Composite Tracking Mechanism, Composite Mana Condenser [ Revised ]

IC Item:
- Composite Tracking Mechanism

Item Class:
- Item

OOC Item:
- Control Bars

Description:
- The Composite tracking mechanism is a two part system that utilizes mana spiking to create a "scent" object to be tracked by control bars enchanted to track high condensed mana fields.

Effects:
- None

Notes:
- The CTM general tracking time limit will be a single Erinn day.
- The CTM is adversely effected by large mana sources such as moon gates, sun gates, and advanced magic.
- The CTM will pick up a vague trail over adjacent areas. For example; If I'm standing in Dunbarton and the target is in Gairech the bars will give a slight response, but possibly not enough to tell whether the target is in Cobh, Gairech or whateverthecrap the cliff area is called.
- The spikes will, obviously, not be planted without OOC permission.
- The spiked objects, pebbles, can be planted in clothing via pockets, hoods and such, ingestion, or through adhesive attachment.

Level:
- 1

IC Item:
- Composite Mana Condenser

Item Class:
- Item

OOC Item:
- Any Cylinder

Description:
- The Composite Mana Condenser is a system at utilizes a crystal of mana to spike objects. A fitted jar with the object placed inside is attached and secured to the barrel of the cylinder where the mana is then ejected into the enclosed space where it is then spiked into the object by the user.
Effects:
- None

Notes:
- The CMC can only make temporary spikes.
- The CMC will explode if the object spiked is overloaded with mana
- A spike's mana will degrade below a notable amount within an Erinn day.

Level:
- 1

HERE WE GO.

HOW do you track specific mana when ALL MANA IS THE SAME? No one's mana is a special little flower, mana is the same in everyone and every living thing and in the air, and the only real difference is the AMOUNT. It would all just blend in, really.

Soifa wrote:HERE WE GO.

HOW do you track specific mana when ALL MANA IS THE SAME? No one's mana is a special little flower, mana is the same in everyone and every living thing and in the air, and the only real difference is the AMOUNT. It would all just blend in, really.

Playing off the amount idea. When the object is spiked the idea is similar to the monocle in the way it distinguishes the amount or density of mana. The amount of mana spiked into the object would be the equivalent of a fireball at the initial spike and dissipate over time until no more of the excess mana is condensed in the object. Over time the object would become impossibly to distinguish from other mana sources and would be almost impossible to track. The bars would only be sensitive in the sense that they have distance as apposed to actual sensitivity so it will only really react to mana at a certain level or density.

How MUCH mana is being condensed, as well as how?

How do you account for people with large amounts of mana, people using magic, and other such gatherings of large mana that are between the tracking thing and the source?

While it wont ignore other magic use in the area especially ADV magic it will respond most to the highest sources like moon and sun gates. It will also respond to people with dense mana auras such as well ranking mages.

But in regards to tracking--how would it be sure what it was following? Like soi said, taking into account the differing levels of mana from people, animals, locations, magic, etc, the readings couldn't possibly be reliable.

Everything living thing produces mana at a constant rate, but as it stood with the monocle the amount of mana in, say, a fireball is still significantly more than ambient or average bodily produced mana. Of course almost all mana sources would cause a reaction, but like with the L-rods, proximity a strong source elicits a greater response. So if I'm standing near a moon gate the mana produced by that would out-shine, per say, the plants or animals around it

You cannot account for ALL the mana around, so you might not think someone ICly is throwing Blaze's around in between you and your target you want to track, but someone ICly MIGHT be there doing just that and throwing the signal off.


All in all, it seems like this would pretty much NOT work at all in the mana-saturated world.

Yeah. Referencing what Soi said, you can see mana is not actually at any fixed rate, even from living things. Casting magic would affect it. If we're being literal--using magic depletes your mana, or potions could make it stronger, and usage of magic would cause bursts that could make things go haywire. All in all, this seems largely much too faulty to work efficiently or productively at all.

Just a thought, wouldn't the method in which condensation occur be important as well? since mana is the same, we use different techniques to utilize the mana in drawing out different properties in materials (ex: icebolt and firebolt). Another thing is to consider how the tracking actually happens, and I would suggest that the condensations give off different interference patterns from the crystalized mana, and from the feedback of a mana pulse (how you would represent that, I don't know, but a cool way would be to cast the natural shield or something), you can trace the location of the mana crystal (think sonar/radar). Granted, this method would consume more mana, since it's an omni-directional pulse, rather then just being sensitive, but it would still accomplish the task, and it can also be subjected to interference as well as a method to counter it besides shaking crystals off.

other than that, this seems interesting

Would it be possible to spike the object with erg?

Erg is even harder to track than mana since erg is essentially everything.

Then back to mana. What if the bars weren't so overly sensitive? Like the way we can't hear sound above or below certain pitches. So the bars would only pick up Mana above a certain density

Edit:

I also like Yifan's "sonar" idea. Maybe the pebbles being spiked could be made to use the mana pushed into them to give a feedback signal to the bars after a pulse is sent out from the bars

Does mana even have a density?

I can only think on one method of condensing JUST mana into a solid form, and that's blaze. As soon as the source is gone, it EXPLODES, it's unstable. This makes me believe mana has to be CONSTANTLY manipulated to be able to condense and use like this, and that doesn't happen with pebbles.

And also, can you explain in detail this "spiking" because from my knowledge, you can't really spike something unless you were to hit it with blaze, since mana is constantly coming and going. So spiking something kinda sorta doesn't exist, let alone spiking something with a force such as mana. Yes we can use magic and stuff, but we can't put magic onto an object without remaining near it to keep the magic working. If that makes any sense?

Soifa: I was under the impression that both Icebolt and Ice Spear involved cooling and condensing mana into a solid mass. The peddle is simply the "package" just a vessel to hold the mana.

Glacia: Spiking is just condensing and pushing mana into an object with mana in an instant. It requires the mana be trapped near the object in an enclosed space.

I also like Yifan's "sonar" idea. Maybe the objects being spiked could be made to use the mana pushed into them to give a feedback signal back to the bars after a pulse is sent out from the bars

"Icebolt is an offensive spell with ice properties. It uses mana to focus the moisture in the air into one point, rapidly freezing it. The ice shards created through instant freezing are then successively fired at the enemy. Frozen ice shards are as sharp as a well-sharpened blade, and the chill that penetrates into the opponent through the wounds inflicts great pain."

Ice Bolt Skill: Description.

"This would be more efficient compared to freezing over an entire region, and it will save a significant amount of mana because it simply gathers the humidity around you, freezing it into chunks of ice. This method is easily accessible anywhere, and it doesn't use a lot of mana. These slow evolutions and development led to the discovery of Icebolt magic. "

Icebolt Spell: Origin and Training: Discovering Icebolt, 2.


"The Ice Spear skill uses MP to gather water particles in the air and turn them into a spear shaped block of ice. The ice spear is created above the targeted object to take advantage of its weight and acceleration by gravity. Ice spear has greater piercing power compared to ice bolt, and therefore can incur damage over enemies in the surrounding area."

Ice Spear Skill: Description

"During this process, the moisture in the air rapidly freezes, turning it into ice, but on the surface of the ice forms a thin layer of condensation, caused by the hot air surrounding it. Heat is quickly released because of this thin layer of condensation, causing the freezing to rapidly speed up."

The Book of Ice Spear:The Origin of Ice Spear, 2.

-Mana itself, is not condensed.
-Also, how would make the bars pick up a certain frequency, turn and adjust to them? You will need some sort of receiver.
-Not to mention, in order for something to pick it up it must be giving frequencies on the Mega Herts level...
-And while I know you aren't expected to know/calculate how many herts it'll give, you will need A LOT.
-One final thing, Herts is a form of energy, meaning mana would be converted into herts, so in order to give off such a powerful signal, you will need A LOT of mana that will eventually waste. So there is that power issue.

My suggestion is to do something more technology based. Radios were made very early on, and might be possible in Mabi. Though, such compact technology, as a small tracking bug may not be possible.

These are just my opinions, they have no official standing anywhere in RPS.


Edit: In addition to spiking, the process already exist. It's called Mana Crystallization, and the problem is that it doesn't emit any frequencies or seem to have any properties that will allow it to.

From what Xeek said the condenser boils down to a mana crystallizer though it doesn't crystallize the mana entirely so it degrades over time.

I think I'm just going to give up on this for now