[x] The God Equation
The God Equation
- Thread starter billymorph
- Start date
- Sci-Fi Fantasy
- Location
- UK
They're two sides to the same coin. One is doing more with less, the other is doing more with more.
- Location
- UK
Vote Closed!
And it's a strong consensus around The God Equation. More stuff is always an appeal it seems, and I think I might have a new title for the thread if it's not a faux pas to change it.
And it's a strong consensus around The God Equation. More stuff is always an appeal it seems, and I think I might have a new title for the thread if it's not a faux pas to change it.
1463/1465
- Location
- UK
Act 1: The God Equation
The Alaworth Hall was the largest and finest in the Zephyr League. A building of fluted marble and wide windows it was a sun-trap on the best of days and indescribably draughty on the worst. Still, it was a spectacular sight to behold, and in a way the uncomfortable seats and the off-putting portraits of severe looking old men only added to the prestige for those invited. And there were a great many invited. The Grand Conclave was not the be all and end all event of the League as it was in the old days. Once backroom dealings and whispered conversations at the Conclave had set the course of the League for the year. Now such dealings were conducted year round at the parliament building down the road.
While the Conclave stood diminished, it was still the pre-eminent event of the calendar for those dedicated to the mastery of science and magic. Blood had been spilled on more than one occasion to claim the coveted keynote address and a good performance on stage could catapult a young researcher's from dreary lab assistant to a superstar. In the hundred and thirty-fourth Grand Conclave, however, all anticipation had been reserved for the third address, and the preceding demonstration—an interesting but not particularly innovative discourse on the persistence of descending show showers—ended with merely a spattering of polite applause.
Professor Jarvot lingered a long time behind the curtain, letting the anticipation build. He was not an impressive specimen. An old, red Sined he possessed the temper of his colour and the bow-legged stance of his advancing years. The last few days had been an exhausting whirlwind, and he feared he'd forgotten half of his speech. There was only so much time he could delay the inevitable, however, and when utterly convinced that everything was set up on the broad table that concealed a rune array he tapped his forefoot twice to signal the curtain.
"Fellows," he intoned, stepping into centre stage as the whispers from the crowd began to fade. "It is my great pleasure to see you all today. It is also good that less than half of you have not snuck off to the bar already."
That earned him a polite chuckle. It was a weak joke, there were a few sitting in the aisles.
"It is a tradition to perform some kind of demonstration during these addresses, a reminder of our student days no doubt. Mine will take some time, so I will begin it now and complete it at the end of the half hour. Assistant!"
His assistant did her best to appear unharried as she passed him a bell jar.
"I'm sure you will recognise this particular experiment. A ringing bell falling to silence as the air is removed from the chamber. I will not bother you with the details of this array or its importance to our understanding absence."
With practised ease, Jarvot set the clockwork bell ringing and settled the jar in place. Soon it's annoying ring had vanished along with the air inside the glass, and Jarvot conspicuously set the pumping runes aside.
"Now, refilling the bell is a matter of just turning this tap," he continued, rapping a clawed finger against it. "But we shall not. We shall instead summon a new medium to fill the void. Today, I will fill this jar with pure hydrogen gas."
An excited murmur ran through the crowd. Jarvot turned to his assistant who, along with eleven others, stepped onto the stage. One by one they took up positions by the table. Hidden rune input points opened in the wooden frame, allowing them to link their wills to the task of filling the bell jar.
For those expecting immediate fulfilment, though, there was only disappointment. Disappointment and rather in-depth explanation as to how Professor Jarvot had constructed a rune array to bring forth substance from magic alone. If one tenth of the audience understood the technical explanation Jarvot would have been surprised. Everyone could understand the steadily rising clamour of the bell, however. It took nearly the full hour to completely fill the bell jar.
"Which brings me to the conclusion of my demonstration. As you can all tell by now the jar has been filled. By what, remains a mystery that I will now resolve. I'm sure some have already dismissed this as a trick, a broken seal, or some other form of sabotage. It is none of these. Assistant!"
Looking more than a little drained from powering the array, Jarvot's assistant leapt forward and handed him a lit taper. Jarvot held up a foreleg for silence as he gripped the bell jar's tap in one hand and the taper in the others.
"My fellow. Allow me to assure you that in this room, in this hour, we have matched the power of the gods."
He opened the tap wide. The rush of escaping gas caught the taper an in a moment was aflame. The plume of brilliant fire leapt towards the roof and the audience leapt to its feet with thunderous applause.
-----
Professor Jarvot's breakthrough, as he was so keen on pointing out in latter interviews, marked the beginning of a new age. Alas, new ages are not built on singular breakthroughs alone and it falls to the Department of Development to truly bring his vision to fruition.
The good professor also missed out a number of crucial details in his infamous address. Currently, his rune array is only capable of generating hydrogen gas and the following two years of research has done little to illuminate what the issue is preventing other forms of matter being synthesised. While atoms of increasing charge can be generated, they are all highly unstable and decay to hydrogen almost instantly. To go beyond these early experiments this is a problem that must be resolved. Electrons can also be generated by the array, but so far the ready access to free electrons has done little beyond exciting a few niche researchers, although, there is talk of turning the process towards creating some kind of electronic death ray.
The other major limiting factor at this time is the rate of synthesis. Professor Jarvot is a theoretician, not a rune smith and so his demonstration array was highly inefficient. After considerable refinement the production rate remains lacklustre. Currently, an average man performing an average amount of work can generate one kilogram of hydrogen gas per hour. While this is still technically a miracle, it limits the feasibility of matter generation in commercial or any other kind of pursuit. One proposed use, however, is to construct a still for collecting the water produced by burning off the generated hydrogen. Producing water ex nihilo, even in a two-step process, has significant applications in emergency situations and aboard long sky ships journeys.
A number of proposals have been made to the Department of Development. Please assign research priorities. We have 3 points of funding to assign. We expect to receive 3 points next year as well.
Chose Research Priorities:
[]Write in
The Alaworth Hall was the largest and finest in the Zephyr League. A building of fluted marble and wide windows it was a sun-trap on the best of days and indescribably draughty on the worst. Still, it was a spectacular sight to behold, and in a way the uncomfortable seats and the off-putting portraits of severe looking old men only added to the prestige for those invited. And there were a great many invited. The Grand Conclave was not the be all and end all event of the League as it was in the old days. Once backroom dealings and whispered conversations at the Conclave had set the course of the League for the year. Now such dealings were conducted year round at the parliament building down the road.
While the Conclave stood diminished, it was still the pre-eminent event of the calendar for those dedicated to the mastery of science and magic. Blood had been spilled on more than one occasion to claim the coveted keynote address and a good performance on stage could catapult a young researcher's from dreary lab assistant to a superstar. In the hundred and thirty-fourth Grand Conclave, however, all anticipation had been reserved for the third address, and the preceding demonstration—an interesting but not particularly innovative discourse on the persistence of descending show showers—ended with merely a spattering of polite applause.
Professor Jarvot lingered a long time behind the curtain, letting the anticipation build. He was not an impressive specimen. An old, red Sined he possessed the temper of his colour and the bow-legged stance of his advancing years. The last few days had been an exhausting whirlwind, and he feared he'd forgotten half of his speech. There was only so much time he could delay the inevitable, however, and when utterly convinced that everything was set up on the broad table that concealed a rune array he tapped his forefoot twice to signal the curtain.
"Fellows," he intoned, stepping into centre stage as the whispers from the crowd began to fade. "It is my great pleasure to see you all today. It is also good that less than half of you have not snuck off to the bar already."
That earned him a polite chuckle. It was a weak joke, there were a few sitting in the aisles.
"It is a tradition to perform some kind of demonstration during these addresses, a reminder of our student days no doubt. Mine will take some time, so I will begin it now and complete it at the end of the half hour. Assistant!"
His assistant did her best to appear unharried as she passed him a bell jar.
"I'm sure you will recognise this particular experiment. A ringing bell falling to silence as the air is removed from the chamber. I will not bother you with the details of this array or its importance to our understanding absence."
With practised ease, Jarvot set the clockwork bell ringing and settled the jar in place. Soon it's annoying ring had vanished along with the air inside the glass, and Jarvot conspicuously set the pumping runes aside.
"Now, refilling the bell is a matter of just turning this tap," he continued, rapping a clawed finger against it. "But we shall not. We shall instead summon a new medium to fill the void. Today, I will fill this jar with pure hydrogen gas."
An excited murmur ran through the crowd. Jarvot turned to his assistant who, along with eleven others, stepped onto the stage. One by one they took up positions by the table. Hidden rune input points opened in the wooden frame, allowing them to link their wills to the task of filling the bell jar.
For those expecting immediate fulfilment, though, there was only disappointment. Disappointment and rather in-depth explanation as to how Professor Jarvot had constructed a rune array to bring forth substance from magic alone. If one tenth of the audience understood the technical explanation Jarvot would have been surprised. Everyone could understand the steadily rising clamour of the bell, however. It took nearly the full hour to completely fill the bell jar.
"Which brings me to the conclusion of my demonstration. As you can all tell by now the jar has been filled. By what, remains a mystery that I will now resolve. I'm sure some have already dismissed this as a trick, a broken seal, or some other form of sabotage. It is none of these. Assistant!"
Looking more than a little drained from powering the array, Jarvot's assistant leapt forward and handed him a lit taper. Jarvot held up a foreleg for silence as he gripped the bell jar's tap in one hand and the taper in the others.
"My fellow. Allow me to assure you that in this room, in this hour, we have matched the power of the gods."
He opened the tap wide. The rush of escaping gas caught the taper an in a moment was aflame. The plume of brilliant fire leapt towards the roof and the audience leapt to its feet with thunderous applause.
-----
Professor Jarvot's breakthrough, as he was so keen on pointing out in latter interviews, marked the beginning of a new age. Alas, new ages are not built on singular breakthroughs alone and it falls to the Department of Development to truly bring his vision to fruition.
The good professor also missed out a number of crucial details in his infamous address. Currently, his rune array is only capable of generating hydrogen gas and the following two years of research has done little to illuminate what the issue is preventing other forms of matter being synthesised. While atoms of increasing charge can be generated, they are all highly unstable and decay to hydrogen almost instantly. To go beyond these early experiments this is a problem that must be resolved. Electrons can also be generated by the array, but so far the ready access to free electrons has done little beyond exciting a few niche researchers, although, there is talk of turning the process towards creating some kind of electronic death ray.
The other major limiting factor at this time is the rate of synthesis. Professor Jarvot is a theoretician, not a rune smith and so his demonstration array was highly inefficient. After considerable refinement the production rate remains lacklustre. Currently, an average man performing an average amount of work can generate one kilogram of hydrogen gas per hour. While this is still technically a miracle, it limits the feasibility of matter generation in commercial or any other kind of pursuit. One proposed use, however, is to construct a still for collecting the water produced by burning off the generated hydrogen. Producing water ex nihilo, even in a two-step process, has significant applications in emergency situations and aboard long sky ships journeys.
A number of proposals have been made to the Department of Development. Please assign research priorities. We have 3 points of funding to assign. We expect to receive 3 points next year as well.
Chose Research Priorities:
[]Write in
[X] Something useful...
-Water Generators:2
-Efficient Synthesis: 1
if we can get even a niche product to market first round I think we should. @billymorph if water generation turns out to only take 1 resource does the other roll over to Synthesis?
-Water Generators:2
-Efficient Synthesis: 1
if we can get even a niche product to market first round I think we should. @billymorph if water generation turns out to only take 1 resource does the other roll over to Synthesis?
- Location
- UK
Water generation is 2 however you cut it as the first number is current progress, it's only if there's a slash that there's a min and max target. If it had a min/max there's still no refund policy, completion is checked after you spend the points.
- Location
- Canada
[X] Something useful...
I agree that is would be helpful to have something to show our first turn.
If our monetary system runs on precious metals, now seems like a good time to start selling them to other nations and moving to something that's less likely to be generated in the future.
Efficient Synthesis + Hydrogen seems useful for rapidly adjusting a Sky-ship's lift to avoid a storm (or pirates?). Right now we have roughly 10kg lift/hour/person with a "highly inefficient" process.
I agree that is would be helpful to have something to show our first turn.
If our monetary system runs on precious metals, now seems like a good time to start selling them to other nations and moving to something that's less likely to be generated in the future.
Efficient Synthesis + Hydrogen seems useful for rapidly adjusting a Sky-ship's lift to avoid a storm (or pirates?). Right now we have roughly 10kg lift/hour/person with a "highly inefficient" process.
- Location
- UK
Fiscal policy is a bit beyond the remit of the Department of Development, but it will definitely become a concern. Currently the League is on a mixed standard of gold and silver coinage.
It's a nice durable method of producing thrust but it's somewhat limited for now as we have motion runes that do the same thing but better. A better rate of synthesis would solve most of these issues, though, you'd need a very different design of sky ship to really benefit from a lifting gasbag.
10ebbor10
DON'T PANIC
- Location
- Present
[X]Practical application
While I can see the benefit in going for water generators first, it's also kinda pointless. There's no benefit in starting to sell inefficient, crappy water generators in Year 1, to then immediatly replace them with better ones in year 2. Better synchronize and synergize the systems.
While I can see the benefit in going for water generators first, it's also kinda pointless. There's no benefit in starting to sell inefficient, crappy water generators in Year 1, to then immediatly replace them with better ones in year 2. Better synchronize and synergize the systems.
- Location
- UK
So it's a dead heat for now. I'll be closing the vote in about three hours and if it's still a tie I'll toss up between the two.
- Location
- UK
Vote is closed!
Winner:
Something useful...
-Water Generators: 2
-Efficient Synthesis: 1
Winner:
Something useful...
-Water Generators: 2
-Efficient Synthesis: 1