Mana dynamics

Mana dynamics is the study of how pure liquid mana may be channeled and manipulated through flow and patterns to produce certain magical effects.

[Meta: ''PLEASE NOTE! Mana dynamics is ancient knowledge created by the mages of The palace. Their knowledge has not been passed down and has not been recovered yet in the present day. Not a single piece of knowledge on this page is known to any person in Varel. End Meta]''

Channeling
To create functional mana channels, a channel of half a circle must be carved. After carving, it must be rubbed down with fresh manaroot. Afterwards, Sanctifico Documentum must be cast over the carved channel to preserve the manaroot essence in the channels. The hallowed manaroot essence coating over stone makes the channels completely inert to magic. Liquid mana sticks to this coating as it is the only substance in the universe which will not react with pure liquid mana, the reaction pushing it away from the substance.

The minimal channel width depends on the material the channels are carved in. For most hard stone like granite this is 3 cm, but for iron this goes down to 2 millimeters, gold to only 1 and for some materials it may be even lower.

Functional dimensions depend on the minimal channel width. The maximum diameter of a channel is 10 times the minimal channel width, beyond that the mana is too hard to contain and cannot be reduced to a smaller diameter anymore. Any shape or pattern with a crossection perpendicular to its flow bigger than 10 times the minimal channel width willl become unstable and react unpredictably.

Patterns
Different kinds of patterns can have different kinds of effects, different arrangements of patterns can have entirely different kinds of effects. Compositing of a few basic patterns can perform effects just as intricate as complicated spells, easily outperforming the most powerful and educated of wizards.

Patterns in mana channels are also called composites or Mana composites. They are a form of magical mechanism.

Junctions
A junction in a mana channel is a point where two or more separate channels meet. Because of the way liquid mana interacts, the volume or flow speed of the liquid does not change, but its internal energy does, increasing it in case of a junction point.

Severances
A severance in a mana channel is a point where one mana channel splits into multiple separate mana channels. Just like stated in the part about junctions, volume or flow speed are not affected but internal energy is, decreasing its energy level in this case.

Couplings
A coupling in a mana channel is a point between two channels where liquid mana gets coupled through solid stone. These two channels must run parallel to eachother and must be separated by no more than 4 times the mininmal channel width.

Buffers
A buffer in a mana channel is a big spherical divet which stores quite a bit of mana. It causes the stream to lose a lot of energy in a short period of time. This shocks the mana stream, making it impressionable.

Emitters
An emitter in a mana channel is a conical shape with a small open tip from which the mana is projected. These are most often the end point of a mana composite.

Severance-junction loops
If a junction follows a severance in a composite, the mana stream afterwards keeps a faint echo of the separation and junction of energy coursing through the output. If this severance-junction is repeated a few times, the echo may be amplified to a point where it is feeding off of the mana itself, becoming self-perpetuating. Through carefully controlling the distance between severance-junctions and the distance between the severances and the junctions themselves, the mana stream may become "attuned" like a mage may attune to a certain magical object.

Severance-junction loops are one of the most common compound patterns in mana dynamics. They can tune mana streams to certain kinds of magic which is extremely useful.

Projection couplings
Projection couplings consist of a set of half-circular couplings connected in the middle. The transmitting coupling has a severance in the middle. The receiving coupling has a converging triangle flowing into a normal channel in the center. If the mana is in a shocked state, and enters through a projection coupling, the patterns it will flow into afterwards will be stored into it. Everything will be stored until it hits a diverging triangular shape in the composite. Once a mana stream impressed by a projection coupling reaches an emitter, it will project the pattern into the air, allowing mages to manipulate it.

Differential stream valves
Differential stream valves are what make a complicated composite tick. If a mana stream is flowing in the opposite direction of a mana stream closer than the minimal channel width, the forces of each stream will act upon eachother and cancel out both their streams. Channels like these can be used to determine the flow of mana inside the composite. A differential stream valve consists of three different channels carved closer than the minimal channel width. They are all located in a row. The center channel is a circular channel, the loopback directed so that the other channels are not influenced by it. The mana in the center channel will always have a tendency to flow the way it first started to flow. This flow must be opposite of the throughput channel's flow. If the throughput channel is flowing, the center channel too but the gate channel is empty, the flow of the throughput channel and center channel will block eachother. If there is flow in the gate channel opposite to the center channel, it will block the center channel's flow since it is now overpowered by the desired flow of both the gate and throughput channel.

Rejector couplings
Rejector couplings consist of multiple half-elliptic receiving couplings after each other. These couplings are all coupling each other. You need at least three half-ellipses for a rejector coupling to work. These couplings can be used to receive liquid mana from a mana projection. The coupling starts functioning and drawing mana once there is a certain concentration of mana in it's focal point. This threshold and focal point can be adjusted with the width and depth of the ellipses. These couplings may be used together with a projection to server as an interface, if the rejector coupling output is connected to a differential stream valve for example. An interactable slider may be projected and a rejector coupling may used to probe the location of this slider and make certain connections through this.

Sematic couplings
Sematic couplings consist of a half-circular transmitting coupling with a severance in the middle and 5 evenly spaced straight channels forming a major junction at the focus of the half-circle. If the mana is in a shocked state, and enters through a sematic coupling, the patterns it will flow into afterwards will be stored into it just like a projection coupling. A fivefold severance-junction repeated twice terminates the recording in this case. When a sematic is stored into a mana stream which has been properly attuned and it is emitted from an emitter, it casts the spell detailed in the sematic pattern. This may be any spell in existence. Every spell has a sematic pattern equivalent which can be replicated in a mana composite.

Actuators
Actuators consist of a differential stream valve, a slightly modified emitter and a projection coupling. A projection coupling is followed by a pattern which is purely an empty square region. The size of this region affects the force applied. The emitter, which' emission hole is slightly bigger than usual, is set up opposite of a moveable block in a piston-like container. When this pattern is emitted, the mana stream creates a semisolid projection of the mana against the moveable block, pushing it back until it can't go further. It is imperative that the square region size is well tuned, else the piston container may shatter and break. Sending a stream through the differential stream valve either enables or disables the projector. Due to the unstable nature of this projection, it decays back into liquid mana and flows back through the emitter's enlarged hole. It regurgitates through the system until the projection pattern, where the backflow stops.

Trivia
There is a mythical mana-dynamical beast called Cephilon. It's existence is not confirmed but plans that might be describing it have been found in The Palace.