To be honest, this is more out of boredom than anything else, but lets build a world!
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The Energetic World(world building thread)
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Ridiculously Average Guy
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To be honest, this is more out of boredom than anything else, but lets build a world!
I was in Talos magic system thread, and started thinking about how to create an original magic system. Elemental has been over done so I looked for something new. Animals had already been done, so sacrifice magic, and color magic(Brandon Sanderson). Eventual I though about energy.
So, nothing coming to mind, I want to build a magic system using:
Kinetic Energy
Thermal Energy
Electric Energy
and
Nuclear Energy
Also throwing in Potential, for shits in giggles.
So far, I have this:
Instead of magical armor, people have backpack, generators that they use to convert into their form of energy. Power armor, for generating actual power.
Also, magic users would be immune to their own effects, but effectively be a normal person hen facing an already worked element. Essential: And Electrical could easily take a natural lighting bolt, but would still be hurt by an Electrical made lighting bolt.
Nuclear energy would be somebody with kinetic, thermal, and electrical energy in their blood.
Potential are weird, they can take in energy, but can't release it. If they take in more than they can release by living they can die. That said, many work as living batteries.
-Weaponry:nothing, they can tank a lot, they just have to get tapped to keep from dying. Maybe armor.
Kinetics have the fastest build up, but fastest burn out. can't hold onto energy, they lose their whole pool per every attack. Generally work with multiple small attacks. That said, with enough build up, they can reshape the land.
-weaponry: something with a perpetual motion machine.
Electricals have the second fastest build up, but have a choice between multiple small attacks or one big AOE, but second fastest burn out. Are more powerful in winter. The most precise can puppet people.
-weaponry: tazers. Railguns.
Thermals have the second slowest build up, but second slowest burn out. Have a choice between multiple small attacks or one big AOE. Are more powerful in summer. The strongest drawers can flash freeze their surrounds, when focused this can be used as a weapon.
-Weaponry: Sword? Ten foot pole?
Nuclears have the slowest build up, but slowest burn out. They just don't seem to lose energy. People around them tend to live longer. The have 2 big AOE's. The first is when they go into an area, and slowly release their built up energy, it causes sickness, and in some cases death. The other is when they die. when they die they turn into a living bomb, destroying much of the surrounding area. A Nuclear death means an area must be either condemned for a few generations, or must be cleaned by Potentials, and other Nuclears.
-Weaponry: nothing.
Built up energy manifests itself as well...energy, in the body. The more they have built up, the less they need to eat, and or sleep. Nuclears basically run 24. Potentials vary. Kinetics sleep like normal, electrics mostly normal with a few days without sleep. And, Thermals mostly awake, with occasional sleep.
So I guess my big question is, how do you think this would affect a world? Assume starting from Archaic Era.
I was in Talos magic system thread, and started thinking about how to create an original magic system. Elemental has been over done so I looked for something new. Animals had already been done, so sacrifice magic, and color magic(Brandon Sanderson). Eventual I though about energy.
So, nothing coming to mind, I want to build a magic system using:
Kinetic Energy
Thermal Energy
Electric Energy
and
Nuclear Energy
Also throwing in Potential, for shits in giggles.
So far, I have this:
Instead of magical armor, people have backpack, generators that they use to convert into their form of energy. Power armor, for generating actual power.
Also, magic users would be immune to their own effects, but effectively be a normal person hen facing an already worked element. Essential: And Electrical could easily take a natural lighting bolt, but would still be hurt by an Electrical made lighting bolt.
Nuclear energy would be somebody with kinetic, thermal, and electrical energy in their blood.
Potential are weird, they can take in energy, but can't release it. If they take in more than they can release by living they can die. That said, many work as living batteries.
-Weaponry:nothing, they can tank a lot, they just have to get tapped to keep from dying. Maybe armor.
Kinetics have the fastest build up, but fastest burn out. can't hold onto energy, they lose their whole pool per every attack. Generally work with multiple small attacks. That said, with enough build up, they can reshape the land.
-weaponry: something with a perpetual motion machine.
Electricals have the second fastest build up, but have a choice between multiple small attacks or one big AOE, but second fastest burn out. Are more powerful in winter. The most precise can puppet people.
-weaponry: tazers. Railguns.
Thermals have the second slowest build up, but second slowest burn out. Have a choice between multiple small attacks or one big AOE. Are more powerful in summer. The strongest drawers can flash freeze their surrounds, when focused this can be used as a weapon.
-Weaponry: Sword? Ten foot pole?
Nuclears have the slowest build up, but slowest burn out. They just don't seem to lose energy. People around them tend to live longer. The have 2 big AOE's. The first is when they go into an area, and slowly release their built up energy, it causes sickness, and in some cases death. The other is when they die. when they die they turn into a living bomb, destroying much of the surrounding area. A Nuclear death means an area must be either condemned for a few generations, or must be cleaned by Potentials, and other Nuclears.
-Weaponry: nothing.
Built up energy manifests itself as well...energy, in the body. The more they have built up, the less they need to eat, and or sleep. Nuclears basically run 24. Potentials vary. Kinetics sleep like normal, electrics mostly normal with a few days without sleep. And, Thermals mostly awake, with occasional sleep.
So I guess my big question is, how do you think this would affect a world? Assume starting from Archaic Era.
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A couple of questions and thoughts:
Potentials: When they take in energy, can they take in any energy? Also, when you say 'release by living', do you mean they just use up the energy in their body by existing and bodily processes? How do they keep from going kaboom, exactly? How much living can you manage right after getting punched repeatedly in the face? To deal with this, I have a suggestion: potentials do constantly absorb energy, this makes them very difficult to hurt in the first place by hitting them with direct damage or pure energy attacks because they will drink that in. The other way they can use up that stored up energy? By healing damage they've taken. I'm imagining the Potential fighting style would alternate between tanking the hits and absorbing it as energy, then allowing themselves to be hit and hurt to burn off the absorbed energy through regeneration. Would it also be possible for a potential to use the energy to 'release by living' by enhancing themselves to operate at peak efficiency? Alternately, they could be turning off (through discipline and training) the inbuilt limiters preventing people have to prevent themselves from getting hurt when doing things. They could potentially, when juiced up, act as though they were amped up on a perpetual adrenaline rush. They seem to be using the energy to enhance themselves physically, but the actual secret is that they're hurting themselves continuously and using the energy to heal.
Kinetics: If they have to empty out their pool with each release, but they're continuously building up, this makes them potentially useful for driving things like mill wheels and carts. A trained group of Kinetics for instance, dangling off the back of something like a cart alternately releasing energy and building it up could punch up to some respectable speeds. Same story with having one of these folks on anything with a decent airfoil for flight. Potentially these guys are living siege weapons. These would be the main guys you send out to fight. In an older setting, these folks would probably be thought of as Wind Mages because they're providing unseen pushes.
Thermals: Potentially don't really need weapons. Their touch could freeze or fry. Imagine blazing shaped masses of heat in the form of a sword. Pyrotechnic explosions. With proper application of their abilities, these people could potentially reshape the weather and influence crop growth by limiting the effects of frost and controlling thermals, thus manipulating rainfall. Going by the same thought that made the Kinetics, Wind Mages, These would be thought of as either Sun Mages or Fire Mages.
Electricals: Electroplating would be just one of their possible uses. All sorts of potential fun with early alchemical processes. A lot of destructive potential too. Other cheap tricks include the power of static cling and electromagnetics. Lightning mage is very obvious, but depending on how well they can manipulate magnetism, referring to them as Metal Mages wouldn't be too far off the mark either.
Nuclear: I'm imagining these people in general just don't seem to be Energetics until their effects on their surroundings are pointed out to them. They may not even have a direct combat use, since their particular energy is very difficult to pin down or even realize what they are. I can imagine a few other applications for these abilities in medicine. Keeping wounds from going septic, perhaps a primitive sort of X-ray to see into the human body. Lots of possibilities. Given that their presence could potentially improve health and well being in an area, or alternately blight it, calling them Life Mages or Death Mages both would fit. Witches might also be an appropriate term for them.
Other thoughts: How widespread are the abilities? Are these energetics a major portion of the population? A rare few? Everyone? Are there people with multiple energies? Or do they need to be one energy type only? Are they types inheritable? This makes a big difference in the resulting world.
Potentials: When they take in energy, can they take in any energy? Also, when you say 'release by living', do you mean they just use up the energy in their body by existing and bodily processes? How do they keep from going kaboom, exactly? How much living can you manage right after getting punched repeatedly in the face? To deal with this, I have a suggestion: potentials do constantly absorb energy, this makes them very difficult to hurt in the first place by hitting them with direct damage or pure energy attacks because they will drink that in. The other way they can use up that stored up energy? By healing damage they've taken. I'm imagining the Potential fighting style would alternate between tanking the hits and absorbing it as energy, then allowing themselves to be hit and hurt to burn off the absorbed energy through regeneration. Would it also be possible for a potential to use the energy to 'release by living' by enhancing themselves to operate at peak efficiency? Alternately, they could be turning off (through discipline and training) the inbuilt limiters preventing people have to prevent themselves from getting hurt when doing things. They could potentially, when juiced up, act as though they were amped up on a perpetual adrenaline rush. They seem to be using the energy to enhance themselves physically, but the actual secret is that they're hurting themselves continuously and using the energy to heal.
Kinetics: If they have to empty out their pool with each release, but they're continuously building up, this makes them potentially useful for driving things like mill wheels and carts. A trained group of Kinetics for instance, dangling off the back of something like a cart alternately releasing energy and building it up could punch up to some respectable speeds. Same story with having one of these folks on anything with a decent airfoil for flight. Potentially these guys are living siege weapons. These would be the main guys you send out to fight. In an older setting, these folks would probably be thought of as Wind Mages because they're providing unseen pushes.
Thermals: Potentially don't really need weapons. Their touch could freeze or fry. Imagine blazing shaped masses of heat in the form of a sword. Pyrotechnic explosions. With proper application of their abilities, these people could potentially reshape the weather and influence crop growth by limiting the effects of frost and controlling thermals, thus manipulating rainfall. Going by the same thought that made the Kinetics, Wind Mages, These would be thought of as either Sun Mages or Fire Mages.
Electricals: Electroplating would be just one of their possible uses. All sorts of potential fun with early alchemical processes. A lot of destructive potential too. Other cheap tricks include the power of static cling and electromagnetics. Lightning mage is very obvious, but depending on how well they can manipulate magnetism, referring to them as Metal Mages wouldn't be too far off the mark either.
Nuclear: I'm imagining these people in general just don't seem to be Energetics until their effects on their surroundings are pointed out to them. They may not even have a direct combat use, since their particular energy is very difficult to pin down or even realize what they are. I can imagine a few other applications for these abilities in medicine. Keeping wounds from going septic, perhaps a primitive sort of X-ray to see into the human body. Lots of possibilities. Given that their presence could potentially improve health and well being in an area, or alternately blight it, calling them Life Mages or Death Mages both would fit. Witches might also be an appropriate term for them.
Other thoughts: How widespread are the abilities? Are these energetics a major portion of the population? A rare few? Everyone? Are there people with multiple energies? Or do they need to be one energy type only? Are they types inheritable? This makes a big difference in the resulting world.
Ridiculously Average Guy
I'm you, but stronger
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yes.
By being drained. It's why so many work in high energy situations(battle fields, trauma surgery.) That, or maintain low enough levels of energy to just burn it off over time. They tend to work out a lot, to live longer.
Not very much.
Yeah that's what I had in mind.
This I hadn't considered, but makes sense thematically. It goes well with the, at high energy no sleeping.
That's basically how people act at high energy. Nuclears, who are constantly like that, are adjusted to it so they aren't constantly hyper. Potentials have more variable enrgy, so I can see this.
This is good.
exactly. They could be the new cart.
yeah, they would the mass of an army.
True. For thermals, weapons are mainly about extending reach. Frost stopping would happen, but weather manipulation would mostly be limited to hurricane creation.
Electropalting, good. Static cling, good. Their metal manipulation is the main reason behind the shift in materials for battle armor. That said, they can only do magnet stuff with coils of wire.
As a default, they are Life Mages, constantly taking in radiation. Their only combat use is as a suicide bomb. They are cited as reasons for why not to go after the civilian population. You never know when one might go boom.
Everyone is slightly energetic, but I'd say only about...25% of the population can actually use it to any effect. With a slight bias in places where a particular energy is more common.
Energy type is inheritable, but effectively almost never mixes. The only mix is when somebody with dominant Kinetic, thermal, and electrical energy in their blood is born. Those are nuclears, and nuclears only give birth to potentials.
Sometimes babies are born able to use more than one energy, but with heavy bias towards one energy. So some newborns, for about the first year of their life are very Energetic. Luckily by that time their body finishes adjusting, and only takes in energy from the major source.
A couple more thoughts:
Potentials who are going into extremely dangerous situations where they're going to be ending up drinking in a lot of energy and not going to be able to bleed it off/use it up fast enough could possibly end up drinking poisons of various sorts to force their bodies to be damaged and repaired, thus allowing them to adjust their rate of energy release/consumption.
Thermals: Being able to adjust the temperature of large masses of air already does HUGE things to how local weather patterns are shaped. Persistent high or low pressure areas caused by temperatures will be able to draw in or deflect rainfall and storms, or adjust wind patterns. It's most likely not a battlefield tactic, but having an organized group of Thermals working in shifts to subtly adjust weather patterns seems like a possible thing given how you've described these to work. Using thermals to allow people to plant crops year-round makes a huge difference in food production as well. Another idea: Thermals, next to the Kinetics, would be the most likely to be able to fly. Either by manipulating thermals beneath them while using a glider, or much more simply: hot air balloons.
Electricals: When they release their energy, does it just ground out into the nearest available target, or can they actually shape the electrical discharge? This makes a big difference in how useful they would be in combat and other applications. Alternately, it could be a power thing. The more powerful Electricals can control the output. This matters, because if they can't just outright send a bolt of lightning at a target, then they have to get clever. In which case, I see it far more likely for these folks to use things like lengths of chain or even weighted wire. Another likely successful tactic would be arrows that remain attached to the Electrical by a thin coil of wire. Once the arrow hits, the Electrical can send a massive discharge through the wire to strike at everything within range of wherever the arrow hit. On the other hand, IF they can control the electrical discharge, then this opens up a LOT more options. If they can force the arc to go in a low-potential direction, that means they can strike down even people who aren't grounded. That also potentially allows them to tightly organize an electrical discharge to produce something like a Free-Electron Laser or on the lower end, microwaves. Also possible: force the electrical arc to coil in on itself to produce their own magnetic fields without having the coils of metal handy. Come to think of it, even if they need the coils of metal, its easy to have on hand: Bracers, rings, staves, hollow sword hilts, all could handily hide a coil of metal that an enterprising electrical can use to manipulate metals and magnetism with.
Nuclears, however, are the real game-changer. These are people who, when they die, are going to go up like a BOMB and taint the land. That's going to severely alter how people interact not just with the Nuclears but with one another. Your average mugger is going to be very, VERY careful about who he robs, just because there's an off-chance that he'll blow himself up if he kills a victim. I also can't imagine kingdoms NOT trying to take advantage of this. Not just with suicide bombers, but also with ringers. Nuclear mages seeded among your regular cannon fodder. Imagine trying to fight a war not knowing if the next guy you stab is going to explode on you and wipe out everyone. This becomes especially telling if small children already begin to manifest powers early. Nuclears might possibly be stolen away from parents and raised apart, trying to keep them as safe as possible, because even a child nuclear getting killed is going to make a huge problem. One other possible reaction I can see: you want to be sure who the Nuclears are. So everyone would have to agree to mark the Nuclears. Some sort of easily visible tattoo, perhaps something like the Trefoil nuclear symbol on the forehead. Just some way to be able to readily identify Nuclears because otherwise wars are going to have to be fought in a completely different way in order to avoid getting blown up. In such a case I'd easily imagine nations fighting proxy wars using Mage gladiator representatives. Specifically ones with obvious abilities, so folks know they haven't slipped a Nuclear ringer in to the fight.
Potentials who are going into extremely dangerous situations where they're going to be ending up drinking in a lot of energy and not going to be able to bleed it off/use it up fast enough could possibly end up drinking poisons of various sorts to force their bodies to be damaged and repaired, thus allowing them to adjust their rate of energy release/consumption.
Thermals: Being able to adjust the temperature of large masses of air already does HUGE things to how local weather patterns are shaped. Persistent high or low pressure areas caused by temperatures will be able to draw in or deflect rainfall and storms, or adjust wind patterns. It's most likely not a battlefield tactic, but having an organized group of Thermals working in shifts to subtly adjust weather patterns seems like a possible thing given how you've described these to work. Using thermals to allow people to plant crops year-round makes a huge difference in food production as well. Another idea: Thermals, next to the Kinetics, would be the most likely to be able to fly. Either by manipulating thermals beneath them while using a glider, or much more simply: hot air balloons.
Electricals: When they release their energy, does it just ground out into the nearest available target, or can they actually shape the electrical discharge? This makes a big difference in how useful they would be in combat and other applications. Alternately, it could be a power thing. The more powerful Electricals can control the output. This matters, because if they can't just outright send a bolt of lightning at a target, then they have to get clever. In which case, I see it far more likely for these folks to use things like lengths of chain or even weighted wire. Another likely successful tactic would be arrows that remain attached to the Electrical by a thin coil of wire. Once the arrow hits, the Electrical can send a massive discharge through the wire to strike at everything within range of wherever the arrow hit. On the other hand, IF they can control the electrical discharge, then this opens up a LOT more options. If they can force the arc to go in a low-potential direction, that means they can strike down even people who aren't grounded. That also potentially allows them to tightly organize an electrical discharge to produce something like a Free-Electron Laser or on the lower end, microwaves. Also possible: force the electrical arc to coil in on itself to produce their own magnetic fields without having the coils of metal handy. Come to think of it, even if they need the coils of metal, its easy to have on hand: Bracers, rings, staves, hollow sword hilts, all could handily hide a coil of metal that an enterprising electrical can use to manipulate metals and magnetism with.
Nuclears, however, are the real game-changer. These are people who, when they die, are going to go up like a BOMB and taint the land. That's going to severely alter how people interact not just with the Nuclears but with one another. Your average mugger is going to be very, VERY careful about who he robs, just because there's an off-chance that he'll blow himself up if he kills a victim. I also can't imagine kingdoms NOT trying to take advantage of this. Not just with suicide bombers, but also with ringers. Nuclear mages seeded among your regular cannon fodder. Imagine trying to fight a war not knowing if the next guy you stab is going to explode on you and wipe out everyone. This becomes especially telling if small children already begin to manifest powers early. Nuclears might possibly be stolen away from parents and raised apart, trying to keep them as safe as possible, because even a child nuclear getting killed is going to make a huge problem. One other possible reaction I can see: you want to be sure who the Nuclears are. So everyone would have to agree to mark the Nuclears. Some sort of easily visible tattoo, perhaps something like the Trefoil nuclear symbol on the forehead. Just some way to be able to readily identify Nuclears because otherwise wars are going to have to be fought in a completely different way in order to avoid getting blown up. In such a case I'd easily imagine nations fighting proxy wars using Mage gladiator representatives. Specifically ones with obvious abilities, so folks know they haven't slipped a Nuclear ringer in to the fight.
Ridiculously Average Guy
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Like it. It seems like a healing potion, but is actually a poison. Actually, thinking about it, they can't get drunk either.
Probably hot air balloons, with directed heat blooms to change direction. THe glider would befaster, but the balloon would have more control. Thermals as hired greenhouses/weathermen is good.
I'm going to go with it being a power thing, since I like forcing them to be clever.
That's actually what I meant by taser. Small lauchable projectiles with wire that they can run current through. Chain also works, but bleeds more power since it has a habit of grounding itself.
I'm going to put most of that down as needing power. And, needing teams of Electricals working in concert for the more esoteric stuff.
Though of, used to mess which men in metal armor. Responsible for the shift in materials for armor.
This is why people tend to be very careful about killing. Plus if I ever run a campaign with this, it lets me keep villians from being killed off to quickly.
After the first few times this was done, it quickly became a war crime. That said, people kept doing it, leading to the rise of less chaotic, more stealthy war. Instead of sending out armies, you use teams of specialists.
Most Nuclears seem like potentials for the first few years of their lives, it only becomes telling when they need less and less sleep. Around the 10-20 year range.
Might do that in conjunction with squad wars. Start with a normal army, but once the enemy starts using nuclears, send in the squads.
This is also good. If nothing else, I might split this into different eras of war.
Armies, then someone starts using Nuclears. Takes over other country. Surrounding countries start using stealth Squads. Take over the rogue country and come to an accord, to mark all Nuclears, and outlaw their use in wars..
Years later tensions begin to rise, war is on the horizon, but the fear of Nuclears turn it into a proxy war, using games(basically the Chuunin exam) to war. Eventually this morphs into a sort of Olympic games, with the winner deciding policy for the accord(basically turning into the local Super Power for the next X number of years).
Other thoughts on gliders/flyers:
Kinetic gliders would be the best in terms of acceleration and maneuverability, they can give themselves bursts of force to let them make ridiculously sharp turns and in a straight flight would be able to pump out bursts of acceleration.
In contrast Thermal gliders have the edge in terms of endurance flying. They might not be able to pull off the aerobatics a kinetics flyer might, but a thermal glider uses far less energy to keep themselves aloft and would be able to keep in the air longer. This also ties in with their weather control uses as I'm imagining them gliding up to the cloud layer and herding clouds together to force rainfall to occur where they need it.
Electrical flyers on the other hand... are terrible. They maneuver like beached whales, they expend a profoundly huge amount of energy to stay in the air and it takes a great deal of power and skill to become an Electrical flyer. They have two major advantages over the other types of flyers. Electrical flyers, are actually surfing the planet's electromagnetic field, this allows them to ride those flux lines at ludicrous speeds. They may not have the endurance or burst acceleration of their counterparts, but an Electrical flyer outdoes them both in terms of pure speed. The second advantage, is that an electrical flyer needs to cover what he's using to fly with (usually something metal) with an immense amount of electrical energy to allow it to ride the planet's electromagnetic field. This means that while in flight, an Electrical flyer is actually a tremendous weapon, frying anything they come into contact with and then dragging whatever was left in its electromagnetic wake.
So for a dog fight, you want a kinetic driving. If you want to send a messenger, use a Thermal. If you want the equivalent of a flying torpedo, use an electrical.
Kinetic gliders would be the best in terms of acceleration and maneuverability, they can give themselves bursts of force to let them make ridiculously sharp turns and in a straight flight would be able to pump out bursts of acceleration.
In contrast Thermal gliders have the edge in terms of endurance flying. They might not be able to pull off the aerobatics a kinetics flyer might, but a thermal glider uses far less energy to keep themselves aloft and would be able to keep in the air longer. This also ties in with their weather control uses as I'm imagining them gliding up to the cloud layer and herding clouds together to force rainfall to occur where they need it.
Electrical flyers on the other hand... are terrible. They maneuver like beached whales, they expend a profoundly huge amount of energy to stay in the air and it takes a great deal of power and skill to become an Electrical flyer. They have two major advantages over the other types of flyers. Electrical flyers, are actually surfing the planet's electromagnetic field, this allows them to ride those flux lines at ludicrous speeds. They may not have the endurance or burst acceleration of their counterparts, but an Electrical flyer outdoes them both in terms of pure speed. The second advantage, is that an electrical flyer needs to cover what he's using to fly with (usually something metal) with an immense amount of electrical energy to allow it to ride the planet's electromagnetic field. This means that while in flight, an Electrical flyer is actually a tremendous weapon, frying anything they come into contact with and then dragging whatever was left in its electromagnetic wake.
So for a dog fight, you want a kinetic driving. If you want to send a messenger, use a Thermal. If you want the equivalent of a flying torpedo, use an electrical.
Ridiculously Average Guy
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This is perfect for flying, now onto land:
Because they are more efficient by themselves, Energetics tend not to use horses.
Kinetics use push movement. Hook them up to a kart and with enough time they can outrun a horse. When traveling distances solo, they either run, or use something like a mountain board, to conserve energy.
Electricals have begun to lay rail lines along major roads, so tend to ride those when traveling. Either by themselves standing, in a cart for comfort, or with some sort of magnetized board for speed.
Thermals...basically use steam engines, only without the coal. If they have to get somewhere fast, but relatively close by,they take a giant water tank with carefully placed holed, and convert it into steal. Then they ride the steam rocket where they need to go.
Hmm... sort of. My suggestions on land movement actually would be as follows:
Kinetics, providing push from the push dimension would pretty much be fine just dangling off the edge of a cart and providing bursts of speed. You use multiple kinetics and alternate bursts between them to keep up a continuous speed over long distances, possibly with a horse included as part of the system to let the kinetics get a break every so often. The other problem with this system is that you really can't go past a certain speed on bad roads. Go fast enough and even a single stone on the road while you have the wrong kind of wheels and BOOM. Cart's in pieces.
So it makes sense that at the higher speeds EVERYONE is using tracks. One person kinetic cart would be fine for short distances at high speeds. Multiple kinetics + horse for longer distances while still giving your riders the opportunity to rest. I'd imagine this one is good for general local hauling, especially if you're willing to go at lower speeds, your carts could also work off-track.
Electricals could actually be surfing energized rails. They'd be like living maglev trains. The tracks probably were initially an Electrical design, that got co-opted by everyone. Electrical land travel could potentially be kind of just like Electrical flight, but the energy requirements and steering don't enter into it since that portion is handled by the tracks. If anything Electrical teams, both at the stations and on the trains could essentially be the go-to for extremely long-distance railed land travel that needs to be done quickly. On the other hand, it would also need a LOT more people than the comparable Thermal or Kinetic methods.
Thermals in my opinion would seem to be the worst off for land travel. On a straight forward power basis, they just actually CAN'T drive a cart forward purely on their power. At the bare minimum they need things like a sail or something similar to catch generated winds and redirect it into forward motion. They always need equipment, so they've done their best to try and give themselves an advantage. Hence steam engines to convert their heat into kinetic motion. A steam rocket is actually extremely inefficient if you want to make any sort of useful distance. A proper steam engine, which would recirculate the water between one Thermal acting as a heating element and another acting as a radiator or cooling element and using the steam expansion to drive pistons and a bit of clockworks to convert the straight line motion into rotary motion... compared to the other two systems, this is a lot more complex, but it has a major benefit compared to the other two. Pure endurance. The Electrical and Kinetic land travel involve directly moving the cart/train they're pulling. By the time the ride is over, even if you're using teams with multiple mages, they are ALL going to be pretty tired. Meanwhile a two-man Thermal team running a steam engine need very little power to keep running. Especially if they're trading off between the radiation and heating. They're essentially recirculating the heat energy between the two of them, and probably at a considerably higher rate of efficiency than a comparable untended, non-magical steam engine. This makes them best used for circumstances where you regularly expect your travelers to go long distances on regular schedules. Making a Thermal powered train best used for things like long-haul freight or regularly scheduled rail service between towns.
Track laying would probably start off with Kinetics teams getting the lay of the land and dealing with any obstacles. The electricals wouldn't even be able to ride the rail until a station is built allowing for a circuit to be completed on the rails. Electricals would be a necessary part of the rail manufacturing process. If anything they would probably be heavily involved with metallurgical processes given their abilities.
Kinetics, providing push from the push dimension would pretty much be fine just dangling off the edge of a cart and providing bursts of speed. You use multiple kinetics and alternate bursts between them to keep up a continuous speed over long distances, possibly with a horse included as part of the system to let the kinetics get a break every so often. The other problem with this system is that you really can't go past a certain speed on bad roads. Go fast enough and even a single stone on the road while you have the wrong kind of wheels and BOOM. Cart's in pieces.
So it makes sense that at the higher speeds EVERYONE is using tracks. One person kinetic cart would be fine for short distances at high speeds. Multiple kinetics + horse for longer distances while still giving your riders the opportunity to rest. I'd imagine this one is good for general local hauling, especially if you're willing to go at lower speeds, your carts could also work off-track.
Electricals could actually be surfing energized rails. They'd be like living maglev trains. The tracks probably were initially an Electrical design, that got co-opted by everyone. Electrical land travel could potentially be kind of just like Electrical flight, but the energy requirements and steering don't enter into it since that portion is handled by the tracks. If anything Electrical teams, both at the stations and on the trains could essentially be the go-to for extremely long-distance railed land travel that needs to be done quickly. On the other hand, it would also need a LOT more people than the comparable Thermal or Kinetic methods.
Thermals in my opinion would seem to be the worst off for land travel. On a straight forward power basis, they just actually CAN'T drive a cart forward purely on their power. At the bare minimum they need things like a sail or something similar to catch generated winds and redirect it into forward motion. They always need equipment, so they've done their best to try and give themselves an advantage. Hence steam engines to convert their heat into kinetic motion. A steam rocket is actually extremely inefficient if you want to make any sort of useful distance. A proper steam engine, which would recirculate the water between one Thermal acting as a heating element and another acting as a radiator or cooling element and using the steam expansion to drive pistons and a bit of clockworks to convert the straight line motion into rotary motion... compared to the other two systems, this is a lot more complex, but it has a major benefit compared to the other two. Pure endurance. The Electrical and Kinetic land travel involve directly moving the cart/train they're pulling. By the time the ride is over, even if you're using teams with multiple mages, they are ALL going to be pretty tired. Meanwhile a two-man Thermal team running a steam engine need very little power to keep running. Especially if they're trading off between the radiation and heating. They're essentially recirculating the heat energy between the two of them, and probably at a considerably higher rate of efficiency than a comparable untended, non-magical steam engine. This makes them best used for circumstances where you regularly expect your travelers to go long distances on regular schedules. Making a Thermal powered train best used for things like long-haul freight or regularly scheduled rail service between towns.
Track laying would probably start off with Kinetics teams getting the lay of the land and dealing with any obstacles. The electricals wouldn't even be able to ride the rail until a station is built allowing for a circuit to be completed on the rails. Electricals would be a necessary part of the rail manufacturing process. If anything they would probably be heavily involved with metallurgical processes given their abilities.
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The wheel issue can be circumvented by using teeth'd wheels. I was planning for alternation for long distances, but a horse would be nice. The issue is...where would it go? When the Kinetics are going fast enough they would out run the horse. It have to go up on some sort of platform, which is possible, but not a great solution. Instead, how about a generator? Basically something like the higher gears of a 10 speed bike. Really hard to push, but once it reaches a certain speed it has enough torque to keep running for a while. It also means that the kinetics not pushing have a little more time to rest.
Basic timeline for roads: Kinetics use basic trails. Their method of movement kind of tears trenches through the land tuning it into an actual road. Eventually lay rock on roads for greater traction. By this point thermals have already figured out flight, so everyone one else is trying to do it too. Electricals find out their version, but it is pretty power intensive. If they had a constant power source...well they can't do that in the air, but on land? Fast travel. They begin laying rails. Once it become clear how fast it can be it catches on and spreads like wildfire. However it is very power intensive, and expensive, so it doesn't gain a full monopoly. Since they are laying road anyways, they also clean up the roads, as necessary. And when thermal-combustion engines begin happening, they are part of the process to lay rail roads.
Yeah the steam rocket was never meant for major use, it was for when it was necessary to get somewhere(relatively close) as fast as Energetically possible. It manages to outrun Rail-running because of not being locked to a specific path, and (in bursts of steam) go over major obstacles. It's less a motorcycle,and more low-level flying.
Exactly.
Also, in almost all of these situations, a potential would be on hand to extend the distances possible.
For the Kinetics, with the alternating horse idea, I was thinking something it would need to be lifted up and off the road during the time that the cart's being pushed. The other alternative for maintaining a constant speed with rest stops would actually be a fly-wheel to store kinetic energy, which the Kinetics can then pull back into themselves for their use.
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It'd just be very awkward.
That's actually what I meant by the bike thing. Granted, I didn't consider them tapping it for more energy.
If as you say potential energetics can regenerate, a high probability of the next generations being potenials exist as the mothers regenerate from childbirth to reproduce more. I don't think the percentage of normals can continue to be the majority in the population in the long run. Sooner or later, energetics would take control and the genes for energetics would spread more widely. Normals are more likely to die than energetics because of wild animal attacks, or natural disasters.
Also have you thought about the flora and fauna having energetic powers? The natural defences of the natural world might be domesticated for their energy production. Maybe an ash tree with thermal powers. Every year it uses its stored thermal energy to burn down the surrounding trees so that more of its young survives. Thermals can harvest the energy every year for smelting. Instead of wood maybe a tame salamander would be used as heat sources. Electric eels are obvious. Electricals can keep them as "batteries" drain them just before lightning bolts. For kinetics, maybe a kangaroo type creature? Because it needs to expend all the energy at once. KInetics could tame them into "pistons" harvesting each hop for energy.
Also have you thought about the flora and fauna having energetic powers? The natural defences of the natural world might be domesticated for their energy production. Maybe an ash tree with thermal powers. Every year it uses its stored thermal energy to burn down the surrounding trees so that more of its young survives. Thermals can harvest the energy every year for smelting. Instead of wood maybe a tame salamander would be used as heat sources. Electric eels are obvious. Electricals can keep them as "batteries" drain them just before lightning bolts. For kinetics, maybe a kangaroo type creature? Because it needs to expend all the energy at once. KInetics could tame them into "pistons" harvesting each hop for energy.
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Unless they are chockfull on energy, unlikely. Also, on regeneration: High-speed regeneration shortens lifespan. However, left to function passively, an Energetic have been shown to live well into the 160's.
On the other hand, Energetics are more likely to die in war, and energy accidents. Still, in general the sheer difference in lifespan means that much of the population will grow to be Energetic.
Originally I had only thought of the humans being powered, but this lets me bring in magical animals, so using this.
Trees:
-Kinetic trees are called Whip trees. They are normally pretty safe, but when it gets windy, things get...scary.
-Thermal Trees. Fire seeds. They take in energy over the summer, and when it comes time for fall send out their burning seeds, to penetrate deeply into the ground. Is almost always causes forest fires. So, These trees are almost always clipped/killed by the end of summer.
-Electrical Trees. These are the power-lines.
-Potential trees. Appear normal. Sometimes are tapped by other plants, sometimes just live until they reach their limit, and wither away.
-Nuclear trees. Once it becomes clear these trees are nuclear, the older ones re sapped by Potentials in shifts. The potentials them go to other Energetics, and have the energy converted into a usable form.
Smaller plants and animals: Basically as they are here, but attuned to a certain Energy. About an order of magnitude more dangerous, but no real difference. Have much less variation in Energy. Mostly following the area they live in. Hot=Thermal, Cold=Electrical, Barren=Kinetic, Lush=Potential, Irradiated wasteland=Nuclear.
Animals are used as power sources, but outside of specific species(Salamander, Electric Eel, Jumping Spiders,