Sail and Path: A summary of the practicalities of human mage-work, and a review of the first sensible alternative to natural magic.
For centuries the capacity of the human race for performing works of magic has been limited, if not entirely, then predominantly by the limited stores of energy available to us through our own bodies. While there are known to have been certain people in history with an aptitude for certain ‘unnatural’ acts, the magic involved in these cases has, on the whole, been extremely limited, and is more than likely the result of an evolutionary change or mutation within those people, allowing for a higher-than-usual level of stored energy. Unfortunately, due to the extreme prejudice visited upon these, dare I say, superior individuals, they were mostly shunned from society, and as such did not reproduce. The mutation was therefore not passed into the common gene pool, effectively killing it before it was given life. This single fact has delayed the study of magic by more years than anyone would care to guess, and it is only now, so long after the last documented natural magic-user passed away, that we can offer an alternative to evolution.
The Perrysmont Institute began work on the ‘kite’ style collector just before the turn of the century, after discovering that electrical energy gave an extremely poor magical return for the energy used. As an example, they used a standard portable generator, with an average output of 650 watts, which ran for approximately 5.5 hours on a full fuel tank. Once the electrical energy was converted into a form useable by the human body, the user was able to produce a faint light and hold it for no longer than ten minutes. In these times of efficiency and economy, this was considered unacceptable, and rightly so. However, the experiments did prove that a magic-user could use an energy source external to their own body, and hinted that the energy used for casting magic was different from the electrical impulses that control the majority of activities within us all.
Since the majority of the energy in this experiment seemed to be lost during the conversion, the Institute began its search for a source closer to that used by a person. Through trial and error, they arrived at wind energy, although I have yet to see a reasonable explanation for why this works better than any other source. Still, there can be no doubt that it does work better, for the loss of energy between the collector and the user is a fraction of that from electricity.
The collector is made up of two distinct parts – the ‘sail’, and what has become known as the ‘path’, although a more accurate name would be the converter. When in operation, the collector does not need to be connected to the user by any physical means – it is, in effect, wireless. However, there must be a form of connection, which I will get to in a moment.
The sail is made of a specially-woven fabric, which resembles a circuit board in appearance. As part of the pattern of the fabric, there are a number of pathways leading to a handful of pads. The pads are fewer in number than on a circuit board, and are much larger, but are still similar to their electronic counterparts in that they act as connectors between the sail and the path. The wind energy is gathered along the pathways on the sail, and transmitted down through the pads into the path, and from there to the user.
The path itself is much more variable, and must be chosen by the user themselves. Since the casting of magic is, by and large, a mental act, there must be a mental connection between the user and the path, to allow for a more efficient conversion of the wind energy. The stronger the mental connection, the faster and more efficient the conversion – conversely, the weaker the connection, the slower and more wasteful the conversion. However, the only other necessity for the path is that it connect together all the pads on the sail. Of course, if the sail is to be used in the traditional kite manner, then the path must be light and flexible enough to not hinder the sail in the air. If, however, there is a place where the sail can be fixed that would allow the wind to it, then the path can be as heavy or rigid as the user wishes. Paths made of metal and stone have been successfully used in wind tunnel tests, with no apparent loss of energy.
It seems unlikely that the natural evolution of Homo sapiens will produce another natural magic-user within our lifetimes. However, despite being unable to study these incredible genetic advances first hand, we have successfully managed to simulate the effects of this line of evolution. For those less interested in genetics, there is the fact that we are, as a species, now capable of performing more powerful acts of magic than at any time previously. While the sail is not necessarily suited for public use, there is great potential for its use in hazardous situations, such as those faced by emergency services or the military. It will take many more months of testing before the sail is ready for industrial use, but the advantages are already apparent, and the outlook is good for official distribution by the end of this year.
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