Separation of Draignean Canon and Butcher Canon, via Clarification Cannon
So, I didn't actually expect as many people to have read the books that form the basis of this game's background, and I certainly didn't expect as many people to start reading them and suddenly gain a much fresher knowledge of the source material. The purpose of this clarification update is to address the way in which things have changed, and to elucidate a bit of the meta-physics going on in the background.
Major Differences
Power Generation and UseThe BooksIn the books, core crystals take centuries to grow, a century of use to mature, and basically spontaneously generate electrical energy forever via a series "complex pathways needed to route aetheric energy into a rising surplus, converting it into bottled lightning". Now, since lumin crystals (from the books) are described as only getting charged when created, and no one except a bloody wizard can charge them again, it's reasonably safe to assume that core crystals are also charged at creation- and are capable of running for at least four-thousand years while actually strengthening over time.
tl;dr: In the books, a core crystal is a solid state generator with effectively infinite potential.
Webbing, in the books, is charged by the core crystal and then 'catches' aetheric energy in order to pull the ship in a particular direction. This effect is what provides the bulk of a ship's thrust.
Trim and Lift crystals function (I believe) identically to the ones I describe, though mine are more powerful in order to give them the role of primary thrust instead of maneuvering only.
In short, the core powers everything spontaneously, webbing is basically sail for aetheric energy, and trim crystals are weaker but of the same function.
This GameNow, in this setting, a core crystal by itself is a large and inert chunk of rock. It requires a constant aether charge to keep working, and it works through it quickly. Aetheric energy is conducting into the crystal, the crystal converts aetheric energy into electricity. From there the electricity is routed literally everywhere except to the webbing.
The webbing, in turn, acts as an aetheric energy catch as before, except instead of simply catching it and holding, it's capable of channeling it into a defined flow. This flow can then be routed through a cable of silk and into a core crystal, which can absorb the energy and convert it into electricity.
Without webbing to provide thrust, trim crystals get a bit of a buff so that are no longer just used for secondary maneuvering, but are also the primary providers of acceleration to a current ship.
In short, power flows in through the web from the aether, charges the core, and the core provides energy to the rest of the ship.
Clarification on AetherSo, aether is not terribly well defined in the source material. It's basically a thing that can be shot at people, is used for lights, can be altered by certain crystals, sometimes manipulated by wizards, and turns light into crazy juice. Considering how young your empires are in some ways, a lot of the science is still up to you, but I feel that a few clarifications need to be made about how certain, current, technologies work.
Aether ItselfAetheric energy is omnipresent. In some places it is weaker, and in some places it is stronger, but there are no places where it is not. If you need to, visualize a thermal image. It is inextricably linked to something in the upper atmosphere, and can form waves, swells, and even apparently meteorological phenomena- such as happens with components of the Everstorm. Much as differing materials have varying abilities to conduct heat, there is varying aetheric conductivity and permittivity between materials. In this, it is typically the reverse of heat. Dense materials, like stone or metal, are typically quite poor at both conducting and holding aetheric energy- which is why levels are fairly low inside of spires. Open air is both an excellent conductor and a reasonable vessel for aetheric energy.
When the intensity gets high enough, all humans can sense aetheric energy, but every person registers the sense directly. Some hear it as a faint ring, others as a prickly heat, and to others its a wash of particular colors. Whatever it is, it's either a sure sign that there's a firefight going on, or that the ambient aetheric energy is reaching a dangerous level.
Aether SilkAether silk is unique in that it not only conducts aetheric energy, it attracts it in much the same way a magnet will attract iron filings, and it disperses it over time as kinetic energy. A silk shirt struck by an gauntlet will ripple and wriggle for minutes after being struck, and webbing is designed so that it strains outwards and that a ream will unfurl automatically when exposed to aetheric energy. This action only occurs after the silk has reached a critical balance point of contained energy, which is why new webbing has to be allowed to unfurl fully before being connected back to the core.
If charged faster than it can disperse energy, aether silk will begin to char and will eventually explode into flames. This effect occurs rapidly when struck with high-energy blasts of aether, such as those generated by a gauntlet, and turns the silk into worthless ash.
When connected to a material capable of absorbing aetheric energy, such as a core crystal, webbing will rapidly conduct energy into the crystal. Careful moderation is often needed in order to ensure that webbing is thick enough to not burn itself out under its own collection volume, but also is spliced finely enough that it doesn't overload a core crystal by providing too intense a charge to a single point.
Because of its ability to draw and concentrate Aetheric energy, silk creates local zones of low aetheric energy, which is why it's essential that webbing be held outside a vessel, or at least in a position of airflow. Webbing connected to a core crystal without air movement will steadily deplete the area of energy, resulting in steeply diminished yields over time.
Aetheric WeaponsAetheric weapon project a very specialized bolt of aetheric energy, which is capable of interacting with the world destructively. The projectile is a spherical clump of 'hard' aether, which doesn't disperse normally, and to which can be imparted speed. This 'hard' aether projectile is massless, and its speed does not change over the course of its flight. As it is massless, its physical structure is not impeded or deformed by other physical objects. Instead, it interacts by pushing a massive aetheric charge into anything it passes through, and where the amount of energy it attempts to insert exceeds the conductivity of the material (which is basically anything), it generates immense heat. The projectile seen with the naked eye is actually a ball of plasma generated by the ball of hard aether super-exciting the air it passes through. The projectile stops when it encounters a material of sufficient density to allow it to fully discharge its energy as heat, which usually instantly converts at least part of the impact surface to plasma, generating the characteristic apparent explosion and shockwave from an aetheric projectile.
As a consequence of the above, the power of an aetheric projectile degrades with distance, and the maximum range is strongly effected by the density of the surrounding medium. Clear, high-altitude air gives excellent distance, while a torrential thunderstorm, thick clouds, or heavy snow dramatically degrade range and increase heat build-up inside the barrel.
Clarification on CrystalsAs mentioned before, crystals take decades or centuries to grow in the canon of the book. That really isn't an option here, so they're growth rate has been increased dramatically. Basically, as long as you have the resources, you can grow more. Of course, that has its own consequences. The crystals you grow are fraught with inclusions of the chemicals in the growth bath, and their structure frequently splits and goes against itself, creating structural weaknesses that would shatter the crystal under its own weight if it were allowed to grow. In short, you can do fast, but doing big isn't as easy as just leaving the crystal in the vattery for another month.
Types of CrystalsCurrently you have access to Core (transforms aetheric energy into electricity), Lift (locally inverts or enhances gravity when charged), Trim (alters personal gravity when charged), Weapon (generates directed hard aether when charged), and probably Lumin (generates light for a time) crystals. Other types are certainly possible, but require extensive engineering, and are likely to be quite ineffective in initial tests. If you want to make a crystal that acts as a pump and moves fluids along the direction of electrical current flow across its surface, that's viable- just don't expect it to be making much more than novelty fountains on the first try.
Errata
Catgirls and You!The Warriorborn are canon to the books, and I'm completely fine with having them here. However, their existence is not so much a determined certainty as it is a rumor and an urban legend. As stated before, they'll most likely come up as an opportunity when you're working on other projects to improve marines.
Speaking loosely, the modern warriorborn are the product of a set of recessive genetic triggers. You get them all activated, and the kid starts to express various alterations in metabolism, body temperature, musculature, and brain chemistry. Warriorborn are stronger, faster, and generally physically superior to vanilla humans, but lose some lateral thinking ability and gain a predilection for obsessive tendencies and a shortened lifespan.
All that being said, I am... semi-open to other kinds of warriorborn than the book canon cat-like archetype.
My cat is talking to me, and he thinks I'm uninspiring and poorly dressed.Cats, in the books, are extremely intelligent. Or at least they pull off a damn good job of appearing so. They're valued creatures for their ability to hunt and kill spire-pests, including small surface monsters trying to infiltrate air vents. Cats have their own language, which humans can learn, but the existence of such a language, and of individuals who speak it, is an urban legend in the current setting. Cat's do whatever the fuck they want, and anyone who thinks that they can talk to (much less reason with) a cat is either insane, a witch, or simple.
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Topic: Arms Race: War of the Cinder Spires (Read 26058 times)