Magic.
It’s a very prominent feature in the fantasy genre, and one of the most well-known fantasy
gaming franchises would be The Elder Scrolls, which does in fact have a heavy element of
magic usage.
In the game, it can mean life or death for the player character, with restoration spells
healing their war-torn body, or the more destructive spells like sparks, fireball and frostbite
to name a few, all acting as the more offensive spells in the player's arsenal.
Sadly it’s not just the protagonist who can wield such powers, any mage within Tamriel
who has a certain degree of training could potentially do the same that the player could
to them.
But what about us on planet earth.
You and I.
Can we wield such power?
Well, today I'm going to take an in-depth look at Skyrim and our real world, then ask,
along with hopefully answering a very interesting question.
Is it real?
Or more importantly, can WE actually use technology instead of magic to make all of our problems...just...
go away.
Let’s start with one of the most common spells that I personally use in Skyrim, assuming
that I decide to go for a magical approach.
“Fireball”, or in some early cases “Flames”.
It’s one of the default spells that you receive from the get go.
As soon as you step out of the character creator, you can basically scald your enemies after
enrapturing them in fire.
Sure, it may not be the best way to deal with certain foes, but it is certainly one of the
better options at the start of the game.
Taking “Flames” as the prime example, since everybody who has played the game WILL
have had the spell, even though they may have opted out of using it.
Flames, at it’s optimised form, has the dovahkiin, or player character, shoot out
fire from both of their hands.
It does not have a very long range, however, can get you out of a tight situation.
The spell deals a total of 8 damage per second, with extra damage being dealt for opponents
who catch fire from the spell.
It can be useful near the start of the game to get yourself out of a pickle, that being
said, it can only last around 7 seconds of total usage at level 1, having a consumption
of 14 Magicka per second.
So in the right situations, being used intelligently, the novice level destruction spell can, in
fact, be very handy.
However, can we produce such a feat in real life?
Ideally, we’d want something handheld, or even a piece of technology that can be attached
to the user's wrist.
There ARE many, many flamethrowers that use a specific mechanical function to utilise
certain quantities of gas to produce large amounts of fire, mainly to burn out enemies
in war.
The concept has been around for a fair few years, and by that, I mean for a LONG ASS
TIME!
There are remnants of documents and pieces of the actual gear themselves that have been
uncovered and studied by historians in recent years.
It’s said, that the first concept of a flamethrower was actually done by the ancient byzantine
empire in the 1st century, estimated around 672 AD.
Back then it was much more crood, with oil being spat out of warships onto another with
a source of fire being shot out immediately after.
It was extremely effective against the mostly wooden boats.
With the oil strengthening the fire, it actually could keep it afloat without waning immediately,
killing any poor soul who escaped the immediate impact of the fire blast.
Nowadays we think of the world wars, or Vietnam when discussing flamethrowers.
Which the typical depiction of them, came from.
They do come in all sizes and have certainly developed since the ones we’ve seen being
used in wars throughout our history.
They’ve even been used for other things, rather than just war.
The Pyro mini is a device that can be attached to your wrist with the detachable wrist strap.
AND it is basically a magical device...by that, I mean it is used in magic.
It shoots out a dense flash cotton that when fired, triggers flint to set it alight and
create a small fireball.
The latest model of the device has added the function to launch two fireballs at once.
It’s a compact device that can be hidden in your sleeve or really anywhere in your
surroundings and can be triggered remotely OR via a button atop the physical apparatus.
Not good enough for you?
OKAY!
It’s not exactly something that you can use to burn a man wearing steel body armour
with.
Luckily for you, I have exactly what we’re looking for.
So we can shoot fire out of our hands in the elder scrolls games.
I think it’s time to do in real life, don’t you?
I present to you, the DA-300 K-ton.
It’s only in a prototype phase and doesn’t have major financial backing yet.
However, this device has been a project for the small company, Biomek Systems, over the
last few years.
It uses a similar technology found in most lighters, and uses lighter fluid, otherwise
known as butane, as the fires main ingredient.
The K-Ton seems to have a similar range to the “Flames” spell in Skyrim, when it
has its settings set to release a large amount of butane, so it definitely checks out.
The only annoying thing about this find was the lacking in advancements.
Biomek doesn't seem to have large funding behind this project and seem to be a fairly
small company.
So maybe some day, a larger company will take them under their wing and make this dream
a more established reality, cause I’m pretty sure we’d all love to have some fun shooting
fire out of our hands at some interesting targets at a firing range.
Remember health n’ safety and all that when that day comes.
From burning your foes to a crisp to zapping them with an electrical current, the ways
of tearing your enemies a new one is quite varied in Skyrim.
The sparks spell, much like flames is a fairly early spell to acquire.
It works in a similar manner to flames, in that it can be used by one or both hands and
is a continuous flow of the magical spell.
The sparks spell consumes 19 Magicka per second, which is more than flames, however, what you
get from that is 8 shock damage per second to your opponent's health along with half
of that damaging their Magicka, giving you a minor advantage in your next move in your
battle with them.
However, I’ve got some pretty frustrating news.
It would be darn near impossible to recreate the sparks spell with real world tech, considering
the large power source and humongous amount of energy required for the electricity to
travel through the air and penetrate the human body.
Things like tesla coils are near to being harmless at the voltage that we have seen
in our real world.
However, there are a few weapons that can utilise an electrical current to disable or
immobilise threats.
Sure, immobilising someone is a far cry away from outright killing them with magic, but
it’ll have to do.
The thunder generator was originally conceived to get rid of pests like rats and birds who
were eating crops on farms.
It is known to be very successful in this, as it sends out a series of short shock waves,
which affect any creature up to 100 metres or 328 feet away.
It has also been known to stun and even knock down individuals in its path.
The way it functions, is that it shoots out petroleum and cooking gas into the air, then
a shockwave which was triggered by an electrical current, generates energy bouncing down the
barrel.
Once it reaches the end of the barrel the original wave of energy has multiplied and
fires out multiple invisible shots, each lasting around 300 milliseconds.
It is certainly an interesting advancement in non-lethal technology.
Then there is one fatal flaw, well… it works out well for us...but in real life, not so
much.
When the wave is sent out of the barrel it is still very strong, and slowly weakens as
it gets further out.
If a man or woman wanders by it as it was getting triggered, they have a chance of fatal
injury or even death.
There has been numerous instances of this, and the key point seems to be anywhere less
than 10 metres or 33 feet away.
So the thunder generator can certainly knock down, damage or even kill people at the right
range, However, it is a little bulky.
I could always throw in a lovely little regular boring ass taser, couldn’t I?
FUCK THAT!
BOOM!
The Taser Shockwave.
Imagine a taser on steroids, and then it had sex with another taser on some other performance
enhancing drug.
This is probably what it’s offspring would look like.
The shockwave is a military grade series of taser cartridges that have been wired together.
The units consists of 6 individual cartridges, each of which fire two probes at slightly
altered angles.
One for the head, and another for the nuts, amirite?!
Anyway the main purpose of this is for crowd control.
As it’s fairly difficult to halt targets who are massed together without having to
go down the lethal route.
This device has served it’s purpose well, with stopping suicide bombers from entering
restricted areas, possibly saving many many lives.
In Middle Eastern campaigns it has been used at checkpoints and atop HumVees for mobile
use.
AND if you really want to make sure your target, or group of targets go down.
There is a function to attach more stacks, creating a wall of disabling tasers, that
will chew you up and spit you out, if needs be.
So morale of the story is, you don’t want to be on the wrong side of one of these bad
boys.
Although it may not be the most mobile thing in the world -compared to things like regular
stun gun tasers- it is fairly moveable, and if you’re feeling like it, it can be handheld.
Sure, it’s not quite the actual sparks spell, however it could certainly deal some serious
damage to a group of enemies if used correctly.
Another technique that can definitely be a hard hitter on the battlefield, would be using
the ice spells.
More specifically the “Frostbite” spell.
It, too, is a novice level destruction spell.
It functions just like the previous spells that I've mentioned, but in this case, it
projects out a cool vapour, that turns into ice when in contact with an object or another
being.
When being used, it consumes 16 Magicka per second, and on contact, it dishes out 8 ice
damage per second, along with dealing another 8 to the opponent's stamina.
The higher level destruction spells in the Ice category can occasionally force your foe
into a state of being frozen for a few seconds, similar to paralysis.
However, Frostbite itself doesn’t seem to have the same trait.
The Cry-AC 3 Nitrogen dispenser is a device that….
well … dispenses nitrogen, more to the point, liquid nitrogen.
As you all probably know, liquid nitrogen is something you shouldn’t really use without
proper knowledge and safety precautions, because if misused it could end up giving you frostbite.
No, not the ability to actually use the spell frostbite, but the real thing.
It will rub off your skin, and will take a heck of a lot of it to actually lower your
body temperature enough to really damage it, however the threat is still there.
Professionally, the AC 3 is used by high-tech chefs to flash freeze foods, mainly deserts.
It is also used by dermatologists to destroy skin lesions.
So this version of a Liquid Nitrogen dispenser is pretty tame when you think about it.
It’s not gonna freeze a man or properly damage them, without them easily avoiding it.
But this device is generally used in smaller scale jobs, as i mentioned.
It is something that you can go out and buy from a store that specializes in such devices.
But who knows what level of scale military units or government funded tech agencies have
been doing with this simple tech.
With the right engineering, you could probably see some liquid nitrogen guns in the future,
like proper guns.
Okay maybe not, we have more practical things to deal damage in war or to halt criminals,
but just imagine an upscaled version of the Cry-AC 3 and you basically have a frostbite
spell at your disposal.
At the beginning of this video, I mentioned 4 spells, flames, sparks, frostbite and healing.
But of course, I’m not gonna talk about healing because there isn’t a device that
can just magically heal all of your wounds no matter what pain you’ve endured in a battle.
I have, however, left the best till last.
“Paralyse” is a set of Alteration spells in the game, and one particular spell that
I’ve used recently is “Mass paralysis”.
It is a Master level Alteration spell that given the right amount of charge up time,
can basically fuck up any enemy you want.
If you’re in a sticky situation and you need an escape, mass paralysis can take out
large groups of foes at a moment's notice.
Well... after you wave your hands about for a little bit.
It paralyses anybody in the near vicinity for around 15 seconds, leaving them vulnerable
or allowing for you to flee.
Mass paralysis does have one downside, it requires the max alteration level along with
937 Magicka for every time you cast it.
But in the right situation, it can be a lifesaver.
Why did i save this till last?
I wanted to treat you to something that I don’t know if is super cool, or just super
dorky of the creators.
I present to you fine people of the internet, the Personnel halting and stimulation response
rifle otherwise known as the PhasR.
It was created to be a non-lethal weapon for military and police units.
Still in its prototype and testing phase, it has supposedly undergone numerous trials
in Kirtland Airforce Base, Albuquerque.
Although there have been tests, the weapon apparently doesn’t meet multiple UN laws
in the way it functions.
So how does it actually work?
It fires out two non-lethal wavelengths into the eyes of a target.
Providing that the waves hit the target dead-on, they are then blinded almost immediately,
moments after this their body collapses and their nervous system is temporarily disabled.
The reason it is undergoing scrutiny, is down to a law crafted by and for the United Nations,
to ban blinding weapons, this is under the 1995 Protocol on blinding laser weapons.
Because of this, along with the fact that lasers can affect sight, and in this case
long term nerve damage, the developers of the PhasR are working on new ways to work
the device, more safely but still have the same effectiveness.
One of the stronger changes that is apparently being implemented is a rangefinder, to make
sure said target is within a safe distance to NOT cause permanent damage.
Sadly due to the regulations of the UN protocol, not much else is known about the weapon.
But it could, if perfected, be the next best thing in military or even police operations.
So I just hope it becomes more effective and less dangerous.
Sooooo, that was my video on the lovely TECH!
Behind Skyrim’s magic.
I really enjoyed doing this one, as it was a brilliant excuse to jump back into Tamriel
once again and experience some of the cool magic in the game.
It also brought a few interesting pieces of tech to light, or at least I think some of
it was pretty cool.
If you have any questions about the TECH!
Within this video, or just anything in general, you CAN leave it as a comment, but if it’s
something you really want answered you should shoot us a line on our twitter handle.
We’re @shoddycast, but if you want to aid my procrastination, you can always tweet me
@stallismilitia.
With that little plug outta the way, i’ve got GOOD NEWS!
I’ll be streaming once again, this time i’ll be live in tamriel, checking out the
new and supposedly improved Skyrim.
YES!
I’m playing Skyrim Special Edition.
I’ll be starting from the very beginning, and i’ll be allowing you guys to interact
with the development of my character if you feel like it.
I’ll be live at 6pm BST or 1pm EDT.
Pop your head in and say hi, it’ll be awesome, I assure you!
I really hope you guys enjoyed this week's episode of the TECH!
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so already.
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Thank you very much for watching, My name is Andrew or Stalli111 and i’ll see you
on the next episode of the TECH!