#zilpods

[gear-project]

So, after the ban on "black tech" in 2010, did the world of Guilty Gear regress to something akin to anywhere from the Medieval Era to the Renaissance era (at the most advanced the Industrial Revolution) barring Zepp? OFC by the events of Strive (maybe even Xrd) the world looks more like say the early 20th Century.

There's quite a bit of confusion over what exactly happened around the year 1999 when the Universal Will triggered the Dawn of Revival.

We've heard everything from natural disasters to a complete shutdown of civilization.

I don't believe it's entirely impossible to exist without technology as we understand it... even people who live on farms or out in the wilderness have "basic technology" that doesn't rely on any form of natural stored energy (though they might still rely on fossil fuels, like natural fire starting agents and a means to maintain and store heat).

The "destruction of civilization" also seems rather far-fetched, since social structures don't always rely on technology or even politics to exist. Just the simple idea of knocking on a neighbor's door and saying "hi" is a form of civilized communication, so it's not like humanity stopped conversing when cell phones stopped working.

It is far more likely that other events were occurring that made things more complicated... and I wouldn't be incorrect to state that the Universal Will probably did everything "it" could to prevent humans from functioning the way they normally would.

But, as we all know, humans are more resourceful than Divinity would give us credit. I'm sure even Demihumans marvel at the resourcefulness, creativity, and imaginations that gave birth to them.

Around the year 2010, the Sanctus Populi as an organization took control of the United Nations as an organized body of authority across the globe: and around this time Magic as a concept was just beginning to be spread as a viable technology.

But that's not all:

Zepp as a nation had begun its rebellion against the status quo: refusing to completely throw away modern technologies and concepts, and continuing to archive the knowledge that existed, even if the rest of society began to throw everything they knew in the trash.

The overall belief is that Blacktech itself was just a ban of global weapons that could trigger world war, but that was a front for the Sanctus to hide their own methods of developing technology and archiving it for their own personal use.

It was contradictory and secretive, and hardly even fair to enforce the idea that all modern technology was banned while they could develop their own tech in secret!

Of course, not everyone knew the truth of this... in fact most nations did not... but it was the nations that kept their guards up that maintained advanced technology in secret that still managed to persist.

And it is largely thanks to THOSE nations who ignored the mass edict that we can still enjoy technology from 100 years ago in the modern era along side magic.

Not everything was kept... some information did get lost, and some technology is still a dangerous weapon that no one should ever wield... but regardless, humanity continued to march forwards.

Whether it was by airship or by zeal-operated horsecart or even by steam train... they persisted.

[gear-project]

How exactly does the Saint Oratorio Spell work? Does it draw in large amounts of Magic Particles from the surrounding area and release it as a destructive blast or does it take energy directly from the Backyard?

Powerful Magic typically requires large amounts of Houriki (Mana or “Magic Energy”) to be used.  Naturally that would have to come from a source.  Whether that source is the Backyard, or a fuel storage component like Zeal “Zilpods” (Zeal is a consumable fuel that generates “Magic”, for example), it has to come from some place.

Magic Particles are simply the residual “component” of the magic spell itself.  Just like physical structures are made of atomic particles… Magic structures are made of Magic Particles.  Houriki is the energy that makes Houjutsu “activate” (Mana and Magic Spells respectively).

You could say there is very little difference between Magic Particles and Houriki itself… other than whether or not the energy itself has been used for a spell or not.

Sol Badguy’s miniature version of the spell operates much like an actual gun… it requires Magic “bullets” that contain the necessary compressed energy for the Junkyard Dog to discharge a shot.  Of course, that energy itself was pre-prepared ahead of time, so the shots are limited to how many bullets Sol has, unless he were to connect the Junkyard Dog directly to the Backyard through some means.

The same is true of the OutRage Armor that Justice used.  Not only was it connected to the Backyard… it was using Justice’ body and Gear Cells as a conduit to connect to the Backyard.  As a Magic amplification device, the OutRage armor merely gathers the energy from the Backyard and multiplies and magnifies what it gathers.

However, because of the nature of the OutRage… large amounts of Houriki are needed to satisfy the requirements of the spell.  That is also why an “untapped energy phenomenon” like Saint Elmo’s Fire was used to revive Justice in the first place.  While it would be easy for Justice to “control” and “focus” the energy once she gained it… she needed time to gather it… this is also why Gamma Ray takes time to “charge up”.

The Magic energy for Saint Oratorio isn’t easy to gather and you can’t simply “gather it from anywhere” since it has to come from the Backyard or be ‘created’ through some means.

You could say that, because of how untapped the power is for the OutRage magic delivery system, that the power requirements to “control it” are difficult to fulfill in the first place… that’s why Sol split the OutRage in to 8 fragments.  Smaller pieces, smaller energy requirements, less risk.  (This is also another reason why Dizzy has trouble controlling her own powers, because it takes power to control power.)

Right now it’s unclear precisely how Saint Oratorio is designed as a spell, since only Sol and “That Man” seem to understand it.  What’s more… we don’t know much of its history with the OutRage fragments or the OutRage Armor which seems to be something “That Man” built specifically for Justice.

Right now it’s just simpler to just state that the Backyard is the source of that energy whenever a spell is used.  Whether that energy is gathered from the backyard and put in Zilpods or magic bullets… or if a Gear acts as a conduit… the Magic Particles are merely the “result” of the spell itself, you could say.

[gear-project]

What is your opinion on the semi-popular "Backyard = The Boundary" theory?

In more complex terms it’s incorrect…

Though I suppose the concept of the fuel source “Zeal” developed by the Sanctus Populi could be likened to “Seithr” in terms of use, their chemical and physical compositions and the various forms they take in their respective worlds are completely and fundamentally different.