Project #4651: Stable Muonic Materials
Authorized By: Titan of Steel, Director of Public Infrastructure
Lead Researcher: Marcus Rohn
Report Date: 0.7.12 AF
Brief: After the brief experimentation with Muon-Catalyzed Fusion (see project #3002), it was determined that the magically-stabilized muons used for the project were better applied by the materials science department. As such, this project was an attempt to develop useful muonic materials for structural and protective purposes. As of this report, the project is largely successful, but there are still some minor issues that need addressing before large-scale implementation is feasible.
Overview: The newly developed materials are built using conventional Protons and Neutrons for the atomic nuclei, but for molecular bonding they are using negatively-charged Muons instead of Electrons. As Muons have roughly 207 times the mass of an electron, they have a much more localized quantum waveform, therefore leading to much tighter molecular bonds. This not only means that said bonds are much, much stronger, but also that a given volume of material can contain much more of them, having up to 8.8 million times the number of atomic nuclei.
As a direct result, Muonic CNT-Enhanced Steel is absurdly durable compared to CNT-Enhanced Manasteel, even without much in the way of Mana enhancement. With Mana enhancement, Muonic materials have the potential to be effectively indestructible. This is even more the case since the Mana Saturation Limit scales with the number of atomic nuclei, and Muonic materials have 8.8 million times the number of atomic nuclei per unit volume. Unfortunately, they are also 8.8 million times as dense without Mana Enhancement. While in certain applications such an extremely dense material has potential, such as penetrative projectiles, for most applications the sheer weight of unaltered Muonic materials is simply unacceptable.
As such, this project has done some studies on mass mitigation, determining how much of Muonic CNT-Enhanced Steel's practical saturation limit has to be used on mass mitigation to reach certain benchmark densities with regards to both inertial and gravitational masses. For certain applications, some savings can be achieved by skimping on the reductions in inertial mass. Below is a standard chart of benchmark densities, along with the percentage of the Muonic CNT Steel's mana saturation cap spent on mass mitigation.
30 g/cm^3, requires 23% of Mana Saturation Cap. Mostly good for stationary structural applications.
8 g/cm^3, requires 28% of Mana Saturation Cap. Same density as CNT-Enhanced Manasteel, Formulation 1.
1.5 g/cm^3, requires 31% of Mana Saturation Cap. Suitable for heavier than air flight.
0.001 g/cm^3, requires 55% of Mana Saturation Cap. Lighter than air at sea level.
Still, even when accounting for the amazing performance of Muonic materials, there are some concerns that get in the way of large-scale implementation at present. First and most obviously, Muonic materials require an immense amount of Mana to produce, roughly 8.8 million times that of their conventional equivalent.
On a more concerning note, there are concerns about possible Muon pollution as a result of Muonic materials entering large-scale use. In the event of this becoming the case, there is a sizable risk of poisoning for plant and animal life, which could precipitate a public health crisis. Carefully sealed samples of Muon-contaminated food have been forwarded to the Department of Public Health for studies on their health impact, and development of healing magic to counter Muon poisoning.
In the meantime, methods are being developed to make the Muons in the material break down upon leaving their original molecular structure, which require refinement to avoid the altered Muonic materials suddenly exploding like a Protonium warhead whenever they're damaged. Yes, that's what caused the explosion on Level 53 last week. I refuse to elaborate further on said incident.
Project #3992: Deconjuration Fields
Authorized By: Titan of Steel, Director of Public Infrastructure
Lead Researcher: Cory Freist
Report Date: 0.6.30 AF
Brief: Conjuration is a known magical discipline, commonly employed by Dungeons all over the country and practiced non-Dungeon magitechnicians to convert Mana directly into physical matter. As a theoretical exercise, it was determined that it should be possible to run conjuration backwards, converting physical matter and energy directly into Mana. This project was started to convert theoretical possibility into practical engineering, regarding deconjuration in general.
Overview: At present, the generation of Deconjuration Fields is a practical reality. Unenhanced matter and nonmagical energy that enter a Deconjuration field are instantly converted into Mana contained within the field, while Mana passing through the field (for example, to initiate a Conjuration phenomena on the opposite side of the field) is unaffected. Mana-saturated materials (such as CNT-enhanced manasteel or the bodily tissues of high-level adventurers) that inter-penetrate a Deconjuration Field destabilize the field, resulting in the entire field disintegrating into loose Null-Themed Mana within 0.3 milliseconds. The propagation of field collapse occurs at roughly 1/43rd c.
That said, there are some important complications regarding Deconjuration Fields that limit their use-cases. First and foremost, there is no such thing as a free-floating Deconjuration Field. All Deconjuration Fields are both generated by and in fixed orientation relative to a runic anchor. Second, there is at present no viable method for extracting the Mana contained within a Deconjuration field in a usable form.
While a Deconjuration field is active, all materials inserted into the field will either be immediately deconjured, or will almost immediately collapse the field as they absorb Mana to the point of destabilization. Meanwhile, when a Deconjuration Field collapses, the Null-Themed Mana produced has precisely zero use cases without Thematic Transmutation; in the specific case of Null-Themed Mana, this requires an expenditure of the desired theme of Mana equal to twice the amount of Null-Themed Mana to be transmuted, effectively removing any practical incentive for transmuting the Null-Themed Mana aside from simple disposal. Even then there are easier ways to get rid of Null-Themed Mana, since it suddenly stops existing whenever you try to cast anything with it, or move it around.
Project #4105: Dimensional Incursion Jammers
Authorized By: Titan of Steel, Director of Public Infrastructure and Ruby Sherridan, Director of Public Defense
Lead Researcher: Lurin Jade
Notable Consultants: Aether Titan (Dimensional Mechanics)
Report Date: 0.7.19 AF
Brief: Interdimensional incursions from the Daemon Layer currently represent a massive threat to the continued existence of the Socialist Amali Republic. As such, it has been considered imperative from the Republic's founding to minimize Daemonic ability to access and influence the nation. Recently, a discussion regarding dimensional mechanics revealed that it is likely possible to prevent interdimensional links forming between the Material Plane and the Daemon Layer. As such, developing a means to practically implement dimensional blocking has been made Priority One.
Overview: Per the Standard Mana Spectrum, all Mana Themes have antithetical counterparts. Clockwork directly opposes Nature, Light directly opposes Shadow, and Good or Holy both directly oppose Daemons. This also applies to planes of existence; each has a distinct thematic signature, which can be expressed as a ratio of mana themes. It is this factor that allows the new dimension-jamming methods to work; newly developed methods allow Mana in a carefully-selected thematic mix to be spent on formatting a spherical region of space affecting the nearby 4, 5, and 6 axes in adjacent interplanar exospace. This repulses those planes with antithetical typing to the mana used to format the planar boundaries, rendering interplanar travel to or from the antithetical planes extremely difficult.
In the specific case of the Daemon Layer, this is extremely straightforward, as practically its only thematic elements are Daemon, Evil, and Corruption. This means that dimensional travel to or from the Daemon Layer can be effectively blocked using only mono-themed Holy mana. Despite Protonium Reactors giving only Atomic and Clockwork themed Mana, these can be easily converted into Holy using a Thematic Transmutation Unit. As such, a basic self-contained jammer unit powered by a Clockwork Knight-grade reactor has been prototyped, with a total unit volume of 0.15 cubic meters and a total Mana expenditure for jamming of 8 Arbs/second.
The intensity of a Dimensional Jamming Field seems to propagate in accordance with the inverse-square law, completely unimpeded by any matter or energy in the field's way. For practical purposes, a new unit has been created to measure the intensity of a Dimensional Jamming Field called the Cade, defined as the field intensity produced by a theoretically perfect 1 Arb/second dimensional jammer at a range of one meter. Through experimental observation, it has been determined that to prevent new links to or from an interdicted plane forming, the dimensional jamming field requires an intensity of 0.8 milliCades. Forcing the closure of already existing links requires the jamming field to have a local intensity of 210 milliCades at minimum, with the required intensity increasing linearly with the radius of the portal.
As such, our current model self-contained jammer can force the closure of small rifts to the Daemon Layer at a range of 6.17 meters, and can prevent new rifts from being opened within 100 meters. Larger vehicle-mounted jammers with Mana supplies rated at roughly 20,000 Arbs/second have been designed but not tested; these larger units could theoretically force closed rifts within 308 meters, and prevent rifts from being opened within 5 kilometers. An extremely powerful jammer design close to 50 meters scale has also been calculated at drawing roughly 1.3 million Arbs/second, yielding sufficient field intensities to shut rifts at 2.5 kilometers, and to prevent rifts from being opened at ranges of 1,625 kilometers.
