Grrl Power #541 – Bubble Untrouble
This page really could have benefited from another panel or two between the final ones. Max looking around inside the bubble as it engulfs her, then one of her taking off her mask for a test sniff of the air. It’s challenging cutting down the movie of Grrl Power I see in my head into panels, on top of the challenge of laying them out on the page. (And fighting my desire to draw everything as large as possible.) Comics y’all!
Another difference between the in-my-head version and this one is originally, Sydney discovered the function of this orb in a more dire situation. Like helping shore up a structurally compromised oil rig or something, in water deep enough that racing to the surface would be a considerable danger. The reason it didn’t happen like that was simply because some simple testing of the orbs would reveal this function, and it’s not like the team isn’t going to do basic testing. So the drama took a backseat to practicality in this case. Of course if I had structured the story differently, I could have some oil rig incident happen on the morning of day 2 of the comic. Hmm. But that’s okay, not every revelation has to come on the tail of a harrowing event. Yeah, this version could have been vaguely more dramatic if Maxima couldn’t grab the chains cause Sydney was panicking, but again, none of that would make sense. Maxima can catch bullets. Grabbing that chain would be simple even if Sydney had been kicking her feet around, which she wasn’t because she’s a reasonably competent diver and knows how to reacquire her mask.
So yeah. The green one makes air. At least. Maybe it makes other stuff. Maybe if Sydney breathed molten gold like some kind of magma bling fish, it would make that. One question answered, and as usual, an infinite number more rear their head.
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Now to figure out how to use 3 powers at once. The flying shield ferry can be viable with the air orb.
using three isn’t needed. It creates air, so all she would need to do is fly up for a moment, let go of fly, grab air, then grab fly once air is refreshed which looks to only be a few seconds
Or just let the golden skined wonder push the force field and the contents at maximum speed while holding two. Which would make an Osprey considerably unnecessary when relocating troops at maximum speed.
Maxima can’t move the shield or at least the early chapters of grrlpower shows that it can’t be moved unless Sydney herself moves someway.
Have Maxima inside the shield carrying sydney?
And yet she needs the fly orb to maintain her position under water… Truly the ways of the orbs are mysterious.
That’s could be quite the continuity error made for the sake of a buoyancy gag, or it could be that water physics is the forcefield orb’s weakness.
Its probably another toggle that she hasn’t played with or an upgrade giving her access to a toggle.
Or just have Varia touch Sydney with one hand thus freeing her to use the atmo orb while Sydney uses Flight and Shield.
Sure, that sounds like a good thing.
We were just speculating about why the Force Field Orb seems to anchor differently in different substances even though Maxima is strong enough dirt or water would make no difference to how easy it would be to dislodge you from said substance. There was a time or two where Sydney probably should have gone flying and a chunk of whatever she was standing on gone with her.
They were inside the Archon building when testing the effects of Max punches on the shield, and she was ordered to stop because the whole building was shaking.
So it’s not that max was incapable of dislodge Sidney’s shield as she can’t afford it.
The whole building was shaking (or whatever) and it didn’t seem as if the shield damaged the floor. (would have been remarked on)
When it was being tested against a significant percentage of Max’s “explody” blaster power it didn’t move her.
The time the magical/cyber/robot thing hit her so hard once without having any effect on her, her shield, or the roof her shield intersected with that it immediately decided its time was better spent cutting through the roof AROUND the shield to try to dislodge her than simply pounding her through the roof.
But once the surrounding roof is cut it moves with it and in water it bobs around without the fly ball counteracting the forces. So it seems like its not really anchored at all but once it detects a certain level of force it negates/absorbs it to protect Sydney while a more gentle force is allowed to move the shield and translate through to Sydney. Not sure if that somehow affected her fall from the roof but she landed hard enough to hurt but not as hurt as she should have.
I mean its probably anchored by whatever weight of earth or concrete it has on the inside already but other than that.
To me, it seems to shrug off impacts, like Maxima’s punches or particle beam, but can be push by water rushing in underneath a buoyant structure or pull by mean of the light hook.
Perhaps the node connecting the shield orb and the life support orb will allow the interior to be automatically kept breathable.
Vehemence was able to drag it, IIRC.
He was able to pull the lighthook, not the shield.
I’m betting that the crossbars on the skill tree link basic functions, like a minor sheild while flying in space with an air supply.
I’m also happy with the rate she’s getting points! Two points in a few days of active use.
I suspect they enable some improved combo ability. It seemed like Sydney’s aerial laser strike (the one that cut the tank in two) was stronger than she expected, and those two Orbs are connected, IIRC.
i actuly have the idea that on hand use for power is ment to be a power limiter built in to the orbs. more to stop those with little experience using them for causing all sort of havoc using all 7 at ounce with out any idea what they are. sydney has shown she has a mental connection to them being able to move them both to her hands and as a attack like that old double orbs nut crush during the super fight and when hitting math. so it not to far fetched to say she could use the powers with her mind. heck the light hook seems mostly mind controlled any way its not even connected to the orb. and with the skill tree is seem they were built with power limiters the point just unlock a existing power or level of the power or power option like the laser fire type
damn it was to focused on the idea missed some spelling fails
The issue being that humans are typically terrible at multi-tasking. Even if you’re right, which I’m not sure of, it will probably take YEARS before Sydney can use the powers purely mentally, and use them effectively.
That said, I really doubt that’s even an option, at least without investing skill points. It’s one of Sydney’s limitations, and probably the most restraining one of all. Getting rid of it shouldn’t be simple or easy, from a narrative standpoint.
Who says the orbs are meant for humans? If say the bonded user had tentacles they could use many more at once. Imagine a squid alien set them down and went to get some lunch. Then came back and found them gone?
(Yeah I know they should follow. But what if a stay command is available but not known?)
I’m really liking my “7-nostriled nose alien” theory more and more. Maybe the alien squid was holding all orbs at once in its 7 nostrils – and sneezed.
The evidence so far suggests they have to be held/contained by a manipulative extremity, since Sydney did test for using while in contact with other parts of her body.
With that suggested limitation, your conjectural seven-nostriled creature would need to be able to manipulate things with its nostrils… I find that image to be a little disturbing, honestly.
Easy. Call Varia. One hand for the link, 3 hands open for orbs.
When was it stated that when Varia touches Sydney she can use an orb? I don’t remember this happening but I’ve seen a few people mentioning it.
Nobody in universe has made the connection, but when varia touched sydney the orbs started circling both of them instead of just sydny.
It also seemed to effect Varia’s hair.
No, Varia was just jumping.
Here ya go.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1751
Whoah, I don’t remember ever noticing that. It sure seemed to slip by everyone else in the room…
Man, that’s genius! Some undiscovered way to use a third (assuming Varia needs a hand free to hold on to Sydney) orb simultaneously would be an excellent plot device.
Here’s an important question. Do they know about this effect in-universe? I don’t remember anyone mentioning it in the comic.
Given that it was witnessed by Max, it is subject to being remembered at a dramatically appropriate time.
my guess about this or is that it not only makes air but whatever she needs at the moment specifically for survival such as water in a desert.
It’s also interesting that it appears she didn’t grab it, the green trail seems to indicate it jumped into her hand while she was reaching for her mask.
She can move them with her mind, as shown back when she was fighting with Math.
But why would she make it move to her hand when she had no idea what it would do? As Dave said, she was reaching out for her mask “because she’s a reasonably competent diver and knows how to reacquire her mask”. Unless it was instinct or something that made her decide to use it rather than the mask my feeling is that it jumped into her hand.
The orbs come when called. She reached out for mask with her hand thinking “need air,” or such, and the orb responded because it is a basic safety feature of a telepathically-responsive survival-based device to answer to a confused distress call related to its function.
Yep, that’s what i was thinking, they’re not just tools they’re either sentient (AI/Magic/Spirit) or at least attuned and responsive to the needs of the user/owner beyond just commanding them “fly ball make me fly, tentacle hit that guy”
Orb control appears to be subconscious. Since she needed air, she reached for her air and that was the right muscle to flex for the green orb. She did similar with the shield orb when she exploded that tank.
Which just got me wondering if the reason she has to hold them is because she grabbed the first one.
It’s already shown she presses on the runes with her thumbs to activate them. I suspect the commands to make them hover and swirl and come to her hands are the Basic Control Settings only, e.g. if they’re a car, the engine is running and thus powering the radio, wipers headlights, seat heaters, etc. But to make the car actually move and stop and turn, you have to step on the gas (thumb a rune), step on the brake, shift gears, turn the steering wheel…
Her inability to make them fly out of their container is probably the equivalent of having to turn on the headlights manually after the car’s gone into the shop for an oil change, and the techs have turned them off but neglected to flip the switch again.
I can understand why they don’t want to get blinded by the lights, but it’s annoying when I have the kind of car where the headlights shut off automatically, so I forget to check to make sure they’re on. I got pulled over by a cop late one night, after using valet parking at a really crowded event (to hell with trying to find my own parking spot in the dark, that night!) So I had to explain to him three different times, no, I’m not drunk, I don’t drink alcohol, I just used valet parking and they turned off the lamps without me realizing it, and everywhere I’d driven since leaving the hotel was well-lit with street lamps, and I mean everywhere, there was nowhere dark enough at that point in my trip that I could have noticed they weren’t lit.
So you got basic commands that are telepathically willed into working…and then you got the advanced stuff that requires the hands-on touch. It makes sense, especially for the PPO. That one is flat-out deadly dangerous, so not only do you have the basic commands to fly it into your hand, AND the thumb-press on the right rune to make it kersplode…you have to add in the telepathic commands in just the right way, with absolute certainty about what you’re trying to do, to get it to go.
In that regards, it’s like one of those purse-shaped binder clips that’s super tough to squeeze open because it’s super big and thick. Both hands (so to speak) on the job are required to get it done, et something super easy like the teleportaclairvoyancy orb are just grab, think-swoosh, and go, as easy as a thought because presumably you’re not going to teleport yourself into a room that’s full of lava…or a tube that’s full of snakes and bees. (Or possibly pokemon & ponies & rainbows. Of Doom.)
Well… that’s fucking handy…
easily one of the best lines in the comic yet!
And in ten seconds she lets go of both orbs because she forgot that she wasn’t supposed to swear anymore as the bubble happily vanishes back up into the water.
may it makes life support type things. so she needs air boom air is made..she needs water poof she gets it?
Holy shit.
localised atmospheric adjustment
useful in a gas leak, sulphur cave etc etc is my two penneth
Depends on if it includes purification powers. Otherwise the new air would dilute the bad air, but not get rid of it.
What happens if she uses this in a sealed container? Air pressure differentials can do nasty things.
the air bubble seems to expand and stay around her so some supernatural dohickery is afoot, probably would just renew the air into a breathable version rather than create new when inside as sealed environment
if you are deep bellow the surface you can actually surface relatively safely by exhaling the whole time, because the expanding air continues to fill your lungs it will allow you to keep absorbing oxygen while simultaneously get rid of excess air safely, minimizing the risk of decompression sickness.
if you’re deep enough, there’s also gas in your blood and cells, including nitrogen, which come out at their rate own rate of speed.
true, but doing it that way is the safest way to ensure you don’t get decompression sickness if you have to bail to the surface in a hurry due to a ruptured air tank or something, it’s by no means a guarantee, but it gives you the best chance
Question: Why isn’t Maxima falling out of the air bubble? I see Sydney holding the flyball, but Max only has two feet and a finger in water, there’s not enough displacement for her to be floating.
The same power that she uses to fly probably help Max in the water.
If the Orb does freshen air, I can see Syndey being ordered to use the green orb after every meal.
And if she ever finds herself on latrine duty after some ‘conduct unbecoming a superhero’.
So does it just create a breathable air or could it make other gasses? Maybe a few more skill points will help.
That would make a lot of sense, as an Offense-Defence pairing. The other orbs are quite dynamic, and this ability on it’s own could easily ne folded into the Shield or Fly balls.
Combining the Envirorb with the Shield Orb would allow her to turtle up in the shield indefinitely. That would be very useful in situations with civilian bystanders. Send Halo in to put them all under the shield, and the rest of the team can deal with the problem without needing to worry about threats to the civilians.
Hey, now that they know what the Envirorb does, Archon can market it. All they have to do is find a way to declassify its powers without people realizing that in this case, classified meant I don’t know. That’s kind of embarrassing PR.
I actually think that would be a tactical error. Some of Sydney’s enemies might have noticed her need for oxygen, possible from the battle footage. Deus certainly knows. Keeping the Green Orb’s powers more hush-hush could be advantageous, since an enemy might try and stall Halo out of her bubble, and fail.
Agreed.
Your world so needs a molten gold breathing magma bling fish.
Maybe that guy who has all that gold could have one as a pet. Or rather, what other person would want one? But. Well. If it breaths molten gold, what does it exhale?
What about that guy that mined gold? He might have collected it for an aquarium.
Maybe it’ll exhale a Au-Hg amalgam? Or Au-HCl-HNO3? (I dunno the correct terms for these chemical compounds in English, so I’m using the individual chemical formulas/names instead)
Au-Hg Gold-Mercury. Historically used in gold mining processes.
Au-HCl-HNO3 Gold-Hydrogen chloride-Nitric acid No idea what that is used for, but I would not want to be in the same room as it!
Just stay over there in that nice deep pit please Mr Demon.
The HNO… stuff would probably be a reference to aqua regia with chloroauric acid (gold dissolved in acid)
“Can I tell them?”
“I don’t see why not.”
(Sydney flies up out of the water)
“Hey guys, get in the pool! I just got new powers. Wanna see?”
:-D
Yep. Sydney will probably want to go overboard in testing it though. I see her poofing all the water out of existence. An air-filled swimming pool is not such a cool place to hang out.
Unless, of course, it’s filled with Arctic air.
It occurs to me that they wouldn’t have figured out what that orb does if Sydney hadn’t let go of the wrong orb. She she had activated while still in the shield there would have been no apparent effect.
I personally think the shield got in the way of this exercise. The point was to test the two unknown orbs in a new environment, but the shield traps her in her normal environment. It’s buoyancy also got in the way. Sydney has her scuba gear. Had she just gone into the water like that she wouldn’t of had to deal with the collapse of the bubble or the chain.
Well, the plan was to try everything–first with, later without, shield–in a properly controlled and orderly manner. That might not have worked; as she would have been wearing scuba and not needing an emergency aeration.
Maybe it would, maybe it wouldn’t. If the orb’s job is to make breathable air then it would do so regardless of if she needed it or not. It seems odd that the orb would only work when her life is in danger. It is likely meant to work in combination with the shield orb, as running out of oxygen seems to be it’s only weakness. Of course there is still the issue of flying with them.
If you were worried about wanting it revealed with dramatic timing, you could have just used basic training as a flashback afterwards, explaining why Sydney wasn’t panicking about the lack of water during the oil rig situation. Heck, you could have skipped the entire Basic Training arc, and used it for convenient flashbacks as to why nobody was worried about these things.
But then, I suppose the flow of events may have been different, making it feel more choppy, I suppose.
Ah well, you do what you must for the story.
*lack of air. Typing on a phone is really inconvenient sometimes.
Just flash back and fix it. ;-)
As someone who is certified I feel I must point out that Sydney’s regulator looks like it was designed to float out of reach if dropped. I would also like to point out the lack of a backup regulator.
Also, she seems to have forgotten how she was taught to recover her regulator if she drops it. You are not supposed to reach for it, but swing your arm around in an ark that will be sure to hook the hose and pull it towards your face.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-020u6fp8oQ
Certified in open water scuba diving.
Not certified in teaching scuba diving (yet, who knows what the future may hold?)
she reached for the hose, the ball got to her hand first
wait do you mean use the whole arm to hook the hose? or the hand?
You use the whole arm for retrieving the regulator.
That way you can be sure to get it on the first try every time.
The under water levels in Sonic the Hedgehog and God of War come to mind…
Hmm plausible names….
Scrubber, O24U, Gasball, Bubble, Orbreather, Blooper….
The Unfarter
…Yanno know, Arianna won’t let Sydney get away with that name…
Seven years of this comic strip to find out one of the orbs fart! Worth it! Just please don’t take seven more for the next.
It’s only been five years of we knowing that there was a mystery at all. The first two years were all: “What’s in the tube?!?” Which was a different mystery. :-)
From start of comic to current, 7 years. It has taken that long to get to this point.
I would be perfectly okay with taking a while to discover the powers of the last Orb. It’s nice to have a bit of mystery.
Can’t get the cast page to open up. :(
It the green orb creates fresh air, will Sydney get the joke if someone on staff wants to name it Terry Gross?
The Gross Orb? Gorb? Nah.
Anyone else notice that the cast page is down. Or is it just me?
It has been for a while.
I was going to ask why they’re both floating in the air bubble, instead of sinking to the bottom of it. But then I realized Sydney’s holding the fly ball, and Maxima can just fly. >_>
Now I’m reminded of this. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Teddy_Ruxpin#The_Seven_Crystals_of_Grundo
A reply to Dorje Sylas who said “Actually if you were a space fairing creature who built these, they are very logical.Once you’re in space you accelerate to top speed (whatever Mass/Energy ratio Flight orb supports), then swap to Green air maker and cruise.”
Let’s take it another step. Say this is a Starship/Junior Space Rangers set.
Forcefield Orb- Radiation shield, impact resistant, and atmosphere holder all in one. Basically a starship hull.
Flight Orb- Propulsion.
Truesight/telepresence Orb- Sensors. Truesight/magic sensor vision (remember when she saw the golems through the floor?).
PPO- Weapons, complete with variable weapon configurations.
LightHook- Manipulate environment when necessary.(Can’t manifest in shield?)
Mystery Air Orb- Life support.
Now, let’s compare to every starship game ever when you have essential systems… We have: Shields, Sublight Engines, Sensors, Weapons, and a tractor beam… All we are missing is the warp core.
*Squints suspiciously at last orb*
made that connection way back too. Also in thread earlier – I think brown is her own hammer space or cargo hold, holding cell , storage… cause if you’re a space ranger – space balls ranger you’re gonna need a place for uniforms, supplies and to hold prisoners in stasis until you can turn them over or release them safely.
Anyone notice the green orb started glowing before it left her Halo?
Oddly enough early on I mentioned that maybe one of the two unknown orbs made air…… Who knew I was actually right……. Give me a few moments, I need to make sure that hell hasn’t frozen over as of yet…
So, the question is whether the green orb makes things besides air, making it a general creation type power, or whether it allows aerokinesis. If it is a general creation type, that could be very useful in a wide array of situations (instant water when you need to put out a fire, for example), but wouldn’t have as much control or focus as Sydney’s orbs seem to have.
So my guess is aerokinesis, literally being able to create/control air, probably in a limited area around her. Creating a mobile air pocket would remove the buoyancy issues she was experiencing before, allowing her to fly underwater almost indefinitely. Depending on her level of control, it could also create various wind effects. Might not seem over the top, but they have more potential for crowd control than anything she currently has.
Actually, my guess (and many other people’s) is ‘environmental system/life-support’, based on the idea that the Orbs are a sort of explorer’s tool-kit/space-ship equivalent. So, it would probably also include some sort of replacement for food (food creation, or just providing metabolic energy) and maybe enhanced healing.
Aerokinesis would honestly feel pretty out-of-place, IMO, and overlap with the Flight Orb, in some respects. It seems much too limited in utility, compared to the rest of the Orbs.
General creation actually fits a lot better. Not sure why you seem to think it wouldn’t allow for as much ‘control’ or ‘focus’ as some of the other Orbs. I mean, the Comm Orb is anything but focused, it being something of a jack-of-all-trades. And I don’t really see how control applies, here. It seems pretty controllable to me. If it had controls for type of material and amount, that seems like more than enough.
The Comm Orb is an advanced sensor suite, providing truesight and probably a few other visual/auditory enhancements we haven’t figured out or unlocked yet, and telepresence (being able to ‘cast’ your presence to another area). Since she sees and experiences everything her ‘image’ does (and it still hasn’t been confirmed whether it is an actual image or physical double), there’s probably some kind of quantum entangling, much like with Harem’s clones, and the teleport is just a side function of that entanglement, flipping the ‘location’ variable.
So the Comm Ball is a sensor suite, but you’ve got a power stunt that allows for a special ability. Still pretty focused, when you look at it from a function point of view.
The PPO is a blaster. Pure and simple blaster, with different types of blasting.
The Fly Orb lets you move in three dimensions at high speeds, regardless of local conditions.
The forcefield orb creates a shield capable of holding up to incredible abuse or venturing into high/low pressure environments. The area covered by the shield can be changed, but it does not appear that you can change its shape, and the only way to actively move the shield’s location is to do so from within, by moving Sydney around.
The Lighthook is crazy useful for manipulating things outside the shield, but is still just an extendable tubular construct. You can make crazy balloon animals out of it, but can’t reshape it into, say, a propeller or anything a Lantern ring might do.
So all the orbs have focused functions. General creation of even the four primal elements (earth, air, water, fire) would be very much non-focused, as each has very different effects and uses.
As far as air overlapping with the flight orb, I disagree. The only area of overlap would be with the potential for flight, assuming she can keep from throwing herself into a tornado spin. That’s like saying that being able to use the Lighthook to sling yourself around like Spider-Man makes it overlap with the Flight orb. Sure, they both do 3D movement, but in different ways and one is infinitely easier to use/control.
As for why I think general creation wouldn’t allow for the same level of control as an orb dedicated solely to air? Because the orbs, powerful as they are, clearly have limits. Moreover, we’ve seen that there is underlying code behind the orbs, which, if we consider the orbs to be anything like a computer, means there’s a limit to the data processing power the individual orbs can handle. A general creation orb with the ability to create and control multiple elements to a fine degree would require more power and memory than an orb focused on air with the same level of control. So the obvious assumption would be that the more varied the effects of the individual orbs, the less direct power or control they are able to handle.
I’m sorry, but none of your conclusions makes any sense to me.
So, you seems to subscribe to the explorer kit/space-ship model. Let’s list the things that this aerokinetic Orb does for those.
Explorer: Producing air…maybe manipulating the local weather? Really slowly? Oh, and maybe terraforming…Wait, no, that require more than just producing air.
Space-ship: producing air, manipulating it within the tiny bubble of air around you, surrounded by the cold vacuum of space.
I dunno about you, but those uses are so limited, I would smack any designer who decided those needed their own unique subsystem just to operate them. Especially because you could still starve in the cold-vacuum of space. It’s just an air-conditioner. Like…no, I’m sorry, but a fabricator or life-support module just makes so much more sense.
Also, the true limits on the Orbs are pretty clearly not the ones they currently have. That’s what the skill tree is for. It’s pretty clear that none of the Orbs are operating at their peak capacity. So trying to judge their peak capacity based on their current limits makes no sense.
I think you’re also SERIOUSLY underestimating how complex a lot of the things that the Orbs can already do are, while overestimating the complexity of a fabricator or life-support module. And just because a fabricator or life-support module would be more complicated than aerokinesis (which is very much arguable), that doesn’t make them any less likely. The Orbs warp reality on a fundamental level, tapping into the Deep Code. It’s not like it’s that much of a stretch.
If I had to guess, I’d say more explorer kit (possibly tomb raider/archaeologist) and less space-ship. There are a few reasons for this, but primarily they boil down to the fact that you have to be holding the orbs for them to work, and presumably they would deactivate if the user, say, went to sleep or otherwise lost consciousness and let go of the orbs. For terrestrial exploration this is less of an issue, but in space even a second’s loss of concentration can kill you, even when you’re not using mystic orbs you don’t fully understand. So I’d go towards explorer’s kit.
Now, as far as your examples, it is clear that you’ve never actually played any Superhero tabletop RPGs, or even spellcasters in fantasy RPGs, or you wouldn’t be saying such things. Here’s a quick list of things I can come up with that you can do with aerokinesis, and wouldn’t require large-scale effects like terraforming (which would be multi-element creation, anyways):
* Wind Blast – A nonlethal alternative to the PPO, capable of knocking individuals back, clearing smoke or airborne toxins from the room, and so on.
* Smother – Put out fires by removing the air from around them.
* Wind Wall – Block incoming projectiles, vermin, and the like. Also may be more shapeable than the Shield, and would allow you to fire out from it, which the shield does not allow.
* Wind Cushion – Air jets allowing you to slow a falling vehicle, perhaps.
* Speed Boost – Focused air currents allow you to move a bit faster, change directions easier.
* Purify Air – Clear out harmful toxins inside an air bubble, allowing you to breathe normally as you explore hazardous environments.
* Protection from elements – An air shield would allow you to maintain an area of temperate air despite the outside temperature, and potentially keeping out rain and snow, while still allowing you to breathe, unlike the shield.
* Suffocate – As with smother, rob an enemy of the air they need to breathe. (Would have done wonders against Vehemence, being a nonviolent means of taking him down)
That’s just a few examples I came up with on the fly, mostly from remembering some of the things I’ve done with elemental controllers before in RPGs.
Now, some of those fold into broad-spectrum life support, which, if you had actually read my last post, I haven’t discounted. The reason I’m not thinking it too likely, however, is because general life support is generally something you want to be a passive, ongoing thing, not an active use thing that requires you to keep one hand on the orb at all times. It is bad design philosophy. Even emergency life support systems in comics or sci-fi are still ‘you got it set up, now you have X hours before air runs out’, which means you aren’t constantly occupying half your manipulating ability to keep it going. So as an emergency system, it sucks ass. No two ways about it. Sure, it is better than sucking vacuum, but it isn’t RELIABLE, which is the entire point of emergency life support measures.
So, given that the orbs all are clearly designed as short-term uses, rather than something you use for more than an hour or so, let’s take life support off the table.
Now, general creation gets much more difficult. From everything we’ve seen, Sydney’s orbs don’t break general laws of physics. We haven’t detected where the energy for the orbs comes from, but we haven’t seen anything to suggest that conservation of energy is not retained. The flip side of that is conservation of mass, naturally, or conservation of mass-energy when dealing with nuclear fusion/fission. ‘Creating’ air underwater can be done pretty easily, if you have a way to separate O from H2. Mass is retained. Actual creation of mass, however, is FAR more complicated, because the mass has to come from somewhere, or you have to have the massive amounts of energy to convert into mass.
Creating anything more complicated and functional than a rock wall out of nothing gets more complex on a logarithmic scale the further along you go. Especially if these things are permanent, and not temporary constructs.
The orbs tap into the deep code, but they don’t change the fundamentals. They can locally tap into the machine code of the universe, but infinite energy and mass would melt the CPU.
Making some major assumptions about the biology of the originally intended user, there. Also about whether or not someone holding the Green Orb needs sleep. Also, duct-tape. So many ways around the sleep issue.
…No. I’m sorry, but I have, in-fact played a TON of spellcasters. Wind spells are typically pretty lame, in my experience. Then again, ever since my first wizard, I’ve played more Batman/God caster than blaster.
-Wind Blast can be achieved in numerous other ways, like a giant fan via the Lighthook
-Wind Wall has only circumstance advantages over Sydney’s shield
-Wind Cushion: Flight Orb and Lighthook. Enough said.
-Her mobility with the Flight Orb is already pretty good, don’t see a need for the speed
-Purify air I’ll give you…but can be done by either of the other options.
-Shield+Green Orb does protecting from elements just as well
-Suffocate: literally what Sydney did with the Lighthook.
So that’s…what, like one relevant power? Which could be done by a fabricator or life-support, too?
Oh look, more biology assumptions. What if the original owner had tentacles? Wrapping those around the Orb would work perfectly well even while asleep. Also, duct tape. Just…not really all that big a deal, in the grand scheme of things.
I disagree that they’re obviously meant for short-term uses. They might seem that way if humans were meant to use them, but there’s no reason to assume the original user was human.
And more assumptions, this time about how the Orbs function. If they were made by someone with access to the base code of the freaking universe, I see absolutely no reason they would care about any of those things. Like…you already have access to the base code of reality itself. Given that you can clearly apply it, seems to me that the amounts of energy needed to produce the mass are pretty minor, compared to the ENITRE UNIVERSE.
Also, hydrolysis would produce a really unhealthy oxygen-hydrogen atmosphere. Completely unsuited for long-term inhalation. Not to mention invalid when not underwater.
So, basically, I continue to fail to see the logic in your conclusions.
Addendum: One thing I’d find a bit frustrating if this was just aerokinesis is that it’s redundant in a lot of respects. Sydney’s powerset is diverse enough for that to not widen it by too much. It’d have a fair amount of overlap with the rest of her abilities.
In contrast, a fabricator would open up a whole new world of potential power stunts. But I find life-support far more likely. It has a focus on support effects, which is a nice way to round out Sydney’s pool of powers, and it could provide a number of benefits, ranging from being able to replace food or sleep with holding the Orb for a period of time, to healing. Most of those would be pretty cool additions to her power set.
The other reason I dislike the idea of the Orb being aerokinesis is simply because I don’t think it fits very well thematically. Sydney’s Orbs are highly practical, with no real elemental theming to them, barring perhaps the PPO. The Orbs have always had a more science-y vibe to me, over a mystical one, and that’s only grown as time has gone on, as the control mechanisms began to come to light. Aerokinesis just feels out of place.
I really like how Calm Sydney is at the start of this page. It shows that as hyper as she is when the situation calls for it, she can perform under pressure and that she did pass her scuba certifications.
OK, it makes air, check.
Now does it make WIND? Does it make air-that-moves? Or is it just a glorified air freshener? If it makes air-that-moves it has a lot more applications. Or it could just be a useful companion to the shield orb over long periods of time.
So, the green one can produce an atmospheric bubble in underwater environments.
Testing!
Posted a reply somewhere above, but it has gone, this would make the third site where comments are no longer registering :(
Personaly i hope that orb just gives Sydney whatever she craves the most at the moment.
Just imagine Chilly and hot taco sauce everywhere
Heh. I had been wondering if they were orbs of wishes. But with the built-in safety of providing you with ‘what you need’ rather than ‘what you want’. An important way to avoid wasted or cursed wishes.
Sydney didn’t panic. I’m impressed. Also Maxima + wetsuit = awesome
Maybe the orb creates an environment that allow Sydney to survive, Like for underwater she gets air, a colder environment gets warmer etc. All within a certain range.
Coming in late (500 comments already) with my own speculation regarding this orb. I’m thinking (as has been earlier mentioned) that this orb is environment regulator/life support.
The orb itself has 3 major branches on the skill tree. My guess is those branches cover: atmosphere, temperature, water. With control over all 3 of those, you can survive in just about every environment (disregarding environments such as plummeting to Earth from 2 miles up – you’ll be comfy until you faceplant).
Only 2 of the 3 branches are lit right now. Sydney needs to prioritize a skill up for the 3rd branch.
As to why the orb shot into her hand when she was reaching for the air hose, it’s already established that the orbs have some sort of telepathic link to Sydney. She wanted air, and was reaching out. The orb reacted just as any other orb would react if Sydney were reaching for, say “Shields!” or “Gonna Fly Now!”
This establishes that the orbs can respond either to a command for the orb, in general, or the effect the orb can create – and we now know the one remaining mystery orb does not summon serendipitous tumbleweeds, so time to reach for the dictionary and grind the words.
Happy 4th, y’all Americans!
+1
Happy 4th July hols to y’all.
Problem: one of it’s three branches is the repeating Node, which is noticably different from all other branches, and shows up on every Orb, but is only filled in on the Green Orb.
And yes, it is the day of gunpowder and flashy things. I love the smell of gunpowder, so I am perfectly okay with this.
A good point, Nixeu. This may alter my speculation as to what the 3rd branch is. And I have a new, happy, pet theory about that – it’s the automatic pilot button. In which case, this orb probably only regulates air and temperature.
Every orb can be activated, but it has to be held continuously to work. So, why not have a “CAPS LOCK” button on the orb that basically keeps it working once the button is pushed, allowing for freedom of hands to maybe grab other orbs, or get more Pringles out of the can, whatever.
It would make sense that the FIRST orb to get the autopilot option would be the environmental suite. Especially if the previous owner(s) knew what they did.
Whatever else that Green orb does, it has controls, you can see them around Sydney’s hand after she grabs the ball but before the air bubbles… actually, it almost looks like those controls re-orient to Sydney’s hand which is good UI but possibly slows down it’s usage a bit… polot point!
Also wondering if the green orb is more like an ‘environment support’. Thinking she may be able to survive in space or in molten lava with just the green orb active.
The controls may only be visible to Sydney, and not to anyone else (who does not have the benefit of seeing things through her eyes, as we do, this side of the 4th wall). Dabbler’s technomagical examinations failed to reveal any glyphs, sigils etc. As such we would expect them to be oriented for her to see them in a consistent fashion, as no one else needs to or can.
Although we may find that Varia can both see and use them.
I bet that one of the controls is an embiggener, to enlarge the size of the air bubble.
*Plot point.
Sorry for the typo.
not a waterbender but airbender is still good.