Grrl Power #1034 – Rationym
Getting to dunk on your super smart friend is always gratifying. At least Dabbler isn't usually a know it all, unlike that one friend most people have had at one point in their lives who is convinced they're an expert at everything and pronounces it kara-TAY," and whose dad was supposedly an Air Force mechanic and bragged about flying in a C-130 gunship and they even let him fire the minigun at tree out in the middle of a field in Afghanistan (this is all while still in high school) and swears he knows how to do Dim Mak but is sworn to never use it and also his grandfather invented Fritos. You know the type.
Discovering that your perfectly balanced equation is incomplete would be disturbing I'd think, because you'd never have confidence that you next perfectly balanced equation is actually complete.
Dabbler's comment about the Thaumion Field requiring sentient intent is kind of a quick drive by on a much larger subject, and I don't know how much detail I'll get into about that in the comic. Basically though, mana (comprised of thaumions) is a force out there, some types of crystals can accumulate mana, certain plants can produce fruit that is high in mana, but in order to actually make the mana do something, there needs to be intent or at least some kind of guidance, usually in the form of sigils, runes, etc. Notice she said sentient" not sapient," meaning animals and some lower life forms can use magic in innate ways even if they're just squeaking by in the IQ department. The collection of particles that comprise magic" are definitely different from the other fundamental ones in this way. No one really knows why, possibly except really old proto-gods, and they're not usually real forthcoming about that sort of stuff, and that's assuming you can find them, they're awake, and they realize you exist and communicate with you without being instantly destroyed by their reality warping words, and you have a scary ancient uber being to English" dictionary handy.
New incentive is up! Dabbler decided to get out of the pool, in slow motion (see the bonus comic at Patreon), possibly with added physics."
Cue Mele Kalikimaka.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. Feel free to contribute as much as you like.