World Tree MUSH

    Centria Prime, the third planet of a 9-planet system around a G-type yellow-dwarf star. Location: Los Fransesca University, LineFleet campus Room: 202. Attending lecturer: Justina Leaves of Thyme.

    The lecture hall is an open room, the doors aren't locked, and people can enter and leave at any point they wish. Anyone arriving will find the lecture already in progress. "... history leads us to believe that Dolls first originated in the middle east, around the mediterrainean in the early 5th century. Rudimentary constructs of clay with wooden or bronze skeletons were used for simple labour, and are credited with the construction of many monuments that still stand today, such as the great Tetramids of Qoura, and the Chimera at Karyl." says a white-haired young looking woman with piercing blue eyes... it'd be easy to mistake this for the actual woman, until she glitches through a piece of furniture, or leans on something that isn't here. The humanoid robot behind her seems to be projecting this hologram and acting as a relay of sorts.

  There's a ship parked outside in whatever place can accommodate it. It may or may not attract attention, because the AI that lives in it is kind of a contrary jerk who likes to play at mechanical malicious compliance.

  All that to say... Agent Anneka Stojespal is here. It's hard to say when she slipped into the room, unless the lecturer was keeping watch for her. She's just there, in a seat near the side, closest to the door; far enough back to avoid immediate notice, but close enough that that single eye is staring intently at the... is that a hologram? Fascinating.

  The agent is dressed today not in her working uniform, but in a nice black suit that screams 'well-dressed government stiff.' After a moment, a second agent files in behind her and takes the seat next to hers: Agent Philip J. Coulson, ostensibly the leader of SHIELD's efforts in the World Tree. Neither makes a sound, but Anneka pulls out a small notepad and starts jotting down notes at a rapid clip. The scratch of pen on paper might be a little pointed in the breaks between words.

    Justina's eyes flick to the two off-worlders. They're clearly not local, and everyone in the room can tell... there's no Aura to them. No magic.

    The jerk AI is kept in check by the starport's native AI, Haephestus, the ancient construct taking a gentle fatherly role and patiently speaking with the off-world intellect.

    The lecturer presses an unseen control button in her hand, causing a screen to open and begin showing a schematic of a roomba-like machine, though the off-worlders would notice some clearly non-mechanical parts, like the Primus Node where a power pack would be, and an Aetheric Sensor, whatever that means. "Modern Dolls take many forms, and are mostly made with polymers, ceramic alloys and in some cases, high tensile metamaterial fibers." She clicks through slides, going from the roomba-like, to a construction arm like one would find in a factory, then to a quadrupedal one with a mounted repeating crossbow on its back. "From custodial models, to heavy construction and even combat support frames, Dolls have been and will always be, a vital part of our society... now, with the preamble out of the way, are there any questions?"

Speaking of magic, Holly's found her way to Los Franscesca University. It's certainly a lot more high-tech than Columbia that's for sure. She's joined by Servis and Lavaux as usual, the pair of ghosts float alongside her. "Wow, that sounds pretty advanced! I wonder if ghosts would be able to inhabit them?" The witch knows that the supernatural and technology don't always mix together after all.

  Thankfully the ship is compliant with figure of offworld authority and other machines. It seems to be constitutionally incapable of getting along with its assigned pilot, though. The man, yes. The woman... well. Not so much. There may have been words exchanged before the agents left the vehicle.

  For now Anneka is the picture of a polite guest, quietly jotting notes and eyeballing slides. There's definitely not a whit of magic in either of these two, either. It might be excusable in the case of the avuncular-looking man, but the woman? Scars as heavy and extensive as those always tell a story.

  At the quadruped with a crossbow mounted on it, she tilts her head, but doesn't comment. The call for questions prompts her to glance over to the man; he lifts a brow, she shrugs. No questions, apparently. Not yet. Apparently she's just getting herself oriented... for the moment. Until talking interrupts her train of thought. She glances over to Holly, looking hard at her the same way one might look at a loud talker in a library.

  "...Shhh." It's not unkind, but it seems she is at least trying to concentrate.

  There may be a quiz later. You never know.

    Justina's gaze flicks from the offworlders, to another offworlder. This one she recognizes at least. "Ms Winn. I was actually about to touch on that, you see, while Dolls are useful automata they are incapable of creative thought or adaptive reasoning. Bound by strict programming and safety features so they don't accidentally injure or damage important personnel or equipment. This lead me to develop the Ur-Doll system." she clicks to the next slide, and a humanoid frame appears. It has three Primus Nodes in the chest, and an Astral Trajector in the 'head' module, alongside Aetheric Resonators, and more mundane optical, and audio sensors. A module in the upper back is labeled: Fabrication Matrix, and the forearms are fitted with 'Fabrication Matrix Actuators' set in just below the elbow on the forearms. "Ur-Dolls were developed using a similar framework to the AI's Ra-Doll frame. A novel technology developed by Odin, Zeus and Hathor four hundred years ago. It allows the AI to roam their macro-body and interact with the crew on a more personal level. I took the basic framework, and combined it with an Astral Trajector, to allow remote operation from a safe location using an Astral Projection Rig, or APR."

    Click

    The next slide shows an APR, it's a reclined couch-like piece of furniture with various tech bits that are labeled with esoteric names like: Astral Form Attuner and Soul Link Enforcer. "The first test was run by myself, on the nineth planet, or planetoid the astronomers are still debating that, by myself and my ship AI, Minerva. She would have greeted you on arrival, alongside the Campus starport's AI, Haephestus."

"Oh sorry..." Holly looks back at Anneka before taking a seat herself and starts taking notes of her own. "I think I understand most of it. So they're basically high-tech golems that can be controlled over long distances. What's a Primus Node though?" Justina didn't really provide any context for that.

  The agents seem to be following reasonably well. Anneka jots notes every so often, while Phil seems to be listening with mild interest. After a moment though, he leans forward, reaching up to what looks like some kind of lightweight comm headset he's wearing. He speaks quietly, quickly; after a few seconds Anneka puts away her notepad and pen, glancing sidelong at her fellow agent. He nods briefly. At that unspoken signal, they both rise.

  "Please excuse us. Something's come up." Anneka flashes a swift, apologetic smile, before trailing after her fellow agent. With that, both of them rise and slip out as quietly as they'd come in, provided no one tries to stop them.

    "Ah, yes... Primus is the local energy source, it powers a Mage's magical power, and is used to fuel many machines, intrinsically infused with them via these 'nodes'. A Primus Node is, I believe it would be akin to a large battery, which can be charged using any form of Primus, or in a pinch other world energy sources so long as a suitable converter can be fabricated... this is actually detailed in Magic and Technology 103 but I can summarize it here."

    She clicks the button and the slide projector shuts off. "Primus nodes were originally built around magical focii, like staves, wands and orbs, anything with a powerful link to the Leyline network. These were crude and only held a relatively small amount of energy at a time... in fact there is one of the first Nodes, built from the personal staff of Merlin in the campus courtyard. It's an antique, but it used to power its local light display. Modern Nodes are built around an array of gemstones and silver wire, and are much more energy dense and compact, this the three in an standard Ur-doll frame. One is used to provide primary power, locomotion, articulation and to power the onboard sensors. The other two are dedicated to the Adaptive Equipment Fabrication Matrix. This allows flashforging of basic material tools and melee weapons in the field without requiring recall to refit. It can also reinforce the hull of the Doll with flashforged armour plates in an emergency. Extensive damage needs to be repaired aboard the base craft but minor damage can be rectifieid in the first with Flash Patches. All these drain the Nodes, so operational life is limited, but for a standard operation, accounting for stresses, environmental damage and local fauna attacks the nodes are able to provide primary power for three weeks, the AEFM nodes can provide full combat readiness for 73 minutes, or enough patches to replace 56% of the outer hull shell before needing recharging.

"I see, how does Primus regenerate though? So you could use my magic with a converter to charge those batteries then. Can a ghost control one of those dolls by posessing it?" Holly certainly has a lot of questions.

 "Also do you have anything that can stablize magic?" She can't help but to wonder if there's anything here that could help her.

    "Primus comes from the Leyline network. It has been used for millions of years to breathe life into worlds. This world, for example, has thousands of Leylines running through and around it... our sister planet shows signs of having many Lines a few million years ago, but something either broke or redirect them and the planets life all died off... it's nothing but a red-sand desert world now." replies Justina. "As for how it regenerates, we're still debating that in the scientific community. As many laws of the universe Leylines seem to adhere to the Conservation of Energy. It cannot be destroyed, only transfered to a different form. When some is siphoned off into a Node, Core or Nexus, it isn't destroyed, just changed from free flowing, to contained. When its released and used, it returns to the Leylines."

    The second question is met with a pondering expression. "Hmm, an interesting question, I can't answer it, as we do not have 'ghosts'... though Astral Projection appears at least similar... are ghosts nought but the soul without a physical container? They could perhaps use an unattuned Astral Trajector as an anchor to inhabit an Ur-Doll... we could test this some time."

    And finally the last question. "That entirely depends on what you mean by 'stabilize'... and whether our technology is compatable with your own magic. Again, something we can test in a small scale at a later time."

"So the worlds here need magic in order to stay inhabitable? And there's something that can drain it from an entire planet? Wow, I hope nothing like that happens again..." Holly's doing her best to keep up with her notes, there's so much to take in at once. "So basically there's a constant cycle of magic unless something interferes with it.

 There's no afterlife here...you just die and that's it?" She sounds a bit disappointed about that. "Well, ghosts are basically what's left of a once living being. You don't need to die to make a hologram of someone right?" She's pretty sure that Justina is living after all. "My magic is kind of unpredictable it flares up at times and can be unpredictable..."