*Author's Note*
Please be aware that, while the terminology is strictly clinical, by and large, this section describes concepts and has descriptions of a potentially disturbing nature. If you are easily upset by this I truly do recommend not reading. Thank you.*
Upon Magic and Its Origins and Applications – A Treatise
By Mary Elizabeth Browning
Translated by Lyriel Elhana
Magical Pool, Power Efficacy Factors and Rapture (tn: Despair) Batteries
Magic is inherently tied to the emotions of the user. This relationship is born out in study upon study. This correlation should not be a surprise given the mutation’s activation upon reaching puberty with its flood of hormones and chemicals. However, the relationship is also observed in everyday situations. A heightened feeling of tension or euphoria or pain will increase the magical pool as well as the user’s ability to tap into that pool.
To extrapolate upon our previous example of a lake: during times of heightened euphoria, tension, or duress the lake becomes a small sea and the ability to harness and direct the magic goes from a rill to a raging white-water river. The stronger an emotion, the larger the pool and the faster magic flows both in and out.
This discovery, though logical with the benefit of hindsight, was revolutionary when the Archon began work on the Rapture (tn: Despair) Batteries. While designed originally to help prevent Discharges and heal Ebb and Vastum states, an unexpected side effect was discovered. Using Allicereum forged conduits, the user’s excess magic was channeled into storage devices made from Allicereum, hydrogen gas, and Cesilia powder. These batteries had the ability to hold the magic in a form which could then be discharged through Allicereum wiring to power lights at first made of a Cesilia filament surrounded by Xenelia and eventually Allicereum filaments and Aregonia gases we use today.
Unfortunately, due to the nature of how magic is transferred and dissipated, the system proved ineffective for counteracting or preventing the Ebb or Vastum states. However, the application of magic across wires and the ability to store the magic for future use was a monumental breakthrough in the history of the Empire.
The storage devices, through trial and error were gradually made more powerful and longer lasting. Not only could these storage devices power lights, but also engines, heating coils to warm homes and buildings and gates and power barriers. Gradually the size and efficiency of these storage devices were made small and powerful enough to fit into vehicles such as Allicereum carriages whereas larger storage devices were fitted to boats and airships.
The generation of this power in the first place is thanks to an all-volunteer (tn: this section is sycophantic, pedantic, and largely inaccurate. I will modify liberally. While originally those in despair batteries were volunteers, as with all things having to do with humans, circumstances quickly changed to include prisoners, political casualties, and war spoils. Not to mention a thriving slavery industry has cropped up, providing even more unwilling victims to fuel the voracious and unending appetites of the Empire.)
Initially designed to provide emergency relief to those approaching Discharge, the batteries have quickly become an indispensable tool to move the Empire forward, provide a better life for all its citizens, and create unique income opportunities for the majority of the XX genotype population to use their magic in a safe, and controlled environment. The proliferation of Rapture (tn: Despair) Batteries have allowed those with magical ability but lacking magical affinity to contribute greatly to the betterment of everyone.
Safe within a privacy compartment lined with Allicereum the volunteer is brought to orgasm repeatedly. The orgasm triggers a release of magic which is collected by the Allicereum plates lining the walls and transferred through conduits to a storage device for later use commercially and domestically.
(tn: There is very little which is accurate about this section. The victim, for victims they are, volunteer for a year period and, admittedly, are paid quite handsomely. Provided they survive, of course. The slaves, prisoners and political dissidents are, obviously, paid nothing. The “privacy container” is nothing more than a state sanctioned torture device. While largely true for years during and directly following the Despair Wars, the collection container is now a horror show.
The victim is strapped naked into the machine, the seat containing two Allicereum rods of varying lengths and girths which are inserted into her vagina and anus simultaneously. The victim then has needles inserted into each arm attached to medical dispersion bags containing a mix of synthetic and natural drugs. Into the left arm flows a powerful hallucinogen. This drug plays on the victim’s mind, fostering continuous sexual fantasies. Into the victim’s right arm is pumped a mild sedative to lessen the chances of a psychological break.
Two additional needles, one inserted into each nipple, complete the torture. One needle funnels a powerful synthetic aphrodisiac while the other is a powerful pain enhancer. This pain enhancer makes nearly every orgasm a nightmare of agony, because, as the author alluded to, strong emotions and experiences heighten the depth and size of the magic pool and flow out of said pool. A mix of sexual pleasure and intense agony heightens the power flow, thus increasing the energy that can be generated by these human batteries. While rare, Ebb and Vastum is more common than it should be due to the dangerous levels of magic flow into the machine.
For three hours each day of the volunteer period the victim endures this torture. This hellscape is enough to charge four storage containers with magical energy. While no official figures exist, it is widely estimated that 75% of all volunteers who survive (survival rate is approximately 92% for volunteers) undergo psychological trauma which lasts a lifetime, including but not limited to, a fear of enclosed spaces and fear of all sexual contact for the duration of their life. Nearly 30% experience physical trauma of varying degrees up to and including damage to the vagina and/or anus and inability of the breasts to produce milk should the victim ever become pregnant.
Another 20% are so broken by the unceasing torture they can no longer rejoin society in any meaningful way, becoming addicted to the drugs they’re plied with to the point of many becoming unwilling prostitutes, thieves, or brigands to facilitate access to them.
5% of the volunteers emerge relatively unscathed and quite wealthy, relatively speaking. This procedure is repeated with unwilling victims minus the sedative, leading to nearly 85% suffering from severe psychological breaks. The level of physical damage without the sedative is well over 60%. The long-term survival rate of these unwilling victims is less than 40%. Don’t let the lies of the Order and Imperials fool you. This is no pleasure ride of endless orgasms. This is psychological and physical torture masquerading as civic duty and a source of income.
To make matters even worse, as if they needed to be, are the presence and usage of the “stocks”. While the name implies restraint of the feet in line with ancient human punishment devices, it is simply a term used to describe the device used to punish high profile prisoners in a public, agonizing, and humiliating way. There are two public squares in Bastion itself where the stocks are kept, Basile Square across the Twilcour River from Imperium Park and Leviathan Square at the easternmost corner of the River District against the dividing walls to the Warehouse District. There are also known to be rooms and dungeons filled with the devices within the Tower of the Magi as well as at many of the Enforcers’ larger headquarters. While these last are not designed for public humiliation per se, they are still brutally effective.
The stocks are Batteries in a primal and terrible way. Lacking the “privacy compartment” as well as the actual chair itself, the prisoner is stripped naked and secured to a wooden pillory, their ankles secured to Allicereum bars extending from the bottom of the device. A leather collar is attached to the victim’s neck and secured over their head to a wooden crossbar. Attached to this collar through leather straps are Allicereum inserts. Once the victim is in place the inserts are introduced to the vagina and anus and secured using an Allicereum belt passing between the victim’s legs and then around their waist to prevent the inserts from coming loose. Conduits are attached to the inserts and connected to the belt which then has additional conduit attached to each column of the pillory. Collection devices sit below the wooden stand the stock sits upon. While collecting magical energy there is also a feedback component which re-directs magical energy back through the inserts, causing intense pain and potentially significant damage to the sensitive skin and internal organs of the victim.
Needles are inserted into the nipples, pumping a constant dosage of the pain enhancing chemicals as well as the aphrodisiac from each pillory pillar. A third needle is inserted into the arm of the victim containing a drug which prevents unconsciousness. As the torture continues over the course of hours or days or even weeks the victim’s legs grow weaker and weaker, causing them to sag in the device.
The leather collar gradually begins to choke them, but the presence of the third drug makes certain the victims who die due to asphyxiation do so fully conscious. For most prisoners, however, they are kept upright through a bar attached to the belt which allows them to be continually choked without causing death. Through this way prisoners are tortured in full view of an oftentimes raucous and abusive crowd. An hour in the stocks is generally enough to fill 3 collection batteries due to the acute pain, discomfort and humiliation suffered. There are stories of prisoners surviving for up to four days but generally speaking, any amount of time over a day will destroy most victims’ bodies and mind to the point that “survival” is a relative term. The standard term ordered is generally 2-5 hours depending upon the crime. More than enough time to get the law’s point across.)
