Since I had previously announced today would be a planned outage so that I could haul the girls to Houston for Thanksgiving week I suppose I can write anything I want and it will be better than taking a pass. I cant say I am excited that in addition to finishing potty training on the first two that I still have two more behind them.
I did try to resolve some of my hang-ups with the Shanty thread that’s developing. Mostly tried to work out a few details regarding solex panels and what they exactly do. I didn’t get as much done as I normally do on a drive of this length since no one saw fit to sleep. I’ll list them below and see if I can expand textually.
Solex panels dissolve into each other when arranged in a grid. This feature highlights the animate nature of the panels and aids in characterizing the magiciness of something that would otherwise seem to be technological. I suppose the visual gag would lend itself well to film. But there might be something in there that could be exploited for the plot. Maybe a virus or an evil spell blocks panels from rejoining or being separated?
Solex panels are used to not only collect solar energy, but also magic energy from the sun(?). This energy can be used for whatever (poorly defined) but so far it came to mind that maybe this would be a resource from being able to communicate with the tech it powers. So you have a solar powered toaster the toasts the bread with the electrical energy converted, but uses the magic energy to determine things like when the toast should be made, how toasty, and other personalized toast needs. So far this thinking is lame, but maybe it pans out in other ways. Maybe the magic just goes into a pool resource that the user can access?
Ah ha. Solex panels are only able to collect minute amounts of magic and then only the crudest quality. Thus this is more of a rainwater in a barrel or recycled paper sort of thing. A way for the common person to do some little magics?
Solex sounds like solace not rhymes with Rolex. Inspired by random pronunciation quirk.
In addition to the three above rock solid worldbuilding bits, I also decided that the balloons on Johnka’s sledge would be on really long cables. I think this will give the sledge greater stability since the pendulum is longer–have to look up. And might allow it to more easily navigate through narrow passages since the cables would be much thinner than the balloons.
Then those driving range nets for villages to curb overhead flits, hangers, and sticks came to mind.
Word count: 471