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invoking_uraniaTitle: Self-Gravity Wakes and the Multi-Body Problem
Fandom: Escaflowne
Rating: G
Genre: Vignette
Words: 365
Notes/Warnings: Done for '4 going steadies' for![[insanejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/ij-community.gif)
12dayschristmas. Spoilers.
Summary: Dilandau and the Dragonslayers -- and Zaibach's efforts.
Disclaimer: Vision of Escaflowne copyright Shoji Kawamori and this derivative work was created without permission.
Author's Note:
Near-Saturn space makes a wonderful test bed for Newton's gravity. In close to the planet, where the tides pull the chunks of ice apart before they make moons, the gravity of the dense B ring is just enough to create long banks of loose ice as the gravity of the particles fights against the tides to hold together. They are oriented by the tides themselves, all pointing the same direction as they swing around the planet. Scientists call these self-gravity wakes.
This just goes to show that there are three things that the author will abuse mercilessly when writing Escaflowne fiction: moon metaphors for Celena, tarot card symbolism, and celestial mechanics metaphors. I'll bet my advisor never thought I'd be using my knowledge of Saturn's rings for this.
The Emperor's theories of fate alteration worked wonderfully for interactions between an individual and the empire. Two was doable, if one was careful not to try to tug on too large a destiny. However, groups were still a problem -- they tended to destabilize. If made too large, they would pull together and attempt to fight the Empire -- a losing battle, but a waste of resources. If not carefully regulated, they would become chaotic and unpredictable, the opposite of Emperor Dornkirk's dream of a clockwork destiny. And there was the action of the dragon growing in influence, and the elegant Keplerian orbits of the people around him deforming to accommodate this. The Emperor's sorcerers had to devote more and more of their clockwork calculations to calculating the perturbations the dragon wrought on their destiny.
The sorcerers devised a tight series of calculations -- perhaps the most detailed yet, save for Dornkirk's master plan. This would let them have a group, loyal to the Empire, clever enough to fight the dragon, and stable enough to not produce more of a problem in predicting destiny than they were designed to solve. The key was using destiny to tie them together -- strong enough for stability, close enough to keep them in line. Some could be lost, some could be added later -- such was a necessity of wartime. As long as enough stayed, the pattern was maintained.
As for Dilandau, he knew none of this. He had only fragmentary memories of his life before he met his men -- they had spent their lives training to be Zaibach's elite Dragonslayers. Brief contact with other soldiers and his teachers had told him that this wasn't normal -- that most people had parents instead of teachers and brothers and sisters instead of fellow soldiers. A family. As for him, his men were his family, and he was their head. And, while you can cut off the head and let the body die, the other thing to remember is that cutting off the head is the same thing as cutting off the body.
Fandom: Escaflowne
Rating: G
Genre: Vignette
Words: 365
Notes/Warnings: Done for '4 going steadies' for
12dayschristmas. Spoilers.Summary: Dilandau and the Dragonslayers -- and Zaibach's efforts.
Disclaimer: Vision of Escaflowne copyright Shoji Kawamori and this derivative work was created without permission.
Author's Note:
Near-Saturn space makes a wonderful test bed for Newton's gravity. In close to the planet, where the tides pull the chunks of ice apart before they make moons, the gravity of the dense B ring is just enough to create long banks of loose ice as the gravity of the particles fights against the tides to hold together. They are oriented by the tides themselves, all pointing the same direction as they swing around the planet. Scientists call these self-gravity wakes.
This just goes to show that there are three things that the author will abuse mercilessly when writing Escaflowne fiction: moon metaphors for Celena, tarot card symbolism, and celestial mechanics metaphors. I'll bet my advisor never thought I'd be using my knowledge of Saturn's rings for this.
The Emperor's theories of fate alteration worked wonderfully for interactions between an individual and the empire. Two was doable, if one was careful not to try to tug on too large a destiny. However, groups were still a problem -- they tended to destabilize. If made too large, they would pull together and attempt to fight the Empire -- a losing battle, but a waste of resources. If not carefully regulated, they would become chaotic and unpredictable, the opposite of Emperor Dornkirk's dream of a clockwork destiny. And there was the action of the dragon growing in influence, and the elegant Keplerian orbits of the people around him deforming to accommodate this. The Emperor's sorcerers had to devote more and more of their clockwork calculations to calculating the perturbations the dragon wrought on their destiny.
The sorcerers devised a tight series of calculations -- perhaps the most detailed yet, save for Dornkirk's master plan. This would let them have a group, loyal to the Empire, clever enough to fight the dragon, and stable enough to not produce more of a problem in predicting destiny than they were designed to solve. The key was using destiny to tie them together -- strong enough for stability, close enough to keep them in line. Some could be lost, some could be added later -- such was a necessity of wartime. As long as enough stayed, the pattern was maintained.
As for Dilandau, he knew none of this. He had only fragmentary memories of his life before he met his men -- they had spent their lives training to be Zaibach's elite Dragonslayers. Brief contact with other soldiers and his teachers had told him that this wasn't normal -- that most people had parents instead of teachers and brothers and sisters instead of fellow soldiers. A family. As for him, his men were his family, and he was their head. And, while you can cut off the head and let the body die, the other thing to remember is that cutting off the head is the same thing as cutting off the body.