Kerrle on 6/11/2005 at 01:10
The argument could be made that the cable is for control, rather than power.
However, the mechanists relied on steam power and seemed unaware of any mystical transmission - you read in Soulforge that power is a serious problem outside the cathedral.
Of course, the mechanist inventions still seem to be at least partly magical to me, and they had a hand in Garrett's eye, so there may be a completely different reason it wasn't used in the case of the mechs.
Solabusca on 6/11/2005 at 08:34
Good point - the mechanist (well, Karras, really) has experience with aetheric transmission - Scouting Orbs and [spoiler]Soulforge[/spoiler] - the latter's just a giant transmitter!!
So I'd wager that the small glowballs on top of the electric lights are actually collectors in miniature, if only because it ties everything into an electrical grid.
.j.
Snakeskin on 12/10/2007 at 20:35
I hereby resurrect this interesting thread and take the risc of accusal of necromancy. :ebil:
Solabusca: so you think that the transmitters used by karras are NOT radio-wave based, but instead work by some magical-electrical force, and that this force is used in the City to transport energy as well?
jtr7 on 12/10/2007 at 21:42
The parts, as labeled in DromEd:
A Colltower N greenball
A Colltower S greenball
A Colltower E greenball
A Colltower W greenball
A Colltower middle ball
A Colltower ball glow
A Colltower N thin stream
A Colltower N thickstream
A Colltower S thin stream
A Colltower S thickstream
A Colltower E thin stream
A Colltower E thickstream
A Colltower W thin stream
A Colltower W thickstream
And with the Tesla-like coils the Hammers and Mechanists have around, there may be a prohibitively costly way to tap into the free energy. So costly that steampower and other mechanical means of energy-generation are more widely used. When you have one Collector Tower near conventional streetlamps (ignoring Dark Engine and processing limitations, now), it could suggest they are very expensive--unless they are also powering the streetlamps, but I don't think so.
One thing I haven't checked: Are the Collector Towers only found in wealthy areas? Then there is that double-tower with the quadruple-length zaparc at Shoalsgate, where the mechanists have upgraded many things.
Snakeskin on 12/10/2007 at 23:56
Why is it more costly? Otherwise i follow you.
jtr7 on 13/10/2007 at 06:44
They MAY be costly. I'm wondering why they are so rarely used (again, ignoring Dark engine or processing limitation reasons). My first attempt to theorize about a possible reason they are so rarely used, and seen within short distance of conventional lighting, is that they may be cost-prohibitive to construct. Since we don't know how they work, or what they are collecting to make light, or if the light is a a side-effect of the collection of energy, or if whatever's collected is used for more than making light, I cannot think of a better "Thief Universe" reason why they are so rare, yet.:cheeky:
Snakeskin on 13/10/2007 at 12:53
Heh well it deserves some explanation.
Many times i think of what a great help it would be in the TTLG team could join in on these discussions..
Well if we assume they collect something, as the name implies, it must somehow be magical in nature.
Is this magic elemental in origin?
I do not think it is the water-air-earth-fire elements, because they have their distinct purposes and the only one present around the towers is air and that is harvested in windmills throughout the City.
I do not think it would be the light-element, because they clearly work at night, with a total lack of natural light, also not the darkness element because the process is clearly visible and we must assume they work on the days as well.
I think it is the last element, if any. They collect some life-force from the City, which is full of living beings.
I also think this seems logical, in a macabre way, because life in the same way as electricity gives things the ablility to move, and in this case glow.
Solabusca on 13/10/2007 at 23:47
I think I prefer my own theory - I can't see the City Founders allowing for vampiric nightlights. It seems to go against Hammerite teaching.
No, I still hold to my own ideas - magic energy is aetherial in nature - there are multiple 'winds of magic' blowing through the Aether, and the Collector Towers act like solar collectors. The energy streams past the tower, and it converts said aetherial energy into electricity or into heat that powers steam engines nearby.
I've used the spontaneous generation of zombies and the Hammerite Moon Pool in RTHC to support this.
An interesting side theory - since the magical energy is being leached by the towers, do the interfere with mages in the area surrounding the towers? Do too many in an area create a 'magic-dead' zone (and thus prevent other similar technology from working?)
.j.
Snakeskin on 14/10/2007 at 00:28
Well we have more or less the same ideas then. I did not mean that they "leech" on human life force, that would be vampiric and would include the darkness element.
The aether you speak of must be accepted as canon, and i, like you, think the aether consists of all elements and a means for them to flow.
In that case, maybe we could name the "life force" element aether instead, it would have the same purpose, a mean to combine and use all elements in different proportions, one would be to allow life.
Then the aether in living beings would be bound to the being in some way, and the towers using "free" aether as power source?
In that case the towers may, as you say take power from the aether, that would be all other elements, and the creation of magic-dead zones would logically follow.
I think i start to like the aether concept. The creation of magic dead-zones is an interesting element to add to the world as well..
jtr7 on 15/10/2007 at 02:36
If it wasn't for the thick and thin particle streams, another idea I have is that the luminence could be an Aurora effect (streamers?) from the collection process. Colliding ions of the air riding magnetic lines of flux.
In a way, the towers collect more than aether, but have a secondary effect of collecting and exciting atoms of the air.
It could also be pulling energy up from the earth (not unlike the electricity that feeds a conventional streetlamp, but it's not electricity in this case), converting and emitting the energy from the four arms, which is then pulled into the center and does whatever it does besides cause a glow.
