Natural World
From Library of Aethora
Contents |
[edit] A Naturalist's View of the Aethora - A Guide for Young Aethorians
[edit] Aethora, Ather, and the Elements
Aethora has many landmasses or continents, each one is kind of a floating island. The landmasses are connected by streams of a substance called ather. Ather is neither gas nor liquid, as best anyone can tell, but something resembling both. Most naturalists believe that ather flows all around Aethora, and is in the air we breathe, but is not very dense in it's common form, and thus invisible to the naked eye. Where ather is most visible is in streams where it collects and flows. These ather-streams flow across the land masses and spill out into the void in between the lands, collecting and connecting the land masses.
Many believe that ather is the source of life in Aethora, and without it we would not survive. Such theories, while plausible, have not been proven extensively. What we do know is that within ather are components of all elements. Many naturalists believe that ather is composed of tiny particles, and one particle of ather may contain different elements than the next. Others believe that all particles of ather have the ability to manifest into any single element of our world. What these opposing schools of thought can agree on is that all of the elements of our world are undeniably intertwined somehow with ather.
[edit] Table of Elements
| The Known Elements |
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| Fire |
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| Air |
Plasma |
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| Frost |
Flesh |
Plant |
Stone |
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[edit] The Four Forces of Aethora
The Four Forces of Aethora are Gravity, Airwind, Atherflow, and Mindwind. Naturalists do not know the sources of these four forces, but are aware of distinct properties: Gravity: This force acts in one direction, and only one direction - down. Airwind: Airwind seems to blow randomly across the lands of Aethora. It shows no pattern, but invariably brings heat or cold with it. Atherflow: Ather-streams flow in one direction. At some points they seem to twist and turn, but the flow of the ather itself is always in one direction at any given point in a stream. Ather-streams flow into land masses in some points and back out at other points. Mindwind: This is the name given to the force that Aethorians seem to use to exert their will upon ather, and as well to the force that ather can have on the will of Aethorians. Most of what we know for sure about the four forces is theoretical, unfortunately.
Ather-streams can be traversed, though in it's denser liquid form ather is generally a pervasive force and can prove to be an obstacle. Thusly, bridges have been built over many major ather-streams. Some naturalists hypothesize that all ather-streams are connected, that there is but one stream that flows in and out of every land mass in Aethora, like one long, twisting ribbon that comes back around eventually to meet end to end.
[edit] Metatherics, Coils, and the Protok Engine
Metatherics is the study of the observation and manipulation of ather and the elements. Aethorians who study their metatherics learn how to use ather-conductive coils and mindwind to impress their will upon elements and forces alike. A coil has to be tuned in such a way that it can intercept the wielder's mindwind and focus it upon only one type of element or one type of force (save atherflow, which cannot be manipulated by any known means). Most Aethorians can maintain will over two coils at a time, manipulating a combination of two elements, two forces, or one of each for very useful and powerful effects.
Most coils are smaller than a fist, as they must be small to maintain their finely-tuned mindwind conductivity. A machinist named Vintius Protok was obsessed with creating coils on larger and larger scales, sacrificing granular control for greater output. Vintius was convinced he could create a coil that would act as a kind of engine which he could use to move a vessel that would transport large amounts of iron, which he was constantly purchasing from ore-processors and bringing back to his shop. He focused on gravity-based and airwind-based coils, trying to combine them into one engine that at once would defy gravity and hover above the ground while being blown along horizontally. After countless unsuccessful attempts at such an engine, resulting in countless damaged equipment and broken bones, Vintius had a brainstorm. One night, while drinking and sitting idly by a nearby ather-stream, Vintius marveled at the unrelenting force of the atherflow. He realized that while no coil could tame pure ather, there must be some air being carried along with the flow, and rather than attempt to move the air itself, if he could tune his airwind coil to just hold those air particles, it would be whisked away with the unrelenting atherflow.
In 10813, Vintius's airlocking-atherflow engine was born, and the first vessel he prototyped with the new engine moved faster and could carry more iron than anything any Aethorians had ever seen. Of course, it was extremely difficult to control, but since then many improvements have been made based on the original Protok Engine.
While small, one-person boats exist, most can only be controlled by the most diligent (and patient) master gravity and air metathers. It was quickly realized that larger vessels were actually more ideal for floating down ather-streams, due to the fact that several coils could be placed around the boat for greater control. Most standard ather-stream-boat crews consist of four lockers, one on each corner, and a controller. The job of a locker is to operate the gravity-coil and air-coil at one of the corners, holding their end steady and controlling the speed collectively with the other three. The controller of the boat uses a mindwind coil and guides the four lockers through the ather-stream. A tremendous amount of trust must be maintained between the lockers and their controller, for the boat will sail best only if the lockers can allow the controller to enter their minds to guide them.
