Nov
7th
2012
In Regards to the Nature of Magic · 6:26pm Nov 7th, 2012
To any who read this missive,
I am currently conducting a study on the nature of enchantments as they pertain to crystals. Specifically, I am investigating how the physical properties of crystals, such as diamond, sapphire, quarts, and ruby, relate to their ability to hold and/or express magic.
If you are interested in assisting me in this endeavor, please message me expressing your interest in discussing what I have deduced so far. I may publish findings at a later date, but there is insufficient information to create a successfully interesting, detailed, and well-reasoned document at this time.
Best regards,
ShadowBro
Well, a quarts can hold just under a liter of magic, I suspect.
Curious; what do you need this for...?
Well.
People draw ponies. Then they draw ponies being badass. This usually involves weapons and armor of some kind, almost all of which is extremely impractical. The most impractical of these is some sort of firearm that shoots small projectiles with fire/smoke or magic. I think we can all agree that, canon levels of peacefulness aside, the sheer difficulty in getting a projectile to move that quickly is a bit of an issue.
But then I thought to myself: crystal store energy. And enchanting crystals with unicorn magic isn't impossible. Most ponies just grab a crystal and go, but why does that work? Maybe if I could found out WHY crystals work so well as magical reservoirs, I could actually make something of a viable cannon that propels projectiles with magic.
I've made several basic assumptions at this point, the most important being that Magic is really the interaction of a fundamental particle with other particles. Specifically, the Magic Particle (Mazon) is probably some sort of boson that has some sort of corresponding, neutral lepton (Maeton). The theory is that all atoms in Equestria have a nucleus made of protons and neutrons (and thus made of quarks), which are surrounded by orbitals of electrons and maetons. Observable Magic is just the excitation of atoms to elevate maetons to a higher orbital. When they drop back, they release a mazon.
The weird thing is, the WAY magic is expressed is dependent on willpower and motion. Magic is also describable as a periodic function (wave), and each spell has a unique amplitude, period, and x-displacement. Frequency controls the amount of energy in a spell, but the amplitude, period, and x-displacement control the spell's effects. Of course, this means you can do basically anything if you can get the factors down right, and this theory works stunningly well for direct effect spells.
The problem is figuring out why you can effect a crystal with a spell and have the spell still be functional many years later. Furthermore, what controls the length of time and the accuracy of expression for an enchanted gemstone? For that matter, why do such things as stone and wood, both of which are essentially inert to magic, capable of being enchanted as well? Sure, you can say that they're "special types" of stone or wood or what-have-you, but what factor makes them special?
TL;DR: I was curious as to why magic worked, and then I realized that crystal do what is essentially wacky bullshit. Now I want to know why. Wanna help?
Okay, let's take a real life example of crystals.
A crystal is a 'stone' created under immense pressure, and its molecular structure is unique to it, very few other objects have a similar structure.
At the same time, crystals are said to have a specific 'wavelength', they resonate, so to say.
It is known that molecules, or atoms, can be set to resonate as well. Such an experiment has been made, where a few Tera Byte of information was being transfered in such a way, in just a single second.
That being said, if we say that magic is atoms resonating, that must mean that magic itself has its own resonance, different depending on what spell you cast.
If we look at it in that way, it would be logical to assume that crystals are able to store some forms of magic and/or energy, simply because they too has a resonance.
Does that make sense?
637622
Yeah, I drew that conclusion as well. My question at that point is: How do they keep the energy from bleeding off? A battery has stored potential energy because the charges are separated, but in a crystal, all the energy is placed in a system that immediately wants to discharge it. At least, that's what I THINK is true. All systems want to go to equilibrium, right?
Anyway.
637821
Hmm...
I would love to say that Cartoon Logic is what's keeping the energy sealed, but that doesn't quite cut it.
You could also say that Crystals are natural storages for energy, and that is why they can contain it. Their equilibrium IS being filled with energy, as opposed to not be, and the energy has to be forced out via some sort of trigger, instead of just disappearing?
What if their resonating, isn't just something that is coincidentally a similarity to magic, but is a way of collecting energy, and as such it cannot just disappear because the resonance keeps it in?
637829
But it seems like that would imply that crystals are naturally OUT of equilibrium. Their structure is one of the most stable in the natural world. That's automatically counter-intuitive. Maybe the resonance thing allows more magic to be stored if it matches the resonant frequency of the crystal? That would imply a fixed spell nature, however, and goes against what I would intuitively believe about magic (namely that it is a subatomic particle). Maybe that's why they have sygils and runes, but the question THEN becomes: how does a shape change the nature of magic? Someone else proposed that the shape is essentially a magical imprint of your will, functioning as a fixed type of spell-manipulator, but.....
Okay, so we should figure out the following. Does:
Amplitude => +Magic
Frequency => Energy of Magic
or
Amplitude => Energy of Magic
Frequency => Nature of Spell
???
I've been working on the former option, stating that spells are really just manipulations of electrons in order to give off photons in a highly specific manner, creating field forces and the like. If the later, then we can say that magic just "can do stuff", but that seems really... hoof-wavey.
I prefer the latter.
That is what seems the most 'magic' to me. I read a way that magic works in some fic that I really like. That magic is simply tricking the world into believing something.
For instance - a forcefield.
You try to trick the world into believing, that people/ponies can't touch the table (your put a forcefield around the table). Done right, the world doesn't allow anyone to touch the table.
I do believe that a Frequency is the nature of a spell, and that the resonance could only be a way of saying that spell of X nature can be stored for longer periods of time in X crystal, whereas X nature of spell will disappear rather quickly from Y crystal.
I think the differences between us, is that I don't see magic as manipulating photons and atoms, but manipulating the world itself, shaping what is as you want it, simply through sheer will power and the ley lines of energy that courses through the fabric of the world.
637914
Ah, that is a bit of a difference here. See, I never could accept that magic changes the nature of the world for its own purposes. Oh well.
But in any case, if we take the latter, then it seems easy enough to say that, basically, a spell associated with the right crystal can store quite a bit of energy, as it's really just a matter of increasing the amplitude of a standing wave. The two waves are still separate, however, and the attempt of the spell to leave would cause the crystal to vibrate sympathetically, reinforcing the spell, which would reinforce the crystal, and on and on and on.
This is a much easier explanation than particle physics.
637964
I guess it is... Though I have to admit, You kinda lost me with the science-y stuff xD
637989
Well the way I'm thinking of it, the crystal has a physical and a magical resonant frequency. At the magical resonant frequency, the crystal's inherent magicks begin to vibrate as well, causing them to release energy. This in turn causes the spell that's been inserted to GAIN energy, which it then releases (due to entropy) back into the crystal. Constant reinforcement.
638014
So, a sort of loop?
638048
Basically, yeah.
638051
I think I get it then ^^
638054
Brilliant!
As long as you stay away from Demonic stuff......
730627
Demonic magic is... eh.
Eeeehhhhhh.......
/me doesn't wanna touch that with anything less than an adamantium, 20 foot long pole.