goethbeforethefall | Inbox // IC Communication

Magical shielding is an ancient and lively field of expertise, as prone to evolution as are the efforts to defeat it. I have no doubt your unusual background will bring a new perspective to the art.

Tell me more of your thoughts?

Oh, well, any kind of discovery can set off an arms race. That's he blessing and curse of innovation. It always leads to more of the same.

Anyway! Gadriel mentioned a device that some Astartes wear called an Iron Halo, but what he described most certainly was not made of iron. It sounded like an energy field, in a half-dome shape, quite simple in design.

Of course, if you know Gadriel you're well aware he doesn't think much of sorcery, but he's been willing to trust me a little. First I was thinking of energy fields, and things like silencing spells that don't really have a physical structure; they're more a matter of will and a twist of the Weave. But the idea of being able to generate a shield--and not just a simple shape, but something dynamic, something that could adjust to the pressures exerted upon it--that's very compelling.

I can see how to do it with the stone manipulation ability I have--by hand, for lack of a better term. But I'd like to be able to make a device that could do something similar, to be given to someone to use when I'm not present. Maybe an automaton? I'm not sure; there would have to be a lot of sensors in order for it to respond to an outside stimulus. And an automaton wouldn't have any will of its own to use, so you would almost have to have an elemental source that could be linked to it, like a fusion of magic and technology. That may be too ambitious.

And now I'm thinking aloud at you. Your perspective could be invaluable, though.

Indeed, you are on the correct path.

Ordinarily, the act of erecting and maintaining a shield is work fit only for a living mind, but a sufficiently detailed, and purpose-built mechanism can recreate the specific energies, if in a more limited manner. It will not be capable of the full flexibility and dynamism as when managed by an actual mage, but such devices will outlast the attention of any living being, and can be more than sufficient for many circumstances; to guard a vault, or an entryway, for example.

I am impressed; your ability to rediscover principles long lost to time and decayed expertise is remarkable, and the idea of mounting such a tool into armor is novel in my experience: my people have no need for such innovations. I hope you will pursue it farther than the engineers of Arlathan ever could; such works were eventually abandoned in favor of methods more expedient, in the name of efficiency.

[Barcus always feels ridiculously pleased when Solas compliments his thinking, and this is no exception. It is perhaps fortunate that they're communicating over text so he doesn't have to hide the fact that he's blushing. And preening subtly.

Anyway.]

Well, I shall certainly experiment and see what I can come up with, after encouragement like that! My experience with automata before coming here was mostly with small constructs for scouting dangerous tunnels or helping trapped miners. And...the Steel Watch, but they were quite literally aberrations.

[Abominations, no less. Incredibly clever monstrosities.] Perhaps I'm in a unique position. I have studied the magical principles of my world enough to grasp the theory, but I have no facility with the practice thereof, and so I turn to artifice instead to get the work done. I can only hope that makes my work applicable to more people. Certainly, the Gondians approved.

[And Gadriel, whose comfort level with sorcery is nil.]

It was so with Beleth, as well. Though she rose to extraordinary power, actual magic was beyond her in Thedas, at least thus far. Here, one may earn the ability to use magic, in defiance of all I have known... But it is a joy to see a dream long denied, brought to life in her.

I am sure you have seen similar benefits to the Calderan system, in your own life and work.

Though I am curious; what is it that makes the Steel Watch aberrations? I know something of your world, after this long, but you have not spoken of them before.

I have been told repeatedly to be careful with these powers we earn. That if they've been given by the faction leaders they can just as easily be taken away, or used to control us somehow. I think about that. On the other hand, I doubt I'd be any use at all in the field, so to speak, without them.

I can make things, and given enough time I have confidence I could learn to build anything, but my physical assets simply don't match up with others.

The Steel Watch were only automatons in part. They were an unholy hybrid of automata, infernal machinery, Myrkullite necromancy, and psionic mindflayer larvae. Part of a plot to subjugate not just the city of Baldur's Gate but the entirety of Toril, and other planes of existence, given enough time.

I was in the dubiously privileged position of being asked to dismantle the remainder of them personally after their originator died. The design was unbelievably ingenious, clever beyond anything I've ever seen in person, and also more brutal than anything I could have imagined.

[Further proof that people find him so earnest and innocuous they'll give him full access to anything.]

[Solas' reply is somewhat delayed as he sits in contemplation, for a moment, on all the abominations and horror wrought in the name of creating an army, or the effect of an army, whilst avoiding the simple fact that all truly effective armies were comprised of living people. Even he, himself, had done...

...But nevermind. Old regrets, fresh pain. As always.]

You carry more secrets than most, my friend. I can only hope their burden is not too heavy, nor too obvious; such knowledge is dangerous in and of itself, on occasion.

A well-made weapon is heavy, but we carry it close in case we need it. Knowledge just happens to be the weapon I wield best.

[Barcus cannot hear him chuckle, nor see the smile on his face. True too, he cannot hear Beleth ask him what the joke had been, nor hear his explanation; Our gnomish friend is cleverer than he knows, nor Felassan's answering retort. You have friends in this home, Barcus Wroot.]

Despite what may seem, we have that much in common.

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nerding intensifies

matching this freak, thank you

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