//|| //^^\\ || || .|. COHERENT COMICS UNINCORPORATED PRESENTS // || \\ || || --X--------------------------------------------- //======================= '|` ACADEMY OF SUPER-HEROES // || \\ || || ASH Universe Sourcebook: Violation Effects // || \\__// || || Copyright 1999 by Dave Van Domelen ___________________________________________________________________________ Superhuman powers and technology, with the exception of those created using advanced non-Terran science, are all the result of something called Violation Effects...the ability of certain individuals to break the laws of physics. This file is intended as a sort of primer on Violation Effects. This will be presented in the form of a series of articles in the fictional Physical Review M. One will look at the magickal side, while the other concentrates on the more scientific outlook. The Five Pillars and Clastics were inspired by the Five Laws from the Better Games "Barony" Fantasy RPG setting, but have been extensively modified. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Physical Review M: Violation Physics June 1993 _A Different Perspective On Magic: The Five Pillars_ submitted by Professor Perceval Happersen of University of Warwick (ret.) Greetings, oh fellows in academia. I trust the esteemed editors will be able to correct any errors in this manuscript, as I am dictating it to a werewolf. [Editor's Note: Professor Happersen is blind. He may or may not be joking about the werewolf part.] In the half century that scientists have been studying magic, they have gone in directions vastly different than those of "classical" magic. Much of this was due simply to ignorance about the classical laws of magic, and the rest a willful determination not to listen to mages, instead finding the answers the hard way. And in doing so, you have made great progress, discovering secrets of magic lost by the ancients, since you did not have the prejudices that come with training in the classical style. However, the time has come to inform you of the way it used to be done, that you might also repeat the successes of the old ways. Thus it is that the editors of PhysRevM have asked me to pen this paper on the subject of the Five Clastics of magic, as well as analyze how they need to be modified in light of recent discoveries. Magic centers around the Five Pillars of Reality, and has for as long as we can determine. To be more specific, magic is the violation of these principles. The Five Pillars are broken into the Three of Substance and the Two of Existence, but they are generally presented all together, so: Law I - The Law of Substance Law II - The Law of Motion Law III - The Law of Spirit Law IV - The Law of Space Law V - The Law of Fate All magic is performed by conscious violation of these Pillars. The ability to break the Pillars is carried in what you scientists call the Magene or gene for Homo Sapiens Magi. Such a gene was endemic in the time before current history, and empires were built on magic. However, a terrible civil war wiped out all but a handful of Mages, as well as destroying all sign of their empires by changing history itself. Of those that survived, many retreated to other planes and became known as gods or demons. Others had children with non-magical humans and thinned the blood. The few remaining Purebloods, as we call them, have immense powers over reality, but fortunately rarely bother with Earth anymore. Partbloods, the descendants of those that stayed on Earth, have varying degrees of ability and generally are perceived as wizards or witches. Those with quirks of the Magene exhibit powers in certain areas, and are superheroes in this time. In earlier times, they were the stuff of legends. One very important thing to know, for all of you who work in Violation Physics, is that of the Purebloods there existed, and still may exist a Council of Nineteen, who have the task of keeping the natural order. If you push too hard on the natural laws, one of the Nineteen might come to prevent you from further damaging reality. Having reign over the entire universe means they don't spend much time on Earth anymore, but they do check in from time to time. So beware of where you tread. Above the Nineteen stand the personifications of Time, Space and Nothingness. They constantly struggle to dominance, and Time and Space have allied to fight Null. Above these stands I know ot what. Perhaps the Christian God. Perhaps they are the highest power. I know not, nor do I wish to be anywhere nearby when such a power needs to intervene. But, enough history. I've already rambled enough to give the editors conniptions. On with the detailed description of the Five Pillars. These come from _Cosmoclasty_, the first work to seriously attempt to codify magic in our history. That the author would survive until the present day and become the fiend Lord Ebon is regrettable, for he did much to preserve knowledge that would otherwise have been lost to the witchhunts and inquisitions. It was also he who coined the term "Clastic" to refer to violations of the Pillars. The First Pillar "All things have a unique substance, comprised of varying portions of the Four Elements: Fire, Air, Water and Earth. In a living thing these are called Humours, and named Blood, Yellow Bile, Black Bile and Phlegm respectively." - Simon Filius, _Cosmoclasty_ The First Clastic "The substance of a thing may be changed to fit the will of he who strives. The simpler the change, the simpler the spell." - Simon Filius, ibid. This Pillar has perhaps been the most victimized by modern Violation Physics, as well as the simple application of scientific methods of observation to magic itself. A spell to change blood to bile should be as simple as one to change fire to water, yet it is not. And in fact, changing fire to water should itself be as simple as the reverse, but changing water to fire (or anything to fire, for that matter) is one of the simplest spells using the First Clastic. In fact, Pillar I seems to be more of an empirical attempt to explain transmutation without knowledge of atomic and nuclear physics. Empirically it works, as all the laws do. The inconsistencies are minor, and would be overlooked by mages of earlier times. However, moderm physics allows a better restating of the First Pillar: "Matter exists in four basic states: Solid, Liquid, Gaseous and Plasma (superheated matter). It will not shift between these states without a change in energy, energy that must be conserved. In addition, all matter is formed of Atoms, which themselves have components. Atoms will not spontaneously alter their composition except through radioactive decay. Alteration of the nuclei of atoms is always accompanied by energy release or absorption." While not all-encompasing, this revision fits better with the evidence of both science and modern day mages. Turning air into fire is simple...simply add energy. Turning yellow bile into blood requires not just alteration of the individual atoms, but of molecular structure and so forth, and is a more complicated spell. Where the Second Pillar says that macroscopic physics is obeyed, the First essentially says that microscopic physics is obeyed. The Second Pillar "All things have a natural position and motion, which can only be changed by the addition of impetus. Things Celestial travel on circles, while things base travel in lines. Everything remains in its natural channels." - Simon Filius, ibid. The Second Clastic "Rivers may jump their beds and stars fall from the sky at the command of a man of power and will." - Simon Filius, ibid. In more modern parlance, this law states that the forces of Newtonian Physics and classical electrodynamics should hold. Forces are the result of fields and potentials, and obey conservation laws. Essentially, "Macroscopic Phenomena Obey Physical Laws." Of course, which physical laws they follow can and do fill volumes of text. And of course, the idea of impetus was itself abandoned centuries ago. The Third Pillar "All things have a spirit, unique unto them. It can not be destroyed, nor can it be displaced by any means short of the death or destruction of the thing." - Simon Filius, ibid. The Third Clastic "The spirit in a thing is a potent source of power should it be consumed, and it may also be quickened or subdued. To see the spirit is to see the true self, without the interference of the mind." - Simon Filius, ibid. Very little has been done regarding this Clastic. Partly because the talent to use it is rare, but mostly because those with enough ethics to use the talent in research are also ethical enough to not use other humans as guinea pigs for the more extreme tests of the Clastic. Perhaps the article by the doctor from MetaPsych this issue will shed more light on the state of knowledge in this area. Note that not just people have spirits: animals, plants and even the rocks themselves have spirits to some extent. In fact, the magic used by Centauri [a reptilian race from Alpha Centauri, now all but extinct - Editor] relies heavily on drawing power from the spirits of inanimate things, as well as from living things. There has been much debate on how much of a spirit one must have in order to have "rights", but this is not a place for such a debate. The Fourth Pillar "No place can be reached save by Foot, Fin or Wing." -Simon Filius, ibid. The Fourth Clastic "All places can be reached, all worlds traversed." - Simon Filius, ibid. In other words, the Fourth Pillar states that in order to get from one point to another, the intervening distance must be travelled. It also implies, but doesn't clearly state, that planes other than our own are normally inaccessible. Simon Filius saw this when he wrote his Fourth Clastic, although he wrote very little else on the subject of traversing these other worlds. The largest part of the work done in this area has been on General Relativity, which lays out how the structure of spacetime should be. Things like time travel and instantaneous teleportation are forbidden by GR, yet they happen. So the Pillar could be partially rewritten as "General Relativity Holds." As for Simon's addition to the Clastic, less research has been done, mainly because of the dangers involved. Several interdimensional invasions attacked Earth during the Second Heroic Age, most of them lured in by portals created on our side. Perhaps the best way to expand the Pillar to explicitly include other realities would be: "There are many universes that differ from ours by physical laws or simply by histories. Normally they are kept from each other and from us and do not meet." The Fifth Pillar "No Fate can be reached save by waiting. No Action may be undone. The threads of destiny are unbreakable and unreadable." - Simon Filius, ibid. The Fifth Clastic "There is no fate, all may be known to the probing mind. The past is no more immutable than the future, the threads are in OUR hands." - Simon Filius, ibid. The essence of this Pillar is that events are causally connected. A cause must precede the effect, not the other way around. In violating this Pillar, one can cause something to have happened differently than it did before, a sort of Retroactive Continuity, or retcon for short. Also, one can scry into the future, seeing things that have yet to happen (the cause, the future event, happens after the effect, which is the viewer seeing the event). Note that causal connection is limited to the speed of light, so being instantly aware of something falls under the Fifth Clastic as well. One possible meaning for the final phrase of the Pillar, aside from being fatalistic mumbo-jumbo, is that normally information is lost, or unfindable. For example, natural law would have any object eventually decay, lose its shape. A spell can see what it once looked like, reaching back in time and causing the information to be preserved until the caster could get it. Another example is the Heisenberg Uncertainly Principle. This doesn't have to do with causality, rather with "unknowable threads," so the HUP can be violated under the Fifth Clastic. Being Broken By The Pillars Haphazardly cast spells can turn on the user, or run wild and attract a powerful response. The rigourous procedure used by you scientists minimizes the chances of this happening, as does ritual spellcasting. Of course, the two are practically identical, now that I think of it. Among mages, we do not rank power by how much we can warp the Laws, but rather by how well we can control the warpings we create. An exertion of will can prevent a spell from running out of control and destroying a large area, but inexperienced mages can be killed by the effort of controlling larger spells. In addition, minor side effects can cause temporary damage or even permanent disfigurement to mages if not controlled. Often a mage will ignore the minor effects in order to save power for the eventuality of a major mishap. As a result, mages are often disfigured in some way, enhancing our unsavory reputation throughout history. And no, I did not lose my sight that way, I had my eyes torn out by a wolf. No one said being a mage was safe. In closing, I would like to thank you all for giving me the opportunity to present the traditional side of the magical picture to you, and would hope that you profit from the knowledge. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ A quick note regarding the next article. The "David Van Domelen" who exists in the ASH Universe was born approximately seven years earlier than the one who writes the ASH stories. He started as a player character for the author when several campaigns were being run in his original ASH Universe. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Physical Review M: Violation Physics June 1993 _A Summary Of Current Tests for Tesla Indices_ submitted by: Dr. David Van Domelen, aka "Solar Max" of United Nations Extraterrene Authority (UNEA) Abstract: On this twentieth anniversary of Physical Review M, I've been invited to write an overview of the framework of current knowledge in the field of Violation Physics. I apologize in advance for what may seem an unprofessional writing style, but it's been years since I last had to publish in a formal manner. Much of this article will be written with the view of informing those not specializing in Violation Physics and I encourage posting this article where colleagues and students can see it. The main body will be split into two parts. The first will be an overview of the concept of the Tesla Index, what it means, and what factors can influence it. The second will deal with the ten most common tests used to measure the Tesla Index, or TI. The Tesla Index: Around the turn of the Century, Nikola Tesla wrote an unpublished article regarding the spreading changes in what was known in physics. He maintained that although much of what was new was the result of what we now call Modern Physics, some was the result of violation of the laws of nature. He chose to see what many thought were cranks and frauds as honest researchers who had stumbled on a way to bypass causal science. Of course, the fact that Tesla himself was considered a crank did nothing to help him publish the paper, and indeed it was only chance that a copy was saved from destruction. The main point of his paper was that certain individuals could, consciously or unconsciously, alter the laws of nature and perform experiments that were irreproduceable by other scientists. Several promising scientists, himself included, had been scoffed out of the intellectual community because they continually produced results that went against those of the rest of the scientific community's. He proposed that this ability to warp reality was what had been taken to be "magic" in ancient societies, but that such abilities had died down to the point that only highly sensitive (for the time) experiments could be influenced by such individuals. Those who were aware of this theory considered it to be one of Tesla's more erratic ones. In later years when widespread usage of AC current won Tesla a certain amount of respect, his papers were collected together and his theory on "magic" rediscovered. Most chose to ignore it until 1938. 1938, of course, being the year the first superheroes appeared on the scene. Most of these men were normal humans, using skills and guts to fight crime and saboteurs. But many used devices that defied physics, and a few had geniune superhuman powers. For example, Johnny Angel could teleport short distances at will, an ability even the most hardened skeptic could not deny the reality of. At this time the papers of Tesla's came back to the surface and got a much better reception. Alongside the more famous Manhattan Project was the Edison Project (named in an intentional ironic comment on the rivalry between Edison's promotion of DC power over Tesla's AC). The Edison Project attempted to develop a coherent theory of how superhuman powers worked in the hopes of developing some sort of super weapon to end the war. However, by 1945 they had only scratched the surface of what we now call Violation Physics. At the end of WWII, the Edison Project went deep underground as it became a major player in Cold War politics, and Violation Physics became a National Secret. During the next 20 years, most of the terminology used in the field was developed. The most basic term is the Tesla Index. The Tesla Index is a measure of how much an individual can violate the laws of physics and probability. Various tests, to be discussed in the next section, have been developed to determine the TI, but all work on the same basic priniciple. An experiment is run, one that has a known mean result and a known distribution curve. Then the person being tested is asked to concentrate on trying to change the results of the experiment. After several trials, the mean result of experiments run under the influence of the subject is calculated, and the difference between that mean and the "normal" mean determined. The number of Standard Deviations (A measure of the width of a distribution) between the two means is the Tesla Index for that test. Since some individuals have highly specific talents (such as many superheroes) that give them a very high TI in one area but not in others, most subjects are usually given at least two different tests. Depending on the TI measured, the subject will fall into one of several categories. Zero or Less: Anchor. Negative TI is measured by how far away the anchor has to be for a person with a known nonzero TI to affect an experiment "normally." Anchors are valued in places where normal physics must be allowed to apply. 0-1: Normal. No noticeable ability, may be 'lucky' or 'unlucky' at times, but generally won't alter reality. 99% of the population is in this range. 1-3: Paranormal. Strange things can happen around this person. Most people with this level can operate technology that violates physical laws in a minor way, but cannot create it. People with this level are highly sought after by the military and private companies to operate advanced systems that use 'pseudoscience', the popular term for Violation Physics. 3-10: Supernormal. Able to break laws of physics on the microscopic levels at will, often for macroscopic effects if the person has training to know what they are doing. Those with TIs in this range are capable of building "Supertech", devices that violate the laws of physics in major ways. Much of the more advanced supertech can only be used by Paranormals or better, but some is actually able to work its "miracles" in the hands of normals. However, since Anchors can keep supertech from working, it is not used in everyday situations, where a passing person could cause it to break down. 10 or more: Supernatural. Possessed of "superpowers" or magical skill of a more traditional nature. One in a million has this level of TI. Generally when the TI is this high, it isn't tested, since it is obvious the person has supernatural abilities. However, testing of numerous Superheroes in the 70s and 80s revealed that they are usually "spiked" at very high numbers on some tests, while having scores of near zero on all others. For example, I personally am able to warp spacetime to extreme degrees, measuring near 1000 on tests designed to determine ability to violate general relativity. However, no matter how hard I try, my score on "Maxwell's Demon" is only .236, and on the "Monte Carlo" test I get only a 2.13. Those with scores nearly the same on all tests are unofficially called "Wizards" since most of them studied archaic magic. However, even those in Violation Physics bristle at the mention of magic, so Wizards are officially called Partbloods (more on that later). Another term of importance developed in the 20 years of secrecy was the Owens Effect. Tests on children born in the "Baby Boom" indicated a markedly higher TI in children born after 1938 than in their parents or in children born prior to 1938. With aid of geneological records and information gained from several minor Partbloods, it was found that when parents desired to be more than human, or desired such for their children, the gene for violation became more dominant. This gene, called the Magene popularly, or the gene for Homo Sapiens Magi by geneticists, itself violated laws of nature. Instead of being a normal recessive or dominant gene, the Magene would change with the desires of the parent, or sometimes in response to external effects, like "curses". Doctor Jon Owens determined this factor, as well as the reverse effect that followed soon after when the postwar desire for normalcy drastically reduced the number of paranormals born. With the aid of various mages, it was determined that TIs were indeed higher in the past, as postulated by Tesla. It was theorized that there were once "Fullbloods" who had totally dominant Magenes and ignored the Owens Effect, passing full powers to their heirs. However, interbreeding with normals caused the birthing of "Partbloods" who have varying levels of TI, as well as being subject to the Owens Effect. Those who are born with extremely high but narrowly spiked TI curves are termed "Sports", a term that means about the same as Mutant, but without the negative connotations the word had in the B movies of the day. Of course, the general public still calls sports mutants anyway. In the Sixties when the children of the First Heroic Age came into their full powers, it became impossible to keep the Edison Project a secret. It was merged into the Department of SuperHuman Affairs (DSHA) also known as the NSSA, National Super Security Agency, and many of the records of its prior existence were doctored to make it seem more above board. During the early attempts to develop a "Supernatural Detector" the Haumann Effect was discovered. Basically, anyone could will themselves to not show up as having any TI, provided they had some idea how the test was being made. Since most TI tests require active will of the participant to read anything, it was very hard to read an unwilling subject. In fact, Dr. Haumann, who had been searching for the actual Magene in early DNA tests, found that the gene could hide itself if the subject did not want to have the gene found. Even today it is almost impossible to tell if someone has a nonzero TI without their participation, knowing or otherwise (hidden detectors can be used while a tester tricks the subject into using their ability). Detection of paranormals (aside from those who develop gross physical mutations as a side effect of their Magene) who wish to stay hidden is more an art than a science, but the popularity of things like lotteries has provided plentiful work for those who claim to be able to make sure a paranormal doesn't "cheat". But I digress. The most startling development regarding the Magene in recent years has been the Bose Transformation. Timothy Bose, a metaphysics major in Canada, had a near zero TI on all scales (Metaphysics departments generally work closely with Violation Physics groups to test their students). However, two years after these tests, Tymythy (as he now called himself) had managed through a combination of drugs and meditation to raise his TI to the low 20s. His recent training with the mage Wanderer has raised his TI to an estimated 50 average, with a spike of 250 or more in the General Relativity area. He still tests very low in the Psychic regions, but the fact that he managed to raise his own TI instead of that of his progeny is a dramatic new development. However, the fact that most of the substances he used are illegal in most nations has stunted research into duplicating the Bose Transformation. Tesla Index Tests: There are ten standard tests of the TI, broken into four categories: Quantum Mechanical, Thermodynamical, Psychic and General Relativistic. Quantum: Larsen Test: Only recently graduating from theory into practice, this test has a person try to influence a measurement to find position and momentum more precisely than allowed by the Heisenberg Uncertainly Principle. The TI in this case is the inverse of the multiple of h-bar that the error is reduced to. Martisovits Test: Using a double slit interference setup with detectors near both slits and the screen, the test is to try and measure both which slit the particle went through as well as get an interference pattern. The mean is to be able to measure none of the particles as they go through the slit if the interference pattern is to remain. Every .002 percent of the beam strength that can be measured as going through one or the other slit without altering the interference pattern is considered one standard deviation. Bullock Test: Using the photoelectric effect, the subject is told to keep a voltmeter from registering any current as light is shined on a strip of metal in a photoelectric effect experiment. The photons will be redshifted by the subject or deflected (further, less common tests show which) and reduce the current flowing thought an ammeter. Thermodynamic: "Maxwell's Demon": One of the two most commonly used tests. A block of metal is hooked up to thermocouples at each end and insulated. The subject is asked to concentrate on making one side hotter than the other, by making the faster electrons go to that side. Variations in temperature between the two ends are measured and plotted to determine the TI. Note that metals with very high melting points are usually used, since a TI of over 40 will melt steel with ease. Science students often make this apparatus for a Senior project, and those who test too high are encouraged to go into supertech. Chung Test: Similar to Maxwell's Demon, but instead of trying to create a heat gradient, the subject is asked to try to magnetize the metal. Since this is a harder mental image, it is usually only used for testing scientists and the like. Kelly Test: Liquid Crystals are suspended in a bath. The subject tries to darken the mix by polarizing the crystals. Smartasses tend to make the bath show words or pictures. Psychic: Reiss Test: Similar to the old psychic test with the cards that have symbols on them (star, wavy lines, etc). However, the cards are shuffled and not looked at by anyone, and they have 20 symbols. The subject will try to predict the next card, then turn it over. Statistical analysis of the success of the subject determines the TI. Carlton Test: A highly advanced test of telepathic ability, which is basically forcing resonance in brainwaves, this test has the subject try to project words and images to a target who has already been tested as having a low TI. "Lotto Test": A long string of random numbers is generated. Then the subject is asked to make his own string, trying to duplicate the previous string. Statistics students often are given this test as a homework problem, but it isn't terribly accurate in most cases, especially at finding lower TIs, since it is quite likely that a person could get 3 standard deviations away from the mean by sheer chance. However, getting every number right tends to indicate more than chance. This test, along with Maxwell's Demon, is one of the two "Standard" tests. General Relativistic: "Slimquick" or Matheson Test: The subject is weighed while sedated so that they cannot affect the measurement. After they recover their senses, they are weighed again, first being told to think heavy, then light. Changes in their weight reflect violations of General Relativity. However, TI less than 10 in this area is lost in the "noise" so this test is rarely used. Ability to fly by sheer willpower is often due to a high TI in this area. In closing I would like to say that there is still much we do not, or perhaps cannot know about this field. However, it is comforting to know that it isn't the laws of nature that are screwy, it's us.