Rough, to be edited and polished!
This letter is to reassure you that I wholly understand the workings of the magical mechanics of the device your student Elda has built for me, to levitate the ship the Singapore Queen. I may not be a wizard or any sort of magic user myself, but she has constructed this device as to be usable and maintainable by any sort of person- even, as Miss Elda has put it, 'that even an idiot could use it!'.
Please be assured that I do my best to avoid doing such things that could be construed as such.
~
The 'heart' of this whole device and spell is the power source. This ring of twelve cut and fitted crystals gathers ambient magical energy and transmute its into the proper energies needed to levitate the ship. The amount of energy available, or the 'charge' as Miss Elda has put it, can be measured by how many of the crystals are currently glowing. If we are ever down to merely two, it would be best advised to land as quickly and as safely as possible. However, Miss Elda has reassured me that by the normal ambient magic of her world and my own, the energy supplies should be replaced as soon as they are transmuted and used, given normal usage.
As for transmuting the energies, this is simply due to the fact that the spells work best if powered by a more homogenized energy than whatever random magical energy is collected by the device. (Miss Elda has already written a paper reguarding this theory, and she asks you to please refer to what she has already written there on this matter.) A glow of multiple colours simply means that the device is charged. It is only when the colour of the glow is blu does that mean the energies are ready to be used.
~
The Control Panel is designed after the common abacus for ease in manipulating exactly how much lift is needed to raise the ship. It consists of five rows of gemstones of various colours and sizes, mounted in a metal and wood frame. The bottom row contains only four large stones, which are the 'Absolutes', as all of them together hold the weight of the ship herself, with nothing added. (Please see the attatched page of calucations of ship weight based on materials and construction.) These are only to be manipulated for take offs and landings, or in times where drastic decreases in altitude is needed.
Going up from the row of Absolutes are four more rows of gemstones of decreasing sizes, and these are used to add on to the lift depending on the amount of weight (passengers and cargo) the ship is carrying. The top row, consisting of green stones smaller than the others, deals with increments of ten pounds only. Considering the small size of this ship, Miss Elda and I felt it necessary to be able to go down to this detailed amount of adjustment. Any further adjustments will be dealt with by adding or losing ballast. (When we build a larger ship, we do believe the smaller adjustable increments can be handled by either 50 or 100 pounds, depending on ship size.)
The middle three rows of gemstones on the abacus adjust the amount of lift by 50, 100, and 500 pound increments. The weight of the cargo and crew will have to be carefully factored each time someone/thing is added or removed.
Again, adjusting these is only to stablilize the amount of lift to keep the ship in the air. Miss Elda and I believe that adjusting it to move the ship up or down to a new altitude would only cause undue stress on both the ship and spell. (However, we both understand that this method can be used in times of emergency, which hopefully will not be too often.)
The mechanics of the Control Panel work as thus: The weight of the ship (already factored in by the Absolutes), crew, cargo and misc. are to be calculated, and the appropriate number of gemstones moved over to the left on their railings.
Please be assured that I do my best to avoid doing such things that could be construed as such.
~
The 'heart' of this whole device and spell is the power source. This ring of twelve cut and fitted crystals gathers ambient magical energy and transmute its into the proper energies needed to levitate the ship. The amount of energy available, or the 'charge' as Miss Elda has put it, can be measured by how many of the crystals are currently glowing. If we are ever down to merely two, it would be best advised to land as quickly and as safely as possible. However, Miss Elda has reassured me that by the normal ambient magic of her world and my own, the energy supplies should be replaced as soon as they are transmuted and used, given normal usage.
As for transmuting the energies, this is simply due to the fact that the spells work best if powered by a more homogenized energy than whatever random magical energy is collected by the device. (Miss Elda has already written a paper reguarding this theory, and she asks you to please refer to what she has already written there on this matter.) A glow of multiple colours simply means that the device is charged. It is only when the colour of the glow is blu does that mean the energies are ready to be used.
~
The Control Panel is designed after the common abacus for ease in manipulating exactly how much lift is needed to raise the ship. It consists of five rows of gemstones of various colours and sizes, mounted in a metal and wood frame. The bottom row contains only four large stones, which are the 'Absolutes', as all of them together hold the weight of the ship herself, with nothing added. (Please see the attatched page of calucations of ship weight based on materials and construction.) These are only to be manipulated for take offs and landings, or in times where drastic decreases in altitude is needed.
Going up from the row of Absolutes are four more rows of gemstones of decreasing sizes, and these are used to add on to the lift depending on the amount of weight (passengers and cargo) the ship is carrying. The top row, consisting of green stones smaller than the others, deals with increments of ten pounds only. Considering the small size of this ship, Miss Elda and I felt it necessary to be able to go down to this detailed amount of adjustment. Any further adjustments will be dealt with by adding or losing ballast. (When we build a larger ship, we do believe the smaller adjustable increments can be handled by either 50 or 100 pounds, depending on ship size.)
The middle three rows of gemstones on the abacus adjust the amount of lift by 50, 100, and 500 pound increments. The weight of the cargo and crew will have to be carefully factored each time someone/thing is added or removed.
Again, adjusting these is only to stablilize the amount of lift to keep the ship in the air. Miss Elda and I believe that adjusting it to move the ship up or down to a new altitude would only cause undue stress on both the ship and spell. (However, we both understand that this method can be used in times of emergency, which hopefully will not be too often.)
The mechanics of the Control Panel work as thus: The weight of the ship (already factored in by the Absolutes), crew, cargo and misc. are to be calculated, and the appropriate number of gemstones moved over to the left on their railings.