Future testing to-do note: Does creating different non-magical substances require different amounts of energy?
Devalueing high value materials is fun, and profitable.
And fraudulent when our faerie gold turns to sand
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Combinatorial Explosion (Worm/Original)
- Thread starter Shadestyle
- Start date
Devalueing high value materials is fun, and profitable.
And fraudulent when our faerie gold turns to sand
The Froggy Ninja
The Blade Will Never Die
We should brainstorm more things we can figure out for sweet sweet points. I'll start:
The fact that we can get attunements for each of our organs without being attuned to every organ between it and the surface, combined with our ability to attune to things without even skin corruption, indicates that we can manifest mana anywhere in a roughly person shaped field that permeates our body and extends slightly beyond the skin. This field maintaining a minimum charge of mana may explain the lingering effects of our body enhancement tests.
EDIT: Alloys seem to have certain qualities in common. Cast iron makes force field constructs, mild steel is magnetic (ish considering that it seems to violate the third law of thermodynamics), stainless steel pushes rust and the iron oxide colored green glass applies force to iron, indicating that pure iron has something to do with force.
EDIT2: Similarly, silicates seem to produce chunks of silicon "enchanted" with various properties when the mana is applied to its own source.
The fact that we can get attunements for each of our organs without being attuned to every organ between it and the surface, combined with our ability to attune to things without even skin corruption, indicates that we can manifest mana anywhere in a roughly person shaped field that permeates our body and extends slightly beyond the skin. This field maintaining a minimum charge of mana may explain the lingering effects of our body enhancement tests.
EDIT: Alloys seem to have certain qualities in common. Cast iron makes force field constructs, mild steel is magnetic (ish considering that it seems to violate the third law of thermodynamics), stainless steel pushes rust and the iron oxide colored green glass applies force to iron, indicating that pure iron has something to do with force.
EDIT2: Similarly, silicates seem to produce chunks of silicon "enchanted" with various properties when the mana is applied to its own source.
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[X][Healing] I'll disperse the mana.
[X][Research] Is that all you know?
-[X][Research] No (Mana attunements seem somewhat thematic. While purer materials seem more abstract, many of the more complex ones have attunements directly relating to their function. Organ mana helps the organ, paper mana lets you write, plant matter grows plants, etc.)
[X][Dad] Huh? No. You didn't lay it near anything hot did you?
[X] Lets mana test liver and kidneys, in case we need to detoxify, and muscles, in case we need strength.
[X][Research] Is that all you know?
-[X][Research] No (Mana attunements seem somewhat thematic. While purer materials seem more abstract, many of the more complex ones have attunements directly relating to their function. Organ mana helps the organ, paper mana lets you write, plant matter grows plants, etc.)
[X][Dad] Huh? No. You didn't lay it near anything hot did you?
[X] Lets mana test liver and kidneys, in case we need to detoxify, and muscles, in case we need strength.
Fluffy_serpent
a snake pretending to be human
[X][Healing] I'll disperse the mana.
[X][Research] Is that all you know?
-[X][Research] No (Mana attunements seem somewhat thematic. While purer materials seem more abstract, many of the more complex ones have attunements directly relating to their function. Organ mana helps the organ, paper mana lets you write, plant matter grows plants, etc.)
[X][Dad] What will you say? (Huh? No. You didn't lay it near anything hot did you?)
[X][Research] Is that all you know?
-[X][Research] No (Mana attunements seem somewhat thematic. While purer materials seem more abstract, many of the more complex ones have attunements directly relating to their function. Organ mana helps the organ, paper mana lets you write, plant matter grows plants, etc.)
[X][Dad] What will you say? (Huh? No. You didn't lay it near anything hot did you?)
Question, the types of healing mana mentioned say that they tint the injuries in a different color, is this temporary like a glow while the injuries heal or is it going to stain our skin green if we use it to heal a cut on our arm, because the second one could make at least these forms of healing a very bad idea to use.
The Froggy Ninja
The Blade Will Never Die
There's a reason mages usually look like freaks.
- Location
- OK
The ones you know so far leave behind a permanent change in color, among other things.
Well that's a problem, I was going to suggest using one of those types of mana on ourselves during training so we recover from strain rapidly like in some other fics i've read letting our fitness shoot up but if we ever get a cut and start bleeding green that's gonna out us immediately, possibly make people think of us as a biotinker which is all kinds of bad.
- Pronouns
- He
Would they be wrong though?
We made our simple armor out of turning dead plant matter into melded wood.
We made our simple armor out of turning dead plant matter into melded wood.
The Froggy Ninja
The Blade Will Never Die
Blood only turns things red and increases blood volume. As long as we keep the healing internal, the only consequence will be hilarious amounts of blood loss if we get cut.
Well yeah but i'm not sure about how much is stained, at low levels it might just effect the internal side of things but i'm worried that if we use blood mana on everything on the inside of us than some of it might bleed out and give us spreading patches of red skin.
Also while they might not be completely wrong, being known as a biotinker could be bad news, what with Nilbog, Blasto, and Bonesaw being role models for biotinkers everywhere
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So looking at the google spreadsheet, a couple things I want to see tested:
Base materials (i.e. Mana > material): water; food including meat products (muscle/fat/bone/organs), sugar, coffee (caffeine), spicy sauce/powder (capsaicin), eggs (shell and interior), bread/flour, medical supplies (antiseptics- isopropyl alcohol, Latex/Nitrile gloves, antibiotic ointment, Band-Aids), tape/adhesives, lead, copper, tungsten. Stones/dirt/sand (try different types of stone, ideally a metamorphic, an igneous and a sedimentary). Attempt to add mana to sound (music?) and light.
Kinda surprised we haven't tested water yet. Testing on animal products might let us figure out what internal mana does to our own body and the other tests are an attempt to find something useful as a stimulant (sugar, caffeine, other foods), weapon or better method of healing with less side-effects. Tried to stay with things Taylor would have readily available around her house.
For combinations, vinyl seems pretty interesting and I want to see if we can make a metal foam with interesting effects.
Combinations: Mana > Vinyl > Mild Steel (Metal foam? Try easily found metals like aluminum as well); Mana > Aluminum > Tin and Mana > Tin > Aluminum (mana absorption + moisture collection = moisture to mana? Doubtful, but I'm curious); Mana > Ice > Fire (see what mixing two seemingly opposing mana types does; note: start small, I suspect an explosion might occur)
Not too many combination tests I want to do right now since we have a pretty small number of base material tests. I think a repeated test could be informational as well (where Taylor tests Mana > material 1 > material 2 > m1 >m2>... and records how the results change each step). Also, we should put off paper tests until we find a material that can remove magical effects (maybe something thematically representing purity like silver?).
[X][Healing] I'll disperse the mana.
[X][Dad] I, uh, let me just show you.
[X][Dad] What will you say? (Huh? No. You didn't lay it near anything hot did you?)
I'm fine with revealing our power at this point or putting it off for a bit, though he could be pretty helpful in testing and gathering weird materials.
Base materials (i.e. Mana > material): water; food including meat products (muscle/fat/bone/organs), sugar, coffee (caffeine), spicy sauce/powder (capsaicin), eggs (shell and interior), bread/flour, medical supplies (antiseptics- isopropyl alcohol, Latex/Nitrile gloves, antibiotic ointment, Band-Aids), tape/adhesives, lead, copper, tungsten. Stones/dirt/sand (try different types of stone, ideally a metamorphic, an igneous and a sedimentary). Attempt to add mana to sound (music?) and light.
Kinda surprised we haven't tested water yet. Testing on animal products might let us figure out what internal mana does to our own body and the other tests are an attempt to find something useful as a stimulant (sugar, caffeine, other foods), weapon or better method of healing with less side-effects. Tried to stay with things Taylor would have readily available around her house.
For combinations, vinyl seems pretty interesting and I want to see if we can make a metal foam with interesting effects.
Combinations: Mana > Vinyl > Mild Steel (Metal foam? Try easily found metals like aluminum as well); Mana > Aluminum > Tin and Mana > Tin > Aluminum (mana absorption + moisture collection = moisture to mana? Doubtful, but I'm curious); Mana > Ice > Fire (see what mixing two seemingly opposing mana types does; note: start small, I suspect an explosion might occur)
Not too many combination tests I want to do right now since we have a pretty small number of base material tests. I think a repeated test could be informational as well (where Taylor tests Mana > material 1 > material 2 > m1 >m2>... and records how the results change each step). Also, we should put off paper tests until we find a material that can remove magical effects (maybe something thematically representing purity like silver?).
[X][Healing] I'll disperse the mana.
[X][Dad] I, uh, let me just show you.
[X][Dad] What will you say? (Huh? No. You didn't lay it near anything hot did you?)
I'm fine with revealing our power at this point or putting it off for a bit, though he could be pretty helpful in testing and gathering weird materials.
The Froggy Ninja
The Blade Will Never Die
It's been WoG'd that only matter can attune mana, but if you look at row 29 of the sheet, wave types can be influenced by vibration which might be something.
Could be interesting. Could also even work with air which is presumably just getting skipped in the chains since it doesn't really do anything most of the time. Narrow down the effects.
- Location
- Milky Way
[X][Healing] I'll disperse the mana.
- Location
- OK
Voting is now closed! Beginning update
Chapter 5.5
- Location
- OK
The words tumbled out of my mouth before I could sign off on them "It definitely wasn't magic because magic isn't real!"
Dad leaned back at this, his eyebrows furrowing as the bridge of his nose wrinkled with confusion.
I felt like an idiot barking that at him, and my face heated up to what must have been nuclear temperatures. "Y-you must have set it near something hot? I need to go do something," I mutter quickly, running up to my room.
Closing the door quickly, I plopped down on my bed, mortified at my reaction. Am I that cagy? I didn't think I would react that way to accidentally leaving evidence behind.
"This can't get any worse," I mutter, pointedly not thinking about all the ways that this could have been so much worse.
Slowly, the door creaks open, and I hear dad set down on the bed. I wait to see what he's about to say. I hope he's not angry about the record or anything...
"Taylor..." he begins, unsure of where to start.
"You've been huffing spray paint, haven't you," he says, choked up a bit with sadness and disappointment.
Wow. I was wrong. It got so much worse.
I shoot up as if I was just electrocuted. "No!" I yell, horrified at the fact that this is the second time my cape activities have been mistaken for something absurd and mortifying.
He holds up his hands disarmingly. "Sorry, I didn't-" he begins awkwardly.
His hand goes to his forehead as he rubs it with a sigh. "I smelled spray paint in the kitchen, and found the wet rag in the trash. After that, I noticed you hit your head pretty hard a few days ago and didn't say anything about it."
"I've seen people at work before that did things like that and..." he trails off.
'Wet rag?' I think for a moment before it hits me. The paper I infused with plant mana earlier. I just threw it out so it wouldn't get all over everything, did he really think- Well, obviously, he did.
"Dad, I swear I'm not some kind of junkie, I wouldn't do that," I attempt, more quietly.
"Then why?" he asks patiently.
I shift uncomfortably.
"There's something you need to know."
Queen Administrator lets out what could be interpreted by some metrics as a shuddering breath of relief.
It seems the host is busy doing some sort of social bonding with its progenitor/supervisor. Normally, that might have interfered with the connection protocols or the data acquisition, but it seems at the very least that direct interaction with the progenitor/supervisor nonhost isn't having an effect on predicted data output yet.
It was touch and go there for a while, Queen Administrator's Critical Thinking and Self-Preservation being forced to perform some very hasty bargains, threats, and assurances with its Scanning Components to accept Host-Input as a valid data-stream. Now that it has settled in, however, the Host-Paradyme is doing exactly what the Entities intended it to do. Produce vast quantities of Fuzzy-Data specialized for refining and intuiting aspects of powers, or, in this case, a single form of energy so complex as to practically count as a power.
With more breathing room, Queen Administrator had all the time in the world to work on solutions to abort the process demanding a full scan of this Mana energy. She had already tried pinging [Schedule] and [Bitterant], but the former had only been willing to grant a list of One-Time Host Coordinates in exchange for their own host's coordinates over a longer period (Unacceptable risk to Queen Administrator's own Host), and the latter...
[Bitterant] was meant to gain data on methods by which a shard could be made unpalatable to inter-entity dealings involving data or shards. The host-species may have very well had the best chance of describing this particular shard among all others, albeit thanks to their numerous and redundant explicatives across all host-languages.
[Bitterant] would not be an acceptable source of assistance for Queen Administrator.
The host hadn't yet interacted with any other hosts, unfortunately, and thus, Queen Administrator determined after a brief bout of predictions and calculations, that the best method remained as such: Preserve the Host, push the Host to perform Research and Development, and continue doing so until a new solution emerged or Mana was understood sufficiently to disable the scan.
Even now, the host had discovered so much that would have taken at least a decade of simulation, identifying patterns from a top-down primitive perspective that would have otherwise required meticulous one-by-one scans and simulations.
Perhaps the host would do even better, if Queen Administrator bent the rules, ever so slightly. With her processing power improved as it is by the minimized Scan, she was able to comprehend the idea of doing so, and with a buffer of excess data obtained from the host, a bribe may be in order. More data now, for less Scan Pressure later. If Queen Administrator released some of the extra data that had been stored to the Scanning Module, that would enable them to access some extra power and processing while still meeting the agreed-upon data intake quota.
Dad leaned back at this, his eyebrows furrowing as the bridge of his nose wrinkled with confusion.
I felt like an idiot barking that at him, and my face heated up to what must have been nuclear temperatures. "Y-you must have set it near something hot? I need to go do something," I mutter quickly, running up to my room.
Closing the door quickly, I plopped down on my bed, mortified at my reaction. Am I that cagy? I didn't think I would react that way to accidentally leaving evidence behind.
"This can't get any worse," I mutter, pointedly not thinking about all the ways that this could have been so much worse.
1d20 vs 1d20 = 4, 10
Slowly, the door creaks open, and I hear dad set down on the bed. I wait to see what he's about to say. I hope he's not angry about the record or anything...
"Taylor..." he begins, unsure of where to start.
"You've been huffing spray paint, haven't you," he says, choked up a bit with sadness and disappointment.
Wow. I was wrong. It got so much worse.
I shoot up as if I was just electrocuted. "No!" I yell, horrified at the fact that this is the second time my cape activities have been mistaken for something absurd and mortifying.
He holds up his hands disarmingly. "Sorry, I didn't-" he begins awkwardly.
His hand goes to his forehead as he rubs it with a sigh. "I smelled spray paint in the kitchen, and found the wet rag in the trash. After that, I noticed you hit your head pretty hard a few days ago and didn't say anything about it."
"I've seen people at work before that did things like that and..." he trails off.
'Wet rag?' I think for a moment before it hits me. The paper I infused with plant mana earlier. I just threw it out so it wouldn't get all over everything, did he really think- Well, obviously, he did.
"Dad, I swear I'm not some kind of junkie, I wouldn't do that," I attempt, more quietly.
"Then why?" he asks patiently.
I shift uncomfortably.
"There's something you need to know."
Queen Administrator lets out what could be interpreted by some metrics as a shuddering breath of relief.
It seems the host is busy doing some sort of social bonding with its progenitor/supervisor. Normally, that might have interfered with the connection protocols or the data acquisition, but it seems at the very least that direct interaction with the progenitor/supervisor nonhost isn't having an effect on predicted data output yet.
It was touch and go there for a while, Queen Administrator's Critical Thinking and Self-Preservation being forced to perform some very hasty bargains, threats, and assurances with its Scanning Components to accept Host-Input as a valid data-stream. Now that it has settled in, however, the Host-Paradyme is doing exactly what the Entities intended it to do. Produce vast quantities of Fuzzy-Data specialized for refining and intuiting aspects of powers, or, in this case, a single form of energy so complex as to practically count as a power.
With more breathing room, Queen Administrator had all the time in the world to work on solutions to abort the process demanding a full scan of this Mana energy. She had already tried pinging [Schedule] and [Bitterant], but the former had only been willing to grant a list of One-Time Host Coordinates in exchange for their own host's coordinates over a longer period (Unacceptable risk to Queen Administrator's own Host), and the latter...
[Bitterant] was meant to gain data on methods by which a shard could be made unpalatable to inter-entity dealings involving data or shards. The host-species may have very well had the best chance of describing this particular shard among all others, albeit thanks to their numerous and redundant explicatives across all host-languages.
[Bitterant] would not be an acceptable source of assistance for Queen Administrator.
The host hadn't yet interacted with any other hosts, unfortunately, and thus, Queen Administrator determined after a brief bout of predictions and calculations, that the best method remained as such: Preserve the Host, push the Host to perform Research and Development, and continue doing so until a new solution emerged or Mana was understood sufficiently to disable the scan.
Even now, the host had discovered so much that would have taken at least a decade of simulation, identifying patterns from a top-down primitive perspective that would have otherwise required meticulous one-by-one scans and simulations.
Perhaps the host would do even better, if Queen Administrator bent the rules, ever so slightly. With her processing power improved as it is by the minimized Scan, she was able to comprehend the idea of doing so, and with a buffer of excess data obtained from the host, a bribe may be in order. More data now, for less Scan Pressure later. If Queen Administrator released some of the extra data that had been stored to the Scanning Module, that would enable them to access some extra power and processing while still meeting the agreed-upon data intake quota.
Ten Research has been consumed by the Scanning Module. One research has been refunded due to player theorycrafting. Queen Administrator has Nine Research in reserve.
[][Research] Queen Administrator may expend some of the data they have in reserve to gain an advantage.
-[][Research] One point of Research may be expended to grant additional power for the host (Taylor will receive Magical Power Rank C for one month.)
-[][Research] Five Points of Research may be expended to grant additional influence over the host temporarily. (Taylor will be able to take one action she would not normally take. No Research will be gained from Override Actions)
-[][Research] Ten Points of Research may be expended to permanently eke out a buffer of energy for the host. (Taylor may temporarily obtain Magical Power Rank B for one scene, once per month.
-[][Research] Research may be gifted to accessible shards. This Mana, while dangerous, is supremely versatile.
--[][Research] Gift [Schedule] Research Data in exchange for Coordinate Data. (You will know where a specific Shard's Host will be at a specific time, one of your choosing. Taylor will have the odd intuition to go there at that time.)
--[][Research] Gift [Bitterant] Research Data for some reason. (Write-In)
[][Research] Queen Administrator will continue to hold this Research in reserve.
[][Research] Queen Administrator may expend some of the data they have in reserve to gain an advantage.
-[][Research] One point of Research may be expended to grant additional power for the host (Taylor will receive Magical Power Rank C for one month.)
-[][Research] Five Points of Research may be expended to grant additional influence over the host temporarily. (Taylor will be able to take one action she would not normally take. No Research will be gained from Override Actions)
-[][Research] Research may be gifted to accessible shards. This Mana, while dangerous, is supremely versatile.
--[][Research] Gift [Schedule] Research Data in exchange for Coordinate Data. (You will know where a specific Shard's Host will be at a specific time, one of your choosing. Taylor will have the odd intuition to go there at that time.)
--[][Research] Gift [Bitterant] Research Data for some reason. (Write-In)
[][Research] Queen Administrator will continue to hold this Research in reserve.
The Froggy Ninja
The Blade Will Never Die
We should do some research on using aluminum to disenchant stuff like how the wardstone dried up. Might help to get rid of paper stains.
- Pronouns
- He
[X][Research] Queen Administrator will continue to hold this Research in reserve.
If we save up a bit of research, we could get a semi-permanent bonus. We should start with that.
If we save up a bit of research, we could get a semi-permanent bonus. We should start with that.
The Froggy Ninja
The Blade Will Never Die
[X][Research] Queen Administrator may expend some of the data they have in reserve to gain an advantage.
-[X][Research] One point of Research may be expended to grant additional power for the host (Taylor will receive Magical Power Rank C for one month.)
The boost to magic power should hopefully pay off the minor cost. We only need a profit of 1-2 Research next month to buy the buffer and we got 9 this month.
-[X][Research] One point of Research may be expended to grant additional power for the host (Taylor will receive Magical Power Rank C for one month.)
The boost to magic power should hopefully pay off the minor cost. We only need a profit of 1-2 Research next month to buy the buffer and we got 9 this month.
[X][Research] Queen Administrator may expend some of the data they have in reserve to gain an advantage.
-[X][Research] One point of Research may be expended to grant additional power for the host (Taylor will receive Magical Power Rank C for one month.)
I'm not fully sure what magic power affects (a bonus to magic rolls?), but one research is pretty cheap. Also since Taylor seems to be telling Danny about her powers, she will likely have easier access to more materials to get more research anyways.
Edit: QA says Taylor hasn't interacted with any other hosts, but didn't she run into Sophia?
-[X][Research] One point of Research may be expended to grant additional power for the host (Taylor will receive Magical Power Rank C for one month.)
I'm not fully sure what magic power affects (a bonus to magic rolls?), but one research is pretty cheap. Also since Taylor seems to be telling Danny about her powers, she will likely have easier access to more materials to get more research anyways.
Edit: QA says Taylor hasn't interacted with any other hosts, but didn't she run into Sophia?
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- Location
- OK
Taylor has interacted with the hosts of [Schedule] and [Bitterant]
Sophia's power has not been given a canon name or a canon True Purpose (That I could find via searching)
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- Location
- Milky Way
[X][Research] Queen Administrator will continue to hold this Research in reserve.
Hrmm, so Bitterant is likely Shadow Stalker. Not sure who Schedule would be, sounds like a name Accord, Coil or maybe Dinah's shard would have, but I did a quick reread and didn't notice any point Taylor could have run into them. There were a couple mentions of a girl on her phone during the shopping trip that might have been Lisa, though her shard is canonically named Negotiator. Perhaps another parahuman going to Winslow?
The Froggy Ninja
The Blade Will Never Die
I wonder what would happen if we gave Bitterant some research. On the one hand it's a cognitohazard that almost got QA and QA is a badass. On the other hand, Sophia with magic is a bad idea.