Unlike harry my character is not poor and I like to have my big screen TV and the internet.  So I was thinking about wards, magic and Tech.  I would like to setup my home and the shop I run with the ability to have post 1940 tech.  Since it is always best to start with the basics I will go over some of the elements involved and work my way up to a way for me to coexist with tech.  This will also allow you the reader to either poke holes in my reasoning  or understand how it works.

The first is that I am treating magic like a form of energy with its own special properties but similar to electricity.

Second Wizards are able to manipulate, channel and gather magic around themselves or store it.  These abilities however are not 100% clean so leakage occurs.  This leakage can be mitigated by training, practice, age or in game terms their Conviction and Discipline.  A Wizards magic ability is greatly influenced by their emotions and this can cause leakage also.       

Third Technology of a certain level and type (mostly electronics or things that use electrically based parts) can easily be damaged or destroyed by magic be it leakage or a directed attack.

Given those basic tenants I would like to create a sink or lightening rod type of system in my home and shop.  This would involve placing a grid of rods in walls floors ceilings wherever and linking them to absorb stray magical energy.  Now magic is all around us in some form or another but is at levels that do not mess up tech or nothing would work anywhere.  I would setup my system to dissipate that extra magic by grounding it into the earth or maybe even channeling it into my house/shop wards.  As a Wizard you really don’t want to broadcast where your home or lair is so having a system that hides magical activity is a must.  Linking the system into a ward that mimics the magic level of the surrounding area would also be a good idea.  Because of the complexity of the sink-system I would think it would require a largish area but you may also be able to install one in a car.  Bottom line I would like to setup the system to absorb any magical energy above the normal background level so it does not affect tech where I set it up.  I also think you would be able to accomplish this under a ward rather than as an enchanted item.   

So what do you think oh reader?

As an added incentive if it works movie night at my house.  Sixty inch screen with full room surround sound.  Snacks and soda included bring your own beer .       

It looks like you can pump a lot of extra shifts into a Thaumaturgy spell and one of the most common spells that I see this in is wards. What justifies these extra shifts and how do you control them?  Is it from taking hours or days to create it?  What is the upper limit if that is the case?

Temp 30 pt 8 refresh Character
   +5 Lore, Conviction
   +4 Discipline, Endurance
   +3 Weapons,Athletics
   +2 Resources, Scholarship
   +1 Survival, Investigation

Evocation -3
Thaumaturgy -3
The Sight -1
Soulgaze -0

Can you pump 30 shifts into a ward if you take days to set it up?  What would be the max this temp character would be able to put into a ward? Why? Whats the Math?

Ward 30 shifts: Base power 5  from Lore 5
Skip Scenes 19 Additional power (Y270)  ?
Symbolic links 6  +2 scraping from my anvil and workbench, +2 Scraping from the fence, +2 Scrapings of house and workshop, Some grass and bark from the trees, Dirt from yard  (Y267)
Complexity +2 Keyed entry:  Allows me in and out and to allow others . (Y276)
Complexity +5 last a few months, 5 increment change on Time table starting at all day for spell type (Y315 time table) (Y266 Starting point of all day)
 

I know I read somewhere in the book that you can change/focus/simplify a spell to get shifts out of it but I dont know where and cant find it.  Anyone know where it is?  The idea was to change a general spell and only allow it to have one effect.



   

I have seen a few posts where people use a symbolic link in a ward on the forums and I was wondering where in the books it indicates what bonus it gives.  As an example invoking an aspect while doing a spell can give you +2 shifts (Y286).  One person indicated that a symbolic link also gave +2 shifts but I don't see that mentioned in the books.


And another question if I pump 16 shifts into a ward and it has -7 shifts in complexity is it a 16 or 9 shift ward in the end?

EXAMPLE
Using my workshop I made a cast iron fence that circles my property.  It has three entrances the front public entryway for customers is an archway with a gate large enough to two people to pass comfortably.  On the ally in back is another one person archway with a gate and the garage.  I have integrated the garage with the fence.  This forms a permanent iron circle around the property that I cast my wards on.

Veil ward: The object of this ward is to hide/limit the magical energies I use so it seems like a mundane household.
        a)   Base power 8  Lore or 5 + 2 Strength specialization + 1 Focus item Strength
        b)   Invoked Aspects -2 Steals servant (Y268)
        c)   Symbolic links -6  +2 scraping from my anvil and workbench, +2 Scraping from the fence, +2
             Scrapings of house and workshop, Some grass and bark from the trees, Dirt from yard  (Y267)
        d)   Complexity +2 only hides magical energies (Y277)
        e)   Complexity +5 last a few months, 5 increment change on Time table starting at all day for
             spell type (Y315 time table) (Y266 Starting point of all day)

Given a characters stats allow them to create a 8 shift/power 4 use item. What are the mechanics of creating an item or a potion with ability like speed maybe inhuman or supernatural?  Would it work the same for Inhuman/Supernatural recovery also?  Would that just be biomancy for both? 

If you have both full Evocation and full Thaumaturgy you get 4 Focus slots correct?

Would crafted items be affected by wards or thresholds since they already have all of the power they can use in them?  It states that a wizard can lose a good amount of power but I would imagine that is because they can no longer gather external magic/power while in a hostile threshold.