamming can overload the control system of the scan and effectively render large chunks of its band useless.
Base Jamming:
A technique that attempts to degrade a scan at the source by having the jamming directed at said source basiclly it screws up the signal before it even really has the chance to get out to its intended targets. If it works right the target is often very badly handicapped but most of the surrounding area remains clear of jamming.
Repeater Jamming:
A rather more tricky sort of jamming this detects the incoming scan and then sends back a pulse about like what the sender would expect; except that all the data in the return is rubbish and it’s reporting a totally bogus location. This takes skill and good hardware to pull off, but done right it can totally defeat an enemies scans without them even realizing that what they’re seeing is all bogus.
Active Cancellation:
The ultimate form of jamming in this method the jammer detects the incoming scan then deploys an opposing signal that gently disrupts the scan effectively cloaking the user and quite possibly those around them from the scan. This form of jamming is very processing intensive and requires allot of skill and focus to do, but if pulled off it can allow a significant force to hide imperceptibly from an enemies active scans.
Spoofing:
You don’t always have to hide or blind the enemy to fool him spoofing involves deploying large numbers of bogus signals for the enemy the idea being that when confronted by a horde of returns discerning which ones are real becomes difficult; assuming it’s done well. If this is paired with various forms of jamming to reduce the enemies sensor regulation it can become even more effective.

Electronic Defense(sometimes called Electronic counter-countermeasures):
These measures are designed to counter enemy attempts to counter your own ES measures many of them aren’t really specific things per say so much as tactics used to minimize the impact of enemy ECM.

ECM Detection:
Countering enemy ECM requires detecting and identifying it you can’t start thinking of counters until you know what’s being used against you. This isn’t even really so much a spell per say as a number of measures taken to attempt to detect when and if enemy ECM is in use. The goal is still to find and ID enemy ECM though and so they’re classed under one umbrella since they’re normally all used together anyway.

Aside from that most of the actual defense measures aren’t so much new spells as modifying the way others work to counter the effects of the enemies ECM.

Ahhh that felt good! I just love droning on and on about tactics and strategy, wouldn't you all agree?
*Everyone in the thread posters and OCs alike can be seen to be asleep with many of them drooling.*
Well I though it was interesting.

[PhoenixG]

Originally Posted by ghazghkull

It is safe to log in to the channel now, so long as your nick has been registered with the NickServ. And no, I'm not talking about mibbit

For those who often goes to the IRC channel. You no longer have to register your nick anymore.

Lets hope this is the last attack

[XenahortCharybdis]

Originally Posted by Tk3997

Soooo who wants to read my long ass spiel about Electronic Warfare in Nanoha and my prototype character for the specialization?

*crickets can be heard*

Well screw you I'm posting it anyway prepare to be buried under an avalanche of technical and tactical jargon maggots!

First off we have an 3,000 word in character essay as a primer!

Spoiler for Tactical Babble GO!:

*snippety snip*

That was fun to ready wasn't it?! Now let's see how we can apply all this wonderful tactical theory can be applied to a character!

Spoiler for Rebecca Keller:

*you know the drill*

Ahhh that felt good! I just love droning on and on about tactics and strategy, wouldn't you all agree?
*Everyone in the thread posters and OCs alike can be seen to be asleep with many of them drooling.*
Well I though it was interesting.

Well, at least you're painfully honest that obviously it was kinda dry. After all, tactics are always dry when you describe them, but fascinating when put into action.



Well, now, who found that length invigorating, folks?

*sees that only his hand is up so far*

Um, right

[Keroko]

Originally Posted by Tk3997

See me I like to start off with some canon then hurl a grenade into it and watch the plot scatter in funny ways. Which is basiclly what the crack I mentioned was it’s basiclly a “what if some tech using guys befriended (and no busters where not involved in that process at least not on them) some of the cast before StrikerS and was sort of quasi-allied with the TSAB (and RF6 in particular) by its start. It starts off close to canon, but by about Ep 6 it starts to go off the rails and gets progressively more and more out of control as time goes on, and by Ep 15 all but the most board aspects are totally different.

I do that too at times, but those scenarios are usually scattered 'what if' things, and hardly ever make it to paper. I guess I like the challenge of sticking to plot more then the challenge of writing a good story outside of the lines.

Originally Posted by Tk3997

Soooo who wants to read my long ass spiel about Electronic Warfare in Nanoha and my prototype character for the specialization?

*crickets can be heard*

Well screw you I'm posting it anyway prepare to be buried under an avalanche of technical and tactical jargon maggots!

First off we have an 3,000 word in character essay as a primer!

Spoiler for Tactical Babble GO!:

-snip-

That was fun to ready wasn't it?! Now let's see how we can apply all this wonderful tactical theory can be applied to a character!

Long posts are looong. -_-

Anyway, I'm not one for long-winded technical and tactical jargon, but I don't see anything contradicting canon, so I don't see a reason to whine about a new way to use magic.

Originally Posted by Tk3997

Spoiler for Rebecca Keller:

Name: Rebecca Keller
Age: 24
Birthday: June 25th
Height: 5’6”
Weight: 130 pound
Origin: Administered World27
Composite Mage Rank: AA
Magic Type: Mid
Magic Color: Pink
Element Preference: None
Affiliation: TSAB Intelligence
Position/rank in TSAB: FieldAgent

History:
Rebecca comes from a large mostly female family she has four sisters (one being a set of twins) and one brother she’s the second oldest of the pack with only one of her sisters being a year older then her. Both her parents worked for the TSAB though her mother was basiclly a secretary and her father was a staff officer and neither was ever involved in actual combat nor did they possess any real aptitude for it. Rebecca wasn’t really all that keen on joining up, but her parents salaries weren’t really up to the task of paying for college for a half dozen children and so they basiclly said if she wanted to go she was going to have to pay for most of it.

Loans and working the entire time through school didn’t much appeal to her and she decided to take the military option instead. Namely they paid for her school then she worked in the army for about five years afterwards. She majored in physics and began more as a hobby then anything dabbling in magic on the side as well. She planned much like her father to work in a staff position in the army probably as a sensor operator given that she was specializing in electromagnetism and radiation in school. Part of the program though was training and extra classes intended to prepare one for entry to the army.

That began to change though when during a field trip to a nearby training center she was spotted and caught the interest of one of the officers there when she began asking a number of rather insightful questions during a short lecture on scanning magic. Despite the fact she was dabbling more out of curiosity about how magic could be used to manipulate EM signals and such then undertaking any sort of coordinated training program she seemed to have quite a gift for it. Always eager to get at a potential recruit before some other branch grabbed her the officer encouraged her to considered attempting training as an Electronic Warfare Mage.

The idea interested her and she began to focus more heavily on magic in general and electronic warfare aspects in particular. By the time she graduated at 22 and entered actual full time training she was already quite competent in many of the basics and quickly mastered more advanced skills. Her schooling which gave her a very good understanding of the fundamental science at work certainly helped her in this.

After about a year of training she was deemed ready for field work she was recruited by the intelligence branch and put to work as a spotter and more general surveillance agent working with senior field agent Macmillan who also took over her probationary on the job training. They worked together fairly well and the partnership was an amiable one though Keller’s skills are acutally more often in demand then Macmillan’s and in practice he’s acutally become something of a bodyguard for her as she’s shipped around to where her skills are required rather then her supporting him.

Personality:
Keller is easy going and personable, but fairly quiet and often just seems to blend into the background preferring to watch and let others do most of the talking. She’s rather good at the entire watching thing though as she’s not at all above occasionally using her rather extensive powers of surveillance for mischief. Though she often expresses in difference it’s nonetheless a fact that when it comes to confirming rumors or gossip she tends to be the one to go to in order to get the truth of the matter... That said such information normally comes with a price and whenever she moves into a new post it’s not long before the vast bulk of the unit owes her in one way or another.

She tends to take most things in stride and simply rolls with them with minimal complaints and will often also attempt to buck up those around her. Overall she just seems very content with her current station and life. She’s not implacable though she has a low tolerance for many forms of violence and almost none for gore; which probably contributes to her choice of magical specialty. She also tends to be discomforted by many gross things in general and can be a bit of a girly girl at times.

Random Factoids:
-Her vision isn’t outright terrible but she normally wears contacts when on duty, but prefers glasses when off.
-An avid bird watcher she also raises pigeons in her spare time
-Has a physics degree with a specialization in Electromagnetic phenomenon
-Enjoys giving other women “make overs” often whether they think they need or indeed want one; tomboys being her favorite targets.

Magic Abilities and Combat Style:
Primary Specialization: Scanning and Electronic warfare
Flight Rank: A
Composite Offensive Rank: B-
Composite Defensive Rank: A-
Composite Support Rank: B+
Composite Electronic Warfare Rank: AAA-

Keller is not a frontline fighter or even really a combatant proper at all while she has the means to defend herself to a certain extent her main focus is on battlefield surveillance and electronic warfare. Her job is to track the enemy and keep allied forces advised of there positions as well as fouling enemy attempts to do the same and generally hinder them in any electronically based capacity she can.

For the most part she avoids combat and stays to the rear she’s reasonably mobile and combined with her extensive list of sensor and scanning spells she can normally see trouble coming and avoid it. If something dose get close her defensive spells are her second best area, though a distant second to be sure. Her offense is quite weak and mostly short ranged and defensive in nature. Overall basiclly all her skills outside of EW are meant basiclly for purely self defense.

Device(s):
Rebecca uses a pair of devices as do most of those of her specialty since the devices used for electronic warfare tend to be highly specialized and ill suited to attack or even really defense thus normally requiring they carry another one for self defense.


Name: Prowler
Type: Intelligent Device
Specialization: Electronic Warfare
Storage Form: A small PDA
Notes:
Prowler is a device solely dedicated to electronic warfare this a processing intensive task and as such it sports significant automation and intelligence unfortunately that intense specialization also renders it very weak as a more general purpose device and he’s also rather big and is worn as a medium sized back-pack and a pair of goggles (on which tactical data can be displayed without needing large and rather conspicuous holographic windows). Due to his specialization to do most generalist combat magic he needs to work in concert with the storage device Rebecca also carries. Said device is totally subordinate to Prowler and effectively brainless on its own with a processing array that really can’t even be called AI by and large.

The storage device takes the form of a small pistol since its handy form and Rebecca has no real melee skills to speak of anyway.

Barrier Jacket:
Basiclly it’s a somewhat baggy black jumpsuit with a helmet, knee and elbow pads, and an armor vest worn over it. More specifically what I envisioned was basiclly the get up used by the good guys in Rainbow 6: Vegas 2 only obviously not worn by 6 foot tall men.

Spells:
Defensive:
As noted Rebecca is reasonably proficient with defensive spells and she knows pretty much all of the standard mid versions.
Protection:
I’m not even going to bother explain this.
Protection Powered:
Or this.
Round Shield:
As if…
Reactor Purge:
Hmm…
Flash Purge:
Basiclly similar to reactor purge expect that it sacrifices the outer layers of the jacket to produce a flash bang like effect to disorient the attack at the same time and hopefully gain distance. Needs to be used carefully though as it’s unidirectional and so can affect allies too.

Attack:
Attack spells are not Rebecca forte she has only three she can really use effectively and these three are not exactly overwhelming in there striking power to begin with nor is she even an expert within there limited scope.
Shoot Barret:
Drrr it should be noted she can also manage the Variable Barret version albeit it slowly and with a significant charge time between shots
Divine Shooter:
At best she can control four shots at onceand the lack of a high grade device specialized for shooting renders there guidance fairly unimpressive, this is not helped by Rebecca’s own lack luster marksmanship.
Snipe Shot:
Longer ranged then her other two spells and slightly more power then DS, but still not exactly astounding in accuracy or power and it’s ranges is merely mediocre.

Support:
This is the area where she really excels and when it comes to electronic warfare she’s extremely effective and efficient. These spells though all broadly classed as support types EW mages tend to divided them into three sub classes Electronic support, attack, and defense measures.

Electronic Support:
Passive Area Scan:
A scanning spell that surveys an area around the caster the area it scans can be varied as can what exactly the scan is attempting to detect that said the larger radiuses and the more types of energy being scanned for the higher the mana costs. Longer ranges will also normally provide reduced resolution and it’s possible for the scan to become washed out if the type of signals it’s looking for are too prevalent. Some types of passive scans can be used without LOS, but many others require it.
Active Area Scan:
In this case rather then simply gathering some type of energy from the environment the mage pings the area around them with a signal and observes the returns. The result is normally a higher resolution return and a focused signal can “burn through” many stealth measures. Again various sorts of energy can be used in this method though most types of active scans are line of sight only though a few can penetrate some types of cover.
Active Probe(s):
Small magical projectiles or perhaps more accurately vehicles command guided these probes can be deployed to considerable range to return data back to the caster. The probes can carry various sorts of “payloads” though normally they only have one or perhaps two sorts of sensors optical and infrared being the most common. The probes are more intensive mana and control wise then normally shooting spells and even the best of casters can only control a handful at a time. Rebecca can manage four at once though for each one added the range out to which she can deploy them drops.
Signal Interception:
While somewhat a form of Passive scan signal interception deserve mention on its own all the same. Te goal here is to detect and isolated enemy signals or various sorts be it guidance and data links, electronic or telepathic commutations, or anything else they might be broadcasting. Isolating such things is the first step to either attacking them or in the case of communications for instance attempting to break into or track them.

Electronic Attack(also often called Electronic Countermeasures):
Barrage Jamming:
The most basic sort of jamming the jamming is directed across all bands liable to be in use by the enemy attempting to degrade them all simultaneously. The advantage is apparent if it works the enemies scans are liable to be rendered completely useless, but it has problems. Namely that spreading the jamming over multiple bands weakens it and thus it’s easier to “burn through”. Poorly planned barrage jamming can also degraded friendly sensors. For this to work well it normally requires that the enemies sensors be rather weaker then the jammer is.
Spot jamming:
All power is focused on a single or narrow band attempting to totally overpower it assuming the frequency can be isolated and the enemies scans are not very agile this can be extremely effective. Sadly most scans ARE rather agile so this is rarely all that practical.
Sweep Jamming:
Much like spot jamming, but the jammer rapidly cycles along a range of frequencies or bands jamming each in turn. While against a good scan this would have limited effect sometimes the effort of attempting to compensate for the rapidly shifting jamming can overload the control system of the scan and effectively render large chunks of its band useless.
Base Jamming:
A technique that attempts to degrade a scan at the source by having the jamming directed at said source basiclly it screws up the signal before it even really has the chance to get out to its intended targets. If it works right the target is often very badly handicapped but most of the surrounding area remains clear of jamming.
Repeater Jamming:
A rather more tricky sort of jamming this detects the incoming scan and then sends back a pulse about like what the sender would expect; except that all the data in the return is rubbish and it’s reporting a totally bogus location. This takes skill and good hardware to pull off, but done right it can totally defeat an enemies scans without them even realizing that what they’re seeing is all bogus.
Active Cancellation:
The ultimate form of jamming in this method the jammer detects the incoming scan then deploys an opposing signal that gently disrupts the scan effectively cloaking the user and quite possibly those around them from the scan. This form of jamming is very processing intensive and requires allot of skill and focus to do, but if pulled off it can allow a significant force to hide imperceptibly from an enemies active scans.
Spoofing:
You don’t always have to hide or blind the enemy to fool him spoofing involves deploying large numbers of bogus signals for the enemy the idea being that when confronted by a horde of returns discerning which ones are real becomes difficult; assuming it’s done well. If this is paired with various forms of jamming to reduce the enemies sensor regulation it can become even more effective.

Electronic Defense(sometimes called Electronic counter-countermeasures):
These measures are designed to counter enemy attempts to counter your own ES measures many of them aren’t really specific things per say so much as tactics used to minimize the impact of enemy ECM.

ECM Detection:
Countering enemy ECM requires detecting and identifying it you can’t start thinking of counters until you know what’s being used against you. This isn’t even really so much a spell per say as a number of measures taken to attempt to detect when and if enemy ECM is in use. The goal is still to find and ID enemy ECM though and so they’re classed under one umbrella since they’re normally all used together anyway.

Aside from that most of the actual defense measures aren’t so much new spells as modifying the way others work to counter the effects of the enemies ECM.

Ahhh that felt good! I just love droning on and on about tactics and strategy, wouldn't you all agree?
*Everyone in the thread posters and OCs alike can be seen to be asleep with many of them drooling.*
Well I though it was interesting.

Good profile, though I'm rather surprised that all of the countermeasures seem to focus on countering scanning, but don't stretch into the area of countering communication or attacks (our debate aside, I can easilly see these abillities used to mess with a mage's control over his or her projectiles, or disrupt or destabilize targeting for long-range shots).

Also, she likes giving people make-overs? Any particular targets in mind?

[Tk3997]

Originally Posted by Keroko

I do that too at times, but those scenarios are usually scattered 'what if' things, and hardly ever make it to paper. I guess I like the challenge of sticking to plot more then the challenge of writing a good story outside of the lines.

Well mine get written down, but never see the light of day otherwise they're sort of like a long rambling journal of semi-coherent ideas I've had over the years.

Long posts are looong. -_-

Anyway, I'm not one for long-winded technical and tactical jargon, but I don't see anything contradicting canon, so I don't see a reason to whine about a new way to use magic.

Yeah I tried not to contradict anything we see or know in canon while still extrapolating to bulk out scanning magic and the "electronic battlefield" as it where. Basically I wanted to make it something more complex then "activate generic scan to see enemy". At the same time since since the Manga mentions that the Belkan style (or at least Neo) tends to focus on forming effects on or near the user it's probably something Mid is pretty much just better at which also helps with me wanting to differentiate the two a bit more.

Good profile, though I'm rather surprised that all of the countermeasures seem to focus on countering scanning, but don't stretch into the area of countering communication or attacks (our debate aside, I can easilly see these abillities used to mess with a mage's control over his or her projectiles, or disrupt or destabilize targeting for long-range shots).

Acutally they do maybe that wasn’t really that clear, but the “spells” were really more about the various classes of jamming and how they worked overall then the targets basiclly jamming can target any sort of signal it’s more about how you do it then what it’s targeting (since it’s all jamming). You can target the various sorts of jamming on scans, communications, guidance, etc. The problem is somewhat that listing every little thing it could do would make the list huger then it already is… Some editing is probably going to happen (this is basiclly a somewhat polished draft.) but to some extent I decided to sort of just outline it a bit here and get into the real specifics in the story.

Just like how I didn't list the probably dozen plus sub-sets of each overarching scan type like IR, RADAR, LIDAR, etc. More specifics are talked about when they acutally come up in the plot but in the profile it's sort of enough to say "she can do these sorts of scans over ALLOT of the spectrum".

Also, she likes giving people make-overs? Any particular targets in mind?

Several it was only mentioned becasue such an incident was already planned... Luckily for the intended victims she's acutally good at it.

[FlameSparkZ]

Originally Posted by Keroko

Oh, I let my creativity run wild, but I enjoy making stories fit into canon. That's where half the fun in character creation lies for me. Making a story and having the fit into the story without taking over the entire story is a challenge, and one I like to take on. It's not jus Nanoha either, there are Keroko's in Shana, Mai Otome, Slayers, Negima, heck even pokemon (dog-type trainer main pokemon are Flareon, Vaporeon, Jolteon, Espeon, Umbreon and Arcanine).

I'm the same
There's pretty much a Koji, Yui and Maren for almost every anime/game I saw and like
Though in some cases, Koji and Yui have different names

~~~~

About BreakerS...still working on a few things
I'll try to post it soon

Also...what's with the talk about the OC channel?

[Keroko]

Originally Posted by Tk3997

Yeah I tried not to contradict anything we see or know in canon while still extrapolating to bulk out scanning magic and the "electronic battlefield" as it where. Basically I wanted to make it something more complex then "activate generic scan to see enemy". At the same time since since the Manga mentions that the Belkan style (or at least Neo) tends to focus on forming effects on or near the user it's probably something Mid is pretty much just better at which also helps with me wanting to differentiate the two a bit more.

True. Simply saying Mid is better at 'long range magic' is a bit bland.

Originally Posted by Tk3997

Acutally they do maybe that wasn’t really that clear, but the “spells” were really more about the various classes of jamming and how they worked overall then the targets basiclly jamming can target any sort of signal it’s more about how you do it then what it’s targeting (since it’s all jamming). You can target the various sorts of jamming on scans, communications, guidance, etc. The problem is somewhat that listing every little thing it could do would make the list huger then it already is… Some editing is probably going to happen (this is basiclly a somewhat polished draft.) but to some extent I decided to sort of just outline it a bit here and get into the real specifics in the story.

Just like how I didn't list the probably dozen plus sub-sets of each overarching scan type like IR, RADAR, LIDAR, etc. More specifics are talked about when they acutally come up in the plot but in the profile it's sort of enough to say "she can do these sorts of scans over ALLOT of the spectrum".

Noted. And I may use this when I get to writing a more tactical fight with Tesla. Granted, since she is a Belkan knight (and an Ancient Belkan knight at that) she won't be using the exact same skills, but the basics of jamming shouldn't have been a stranger to Belka.

Originally Posted by Tk3997

Several it was only mentioned becasue such an incident was already planned... Luckily for the intended victims she's acutally good at it.

Lucky for them I guess...

Originally Posted by FlameSparkZ

I'm the same
There's pretty much a Koji, Yui and Maren for almost every anime/game I saw and like
Though in some cases, Koji and Yui have different names

Maybe I should poke around in some of the other forums for an OC-thread.

By the way, how heavy a sleeper is Koji? I kinda need this for Uomo's introduction scenario (I'm planning for the two to have been roomies in the academy, Koji's acceptance of everyone makes him the perfect candidate for rooming with a trap).

[AdmiralTigerclaw]

I'm gone for a day and the place gets invaded and attacked.

Do I need to come down on someone with rightious anger?

[Comartemis]

If I knew anything at all about hacking, I'd trace this guy back to his IP address and get medieval on his ass. But alas, I am merely a poor n00b with no hope of being able to dispense righteous electronic justice...

First off we have an 3,000 word in character essay as a primer!

Looks great, TK. A bit wordy for my tastes, but there's definitely stuff I can use with Ciel here.

[Wild Goose]

@TK: Am reading your 3000 word essay right now, and I'm finding it interesting reading but God the lack of punctuation and stuff argh....

...Tell ya what, how about I take it and clean it up a bit, make it easier to read? <.< Comma here, comma there, adjust spelling abit...

Also, nice profile on Rose *nodnod* And more delicious ideas *nodnod* But darn I'm not sure I could have an EW mage in the OFM... it'd attact too much attention.

Also: Rose is cute. And well-endowned.