Alchemy remains an art almost exclusively focused on the transmutation of the sacrum and the profanum, but there is no reason it could not be extended to its logical conclusion to alter something far more fundamental: the localized laws of physics.
Co-written by psychicprogrammer and
Ralliston
| Phoenix Technologies Research Division Database | |
|---|---|
| File Title | PROJECT GRANT: Transmutative Buoyancy |
| File Type | Research proposal |
| Author | Jane Ramirez (Tromsø, Norway) |
| Upload Dates | 22-03-2055 (VER:2-FINAL (FINAL)) |
| 05-03-2055 (VER:1-FINAl) | |
| 18-01-2055 (VER:0) | |
| Keywords | aerospace, alchemy, applied thaumaturgy, nuclear, transmutation, transport |
1. Proposal
With the advent and eventual end of the Washington Virion pandemic, the common thaumaturgy-propelled airship — previously utilized almost exclusively by the Global Occult Coalition for its military needs — has once again begun appearing above US skies. What once was seen as a conceptual relic of a by-gone era both in the paranormal and mundane worlds alike has now started its reentry into the zeitgeist.
Fig 1.1: GOCAS Madrigal, one of the flagships of the Coalition Washington Virion intervention fleet.
This, of course, was not a coincidence: with the GOC intervention inside the country leaving behind not only its military bases but also the equipment and infrastructure associated with them, the proper framework necessary to actually house airships has once again become available to most major American cities. The country's administration changing from being led by the isolatonist Dan Crenshaw to one more focused on international cooperation similarly helped the case.
The entrepreneurs of America and well beyond, naturally, jumped at the occasion to capitalize on this chance, buying out the available ships and infrastructure in hopes of striking hope and commerce into the hearts of the populace. Branded as the ever-so-trendy ecological alternative to planes, the project — as is inevitable with all investments based upon trends rather than calculation[1] — soon enough proved a massive failure. As products of the past, the outdated vehicles failed to stand to the grand promises given by their new buyers: they could carry neither cargo nor people effectively against modern alternatives. To many, they merely acted as a reminder of the scar the Pandemic and GOC have inflicted upon America.
But I come here to say that this radical failure to resurrect the airship was not the fault of the idea itself, but rather of the stupidity of those who have first undertaken the endeavour. Indeed: if one were to know technological competence and where to strike, the market and the people have shown that there is a hidden, golden vein to be uncovered with such vehicles.
What separates us from all the other investor is that we more than possess both the foresight and wisdom enough to claim this fresh corner of the world for ourselves — and with this monopoly, we could bring about a new era of transportation by resurrecting and perfecting the common airship.
2. Reason for Submission
2.1 Ontological Alchemical Transmutation
The way through which the proposed project would achieve the promised revolution in transport would be by fundamentally altering the limits imposed by the laws of physics upon the modern day airborne vehicle.
Currently, the largest limitations a plane faces are those inherent to its design — so as to fly, the plane needs to have a precise max capacity that it cannot exceed should it wish for its lift to win against gravity; a streamlined design that is difficult to change, in spite of certain needs; a strict policy on its range, as dictated by the fuel it needs to refill.
But what if the above were not the case?
The first two issues arise as an inherent consequence of baseline physics, of the mass and volume of the transported cargo and passengers — both qualities that although are difficult to meaningfully change1 under baseline physics, could be very easily modified so as to ensure easier transport under the right paratechnological guidance.
Alchemy remains an art almost exclusively focused on the transmutation of the sacrum and the profanum, but there is no reason it could not be extended to its logical conclusion to alter something far more fundamental: the localized laws of physics. Through the implementation of ontological and ontokinetic apparatus, it is possible to wire alchemical reactions and rituals directly into the local fabric of reality; to "plug in" and edit the very variables limiting operations within a previously set boundary.
This would be achieved by utilizing a specifically-tailored version of the already-extant standard alchemical transmutation engine. When supplied with proper fuel — and appropriately wired to a Company-patented Ontokinetic Ontological Field Generator, focused on a set, unchanging boundary — it would be possible to use the engine to directly edit the constant of c within a localized space, i.e. inside the airships themselves. Inside this synthetic false vacuum a faster speed of light would mean that the relativistic mass of protons would be lower, as 99% of the mass of a proton is wrapped up in the relativistic motion of the quarks; thus, for example, doubling the speed of light would reduce the mass of everything in the false vacuum by a factor of 4.
This would have a twofold result. One, it would permit the user to change the relative density of air inside the airship far more effectively and with far wider limitations than standard methods, permitting its effortless ascent, descent, and movement. Two, it would enable the editing of the masses and volumes of everything and everyone aboard the vehicle, thusly allowing far more passengers to board the airship without endangering the operation of the physical mechanism permitting it to work.
2.2 Hull Transmutation
The uses of alchemical transmutation would not end with an ontological rewrite of local laws of reality — the art would also permit for the transmutation of the ships' hulls themselves, by extension enabling the fluid streamlining of their shape to best fit each of the stages of transportation.
There exists no reason that the ship should stay the same during takeoff and mid-transit — both are different processes and both, inherently, have different needs, limitations, and issues. By applying a pre-programmed schematic onto the whole of the vehicle's hull through alchemy, it would be possible to shift it between phases of the journey. For example, the standard "cigar" shape that an airship operates by is the most optimized for the actual travel, whereas a different shape — nicknamed the "jellyfish" by the research team — would prove far more advantageous for the landing and start of the vehicle.
Through alchemy, it would be possible to merge both, taking the advantage of both shapes when needed, and then fluidly switching to the other when the use is no longer necessary — all without even a single potentially faulty mechanical element.
3. Expected Costs
3.1 Ontokinetic Transmutation Research
The foremost costs which the project would spawn are those linked to the research necessary to streamline and modernize the standard alchemical transmutation engine. Its current iteration is a crude invention of the early 2040s — one created by alchemists as a proof of concept, and not a machine crafted by skilled engineers. As such, additional work — undertaken both internally within the Company through the Applied Thaumaturgy Department and externally through the Affiliated Alchemist Association — will be needed to properly simplify and refine the mechanism. This all, alongside the costs necessary for the hiring of third-party experts,2 should not exceed $50,000,000.
3.2 Airship Design
As the airships that the Company will fund for the needs of this project would be nothing like the actual vehicles they owe their name to, airship designs currently extant in the Company's database would not prove satisfactory. Additional funds will be needed to grant the Engineering Department enough resources to properly create volatile casings and hulls that will be able to accommodate the required systems. The cost of this part of the project should amount to approximately $135,000,000.
3.3 Infrastructure Development
Modernizing the outdated GOC infrastructure as well as opening new ports in non-US locations would be the single most costly part of the proposal. Given the already extant nature of the aforementioned framework and the availability of personnel experienced with such projects internally within the Company, it would be an endeavour which would be completed relatively quickly, and without legal and procedural issues. It will require around $500,000,000 in funding so that the half-ruined leftovers of the Coalition's work may be turned into proper contemporary travel terminals.
3.2 Advertising Against Conventional Means of Transport
Although the result that this project would create would inevitably be an alternative far more efficient and refined than the current conventional means of transportation offered to the general populace,3 the average change-sceptical individual would need convincing that that is, indeed, the case.[2] As such, targetted, non-cognitohazardous4 advertisements will need to be placed in months leading up to and succeeding the start of the project. This task will be undertaken by the Public Relations Department and is estimated to cost no more than $80,000,000.
4. Usage
4.1 Passenger Transport
Primarily, the proposed vehicles would be utilized to revolutionize passenger transport worldwide.
Despite all of the paratechnological developments that have occurred since the fall of the Veil, there currently exists no economic substitute for kerosine used to fill the energy densities needed to power heavier-than-air flights. Hydrogen storage has proven impractical, ethanol can no longer be globally used as aviation fuel since the Centeotl incident, and thaumonuclear reactors have not been miniaturized enough to fit onto airborne vehicles.
With oil in decline since 2025 — caused by the gradual but drastic global decrease of demand due to fleet electrification — the chemical industry has moved entirely to biological feedstocks, and gas power has been replaced by fractal capacitors removing the need for peaker plants. While the industry could rework cracking plants to produce jet fuel en masse, global capital is unwilling to invest in plants with the life expectancy of only a few years — especially in an era almost entirely defined by the oft-disasterous JOICL scramble for bio-engineered perfection. Additionally, the rise of paranormal weather patterns worldwide — i.e. runestorms, spellstorms, and theu-vortexes — appearing post-Impasse5 has caused further complications to the meteorological status quo at large.
All of this is to say: in recent decades, the cost of air travel has spiked drastically. The people prefer the train for long distance travel — as most do not have the resources necessary to finance the usage of portals — but railway infrastructure is simply not available everywhere.6 The airships that this project would create would provide an intercontinental travel network, making it far cheaper than the common airplane. This would open up significant markets in developing nations and locations underserved by current rail lines, which is an issue plaguing most of the United States of America as well as Northern Norway.
To put this into perspective: current preliminary calculations indicate that the Company could sell a standard NYC-London ticket for boarding the airships for around $200, with a decent chuck of that cost being providing food to the passengers. Such a flight would take 22 hours; three times longer than a standard plane flight, but also ten times cheaper.
It does not take much sociological research to realize which option most of the population would choose.
4.2 Cargo Transport
The secondary task that the airships would undertake, when released, would be the transport of cargo.
As of writing, international shipping is divided between bulk cargo transport by sea and fast cargo by air. The proposed airships would be used as a method of bulk cargo transport far cheaper than air transport and far faster than sea transport.
Although calculating anything pertaining to transportable mass and its costs is a complicated matter due to its dependence on the effectiveness of the mass reducing system proposed in this project, current estimates place the costs that would come from transporting cargo via the airship on par with rail transport for organics and raw materials, but with the added bonus of being globe-spanning in its reach.
4.3 Military Applications
Although airships have been widely utilized by the GOC for military needs for decades, the proposed system would be far more scalable and volatile than hydrogen based systems utilized by the Coalition. Though such uses are not the primary intended effect of the project's implementation, to showcase its wide-scale potential, the research team has compiled several sub-proposals for military applications. Those proposals primarily concern utilizing the airships as relocatable logistical hubs, allowing for the transportation and deployment of whole armies within a single vehicle.
This system would of course have many more uses still: from the simple options of having it act as a cruise missile delivery system (potentially replacing the B-52, 50 years ahead of schedule) through usage as a AWACS and ELINT sensor platform to acting as a drone mothership capable of deploying thousands of autonomous drones or other aircraft, the possibilities are boundless. Assuming that the false vacuum could be maintained outside of the projectors, it would also be possible to armour the system, providing a fast and effective method of troop deployment without the notorious fragility of helicopters.
5. Potential Issues
5.1 Nuclear Breakdown
As already mentioned, the primary issue associated with the project is the threat of its internal systems malfunctioning during transit. As such a malfunction would effectively result in a total ontokinetic breakdown of localized laws of physics — one that although would inevitably result in said laws reverting to their global ontological status quo within no more than 0.1 μs[3] as per the Fourth Reynders Law of Regression, would also result in a temporary collapse of the constant of c within localized reality.[4] As an inherent consequence of such a change — no matter how short — the rebounding of the whole system into baseline would effectively initiate an internal reaction similar in speed and energetic yield to the explosion of a 35 MT nuclear warhead.[5]
Fig 5.1: Asset Starfish Prime detonated in a high-altitude nuclear explosion test under the US-organized Operation Dominic; a vague visual representation of the dangers carried with a potentially nuclearly-potent airship.
The obvious fact that such an explosion occurring mid-transit would be undesirable for both commerce and public image, managing a fleet of vehicles that land within urbanized areas and are capable of turning into nuclear weapons under incorrect supervision is also entirely unacceptable from a humanitarian and profit-focused angle.[6] It is also worth mentioning that such a potentially dangerous flaw of the project could lure the legal ire of the GOC. There exist several examples of prior precedence of the organization being firmly — and militarily, in the case of the Prometheus Extrauniversal Train incident — opposed to vehicles tampering with the fabric of reality. Though current GOC law technically strictly limits such interference but does not outright forbid the proposed use for this project, lobbying so as to overturn several members of the Council of 108 what would be in opposition to the idea might prove to be neccessary.
Additionally, although the Fourth Law of Regression has previously been thoroughly tested and is considered a reliable scientific model for how forcefully changed laws of physics return to baseline parameters once the ontokinetic force exerting the change is removed, the Law has never been tested in contexts as large as this planned project.[7] As such, it is not outside the realm of possibility that the changes would not, in fact, revert to normal — as the Law normally dictates — thus creating a localized area in baseline reality that would operate outside of normal expectations dictated by current parascientific models; a reality as dangerous scientifically as it is symbolically.7
Still: should this unlikely though highly dangerous possibility prove a reality, the designs to such flawed vehicles would not be wasteful. Indeed, it is my opinion that the Global Occult Coalition would be most interested in purchasing designs pertaining to baseline mobile systems that could at any given point rapidly change into nuclear weapons.8
5.2 Financial Unfeasibility of Cargo Usage
Although it remains without doubt that the general middle-to-lower class individual would prefer the usage of the vehicles — once implemented — for travel worldwide due to their drastically lower price compared to the standard plane or portal, the financial feasibility of cargo transport remains within uncertain speculation. At the time of writing, the standard shipping container transported transoceanically through a standard maritime ship still remains the most economically effective means of mass-transporting goods9 around the globe. Even with the proposed vehicles being capable of transporting much more than the standard yield for a freighter,10 bulk transport of any material made with heavy elements is unsuitable, as the relativistic method of mass decreasing used in the project would lead to core electron shell expansions. Although this method would not affect light organic elements, it would destroy solder, inherently disallowing for the transport of any electronics.[8] Due to this fact, it would be impossible to refrigerate goods inside the vehicles. Traditional thaumocfreezing would not work either, as the mass-energy of the EVE particle would change upon interacting with the field, thus creating backlash endangering the whole system.
Nevertheless, should this issue actually prove extant, it would only devalue one facet of the project. The part of it focused only on the transport of individuals around the globe would nevertheless remain a fully viable and profitable endeavor.
5.3 Appearance
Fig 5.2: Early artistic visualization of the vehicles' appearance during transit.
The final and least significant potentially faulty aspect of the project is one that the Company cannot fully control — the public reaction to the vehicles' appearance. Although in the many decades following the collapse of the Veil, the general population has become more or less accustomed to the occult and paranormal aspects of everyday life, the one part of reality that has thus far remained "baseline"11 is the sky and methods of transportation pertaining to it.
Though the sudden appearance of almost alien-looking12 aircraft in the skies would not entice the same panic it would have not half a century prior, the potential public backlash to such action cannot be ignored. Of particular concern is the fact that — as already mentioned before — the vehicles themselves would barely resemble any actual airships and would instead appear as shifting, almost alien objects that could, given the wrong observer, instill mass hysteria within a localized populace, which would inherently lend itself to lower revenue and poorer public perception scores for the Company at large.
