[open] september/october catchall

[techmaturgy]

Who: Viktor and special guests and YOU
When: Post-Nocwich, through September and early October
Where: Cadens, Libertas the Horizon
What: open stuff, closed stuff, Libertas stuff, horizon visits, whatever I WANT
Warnings: the usual references to terminal illness, will list additional warnings as needed.

[open and closed starters in comments! If you want a custom starter or something specific, just hit me up. full horizon details are here for any and all wildcarding needs. For everything else, I’m on plurk at whitticus and on discord at whitticus#8139.]

Comments

[techmaturgy]

[Viktor seems to prepare himself for follow-up questions, brows furrowing just slightly before he reconfigures and confirms that yes, they're talking about televisions, now. Okay by him.]

I had someone show me the interior. Someone familiar with how they work.

[In principle he wouldn’t have been able to imagine the interior in the Horizon without some understanding of how it exists in the real world. It’s the same principle with the books he’s populated the study with—he's filled them with the content that he remembers. Perhaps some of it is inaccurate. That's the nature of a place built by the imaginations and recollections of the people who shape it.]

Otherwise, yes, I believe so. I’d be able to make my best guess, but it isn't a substitute for those who are familiar with the technology.

[ushiri]

[ He nods. There's a lot of information sharing and teaching that can be done here, so long as you have a good memory. He's gaze sweeps the room again, his tactile nature urging him to touch some of the objects of the desk, but he keeps his hands to himself and folded behind his back.

A beat, and he raises an eyebrow. He's never seen this man around the castle, and he might feel a bit sorry for him if he landed in Solvunn, given what he knows of the settlements more rural nature. ]

You... wouldn't happen to be one of the men that were advertising their business out of Cadens some weeks ago? Making weapons and other useful things? [ A beat, then he offers an introduction himself. ]

I'm Kyle. Currently living in Thorne.

[techmaturgy]

[Perhaps Viktor wouldn't blame him if he reached out and touched something--he might even allow it, if it wasn't breakable (not that it matters, in a place like this, where things can be broken down and remade with a simple thought), though he doesn't otherwise offer permission.

To his question, however, he offers a nod, and a slight correction.]

I don't make weapons. [He makes the useful things, thanks. Viktor allows blades as a concession--because monster hunting is a legitimate profession, in Cadens, and also he's fairly certain that swords won't advance the Free Cities' military.

A pause. Then:] Viktor.

[ushiri]

[ It's a sense of respect and politeness he extends in these domains. They are part of the creator, to lesser and greater degrees. He might not mind someone going through the books in his temple, picking fruits or touching the tea sets, but those things are not so unfamiliar and possibly breakable to most.

Huh. There's a slight flicker of surprise at the correction. ]

You make things like - [ he juts his chin toward the strange glowing cube, curious again. ] - arcane conduits?

[ Circling back to his original question. ] What is it for?

[techmaturgy]

[Viktor, on the other hand, considers that to be answer enough. He follows Kyle’s gesture back to the Hexcore, and he offers a nod.]

Among other things. Tools and equipment for laborers and artisans.

[Which he understands does not explain very much about the conduit in question. Viktor has complicated feelings about bringing this kind of technology into the real world, when even he isn't sure of the limits of it, but he can’t deny that the sheer possibility of it still excites him, his own personal biases nonwithstanding.]

The Hexcore is designed to fulfill any number of purposes. It channels arcane energy and executes tasks according to the configuration of runes—instructions. Not unlike a…computer, I’m told. If you’re familiar.

[ushiri]

[ He nods again. With every conversation he's reminded more and more of Nayeshi. Computers were common, he remembers using on in a library. A boxy structure with a screen - not unlike a television, and a taller 'tower'. However, it reminds him nothing of the beautiful object just outside. ]

A computer for spellcasting. [ He frowns a bit. ] Where would it source energy from?

[ The Singularity itself? He can't imagine that would go over well with the factions. ]

[techmaturgy]

Something like that, yes.

[It's more-or-less how others accustomed to more advanced technology describe it, which thrills Viktor much more than he lets on--that he could be so ahead of his time.]

Where I'm from, there is...ambient magical energy in the environment. My research partner and I discovered and stabilized a particular crystal that is able to harness this energy, and then instruct it what to do via a runic system. Not unlike the Singularity and the arcana symbols used here, I suppose.

[ushiri]

Ambient magical energy?

[ He repeats the words as a question, still frowning slightly. ]

What does it do to the environment, to remove that energy and... repurpose it? [ Use it up?

His blood, his skin, his flesh, and his tears. All that, until the world is alive...

He's not someone particularly attuned to nature, not the way he remembers John must've been. But there is always a cost to these types of magic. Even god did not create something out of nothing. ]

[techmaturgy]

Yes. That which naturally occurs.

[Viktor can tell that Kyle is either puzzled or disturbed by this--which is fine, considering the differences in magic systems between universes. He can't expect everyone to have the same experience that he did, and being a physicist certainly understands the concern. You can't exactly get something from nothing, after all.

(Maybe that had been the problem with his plants).]

We observed no ill effects on the environment. I understand that it might be different, in other worlds.

[ushiri]

[ Maybe that's true. There is much more magic in this world than exists in Basawar. But Kahlil believes in some core tenets across the many worlds, has soon enough similarities to not only be relying on blind faith -

- speaking of: ]

Could your Hexcore, possibly, open a gate between worlds?

[techmaturgy]

Well, that's the idea, isn't it?

[He says that a bit ruefully, with a tight smile that doesn't quite reach his eyes. Reversing the Summoning ritual will be a feat, but it requires time that he simply doesn't have right now. He might revisit the possibility once he manages some kind of cure for himself, but it's fallen lower on the priority list, in part because of how complex it will be.]

One of the first things my partner and I accomplished with an early version of this technology was large-scale teleportation over land. In theory, one could utilize those principles to move between universes, as well. [In theory.] It is, however, exponentially more complex.

[ushiri]

[ When he explains the teleportation technology, he gives him another curious look, and for a second seems to be considering his next words carefully. These are two very different problems to him.

Selfishly, he wonders if this man might be able to help him with the issues he's been having traveling via the Gray Space, if this work became anything more than theory, he'd also need to do something about the protective spells and wards in this world.

But there is a larger issue, and he's only just met this person. Most of the people he considers his friends don't know the extent of his abilities.

His expression turns grim. ]

There were those where I'm from who could travel from one world to another. But there was no ambient magical energy to draw from without cost, and it required an immense sacrifice to control that power. I worry that this world is more like mine than yours, even with your device's help.

[ The key itself required the death of a god.

Another pause. ]

Teleporting over land - Thorne uses portals for travel from city to city, but if you're using less-than-official channels of movement, protective wards basically make it impossible to go very far. If you happen to have any ideas, theoretically, for how to bypass those, I'd be curious to hear about them.

[ Since, you know, he'd need to figure that out for his own device to make use of teleportation anyway. ]

[techmaturgy]

[Viktor is well aware that the Hexgates are a hell of a thing to casually drop into conversation, but Kyle wouldn’t be asking if he didn’t have some frame of reference for that kind of technology. In fact, he follows up fairly quickly with an example of something that sounds comparable, even if it seems to be an innate ability of mages, rather than the way he and Jayce managed to harness the power.]

Admittedly, the teleportation was at the behest of our investors.

[As in, Viktor was never really interested in revolutionizing trade for Piltover’s wealthy elite—that had just been a foot in the door, the first spell Jayce witnessed and therefore was able to reproduce. That said, he understands the concerns here. The summoning rituals conducted by the mages seem to be fairly involved, and it wouldn’t surprise Viktor if the Singularity received something in return, for the ability to draw on its power.]

Theoretically? Perhaps. [It’s not his priority, but he’d be lying if he said he hadn’t considered ways to bypass portal travel.] “Teleportation” is a term that could be used loosely. If you’re moving quickly enough, such that your travel is instantaneous, is that functionally the same as travel through a tear in space? A portal?

[ushiri]

[ He considers the question. ]

My way is not instantaneous. It's more... a folding of space that I can navigate. It shortens the travel time immensely. I can show you here in Horizon - I think.

[ He's never tried to show someone else before - not the inside of the Gray Space. Theoretically he might be able to actually give someone else a look into that space.

He flicks his wrist, and what looks like a tear in reality appears there some feet away from them - the same way he would do in the real world. He splits his forefinger and thumb farther apart and the tear widens horizontally.

What Viktor sees if he looks at the inside the tear: the same view of his study, but in a strange greyscale. The darkest objects are anything metal, they turn almost black inside this space. There's something else if he looks closely enough, strange refractions in the air, as if there are hard and sharp edges.

From the outside he'll feel cold air coming out of the tear. It smells sterile.

A place between time and space.

As soon as the tear is open wide enough to see all this, though, Kahlil will hold his arm out in front of Viktor. Just in case he attempts to move closer to it. ]

I don't know what it will do to someone who attempts to go inside. There's a chance it will still rip you apart, even in Horizon.

[techmaturgy]

A folding. Interesting.

[Viktor is a theoretically physicist, in addition to being an inventor—-so the concept of literally folding space in order to shorten the distance between two points makes perfect sense. Seeing it, however, is appreciated, and he takes a step back so that Kyle can more effectively demonstrate. Once it seems safe, however, he’s quick to peer in.

His eyebrows furrow. There’s something otherworldly about it, that’s certain, though he cannot deny that the strange reflection of his own space gives him a moment of pause. He’s not necessarily afraid of being ripped apart within the Horizon—surely his own force of will could mitigate that, at least in some way, but he won’t go any further unless Kyle considers it safe.

He doesn’t seem to. That in itself is interesting.]

But you can travel through it, unharmed?

[ushiri]

[ After a moment he lowers his arm, allowing him a better look now that he has the warning. He shouldn't be able to hold the tear open like for so long this in realspace without significantly more effort, but Horizon is powered by will so - ]

For the most part. Nothing in there is totally solid, there are ways to push through any material. With enough momentum and nothing blocking my way, I could probably travel from the northern-most point of the continent to the southern-most in a couple of hours. [ He shakes his head, then steps closer, pointing at one of those floating, sharp refractions in front of the opposite wall. ]

But in places where the texture is more like that - I can't do much without getting stuck. [ Or worse. He makes a face. ] They occur naturally sometimes, but they're concentrated anywhere that has wards or protective spells.

[ In a worst case scenario, he thinks he could make it to Thorne's border. Probably barely clinging to life, but, well, worst case scenario. ]

[techmaturgy]

[Viktor ventures a step closer and bends at the waist, peering inside more fully. It's tempting, of course, to step in, but he'll defer to Kyle in these matters, even if they are in the Horizon. If he's not explicitly invited to explore it, he'll simply observe for now.]

I understand. [Very powerful, but not without its limitations, and Viktor can easily see why such an ability might be a problem here, when travel by portal (or even leaving Thorne castle entirely) is so restricted.] And you're looking for a way to reproduce this here?