OK, I've been thinking again (Run! Run now!), and I've had a few thoughts from what I've read in LoGG. First off...I believe that
currently that's actually viewed in canon for Fenspace? I've read some posts and comments that lead me to believe it is. If so, there are some really
interesting possibilities from it. If not, the following musing would really only hold true for the crossover universe. If you haven't read the
LoGG chapters yet and don't want some minor spoilers for them, you might want to skip the following.
First...Doug's gift worked in Fenspace. Therefore, it's not a strictly technology-only universe. This was also implied/hinted at by the Indeterminate
mana level given in the Infinite Worlds writeup, but this is the first indication we have that magic is real and can work there.
Second - handwavium seems to be able to sense/react to magic. At the very least, it certainly didn't like Doug's little foray into investigative
magery. Admittedly, it could simply be a reaction to his thoughts of what he was doing - the stuff does seem to be at the very least reactive to thought - but
it certainly looked much more like a reaction to the probing magic itself. This would imply that magic might be a part of the makeup of handwavium, or that
whoever created it at least knew of the possibility of magic.
That's as far as I'm willing to go right now with what we've seen in the story so far. If someone were to ask Skuld about it, we might get some
very interesting answers, but I'm not sure if things will develop that way. But now comes the fun part - wild-assed speculation to get people discussing
the ideas.
The Jason's views have been listed before - that the stuff is at least partly magical in nature. This certainly seems bumped a little in
probability by the reaction it had to Doug, but it's not conclusive. But it does lead to some lovely ideas. First, the thread that originally led me to
post the Jason's views mentioned the idea that people investigating/observing handwavium noticed all sorts of different things when they did so...things
that fit their own viewpoints on what the stuff was. If anything, the goo seems to be almost the ultimate expression of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle,
where the act of observing changes what's observed. However, it might go further than that. Perhaps handwavium has such a varied number of effects because
it's truly acting differently for every person, based on what they think it does. They might have a general idea of what a strain does - memory,
biomodding, general upgrading - but how the stuff actually works is affected by how the person THINKS it works. Perhaps some of those odd Indetermine readings
that the Infinite Worlds people are getting are from the witches and neopagans using the stuff; if it has any magical properties/components at all, it might
only exhibit them when used by someone who thinks it's magical...which could certainly cause odd fluctuations for anyone trying to detect magic.
Even wilder speculation - this one is completely out of left field, but I'm hoping it will get some interesting talk going. Perhaps the Indeterminate mana
level is because most of the magical energy is currently in a non-energy form, at least around Earth. In all sorts of interesting forms, actually - solids,
goo.... Has anyone ever thought that the stuff might be solidified/gelled MANA? And given that a number of stories talk about aspected mana, it could very well
be solidified/gelled mana with a technology aspect. How it got that way would be anybody's guess....but it might explain some of the really weird effects
we've seen with it. It might ALSO explain the reaction of the handwavium that Doug tried to examine. I'm not sure - Bob, does he draw in ambient mana
when he's using his gift at all? If so, and if he was holding something that was actually solid mana, that could explain why it seemed to implode.
He started to use his gift while holding it, it reacted to the song, but also started to be absorbed to power the song - a feedback loop? That might also
explain why he was knocked unconscious.
So - thoughts? Am I ready for the comfy sweater with the wrap-around arms yet? It's been a while since we've discussed handwavium's nature, so I
thought we were up for another go at it.
currently that's actually viewed in canon for Fenspace? I've read some posts and comments that lead me to believe it is. If so, there are some really
interesting possibilities from it. If not, the following musing would really only hold true for the crossover universe. If you haven't read the
LoGG chapters yet and don't want some minor spoilers for them, you might want to skip the following.
First...Doug's gift worked in Fenspace. Therefore, it's not a strictly technology-only universe. This was also implied/hinted at by the Indeterminate
mana level given in the Infinite Worlds writeup, but this is the first indication we have that magic is real and can work there.
Second - handwavium seems to be able to sense/react to magic. At the very least, it certainly didn't like Doug's little foray into investigative
magery. Admittedly, it could simply be a reaction to his thoughts of what he was doing - the stuff does seem to be at the very least reactive to thought - but
it certainly looked much more like a reaction to the probing magic itself. This would imply that magic might be a part of the makeup of handwavium, or that
whoever created it at least knew of the possibility of magic.
That's as far as I'm willing to go right now with what we've seen in the story so far. If someone were to ask Skuld about it, we might get some
very interesting answers, but I'm not sure if things will develop that way. But now comes the fun part - wild-assed speculation to get people discussing
the ideas.
The Jason's views have been listed before - that the stuff is at least partly magical in nature. This certainly seems bumped a little inprobability by the reaction it had to Doug, but it's not conclusive. But it does lead to some lovely ideas. First, the thread that originally led me to
post the Jason's views mentioned the idea that people investigating/observing handwavium noticed all sorts of different things when they did so...things
that fit their own viewpoints on what the stuff was. If anything, the goo seems to be almost the ultimate expression of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle,
where the act of observing changes what's observed. However, it might go further than that. Perhaps handwavium has such a varied number of effects because
it's truly acting differently for every person, based on what they think it does. They might have a general idea of what a strain does - memory,
biomodding, general upgrading - but how the stuff actually works is affected by how the person THINKS it works. Perhaps some of those odd Indetermine readings
that the Infinite Worlds people are getting are from the witches and neopagans using the stuff; if it has any magical properties/components at all, it might
only exhibit them when used by someone who thinks it's magical...which could certainly cause odd fluctuations for anyone trying to detect magic.
Even wilder speculation - this one is completely out of left field, but I'm hoping it will get some interesting talk going. Perhaps the Indeterminate mana
level is because most of the magical energy is currently in a non-energy form, at least around Earth. In all sorts of interesting forms, actually - solids,
goo.... Has anyone ever thought that the stuff might be solidified/gelled MANA? And given that a number of stories talk about aspected mana, it could very well
be solidified/gelled mana with a technology aspect. How it got that way would be anybody's guess....but it might explain some of the really weird effects
we've seen with it. It might ALSO explain the reaction of the handwavium that Doug tried to examine. I'm not sure - Bob, does he draw in ambient mana
when he's using his gift at all? If so, and if he was holding something that was actually solid mana, that could explain why it seemed to implode.
He started to use his gift while holding it, it reacted to the song, but also started to be absorbed to power the song - a feedback loop? That might also
explain why he was knocked unconscious.
So - thoughts? Am I ready for the comfy sweater with the wrap-around arms yet? It's been a while since we've discussed handwavium's nature, so I
thought we were up for another go at it.