Single Guard Seeks Thief…

[conjuredskies]

...Wait, no, not that way.

Having been absent from his post for a couple of weeks or so, Felix is once again in Legion leathers and stationed outside the heavy rune-inscribed doors that mark ‘his’ portal. He’s sitting casually atop the desk draped with its red and black Imperial banner, turning something blue-white and glimmering over in his hand. A quill? A feather? Some sort of pin?

“How is it that when you want to find a particular sort of person, they’re nowhere to be found?” he asks, pushing his hood back. “Even when normally you’d be shaking them out of your pockets.”

Comments

[onemorebounty]

I find it's usually best to leave people's souls alone whenever possible, so the hard way sounds like the more practicable in the long run.

*She frowns in thought.*

I wonder if you could set up something like the kind of long-range communication I'm used to, if I described the infrastructure needed.

[conjuredskies]

“Oh, we'd certainly never use people’s souls,” he assures her immediately, but admits the point with a shrug.

“I’m not such an expert on infrastructure. But if you mean communication systems like the phones Verity has, then it’s amazing what the Empire can create for that kind of reward.”

[onemorebounty]

Define "people."

*It is, she thinks, a point worth sticking on, at least for a moment.*

Like the phones, yes. And if your empire couldn't see the benefit in rapid, long-range communication, I'd have to lower my estimation of it considerably.

[conjuredskies]

“Any being with a black soul – that is, too large and complex to be contained in an ordinary soul gem. Roughly, at least.” He shrugs a little.

“And reliable. It’s no Green Emperor Way for the couriers out there,” he adds. “The questions wouldn’t be about the value, they’d be about the cost and speed – and the security, naturally.”

Talos help them if it fell into the wrong hands.

[onemorebounty]

I... don't know what that means. Are "black souls" associated with sentience, or...?

*Seriously, she was all set for a discussion of race, of class, of the qualities of sentience, but this mystic talk that manages to be highly specific and completely uninformative to someone without the proper background has left her stumped.*

Well, the cost might be high. Early forms of the technology involved sending small electrical impulses along hundreds of miles of copper wire, very quickly. Even wireless transmissions use a series of relay points, and need extensive infrastructure to support them. There are ways to tap into such a network, of course, and there are ways to secure a signal so that even if intercepted, the meaning is hidden. It might be possible for whoever was responsible for maintaining and administrating the network to eavesdrop on any messages sent, which could be good or bad, depending on perspective.

*Sheogorath is never going to stop ordering pizzas, is he?*

[conjuredskies]

He has the grace to look sheepish. “Er, essentially. In the context of necromancy, that’s the accepted rule for what’s… legally permissible. Any self-aware humanoid will have a black soul. The main flaw, if you ask me, is that plenty of self-aware creatures have white souls. Whether it’s fair to trap them is a matter of personal opinion. Sorry, I’m not used to discussing these things with anyone who doesn’t know them already.”

In turn he tries to imagine buried wires stretching across the length and breadth of Tamriel: it’s an astonishing image, still more if he considers the effort it would take to implement. And then manipulating the electricity, translating it into some sort of message… keeping the imps off the lines...

“Whether they’re your messages, to begin with. How big an electrical impulse would you need to cross those distances?”

Hey, you have to go mad before you can deliver to New Sheoth…

[onemorebounty]

That is a flaw. Why do sentient humanoids get the special exemption?

*The apology is accepted, or brushed away, with a brief gesture; she knew going into this line of questioning that she wouldn't know everything.*

Not too terribly much. You generally only need enough power to cover the distance, and the modulations that transmit the message can be fairly slight.

*There's a question, right there: to bury the lines, and have them more protected but have to dig them up every time there's a break somewhere, or to put them up on poles, at the extra expense of thousands of poles, vulnerable to the whims of every asshole with a ladder, a sharp object, and an indifference to electrical harm.*

[conjuredskies]

“It’s an easy line to draw, and it covers everyone that the average guard or citizen cares about. How any of them will ever meet an elemental daedra? Let alone need to consider the fate of its soul? When it comes to beings most people fear and situations they avoid… mortal law tends not to get involved.”

Quandaries indeed. Below ground, there are goblins. Above ground, there are dragons. Likely neither could resist playing with the lines. (The future has come to Tamriel when the knights have to go retrieve their wi-fi from a dragon’s hoard.)

Felix considers this and says, “It sounds better to skip the physical connections completely. I mean, if we could.”

[onemorebounty]

Mortal law determines the nature of souls?

*At least the Empire already knows how to deal with trolls.*

Reasonable. I'm going to guess your Facet's a few technological stages away from putting up satellites, but wireless line-of-sight relay towers are an option, or broadcasting. You'd need a way to power each site individually, either way.

[conjuredskies]

"It determines which to protect." He's not going to claim it's perfect, just that it works.

Enchanted banhammer, fifty points flame damage!

"We're good at finding power. What do you mean by 'broadcasting'? It sounds... like casting power with a wide spread?"

Does that banhammer also inflict a Silence effect?

[onemorebounty]

Mmh.

*Not perfect, no. But he clearly isn't thrilled with the idea, either, so there's hope--and a beachhead.*

Broadcasting refers to one mode of wireless communication--with enough power, a single transmitter can cover a hundred-mile radius or more. If you run electricity through an antenna--usually an arrangement of long, thin pieces of metal--it emits some of the more benign kinds of invisible light that I discussed with Stratos. Other antennas within range interact with the light. Modulate the current on the transmitting antenna, and the receiving antennas will resonate; connect them to something that can translate those modulations into some other form, and you have long-distance, wireless communication.

A very permanent kind.

[conjuredskies]

Gods help them all, if they're depending on Felix to make a moral stand.

He has to concentrate to follow her explanation, but follow he does - the concept of long-distance resonance used for communication is an easy one for him. "Antennae?" He smiles a little. "How do you prepare them so they'll emit the light?"

He's still thinking in terms of mystic connections: it hasn't clicked that 'gives off light' might be something ordinary metal does.

By that logic, every weapon inflicts Silence. Paralysis, too.

[onemorebounty]

*If someone as morally flexible as Felix can recognize that there might be something wrong about treating sentient beings as less-than simply because they aren't close enough to human, then there's hope for the civilization as a whole.*

Mostly it's just a matter of running the current through it. Working it into an appropriate shape can make for a more effective transmitter. Some alloys make more effective transmitters than others, too.

...Are you saying the blacksmith overcharged me?

[conjuredskies]

"That easy?" He's startled. "But... then any metal that carries a current gives off light? Any weapon enchanted with lightning, for example?"

[onemorebounty]

*That's something she hadn't considered, and raises a brow now as she does so.*

Huh. That's a good question. Naturally occurring electromagnetic noise can interrupt a signal. Is there electricity moving in these lightning weapons at all times, or only when they actually strike?

*Wheels are turning in her head.*

If enchanted weapons do give off radio waves, it could be possible to track them. Huh. Going to have to run some experiments on that.

[conjuredskies]

He nods, looking pleased: she's followed the same line of thought he had, and it's nice to make a worthwhile suggestion. See, he can too act clever.

"When they strike, I think. The enchantment stores energy in potentia, and that's what you sense when examining it. So when someone used the weapon it would light up, right? Perhaps it would even work if you cast lightning at ordinary metal."

[onemorebounty]

*She gives a thoughtful nod.*

Lightning does make some radio noise, it would make sense. Hmm, your people might have easier access to radio jamming than most.

[conjuredskies]

“That’s good. ...What does it mean?”

[onemorebounty]

A radio signal can be jammed by putting something near the transmitter or the receiver that transmits on the same wavelength, and then having it put out a great deal of noise. It would be like you and I trying to have a conversation with someone standing between us shouting nonsense.

[conjuredskies]

"I see. So... how do you stop the receiving antenna picking up all kinds of electricity? S- the tribune said your world was full of electrical devices. Or what about light from other sources than the one you want?"

[onemorebounty]

You don't. You connect the antenna to something that can hone in on voice at a time from the multitude, one channel, and filter out the rest. You only get interference from lightning, or jamming, because it's making noise across all the channels at once.

[conjuredskies]

“Oh. Still, if we’re discreet it should take people a long time to work out the trick of jamming them. Maybe a storm elemental would know how to filter out different kinds of lightning.” He’s looking dangerously thoughtful. The details and electrical devices aren’t his thing, but he can see plenty of exciting possibilities here.

[onemorebounty]

Discretion is a good habit in any endeavor. And if these storm elementals are sensitive to the electromagnetic fields around them, they might have some insights on the subject, yes. Do you have a way to ask one?

[conjuredskies]

“I’ve been studying how to summon one.” Or he was. Maybe he has a new excuse. Felix twiddles the feather in his hand and gives her a grin. “The tribune couldn’t object if I investigated further, could he? I mean, in the Empire’s interest.”

[onemorebounty]

Is summoning one something he'd normally object to? Or need to?