OK so Rionna is neutralized as a threat... for the moment. What we need to do now is secure her so she is no longer a threat. The magical equal to cuffing and patting her down for weapons.
I think getting anti-magic enchantments now and then later giving custody over to say... Yuki would work.
Do we have an actual list of SCIENCE!!! to work on somewhere, or is it just a vague, collective recollection of all the good ideas we've had along with all the ideas that failed? Because I can't keep track of all the ideas we've had but haven't tested, or didn't work, or did work but we didn't get a chance to use them, and it's really bugging me.
Actually, having a SCIENCE!!! planner similar to the day-planner, with a list of all the ideas we want to try, as well as ones we have tried+results would be extremely helpful.
Okay, so, this is gonna be a three part series, focusing on:
1 - Basics
2 - Grief Control
3 - Enchanting
Ctrl+F the phrase "unknown" if you want to know what we might want to be working on.
Part One - The Base Puella Magi Package (and Witches)
1.0 - The Soul Gem, Grief Seed, and Witch
Magical Girls naturally have a Soul Gem, which forms the new seat of their consciousness after contracting. The soul gem is formed of an unknown crystaline substance, which then has decorative stylings composed of an unknown metallic substance. The color of the soul gem's crystal is unique for every magical girl - this color is the girl's "theme color", and usually matches the girl's hair and/or eye color.
If a magical girl's body moves more than a certain distance away from her soul gem, she will lose control over her body. In all known cases so far, having no bodies within the soul gem range also causes the girl to lose conciousness. The exact control radius is estimated to be approximately 100 meters, the precise value is unknown. The mechanism used by the soul gem to control the body is unknown, as is the reason for the apparent "sharp cutoff" as opposed to a gradual loss of control. The disconnected biological body of a magical girl shows no life signs (beating heart, breathing) at all, and in fact decomposes if left disconnected for a prolonged period.
The soul gem takes three distinct shapes:
- The "egg" shape, believed to be the "true" form of the soul gem, as it's the form the soul gem naturally takes during the process of a Contract.
- The "ring" shape, where the soul gem's crystal is reduced to a small inset stone, and the body of the ring is made of the same unknown metallic substance, engraved with the soul gem's owners name (NOT their witch's name) in Witch Runes. Sabrina is unique in this regard, as the name engraved in her soul gem ring is "DEDOLERE".
- The "active" shape, where the soul gem takes the form of an accroument or accessory for the magical girl's "transformed" outfit. Sabrina's is a diamond shaped "medal" pinned to the left breast of her outfit's overcoat. This shape of the soul gem also manifests as decorations on the "egg" form of the soul gem.
The capacity of a soul gem to contain grief is unique for every magical girl. Sabrina's can hold around 200 marbles, a distinctly average value. Mami's can contain around 240, while Homura's can contain around 170.
Every soul gem contains a "core" at its center, which Sabrina's control over grief is unable to grasp, despite identifying the core as containing grief. This core is one and the same as what Sabrina identifies as a "nascent witch" inside every soul gem, and appears to be a unique identifier - even magical girls who became someone else through use of Wishes have different Witch Names.
Sabrina's witch is "Dedolere", which means "grieve no more". Sabrina's witch is confirmed by Word of Firnagzen to be an Ontological threat, on par with the Witch of Despair or Akuma Homura, due to a "hilarious bootstrap process".
The true nature of Sabrina's witch is unknown, but specualtion abounds, with two particularly standout theories being that it is the Witch of Despair (which notably has white hair and blue eyes), or that it is Walpurgisnacht (which has white hair and a blue outfit). Both of these theories lean on the idea of Madoka's Wish from the previous timeline, that "everything can be fixed", choosing to "fix" one of the aforementioned witches by transforming them into a magical girl.
When a magical girl's soul gem is filled to capacity with grief, the girl's witch bursts out of their soul gem, shattering it, as it immediately forms a barrier. The amount of grief in an active barrier is approximately one hundred thousand times greater then the capacity of an average soul gem, meaning that an enormous amount of grief is generated during the emergence of the witch through an unknown mechanism.
The aforementioned "core" remains present in an active witch, and is likely the same thing as what the Pleiades Saints have termed the "Cor Maleficus", which forms the witches heart. So long as this core is undamaged, the barrier will not collapse - when Sabrina completely separated the core of Hildegarde from her barrier, the barrier became "passive", but remained present.
When the semi-physical grief substrate the Core is anchored in is damaged, the witches barrier will collapse, and a Grief Seed will form around the core. A grief seed, much like a soul gem, is composed of an unknown crystalline substance surrounded by an unknown metallic substance. It's not known if these substances are the same as those of a soul gem - the crystal of a grief seed is uniformly clear and untinted when grief is removed, and the metal is more darkly colored.
It's known that by consuming a sufficient number of mundane victims, a witch's familiar is able to become a copy of its parent witch. Familiars, when examined, contain only the faintest impression of the "core" of their parent witch. Yet, every single witch encountered up to this point has has a "complete" core, with no obvious distinctions that would indicate whether or not the witch was an "original", or a copy.
It seems clear that through some unknown process, familiars are able to seamlessly generate a near-perfect copy of their originating witches core by consuming mundane humans. This almost certainly involves gathering and stitching together the souls of the familiar's victims.
Given the presence of an afterlife in PMMM materials, it's unclear what the status of the victims is after a copy of the witch has been generated.
Grief Seeds are able to entirely contain the grief that makes up their witch's barrier, with a small amount of additional space left over. This is significantly denser then grief can normally be packed - moreover, Grief Seeds do not trigger the response in magical girls that a similar quantity of grief not contained in a grief seed normally would. The reason for this is unknown.
Grief seeds will pull on the grief inside a soul gem, causing it to leave the soul gem and enter the grief seed. Grief seeds generally contain enough spare room to fully cleanse an average magical girl between one and five times. Over time, left alone, Grief Seeds generate grief. "Clear Seeds" will also have their grief extracted by normal grief seeds, seemingly indicating a degree of mutual attraction among grief.
Grief seeds exhibit the unusual property of being able to balance on their needle-thin tips. This property remains present when the grief in the seed is removed. The filigree of a grief seed usually has an emblem which matches the "active" shape of the former magical girl's soul gem - for example, Oktavia Von Seckendorrf's grief seed has a musical note decoration.
A magical girl's soul gem filling with the pseudo-substance of Grief is axiomatically equivalent to the magical girl experiencing the emotion of grief. Girls whose soul gem is partially filled with grief due to magic usage show symptoms similar to severe depression, and girls who feel sad due to outside events pushing them to despair will find their soul gem's filling with Grief.
Both soul gems and grief seeds will create a small amount of grief over time, even if no active magic is used. For magical girls, this usually manifests as a cost-of-living "upkeep" that sees them go through approximately one grief seed every two weeks. As such, a magical girl will generally need a minimum of 26 grief seeds every year to survive - likely more, given that they will almost certainly need to use magic to aquire said grief seeds.
Sabrina can sense the grief of mundane humans, as well as that of potentials. Mundane human grief is muted, and almost unnoticible, while potentials have grief more similar to that of magical girls, though still apparently far less intense.
It's unclear if mundanes and potentials have quantitatively less grief then magical girls, if their grief is "out of phase" with Sabrina's ability to sense and manipulate the grief of magical girls in some respect, or if their grief is qualitatively different from magical girl grief and may exhibit entirely different properties. It may be possible to test this by attempting to manipulate the grief of animals.
1.1 - Parameter Boost
Magical girls nearly universally have supernatural speed, stength, agility, balance, and reflexes. Moreover, magical girls seem to be able to control their inertia to an unknown extent, giving them unnatural control over their movement through the air, and the ability to "bleed off" the damage that their impacts should cause to mundane surroundings.
The degree to which these parameters are improved varies between magical girls, but even magical girls with "below average" improvements in this area are capable of shooting bullets out of the air.
The limits of this boost are unknown, but "average" magical girls do not seem to normally surpass the sound barrier with their movements (or if they do, they nullify sonic booms through some unknown mechanism).
Sabrina has been qualitatively described as "significantly below average" in this respect, but quantitive measurements of the degree to which she lags remain unknown.
It's unknown if making use of these supernatural properties excerts a grief cost on the magical girl, or if the parameter boost is already covered by the basic "upkeep" grief cost.
1.2 - Transformation
Magical Girls are able to transform. In the source media, their soul gems will generally enter the "egg" form for at least a split second before this can occur, although it's unclear how this manifests in PMAS, where transformations are by all appearances instant. (This has not been timed, the duration of a transformation is unknown.)
When transformed, the puella magi's soul gem enters its "active" form, and the outfit she was previously wearing is replaced with the girls "magical girl outfit". This outfit has supernatural material properties, generally significantly surpassing equivalent mundane outfits for durability, comfort, etc. The specifics of the composition of magical girl outfits are unknown.
Every magical girl's outfit has a "natural state", but with the exertion of willpower, it's possible to freely reconfigure the outfit, although this will generally feel "unnatural". It's unknown if willpower can change the color of a magical girl outfit, or if it must retain its original color scheme.
The clothing that the magical girl was previously wearing, along with any items she may have been carrying in her pockets, are placed in "storage". Individual items can be retrieved from "storage" with only a small amount of mental effort. The specifics of magical girl storage are unknown, but are speculated to be tied to the "4th spatial dimension" unique to each magical girl that Sabrina recently discovered, which is itself speculated to be tied to the formation and operation of witch barriers.
In addition to providing a magical outfit and a storage space, transformation also generally improves a magical girl's overall parameters. While magical girls retain access to some degree of supernatural speed, strength, and their unique magics while not transformed, only by transforming can they access the full measure of their power.
In Sabrina's case, transforming improves her multitasking ability. It's unknown to what degree other aspects of her magic are affected by transforming.
Given that magical girls are not constantly transformed, it seems reasonable to assume that there is a grief upkeep cost of some kind tied to transormation. However, the specifics of this cost are unknown.
1.3 - Magical Weapon
Magical girls generally have a magical weapon they can generate with but a thought. This is not summoning - the weapons generated are magical copies of a template, with many simultaneous copies at once being capable of being created. In some cases (Mami, Homura), the functionality of their weapon will be tied to more specific wish magic. Summoning a weapon has a (low) flat grief cost, though the exact quantitive amount is unknown.
Magical weapons generally have a set "template" that they naturally conform to. This template seems to automatically resize to match that of the magical girl calling it - Sabrina's chibis naturally received an appropriately sized hammer. The specific shape and size of the weapon created can be altered with an exertion of willpower. This customization also increases the grief cost of creating the weapon.
Magical weapons exhibit supernatural properties - they impact with greater force then their apparent weight should cause, they can exhibit supernatural durability or sharpness, and they can be "anchored" to a location in 3D space with an exertion of willpower, allowing for complex aerial maneuvers or for otherwise impossible parries. The degree to which these properties are tied to the general inertia manipulation of magical girls are unknown.
Magical weapons disperse when no longer actively maintained - as such, it seems unlikely that the materials of magical weapons are tied to those of soul gems or grief seeds. However, the specifics are unknown.
Generally speaking, magical weapons tend to have "special features". Miki Sayaka's swords can launch their blades, detonate their blades (after impalement or after launch), or transition into a "blade whip" configuration. Sakura Kyouko's spear's haft can turn into chains, and said chains can become rigid to create walls or cages. Sabrina's hammer has been confirmed by Firnagzen to have a "rocket powered" mode, but the specifics are unknown.
[X] Get an antimagic enchantment from the Kures.
-[X] Solicit advice from your friends about secure places to keep Rionna's soul gem. Bring up your hammerspace as an option.
[X] Vent to your friends, snuggle your girlfriend. Seriously, that encounter has you stressed out.
I want something in particular added to this, because I think it's important that it be said to our friends. Oh, and, other important part: Sayaka hasn't copied Rionna's power yet, and I think we had ought to do that while the antimagic cone is still up? Although, we could get Kirika to hold that on Rionna's gem while Sayaka does the copying.
[X] Get an antimagic enchantment from the Kures.
-[X] Have Kirika hold antimagic on Rionna's gem while Sayaka copies her power.
-[X] Solicit advice from your friends about secure places to keep Rionna's soul gem. Bring up your hammerspace as an option.
[X] Vent to your friends, snuggle your girlfriend. Seriously, that encounter has you stressed out.
-[X] You'd known she was coming, you'd been looking forward to it. You'd hoped to work with her. You'd hoped her powers could be applied to working out what, precisely, Kyubey does to Meguca's souls. You weren't prepared for this. That's why you're so upset, right now.
So... here's a thing. If possible, maybe we don't want Homura to drop Timestop, to not give time to the shades to dissipate.
If the MoF could go fast enough, we could skip the Kures and go straight to Yuki, so we can get the Anti Magic Enchantment and drop off Riona at the same time.
If not, well, easier on Sayaka, since she and Riona can be dropped out of timestop while Kirika creates the Anti Magic Enchant.*
Ah, wait, Sayaka copying Riona is still a Witchbomb risk. Taking the time to vent is fine, I guess, but unless we get GM fiat this isn't necessary: We need to ask Sayaka whether she decided to learn the thing, so she can copy the girl. Not risking Sayaka getting Witchbombed the wrong way when we can do it the right way.
Plan is to enchant-antimagic the Gem and then bring it and Riona's body to Yuki. We're not exactly holding onto it for long. Specially secure if we're dropping by the Kures' place.*
... there's magic in that flask. Faint enough that you didn't pick up on it with a cursory look in there, and she is definitely drinking it.
Riona catches you looking. She sloshes the flask in your general direction, raising her eyebrows.
"No, but thank you," you say. Nadia warned you about the stuff. You... don't think it's harmful. You're pretty sure she would have mentioned if it were, but you're awfully suspicious of the magic in there.
She shrugs, and takes another sip.
It smells awful. Not alcoholic, or if there is, there's so little it's drowned out by something sharply acidic, almost like curdled milk. Mami wrinkles her nose, leaning against your side.
There's bound to be some trace of it left, and looking at it should be a free action, so...
*clasps hands*
Please? *begging catgirl face* I won't really mind if that gets voted out of things but eh, just a pet action.
[X] Grab Rionna's personal effects and hammerspace them.
-[X] Investigate the cider. Have Mami take a look at it.
[X] Get an antimagic enchantment from the Kures.
-[X] Have Sayaka copy Rionna's power once Rionna's gem is under the antimagic enchantment.
--[X] Warn Sayaka that she should stay away from using that power for the moment. Rionna knew some dangerous shit, and she learned about it because of that magic.
-[X] Solicit advice from your friends about secure places to keep Rionna's soul gem. Bring up your hammerspace as an option.
[X] Vent to your friends, snuggle your girlfriend. Seriously, that encounter has you stressed out.
I want something in particular added to this, because I think it's important that it be said to our friends. Oh, and, other important part: Sayaka hasn't copied Rionna's power yet, and I think we had ought to do that while the antimagic cone is still up? Although, we could get Kirika to hold that on Rionna's gem while Sayaka does the copying.
Since now we aren't in a hurry, I'd prefer not letting Sayaka copy Riona today. Because it'd mean we'd have to warn and then tell Sayaka the Witchbomb and right now I think Sabrina just doesn't want yet another heavy conversation tonight if it isn't critical.
(EDIT: I just realised I'm not sure if you're in favor or against letting Sayaka copy Riona today, but I'm still leaving the text above just in case)
Since we're getting the AM enchant, wouldn't it be easier to do that and bind it to the Gem, rather than have Kirika anti magic the Gem while Sayaka does the copy?
Also, I'm not sure whether Sayaka can decide to not use Riona's powers and see some shit before putting it away. :/
[X] Grab Rionna's personal effects and hammerspace them.
-[X] Investigate the cider. Have Mami take a look at it.
[X] Get an antimagic enchantment from the Kures.
-[X] Have Sayaka copy Rionna's power once Rionna's gem is under the antimagic enchantment.
--[X] Warn Sayaka that she should stay away from using that power for the moment. Rionna knew some dangerous shit, and she learned about it because of that magic.
-[X] Solicit advice from your friends about secure places to keep Rionna's soul gem. Bring up your hammerspace as an option.
[X] Vent to your friends, snuggle your girlfriend. Seriously, that encounter has you stressed out.
Cutting this down some. I don't think we need to have Sayaka copy the power now as long as Kirika enchants the box such that the AM doesn't turn off when the box is opened, and the various risks associated with copying the power are... substantial.
[X] Grab Rionna's personal effects and hammerspace them.
-[X] Investigate the cider. Have Mami take a look at it.
[X] Get an antimagic enchantment from the Kures.
-[X] Solicit advice from your friends about secure places to keep Rionna's soul gem. Bring up your hammerspace as an option.
[X] Vent to your friends, snuggle your girlfriend. Seriously, that encounter has you stressed out.
Getting a box from the Kures is definitely a better bet. I don't want to impose on our new allies so soon with someone *else*.
We can get the kures a gift basket for waking them up early tomorrow or something. And being useful will improve our case for giving them extra freedoms.
[X] Grab Rionna's personal effects and hammerspace them.
-[X] Investigate the cider. Have Mami take a look at it.
[X] Get an antimagic enchantment from the Kures.
-[X] Have Sayaka copy Rionna's power once Rionna's gem is under the antimagic enchantment.
--[X] Warn Sayaka that she should stay away from using that power for the moment. Rionna knew some dangerous shit, and she learned about it because of that magic.
-[X] Solicit advice from your friends about secure places to keep Rionna's soul gem. Bring up your hammerspace as an option.
[X] Vent to your friends, snuggle your girlfriend. Seriously, that encounter has you stressed out.
[X] Grab Rionna's personal effects and hammerspace them.
-[X] Investigate the cider. Have Mami take a look at it.
[X] Get an antimagic enchantment from the Kures.
-[X] Have Sayaka copy Rionna's power once Rionna's gem is under the antimagic enchantment.
--[X] Warn Sayaka that she should stay away from using that power for the moment. Rionna knew some dangerous shit, and she learned about it because of that magic.
-[X] Solicit advice from your friends about secure places to keep Rionna's soul gem. Bring up your hammerspace as an option.
[X] Vent to your friends, snuggle your girlfriend. Seriously, that encounter has you stressed out.
Cutting this down some. I don't think we need to have Sayaka copy the power now as long as Kirika enchants the box such that the AM doesn't turn off when the box is opened, and the various risks associated with copying the power are... substantial.
[X] Grab Rionna's personal effects and hammerspace them.
-[X] Investigate the cider. Have Mami take a look at it.
[X] Get an antimagic enchantment from the Kures.
-[X] Solicit advice from your friends about secure places to keep Rionna's soul gem. Bring up your hammerspace as an option.
[X] Vent to your friends, snuggle your girlfriend. Seriously, that encounter has you stressed out.
Is it right to find a fountain, and vent in that park? Hmmm. I must be deficient in nut-and-chocolate sandwich spread, so help out with other suggestions?
We need a place with enough noise or size for anonymity (while we shout a bit to release stress), and some decent visual background for distraction.
The Sayaka discussion isn't a mere toss-in, so I'd like to see that as another action.
[X] Try to get a Shade viewing enchantment running, or ask Sayaka to split and try her visual powers in passive mode.
[X] Get a container to form the anti-magic box enchantment
[X] Investigate Rionna's personal items, including cider. Store for later.
[X] Go to the Kures for box enchantment.
[X] Brainstorm to determine security placed on Rionn'as Soul Gem.
[X] Plans for travel to Yuki, and vent session after.
So... it should be important that the AM Enchant can't be taken off, even with a lot of strength. Needs to be secure, while allowing the Gem to be cleansed.***
[] Get Riona's bag.
[] Ask Homura if she minds, you're gonna impose on her for a while.*
[:/] Whenever opportune, take Sayaka aside.
-[:/] Ask whether she decided to learn the secret.
--[:/] If yes, make sure you aren't heard.
---[:/] Be super supportive, make sure to blame KB, and push the point she Sayaka can help: Witchbomb Sayaka.
--[:/] If not, ask whether she can copy Riona and put the power away without using it.**
---[:/] If not, cancel plans to have her copy Riona for now.
[] Get Anti Magic Enchantments from the Kures.
-[] One for her body, like Anri's.
-[] One for her Soul Gem, a solid covering encasing it, leaving enough of the Gem visible to monitor and cleanse it.***
* Poor Homu, we really need her to lend us her power for quite a bit.
** It occurs to me we can ask whether she feels confident about this. And if Sayaka doesn't want to be Witchbombed, and can't copy Riona without using her power? She shouldn't copy Riona. We should probably mention the Shades will most likely pass onto the afterlife if she doesn't try to take them, so as to not lie by ommission... :/
@Firnagzen, I don't like asking directly, but I think the situation about Sayaka's Witchbombed status and her copying Riona's powers... in order to cover all bases regarding that, safely, we'd kind of need a votewall.
I don't like asking, but since it's something we could simply ask Sayaka next, could we know by fiat whether Sayaka can copy Riona and put the power away without Witchbombing herself?
@Firnagzen, I don't like asking directly, but I think the situation about Sayaka's Witchbombed status and her copying Riona's powers... in order to cover all bases regarding that, safely, we'd kind of need a votewall.
I don't like asking, but since it's something we could simply ask Sayaka next, could we know by fiat whether Sayaka can copy Riona and put the power away without Witchbombing herself?
Again, as long as we get Kirika to enchant the box such that opening the box doesn't turn off the Antimagic enchant, we'll be in a position where we have Sayaka open the box and stick a finger in to copy the power whenever we want.
Excellent work. A clean extraction with no alarms.
Now we only have to worry about two things on Rionna's front. One, prison breaks, which are best countered with security measures like what we're voting on right now. Two, dead man's switches, which Sayaka might be able to defuse if they're shade-related and we may or may not be able to do anything about if not, assuming they exist which they might not.
Anyway, boy am I looking forward to Rionna's reaction when we revive her while she's shackled with antimagic chains.
Miss 'No one has any right to judge me' is going to find out the hard way that "rights" only exist when they're enforced through power, and she is not the most powerful meguca in the world. If you never care about provoking anyone and everyone through your deeds, then sooner or later you're going to be taken down by a bigger fish.
And her whole "not compromising on anything, ever, with anyone, under any circumstances" has promptly led to her losing everything. Talk about schadenfreude!