[His mandible flexes on one side. It's as close to a smirk as he's really capable of, physically.]
We'll see. Survival first, though, right?
[They just need Tali here for this ultimate nerd circle.]
Travel and colonization. From what I've seen on the internet here, that's not in the cards just yet either. Your people have a whole research facility on Mars where I'm from, for example. [Not to mention the prothean archives there-]
A Mass Relay is... how do I put this. They're gateways, essentially, between star systems - a ship enters one, and they're transported to another. Almost instantly. I think the one for the Sol System is out by - what's it called. Pluto? The Charon Relay.
[He fell silent again, all the focus and attention of the Academy's brightest--and then he abruptly lit up at Garrus' elaboration, eyes all but sparkling as a wide and crooked smile came to his face.]
Wait-...wait, you're describing our teleportation system! [While he barely raised his voice in the sudden surge of excitement, Viktor was notably much more animated and intent all of a sudden.] Near-instantaneous travel from a central point to multiple designated endpoints on other continents, clear across the planet--you're describing our Hexgates on a massively wider scale.
Yours? [He straightens up for a moment, then leans forward, elbows on his knees.] You have a ground-based mass relay system? Or, something like it?
Only starships can use them, as far as I know. You have to have the systems capable of linking up, drive cores... they're all using eezo, anyway. Sorry, element zero? There's only one on a planet we know of, and that thing's a one way trip.
Yes--it was a system engineered by my partner and myself. [The leg not in the brace kicked off against the floor, Viktor wheeling with a practiced sort of chaos over to a shelf and searching through several leatherbound journals before pulling one out and wheeling right back over. Paging through it, he continued with the fervent excitement only a scientist could cultivate:] I do not know what kind of element that could be or if Runeterra even has an equivalent, but--here.
[Finding the page he wanted, Viktor scooted a little closer to show Garrus sketches of a tower and series of runic circles.]
My home has a form of magical energy that can be harnessed through crystals and the application of intricate runes--think of them as a battery and the requisite circuitry, respectively. We utilized this to engineer a form of fast travel; with this tower as the main anchor point, an airship can cross the ocean and back in a matter of seconds.
Just two of you? [Okay, they talked about flattery already but he sounds hella impressed regardless. Since he's so stupid tall, Garrus just kind of leans over to see the drawings. He can't really raise eyebrows like a human, but his mandible is doing a rapid series of flicks and taps that can only mean the same thing.]
They've got to at least be similar. Somewhat - eezo is energy, in the most basic explanation. Creates it, really. So that and your crystals... there has to be some kind of similarity there, if you could use them as batteries.
And launched a ship? Through that? How big? Any passengers, cargo?
Yes--well, obviously we did not construct it ourselves, but the concept and design were ours. My partner discovered the crystals and devised the principle of utilizing magic through machinery, and we greatly expanded on the idea together.
[Most basic principles of physics seemed to be universal constants. Mechanical, optical, thermal, he had yet to hear of a world where they were different. Maybe magic itself really was just another form of energy with its equivalents elsewhere.]
Our airships are not particularly impressive in size compared to most forms of long-range travel in this world, but either cargo or passengers could be transported all the same. The process did not change dependent on what was being carried.
Still. That's damned impressive. Usually it takes a whole team to accomplish something like this.
[Seriously - he's genuinely impressed by what he's seeing here. He'd love to see it in action.]
You don't have to compare it to anything else, I mean. You moved a transport through a ground-based relay with crystals and, what were they, runes? Did it take any more power for more cargo? Or was it always constant?
Does it? [From anyone else that question might have sounded arrogant--while Viktor was prideful to be sure, he really just seemed surprised.] I will concede it took a little time and a lot of effort to work out a functioning prototype, but it was not something particularly hard to accomplish between the pair of us.
[They are simply built different.]
The variations in energy and power are generally negligible; naturally, cargo would take a little more than passengers given the weight difference. But neither are particularly taxing on the structure or its power sources. Not more than one would expect, at least. The base function is simple enough; the tower extends deep underground, and at its base a core--an engine, in a sense--containing copious amounts of these crystals in a mechanism designed to channel and focus their power. This power is then channeled upwards through the entire structure- [tracing a line along the sketch before stopping at the tower's apex] -to be focused here, in a specific matrix built primarily upon application of the runes of stability and acceleration. The airship moves within the path of what amounts to a magical railgun, and arrives at its designated destination--one of several smaller towers which can relay back to this anchor point in turn.
[Viktor let out a breathy, embarrassed laugh, rubbing the back of his neck as his pale face flushed a light shade of pink.]
Eheheh...that really is flattering. And I am proud of what we accomplished, but the Hexgates were never more than a means to an end. Proof that Hextech had value, and a way to secure funding for what we truly aimed to achieve. We sought to use the same principle of magic-powered machinery to improve quality of life where it was truly needed. Better tools, more efficient medical devices, I even had some blueprints for air and water filters I had hoped to put into practice.
Anyone who would deny you funding after building something like that... doesn't have a brain in their head.
[He shakes his head.]
You don't have much tech where you're from? If you're needing to invent whole filters for air and water. Medicine always needs some kind of advance - half my face is proof of that.
Mm, well--sometimes things are more complicated than they need to be.
[Brushing past that with a small frown, Viktor turned his attention to the question at hand.]
Runeterra is technologically behind this world; lacking the knowledge of how to harness electricity, our power sources outside of magic are primarily things like steam, gas, and oil. My hometown is heavily polluted as a result, hence the need for filters. [He shrugged with one shoulder, a thin finger tapping the metal brace covering most of his leg.]
But I am, as they say, right there with you on the constant need of medical advancements.
[Garrus cants his head to the side, giving Viktor a level look.]
Yeah. They really are.
[He feels you dude. Red tape is the bane of his entire existence.]
Fossil fuels. Really? It's... been a damned long time since I heard of that being widespread. Filters make a lot of sense, if that's the case. [His eyes flick to the brace. He'd like to ask, but... You don't ask people Hey What Happened There.]
Mind if I ask? [That's probably a better opening. Another gesture to his face.] I mean, feel free, if you want, too.
They're more common in this world as well, but I imagine both this Earth and my Runeterra will seem highly archaic at best from your perspective. I'm afraid in that respect you're in for a terrible sense of culture shock.
[Viktor paused a little uneasily, closing the journal with the Hexgates diagrams and setting it on the workbench nearby.]
...I was born with it. A side effect of aforementioned pollution, and not wholly an uncommon one. There is no term for such conditions back home that is not unpleasant, but the modern phrasing for this specifically is 'congenital femoral anteversion'.
So far, yeah, from what I'm seeing, it definitely is. Doesn't even sound like the people here have made it past their moon, space travel wise. [The probes don't count, but the peoples' delight in the images sent back is kind of charming.]
Ah. [His mandible flicks a few times, then flattens against his jaw.] Sorry, didn't mean to overstep. [And then because Garrus can't not put his foot into it-] If it helps, it sounds a lot more scientific than "rocket to the face-itus".
If I did not want to answer, I would not have. [He kicked off against the floor again, wheeling over to the shelf to put the journal away before wheeling back again.]
...Rocket to the face-itis is definitely a better story, though.
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hexcrafter) wrote2028-01-12 07:37 pm![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
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no subject
We'll see. Survival first, though, right?
[They just need Tali here for this ultimate nerd circle.]
Travel and colonization. From what I've seen on the internet here, that's not in the cards just yet either. Your people have a whole research facility on Mars where I'm from, for example. [Not to mention the prothean archives there-]
A Mass Relay is... how do I put this. They're gateways, essentially, between star systems - a ship enters one, and they're transported to another. Almost instantly. I think the one for the Sol System is out by - what's it called. Pluto? The Charon Relay.
no subject
[He fell silent again, all the focus and attention of the Academy's brightest--and then he abruptly lit up at Garrus' elaboration, eyes all but sparkling as a wide and crooked smile came to his face.]
Wait-...wait, you're describing our teleportation system! [While he barely raised his voice in the sudden surge of excitement, Viktor was notably much more animated and intent all of a sudden.] Near-instantaneous travel from a central point to multiple designated endpoints on other continents, clear across the planet--you're describing our Hexgates on a massively wider scale.
no subject
Yours? [He straightens up for a moment, then leans forward, elbows on his knees.] You have a ground-based mass relay system? Or, something like it?
Only starships can use them, as far as I know. You have to have the systems capable of linking up, drive cores... they're all using eezo, anyway. Sorry, element zero? There's only one on a planet we know of, and that thing's a one way trip.
no subject
Yes--it was a system engineered by my partner and myself. [The leg not in the brace kicked off against the floor, Viktor wheeling with a practiced sort of chaos over to a shelf and searching through several leatherbound journals before pulling one out and wheeling right back over. Paging through it, he continued with the fervent excitement only a scientist could cultivate:] I do not know what kind of element that could be or if Runeterra even has an equivalent, but--here.
[Finding the page he wanted, Viktor scooted a little closer to show Garrus sketches of a tower and series of runic circles.]
My home has a form of magical energy that can be harnessed through crystals and the application of intricate runes--think of them as a battery and the requisite circuitry, respectively. We utilized this to engineer a form of fast travel; with this tower as the main anchor point, an airship can cross the ocean and back in a matter of seconds.
no subject
They've got to at least be similar. Somewhat - eezo is energy, in the most basic explanation. Creates it, really. So that and your crystals... there has to be some kind of similarity there, if you could use them as batteries.
And launched a ship? Through that? How big? Any passengers, cargo?
no subject
[Most basic principles of physics seemed to be universal constants. Mechanical, optical, thermal, he had yet to hear of a world where they were different. Maybe magic itself really was just another form of energy with its equivalents elsewhere.]
Our airships are not particularly impressive in size compared to most forms of long-range travel in this world, but either cargo or passengers could be transported all the same. The process did not change dependent on what was being carried.
no subject
[Seriously - he's genuinely impressed by what he's seeing here. He'd love to see it in action.]
You don't have to compare it to anything else, I mean. You moved a transport through a ground-based relay with crystals and, what were they, runes? Did it take any more power for more cargo? Or was it always constant?
no subject
[They are simply built different.]
The variations in energy and power are generally negligible; naturally, cargo would take a little more than passengers given the weight difference. But neither are particularly taxing on the structure or its power sources. Not more than one would expect, at least. The base function is simple enough; the tower extends deep underground, and at its base a core--an engine, in a sense--containing copious amounts of these crystals in a mechanism designed to channel and focus their power. This power is then channeled upwards through the entire structure- [tracing a line along the sketch before stopping at the tower's apex] -to be focused here, in a specific matrix built primarily upon application of the runes of stability and acceleration. The airship moves within the path of what amounts to a magical railgun, and arrives at its designated destination--one of several smaller towers which can relay back to this anchor point in turn.
no subject
[Two guys who built what was basically a mass relay on their own? Yeah, the Crucible Project would have been finished in a week.]
That's amazing... The tower's basically the drive core, then. And the crystals keep it online. Then you just... shoot the ship where it needs to go.
Yeah. Yeah, that's - you made a mass relay. I can't stress enough how impressive that is.
no subject
Eheheh...that really is flattering. And I am proud of what we accomplished, but the Hexgates were never more than a means to an end. Proof that Hextech had value, and a way to secure funding for what we truly aimed to achieve. We sought to use the same principle of magic-powered machinery to improve quality of life where it was truly needed. Better tools, more efficient medical devices, I even had some blueprints for air and water filters I had hoped to put into practice.
no subject
[He shakes his head.]
You don't have much tech where you're from? If you're needing to invent whole filters for air and water. Medicine always needs some kind of advance - half my face is proof of that.
no subject
[Brushing past that with a small frown, Viktor turned his attention to the question at hand.]
Runeterra is technologically behind this world; lacking the knowledge of how to harness electricity, our power sources outside of magic are primarily things like steam, gas, and oil. My hometown is heavily polluted as a result, hence the need for filters. [He shrugged with one shoulder, a thin finger tapping the metal brace covering most of his leg.]
But I am, as they say, right there with you on the constant need of medical advancements.
no subject
Yeah. They really are.
[He feels you dude. Red tape is the bane of his entire existence.]
Fossil fuels. Really? It's... been a damned long time since I heard of that being widespread. Filters make a lot of sense, if that's the case. [His eyes flick to the brace. He'd like to ask, but... You don't ask people Hey What Happened There.]
Mind if I ask? [That's probably a better opening. Another gesture to his face.] I mean, feel free, if you want, too.
no subject
They're more common in this world as well, but I imagine both this Earth and my Runeterra will seem highly archaic at best from your perspective. I'm afraid in that respect you're in for a terrible sense of culture shock.
[Viktor paused a little uneasily, closing the journal with the Hexgates diagrams and setting it on the workbench nearby.]
...I was born with it. A side effect of aforementioned pollution, and not wholly an uncommon one. There is no term for such conditions back home that is not unpleasant, but the modern phrasing for this specifically is 'congenital femoral anteversion'.
no subject
So far, yeah, from what I'm seeing, it definitely is. Doesn't even sound like the people here have made it past their moon, space travel wise. [The probes don't count, but the peoples' delight in the images sent back is kind of charming.]
Ah. [His mandible flicks a few times, then flattens against his jaw.] Sorry, didn't mean to overstep. [And then because Garrus can't not put his foot into it-] If it helps, it sounds a lot more scientific than "rocket to the face-itus".
[Oh my god shut up.]
no subject
...Rocket to the face-itis is definitely a better story, though.
no subject
[He ducks his head with a dusty sort of laugh. Mission apparently accomplished.]
Well, now it is. Kind of tells the story on its own though, I think. Needs a shorter name.