Horizon Is An Independent, Original Suggestion-based Webcomic Currently Hosted On MSPFA About The Efforts

Horizon is an independent, original suggestion-based webcomic currently hosted on MSPFA about the efforts of three individuals to try to understand the nature and purpose of a large, powerful, and vaguely unethical superscience organization. Submit commands on MSPFA or DeviantArt to help Nine, Gammon, and Dr. Thorne discover what lies beyond the horizon.

I just heard the opening chords of Jingle Bell Rock echo through the dorm building and I sat bolt upright in bed with murderous fire in my eyes.

it is fucking October you heretics

MAGUS Part I: Introduction

Magus, aka magic (properly spelled magiq), is the manipulation of the natural world through apparently paranatural means (driven by the "psi" force). Magiq is actually an acronym which stands for Manipulation of Atoms, Gravitics, Inductive energy, and Quantum phenomena. Magiq/magic is called a number of other names, though "magus" is the most commonly interchangeable. The practice of magus is divided into two major phyla: teletics and alchemy. Teletics is the discipline of control over the environment through manipulation of bosons, and the alchemical magics deal in what can be summarized as nuclear chemistry (the manipulation of fermions). These two phyla overlap in various focused disciplines, but the distinction between them is obvious and important. Teletics is the direct manipulation of energy (active), whereas alchemy is the direct manipulation of matter (passive). Teletics Teletics is the branch of magic that allows users to transfer and transform energy by way of boson interactions. It is considered by most scholars to be the active phylum of magic, as its effects are more directly linked to the user than those of its sister phylum. There is a bit of trade-off between teletics and alchemy: teletic magics usually do not involve the weak nuclear force, but alchemy requires it; meanwhile alchemy primarily deals with nucleons and captured electrons, so teletics picks up the use of free leptons in its disciplines. The teletic phylum is so named because the majority of its disciplines involve manipulation of the energies around oneself, including those of gravity and magnetics (telekinesis) and electromagnetic impulses in others’ minds (telepathy). Also included in the teletic phylum are the myriad types of kinesis (such as pyrokinesis and hydrokinesis), illusion magic, and the rare and extremely potent chronomagic (an extreme gravity-based magic that delves uncannily into Aether physics). Alchemy Alchemy is, in the simplest terms, the magic of stuff. In a sense one could describe it as magical chemistry; it influences the composition of atoms and compounds to change the identity and properties of substances. It is generally regarded as the passive counterpart to its active sister phylum, as it deals with the manipulation of mass particles and therefore its effects are more indirectly connected to the user than those of teletic magics. The alchemical phylum is named for alchemy, the basic form of transmutation, but also contains magical schools such as potions, transmogrification, and enchantment.

MAGUS Part II: Physics of Magic

The psi force appears to be an addition to the fundamental forces of nature, able to manipulate the other four forces (but still ultimately at the mercy of the scalar Higgs field). Because of this, the psi force –and therefore mages– are able to influence gravity, light, electricity, magnetism, nuclear and chemical reactions, and the very concentration of atomic nuclei (though it cannot directly affect mass values, inertia, or kinetics). Despite the apparently limited number of physical aspects that magus directly influences, mages do have control over a vast range of the natural world. By manipulating gravity, electrons, and thermal photons, for example, one can condense and supercool air into a semi-crystalline nitrate solid which can be shaped into a variety of tools or weapons or detonated with a magical spark (nitrate is a volatile oxidizer).

Like the other fundamental forces, the psi force manifests subatomically as a specific class of vector bosons. These psi force carriers, called psions (symbolized with the Greek letter 𝜓 and entirely separate from the charm-meson of the same name), have 17 different forms, each dedicated specifically to carrying information about one type of elementary particle: 5 for gauge bosons and 12 for elementary fermions. There are only 9 psions that are commonly workable; the other 8 are for heavy unstable fermions that decay under normal conditions. The psion is a vector boson because it has defined velocity, and it carries information about other non-scalar particles. The psion uses the vacuum energy of quantum flux to alter the values of gauge bosons in transit and fermions.

Psions, like the bosons of the weak nuclear force, are particles born of vacuum energy which can exist for a limited amount of time until they are forced to vanish again to conserve mass-energy. When a psion intercepts a particle, such as a photon in transit (Figure P1), it actually entangles itself [𝜓 ⟴ 𝛾] with the particle to impart the information it carries, and then annihilates itself to conserve mass-energy. The merge of information causes the affected particle to change its state and/or energy according to the information borne by the psion; in this diagram the photon is redshifted by the interaction. As stated before, the psi force can influence all aspects of other particles except mass values and therefore intrinsic kinetics. Because of its nature, however, there are cosmological problems like the accuracy of redshift/blueshift and gravitational lensing measurements taken by astronomers. The general accuracy of these measurements are accepted as concurrent with the Principle of Inevitable Cosmic Defaulting.

I love Stabby honestly and I'm so glad I finally found the original post so I can reblog it.

on the topic of humans being the intergalactic “hold my beer” species: imagine an alien stepping onto a human starship and seeing a space roomba™ with a knife duct taped onto it, just wandering around the ship

it doesn’t have any special intelligence. it’s just a normal space roomba. there are other space roombas on the ship and they don’t have knives. it’s just this one. knife space roomba has full clearance to every room in the ship. occasionally crew members will be talking and then suddenly swear and clutch their ankle. knife space roomba putters off, leaving them to their mild stab wounds.

“what is the point?” asks the alien as another crew member casually steps over the knife-wielding robot. “is it to test your speed and agility?”

“no it doesn’t really go that fast,” replies the captain.

“does it teach you to stay ever-vigilant?”

“I mean I guess so but that’s more of a side effect.”

“does it weed out the weak? does it protect you from invaders? do repeated stabbings let your species heal more quickly in the future?”

“it doesn’t stab very hard, it gets us more than it gets our enemies, and no, but that sounds cool — someone write that down.”

“but then what is its purpose?”

“I don’t know,” the captain says, leaning down to give the space roomba an affectionate pat. “it just seemed cool”

I just had the ecstatic realization that, because of the Before/After First Contact date system in one of my sci-fi universes, June 9th of the year 2503 is, to them, 6/9/420 APC. I dunno about y’all, but I’m willing to bet that humans absolutely will not have outgrown the sacred numerology of The Weed Number and The Sex Number by the 26th century. there will be a hedonistic holiday across known space...

04:25 Common Fleet Time, 06.09.420 APC

USSC Aixsaio-Jien Ship Log, Capt. Exiuen Ybnekh recording. Was awoken by a chorus of impossibly loud "NICE!" emanating from every human aboard the ship at exactly 04:20 hours. Ordinarily this time is within normal hibernation cycle span for humans. Brief communication with other vessels and stations across the Coalition fleet indicate identical experiences regardless of location. This is entirely unprecedented, and will be investigated. Punishment may be issued accordingly, if necessary.

04:41 Common Fleet Time, 06.09.420 APC

Addendum Log: Upon investigation, human crew members sheepishly explained that 04:20 hours is regarded as a sort of sacred time for the human species, particularly on this day. Was subsequently invited to partake in human recreational herb inhalation. Invitation... declined.