Battery Worlds and Megastructures

[Arkangel]

I'm going to lead off with the WoB about Canticle and megastructures. I'm sure you're all familiar with it by now: https://wob.coppermind.net/events/522/#e16261

So Brandon's wording is a bit vague here. My theory is that the specific purpose Canticle was built for was not to be a megastructure itself but to be a battery for one. The oft suspected "very powerful being" here would be Invention.

I don't think we know enough about the nature of a Shard Investing in a planet (or star) but I suspect that just straight-up dumping a load of Investiture into a little planet all at once wouldn't work for Invention's purpose (just a theory...no solid evidence). It may also go against Invention's Intent, somehow. The fact of the matter is that Canticle is getting juiced up. The Investiture is being stored there, hence the extra mass of the planet. I believe that Invention created the planet to slowly absorb and store the Invested sunlight. Perhaps it needs to be a slow process to keep the planet from exploding? Maybe Invention is like Ron Popeil with his famous RonCo Rotisserie, "Just set it and forget it," so that the battery worlds just slow cook over thousands of years without its direct attention. A trickle-charge until Invention needs them.

The magic system of the planet seems to fit the theory. The Canticlans...Canticlites? The former Threnodites living on Canticle can give and take heat/Investiture. The planet itself is taking the heat/Investiture of the star and could presumably give it out again. Once the battery world is "full", Invention uses the planet's super heavy Investiture-mass to punch it through the Spiritual Realm and teleport it where needed. Then they simply flick the switch from "suck" to "blow" and ??? profit.

As for the megastructures themselves...I'm not sure. I think dyson spheres and ring worlds are cool but for what purpose? Perhaps the battery worlds become micro-stars? The sky's the limit, I guess.

Edit: Adding to this theory the possibility of Cognitive Realm power conduits, as seen in Secret History with the Ire fortress, being used to channel power directly from Canticle. Instead of a battery waiting to be fully charged, it's more of an elaborate solar power collector/converter.

Edited April 3, 2024 by Arkangel

[AltonicKeys he/him]

A battery world is definitely possible, but I'm not convinced how Canticle can be one.

How does the planet store this energy? The core is probably invested, cuz the planet is way to small for normal physics to apply. The sunlight is invested to some amount, or even the air, but I can't find any evidence that the ground absorbs the investiture and keeps it. The air is resistant to the sun's investiture, so a lot of investiture is lost as heat, doing the whole melty thing. It probably doesn't leave a lot of investiture to reach the ground, and make it to the core.

Also, why would a shard, a being made of investiture, need a store of it? I guess it could make sense if the energy was meant for something/someone else, or maybe a backup plan or something? The battery planets would be really long term investments, since it probably takes a lot of investiture to make them, and it would take a while to break even. 

[Arkangel]

9 hours ago, AltonicKeys said:

How does the planet store this energy? The core is probably invested, cuz the planet is way to small for normal physics to apply. The sunlight is invested to some amount, or even the air, but I can't find any evidence that the ground absorbs the investiture and keeps it.

Brandon said that "Canticle was built for a very specific purpose". It was created. Could any naturally formed planetoid work as a battery? Did Canticle exist prior to this and was upgraded somehow? Adonalsium only knows. My theory is that the core was designed to absorb and store the Investiture energy from the sun. The atmosphere and crust of the planet are resistors along the path between sun and core, hence the joule heating. This much was posited in the book.

10 hours ago, AltonicKeys said:

The air is resistant to the sun's investiture, so a lot of investiture is lost as heat, doing the whole melty thing. It probably doesn't leave a lot of investiture to reach the ground, and make it to the core.

It could be a lot. It appears to be a lot. It may just be relative. 99% of the Investiture could be lost as heat or it could be 1%. There's really no way of knowing as we don't have hard numbers...that's why it's just a theory.

10 hours ago, AltonicKeys said:

Also, why would a shard, a being made of investiture, need a store of it? I guess it could make sense if the energy was meant for something/someone else, or maybe a backup plan or something? The battery planets would be really long term investments, since it probably takes a lot of investiture to make them, and it would take a while to break even. 

That's what I was thinking. If it was created by Invention, their Intent to invent may be preventing them from using their Investiture directly. I will concede that I'm not entirely convinced on this particular point myself but it feels like it should fit the theory.

[ScadrianTank he/him]

14 hours ago, AltonicKeys said:

Also, why would a shard, a being made of investiture, need a store of it? I guess it could make sense if the energy was meant for something/someone else, or maybe a backup plan or something? The battery planets would be really long term investments, since it probably takes a lot of investiture to make them, and it would take a while to break even. 

One theory I had was that whatever interstellar megastructure Canticle is a part of would require the creator — presumably Invention — to act in different ways across vast distances, so Canticle would beam the power to different parts of the machine wherever they are without additional conscious work from the creator/operator. If different parts were sitting in separate star systems, Invention either couldn't simultaneously power them all, or if they could it would tie them to their current location — preventing them from moving on to other projects. But if they set up a battery that would function independently without further involvement, all they would have to do is hook up Canticle's core to whatever needs the power.

[Arkangel]

4 hours ago, ScadrianTank said:

One theory I had was that whatever interstellar megastructure Canticle is a part of would require the creator — presumably Invention — to act in different ways across vast distances, so Canticle would beam the power to different parts of the machine wherever they are without additional conscious work from the creator/operator. If different parts were sitting in separate star systems, Invention either couldn't simultaneously power them all, or if they could it would tie them to their current location — preventing them from moving on to other projects. But if they set up a battery that would function independently without further involvement, all they would have to do is hook up Canticle's core to whatever needs the power.

I thought about this concept as well. Like a wireless charging station that beams Investiture through...the Spiritual Realm, I guess? OR maybe it has giant cables in the Cognitive like the Ire fortress in SH.