Training: Biological Experimentation

[Brenner Dornkirk]

Brenner cast a sidelong glance toward Eitan, bemused at what would lead him to the conclusion of sugar water. Based on their reading, Brenner had thought this entire world of tiny organisms had been entirely theoretical until Stefan's apparatus proved their existence before his eyes. He certainly hadn't gleaned what their diet might have been, but perhaps the teacher's pet had gone extracurricular.

He considered Eitan's mental musings, thoughtfully.

"The Warrens are massive... The vast majority is uncharted. These creatures could be secluded from food sources or... Yes, perhaps their ability to travel is limited. Particularly if Stefan's point about these organisms..." Brenner gestured to the microscope slide, "...and their energy consumption applies to our quarry as well.

"My reading suggests they are airborne. I translated one tome comparing them to swarming locusts and another equated them to spores or pollen clouding the air. There must be something about the manipulation of aether that attracts them, though, else Ransera would probably be little more than an empty husk by now. Do you men of the Order have a term for whatever energy alters everyday aether into magical energy? Perhaps that is their true food source or... At least their favourite condiment." Brenner swiveled on his stool to face Eitan and regard what he was doing, with the obligatory scowl of distaste. He willed it away quickly, in this instance, knowing that it was useful- perhaps even necessary to their purposes. What a cruel irony that one would require magic to bring about the end of magic.

He sat back and observed, as he lacked the power to duplicate Eitan's experiment as well as the comprehension to draw any cogent conclusions from it.

[Eitan Angevin]

Eitan had been reading so much, he couldn't remember which treatise had made him think of sugar water, but he was pleased that it was at least a part of the solution. The sciences weren't his forte, but he liked to believe he wasn't an idiot. Idiot or no, his mind couldn't really respond to a lot of what was being thrown at him, though it was certainly fomenting thoughts in the back of his mind. He answered what he could answer with military alacrity.

"If a ward is anchored to a thing, it will move with its anchor," he affirmed. But he switched to Kathalan per Brenner's lead. "'Tis possible to anchor a ward with a sort of tether so it can move somewhat. That can make it somewhat hardier, if it can move like a balloon in the wind, only being drained by direct hits rather than glancing ones. That would be better explained as akin to aerodynamics, I should think."

He stepped back from his scope and motioned to Stefan and Brenner to look if they wished. His miniscule warding was dirty enough that it emitted light enough to be seen, though the little creature had moved more like a blind man feeling his way through a room than any sighted creature. He wondered whether it had tiny eyes or engaged with the world through some other senses unknown to him.

"There is no generally accepted word for what alters naturally occurring aether into magic, no. At least, none that I know. It may be akin to the Lysanrin curse, though. They aren't psychic vampires; they absorb magic, not aether. That is, the aether has to be actively engaged through a Cardinal Rune, a form of world magic, or be manifested as a dragonshard or perhaps even an aetherborn creature, though I haven't had firsthand experience with the latter."

[Stefan Dornkirk]

Stefan stepped up and peered through the scope as soon as Eitan offered it, taking a notepad and making notes without looking away from what he was seeing for what likely would have simply continued into the afternoon before he realized Brenner might like a look of his own.

While watching the creature react to being captured in a space small enough that even its senses, whatever they might be, could detect it was fascinating and well worth study, it was not why they were gathered.

Flipping to another page in his note book he made a few notations on wards and their abilities based on Eitan's information before flipping to yet another section and writing down the answers to the highly useful questions Brenner had asked.

"Are there texts on the use of wards?" Even if there were he was unlikely to be given access, at least before he was a renowned and celebrated scientist of the state. The question was based more on another question than a burning desire to learn about the subject. Stefan wanted to know how much of magic had been studied, really studied, Empirically. Magic was not Stefan's forte in terms of study, but if there was no research being done he would certainly suggest it, to the government and, if ignored, to his father.

"I wonder which the parasites are more like, if they consume magic or raw aether, and which would be more useful to us... He trailed off, walking to one side of the room and opening a large, well-worn textbook to leaf through to a particular passage and begin reading before abruptly realizing that his pupils were still very much there.

"Right." He said, in Common, with an apologetic smile as he moved back to his scope.

"So, the creatures seem to be able to tell, by some means, when a source of their food is nearby, as shown in the experiment. These are in water, of course, but, based on Brenner's research, our quarry seems also able to locate its sustenance. That is, of course, assuming magic does sustain them. It would probably be more useful, both to their survival and our intention for them, if they were also able to feed on other things. Having to provide them a constant stream of immediate magic for them to live would prove... difficult. If they have a hybernative state when not being fed that would be equally useful."

Slipping back into lecture mode he explained the guesses he'd made based on the written accounts and the studies he'd done on the tiny creatures he had access to. None of the information offered solid conclusions but it would give Brenner and Eitan a working knowledge of the terms and what was most likely; a baseline on which to build. Once they found, if they found, the creatures he would need to be able to explain things to both men, possibly quickly, and these lessons were intended to allow that.

[Brenner Dornkirk]

Brenner stepped aside to allow Stefan access to the microscope first. Stefan would be able to glean more from observing the experiment he himself had requested than Brenner would.

"How shortsighted..." Brenner clucked his tongue, "Then, for our purposes, let us call the manipulating force that mages employ to turn Aether into magical energy, 'Kraft'." It was a term he'd bandied about in the past to refer to magical manipulation. It was one of several words in Kathalan that meant 'power' or 'force', but due to its Common homonym it felt apropos to their current area of interest.

When Stefan stepped away from the scope to take notes, Brenner took his turn to observe the effect of the ward Eitan had placed. Listening to Stefan's musings as he examined the minute scene before him, he considered.

"It is good to postulate how these entities might present and behave, but unfortunately many of these questions are like to remain unanswered ere we find them. Once we've located them we can concern ourselves with the reality of what we're given and how best to exploit what it is to optimise its usefulness. Even if they are inclined in one way or another, we might employ eugenic manipulation to highlight what serves us best." He smirked,

"Based on the homework assigned, I've gleaned that these tiny beings tend to be quite short lived so we could potentially plough through quite a few generations in a matter of weeks and significantly alter their make-up to suit our whims." He frowned, "This is with the full acknowledgement that I, too, am jumping to the unearned conclusion that tiny organisms that feed upon Kraft or Aether operate similarly to tiny organisms that feed upon normal, natural bio-matter."

[Eitan Angevin]

"There are, yes," he said, "and it might be easiest for you to speak directly to Orator Beeman. She can get you access to the College's archives. It would make more sense for a Minder than a Watcher; we don't want them paying undue attention to the time we spend together." He smiled at Stefan. Being a part of a Minister-sanctioned conspiracy was sort of exhilarating and gave him a chance to work his spycraft.

As the brothers looked at his own little experiment, he considered what they both said.

"I would imagine the creatures rely on some form of Kraft for sustenance, then. If they could devour any form of aether at all... well, matter is made up of aether in some sense. Everything is. They would cannibalize themselves or devour the world if they had no checks upon their hunger. At least, that is what I recall from that article about ecologies that you had us read." Or perhaps he had learned it in some other class long ago. All the information was blending together in his head, and he hoped he could sort it all out before they arrived at the landing site.

Their bodies were getting harder, but at least sleep fixed physical weariness. He wasn't used to this level or type of mental preparation. But he would figure it out. He always did. It was for Zaicher, after all, and not himself.

"Hopefully," he continued thoughtfully, "we might discover some ways to better control them when we find them in their native habitat. Or... the habitat in which they currently find themselves if they are truly mobile." He imagined locusts in swarming flight, but now he also saw them as these minuscule creatures under the distending glass of the scope. Now, he more fully realized that they needed people like Stefan and Agata on this mission. It needed the best minds of the High City, not merely the might of its heroes.

[Stefan Dornkirk]

Stefan's head shot right up as Brenner's suggestion of the lifespan of the creatures came out.

"Genetics?" He sounded so pleased as to be comical, "You're suggesting we might breed them to our purpose?"
Of course, he had read several texts, taken whole classes, on breeding within a species to garner specific desired traits, and even breeding between species. Plants could be spliced together to make stranger ones, or raise the yield of crops that normally only produced a small number of fruits. His mind buzzed with the infinite possibilities until he actually began to feel dizzy and had to pull himself back to the matter at hand. Catching himself up to the rest of what his brother had said he answered,

"It does seem to be fairly universal that the smaller a creature is, the less time it lives. There are a few exceptions, of course, Klanger, for example." He cast a smirk in Brenner's direction at the mention of their family 'pet' parrot who had been old when their mother had obtained him and lived a god-awful long time afterward.

He nodded his thanks to Eitan at the suggestion, jotting down 'Orator Beeman' into his notebook so he wouldn't forget. Outside the high houses that had been drilled, and sometimes caned, into him, recalling names was not his strong suit.

"Indeed." He answered aloud at the suggestion they avoid the notice of the Watchers wherever possible.

He shot up from his notes a second time, in alarm rather than delight when Eitan postulated that everyone was made of aether, even in some mysterious, not-really-magical way. It wasn't something he had heard before. It must be the sort of non-sense they taught Reconciliators. His studies of science were beginning to show that all things were, indeed, made up of smaller things, but that did not mean that everything was, on its smallest level, aether. That was, at best, religious dogma. He made a mental-only note to re-read all the homework he'd assigned just in case, due to his mild level of exhaustion, he'd missed something that suggested such. It wasn't Eitan's fault if he was being fed unproven drivel. No more than it was the citizens of Kalzasi who were to blame for the things their government shoved down their throats.

"I'm working on containment devices, or holding chambers, for the creatures now. I have several schematics drawn up but I hope to get them able to contain whatever environmental needs as they have. These," He gestured back to the scopes, "creatures, for example, don't survive long outside of water. They don't need much, but without any, they dry out and wither."

[Brenner Dornkirk]

"Yes..." Brenner smiled, seeming to have overcome the handicap of his choice of clothing to impress Stefan with his attention to the assignment. "A bit of artificial selection might be just the thing to better weaponise creatures that didn't evolve exactly to suit our purposes..." Natural selection didn't tend to favour the desires of the conscious mind, as its imperatives were often simpler than the human brain- Survive and breed. Fortunately, the particular specimens they were seeking survived by feasting on the primary defences of their enemies. If they could be bred to better achieve this, then it seemed a worthy effort to Brenner's mind.

"I think, at a certain point, the distinction is academic. None of my research suggests that the creatures are drawn to matter that isn't subject to magical manipulation. If they could subsist on mundane matter, they're like to have devoured the world by now and left it naught but a husk..." Like Stefan, Brenner had always interpreted the term 'aether' to be specific to magic. The suggestion that all life was made of such seemed to suggest that life itself was inherently magical in nature, and that was an aberrant notion to Brenner's brain.

He placed a comforting hand on Stefan's shoulder, recognising his brother's concern over what had been broached.

"A worthy endeavour." He nodded, approvingly. "And it wouldn't be a bad idea to start thinking about a deployment method, should we be successful enough to weaponise the entities. I know, I know... I'm wont to get ahead of myself, but a little mental exercise surely wouldn't do any undue harm to a mind as potent as yours, Stef..." He squeezed the shoulder in his grasp, before delicately sliding his hand away to rest on the back of Stefan's seat.

[Eitan Angevin]

Eitan fell quiet, feeling as though he had said something wrong. But he listened to them bring up the ideas of breeding and weaponizing the creatures that they had yet to even locate. It all seemed excellent in theory, though, as Brenner said, they were getting a bit ahead of themselves. He knew Beeman would be of assistance to Stefan, and perhaps she could even explain the science of magic better than he could being a scholar rather than a practitioner. If she could be recruited for the mission, then they would be lucky indeed. He would have to go and speak to her and feel her out. She was a scholar, but she existed within the murky waters of the Order. He believed in the institution, but he was well aware that it was a mess on the inside, with competing philosophies and egos. She seemed rather practical and curious, which would be good for them. Politics was just exhausting, even for him who had grown up among its games.

While Stefan took notes, Eitan dropped his eyes back down to the scope to see what the tiny beasties were up to—looking for food and looking for sex, he supposed. Or were these the ones that didn't have sex but reproduced in their own way that sounded rather magical to him, but then he probably looked too hard for magic everywhere. It was his job.

He didn't think he had anything else to bring to that particular conversation, so he let it go on without him. He listened, but mostly he fiddled with the brilliant scope and the pond scum.

[Stefan Dornkirk]

His brother's touch quieted the tumult the thread of conversation had led him to and allowed Stefan to relax back into it. He leaned back so there was still a line of contact between the two brothers but gave no thought to it as the discussion continued.

"I have given it some thought. Though, yes, it is rather putting the cart before the horse before we know anything of the true nature of the creatures. If they can be bred to feed on specific types of magic, such as, say, anything created via a Cardinal Rune, I would suggest deploying them enmass into the air. Like crop dusting from an airship. Perhaps exactly like that. With a ship like the Nachtherr we could fly over their towns, even the city itself, dropping silent, likely invisible batches of the parasites to land and feast. If we can not refine their aetherial lusts we could make smaller, projectile versions, like a gun or canon shot, to take out major enclaves or individual mages. I have not found conclusive evidence that having a Rune eaten out of a mage would kill them, nor have a found evidence that it would not. If we return victorious the experimentation will be... unpleasant." He grimaced here, eyes darting to Eitan and then immediately away. "But necessary. The state executes rogue witches from necessity, would it not be nobler to at least use their deaths to ensure that no more such loss of life would be required in the future?"

The determination in Stefan's voice was hard-edged, as though he were steeling himself to endure a painful procedure without anything to dull the pain. Turning away from the discomfort and back into the science he went on.

"Once we know what environmental requirements the creatures have we can better ascertain how they may be deployed. I may even be able to form a casing that would fit into the rifles we already possess. That would be more convenient and immediately applicable than if we had to manufacture new ones. Mage-killer bullets, so to speak. Though, again, I think it would be more useful if they simply drained them of magic or destroyed their Runes. Killing them can be accomplished with a regular bullet if such is required. We all know they scribe their barbarity onto children in that awful place. I would hate to think my work went into murdering innocent people who were never given a choice in the tainting of their souls."

He would also hate to think that all the brave men and women who accepted the burden for the preservation of Zaichaer would be forced to die for it. Flipping through his book of notes he showed Brenner the sketches he'd made of possible deployment options, everything from bullets to a device that caused rain to fall, in case the creatures required a wet environment like the pond scum.

The discussion continued, flowing between possible deployment to possible side effects, back to the nature of such small living things and on, through the afternoon.

[Brenner Dornkirk]

"Indeed." Brenner conceded his brother's point, "We might even be able to replace the comparatively cruel fate of burning at the stake with something more akin to..." He pondered an apt metaphor, "Magical castration." Brenner didn't delight in the execution of mages, but he felt it necessary given their capabilities. If there were a way to remove their abilities without killing them, he'd have preferred it. At least, as long as it ensured they couldn't reassume their magical mantle once the initial set of Runes had been removed.

Brenner nodded along as Stefan's words echoed his own thoughts.

"Quite right." He'd never really considered something as small in scale as an augmented bullet. That seemed like something that could be achieved with negation wards or naturally occurring materials to which they already had access. But, as Stefan had observed, a regular bullet was already perfectly capable of killing mages. He'd put that particular experiment to practise himself on many occasions, including Glade the 8th and more recently at the Godless Temple with Eitan.

"I've always imagined it more like introducing a disease than modifying martial weapons... I'm not sure the latter would give us the sort of edge we'll require to win the war to come, whereas the former... Dare I even dream it? Could remove the necessity for war from the equation altogether." He smiled broadly at the notion. He'd always been a big, brash dreamer. His fantasies trended towards the epic, rather than settling on simple flights of fancy. What was the point of dreaming about that which was simple to achieve?

Brenner was content to elaborate on his optimistic conjectures as their observations continued over the next few hours, regularly disclaiming that he recognised it was all speculative. But Brenner worked better when he was inspired by notions of an epic endgame.

End