"Returning from the dead? No - I must have been beamed out just before I hit. Top-notch medical system here, though." As he speaks, Khym pushes on certain points on his rifle; there's a click, and one largish, rectangular part disconnects from the rest.

"I can't really tell you in detail - I'm no scientist - but I can give you a sort of rough overview. This part -" he holds up the rectangular bit, which appears to be plastic with a couple of metal strips attached asymmetrically one-third and two-fifths of the way along the longer end - "is the battery - it holds the electrical energy that powers the rest. This is fed into the ti-saph in here;" Khym taps the side of the laser rifle; "which amplifies a flash of light to the sort of power levels that can do some serious damage when I pull the trigger The light then comes out this end - I'm not really that conversant with the physics. How is your rock-melting beam - whatever you call it - powered?"

She rolls her eyes at his continued disbelief. "Of course, I suppose if your head hit first you wouldn't even remember dying..."

Roma steps closer and takes a good look at the battery. She waves a hand over it a couple of times, and her eyes open wide with interest. "So... this object here is some sort of compact, advanced electro-alchemical device..." Her hand glows a faint blue for a moment, and she reaches towards the battery again, this time causing a rather large spark to leap to her finger, which she quickly draws away in pain. Shaking out her hand, she says, "Amazing... such power output in such a simple device purely from a dim-standard reaction..."

"That kind of current... conductors have been known to glow... it could produce a lot of light...Perhaps with a complicated lens setup you could duplicate the effects of a proper linear projection focus... Why would anyone go to the trouble of developing that sort of technique when a rod of light is already present technology... Unless... they had to make it work with no magic..."

She folds her arms and ponders for a few moments before responding to Khym's question. "I doubt you would understand or accept any real explanation I might give you, unless your disbelief in magic is a facade. Suffice to say that there is a sort of mental-spiritual focus that is, in itself, like a power source, and can also be augmented by other sources of energy. Typically the body's own biological processes and energies, body heat, electric impulses, etc. are the first extra source one learns to use. In terms of evocation, such as the fire you've seen me throw around, I don't normally directly provide the energy. There is a sort of ambient potential for reactions, and I use my mental focus to find that potential and tip the scales where I want, and as I have tipped the scales myself, I can exert some control over the reaction by exerting more energy." She waves a hand and points it at the floor. A plume of flame rises from the stone, then dances for a moment, tracing the pattern of an oak tree's branches in the air, ending with quick spirals. "Of course, I've been doing this for centuries. I've a lot more control that most. Through quite a long and grueling process, I have also.... How should I put it... That... potential energy I mentioned, I have made myself a source and a channel for the potential energy of flame, allowing me to pour that much more power into an evocation, thus what you call the rock-melting beam. I can also use this energy that is now inherent to me to do non-flame related things, such as divining the substances contained withing your battery."

Khym tries to fit Roma's explanation into the universe he knows. Unfortunately, it's not a perfect fit...

"So - you're basically saying that you can, with practice, manipulate zero-point energy?" Khym looks surprised. "I've never heard of such a thing happening, but it might be possible - I know this guy at the university, he's aways going on about the limitless energy potential in zero point extraction, but apparently they haven't quite got it right yet."

He quickly puts the laser rifle back together again, and slings it over his back. "I suppose that once someone does find out how to tap into that power source, it's just a matter of a century or two until someone finds out how to incorporate it into a bio-implant; and if that implant is made multi-generational, and then the knowledge of the implant is lost over time... yes, I suppose it's vaguely possible, if unlikely. But the effects being so tightly contained - the control over the effects as well - it's absolutely amazing. I certainly wouldn't have believed it possible if I hadn't seen it myself."

Khym ponders the situation briefly.

"The advances in technology to start it, and then the time required for those advances to be forgotten - it's quite possible that whichever effect bought us here involves time travel, in which case you'd probably be from the far future. That, or from a very insular and isolated planet. Which planet are you from, by the way?"

Khym's rationalization is met with a blank stare. "Let me see if I've got this right... You're postulating that magical ability is... the result of some lost technology that is born into people?" She chuckles to herself, "I suppose that may even be a reasonable explanation. The only ones who witnessed creation are difficult to query. But magic extends farther than the mere individual's ability. There are objects and materials with inherent magical property. Writings on the wall hold inherent magical properties, thus the circle you saw me draw. Magic tugs at the threads of the fabric of creation. I have personally seen that fabric rewoven. Moreover, that book and the portals that brought us here are magical, though based on completely different principles than what I have seen."

She shakes the thought away. "So they do have time travel where you come from? I'm not entirely certain what you mean by planet. You think I've come from the stars? The answer is a little more complicated. I have come from a completely different existence from you, as has everyone here, I suspect. Does you world have the concept of the alternate existence?

She's mumbling now. "Hell... I was brought here from beyond the veil of death. My body was obliterated. Come to think of it, it is odd that I have so faithfully taken this form, with all my accoutrements...

"Basically, yes - that seems the most sensible explanation to me. There objects, materials, writings - do they still work when no-one's around?"

"Time travel isn't widely used where I come from, because it's impossible to control and because there's a good chance the time traveller will simply never arrive... but it's possible. As for planets -" Khym waves expressively at the sky. "Planets are worlds that orbit the stars. In my universe, almost all stars have planets, and about two stars in three have at least one planet that can be lived on - sometimes with a bit of effort. And so the Empire spread out, slowly, star by star... human worlds make up maybe a quarter of the galaxy now. Well. When I left, anyhow. I'm not quite sure when we are right now."

"Alternate universes, though - I've heard of those, purely as a theoretical idea though. But given what else I've been seeing here, I have to admit it's quite possibe. It does leave a whole lot of possibilities open, though - maybe there is even magic in your world, just not in mine."

OOC: I still don't see how to make a poll anymore. If I can't get it soon, we'll have to do something like PMs to keep track of votes, which will suck.

OOC: *pokes Skitz*

I've been working six days a week, as many as 15 hours a day. Sorry. Stan wins. Skitz worky time.

Ah... the sweetest victory. Default .

Speaking of default... Prez...?

What does one do when it is the game master who is unresponsive? I mean... can your really win by default against a thread's god?