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Question Devise-powered Essence shield

6 years 11 months ago #1 by Mister D
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    • Reading about the storm that drained essence in The Evil That Men Do, it just occurred to me that a devise that acted as an Essence shield would be useful.

    It would have to be a devise so authors could work around the issue of technology/magic incompatibilities.

    The devises would also have to be relatively rare, in order for them not to become a Deus Ex Machina, and because the range of interests/necessary-skill-sets would be a rarer combination, but they would work as an occasional plot-device when dealing with some problems like the one described in the story.

    As even Lady Astarte doesn't have one already, then it would have to be something recently developed, possibly by someone who is helping the Atlantean League to armour up.

    Just another morning coffee thought. :D
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    6 years 11 months ago #2 by Rose Bunny
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    • Thing is, Such a device would be counter-productive for telling stories. If there were such an item, the entirety of the story could be negated by something as simple as Gateway opening a portal to the teepee for Kodiak to carry Kayda through. As once was stated in the Star Trek writer's guide, "the purpose of having shuttlecraft is to have slow(er) moving vehicles that could get lost or stranded." As far as needing essence in a story when one has been depleted, there are essence batteries in existence that work-around the need for such an item as you propose. Roulette makes use of these, as she never knows when next she'll be able to tap into essence or draw it in.
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    6 years 11 months ago #3 by Mister D
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    • Rose Bunny wrote: As once was stated in the Star Trek writer's guide, "the purpose of having shuttlecraft is to have slow(er) moving vehicles that could get lost or stranded."


    This is why i emphasised the rarity of them, so that the use of them does not become a get-out-clause, reducing the opportunity for dramatic tension.

    As far as needing essence in a story when one has been depleted, there are essence batteries in existence that work-around the need for such an item as you propose. Roulette makes use of these, as she never knows when next she'll be able to tap into essence or draw it in.


    There's also the items that Eldritch has made for the Magic Arts department. Part-way through reading the story i was wondering why they didn't go pick them up, until i read the part about failure of the heating system leaving the tunnels being well below zero degrees.
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    6 years 11 months ago #4 by Kristin Darken
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    • Keep in mind that devises are, by nature, generally unstable when used by anyone other than their creator. Yes, we've seen a number of 'usable by anyone' devises that have been reasonably stable recently. That's only because we had no interest in telling the devisors are a menace story at this time. But really, devisors get to do uncommon / unlikely / impossible things because they are breaking the rules. Literally. And that has repercussions. Devisors are NOT simply science based enchanters. that would be Gadgeteers... and the jumps through Innovation to magick using science can exist, but they are VERY VERY far off the beaten path. And for good reason. Why resort to Essence as a power supply when far less unstable/dangerous power supplies exist?
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    6 years 11 months ago #5 by Mister D
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    • Kristin Darken wrote: Keep in mind that devises are, by nature, generally unstable when used by anyone other than their creator. Yes, we've seen a number of 'usable by anyone' devises that have been reasonably stable recently. That's only because we had no interest in telling the devisors are a menace story at this time. But really, devisors get to do uncommon / unlikely / impossible things because they are breaking the rules. Literally. And that has repercussions. Devisors are NOT simply science based enchanters. that would be Gadgeteers... and the jumps through Innovation to magick using science can exist, but they are VERY VERY far off the beaten path. And for good reason. Why resort to Essence as a power supply when far less unstable/dangerous power supplies exist?


    An example being Dr.Macabre.

    Also, i wasn't thinking of something powered by essence, but more a devise that stopped essence drains affecting the user, but still let the user cast spells.
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    6 years 11 months ago #6 by Kristin Darken
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    • That would be tough because one of the 'easy' ways to create an essence drain is to create a spell that holds enough accessible (but not present at the place of its operation) essence to sustain itself in permanence (or a long time) and has a second purpose to use all available essence to 'whatever' ... create light, transmute nitrogen into argon, condense water from the air... whatever. It doesn't matter what the spell does, only that the spell itself is fueled remoteley but that is uses up all local Essence as soon as it becomes available to serve its purpose. That won't pull the Essence out of trained Mage... but remember that most mutant mages are so used to having boosted Essence draw into their well, that they don't NEED the discipline a trained mage does to draw and hold Essence in their well. Most have only enough discipline to avoid spilling off in hobgoblins. They still spill and they leak like sieves on the best of days.

    But a serious Mage, who has had to worry about whether a given ritual will use more Essence than they can hold will never be drained in that way. And actively using magick on another individual is difficult, often requiring consent
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    6 years 11 months ago - 6 years 11 months ago #7 by null0trooper
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    • There's also the classic: a copper disk magically hardened to near-infinite tensile strength set spinning at an arbitrarily high speed.

    That is, if you wanted to drain local essence.
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