Eclipse wrote: ↑Mon Jun 21, 2021 10:33 pm
Him wrote: ↑Sun Jun 20, 2021 8:30 pm
Then how do slave collars work? They are used on crystal-less Keidrans. They don't seem to get it from the owner because Keidrans would need to constantly use crystals I assume.
My guess is they use ambient mana in the air, or they are powered by the runes themselves (I dislike this idea because that implies there is a time limit). As long as we are dealing with magic anything that isn't expressly forbidden is a possibility.
Well I do think the collars are self-recharging, they would probably need to be designed in a way that they absorb mana themselves, otherwise they would require constant maintenance that make them impractical to use (What if a slave is separated from their master for an extended period of time? They need some way to keep the collar powered until their master locates them). My guess is that they designed them to replicate human mana cores except they work automatically, they're powered by absorbing the mana in the air or ground and the mana is instantly used to keep the wearer enslaved as they don't want the wearer to be able to use the mana to free themselves, attack their master, or otherwise disobey instructions.
I still don't think that's the case. If it were powered by a limited source, it would have a limited usage duration. If it could power itself with atmospheric mana or mana from the ground, that would open up far more dangerous doors, which we have not seen evidence of.
I still think that the collars are programmed by the user, or rather,
master, and that magic sequence (for lack of a better term) is stored in the runes indefinitely, until called upon to be used. Case in point:
... control spells disabled." He wouldn't say "disabled" unless it was impossible that they could have simply 'run out'.
Now, I have thought about how their power would be sustained over an indefinite period, and I think I figured something out. Exhibit A:
"Once I cast the spell, it'll draw its energy from you, and won't stop until you will for it to." - Natani, referring to the "Heart's Desire" spell. Natani is a self-proclaimed novice at spell creation, and admits himself that
"guesswork magic is very inefficient". Now let's look at the Heart's Desire spell: something Natani
developed, capable of running off the
target's energy, instead of the caster. Would somebody without any training in magic creation be able to create something so complex, if it wasn't already something that people knew could be done? Makes more sense to me, that the idea of a self-sustaining spell powered by the target's energy would have to be a well-known concept, at least in some circles. Now, if that sort of sequence were programmed into the
collars, for instance, but on a much smaller scale and in a different direction, could it not simply subdue somebody, without draining more energy than their body could naturally supply?
Food for thought.