S is for Steamagic Energy
A lexicon entry for
spiralsheep's Lexicon RPG meme-- Check out the rules on her post if you'd like to join! :)
I apologize in advance for the formatting...
Steamagic energy is the popular name for the disassociated component of free energy in a microscopic thermodynamic system under the effects of reality dampening. The first documented use of the term dates back to the Years of Perpetual Fortitude, with the rise of Calandria Millam as the first Scientist-General of the Shaleforge War. Although reality dampening had been in practice in Imago Cult Circles for centuries beforehand, Millam was the first to harness measurable amounts of disassociated free energy in a controlled experimental setting, using welded iron cauldrons and the mind strength of fifty Imperial slave magicians to flick matchsticks through the air at paper targets. Despite this small capacity and the deaths of 12 slaves in the experiment, Millam had the vision to foresee disassociated free energy as a potential breakthrough in scientific discovery. This vision proved correct; as both entropic control and mage factors increased, steamagic energy became a practical tool for war machines as well as daily life.
A simple example of the effects of reality dampening can be described by the statistical mechanics of a thermodynamic system with access to a finite number of states each with energy
, under equilibrium, in which the probability of being in state i is described by

Here,
,
where T is temperature and k is Millam's constant. The denominator,
,
is the usual partition function. The value
is the mage factor, that suppresses the probability of the entire state space to strictly less than 1. In this way the possibility of all natural states is dampened, and the system admits disassociated strange-states, which would otherwise have null support due to zero-measure events absolutely continuous with natural law. The degenerate expected value of the natural energy component is then

leaving the proportion
of internal energy unaffected by entropy, and thus disassociated from natural law and instead linked to the mind capacity of the magician through the mage factor. Disassociated free energy is magnified through magical transduction in the form of Goodric's multiplier applied to the residual non-entropic internal energy (expressed on the logarithmic scale),

Note that the chaotic element of the system increases with temperature.
Recently, Alzin Cullion (of the vaunted Cullion line of Scientist-Generals) has produced experimental results supporting twining-- the theory that reality dampening and thus steamagic energy is a consequence of the cohesion of twelve-dimensional quantum strings with human brainwave patterns. This contradicts the traditional beliefs that all forms of magic are the divine provenance of Imago to his beloved followers. The Magestry Imperiator kindly reminds us that twining is a theory, not a fact, and as such it should be approached with an open mind and critically considered.
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I apologize in advance for the formatting...
Steamagic energy is the popular name for the disassociated component of free energy in a microscopic thermodynamic system under the effects of reality dampening. The first documented use of the term dates back to the Years of Perpetual Fortitude, with the rise of Calandria Millam as the first Scientist-General of the Shaleforge War. Although reality dampening had been in practice in Imago Cult Circles for centuries beforehand, Millam was the first to harness measurable amounts of disassociated free energy in a controlled experimental setting, using welded iron cauldrons and the mind strength of fifty Imperial slave magicians to flick matchsticks through the air at paper targets. Despite this small capacity and the deaths of 12 slaves in the experiment, Millam had the vision to foresee disassociated free energy as a potential breakthrough in scientific discovery. This vision proved correct; as both entropic control and mage factors increased, steamagic energy became a practical tool for war machines as well as daily life.
A simple example of the effects of reality dampening can be described by the statistical mechanics of a thermodynamic system with access to a finite number of states each with energy
Here,
where T is temperature and k is Millam's constant. The denominator,
is the usual partition function. The value
leaving the proportion
Note that the chaotic element of the system increases with temperature.
Recently, Alzin Cullion (of the vaunted Cullion line of Scientist-Generals) has produced experimental results supporting twining-- the theory that reality dampening and thus steamagic energy is a consequence of the cohesion of twelve-dimensional quantum strings with human brainwave patterns. This contradicts the traditional beliefs that all forms of magic are the divine provenance of Imago to his beloved followers. The Magestry Imperiator kindly reminds us that twining is a theory, not a fact, and as such it should be approached with an open mind and critically considered.