Technology
Universal Technology
Universal technology is available to all Ptithians. None of the items listed below require a shop purchase for your character to own it. Make sure the technology your Ptithian uses fits their economic status and/or occupation, such as a poor shopkeeper would has no reason to own a GSD device.
Thermal Control
Not all Ptithians are built to survive the heat of the desert or the cold of the tundra, but many different species reside in Stilted and Howland, arguably the hottest and coldest settlements in the world. Ptithians living anywhere they want is thanks to thermal runes and thermal enchantments. Thermal enchantments can be applied to any object or piece of clothing, but runes are the most common. Items enchanted with thermal control can manipulate its heat and cold output. It can warm a room or cool it down, keep a Ptithian warm or cool them down, etc.
Thermal echantments create effecient replacements to machines that resemble ovens, roasters, fridges (iceboxes), and clothing dryers.
Control Panels
Developed originally in Nox to help handle multiple buttons, levers, and small mathmatical computations, control panels are a simple method involving aura-energy wiring to create intended outputs. Aura can function just like electricity and can carry information, however, aura is dangerous when forcefully contained. A common feature in complex machinery, not so much in smaller technology because aura is typically "intelligent" enough to know where to go in smaller systems.
Global Positioning System
The planet has a magenetic field, so compasses are the classic way of navigating the globe.
A more useful geospatial technology was developed as Ptithians advanced their understanding in arcanology and geography. The Global-Streak Dectector (GSD) is a small device programmed to detect sources of aura. The strongest natural sources of aura are from the global-streaks, essentially the jetstreams of aura flowing through the planet. The GSD detects these, finds the distance it is from the three central points in the global-streaks, and calcuates the user's location on the planet.
A large-scale GSD is used in space. Instead of finding global-streaks, it finds the base output of stars and planets and calculates the distance from it to said aura output.
Sun flares, lindosts, Architects, and aura-storms can throw the GSD off and even put it out of commission depending on the size of the device. The larger spaceship GSDs are the most sensitive.
Energy Production
Aura is energy. Aura comes from stars and cycles through the universe and planets. Aura can be extracted from its invisible, senseless form and concentrated into something that can be manipulated. Any shape is possible, from orbs, thin layers, cubes, etc. The most common is an aura-capsule. These have been used for many, many years, esspecially among entities with a much higher power than Ptithians, such as lindosts. Capsules can hold information and have been found in ancient archives with stories and historical data. Eventually, Ptithians managed to learn how to use aura-capsules and have extracted the lost information and have used the stored energy for many new uses. Similar to batteries, except aura is naturally clean and will replace itself once removed from a concentrated state, leaving no pollution and is simply resealed again. Aura is infinite.
When in a condensed liquid state for storage such as capsules, aura is not safe to drink and can immediately cause lethal overexposure if ingested. However, lindosts have developed their own methods of creating drink-able aura. Ptithians are able to drink the custom creation, but it tastes like saltwater. Aura always tastes like saltwater.
Aura energy is managed at hubs. These hubs use ley lines of the Global Aura to connect to runic surge boxes across cities and towns. Houses on the outskirts with electricity have their own runic surges, while houses in communities have shared ones. The runic surge boxes are susceptible to damage. High energy spells are not allowed within a certain radius of the boxes and even farther from hubs. If either are damaged, the aura electricity can go out.
Water Purification and Trash Disposal
By far, the biggest contribution aquamancy as a magic has made is the widespread ability to purify water quickly and easily. High aura spell casters talented in water control have made plenty of machines designed to install across cities and towns that can clean enough water for the population.
Magic is also critical to maintaining such a clean planet. Although all ptithians are naturally planet-conscious and care for their home and environment, trash will still exist. It is negated by particle displacement spells, which are much more taxing than most magics. The carbon materials are returned to the natural system and foreign particles are completely removed.
Sound Players
Aura can hold information, such as music and sounds. Similar to recorded wavelengths, many devices were used to take advantage of this. Shaped into a disk, it can be played on a gramaphone. Gramaphones never become popular outside of Nox, but new variations eventually left the islands. A smaller version without the horn, an electronic amplifier that read the disk with a bark or bone needle. Turntables (viynl players) spread across the globe.
Not only used for music, voices can also be recorded and saved. Whether it be dicussions, personal notes, secretive recordings, etc, it can be saved and played later.
The sound read from the disks can be rooted far from the actual device and into multiple speakers. This allows for content to be broadcasted loudly even far away. Like an intercom blaring holiday music in a store.
Disks and cylindrical films are the most common storage method. Both can be constantly added onto, clipped, and written over.
Microphones
Microphones actually came before sound recording, as the construction involved for them was much simpler. They are small devices with a crystalline pit of concentrated aura inside a hull. It connects remotely to a speaker via aura energy and uplifts whatever sounds are fed into it.
Microphones and sound recording technology are easily interwined.
Callrunes
Arguably the most useful piece of aura-technology developed, callrunes offer an array of uses. Bundled into a cube with sigils, it clicks open into different sizes with a watery screen made of an aura film. Enchanted with remote aura-energy connections, the callrunes can connect to other callrunes from any distance. Callrunes can both broadcast and receive signals, they can also use private or public connections. For example, a private connection for a call between two family members, whereas a public connection for a journalist broadcasting an event.
Callrunes have broadened the reach of news and allows any Ptithian to share their creative ideas. Podcasters talk about fun stories, artists stream their painting, reporters can broadcast real-time problems, and so much more.
Callrunes can also be programmed to display specific screens. Like a presentation software.
Callrunes have also been combined with camera technology in more recent years, with the advantage of already being capable of recording video alongside its general photography.
Because of the ability to record and broadcast live video, a psuedo-television system naturally developed across the world. Callrune users were able to link their videos to their rune's frequency and could then have anyone else access it, allowing anyone to connect and watch.
Artists alike started using this system to create a new cinematic medium. Television shows, "Youtube" channels, movies, livestreams, and more. See Video Cameras for information on high-quality movie and show creation.
Cameras and Video Cameras
Imagery cameras are built the same as a regular camera and the current capture ratio is the equivalent to early 1990's (Earth) camera technology.
The pairing of camera and callrune technology ignited the conception of video cameras, which take the initial capability of a callrune and upgrade it into a more advanced piece of technology. Callrunes are capable of recording video, but their resolution is watery and its promise comes in connectability rather than quality. Thus, video cameras became the machine to produce high-quality videos that are used for movies and higher-budget network shows.
Rune Sigil Network
Callrune frequencies are powerful, but have a downfall-- they are specific and typically only shared between coworkers, friends, and family. In order to create an interconnected shell where those hosting content and shows could actually receive viewers an easier and more streamlined process was needed.
Sigil loops were born. Sigil loops were a process built into much larger, more enchanted callrune-esce machines. The frequency of these specific runes were given out to everyone and as dispersed as much as possible. Users of callrunes could then connect their own devices to these and "loop" their sigil frequency through it, easily giving it a custom name (like a domain name).
Once connected, a callrune had an access list to all the other frequencies looped through too. Connecting and tuning in was now smooth and custom names for channels made it simple for users to find what was where. Over time, these sigil loop lists were more and more customized and separated into categories similar to a channel service as more creators and shows made their place on the network.
With the advent of video and the sigil network, new types of jobs became available. Cinematographers, actors, directors, and various jobs required to make movies. Similar jobs and hosts for television shows too.
It is important to remember that the network is nothing like a modern internet, nor does Ptitheros have internet culture. Movies and television shows match what would be on television channels in the 70-80s, as there is no *animation nor high-quality visual effects technology. And videos hosted by regular Ptithians is somewhat-similar to early Youtube: home videos, silly skits, homemade television shows, opinion vlogs - there are no means of making a living from these, thus NO "streamers" nor "Youtubers" exist.
Some channel examples include the equivalent of news reports, comedy shows, musical concerts, ghost/monster hunting, guard (police) shows, nature documentaries, location tours, "Ptitheros' Funniest Home Videos", bachelor/bachelorette, true crime, etc. Along with that, all the typical movie genres can be found too.
Special Technology
Special technology is not available to the masses yet and select occupations and rich have access to it.
Aura-Detector
Aura-detectors are small devices that read the aura energy output of an object, entity, or area. They are useful to engineers to wire inputs and outputs and serve as a safety device. As Ptithians delve deeper into manipulating aura, they expose themselves to high amounts of it uncontained. Aura-overexposure is dangerous and the detector helps mitigate it.
Detectors can find traces where magic was recently used, making it useful to investigators too. However, the detectors suffer the same issues as the GSD; high amounts can short it out.
Callrune Computers
Control panels have advanced, but the complex creations are not cheap. Computing units handle data and computations and store it in an accessible way with a film screen. The units can display words and play sound.
Primarily scientists and higher-ups own the computer attachment. Older models can be found in other occupations but are generally not useful in the first place. Those who are constantly needing to write papers and communicate via email with ptithians around the world are the prime client for this callrune upgrade.
They are found everywhere on Station Zariel.
Arcade Cabinets
Typical to arcades and game shops, these modified callrunes host fun pixelated games like text adventures and space invaders.
Automatons
Automatons are built using different metals, but are mostly comprised of allumnix, copper, and natural biomaterial like bark and vines to ensure the aura in the machine can flow freely without bunching up in certain contained areas. Aura must have something to be conducted through, in animals and plants it is flesh, which is why natural material is present in all of Ptitheros technology, big and small, that uses aura.
High-end automatons are built to resemble pre-existing species. They tend to mimic the species of who made it or is built for a client who wants a similar appearance. The most common are rubasyn-resembling automatons because most of these machines are owned by rich rubasyns in Steam City who prefer their servant machines to look more like them.
- Automatons thus far have only been built to look like kin species and companion pet species, but anything is possible.
- Automatons can have addons of any existing technology found on Ptitheros. From microphones, callrunes, to sound players.
These high-end automatons were inspired by the current concepts on how lindosts function, just on a much less advanced scale. The creation of automatons likely solidified many lindost anatomy concepts of the past. Aura is augmented to produce a condensed state of energy, and with a body with natural material to take control over, aura is capable of giving the machine a basic intelligence. This basic intelligence can do tasks, take commands, and speak, but they don't understand emotions well and have trouble if placed somewhere without knowing their purpose of being there.
However, if enchanted with one of the few sensory magic spells by a high-aura user, they can reach a higher level of intelligence where they can learn simple emotions and learn better communication. These things must still be learned, automatons have no sense of emotion or a good grasp on communication out of the box like natural sapient creatures do.
- Sentient automatons are usually Unaffiliates if left completely up to their own opinions, but those working with others would likely identify with whatever Affiliation their master is. It would be ingrained, not for the purpose of worship.
Science
Astronomy and Physics
Ptithians have always been fascinated by space. They knew their Cardinals came from the cosmos and that stars, planets, and other creatures existed far beyond their planet. The Cardinals educated with facts when it came to space, that the world revolved around a sun and the two moons that revolve around the planet were captured from asteroids long, long ago.
A dragon astronomer invented the first telescope and used it to peer at the other planets in the solar system. They made excellent notes about Ptellous, Nere’enk, Payrak, and Ateshue. At the time, Ptellous was believed to be home to giant fire dragons and raining lava, Nere’enk was all clouds from the outside so they thought it was a snowy swampland, Payrak was darkened by radiation so lindosts were believed to live there, and Ateshue was unfortunately too blurry to make out anything useful. That did not stop astronomers from taking guesses that it was where the spirit realms were.
There were well known constellations before the first telescope was made. When telescopes were widely available, astronomers from all over slowly created a map of the night sky with all the labeled constellations and lots of new ones. This created a craze to study the stars further, bringing many more budding astronomers and an interest in astrology.
Astronomy has advanced a lot since then. Ptithians have a vast understanding of their solar system, galaxy, and workings of their universe. So much so, they have grasped a great control over aura to create versatile space travel to explore space even more. The end goal is to map the solar system, reach other galaxies, and potentially find other intelligent life. As of now, only one major space station (Zariel) is running, but another is underway near Ptellous (Sbneth). Sbneth station will have the end goal of constructing a dyson sphere (however the plans for such a thing are far from reality at the moment).
Station Zariel and laboratories on Ptitheros use advanced satellite imaging telescopes to take photos of the distant universe. Meanwhile in observatories resting above the clouds in the mountains of Wyndgale, Howland, and Twincub there are classic astronomers still hard at work.
Ptithians have a great understanding of physics and the natural laws of the universe. Gravity, inertia, the speed of light, frequencies, synchronization, energy transfer, and more have all been studied for a great amount of time. Although even more technologically advanced than humans, the reason their world looks so clean and natural is because of solarpunk ideologies and the energy used (aura) is clean and forever repurposable. The furthering of science is funded by governments, nobility, universities, and taxes.
Archeology and History
Ptitheros has a very, very long history, and much of it is still to be discovered. There are mysterious temples, catacombs, and relics found all throughout the world. Some of it can be tied to known ancient cultures, whereas other pieces cannot. Some discoveries are completely foriegn to historians, it is unknown if Ptithians were responsible for some of the most confusing artifacts.
This mysterious history makes archeology and documentation a big field of research. There has to be answers lurking somewhere, many of which remain unseen in the endless Archives that line the planet like an underground labyrinth. Some of the Archives records will never be seen because the Cardinals used to expunge information that they saw unfit for their kin to learn. Finding these lost bits requires fieldwork or getting lucky when questioning a lindost. Some historians find it absolutely infuriating that shadows know the history of the entire world but refuse to share it.
Most archeological discoveries are documented and then the fragile relics of history are stored in safe locations in temples or college archives across the kingdom. Museums also get some of these items to put on display, but many of their artifacts that are said to be the most important are actually replicas. This is to protect the real artifact from theft or possible damage by incompetent transporters.
The latest massive archeological breakthrough was the discovery of the End’s Beginning City found below the East Volcanic Inlet (with lithospheric connections to the Scorchland). It confirmed that there was at least one type of kin before the current Ptithians that have been nicknamed the Collosals. However, the strangest discovery in the city is that smaller figures with no recognizable shape appear regularly in murals.
Transportation
Mount Companions
Despite Ptithians being very strong, able-bodied, and often flight-capable creatures, even they prefer to use the might of other animals to lessen their burdens. Many different creatures have been domesticated to some capacity over the years, but some have been assigned a common role known as Mount Companions. These companions are able to be ridden and usually can carry some cargo with them. Mount companions include brirsters, chisliers, snapps, karkadanns, and even tions if large enough ones are bred.
Click here for more information.
Snapp-Taxis
Snapp Taxis are a common form of transportation across long distances. They only follow roads but can haul lots of heavy cargo and many passengers. There are different types of vehicles depending on their purpose, such as the Tempest being reserved to richer Ptithians, the Trailblazer being the typical travel type, and the Openair found more within populous places to get multiple Ptithians to and from places within a city/town. Snapp Taxis are pulled by snapps, hence their name, but can also be pulled by karkadanns and chisliers if snapps are unavailable in the area. Smaller versions pulled by tions exist in Psollo.
Ships
Ships and Boats are seafaring transportation used to transport cargo and Ptithians across the ocean or down rivers. Some boats are even designed to travel the underground rivers found in the massive caverns of the planet. They range from large ocean-traversing ships wih multiple tall sails, down to sturdy river rafts. They do not have submarines or cargoships.
Trains
Trains were a short-lived innovation in Ptitheros. Appearing only a few decades before the first proper blimp with high weight capacity was launched, trains saw the light for only a few years before becoming obsolete. A few railroads were placed in Ptitheros, mainly for cargo transportation. One remains strictly a cross-continental cargo transporter, a less efficient railroad was repurposed for passengers.Over time, in an era when blimps are easy access and even space travel is available to the middle-class Ptithian, train rides have become a novelty. A fun little excursion to view the world at a slow, grounded pace.
Trains are powered by aura, and the few found in the world have been refurbished to use the latest capsules and runes. The passenger train has become commercialized and updated for comfort but the managers ensure the train retains a sense of old days.
Blimps
Blimps were developed by the clever rubasyns of Nox because of their floating islands residence. Sending gliders down to the Fox Isle to load ships back and forth from the main islands was tedious and unnecessary, so "flying ships", also known as blimps, were created. Blimps originally used a ship hull on the bottom with a large helium ballon on top. As time went on, blimps became more advanced and can take on any purpose, such as an enclosed hull for vacations to cargohull blimps that carry a lot of imports and exports over land and sea. There are blimp harbors in every major city.
Spaceships
There are multiple kinds of spaceships. The most common are Voyagers. Voyagers are small units designed for 1-3 individuals and quick travel of immediately needed supplies. They are the top choice of space exploration. The Aurora is designed for larger units of passengers and can cross long distances quickly. They have a low storage capacity and have a greater focus on comfort and passenger amount. The Chimera is the largest. Plenty of passenger and cargo space. It brandishes a big flag of a kingdom, family, or team banner on the back to assert ownership.
Ring Routes
Built a long, long time ago, the ring routes were used to connect the planet's kingdoms before the latest transportation was a thing. These large rings shine and iridescent gold that glows slightly in the nighttime. They float high in the sky thanks to the help of multiple ancient enchanters. The routes follow along the jetstreams, but aside from the natural windspeed, their enchantment also pushes the fliers that go through them to go faster. Any flying Ptithian can make use of the ring routes.
Aura-Tearing
A mode of transportation unique to lindosts and some lindost hybrids. Aura-tearing involves tearing apart spacetime itself using extreme amounts of aura in order to create portals between locations and dimensions. Some lindosts are extra powerful and can use aura-tearing to create time portals.
Space-Age
Space-Age information has been moved. Click here to read about it!
Medicine
Healthcare - Ptitheros has advanced medical technologies and natural healing methods, along with varying skills in healing magic itself. Doctors and healers host their own businesses (aside from those working with militaries) and charge their own prices for their cures and medicines. The governments only gets involved if there are reports the doctor is inducing malpractice or the medicines they sell are causing more harm than good. Fraudulent doctors and healers are fined and watched.
Doctors
Physical Doctors
Physical doctors have no healing magic capabilities, they've gone to school to become a doctor and are educated on assessing ailments, diagnosing them, then obtaining or creating tonics or herb combinations to cure things. They are usually skilled in alchemy and are a good choice for ailments caused by infections or viruses.
Healer Doctors
Healer doctors, often just called healers, are doctors who use spells, runes, or their genetic healing magic abilities to cure problems. They can be college educated or merely self-taught, their services are better for ailments involving mental disorders or mystery diseases, but because their healing services are an overarching cure-all, they may not be as effective.
Aura Doctors
Aura doctors, the rarest of them all. These doctors have a unique grasp on how aura affects the body and can often appear as more of a witchdoctor type of character. They always have average or high aura. They cure aura curses, diseases such as the werebeast curse or seatech curse, which makes their services extremely expensive because their profession and skills are so far and few across Ptitheros.
Prosthetics
Prosthetic technology has always been good on Ptitheros. Past prosthetics were made from strong bark and clay, built to have posable joints, then given to a high-aura enchanter to finish up the piece before it went to the individual needing it. This made past prosthetics useful, but expensive, only middle class and up could get their claws on them.
Nowadays, with Nox's machinery advancements, prosthetics are made from biometal materials and are constructed with aura at the same time, making the enchantment step unnecessary and making the items cheaper. Prosthetics are made by specialized crafters who create prosthetics on a person-to-person basis, ensuring it fits and works for each customer. The most common prosthetics are for legs and arms, but they can also be made to replace wings, tails, and eyes.
Soul Transfer Automatons
Automatons are also built to house souls. Ptithians who are suffering and close to death because of a disease or injury can request an artificial body. A lindost is needed and they can transfer the Ptithian's soul/aura-essence into the automaton so they can continue their life. This is expensive and a hard cure to come by for the average Ptithian.
Ones built for soul transfers typically try to resemble what the previous body looked like unless the Ptithian requested something different.
Illnesses
Aura-overexposure : Ptithians have a natural inner aura and can cycle excess out of their body, but sometimes too much aura is present at once and will take time to get rid of. The Ptithian will succumb to aura-overexposure when this happens and will become ill with muscle pain, headaches, and blurry vision. Death is possible if exposure amount is too high, but most cases are low enough to recover from. Overexposure can come from powerful spells, runes, lindost-proximinity, machinery, and simply residing in space unprotected (the planet's magnetic field naturally protects from the excess aura coming from the sun, but in space this protection is lost).
Extreme overexposure can only be cured by an aura-doctor or a lindost. They are capable of extracting the excess and diverting it elsewhere.
Conduit Parasite : Lindosts are known to heal extremely quickly, but their ability actually depends on what harmed them. Damage caused by entities “above them” can take weeks to fully heal, but it can be sped up if they use the energy of another creature. They can parasitise another creature, the victim’s organs become entangled in a slimy, hairy substance and a centipede-esce form clings to their lower back, digging into their skin with its legs.
A parasitic lindost can be harmless. If a lindost chooses a conduit for selfish reasons (choosing a stranger who gave no consent), usually they don’t care about how much damage and pain they cause. If a friend offered their body, the lindost would likely do its best not to cause more pain than necessary.
Mindscape Parasite : The easiest way to tear a victim down is from the inside out. Lindosts get into victims’ heads and disrupt their focus, sleep, dreams, and daily routine. Exhaustion and anxiety wear a creature down quickly, the lethargy making sleep more common and more nightmares ensue to cause trauma. Mindscape parasites wait until the victim either kills itself or is so weak that the aura and soul can be separated manually. Mindscape parasites who detach before soon before killing a victim results in the shadowvale curse.
Skinner Virus : Gelatinous, viral bumps appear on the hands and eyelids before the skin of the victim begins to die rapidly and sluff off the body. Excessive bleeding and high fever kills the victim quickly.
Bone Weakener : Flight-capable species have semi-hollow bones, but this bacterial infection eats away all the rest of the bone marrow and causes a victim’s bones to become weak and snap within the body. Snapping bones puncture organs and skin, causing gaping wounds and internal bleeding.
Firesac Eater : Not actually specific to ptithians with fire breath. It’s a bacterial infection that attacks the inner lining of the throat, tearing through the layers until the windpipe and esophagus are no longer separated. A victim can no longer drink or eat without suffocating.
Corruption Magic : Any spells used to cause biological damage or disease. Corrupted magic is illegal in all territories.
*All common bacterial, fungal, and viral infections. Extreme Earth infections do not exist on Ptitheros, only the general overview types like colds, flus, pneumonia, septic, etc. Illnesses are only for stories, they cannot be a “character feature”.
Genetic Diseases/Disorders
Crumbling (affects lefikas, lefika mixes): an uncommon genetic disease that causes a lefiká to slowly crumble away like old rocks. The disease does not kick in until adolescence, as the victim will begin to see their skin crack and will die within the coming years as their body crumbles away into dust.
Dense Tongue (affects lefikas, lefika mixes): Lefiká is born without a tubular tongue, making it hard to intake water and grain easily and the inability to store water in their neck pocket.
Prone Hairlessness/Scale-less (affects dragons, lefikas, gryphons, rubasyns, taroots, mixes): Ptithian is born without their fur, scales, and/or feathers, rendering them unable to fly, keep warm in cold environments, and sensitivity to the outside world. (This is not the hairless trait, that trait only removes body fur, it does not remove feathers and causes no health problems.)
Nerve-ribbon Disorder (affects rubasyns, rubasyn mixes): a rubasyn's ribbons naturally have far too many nerve endings in them, making day to day life painful as the ribbons gently sway and tap things around them. Rubasyns with this condition are advised to cut the ribbons down to the wire at an early age.
Visor Disorder (affects taroots, taroot mixes): a taroot is born without eye holes, like a tion, except that they can no longer see and have serious sensory problems.
Aura-sight is naturally occurring in tions and eyeless taroots (not visor disorder), it can also be a magic ability. The world would look normal with normal colors, as seeing in actual aura is a completely different frequency spectrum that ptithians' brains are not capable of processing
Malformed Wings (affects dragons, lefikas, gryphons, mixes) - Ptithian is born with disfigured or extremely underdeveloped wings. Most born with problematic wings will amputate the limbs.
Chalk Disorder (affects dragons, gryphons, taroots, mixes) - unable to grow horns or spikes at a reasonable rate to be useful.
Misc
Aura-flow checks are part of doctor visits, right beside blood pressure and heartbeat. Pediatricians can tell parents their child's aura level upon the first visit.