Modern Technology and Services

Ambient Magic and Technology

Magic in the air complicates the creation of technology in Cenara. Due to most modern technology lacking the ability to generate its own veil, it is generally only able to function in the area it is built. While more commercially available machines are able to function outside of their area of creation nowadays, the vast majority of consumer machines such as cell phones and computers must remain grounded.

Machinery that does not rely on electricity to function, such as steam engines and internal combustion engines, seem to fare better in various magical environments.

Non-magical electrical technology is extremely delicate in Cenara. A mild change in ambient mana can at best cause malfunctions of the machine, or at worst completely brick it and make it permanently unusable. Many sensors are built into personal computers in order to warn the end user of dangerous ambient magic levels. When these sensors are tripped, the machine is typically forcibly turned off to protect it from damage.

While this is a near-universal problem for Cenarans, there is little push to create consumer-grade universal devices. Ellyrites show promise in protecting personal computers from magical interference, but are not commercially available at a reasonable price. "Professional grade" personal computers tend to fetch a ludicrous price, more than ten times the standard cell phone or laptop, but are useful for individuals that frequently move countries for work.

The majority of people who do move frequently for work, however, will own several cheaper personal computers and cell phones that stay in various homes or "phone banks" for future use when their owner is not around. Capitalism encourages the purchase of multiple disposable machines as opposed to one long-lasting machine, as they are easily replaced when they inevitably break and therefore make more money for their producers.

Metals and Magic

Some metals are known for their magic-reducing or amplifying abilities, and large machinery is often plated in these metals in order to protect internals from large amounts of magic energy. Most computers have their internal parts plated by aluminum, which suppresses magic almost entirely. Copper and gold, on the other hand, are much better at conducting magic, which makes it difficult to truly protect a computer from external and internal magical malfunctions, as copper is typically used for computer parts.

Soulfire Interactions

Soulfire is well known to to be especially deadly to machinery. In almost all cases, being hit with a strong enough soulfire flame will completely destroy the machine and make it unserviceable. Ellyrite cores have proven effective in protecting machinery from soulfire attacks, as the destroyed veil can regenerate itself in time.

Cross-Country Protections

Most technology taken across various arcane biomes will not be electric. Vehicles and other machines must not have sensitive computer chips in their builds, lest they are damaged or made unusable by the environment.

Internet Infrastructure

Fundamentally, the infrastructure for the internet in Cenara is similar to how one would be familiar with it on Earth. However, Cenarans have to accommodate for how much magic can interfere with electricity and internet connections. Satellite-based and wireless internet connections are less effective than ground cables, and satellites themselves were never standardized due to how poorly they perform in high-magic environments. Such a problem with wireless internet connections makes mobile broadcasting or streaming of video difficult, and it is notable that many online streamers who go on walks and explore have poor video quality and latency, rarely surpassing 480p.

Cable-based internet connections are approximately ten times as effective as wireless ones, and sometimes more depending on how strong the ambient magic is in the area. In the Dominion of Dusk, the discrepancy between cable and wireless internet speeds is approximately the same as it would be in urban areas on Earth. In Alumanate, cable internet is nearly twenty times faster than Wi-Fi. 

Another major issue concerning Cenaran internet is how it works in rural areas. Many pockets of the internet are isolated, with ground cable infrastructure being unfeasible across the two continents and the Abyssal Depths. There are undersea cables connecting the two continents, but internet connections outside of major cities are famously poor.

Internet Speeds Overseas

Internet speeds outside of the western continent rarely improve past 40mbit/s, while the southwest cities of the western continent reach an average of around 300mbit/s. All the way north, near the Gnathe Outlook, are some of the worst internet speeds in the world. Despite this, it seems that the person living in the frostbitten home has internet speeds serviceable enough to be a champion at competitive gaming.

Connecting New Internet Nodes

Frequently, new nodes are connected to the main node on the western continent. When this is done overseas, new submarine communications cables are built and then dropped into the ocean to span the distance between the mainland and the new nodes. When done on land, trenches up to two meters deep are dug to allow for a safe place for cables to be buried. These cables are rarely damaged and threats typically stem from roots from plants or burrowing animals piercing the protective coverings.

General Internet Culture

Online, things such as sex, violence, and drug usage/sale is not as taboo as it would be on an earthan scale. Some of the largest and most-visited websites of Cenaran internet are pornographic or violent in nature, and laws are in place to protect such websites from banking companies.

However, some things are much more taboo; in stickfigure sects of the internet, it is controversial or forbidden in some areas to discuss or seek things such as relationships in public. Callout posts, venting, and mutual aid or crowdfunding are similarly frowned upon in stickfigure-oriented sects of the internet as they are interpreted as putting one's emotions on display. 

Livestreaming is a very popular aspect of nearly all of Cenaran internet. Despite poor internet speeds across the continents, people tend to enjoy getting together and watching someone play games, draw, or chat. Most livestreaming platforms are lax about the content they allow; many 13+ websites will allow pornographic, violent, or drug-related content as long as it is properly marked. This goes for most other social websites as well, with little restriction on what anyone is allowed to view.

A focus on archival, public access, and preserving lost media culminates in over 100 petabytes of total data on a non-profit public archive. Much of this data comes from the western internet sphere, especially where fauns live. Around 50% of the current public internet in Cenara is hosted and run by fauns, while less than 10% is run by stickfigures. Despite the clear faun bias, most of Cenaran internet is separated from the faun sects, making it difficult to access without insider contacts to reach the contents.

Radio and Telephone

Many places around Cenara retain payphones and phone boxes, making accessible phone calls a public service.

Radio is often magic-enhanced, as the interference of the magic in the air causes normal radio towers to have a much shorter range otherwise. With the usage of ellyrites, mana crystals, runes, and spells, radio towers gain an additional, almost telepathic method of transmitting audio signals to radios and telephones. While this has proven to be an effective method of improving radio signals, the same method does not appear to apply to wireless internet. It is theorized that the more delicate and precise data of the internet makes it more difficult to turn wireless.

Laws Around The Internet

Many websites in stickfigure sects ban the discussion of romance, dating, or mutual aid, deeming them not-safe-for-work, and laws are increasingly being put in place to limit or forbid creation, hosting, or using online dating or crowdfunding websites.

In the faun sects of the internet, violence is much more taboo. Websites found to be hosting violence, blood, gore, or death are frequently struck down by Ch'chkun authorities, or banned from display if they are unable to reach outer sects of the internet they do not have access to.

Northern dragon internet based around Suneil and Armaed is extremely strict regarding online commerce. Transactions, microtransactions, and banking information are under tight regulations, leading to scams being either extremely convoluted or downright unfeasible in terms of what actions are taken. Suneilan internet has very little scamming, malware, etc due to these regulations, and punishments are severe for those who are caught doing it. 

Outside of regulations regarding online commerce, dragon-based sects of the internet rarely enforce laws on displayed content at all. Heinous, criminal acts such as murder and "red rooms" for individuals to watch said heinous acts are unregulated. While greater dragon society looks down upon these, it is generally considered good manners to look the other way when hearing about it. 

It is not illegal to record or livestream the faces of strangers anywhere in Cenara, outside of Ch'chkun City. Some lobbyists are aiming to change this, especially in Dusk, as public livestreamers harassing strangers in public has been becoming a great issue in recent years with the introduction of stronger wireless internet connections.

Magi-Electric Technology

In some places such as Neo Hawa and Alumanate, inventors choose to work with ambient magic instead of against it. By sourcing veil-generating objects such as mana crystals and Ellyrites, their technology gains resistances to changing magical environments and can be taken out of the origin of creation with little effect on performance. These sorts of technologies, however, are not consumer-friendly in terms of their prices outside of Neo Hawa and Alumanate, and sourcing one can be considered a bank-breaking endeavor.

Ellyrite Power

Many types of magitechnology use Ellyrites, a mysterious alien resource from the Glistering Crater, to power their cores. Ellyrites are known for their radioactivity, but also their magical properties that vary based on their location of discovery. Ellyrites are very common outside of the crater, but are usually no more radioactive than bismuth once sourced past the Ellyrite Range. Many people are able to find Ellyrites in their backyards, and sell them for decent prices. Below is a list of discovered Ellyrites, their sourced location, and what they may be used for.

Pure Magical Technology

Not many places on Aurus use magic on its own when it comes to technology. Almost all colonized locations have integrated magic into physical tech, but some locations have systems where magic alone performs most technological tasks. These locations are usually either the underwater civilizations of dragons and merfolk or isolated islands that do not have contact with the mainland.

Pure magical technology is typically considered primitive or low-tech. A lack of access to long-distance communication, internet, and mechanized automation means many colonizing cultures from the mainland will enforce their technology on any isolated civilizations they can find.

It is said that underground in Daskcha, the dragon homeland, there exists no mechanical technology, and only magic keeps their civilization afloat.

Runes, Sigils, and Glyphs

Rune, sigil, and glyph are all interchangeable terms to refer to - essentially - the same thing. Runes are drawn symbols that contain large amounts of magical code within them. These codes can be increasingly simple or complex depending on their use case, and to draw one from scratch implies a great deal of knowledge about the craft of runes. While the base "code" of a rune is innate to all who know magic, it is still incredibly easy to craft runes that have disastrous effects on the world around them.

Runes are used in large amounts in things such as computers, mail systems, and enchanted books. With the usage of complex magic made replicable by runes, spells such as directed teleportation magic and running binary code on computers are widespread.

Enchantments

Enchanting is a magical system in which spells and other magical properties are applied to objects. Usually, enchantment stems from runes, rituals, or casting spells manually on an item. Enchantments allow an otherwise non-magical item to perform various tasks - or be enhanced physically - it could not beforehand.

Common enchantments include binding tools and weapons to an owner so they can never be lost, giving bags and other containers extra space, and enhancing food for positive effects when eaten.

Rules and Regulations Around Magitechnology

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Internal Combustion Engines [ICE]

Aurus lacks any significant amount of fossil fuels to power internal combustion engines. While ICEs still exist in some capacity, they are built to run specifically on biofuels such as dragonfuel, biodiesel, and vegetable oil.

The first reliable internal combustion engines were invented in 631 CE, two years before the Hawa-Dusk war. These engines were widely used in vehicles during the war, allowing the machines to function outside of their native low-magic area.

Dragonfuel

Dragonfuel is a distilled oil sourced from the glands of fire-breathing dragons. While dragons are sapient creatures, many of the larger ones produce so much oil that they can provide excess to companies at no risk to their own health. Despite this, some lobbyists in Dusk and Ch'chkun are working to phase out naturally-sourced dragonfuel and seek a way to synthesize it as a harm reduction method for naturally-sourced materials.

Dragonfuel is notable for being extremely efficient at very low quantities. One cup of dragonfuel, taken from a single dragon, can fuel an ICE vehicle for days to weeks of constant power. It is second only to nuclear or Ellyrite power in terms of its efficiency, and has found popularity in the magic-free Dominion of Dusk in the southwest.

Dragonfuel, however, is also extremely volatile, foul-smelling, and dangerous. It is described as smelling sulfuric, and the scent has been reported to make individuals lightheaded if exposed to too many burning fumes. An additional aspect of dragonfuel is its ability to adhere to various surfaces, including but not limited to skin. This, plus its highly flammable nature, makes it not recommended to stay in contact with for extended periods of time. It has been compared to napalm in terms of its viscosity and physical properties.

Due to its napalm-like qualities, dragonfuel initially had its usage in war as a biological chemical weapon. After the invention of internal combustion engines, its more commercialized use began to be for engine fuel.

Teleportation

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Cars, Trains, Planes, and Boats

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Mounts and Steeds

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Mail Systems

Most mail in Cenara is automated. Machines are very rarely employed to deliver mail except in very local areas, due to how magic interferes with the function of foreign machinery. A receival sigil is employed almost universally for instant mail delivery; these sigils are easily printed out from home computers or local mailing offices, and they connect  with entry sigils to make a complete teleportation path.

In places such as Ch'chkun and Dusk, where there is no magic for this to work, they may deploy machines such as drones or small wheeled robots to deliver packages from a border checkpoint. Only particularly large packages- larger than a home computer system - will require a delivery truck, which is one of Cenara's methods of reducing emissions from vehicles.

In more rural areas without the infrastructure for printing sigils or using machines, animals are often trained to pick up packages from checkpoints at the local mailing office. If no animal is available, a dedicated person or pullcart is put on the job.

A group of digidevils are part of a rising company - Digitile's Delivery - that delivers packages to places with screens and internet connections that cannot perform magic sigils directly. This means Dusk and Ch'chkun are increasingly on the table for instant-delivery services.

The average time to deliver mail varies from near-instantly to several months; smaller packages such as letters and hand-sized boxes will almost always be sigil-transferred, even if physical delivery is requested. Larger packages will take much longer to deliver to locations as they will require physical delivery.

Laws Around Transportation

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The Space "Race"

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History of Spacecraft

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Astronomical Knowledge

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Alien Contact

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Non-Magical Weapons

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Guns and Firearms

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Explosives

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Bioweapons and Chemical Weapons

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Magical Weapons

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War, Crime, and War Crimes

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History of Artificial Intelligence

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Legality around AI

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Future of Artificial Intelligence

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