SOMEONE please tell me what "ftl" is

[IAmTheStick]

I've been seeing this around pretty often, usually with nicrosil and duralumin... but what does it MEAN? Thanks in advance xD

[Ixthos Luke/Luke]

12 minutes ago, Chasmgoat said:

It means Faster than Light

To elaborate further, it is in the context of travel (i.e. FTL drive) or communication, both meaning sending either an object or information from one location to another faster than modern understandings of physics say should be possible. So if you are familiar with Star Trek it is travelling at Warp, and if you are familiar with Star Wars it is the use of hyperdrive - FTL is the catch-all term for the technology or process that allows space travel at the level needed to maintain civilisation across multiple worlds as though they were separated by much shorter distances.

[Chasmgoat he/him]

It means Faster than Light

[Weltall]

Yep, and the reason you see it mentioned in the context of those metals is because we know that magic in the Cosmere is set up to eventually allow FTL travel (as opposed to moving between worlds via the Cognitive Realm) and we've tried working out how it might be possible based on what we know of the systems.

Edited March 10, 2021 by Weltall

[Kingsdaughter613 she/her]

3 minutes ago, Weltall said:

Yep, and the reason you see it mentioned in the context of those metals is because we know that magic in the Cosmere is set up to eventually allow FTL travel (as opposed to moving between worlds via the Cognitive Realm) and we've tried working out how it might be possible based on what we know of the systems.

Although I’m surprised it’s Nicrosil and Duralumin OP has seen it around. Usually it come up in context of Cadmium and Bendalloy.

[Weltall]

11 minutes ago, Kingsdaughter613 said:

Although I’m surprised it’s Nicrosil and Duralumin OP has seen it around. Usually it come up in context of Cadmium and Bendalloy.

Yeah. I mean they might come up in the context of enhancing the effect of the latter metals but they don't really make much sense on their own, except maybe if it's F-Nicrosil.

[Smye]

FOR THE LOSS!! 

It's the opposite of For the Win, often employed by peewee football players or community league baseball teams who are sick of the sports their parents are forcing them to play, so each team is competing to lose during the playoffs so they can finally be done with playing left field.

[IAmTheStick]

4 hours ago, Kingsdaughter613 said:

Although I’m surprised it’s Nicrosil and Duralumin OP has seen it around. Usually it come up in context of Cadmium and Bendalloy.

Ah yeah, I just have seen nicrosil and duralumin with a mix of a lot of different metals. Cadmium and bendalloy are more common, I think, I just noticed those 2 more I suppose

[+robardin he/him]

On 3/10/2021 at 0:03 PM, Ixthos said:

To elaborate further, it is in the context of travel (i.e. FTL drive) or communication, both meaning sending either an object or information from one location to another faster than modern understandings of physics say should be possible. So if you are familiar with Star Trek it is travelling at Warp, and if you are familiar with Star Wars it is the use of hyperdrive - FTL is the catch-all term for the technology or process that allows space travel at the level needed to maintain civilisation across multiple worlds as though they were separated by much shorter distances.

Another frequently used term in the FTL domain is "ansible" - some form of faster than light speed communication (not travel), like what we see with seons and spanreeds so far in the Cosmere. Where two-way communication is perceived as instantaneous on both sides, regardless of the physical distance between them.

The term was invented in a fictional SF work by Ursula K. Le Guin in the 1960s, later "borrowed" or used in tribute in other authors' SF or fantasy works (notably by Orson Scott Card in his massively popular novel Ender's Game from the mid-1980s, and an even earlier shorter form of that story in the 1970s), and has been used by Brandon in various WoBs as well without explanation. It's a commonly used term in F/SF writer/fandom space. I don't think he's used the term directly in the Skyward series, but as a concept it exists there too.

In fact, someone recently asked Brandon how he'd feel if his own invented terms "fabrial" to mean "magically powered technology", and "artifabrian" as a "magical engineer", were to catch on the way "ansible" has, to become a core term in fantasy writing. He'd love it, of course! It'd be like having a unit named after you as a physicist or chemist :).

[IAmTheStick]

Thanks, everyone who responded! Cleared everything up for me really well