The God Equation

Prologue 6: Revolution

In the end it was the men of letters that came to dominate our society. The students, the teachers, the lawyers and the dreamers, they used the new knowledge to build a shining monument to knowledge and advancement in the Skylands. From their halls came and outpouring of innovation; runes to move ships faster than any before, runes to throw rocks faster than the speed of sound, runes to keep a building warm no matter the weather, runes that could peak across the breadth of the Skylands and even beyond, and so many more.

The universities grew powerful and rich on the backs of this new knowledge and soon began to muscle out the existing powers through sheer wealth. As rulers the intelligencia were a disinterested and dispassionate sort, keeping their struggles and achievements behind closed doors. This benign neglect was met with initial relief—no more idiot nobles mucking things up—but as the power of the universities grew the people learned that even benign neglect is neglect.

Laws became ossified things, applied by dispassionate judges more interests in chamber politics. New runes became detached from base necessity, creating as many problems as they solved. The universities built walls of paper and bureaucracy to protect they power and privilege, keeping even the best and brightest out in the cold.

In the end there was revolution. It came as a shock to those in power as they had failed to realise that they were even a force to rebel against. In the end it only too three days of bloody street fighting before the gates of the universities were thrown open and the mob seized control of their destiny at last. They would build a new world, not one for rich nobles or fat scions of professors. They would build a nation for the people. One that espoused democracy and:

Mark all approved options:

[]Liberty
-'Above all else, sophonts have the right to do as they will with no interference save for when they infringe on the freedom of others'.
-Freedom ++, Innovation +, Cohesion -, Exploitation -

[]Equality
-'All sophonts have the right to be all they can be. All barriers, legal, economic and cultural must be overcome'.
-Cohesion +, Freedom +, Mastery +, Wealth -, Curiosity -

[]Prosperity
-'No barriers will be raised in manners of trade or invention to limit the prosperity of our people.'
-Prosperity ++, Freedom +, Industry +, Cohesion --, Innovation -

[]Harmony
-'Above all else, peoples are to live in harmony with one and other. Let no man place themselves above any other.'
-Cohesion ++, Reach -

[]Discovery
-'Knowledge exists to be shared with people and must never again be held behind closed doors.'
-Curiosity +, Mastery +, Innovation +, Wealth -, Reach -

[]Revolution
-'We hold that all peoples should be free of tyrants, as enforced by all available means.'
-Reach ++, Exploitation +, Cohesion -, Freedom -

Addendum: An Introduction to Runes

The providence of runes is a mystery for the most part. While every culture has some runes that they hold sacred or important, few describe them as anything but gifts from the gods. This is an unsatisfying explanation for where such an important keystone of our civilisation came from, but a plausible one given what we know of the slumbering deities. Runes seem to tie into something more than physical laws, they are an expression of mortal will imposed upon the universe. Order from chaos. Much has been asked of why runes function as they do. Why can a sophont power a rune while an animal can not? Why does it take less energy to power something through magic than wind or muscle? Why does scale affect the flow of magic but material does not?

Any answer to these questions would revolutionise our understanding of the world. Alas, they remain a mystery. While some claim this knowledge is ineffable, reserved for the gods, modern thinking rejects such backwardness. When we use any rune we are, in no small way, bringing a fragment of the divine world into the material. It is in our mastery of this power that we elevate ourselves from the beasts.

Mono Runecraft

In the beginning runecraft was a highly fragmented discipline, indeed, it was initially unknown that runes could work together at all. Some runes were widely know in this time period. It was common to inscribe [Protection] on one's shield to harden it against blows and this was indeed effective. A strong soul could make their shield stronger than steel for a few minutes by focusing their will on the rune. This was a draining practice, however, and many runes at this time were decorative or at least only used in extreme circumstances. Rarer, more powerful, runes were kept hidden from outsiders, rarely leaving their skyland of providence.

The most well known use of runes in this era were the early skyships. They would inscribe [Motion] on their hulls, writ so large that they were practically the hulls themselves and concocted great rituals to draw enough magic to move their massive bulks. Even the finest crews could only power these runes for a few minutes at a time, and so most travel was actually accomplished by sails, but the power of 'sky brothers' remains infamous to this day.

Mono runecraft is still practiced, generally in applications where a single, repetitive action is necessary. Even this is on the decline, however, and soon only relics and those trying to ape them will remain.

Phrasic Runecraft

As the peoples of the Skylands met and exchanged ideas the volume of runes available to any one crafter increased exponentially. This brought great advantages but also danger, as it was quickly discovered that too many runes too close together could have unpredictable and disastrous effects. It was discovered by a Floret called Idaia Whitegrove that one could combine runes into simple phrases. [Motion][Sun] for example, produces a motive force towards the sun. [Life][Light] can be used to detect skylands even in the worth storms. The combination of runes opened up a world of new options for early phrasic crafters, increasing the utility of runes exponentially and empowering those well versed in their craft in tandem.

Phrasic runes are still useful for their flexibility and durability. They form the mainstay of remote economies where rugged and reliable runes are more useful than highly tunes arrays. While using these runes is still draining, it is an order of magnitude less than forcing one's will through a single, ambiguous rune. Ultimately, phrasic runecraft proved to be merely a transitionary stage but one we are still arguably transitioning from.

Array Runecraft

There is not hard and fast definition between phrasic and array runecraft. Some draw the line at ten runes, others at a hundred, others at the point you'd run out of breath while reciting the runes. Any sufficiently complex string can, however, be called an array. Indeed, the complexity of the array is the point. As the level of ambiguity in the array decreases the amount of mana wasted by the operator decreases. [Light] is a variable rune, ranging from blinding to a soft glow depending on the will of the operator. [Produce][Energy][Light][At][Intensity][Lumens][60][At][Wavelength][650][By][1x10^-9][With][Distance][Meters][3][By][1x10^-3][From][End Rune] is a complex string but will invariably produce a soft red light just above the rune sequence. It takes a fraction of the power of [Light] alone, but even then there is ambiguity to resolve. What size is the light? What direction is the light emitted? What distance will the light travel? These are all questions that would be answered in an even more complex array.

Array runecraft by its very nature is a slow and iterative process. The creation of runes and the development of runic and physical laws to define these actions is laborious, and prone to explosive consequences. Even when complete, large arrays are limited by the simple fact that they are large, unwieldy things that must be built into the super-structure of whatever they are designed to power. Miniaturising is possible, but the size of runes affects the spell in odd ways and introduces a degree of fragility to the sequence. Losing at key rune in the middle of an array may have no effect or just cause the spell to fizzle, or it might cause a detonation.

Still, despite these limitations the future still belongs to rune arrays. Millions spend their lives powering rune sequences that they barely understand to power mechanisms they certainly do not. It is by this sacrifice that society rolls ever onwards.

Prologue Finale: The Zephyr League

We are the Zephyr League, the shining light of knowledge and reason in a chaotic sky. A confederation of thirty seven large skylands in the temperate zone, and over two hundred affiliate members of different periodicities, the Zephyr League is a major power due to its cutting edge technology and cadre of skilled diplomats. Our focus is, and has been for many generations, learning. It is through discovery, innovation and change that we seize control of our destinies in an uncaring sky. The League is a confederation of universities and scholars as much as it is a political organisation, and as such can leave more temporal matters at the wayside. Our fleet is large, but focused on exploration rather than martial or economic pursuits. Our people live in comfort, but their riches pale in comparison to more prosperous groups such as the Golden Federation. Our people are free, but it is an unequal freedom with deep divisions remaining between the haves and the have-nots in our lands.

This will all change, and soon. The Zephyr League has grown concerned in recent years that our technological edge is being eroded by the rapid pace of advancement in the wider Skylands. The world is going smaller, ships faster, travel cheeper and the new teleflash stations have brought communication times between skylands down from days to mere minutes. It is the mandate of our government to provide new technologies to the people, to improve their lives and ease their burdens, but there are so many options available to modern runesmiths that it is the League's opinion we must centralise our efforts. To do this, we have created a new Department of Development, of which you will all be voting board members. It is the Department's mandate to advance the League's understanding of runes, improve the lives of our people and drive the development of new infrastructure.

There are a number of hold-out organisations still against this conciliation of powers. The merchants and the military have formed a union to develop new methods of traversing the Skylands. The local governments will be focusing on the development on behalf of the people. And finally, the universities have ring fenced a considerable volume of resources to support blue-sky research. Overall, nearly half of the Zephyr League's research output will be under your direction for the foreseeable future. The question remains as to where we shall focus the efforts of our first mandate. We currently have five proposals that fit the scope of our efforts, but it is up to you which we initially pursue.

Consensus vote:

[]The Self Writing Runes
-Runes have been limited in scope by the vital requirement of a sophont in their creation. By building a rune array that can build other rune arrays we can revolutionise our society and magic's place in it.

[]The Thinking Rune
-Magic has always required a sentient mind in the casting process. Runes that can actually think makes their operation more versatile and has the potential for removing the need for a caster at all.

[]The God Equation
-Creation has always been an act of gods, but need not be. Producing something from nothing is within our reach, even if our initial efforts are expected to be simple. With these runes in hand no one need worry about hunger, thirst or want ever again.

[]The Inversion Principle
-Turning magic into energy is as old as creation, turning energy into magic would be something brand new. It has the potential to break us free from the tyranny of innate ability for casting and allow for spells an order of magnitude more powerful than we currently use.

[]The Biologic Rune
-Save for a few healing runes, we can do little to affect the body in a positive way. Mastering the application of magic to the body could allow us to tinker with the gods' creations, improving them in ways beyond their original designs.

N.B. This choice is not final, the options not chosen will be available later but at a high cost.