I've been driving myself bonkers today, punching down cat5 and juggling Fenspace tech, and here are the results. Pending societal disapproval, here is the basic tech Hephaestus and the Boys are based on, and a couple of our products.
Please be gentle on any shoot-downs, it's midnight or thereabouts, and I'm exhausted, but I can't sleep.. stupid Muse.
Any designs are 'copyright' to Hephaestus - we need a term for this, since Copyright has legal implications in the real world, and I think we would be wise to have a way to indicate intellectual property that is for sale, as opposed to open source, in the Fenspace. I suggest 'Commercial design' versus 'Open design'.
Open Design
Carbon Fiberweed
The original fireweed plant was staked to and around a carbon fiber rod, dusted with carbon fiber, and painted with base strain 'wavium. We ended up with a plant that grows signifigantly more and signifigantly higher than a 'normal' fireweed, is much darker (dark DAARK green leaves, near-black green stalk, and gloss black flowers) than normal, and is capable of doing 30 feet of height in an Earth environment. First-gen Carbon Fiberweed cannot survive unprotected in space.
Environmental Plants
These Devil's Club plants were a 'lucky shot' handwave. The original smells very pleasant and grows anywhere, on anything. It is the devil. The waving process began with 'shaving' a Devil's Club, removing the hurty parts from the stem. The plant was jacketted in a thin plushy layer of velour, dark green in color, and subjected to a 2-week tape loop of environmental propaganda on the role of green plants in restoring oxygen to the environment. Watching right along with it was a can of base 'wavium. At the end of the time period, we repotted the Devil's Club in the 'wavium, and we ended up with a low-slung plant that has no thorns, grows swiftly, produces oxygen like gangbusters, and, indeed, _requires_ carbon monoxide or dioxide in fairly good quantities to thrive. The environmental bay on Hephaestus is equipped with smudge pots for this very reason.
Quirks: Environmental Plants require lounge music, the schlockier and more '70s the better. Research into this has indicated that the velour fabric intended to make a more 'cuddly' plant was from a late 70s manufactured pair of pants. When asked further, Raven indicated that yes, the pants were 'very funky'.
With _too_ clean of an atmosphere, Environmental Plants will stop growing and shed leaves to minimize themselves.
Cuttings of these are available from Hephaestus.
EzCode Parsing Error: size=5]Commercial Des
Adjusted Mass Reactionless Rotor[/b]
The Adjusted Mass Reactionless Rotor is a design based in part off of the Firefly engine seen in Serenity. in the Hephaestian version, the rotating shell contains a stationary crankshaft, with a strange handwaved material in its lobes. The shell contains control electronics and a similar and complimentary handwaved emitter, which repels the material in the lobe of the crankshaft.
The rotor can be made in a myriad of shapes and output levels, with no upper or lower limit in sight. So far, the control system has been built into the shell, and we've no plans to move it out.
An astute reader may have noticed that the rotor itself just.. rotates. This is true, and the second part of the Adjusted Mass Reactionless Rotor is the Motivator. The Motivator is an ingot of the same strange handwaved metal used in the rotor, with similar emitters either static mounted or on armatures surrounding the ingot. While the _material_ is the same between the Rotor and the Ingot, the emitters have a totally different purpose. In the Rotor, the emitters push, and the static crankshaft is the 'reactionless newton-cheating sumbitch', to quote my father on the subject. In the Ingot, the emitters are the fulcrum, the electricity is the lever, and the Ingot actually transmits the force of movement to the vehicle.
For instance, the rotor in any of the Suburbans is inside the engine compartment, where one would normally expect it. In the initial buildup, the propulsion ingot was placed where the transfer case was. This ended up being too cramped and too far forward for the appropriate 'center of movement', and it was moved backwards, making room for a larger generator plugged into the back end of the rotor.
In cars like V and Millie, again the rotor replaces the engine, and a 'propulsion ingot' replaces the transmission or is mounted into the car's frame at an appropriate location.
In conclusion - the Rotor develops, through reactionless repulsion, rotational force, which is used to turn an electric generator. The available electricity is pushed through 'waved emitters and generates reactionless repulsion via the Ingot. When a 'pure' road style is needed, all Hephaestian vehicles can use in-wheel electric motors to crank right along, and keep a few high-grade resistance coils in the design for 'generative-wastative braking'.
Functionally speaking, the rotor/ingot combo provides a single-point vector introduction capability. On a single-ingot rig like the Suburban, the force generation is nowhere near as efficient in 'rotation' as it is linearily. This is due to the single-point factor, and one of the reasons V is so agile. With a smallish Ingot replacing each of her differentials, she can push her front end and back end at different vectors.
'Clean Queen'
The airlocks in the shuttles and shops of Hephaestus are composed of 'waved Visqueen. We setup a spooler that rolled the visqueen through a trough of liquidized 'wavium, and it came out signifigantly tougher, better insulating, and nearly optically clear. The stuff is not very strong against piercing or cutting attacks, however, and even a hardtech small handgun could penetrate it.
Airlocks
The airlocking system used by Hephaestus are based off of a 'queen sheeting, and the fasteners are 3-inch wide strips of velcro, with a central zipper. The Velcro/zipper is glued on with a 'waved adhesive, which appears to now bond on a molecular level. The velcro has been painted with liquidized 'wavium, as well as the zippers. They hold well, pressure testing would pop the visqueen sheeting before the seal would leak.
The Really Right Stuff
The glue used to assemble the airlocks is a mix of liquid 'wavium and 'right stuff' RTV rubber gasketting adhesive. The resultant stuff is less gooey and more liquid than the original RTV, but can still be applied from a 'squirt gun' with care, or brushed on. On non-metal surfaces, it produces a molecular bond. On metal surfaces, it's a powerful adhesive, but fails under any force harder than 'signifigant'.
Battle Steel
Hephaestus is setup to produce steel, among other finished metals. The steel bar stock is sometimes melted back down, and a specific stain of 'wavium is mixed in, and vaccum-cooled. The resultant product is slightly lighter than conventional steel, resists corrosion, and so long as there are active 'personell' (as opposed to just people)maintaining it, maintains it's strength. Battle Steel is _signifigantly_ stronger than conventional steel plate, resists corrosion per stainless steel, and has to be cut with either overwhelming force or special tooling/drill bits/saw blades. Laser cutting requires either overwhelming force or a 'wave collimated focussing system.
Quirks: When confronted with 'overwhelming' force, Battle Steel tends to shatter, due to the sheer amount of energy imparted to _cause_ a rupture. A Reaver 'impact breacher' would bounce if on anything but an exact perpendicular, but if it does get that perfect angle, it stands a good chance of either cracking the panel or sending a 'spall' shard bouncing across the space inside the violated panel.
Silver Handwavium
Silver Handwavium was a conventional strain mixed with silicon and graphite dust, automatic transmission fluid, wd-40, and fed several hours of infomercials on the benefits of high-grade lubricants. The resulting thick-oil-paint type liquid can be aerosol sprayed, painted from a can, or squirtgunned onto a bearing surface. On a non-frictionized surface, this strain merely flakes up and powders away. On a surface that requires lubrication (bearings, hinges, latches, locks), the 'wavium soaks in and provides a near-perfect interface. The interface is not frictionless, but it's as close as can be obtained by solid work.
Quirks: The strain requires occasional Exuberant Appreciation! of it's Amazing Effectiveness! and Economical Pricing! to maintain its lubricity. Thankfully, you'll notice it stop working nearly as well before it 'goes away' and requires a new application.
Black Handwavium
Black handwavium was produced from several 'high performance' classic car mags, a can of base strain, and a tape-loop of documentaries on internal combustion and nascar race engine design. The 'wavium _knows_ what makes internal combustion tick, and likes the idea. Application of this can be as simple as an oil change, or as in depth as a teardown and parts soak. Naturally, the more effort you put into it, the more benefit you will get out of it.
An engine exposed to an 'oil change' level of Black Handwavium will reseal it's cylinders, stop clattering, run somewhat better than factory (depending on level of damage/neglect), and fill several oil filters with gunge in short order.
A full 'teardown/parts soak' will result in an engine that is signifigantly structurally stronger than stock, with all that implies. If an ECM or carbeuration setup is adjusted properly, higher RPM range, more boost, higher compression, more agressive timing, all can be sustained. A stock engine given this treatment will not run that much better than stock - even if everything under the lid is right, the programming/design is aiming for a particular performance level.
Ultimate performance gain from 'Wavium black is in the high performance internal combustion engine, where treatments will cause oil to flow smoother, fuel to burn better, and motors to last longer. Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979
Please be gentle on any shoot-downs, it's midnight or thereabouts, and I'm exhausted, but I can't sleep.. stupid Muse.
Any designs are 'copyright' to Hephaestus - we need a term for this, since Copyright has legal implications in the real world, and I think we would be wise to have a way to indicate intellectual property that is for sale, as opposed to open source, in the Fenspace. I suggest 'Commercial design' versus 'Open design'.
Open Design
Carbon Fiberweed
The original fireweed plant was staked to and around a carbon fiber rod, dusted with carbon fiber, and painted with base strain 'wavium. We ended up with a plant that grows signifigantly more and signifigantly higher than a 'normal' fireweed, is much darker (dark DAARK green leaves, near-black green stalk, and gloss black flowers) than normal, and is capable of doing 30 feet of height in an Earth environment. First-gen Carbon Fiberweed cannot survive unprotected in space.
Environmental Plants
These Devil's Club plants were a 'lucky shot' handwave. The original smells very pleasant and grows anywhere, on anything. It is the devil. The waving process began with 'shaving' a Devil's Club, removing the hurty parts from the stem. The plant was jacketted in a thin plushy layer of velour, dark green in color, and subjected to a 2-week tape loop of environmental propaganda on the role of green plants in restoring oxygen to the environment. Watching right along with it was a can of base 'wavium. At the end of the time period, we repotted the Devil's Club in the 'wavium, and we ended up with a low-slung plant that has no thorns, grows swiftly, produces oxygen like gangbusters, and, indeed, _requires_ carbon monoxide or dioxide in fairly good quantities to thrive. The environmental bay on Hephaestus is equipped with smudge pots for this very reason.
Quirks: Environmental Plants require lounge music, the schlockier and more '70s the better. Research into this has indicated that the velour fabric intended to make a more 'cuddly' plant was from a late 70s manufactured pair of pants. When asked further, Raven indicated that yes, the pants were 'very funky'.
With _too_ clean of an atmosphere, Environmental Plants will stop growing and shed leaves to minimize themselves.
Cuttings of these are available from Hephaestus.
EzCode Parsing Error: size=5]Commercial Des
Adjusted Mass Reactionless Rotor[/b]
The Adjusted Mass Reactionless Rotor is a design based in part off of the Firefly engine seen in Serenity. in the Hephaestian version, the rotating shell contains a stationary crankshaft, with a strange handwaved material in its lobes. The shell contains control electronics and a similar and complimentary handwaved emitter, which repels the material in the lobe of the crankshaft.
The rotor can be made in a myriad of shapes and output levels, with no upper or lower limit in sight. So far, the control system has been built into the shell, and we've no plans to move it out.
An astute reader may have noticed that the rotor itself just.. rotates. This is true, and the second part of the Adjusted Mass Reactionless Rotor is the Motivator. The Motivator is an ingot of the same strange handwaved metal used in the rotor, with similar emitters either static mounted or on armatures surrounding the ingot. While the _material_ is the same between the Rotor and the Ingot, the emitters have a totally different purpose. In the Rotor, the emitters push, and the static crankshaft is the 'reactionless newton-cheating sumbitch', to quote my father on the subject. In the Ingot, the emitters are the fulcrum, the electricity is the lever, and the Ingot actually transmits the force of movement to the vehicle.
For instance, the rotor in any of the Suburbans is inside the engine compartment, where one would normally expect it. In the initial buildup, the propulsion ingot was placed where the transfer case was. This ended up being too cramped and too far forward for the appropriate 'center of movement', and it was moved backwards, making room for a larger generator plugged into the back end of the rotor.
In cars like V and Millie, again the rotor replaces the engine, and a 'propulsion ingot' replaces the transmission or is mounted into the car's frame at an appropriate location.
In conclusion - the Rotor develops, through reactionless repulsion, rotational force, which is used to turn an electric generator. The available electricity is pushed through 'waved emitters and generates reactionless repulsion via the Ingot. When a 'pure' road style is needed, all Hephaestian vehicles can use in-wheel electric motors to crank right along, and keep a few high-grade resistance coils in the design for 'generative-wastative braking'.
Functionally speaking, the rotor/ingot combo provides a single-point vector introduction capability. On a single-ingot rig like the Suburban, the force generation is nowhere near as efficient in 'rotation' as it is linearily. This is due to the single-point factor, and one of the reasons V is so agile. With a smallish Ingot replacing each of her differentials, she can push her front end and back end at different vectors.
'Clean Queen'
The airlocks in the shuttles and shops of Hephaestus are composed of 'waved Visqueen. We setup a spooler that rolled the visqueen through a trough of liquidized 'wavium, and it came out signifigantly tougher, better insulating, and nearly optically clear. The stuff is not very strong against piercing or cutting attacks, however, and even a hardtech small handgun could penetrate it.
Airlocks
The airlocking system used by Hephaestus are based off of a 'queen sheeting, and the fasteners are 3-inch wide strips of velcro, with a central zipper. The Velcro/zipper is glued on with a 'waved adhesive, which appears to now bond on a molecular level. The velcro has been painted with liquidized 'wavium, as well as the zippers. They hold well, pressure testing would pop the visqueen sheeting before the seal would leak.
The Really Right Stuff
The glue used to assemble the airlocks is a mix of liquid 'wavium and 'right stuff' RTV rubber gasketting adhesive. The resultant stuff is less gooey and more liquid than the original RTV, but can still be applied from a 'squirt gun' with care, or brushed on. On non-metal surfaces, it produces a molecular bond. On metal surfaces, it's a powerful adhesive, but fails under any force harder than 'signifigant'.
Battle Steel
Hephaestus is setup to produce steel, among other finished metals. The steel bar stock is sometimes melted back down, and a specific stain of 'wavium is mixed in, and vaccum-cooled. The resultant product is slightly lighter than conventional steel, resists corrosion, and so long as there are active 'personell' (as opposed to just people)maintaining it, maintains it's strength. Battle Steel is _signifigantly_ stronger than conventional steel plate, resists corrosion per stainless steel, and has to be cut with either overwhelming force or special tooling/drill bits/saw blades. Laser cutting requires either overwhelming force or a 'wave collimated focussing system.
Quirks: When confronted with 'overwhelming' force, Battle Steel tends to shatter, due to the sheer amount of energy imparted to _cause_ a rupture. A Reaver 'impact breacher' would bounce if on anything but an exact perpendicular, but if it does get that perfect angle, it stands a good chance of either cracking the panel or sending a 'spall' shard bouncing across the space inside the violated panel.
Silver Handwavium
Silver Handwavium was a conventional strain mixed with silicon and graphite dust, automatic transmission fluid, wd-40, and fed several hours of infomercials on the benefits of high-grade lubricants. The resulting thick-oil-paint type liquid can be aerosol sprayed, painted from a can, or squirtgunned onto a bearing surface. On a non-frictionized surface, this strain merely flakes up and powders away. On a surface that requires lubrication (bearings, hinges, latches, locks), the 'wavium soaks in and provides a near-perfect interface. The interface is not frictionless, but it's as close as can be obtained by solid work.
Quirks: The strain requires occasional Exuberant Appreciation! of it's Amazing Effectiveness! and Economical Pricing! to maintain its lubricity. Thankfully, you'll notice it stop working nearly as well before it 'goes away' and requires a new application.
Black Handwavium
Black handwavium was produced from several 'high performance' classic car mags, a can of base strain, and a tape-loop of documentaries on internal combustion and nascar race engine design. The 'wavium _knows_ what makes internal combustion tick, and likes the idea. Application of this can be as simple as an oil change, or as in depth as a teardown and parts soak. Naturally, the more effort you put into it, the more benefit you will get out of it.
An engine exposed to an 'oil change' level of Black Handwavium will reseal it's cylinders, stop clattering, run somewhat better than factory (depending on level of damage/neglect), and fill several oil filters with gunge in short order.
A full 'teardown/parts soak' will result in an engine that is signifigantly structurally stronger than stock, with all that implies. If an ECM or carbeuration setup is adjusted properly, higher RPM range, more boost, higher compression, more agressive timing, all can be sustained. A stock engine given this treatment will not run that much better than stock - even if everything under the lid is right, the programming/design is aiming for a particular performance level.
Ultimate performance gain from 'Wavium black is in the high performance internal combustion engine, where treatments will cause oil to flow smoother, fuel to burn better, and motors to last longer. Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979