Elder Scrolls Lore » Discussions


Aetheric Decay

Tags: #Magic  #Discussion 
  • January 19, 2018

    So I’ve been doing my rounds of reading this week, this time it being Naryu’s Journal, and there was one thing that caught my eye, related to magic which I just can’t pass.

    “I’ve got my contribution to the Simulacrum Rubric,” the letter read, “eight scrolls for summoning pariah scamps, tiny Daedra from Malacath’s Ashpit. I was told their special power is Pariah’s Vision Diversion, whereby mortals don’t notice them because they look everywhere the scamps aren’t. A mortal can gain this ability by … consuming … a pariah scamp. The scrolls must be used within a day of their inscribing, so I’m going to summon the scamps, and then hide them until the Secretives need them. That’s going to take some time.”

    The binding magic is very volatile,” the letter continued, “and subject to Aetheric decay. The scamps must be stored deep underground, away from each other lest proximity cause them to awaken. Fortunately, delving underground is what I’m best at.”

    So two things. First being that apparently, scamps roam Malacath’s plane of Oblivion, which is quite an interesting bit, ’cause it was always believed that the Ashpit is a realm mostly consisisting only of dust, palaces of smoke, and vaporous creatures; anguish, betrayal, and broken promises like ash fill the bitter air. So an interesting bit, yeah.

    But the second thing. Aetheric Decay. That immediately got my attention. What is it?

    Is it some scientific term for the fact that spells don’t have an infinite duration, as it’s suggested in Breathing Water and Reality and Other Falsehoods, where reality pushes back, reality that is forced on us by the Earthbones?

    The world will end your spell no matter how good you are, and no matter how much you want it - Breating Water

    Our reality is a perception of greater forces impressed upon us for their amusement. Some say that these forces are the gods, others that they are something beyond the gods. For the wizard, it doesn't really matter - Reality and Other Falsehoods

    But can it be something else? Because what throws me off is that the guy in Naryu’s Journal is talking about these scamps and that is the binding magic that is subject to Aetheric decay. Now we know that summoning Daedra for infinite duration is possible, but what does it take to actually do that? One has to constantly keep the binding magic that forces the Daedra to obey the summoner one would expect, no? So is that the Aetheric decay? Even the binding magic used on Daedra has to be...refreshed? Got more magicka juice into it?

    So what do you think it refers to?

  • Member
    January 19, 2018
    Nice, can't say I spotted that when reading the journal. Is it bad that I vividly remember the scenes in Orsinium between her and the Wood Elf? My brain is sluggish right now, but I am thinking about the infinite duration thing and comparing that with the Dragon Priest's immortality. Like, there's an example of a magic which needs refreshing by virtue of it involving life energy. I mention that specifically just because of the consumption of a pariah scamp as being indirectly related to the ritual. Perhaps when such fetishistic magic comes into play, infinite duration of anything becomes subject to aetheric decay unlike traditional binding spells. Could it be that summoning Daedra somehow involves an internal loop in which their own magicka or life force keeps the spell running, whereas normal spells that don't require an external source?
  • Member
    January 19, 2018
    First thing that pops into my mind when I heard the word 'Aetheric Decay' was chemistry, specifically radioactive decay and atoms. Radioactive decay happens when an unstable atom loses energy in order to become stable. Still don't know how that relates to Aetheric Decay. It sounds and appears to be a similar concept except for the "loses energy in order to become stable" part. I think Aetheric Decay seems like their explanation for the summoning duration.
  • January 19, 2018

    Paws said: Nice, can't say I spotted that when reading the journal. Is it bad that I vividly remember the scenes in Orsinium between her and the Wood Elf? My brain is sluggish right now, but I am thinking about the infinite duration thing and comparing that with the Dragon Priest's immortality. Like, there's an example of a magic which needs refreshing by virtue of it involving life energy. I mention that specifically just because of the consumption of a pariah scamp as being indirectly related to the ritual. Perhaps when such fetishistic magic comes into play, infinite duration of anything becomes subject to aetheric decay unlike traditional binding spells. Could it be that summoning Daedra somehow involves an internal loop in which their own magicka or life force keeps the spell running, whereas normal spells that don't require an external source?

    Now this is very cool idea. So if we assume that refined magicka - by which I mean spells - are inherently doomed to dissipate and lose its stability and power, we can either pour more of it and renew it, but your idea is damn pragmatic. Summon Daedra, create a loop that uses the Daedra´s own magicka reserves, which can very often equal life force, or maybe the energy source that is a soul - in this case a vestige - to power the binding spell, the summoning sigil. Very cool.

    PockySoSay said: First thing that pops into my mind when I heard the word 'Aetheric Decay' was chemistry, specifically radioactive decay and atoms. Radioactive decay happens when an unstable atom loses energy in order to become stable. Still don't know how that relates to Aetheric Decay. It sounds and appears to be a similar concept except for the "loses energy in order to become stable" part. I think Aetheric Decay seems like their explanation for the summoning duration.

    Like that radioactive decay thing. So it is losing the energy so that it can remain active and stable and when that energy is gone the spell is gone too. At first I was thinking about the decay as an entropy. But after this I´m more inclined to go with your point, because entropy would mean that the spell would grow weaker and less stable when the magicka would dissipate.

  • Member
    January 19, 2018

    Karver the Lorc said:

    Paws said: Nice, can't say I spotted that when reading the journal. Is it bad that I vividly remember the scenes in Orsinium between her and the Wood Elf? My brain is sluggish right now, but I am thinking about the infinite duration thing and comparing that with the Dragon Priest's immortality. Like, there's an example of a magic which needs refreshing by virtue of it involving life energy. I mention that specifically just because of the consumption of a pariah scamp as being indirectly related to the ritual. Perhaps when such fetishistic magic comes into play, infinite duration of anything becomes subject to aetheric decay unlike traditional binding spells. Could it be that summoning Daedra somehow involves an internal loop in which their own magicka or life force keeps the spell running, whereas normal spells that don't require an external source?

    Now this is very cool idea. So if we assume that refined magicka - by which I mean spells - are inherently doomed to dissipate and lose its stability and power, we can either pour more of it and renew it, but your idea is damn pragmatic. Summon Daedra, create a loop that uses the Daedra´s own magicka reserves, which can very often equal life force, or maybe the energy source that is a soul - in this case a vestige - to power the binding spell, the summoning sigil. Very cool.

    PockySoSay said: First thing that pops into my mind when I heard the word 'Aetheric Decay' was chemistry, specifically radioactive decay and atoms. Radioactive decay happens when an unstable atom loses energy in order to become stable. Still don't know how that relates to Aetheric Decay. It sounds and appears to be a similar concept except for the "loses energy in order to become stable" part. I think Aetheric Decay seems like their explanation for the summoning duration.

    Like that radioactive decay thing. So it is losing the energy so that it can become active and stable and when that energy is gone the spell is gone too. At first I was thinking about the decay as an entropy. But after this I´m more inclined to go with your point, because entropy would mean that the spell would grow weaker and less stable when the magicka would dissipate.

    You put it way more succinctly that I :)

    I like both ideas. Entropy is the first law (i think) of thermodynamics which states the final destination of everything is towards the most orderly. Like, there is nothing to stop a smashed egg from resembling a perfect yellow and white image of Alessia getting boned by a minotaur, it's just the chances of that particular order are way, way smaller than the chances of it resembling a smashed egg on the floor. It sounds almost contradictory because the Alessia picture is seen as being more structured to our eyes. However, the chaotic-looking structure of a smashed egg is very orderly indeed. In terms of magical theory, it describes why spells are "doomed to dissipate" very well indeed.

    Radioactive decay is very interesting, especially through the lens of quantum theory. The uncertainty principle involved in measuring any individual particle results in a very chaotic process in that we cannot predict where a particle is and how fast it's moving at the same time - it can be here and there at the same time. From the perspective of a wizard, that could add another dimension to the duration of a spell. He can roughly predict when the spell will end based upon past experience, but there is a small chance it could last longer or be cut short. I'm not sure if there are examples of such wild-card spells, but man it sounds mental now it's popped in my head.

  • January 19, 2018

    Paws said:

    You put it way more succinctly that I :)

    I like both ideas. Entropy is the first law (i think) of thermodynamics which states the final destination of everything is towards the most orderly. Like, there is nothing to stop a smashed egg from resembling a perfect yellow and white image of Alessia getting boned by a minotaur, it's just the chances of that particular order are way, way smaller than the chances of it resembling a smashed egg on the floor. It sounds almost contradictory because the Alessia picture is seen as being more structured to our eyes. However, the chaotic-looking structure of a smashed egg is very orderly indeed. In terms of magical theory, it describes why spells are "doomed to dissipate" very well indeed.

    Radioactive decay is very interesting, especially through the lens of quantum theory. The uncertainty principle involved in measuring any individual particle results in a very chaotic process in that we cannot predict where a particle is and how fast it's moving at the same time - it can be here and there at the same time. From the perspective of a wizard, that could add another dimension to the duration of a spell. He can roughly predict when the spell will end based upon past experience, but there is a small chance it could last longer or be cut short. I'm not sure if there are examples of such wild-card spells, but man it sounds mental now it's popped in my head.

    I think I've just gone mental :D

    Now the thing about roughly predicting the spell's duration is just mind blowing actually. You basicaly have a duration of + - deviation and in my opinion, why the hell not? Isn't magic in TES a very subjective and scientific thing? Just because one guy came up with this procedure it doesn't mean another guy can't come up with a different procedure that has the same result but is done completely differently. And if we follow this wild-card duration spells through radiactive decay and quantum theory where will we eventually end? Could we end up at spells which not only have a varible duration but also variable effects?

    But okay, we talked about radioactive decay. But what about particle decay? Process of one unstable subatomic particle transforming into multiple other particles, each smaller than the original one with the overall mass still the same, and also each of the created particles potentionally being unstable to and prone to more decay.

    So if we compare that to TES what do we get from that? Is this just a fancy explanation for a refined magicka - spells - just deteriorating and eventually dissipating into so small particles the spell weave is no longer capable of holding together?

  • Member
    January 19, 2018
    Dude that's bonkers! :D So if radioactive decay can effect duration, perhaps particle decay effects AoE :p I mean seriously, if the process of using refined magicka is actually the use and control of unstable particles and the accurate prediction of the final result of their decay, well frankly my mind is blown.
  • Member
    January 19, 2018
    You guys are mental and my mind is blown.
  • January 19, 2018

    Paws said: Dude that's bonkers! :D So if radioactive decay can effect duration, perhaps particle decay effects AoE :p I mean seriously, if the process of using refined magicka is actually the use and control of unstable particles and the accurate prediction of the final result of their decay, well frankly my mind is blown.

    I think we have just stumbled on Magnus' grand plan, mate. TES is atomic :D

  • Member
    January 19, 2018
    Ha! But dammit, now I have Blondie playing in my head. "Oh, your hair is beautiful..." Magnus was a New Wave Rock fan.