In which the Minimum is a recently-discovered element, one that becomes a magical power source once given human contact, being a Holder means greater compatibility and therefore greater power extraction—
—and there’s the little-advertised downside of losing all ego if your linked Minimum is destroyed or forcibly removed in some way.
[ au tag: #art.mechatora ]
Basically, compatibility is a measurement of how much you're allowed to break the laws of physics. People aren't born Minimum Holder/Non-Holder, but with varying levels of compatibility.
This is actually really long, so cut we go~!
So.
Compatibility isn't a constant, but something that naturally fluctuates depending on the individual. It's calculated through observation, via measuring a bunch of output values that resemble a highly distorted sine wave. There are two official methods of calculation: base and operational.
A person's base compatibility is like an average of their output, where their operational is more akin to their effective output, like root mean squared/electric power. The base value determines if they can use gear without damaging themselves, and the operational determines if they can, well, operate it.
((Sidenote: As the Minimum is potentially life-threatening, the international body [The Minimum Agency] that records and regulates these values maintains a high margin of error when it comes to being allowed to use things.))
Regular users of the Minimum require re-testing once per year to ensure their rating is up to date, as compatibility can decline. Usually this happens past the twenties, but it varies person to person.
Some ideas about how it scales:
If compatibility < 2, it's not worth using the Minimum, usually because it's too unstable or the cost to maintain one is higher than any benefit
From 2.5 onwards, the Cool Stuff you can do (mainly: creating energy from nowhere) starts getting noticeable. Cold winter day? Heat yourself up. Just don't start a fire, ta-da!
When you hit 4, that's high. That's when you have enough energy output to power not only your house but your neighbour's too. (Unless both of you have massive houses.) That's when Facultas starts to consider you.
Around 4.6~5.2? This is the level of competitors in the World Tournament. (Of course they've turned this into a sport!) Admittedly it's also about skill and strategy, but they're basically Olympic athletes here.
And then there's Level Six.
Level Six is that very, very, very, Incredibly-Rare-Existential-Anomaly tier. Level Six is Newtype tier. Level Six is So-Hardcore-It's-Written-As-A-Word tier.
At Level Six, it's the you can make things ignore gravity tier.
(Okay, so gravitational field manipulation starts around 5.4, but it's an exponential thing. Six lets you make things weightless altogether... Provided you're on Earth, where g=9.81. Output is numerical, not fractional/proportional.)
Level Sixes are also known as "Minimum Children" - which is a term that began as a scientist's assumption (Level Six's would have to be children since compatibility deteriorates with age) but ended up so catchy it entered standard vernacular. Like the Big Bang.
Level Six is an ideal: to date, nobody has been born with a Level Six base naturally.
And now, of course, time to expand on "naturally".
Compatibility is a very dirty output, with outliers and strange bits everywhere. Enhancing systems can be used to "purify" it. One system is the BURST System, developed by Facultas Laboratories. (Also, BURST: Bionic Unit Rectifying Spectral Talent. Hey, it's not a bad mecha AU without acronyms!)
Enhanced compatibility replaces the operational level. That doesn't always mean it's higher. It's also very expensive and requires highly invasive surgery. More leeways are given with the gear that's legal for use, too, provided the enhancer in question is certified.
((Mini history lesson: Development of an enhancing system was slow to start, since it's basically human experimentation, but it definitely started - particularly in nations with low human rights. Those purple Minimum-monsters in canon? Facultas was working on developing an enhancing system here instead.
Occasionally, they'd take kids out of the "normal" streams if they showed potential. That's what happened to Skill. Also Birthday, who was an okay target because of his incurable illness. Somehow Birthday managed to survive and become entirely dependent upon the prototype BURST system compared to Skill, but they were pushing Skill's potential way too hard. [more on this later, this has digressed enough as it is.]))
The BURST System is very ineffective at lower levels of compatibility.
Okay, bored you enough, here are some character levels now:
Note there's hovertext for a little more commentary. Or maybe more than a little. The bolded values are what they use - projected enhanced values are included because that's calculable, provided they had an opportunity to get it calculated.
This is all "pre-series" values.
Nice: base 5.5, operational 5.9*, E??*
Murasaki: base 5.1, operational 5.5, E5.3
Hajime: base 4.8, operational 5.0, E6.1*
Skill: base 5.9, operational 5.9, E6
Art*: base 3.4*, operational 4.1, E3.6
Birthday: base 4.1, operational 4.5, E4.7 *
Ratio: base 4.3, operational 4.6, E4.5
Chiyuu: base 3.8, operational 3.8, E??*
Honey: base 5.6, operational 5.6, E5.6
Three: base 4.3, operational ??*, E5.2
Moral*: base 4.9, ??????
Takahiro: base 1.6, operational 1.6, E??*
Sorry, Takahiro, you Normal Human.
And... now the AU has done a little more something! ahh. If you got here, thanks for reading~~ //lies down and rolls over
P.S. In regards to heat pollution, Swiss laboratories are doing the thing which does the other thing and then another thing makes the energy disappear. Which basically means that someone, somewhere, is managing to destroy the energy, or shoving it off into another universe--the Madoka one, hopefully--and I really haven't put much thought into this because creating energy? Sure, that's fine, lots of shows do it all the time. Shounen shows live off it. I can deal. Destroying energy? All of the triggers. My kokoro cannot dokoro*, sorry.
In which the Minimum is a recently-discovered element, one that becomes a magical power source once given human contact, being a Holder means greater compatibility and therefore greater power extraction—
—and there's the little-advertised downside of losing all ego if your linked Minimum is destroyed or forcibly removed in some way.
02. Ratio and Birthday
A doctor in science, and one of the failed Minimum Children*.
[ au tag: #art.mechatora ]
In which the Minimum is a recently-discovered element, one that becomes a magical power source once given human contact, being a Holder means greater compatibility and therefore greater power extraction—
—and there's the little-advertised downside of losing all ego if your linked Minimum is destroyed or forcibly removed in some way.
01. Nice and Murasaki
Less private investigation duo, more world-class* assault team.
[ au tag: #art.mechatora ]
