trans_9 | Loud noises in the City [Open]

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Loud noises in the City [Open]

For the keen-eared to hear, there's shouting and loud voices coming from the lab opening cut high in the side of the Jedi Temple. Those new to the area, or possibly GLADOSed for an extended period of time -- in short, those who haven't learned to tune this sort of thing out -- might even be able to make out words, if they listened.

"No! That was not a command!"

"Command entered! This section of the laboratory is now being guarded against all intruders."

"Oh, for the sake of--"

"Warning! Intruder, leave the premises or face the wrath of arcane fury!"

"...I'm an intruder. In my own laboratory. You've got to be--"

"You have ten seconds to comply!"

"End instruction! Keyword: Sielwode."

"Keyword override is locked out for protection. You have 5 seconds!"

A few seconds passed.

"Why does it always have to end like this?"

A moment later, flame belched out of the laboratory opening, as a low thump heralded the fireball's detonation. Another moment later, the elf drifted out of the cut and to the ground, waving away the smell of brimstone and scorched defective golem with a miserable look on his face.

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"One gets sick of being repeatedly forced to fireball one's failed attempts at golem creation into ash," Aibghalien said. He paused to cough into his hand, then, once his lungs were a little clearer, he added, "It's hardly the worst I've been through, though."

"Golem creation? Is that a sort of machine?" Zouichi wasn't particularly well-versed in Earth mythology, although the word tugged vaguely at his memory. "Are you an engineer of some kind?"

"it is a construct automated by magic," Aibghalien said. "Its technological counterpart is a 'robot', if I recall the term properly. I myself am a wizard."

At least he had a vague idea of what a wizard was, though he'd never exactly encountered any magical beings back home. Zouichi wondered briefly if the man's ears had anything to do with being a wizard, although it was probably best not to ask.

Remembering his manners, he reached into his pocket, producing a small cloth and offering it to the other man. "I'm Kanoe Zouichi, by the way. I arrived recently, with the last batch of... from the pods."

Accepting the handkerchief graciously, he set it aflutter in midair long enough to deliver a razor-sharp bow. "Aibghalien Marsai. It's a pleasure to meet you... though I can't imagine the circumstances are pleasant for you."

He returned the gesture with a bow of his own.

"They aren't," Zouichi admitted, "But I suppose the conditions back home weren't spectacular anyway. If I may ask, why do you need to create a golem if you are capable of destroying buildings with magic?"

"A fully-functional golem has multiple advantages, but the most sizeable of which is simply being another combatant for our next engagement, if it proves necessary," Aibghalien said. "My magic power is functionally limited, there's only so much I can cast in one day. More strength, more power, would be to our benefit."

After a moment, he added, a little bit sheepishly, "And... well, I've never pursued that branch of magic, before. I'm trying to learn."

"I see..." said Zouichi. "Is there a reason why the ship can't simply wake up more of the people stored away in the pods, in order to lessen the strain on individuals already awake?"

And then, out of curiousity, "If you learn magic, I assume you are not born with it. Can anyone learn magic?"

"My understanding is that not all people can survive outside of the pods. For the same reason, some crew members who have been awakened are sometimes put back into one, to assure they do not die." He punctuated this with a mild shrug, to indicate his own personal lack of assurance on the subject, but as a rule he refrained from necromantic experiments.

"I am, to the best of my knowledge, the only person awake on this ship who learned magic, rather than being born with it," he said, slowly. "But anyone disciplined and intelligent enough can learn the arts of wizardry as I know them."

So it was a delicate process. He considered asking more about the particulars of storing organisms away in stasis for lengthy periods of time, wondering if it was similar to the process used on Earth, but it seemed like Aibghalien didn't know many of the specifics.

But he was interested in knowledge of this new phenomena. "Anyone? Does that include nonhumanoids and machines? What power source does your magic use?"

Those were... good questions! Aibghalien's mind started racing -- as did his voice. "I would expect that any living creature with intelligence would be capable of mastering the fundamentals of wizardry, however, biological incompatibilities might require extensive modification of the somatic components as well as physical manipulations of the material components. A creature lacking manipulatory digits or appendages might find such impossible without a complete rebuilding of the arcane fundamentals..."

He paused as his thoughts raced too far ahead, gathering them up. "As for machinery the problem there lies in the answer to your second question, the source of the power. The power source for basic wizardry as opposed to realm magic is a pervasive omnipresent manipulable energy field. However, lacking innate connections to the sorcerous, to wit the blood of an immortal, the only way possible to manipulate it is to learn to do so, which might prove impossible for a machine with defined unadjustable limits."

He lifted his head, staring off into space. "But could it be possible to design a machine with native access to the sorcerous fields, or adaptable to gain it? Could it learn magic? That is an interesting experiment indeed! Certainly magic is not limited to the living; the undead possess it in ample quantities at times!"

Zouichi wasn't familiar with most of what Aibghalien was talking about, but he did gather up some basics.

"So your magic is based on a set of assumptions, including the ability to perform a set array of physical manipulations, and a static magical field that must be accessed.

"If magic follows inherent rules just as any natural phenomenon, I cannot see why a even a nonlearning machine couldn't be designed to recreate the precise conditions required to perform a simple magical task. However, it would likely require exacting calibration and an extensive understanding of the requirements to manipulate this field."

Aibghalien immediately took a serious liking to Zouichi. Most people, by this point, would have wandered off looking for anything that involved less verbosity.

"The limitation is, I think, that in addition to the manipulation, magic -- barring constructed effects -- requires an effort of that quality of consciousness termed 'willpower'. The external forms are guidance only; it is focused exertion of one's will, or one's self, that causes magical energy to translate into effective energy."

Zouichi didn't really mind Aibghalien's speech; in fact, it was mildly comforting, since the man reminded him of some of the more inquisitive company scientists.

"In that case, I suppose there is only one main question: whether a machine could possess the 'will' required for performing magic. On Earth, it has long been debated as to whether machines could even possess intelligence.

Are you familiar with the Turing test? The idea was introduced by a scientist who considered an "intelligent" machine to be one that could fool a human being into believing it was also human. The test was passed about fifteen years later by a computer program called ELIZA, which was then criticized for being too simplistic to be considered truly intelligent.

But perhaps the 'willpower' displayed by a sufficiently advanced AI could pass a similar test, with a more tangible result: the ability to manipulate magical energy."

"I haven't heard of such a test, but to be honest, before coming to this ship I had only a year or two of interaction with machines, all of it adversarial." A classic magic-versus-technology war. Even now he suppressed his general distaste for machinery only consciously -- but he DID do it. This situation was not like the other.

"Magic, however, draws an absolute distinction between 'intelligent' and 'programmed', even given the most elaborate construction of protocols. It is entirely possibly to create an absolute and definitive intelligence with magic, temporarily or permanently, that is capable of using magic."

Zouichi blinked. "I am sorry to hear that. I should probably mention that I myself am part machine."

"So long as you have no drive to purge the magic from the land and slaughter its inhabitants after making a pact with a dark god, I think I can overlook that," Aibghalien said with a smile. But he really wasn't joking.

"I'm afraid I don't know any dark gods. In fact, I don't think magic even exists on my world. Or existed, I suppose."

"Or at least the practice of it," Aibghalien said. "It is rumored to have originated with dragons, though I prefer to believe that we elves first discovered sorcery, and that wizardry came as those who did not possess magic inherently came to imitate it. Either way, if your world had neither, it is not surprising that the art should not have been discovered."

"There was only one biological life form that developed sentience on Earth," said Zouichi, "Human beings. Although it was suggested that life might have developed on other worlds. I guess we never got far enough along to find out.

Human civilization progressed mainly through the development of technology, myself included. There were certainly many people who claimed to be able to perform magic or commune with dark gods, but nothing was ever proved conclusively one way or the other. I suppose technology was our magic."

"People tell me my history sounds like a fairy-tale, and yet, when I hear such stories, I feel the same about theirs," Aibghalien said, smiling warmly. "To think, only one intelligent sort of life... I can barely imagine it."

Zouichi nodded. "Evil pacts and purging magic from the land... I didn't have much time for fairy tales before release, but it does have a familiar ring. Perhaps it would have been better if Earth had been a little more like your world."

To that he could only shrug. "Perhaps. Certainly those who had no use of magic saw fit to destroy everything they could... but was that representative of what all people would do, in that same situation? I can't begin to guess."

"I don't admit to know what humanity would do when faced with the introduction of magic," admitted Zouichi.

"In any case, do you need any assistance reclaiming your laboratory? I can't help with any magical cleanup, but I can help clear away rubble."

"Oh no, it's fine." He actually grinned a little. "I have walls of force over every solid surface, they're completely indestructible. I expected this, honestly. That's why I'm experimenting on golems made out of flammable materials."

Loud noises in the City [Open]

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