Why would you want to use it if it's impractical? That's like trying to make it hard for yourself to get the job done.
I didn't discuss that, did I? Mainly magic, though... what blastia can do is only limited by the imagination, to tell you the truth. So long as you know your math well enough to restrict the aer, you can be as specific as you want with what it can do. My blastia, the ones I have on me, at least, are all designed to cast elemental magic - the bodhi blastia. So it's formula is designed to maximize the direct interface between mind and the intent to damage something. But blastia can do anything - back when the ancient civilizations were still around, we theorize that they probably used blastia to move things around the cities, lower bridges, power guardians... Even today, we use it to draw water, move things, and generally make life easier.
And then, there are barrier blastia - they surround our cities, kinda similar to how the barrier works in Somarium, actually. They keep the monsters out, but allow people to pass through unharmed, which creates a safe environment. Which is not at all bad - it's one of the primary uses of the blastia, though the specific blastia needed to create the barrier - we haven't figured out a way to synthesize it yet, so we can only use the ones that we've unearthed. Which is kinda few in number. I'm working on a conversion formula, though I can't really do that here, seeing as there isn't a barrier blastia to study with.
[Ooc: Awesome. :D Library post is coming tomorrow, since I'm still drawing diagrams. 8D;;; More nerdtiems tomorrow, y/y?]
I didn't say it had to have a use for our line of work, either. Our worlds require all types of people.
I see. That's very interesting - so these sorts of formulas you're talking about are key to the actual use of magic in your world? In other words... to operate them is how one might operate an unimaginably complex machine.
And I imagine the knowledge from this ancient civilization was undoubtedly lost. Are there no records?
I'd think it'd apply for all lines of work, really. Isn't it the point to get things done without wasting time? So if it's not practical, then what's the point?
... That'd be a good analogy. You've got a lot of those. Like switching functions on and off, restricting the patterns of the aer to make things happen - but we've already discussed that.
They're still living, actually, kinda. Though they've abandoned the technology - the blastia. I... The reason, it's complicated.
Beyond my work as a mage and a scholar, I am also a... I suppose you might call me a diplomat - I rule a small city-state called Theramore. Many skills serve me well there that I would have little to no use for in academia.
If you're willing to tell the story, I've certainly got the time to listen.
But it really is complicated. Blastia were originally made by crushing something called apatheia, which is basically aer that has been processed and condensed so that it achieves a solid form. The process of which it's processed, is when it's ingested by a race called the 'Entelexeia', which pretty much look like giant monsters with the ability of speech and free thought. They suck up the aer from the world keep the global balance of aer levels - because even though Aer's the source of life, overexposure means death, really. The aer then is processed and accumulates in their bodies to form apatheia.
The only way to harvest the apatheia is to kill the Entelexeia, take their apatheia, crush it and put it into blastia, which then, as it operates, consumes aer. To keep the balance, the planet generates more, and more aer, in an attempt to replenish supplies, but it's like a punched balloon. The planet can't regulate it's aer output, so the amount of aer is... too much. And then, when the balance is undone, the adephagos comes and swallows up the planet.
Long story short, blastia... is destroying my world. It's...
Yes, I am. My father was the Lord Admiral of Kul Tiras, though Theramore was a city of my own founding ...does it bother you?
[A pause] Complicated seems to be an accurate way of describing it. Is there no way to create blastia without killing the Entelexia? Or a way to regulate the aer flows for the planet?
... I'd be lying if I said it didn't. I can't say I like nobles much. But I think I'm mature enough to separate my personal bias from academia. Being a noble has no bearing of what you are as a scholar.
The thing is, the basis of blastia is that it runs on Aer. It requires a massive amount of purified aer, that is, the apatheia, to operate, and consumes aer in the form of formulae. I'm sure we've discussed this before, but the blastia is just like a way for humans to directly interface with Aer, the source of life. We can't interface with aer safely without it, but our attempts at synthesizing blastia only runs about as far as the simplest of them. As far as we're concerned, there isn't a way.
The irony is that the aer flow is regulated by the entelexeia. They suck up the excessive aer and keep the equilibrium. But look - we're killing the regulators of aer to create blastia, which cause a massive outflow of aer. It's a positive cycle, and that doesn't mean it's a good thing. Just that it's consistently increasing.
Er, this guy called Dist - his world regulated their fonons with machinery that tacked themselves onto the planetary sources themselves - I'm thinking that if they can do that, we might be able to give it a try. It's never been done before, but... I've got diagrams, and I want to recreate something like that.
I would hope that it would have no bearing on what I am as an individual, either.
The cycle does sound ultimately unsustainable, as you put it. Even if it weren't, to slaughter sentient creatures to produce the devices... one must wonder if it is worth the cost.
I think that you may be on the right path. Perhaps it would be possible to create a device that simulates the functions of the Entelexeia in both regulating the amount of aer and condensing it into apatheia? In that way it would be possible to produce them without having to harm others, as well as keeping existing flows in check.
I don't know the answer to that yet. But the problem with that theory is we don't know how the process is achieved in the first place. When the Entelexeia die, all that is left behind is their apatheia - their bodies disintegrate, so we haven't really had a chance to dissect them to study their bodily functions. And then, there was the fact that 99% of the world didn't even know about their existence, and even know, they don't really know.
And the second problem is that they're sentient. And if they suck up too much aer, they die too. Not many living creatures have a death wish like that, so some of them are actively hunting down blastia or other aer-consuming sources and destroying them. People obviously retaliate.
It certainly seems like a problematic situation... given the choice between the end of the world and the cessation of all blastia devices, the choice seems obvious. Yet if they are as important to your civilization as you say, that could be catastrophic as well.
Have there been made any attempts to communicate with the Entelexeia? Might they have any insight into the nature of the problem?
Yeah, think about it. Barrier blastia are basically all that's keeping cities safe from monsters. The moment we sacrifice all blastia, we lose that protection. Not to mention our daily lives are pretty much based on it. Hell, most cities rely on it to draw water from distant sources. We're screwed, pretty much.
Communicate? Of course we have. And the answer? We're ruining the Earth. Either we all die, or... Estelle dies.
She's the Child of the Full Moon. She can directly interface with Aer without the use of a blastia. But her formula consumes so much aer, it's not even sustainable anymore - and the Entelexeia got it into their heads that she's the cause of everything. Out to kill her, is more like it.
If you've met her, you should know. She wouldn't hurt a fly.
I didn't discuss that, did I? Mainly magic, though... what blastia can do is only limited by the imagination, to tell you the truth. So long as you know your math well enough to restrict the aer, you can be as specific as you want with what it can do. My blastia, the ones I have on me, at least, are all designed to cast elemental magic - the bodhi blastia. So it's formula is designed to maximize the direct interface between mind and the intent to damage something. But blastia can do anything - back when the ancient civilizations were still around, we theorize that they probably used blastia to move things around the cities, lower bridges, power guardians... Even today, we use it to draw water, move things, and generally make life easier.
And then, there are barrier blastia - they surround our cities, kinda similar to how the barrier works in Somarium, actually. They keep the monsters out, but allow people to pass through unharmed, which creates a safe environment. Which is not at all bad - it's one of the primary uses of the blastia, though the specific blastia needed to create the barrier - we haven't figured out a way to synthesize it yet, so we can only use the ones that we've unearthed. Which is kinda few in number. I'm working on a conversion formula, though I can't really do that here, seeing as there isn't a barrier blastia to study with.
[Ooc: Awesome. :D Library post is coming tomorrow, since I'm still drawing diagrams. 8D;;; More nerdtiems tomorrow, y/y?]
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I see. That's very interesting - so these sorts of formulas you're talking about are key to the actual use of magic in your world? In other words... to operate them is how one might operate an unimaginably complex machine.
And I imagine the knowledge from this ancient civilization was undoubtedly lost. Are there no records?
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... That'd be a good analogy. You've got a lot of those. Like switching functions on and off, restricting the patterns of the aer to make things happen - but we've already discussed that.
They're still living, actually, kinda. Though they've abandoned the technology - the blastia. I... The reason, it's complicated.
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...why abandon such a seemingly useful technology?
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And I said it was complicated.
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If you're willing to tell the story, I've certainly got the time to listen.
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[The bias, it's rearing it's ugly head. D:]
... You're not going to let up until I do.
But it really is complicated. Blastia were originally made by crushing something called apatheia, which is basically aer that has been processed and condensed so that it achieves a solid form. The process of which it's processed, is when it's ingested by a race called the 'Entelexeia', which pretty much look like giant monsters with the ability of speech and free thought. They suck up the aer from the world keep the global balance of aer levels - because even though Aer's the source of life, overexposure means death, really. The aer then is processed and accumulates in their bodies to form apatheia.
The only way to harvest the apatheia is to kill the Entelexeia, take their apatheia, crush it and put it into blastia, which then, as it operates, consumes aer. To keep the balance, the planet generates more, and more aer, in an attempt to replenish supplies, but it's like a punched balloon. The planet can't regulate it's aer output, so the amount of aer is... too much. And then, when the balance is undone, the adephagos comes and swallows up the planet.
Long story short, blastia... is destroying my world. It's...
Complicated.
Reply
[A pause] Complicated seems to be an accurate way of describing it. Is there no way to create blastia without killing the Entelexia? Or a way to regulate the aer flows for the planet?
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The thing is, the basis of blastia is that it runs on Aer. It requires a massive amount of purified aer, that is, the apatheia, to operate, and consumes aer in the form of formulae. I'm sure we've discussed this before, but the blastia is just like a way for humans to directly interface with Aer, the source of life. We can't interface with aer safely without it, but our attempts at synthesizing blastia only runs about as far as the simplest of them. As far as we're concerned, there isn't a way.
The irony is that the aer flow is regulated by the entelexeia. They suck up the excessive aer and keep the equilibrium. But look - we're killing the regulators of aer to create blastia, which cause a massive outflow of aer. It's a positive cycle, and that doesn't mean it's a good thing. Just that it's consistently increasing.
Er, this guy called Dist - his world regulated their fonons with machinery that tacked themselves onto the planetary sources themselves - I'm thinking that if they can do that, we might be able to give it a try. It's never been done before, but... I've got diagrams, and I want to recreate something like that.
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The cycle does sound ultimately unsustainable, as you put it. Even if it weren't, to slaughter sentient creatures to produce the devices... one must wonder if it is worth the cost.
I think that you may be on the right path. Perhaps it would be possible to create a device that simulates the functions of the Entelexeia in both regulating the amount of aer and condensing it into apatheia? In that way it would be possible to produce them without having to harm others, as well as keeping existing flows in check.
Reply
I don't know the answer to that yet. But the problem with that theory is we don't know how the process is achieved in the first place. When the Entelexeia die, all that is left behind is their apatheia - their bodies disintegrate, so we haven't really had a chance to dissect them to study their bodily functions. And then, there was the fact that 99% of the world didn't even know about their existence, and even know, they don't really know.
And the second problem is that they're sentient. And if they suck up too much aer, they die too. Not many living creatures have a death wish like that, so some of them are actively hunting down blastia or other aer-consuming sources and destroying them. People obviously retaliate.
At this rate, the world will end.
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It certainly seems like a problematic situation... given the choice between the end of the world and the cessation of all blastia devices, the choice seems obvious. Yet if they are as important to your civilization as you say, that could be catastrophic as well.
Have there been made any attempts to communicate with the Entelexeia? Might they have any insight into the nature of the problem?
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Yeah, think about it. Barrier blastia are basically all that's keeping cities safe from monsters. The moment we sacrifice all blastia, we lose that protection. Not to mention our daily lives are pretty much based on it. Hell, most cities rely on it to draw water from distant sources. We're screwed, pretty much.
Communicate? Of course we have. And the answer? We're ruining the Earth. Either we all die, or... Estelle dies.
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[There is a very long pause on the other end.] Estelle? ...I've met that girl. She has to...?
I'm sorry, I don't believe I understand. Why is her life at stake?
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She's the Child of the Full Moon. She can directly interface with Aer without the use of a blastia. But her formula consumes so much aer, it's not even sustainable anymore - and the Entelexeia got it into their heads that she's the cause of everything. Out to kill her, is more like it.
If you've met her, you should know. She wouldn't hurt a fly.
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...I'm sorry, Rita. It must be difficult.
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