The Laws of the Handwave

[robkelk]

If I may offer a few suggestions to Drakensis' suggested rule set...

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Rule #1: Handwavium is like Cat. It does not go where you tell it to go. It goes where it wants to go. If you are trying to get A Cool Thing, then you will get A Cool Thing. If you are trying to get A Specific Cool Thing? You will get A Cool Thing.

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Unless you work very, very hard at getting something specific, and even then it won't be exactly what you wanted.

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a) You may not show the Handwavium a picture of your desired genre vehicle and have it build one for you. Not at all, not even a little, not under any circumstances.

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Except when "Not at all, not even a little, not under any circumstances" conflicts with Rule #0b - but you have to work for it.
(In my humble opinion, the phrases "not at all" and "not under any circumstances" should not be applied to handwavium. Most of us seem to be of the opinion that "you can't do that" is not welcome here...)

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d) ... The only way to get a handwaved weapon is to take an existing handwavium device designed for peaceful purposes and use it in ways nature never intended.

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And even then it'll only work once; once the handwavium realizes it's been used as a weapon, it'll stop acting that way.
(Yes, "realizes". If 'wavium isn't intelligent, then most of the rules make no sense at all. Intelligence on 'wavium's part is a necessary implication of Sirroco's rules.)

Oh, and I like your Rule #4. Your #4a makes Katz' coilguns useful again...

-Rob Kelk
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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