* TheStoryteller changes topic to '-= Interlude 7.2: Showcasing Silver! | Location: Old Capital, Staging Area | Pools: 537 §, 0 MXP =- http://storen.rpgcafe.net/IoG/ | OOC chan: #iog-ooc ' == INTERLUDE START == Some time has passed since the meeting with Hiro, and the group has gone their seperate ways to prepare themselves for another journey into the unknown. Vytor, however, is not content to just request some mediorce work from the local forging experts... he decides to put on a demonstration for the staff how it's really done! There is a small crowd of various explorers and staffers of Hiro's rentinue looking on, as the tent where a alchemical forge has been setup, mid-grade sivler bubbling within it's confines. Next to it is a stand with a few slides on it, a local Vulcannon Labs volunteer helping out the star of the show. * Vytor pushes the tentflap aside, and makes his way to the forge, nodding to the assembled along the way Hello everyone, glad you could make it. The crowds wisper anc hatter a bit to themselves, but promptly hush as Vytor speaks, eager to hear what he has to say. * Vytor stands next to the forge, takes a deep breath, and plunges ahead * Saki hovers in the middle of the crowd, looking out of place and sorts but interested despite herself. As I'm sure you are aware, this device is Volcanon Labs new alchemic forge. I'm sure you've heard a lot about what it can do. Today, I will show you what it can do. However, before we begin, lets go over a few safety procedures. First, no loose hair. Tie it back, wear a hat, shave it off, whatever suits your fancy. Second, no loose clothing. And third... * Vytor reaches over to the side of the forge and hefts up a fire extinguisher ..always have one of these at the ready All right. Now onto the main event. First, activate the forge bit hitting the power switch. You can do so with your hands, but I find using your foot is just as easy. * Vytor steps on the switch, demonstrating his point Now, as I'm speaking, there will be 3 lights that will eventually turn green as the unit powers up. Each one is important as it indicates readiness of one of the components. The first light indicates the unit is powered and activated. The second indicates the containment field, and the third indicates the readiness of the heating elements. Do not begin work until all of these turn green...as you can now see. The process is fairly quick. Vytor's assistant, a relatively young blond haired scientist in a lab coat, shows a slide with a mock-up of the control panel's indicators for all who might be too far away to see directly. Lastly, open the iris to the heating element and storage pool, as so. * Vytor flips a switch, and the iris in the middle of the forge opens, revealing a now bubbling pool of silvery goop All the material components are now in place. Now, this next step is very important, and for some it might be a bit of a leap. If you are NOT prepares to operate under the assumption that this forge is an extension of your body, you will never be able to make the most use of it. * Saki watches with one hand on her chin, the science going straight over her head. At the last statement she's raised a skeptical eyebrow. I'm serious. There are some things that raw physical manipulation will not allow. We're talking principles of willforce here. This forge is desinged to use those principles. And those who grasp that will be able to do amazing things. I will now demonstrate. * Vytor reaches down into a bag he had brought in with him, and pulls out a curiass. This is a curiass I made myself, and have used in the past, which I will now sacrifice for this demonstration. It is contructed of galvanized silver alloy. Now, the operating area of the forge is located above the heating element, inside the containment field aboce it. * Vytor moves the curiass into the field above the bubbling silver goop, and lets go. Curiously, the heavy silver suit does not fall, but hangs in place, rotating slowly. As you can see, the field holds things in place for you. But for this example, I will need to break this curiass down. So, into the heating element it goes. A few of the newer workers from the countrsyide ooh as it hangs there, suspended. You can elect to do this by moving it with your hands, something I do NOT recommend given the temperatures involved, or use a tool to do the same. Or, you can simply let your will do the work for you. * Vytor gestures at the curiass, slowly dropping his hand. As he does, the suit drops into the bubbling goo, and being to melt into it Now that that's done, we can get to the fun part. * Vytor reaches into his pocket, a pulls out a handful of notes. * Saki frowns at the mention of willforce, almost sulky. These here, contain all the information in regards to the project I'm about to undertake. Designs, measurements, weights, even froofy things like etchings or embossed linework. You name it, its all here. Now, this is where you must make a leap in your minds. All these designs came from here. *points at his temple* And I'm about to express those designs through here. *points at the forge* * Vytor reaches down and grabs his workman's hammer. Imagine if you will, that this hammer is my paintbrush, the silver goop is my paint, and the containment field is my canvas. With these, I will now craft a 3-dimensional painting of my designs. * Vytor dips the head of his hammer into the goo, and begins to stir it Watch closely now. * Vytor puls the hammer from the goo, and makes a slow slash with it, leaving behind a trail of silver liquid that hangs in the air inside the containment field. * Vytor motions with his hand, and the hanging ribbon of silver begins to turn slowly. * Vytor makes a second stroke with the hammer, then a third, each time adding more to the construct now forming. * Vytor dips his hammer again into the goo. He begins to work faster now, making rapid slashes with the hammer, despoiting more and more silver, the amorphic blob growing in size with each stroke. * Vytor suddenly stops, and shakes the last of the silver from the hammer, the ovular blob of silver still hanging in mid-air as if forgotten. Now, I would imagine at this point you would consider me unhinged if I told you I was finsihed. That blob certainly dsoesn't look even remotely like the curiass it once was. Now, observe the power of intention. * Vytor hefts the hammer, and slams it into the blob, causing it to ring like a gong. The silver seems to crack like an egg, and excess falls back down into the goop below. Left behind, is a perfectly formed curiass, quite a bit larger than the original, richly designed and gleaming with silvery hues. With each stroke of the hammer, my intentions were driven into the silver. Each stroke knew what it was to be, where it was to go, and how it needed to get there. My every move drove the designs in my mind out into the work before me. That is the leap you must make, to make this forge work for you. You must have a precise mental picture of what you intend to make, down the most minute detail. * Vytor pauses a moment to regroup, then continues I am sure some of you have noticed, that this curiass is a big too large, even for someone like me to wear. Well that is partly by design. I am going to show you another example of the connection that can exist between you and the forge. Tempering a metal, involves raising its temperature to a certain level, then lowering it again from that point. I will now demonstrate that process. * Vytor sets the hammer down, and faces the forge, his hands and arms open to it. * Vytor closes his eyes, inhales, and raises his hands. As he does, the temperature inside the workspace rises, and the goo bubbles more fiercely. * Vytor lowers his hands and exhales, and the forge responds, the temperature lowering in time. * Vytor raises his hands again, then lowers them, doing this several times. Each time the temperature changes, the curiass inside the containment field seems to sweat off silver, and shrink slightly with each pass. * Vytor continues this exercise a few more times, then stops. The curiass now seems to be a much more normal size, and the silvery hues have deepened considerably, thowing off the occasional glimmer of rainbow light. The timing of the inhale and the exhale isn't strictly necesary, but since the connection between myself and forge is still active, I like what it represents. Taking in what you need, and letting go of what you don't. And now * Vytor grabs his hammer again, put it back into the field, and hooks the curiass with it We extract our work. * Vytor does so, and sets it down onto the ground. Amazingly, as the curiass passes through the field, it expells excess heat harmlessly into the field as it cools. Now that we are done, we close the iris, and power down the unit And viola! Our work is complete. There are quite a lot of ooh and ahhs from the onlookers, as Vytor's explaination makes the process out to be a simple and elegant science. Now that I've demonstrated the process, I'll field any questions you might have. * Vytor reaches down, and stows his new curiass back into his bag * Angie raises her hand in the air. Yes? *points at Angie* * Angie smiles and rises up on her tiptoes to see over the crowd. "Obviously you need to be familiar with the object you wish to design -- is there any special willforce technique involved beyond what's commonly known?" Fortunately, no. Simple basic understanding of the transmission of the will from the self to an outside source is all that's required. Advance willforce training may allow the imbuing of additional magical forces into objects. But all one needs to understand the basics. Even if you yourself cannot do willforce magic, you can still make this forge work. Otherwise, someone else would have been doing this demonstration, I assure you. ;) Any other questions? * Angie nods in appreciation. "Just a second question and then I'll leave you alone -- how much energy does it require?" A good question. The heating element of this particular forge requires at least 428 megajoules of energy to function. The containment field requires another 822 megajoules. Smaller units require less energy, larger units require more. Obviously, a forge of this size must be hooked up to a consitent source of power, like you would find in most cities. The staff here has allowed me to hook this unit up to one of their portable generators. Does that answer your question? Does anyone else have any questions? * Ryllan raises a hand lazily. Yes? *points to Ryllan* Ryllan gets chosen over a few other hands, as the experts mnumble to themselves and one straightens his large glasses. Does what you're creating have to be created before? In a general sense, I mean. As in, its something that been created before, or can it be something completely new and unique? The latter. Can it be completely new and unique? If you can visualize it in your mind in complete, total and exacting detail, you can translate it into reality. I see. Interesting... Thank you. One of the previous crowdsmembers raises his hand. Yes? [Expert] Fascinating demonstration, but I am eager to know about the quality of the finished product? It is durable or apt to break down? That depends entirely on the quality of the silver used in the forging process, the design of the item in question, and the temperatures used in it creation. The quality of the item you create is determined by the effort and skill you put into it [Expert] I see. One more inquiry, if I may: considering the silver reclaimation from the cuirass, which is decidedly non-silver alloyed, doesn't this introduce high levels of impurities into the equation? Indeed it does. These impurities can mar the finished product if not removed during the forging process. The tempering process can remove much of these impurities, as can your intentions. The breathing technique I used is just one way of doing this. Are there any other questions? All right. Remember, if there's anything about the process you'd like explained, feel free to ask me. Bear in mind that I will be leaving the camp in due time. There are a few more hushed discussions, but for the most part, Vytor believes the crowds would like to start experimenting themselves before delving into more detailed questions. * Vytor begins cleaning up . o O (That went fairly well, I think) The female lab rep starts packing up the briefing materials and getting in a last minute discussion with a few fellow ruins workers, handing them Vulcannon Labs card! * Vytor leans down to put his tools back into his pack. As he does, he reaches into his pack and thumps his new curiass, pleased with the results. <> * Saki still looks mildly perturbed and far-off, but catches Vytor's eye to give him a nod of thanks. * Vytor returns the gesture <> And with that, the demonstration is concluded -- for now. Tune in next week for another educational session of "Forging with Vytor!" ;) == INTERLUDE END == Whee!