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#1 Ash

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Posted 19 November 2011 - 02:07 PM

Magite (medʒajt, 'may-jite'), the 'green rock applied phlebotinum' that makes this world tick.

An essential power source for many of the world's technologies and infrastructure, the actual composition and acquisition of magite is deceptively straightforward; one takes a quartz crystal and infuses it with magical energy, and one gets magite. From the moment the crystal is infused, it begins to bleed the energy back out in the form of a harmless background radiation. Magite is, therefore, warm to the touch.

The purity of the quartz is important, but not to the power of the magite; merely to how well it holds its charge. A flawed quartz crystal and a flawless piece of equal size can both store the same amount of magical energy; a flawless piece will bleed much slower, and is consequently both cooler to the touch and more efficient. It lasts much longer before it needs to be recharged by a mage. Any mage can charge magite, provided their gift enables them to project magical energy. The more powerful the mage's ability to project or cast energy, the faster it can be charged. If the gift is such that it has only affected appearance (such as greenmen), or their abilities are passive (such as seers), they cannot charge magite.

Magite itself has no direct properties; a crystal that is situated atop a mage's staff can equally be removed from the staff and placed into a magite-powered engine and produce the same effect as a crystal created bespoke for that engine. The amount of energy a crystal can hold is, of course, directly proportional to its size. A large enough chunk of magite can power almost anything for a long period. While small, easily-produced and refined pieces may be used to heat homes, needing charging once a week or so, a series of colossal crystals which are refined such that any minuscule imperfection has been completely removed may be used as a power station, providing light and power to thousands of homes without the need to be recharged for several months (being swapped on an overlapped rotation to provide constant power). Smaller, though no less refined, crystals power ships and skyships, and depending on the activity of the ships may not need recharging for several years.

As well as powering all manner of technology ranging from mobile communication devices (using a magic signal to send the message), magite itself can be used to enhance magical abilities, though this requires much training and effort. With the right application of willpower, a mage may produce an effect of greater power and magnitude than that which they would ordinarily be able to. This, naturally, saps the charge from the magite crystal, though naturally the mage could undoubtedly charge it back up again when time permits.

#2 Vortigern

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Posted 19 November 2011 - 04:49 PM

Feel free to delete this post, but a thought has just occurred to me reading this and I can't remember if I brought it up before: how difficult is it for a mage to create magite? Because if one crystal can heat a home for a week before needing recharging, that suggests there is a handy mechanism by which to recharge it. Is that, like, the local wizard? Or is there a magite power grid in place in parts of the world? How much energy does it take out of the mage to recharge it? That is, assuming it can't just run off background magical radiation or be left in the right place or something.
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#3 Ash

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Posted 19 November 2011 - 09:13 PM

No, it can't run off magical background radiation, but it doesn't require any special effort from a 'casting' mage to charge. Essentially, magite is a very powerful never-weakening equivalent of lithium rechargeable batteries. Except instead of mains power, which you can get from anywhere, you use mages who just channel magical essence into it. It isn't difficult for them, in the same way physical exertion isn't exactly 'difficult' for you and me; we can do it, but we might need a few moments to recover when we're done. And similarly, a very powerful mage will find it easier to charge a crystal than a weaker one, much as a very fit person finds exercise easier than Blobby Fatso. Usually you'll find teams of mages will combine their power to charge up bigger, more flawless crystals, and it's easy money for them in economies where they can get paid for their trouble.

Any quartz crystal (and quartz is one of the most abundant substances on planet Earth) can be used as magite. Generally what'd happen is that to prevent any outages a person would have several, which they'll recharge, or have recharged for a nominal fee, in rotation. Yes, there are power grids - the majority of major cities are thoroughly powered, although private single homes tend to be self-sufficient. Industry, communications and more infrastructural stuff runs off the grid, as do blocks of flats or 'poor' residences, who can't necessarily afford the charging fees. Administratively, getting billed power from the grid is cheaper to larger organisations than getting a set of crystals charged (because big organisations require more refined crystals, which can cost a fortune), but for private residences after the initial cost of a set of home-heating crystals (which are pretty easily obtainable, but cost money to get charged unless you're a mage yourself), the cost to charge is quite minimal. It's one of those things; a worthwhile investment if you can afford it. Sort of like owning your own house instead of renting it.




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