Shards Chapter 1 - How it all began... (IC)

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"No, it would indeed put further energy into the system, but the crystals would descend in front of the wheels thus the explosion would provide a force in opposition to that already at work, causing the resultant force to equal zero and the blast ceasing movement for some time. There is an issue with shrapnel as you say, but if we were to shield the system in a suitably strong substance.." George trailed off in thought, pondering what material could possibly be capapable of containing the explosion of such a magnitude.
@CreepyShutIn
 
Tara scratched her head. "But if you smash the crystal for a big explosion, wouldn't only a little part of that explosion be focused against the wheel? Most of it would go out in every direction. Like, y'know, an explosion. So even if the blast itself is just as much energy as the moving thing - which it's probably not, no way to be sure of that - you'd only slow down the moving thing by a fraction of that blast. The fraction going against it. Everything else is just breaking stuff, like the ground and nearby peoples' faces. Also, yellow crystals aren't exactly common enough that you wanna be breaking them every time you stop something moving. The bigger the moving thing, the bigger the crystal you'd have to break, and that's just really expensive."
 
"Think of it like a musket, the energy merely needs to be directed, which would also involve surrounding it in a casing that would prevent bits of crystal escaping the system and causing collateral damage. You have a point with the expense and the possibility the energy returned is not equal, however.." George twisted the crystals in his pocket as he thought.
"We could always conduct an experiment to determine if such characteristics are present!"
(@CreepyShutIn )
 
"We could try," she agreed. "Still, I see a bunch of holes. I mean, for one, if the containment - the 'musket' in this - is attached to the vehicle, then wouldn't an explosion in it also push it, thus the vehicle, forward as much as back? Like the kick on an actual musket? You'd need to ground and stabilize it first, which you'd be doing while you're already on a fast-moving cart. Second, even then a decent bit of the boom is still going into the 'musket' bit, stressing the metal and so on. It's not all reflected, like light off a mirror. Third, all this would mean carrying yellow crystals - probably big ones - on a fast-moving and already unstable vehicle. That's a disaster waiting to happen. If even one thing goes wrong with their containment, you'll wish you'd screwed up with the red." Tara shrugged. "Just doesn't seem like it'd work out, is all I'm saying."
 
George sighed "You're correct, I'm getting ahead of myself. Even so, I'd like to test the yellow crystals in relation to energy displacement, any information is valuable information."
He pondered all they had discussed, in particular the issue of perpetual motion. He withdrew his white crystals and began toying with them on his desk, mesmerised as they spun.
Then it came to him. "What if we continue to transfer the energy into the movement of orange crystals, but why must it be restrained to the wheels? Perhaps we could create some form of blade from the orange crystals, a propellor of sorts, and situate it above the contaption? In that case, in order to stop the vehicle we merely direct the energy there where it will spin aimlessly rather than the wheels. We could use the current motorised system to change the flow of energy from the wheels to the propellor." He speculated.
(@CreepyShutIn )
 
Here Tara nodded thoughtfully. "That could work," she said. "We'd just need to hook it up right - this design I've worked out here could double for that. Waste the motion on spinning something." Now wheels began turning in her head as well. "I mean, in theory, it doesn't have to be a mill or saw, you could put the orange crystals or orange metal in a cog, gear or flywheel and hook that op to just about anything, in theory make... just about... anything... move..." She looked down at her paper, then up at George. "I think I just revolutionized industry," she said blankly.
 
George chuckled, it was not often he displayed such emotion but discovery was what he loved and with the rate at which things were progressing he concluded he really did feel at home for the first time in a long time.
"Gone are the days of manual labour, my friend." He said with a grin.
"Anyhow, if we introduce such a system and incorporate these improvements, do you think we could create just what they're looking for? Perhaps with a coating of yellow dust too, for maintaining a low weight." He said, presenting the notes he made toward the beginning of class.
@CreepyShutIn
 
Briefly forgetting her epiphany, Tara took a look at the notes, nodding to herself idly. "Hm... Not sure yellow dust is a good idea. Dust would just get blown off and scattered around. On fast-moving objects you want to alloy, not dust coat. Besides, yellow doesn't actually make things lighter; it makes them easier to move. There's a difference. The yellow turns a little push into a great, big shove without you having to work any harder at it. That means that if you cover something that's already moving really, really fast in yellow dust... yeah, bad idea. We want to make this thing more stable, not less. Probably best to leave yellow out of it entirely. We have too much energy as it is. What we need is a way to reduce it."
 
"If we're expending the energy via propellor we have somewhere to reduce that being incorporated into the movement of the machine, perhaps we could devise a mechanism where the speed of the device could be moderated by sliding the propellor up and down, exposing more or less of it's orange so as to maintain different speeds, the energy being absorbed through the propellor not available to the wheels. As for the yellow dust, that was due to the weight complaints, I was unaware of the specifics, if that is so then I agree on leaving it out of the equation." He replied, scribbling further notes furiously on his paper.
 
"Well, if the rod holding the propeller were made of orange steel - pricey, but this device already has an orange steel orb, so obviously we're going for the gold - it might be able to absorb the heat... Though then again, if we're using two pieces of orange steel, we could also convert it back into heat or electricity. Only problem is that would mean impacting the orange metals, and that's crazy dangerous. Hm. Nevermind, dumb idea. Okay, I got nothin'."
 
"It's probably best we simply leave the propellor to spin perpetually rather use it to convert into anything else for the sake of reducing difficulties, at least for now if we want another working prototype" He replied, attempting to draw a diagram with increasing frustration at his artistic deficits.
 
Krim sadly shook his head at the pair speaking behind him, turning his attention to the man who'd asked about his sword with a serious look upon his face.
"Eight-hundred-and-ninety-seven."
Unable to keep up the facade, he gave the man a wry smile.
"I forged it from green gems, and enhanced it with indigo powder during the process, and, somehow, it decided to become this color. You know, it's sad that only us smiths and engineers know that if you merely heat the indigo powder, it creates a highly durable film over whatever it's applied to, increasing its durability one-hundred fold, at the least. I think the only way to break this blade would be if it were struck against an enormous blue gem, since those are easily a thousand times harder than the green, as even I have never been able to forge an item from them."
Thinking back to his papers, he decided to ignore the pair and continue on.
"I never have enjoyed bastardizing crystals by forcing them to bond with metals, it's always felt wrong, like the crystals and the metals were both crying out in pain at each blow of my hammer. Have you ever felt like that, my friend? As if the indigo gems you powder prefer specific uses. Is that why they have so many different grains and consistencies?"
 
Drayko looks at him incredulously then laughs. "What a sense of humor you have, good sir," he commented. "Yes it is very. I believe that would be very neat to watch." He sat back down at his desk and started to work on the second project. "I have felt the same way about it for a while as well. I've been rude though. My name is Drayko, what is yours?"
 
Offering his hand to Drayko, he smiled, a gentle red glow emanating from his chest as he spoke, a twinge of pain apparent in his eyes, which he shook away. "It's a pleasure to meet one of the members of the famous Gear Grinders Guild. You're from their headquarters out in the Indigo Valley, aren't you? From your knowledge of the gems, I'd have to say that you've had at least several years of experience using that powder, otherwise you wouldn't have understood what I was talking about. Ah, excuse my ramblings, my name is Krimson, but most people call me Krim, for short."
 
The teacher pulled a string, making a strong bell resonate through the area and outside, announcing the end of the task. "My apologies, but time is up. You've all done magnificent work, beyond all what both I and the King were expecting - the designs seen here will, in time, change the face of the work. Now, people - gather around, place your work on my desk and I'll go get the pre-emptive reward that the King bestowed upon us, before we get to the big news."
 
Taking the man's hand, Drayko smiled. "It is a pleasure to meet you Krim. Yes, I am of that guild and I am from there, yes. I do have plenty of knowledge of the powder as my family has taught me from a young age about it." Drayko was happy to finally find someone he could relate to somewhat. "Not to be rude, but I am curious about your knowledge of gems. How do you know so much about the gems?" After his question was asked, he heard a ringing and looked up. The man at the front of the room had pulled a string and it resounded well. "Well, it looks like we will have to continue our conversation later then, Krim." He stands up from his desk, picks up everything from it, goes to the front of the room, and sets it on the desk. As he turns around he asks, "A reward? I do not recall reading anything about a reward."
 
George glanced across at Tara and nodded in thanks, before heading toward the front and laying down his papers, hoping his scrawly handwriting was legible to the teacher.
As one of the hooded figures, with noteably broad shoulders asked of the reward, George began playing with the white crystals once more, their smooth edges soothing his mind. A reward for them all, or the best idea? Surely they wpuldn't divide us so soon with such competition..
 
Rennfield wrenches himself upward through layers of consciousness, and finds himself in a stable state.
No more antics. He thinks. The people I compete with are nothing short of genii, who know their craft. I'm unable to beat them at the game they specialise in. He grins wryly. But I sure can give it a good shot.
First, he attacked the cart problem.
He devised a theoretical continuous, kinetic mechanism to keep the cart in motion.
The wheel would be placed in a casing, with movable components above the spaces between the outer spokes. Beneath these platforms were yellow crystals. The mechanism, once started (with a lever, that could also be clasped and held in place to stop the mechanism), would thrust valves into these areas. They would pressurise the yellow crystals to give a small blast, and the segments would be collected in the chamber in order to be reused. These turned the wheels, in turn powering the mechanism, which would push the wheel faster, which would power the mechanism to go faster. It was a domino effect of dynamism.
It was very crude, but it was strenuous to come up with for Rennfield, who was rubbish in almost all areas.
He was pleased with himself, until he realised he had one more task.
Hmmm...
He would tackle the sawmill, utilising the same mechanism as the cart to move logs along a wheel and downward, toward a lattice of purple crystal beams. They would be sliced finely. Simple.
He drew crude diagrams of this and began to bring his papers to his tutor. He had never held his sanity for this lon-
His descent into insanity began in rapture, before he could reach the teacher. His papers settled on the floor, and he stumbled, scolding people around him.
 
By the time the teacher called a halt to their work, Tara had drawn up a cog using the same design as the millstone and saw, with an arrow pointing to the teeth of the cog from the words "Insurt enythyng heer" scribbled nearby. When she heard the call she hastily scrawled her name at the corner of the paper - about the only thing she could reliably spell right - and went over to hand it in. "I think I just invented an easy way to make things move," she remarked as she handed it over. "I mean, that works fine for saws and mills, but I bet it could work with anything. Self-pulling carts. Ships that sail against the wind. Seriously, I should be getting paid more for this." She had no idea how much she was being paid, but it probably wasn't enough for revolutionizing basically everything.
 
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And with a gleeful smile, the teacher walked back to the stage while the people in black uttered words between themselves - despite not being understandable, they tone sounded positively giddy. "And that conclude today's tasks. You've done an incredible job at this - once the King gets all of this work, it'll surely earn you a few favors. At any rate, I still have an early favor from the King - he wanted to make sure you wouldn't go empty-handed after this much efforts. The rest will come later, but for now... "

He went individually to each person, handing them 3 spare gems of their color and two hundred gold coins each, to spend at their leisure.
 
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