Misc notes and universe information · 4:44am Mar 14th, 2016
So, Celestia’s shield. Nice, isn’t it? If you’re being invaded by people that want to turn your home into a ball of dust through planetary bombardment, definitely.
That being said, as elaborated on elsewhere, Celestia has limits to what she can do. This is a pretty standard shield spell, blocking anything of sufficient size and anything capable of doing significant immediate harm. So, those dreadnoughts? Can’t land. Their 450kiloton mass accelerator shots? Blocked. And no amount of pummeling is going to drop that shield, because Celestia. Trying to out-power a sun is an exercise in futility.
But… there are problems. Small enough things that mean no immediate harm can get through. And since all Celestia has done is take a standard shield and scale it up...
A particle of dust runs in the microns- particles less than 40 microns cannot be seen, and particles of size 2.5microns will penetrate into the gas exchange region of the lungs, potentially causing health problems. If Celestia casts a standard, 2m diameter shield, and dust of 1 micron in size (oil smoke, some bacteria, some wood smoke, some insulations, radioactive fallout, paint pigments, typical atmospheric dust) is capable of making its way through it, then when the shield is scaled to an earth sized planet’s outer atmosphere (radius 6371km+12km to the edge of space), the the approximate volume of the object that can naturally pass through the shield is x= (π*6383000^3) / ((π*1^3) / (π*.000001^3)) = 817m^3, or a sphere with a radius of 6m (or cube of 9x9x9 meters, or 3000sq ft x 10ft). Much smaller than any standard frigate, even the Normandy SR1 (170m in length, that would mean it was 2m x 2m for the other dimensions in order to fit… so yea, don’t think so)- but plenty of room for shuttles, drop pods, etc.
Yes, this does mean that the Reapers could theoretically shoot missiles at the planet, or just drop a nuke and let it re-enter the atmosphere on its own. That being said, I have yet to see the Reapers use either nukes or missiles- they seem to live and die by their particle beams, their mass accelerators, and their lasers. Things that don’t require physical resources to reload all that often, since, you know, they go 50,000 years between reloads. That, and as long as they’re winning on the ground, they’re content to attempt to murder that stupid little thermal signature that keeps throwing miniature stars at them- or, if they make a mistake and group too closely together, an entire moon at them. And once they’re not winning on the ground… well, there isn’t much they can do other than try various ways to move the immovable object while getting picked to pieces by her sister.
On a side note; Celestia is out in the Badlands for two reasons. The first is to draw fire from any population centers; as the source of the shield, you can bet that the Reapers will be looking to take her out. The second is to prevent collateral damage while she employs her countermeasures. As you might remember from my last story, Celestia can cause significant damage around her just by accident. If she just turns off a few of her protection spells…. Well, suddenly she has a mile-diameter section of lava and superheated air that will prevent any footsoldiers from getting near her. Discord is also there for two purposes: one is to prevent any of the longer-range machines from targeting Celestia, things like Oculi or shuttlecraft that manage to withstand the heat she’s putting out long enough to get in range. The second is to contain Celestia’s collateral damage to a reasonable area by… doing what Discord does. Turning lava into cottage cheese. Putting out fires with chocolate milk rain. That kind of thing.
Indoctrination
I know some people are going to cry foul on this. Inevitable, really, because indoctrination isn’t well understood, even in universe- quoting the wiki, ‘The precise mechanics of indoctrination are poorly understood.’ So even in just the ME universe, no one knows exactly how it happens- the wiki throws out that it believes it’s some sort of electromagnetic field, or maybe ultrasound, that cause voices to start in their heads, which eventually syncs with the nervous system allowing complete control of the subject… you get the idea. And it seems to be inherent to Reapers (well, and the Leviathans too, but the same argument holds for them)- they seem to cause it just by being around, though they can control it to some extent, Saren wasn’t indoctrinated nearly as quickly as Benezia.
So, what if, in this universe, Indoctrination was literally magic of some sort? Something that even the Reapers (and Leviathans) don’t understand- you melt enough people down into sludge, and that forms some sort of critical mass that allows voices and thoughts and actions to be magically projected to those around them- or you just have some biological defense mechanism that naturally causes species around you to bow to your will. They don’t know how it works, all they know is that it does, and they use it to their advantage. Of course, then comes Equestria, and they have experience with Sombra and other mind controlling magics, and they alone in the galaxy know the medium, and so they alone are able to undo the magical changes that an individual goes through.
Bam, cure for indoctrination. Of course, just because they know the medium and the method doesn’t mean that they can necessarily block it- power is needed for everything after all, and they would need to out-power a starship constantly to continuously block the signals, something few individuals could do for long lengths of time- or that they can automatically cure it in the blink of an eye. In my head it took months of feverous research across the board, by royal decree, by all magically and medically inclined institutions, private organizations, individuals, etc. And even then it relied on extensive magical and physical scans of the pony brain, both from indoctrinated individuals and non-indoctrinated ponies. So yea. Not an instant cure-all. But better than anyone else has managed before, with some real promise.
Background of Equus
Equus is a planet that is invisible to the outside galaxy- and a planet that the outside galaxy is invisible to as well. Residing deep within a nebula, the dust and gasses turn the space outside the Oort cloud of the system into an opaque barrier- meaning that it cannot be seen into, nor can those inside see out. A closed system, isolated from the rest of the galaxy. It is only truly accessible via mass relay- otherwise, you find yourself lost in the huge cloud of dust and gasses, where no ship is truly meant to survive. Inside the Oort cloud of the system, there is a sun, a single planet with a single moon, a mass relay… and approximately three thousand miniature stars (each of which Luna has named and knows by heart).
Inside this bubble, insanity happens. The sun orbits the planet, rising and falling with insane speeds only to just as suddenly stop. The moon and stars whip around at fantastic speeds, keeping even with the sun. Stars randomly rearrange themselves. To an observer outside, if they could see in, it would not only be impossible, it would stretch the limits of sanity and likely push many overboard.
How does this happen? Magic. Celestia raises the Sun. Luna controls the Moon and stars, re-arranging them as she wishes on a nightly basis. Only the mass relay is any indication that something lies beyond their little bubble.
And by the way, can you guess what nebula their little system is in?
The Horsehead Nebula.
Let me take a wild stab and say, the horse head nebula? *looks behind the spoiler tag*
called it.
Nice I really enjoyed both stories and these little looks into your little corner of the multiverse here and in your other blog post.
It's going to the be the horse head nebula because of thrice damned horse puns ain't it?
Checks
Dammit.
Despite my comic disdain for puns, I've never actually seen the idea of hiding the system in a nebula before.
Great way to have it in our galaxy and not deal with the massive amounts of problems that easily causes.
What about things like radio waves which will pass through or around such obstructions? I suppose the system could be detected but it would just termed "uninteresting".
What about the first colonized planet?
Though, having a relay in the nebula implies that life was foreseen appearing in the system, so it is known about. I don't know much about the ME universe (I moved from console to PC after the first game and don't want to remake my characters nor use someone else's save) but I would think the Reapers would know about magic forming in the system.
Makes sense.
[Additional Applause]
You are fucking brilliant.
3807456 The story did say that the mass effect relay was recently opened. Maybe the ponies were the ones to do so? Or perhaps the ponies found a way to get past the Oort cloud without getting lost.
4415661
Ponies activated the relay
4415700 Oh. Thanks for the clarification (though really 3807456 should be seeing this as well).
Burning chocolate milk and cottage cheese, damn the smell must be atrocious.