At 05:12 PM 5/18/2006 -0500, you wrote: > Are there any requirements for where you can build the circles or >the pyramids? >Are there any advntages and/or disadvantages to building them in >different mana levels/ What about aspected mana? >Are the leys higher mana than the surrounding area? >Does this extend outside of the ley lines proper? >Is there a relationship between the mass of the structure and the >amount of mana provided (either in area or amount)?
A:TSA (Atlantis: the Second Age) doesn't go into the manufacture of the Pyramids nor the stone henges per se to the extent that they say each "stone" has to have a mass of X, be set Y distance from the center and all that. Nor does it get into details as to how the Pyramids act the way they do - as the "technology" is a lost one after the collapse of the first age. A:TSA also does not refer to magical levels of mana as non-existent, low, normal, or high, as that seems to be a GURPS artifact. A:TSA makes it such that you can cast as many spells as you desire in a day, but that for results less than a total successs, spell casters are penalized by an additional -1 to the die rolls per spell cast that was not a total success. Their "system" for resolving conflicts via Dice is to roll 1d20. Rolls of less than 1 are what amount to critical failures. Rolls of 1 through 5 are failures. Rolls of 6 through 10 are partial successes, and rolls of 11 through 20 are normal successes. Rolls of 20 plus are critical successes. At first, I looked at this as an exercise to convert radiated mana energy as a form of energy usable by magic items withing the GURPS game system. The more I look at it from other aspects, the more I realize that using "ENCHANTMENTS" as the basis for this alternative "technology" isn't applicable. Why? Because it is created by alchemists for one. Secondly, the functionality of the artifact is an on/off situation. Either you are within range and it works, or you are not within range and it doesn't work. Stone henges are nice in that they give you more or less total freedom to work outside of a given broadcaster - but are limited to how many devices they can power regardless of power requirements. One could tap a single pillar for conduit capacity for a simple "light bulb" that works no matter where on the Atlantean World you are. You could also power a Vril Canon off of one of the pillars or even a Skyship off a pillar - and it would work. At least, per the game rules of Atlantis: The Second Age. The Vril chariots seem to be something of a contradiction of sorts - because they don't seem to need a pyramid to function (as all functionality of Vril crystals fail outside of the 21 mile radius). They also don't seem to need the Pillars of a Stonehenge either. They seem to function as a result of the roads made of Vril glass - which in turn connects between cities with Pyramids in them. One would almost conclude that the crystals in a Vril Chariot are in fact, powered directly by ley line energies providing that the following is true: 1) that the material of the road is inlaid in the ground on a ley line. 2) that the destination and point of origin both have functional pyramids. 3) that the Vril crystal(s) inserted in the Vril Chariot is functional as well. Probably the best way to treat this whole "system" is to treat Mana itself as an electrical like power where 10 fatigue is equal to 1 Kilowatt Hour or 3,600,000 kilowatt seconds. Figure out the energy required to produce an effect in modern science, convert it to "mana" equivalents, and then treat the whole thing as a Mana generator that refines raw mana currents in the ground or air (Ley lines and nexus points) into mechanical energy. The only people who have this knowledge are "alchemists" such that mana manipulated into mechanical power requires special quartz crystals subjected to alchemical processes that imbue a quasi-enchantment into the object that pure enchanters just can't duplicate readily. From what I'm reading, a simple "light bulb" crystal weighs between 2 to 5 lbs in weight. The size of a crystal that will power a ship is that of a sphere that is about 2 feet in diameter. Whether this is a singular sphere or multiple spheres is hard to determine based on the descriptions given. But if I were to take the time to create the VEHICLES stats for these spheres, I likely would base it upon mass required (or volume required - know one, you know the other) and then presume that the largest a crystal can be is 2 feet in diameter. If the ship requires 10 such spheres, then it will get 1 Primary controlling sphere and 9 secondary linked spheres to create a system of 10 spheres ;) In further reading - I've discovered that there are not two, but THREE methods of energy collection/broadcasting. The Roads have to be built on ley lines, and power Vril Chariots regardless of whether the cities involved have a functional Pyramid or Stonehenge. Velly Intellesting... Question now becomes one of whether or not a Vril Crystal Light will function on the road itself or not. Grrrr - contradictions abound. _______________________________________________ GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l
