AwakeMUD CE

ESSENCE

Your essence rating is a measure of your life force. Every human and metahuman start off with an
essence of 6. As people go through invasive procedures such as having cyberware installed, their 
essence goes down, as part of their living tissue is replaced with wires, chips, and machines. This 
slow detachment of their spirit from their body has a degrading effect upon their sanity and 
empathy, worsening the closer they are to zero.

For mages, adepts, and shamans, essence is directly related to their magic rating. Magic thrives on
life, and without life, it is difficult to control the energies from astral space. Any time a mage 
or shaman loses essence, their magic rating drops as well. See MAGIC LOSS for more details.

There is no other coded effect in the game that can cause you to lose essence other than cyberware.
However, there are NERP and storytelling effects that can lower your essence ranging from injuries 
to special powers by various paracritters. It is also technically possible to stay alive at or below 
zero essence - typically they require the backing of a large number of constant resources, which 
your average shadowrunner does not have access to.

See Also: ATTRIBUTES, ESSENCE HOLE, ESSENCE INDEX, BIOWARE INDEX, MAGIC LOSS, NERP