Something that's been percolating in my brain.
Edit: Argh! Tabs don't work.
Holding your Colours A guide to identifying Handwavium strains and contamination levels
There are several methods to determine the strain of Handwavium in a sample, and how much is included. Most of these require specialist equipment, and at least a couple of hours.
The most widely used method is based off a device created by The Professor (nicknamed the Taster), and subsequently copied by most factions. While each has their own quirks, they all basically work the same way. A sample is placed in a small compartment in the device, and in about a minute (during which time the device beeps a quiz show theme tune) it lights up an indicator on the device along with a short maniacal laugh. These indicators are seemingly based on the RGB colour model used by televisions for so long (see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RGB for details). This grants seven basic types of Handwavium and seven levels of contamination.
The scale goes something like this:
Colour | Type | Level
White | None | Clean
Yellow | Power/Engines | Becalmed
Red | Material Enhancement | Fair
Fuchsia/Electric Magenta | Computer Enhancement | Choppy
Blue | Life Support/Gravity | Heavy
Cyan | Mechanical Enhancement | Stormy
Green | Biomodification | Tidal
Black is reserved for unknown or inconclusive readings (the more one knows about Handwavium, the less this happens)
The Level scale comes from the fact that, since we are measuring the amount of Handwavium in a sample, it would make sense to measure how high the waves are.
Since the end of 2010, devices which can give a percentage for the contamination level have become available, but the widespread use of the older and easier to make version keeps the colour code in use.
Sidebar: Master Tasters.
Those who work with Handwavium extensively usually have more advanced versions of the Tasters available to them. These are usually personalised, and dont hit the market. They have, however, led to a more advanced scale. Seemingly based around the Web hexadecimal convention, it actually gives one hexadecimal digit to each full colour with the convention of 0 being black, 1 being white, and F being Underwater.
For example, F72AD0 translates roughly as:
Yellow-Underwater
Red-Choppy
Fuchsia-Clean/Becalmed
Blue-Heavy/Stormy
Cyan-Tidal
Green-Unknown and/or Inconclusive
Edit: Argh! Tabs don't work.
Holding your Colours A guide to identifying Handwavium strains and contamination levels
There are several methods to determine the strain of Handwavium in a sample, and how much is included. Most of these require specialist equipment, and at least a couple of hours.
The most widely used method is based off a device created by The Professor (nicknamed the Taster), and subsequently copied by most factions. While each has their own quirks, they all basically work the same way. A sample is placed in a small compartment in the device, and in about a minute (during which time the device beeps a quiz show theme tune) it lights up an indicator on the device along with a short maniacal laugh. These indicators are seemingly based on the RGB colour model used by televisions for so long (see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RGB for details). This grants seven basic types of Handwavium and seven levels of contamination.
The scale goes something like this:
Colour | Type | Level
White | None | Clean
Yellow | Power/Engines | Becalmed
Red | Material Enhancement | Fair
Fuchsia/Electric Magenta | Computer Enhancement | Choppy
Blue | Life Support/Gravity | Heavy
Cyan | Mechanical Enhancement | Stormy
Green | Biomodification | Tidal
Black is reserved for unknown or inconclusive readings (the more one knows about Handwavium, the less this happens)
The Level scale comes from the fact that, since we are measuring the amount of Handwavium in a sample, it would make sense to measure how high the waves are.
Since the end of 2010, devices which can give a percentage for the contamination level have become available, but the widespread use of the older and easier to make version keeps the colour code in use.
Sidebar: Master Tasters.
Those who work with Handwavium extensively usually have more advanced versions of the Tasters available to them. These are usually personalised, and dont hit the market. They have, however, led to a more advanced scale. Seemingly based around the Web hexadecimal convention, it actually gives one hexadecimal digit to each full colour with the convention of 0 being black, 1 being white, and F being Underwater.
For example, F72AD0 translates roughly as:
Yellow-Underwater
Red-Choppy
Fuchsia-Clean/Becalmed
Blue-Heavy/Stormy
Cyan-Tidal
Green-Unknown and/or Inconclusive