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The Ley Catalyst; Cogwheel & Spellbound
Topic Started: Jul 26 2014, 02:10 AM (204 Views)
Spellbound
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Travelling Scholar & Enchanter
[ *  *  * ]
(This thread takes place after The Criticality Accident, located here.)

Spellbound's latest project had caused the need for an aloof place to work at. His last magical fluke had sent him and his landlord to a land distant and unknown and he knew he couldn't continue his work in Full Circle's basement. It wasn't inherently dangerous work, but there were too many unknowns to say that it was completely safe. Spellbound had moved to Canterlot for his latest project, renting out a small warehouse as far away from the main city as he could he had set up his workshop. He used the libraries in Canterlot (and whatever scholars that he could) as resources for his theoretical ideas to help hash out his concept. Hiring a mechanical friend of his, Spellbound and Cogwheel had drafted the initial designs for his project. Silver Colt had been hired to provide the materials, though the order wouldn't be anything too out of the ordinary for Spellbound's commissions.

One of the more barren warehouses had been cleared of its contents. There were lighting crystals had been placed around the area had the room was thoroughly clean. Desks with various research papers surrounded the center of the room. In the middle sat a peculiar assembly of machinery. The parts on the machine had the occasional etching and dozens of magical crystals of different colors laid in the mix. The parts could be discerned as the many unfinished parts to a machine.

Two ponies sat in the middle of the room, one a unicorn and one a pegasus. Between them lied several blueprint designs for the machine before them. Spellbound was looking at the design with a perplexed expression. He had hired his mechanically-inclined friend, Cogwheel, to help design the machine. He had stated how it was supposed to work magically and Cogwheel's mechanical designs took care of the execution. "Well in theory that should generate the containment field we need, should we need it. I mean, it's interesting how you have it. The arcane energy injectors should all work correctly, they did last time. I'm just concerned about the crystal's retention capacity." he explained. His words didn't exactly express concern with Cogwheel's design, but he was curious if Cogwheel was confident about it.
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Cogwheel
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[ *  *  * ]
Cog looked over the blueprints once again. He wanted to be sure that he had gotten everything right. This was supposed to be a precision machine, which meant that inaccuracies were intolerable! "Well, I'm no expert on magic. But if it's capacity you're worried about, maybe you could find a higher quality crystal? I mean, if that's in your budget."

He looked over the design again. "You know, now that I think about it, you could probably put in a shut-off switch by the injectors so you don't run over capacity on your crystal." With a shut-off switch, it would be easy to turn the machine off and stop the flow of magic before the crystal was overloaded. Then it was just a matter of figuring out the proper amount of arcane magic to pump into their crystal.

"This really isn't like anything I've ever worked with before. Magic is way different from mechanics and physics."
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Spellbound
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Travelling Scholar & Enchanter
[ *  *  * ]
Spellbound scratched at his chin. It took him a moment, but he soon realized that Cogwheel's concerns were only about Spellbound's confidence. He knew that he'd have to trust Cogwheel's design the concept, which was hard for Spellbound to do. 'Yet I would not have employed him if I did not trust his skill.' he thought, looking at Cogwheel silently for a moment. Looking back at the blueprints he nodded. "We should not modify the design, this will certainly do. If the power must be cut to the catalyst crystal, we can simply flip the switch to the rotor. The crystals will not add magic if not applying it evenly." he explained.

Spellbound looked up at the parts and felt a pang of anxiety. "I... am not as mechanically inclined as you, Cogwheel. I'll assist in the construction as best I can, though I may just repeat your actions." he said with a nervous chuckle. "If you've any questions on the arcane components I will be more than forthcoming with answers." he stated. The machine itself would work, he knew that from before. He just hoped that this time it was enough to contain the reaction. This time the magical energies would all be mixed into the crystal itself, rather than created first and then added. This, Spellbound knew, was the danger. 'The things I do for science...' he pouted in his mind.
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Cogwheel
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[ *  *  * ]
Cog nodded. If that was it, then they might as well get started. "Lets put this contraption together then!" He said enthusiastically, grabbing a large piece of metal and heaving it up. He started fitting various parts together, securing them with heavy duty screws and bolts. He had a welding torch on standby for the pieces that needed to be a bit more secure.

"So, why the interest in Ley-lines? I thought they said that it was basically pointless to try and study them because of the danger and unpredictability or somesuch?"
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Spellbound
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Travelling Scholar & Enchanter
[ *  *  * ]
"Bekkuzth derr va zekret ta mmjical perdukchon." Spellbound tried to explain. He spat out a few screws he had held in his mouth so he could speak once more. He had taken to assembling the smaller pieces of the machine according to the blueprints he had. "Well that's just the issue with Ley lines is how little we know on the subject. The principles of science involve applying logic and reasoning to your thought based on observations. Starting with the simplest of observations; the Ley lines exist. Why? Well we lack the capability to answer that just yet. So we must seek additional information. The Ley lines are powerful, magical entities that are far too dangerous to perform experimentation upon. So we must observe it from safe distances. I myself made an excursion to see a Ley line and I could recognize a few interesting effects.

"The Ley lines were producing magical spells, almost at a constant. The magical spells appeared as though they were being cast by fillies or novice magicians; unrefined, lacking control. Now what would cause this? I reserve a few other theories, but the most probable is that the Ley lines are raw magic, so condensed that it produces spells. With this concept in mind, it could mean that the slightest imbalance of arcane energies of Ley produce spells, relevant to the highest imbalanced attribute and ejects the excess energy. So I wondered, if I couldn't touch the Ley lines themselves, could I create Ley itself to test? And with that my last design of this machination of arcane science successfully produced Ley by pumping in the various types of arcane energy. I could not contain it, however, and managed to generate one of the random spells which, as unrefined and powerful as it was, had some... negative effects." he explained.

He stopped in his mind as he thought of the annoying and interesting recent journey to somewhere remote, thanks to his Ley-producing machine. He then focused on his work again.
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Cogwheel
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[ *  *  * ]
Cogwheel was starting to understand one of the many reasons he decided to go into engineering and not scientific study. He could work pretty well on what he already knew. Scientific study was difficult to understand. Most of it seemed to him like wild speculation, but hey, it came up with some interesting things sometimes.

But maybe he needed to start looking at it differently. After all, "a" makes "b" do "c" was a pretty universal concept that could be applied to nearly everything. "So, you're hoping to harness the Ley as a way to create spells?" That would provide a number of beneficial uses. Basically anyone would be able to use magic if this were pulled off.

"Alright, say you manage to harness the pure Ley energy. How do you plan on testing it?" He asked this as he finished putting together one of the larger pieces and started grabbing for the welding torch.
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Spellbound
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Travelling Scholar & Enchanter
[ *  *  * ]
Spellbound had managed to find one of the less mechanically daunting tasks of putting together the assemblies that were the most repetitive. Currently this included the housing units for the different magic crystals. "Ah, therein lies another obstacle in the path of this project! How do you measure magic? If I'm to test the power of magic, I would require a universal method. Rather, how do you compare electrical magic to that of incendiary? Electrical magic can be measured easily by converting the power to watts. For incendiary you might rate it in BTU's. Concepts for measurement of the various magics exist already, for example utilizing joules is a common method for me to measure my arcane engineering designs. But I currently lack the ability to convert magics from one type to another without excessive loss. Unless a magical method of conversion exists then measuring it is almost a moot point.

"I can detect magical auras with specialized equipment, sure, but only for specific arcane powers. The injection into the Ley maker is one of the harder practical issues with the machine. At what rate am I injecting the magics? They must be inserted at near-equal speeds. I believe luck and a quick reaction was on my side last time, but how do I know if I'm injecting more electricity than freezing magic, compared to aerial magics? This design features injection not at a set amount but rather a set rate to fix the flaw of the last design. Now with some self-sustained Ley to perform experimentation upon safely, I should be able to devise a method to measure the magic.

"Oh, and for further understanding of the projected use of the machine, it would only create spells insomuch as to generate the energy required for them. Hopefully in a contained manner." he explained. His long-winded explanations were the result of anypony daring to uncork his ideas on the arcane science. He tried to explain things without jumping too far into science terminology, but he wasn't that great at it.
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Silver Colt
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Ex-M13 Leader. Down with Gangs!
[ *  *  * ]
'Y'know. . . maybe it would have been a good idea for me to ask him what the machine actually does.' Silver thought to herself as she trotted down a back-alley of Canterlot, making her way towards the finer parts of the city for a small snack before heading on home. She didn't have much to do today, and so her mind wandered to the thought of her commissioner's machine. It was rather bulky, it's design probably having some extremely valuable parts within it, and was probably capable of taking down a portion of a city block within Canterlot. Silver chuckled to herself. That was Spellbound's skill level with magically enchanting items after all, ridiculously high.

Yet, one thing stuck in her mind ever since she had delivered the parts and assembled them for him. There. Was. No. Way. For. It. To. Move. It was just a giant machine, stuck in the middle of a warehouse, with no way for it to move. The realization struck her as she was about to exit the backalleys, and she facehoofed immediately. "UUUUGHHH! Stupid design flaws!" She exclaimed and suddenly rushed back into the alleyways. She had seen some spare parts lying around, and immediately sought to grab them all and bring them to Spell as quickly as possible.


Silver burst into the warehouse, not saying anything as she sped past the two, her mind racing as she ran towards the machine. "SPARE PARTS! UPGRADE! TIME!" She exclaimed mid hammer-strike on some of the makeshift parts she had grabbed. In the end, Silver had managed to forge together, within ten minutes, a makeshift movable platform, and even somehow set the machine on top of it. She slumped down besides it, putting it in park with a wooden block. It... was probably not the best idea to have a cup of coffee ten minutes before finding the parts.
Always keep this hammer close, and let it be your tool of creation. -Her previous Blacksmith Master's last request of her.



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Cogwheel
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[ *  *  * ]
A meter for measuring magic. Cog would have thought such a thing already existed. Just went to show how much he knew about the subject. His next question would have been "How do you go about creating a spell in the first place?" Would have been... If not for Silver suddenly bursting into the warehouse and scaring the living daylights out of him.

And then she started making some kind of other contraption. And just as he was making an important weld, suddenly the thing was moving! So now Cog was chasing after Silver with a gas blowtorch and a hot welding rod, trying to convince her to "HOLD ON A DAMN SECOND!" All to no avail until Silver finally accomplished her task of moving the machine onto her hastily created platform.

When the chaos was finally over, he sat down finally taking a moment to say. "Good afternoon to you too, Silver." With a deadpan expression on his face.
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Spellbound
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Travelling Scholar & Enchanter
[ *  *  * ]
Spellbound had continued his work, too focused on his task to pay any further attention to the world around him. He was lost in thought, trying to envision just how he would have to employ the power of the various magical crystals and have them utilized evenly. The holding assemblies before him made sense, but he was busy making sure each of the pieces had been placed properly and that the screws were all tight. Done with his current set of projects he turned around to help with the next task, only to find something unexpected.

Cogwheel was flying nearby Silver Colt, his trusted metallurgist. He was no more confused by her appearance than the odd platform she had constructed. He eyed it curiously, unsure of its intention. He wondered if it was intended to move the entire production mechanism or just the end product itself. Still, he assumed this meant no extra charge on his part and he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. "Hello again Miss Silver Colt. Back so soon?" he asked. He then turned to Cogwheel. "I've finished the crystal sub-assemblies. What next can I assist with?" he asked Cogwheel. Sure, it was their design, but building it was Cogwheel's area of expertise.
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Cogwheel
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[ *  *  * ]
Cog was snapped back to reality when Spell asked when was next. "Oh! Right, we need to put the holding assemblies onto the mounts!" He said, picking up one of the said assemblies and fitting it onto one of the mounting bars. "Like this, and then it gets screwed in here and here." He pointed to two small holes that would hold the screws.

The contraption of science was nearly complete. He just needed to finish a few key welds and then Spell could place the crystals where they needed to be.
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Spellbound
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Travelling Scholar & Enchanter
[ *  *  * ]
Spellbound levitated the holding assemblies, focusing his levitation to hold each in place for Cogwheel. With even greater focusing, he lifted the screws that Cogwheel would need to install next to him. He wasn't about to attempt to make the fixture himself, but he could certainly help Cogwheel do so. Spellbound felt a glint of crazy pride arise in him as he saw the machine start to take form.
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Cogwheel
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[ *  *  * ]
Cog screwed in the assemblies and then took his torch to weld the last few pieces to the main assembly. And finally, their creation was finished. "And that'll do it!" He said, cutting of the gas to the torch and tucking away a half-used welding rod. Looking at it now, it was still hard to believe that it started on paper. This would likely be a huge part of an important discovery.

"Welds are all solid, measurements are good. I think it's time for your crystals, Spell."
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Spellbound
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Travelling Scholar & Enchanter
[ *  *  * ]
With Cogwheel's installation of the pieces Spellbound released his magic and took a step back and released his magic. He felt a giddy excitement, eager to attempt to just give his device a preemptive spin. He quickly suppressed the feeling and levitated the various charged magic crystals he had and inserted them into the appropriate slots. Then a very bright crystal was housed at the very top of the machine, which would power the rotor and mechanical components. He then moved onto bringing in a final piece, being a large, reinforced hollow crystal with a special mounting case that surrounded it. He carefully set the reinforced hollow crystal in the bottom of the machine. "And we have progress! What steps remain, Mister Cogwheel?" he asked.
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Cogwheel
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[ *  *  * ]
Cog looked at the blueprints again just to make sure that there wasn't anything awry. As soon as he was sure everything was good, he looked to a small switch on the side of the machine. He took his hoof and flipped the switch to the upward position and watched the mechanisms spring to life, the crystals now rotating around the centre.

"That."
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