[story][rfc] Fallout from The Gauntlet - Printable Version +- Drunkard's Walk Forums (http://www.accessdenied-rms.net/forums) +-- Forum: General (http://www.accessdenied-rms.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?fid=1) +--- Forum: Fenspace (http://www.accessdenied-rms.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?fid=12) +--- Thread: [story][rfc] Fallout from The Gauntlet (/showthread.php?tid=2598) |
[story][rfc] Fallout from The Gauntlet - robkelk - 10-30-2011 Moved so it doesn't interfere with the flow of that story. This happens at least six months after http://drunkardswalkforums.yuku.com/topic/8517]The Gauntlet, and only if Mal lets magic loose in the world. Kohran looked up from the infirmary's computer. "I'm sorry, dad, but you're a mage." "You're sure?" "As sure as I can be with this equipment," she replied while shutting down the laptop that held the grimoires and magical theories left behind by The Girls. "On the bright side, the tests indicate you have even less magical ability than I do." "So I can't actually cast spells, then." Noah sounded relieved. "No, you can, but only ritually, and it'll take you at least an hour to get an effect off. That said, you may be able to get some pretty powerful effects off, in your area of ability." He scowled. "Well, I guess being an aspected ritual mage is better than being a combat mage, but it's still worse than not being a mage at all. What's my aspect?" "According to the scans, it's knowledge of some sort. I think this is why you're so good at creating AIs - you 'know' what needs to be present to create us the way you want." "Agatha didn't turn out the way I'd hoped." Kohran nodded. "You flubbed a roll. It happens." "Aspected magery, flubbing a roll ... when did our lives become a roleplaying game, Kohran?" "They haven't, dad. That's just a framework that we both understand for the concepts we're going to have to live with." Noah thought for a moment. "I can work with that. What about Yayoi and Sora?" "Don't work too hard - you might get locked into that framework instead of one that's better for you. I haven't been able to test Sora yet. Yayoi has a minor magical ability that appears to have been grafted on to her. It's only enough to energize the glasses that Skuld gave her." "And you?" Kohran gestured to the laptop, which began to levitate. "Minor effects, and they tire me quickly." The laptop settled back onto the desk as Kohran sat down. "The big surprise is what happened to the rest of your magical ability." "The rest of... Explain. Now." "Eep!" "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." "That's okay; you're upset. Everybody has a particular signature to their magical ability - call it your soul's reflection, the colour of your Linker Core (whatever that is), the harmonics of your chi, or anything else. The theories that Lisa left behind say that no two people have exactly the same magical signature. But you and Safety do." "Clumsy, nearsighted, naive Safety is a mage?" "Anyone can be a mage, dad. Safety is a combat mage, both in power and technique. Haven't you ever wondered where she keeps her bow and arrows?" "Oh, dear, Ghu... I poured most of my magic into the first girl I built after the magic awoke, didn't I?" "That's how it looks to me, yep. Dad, sit down, please." "What's wrong?" "Leda's a combat mage, too. She's got a lot of Sailor Jupiter's abilities." "She does have a biomod that's a lot like Makoto's powers. Is that what you picked up?" "She has that too. Do you remember who trained her to control her biomod?" "Yes, it was... Oh, dear. Have you told her?" "Yesterday, after I examined her and Helen." "Helen! Is she...?" "The daughter of two mages? Yes, of course Helen's a mage. Or, at least that's what the tests indicate." Noah buried his head in his hands. "I was hoping she'd have a normal life..." Korhan put a hand on her father's shoulder. "She will. It's just that normal for her will include magic." -- Rob Kelk "Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of the same sovereign, servants of the same law." - Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012 - Proginoskes - 10-31-2011 This is only a suggestion, but perhaps Fenspace has extremely low background mana levels everywhere, and no leylines, nodes, or Tethers to speak of. Handwavium can be used as a readily available mana source, but it "'waves" the spell to impose a Quirky side-effect or restriction (causing the spell to fizzle in various humorous ways if not met) that is consistent only with regards to that mage and that spell (and maybe even that strain of Handwavium). Certain magical fields of study are completely overtaken by Handwavium itself: magical Artificing, Alchemy, and Potionry are replaced entirely by Wavetech engineering, materials science, and chemistry, respectively. Under this scheme, spellcasting for Fenspace-native mages is effectively applying a 'wavejob to the local fabric of reality, which the universe eventually repairs back to cosmological baseline. - HRogge - 10-31-2011 I like Proginoskes idea, it would allow that "sufficiently advanced" (handwavium) tech is similar to "sufficiently advanced" magic. Not that the Fen will get there anytime soon. - Dartz - 10-31-2011 There's probably plenty of stuff out there that's technically 'magic' but is being explained away as a wave-effect, or it's practitioners don't realise isn't a wave-effect at all. There're plenty of things out there that shouldn't work the way they do, even with the wave helping. It would actually give me an out to explain a few things.... ________________________________ --m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig? - Foxboy - 10-31-2011 Yeah, the wave provides a lot of room for the Laws of Similarity and Contagion to kick in. Much like the doll in Weird Science. ''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.'' -- James Nicoll - robkelk - 10-31-2011 Proginoskes, if that's the framework you want to go with, feel free. (As Kohran implied above and Doug is likely to mention during the Harry Potter Step, there are plenty of different frameworks for magic.) I worry that it has a second-order effect of making handwaved devices only temporarily functional, though. Is handwavium a magical thing, or a paraphysical substance that can mimic magic and superscience, or a construct of thought that responds to thought (much like a Lensman's Lens but in a different manner), or the extrusion into reality of the power of a benevolent god, or a mundane focus that allows someone to use magical ability subconsciously, or a physical expression of Haruhi and Yuki's reality-warping abilities that they cast off so that they could become "normal," or something else altogether? We've never answered that question, although I vaguely recall it being asked and dropped sometime in the previous decade... -- Rob Kelk "Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of the same sovereign, servants of the same law." - Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012 - Proginoskes - 10-31-2011 I think the answer to "Is Handwavium x, or y, or z?" is generally accepted to be "Yes". My main point is, whatever you hold Handwavium to be, using it to assist spellcasting would inescapably make the spell Quirky. And unless you have either
you have to either take things really slowly using a ritual, or use Handwavium to assist. - M Fnord - 10-31-2011 You know, the big lizards in the cage green room do want to go walkies... I think I have a new project. On top of the three already running. Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information "I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!" - Bob Schroeck - 11-01-2011 Quote:Doug covers at length, in great detail, and with counseling and suggestions to his students during the Harry Potter StepFixed that for you, Rob. -- Bob --------- Then the horns kicked in... ...and my shoes began to squeak. - Black Aeronaut - 11-01-2011 I like it. Mind if I chip in my own two cents? I can't help but wonder if this would be something to call a convention over. Or, at the very least, quiet a meeting of the SMOFs to discuss the ramifications and measures that should be taken in light of this discovery. The reaction of the Senshi at 36 Atalante is, by itself, concerning for Ben and Gina. Just what is to be done if Sailor Atalante begins to show similar capability? (I have a pretty good idea, but that's just one of many questions that would need to be answered at such a meeting.) - Dartz - 11-01-2011 It depends on whether people outside Stellvia actually notice it's magic.... and not just another splash of the wave(Or whether the Stellvians want to go public). What the Wizarding World call's Magic is really mostly wave-effects after all. If other people start showing talents like Leda's, the natural assumption is that it's another similar biomod unless they have reason the believe otherwise. DBZ and Ranma fen are going to start sparking off with minor Ki techniques (Breaking pebbles instead of boulders, Ryouga), and they're just going to naturally assume it's just a similar biomod effect too, based on their source fandoms. ________________________________ --m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig? - LynnInDenver - 11-01-2011 If I had to guess, it might be A.C. that would be the first to notice. "I think I've been biomodded." -several hours of tests- "I can't find any evidence that you have a biomod." It's either that, or someone will think they're biomodded... and then be exposed to sufficient Handwavium and get a biomod ON TOP OF their magical abilities. -- "You know how parents tell you everything's going to fine, but you know they're lying to make you feel better? Everything's going to be fine." - The Doctor - HRogge - 11-01-2011 I see no reason for a convention. Fenspace is USED to all kind of strange magic... its just called differently. Handwavium is easily as magical as D&D style spells. I would not even be surprised if quite a number of biomod/wave abilities are more like magic than standard Handwavium mechanisms. - Dartz - 11-01-2011 Meanwhile, at Catgirl industries.... Quote:The subject was waiting in the test chamber like a caged jaguar. There was that same air of grace to her, a brutal finesse, of predatory savagery to her movements as she stalked beneath the observation lights.________________________________ --m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig? - Warringer - 11-01-2011 I don't know if magic is such a good idea... Even if it would explain a thing or two about handwavium... - robkelk - 11-02-2011 As I said, this whole thread only matters if Mal lets magic loose in the world. If he vetoes it, then we're just playing with possibilities for another universe's worth of stories. -- Rob Kelk "Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of the same sovereign, servants of the same law." - Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012 |