View source for A New Branch of Science / The Second Gauntlet Pt. 0 (Staren)

{{Cutscene Header
|Date of Scene=2013/06/15
|Location=Staren's Lab
|Synopsis=Staren prepares to study the secrets of Abstractum technology.
|Thanks=Abstractum.net, Morg McGee
|Cast of Characters=42
|Tinyplot=When They Return
}}
A new branch of science has been opened to Staren. But it /is/ like being a flatlander who learns about the third dimension. Maybe he can understand the concepts on some level, at least work with the math... but how will he /manipulate/ the third dimension? He could be /provided/ tools, but he needs a way to make them. And that's flat out /impossible/, as far as he can tell. It's a catch-22 -- he needs to be able to manipulate the abstract dimension to make the tools that will allow him to manipulate the abstract dimension! If he were a mage, perhaps he could research metamagic, but his limited knowledge of magic is very instrumental and not very theoretical beyond some basics.

And then Staren remembers where he used to go, when he needed something impossible.

Staren might seem to have something against gods. It's not that he has a problem with gods, per se, but there seems to be an uncomfortably high likelihood that where there are gods, there is blind worship, and possibly deception about who really created what. Staren is a man who can't have blind faith in some entity just because of hearing about it. But he can have faith in his friends.

And it just so happens that one of his friends is a god. A god of mad science, a god of inspiration. Staren kneels, and prays. Not submission to a greater being, but asking a friend for help.

Staren rises in something of a fugue state... stumbling around the lab grabbing parts and tools as ideas swirl around in his head, and then moving with definate purpose as he begins assembling things.

When he comes to, it's been... holy cow, over a day. In front of him is a workbench littered with parts, but with one clear device: A gauntlet, covered in wires and things. Staren looks over his notes... there are pages of sketches, and incoherent snatches of phrase like 'need to manipulate the idea dimension with my own hands' and 'THAT'S IT!' triple underlined, with 'Not beyond my grasp -- reach out and grasping is the key!!!' and half-finished diagrams. Staren shakes his head. Of /course/ it doesn't make complete sense, but... it's disconcerting to think /he/ made all this. He pokes and prods the device for some time, analyzing it. There's machinery here, but it shouldn't be complete, it shouldn't work. it does seem as if it's made to, to manipulate some kind of signal or allow him to sense some kind of field, but the parts that actually interact with the field or signal /shouldn't work/.

Once he's made sure to have a limb regeneration potion on hand, and made a backup of himself, he lifts the gauntlet. "Well... Here goes, Morg." He slips it onto his hand and opens a molly-guard, flipping the small toggle switch underneath to activate the device.